A framed soap composition comprises (a) from 20 to 50% by weight of a fatty acid soap, (b) from 1 to 15% by weight of a nonionic surfactant, and (c) from 0.1 to 5% by weight of an inorganic salt. A framed soap composition incorporated with air bubbles is produced by melting a mixture containing these components while heating the mixture in the presence of water, subjecting the resultant molten material to aeration treatment to incorporate air bubbles, and pouring the resultant molten material incorporated with air bubbles, into a frame followed by cooling to harden the molten material.

Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a framed soap composition having advantages that it may hardly crack and also hardly become swollen, even when any means is taken for its formulation, e.g., activators other than soap are added, in order to attain a preferable feel on use, and also having a high productivity comparable to milled soap. 2.
Description of the Related Art
From differences in production processes, soap can be roughly grouped into two types. One of them is milled soap and the other is framed soap.
The milled soap is obtained by adding a perfume, a dye and so forth to a soap base material obtained by heating and drying neat soap, well mixing them by means of a mixer, putting the resultant mixture to a rolling machine and an extruder to extrude and mold the mixture into bars while kneading and compressing it, and stamping the bar-like molded products thus obtained. The milled soap obtained in this way have advantages that it may readily dissolve in water or the like and also has a high productivity. On the other hand, however, the milled soap has problems that it tends to crack and tends to become swollen. In particular, it greatly tends to become swollen when it has a high water content or when it contains other activators.
As for the framed soap, it is obtained by adding various additives to neat soap, directly pouring the resultant mixture into a frame, and cooling it in the frame to harden, followed by drying. The framed soap obtained in this way is constituted basically of from 50 to 70% by weight of fatty acid soap, from 10 to 20% by weight of polyols (glycerol, etc.) and the balance being water, and has features that it may hardly crack and may hardly become swollen. Also, since it can be produced basically by pouring the neat soap into a frame, it can be produced at a lower cost in view of the cost of production facilities than the cost of production facilities for the milled soap.
The framed soap, however, has disadvantages that it takes at least a day or two days until the soap hardens and dries, and takes as long as about a month in the case of transparent soap, bringing about a problem of a very low productivity. For this reason, under existing circumstances, the framed soap has commercially a very small share except for transparent soap, despite the advantages that it may hardly crack and may hardly become swollen. This is because, as stated above, while it can be produced at a lower cost than the milled soap in view of the cost of production facilities than the cost of production facilities for the milled soap, its final products result in a greatly higher cost of production than the milled soap.
What is called light-weight soap or floating soap, in which air bubbles are entrapped, is also known as a type of the framed soap, see Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 4-218599. This publication discloses a floating soap produced by melting a neat soap composed of from 10 to 50% of coconut oil and 50 to 90% of beef tallow and having a water content of from 28 to 35%, introducing the resultant molten material into a high-shear mixing machine, blowing and mixing high-pressure air to incorporate air bubbles into the molten material, pouring into a soap frame the resultant mixture incorporated with air bubbles, and leaving it to cool to harden.
However, the formulation of soap as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 4-218599 has caused a problem that the bubbles can not be well retained as they stand to cause phase separation into crushed bubble phase and solid phase to become hard.

Framed soap composition containing non-ionic surfactant and inorganic salt


A method for presentation of information of a recorded television program for allowing user to seize easily and quickly content/composition thereof, and an easily manipulable interface therefor. Picture signal of a television program currently being recorded by a VTR or the like is converted into a frame-based picture signal. Frames indicating inter-shot transitions are detected and stored as shot-representative pictures for thereby generating a digest picture file composed of a set of the shot-representative pictures substantially simultaneously with recording operation of the VTR. In a digest picture display, the shot-representative pictures are displayed in a temporally sequential order in which they were generated in such a form that a predetermined number of shot-representative pictures are displayed in each of predetermined time zones in a uniform array, for facilitating comprehension of the contents of the television picture as recorded. Additionally, by selecting one of the shot-representative pictures being displayed a temporal position of the television picture from which reproduction is to be started can visually be determined.

The present invention generally relates to a method and an apparatus for watching videos (motion pictures) such as those of television programs. In particular, the invention is concerned with a method and an apparatus for generating or making a digest picture of a television program in order to allow the content and composition of the television program as recorded to be seized or understood easily and speedily. Furthermore, the present invention is directed to a method and an apparatus for recording a television program or programs by reservation in advance, which apparatus is imparted with a digest picture making capability or function.
Many of the television program recording apparatuses such as a video tape recorder (VTR in abbreviation) or the like now on the market are equipped with a function for recording a television program by programming the recording start and end times in advance hereinafter also referred to as the programmed recording function. By making use of this function, the user can enjoy desired television programs at any time and/or place which he or she desires. Besides, in such a case where two television programs to be watched fall within a same time period, it is possible to watch one of the television programs while the other is on a different channel being recorded so that the latter can be enjoyed later on at a time available for the user. In this conjunction, it is however noted that the television program as recorded through the reservation recording may often be left as it is without being enjoyed for the reason that a time therefor is unavailable or the user can not be reminded of or identify the recording medium such as a video tape, video disk and the like on which a television program of concern has been recorded or for some other reasons. In the worst case, the user may use a recording medium having recorded thereon a program not yet enjoyed for recording another program. In that case, the former is erased because of overwriting of the latter. Such inconveniences are ascribable partly to the fact that the video recording/reproducing or playback apparatus such as video disk recorders, video tape recorders and the like (hereinafter also referred to collectively as the video recorder or video recording/reproducing apparatus) now commercially available are not equipped with an adequate function for allowing the contents of the television programs as recorded to be confirmed speedily and easily. Besides, it is noted that all the television programs recorded by reservation in advance are not always worth viewing throughout the whole program. Some users may want to watch only a few interesting scenes of a given television program. In that case, viewing such television program throughout from the start to the end thereof takes lots of time, intolerably for the user.
Some of the video tape recorders currently on the market are equipped with a function for recording on a portion of a tape the information of a title of a television program recorded on that tape together with information concerning the date of recording for the purpose of allowing the title of the program and the date of recording to be displayed on a television screen. With such type video tape recorders, the contents recorded on a magnetic tape can certainly be checked on a program-by-program basis by using the title as a clue. However, it is impossible to display the picture information in a list in such a manner that the user can visually confirm successfully the contents of the television programs recorded on the magnetic tape.
For grasping the content of the video selected on the basis of the information of the titles displayed in a list, there may be conceived a method of viewing the video by reproducing it at a high speed. In reality, such type video recorder is known which has a function to enable the contents of the recorded television program inclusive of sound to be confirmed at a double reproducing speed i.e., at twice as high a reproducing speed as a standard or normal speed.
However, in the high-speed reproduction of a recorded television program, the video thereof is reproduced thoroughly and uniformly from the start to the end thereof, which means that those picture portions which play essentially no role in making the gist or essence of the television program be grasped are equally displayed in vain. To say in another way, the time utilization efficiency in the reproduction of the television program is for confirmation of the content thereof extremely poor. Besides, because the reproduction of a recorded television program or video is performed time-sequentially regardless of the reproducing speed, no more than one scene can be displayed meaningfully on the monitor or television screen. Thus, difficulty will be encountered in understanding consistently the composition or story of such sort of television program in which inter-scene temporal relations are important for enjoying the same, giving rise to another problem.
As a video recording/reproducing apparatus in which a video disk is employed as the recording medium, there has already been proposed a so-called disk player which is designed to output intermittently a picture signal by repeating alternatively a fast feeding or scanning operation and a normal or standard reproduction in precedence to the intrinsic reproduction, starting from a record start position of a recording disk, by means of a fast feeding mechanism, as is disclosed in JP-A-3-35431. More specifically, the fast feeding or scan operation and the normal reproduction are repeated at a predetermined time interval regardless of the contents recorded on the video disk. Since the video disk can be accessed at random, the scan time taken for the fast feeding from a current location or area to a next one is certainly negligible. However, there arises a problem that the scene of interest or importance can not always be displayed because the locations or areas to be reproduced intermittently are specified in terms of the predetermined time interval. Besides, because the picture retrieved by the normal reproduction is displayed intermittently on the whole television screen as it is, confirmation of all the contents of the video of concern will involve considerable time consumption due to need for reproduction of all the locations or areas to be reproduced, thus rendering it extremely difficult or impossible to seize all the content of the video at once.

Method and apparatus for making a digest picture


A robotic handling system includes a transfer chamber and a robot arm disposed within the transfer chamber with an end effector having a longitudinal axis. The end effector includes a first wafer pocket defined within the end effector at a first location and a second wafer pocket defined within the end effector at a second location along the longitudinal axis. A first chamber, coupled to the transfer chamber, is reachable by the first wafer pocket and by the second wafer pocket. A second chamber, coupled to the first chamber, where the first chamber is positioned between the transfer chamber and the second chamber, and the second chamber is reachable by the first wafer pocket but not the second wafer pocket.

A chip manufacturing facility is composed of a broad spectrum of technologies. Cassettes containing semiconductor substrates (e.g., wafers) are routed to various stations in a facility where they are either processed or inspected. Semiconductor processing generally involves the deposition of material onto and removal ("etching" and/or "planarizing") of material from substrates. Typical processes include chemical vapor deposition (CVD), plasma enhanced CVD (PECVD), physical vapor deposition (PVD), electroplating, chemical mechanical planarization (CMP), and etching, among others.
One concern in semiconductor processing is substrate throughput. Generally, the greater the substrate throughput, the lower the manufacturing cost and therefore the lower the cost of the processed substrates. In order to increase substrate processing throughput, batch processing chambers have been developed as have been systems that employ more than one end effector on a robot arm within a multi-chamber processing system.
In semiconductor processing and other electronics processing, platforms employ the use of robot arms to transport objects such as the wafers between process chambers, from storage areas to process chambers, from process chambers to storage areas, and so on. Customers using these platforms seek capability to have a greater number of process steps, and thus higher throughput of processed substrates, without damaging the vacuum robot, which employs a robotic arm, from over use.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Long reach vacuum robot with dual wafer pockets


A bicycle control system includes a housing having an upper mounting surface and housing a brake actuation system. A lever is pivotally coupled to the housing about an axis and is operably coupled to the brake actuation system. An electronic module includes a housing releasably coupled to the upper mounting surface. The housing sealingly encloses at least one electronic component. The lever may be pivotally coupled to the housing about both a shift axis and a brake axis, wherein the shift axis and the brake axis being non-orthogonal. A bicycle control kit includes different first and second electronic modules.

Bicycles are known to have various control systems for actuating various brake and gear changer systems. Typically, such control systems include one or more levers for initiating the actuation. In some systems, the same lever may be used to initiate both braking and gear shifting, with the movements of the lever effecting such actions being orthogonal, which may lead to inadvertent shifting during braking. Also in some systems, the lever may initiate gear shifting via wireless communication. Such systems, however, are typically bulky, expensive and difficult to repair if damaged due to the integrated configuration thereof.


An extraction vial includes a reservoir portion having generally parallel walls, a neck portion defining an opening into the reservoir portion and a channel surrounding the opening, a nozzle portion integral with reservoir portion at a second end of the reservoir, a sealing closure that closes the nozzle, a base integral with the sealing closure and including a support surface adapted to support the vial in an upright position, and a cap received and removably maintained within the channel. An extraction liquid may be contained within the vial for extracting sample from a carrier. The vial may be used by adding the carrier to the extraction liquid within the vial, closing the vial with the cap, agitating the vial to release sample from the carrier, and removing at least the sealing closure or, preferably, the sealing closure and base whereby extraction liquid can be expelled from the vial.

Diagnostic test matrices have revolutionized the health care industry by focusing on relatively easy-to-use devices. For examples, pregnancy-testing dip sticks are commonplace in market facilities throughout the world. Fecal occult monitoring devices, such as the Hemoccult.RTM. brand fecal occult blood test, allow for obtaining samples in the privacy of the patient's home whereby analysis of the sample can be accomplished at a screening facility.
Another form of such test matrices are chromatographic-type assaying systems. Chromatographic-type assaying systems have enjoyed widespread use in the diagnostic fields for several years. Such devices typically rely upon a format whereby a solution comprising a carrier solvent and a test sample suspected of containing an analyte to be detected, is applied to a thin, flat, absorbent medium, which typically has incorporated thereon a binding partner to the analyte. The solution is applied to the absorbent medium and moves along the medium by way of capillary action. A labeling scheme is then utilized to determine the presence of the immobilized analyte. This type of assay is generally referred to as an "immunochromatographic assay". There are two types of immunochromatographic assay types, generally referred to as "sandwich", or "capture", immunochromatographic assays, and "competitive" immunochromatographic assays.
Sandwich immunochromatographic assays typically involve mixing a sample containing an analyte of interest with either a monoclonal or polyclonal "capture" antibody to the analyte (alternatively, the sample can be added directly to a chromatographic medium having affixed thereto the capture antibody). The antibody can be conjugated to some form of label, for example, colored latex beads, chemiluminescent, enzymatic, fluorescent, radioactive, colloidal gold, etc. Thereafter, an analyte-labeled antibody complex is formed. This complex is then applied to the chromatographic medium which has a second monoclonal antibody or additional polyclonal antibodies immobilized thereon. As the complex moves along the medium, the analyte-labeled antibody complex becomes bound to the immobilized antibody, forming an immobilized antibody-analyte-labeled antibody complex. The label can then be read to provide an indication of the presence (and quantity) of the analyte in the sample medium.
Competitive immunochromatographic assays typically involve mixing a sample containing an analyte of interest with a known quantity of the same analyte having a label conjugated thereto. This mixture is then added to a known quantity of immobilized antibody to the analyte. As the mixture moves along the medium, a competition is created between the sample-analyte and the labeled-analyte: the more sample-analyte available for binding to the immobilized antibody, the less label that will be detected. Thus, the amount of sample-analyte is inversely proportional to the amount of label obtained.
Immunochromatographic assays are not without drawbacks. For example, with respect to, e.g., fecal samples, mucous-based samples, throat or vaginal swabs, etc., it is very difficult to apply these materials to the chromatographic medium directly. Thus, these materials are usually applied to the chromatographic medium, whereupon a solvent solution is added thereto, the solvent being capable of carrying the analyte of interest to a particular location on the chromatographic medium. Problems arise using this approach because the materials can clog the pores of the chromatographic medium, making chromatographic analysis extremely difficult because of interference with the flow of the solvent caused by such clogging. Additionally, these materials can include therein extraneous matter which can interfere with the analysis due to, e.g., non-specific binding with the analyte antibodies, or interference with the particular label utilized for the analyses.
An alternative to this approach is to utilize extraction or pretreatment reactions whereby the sample material is added to a liquid extracting medium such that the sample is brought from its solid or semi-solid form to a liquid form. Conventionally, this is accomplished by a technician in a laboratory setting and is carried out in small transfer vessels, whereby the extraction medium containing the sample is added to the chromatographic medium via, e.g., a pipette. This scenario raises additional problems, particularly in the areas of contamination and waste disposal. Such problems are particularly relevant with respect to the possibility of transfer of communicable diseases to the technician(s), as well as the potential for cross-contamination of samples.
What is needed, in view of the foregoing, is a device that will readily facilitate the extraction of an analyte from a sample for analysis of material in the sample, and that ensures that contamination and waste byproducts are substantially minimized.


A magnet knife assembly for a toner developing device including a ferromagnetic strip held between like poles (N) of two permanent magnets such that a knife edge portion of the strip projects outwardly beyond the two magnets and is subject to a magnet force that tends to urge the strip in a direction in which the knife edge projects further out of the magnets, wherein the length of the strip is selected such that a portion of the strip opposite to the knife edge is subject to a magnetic force that at least counterbalances said magnetic force on the knife edge portion.

The present invention relates to a magnet knife assembly for a toner developing device, comprising a support body and a ferromagnetic strip that is held between like poles of two permanent magnets and extends between these poles from a knife edge that faces outwardly of the support body to an inner edge facing inwardly of the support body, the strip being held such that an outer knife edge portion of the strip projects outwardly beyond the two magnets and is subject to a magnetic force that tends to urge the strip in a direction in which the knife edge portion projects further out of the magnets.
A magnet knife assembly of this type is used in toner developing devices for printers, copiers and the like for creating, along the knife edge, a localized strong and strongly divergent magnetic field, so that, when magnetically attractable toner particles are supplied into that field, they will form a magnetic brush extending along the knife edge and across an image forming medium so as to assist in the transfer of the toner onto the image forming medium.
Typically, the magnet knife assembly is held stationary relative to the path along which the image forming medium is moved, and is surrounded by a thin sleeve, so that the knife edge faces the internal surface of the sleeve and the magnetic field penetrates through the wall of the sleeve towards the image forming medium. Toner particles may then be supplied to the magnetic field by distributing the toner on the surface of the sleeve and rotating the sleeve so that the toner approaches the magnet field created by the knife edge.
In order to obtain a high and constant quality of the developed image, certain parameters of the magnet field created at the knife edge must fulfil a number of criteria. For example, the absolute strength of the magnetic field directly above the knife edge should be relatively high, and the field should further be highly inhomogeneous, i.e., the gradient of the radial component of the magnetic field above the knife edge should also be high. Moreover, the angle a which the magnetic field vector forms with the surface of the sleeve (the tangent plane thereof at the position above the knife edge) should be relatively high and should be larger than 45° over a certain distance in the circumferential direction of the sleeve.
Magnet knife assemblies of the type indicated above are disclosed in EP 0310209A, EP 0298532A and EP 0773484A.
EP 0304983A discloses another magnet knife assembly of this type that was optimised in view of the above requirements. In this magnet knife assembly, the two permanent magnets have rectangular cross-sections that may be chamfered on the sides facing away from the ferromagnetic strip interposed therebetween. The plane of the strip is inclined at an angle of about 15° relative to the radial direction of the sleeve. It has been found that, for this configuration, the absolute strength and the inhomogenity of the magnetic field above the knife edge increases when the length of the strip (essentially in the radial direction of the sleeve) is reduced. For that reason, the length of the strip is shorter than the length of the two magnets. This has the consequence that the magnetic force tends to push the knife edge portion of the strip away from the magnets, i.e., tends to cause the strip to project further from the magnets.
For this reason, it is necessary in the known assembly that the strip is mechanically fixed at a support structure that carries the two magnets, e.g., by gluing the strip and the magnets to the support structure with an adhesive, by clamping the strip and/or the magnets with fastening screws, and the like. However, the necessity to fix the strip and the magnets in their desired positions requires cumbersome procedures and therefore increases the production costs for the magnet knife assembly as a whole. Moreover, differential thermal expansion of the magnet knife assembly and the support structure may lead to undesired mechanical strains and distortions.

Magnet knife assembly for a toner developing device


A screw tip is provided in front of a screw with a shaft interposed therebetween, and a check ring is fitted around the shaft. The check ring is separated from a front end portion of the screw when the screw is rotated in a forward direction. The check ring contacts the front end portion of the screw when the screw is advanced. A front end surface of the check ring is provided with teeth, and a rear end surface of the screw tip is provided with grooves with which the respective teeth are engaged. Respective one side surfaces of the grooves and the teeth which are pressed against each other when the screw is rotated in the forward direction are formed vertical to the front end surface of the check ring, and side surfaces thereof located on the reverse sides of the above respective one side surfaces are inclined.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a backflow prevention device which prevents backflow of resin from the front of a screw to the surroundings of the screw in an in-line screw type injection molding machine.
2. Description of the Related Art
In an in-line screw type injection molding machine, used is an injection apparatus in which a screw is incorporated into a heating barrel. When the screw is rotated in a forward direction in the heating barrel, raw resin is introduced from a hopper into the heating barrel, and transferred forward by the screw. The raw resin is molten in the heating barrel while being stirred and heated, and sent to the front of the screw (this step is called "charging step"). After a molten resin of a predetermined amount is stored in the heating barrel, the screw is advanced and the molten resin is filled in a mold (this step is called "filling step").
In the injection apparatus having the above structure, a backflow prevention device is provided between a screw tip (provided at a distal end of the screw) and the screw to prevent backflow of resin from the front to the surroundings of the screw. The structures of conventional backflow prevention devices are disclosed in, for example, Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Pub. No. 60-076321 and Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Pub. No. 63-260414.
FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of a backflow prevention device disclosed in Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Pub. No. 63-260414. In the backflow prevention device, a check ring 20 is provided between a screw tip 21 and a screw 11. Teeth 22 are provided in a front end surface of the check ring 20. Grooves 23 with which the respective teeth 22 are engaged are provided in a rear end surface of the screw tip 21. Each tooth 22 is provided with an inclination on a side surface against which the engaged groove 23 is pressed when the screw 11 is rotated in the forward direction, such that the width of each tooth 22 is gradually narrowed toward the distal end thereof. The side surface reverse to the inclined side surface of each tooth 22 is formed vertical to the front end surface of the check ring 20. In conformity with this, each groove 23 is provided with an inclination of the same angle as that of the teeth 22 on a side surface which is pressed against the corresponding tooth 22 when the screw 11 is rotated in the forward direction, such that the width of each groove 23 is gradually narrowed toward the bottom thereof. A side surface reverse to the inclined surface of each groove 23 is formed vertical to the rear end surface of the screw tip 21.
By the above structure, the above backflow prevention device decreases the surface pressure in engaging portions between the teeth 22 and the respective grooves 23, to improve in the mechanical strength.
In addition, in the charging step, the check ring 20 is pushed back to the screw 11 side by a component generated by the inclination of the teeth 22, and thereby moves in a direction of closing the space between itself and the front end surface of the screw 11. Therefore, the resin path can be quickly closed when the subsequent injection step is started.
However, if suckback operation is performed after completion of the charging step, that is, in the case of performing an operation of slightly rotating the screw 11 in the backward direction, the component in the direction of closing the space between the check ring 20 and the front end portion of the screw 11 does not act on the check ring 20, and there is the fear that the resin path of the backflow prevention device is opened. Therefore, after completion of the charging step and before start of the filling step, the resin leaks from the surroundings of the screw to the front of the screw tip, and as a result there is a possibility of deteriorating uniformity of the resin amount filled in the mold.

Backflow prevention device for in-line screw injection molding machine


Embodiments of a device and method are described which provide for control over the distortion of a sample zone upon exiting an electrophoresis separation channel. According to the teachings herein (i) the downstream regions of the channels, near the outlet ends, and/or (ii) the detection chamber, is/are configured so that distortion of one or more sample zones passing from the channels into and across the detection chamber can be controlled (e.g., reduced) in a fashion affording enhanced detectability. In certain embodiments, the lumens along the end regions of the separation channels progressively expand.

Electrophoretic separations of bio-molecules are critically important in modern biology and biotechnology, comprising an important component of such techniques as DNA sequencing, protein molecular weight determination, genetic mapping, and the like. A particularly preferred electrophoresis format is capillary electrophoresis (CE), where the electrophoresis is performed in a channel, such as a capillary tube or a groove in a microfabricated chip, wafer or plate, having a small internal diameter. Capillary electrophoresis results in enhanced separation performance over traditional slab-based formats because the superior ability of the narrow-bore capillary to tolerate resistive heating allows for high electrical fields to be employed thereby resulting in fast separations in which sample diffusion is minimized.
In traditional CE systems, detection of a sample subsequent to separation is performed during electrophoresis while the sample is still located inside the channel (referred to as "on-channel" detection). Thus, in a common capillary tube arrangement, any excitation light required to excite the sample and any emission light coming from the sample must be transmitted through the wall of the capillary tube. A drawback of this approach is that the fused silica capillary tubes often used in CE have numerous surfaces to reflect or scatter light. Problems associated with light scattering are particularly problematic when it is desired to detect fluorescence from samples located in a plurality of closely-spaced capillary tubes by fluorescence because the scattered emmission light from one capillary tube can interfere with the detection of samples in neighboring capillary tubes.
One approach to solving the problem of on-channel detection has been to detect a sample after the sample emerges from the capillary (referred to as "off-channel" detection). In one type of arrangement, such off-channel detection takes place in a detection cell positioned downstream of the capillary tube outlets. Typically, the detection cell is configured to exhibit superior optical characteristics, e.g., a flat quartz chamber. In one class of these systems, a "sheath flow" of liquid is used to transport the sample from the outlet of the CE capillary tube to a detection zone at which detection of the sample takes place (Takahashi; Dovichi). A drawback of sheath flow systems is that, in order to avoid distortion of a sample zone in the detection cell, precise control of the flow rate of the sheath flow liquid is required. A second drawback of sheath flow systems is that the pressure used to drive the flow of the sheath flow liquid can cause back flow of the separation medium in the separation capillary tube, thereby negatively impacting resolution.
In another class of off-channel detection systems, a sample zone is transported from the outlet of a CE capillary tube to a detection zone located in a detection cell by electrophoresis under the influence of the same voltage difference used to conduct the electrophoretic separation (Takahashi). However, because of the larger cross-sectional area within the detection cell as compared to the lumen of the capillary tube, the electric field diverges at the capillary tube outlet causing a distortion of the sample zone as it enters and traverses the detection zone. Unchecked, such distortion can result in a severe loss of spatial resolution between adjacent sample zones exiting a single capillary tube and/or between sample zones exiting adjacent capillary tubes. This loss of spatial resolution tends to reduce the detectability of neighboring sample zones.

Multi channel capillary electrophoresis device and method


A skirting board or molding has a longitudinal channel for insertion of a decorative strip of wood. The wood strip being held frictionally within the channel. The board having holes extending therethrough and lying within the channel for receiving screws. The holes possessing counter bores so that the screws will lie flush along the bottom surface of the longitudinal channel. The wood strip may have a thickness less than the depth of the channel so as to create a profiled appearance.

1. Field of the Invention
The current invention is a specially developed skirting or baseboard intended to cover or hide the existing joint between a floor, for instance a floating floor, and the wall of the room where the floor has been installed.
2. History of the Related Art
When installing floating floors, it is necessary to leave a space between the floor itself and the wall of the room. This space must be large enough to allow any possible expansion of the floor due to climatic fluctuations. The space may vary from 8 to 10 mm.
In order to cover this space, it is common to use a skirting board made of a plain molding. It is placed against the wall and fixed to it with screws set perpendicularly through the molding. This could be done through holes previously made. The bottom of the molding is supported by or close to the floor. These moldings may be made from either HDF or fiberboard and covered by paper, laminates or veneer.
Although such skirting boards hide the existing space between the floor and the wall, the heads of the screws remain uncovered. Being perfectly visible, they spoil the all-over visual effect.


System and methods for determining performance degradation of a battery system are presented. In certain embodiments, the disclosed systems and methods may involve testing, monitoring, and/or modeling of battery system cyclic performance degradation at a single battery system operating temperature. The disclosed systems and methods may offer certain efficiencies over conventional techniques for determining cyclic degradation of a battery system. Such efficiencies may allow the disclosed systems and methods to be implemented in connection with real-time battery state estimation methods.

Passenger vehicles often include electric batteries for operating features of a vehicle's electrical and drivetrain systems. For example, vehicles commonly include a 12V lead-acid automotive battery configured to supply electric energy to vehicle starter systems (e.g., a starter motor), lighting systems, and/or ignition systems. In electric, fuel cell ("FC"), and/or hybrid vehicles, a high voltage ("HV") battery system (e.g., a 360V HV battery system) may be used to power electric drivetrain components of the vehicle (e.g., electric drive motors and the like). For example, an HV rechargeable energy storage system ("ESS") included in a vehicle may be used to power electric drivetrain components of the vehicle.
Understanding how performance of a battery system may degrade overtime and/or through use may improve battery system life-cycling modeling and/or state estimation techniques. Performance degradation in a battery system may be caused by calendar-life degradation (i.e., calendric) and/or cycle-life degradation (i.e., cyclic) of the system. Conventional methods for determining battery system performance degradation may involve extensive testing of the battery system requiring testing and analysis at a variety of battery system operating temperatures. Such testing may be expensive, may involve significant investments in time, and may be difficult to use in connection with state estimation methods during real-time operation of the battery system.

Systems and methods for determining battery system performance degradation


A light source device comprising at least a primary light source (1), a light guide (3) guiding light beamed from the primary light source and having a light incident surface (31) and a light outgoing surface (33), an optical deflector (4) disposed adjacent to the light guide's light outgoing surface and having a light incident surface (41) and a light outgoing surface (42), and a light diffuser (6) disposed adjacent to the optical deflector's light outgoing surface and having a light incident surface (61) and a light out going surface (62), wherein the optical deflector's light incident surface is formed with a plurality of rows of prisms arranged in parallel to each other, and the light diffuser has the full width half maximum of an outgoing light intensity of 1–13 degrees when parallel rays of light are incident, whereby providing a light source device excellent in light utilization efficiency of a primary light source, and also excellent in viewing angle characteristics and quality as an image forming illumination without sacrificing high brightness characteristics.

In recent years, color liquid crystal display devices have been widely used in various fields as monitors of portable notebook personal computers, personal computers, and so forth, or as display portions of liquid crystal televisions, video-combined liquid crystal televisions, portable telephones, portable information terminals, and so forth. Further, following increase in information processing amount, diversification of needs, multimedia adaptation, and so forth, increase in screen size and fineness of the liquid crystal display devices has been actively developed.
The liquid crystal display device basically comprises a backlight portion and a liquid crystal display element portion. For the backlight portion, there is an under-light type wherein a light source is disposed directly under the liquid crystal display element portion, or an edge-light type wherein a light source is disposed facing a side end surface of a light guide. In terms of making compact the liquid crystal display device, the edge-light type has often been used.
In recent years, for a display device with a relatively small screen size wherein a viewing direction range is relatively narrow, such as a liquid crystal display device used as a display portion of, for example, a portable telephone, use has been made of, in terms of reducing power consumption, one, as a backlight portion of the edge-light type, that reduces a spread angle of light emitted from a screen as much as possible to emit light in a concentrated manner in a required angle range for effectively utilizing the quantity of light emitted from a primary light source.
In the display device wherein the viewing direction range is limited as described above, as a light source device that emits light in a concentrated manner in a relatively narrow range for increasing the utilization efficiency of the quantity of light of a primary light source to thereby reduce the power consumption, the present applicant has proposed in JP(A)-2001-143515 to use a prism sheet having prism-formed surfaces on both sides thereof so as to dispose it adjacent to a light outgoing surface of a light guide. In this double-sided prism sheet, a light entrance surface being one surface and a light exit surface being the other surface are respectively formed with a plurality of mutually parallel elongated prisms, wherein the directions of the elongated prisms are matched with each other on the light entrance surface and the light exit surface and further the elongated prisms are disposed at corresponding positions on both surfaces. With this configuration, light having a peak of outgoing light in a direction inclined relative to the light outgoing surface of the light guide and exiting from the light outgoing surface so as to be distributed in a proper angle range is incident on one-side prism surfaces at the light entrance surface of the prism sheet, then is internally reflected by the other-side prism surfaces, and is further subjected to a refraction action by the elongated prisms at the light exit surface, so that the light is emitted in a concentrated manner in a relatively narrow, required direction range.
According to this light source device, the concentrated light emission in the narrow angle range is enabled. However, in the prism sheet used as a light deflector, the plurality of mutually parallel elongated prisms are required such that the directions of the elongated prisms are matched with each other on the light entrance surface and the light exit surface, and further, the elongated prisms are disposed at the corresponding positions on both surfaces. This formation is complicated.
Further, there has also been a problem that since the light emitted in a concentrated manner in such a narrow angle range causes strong glare, the quality as the backlight is deteriorated. Moreover, although such a light source device having the narrow viewing angle raises no problem in case of a small-size backlight, there has also been a problem that, as a backlight for a liquid crystal display device of 4 inches or greater, particularly as a backlight used in a liquid crystal display device of about 12 to 15 inches for a notebook personal computer, its viewing angle is so narrow, resulting in poor visibility.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a light source device excellent in light utilization efficiency of a primary light source, and also excellent in viewing angle characteristic and quality for image forming illumination without sacrificing a high luminance characteristic.


A signal filter includes a first adaptive filter receiving a desired signal containing a noise component and a first noise correlated reference signal, and outputting a first filtered output signal. A second adaptive filter, receives the desired signal containing the noise component and a second noise correlated reference signal and outputs a second filtered output signal. Signal filter parameters of the second adaptive filter are controlled based on the first filtered output signal and the second filtered output signal.

1. Field
The present invention relates to adaptive filtering and, more specifically, to an adaptive filtering system and method for reducing interference in a medical diagnostic signal.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
Medical monitoring equipment is often used in relatively xe2x80x9cnoisyxe2x80x9d environments. Electrical noise can corrupt signals processed by the medical monitoring equipment. For example, signals from an electrocardiogram (ECG or EKG) are often used by medical professionals to diagnose heart disorders or ailments. The ECG signals often are corrupted by electrical noise from adjacent electrical supply and power lines in the vicinity of where the equipment is being used. In particular, because the desired electrical signals in an ECG are very low voltage, they are highly susceptible to noise introduced from different sources including electrical supply and power lines.
Because a normal ECG signal has frequency components which are the same frequency as common power lines, for example, interference from the power lines which occurs on the ECG signal can be difficult to separate from the desired ECG signal.
To reduce the noise in a desired ECG signal, narrow band notch filters are often used. However, the use of narrow band notch filters is of limited utility. For example, on one hand, such a notch filter must be very selective, having a very thin bandwidth in order to avoid filtering any of the desired components of the ECG signal. This requires a high order filter which requires many components or a relatively lengthy processing time. In addition, the frequency of a power line signal typically varies somewhere around 60 Hz (50 Hz in Europe) and accordingly, the noise component may vary. Accordingly, on the other hand, a narrow band filter having a fixed notch frequency has to be relatively broad banded to reduce the noise induced by the power line. In addition, although the power line frequency in the United States is relatively fixed and stable at 60 Hz, the power line frequency in European countries can vary substantially from country to country and even from day to day in some countries. Accordingly, fixed narrow band filtering techniques are of limited utility.
Another type of filtering technique is an adaptive filtering technique. An example of an adaptive filter is shown in FIG. 1A. A reference signal r is correlated to the noise and is filtered by a finite impulse response (FIR) filter 10. Filter 10 has adaptive parameters which very the frequency of the signal being filtered based on feedback signal f. The filtered noise correlated reference signal r is then subtracted from the input signal s. Using this technique, the feedback adjusts the parameters of filter 10 so that undesired noise in the output signal is minimized. In this way, a filter with large stopband damping can be provided with minimal damping in the passband. Furthermore the frequency of the noise makes no difference, so that adaptive filtering finds some use in those countries where power line frequency varies considerably.
Various algorithms can be used to update or adjust the parameters of filter 10. One simple method is referred to as minimizing the least mean square (LMS) of the output. To achieve this, filter parameters can be updated in the following way:
Wn+1=Wn+xcexcy(n)r*(n) (* designates complex conjugate)xe2x80x83xe2x80x83(1)
where Wn, is the parameter array at sample number n and xcexc is the step size used to determine how fast the filter adapts.
In the adaptive filter shown in FIG. 1A, the purpose is to filter the noise correlated reference signal r so that it resembles the noise portion of the ECG+noise signal s. Then, by subtracting the filtered noise correlated reference signal rxe2x80x2 from the ECG+noise signal s, effective cancellation of the noise can be achieved. Although such an adaptive filtering technique may be effective for certain applications, such technique is not ideal and difficulties still remain.
An ECG output signal is shown in FIG. 1B. An ECG waveform for a single beat is typically referred to as a PQRST complex. At initiation of a heart beat, a P wave appears. This corresponds to activity in the artia. The QRST complex then follows the P wave. The QRST complex corresponds to ventricular activity. More specifically, it is generally understood that the QRS portion of the wave corresponds to electrical activation of the ventricles and the T wave corresponds to their electrical recovery. The ST segment is relatively quiescent.
A typical ECG signal contains a 60 Hz component during a limited period of time. That is, a 60 Hz component is present in the QRS complex. During this short period the reference signal is highly correlated with the pure ECG signal. The adaptive filter coefficients are updated incorrectly. This results in a 60 HZ disturbance in the ST-segment before the coefficients readjust. Accordingly, if a filter is used to remove 60 Hz noise, a portion of the actual ECG signal itself is removed, thus an error occurs when using filter 10, resulting in disturbance in the desired ECG signal. For example, FIG. 2A shows an ECG signal with simulated 50 Hz power line interference added. FIG. 2B shows the result of using filter 10 on the signal shown in FIG. 2A. FIG. 2C shows a closer look at a ST-segment of the filtered signal, the ST-segment being corrupted by 50 Hz interference.
Accordingly, a need exists for a efficient system for eleminating noise in an ECG signal.
A signal filter includes a first adaptive filter receiving a desired signal containing a noise component and a first noise correlated reference signal, and outputting a first filtered output signal. A second adaptive filter, receives the desired signal containing the noise component and a second noise correlated reference signal and outputs a second filtered output signal. Signal filter parameters of the second adaptive filter are controlled based on the first filtered output signal and the second filtered output signal. The first and second noise correlated reference signals may be the same. The signal filter parameters of the first adaptive filter are adapted according to the formula W1,n+1=W1,n+xcexcy1(n)r*(n), where n is the sample number and xcexc is the step size. The signal filter parameters of the second adaptive filter are adapted according to the formula W2,n+1=W2,n+xcex7(n)xcexcy2(n)r*(n), where n is the sample number, xcexc is the step size and xcex7 is a weighted signal based on the first filtered output signal. The first adaptive filter may include an adder, a finite impulse response (FIR) filter and an adaptive processor for controlling the adaptive parameters of the FIR filter. The second adaptive filter may include an adder, a second finite impulse response (FIR) filter and a second adaptive processor for controlling the adaptive parameters of the second FIR filter. A mathematical operation unit can be provided for outputting a weighted output signal based on the first filtered output signal, the weighted output signal being provided to the second adaptive filter as the first filtered output signal.
According to another aspect, a signal filtering method includes receiving a desired signal containing a noise component and receiving a noise correlated reference signal. Filtering of the noise correlated reference signal is performed using a first set of adaptive parameters to provide a first filtered noise correlated reference signal. The first filtered noise correlated reference signal is subtracted from the desired signal containing the noise component to provide a first output signal. The first set of adaptive parameters are controlled based on the first output signal. Filtering of the noise correlated reference signal is performed using a second set of adaptive parameters and a signal corresponding to the first output signal to provide a second filtered noise correlated reference signal and the second filtered noise correlated reference signal is subtracted from the desired signal containing the noise component to provide a second output signal, the second output signal being the desired signal with a minimized noise component. The second set of adaptive parameters is controlled based on the second output signal. The first adaptive parameters may be adapted according to the formula W1,n+1=W1,n+xcexcy1(n)r*(n), where n is the sample number and xcexc is the step size. The second adaptive parameters may be adapted according to the formula W2,n+1=W2,n+xcex7(n)xcexcy2(n)r*(n), where n is the sample number, xcexc is the step size and xcex7 is a weighted signal based on the first output signal. The signal filtering method may further include a step of performing a mathematical operation on the first output signal to provide a weighted output signal as the signal corresponding to the first output signal.
According to another aspect, a signal filtering system includes a coarse filter including a subtractor for subtracting a first filtered noise correlated reference signal from a desired signal containing a noise component and providing a first output signal, a filter for receiving and filtering a noise correlated reference signal using a first set of adaptive parameters and outputting the first filtered noise correlated reference signal, and an adaptive processor for adaptively processing the adaptive parameters based on the first output signal. The system also includes a signal filter including a subtractor for subtracting a second filtered noise correlated reference signal from the desired signal containing the noise component and providing a second output signal, a filter for receiving and filtering the noise correlated reference signal using a second set of adaptive parameters and information corresponding to the first output signal and outputting the second filtered noise correlated reference signal, and an adaptive processor for adaptively processing the second adaptive parameters based on the second output signal. The system may further include a mathematical operation unit for performing a mathematical operation on the first output signal and providing an output to the signal filter as the information corresponding to the first output signal. The second output signal may include the desired signal with a minimized noise component. The filters can be finite impulse response filters.
According to another aspect, a signal filter includes a filter receiving a noise correlated reference signal and outputting a filtered noise correlated reference signal filtered based on a set of parameters and a weighted signal. A subtractor subtracts the filtered noise correlated reference signal from a desired signal including a noise component and outputs an output signal. A processor modifies the set of parameters based on the output signal. The signal filter may further include a second filter receiving the noise correlated reference signal and outputting a second filtered noise correlated reference signal based on a second set of parameters. A subtractor subtracts the second filtered noise correlated reference signal from the desired signal including a noise component and outputs a second output signal. A processor modifies the second set of parameters based on the second output signal. The signal filter may further include a mathematical operation unit receiving the second output and outputting the weighted signal.
Methods are also described for determining the noise correlated reference signal.


A log bunk assembly for use on logging truck-trailer units. The bunk comprises a generally horizontal bunk beam having a recess, hub-and-saucer assembly for allowing the bunk beam and trailer/log load to pivot in the horizontal plane, an upper trunnion saddle contained within the bunk beam recess, a lower trunnion saddle, and a trunnion tube attached to a pedestal mounted on the hub-and-saucer assembly. The trunnion tube is clamped between and frictionally engages the upper and lower trunnion saddles. The bunk beam pivots about the horizontal axis of the trunnion tube in the vertical plane. The trunnion tube always remains perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the trailer/log load.

Elongated loads, such as logs, may be transported by means of a truck-trailer unit where the load is contained by two bunks. Each bunk is formed of a generally horizontal bunk beam and vertical bunk stakes mounted at each end of the bunk beam. One bunk is mounted towards the rear of the trailer while another bunk is mounted on the truck.
The bunk mounted on the truck is typically rigidly attached to a hub and saucer or fifth wheel assembly to allow the bunk to rotate with the trailer when the truck-trailer unit goes around curves and corners. However, when a truck-trailer unit carrying a load of logs passes over the crest of a hill or crosses the bottom of a valley, significant stress is placed on the forward bunk if the bunk is rigidly attached to the truck. This stress is a result of the longitudinal axis of the load and trailer being inclined relative to the longitudinal axis of the truck in the vertical plane. In such situations, the saucer may partially disengage from the hub or the front wheels of the truck may actually lift off the road surface, creating significant safety hazards. In addition, the stress causes components of the bunk assembly to wear out prematurely.
The prior art demonstrates previous attempts to solve this difficulty.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,401,955 issued on Sep. 17, 1967 to Alton discloses a logging vehicle with an articulated log bunk. The log bunk is mounted to the logging vehicle by trunnion assemblies which allow pivoting "about an axis extending transversely of the truck . . . whereby the bunk may accommodate displacement of the load from a substantially horizontal position to an inclined position relative to the truck."
U.S. Pat. No. 3,472,527 issued on May 29, 1967 to Keinonen discloses means for mounting a log bunk on a truck. These mounting means includes means which enable the bunk to pivot about a "generally horizontal axis that extends transversely of the truck frame."
However, the mechanisms in Keinonen and Alton have one substantial drawback: the hub-and-saucer assembly, or the means by which the trailer attachment pivots around a vertical axis allowing the truck-trailer unit to negotiate corners and curves, pivots with the bunk around the generally horizontal axis that extends transversely of the truck. As a result, when the truck-trailer unit is negotiating a curve at the same time it is cresting a hill or crossing the bottom of a valley, the load will still create significant stress in the bunk mounting structure. That stress is a result of the fact that the horizontal axis always extends transversely of the truck, rather than extending transversely of the trailer and the load. When the trailer and truck are angled as when negotiating a curve, the horizontal axis about which the trailer attempts to pivot is not parallel with the horizontal axis about which the bunk mounting means allows it to pivot.
Therefore, there is a need in the industry for a bunk mounting mechanism which incorporates a trailer pivot mechanism around a vertical axis as well as allowing the bunk to shift by pivoting around a generally horizontal axis and allowing both pivoting motions to occur at the same time in a relatively stress-free manner.


According to one embodiment, a liquid crystal display device includes a first substrate including a common electrode, a pixel electrode which includes an electrode portion which forms a slit opposed to the common electrode, a second substrate, and a liquid crystal layer formed of a liquid crystal material having a negative dielectric constant anisotropy. The slit and the electrode portion are arranged in the first direction and extend in the second direction. L/S is in a range of between 0.5 and 0.9 when a width of the slit in the first direction is S and a width of the electrode portion in the first direction is L.

By virtue of such advantageous features as light weight, small thickness and low power consumption, liquid crystal display devices have been used in various fields as display devices of OA equipment, such as personal computers, and TVs. In recent years, liquid crystal display devices have also been used as display devices of portable terminal equipment such as mobile phones, car navigation apparatuses, game machines, etc.
In general, a liquid crystal display panel of a fringe field switching (FFS) mode or an in-plane switching (IPS) mode is configured such that a liquid crystal layer is held between an array substrate, which includes a pixel electrode and a common electrode, and a counter-substrate. In particular, in the FFS mode, liquid crystal molecules are rotated in a plane parallel to a substrate major surface, by a fringe electric field between the pixel electrode and the common electrode. Thereby, retardation (Δn·d; Δn is a refractive index anisotropy of the liquid crystal layer, and d is a cell gap for holding the liquid crystal layer) of the liquid crystal layer is varied.
When a liquid crystal material (positive-type liquid crystal material) with a positive dielectric constant anisotropy is applied to the liquid crystal layer, liquid crystal molecules are aligned such that their major axes are positioned along a fringe electric field. Thus, when a fringe electric field extending from the pixel electrode toward the common electrode is produced, liquid crystal molecules are raised along an electric field in the vertical direction (cell thickness direction) on the pixel electrode or slits, and a sufficiently high retardation cannot be obtained. Consequently, a modulation ratio per pixel lowers, and a high transmittance cannot be obtained.
On the other hand, when a liquid crystal material (negative-type liquid crystal material) with a negative dielectric constant anisotropy is applied to the liquid crystal layer, liquid crystal molecules are aligned such that their major axes are positioned perpendicular to the fringe electric field. Thus, even in the case of a vertical electric field, liquid crystal molecules are not easily raised, and a relatively high retardation can be maintained. Compared to the case of applying the positive-type liquid crystal material, a higher transmittance can be obtained. In the case where such a negative-type liquid crystal material is applied, there has been a demand for a further improvement in transmittance.


The invention includes methods in which one or more components of a carboxylic acid having an aqueous acidic dissociation constant of at least 1×10−6 are utilized during the etch of oxide (such as silicon dioxide or doped silicon dioxide). Two or more carboxylic acids can be utilized. Exemplary carboxylic acids include trichloroacetic acid, maleic acid, and citric acid.

It is common to etch through various oxides during semiconductor processing. Exemplary oxides include silicon dioxide, and doped silicon dioxide (such as, for example, borophosphosilicate glass (BPSG), and phosphosilicate glass (PSG)). Oxides are common in semiconductor processing due to their electrically insulative properties, and due to their ease of formation (for instance, oxides can be formed as spin-on-dielectric materials, or by numerous deposition methods, including, for example, chemical vapor deposition (CVD) methods).
It is common for oxides to be formed over electrically conductive nodes, and for openings to subsequently be etched through the oxides to the electrically conductive nodes to expose the nodes for subsequent processing. The openings are formed with etch chemistry which removes the oxide. In some aspects, the openings can be formed with multiple etch chemistries. For instance, a first etch chemistry can be utilized to create the openings, and a second etch chemistry can be utilized to clean debris that may have been formed by the first etch chemistry.
Problems can occur during formation of openings extending into oxides, in that one or more of the etch chemistries utilized during the formation of the openings can undesirably roughen the exposed oxide surfaces. For instance, substantially planar oxide surfaces may be exposed to the etch chemistry utilized to etch oxide-containing debris from within openings, and such surfaces may be undesirably roughened by such etch chemistry. Accordingly, it is desired to develop new methods for etching oxides.

Methods of etching oxide, reducing roughness, and forming capacitor constructions


A method for assembling a motor shaft with a bearing, a motor housing, and an impeller is disclosed. A motor shaft extension is used to retain the impeller axially on the motor shaft and allows the motor shaft to drive an additional component, such as an impeller, located a distance from the motor. The motor shaft extension may be fabricated from aluminum or hardened steel. Additionally, the motor shaft extension may be embodied in a tube extending past the end of the motor shaft and a shaft extension pressed into the end of the tube.

In motor assembly situations, it is typically necessary to assemble a motor shaft within a motor housing. Additionally, it is often necessary to affix a component to the motor shaft after the motor shaft and the motor housing are assembled. In many applications, it is also necessary for a motor to drive an apparatus located a significant distance from the motor.
One method of assembling a motor shaft in a motor housing includes the step of installing a snap ring into a groove in the motor shaft. The snap ring serves as a retainer for a bearing that is pressed onto the motor shaft. The motor shaft and associated components are installed into the motor housing with one end of the shaft protruding from the housing. A barrel spacer is then fitted onto the shaft next to the bearing and protrudes from the motor housing. A first washer is slid onto the protruding end of the shaft and abuts the barrel spacer. In certain applications a component, such as an impeller, may also be slid onto the protruding end of the shaft into abutment with the first washer. A second washer is placed onto the motor shaft to sandwich the component between two washers. A hex nut is then threaded onto the end of the protruding shaft to hold all components on the shaft together in an axial direction against the snap ring. The threaded nut serves to apply pressure to the washers, which in turn hold the impeller to insure that the impeller rotates as the motor shaft rotates.
For applications where the motor is used to drive an apparatus located a significant distance from the motor, a shaft extension is typically threaded onto the end of the motor shaft. The shaft extension is coupled to the apparatus in any suitable manner.
The previously described method has disadvantages. When a motor having a long shaft is operated, torsional forces create shaft whip and wobble that create noise and vibration during motor operation, this problem is compounded when a threaded shaft extension is used. The installation of the threaded shaft extension onto the motor shaft often results in misalignment between the shaft extension and the motor shaft.


A radio selective call receiver includes an instruction input device which produces an analog input signal and a radio receiver which receives a radio signal and demodulating it to produce an analog demodulated signal whose amplitude varies in a symbol period. A selector selects one of the analog input signal and the analog demodulated signal and is connected to an A-D converter. The A-D converter is shared between the analog demodulated signal and the analog input signal. An A-D conversion of the analog demodulated signal is performed at intervals synchronizing with the analog demodulated signal. An A-D conversion of the analog input signal is performed within a time period during which the analog-to-digital conversion of the analog demodulated signal is not performed.

1. Field of the invention
The present invention generally relates to a radio selective call receiver such as a mobile terminal and, in particular, to a radio selective call receiver having an analog-to-digital (A-D) converter which is used to convert an analog demodulated signal to a digital form.
2. Description of the Related Art
A selective call receiver has been widely used for various purposes and, especially, a small-sized and lightweight selective call receiver, or a pager, is suitable for being taken on the road. A basic function of the selective call receiver is to indicate by beep sound, vibration, or light the incoming call and then to inform the user of a received message, for example, by displaying the received message on a liquid-crystal display (LCD) according to user's key operation.
In general, the selective call receiver is provided with several keys for inputting user's instructions such as stopping a beep, selecting a message, and deleting the message. Such a key is formed with, for example, a push button or a slide switch.
It is also known that a touch-sensitive pad, a touch-sensitive panel, or a touch-sensitive screen is widely used to determine the location of a touch on a display. Therefore, such a touch-sensitive pointing device may be used as an input device of the selective call receiver instead of the above operation keys.
In view of a selective call receiver, the touch-sensitive pointing device preferably employs the simplest structure having a pair of transparent electrodes so as to sense the X-Y location of a touch, and a voltage is alternately applied to X and Y sensing lines. The X-Y sense output voltages of the touch-sensitive pointing device are digitized by an A-D converter and the digital output signal is used to determine the location of a touch by a touch location detector.
However, the touch sensing operation and the A-D conversion for touch sense signals cause noises which adversely affect not only the receiving sensitivity but also the quality of received signals.
Further, in addition to an A-D converter for received signals, another A-D converter for the touch sense signal is needed, which results in increased necessary space and power consumption.


A method, apparatus, and computer instructions are provided for storage provisioning automation in a data center. A storage manager is provided in the present invention to facilitate end-to-end deployment of storage resources for a server in the data center. The storage manager includes functionalities of a volume manager, file system, and physical volumes. In addition, a hierarchical structure is provided by the present invention to specify configuration data for a volume container. The hierarchical structure includes volume container settings, which includes physical volume settings and logical volume settings linked through data partition settings. For SAN volumes, storage multipath settings and data path settings are included in the structure. File system settings and mounting settings are also included to mount a file system once it is created.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to an improved data center. In particular, the present invention relates to provisioning storage in a data center. Still more particularly, the present invention relates to storage provisioning automation in a data center with a storage manager.
2. Description of Related Art
In a data center environment, storage provisioning is assigning of storage to a number of resources, including hardware and software resources. Examples of resources include storage area network (SAN) fabric and volume managers. SAN is a high-speed subnetwork of shared storage devices. A storage device is a machine that stores data in a disk or disks. SAN enables servers to quickly access data from the subnetwork of the shared storage devices. A volume manager is a software tool that allows storage drive space to be added or expanded on the fly without system reboots or shutdowns. With a volume manager, the physical drivers or hard disks are organized into volume groups with logical volumes in each of the volume groups. By keeping the hardware and software separate, drive changes can be made without shutdown and reboot. Thus, data may be moved to a different location while the system is running.
Existing storage provisioning solutions manage SAN fabric resources and volume manager resources separately. Volume manager or software storage provisioning is not integrated with the SAN fabric storage provisioning at the backend. Thus, software storage provisioning is managed from a switch or a SAN subsystem at the backend. This lack of integration makes defining software storage requirements difficult, because these solutions may be vendor specific.
In addition, existing storage provisioning solutions do not provide an end-to-end solution to servers that require creation and mounting of a file system for the SAN storage volumes to be usable. Furthermore, existing storage provisioning solutions do not handle direct access storage devices (DASDs), which are hard disks located on the servers. Currently, storage configuration for DASDs is managed through local storage.
Therefore, it would be advantageous to have an improved method for storage provisioning automation in a data center that facilitates storage provisioning to servers regardless of the type of storage devices. It would also be advantageous to have an improved method that makes a file system available for subsequent software installation or data storage.

Method and apparatus for storage provisioning automation in a data center

International Business Machines Corporation


A burner assembly in which an inlet is provided for receiving a mixture of particulate fuel and air, an outlet extending at an angle to the axis of said inlet. A passage connects the inlet and the outlet for passing a portion of the mixture directly from the inlet to the outlet, and a chamber communicates with the inlet for receiving a second portion of the mixture. The chamber is constructed and arranged to swirl the second mixture portion and direct it towards the passage for passing to the outlet. As a result, particle fracture and friction losses are minimized and the burner assembly can operate at relatively low pressures.. A burner section communicates with the inlet section and includes an inlet for receiving the fuel-air mixture from the outlet of the inlet section, and an outlet for discharging the mixture into a furnace. A portion of the fuel-air mixture is divided into a plurality of flow streams in the burner section which discharge from the burner section in a manner to form a plurality of flame patterns. The remaining portion of the mixture passes through an annular passage in the burner section for discharge in an annular flow pattern and the flames produced as a result of the combustion of the fuel are stabilized.

This invention relates to a burner assembly for discharging a mixture of particulate fuel and air to a furnace, and, more particularly, to such an assembly having an inlet elbow for creating a low pressure and an improved fuel/air distribution with a minimum of particle fracturing and wall erosion.
Many burner assemblies that introduce fuel and air into a furnace have a tangential inlet, that is, a duct, or the like, that receives the fuel/air mixture and introduces it tangentially relative to the cylindrical body of the burner. This enables the relatively heavy fuel particles to migrate radially outwardly towards the burner wall due to centrifugal forces, and the relatively light air to tend to pass through the center of the burner, which aids the burner designer in creating optimum combustion conditions at the burner outlet.
However, problems exist in the use of these tangential flow patterns at the burner inlet. For example, if the turn from the inlet duct into the burner body is relatively sharp, the particulate material impinges upon an area of the duct directly opposite its inlet and rapidly erodes the wall in this area as well as cause the particles to fracture and lose energy by friction. Also, the distribution of the fuel/air mixture is less than uniform and the long, curved tangentially-extending pipes are difficult and expensive to install and take up a great deal of space.
Accordingly, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,387,914 and 5,060,984 each disclose an specially designed elbow designed to receive a fluent material to prevent erosion of the inner surface of the elbow as well as fracture of the fuel particles and frictional losses. However, these elbows are unsuited for use in a combustion system utilizing one or more burners for receiving a mixture of air and fuel, such as coal, and combusting the fuel for several reasons. For example, the design of the elbows disclosed in the above-cited patents is such that the fluent material being processed continuously passes through, and is discharged from, the elbow in a relatively large, single flow stream. As a result, the pressure drop across the elbow is relatively high which, if used in a combustion system, would require relatively high fan capacities and a general increase in the power requirements of the system. Also, the single, relatively large, flow stream of the fuel-air mixture and its associated flame pattern in a combustion system would result in relatively uneven fuel distribution, relatively low flame radiation, relatively high average flame temperature, less than complete combustion and a relatively long residence time of the gas components within the flame, all of which are undesirable from an efficiency standpoint.
Therefore what is needed is a burner assembly utilizing the elbow disclosed in the above-cited patents while eliminating the problems when the elbow is utilized with a burner in a combustion system.

Burner assembly with low erosion inlet elbow

Foster Wheeler Energy International, Inc.


A cryostat comprises a cryogen vessel suspended within an outer vacuum container, the cryogen vessel is supported by an arrangement that includes at least one housing mounted on an exterior surface of the outer vacuum container and arranged to function as a floor mounting foot, for supporting weight of the cryogen vessel and the outer vacuum container, and at least two mounting points mounted within the housing(s). Each of at least two suspension elements (an upper suspension element and a lower suspension element) extends through a hole in the surface of the outer vacuum container, between the respective mounting point and a respective point on the cryogen vessel.

FIG. 1 illustrates a cross-sectional view of a conventional solenoidal magnet arrangement for a nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) system. A number of coils of superconducting wire are wound onto a former 1. The resulting assembly is housed inside a cryogen vessel 2 which is at least partly filled with a liquid cryogen 2a at its boiling point. The coils are thereby held at a temperature below their critical point.
Also illustrated in FIG. 1 are an outer vacuum container 4 and thermal shield 3. As is well known, these serve to thermally isolate the cryogen vessel 2, typically containing a liquid cryogen 2a, from the surrounding atmosphere. Solid insulation 5 may be placed inside the space between the outer vacuum container 4 and the thermal shield 3. A central bore 4a is provided, of a certain dimension to allow access for a patient or other subject to be imaged.
Conventionally, a number of supporting elements 7 are connected between the cryogen vessel 2 and the outer vacuum container 4 to bear the weight of the cryogen vessel. These may be tensile bands, tensile rods, straps, compression struts or any known element suitable for the purpose. The elements should have a very low thermal conductivity. This is important in order to minimise heat influx from the outer vacuum container 4, which is typically at ambient temperature, to the cryogen vessel 2. The suspension elements typically pass through holes in the thermal shield 3. Similar, or alternative, suspension arrangements may be provided to retain the thermal shield 3.
Copending United Kingdom patent application GB2426545 describes a particularly advantageous arrangement of support straps for use in such systems.
Typically, a floor mounted system will require mounting feet 6 or similar, attached to the outer vacuum container to support the weight of the system as a whole.
A disadvantage of the conventional arrangement results from the fact that the outer vacuum container 4 must carry all of the forces required to support the cryogen vessel 2 and its contents. The outer vacuum container 4 is the largest component in the illustrated system, and must be made of thick material in order to support such heavy loading.
The present invention aims to provide an alternative support arrangement, wherein the outer vacuum container need not be of thick material, since it does not bear the forces required to support the cryogen vessel, or other supported equipment.                According to the present invention, therefore, suspension of the cryogen vessel is provided by tensile bands, tensile rods, straps, compression struts or any known element suitable for the purpose. In particular, these elements are connected between the cryogen vessel 2 and a housing provided on the outer surface of the outer vacuum container.

Cryostat comprising a cryogen vessel suspended within an outer vacuum container


An excellent corrosion resistant member of a ceramic heater for semiconductor production apparatuses to be exposed to a halogen series corrosive gas is provided. The corrosion resistant member uses one of an aluminum nitride and alumina sintered body as a substrate. A ceramic heater using the corrosion resistive member is also disclosed as well as a semiconductor heating device using the ceramic heater.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a corrosion-resistant member.
2. Related Art Statement
Heretofore, in the processes of heating semiconductor wafers in semiconductor production apparatuses (for example, by PVD, CVD, diffusion, annealing, etc.), a sheet-by-sheet heating type system has been used wherein the wafers are treated one by one and a batch type heating system has been used, wherein a large number of wafers are treated simultaneously. As heating devices for the former system, use has been made of metallic heaters consisting of a heating resistive body, an insulating material, such as, mica covering the heating body, and a molding metal, such as, stainless steel, inconel, monel, etc., molding the insulating material; graphite heaters consisting of a heat-generating resistive graphite body and boron nitride covering and insulating the graphite body; and heaters of an infra-red radiation system utilizing condensation of light beam emanated from a halogen lamp. As heating devices for the latter system, a means has been adopted of heating a quartz or SiC tube accommodating the wafers by a surrounding heating resistive body.
Accompanying the recent increase of memory capacity of super LSI and progressive development of microprocessing, processes requiring a chemical reaction have been increased. Particularly, in semiconductor production apparatuses necessitating a super clean state, a halogen series corrosive gas, such as, chlorine series gases, or a fluorine series gas, etc., has been used for a deposition gas, an etching gas or a cleaning gas. In the heating systems of heating the wafers in contact with these corrosive gases, e.g. semiconductor production apparatuses, such as, thermal CVD devices, etc., a semiconductor-cleaning gas consisting of halogen series corrosive gas, such as, ClF.sub.3, NF.sub.4, CF.sub.4, HF, or HCl, etc., is used after the deposition stage. In the deposition stage also, a halogen series corrosive gas, such as, WF.sub.6, SiH.sub.2 Cl.sub.2, or monosilane, etc., is used as a deposition gas.
Next, cleaning gases nowadays used in thermal CVD devices, etc., are illustrated in the following Table 1.
TABLE 1 ______________________________________ Cleaning gas Item CF.sub.4 NF.sub.3 ClF.sub.3 ______________________________________ Etching Rate slow ordinary quick Requirement for plasma yes yes no Reactivity at room no no yes temperature Object for etching Poly-Si W SiN,TiN,BN ______________________________________
Among the cleaning gases shown in the above Table 1, ClF.sub.3 has been found to react with a metal at room temperature to form a metal fluoride resulting in corrosion of the metal.
Moreover, corrosion is formed at around 120.degree. C. or a temperature of not less than 300.degree. C., respectively, when stainless steel or inconel is used as the above-mentioned metallic heater, which corrosion forms particles and becomes a cause of deficiency of the semiconductor. Also, boron nitride or silicon carbide is gasified when exposed to a high temperature cleaning gas, and hence becomes a cause of defects of semiconductors due to influence of contamination. Also, when a metallic heater is used in a CVD device, etc., the chamber of the CVD device becomes a high vacuum of 10.sup.-4 Torr at the maximum, so that an efficient heating of wafers is very difficult if a metal of low heat radiation is used and a very long time is required for heating the wafers. Also, a quartz tube has a problem of its devitrification resulting in decrease of the strength thereof.
In order to avoid such problems of corrosion, semiconductor wafers have to be heated to a high temperature for subjecting a film-forming treatment, etc., and thereafter the heater temperature has to be lowered to not more than 300.degree. C. or not more than 100.degree. C. and the above cleaning gas has to be blown to the heater or the like high temperature member to clean the same at such a condition that the film which has to be removed reacts with the cleaning gas but the high temperature member including the heater do not react with the gas. Therefore, a considerably excessive time is required for the cycle of elevation and lowering of the temperature and throughput of the semiconductor at the time of producing the same is decreased. Even when a carbon heater is used for the heating, corrosion occurs at a temperature of higher than room temperature by 150.degree. C. or more to form a powder on the heater surface resulting in formation of particles.
Furthermore, when a halogen series corrosive gas is used as a deposition gas, deposition is effected at a high temperature of 300.degree.-1,100.degree. C., for example, so that the above problem of corrosion can not be avoided.
The inventors studied utilization of a silicon nitride sintered body having a high thermal shock resistant property as a substrate of susceptor or ceramic heater for a semiconductor production apparatus. However, upon further study we have found out that the silicon nitride sintered body is easily corroded by the cleaning gas or the etching gas for the semiconductors.

Corrosion-resistant member for chemical apparatus using halogen series corrosive gas


A microwave power transistor device (20) is formed with impedance matching circuitry from a single elongated transistor die (70). Each of one or more transistor elements (56) is integrally formed with a blocking DC capacitor (54) on a common substrate of the transistor die. A wire (60 or 92) is connected between accurately positioned capacitor and transistor base connection points (90 and 80) to provide matching inductance for the parasitic base-collector capacitance of the transistor.

The present invention relates to power transistors, and, more particularly, to microwave power transistors in which impedance matching is provided with use of a DC blocking capacitor so that transistor operation is facilitated and improved at higher microwave frequencies in the L and S bands.
Microwave power transistors are used to amplify radio frequency signals in radar and other electronic apparatus. In pulsed radar systems, numerous power transistors amplify signals for radiation, with as many as a thousand or more transistors used for this purpose and generating up to 200,000 watts or more.
Conventional microwave power transistor assemblies are hybrid structures made from a transistor die which usually includes multiple amplification elements, one or more MOS capacitor dies, and interconnections formed by bond wires which serve as assembly connection elements and as inductive elements for impedance matching between the transistor die and an output terminal of the assembly. The provision of multiple power transistors on a single transistor die provide better control of manufacturing tolerances.
As microwave power transistors are designed for operation at higher microwave frequencies, the transistor die becomes more fragile since the die must be made increasingly narrower to enable use of shorter bond wires having lower inductance values needed for impedance matching at the higher frequencies.
In the prior art, an MOS capacitor must be disposed next to the long and narrow transistor die to provide a DC block for the output parallel resonance matching circuitry. As a result, a tight positioning tolerance makes it difficult to provide an assembly which has the impedance matching and the minimum capacitor plate size needed for effective performance. Thus, the operational reliability and/or the repeatability of manufacture of higher frequency, microwave power transistors are adversely affected by known configurations of such transistors of the prior art. A conventional impedance matching configuration employs a transistor with a series inductance path connected from the transistor collector to a plate of a capacitor back-mounted on a conducting plate and with the transistor base connected to the capacitor plate.
An article entitled SILICON BIPOLAR MICROWAVE POWER TRANSISTORS, authored by Richard Allison, and published in IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON MICROWAVE THEORY AND TECHNIQUES, VOLUME MTT-27 in May 1979, provides further explanation of the conventional impedance matching configuration without disclosure of any practical structure or method for combining impedance matching circuitry integratively with an active power amplifier in a silicon chip.
Accordingly, the state of the pertaining art is such that a need exists for a better microwave power transistor structure having integrated impedance matching circuitry to operate with reproducible electrical characteristics at higher microwave frequencies.

Microwave power transistor having matched impedance with integrated DC blocking capacitor and manufacturing method therefor


A reactive power control apparatus for an AC power system includes a reactive power compensation device, a compensation capacitor device and a compensation capacitor control device. The compensation capacitor control device includes a detection voltage output circuit which outputs a bus detection voltage after the clearing of a voltage drop abnormality, corresponding to the AC voltage of a system bus after the voltage drop abnormality that occurred in the AC power system has been cleared, and a compensation capacitor control circuit which controls the connection status of a compensation capacitor with respect to the system bus. The compensation capacitor control circuit controls the connection status of the compensation capacitor with respect to the system bus, on the basis of the voltage level of the bus detection voltage after the clearing of the voltage drop abnormality.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a reactive power control apparatus for an AC power system, in which a reactive power compensation device, and a compensation capacitor device including at least one compensation capacitor are connected to the system bus of the AC power system, so as to control reactive power in accordance with the voltage fluctuation of the system bus.
2. Description of the Related Art
Patent Document 1 (JP-A-62-269213, particularly FIG. 1) discloses a reactive power control apparatus which employs a reactive power compensation device and a compensation capacitor device in combination. The reactive power compensation device and the compensation capacitor device are connected to the identical system bus of an AC power system. The reactive power compensation device includes a capacitor, a reactor and a semiconductor switch, and it controls the semiconductor switch in accordance with the reactive power of the system bus, so as to compensate the reactive power of the system bus. The compensation capacitor device includes a plurality of compensation capacitors. The individual compensation capacitors are respectively connected to the system bus through switch devices, and they are closed to or opened from the system bus by turning ON/OFF the corresponding switch devices.
The reactive power control apparatus disclosed in Patent Document 1 performs the control of compensating the reactive power which a load consumes during a load fluctuation, by the reactive power compensation device and the compensation capacitor device which are connected to the system bus in parallel with the fluctuating load. The control, however, does not cope with a transient mode at a recovery stage from the abnormal state of the power system. The reactive power compensation device is configured so as to control the reactive power in a wider range than the capacitances of the respective compensation capacitors in the compensation capacitor device. In a case where the abnormal state has occurred in the power system, the reactive power compensation device outputs much reactive power instantaneously, and the respective compensation capacitors of the compensation capacitor device are thereafter closed to the system bus in succession. When the power system has recovered from the abnormal state, a control proceeds so that the reactive power compensation device may absorb surplus reactive power instantaneously, and that the respective compensation capacitors having been closed may be thereafter opened from the system bus. Therefore, the reactive power control apparatus has the problem that the capacity of the reactive power compensation device becomes large.

Reactive power control apparatus for AC power system


A variable displacement piezo-electric pump which includes a pump housing having a side housing wall defining a pump chamber, an inlet line and an outlet line communicating with the pump chamber, a flexible pump diaphragm spanning the side housing wall in the pump chamber, a diaphragm-stroking mechanism such as a piezo-electric stack engaging the pump diaphragm and a diaphragm support provided between the diaphragm-stroking mechanism and the side housing wall of the pump housing.

A typical hydraulic actuator has two distinct types of flow demand: high flow to stroke the clutch at relatively low pressures and low flow at high pressure to control the capacity of the clutch. A single piezo-electric pump having a traditional design cannot be optimized for both flow conditions. Such a pump has either a low flow and high pressure capability or a high flow and limited pressure capability. The pressure is dictated by the maximum force that the piezo-electric stack can generate and by the area of the pump piston.

Variable displacement piezo-electric pumps