The present disclosure relates to methods, compositions and articles of manufacture useful for the treatment of Bacillus anthracis and B. cereus bacteria and spores, and related conditions. The disclosure further relates to methods and compositions for the identification of a phage associated lytic enzyme to rapidly and specifically detect and kill Bacillus anthracis and other bacteria. Related articles of manufacture, methods of degrading spores and methods of treatment of infections or bacteria populations of, or subjects exposed to or at risk for exposure to, Bacillus anthracis are also provided.

A major problem in medicine has been the development of drug resistant bacteria as more antibiotics are used for a wide variety of illnesses and other conditions. The use of more antibiotics and the number of bacteria showing resistance has prompted longer treatment times. Furthermore, broad, non-specific antibiotics, some of which have detrimental effects on the patient, are now being used more frequently. A related problem with this increased use is that many antibiotics do not penetrate mucus linings easily. Additionally, the number of people allergic to antibiotics appears to be increasing. Accordingly, there is a commercial need for new antibiotics, especially those that operate in new modalities or provide new means to kill pathogenic bacteria.
Attempts have been made to treat bacterial diseases through the use of bacteriophages. However, the direct introduction of bacteriophages into an animal to prevent or fight diseases has certain drawbacks. Specifically, both the bacteria and the phage have to be in the correct and synchronized growth cycles for the phage to attach. Additionally, there must be the right number of phages to attach to the bacteria; if there are too many or too few phages, there will be either no attachment or no production of the lysing enzyme. The phage must also be active enough. The phages are also inhibited by many things including bacterial debris from the organism it is going to attack. Further complicating the direct use of a bacteriophage to treat bacterial infections is the possibility of immunological reactions, rendering the phage non-functional.
Consequently, others have explored the use of safer and more effective means to treat and prevent bacterial infections. In particular, the use of phage associated lytic enzymes has been explored.
Bacteriophage lysins are a class of bacteriolytic agents recently proposed for eradicating the nasopharyngeal carriage of pathogenic streptococci. (Loeffler, J. M., Nelson, D. & Fischetti, V. A. Rapid killing of Streptococcus pneumoniae with a bacteriophage cell wall hydrolase. Science 294, 2170-2 (2001); Nelson, D., Loomis, L. & Fischetti, V. A. Prevention and elimination of upper respiratory colonization of mice by group A streptococci by using a bacteriophage lytic enzyme. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 98, 4107-12 (2001)). Lysins are part of the lytic mechanism used by double stranded DNA (dsDNA) phage to coordinate host lysis with completion of viral assembly. Wang, I. N., Smith, D. L. & Young, R. Holins: the protein clocks of bacteriophage infections. Annu Rev Microbiol 54, 799-825 (2000). Late in infection, lysin translocates into the cell wall matrix where it rapidly hydrolyzes covalent bonds essential for peptidoglycan integrity, causing bacterial lysis and concomitant progeny phage release. Lysin family members exhibit a modular design in which a usually well conserved catalytic domain is fused to a more divergent specificity or binding domain. See, Lopez, R., Garcia, E., Garcia, P. & Garcia, J. L. The pneumococcal cell wall degrading enzymes: a modular design to create new lysins? Microb Drug Resist 3, 199-211 (1997).

Phage-associated lytic enzymes for treatment of


A looping machine for the looping of objects such as stacks of products, packages and the like, is provided with a machine frame, a work table, a strap guiding frame disposed on the work table for fitting a looping strap as a loose loop around the object to be looped which is disposed on the work table within the strap guiding frame, an insertion device for inserting the looping strap into the strap guiding frame, a withdrawal device for withdrawing the looping strap from the strap guiding frame and for fitting the strap around the object to be looped, a tensioning device for tightening the looping strap around the object, and height detection device for the object to be looped. This height detection device comprises a sensor of non-contact operation for detecting the object height, a control unit coupled therewith for the tensioning device for adjusted tensioning in dependence on the object height, and a memory unit for storing at least one characteristic function of tensioning in dependence on the object height, the control unit accessing the characteristic function in the memory unit for adjusted tensioning.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a looping machine for the looping of objects such as stacks of newspapers, magazines or any other stacked goods such as packages, for instance cardboxes and the like.
2. Background Art
A looping machine for this purpose is described for instance in the co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/785,129 (now U.S. Pat. No. 5,791,238). In addition to the components notoriously present in these equipments, namely a machine frame, work table, strap guiding frame for guiding the strap as a loose loop around the object to be looped, an insertion device for inserting the strap into the strap guiding frame and a withdrawal device for withdrawing the strap from the strap guiding frame and for slinging the strap around the object to be looped, this looping machine also comprises a device for tensioning the looping strap around the object in dependence on the height of a stack. Tensioning in dependence on the height of a stack is of advantage in this connection, since the looping strap must bundle the stack tightly, but tensioning must be the stronger, the softer, i.e. the more compressible, the goods are that form the stack. As a rule, the compressibility of a stack increases with the height of the stack and the number for instance of newspapers in a stack growing. This means that strong tensioning must be ensured in the case of a high stack, whereas virtually no tensioning may occur in the case of very low stacks or when a single newspaper is looped, since this would lead to the paper coiling up.
In the tensioning device according to the prior patent application mentioned above, a complicated mechanical construction is provided for adjusted tensioning in dependence on the height of a stack. A pivotal rocker lever is available, which comprises a control ramp and is adjustable by way of a mechanical device detecting the height of a stack by touch contact. This mechanical touch contact device is for instance a leverage mechanism disposed between the pressing beam which compresses the stack to be looped before the looping strap is fitted around, and the pivotal rocker lever which has a control ramp. The latter actuates a control lever for a clamping lever which is pivotally articulated to the tension lever of the tensioning device, this tension lever producing the tensioning effect. The control lever controls the clamping lever in such a way that when the height of a stack decreases, blocking of the clamping device for fixing the strap is increasingly retarded and the tensioning length of the looping strap is reduced.
In addition to the high mechanical requirements, the known tensioning device has further drawbacks. For instance, the tensioning effect is only varied by adjustment of the tensioning length. Furthermore, only a proportional dependence between the product height and the tensioning length is attainable so that more complex dependencies are not achievable.

Looping machine for the looping of objects comprising device for tensioning in dependence on the height of an object


A method and system for detecting early fires in a predetermined area includes capturing a plurality of images of the predetermined area during an interval for generating a plurality of difference frames, and detecting a number of pixels that have fire characteristics in each difference frame. If the detection result indicates that the flame of the predetermined area substantially increases during the interval, the method outputs an early fire alarm that can provide more time for firefighting. Thus, both early fire detection and reduction of false fire alarms are achieved.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and system for detecting early fires in a predetermined area, and more particularly, to a method and system that can detect if images contain flames and if a flame increases to be a fire.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Generally, a HSI (hue/saturation/intensity) domain is usually utilized for analyzing images, since hue, saturation and intensity can represent all combinations of light to describe color. One prior art method detects if images have flames in the HSI domain. The method includes capturing images in a predetermined area, transforming RGB of each pixel of the images into HSI, and determining if the HSI of each pixel complies with rules in the HSI domain.
In the prior art, the RGB of each pixel is transformed into the HSI by the following equations:
                              I          =                                    1              3                                                  (                              R                +                G                +                B                            )                                      ,                  0          ≤          I          ≤          1                                    (        1        )                                                                                S                =                                                                  1                  -                                                            3                                              (                                                  R                          +                          G                          +                          B                                                )                                                                                [                                              min                                                                          (                                                      R                            ,                            G                            ,                            B                                                    )                                                                    ]                                                                                ,                              0                ≤                S                ≤                1                                                                                H              =                                                          {                                                                            θ                                                                                if                                                                                B                                                ≤                        G                                                                                360                        -                        θ                                                                                if                                                                                B                                                    >                          G                                                ,                                                                                θ              =                                                                            cos                                      -                    1                                                                                {                                                                                1                        2                                                                                [                                                                              (                                                          R                              -                              G                                                        )                                                    +                                                      (                                                          R                              +                              B                                                        )                                                                          ]                                                                                [                                                                                (                                                              R                                -                                G                                                            )                                                        2                                                    +                                                                                (                                                              R                                -                                B                                                            )                                                                                (                                                              G                                -                                B                                                            )                                                                                ]                                                                    1                        2                                                                              }                                                                                (        2        )                                          0                    °                ≤        H        ≤                  360                    °                                    (        3        )
In the prior art, HSI is utilized for analyzing flame. The HSI domain is divided into six regions, as shown in FIG. 1. FIG. 1 is a table of hue, RGB model and color range. The color range of a common fire is from red to yellow; therefore, the hue of fire is from 0 to 60 degrees. Saturation of a fire changes with background illumination. For instance, the color of a fire during the day or under an extra light source has a stronger saturation than that of during the night or having no light source. That is, the color of a fire during the day or with the extra light source displays less white while the color of fire during the night or having no light source displays more white. A fire found in images captured during the night is more white in hue because the fire is the typically the only luminous entity in the images. Additionally, for providing sufficient brightness in video processing, the intensity should be over a threshold. Experimental results according to the prior art show that each HSI pixel of a fire should satisfy the following conditions:0°≦H≦60°  (i)Brighter environment: 30≦S≦100, Darker environment: 20≦S≦100  (ii)127≦I≦255  (iii)
The method mentioned above for detecting fire includes a series of complicated equations to transform RGB into HSI, which requires intensive computations. Besides, the low bound of the saturation condition (ii) may be too small to work correctly and hence it will yield a false fire-detection due to the appearance of reflected flames.
Furthermore, in a fire detecting system, another important function is to generate a fire alarm to prevent a fire accident. The method for generating a fire alarm according to the prior art compares the number of fire pixels to a threshold. If the number of fire pixels in an image is larger than the threshold, a fire alarm is output. However, the method is confined by the distance between the fire and an image capturing device (such as a camera). This enormously increases the false fire alarm rate and thus cannot adequately achieve the purpose of detecting early fires.
For example, suppose that the size of a flame is constant, such as a flame of a candle or a lighter. This kind of flame does not constitute a fire accident; therefore, a fire alarm is not required. Please refer to FIG. 2 to FIG. 5. FIG. 2 and FIG. 4 are diagrams of the same flame 20 of a lighter and an image capturing device 12 separated by different distances. FIG. 2 shows that the flame 20 is far away from the image capturing device 12 and FIG. 4 shows that the flame 20 is near the image capturing device 12. The image capturing device 12 only captures images in a predetermined area. If the distance of the flame 20 and the image capturing device 12 is longer, as d1 shows in FIG. 2, the size of the flame 20 in a frame is much smaller; that is, the number of fire pixels is small, as shown in FIG. 3. On the contrary, if the distance of the flame 20 and the image capturing device 12 is shorter, as d2 shows in FIG. 4, the size of the flame 20 in a frame is much larger; that is, the number of fire pixels is large as shown in FIG. 4. As shown in FIG. 3 and FIG. 5, the flame 20 in FIG. 3 approximately occupies 1.4 squares and the flame 20 in FIG. 5 approximately occupies 14 squares. Suppose that the threshold is 7 squares, the fire alarm is not provided due to the result of FIG. 3 while the fire alarm is provided due to the result of FIG. 5. The same flame 20 of the lighter results in different effects due to the distance of the flame 20 to the image capturing device 12. The result of FIG. 3 does not lead to a false fire alarm, but the result of FIG. 5 does.
In another situation, supposing that the flame spreads out and forms a fire, a fire alarm should be generated. Please refer to FIG. 6 to FIG. 17. FIGS. 6, 8, and 10 show a flame 30 spreading out to be flames 40 and 50, the distance from the image capturing device 12 being d1. FIGS. 7, 9, and 11 show numbers of fire pixels of FIGS. 6, 8, and 10, respectively. FIGS. 12, 14, and 16 show a flame 30 spreading out to be flames 40 and 50, the distance from the image capturing device 12 being the shorter d2. FIGS. 13, 15, and 17 show numbers of fire pixels of FIGS. 12, 14, and 16, respectively. The image capturing device 12 only captures images in a predetermined area. If the distance between the flames 30, 40, and 50 and the image capturing device 12 is d1, the sizes of the flame 30, 40, and 50 in a frame are much smaller; that is, the numbers of fire pixels are small, as shown in FIGS. 7, 9, and 11. On the contrary, if the distance between the flames 30, 40, and 50 and the image capturing device 12 is d2, the sizes of the flame 30, 40, and 50 in a frame are much larger; that is, the numbers of fire pixels are large, as shown in FIGS. 13, 15, and 17. Suppose that the fire alarm is given if the number of fire pixels reaches 15. Although the flame 30 has spread to be the flame 50 thereby causing a fire accident, the fire alarm is not generated due to the result of FIG. 11 so occupants are not alerted to escape from the fire accident. Because the distance between the image capturing device 12 and the scene of the fire is longer, the image capturing device 12 has no ability to detect that the fire exists. Although the fire alarm is correctly provided due to the result of FIG. 17, this is only because the distance between the image capturing device 12 and the flame 50 is just right. In the prior art, the position of the fire cannot be detected in a real environment. The image capturing device 12 cannot accurately detect if a fire is formed. Therefore, the fire alarm cannot be efficiently provided to prevent a fire accident.

Method and system for detecting fire in a predetermined area


There is disclosed a conductive resin composition, comprising: (a) a resin component, and (b) a fine carbon fiber dispersed in the resin component, wherein a graphite-net plane consisting solely of carbon atoms forms a temple-bell-shaped structural unit comprising closed head-top part and body-part with open lower-end, 2 to 30 of the temple-bell-shaped structural units are stacked sharing a common central axis to form an aggregate, and the aggregates are connected in head-to-tail style with a distance to form the fiber. The resin composition has high conductivity while maintaining the original physical properties of the resin.

It is well known that a conductive resin is produced by kneading and dispersing a conductive filler in an electrically insulative resin for making the resin conductive for the purpose of prevention of static charge and the like. Examples of a material used as a conductive filler kneaded in a resin generally include ion-conductive organic surfactant, metal fiber and powder, conductive metal oxide powder, carbon black, carbon fiber and graphite powder. The material is melt-kneaded and dispersed in a resin to give a conductive resin composition, which is then molded to give a molded product with a volume resistance of 10−1 to 1012 Ω·cm.
If a flaky, whiskery or fibrous material with a large aspect ratio (length/outer diameter) is used as a conductive filler, even a relatively small amount thereof provides the conductivity to the resin. This is because a conductive filler with a larger aspect ratio forms inter-filler connection more effectively even if the same amount is used, resulting in imparting conductivity with a smaller amount.
A metal filler is, however, unsatisfactory in corrosion resistance and chemical resistance. Since an inorganic conductive filler is generally in a form of particle, it must be used in a large amount of more than 50% by weight to the total weight of a composition, which leads to the deterioration of physical properties of the resultant resin, and therefore, molding becomes more difficult. As carbon black, Ketjen Black (registered trademark, from Ketjen Black International Company) and acetylene black which form a conductive circuit having a chain structure can be utilized, so that it can impart high conductivity in an amount of 15% by weight or less. It is, however, difficult to control dispersion of these materials in a resin and special formulation and blending technique is required for achieving stable conductivity. Furthermore, even when adequate conductivity is achieved, not only the processability of the conductive resin composition is considerably deteriorated, but also physical properties such as tensile strength, bending strength and shock resistance are significantly deteriorated in comparison with original physical properties of the resin containing no conductive filler.
A conductive filler having a higher aspect ratio such as a flaky graphite powder and a whiskery carbon fiber must be also used in an amount of more than 15% by weight for imparting conductivity, which leads to deterioration in original properties of the resin, and thus, when a molding having a complex shape is to be formed, influence of non-uniformity and orientation of fibers becomes so significant that moldability and conductivity is deteriorated. Carbon particles or carbon fibers are easily detached from a molding surface (sloughing property), leading to problems such as environmental pollution and device damage in a semiconductor device process.
When carbon fibers are added in an equal weight, fibers having a smaller diameter are better in imparting conductivity because of easier formation of an inter-fiber conductive circuit network. Recently, hollow ultrafine carbon fibers having a smaller fiber diameter by two to three orders of magnitude than a conventional carbon fiber, so-called carbon nanotube, have been disclosed and it has been suggested to add it in a variety of resins and rubbers as a conductive filler (Patent Reference No. 1: Japanese Laid-Open publication No. H01-131251, Patent Reference No. 2: Japanese Laid-Open publication No. H03-74465, and Patent Reference No. 3: Japanese Laid-Open publication No. H02-235945), and it is believed to be an effective conductive filler eliminating the defects of the conventional conductive filler.
However, carbon nanotubes cannot be homogeneously dispersed in a resin and undispersed carbon nanotubes remain in the resin as an agglomerate, which causes unacceptable problems such as difficulty in spinning (yarn breakage), clogging of a filter in a discharge unit of a molding machine, deteriorated mechanical strength such as shock resistance of a molding and surface appearance. Therefore, special technique for composition formulation and blending and special surface modification treating are needed, including optimization of a resin molecular weight (Patent Reference No. 4: Japanese Laid-Open publication No. 2001-310994), addition of a modified resin, an elastomer and a compatibilizing agent (Patent Reference No. 5: Japanese Laid-Open publication No. 2007-231219, Patent Reference No. 6: Japanese Laid-Open publication No. 2004-230926, Patent Reference No. 7: Japanese Laid-Open publication No. 2007-169561, and Patent Reference No. 8: Japanese Laid-Open publication No. 2004-231745), and surface modification of a carbon nanotube (Patent Reference No. 9: Japanese Laid-Open publication No. 2004-323738), which limit the type of a resin and formulation, and the like.


A method and apparatus for controlling needles of a knitting machine based upon comparing a plurality of predetermined position control patterns defining target positions with the position of a yarn feeder and a needle. When the positions are not the same, each needle is incrementally moved based upon the present position of the needle and the determined target position of the needle.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for controlling a plurality of motors for reciprocating needles, included in a knitting machine.
2. Prior Art
A knitting machine having a plurality of needles is provided with motors, such as linear motors, servo-motors or stepping motors, respectively for the needles. One motor controller for a knitting machine provided with a plurality of motors, is proposed in Japanese Patent Application Disclosure No. 3-74192. The controller is provided with a multiple input/output chip having a signal generating unit and an up/down counter for each motor, and a microprocessor having a command unit and a control processing unit.
In this prior art motor controller, each up/down counter of the multiple input/output chip calculates a position of each corresponding motor, and each signal generating unit of the multiple input/output chip gives a pulse width modulating signal (PWM signal) for varying pulse width according to a duty factor such as duty cycle determined by the control processing unit of the microprocessor to the corresponding motor driving unit. The control processing unit of the microcomputer calculates a duty factor by using a position command pulse signal provided by the command unit, and a count counted by each up/down counter (the current positions of the needle and the motor) and gives the calculated duty factor to the multiple input/output chip.
The foregoing prior art, however, takes nothing into consideration about a method of calculating a position command by the command unit of the microcomputer. If position commands for the plurality of motors are calculated sequentially and repeatedly by the common microcomputer, a long time is necessary for one calculation cycle for calculating position commands for all the motors, i.e., tens or hundreds of motors and, consequently, control speed is reduced such that the calculation is unable to be synchronized with the movement of the yarn feeder. Therefore, in the prior art, the one controller is able to control only a small number of motors.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to reduce the storage capacity of a storage device storing control data for controlling a plurality of motors and to achieve the control of a plurality of needle driving motors in quick response synchronous with the travel of a yarn feeder.

Method and apparatus for controlling needle driving motors in a knitting machine


A multi-cylinder gasoline engine is provided. The engine includes an engine body having a plurality of cylinders, an exhaust manifold through which exhaust gas discharged from each of the cylinders of the engine body passes, and a controller for controlling various instruments provided to the engine body and the exhaust manifold. The engine body includes a switch mechanism. The exhaust manifold includes a plurality of independent exhaust passages, a gathering section, a negative pressure generating device, bypass passages, and openable-and-closable flow switch valves. The controller controls the injector, the ignition plug, the switch mechanism, and the flow switch valve so that a CI combustion is performed within a predetermined first operating range and an SI combustion is performed within a second operating range set on a higher engine load side than the first operating range.

The present invention relates to a multi-cylinder gasoline engine including an engine body having a plurality of cylinders, an exhaust manifold through which exhaust gas discharged from each cylinder of the engine body passes, and a controller for controlling various components contained in the engine body and the exhaust manifold.
Conventionally, in the field of gasoline engines, a spark-ignition combustion has been generally adopted, in which mixture gas is forcibly combusted by a spark-ignition of an ignition plug; however, instead of such a spark-ignition combustion, an application of a so called compressed self-ignition combustion to gasoline engine has been under study. Compressed self-ignition combustion indicates a combustion in which mixture gas self-ignites to combust under an environment at a high temperature and pressure created by the compression of a piston. Compressed self-ignition combustion includes multiple combustions in which mixture gas in cylinders simultaneously self-ignites to combust, and a combustion period is shorter than a spark-ignition combustion in which the combustion gradually spreads by flame propagation. Therefore, it has been said that a high thermal efficiency can be obtained by compressed self-ignition combustion. Note that, hereinafter, spark-ignition combustion is simply referred to as "the SI combustion" and compressed self-ignition combustion is simply referred to as "the CI combustion."
For example, JP2009-091994A and U.S. Pat. No. 7,290,524B2 (2007-132319A) disclose gasoline engines applied with the CI combustion.
In JP2009-091994A, an art is disclosed in which a combustion mode is switched according to an engine load, for example, the CI combustion is performed within a low engine load range and the SI combustion is performed within a high engine load range.
In U.S. Pat. No. 7,290,524B2 (2007-132319A), an art is disclosed in which in the CI combustion operation, an exhaust valve is not only opened on exhaust stroke but also on intake stroke, and high-temperature exhaust gas (burnt gas) which is discharged once, flows back into a cylinder from an exhaust port, so that an in-cylinder temperature increases and a self-ignition of mixture gas is stimulated. Note that, hereinafter, the flowback operation of exhaust gas as described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,290,524B2 (2007-132319A) is referred to as "the internal EGR" (Internal Exhaust Gas Recirculation).
Here, when the internal EGR is performed to stimulate the self-ignition of the mixture gas as U.S. Pat. No. 7,290,524B2 (2007-132319A), and especially within an extremely low engine load range where a fuel injection amount is small (and thus ignitability easily degrades), it is required to input a large amount of high-temperature exhaust gas into the cylinder by the internal EGR. However, a sufficient amount of exhaust gas cannot be inputted into the cylinder by only opening the exhaust valve on intake stroke as U.S. Pat. No. 7,290,524B2 (2007-132319A), and it may cause an insufficient increase in temperature inside the cylinder.
Moreover, in surely achieving the CI combustion within the low engine load range, it is effective to increase a compression ratio of the engine; however, when the compression ratio of the engine increases, a problem arises that an abnormal combustion, such as knocking, easily occurs within the high engine load range where the fuel injection amount is increased.
The present invention is made in view of the above situations and provides a multi-cylinder gasoline engine that can achieve both securing ignitability when performing CI combustion within a low engine load range and preventing an abnormal combustion when performing SI combustion within a high engine load range.


A variable depth fishing lure preferably includes a hollow body, an adjustable bill, a spring pin, a spring retainer and at least one hook. The hollow body preferably includes a first body half and a second body half. At least two horizontal bill slots are formed on a front of the hollow body to receive the adjustable bill. The spring pin is pivotally engaged with the adjustable bill. The spring retainer is pivotally retained in the hollow body. The spring pin is inserted into the spring retainer and through a compression spring. The opposing end of the spring pin is terminated to retain the compression spring. A hooking device preferably includes a multi-position line eyelet, a hook line and at least one hook. The hook line extends from the multi-position line eyelet and at least one hook extends from an opposing end of the hook line.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to fishing and more specifically to a variable depth fishing lure, which may be configured by changing a position of an adjustable bill.
2. Discussion of the Prior Art
It appears that the prior art does not teach or suggest a crank bait, which includes an adjustable bill and multiple line holes in a top and front of the lure for changing a fulcrum point thereof.
Accordingly, there is a clearly felt need in the art for a variable depth fishing lure, which includes a two position adjustable lip and multiple line eyelets.


The present invention involves a sucking device having a fixed material transportation surface including plural sucking holes, a decompression chamber connecting to the plural sucking holes, and a sucking device sucking air in the decompression chamber. The fixed material is fed on the fixed material transportation surface of the sucking device by the delivering device, and is stuck on the fixed material transportation surface through the sucking holes by the sucking device. The fixed material is fixed by a fixing head at the state of being stuck and is transported gradually to a downstream side by the delivering device on the fixed material transportation surface. When fixing is finished, the fixed material separates from the surface of the fixed material transportation surface and rises slightly by blowing air from the sucking holes by a blowing device so as to move to a discharging direction.

The present invention relates to a fixed material transportation apparatus, an fixed material discharging apparatus, a method for discharging the fixed material, and a liquid fixing apparatus having the carrier apparatus and the discharging the apparatus, particularly to technology for drawing, keeping, and discharging smoothly the fixed material in a recording portion of the liquid fixing apparatus after finishing to fix.
FIG. 15 is a side view showing an example of inner construction of an ink jet printer being one of general liquid fixing apparatus and discharging recording a medium. The ink jet printer includes a sheet feed roller 1 and a hopper 2 as an automatic sheet feeder, includes a delivery roller 3, a driven roller 4, a transportation stage 5, a discharging roller 6, and a roller with teeth (a discharging serrated roller) 7 as a carrier, and includes a carriage 8 and a recording head 9 as a recorder.
The ink jet printer having such the construction feeds a sheet, for example, which is recording medium by the automatic sheet feeder, and prints letter and picture by discharging ink droplet on the sheet using recording device while transporting the sheet by transportation apparatus. That is, a control portion of the ink jet printer presses recording media P of plural sheets piled in the hopper 2 to the sheet feed roller 1 by raising the hopper 2 rotating the sheet feeder 1 and feeds the top sheet of the recording media P separating from the lower part of the recording media P. The recording media P is sandwiched between the delivery roller 3 and the driven roller 4 and transported onto the transportation stage 5 rotating the delivery roller 3.
Next, ink of each color is supplied to a pressure generating chamber of the recording head 9 mounted at the carriage 8 from ink cartridges of total four colors of yellow, magenta, cyan, and black for example, and ink droplets are discharged to the recording medium P from a nozzle opening pressurizing ink in the pressure generating chamber. At this time, highly accurate ink dot control, halftone process, and the like are performed by controlling discharging timing of each color ink and driving of the carriage 8 and the delivery roller 3. The recording medium P is discharged onto a discharging stacker not shown rotating the discharging roller 6 by sandwiching the recording medium between the discharging roller 6 and the discharging serrated roller 7.
In such the ink jet printer, pressing force of the discharging serrated roller is set to degree that a spur mark (a scar of rowel spur) does not remain on the recording medium P at discharging the recording medium P as shown in FIG. 16A. However, in the case that picture where many ink particles are discharged on the recording medium P like solid picture is recorded, the recording medium P absorbs a lot of ink and expands in wave shape to the recording head 9 side so as to generate possibly so called cockling as shown in FIG. 16B.
There are faults that recording unevenness generates by dispersion of flying distance of ink particles because gap between the recording medium P and the recording head 9 becomes narrow and the recording medium P gets dirty because of attaching to the recording head 9 at generating the generation of the cockling. Even in the transportation apparatus of the recording medium shown in FIG. 16A, it is possible to prevent the above faults by depressing the above cockling within tolerance if the span between the delivery roller 3 and discharging roller 6 is comparatively short.
However, it is necessary in near future to increase number of nozzles of every nozzle of each color or to arrange nozzle lines of plural colors to transportation direction of the recording medium to make recording speed further high in the ink jet printer and the like. In these cases, dimension of the recording head becomes long to transportation direction of the recorder medium as shown in FIG. 16C. When the recording head 9 is long, span between the delivery roller 3 and the discharging roller 6 becomes long so as not to prevent the cockling absolutely and so that the cockling gets over tolerance in the construction transporting and discharging by sandwiching the delivery roller 3 (and the driven roller 4) and the discharging roller 6 (and discharging serrated roller 7 as the driven roller thereof). Therefore, the cockling goes over allowance, and it is considerable that the construction transporting and discharging by sandwiching with such the two pairs of rollers itself is not realized depending on kinds of apparatus such as the ink jet printer having long head length and the like.
Such the cockling is comparably small at using exclusive sheet for ink jet printer and the like as a recording medium, and is large at using normal sheet. Because of that, paper gap [gap A between the recording medium P and the recording head 9 in FIG. 16A] is set large considering rise of the sheet caused by cockling at using the normal sheet in the design of ink jet printer and the like. However, when the paper gap is large like this, ink particles discharged from the nozzle of the recording head generate flying curve and divergence of point of impact becomes large for the flying curve so as to prevent possibly from improving printing quality even at using needless exclusive sheet.
Further, when the recording medium P rises by cockling, the floated recording medium P is pressed by the discharging serrated roller 7 as shown with arrow B in FIG. 16B, thereby the spur mark run over caused by the discharging serrated roller 7 remains at the recording medium P as shown in FIG. 17. The spur mark is conspicuous especially at the normal sheet large in cockling and causes decreasing printing quality.
On the other hand, various kinds of printers having mainly a sucking portion of hollow box shape at transportation surface of the recording medium and sucking the recording medium through plural sucking holes (through holes) provided at the sucking portion by a sucking pump and the like are proposed in recent yeas (see JP-A-63-303781, JP-A-3-270, etc.). Among them, there is a printer proposed that the recording medium is sucked or stuck to a platen and the like through these sucking holes.
However, only through holes are opened to suck at the sucking portion of the hollow box shape in both of them, and it is difficult to prevent the above cockling over whole surface of the recording medium in the recording portion. A projecting part from the recording portion of the recording medium rises and is pressed by the discharging serrated roller 7 as shown with arrow B in FIG. 16B. As the result, it can not prevent that the spur mark remains at the recording medium P.
Further, since the prior art described in the above official gazette has the construction that only through holes are opened to suck at the sucking portion of the hollow box shape, strong sucking force possibly causes fall of transporting accuracy. Because of that, in the present circumstances, a printer is not made practicable except a part of large-sized printer performing transportation (using its own weight of the sheet for transportation) to gravity direction as the actual situation.
The above ink jet printer can print a forward end (upper end, hereafter) of transportation direction and a backward end (lower end, hereafter) of transportation direction of the recording medium P without a margin. The printing without margin of upper and lower ends is need that transportation speed of the recording medium P by the delivery roller 3 is changed to slower speed than normal speed and a part of nozzles is used for ink discharging to the recording medium P by the recording head 9.
Thus, although the printing without margin of upper and lower ends can not use whole nozzles, the reason is as the following. That is, although ink run off from the upper and lower ends of the recording medium P is stuck on the transportation stage 5 at performing the printing without margin of upper and lower ends, the recording medium P is possibly contaminated when ink is stuck on the transportation stage 5. Then, ink absorbing materials 5b and 5c receiving and absorbing ink run off from the upper and lower ends of the recording medium P are buried at both sides of a rib 5a formed at the transportation stage 5 to keep paper gap between the recording medium P and the recording head 9 and to reduce transportation resistance generating between the recording medium P and the transportation stage 5 as shown in FIG. 15.
Gap of the ink absorbing materials 5b and 5c varies by number of nozzles using for the printing without margin of upper and lower ends. For example, when the numbers of nozzles using for the printing without margin of upper and lower ends are increased, gap of the ink absorbing materials 5b and 5c must be close, thereby the length of the rib 5a becomes necessarily short. However, the rib 5a needs some degree of length to support the recording medium P firmly and to keep stable paper gap.
Therefore, number of nozzles enabling to use is determined necessarily considering necessary length of the rib 5a and accuracy of start of the recording medium P, accuracy of length of the recording medium P, each dispersion of transporting accuracy, not printing at the rib 5a at the printing without margin of upper and lower ends even in the case of the shortest start, and not printing at the rib 5a at the printing without margin of upper and lower ends even in the case of the shortest length of the sheet.
That is, the printing without margin of upper and lower ends can not perform using whole nozzles, ink must be discharged by a part of nozzles, therefore it is necessary to transport the recording medium P with slower speed than usual speed. Therefore, printing work time becomes long because printing speed without margin of upper and lower ends becomes slower than normal printing speed. Disturbance of picture quality possibly generates at border part of process domain without margin of upper and lower ends and normal process domain because transportation quantity of the recording medium P without margin of upper and lower ends becomes less than transportation quantity of normal recording medium P.

Fixed material transportation apparatus, fixed material discharging apparatus, method for discharging the fixed material, and liquid fixing apparatus


A water pump mounting structure includes a water pump cover and a water pump housing. The water pump housing includes an upper extending portion and a lower extending portion. The upper extending portion includes a first upper fastening portion and a second upper fastening portion. The second upper fastening portion is provided between the first upper fastening portion and a pump driving shaft. The lower extending portion includes a first lower fastening portion and a second lower fastening portion. The second lower fastening portion is provided between the first lower fastening portion and the pump driving shaft.

1. Field of the Invention
The present disclosure relates to a water pump mounting structure in an internal combustion engine.
2. Discussion of the Background
There have been proposed various structures in which a water pump cover provided with an actuator and configured to rotatably support a pump driving shaft is combined with a water pump housing containing an impeller to form a water pump and in which the water pump is removably mounted on an engine body of an internal combustion engine (see, for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 4-012134).
In a structure disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 4-012134, a power steering pump and a water pump are integrally provided, and are driven by a common pump driving shaft. A water pump housing containing an impeller and a power steering pump housing are combined with a common pump cover being disposed therebetween. A pulley serving as a common actuator is provided at an end of the pump driving shaft protruding from the power steering pump housing.
From an upper portion of the water pump housing of the water pump, a discharging connection pipe that forms a cooling-water discharging passage extending from a pump chamber containing the impeller projects toward the engine body of the internal combustion engine. A mounting bracket is provided in a lower portion of the water pump housing.
The water pump housing is supported by inserting the upper discharging connection pipe in an opening provided in a mounting face on a side wall of the engine body to communicate with a water jacket and fastening the lower mounting bracket to the mounting face of the side wall of the engine body by a fastening bolt.
The power steering pump housing is supported by fastening upper and lower mounting brackets to the mounting face of the side wall of the engine body by fastening bolts.

Water pump mounting structure in internal combustion engine


The invention provides a new class of antibiotics to which pathogenic bacteria have not been exposed, and thus should not have developed resistance. This new class of antibiotics are derivatives of β-cyclodextrin (β-CD), which is a cyclic molecule comprising seven D-glucose units.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to development of new antibiotics against pathogenic bacteria.
2. Summary of the Related Art
Numerous bacteria are known to cause diseases in humans. Among these bacteria are Enterococcus faecium, Eschericia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Bacillus atrophaeus, Staphylococcus aureus, Salmonella choleraesuis, Bacillus anthrasis, and many others. A disturbing recent trend has been the development of resistance to existing antibiotics in numerous pathogenic bacteria. There is, therefore, a need for new antibiotics for which resistance has not yet emerged. Preferably, such antibiotics should be members of a new class of antibiotics, thus making evolutionary resistance to these antibiotics more difficult.

β-cyclodextrin derivatives as antibacterial agents


A pull-on disposable wearing article is provided with a chassis and an absorbent batt structure extending on the inner surface of the chassis. The chassis has a front waist region, a rear waist region and a crotch region and is composed of a base sheet which is substantially not elastically extensible/contractible, and first and second outer sheets stretched in a transverse direction and bonded in such a stretched state to outer surfaces of the base sheet in the front and rear waist regions, respectively, and being elastically extendible/contractible in the transverse direction. An absorbent batt structure is laid inside the chassis. The base sheet defining an inner surface of the chassis is formed with gathers as the first and second outer sheets contract.

The present invention relates generally to a pull-on disposable wearing article and particularly to such wearing articles suitable for a pull-on incontinence diaper, a pull-on disposable diaper for infants, a disposable training pant for babies, and particularly for a pull-on disposable incontinence diaper.
The conventional pull-on disposable wearing article has often been focused to meet the demand for good fitness of the article when the article is put on the wearer's body and consequentially a front waist region as well as a rear waist region has been constructed to be elastically extensible/contractible overall in a circumferential direction. For example, Japanese Patent Publication No. 3581373 (hereinafter referred to as "REFERENCE 1") discloses a pull-on disposable diaper wherein the front and rear waist regions include elastic members sandwiched between inner and outer sheets thereof.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication Nos. 1987-231005, 1987-243806 and 1987-243807 (hereinafter referred to as "REFERENCE 2", "REFERENCE 3" and "REFERENCE 4", respectively) disclose disposable absorbent pants having an absorbent core and a crotch region provided along bottoms of respective concavely curving side edges with relatively wide elastic members.
Japanese Patent Publication No. 3616077 (hereinafter referred to as "REFERENCE 5") discloses a disposable diaper having an absorbent layer provided with at least three grooves extending from a crotch region into front and rear waist regions.
According to the disclosure of REFERENCE 1, the inner and outer sheets of the front and rear waist regions are formed with gathers as the elastic members contract. The gathers formed on the outer surfaces of the front and rear waist regions are not only undesirable for appearance of the diaper but also apt to catch on something, causing a state of the article put on the wearer's body to be disordered or material of the waist regions to be damaged.
According to the disclosure of REFERENCES 2-4, any specific technical significance of the relatively wide elastic members attached to the crotch region along the bottoms of the concavely curving side edges is not referred to. Particularly, no technical significance of the correlation between the relatively wide elastic members and the absorbing effect can be found in the disclosure. In view of this, use of such relatively wide elastic members is not considered to be based on any technical significance.
According to the disclosure of REFERENCE 5, a central region of a flat absorbent layer is deformed along the grooves to present a W-shaped cross-section while transversely opposite side edges are bent downward as the diaper is put on the wearer's body. The side edges bent downward in this manner come in close contact with the inner sides of the wearer's thighs. In general, the absorbent layer has a stiffness higher than those of the remaining components of the diaper, and the side edges of such stiff absorbent layer being bent downward and coming in close contact with the inner sides of the wearer's thighs inevitably causes the wearer to experience somewhat discomfort feeling. Furthermore, the W-shaped cross-section appearing when this absorbent layer is deformed presents many folds, i.e., crests and troughs since the side edges also are folded downward. Therefore, it is not ensured that the absorbent layer is reliably folded or deformed in the predetermined shape.


There is described a composition for synthetic stone. The composition having (a) 3 to 25 wt % acrylic resin, the acrylic resin having:—(i) >50 upto 95 wt % methyl methacrylate and methyl methacrylate monomer residues, (ii) 4 to 40 wt % higher boiling point mono(alk)acrylate monomer, (iii) optionally, 0 to 10 wt % other acrylate or vinyl comonomer residues, and(iv) a crosslinking agent. The MMA residues of component (a)(i) are present in the acrylic resin in the form of a MMA residue containing (co)polymer, comprising at least 80% residues of MMA by weight of the (co)polymer. The composition further having (b) 70 to 95 wt % filler; and (c) optionally, a coupling agent. The composition being especially useful for the manufacture of synthetic stone for use in outdoor applications.

Natural stones, such as marble or granite, are often used in outdoor decorative and functional applications. However, the use of natural stone is costly due to expensive processing and limited supply. Additionally, natural imperfections can lead to cracking and general brittleness.
In an attempt to address the problems associated with natural stones, various synthetic stones have been described. Synthetic stones are generally moulded products based on a polymeric resin and high levels of natural and/or artificial aggregate. Synthetic stone can overcome many of the problems found with natural stone as well as replicating the desirable appearance of natural stone, and, in particular, this can be achieved at a significantly lower cost than natural stone.
The resins of synthetic stone compositions have generally focused on polyester based resins. Polyester based resins are especially useful for decorative interior applications. However, polyester based resins have low UV resistance meaning that performance in outdoor applications can be poor. As such, it is desirable to use a resin able to provide better weathering properties for outdoor applications.
Acrylic based systems have been found to provide improved outdoor weathering compared to polyester based systems. Acrylics result in a synthetic stone that has a lower degradation over time outdoors and especially a much higher resistance to sunlight than synthetic stone containing a polyester resin.
EP1878712 describes a process for manufacturing artificial stone boards suitable for outdoor use comprising a polymerisable resin that is formed from liquid methacrylate resin. Unfortunately, the final product is found to have crumbling at the edges. In addition, the curing system uses accelerators to activate otherwise high temperature initiators: the accelerators reduce pot-life and lead to discolouration of the resin.
WO2015091318 replaces MMA with very high levels of cyclic ester monomer in order to address various alleged problems including odour and uneven distribution of the coarse fillers. The cyclic ester monomer is an ester of (meth) acrylic acid with an alcohol having a cyclic radical and at least two oxygen atoms. WO′ 318 goes on to teach the possibility of dispensing with MMA entirely without impairing the remaining properties of the artificial stones. However, the proposed monomer is very expensive.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,387,985 describes an acrylic and quartz based composition for surfacing material that improves temperature and impact performance over polyester based compositions and uses a urethane acrylate and styrene as well as MMA. Such products still suffer from discolouration as a result of weathering and cloudiness issues as well as utilizing expensive components.
Therefore, there is still a requirement for a composition for synthetic stone that enables high levels of MMA without suffering from crumbling or requiring expensive components or process adaptations. It is therefore an object of aspects of the present invention to address one or more of these, or other, problems.


A crash barrier assembly has a plurality of prismatic, solid structural elements, at least one of the elements having a shoulder forming a horizontal surface on at least one of its sides, and another element having substantially matching surfaces on at least one of its sides so as to facilitate juxtaposing of the elements. A coupler resiliently interconnects the elements to each other in a manner facilitating relative controlled movement along the horizontal surface of the one element with respect to the other about the coupler. A method for erecting a crash barrier is also provided.

Solid crash barriers made of concrete are built along the roads, either by in situ casting or by interconnecting the side surfaces of individual prefabricated elements to each other, e.g., by means of male/female connectors, steel hooks and loops, etc., as per se known.
There are several disadvantages to the above-mentioned prior art crash barriers, the first being the rigidity of the barriers as compared with barriers made, e.g., of steel rails or cables. A second disadvantage is that it is very difficult and time-consuming to achieve a smooth, contiguous upper edge at the desired level of the interconnected individual prefabricated elements forming these barriers.


The present invention, pertaining to the field of wireless communications, discloses a mobile broadcast-based method and apparatus that includes: receiving a mobile broadcast signal; demodulating a location spreading signal inserted in the header of a time slot or a transmission frame of the mobile broadcast signal to acquire navigation message information, and measuring and acquiring location characteristic parameters, wherein the navigation message information includes the identifier of a mobile broadcast station, and the location characteristic parameters correspond to the identifier; and acquiring location data according to the location characteristic parameters and the navigation message information. According to the method and apparatus, a location spreading signal is carried in the header of a time slot or in the header of a transmission frame of the mobile broadcast signal, navigation message information is acquired by demodulating the location spreading signal, and location characteristic parameters are acquired by measurement to acquire location data.

Location-based services (LBS) are a class of value-added services providing location-based navigation and inquiry services for users over a mobile communication network by using wireless location technologies in cooperation with a Geographic Information System (GIS), which represent a combination of the spatial information technology and the wireless communication technology. In recent years, progress in the radio technology and the wireless local area (WLAN) technology and increase of location service demands promote the development of the location technology. Demands on the LBS are ever increasing. The location technology is extremely important, especially in emergencies. Therefore, LBS-based wireless location applications see a broad and promising market.
Currently, LBS include three location methods: Global Positioning System (GPS) location, wireless network location, and hybrid location. The hybrid location is a combination of the GPS location and the wireless network location, and is the most commonly used location method. This is because if only the GPS receiver is used for location, a location failure might happen due to difficulty of receiving GPS signals from a satellite among blocks in downtown areas or within buildings. In the field of mobile communication, the following traditional location methods are available:
Cell of Origin (COO) is a location technology which determines the location of a user by collecting the identifier of a cell which the mobile station belongs to. This technology is simple but achieves poor accuracy, failing to satisfy requirements of majority of users.
Enhanced Observed Time Difference (E-OTD) is implemented by deploying reference points. The system distributes reference points among a plurality of stations deployed in a large area, as location measurement units covering the wireless network. Each reference point has an accurate clock source. When an E-OTD-enabled mobile phone and the location measurement units receive signals from at least three base stations, the time difference from each of the base stations to the mobile phone and the location measurement units can be calculated. Based on the calculated time differences, the location of the mobile phone is estimated. This solution is, however, complicated.
Assisted GPS (A-GPS) is a system where a plurality of GPS receivers are deployed at locations at which signals are successfully received from a satellite. In the A-GPS, the received assisted GPS signals are sent to a mobile phone over a communication network; and a mobile phone equipped with a GPS calculation chip calculates the location of the mobile phone according to the GPS location data transmitted over the communication network, with location accuracy of within 10 meters. However, this solution, compared with the E-TOD technology, has higher requirements on both the network and the mobile phone.
In addition, the Angle of Arrival (AOA) location technology and the Time of Arrival (TOA) location technology are available. The AOA location technology is to determine the location of a mobile station according to angles of arrival of signal from a mobile station to two base stations. The TOA location technology is to determine the location of a mobile station by measuring the time from being sent from the mobile station to arrival at a message measurement unit.
The prior art further provides a location method for use in a mobile communication system, where a mobile terminal is located by matching a group of actual signal parameter information acquired during location, and a base station identifier corresponding to each actual signal parameter information, with a statistical value for each group of signal parameters measured in advance in different sub-areas and a base station identifier corresponding to each actual signal parameter information. This improves location speed and accuracy. However, a mobile base station achieves a poor signal coverage, location accuracy according to the location method in the prior art still needs to be improved. In addition, if a large number of mobile terminals communicate with the base station for location, communication resources will be occupied.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Mobile broadcast-based location determination method and apparatus

BEIJING UNIVERSITY OF POSTS AND TELECOMMUNICATIONS

BEIJING SHOUKEXINTONG SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD.


An electronic communication device for a tire includes a radio device and an antenna intended to be attached to or embedded in a tire, the antenna being spirally or helically shaped to absorb tensile and bending stress applied by the tire. The antenna body may be a wire formed of spring steel, brass or zinc coated spring steel, or spring brass. A coating of insulating material coats the radio device and antenna for mounting on or in, and operation in, a tire structure.

Electronic devices integrated in a tire can provide functions such as identification and tracking during manufacture, distribution, and use, and measurement of physical parameters such as pressure and temperature during use of the tire. Many systems utilize radio frequency communication between the tire and the external monitoring or interrogating device. A radio frequency communication link requires one or more antennas.
An electronic device and antenna that is securely attached to a tire structure, for example, by being embedded in the elastomeric material of the tire or attached by means of an elastomeric patch that is bonded to the tire, is desirable. Such mounting or attachment provides permanent, tamper-proof integration of the device with the tire. Integrating an antenna in the tire, however, presents difficulties. A tire undergoes flexing and distortions during normal use that can cause the antenna to fracture or separate from the electronics device. Further, if the electronics device and antenna are to be integrated with the tire during manufacture and before curing of the tire, the manufacturing process includes many steps, such as shaping and curing, which could cause the wire to break.
The invention provides an improved electronics device with a radio frequency antenna for integration with a tire that avoids problems in the art. According to the invention, the improved electronics device includes an antenna that is shaped to absorb stresses imposed on it by the tire or tire manufacturing process. According to the invention, the antenna is shaped as a spiral winding, which provides extensibility in the longitudinal direction and flexibility in other directions. According to a preferred embodiment, the antenna has a helical shape, having a plurality of turns along its length.
An improved electronic communication device for a tire of a vehicle, according to the invention, comprises a radio device for communicating information from the tire to a remote radio receiver, and at least a first antenna wire connected to and extending from said radio device, the at least first antenna wire is formed with a plurality of helical turns, characterised in that the antenna is completely coated with an electrically insulating material.
Preferably, the radio device is also coated with an electrically insulating material.
According to one embodiment of the invention, the antenna wire is formed as a monopole or dipole antenna and terminates at a distance from the radio device. This embodiment is useful for relatively high frequency radio devices, for example, the radio devices operable at a frequency at or above 130 MHz.
According to another embodiment, the antenna wire forms a loop antenna, which is advantageous for lower frequency communication. Such devices may operate, for example, at about 13 MHz, or less.
The antenna material can be any material capable of transmitting radio frequency energy. Advantageously, and preferably for use in or on a tire because of its durability under fatigue conditions, the antenna body is a wire formed of spring steel, brass coated spring steel, spring brass or some copper alloys and coated steel. Such materials are capable of surviving the bending and flexing deformations typically experienced by the tire.
According to another aspect of the invention, the device includes a rubber layer to facilitate integration of the device with a tire. Preferably, the layer of rubber material is electrically non-conductive and surrounds the radio device and the at least first antenna wire. The device may be integrated by embedding it in a portion of a tire, or by attaching to a surface of the tire in the manner of a patch.
The invention also includes a tire having an electronic communication device, the tire comprising a crown region and sidewalls extending radially inward from the crown and terminating in beads, the tire further comprising a radio device for communicating information from the tire to a remote radio receiver and at least a first antenna wire connected to and extending from said radio device, the antenna being formed with a plurality of helical turns, the invention characterised in that the radio device and antenna are integrated into the tire with a coating of electrically non-conductive material surrounding the at least first antenna wire.
The radio device and antenna can be integrated in the sidewall of the tire. They can also be integrated in the crown of the tire.
The invention will be better understood by reference to the following detailed description in conjunction with the appended drawings.

Electronic device for a tire having an extensible antenna


The trailing edge of a sheet delivered to a treating tray for treating the sheet with respect to a delivering direction is made to abut against a trailing edge regulating member to thereby regulate the trailing edge position of the sheet. Next, a sheet delivery lever is reciprocally moved between a first position in which it is retracted to the upstream side of the trailing edge regulating member with respect to the sheet delivering direction and a second position in which it protrudes into the stacking area of the treating tray, to thereby push the trailing edge of the treated sheet and deliver the sheet onto a sheet stacking tray. Also, when this sheet delivery lever is to be moved from the second position to the first position, the sheet delivery lever is moved so as to be capable of passing by the sheet delivered to the treating tray, whereby even during the time when the sheet delivering lever is moved to the first position, the delivery of a succeeding sheet to the treating tray is made possible.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a sheet treating apparatus and an image forming apparatus which can prevent any reduction in throughput and which are low in cost, and particularly to delivering means for delivering a sheet after delivered to a treating tray and treated to sheet stacking means.
2. Description of Related Art
Some of conventional image forming apparatus are provided a sheet treating apparatus for treating a sheet having an image formed thereon. This sheet treating apparatus is provided with a sheet delivering apparatus for once delivering the sheet having an image formed thereon to a treating tray and effecting treatments such as alignment and stapling, and thereafter delivering the sheet (bundle) to a stacking tray.
Now, in such a sheet treating apparatus, as sheet delivering means for delivering a sheet bundle aligned and treated by the treating tray to the stacking tray, there are known sheet delivery rollers and a sheet delivery belt provided with a sheet delivery claw (for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2003-73014).
FIG. 11 of the accompanying drawings illustrates the delivery by such a conventional sheet delivery belt provided with a sheet delivery claw, and in FIG. 11, the reference numeral 504 designates an intermediate stacking portion constituting the treating tray, the reference numeral 500 denotes a sheet delivery belt, and the reference numeral 501 designates a sheet delivery claw provided on the sheet delivery belt 500. Also, the reference numeral 502 denotes a sheet delivered by the sheet delivery claw 501 with the rotation of the sheet delivery belt 500 and this sheet 502 is pushed out by the sheet delivery claw 501, and thereafter falls onto and is stacked on a stacking tray 503.
The sheet delivery claw 501 is normally in a position indicated by A in FIG. 11 in which it is retracted below the intermediate stacking portion 500, and is moved from the position indicated by A to positions B, C, D, E, F, G, H and I when the sheet 502 is to be delivered, thereby delivering the sheet 502. After it has thus delivered the sheet 502, the sheet delivery claw is adapted to be again returned to the position A.
However, in the conventional sheet treating apparatus adapted to deliver the sheet 502 by such a sheet delivery claw 501, the sheet delivery claw 501 protrudes to above the stacking tray 503, for example, in the positions indicated by G and H, until it is moved to below the intermediate stacking portion 500 after it has delivered the sheet 502 in a position indicated by F. That is, the sheet delivery claw 501 is adapted to be retracted to below the intermediate stacking portion 500 while being moved above the stacking tray 503 after it has delivered the sheet 502.
When the sheet delivery claw 501 is thus retracted while being moved above the stacking tray 503, the maximum stack height of sheets which can be stacked on the stacking tray 503 has been limited to such a height that the retracted sheet delivery claw 501 does not contact with the sheets on the stacking tray, that is, to below the passage area of the sheet delivery claw 501.
That is, in a method of causing the sheet delivery claw 501 to make one round by such a sheet delivery belt 500 to thereby deliver the sheet, a space for the sheet delivery claw 501 to be moved therein must be secured above the stacking tray and correspondingly, the stack upper limit height has been low. Also, there has been the problem that the cost of the parts of the sheet delivery belt itself is high and the cost of the apparatus becomes high.
To solve such a problem, for example, the sheet delivery claw 501 can be designed to be reciprocally moved, instead of being caused to make one round. However, in a case where the sheet delivery claw 501 is thus designed to be reciprocally moved, the sheet delivery claw 501 contacts with a sheet next delivered to the intermediate stacking portion 500 when the sheet delivery claw 501 is returned to its original position after it has delivered a sheet.
Thereafter, when the sheet delivery claw 501 is to be returned to its original position, the sheet must be stopped, and in a case where design is made such that the sheet is thus stopped each time the sheet delivery claw 501 is returned to its original position, there arises another problem that throughput is reduced.
Also, in a conventional sheet treating apparatus wherein the stacking tray is provided for upward and downward movement, the stacking tray is once moved down in order to secure a space for the movement of the sheet delivery claw 501, and is again moved up to a proper sheet stacking position after the sheet delivery claw 501 has been returned to its original position. Therefore, the sheet stacking capacity need not be decreased, but yet the next sheet must be stopped until the stacking tray is returned to the proper sheet stacking position, and this has led to the problem that throughput is reduced and structure becomes complicated and costly.
On the other hand, in a method of delivering a sheet by a sheet delivery rollers, it is unnecessary to secure a space for the sheet delivery roller 501 to be move therein above the stacking tray and therefore, the stack upper limit height can be made great, but when sheets are to be stacked on the intermediate stacking portion 504 or when the sheets stacked on the intermediate stacking portion 504 are to be aligned, it is necessary to release the nip and therefore, discretely from the rotative driving of the roller, a drive source and a mechanism for releasing the nip are necessary, and this has led to the problem of a higher cost.

Sheet treating apparatus and image forming apparatus


A base station arranging apparatus has a memory 53, a controlling portion 54, and a database 55. The controlling portion 54 forms a virtual space for simulating an area in the memory 53, maps matrix points at which a mobile station and a base station can be arranged to the virtual space in a matrix shape, assigns shape data and building data in the area to the virtual space, generates line-of-sight information between any two matrix points in the virtual space, stores the line-of-sight information in a matrix table 40 of the database 55, calculates the difference between the total numbers of line-of-sight information of each matrix point in the column direction and row direction of the matrix table 40, and successively arranges base stations corresponding to the calculated results.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a base station arranging apparatus for arranging base stations that perform radio communications in a particular area such as a company area, a method thereof, and a storing medium for storing a program for determining an alternative point of a base station.
2. Description of the Related Art
When radio communications are made by a plurality of mobile stations through base stations arranged in a predetermined area such as a company area, it is preferred to effectively arrange the base stations in a range of which the mobile stations move.
When radio communication engineer designs an arrangement of base stations as transmitting/receiving sources of radio waves in the area, he or she selects positions at which the base stations will be arranged corresponding to the output of the radio waves of the base stations and the locations of buildings in the area based on his/her experience and intuition. Thereafter, the engineer inputs the selected positions to a predetermined designing system.
Next, the engineer actually goes to the sites of the base stations where he input to the designing system, and he measures and observes the radio environments at sites of the base stations, evaluates optimum positions of the base stations, and marks the evaluated positions on maps or the like. Thereafter, the engineer inputs the evaluated positions to the designing system so as to determine the final positions of the base stations.
In this method, the designing efficiency for arranging the base stations is very low. When there is a building that will be constructed or that is under construction, after it is completed, the radio environments should be measured again. Thus, this method is not effective.
In the conventional method, the engineer should measure and select the positions at which base stations will be arranged at sites. So if the engineer does not have enough experience, it is difficult to design the arrangement of the radio base stations.
If there is a building that will be constructed or that is under construction, since the radio environments vary after and before the completion of the construction, unless the building is completed, the positions of the base stations cannot be determined, thereby deteriorating the designing efficiency.

Base station arranging apparatus for designing an arrangement of radio base stations, method thereof, and storing medium for storing a program for determining an alternative point of a base station


A system and method for implementing a recurrent bidding process is disclosed. According to one embodiment, a method for implementing a recurrent bidding process to dispose of a portfolio of consumer debts may comprise the steps of: offering the portfolio of consumer debts in an initial bidding among a plurality of potential buyers to identify a first buyer and a second buyer, wherein the first buyer is the highest bidder in the initial bidding and is allocated a first portion of the portfolio, and wherein the second buyer is the next highest bidder in the initial bidding and is allocated a second portion of the portfolio; maintaining the allocation of the portfolio of consumer debts between the first buyer and the second buyer for a first time period; designating a portion of the portfolio as an at-risk volume for a second time period; offering the at-risk volume in a second bidding between the first buyer and the second buyer, wherein the highest bidder in the second bidding is allocated the at-risk volume; and maintaining the resulting allocation of the portfolio of consumer debts between the first buyer and the second buyer for the second time period.

For a seller with a continuously available inventory, it is certainly desirable if the seller could always dispose of the inventory at the highest price possible. However, it is not a trivial task to find a buyer or buyers willing to pay the highest prices. Ideally, the seller could hold public auctions as often as possible to sell every piece of its assets to the highest bidder. However, frequent auctions impose a significant overhead cost that tends to reduce, if not eliminate, the seller's profit margin. Alternatively, the seller can identify no more than a handful of buyers, and maintain a long-term and somewhat exclusive relationship with them. That is, the seller may choose to sell most, if not all, of its inventory to these buyers for years to come. Sales prices to these buyers may be determined through negotiations and/or biddings. Since such negotiations or biddings are too expensive to be held on a frequent basis, the sales prices are typically fixed (e.g., in a sales contract) for months or even years without any adjustment. Before a sales contract expires, the seller is legally bound to accept the sales price specified in the contract no matter how the market changes. The effect of a sales contract on the seller is therefore twofold. On the one hand, the seller is protected against risk of losses if the market price plummets. On the other hand, the seller also gives up the potential of additional profits should the market price soar through the roof. Sometimes, a sales contract that under-performs the market may put a seller company in a disadvantaged position against its competitors. For example, due to an unfortunate timing of contract negotiation (e.g., in a low-demand period), a company may later find itself locked into a sales contract with a price that is substantially below the competitors' prices. The company may then face a dilemma of either breaching the contract and incur a penalty or swallowing the pains of watching the competitors growing strong. Although, for a few standard or widely-traded commodities (e.g., oil, electricity, pork-bellies, or orange juice), it may be possible to contract a floating price that is tied to a market index, no reliable reference of market price exists for most assets or merchandise.
A buyer faces a similar problem as well. A buyer can either negotiate an acceptable purchase price with potential sellers, or select, through a bidding process, a seller who offers the lowest price. Since frequent negotiations or biddings are impracticable for a buyer with continuing acquisition needs, the buyer is also likely to enter into one or more agreements that lock in the purchase prices for a relatively long time. As a result, the buyer may also become isolated from the market and cannot benefit from any price drop during the term of the contract.
Take the sale of consumer debts for an example. A typical credit company may have thousands or even millions of cardholders, many of which maintain a revolving balance (i.e., a debt) on their credit accounts. While these debts are a major source of income for the credit company, they also pose a substantial risk as it is inevitable that some of the cardholders lack the ability to repay their debts and will eventually file for bankruptcy (e.g., Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 bankruptcy). As a result, a typical card issuer may find itself in possession of a constant supply of bankruptcy accounts (or bad debts) which have to be disposed of on a regular basis. Typically, the credit company sells the bankruptcy accounts to consumer debt buyers for a fraction of the accounts' face value. Just like other sellers with a continuously available inventory, it is common practice for such a credit company to select a buyer through a bidding process and then enter into an annual (or even longer-term) contract with the buyer. During the contract term, the buyer will continue purchasing the credit company's entire portfolio of bankruptcy accounts at a fixed price as specified in the contract. The pricing of the bankruptcy accounts, though only pennies on a dollar, can be profoundly sensitive to various factors. As such, the market price of the bankruptcy accounts tends to fluctuate substantially within a year, although there is no reliable pricing index to implement a floating price. When a credit company sells a large volume of bankruptcy accounts on a year-round basis, even a small change in the actual sales price can substantially affect the credit company's recovery from the bad debts. Therefore, compared to annual sales contracts, the credit company may prefer a sales process that affords more exposure to the market and/or more control in pricing.
In view of the foregoing, it would be desirable to provide an asset sales solution which overcomes the above-described deficiencies and shortcomings.

System and method for implementing a recurrent bidding process


There is provided a protection clip for a torque receiving part. The protection clip is fitted into a concave portion of a torque receiving part of a caliper body, into which a lug part of a brake pad of a disc brake is inserted. The protection clip includes first and second separation preventing claws. The first separation preventing claw is bent from an outer periphery-side wall surface of the concave portion toward an upper attaching surface of the torque receiving part, and is configured to be fitted into one of a pair of recesses formed over an opening of the concave portion. The second separation preventing claw is bent from a lower attaching surface of the torque receiving part toward the concave portion, and is configured to be fitted into the other of the pair of recesses.

The invention relates to a protection clip for a torque receiving part of a caliper body consisting of a disc brake, and a method of forming an attaching recess to which the protection clip is attached.
As vehicle performance is enhanced, a vehicle weight is increased and a size of a brake rotor is increased, an area of a brake pad consisting of a disc brake is enlarged and a weight thereof is also increased. Also, performance of a tire is improved, braking torque of a brake is increased.
Accordingly, in a mechanism such as opposed type caliper in which aluminum braking torque is received by a aluminum member, it is necessary to protect the aluminum member and a contact surface of a torque receiving part of the brake pad against vibration of the brake pad and braking torque having a high acceleration by using a high strength member such as pad clip. Also, the pad clip is generally used as a guide for sliding the brake pad for generating a frictional force between a rotor and the brake pad in an axial direction of the rotor, and is used to stably hold the brake pad.
Regarding a technology of protecting the contact surface of the torque receiving part of the brake pad with the high strength member, Patent Documents 1 to 3 disclose disc brake structures.
Patent Document 1 discloses a vehicle disc brake having a pad retainer that supports a torque transfer surface of a frictional pad and guides the frictional pad in an axial direction of a disc. The pad retainer is attached to a caliper body by a screw means so that it can move in radial and axial directions of the disc.
Patent Document 2 discloses a disc brake having a retainer attached on a torque receiving surface of a caliper, which the retainer guides a brake pad in an axial direction of a disc. With the retainer, an attachment part thereof having a V-shaped section corresponding to a V-shaped section of a retainer attachment concave portion, which is formed at a central portion of the torque receiving surface in a radial direction of the disc, is fixed to the retainer attachment concave portion by a bolt.
Patent Document 3 discloses an opposed type disc brake having a liner between a torque receiving part of a caliper and a brake pad. The liner has a fixing part that is fixed to the torque receiving part, and can be fixed to an end face of the torque receiving part by being fastened with a fastening member, which is inserted into a hole of the fixing part, with predetermined torque.
[Patent Document 1] JP-B-3198397
[Patent Document 2] JP-A-2010-159818
[Patent Document 3] JP-A-2007-321844

Protection clip for torque receiving part and method of forming attaching recess thereof


The method of forming a polycide layer in a semiconductor device is provided. The method of forming a polycide layer comprises the steps of depositing a doped polysilicon layer on a silicon substrate on which an insulating layer is formed and depositing a tungsten silicide on the doped polysilicon layer, the doped polysilicon layer comprises a lower, intermediate and upper doped polysilicon layers sequentially formed, also the intermediate polysilicon layer has a lower concentration of impurity ion than the upper and lower polysilicon layers. The impurity ions contained within the upper and lower polysilicon layers are diffused into the intermediate layer having the lowest concentration of impurity during a subsequent annealing process, therefore the impurity ions contained within the upper and lower polysilicon layers are not diffused to the junction and the tungsten silicide.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of forming a polycide layer in a semiconductor device and, more particularly, to a method of forming a polycide layer in a semiconductor device which can prevent an external diffusion of impurity ions contained in a doped polysilicon layer so that an electrical characteristic of device can be improved.
2. Description of the Prior Arts
In comparing with a polysilicon, a tungsten silicide layer (WSi.sub.x) used for a wiring in a manufacturing process of a semiconductor device has excellent electrical specific resistance and thermal stability. Therefore, in case where any other fire-resistive metal compounds can not be used due to a subsequent high temperature process, the tungsten silicide layer may be used as a local interconnection materials. However, since the tungsten silicide layer has a poor adhesive force with an oxide, in most case, a polycide structure in which a tungsten silicide layer is deposited on a polysilicon is used.
As an example of a conventional method of forming a polycide layer in a semiconductor device, a method of forming a bit line will be now explained as follows.
FIG. 1 and FIG. 3 are cross-sectional views of device for explaining a conventional method of forming a polycide layer in a semiconductor device.
Referring to FIG. 1, an insulating layer 3 is formed on a silicon substrate 1 in which a junction 2 is formed, the insulating layer 3 is patterned to expose the junction 2 and thus a contact hole is formed. Then, a doped polysilicon layer 4 is deposited on the entire structure, a tungsten silicide layer 5 is deposited on the doped polysilicon layer 4. Therefore, a polycide layer 6 consisted of the doped polysilicon layer 4 and the tungsten silicide layer 5 is formed.
Here, the polycide layer 6 may be formed by means of two methods. The doped polysilicon layer 4 and the tungsten silicide layer 5 are deposited in in-situ method in an apparatus under vacuum, or the doped polysilicon layer 4 and the tungsten silicide layer 5 are deposited in different apparatuses, respectively. However, in case of the former, if the doped polysilicon layer 4 and the tungsten silicide layer 5 are experienced with a subsequent annealing process, impurity ions 7 such as phosphorous (P) contained within the doped polysilicon layer 4 will be diffused into the junction 2 and the tungsten silicide layer 5 as shown in FIG. 2 which is an enlarged view of the A portion in FIG. 1. Therefore, due to the diffusion of the impurity ions 7, the depth of the connection 2 will be altered. In addition, since the impurity ions 7 penetrated into the grain boundary of the tungsten silicide layer 5 resists a flow of current during operation of the device, the resistance of the tungsten silicide layer 5 will be increased.
Also, in case of the latter, a pre-cleaning process is performed after depositing the doped polysilicon layer 5, and then the tungsten silicide layer 5 is deposited. Therefore, an oxide film 8 is formed between the doped polysilicon layer 4 and the tungsten silicide layer 5 as shown in FIG. 3. During a subsequent annealing process, although the diffusion of the impurity ions 7 can be prevented by the oxide film 8, the steps of the process will become complicated, thereby lowering the yield.

Method of forming a polycide layer in a semiconductor device

Hyundai Electronics Industries Co., Ltd.


Each of impeller grooves of an impeller has a first bow surface that extends from one end surface of the impeller so as to have a radius R1, a second bow surface that extends from the other end surface of the impeller so as to have a radius r1, and a projected partition wall having a connecting surface that connects the first and second bow surfaces. A pump cover and a pump base are provided adjacent to the respective end surfaces of the impeller, and are formed with respective annular feed passages that are defined by semicircular wall surfaces having radii R2 and r2, respectively. The radii R1 and r1 of the first and second bow surfaces are set longer than the radii R2 and r2 of the semicircular wall surfaces, respectively.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a circumferential flow pump that is housed in the fuel tank of an automobile, for example, and that supplies fuel to the internal combustion engine at a prescribed pressure.
2. Description of the Related Art
Circumferential flow pumps are known that employ the following measures to increase the pump output power with the same outside dimensions and under the same operation conditions (e.g., Japanese Patent No. 2,962,828). The centers of the radii of annular feed passages are set approximately coincident with the centers of the radii of an impeller, respectively, and the former radii are set equal to the latter radii, respectively. Further, the centers of the above radii are located inside the outline of the impeller. These measures are effective in increasing the C factor of circulating flows (Qc) and thereby increasing the efficiency.
High pump performance is attained by the following measures (e.g., JP-A-6-2690). The impeller is made of a synthetic resin. An impeller plate is formed with a side surface of one impeller groove that communicates with one end surface and an outer circumferential surface of the impeller, a side surface of the other impeller groove that communicates with the other end surface and the outer circumferential surface of the impeller, and a side surface of a communication groove that communicates with the one impeller groove and the other impeller groove in the axial direction on the outer circumference side. The communication groove is located between the one impeller groove and the other impeller groove and is terminated at a position that is inside the outer circumference of the impeller plate. A partition wall is formed so that the interval between the bottom surface of the one impeller groove and the bottom surface of the other impeller groove gradually decreases toward the outer circumference and has a prescribed value or more at the most outer circumference where the bottom surfaces are terminated.
In the above-described conventional circumferential flow pumps, the centers of the radii of the annular feed passages are set approximately coincident with the centers of the radii of the impeller, respectively, and the centers of the radii are located inside the outline of the impeller. In these circumferential flow pumps, as described in JP-A-6-2690, an inactive portion occurs between two symmetrical swirling flows in the impeller grooves. In the inactive portion, liquid fuel is not given a sufficiently high flow velocity and a backward flow occurs. The backward flow prevents fuel pressure increase; even if the C factor of circulating flows (Qc) is increased to produce a high pressure, the internal pressure leakage makes it difficult to increase the fuel pressure. The influence of this pressure leakage is small in the case of an ordinary pump operation. However, for example, when the voltage applied to an electric motor for giving drive force to the circumferential flow pump is low, the pressure leakage is so serious as to make it difficult to obtain a high pressure.