Methods, apparatus and a system are provided for sharing and using location information in a portable terminal. A setting indicating whether location-information sharing is activated is received for each application of the portable terminal that uses location information. The settings are transmitted to a server. An application for which location-information sharing is activated is executed. A request for sharing of location information with respect to the executed application is transmitted to the server. Location information of a portable terminal in which location-information sharing is activated for the executed application is received from the server. The received location information is processed through the executed application.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the use of location information in a portable terminal, and more particularly, to the sharing of location information between portable terminals and the use of the shared location information.
2. Description of the Related Art
Portable terminals, such as, for example, smart phones and tablets, include applications that provide various useful functions for users.
In particular, recently developed portable terminals provide, for example, a Location Based Service (LBS) function that uses a Global Positioning System (GPS) module, or the like.
There are currently various applications that utilize location information. A user may install a desired application in a portable terminal, and location information may be used through the installed application.
When several applications that use location information are already installed in the portable terminal, the user may set whether the individual applications are permitted to use the location information. Specifically, conventional techniques allow for the separate setting of permission to use location information on application-by-application basis.

Methods, system and apparatus for sharing and using location information in portable terminal


The invention relates to a tire with a tread which is reinforced with carbon black and precipitated silica where the tread rubbers are of a blend comprised of at least one diene-based elastomer and a styrene/alphamethylstyrene resin, as hereinafter described.

Pneumatic rubber tires are conventionally prepared with a rubber tread which can be a blend of various rubbers which is typically reinforced with carbon black.
In one aspect, rubbers are evaluated, selected and blended for a purpose of achieving desired tire tread properties and particularly a balance of tire tread characteristic properties, mainly, rolling resistance, traction and wear.
For various applications utilizing rubber including applications such as tires and particularly tire treads, sulfur cured rubber is utilized which contains substantial amounts of reinforcing filler(s). Carbon black is commonly used for such purpose and normally provides or enhances good physical properties for the sulfur cured rubber. Particulate, precipitated silica is also sometimes used for such purpose, particularly when the silica is used in conjunction with a coupling agent. In some cases, a combination of silica and carbon black is utilized as reinforcing fillers for various rubber products, including treads for tires.
It is important to appreciate that, conventionally, carbon black is considered to be a more effective reinforcing filler for rubber tire treads than silica, if the silica is used without a coupling agent.
Indeed, at least as compared to carbon black, there tends to be a lack of, or at least an insufficient degree of, physical and/or chemical bonding between the silica particles and the rubber elastomers to enable the silica to become a reinforcing filler for the rubber for most purposes, including tire treads, if the silica is used without a coupler. While various treatments and procedures have been devised to overcome such deficiencies, compounds capable of reacting with both the silica surface and the rubber elastomer molecule, generally known to those skilled in such art as coupling agents, or couplers, are often used. Such coupling agents, for example, may be premixed, or pre-reacted, with the silica particles or added to the rubber mix during the rubber/silica processing, or mixing, stage. If the coupling agent and silica are added separately to the rubber mix during the rubber/silica mixing, or processing stage, it is considered that the coupling agent then combines in situ with the silica.
In particular, such coupling agents may generally be composed of a silane which has a constituent component, or moiety, (the silane portion) capable of reacting with the silica surface and, also, a constituent component, or moiety, capable of interacting with the rubber, particularly a sulfur vulcanizable rubber which contains carbon-to-carbon double bonds, or unsaturation. In this manner, then the coupler may act as a connecting bridge between the silica and the rubber and thereby enhances the rubber reinforcement aspect of the silica.
In one aspect, the silane of the coupling agent apparently forms a bond to the silica surface, possibly through interaction with silanol groups on the silica surface, and the rubber interactive component of the coupling agent apparently interacts with the rubber. Usually the rubber interactive component of the coupler is temperature sensitive and may tend to combine with the rubber during the higher temperature sulfur vulcanization of the rubber composition and after the silane group of the coupler has reacted with the silica. However, partly because of typical temperature sensitivity of the coupler, some degree of interaction may occur between the rubber-interaction component of the coupler and the rubber during initial rubber/silica/coupler mixing stage(s) and, thus, prior to the subsequent vulcanization of the rubber composition.
The rubber-interactive reactive group component of the coupler may be, for example, one or more of groups such as mercapto, amino, vinyl, epoxy, and sulfur groups, preferably a sulfur or mercapto moiety and more preferably sulfur.
Numerous coupling agents are taught for use in combining silica and rubber, such as, for example, silane coupling agents containing a polysulfide component, or structure such as, for example, bis-(trialkoxysilyalkyl) organosilane polysulfides containing from 2 to about 8 sulfur atoms in a polysulfide bridge such as, for example, bis-(3-triethoxysilylpropyl)tetrasulfide, trisulfide or disulfide. In the case of the disulfide, if in a high purity form, some free sulfur, or sulfur donor, may desirably be added with the coupler in a rubber mixing step to enhance an overall effect of interaction with the elastomer, or rubber.
For silica reinforced tire treads, U.S. Pat. No. 5,066,721, in its Comparative Test Example 1 in Table 3 (column 15), discloses the use of solution polymerization prepared SBR containing 50 parts silica for a tire tread. Table 4 (column 17) illustrates the tire preparation. U.S. Pat. No. 5,227,425 discloses the use of a solution polymerization prepared SBR which is silica reinforced and in which is preferenced over an emulsion polymerization prepared SBR. U.S. Pat. No. 4,519,430 discloses a silica rich tire tread which contains solution or emulsion SBR, optionally with polybutadiene rubber and/or polyisoprene rubber together with a mixture of silica and carbon black, with silica being required to be a major component of the silica/carbon black reinforcing filler.
Styrene/isoprene/butadiene terpolymer rubbers have been disclosed for use in tire treads. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,159,020 discloses such a terpolymer rubber (SIBR) and use thereof in a tire tread composition. It is disclosed therein that such tire tread can be composed of a blend of the SIBR and at least one other rubber such as natural rubber, polybutadiene rubber, styrene/butadiene copolymer rubber, isoprene/butadiene copolymer, styrene/isoprene copolymer, and 3,4-polyisoprene rubber. It is disclosed therein that the blend can contain silicas.
It is intended that all of such aforesaid patents are incorporated herein by reference.
The term "phr" where used herein, and according to conventional practice, refers to parts of a respective material per 100 parts by weight of rubber, or elastomer.
In the description of this invention, the terms "rubber" and "elastomer" where used herein, unless otherwise prescribed, are used interchangeably. The terms "rubber composition", "compounded rubber", and "rubber compound" where used herein, unless otherwise prescribed, are used interchangeably to refer to rubber which has been blended or mixed with various ingredients or materials and such terms are well known to those having skill in the rubber mixing, or rubber compounding, art.
The Tg of a polymer, particularly an elastomer, as used herein unless otherwise prescribed, refers to its glass transition temperature which can conventionally be determined, for example, by a differential scanning calorimeter at a heating rate of 15.degree. C. per minute to an observed transition of the temperature versus time curve. It is understood that such Tg determination is well known to those having skill in such art.

Tire with tread having silica reinforcement field


A method for managing a call admission controller in a multi-hop wireless backhaul network is illustrated. The method provides a call access control mechanism in a multi-hop wireless backhaul network system by calculating at least one service quality parameter in the network and determining if service data transmitted from relay nodes is allowed to enter a gateway of the network according to the at least one service quality parameter. In exemplary embodiments of present invention, the service quality parameter includes a throughput, an average delay of packets, a number of remote devices, a packet loss rate, a number of the relay nodes, and an amount of service data of a specific class traffic in the network. A topology of the network may be a ring, a chain, or a tree topology, and a ripple protocol is utilized as media access control protocol in the network.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a multi-hop wireless backhaul network. More particularly, the present invention relates to a call admission controller and a call admission control method thereof for a multi-hop wireless backhaul network and a multi-hop wireless backhaul network thereof.
2. Description of Related Art
The technical development of wireless local area networks has gradually matured such that applications thereof have extended from being originally in small indoor areas to extensive outdoor environments. Since it is both time consuming and costly to lay out wired backhaul networks, wireless backhaul networks adopting wireless area networks as the technical background have gradually become an advantageous alternative to the wired backhaul networks. Coverage of a wireless area network is approximately 100 m. In order to achieve a wide coverage of the backhaul network, the wireless backhaul network adopts a method of using relay nodes to transfer with multi-hops and connect to a wired gateway and eventually to the Internet. In such a wireless backhaul network, a connection point which provides both access and relay functions is referred to as a relay node through which communication is transferred to an admission point, and the admission point is referred to as a gateway. The connection point and admission point mentioned below are referred to as a relay node and a gateway.
When laying out a wireless backhaul network in an outdoor environment, for the purpose of convenience in management of electrical interference and traffic flow, the most commonly adopted network topology is a chain topology. In the multi-hop wireless backhaul network, not only can data be transferred between relay nodes in a wireless manner but users within coverage of a relay node itself can also connect to the relay node in a wireless manner. The two wireless communication manners use different frequency bands and transmission interfaces to avoid causing tremendous interference. For example, connection between relay nodes or between a relay node and a gateway uses IEEE 802.11a protocol in a 5 GHz frequency band for communication while connection between a relay node and a user may adopt IEEE 802.11b/g protocol in a 2.4 GHz frequency band for communication.
Operation of the current multi-hop wireless backhaul network still lacks an efficient medium access control (MAC) protocol. In general, the multi-hop wireless backhaul network usually adopts a chain network topology and communication between relay nodes uses the distributed coordination function (DCF) medium access control protocol defined by the IEEE 802.11 standard. However, the currently adopted IEEE 802.11 DCF medium access control protocol results in the poor transmission rate, the serious problem of unfair efficiency, and inability to guarantee service quality.

Call admission controller and method thereof and multi-hop wireless backhaul network system using the same

National Taiwan University of Science and Technology


A magnetic head for writing data to and reading data from a magnetic recording medium includes an inductive-type writer, an anisotropic magneto-resistive (AMR) reader, and a giant magneto-resistive (GMR) reader. The AMR reader is used to read data from “high magnetic flux” recording mediums which have been recorded for use with AMR sensors. The GMR reader is used to read data from “low magnetic flux” recording mediums which have been recorded for use with GMR sensors. As such, the magnetic head provides for backward compatibility between the previously prevalent “high magnetic flux” recording mediums and the expected future prevalent “low magnetic flux” recording mediums. The magnetic head may be configured such that the writer and the AMR and GMR readers share sensor shields in various configurations in order to carry out their writing and reading functions.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a magnetic head having an inductive-type writer and a magneto-resistive (MR) reader with the writer and the reader being supported by a substrate in a stacked fashion. More particularly, the present invention relates to a magnetic head having an inductive-type writer, an anisotropic magneto-resistive (AMR) reader, and a giant magneto-resistive (GMR) reader with the writer, the AMR reader, and the GMR reader being supported by a substrate in a stacked fashion.
2. Background Art
Magnetic heads have writers to write data onto magnetic media such as magnetic tape or any other removable magnetic storage media. The writers generate magnetic flux for recording magnetic transitions into the media in order to write data onto the media. Magnetic heads have readers to read data from the media. The readers sense magnetic flux from the magnetic transitions recorded in the media in order to read data from the media.
Certain magnetic heads have an inductive-type writer and a magneto-resistive (MR) reader in which the writer and the reader are supported by a substrate in a stacked fashion. The reader is typically either an anisotropic magneto-resistive (AMR) reader or a giant magneto-resistive (GMR) reader. That is, some magnetic heads have an inductive-type writer and an AMR reader whereas other magnetic heads have an inductive-type writer and a GMR reader.
Compared with AMR readers, GMR readers are more sensitive and are tuned for thinner media with less magnetic flux which allows a higher linear recording density. As such, AMR readers are used to read data from higher flux media whereas GMR readers are used to read data from lower flux media capable of higher linear recording densities.
It is a problem when AMR readers are used to read data from lower flux media. This is a problem because AMR readers are not sensitive enough to read the lower flux media. Likewise, it is a problem when GMR readers are used to read data from higher flux media. This is a problem because GMR readers are too sensitive to read the higher flux media and become saturated when reading higher flux media.
In the past, the prevalent MR reader used in magnetic heads for tape applications was the AMR reader and the prevalent media was the higher flux media. In the future, it is expected that the prevalent MR reader to be used in magnetic heads for tape applications will be the GMR reader. Correspondingly, lower flux media capable of higher linear recording densities will be provided for use with the GMR reader.
As a result of the problems associated with AMR and GMR readers, backward compatibility between higher flux AMR readers optimized for lower recording densities and lower flux GMR readers optimized for higher recording densities is expected to be a problem. Backward compatibility is a problem because GMR readers are not able to read data from higher flux media which was prevalent in the past whereas AMR readers are not able to read data from lower flux media which is expected to be prevalent in the future.

Magnetic head having AMR reader, writer, and GMR reader


A wear shield is attached to a cutter bar and is formed from a molded wear body having a front mounting portion bolted onto the guards of the cutter bar by the guard mounting bolts with recesses for the guard fingers and a front edge of an upper planar mounting surface clamped onto the guard bar. A rear covering portion is cantilevered rearwardly from the front mounting portion underlying a bottom plate of the cutter bar for engaging the ground so as to underlie and protect the bottom plate. Resilience in the wear shield forces the rear part against the bottom plate of the cutter bar to avoid the necessity for a rear fastener. A series of the wear shields is arranged side by side across the cutter bar with two side edges each for locating adjacent a side edge of a next adjacent wear shield.

The above type of cutter bar is well known and widely used in crop harvesting machines of the sickle knife type in which a knife is carried on the guards and reciprocates across the guards in a cutting action.
For some crops, the cutter bar is carried so that it skids over the ground with much of the weight of the header carried on springs but a small amount of the weight applied through the cutter bar onto the ground to hold the cutter bar against the ground in a skidding action to provide the cutting action at the lowest possible position relative to the ground.
It is well known that wear shields are mounted on the cutter bar at the position where the cutter bar contacts the ground so as to reduce the frictional wear on the cutter bar itself and to apply it instead to a replaceable plastic wear piece which can be removed when worn and replaced by a new wear piece.
Commonly such shields are bolted onto the bottom plate of the cutter bar simply by bolting through the shield into the bottom plate behind the guard bar of the cutter bar.
Examples are shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,924,270 (Bruns) assigned to May-Wes Manufacturing Inc. and issued Jul. 20, 1999, U.S. Pat. No. 5,174,101 (Rabitsch) issued Dec. 29, 1992 and Design patent D454,576 (Huntimer) assigned to Global Polymer Industries Inc. and issued Mar. 19, 2002. All these patents show basically the same arrangement in which a sheet of plastic material is simply bolted to the underside of the bottom plate by front and rear fasteners.

Wear shield for the cutter bar of a crop cutting machine


A single file is used to coordinate multiple testing processes. The single file is used to start a test, for other aspects of testing, including, but not limited to, checking test prerequisites before the run, the collection of load driver logs, the analysis of collected test data, and the generation of database and other reports for the test run. The file is generated as a script to set variables and then launch one or more load driver instances on the local and/or network attached severs. The file is used by other programs and scripts as a “run description” data file to check or control the viability of the test before launch, the status of the test if the test is currently in progress, collect the results of the test after finishing, and to begin the analysis and report generation of the collected test results.

Performance testing is, in general, testing performed to determine how a system performs in terms of responsiveness and stability under a particular workload. Performance testing is able to be used to investigate, measure, validate or verify other quality attributes of a system, such as scalability, reliability and resource usage. Performance testing includes several types such as load testing, stress testing, endurance testing, spike testing, configuration testing and isolation testing.


A metals/minerals recovery and waste treatment process comprising a main separation stage in which a metal/mineral-bearing ore is slurried with water and separated into an enriched fraction and an aqueous metal/mineral waste fraction, and a waste sedimentation stage in which the aqueous metal/mineral waste fraction is sedimented in one or more settling lagoons to provide a thickened sediment layer and supernatant; and the waste sedimentation stage comprises feeding the aqueous metal/mineral waste into a solids contact vessel or other flocculating chamber, wherein the aqueous metal/mineral waste is diluted with water containing one or more flocculant(s) at more than one concentration, one of which concentrations is at least 10 times higher than the other, within the SCV, flocculating the diluted aqueous waste, and sedimenting the diluted and flocculated aqueous waste to provide a liquid supernatant layer and a pumpable thickened sediment layer in a settling basin.

This invention relates to a metals and/or minerals recovery and waste treatment process that comprises a main separation stage and a waste sedimentation stage. The objective is to treat waste sediment from a metals and/or minerals processing facility in a novel and efficient manner.
Flocculation is the aggregation of single particles or small groups of particles, into multi-particle aggregates or 'flocs'. The technique is used in many industrial processes to enhance solid-liquid separation.
In terms of definition it is necessary to make a distinction between coagulation and flocculation, since both involve particle aggregation but by different mechanisms. The process of coagulation involves particle aggregation by surface charge neutralization, thereby overcoming the repulsive potential barrier between particles. Particle surface charge is invariably negative and multivalent inorganic coagulants like lime, ferrous sulfate, ferric sulfate and alum are used to effect aggregation and form 'coagula'. Flocculation in the strictest sense of the term is the aggregation of particles by long-chain polymers where particle surface charge may or may not be changed.
The term flocculation is derived from the Latin flocculus, which describes a tuft of wool, since this was likened to the "fluffy" aggregates that resulted from particle flocculation. The term flocculant is sometimes used as an adjective to describe the appearance of flocculated substances.
In general, the mineral processing stage of metals and/or minerals production involves a series of processing steps (see FIG. 1). Once the ore has been extracted from the ground, it requires upgrading (also referred to as beneficiation) to concentrate the metal or mineral values by separating it from the gangue. The separation process can be very simple or very complex involving many unit processes. Generally, one or more of the following unit processes are involved:
Comminution: (also referred to as size reduction)—comprised of two activities, this process involves crushing, followed by grinding in ball or rod mills, to reduce the size of the ore to a point that the minerals are liberated from one another and serves to prepare the material for physical and/or chemical separation.
Separation:—once the ore has been sized, the minerals are then separated by one or more of the following unit processes: size separation, which uses the difference in particle size of the different minerals (e.g., washing clay from sand on a screen); gravity separation, which uses the difference in density or specific gravity of the minerals—equipment used includes dense or heavy media, shaking tables, spirals, barrel washers, or jigs; electrical or magnetic separation, which uses those respective physical properties of the minerals; and froth flotation, which uses surface chemistry differences in the minerals.
Solid/Liquid Separation:—After the values and gangue minerals have been separated using one or more of the above unit processes, the resulting slurries (termed the concentrate and the tailings, respectively) need to be dewatered so they can be transported (in the case of concentrate) and disposed of in an environmentally acceptable manner (in the case of tailings). Types of solid/liquid separation equipment include thickeners, clarifiers, vacuum filters, pressure filters, multi-roll filters, and centrifuges.
Upon completion of the solid/liquid separation unit process of the mineral processing stage, three "product" streams emerge: (1) a recovered water stream that may, or may not, require additional clarification activities prior to being returned to the mining activities portion of the process; (2) a thickened concentrate stream that may, or may not, require additional processing (i.e., metallurgical processing) to produce the finished metal or mineral; and (3) a thickened tailings stream that may, or may not, require additional processing (e.g., pH adjustment) prior to being placed in a tailings pond for sedimentation (to remove and recover residual water) and disposal.
This invention relates to the "products" of the solid/liquid separation stage of mineral processing—i.e., the improved thickening of tailings (also referred to as sediment) and the improved clarity of water recovered for recycling (also referred to as supernatant).
Iron ore, an example of a ferrous metal, is produced from the extraction and processing of two ores: Hematite (Fe2O3) and/or Magnetite (Fe3O4). The ores are processed through a five-step process consisting of: (1) mining—the drilling and blasting to break the ore down into a suitable size; (2) crushing—the physical reduction in the size of the ore down to approximately 9 inches in diameter; (3) grinding—the further physical reduction in the size of the ore to liberate the fine mineral from the rock; (4) concentration—the separation of the iron values from the gangue via deslime thickeners (if the ore being processed is hematite) or via magnetic thickeners (if the ore being processed is magnetite) and the subsequent dewatering of the concentrated ore; and (5) pelletization—the formation of small, uniform-size balls "green balls" of iron ore using a chemical binder and the heat hardening of the balls to form hard iron ore pellets for use by steel manufacturing plants.
Sand and gravel, the unconsolidated granular materials resulting from the natural disintegration of rock or stone and an example of an industrial mineral, are typically mined in a wet condition by open pit excavation or dredging. After transportation to a processing plant the wet sand and gravel raw feed is stockpiled or emptied directly into a hopper where large cobbles and boulders are physically separated from the feed. From the hopper, the material is transported to fixed or vibrating screens where oversize material is separated from the smaller, marketable sizes. Oversize material may be used for erosion control, reclamation, or other uses, or it may be directed to a crusher for size reduction, to produce crushed aggregate, or to produce manufactured sands. The material that passes through the screen is fed into a battery of sizing screens, which generally consist of either horizontal or sloped—single or multi-deck—vibrating screens. Rotating trammel screens with water sprays are also used to process and wash wet sand and gravel. Screening separates the sand and gravel into different size ranges. After screening, the sized gravel is transported to stockpiles, storage bins, etc. for subsequent sale. The sand is freed from clay and organic impurities by log washers or rotary scrubbers. After scrubbing, the sand typically is sized by water classification. After classification, the sand is dewatered using screws, separatory cones, or hydro-separators. After processing, the sand is transported to storage bins for subsequent sale.
Flocculation of the waste stream (i.e. tailings) in order to improve the settling characteristics of an industrial process tailings pond has been proposed and practiced in the prior art. In flocculation, individual particles are united into rather loosely bound agglomerates or flocs. The degree of flocculation is controlled by the probability of collision between the particles and their tendency toward adhesion after collision. Agitation increases the probability of collision, and adhesion tendency is increased by the addition of a flocculant.
There have been numerous proposals in the literature to try to accelerate the sedimentation by flocculating the waste, and there have been proposals to improve the structure of the substantially solid waste sediment by adding sands or other materials to the waste. Examples of disclosures of such mineral recovery processes utilizing flocculants are U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,418,237, 3,622,087, 3,707,523, 4,194,969, 4,224,149, 4,251,363, 4,265,770, 4,342,653, 4,555,346, 4,690,752, 5,688,404, 6,077,441 and 6,039,189, which are each incorporated herein by reference.
Despite the numerous proposals to use flocculants, in practice it has been found that their use frequently is not cost effective. Even when a flocculant is used to promote sedimentation and the provision of a supernatant that can be recycled, the quality of the supernatant tends to be rather poor because the supernatant tends to be contaminated with unflocculated waste particles.
It is known within the metals and minerals processing industry that the utilization of above ground sedimentation columns (e.g., tubular metal tanks) allows for the formation of a useful depth of supernatant, provided that such columns have sufficient height. Unfortunately the volume of aqueous wastes which are generated in metals and/or mineral recovery processes can be so large that it is impracticable even to contemplate the provision of column separating tanks of this type.

Metals/minerals recovery and waste treatment process

Ciba Specialty Chemicals Water Treatments Ltd.


An LED lamp includes a light-emitting module, an electrical module and an elongated heat dissipating member. The light-emitting module includes a light source provided with a plurality of LEDs. The electrical module includes a circuit board electrically connected with the LEDs of the light source and two end caps each forming a pair of electrical pins at an outer end thereof. The heat dissipating member is arranged between and connecting with the two end caps, the heat dissipating member is a hollow metal tube and includes a mounting portion and a heat dissipating plate extending from the mounting portion. The mounting portion and the heat dissipating plate cooperatively define an elongate chamber. The circuit board is accommodated in the chamber of the heat dissipating member. The light source is thermally attached to an outer surface of the mounting portion.

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to light emitting diode (LED) lamps, and particularly to an LED lamp with high heat dissipating efficiency.
2. Description of Related Art
In recent years, LEDs are preferred for use in lamps rather than CCFLs (cold cathode fluorescent lamps) and other traditional lamps due to their excellent properties, including high brightness, long lifespan, directivity, and etc.
For an LED, about eighty percents of the power consumed thereby is converted into heat. Generally, an LED lamp includes a plurality of LEDs arranged on a substrate to obtain a desired brightness and illumination area. However, the plurality of LEDs generate a large amount of heat during operation which endangers the normal operation of the LEDs of the LED lamp. A highly efficient heat dissipation device is necessary in order to timely and adequately remove the heat generated by the LED lamp. Otherwise, the brightness, lifespan, and reliability of the LED lamp will be seriously affected.
For the foregoing reasons, therefore, there is a need in the art for an LED lamp which overcomes the limitations described.

LED tube lamp with heat dissipating member

Fu Zhun Precision Industry (Shen Zhen) Co., Ltd.


The present invention is directed to a transformation systems and vectors for making transgenic organisms that includes a vector containing a modified piggyBac transposon into which is inserted at least one fluorescent protein gene linked to a polyubiquitin promoter sequence. A helper transposase vector that includes an hsp70 promoter sequence upstream of the putative piggyBac promoter that increases the transformation frequency of this system can also be included.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a transformation system that includes a gene transfer vector containing a modified piggyBac transposon (pB) and having the insertion of a marker construct containing at least one fluorescent protein gene linked to a polyubiquitin promoter gene. The invention further relates to a helper vector containing a heat shock protein gene and to methods for using this system to transform eukaryotic cells as well as transgenic organisms produced using the system, especially insect cells and insects, respectively.
2. Description of the Related Art
The piggyBac transposable element from the cabbage looper moth, Trichoplusia ni (Cary et al., Virology, Volume 161, 8–17, 1989) has been shown to be an effective gene-transfer vector in the Mediterranean fruit fly, Ceratitis capitata (Handler et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, Volume 95, 7520–7525, 1998). Use of an unmodified transposase helper under piggyBac promoter regulation indicates that piggyBac retains autonomous function in the medfly, since transcriptional regulation was maintained, as well as enzymatic activity. This observation was unique since all other successful insect germline transformations had been limited to dipteran species using vectors isolated from the same or another dipteran. The initial transformation of medfly (Loukeris et al., Science, Volume 270, 2002–2005, 1995) used the Minos vector from Drosophila hydei (Franz & Savakis, Nucl. Acids Res., Volume 19, 6646, 1991), and Aedes aegypti has been transformed from Hermes (Jasinskiene et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, Volume 95, 3743–3747, 1998) from Musca domestica (Warren et al., Genet. Res. Camb., Volume 64, 87–97, 1994) and mariner (Coates et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, Volume 95, 3748–3751, 1998) from Drosophila mauritiana (Jacobson et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, Volume 83, 8684–8688, 1986). Drosophila melanogaster has been transformed as well by Hermes (O'Brochta et al., Insect Biochem. Molec. Biol., Volume 26, 739–753, 1996) mariner (Lidholm et al., Genetics, Volume 134, 859–868, 1993), Minos (Franz et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, Volume 91, 4746–4750, 1994) and by the P and hobo transposons originally discovered in its own genome (Rubin and Spradling, 1989; Blackman et al., EMBO J., Volume 8, 211–217, 1989). Drosophila virilis also has been transformed by hobo (Lozovskaya et al., Genetics, Volume 143, 365–374, 1995; Gomez & Handler, Insect Mol. Biol., Volume 6, 1–8, 1997) and mariner (Lohe et al., Genetics, Volume 143, 365–374, 1996). While the restriction to dipteran vectors is due in part to the limited number of transposon systems available from non-dipteran species, phylogenetic limitations on transposon function is not unexpected considering the deleterious effects functional transposons may have on a host genome. This is, indeed, reflected by the high level of regulation placed on transposon movement among species, among strains within a host species, and even among cell types within an organism (Berg & Howe, Mobile DNA, American Society for Microbiology, Washington, D.C. 1989).
The ability of piggyBac to function in several dipteran species will be supportive of its use in a wider range of insects, if not other organisms. Most other vector systems function optimally, or have been only tested with their helper transposase under hsp70 promoter regulation. The transposition efficiency of most vectors has been also found to be influenced by the amount of internal DNA inserted, the position of this DNA within the vector, and the amount of subterminal DNA remaining in the vectors.
The widespread use of piggyBac will be limited by the availability of easily detectable and unambiguous transformant markers. Most Drosophila transformations, as well as the few nondrosophilid transformations reported have depended on transformant selection by rescue of a mutant visible phenotype, usually eye pigmentation (Ashburner et al., Insect Mol. Biol., Volume 7, 201–213, 1998). Unfortunately, most insect species have neither visible mutant strains, nor the cloned DNA for the wild type allele of the mutation, and these species require use of new dominant-acting marker genes that confer, preferably, a visible phenotype.
The present invention, discussed below, provides a system that includes vectors for transforming eukaryotic cells, derived from piggyBac transposons that are different from related art vectors. Furthermore, the present invention increases the transformation frequency by about eight-fold compared to other piggyBac transformation systems.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of Agriculture


An audio/video reproducing system, an audio/video device therein, and an audio/video reproducing method therewith are provided that allow appreciation of a great deal of audio or video using a recording medium with a small capacity.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an audio/video (AV) reproducing system using a recording medium with a relatively small capacity, such as a memory stick, a secure digital (SD) memory card, or the like, an AV device therein, and an AV reproducing method therewith. More particularly, the invention relates to an AV reproducing system for transferring a part of audio data or video data from a server, an AV device therein, and an AV reproducing method therewith.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, audio reproducing devices have come into wide use that are operable to record audio data downloaded via the Internet or audio data ripped out of music CDs in a recording medium such as a memory stick, a SD memory card, or the like. This can encourage the appreciation of favorite music with ease, even outdoors. Also, video reproducing devices have been developed that are operable to record video data in the memory stick, the SD memory card, or the like, thereby allowing appreciation of the video data in the open air. Examples of such reproducing devices can be found in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2003-123386 Publication.
The inventor, however, considers that the above-mentioned conventional AV devices have the following problems. That is, a recording medium with a small recording capacity is inexpensive, but has a little information recorded therein. For example, a recording medium with 32 MB to 64 MB recording capacity has recorded therein audio data concerning only six to twelve pieces of music, which data is compressed in MPEG Audio Layer-3 (MP3) format or the like.
In the foregoing Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2003-123386 Publication is disclosed an audio reproducing device which is designed to change the compression ratio of data (the way of compression) depending on the capacity of the recording medium so as to record therein all desired pieces of music. In order to fully appreciate audio or video, namely, music or images, sound quality or image quality should remain above a certain level. Excessive increase in the compression ratio is undesirable.
Making a copy of audio data or video data in digital form does not degrade the sound or image quality, which raises a problem in terms of copyright. Accordingly, an AV device that would not infringe the copyright is desired.

Audio/video reproducing system, audio/video device therein, and audio/video reproducing method therewith

Abstract: A server writes only a part of audio data read from an audio database in a recording medium. An audio reproducing device reads the audio data from the recording medium, while establishing communication connection with the server via the Internet to request lacking audio data. When an ID code and password sent from the audio reproducing device matches up with a pre-registered ID code and password, the server permits login and transmits the lacking audio data to the audio reproducing device. The audio reproducing device synthesizes the audio data read from the recording medium and the audio data sent from the server to produce complete audio data so as to reproduce audio.


A belt head includes a seat, a buckle portion, an engaging portion and a button. The seat has a front side portion having two narrow side surfaces facing to each other and a rear side portion used to connect and fix an end of a strap. The buckle portion has a connecting base connected with the front side portion and a fastening base which has a passage enabling the other end of the strap to pass through and a fastener for fastening or releasing the strap. The engaging portion is disposed on the front side portion and is movable between a first and second positions to engage with and release from a blocking member of the connecting base. The button is located on one of the narrow side surfaces of the front side portion for controlling the engaging portion to move between the first and second positions.

1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to a belt head, and more particularly to a belt head that has a replaceable buckle portion.
2. Related Prior Art
A belt worn on pants or skirts is mainly composed of a strap and a belt head made of metal. The belt head comprises a seat connected with an end of the strap and a buckle portion enabling the other end of the strap to pass through and being operated to fasten or release the strap. The buckle portion of the prior belt can be designed as a fashion accessory for providing people with a visual experience. However, since the buckle portion and the seat of the belt head are pivotably connected and fixed together by means of riveting, it is necessary to replace the entire belt head once the wearer wants to change the buckle portion to suit their clothes for a different visual experience, or once the buckle portion is damaged.
In order to solve this problem, Taiwan Pat. No. 205627 and M31.1291, for example, disclosed plural designs of the belt head having the buckle portion and the seat that can be detached from each other in the past. Nevertheless, there is a need to create a better design for the belt head having the buckle portion and the seat that can be detached from each other.

Belt head with replaceable buckle portion


A vibration damping material according to one aspect of the present invention comprises a composition as a main component, the composition being prepared by mixing based on 100 parts by weight of acrylic rubber, at least, in an external ratio, 0.01 to 15 parts by weight of organic peroxide that can crosslink between epoxy-based crosslinking points with each other, 25 to 50 parts by weight of carbon black having a mean particle diameter of 22 to 45 nm, and 15 to 35 parts by weight of carbon black having a mean particle diameter of 70 to 85 nm; and crosslinking crosslinking points in the acrylic rubber with each other through the organic peroxide.

The applicant of the present application has proposed a vibration damping material composed mainly of a composition prepared by the following method as a vibration damping material having excellent heat resistance and vibration-damping properties (see, for example, Patent Literature 1). Specifically, at least one monomer selected from alkyl acrylate, alkoxyalkyl acrylate, alkyl methacrylate, and alkoxyalkyl methacrylate is polymerized with a monomer that serves as an epoxy-based crosslinking point. 100 parts by weight of acrylic rubber having a molecular structure formed by the polymerization is mixed with, in an external ratio, 0.01 to 15 parts by weight of organic peroxide that crosslinks the epoxy-based crosslinking points with each other, 1 to one hundred parts by weight of tackifying resin, and 1 to 20 parts by weight of a plasticizer. Further, the composition is formed by crosslinking between the crosslinking points of the acrylic rubber with each other through the organic peroxide.
Since the vibration damping material described in Patent Document 1 is a vibration damping material that exhibits a loss coefficient (tan δ) of one or more that is different from the conventional acrylic rubber-based vibration damping material, the effect of exerting excellent vibration-damping properties equivalent to or superior to that in the butyl rubber-based vibration damping material can be attained.
Further, unlike the conventional butyl rubber-based vibration damping material, the vibration damping material has a low compression permanent strain even under temperatures above 100° C. and therefore exerts an effect of having heat resistance superior to that of the butyl rubber-based vibration damping material. Hence, the vibration damping material can be utilized in environments that are likely to be high temperature, for example, in an engine room of automobiles or the like.
In addition, the vibration damping material is manufactured at a lower cost than silicone rubber, fluoro-rubber, or the like and therefore exerts an effect that a final product can be provided at low price. Further, unlike silicone rubber, the vibration damping material is not a cause of electric contact fault such as a rise in contact resistance or a contact defect and therefore provides an effect that the vibration damping material can be used in electrical apparatuses and electronic apparatuses.


A halocarbon product made from the reaction of excess hydrogen fluoride with a halocarbon, containing excess hydrogen fluoride as an azeotrope is purified by fluorination in the presence of additional halocarbon or halo-olefin.

The process according to the invention applies more particularly to the separation of the unconverted HF present in mixtures originating from the manufacture of F133a by fluorination of trichloroethylene or of symmetrical or unsymmetrical tetrachloroethane. For economic reasons, HF must be recovered in anhydrous form to allow it to be recycled to the fluorination reactor.
Various techniques for performing this separation of HF and chlorofluorohydrocarbons have already been described. There may be mentioned, for example:
U.S. Pat. No. 2,640,086, which relates to the separation of HF and of chlorodifluoromethane and employs chloroform to promote the separation into two phases, an HF-rich phase and an HF-poor phase;
U.S. Pat. No. 3,873,629, relating to a continuous process for the separation of HF and of chlorodifluoromethane and consisting in bringing the gaseous mixture of the two constituents into counter-currentwise contact with sulphuric acid;
U.S. Pat. No. 3,976,447, which proposes a separation of HF from gaseous effluents by absorption-desorption on calcium, barium or strontium chloride particles;
U.S. Pat. No. 4,209,470, which describes a process for separating HF from its mixtures with 1-chloro-1,1-difluoroethane, in which, to improve the phase separation, an auxiliary liquid is added, consisting wholly or predominantly of 1,1-dichloro-1-fluoroethane;
patent application No. EP 0,353,970, relating to the separation of HF from its mixtures with 2,2-dichloro-1,1,1-trifluoroethane and/or 2-chloro-1,1,1,2-tetrafluoroethane by phase separation and distillation.
In the case of mixtures of HF and F133a, a simple distillation does not enable them to be separated because HF and F133a form an azeotrope which is more volatile than HF or F133a; the HF content of this azeotrope is approximately 60 mol % (20% by weight). There are no data in the literature on the phase separation of mixtures of HF and F133a; at room temperature and whatever the HF and F133a concentrations, mixtures of HF and F133a do not separate into two phases.

Process for separating hydrogen fluoride from its mixtures with 1,1,1-trifluoro-2-chloroethane


A nitride semiconductor device includes a substrate, a nitride semiconductor laminate, and an ohmic electrode of TiAl-based material. The nitride semiconductor laminate has a first nitride semiconductor layer on the substrate, and a second nitride semiconductor layer forming a heterointerface with the first nitride semiconductor layer. The nitride semiconductor device has an oxygen concentration profile in a depth direction of the device across between the ohmic electrode and the nitride semiconductor laminate. The profile has a first oxygen concentration peak near an interface between the ohmic electrode and the nitride semiconductor laminate in a region, of the nitride semiconductor laminate, that is on a substrate side of the interface, and a second oxygen concentration peak having an oxygen concentration of 3×1017 cm−3-1.2×1018 cm−3 in a position deeper than that of the first oxygen concentration peak.

There is a conventional nitride semiconductor device in which a surface of an n-type GaN contact layer has been subjected to oxygen plasma treatment to form an oxygen-doped layer at the surface thereof prior to formation of an ohmic electrode on the n-type GaN contact layer for the purpose of reducing the contact resistance between the ohmic electrode and the contact layer (see Japanese Patent No. 2967743 (PTL 1)).
However, as a result of experiments, done by the present inventors, in which an ohmic electrode was formed on a GaN layer after subjecting the GaN layer to the oxygen plasma treatment, contact resistances obtained of the ohmic electrode were found high. The inventors were not able to obtain a sufficiently reduced contact resistance.


A pump control controls the rate at which liquid is pumped through a tube. The pump has a variable speed shaft with a roller thereon engaged with the tube between the tube inlet the tube outlet for pumping liquid from a supply toward the tube outlet when the pump shaft operates. A first sensor senses liquid at a first location in the tube and a second sensor senses liquid at a second location in the tube between the first location and the tube outlet. A vibratory beam is coupled with the tube between the first location and the second location. An electric circuit transfers energy to a magnet on the beam and induces a natural response in the beam and the tube. A microprocessor executes a software program and a) monitors operation of the pump when liquid is pumped into the tube between the sensors, b) measures the frequency of the induced natural response of the tube and liquid contained therein, c) computes the mass of liquid in the tube between the sensors, d) computes a pump rate as a function of the pump operation required to fill the tube between the sensors and the measured mass of liquid pumped into the tube and a desired flow rate, and e) operates the pump at the computed rate.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to pumps, and more particularly to a control and a method for controlling the rate at which liquid is pumped through a tube.
2. Background Art
Transfer of a liquid at a precise rate is a requirement of many liquid delivery systems such as, for example, intravenous chemical therapy systems wherein a solution, such as a saline solution or a solution containing medicine, is transferred by a pump from a supply to a patient requiring the solution. Safety and effectiveness of the therapy is affected by the degree of control with which the solution is transferred.
A peristaltic infusion pump typically is used to draw liquid from a container and pump the liquid through the outlet of a flexible tube. The peristaltic pump is connected to the tube between the container and the outlet and has a rotatable roller engaged with the tube exterior for periodically squeezing / collapsing the tube and pumping liquid through the tube.
The rate at which liquid is pumped through the tube by the peristaltic pump is a function of the speed at which the pump shaft rotates (that is, the pump speed) and the cross sectional area of the tube bore. The cross sectional area of a bore in a flexible tube can vary by plus and minus ten percent along the length of the tube. In addition, wear of the inner surface of a tube results in a change in the tube bore cross sectional area. Squeezing of a tube by a peristaltic pump can cause the circumference of the tube to expand whereby the enclosed area of a cross section of the tube increases. Pump speed must be continuously compensate for variations in the cross sectional area of a tube to maintain a desired flow rate of liquid in a tube.


A focus-adjustment signal generating apparatus includes a filter to extract a high-frequency component at a specific frequency or higher from a luminance signal of an input video signal, a comparator to compare an absolute value of the high-frequency component with a specific reference value, to output a first detection signal when the absolute value is equal to or larger than the reference value whereas a second detection signal when the absolute value is smaller than the reference value, an extender to extend an output period of the first detection signal according to a period indicated by a period-length setting signal, to output an extended first detection signal, and a selector to select a first chrominance difference signal indicating a specific color in response to the extended first detection signal whereas a second chrominance difference signal indicating an achromatic color in response to the second detection signal, the first or the second chrominance difference signal being output as a focus-adjustment signal.

The present invention relates to a focus-adjustment signal generating apparatus and method for generating a video signal which is displayed on a view finder (VF), a liquid crystal display (LCD), etc., for manual focus adjustments, an imaging apparatus, such as a video camera and an electronic still camera, equipped with such a focus-adjustment signal generating apparatus, and an imaging method combined with such a focus-adjustment signal generating method.
Recent video cameras and electronic still cameras offer higher-resolution images. Nevertheless, VF and LCD offer lower image resolution to users when users check the images to be taken through the VF or LCD. This is because of limited VF or LCD sizes in compact video cameras or electronic still cameras. Such lower image resolution on VF or LCD renders focus adjustments difficult for users while viewing images through VF or LCD.
A known focus-adjustment signal generating apparatus is disclosed, for example, in Japanese Un-examined Patent Publication No. 2006-58683, for easier focus adjustments with clear images through VF or LCD. The known apparatus displays an image of an object on VF or LCD with edge processing. The edge processing is performed as follows: A luminance signal is extracted from an input video signal of the object. An R (red) signal, a G (green) signal and a B (blue) signal, or the three primary color signals (RGB signals), are generated based on the luminance signal. The luminance signal is subjected to high-pass filtering to output high-frequency components in the horizontal, vertical and diagonal directions. The high-frequency components in the horizontal, vertical and diagonal directions are added to the R signal, the G signal and the B signal, respectively, to put a specific color on the image of the object at the high-frequency components.
Accordingly, the known focus-adjustment signal generating apparatus offers an image of an object on VF or LCD with a specific color on edge portions of the image. Focus adjustment is performed to make the specific color darker for sharper edge portions. This offers easier focus adjustments with clear images through VF or LCD.
In such known focus-adjustment signal generating apparatus, the difference between the resolution of a video signal gained through image taking and that of VF or LCD forces a focus-adjustment signal to lose high-frequency components when generated after down-conversion, resulting in an incorrect focus-adjustment signal. It is thus required to generate the focus-adjustment signal before down-conversion when the resolution is different between the video signal and VF or LCD. The difference in resolution occurs, for example, when a high-resolution high-vision (HD) signal gained through image taking is down-converted to a standard-resolution standard (SD) signal on VF or LCD.
In the entire camera system, signals to be processed around a down converter are not an RGB signal but luminance and chrominance difference signals for most video cameras and electronic still cameras. The RGB signal to be used in generation of a focus-adjustment signal is processed in a later stage in the entire camera system, compared to the luminance and chrominance difference signals in VF or LCD in the known focus-adjustment signal generating apparatus described above. The generation of a focus-adjustment signal thus requires an RGB converter in a later stage in the entire camera system, causing the system processing redundant.
The high-frequency components of the luminance signal required for generation of a focus-adjustment signal correspond to the edge portions of an image. A lower area ratio of the edge portions to the image could force a down-converted focus-adjustment signal to lose such high-frequency components. Thus, no processing to the image edge portions very likely cause inaccurate focus adjustments.
Moreover, extraction of high-frequency components from a luminance signal at a fixed reference level cannot give a dynamic focus-adjustment signal due to change in the ratio of low- to high-frequency components depending on images.

Focus-adjustment signal generating apparatus and method, and imaging apparatus and method with manual focus adjustments


A laying head for the production of coils in hot rolling mills comprises a central body provided with a central cylinder and at least a shaped feed pipe, attached to the central body by means of clamping elements and bolts, and at least a circumferential guide disposed on the periphery of the cylindrical element. The circumferential guide consists of a plurality of elementary segments.

Coil-forming machines of the known type are disposed at exit from a rolling line rolling metal bars or wire, and are provided with a rotary laying head, comprising at least a shaped pipe that from axial develops until it becomes partly circumferential. The product exiting from the rolling line enters into the pipe with an inlet axis coaxial with the rolling axis, and exits from the pipe with an exit axis tangent to the diameter of the coils to be obtained.
The coils thus formed are disposed by falling onto a roller-type belt, so as to be cooled and sent to the collection and/or stacking zone.
In known machines, at the end of the pipe a helical circumferential exit channel is provided which cooperates with a fixed cylindrical protection in order to stabilize the coils formed and to prevent the leading and tail ends of the rolled product from being deformed. In fact, the balance of forces at work is ensured by the presence of a drawing device. However, when the tail end of the rolled product leaves the drawing device, in particular for small products, that is, from 5 to 12 mm approximately, traveling at speeds comprised between 90 and 120 m/s, an imbalance of the forces is created, since the traction on the rolled product generated by the laying head is no longer balanced by an equal and opposite force acting upstream of the head. This imbalance in the forces determines a violent acceleration of the tail end, which is translated into a over-speed of the material with respect to the peripheral speed of the shaped pipe. Therefore, in the tail end tract of the rolled product, an omega shaped bend or curl would be formed, located on the last coil. The presence of the curl is extremely undesirable since it causes problems of jamming in the operations to collect and stack the coils; it is therefore necessary to manually eliminate the curl.
The shaped pipe and the circumferential channel are subjected to great wear due to the passing of the rolled product inside them, and due to the centrifugal force to which they are subjected.
Therefore, the helical circumferential channel is normally provided removable, both due to problems of wear and also to adapt to the sizes of the rolled product in transit.
Known helical circumferential channels are of various types, including for example those with a free width, those with a controlled width, having a control side, two control sides, with the channel open radially toward the outside, with the channel open toward the axis of rotation, etc.
For example, in WO-A-00/44512, at exit from the shaped pipe a containing ring is provided that extends as far as the exit, comprising a diverging part that accompanies, in a gradual manner, the rolled product exiting from the axial pipe toward the outside, and a terminal part with a constant section, which accompanies the coil to the exit.
In PCT/EP2006/003619 two shaped pipes are provided, which from axial become circumferential, one being offset with respect to the other by 180°.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,242,892 it is provided that the shaped pipe that from axial becomes circumferential at least partly consists of replaceable elements, made solid with a positioning guide that defines its development as far as the circumferential part, extending for a small angle (about 50°) with a constant radius. The tract with the constant radius is not sufficient to vent the over-speed of the tail end tract and therefore does not guarantee a good conformation of the tail end coils. Moreover, this solution has a certain difficulty in assembly and dis-assembly, also because the seatings of the replaceable elements are integrated with the rotor and therefore the possible change of all the replaceable elements takes a long time. In the laying heads cited by the state of the art the pitch of the helix of the circumferential channel is fixed, and cannot be adapted to different requirements.
In WO 03/051553, which provides the possibility of working rolled products of different sizes, part of the circumferential channel consists of a plurality of guide segments with a channel open toward the outside, peripherally closed by a fixed external cylindrical protection. This solution has the main disadvantage that, in the case of small products, for example with a diameter of less than 12 mm, the size of the channel in which the product is made to pass is much bigger than the size of the product passing through, which causes the head and tail to knock against the external cylindrical protection and therefore defects to the head and tail of the product.
In document JP 2004 042123 A, as in U.S. Pat. No. 4,242,892 mentioned above, part of the shaped pipe consists of replaceable elements, but the replaceable elements, like the elements 30 in FIG. 1 of JP'123, also form part of the helical path of the rolled product, so that the part of the pipe consisting of the replaceable elements has first a growing radius, and only terminally, for an angular extension of less than about 90°, does it have a constant radius. This limited angular extension of the tract with the constant radius entails an insufficient control of the trajectory of the rolled product traveling at very high speed. Moreover, if it becomes necessary (for example to change product) to modify the pitch of the helix, the part connecting the part with the growing radius and the part with the constant radius creates difficulties in assembly and in the correctness of the alignment.
The present invention, compared with the state of the art, sets itself a plurality of purposes.
One purpose of the present invention is to obtain a guide for the rolled product in the last phase of the exit path from the laying head, which prevents or limits the traditional problems of deformation connected to the head and tail of the rolled product, especially for small products, 5-12 mm rolled at high speed, for example 90-120 m/s.
In particular, one purpose is to obtain, at exit from the laying head, a high quality rolled product with the head and tail of the coil perfectly conformed. Another purpose of the present invention is therefore to eliminate the need for the presence of an operator to intervene manually on the positioning of the heads and tails of the coils deposited on the belt, so that they do not create cobbles and therefore stoppages to the rolling process, with the corresponding losses in productivity.
Another purpose is to prevent, in particular for small diameters, the rolled product from repeatedly knocking against the walls of the containing and guide channel, thus deforming and deteriorating the final quality and increasing the wear on said walls.
Another purpose is to obtain a guide for the rolled product on all the sides thereof, as far as the exit.
Another purpose is to guide the rolled product as far as the exit from the laying head and to release the coils formed by it correctly, without creating deformations and stresses.
Another purpose of the invention is to make it easy to replace the whole or part of the guide tract of the rolled product most subject to wear.
Another purpose of the invention is to be able to easily replace the guide of the rolled product when the sizes of the rolled product change.
Another purpose is to be able to vary the value of the pitch of the helix in the terminal part of the guide for the rolled product, depending on the physical and/or technological characteristics of the rolled product.
Another purpose is to make it possible to obtain all the advantages described above also in double pipe laying heads.
The Applicant has devised, tested and embodied the present invention to overcome the shortcomings of the state of the art and to obtain these and other purposes and advantages.


An aircraft includes a rear vertical tail unit having two tail fins forming, with the rear part of a fuselage, a channel on the back of the fuselage. A turbine engine is arranged on the back of the fuselage so that gas streams generated by the turbine engine penetrate into the channel. The main landing gear of the aircraft is arranged integrally beneath the fuselage. The wings of the aircraft have a slight sweep angle and a large fineness ratio.

For example, document U.S. Pat. No. 3,936,017 has already disclosed an aircraft comprising:                a fuselage;        two wings arranged laterally with respect to said fuselage and not carrying any engines;        a rear vertical tail section consisting of at least two fins and forming, with the rear portion of said fuselage, a channel arranged on the back thereof; and        at least one turbine engine arranged on the back of said fuselage such that the gas streams generated by said turbine engine enter said channel.
Thus, owing to the design of the rear tail sections in the form of a channel and to the arrangement of the turbine engines at the entrance to the channel, it is possible to achieve a considerable reduction in sound emissions since the noise generated by the turbine engines is sucked in by the channel and is evacuated along the latter and upwardly away from the fuselage, that is to say away from the passengers situated at the rear of the aircraft cabin, and a fortiori away from residents living near airports. The noise generated is thus masked by the rear tail sections of the fuselage, which constitute an acoustic shield.

Low-noise aircraft, particularly at take-off and landing


In a navigation apparatus for a vehicle, a route is determined in an ordinary-road-preferential mode or a toll-road-preferential mode, and route guidance is provided based on the thus-determined route. When the vehicle deviates from the determined route, redetermination is conducted so as to obtain a new route based on which guidance is provided. For example, when the vehicle has deviated from a route determined in the ordinary-road-preferential mode in order to enter a toll road, the user operates a toll-road-preference ON touch button so to change the determination mode to the toll-road preferential mode, so that route redetermination is carried out in a state in which priority is given to toll roads. In the navigation apparatus, optimum interchanges of a special road are automatically searched, and a route that preferentially uses the special road is calculated.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a navigation apparatus for a vehicle in which a route is determined in an ordinary-road-preferential mode or a toll-road-preferential mode, and route guidance is provided based on the determined route. The present invention also relates to a navigation apparatus for a vehicle in which when priority is given to toll roads, proper interchanges are located during route determination.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a conventional navigation apparatus, upon input of a destination and enroute points, there is determined an optimum route that starts from the present position of the vehicle or a preset start point and reaches the destination after passing through the enroute points, and based on the thus-determined route, route guidance is provided by means of voice output and display.
In such a navigation apparatus, road map data is stored in a CD-ROM, and the road data is utilized for determination of an optimal route and creation of a map to be displayed on a display screen.
In such a case, road data for route determination is stored for each road section between intersections or between branch points. Specifically, there are stored information peculiar to each road section and information representing connections (links) between the road sections. The information peculiar to each road section includes a road length, a road width, and a road attribute. During route determination, a search cost is determined through use of these pieces of information. The road attribute indicates a road type that is determined based on the actual road; i.e., a highway, a national road, a prefectural road, or an ordinary road. Especially, toll roads such as a highway are regarded as special roads and are distinguished from other types of roads.
When route determination is performed through use of such a navigation apparatus, a user can select a toll-road-preferential mode, or an ordinary-road-preferential mode for route determination. When route determination is performed in the toll-road-preferential mode, the route determination is carried out after the search costs of toll roads are decreased relative to the case were the route determination is carried out in the ordinary-road-preferential mode. This technique realizes an improved route determination in which a route is determined so as to include a toll road or roads if possible when priority is given to toll roads, whereas a route is determined so as to avoid toll roads if possible when priority is given to ordinary roads. As described above, depending on a user's preference, the route can be changed to some extent.
Moreover, in the above-described navigation apparatus, when the vehicle deviates from a predetermined route during route guidance, a new route from the present position of the vehicle to the destination is determined automatically or in response to an instruction from the user, to thereby provide proper route guidance.
However, the above-described conventional navigation apparatus cannot satisfy the user in the following cases. When the user causes the navigation apparatus to determine a route in the toll-road-preferential mode, a route passing through a toll road or roads is determined. However, the user may feel that using the toll road or roads is not necessary, for example, in the case where a major road extends along the toll road or roads.
Also, when the user causes the navigation apparatus to determine a route in the ordinary-road-preferential mode, there is determined an improper route in some cases, for example, a route passing through an old road that is difficult to drive on while a newly opened toll tunnel or the like is avoided. In such a case, the user feels that the route passing through the toll tunnel or the like is preferable if the toll is not very expensive. Moreover, when the user travels to an unfamiliar destination, it may be difficult for him or her to determine whether the route determination is to be performed in the toll-road-preferential mode, or in the ordinary-road-preferential mode.
In the above-described cases, it is preferred that the selection of mode between the toll-road-preferential mode and the ordinary-road-preferential mode be carried out automatically unless there is a demand for route determination in which a route is determined such that toll roads or ordinary roads are excluded completely.
The accuracy of navigation apparatuses in detecting the present position has improved drastically; accordingly, the possibility that the user mistakenly deviates from the route due to a detection error of the present position has decreased. When the user deviates a road deviated from the determined route, the user may use the road intentionally due to some reasons. For example, when the user leaves a route that has been determined in the ordinary-road-preferential mode and then enters a toll road, if the navigation apparatus is in a mode for automatic redetermination, a new route is determined based on the present position of the vehicle, or the present position on the toll road. However, in the conventional apparatus, there is determined a route that leaves the toll road immediately and enters an ordinary road, because if an initial determination is conducted in the ordinary-road-preferential mode, the redetermination is also conducted in the ordinary-road-preferential mode.
In the above-described case, the user determines the initial route while giving priority to ordinary roads and then during travel the user changes the route to use a toll road. Such route change is often performed when ordinary roads on the route have heavy traffic and the user expects to require an extremely long time to pass through the traffic; i.e., when the user's intention has changed. Of course, the user can change the operation mode from the ordinary-road-preferential mode to the toll-road-preferential mode. However, the operation for switching the operation mode is troublesome.
There are opposite cases where the user determines the initial route while giving priority to toll roads and then during travel the user changes the route to use an ordinary road. Such route change is often made when the user obtains information indicating presence of a traffic jam or traffic regulation ahead on the toll road presently used and wants to avoid such a situation. In such cases, since the operation mode has been set to the toll-road preferential mode, a new route is determined to cause the driver to use the toll road again, so that the user's will or intention of leaving the original route is not reflected in the new route determination.
Moreover, in the conventional navigation apparatus, when route determination is performed in the toll-road-preferential mode, there is output a route which causes the driver to use an interchange which seems to be closest to the start point or the destination (see, for example, Japanese Patent Applications Laid-Open (kokai) Nos. 4-232812 and 5-341712).
However, in such a conventional navigation apparatus, when a route determination is performed in the toll-road-preferential mode, an interchange located in the direction opposite the direction of a destination that the user desires to go is sometimes selected because of the proximity of the interchange. In such a case, the user feels that the determined route is a long way around, an excess amount of fuel is consumed, and the driver is forced to turn the vehicle in the opposite direction, thereby making the maneuvering of the vehicle troublesome. Similar problems occur in the vicinity of the destination.

Navigation system with switching between an ordinary road preferential mode and a tall road preferential mode


A self-cleaning colloidal slurry and process for finishing a surface of a glass, ceramic, glass-ceramic, metal or alloy substrate for use in a data storage device, for example. The slurry comprises a carrying fluid, colloidal particles, etchant, and a surfactant adsorbed and/or precipitated onto a surface of the colloidal particles and/or substrate. The surfactant has a hydrophobic section that forms a steric hindrance barrier and substantially prevents contaminates, including colloidal particles, from bonding to the substrate surface. The slurry is applied to the surface of the substrate while a pad mechanically rubs the surface. Subsequent cleaning with standard soap solutions removes substantially all remaining contamination from the substrate surface. In an exemplary embodiment, the slurry is used to superfinish a glass disk substrate to a surface roughness of less than 2 Å, with substantially no surface contamination as seen by atomic force microscopy (AFM) after standard soap cleaning steps.

A typical data storage device includes a medium for storing data, typically in magnetic, magneto-optical or optical form, and a transducer used to write and read data respectively to and from the medium. A disk drive data storage device, for example, includes one or more data storage disks coaxially mounted on a hub of a spindle motor. The spindle motor rotates the data storage disks at speeds typically on the order of several thousand or more revolutions-per-minute. Digital information, representing various types of data, is typically written to and read from the data storage disks by one or more transducers, or read/write heads, which are mounted to an actuator assembly and passed over the surface of the rapidly rotating disks.
In a typical magnetic disk drive, for example, data is stored on a magnetic layer coated on a disk substrate. Several characteristics of disk substrates significantly affect the areal density of a disk drive. One such characteristic that significantly affects the areal density of a disk drive is the uniformity of the surface of the disk substrate, i.e., the absence of substrate surface defects. It is generally recognized that minimizing the flyheight, i.e., the clearance distance between the read/write head and the surface of a data storage disk, generally provides for increased areal densities. It is also recognized in the art, however, that the smoothness of the surface of a data storage disk becomes a critical factor and design constraint when attempting to minimize the flyheight. A significant decrease in flyheight provided by the use of data storage disks having highly uniform recording surfaces can advantageously result in increased transducer readback sensitivity and increased areal density of the disk drive. The uniformity of disk substrate surfaces affects the uniformity of the recording surfaces because the layers sputtered onto the disk substrate, such as the magnetic layer, replicate any irregular surface morphology of the disk substrate.
Conventionally, disk substrates have been based upon aluminum, such as NiP coated Al/Mg alloy substrates. Coating the aluminum magnesium alloy with a nickel-phosphorus plate provides a harder exterior surface which allows the disk substrate to be polished and superfinished. A conventional superfinishing process and slurry is described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,236,542 to Hartog et al., which is assigned to the assignee of the present application. Typically, the Al/Mg—NiP substrate is superfinished to a smooth finish with a colloidal slurry, e.g., a pH adjusted aqueous slurry containing colloidal silica and/or colloidal alumina particles and an etching agent such as aluminum nitrate, prior to sputtering with thin film magnetic coatings. The colloidal alumina and silica slurries are then cleaned from the substrate by the general cleaning mechanisms of mechanical scrubbing, dispersion and etching. Surfactants and pH are generally used for dispersion cleaning, where the surfactant and pH act to separate the slurry particles from each other and from the substrate. Etching is generally accomplished by acids and acid soaps that erode or dissolve the substrate material beneath embedded slurry particles (under-cut) to release them from the substrate. Typical acids in use for NiP plated Al-based substrates include, for example, straight phosphoric acid, nitric acid, hydrofluoric acid-based soaps and phosphoric acid-based soaps. The straight acids generally have a pH less than 1 and the soaps generally have pH's above 1.
After cleaning, the substrates are sputtered with a series of layers, e.g., a chrome underlayer, a magnetic layer and a carbon protection layer. If residual slurry particles are left on the substrate or if there is galling to the relatively soft NiP layer, the sputtered layers replicate the irregular surface morphology, creating a bumpy surface on the finished disk. When the read/write head glides over the surface, it crashes into bumps created by the residual particles and/or damage that is higher than the glide clearance. This is known as a glide defect, which can ultimately cause disk drive failure. These bumps further cause magnetic defects, corrosion and decreased disk life. Thus, the residual slurry particles and/or damage needs to be removed from the superfinished substrate surface so that the substrate is as smooth as possible.
Unfortunately, aluminum-based substrates have relatively low specific stiffness, as well as relatively low impact and dent resistance. For example, the relatively low specific stiffness of the Al/Mg—NiP substrates (typically 3.8 Mpsi/gm/cc) makes this type of disk substrate susceptible to environmental forces which create disk flutter and vibration and which may cause the read/write head to impact and dent the disk substrate surface.
More recently, glass substrates have been used for disk drives in portable devices, such as laptop computers. Glass substrates have a higher impact and dent resistance than aluminum-based substrates, which is important in portable devices where the unit is subject to being bumped, dropped and banged around, causing the read/write head to bang on the disk substrate surface. Moreover, the specific stiffness of glass or glass-ceramic substrates (typically ≦6 or 7 Mpsi/gm/cc) is typically higher than that of aluminum-based substrates.
An additional benefit of glass is that it is easier to polish to and maintain as a smooth surface finish (as compared to NiP) than aluminum-based substrates. A smoother substrate allows the read/write head to fly closer to the disk, which produces a higher density recording. Glide height for some computer disk drives is on the order of 20 nanometers (about 200 Å) and less, which is an extremely small interface distance. Thus, the fact that glass substrates can be polished to smoother finishes makes an industry shift from Al-based substrates to glass substrates desirable, not only for disk drives used in portable devices, but for disk drives used in stationary devices as well.
The surface uniformity of glass substrates can still present a problem, however, especially for low glide heights (typically ≦20 nanometers) and near contact recording. Just as with aluminum-based substrates, the surface of the glass substrate needs to be polished and superfinished with a slurry to provide an atomically smooth surface prior to sputtering. Such a conventional superfinishing polish process and slurry is also described in the above referenced U.S. Pat. No. 6,236,542 to Hartog et al. Typically, the glass substrate is superfinished to a smooth finish with a colloidal slurry, e.g., a pH adjusted aqueous slurry containing colloidal silica and/or colloidal alumina particles and an etching agent such as cerium sulfate, prior to sputtering with thin film magnetic coatings.
In this conventional superfinishing polish process colloidal silica particles attach to the surface being polished not only by the usual London dispersion forces, van der Waals forces and hydrogen bonding, but unlike NiP, also by molecular bonding even though the slurry has the usual stabilizing agents used in the colloidal silica to prevent the silica particles from sticking to each other (interparticle siloxane bonding), charge repulsion and/or steric stabilizers. Standard methods of scrubbing with soaps using polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) pads, ultrasonics or megasonics will not remove any significant percentage of such molecular bonded silica particles. Just as with aluminum-based substrates, if these particles are left in place on the glass substrate, glide defects occur that can ultimately cause disk drive failure. These glide defects further cause magnetic defects, corrosion and decreased disk life.
An apparent solution to this problem would be to use stronger acid or base solutions than the cleaning soap, to etch the glass substrate or undercut the slurry particles similar to what can be done to remove hard alpha alumina from Al/Mg—NiP substrates after non-superfinish polish slurries. The surface finish of glass and NiP substrates are, however, damaged by such a technique by surface topography change such as pitting and chemical composition changes. Glass has low resistance to acid etching and overly aggressive acid solutions, such as hydrofluoric acid and caustic etching at high pH's and temperatures. Damage and compositional change to the superfinished glass surface will adversely affect the morphology of layers deposited by subsequent sputtering processes and can cause magnetic, glide and corrosion failures. Moreover, acid or base etching adds to the equipment requirements, production cycle times and cost.
Another apparent solution to this problem would be to micropolish the surface of the glass substrate, e.g., by using a burnishing head, to remove the glide defects prior to applying the sputtered layers, such as a magnetic layer and a carbon protection layer. However, glass substrates cannot be effectively micropolished because applying the burnishing head to the glass surface can cause micro-fracturing rather than just a surface levelling. The micro-fractured site becomes a risk for corrosion and/or a growing defect. Moreover, micropolishing adds to the equipment requirements, production cycle times and cost.
Yet another solution to this problem is to use a cleaning polish etch solution/process (a process performed by running disk substrates on a polishing pad using an etch solution instead of a slurry, i.e., there are no slurry particles in the cleaning polish etch solution) with acid, neutral or base solutions to etch the glass substrate and/or the attached slurry particles under polish conditions thereby maintaining the superfinish surface while removing the superfinish polish slurry debris by etching and dilution. Such a cleaning polish etch solution/process is as disclosed in the copending application Ser. No. 09/976,408 entitled "CLEANING POLISH ETCH COMPOSITION AND PROCESS FOR A SUPERFINISHED SURFACE OF A SUBSTRATE", assigned to the same assignee as the present application, and filed concurrently with the present application. Etching by itself (i.e., the first solution discussed above) with PVA scrub, ultrasonics or megasonics is what has been done to remove slurry particles from Al/Mg—NiP or glass substrates, but with the less than 20 nm glide heights now in use, a cleaning polish etch solution/process is needed to ensure 100% surface cleaning of particles that small (i.e., the lower the glide height, the smaller the particles needing to be removed, and thus the more difficult they are to remove) while maintaining the surface finish. The cleaning polish etch process, however, adds equipment and handling costs. Nonetheless, without the cleaning polish etch process the surface of the glass substrate can be damaged by using only chemical etch due to the low resistance of the glass material to acid etching or overly aggressive caustic etch solutions.
Another example of a colloidal slurry that may be used to superfinish a glass substrate is Ferro SRS 596 "Specially Processed Cerium Oxide in an Aqueous Slurry" available from Ferro Electronic Materials, Penn Yan, N.Y. The Ferro SRS 596 slurry is thought to be composed of <50% lanthanum series oxides and fluorides, <20% amorphous fumed silica and <2% titanium dioxide. The average particle size is 500 nm and the slurry has pH 7-10. Because the Ferro SRS 596 slurry contains rare earth oxides (lanthanum series oxides), one or more of the cleaning mechanisms (e.g., etching via a special strong acid cleaning) discussed above are needed to remove these particles. In addition, because the Ferro SRS 596 slurry contains fumed silica, scratching of the substrate surface results due to the inherent presence of silica aggregates in the fumed silica, limiting the surface finish possible.
If the market trend toward glass substrates in disk drives is to succeed, a mechanism other than the cleaning techniques of etching, micropolishing, or cleaning polish etch, is required for mitigating slurry particles which adhere to the surfaces of the substrates that are finished using a slurry. Preferably, such a mechanism would improve production cycle times and costs (as compared to the cleaning techniques of etching, micropolishing, or cleaning polish etch), but would not alter the finish of the substrate or surface stability to corrosion.

Self-cleaning colloidal slurry composition and process for finishing a surface of a substrate

International Business Machines Corporation