A mixing apparatus for mixing relatively low salinity fluid with relatively high salinity fluid comprises a housing having an upper end and a lower end, a fluid inlet at or near the lower end, and a fluid outlet at or near the upper end, wherein the relatively high salinity fluid in use enters the housing through the fluid inlet and is discharged from the housing through the fluid outlet. A feed tube is provided and has a first end connectable to a source of relatively low salinity fluid and second end for introducing relatively low salinity fluid to the housing to mix the relatively high salinity fluid with the relatively low salinity fluid to form a fluid mixture. At least one power generator is associated with the housing, and is driven by the mixing of the relatively high salinity fluid with the relatively low salinity fluid.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to hydraulic power generation systems and, in particular, to an apparatus and method for generating power using a novel pseudo-osmosis process which efficiently exploits the osmotic energy potential between two bodies of water having different salinity concentrations.
2. Description of the Related Art
About 20% of the world's electricity is generated using hydropower. In the United States alone this resource accounts for about 12% of the nation's supply of electricity, producing more than 90,000 megawatts of electricity annually and meeting the needs of approximately 28.3 million consumers each year. Hydropower is a clean source of natural energy. Not only is it environmentally friendly (and even beneficial in terms of flood control, etc.), but it is also extremely cost-efficient. In the Northwest, for example, electricity from hydropower plants typically costs about $10 per megawatt hour to produce. This compares to about $60, $45 and $25 per megawatt hour to produce electricity at nuclear, coal and natural gas power plants, respectively.
However, current hydroelectric power plants are configured to recover only the energy component of water that is released as a result of elevational changes. In particular, hydroelectric power is typically generated by dropping 200–300 feet-head (61–91 m-head) of fresh water from a higher elevation to a lower elevation across a rotating turbine coupled to an electrical generator. The exhaust water flow is discharged at the lower elevation as energy-depleted fresh water run-off. But, as will be explained in more detail below, this fresh water run-off is not completely depleted of energy. In fact, the amount of remaining recoverable energy in the discharged fresh water can be as great as the equivalent of 950 feet-head (290 m-head) of water or more. To understand the nature and origin of this additional recoverable energy component it is helpful to look at how fresh water is created.
Fresh water begins as water vapor that is evaporated from the oceans by solar energy. This water vapor rises into the atmosphere whereupon it cools. Cooling causes the water vapors to condense into clouds, ultimately resulting in precipitation. Some of this precipitation occurs over land masses forming fresh-water lakes, accumulated snow-fall and an extensive network of associated rivers, streams, aquifers and other forms of water run-off. Ultimately, all or virtually all of this fresh water run-off makes its way back to the oceans, thus completing the cycle. In fact, throughout the world enormous quantities of fresh water is freely washed into the ocean each year as part of the naturally occurring water cycle and/or as part of various human interventions such as hydro-power facilities, municipal waste water treatment facilities, and the like.
The overall driving force behind the water cycle is solar energy radiating from the sun over millions of square miles of exposed ocean waters each day. It is this solar energy that causes evaporation of fresh water vapors from the relatively high-saline ocean waters. The amount of radiant solar energy absorbed in this process is enormous, representing approximately 2,300 kJ/kg (0.64 kW-hr/kg) of water evaporated. This absorbed energy causes a concomitant increase in the latent energy or enthalpy of the evaporated water. The vast majority of this latent energy (approximately 99%) is dissipated as heat energy into the atmosphere upon re-condensing of the water vapors into clouds. However, a small but significant portion of this latent energy (approximately 0.13%) remains stored within the resulting fresh-water precipitation. This remaining non-dissipated stored energy represents the so-called "free energy of mixing" (or "heat of mixing") of fresh water into sea water. Specifically, it is the additional incremental energy (beyond the energy of evaporation of pure water) that is required to separate the fresh water (or other solvent) from the salt water solution (or other solvent/solute solution).
The free energy of mixing reflects an increase in entropy of water (or other solvent) when it is transformed from its pure (fresh-water) state to its diluted (salt-water) state. It is a physical property of solvents, such as water, that they have a natural tendency to migrate from an area of relatively low solute concentration (lower entropy) to an area of relatively high solute concentration (higher entropy). Thus, an entropy gradient is created whenever two bodies of water or other solvent having differing solute concentrations are brought into contact with one another and begin to mix. This entropy gradient can be physically observed and measured in the well-known phenomena known as osmosis.
Osmosis is the flow of water through a selectively permeable membrane (i.e., permeable to water, but impermeable to dissolved solutes) from a lower concentration of solute to a higher one. It is a colligative phenomenon—that is, it is not dependent on the nature of the solute, only on the total molar concentration of all dissolved species. Pure water is defined as having an osmotic potential of zero. All water-based solutions have varying degrees of negative osmotic potential. Many references discuss osmotic potential in terms of pressure across a semi-permeable membrane since the easiest way to measure the effect is to apply pressure to the side of the membrane with higher negative osmotic potential until the net flow is canceled. "Reverse osmosis" is the phenomena that occurs when additional pressure is applied across a selectively permeable membrane to the point of reversing the natural flow-direction there-through, resulting in separation of the solvent from the solute.
But, just as it takes energy to separate an amount of fresh water from a body of salt water, such as through solar evaporation or using the well-known reverse-osmosis desalinization process, remixing the fresh water back into the ocean waters results in the release of an equal amount of stored energy (approximately 2.84 kJ/kg) of fresh water. If this source of latent stored energy could somehow be efficiently exploited, it could result in the production of enormous amounts of inexpensive electrical power from a heretofore untapped and continually renewable energy resource.
For example, if 30% of the average flow from the Columbia River could be diverted into a device that recovered this latent free energy of mixing or osmotic energy potential at 100% efficiency, it would generate 6,300 megawatts of power. To put this in perspective, the current hydroelectric facility of the Grand Coulee Dam on the Columbia River (the largest hydroelectric power plant in the United States and the third largest in the world) generates a peak output of 6,800 megawatts. If the flow from the Weber River into the Great Salt Lake could be diverted through such a device, it would generate 400 megawatts of power. Such a device would be of enormous benefit to people throughout the world, particularly those in remote regions where electrical power generation by conventional means may be difficult or impractical.
Various proposals have been made over the years for possible ways of commercially exploiting this attractive source of natural, renewable energy. For example, Jellinek (U.S. Pat. No. 3,978,344) proposed to pass fresh water through a semi-permeable membrane into a salt or brine solution. The resulting osmotic pressure differential across the membrane would then be used to eject a stream of salt water through an outlet orifice to drive a water wheel coupled to an electrical power generator to generate electrical power. Similarly, Loeb (U.S. Pat. No. 3,906,250) describes a method and apparatus for generating power utilizing pressure retarded osmosis through a semi-permeable membrane.
Each of the above approaches, like many others heretofore advocated, rely on a forward osmosis process utilizing a semi-permeable membrane to obtain useful work from the difference in osmotic potential exerted across the membrane. While such systems may have useful application on a small scale under certain limited conditions, full-scale commercial development and exploitation of such power-generation systems is hampered by the large membrane surface area required to achieve adequate flow rates and the expense and difficulty of maintaining such semi-permeable membranes. Although modern advances in synthetic materials have produced membranes that are very efficient at rejecting brine solutes and are tough enough to withstand high pressures, such membranes are still susceptible to clogging, scaling and general degradation over time. For example, river water used as a fresh-water source would likely carry a variety of solutes and other suspended sediment or contaminants which could easily clog the membrane, requiring filtering and/or periodic cleaning. Treated effluent from a municipal waste-water treatment plant used as a fresh water source would present similar and possibly additional complications, making such approach commercially impractical.
Urry (U.S. Pat. No. 5,255,518) proposed an alternative method and apparatus for exploiting osmotic energy potential in a manner that does not utilize a semi-permeable membrane. In particular, Urry proposed the use of a specially formulated bio-elastomer. The bio-elastomer is selected such that it alternately and reversibly contracts or expands when exposed to different concentrations of a brine solution. A mechanical engine is proposed for converting the expansion and contraction motion of individual bio-elastomer elements into useful work. While such a system demonstrates the usefulness of the general approach, the proposed system utilizing bio-elastomer elements or the like is not readily suited for large-scale, low cost energy production. To produce useful energy on a commercial scale such a system would require a vast number of bio-elastic elements having very large surface area. Again, the exposed surface area would be subject to contamination and degradation over time, as with the membranes discussed above, making such a system prohibitively expensive to construct and maintain.
Assaf (U.S. Pat. No. 4,617,800) proposed another alternative apparatus for producing energy from concentrated brine in a manner that does not utilize a semi-permeable membrane or specially formulated bio-elastomer. In particular, Assaf proposed using a system of steam evaporation and re-condensation. In this approach steam is first generated by heating fresh water in an evaporator and passing the steam through a turbine to drive an electric generator. The condensed steam is then passed to a condenser wherein it is contacted with a flow of concentrated brine, generating heat from the heat of dilution of the brine. It is proposed that the evolved heat would then be transmitted though a heat-exchanger element back to the evaporator to generate steam from the fresh water. While this approach generally avoids the membrane and large surface area contamination problems discussed above, it is not ideally suited for large-scale, low cost energy production. This is because of the number and complexity of components involved and the need to heat and cool the fresh water in pressure sealed evaporator and condenser units. Such a system would be expensive to construct and operate on a commercial scale.
Thus, there remains a need for a method and apparatus for efficiently exploiting the osmotic energy potential between fresh water and sea water (and/or other solutions).


A pocket clip is attached at a first end to a tool such as a folding knife. A roller assembly is provided at a second end of the clip with a portion extending toward the tool. The roller assembly includes a ratchet wheel between a pair of elastomeric roller wheels. A pawl engages the ratchet wheel and limits rotation of the roller assembly such that the assembly rotates in one direction around an axis transverse to a longitudinal axis of the tool, and resists rotation in an opposite direction. When the tool is positioned in a user's pocket, a panel of the pocket engages the roller assembly, which rotates substantially freely, permitting the pocket panel to slide easily between the pocket clip and the surface of the tool. However, the roller assembly resists movement of the pocket panel in the opposite direction, holding the tool securely in the pocket.

Folding knives have been popular for centuries because of their relative safety and convenience. They have found use in an extremely wide range of applications, and are especially popular among sportsmen and individuals who work outdoors. In recent years, pocket clips attached to such knives have become popular as they allow a user to clip the knife to a pocket panel rather than placing the knife at the bottom of the pocket, which may improve comfort of the user while carrying the knife, reduce bulkiness in the pocket, and hold the knife more securely against accidental loss.
Representative examples of folding knives with pocket clips may be found in U.S. Pat. No. 4,347,665, issued Sep. 7, 1982 to Glesser, and D488,045, issued Apr. 6, 2004 to Onion; and in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/701,119, filed Jan. 31, 2007, in the names of the present inventors.


A panel type display device for minimizing temperature increase in the interior of a case and a display panel. The display device includes a case, a display panel mounted in an interior of the case, at least one circuit board for controlling the display panel, a first cooling fluid path for cooling the display panel, and a second cooling fluid path for cooling the circuit board. In the display device, the first and second cooling fluid paths are separated from each other.

1. Field of the Invention
Apparatuses consistent with the present invention relate generally to a panel type display device and, more particularly, to a panel type display device capable of minimizing temperature increase in the interior of a case and a display panel.
2. Description of the Related Art
A panel type display device, such as a Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) or a Plasma Display Panel (PDP), has a flat type panel on which images are displayed. The panel type display device has a thinner thickness and a lighter weight as compared with those of a conventional cathode ray tube (CRT) display device.
As disclosed in Japanese Patent Unexamined Publication No. 2006-162641, such a display device includes a case having front and rear cases, a display panel mounted in an interior of the case, and circuit boards mounted in the interior of the case to be electrically connected to the display panel. Air inlets through which air flows are formed at a lower portion of the rear case, and air outlets through which air is exhausted are formed at an upper portion of the rear case. Air flowing through the lower air inlets cools down the display panel and the circuit boards in the interior of the case, and is then exhausted through the upper air outlets.
However, in such a display device, a display panel and circuit boards, from which heat is produced, are mounted in the same space, such as the interior of a case. For this reason, there is a problem in that the internal temperature of the case is increased due to inter-heating between the display panel and the circuit boards. Such a temperature increase causes the surface temperature of a display panel to be increased. In the case of an LCD panel, the temperature increase causes deterioration of the liquid crystal.


An MOS device is formed including a semiconductor layer of a first conductivity type, a first source/drain region of a second conductivity type formed in the semiconductor layer, and a second source/drain region of the second conductivity type formed in the semiconductor layer and spaced apart from the first source/drain region. A gate is formed proximate an upper surface of the semiconductor layer and at least partially between the first and second source/drain regions. The MOS device further includes at least one contact, the at least one contact including a silicide layer formed on and in electrical connection with at least a portion of the first source/drain region, the silicide layer extending laterally away from the gate. The contact further includes at least one insulating layer formed directly on the silicide layer.

Power MOS devices, including laterally diffused metal-oxide-semiconductor (LDMOS) devices, are employed in a variety of applications, such as, for example, power amplifiers in wireless communications systems. A conventional LDMOS device utilizes a multiple-level metal fabrication process for forming an interconnection between regions of differing conductivity types (e.g., n-type and p-type) in a source region of the device. The source current is then generally routed via a low resistance p-type region to the back of the wafer, where a source contact is formed.
In applications where high-frequency operation is desired, such as in a radio frequency (RF) range (e.g., above 1 gigahertz (GHz)), the conventional methodology for forming the LDMOS device results in a relatively high input capacitance Cgs (e.g., about 80 picofarad (pF) for a 50 micron device). The high input capacitance can cause a variety of undesirable effects, including device mismatching, narrow bandwidth, and low power gain. In order to minimize the input capacitance in the LDMOS device, a conventional approach has been to scale back the source contact area, thereby increasing a distance between the gate and the source interconnection of the device. While this approach may reduce the input capacitance of the LDMOS device, a source resistance Rs of the device is substantially increased due, at least in part, to the reduction in source contact area. In some cases, the increase in source resistance significantly undermines any beneficial reduction in the input capacitance provided by scaling back the source contact area.
Previous attempts to improve the high-frequency performance of the LDMOS device have primarily focused on optimizing the trade-off between input capacitance and source resistance. These prior attempts, however, have been unsuccessful at providing a CMOS process compatible LDMOS device capable of high-frequency operation. Accordingly, there exists a need for an LDMOS device capable of improved high-frequency performance which does not suffer from one or more of the above-noted deficiencies of the prior art. Furthermore, it would be desirable if such an LDMOS device was fully compatible with a CMOS process technology.

Metal-oxide-semiconductor device with enhanced source electrode


A reduced state maximum likelihood sequence estimator allows the use of improved equalization techniques that provides greatly improved performance for channels with severe attenuation and spectral nulls. The reduced state maximum likelihood sequence estimator retains kn states of a total number of K states, kn<K, with each retained state having an associated state metric. (J)(kn) new states are determined based on kn previous states and a most recently received sample, using J transitions, J being a less than L, where L is a size of a symbol alphabet. (J)(kn) new state metrics are determined which are respectively associated with each new state. The new state metrics are compared to a threshold and those states whose metric does not exceed the threshold are retained. The reduced complexity of the MLSE allows for the use of partial response equalizers, e.g., a partial response class V (PRV) equalizer. The number of retained states kn varies according to an adaptive threshold which limits the number of retained states between a lower bound and an upper bound. The threshold may be determined according to the metric of the most likely state of the retained states and a selected one of a plurality of transition metrics associated with the most likely state metric.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to data communications and in particular to efficient partial response equalization.
2. Description of the Related Art
The received signal in a digital communication system includes noise and distortion caused at least in part by intersysmbol interference (ISI). One such digital communication system employs modems, which use digital modulation techniques to modulate and demodulate binary data over analog band-limited communications channels, e.g., telephone lines.
Modems typically conform to international standards to ensure interoperability with modems from other manufacturers. One such standard is the V.34 specification described in ITU-T Recommendation V.34, A Modem Operating at Data Signalling Rates of up to 28 800 bits/s for Use on the General Switched Telephone Network and on Leased Point-to-Point 2-Wire Telephone-Type Circuits, dated September, 1994 (previously CCITT Recommendation V.34), which is hereby incorporated herein, in its entirety, by reference. Another such standard is the V.90 specification described in ITU-T Recommendation V.90, A Digital Modem and Analogue Modem Pair For Use on the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) At Data Signalling Rates of Up To 56 000 bits/s Downstream and Up To 33 600 bits/s Upstream, dated September, 1998, which is hereby incorporated herein, in its entirety, by reference.
Maximum Likelihood Sequence Estimators (MLSE) are widely used in data communications such as modem communications for decoding data passed through the channels with intersymbol interference (ISI) and for decoding convolutionally encoded data. The Viterbi algorithm (VA) is quite often used to implement MLSE. A brief description of the Viterbi algorithm, which is well known in the art, is provided to facilitate an understanding of the present invention.
Assume that a sequence of symbols x={xi}, i∈]−∞; ∞[, xi∈A={a1, a2, . . . aL} is transmitted through a channel with impulse response h={hi}, such that hi≠0 only when 0<hi<=M, where M−1 is the number of history terms contained in the channel. The signal received at the other end of the channel in the absence of noise is defined as y=x*h, where "*" denotes a convolution. If the noise η is added to the signal in the channel, then the signal at the other end of the channel contains that noise and is defined as z=y+η. The receiver must reconstruct the transmitted sequence of symbols x, based on the received sequence z. At the time nT the following can be used to reconstruct the most recently sent symbol xn:xn=(yn−(xn−1h1+ . . . +xn−M+1hM−1))/ho  (1)
From the equation (1) it can be seen that besides the received signal yn, value xn depends on the vector {xn−1, . . . xn−M+1} of M−1 previously decoded symbols. That vector will be further referred to herein as a state. With each new decoded symbol, the state of the decoder changes to reflect the new value of the vector {xn−1, . . . xn−M+1}. That is, if at a time nT the state was {xn−1, . . . xn−M+1} then at a time (n+1)T the new state will be {xn−1, . . . xn−M+2} and so forth. That change will be further referred herein as a state transition. The history of state transitions represents a state trajectory. Since each symbol xn belongs to a finite alphabet A of size L, there can only be K=LM−1 unique states. All states comprise a state set S={s1, s2, . . . sK}, where each element sk is a vector of M−1 elements that belong to alphabet A such that sk≠sm for k≠m.
Since the noiseless channel output yn is not available to the receiver, the value of xn cannot be determined with absolute certainty, and instead an estimate is used:xn=(zn−(xn−1h1+ . . . +xn−M+1hM−1))/ho  )2)The Euclidean distance, tn1, from the alphabet element a1 to the estimate xn, is defined as tn1=(xn−a1)2, which provides the measure of likelihood that the transmitted symbol xn equals a1 at the time nT.
In a simple receiver, the alphabet element with the minimum Euclidean distance is selected and xn is assumed to be equal to that alphabet element. However if xn is not determined correctly (e.g. due to noise), that incorrect value will cause an incorrect state transition causing future symbols to be decoded incorrectly affecting in turn future state transitions and so on. That condition is called "error propagation."
To avoid the "error propagation" problem, all possible decoder states and all possible state transitions must be examined. A state metric Dn={dn1, dn2, . . . , dnK} defines the measure of likelihood, such that each element dnk defines the measure of likelihood of state sk at a time nT which is directly related to the Euclidean distance of the elements of the symbol vector corresponding to state sk. The relationship of the state metric D and state set S is shown in FIG. 1 in which set S is shown to consist of four states s1 through s4. In the example shown in FIG. 1 A∈(0,1), L=2, and M=3. Each state s1 through s4 has an associated state metric d1 through d4 in D.    1. For each state sk of a set S, calculate a symbol estimate xnk, based on received symbol zn according to equation (2) above.    2. For each state sk of a set S, consider L transitions from that state, and for each transition combination (k,1) calculate a combined metric dk1=dk+tk1, where tk1 is a Euclidean distance of the alphabet element a1 from the symbol estimate xnk, tk1=(xnk−a1)2.    3. For each state sk of a set S, consider L transitions to that state, selecting the one with the minimum combined metric d calculated during step 2 and assign its value to the state metric dk.    4. Find the state with the minimum metric dk storing a transition that led to that state as a candidate optimal trajectory.    5. The first four steps are repeated for each value of n, i.e., for each received symbol.
The optimal trajectory for the state with the smallest metric is considered the optimal path (most likely sequence) at a given time. As it can be seen from the above description, the computational complexity of the Viterbi algorithm is proportional to LM. For high speed communication systems over band limited channels the value of L is large, thus making the Viterbi algorithm complexity potentially prohibitive even for channels with relatively short impulse response.
One use of the Viterbi algorithm, as stated above, is in modem data transmission. Such transmission is always affected by linear intersymbol interference (ISI) and by noise. Those two impairments are typically countered by equalization, a technique which minimizes ISI and noise at periodic instances at which decisions are taken. The ultimate goal of the equalizer is to minimize a combined effect of ISI and noise and thus reduce the probability of incorrect decisions. Traditionally, dial up modem designers used Linear Equalizers (LE) to do the job. The performance of LE is quite satisfactory when the combination of the channel impulse response and the equalizer can form a Nyquist-1 pulse to satisfy the distortionless (zero ISI) criterion. To achieve that goal, the bandwidth of the channel has to be wider than the symbol rate employed by the modem.
The new generation of modems conforming to the V.90 recommendation no longer satisfy this criterion. The impulse response of a PCM codec is designed to achieve satisfactory transmission of voice signals, and its bandwidth is always more narrow than the 8000 Hz symbol rate used by a modem conforming to the V.90 standard. The spectral nulls at DC and 4000 Hz generate infinite noise enhancements when LE is employed. To reduce such noise enhancements, more advanced equalization techniques should be used. Those are decision feedback equalizers (DFE) and partial response equalizers (PRE). Although usually treated separately, LE and PRE are just special cases of DFE. DFE includes two portions: the forward equalizer (FE) and the feedback equalizer (FBE). Both the FE and the FBE can be implemented as linear FIR filters, where the input samples serve as an input to the FE and the previously decoded symbols serve as input to the FBE. The output of both the FE and the FBE are added together and the result is used as the basis for decisions for determining the transmitted signal. DFE allows some ISI to remain at the output of FE to be then canceled by FBE. It has been shown that DFE can be the optimum receiver with no decision delay. When used in conjunction with Viterbi detector, (VD) DFE becomes a powerful tool in battling ISI even for channels with spectral nulls.
However the implementation of a Viterbi detector grows considerably more complex with number of levels used by the transmission symbols and by number of taps in the FBE. The computational complexity of a Viterbi detector is proportional to LM where M is the number of FBE taps and L is the size of the transmitted symbols alphabet.
Partial response equalizers (PRE), being a special case of DFE are used to reduce the computational complexity of the Viterbi detector by forcing the FE to leave uncanceled only a controlled amount of ISI, thus requiring only a small number of FBE taps to cancel it. The combination of channel impulse response and FE of PRE form a response, called Partial Response (PR), which contains only a few, usually integer-valued coefficients, thus allowing controlled levels of ISI from a small number of symbols to be present at the instances of decision making. A Viterbi detector is then employed to remove that ISI and make the most probable decision. The choice of partial response depends heavily on the transmission channel. When spectral characteristics of the partial response match those of a channel, the FE has an easier task and noise enhancement is limited. For a channel with spectral nulls, it is highly desirable to use a partial response having spectral nulls at the same positions to avoid infinite noise enhancement. A pulse code modulation (PCM) channel has two spectral nulls: one around DC, another around 4000 Hz, thus confining the choice of the partial response for PCM modem to those with the same spectral nulls. Class IV Partial Response (PRIV) often called modified duobinary, has long been used for the channels with similar characteristics and is well known in the art.
The PRIV FE output contains the difference of two symbols spaced by two symbol intervals:yn=xn−xn−2
Since ISI from only one symbol is present, the number of states of the Viterbi detector equals L—the size of the symbol alphabet. For data rates achievable by a V.90 compliant modem, L128. Although implementation of 128-state Viterbi decoder is not trivial, Set Partitioning, a well known technique in the art, can be used to reduce the number of Viterbi detector states to a more manageable number. However, when the channel has severe attenuation at a wider range of frequencies adjacent to DC and 4000 Hz, the noise enhancement by a class IV partial response equalizer becomes intolerable.
Therefore, it would be desirable to utilize a partial response equalizer that does not exhibit intolerable noise enhancement and to have the performance of a Viterbi decoder with manageable complexity.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


Three structural components jointly constituting a single guide link of a silent chain, i.e., two guide plates, at least one guide link plate disposed between the guide plates, and two round connector pins press-fitted in the guide plates are constructed to satisfy the expression

The present invention relates to a silent chain having a large number of interleaved link plates articulately connected by round connector pins in an endless fashion.
Silent chains of the type concerned have guide links and articular links alternately arranged in the direction of the length of the silent chain and they are articulately connected together in an endless fashion by means of round connector pins. The guide links each have a pair of guide plates and at least one guide link plate disposed laterally between the guide plates. The guide plates and guide link plate each have a pair of pin holes spaced in the longitudinal direction of the chain. The articular links each have at least two laterally aligned articular link plates each having a pair of pin holes spaced in the longitudinal direction of the chain, rile number of the articular link plates being one more than the number of the guide link plates. The articular link plates in each of the articular links are interleaved with the guide plates and guide link plates in the adjacent link plate.
In assembly, one of the pin holes, located near a leading end (as viewed in the advancing direction of the chain) of each guide plate of one guide link and one of the pin holes, located near a leading end of the guide link plate of the same guide link are laterally aligned with one of the pin holes, located near a trailing end (as viewed in the advancing direction of the chain) of each articular link plate of the adjacent articular link, and one round connector pin is inserted through the laterally aligned holes in the guide plates, guide link plate and articular link plates, so that the guide links and the articular links are connected together in an endless fashion. The outside diameter of the round connector pin is made smaller than the inside diameter of the pin holes of the guide link plate and articular link plates so as to define a space or clearance between the outer peripheral surface of the connector pin and the inner peripheral surface of the mating pin holes of the guide and articular link plates, so that the adjacent guide and articular links can bend or articulate about the round connector pin when the chain wraps around a sprocket. The round connector pin is press-fitted with the guide plates to avoid unintentional disassembly of the silent chain.
Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. (HEI) 11-201238 shows a conventional silent chain, in which the pitch of the guide plates (represented by the distance between pin hole centers in each guide plate) is initially made larger than the pitch of the guide and articular link plates (represented by the distance between pin hole centers in each link plate). After the assembly of the silent chain, the silent chain is prestressed to plastically deform the link plates to such an extent that the pitch of the guide plates and the pitch of the link plates are substantially equal with each other.
However, as shown here in FIG. 8, since the pitch of the guide plates 50 is equal to the pitch of the guide link plates 52, an annular space is defined between the outer peripheral surface of each round connector pin 54 and the inner peripheral surface of the mating pin hole of each guide link plate 52 in concentric relation to the round connector pin 54. With this arrangement, when the conventional chain is subjected to a tensile force, the tensile force in each guide link acts concentratedly on the guide plates 50.
As a result, the guide plates 50 are deformed into a bow-like shape and the round connector pins 54 are bent, as shown in FIG. 9. The amount of deformation of the guide plates and round connector pins may increase until the outer peripheral surface of each round connector pin 54 contacts the inner peripheral surface of the mating pin hole of one guide link plate 52a which is located at the center in the transverse direction of the guide link.
With the outer peripheral surface of the round connector pin being in contact with the inner peripheral surface of the pin hole in the central guide link plate 52a, in the guide links, a tensile force acting on the silent chain is born solely by the guide plates 50 and the central guide link plate 52a. In the articular links, due to the bend or deformation of the round connector pins 54, the tensile force acting on the silent chain is born solely by two outermost articular link plates 56, 56.
The conventional silent chain of the foregoing construction is disadvantageous for the reasons enumerated below.
(1) The round connector pin is susceptible to bending and repeated bending force is likely to cause fatigue.
(2) Due to the bend or deformation of the round connector pin, the pitch of the guide links and the pitch of the articular links are caused to change with the result that the noise produced when the silent chain engages the sprocket increases.
(3) Since, in the guide links, the tensile force acting on the silent chain is concentrated on the guide plates, the guide plates are likely to be damaged or broken.
(4) Due to the bend of the round connector pin, the tensile force acting on the silent chain is concentrated on the central guide link plate, which leads to reduction of the service life of the silent chain as a whole.
(5) The service life of the silent chain as a whole is further cut down by two outermost articular link plates, which are subjected to stress concentration when a tensile force is applied to the silent chain.
(6) with the round connector pin being bent, each individual link plate is more or less subject to stress concentration. When the concentrated stress exceeds the elastic limit of the material of the link plate, the link plate is plastically deformed or otherwise damaged.
It is, accordingly, an object of the present invention to provide a silent chain with round connector pins, which has structural features enabling a tensile force acting on the silent chain to act concurrently and uniformly on the guide plates and the link plates in each guide link.
To achieve the foregoing object, there is provided, in accordance with the present invention, a silent chain comprising guide links and articular links alternately arranged in the longitudinal direction of the chain. Each of the guide links has a pair of guide plates and at least one guide link plate disposed laterally between the guide plates. The guide plates each have a pair of pin holes spaced in the longitudinal direction of the chain, and the guide link plate has a pair of pin holes spaced in the longitudinal direction of the chair. Each of the articular links has at least two laterally aligned articular link plates each having a pair of pin holes spaced in the longitudinal direction of the chain. The number of the articular link plates is one more than the number of the guide link plates. Round connector pins are inserted through the pin holes in the guide plates, the pin holes in ea h guide link plate and the pin holes in the articular link plates so as to connect the guide links and the articular links in an endless fashion with the guide link plates and he articular link plates being interleaved with each other.
The pin holes in each of the guide plates have an inside diameter smaller than an outside diameter of the round connector pins, the round connector pins being press-fitted with the guide plates. The pin holes in each guide link plate have an inside diameter larger than the outside diameter of the round connector pins. The pitch or distance between pin hole centers in each of the guide plates is larger than the pitch or distance between pin hole centers in each guide link plate. Two adjacent ones of the connector pins, inserted through the pin holes in each guide link plate and pressed fitted in tie pin holes in each of the guide plates, have an outside distance substantially equal to an outside distance between the pin holes in the guide link plate.
In a pre-press-fitting state in which the round connector pins are not yet connected by press-fitting to the guide plates, the silent chain of the present invention is constructed to satisfy the expression (1)
Pg+Dg≈Pm+Dmxe2x80x83xe2x80x83(1)
where Pg is the guide plate pitch represented by the distance between pin hole centers in each guide plate, Dg is the inside diameter of the pin holes of each guide plate, Pm is the link plate pitch represented by. the distance between pin hole centers in the guide link plate, and Dm is the inside diameter of the pin holes in the guide link plate.
It is preferable that the left side and the right side of the expression (1) are made physically equal to each other as expressed by the sign xe2x80x9c=xe2x80x9d, rather than nearly equal to each other as expressed above by the sign xe2x80x9c≈xe2x80x9d.
When the round connector pins are press-fitted with the guide plates, the outside diameter of the round connector pins and the inside diameter of the pin holes in the guide plates are changed due to elastic deformation. To optimize the design of the silent chain, the amount of elastic deformations of the round connector pins and guide plates should preferably be considered.
In a post-press-fitting state in which the round connector pins are already connected by press-fitting to the guide plates, the silent chain of the present invention is constructed to satisfy the expressions (2)-(4)
L1≈L2xe2x80x83xe2x80x83(2)
Pgxe2x80x2+Dpxe2x80x2≈Pm+Dmxe2x80x83xe2x80x83(3)
(Pm+Dmxe2x88x92Dpxe2x80x2)xe2x88x92Pgxe2x80x2≈0xe2x80x83xe2x80x83(4)
where L1 is the outside distance between the round connector pins press-fitted in the pin holes in each guide plate, L2 is the outside distance between the pin holes in the guide link plate, Pgxe2x80x2 is the post-press-fitting guide plate pitch represented by the distance between pin hole centers in each guide plate press-fitted with the round connector pins, Dpxe2x80x2 is the outside diameter of the round connector pins press-fitted in each guide plate, Pm is as defined above, and Dm is as defined above.
It is preferable that in each of the foregoing expressions (2)-(4), the left side and the right side are made physically (Equal to each other as expressed by the sign xe2x80x9c=xe2x80x9d, rather than nearly equal to each other as expressed above by the sign xe2x80x9c≈xe2x80x9d.
However, It is difficult to make the left side and the right side of each of the expressions (1)-(4) physically equal to each other. Accordingly, in the silent chain of the present invention, the left side of the expression (4) is preferably made less than 0.5% of the pitch of the silent chain (chain pitch).
The term xe2x80x9cchain pitchxe2x80x9d used herein represents the center distance between the adjacent round connector pins. The term xe2x80x9cguide plate pitch Pgxe2x80x9d used herein represents the distance between pin hole centers in each guide plate before the silent chain is prestressed. Similarly, the term xe2x80x9clink plate pitch Pmxe2x80x9d used herein represents the distance between pin hole centers in each guide link plate before the silent chain is prestressed. The term xe2x80x9cpost-press-fitting guide plate pitch Pgxe2x80x2xe2x80x9d used herein represents the distance between pin hole centers in each guide plate including the amount of elastic deformations caused in the round connector pins and the guide plate due to press-fitting connection.
By thus constructing the silent chain, in each guide link, the round connector pins press-fitted in the guide plates extent straight with their outer peripheral surface being in contact with the inner peripheral surfaces of the pin holes in the guide link plate. When the silent chain is subjected to a tensile force, the tensile force acts on the guide plates and the guide link plate simultaneously. Thus, the round connector pins do not undergo elastic deformation or bending, and the guide plates and the guide link plate (particularly, the central guide link plate when plural guide link plates are used) are completely free from stress concentration.

Abstract: where Pm is the link plate pitch represented by the distance between pin hole centers in the guide link plate, Dm is the inside diameter of the pin holes in the guide link plate, Dpxe2x80x2 is the outside diameter between the round connector pins press-fitted in each guide plate, and Pgxe2x80x2 is the post-press-fitting guide plate pitch represented by the distance between pin hole centers in each guide plate press-fitted with the round connector pins. In an assembled condition of the silent chain, each round connector pin extends straight with its outer peripheral surface being in contact with the inner peripheral surface of the mating pin hole of the guide link plate.


Disclosed are a plasma display panel and a manufacturing method therefor. According to the present invention, a method for manufacturing a plasma display panel comprises the steps of: forming a plurality of electrodes on insulating substrates; forming a conductive paste layer on the insulating substrates ; forming a masking film on the paste layer at locations between the electrodes; forcefully impelling particles against the paste layer to remove, by etching, portions of the paste layer where the masking film is not deposited; and exposing the paste layer to an annealing atmosphere so as to form partition walls between the electrodes.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the structure of a plasma display panel, and to a manufacturing method therefor; and in particular to the structure of barrier ribs (partition walls) formed between address electrodes to define a plasma discharge space, and to a manufacturing method therefor.
2. Related Arts
As part of the structure of a surface discharge three-electrode plasma display panel, a pair of display electrodes are provided along a display line on a front glass substrate, and a plurality of address electrodes that are perpendicularly positioned relative to the display electrode pair are provided on a rear glass substrate. The two glass substrates are positioned facing each other and are sealed together with a discharge space between them. A portion whereat the display electrode pair and the address electrodes intersect is a display cell area. A discharge (an address discharge) is performed between the display electrodes and the address electrodes, and a wall charge that is generated by the discharge is employed to perform a sustained discharge between the display electrodes.
Partition walls (barrier ribs) made of insulating material are formed between the address electrodes in order to prevent the address discharge from exerting an undesirable influence on adjacent cells. Fluophors formed on the address electrodes and between the partition walls are irradiated by ultraviolet rays generated by the plasma discharge, and various colored light beams are emitted by the fluophors to provide a display.
FIGS. 6A and 6B are cross-sectional views of the essential portion showing a process employed for forming ordinary partition walls. As is described above, a plurality of address electrodes 7 are formed on a rear glass substrate 6, and a dielectric layer 10 is formed thereon by using screen printing to apply a glass paste layer and thereafter subjecting the layer to an annealing process. A partition wall layer 8, formed of a glass paste having a low melting point, is coated on the resultant structure by screen printing, and is dried. Then, a dry film made of photosensitive material is adhered thereto. Exposure and development is performed on the resultant structure so that dry film layers 11 remain in regions where partition walls are to be formed. The cross-sectional view of FIG. 6A shows this state.
In order to perform the patterning of a thick partition wall layer 8 composed of a dry glass paste, following this, as is shown in FIG. 6B, fine particles 13 of alumina or silica are forcefully expelled from an air nozzle 12 to remove the exposed portions of the partition wall layer 8 by etching. This is a widely known sandblasting procedure that can satisfactorily form a comparatively thick partition wall.
However, with the sandblasting procedure, when the particles are expelled and strike the partition wall layer 8, contact electrification occurs, so that the grains and the surface of the partition wall layer 8 acquire negative and positive charges, for example. As a result, as is shown in the cross-sectional view in FIG. 7, when the sandblasting procedure is terminated, some of the material used for partition walls, or some of the abrasive particles, remains as a residual substance 8a on the dielectric layer 10 covering the address electrodes 7.
It has been substantially confirmed that accumulation of the residual substance 8a is caused by contact electrification. However, precisely how contact electrification causes the residual substance 8a to accumulate on the address electrodes 7 is not yet known. But since the residual substance 8a mainly accumulates on the address electrodes 7, as is shown in FIG. 7, it is felt that a reaction between the electric charges acquired by the wall material and the abrasive particles and the electric potential of the address electrodes 7 causes the abrasion rates to differ.
When on a structure there is residual substance 8a remaining following the sandblasting procedure which is difficult to remove, and this structure and the front glass substrate are assembled together, the presence of the residual substance 8a causes the characteristics of the cells at the intersections of the display electrodes and the address electrodes to be ununiform.

Method of manufacturing a plasma display panel


Apparatus and methods for the selective implanting of the outer portion of a workpiece are disclosed. A mask is disposed between the ion beam and the workpiece, having an aperture through which the ion beam passes. The aperture may have a concave first edge, forming using a radius equal to the inner radius of the outer portion of the workpiece. Further, the mask is affixed to a roplat such that the platen is free to rotate between a load/unload position and an operational position without moving the mask. In certain embodiments, the mask is affixed to the base of the roplat and has a first portion with an aperture that extends vertically upward from the base, and a second portion that is shaped so as not to interfere with the rotation of the platen. In other embodiments, the mask may be affixed to the arms of the roplat.

As demands for greater workpiece utilization continue to rise, one possible area that may be improved is the processing of the outer portion of the workpiece. Often, the outer portion of the workpiece is not implanted or processed to the same extent as the rest of the workpiece. For example, spin coating processes may leave a greater thickness of material near the outer edge due to centripetal force. Implant processes may provide a different dose near the edge of the workpiece since the outer edge may be at a slightly different temperature than the rest of the workpiece. Other non-uniformities also exist in the semiconductor fabrication process. These non-uniformities negatively impact the utilization of the workpiece, as the area near the outer edge of the workpiece may ultimately be wasted.
Efforts have been made to improve the uniformity of these various semiconductor processes. However, there may be limits to the degree of uniformity that may be achieved by these processes.
Therefore, it would be beneficial if there were an apparatus and method for selectively implanting the outer portion of a workpiece. Further, it would be advantageous if this selective implant improved the overall process uniformity of the workpiece without negatively impacting the throughput of the semiconductor fabrication process.

Varian Semiconductor Equipment Associates, Inc.


A nuclear magnetic resonance relaxation time cutoff between results for a bound-water index of rock and a free-fluid index of the rock is determined. The determination is made based on measured and predicted values for permeability and/or wettability over a set of core plugs. The determination does not require a nuclear magnetic resonance operation performed on the core plugs under irreducible water saturation.

Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) well logs are commonly used to interpret rock pore size and provide essential information for petrophysical evaluation. For a porous rock of porosity φ and hydraulic permeability k, the time-domain spin echo trains M(t) measured by the NMR antenna is usually decomposed as a N-exponential series of partial porosities (amplitudes) {Aj}j=1 . . . N corresponding to relaxation times {T2j}j=1 . . . N scaled logarithmically:
                              M                                (            t            )                          =                              ∑                          j              =              1                        N                                                        A              j                                                                  exp                                                  (                                                            -                      t                                        /                                          T                                              2                                                j                                                                              )                                            .                                                          (        1        )
The formed distribution of {Aj}j=1 . . . N as a function of {T2j}j=1 . . . N is usually called the T2 distribution and is often mapped to the distribution of pore sizes encountered in the porous rock. Assuming the pore space is saturated with light liquids whose bulk relaxation times are in the order of or more than 1000 ms, the overall T2 relaxation of fluids in pores is dominated by the surface relaxation mechanism: larger values of T2 correspond to larger pores, and smaller values correspond to smaller pores.
The relative amplitude Aj assigned to each T2j bin corresponds to a fractional porosity assigned to a given pore size range. If a free-fluid relaxation cutoff is known, integration of the T2 distribution amplitudes for values of T2 under that cutoff provide the bound-water index (BVI) of the rock, while free-fluid index (FFI) is obtained above that cutoff:
                              BVI          =                                    ∑                              j                =                1                                            N                cutoff                                                                A              j                                                                                and                            (        2        )                                FFI        =                              ∑                          j              =                              N                cutoff                                      N                                          A            j                                              (        3        )            knowing that the two pore volumes add up to the total rock porosityBVI+FFI=φ.  (4)
Using a single T2 cutoff to calculate bound-water index is simple and practical. However fluid mobility is not just dependent on pore throat size, but also on the amount of wetting fluid in the pores. One introduces a saturation profile to more accurately represent bound fluid changes with pore size or T2 relaxation, and a commonly used form of saturation profile is the generalized logistic function of T2:
                              S                                (                          T              2                        )                          =                                                            a                1                            -                              a                2                                                                    (                                  1                  +                                                            T                      2                                        /                                          T                                              2                                                cutoff                                                                                )                            α                                +                      a            2                                              (        5        )            where default values are for the parameters: a1=1, a2=0, α=2 and T2cutoff=33 ms. This saturation profile is characteristic of a given rock facies. The spectral BVI (SBVI) for a given saturated rock sample within that rock facies can be calculated from the T2 distribution of that sample as follows:
                    SBVI        =                                            ∑                              j                =                1                            N                                                                  A                j                                                          S                                                  (                                      T                                          2                                            j                                                        )                                                              =                                    ∑                              j                =                1                            N                                                                                A                  j                                                                  (                                                                                a                          1                                                -                                                  a                          2                                                                                (                                                      1                            +                                                                                T                                                                  2                                                                    j                                                                                /                                                              T                                                                  2                                                                    cutoff                                                                                )                                                α                                                              +                                          a                      2                                                        )                                            .                                                          (        6        )
A spectral FFI (SFFI) is also obtained as follows:
                    SFFI        =                              ϕ            -            SBVI                    =                                    ∑                              j                =                1                            N                                                                                A                  j                                                                  [                                      1                    -                                          (                                                                                a                              1                                                        -                                                          a                              2                                                                                (                                                              1                                +                                                                                T                                                                          2                                                                            j                                                                                /                                                                      T                                                                          2                                                                            cutoff                                                                                )                                                        α                                                                          +                                                  a                          2                                                                    )                                                        ]                                            .                                                          (        7        )
As such BVI (or SBVI) may be quantified along with the corresponding irreducible water saturation:Swir=BVI/φ  (8)or in spectral form:SwirSBVI/φ.  (9)
The calibration of the cutoff value
      T          2            cutoff        =            {              T                  2                    j                    }              j      =              N        cutoff            is usually accomplished through time-consuming special core analysis protocol that is not always consistent from vendor to vendor:                After proper cleaning, a cylindrical core plug representative of the studied rock facies is fully saturated with brine and then measured in a laboratory NMR spectrometer. This produces a first T2 distribution at 100% water saturation (Sw=100%).        The core plug is subsequently desaturated with non-wetting fluid (air or oil) following different procedures—usually through spinning of the sample until the maximum centrifuge speed is reached, or through centrifugation or porous-plate displacement until a target capillary pressure is met. The final fluid saturation level of his process is Swir, and may or may not be the right value that represents reservoir conditions.        A new NMR measurement at Sw=Swir defines the NMR signal of bound water; the value of T2cutoff is then determined as the T2 value where the bound water volume determined with the Sw=100% experiment (BVI as determined from Eq. (2) or SBVI as determined from Eq. (7)) is equal to the water volume remaining in the Sw=Swir experiment.

System and method for estimating a nuclear magnetic resonance relaxation time cutoff


Novel cyclic CRF antagonist peptides have the amino acid sequence: ##STR1## wherein Y is Ac, H, Ac-Thr or H-Thr; R.sub.30 is Glu or Cys; R.sub.32 is His or preferably a basic and/or aromatic D-amino acid such as D-His or D-Arg; R.sub.33 is Lys, Orn or Cys. The N-terminus may be extended by Leu or Asp-Leu. CML may be substituted for Leu.sup.27, and D-Tyr may be substituted for D-Phe to facilitate labelling. Lys may be substituted for Arg.sup.23, and its side chain connected by a lactam bridge to Glu.sup.20 to form a bicyclic peptide. Disclosed CRF antagonists include:. (cyclo 30-33)D-Phe.sup.12, Nle.sup.21,38, Glu.sup.30, Lys.sup.33 !r/hCRF(12-41), PA0 (cyclo 30-33)Ac-Thr.sup.11, D-Phe.sup.12, Nle.sup.21,38, Glu.sup.30, Lys.sup.33 !r/hCRF(11-41), PA0 (cyclo 30-33)D-Phe.sup.12, Nle.sup.21,38, Cys.sup.30,33 !r/hCRF(12-41), PA0 (bicyclo 20-23,30-33)D-Phe.sup.12, Nle.sup.21,38, Lys.sup.23,33, Glu.sup.30 !-r/hCRF(12-41), PA0 (cyclo 30-33)D-Phe.sup.12, Nle.sup.21,38, Glu.sup.30, D-His.sup.32, Lys.sup.33 !r/hCRF(12-41), PA0 (cyclo 30-30)D-Phe.sup.12, Nle.sup.21,38, CML.sup.27, Glu.sup.30, D-His.sup.32, Lys.sup.33 !r/hCRF(12-41) and PA0 (cyclo 30-30)D-Phe.sup.12, Nle.sup.21,38, Glu.sup.30, D-Arg.sup.32, Lys.sup.33 !r/hCRF(12-41). PA0 Labelled antagonists such as (cyclo 30-30)I.sup.125 D-Tyr.sup.12, Nle.sup.21,38, Glu.sup.30, D-His.sup.32, Lys.sup.33 !r/hCRF(12-41) are useful in drug screening assays.

Experimental and clinical observations have supported the concept that the hypothalamus plays a key role in the regulation of adenohypophysial corticotropic cells' secretory functions. Over 40 years ago it was demonstrated that factors present in the hypothalamus would increase the rate of ACTH secretion by the pituitary gland when incubated in vitro or maintained in an organ culture. However, a physiologic corticotropin releasing factor (CRF) was not characterized until ovine CRF (OCRF) was characterized in 1981. As disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,415,558, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference, oCRF was found to be a 41-residue amidated peptide. oCRF lowers blood pressure in mammals when injected peripherally and stimulates the secretion of ACTH and .beta.-endorphin.
Rat CRF (rCRF) was later isolated, purified and characterized; it was found to be a homologous, amidated hentetracontapeptide as described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,489,163, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. The amino acid sequence of human CRF has now been determined to be the same as that of rCRF. rCRF and hCRF are used interchangeably, and the designation r/hCRF is frequently used with respect to this peptide hormone. These peptide hormones may be considered to form a part of a larger family of native CRF-like peptides and analogs which include the mammalian and fish CRFs, the urotensins and sauvagine, as discussed in Vale et al., "Characterization of the Hypothalamic Peptide: Corticotropin Releasing Factor", Proceedings of the Naito International Symposium on Natural and Biological Activity, Tokyo, Japan, Nov. 5-7, 1985, and Lederis et al., "Neurohormones from Fish Tails, II: Actions of Urotensin I in Mammals and Fishes", Recent Progress in Honnone Research, Vol. 41, Academic Press, Inc. (1985).
Although originally isolated and characterized on the basis of its role in this hypothalamopituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, CRF has been found to be distributed broadly throughout the central nervous system as well as in extraneural tissues, such as the adrenal glands, placenta and testes, where it may also act as a paracrine regulator or a neurotransmitter. Moreover, the likely involvement of CRF in affective disorders, such as anxiety, depression, alcoholism and anorexia nervosa, and in modulating reproduction and immune responses suggests that changes in CRF expression may have important physiological and pathophysiological consequences. For example, perturbations in the regulatory loops comprising the HPA axis often produce chronically elevated levels of circulating glucocorticoids; such patients display the physical hallmarks of Cushing's syndrome, including truncal obesity, muscle-wasting, and reduced fertility.
In addition to its role in mediating activation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal, CRF has also been shown to modulate autonomic and behavioral changes, some of which occur during the stress response. Many of these behavioral changes have been shown to occur independently of HPA activation in that they are not duplicated by dexamethasone treatment and are insensitive to hypophysectomy. In addition, direct infusion of CRF into the CNS mimics autonomic and behavioral responses to a variety of stressors. Because peripheral administration of CRF or a CRF antagonist fails to affect certain of these changes, it appears that CRF exhibits a direct brain action with respect to such functions, which include appetite suppression, increased arousal and learning ability. However, CRF antagonists given peripherally attenuate stress-mediated increases in ACTH secretion, and when delivered into the cerebral ventricles can mitigate stress-induced changes in autonomic activity and behavior.
As a result of the extensive anatomical distribution and multiple biological actions of CRF, this regulatory peptide is believed to be involved in the regulation of numerous biological processes. CRF has also been implicated in the regulation of inflammatory responses. Although it has been observed that CRF plays a pro-inflammatory role in certain animal models, CRF appears to suppress inflammation in others by reducing injury-induced increases in vascular permeability.
A CRF analog having a high alpha-helical forming potential was developed in about early 1984. It is a 41-residue amidated peptide commonly referred to as AHC (alpha-helical CRF) and is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,594,329, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference; it is considered to now be a member of the overall family of CRF-like peptides. Other CRF analogs containing D-isomers of .alpha.-amino acids were developed, such as those shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,278,146. Synthetic r/hCRF, OCRF and AHC all stimulate ACTH and .beta.-endorphin-like activities (.beta.-END-Li) in vitro and in vivo and substantially lower blood pressure when injected peripherally. Antagonists of these three peptides and of sauvagine and urotensin are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,605,642, issued Aug. 12, 1986, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. Cyclic CRF antagonists exhibiting biopotency were earlier developed as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,245,009 (Sep. 14, 1993) and in pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 78,558, filed Jun. 16, 1993, for which the issue fee was paid.
Since the foregoing discoveries, the search for improved CRF antagonists has continued.

The Salk Institute for Biological Studies


In a process and plant for pickling steel strip, a highly refined steel strip is delivered in the form of a coil, uncoiled by an uncoiling hasp 1 and advanced through at least one predescaling plant 3, pickling sections and a rinsing plant 7 to a recoiling hasp 9 or a transverse cutting plant. The strip is clamped to the recoiling hasp 9 ,--,--; recoiled and drawn solely thereby or in conjunction with other driven treatment rolls through the treatment plant or is cut into sheets by the transverse cutting plant. The plant comprises at least one elongated, preferably shallow pickling vat having a supporting structure of steel, glass fibre reinforced synthetic resin or polypropylene and a lining of acid and abrasion resistant material including PVC, carbon bricks, graphite filled and/or aluminium oxide filled polyester resin.

The invention relates to a process and to a plant for pickling steel strips.
According to conventional processes, hot and cold strips of steel are treated in continuous annealing and pickling lines. In this procedure the belt in coiled form ,--,--; is unwound off an uncoiling hasp and connected to the end of a preceding coil in a welding machine. In order to avoid stoppages in the plant and resultant over-pickling of the preceding belt ,--,--; the strip is withdrawn during the stationary period of the belt in the uncoiling section from a strip store means. The incoming strip is first annealed in an annealing oven ,--,--; cooled with air and water, whereafter the scale is removed in a pickling plant. A large variety of methods for pickling a hot or cold strip has found acceptance in the industry, the best known method being pickling with neutral electrolyte followed by mixed acid post-treatment. In this context ,--,--; mixed acid denotes a mixture of nitric and hydrofluoric acid. After rinsing ,--,--; the strip is dried and recoiled. The resulting welding seams are cut out in this process, resulting once again in a coil of approximately the same length as when entering the plant. This process suffers from drawbacks amongst which primarily a high plant investment and labor input as well as large space requirements are to be mentioned.
As compared with the use of other pickling processes, particularly in,,relation to the passage of the strip through the plant ,--,--; a general technical misconception existed that the conventional material might cause damage to the strip. In particular ,--,--; it was feared that the brick linings of pickling vessels might result in scratching or similar impairment of the strip, this in particular when pickling stainless steel strip.
On the other hand ,--,--; materials are needed for lining the pickling plant which are capable of withstanding the chemical attack by the treatment chemicals as well as the mechanical wear and tear. Mechanical linings of brick and ceramics, although resistant to chemical attacks, frequently result in damage to the surface of the pickled product or are themselves not capable of readily withstanding mechanical wear and tear.

Process and plant for pickling stainless steel strip


An interactive vibrator system provides stimulus to a computer user in response to interaction between computer and user. A signal pick-off device (16) gathers signals present at the computer input/output port (11) and delivers such signals to signal processing device (14) which in turn drives vibrator (21) to provide soothing vibration to the user's body. An interactive vibrator in conjunction with a multimedia computer detects pulses or the like from joystick or other input devices. Corresponding driving of one or more vibrators in response to the detected input device X, Y, Z movement commands or in response to detected audio output from the computer produces tactile feedback to a user of a multimedia game or the like. The vibrations can thereby simulate "G" forces or the like. The joystick, steering wheel or other such input devices are also suitably provided with vibrators therein to generate tactile feedback in response to operation thereof or in response to the audio signals.

The increasing use of personal computers at work and in the home has created a stressful environment for the user. Most available computer user input/output devices such as visual displays, hand-operated input devices, e.g. keyboard and mouse devices, and audio output devices interact with the upper part of the body, leaving the legs and feet inactive. This inactivity in the user's lower body can increase the stress to the computer user. A means to reduce stress and maintain alertness of computer users is desired. A desirable means would interact with the user; it would adapt its actions in response to the user's actions.
Numerous prior art personal vibrators are available, including vibrating chairs, foot massagers, and hand-held vibrating massagers. Conventional mechanical vibrators, having a steady motion pattern, are used to soothe but, do not provide a changing stimulus to the user to maintain alertness.
Other vibrators include pre-set vibrating patterns. Such fixed patterns are necessarily limited by the vibrator's controller and become monotonous over time.
A vibrator could be controlled by a programmable motor controller driven by a computer to provide interactive stimulus to the user. Such controllers, however, are expensive and require software specific to each type of computer with which they are used.
It can be seen that all prior art vibrators suffer from a number of disadvantages:
(a) They provide only constant or fixed patterns of vibration, thereby failing to maintain the user's mental alertness. PA1 (b) They do not adapt to the user's actions to provide interactive stimulus. PA1 (c) If one were to use a conventional controller with a vibrator to provide an interactive stimulus, software specific to the user's computer type would be required. As this software would need to be adapted to the specific processor, operating system, application software, and user interface equipment used, a great expense would be incurred in development and customer support.
The increase in multimedia computers has created sophistication in computer games, such as 3D space and adventure, flight simulation and driving simulators that offer fast acting graphics and sound effects.
The various input devices such as the mouse, joystick, steering wheel and pedals allow input to interact with software. Feedback to the user is mostly through graphics on screen and audio on the speakers. Although they offer virtual reality, they lack critical physical feedback.
The existing numerous personal vibrators, such as foot vibrators and vibrating chairs do not provide interactivity. Attempts to interface such vibrators to a computer's software and hardware requires modification to both the hardware and software. Therefore, the previous attempt limits the adaptability to the existing or yet unknown simulator and game software.


An indoor localization method is implemented using an indoor localization system that includes beacons deployed in an indoor space and transmitting localization signals, and a radio badge for receiving the localization signals. The indoor localization method includes forming signal vectors from the localization signals received by the radio badge at each of predetermined locations in the indoor space, and generating a signal ID value from the signal vectors for each beacon from which the radio badge has received the localization signals. During a tracking phase, signal vectors are formed from the localization signals received by the radio badge at a current location. If the number of the signal ID values is smaller than the number of the signal vectors, the sum of the signal distances is normalized by the number of the signal ID values. An estimated position of the radio badge is obtained using the signal vectors and the signal ID values.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an indoor localization system and method, more particularly to an indoor localization system and method using a normalized k-nearest-neighbor algorithm.
2. Description of the Related Art
The market for real-time localization systems for assets and personnel tracking has grown considerably over the years and is expected to continue to grow. For widespread adoption and everyday use of real-time localization systems in households and commercial buildings, the systems must be able to provide accurate and stable location estimations with little delay.
In addition to widely used outdoor localization systems, applications developed for indoor settings are becoming increasingly important. Most indoor localization systems employ a Radio Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI)-signature-based approach. The RSSI-signature-based approach is used to detect the received strengths of wireless signals transmitted from a plurality of beacons that are deployed in various fixed locations. The strengths of the signals received by a radio badge or tag are then used to estimate the indoor location of a tracked target.
However, due to adverse factors that affect the stability of signal reception, such as background signal noise interference during the localization process, the indoor location, topological changes, etc., conventional indoor localization systems often generate very large localization errors. This results in poor accuracy.
Therefore, there is a need for an indoor localization system and method that provide enhanced localization accuracy, even when such adverse factors that affect the stability of signal reception are present.


A remote controller, includes: a first interface; and a first wireless portion connected with the first interface, wherein the first interface is connected with a screen projection device, the first wireless portion is wirelessly connected with a display device, and the first wireless portion receives data to be projected by the screen projection device through the first interface, and sends the data to be projected to the display device for displaying.

A wireless screen projection technology refers to transmitting various multimedia information such as a video, an audio and a document in a terminal device (a computer, a mobile phone and a tablet, etc.) to an intermediate wireless screen projector through a wireless network, and sending the various multimedia information to a display device through the wireless screen projector, to synchronize a current operation content on the terminal device to a display screen of the display device in real time.
Daily meetings are necessary to enterprises. In the related art, a meeting tablet is used with a wireless screen delivering device to meet requirements of high efficiency and convenience. However, the meeting tablet and the wireless screen delivering device may have high manufacturing costs and expensive prices, resulting a low performance-cost ratio. Moreover, the meeting tablet and the wireless screen projector should be used together to implement wireless screen projection.

Remote controller, screen projection receiving component, television, screen projection system and screen projection method

Beijing Xiaomi Mobile Software Co., Ltd.


An image sensing device comprises pixels having micro lenses; a plurality of photoelectric conversion regions arranged in the pixels; and a first adding unit which adds together signals from the plurality of photoelectric conversion regions arranged in the same pixel; wherein the pixels are arranged in a row direction and a column direction, mixed among the pixels are an additional reading region in which addition is performed by the first adding unit and an individual reading region in which addition is not performed by the first adding unit, and a signal is read from at least one photoelectric conversion region, and the number of pixels in a horizontal direction in the individual reading region is constant in the row direction.

There has conventionally existed a technology in solid-state image sensing device whereby phase-difference focus detection is performed by dividing a photodiode on which light is concentrated by one micro lens that is in a single pixel. In Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2001-083407, the photodiode in one pixel is divided into two, allowing the photodiodes to receive light from different pupil faces of an image capturing lens. Focus detection is performed with the image capturing lens by comparing the output from the two photodiodes. An approach also exists whereby the output from such a solid state image sensing device is used not only for focus detection, but also as an image signal.
In Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2001-083407 mentioned above, focus detection is performed by reading signals of two photodiodes separately from the image sensing device and calculating a phase difference. Furthermore, when the signals from the photodiodes are added together, they can be used as an image signal. The more data there is, the more accurately focus detection can be performed, and therefore it is preferable to read signals from photodiodes in all pixels in an image sensing device individually and detect phase differences, after which the signals of all the photodiodes are added together to produce an image signal. However, it takes time to read the signals from the photodiodes in all the pixels individually. For example, if two photodiodes are provided in the horizontal direction in an image sensing device that has 4000 pixels in the horizontal direction, there are 8000 photodiodes in the horizontal direction, which results in a dramatically longer reading time than in an ordinary image sensing device in which the photodiodes are not divided.

Image sensing device and image capturing apparatus


The invention relates to a system in a vehicle for assisting a driver of a vehicle when reversing, having at least one sensor unit which detects objects within the surroundings to the rear of the vehicle, having a computing unit which is connected to the sensor unit and has the purpose of processing the detected objects, and having an actuator unit which is connected to the computing unit. According to the invention, the computing unit generates a virtual driving tube within which the vehicle can move backward without colliding with the detected objects. The actuator unit is a steering actuator which is actuated by the computing unit and has the purpose of outputting haptic information which informs the driver of the vehicle about the steering direction, which is to be adopted next for reverse travel within the driving tube.

WO 98/00730 discloses a system for avoiding collisions when reversing. Objects located behind the vehicle are detected by means of an ultrasonic sensor or microwave sensor and the distance of the objects from the vehicle is determined. The distance is indicated acoustically and displayed in text form to the driver of the vehicle. If the distance becomes less than a predefined threshold value, a braking actuator is automatically activated in order to bring the vehicle to a stop in good time before a collision. In addition, a braking effect can be brought about by means of the engine. This system is used exclusively for avoiding collisions, that is to say it intervenes just before a collision with an object. Reversing per se is performed by the driver of the vehicle alone.