Optical elements are prepared by the adhesive transfer of at least a low temperature curable (e.g., radiation or room temperature curable, preferably pressure-sensitive) adhesive layer and a conductive layer to a substrate, preferably a transparent, non-birefringent substrate such as ceramic, glass or polymeric film having, for example, a color filter array thereon. The (pressure-sensitive) curable adhesive is cured after the curable adhesive layer has been placed into contact with a final receptor surface (e.g., a color filter array on a liquid crystal panel).

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to methods for using the transfer of materials and layers to prepare optically useful elements, such as liquid crystal display (LCD) panels. In particular, this invention relates to a method for assembling a planarization and/or indium-tin-oxide layer in an optical element such as a color filter element for use in liquid crystal display devices. An adhesive layer comprising a crosslinkable adhesive layer which may be a pressure-sensitive or low temperature softening thermal adhesive layer is used in the transfer process, this adhesive layer also having the capability of performing as a planarization layer in the final article.
2. Background of the Art
Liquid crystal display devices have competed with phosphorescent display systems and have created their own unique markets. Liquid crystal displays are commonly found in digital imaging systems such as watches, calculators, computer displays, audio/video equipment, and other electric appliances to provide the readable image. Liquid crystal displays provide excellent properties which enable them to compete with other display technologies, and among these properties are low power requirements, small volume needs, little heat generation, and acceptable resolution. Liquid crystal arrays have had to provide color display capability to satisfy the wide range of desirable markets for their use, and coloration has been provided by associating color filters (e.g., flat panel color filters or displays) with the liquid crystals. These color filters transmit only selected and limited wavelengths of radiation (by absorbing the undesired wavelengths), thus allowing light of specified color to pass from the liquid crystal. To provide the best results, color filters are adhered to the surface of liquid crystal display devices as opposed to being merely suspended over the display area of the liquid crystal device. The entire liquid crystal display system usually comprises more than one or two layers. Including the color filter device, the system will generally comprise a first substrate (e.g., glass plate), conductive layer, alignment layer, liquid crystal layer, second alignment layer, conductive layer, planarization layer, color array, black matrix, and second substrate (e.g., second glass plate).
As shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,166,126, a binder layer between the conductive layer and the second alignment layer may be present. The physical process of associating of these layers into a single article can be complex. The deposition of the conductive layer, when made of indium-tin-oxide materials, can be particularly difficult because of the temperatures generated from necessary heat treatment of the layer during annealing.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,166,126 uses an adhesive thermal buffer layer between the conductive layer and the liquid crystal display device to reduce the temperature impact of the deposition and treatment of the conductive layer.
U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/273,419, filed Jul. 11, 1994 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,521,035 disclose the use of thermal mass and thermal dye transfer processes to manufacture color filter display panels by the transfer of colorant (dye and/or pigment, with or without a binder) onto a panel to lay over the liquid crystal display.
A series of patents (U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,965,242, 4,962,081, 4,975,410, 4,923,860, 5,073,534, and 5,166,126) have been assigned to Kodak which disclose the use of thermal dye diffusion transfer to make filter elements and color filter constructions. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,965,242 and 5,073,534 teach the use of high Tg polycarbonate and polyester receiving layers to accept the thermally transferred dye. With both receiving layers, a vaporous solvent treatment is required to drive the dye into the receiving layer.
For a color filter element to be useful as a component of certain types of optical display devices, including for example liquid crystal and phosphorescent displays, the color filter array is preferably coated with a planarizing layer. This planarizing layer (which, amongst other objectives, levels or smooths the surface of the color filter element for acceptable placement of subsequent layers) is usually followed by a coating of a transparent conductor, commonly indium tin oxide (ITO). The conductive layer may or may not be patterned, and is preferably a continuous layer. Finally, an alignment layer, typically a resin such as a polyimide, is applied onto the conductive layer. The alignment layer is typically patterned (e.g., by brushing) to control the alignment of the liquid crystal material in the functioning display.
The substrate may be any substance upon which a color filter or the like is desired to be formed. Preferably the substrate is a transparent (at least light transmissive) substrate, such as glass, polymer film, and the like. When glass is the substrate, the use of glass treated with silane (e.g., 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane) or titanate coupling agents may be useful to increase adhesion of the colorant layer. Possible substrates include glass, polyester base (e.g., polyethylene terephthalate, polyethylene naphthalate), polycarbonate resins, polyolefin resins, polyvinyl resins (e.g., polyvinyl chloride, polyvinylidene chloride, polyvinyl acetals, etc.), cellulose ester bases (e.g., cellulose triacetate, cellulose acetate), and other conventional polymeric films used as supports in various imaging arts. Transparent polymeric film base of 2 to 100 mils (e.g., 0.05 to 2.54 mm) is preferred. If the substrate is a polymeric film, it is preferred that the film be non-birefringent so as not to interfere with the operation of the display in which it may be integrated. Preferred examples of non-birefringent substrates are polyesters that are solvent cast. Typical examples of these are those derived from polymers consisting or consisting essentially of repeating, interpolymerized units derived from 9,9-bis-(4-hydroxyphenyl)-fluorene and isophthalic acid, terephthalic acid or mixtures thereof, the polymer being sufficiently low in oligomer (i.e., chemical species having molecular weights of about 8000 or less) content to allow formation of a uniform film. This polymer has been disclosed as one component in a thermal transfer receiving element in U.S. Pat. No. 5,318,938. Another class of non-birefringent substrates are amorphous polyolefins (e.g., Zeonex.TM. from Nippon Zeon Co., Ltd.). The most preferred substrate is glass. It is preferred that this glass be 0.5 to 2.0 mm thick. Especially preferred thicknesses are between 0.5 and 1.5 mm, such as 0.7 and 1.1 mm.
The colors to be deposited on the substrate sheet for the color filter element may comprise any color material which can be deposited with adherence to the substrate. In a preferred embodiment, the colorant is in a suitable binder system and is solvent coated.
When pigments are used as the color material, they are preferably transparent. Examples of transparent pigments that can be used in this invention include Sun RS Magenta 234-0077.TM., Hoechst GS Yellow GG11-1200.TM., Sun GS Cyan 249-0592.TM., Sun RS Cyan 248-0615.TM., Ciba-Geigy BS Magenta RT-333D.TM., Ciba-Geigy Microlith Yellow 3G-WA.TM., Ciba-Geigy Microlith Yellow 2R-WA.TM., Ciba-Geigy Microlith Blue YG-WA.TM., Ciba-Geigy Microlith Black C-WA.TM., Ciba-Geigy Microlith Violet RL-WA.TM., Ciba-Geigy Microlith Red RBS-WA.TM., any of the Heucotech Aquis II.TM. series, any of the Heucosperse Aquis III.TM. series, and the like. A preferred method of inserting or depositing the colors on the matrix is by laser induced mass transfer, including a "melt stick" and/or an ablative transfer process in which a donor sheet having the colors thereon is used to transfer colors onto the substrate. "Ablative transfer" refers to a process in which a medium is ablated in thermal imaging processes by the action of a thermal source, through the rapid removal of material from the surface, but without sublimation of the material. Such donor sheets are known in the art for direct image forming.
Thermal mass transfer of colorant onto a support is a significant improvement over dye (e.g., sublimation) transfer in forming color filter elements. The colors are more durable with respect to both abrasion and color fading (when pigments are used). The transferred mass material carries its own binder and can be applied to a greater range of substrate materials. No post-treatment of the transferred mass colorant is needed as may be required for dye transferred materials used in color filters of the prior art (e.g., U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,965,242 and 5,073,534).
The colors used to form the color filter are generally the primary additive colors, i.e., red, green, and blue. Each of these primary colors preferably has high color purity and transmittance, and, when combined, an appropriate white balance. The color filters preferably have spectral characteristics of red, green, and blue that show chromaticity close to the National Television Standards Committee (NTSC) standard colors indicated by the Commission International de 1'Eclairage (CIE) chromaticity diagram. Although red, green, and blue are the most common colors for the filters, other color combinations may be used for specialty applications. In some cases, the repeat sequence in a row is red:green:blue. For other applications the repeat sequence in a row is red:green:green:blue.
A general description of color filters for liquid crystal displays is given in C. C. O Mara, Liquid Crystal Flat Panel Display: Manufacturing Science and Technology, Van Norstrand Reinhold, 1993 p. 70. Several fabrication methods are disclosed. The most common method for preparing color filters is using photolithographic techniques. One photolithographic process is detailed in an article entitled "Color Filters from Dyed Polyimides" W. J. Latham and D. W. Hawley, Solid State Technology, May 1988. This paper shows the complex, multi-step nature of the photolithographic process.
The shapes of the color elements may be simple geometric objects such as rectangles, squares or triangles. Alternatively, for some configurations of color filters, the color elements may be created as stripes. Another common configuration for a color filter array is when the color elements in one row are displaced by one element in the second row and by two elements in the third row such that the color elements are diagonally aligned.
The dimensions of the discrete elements can range from 5-1000 microns.
More typically the dimensions are on the order of 50-300 microns. These dimensions are easily produced by photolithographic and laser imaging techniques.
There are many transparent electrically conducting laminate elements described in the literature. A Kokai Patent Application No. HEI 51993!-177757 discloses a light shield film comprising a laminate construction containing the following layers in the order listed: 1) a transparent film base, a heating layer which in the examples is an ITO layer, a moisture proof SiO.sub.2 layer, a sol-gel layer which undergoes a transition from a transparent to scattering when heated, and another transparent film. Kokai Patent Application No. HEI 21990!-213006 (Nitto Electric Corp.) teaches the construction of transparent, conductive laminates. These films are prepared by depositing a conductive film on one side of a transparent film substrate and a dielectric layer onto the conductive layer; the other side of the substrate layer is then coated with a transparent adhesive. The dielectric layer serves the dual purpose of protecting the conductive layer from scratching and also reduces reflection from the surface. The adhesives discussed are acrylics, for example a copolymer of butylacrylate, acrylic acid and vinyl acetate which has been crosslinked with an isocynate type crosslinking agent. The final construction is prepared by bonding the adhesive layer to a thicker transparent support layer such as a polyester. The adhesive properties are chosen to provide a cushioning effect. Kokai Patent Application No. HEI 11989!-149003 discloses laminates for VDT filters. The laminates are prepared by bonding a number of layers together using a crosslinkable ethylene copolymer adhesive. The ethylene copolymers include ethylene-vinylacetate, ethylene-methacrylate copolymer, ethylene methacrylic acid copolymer, ethylene-ethylmethacrylate copolymer, ethylene methylacrylate copolymer, metal ion crosslinked ethylene-ethylmethacrylic acid copolymer, partially saponified ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymer, and carboxylated ethylene vinyl acetate copolymer. The crosslinking of these polymers can be accomplished using heat or light. One method detailed in the patent application is the use of these polymers with an initiator system consisting of organic peroxides. The multifunctional acrylates, or allyl oligomers can also be used in this invention. Adhesion promoters such as silane coupling agent containing epoxy groups or acrylates may also be present. For light induced crosslinkable systems a sensitizer is provided. In order to prevent blocking it was necessary to emboss the adhesive surface. Another Kokai Patent Application No. SHO 621987!-180329 involves a construction discloses the use of a laminate construction comprising a transparent conductive layer, polymeric substrate layer, an optional primer layer, a ethylene-vinyl alcohol containing layer, and a thermoset containing layer. The purpose of the thermoset layer is to protect the EVA layer in subsequent etching steps performed on the ITO layer. Other laminate constructions are described in Kokai Patent Application No. Sho 601985!-222241 wherein a transparent substrate layer is coated with a curable composition to improve the hardness of the laminate construction. In all the examples the curable layer is completely cured and as such is not suitable for laminating to another optical element without application of an adhesive. Other less relevant laminate constructions are described in Kokai Patent Application No. Sho 611986!-32749 and Kokai Patent Application No. Sho 621987!-144943.
In Kokai Patent Application No. Hei 61994!-91223 the use of a release material is disclosed in a method for smoothing polymeric films to prevent the formation of irregular patterns. The specific example cited is the formation of a planarized surface on a color filter element. The process involves bonding a resin film on a base or substrate layer and then depositing a release film (smoothing layer) on top of the resin layer by applying pressure and heat to smooth the surface. The release film is then removed. The release layer is comprised of a base layer, a conductive layer and an adhesive layer (on the conductive layer). The base layer and conductive layer of the smoothing film are stripped from the color filter element. This differs from the inventions described herein in which the conductive layer remains with the color filter element. Also the conductive layer need not be transparent in their invention as carbon black is listed as a possible conductive layer.
There is also a Kodak patent that discuss laminate ITO layers with an associated color filter, U.S. Pat. No. 4,965,242. In this construction, a temporary support layer is laminated to a polymeric alignment layer on top of a transparent conducting layer. In this case, the polymeric alignment layers are polyimides, polyvinylalcohols and methyl cellulose. The temporary support layer is a Kaptan resin (a polymer of the diimide of pyromellitic acid and 4,4'-oxydianiline).

Method for assembling layers with a transfer process using a crosslinkable adhesive layer

Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company


A capacitor is connected to the output of a multiphase power converter, and a current-driven device (e.g., LED or laser diode) is also connected to the power converter output. A solid state switch (FET or IGBT) is connected in series with the current-driven device. Means are provided for sensing current through the current-driven device. An error amplifier compares sensed current through the current-driven device with a current level demand signal and controls the output of the power converter. Means are provided for turning the switch on and off and may be (i) a fast comparator receiving a voltage reference signal at one input and the current level demand signal at another input, and outputting the switch on/off signal to the switch or (ii) an externally-generated logic signal provided directly to the switch.

Pulsed laser or LED diode drivers are used to generate pulses of current, typically into a series array of lasing diodes. The light output is used for various purposes, such as pumping lasers, or timed illumination. The driver design typically comprises a storage capacitor, the laser diode array, and a pulsed current source, connected in series. When the current source is turned on, energy is drawn from the capacitor through the diode array. The voltage on the capacitor falls, so the current source must have sufficient compliance to continue to operate as voltage falls. For good efficiency, a low voltage loss across the current source is desired, but this requires a large and bulky capacitor to minimize voltage sag.
It is desirable to efficiently pulse a laser diode or light-emitting diode for a number of applications. Using a linear current source is inefficient because voltage is dropped across the linear pass element, or shunt element as shown in commonly-owned U.S. Pat. No. 6,587,490. Turning a single phase switching power supply off and on from zero is problematical because the control loop bandwidth limits the potential switching speed. The control loop is slower than the switching frequency to work correctly. The proposed approach allows good pulsed current waveforms with greater than 90% efficiency possible.
Analog constant current sources or pulsed analog constant current sources using linear dissipative pass elements have been used as diode drivers to power light emitting diodes (LED's), often laser diodes. FIG. 1 illustrates an array of LEDs (or diode array) that are connected to a power source. A linear control (pass) element is disposed in the return path from the LED array to the power source. Current flowing through the LEDs flows through a current sense resistor which supplies a voltage indicative of current to an input of an error amplifier, the other input of which receives a reference demand voltage indicative of the desires current. The output of the amplifier controls the linear control element to maintain a constant current through the LEDs. This is a simple, straightforward analog control loop. Such analog current sources are inefficient due to power (e.g., heat) dissipation in the linear pass element controlling the current.
Commonly-owned U.S. Pat. No. 6,697,402 shows a method to turn on a diode quickly by storing current in an inductor. Commonly-owned U.S. Pat. No. 6,587,490 shows a dissipative linear shunt bypass regulator. The applicant's (Analog Modules, Inc.) own Model 779A "High Power CW or Pulsed Laser Diode Driver" shows a typical linear driver (see website of Analog Modules, Inc. for Data_sht/779a.pdf). U.S. Pat. No. 5,287,372 (Ortiz) shows a quasi-resonant diode drive current source.

Efficient fast pulsed laser or light-emitting diode driver


A triketone compound of the following formula: ##STR1## wherein Y.sup.1 is C.sub.1 to C.sub.4 alkyl, a halogen or a C.sub.1 to C.sub.4 haloalkyl; each of Y.sup.2 and Y.sup.3 is independently C.sub.1 to C.sub.4 alkyl; Y.sup.4 is hydrogen, C.sub.1 to C.sub.4 alkyl or a halogen; n is 0, 1 or 2; p is 0 or 1; each of R.sup.1, R.sup.2, R.sup.3 and R.sup.4 is independently hydrogen, C.sub.1 to C.sub.4 alkyl or phenyl; or when p is 1, either R.sup.1 or R.sup.2 and either R.sup.3 or R.sup.4 optionally bond to each other to form an intramolecular double bond; and X is oxygen or sulfur. The triketone compound is useful as a herbicide to control a broad range of upland weeds at a low dosage without causing phytotoxicity on corn.

Herbicides are very important chemicals for labor-saving of weed control and improving the productivity of agricultural and horticultural crops. Herbicides have been therefore actively studied and developed for many years, and a variety of herbicides are practically used. However, it is still desired today to develop novel chemicals having further prominent herbicidal properties, particularly chemicals which can selectively control target weeds alone without causing phytotoxicity on cultivated crops and which can also control them at a low dosage.
During a planting time of corn, etc., triazine-based herbicides such as atrazine and acid anilide-based herbicides such as alachlor and metolachlor have been conventionally used. However, atrazine shows low efficacy to gramineous weeds, and on the other hand, alachlor and metolachlor show low efficacy to broad-leaved weeds. It is therefore difficult at present to control gramineous weeds and broad-leaved weeds together simultaneously with a single herbicide. Further, the above herbicides are undesirable in view of an environmental problem due to their high dosage requirement.
In view of the above circumstances, the present inventors have invented novel triketone derivatives having a thiochroman ring and filed a patent application therefor (International Patent Application WO94/04524). A typical example disclosed in this Publication is as follows. ##STR2##
However, the above compound is not fully satisfactory in soil treatment activity although it is free of phytotoxicity on corn and has high foliar treatment activity.


Methods and devices are provided for implanting a cross-pin through a bone tunnel, such as in an arthroscopic surgical procedure. In general, the methods and devices allow a cross-pin hole to be formed in a medial side of a knee bone such that it intersects a bone tunnel formed in the knee bone. In one embodiment, a cross-pinning guide device is provided that can be configured to angularly position the cross-pin hole relative to the bone tunnel to allow the cross-pin hole to intersect the bone tunnel without passing through another side, e.g., a lateral side, of the knee bone. The knee bone can be a femur or a tibia such that the cross-pin hole and the bone tunnel can each be entirely formed in the femur or in the tibia.

Joint injuries may commonly result in the complete or partial detachment of ligaments, tendons, and soft tissues from bone. Tissue detachment may occur in many ways, e.g., as the result of an accident such as a fall, overexertion during a work related activity, during the course of an athletic event, or in any one of many other situations and/or activities. These types of injuries are generally the result of excess stress or extraordinary forces being placed upon the tissues.
In the case of a partial detachment, commonly referred to under the general term "sprain," the injury frequently heals without medical intervention, the patient rests, and care is taken not to expose the injury to undue strenuous activities during the healing process. If, however, the ligament or tendon is completely detached from its attachment site on an associated bone or bones, or if it is severed as the result of a traumatic injury, surgical intervention may be necessary to restore full function to the injured joint. A number of conventional surgical procedures exist for re-attaching such tendons and ligaments to bone.
One such procedure involves forming aligned femoral and tibial tunnels in a human knee, such as in repairing a damaged anterior cruciate ligament ("ACL"). A bone block or anchor with a ligament graft attached thereto is passed through the tunnels to a blind end of the femoral tunnel where the block or anchor is fixed in place. The ligament extends out of the tibial tunnel, and the end is attached to the tibia cortex by staples or the like. Alternatively, the end of the ligament may be fixed in the tibial tunnel by an anchor or by an interference screw. Various types of ligament and/or suture anchors for attaching soft tissue to bone are well known in the art.
One method for anchoring bone blocks in bone tunnels is through cross-pinning, in which a cross pin such as a pin, screw, or rod is inserted into the bone, transversely to the bone tunnel, so as to intersect the ligament graft and/or the bone block, to "cross-pin" the graft in the bone tunnel. The cross pin is generally placed in a pre-drilled tunnel in the bone that is prepared using a drill guide.
In addition, considerations for cross-pinning graft ligaments in the tibia differ from considerations for cross-pinning of graft ligaments in the femur. These considerations include differences in anatomical geometry, bone quality, and other considerations. These different requirements generally result in the development and application of different cross-pinning guides for femoral and tibial cross-pinning, adding complexity and expense to the performance of tissue reattachment surgeries such as ACL replacement surgeries.
Accordingly, there is a need for improved methods and devices for repairing ligaments and for positioning and forming bone tunnels.


A method and apparatus are provided for allocating tolerances. A total tolerance is specified (218) to be allocated among a plurality of variable tolerances each having an associated assembly feature. For each associated assembly feature, an associated first tolerance point is defined (202) at which a further decrease in a stringency of the variable tolerance fails to significantly decrease a cost of achieving the variable tolerance. For each associated assembly feature, an associated second tolerance point is defined (202) at which a further increase in the stringency begins to substantially increase the cost of achieving the variable tolerance. For each associated assembly feature, an associated third tolerance point is defined (202) at which a further increase in the stringency is not substantially achievable. The total tolerance is allocated (226, 232, 254, 266, 236, 242, 258, 270, 246) among the variable tolerances, such that the variable tolerances substantially satisfy a first predetermined relationship relative to the total tolerance, and such that each variable tolerance substantially satisfies a second predetermined relationship relative to its associated tolerance points.

Assembly stackups of mechanical parts result in overall assembly lengths, clearance gaps, overlaps, and interferences. One or more of these assembly phenomena occurs in every mechanical design. In a typical manufacturing process, fabrication tolerances are assigned to part features which are involved in assembly stackups. Proper tolerancing of part features is important to achieve desired functional requirements that relate to physical variation. Tolerances establish the limits of variability in the size, location, and form of part features, and these limits should be maintained during manufacturing of a part feature.
The assignment of mechanical fabrication tolerances is a function of (1) the type of part feature, such as turned diameter, milled length, cast boss length, and injection-molded slot width, (2) manufacturing process capability for the type of part feature, (3) assembly stackup geometry and (4) allowable overall assembly stackup tolerance. Manufacturability considers the increased cost of manufacturing a part feature with more stringent tolerance. Consequently, the process of assigning tolerances for part features simultaneously relates to both the functionality and the manufacturability of designs.
Typical tolerancing approaches require a time-consuming iterative process of tolerance analysis, which is used to "home in" on tolerances that satisfy functional requirements. This iterative process of tolerance analysis involves (1) estimating appropriate tolerances for part features involved in an assembly stackup, based upon an engineer's subjective intuition and experience, and (2) analyzing the assembly stackup using a tolerance analysis model to determine if the estimated tolerances produce an undesired fit condition. If an undesired fit condition is produced, then the estimated tolerances are iteratively adjusted in an attempt to eliminate the undesired fit condition, and the tolerance analysis process is repeated until an appropriate assignment of tolerances is achieved.
Such iterative tolerancing approaches are subjective, relying upon a particular engineer's experience and training over a broad range of manufacturing processes. Consequently, the results of iterative tolerancing approaches vary significantly from one engineer to another, and an appropriate assignment of tolerances is uncertain even if an engineer has many years of experience. Moreover, iterative tolerancing approaches are very time-consuming. Thus, appropriate tolerances might not be achieved if development time is limited, resulting in undesired fit conditions and costly changes during production.
Also, a tolerance model is usually selected for part features in an assembly stackup. Available tolerance models include (1) worst case, (2) root sum squared ("RSS"), and (3) modified RSS ("MRSS"). Statistical tolerance models are less stringent and therefore less costly than worst case tolerance models, because statistical tolerance models recognize the probability that not all part feature dimensions of an assembly stackup will extend to their maximum limits of variability at the same time. Despite the availability of significant cost savings afforded by statistical tolerance models, worst case tolerances are nevertheless assigned to many non-critical parts, because previous approaches to determining statistical tolerances are iterative, time-consuming and uncertain. By assigning worst case tolerances to such non-critical parts, manufacturing costs are unnecessarily inflated because tolerances are overly stringent.
It is therefore desirable to simultaneously determine worst case and statistical tolerances in a non-iterative manner, in order to facilitate an informed selection between worst case, RSS, or MRSS tolerance models. It is also desirable to achieve a desired functional fit and manufacturability for the part features involved, without having to iteratively adjust estimated tolerances to repeat a tolerance analysis process. Such a non-iterative approach is typically referred to as "tolerance allocation". Tolerance allocation uses manufacturability (cost versus tolerance) data which quantify the increase in manufacturing cost necessary to achieve a more stringent tolerance.
Although the need for tolerance allocation has been previously identified, earlier approaches to tolerance allocation have proved impractical, because they commonly require full-range manufacturability data curves for a wide range of manufacturers, fabrication processes, and part features. Such full-range manufacturability data curves are difficult to obtain, and a large-scale expensive effort would be required to compile information necessary to create such full-range manufacturability data curves.
Thus, a need has arisen for a method and apparatus for allocating tolerances, in which tolerances are allocated in a non-iterative and standardized manner. Moreover, it is desired to provide a method and apparatus for allocating tolerances, in which functionality and manufacturability of a mechanical design are simultaneously considered, and in which worst case and statistical tolerances are simultaneously determined. Finally, a need has arisen for a method and apparatus for allocating tolerances which is based upon easily obtainable manufacturability data, and in which tolerance analysis is not required to verify functionality after tolerances are assigned.

Apparatus and method for allocating tolerances


A process of managing Internet pornography based on detection of the phrase “18 U.S.C. 2257 Record-Keeping Requirements Compliance Statement” or a discernable variation. The top level domain “xxx” may instead or in addition be examined.

1. Field
This application relates to filtering technologies, the Internet and to pornography.
2. Description of Related Art
Pornographic and non-pornographic content are often communicated over modern day communication systems, such as the World Wide Web.
Many users of these systems want to distinguish between the pornographic content and the non-pornographic content in order to block the pornographic content and/or to control the manner in which it is delivered. Some users find the content to be offensive, psychologically harmful (e.g., to children), annoying, and/or inappropriate. Pornographic content is also often associated with undesirable SPAM, pop-ups, pop-unders, mouse traps, and browser hijacking.
It is often difficult to accurately distinguish between pornographic and non-pornographic content. Testing for the presence of certain words, for example, has often resulted in errors, as almost every word may be used in both pornographic and non-pornographic contexts.
Techniques for distinguishing between pornographic and non-pornographic content are also sometimes time-consuming, sometimes requiring either the user or some other person to create and/or maintain a list of target words and/or URL addresses.

Managing internet pornography effectively


A method for preventing redeposition of desorbed dyes to pre-dyed fabrics or its garments, which comprises adding colloid at the treatment of pre-dyed fabrics or its garments. A dye antiredeposition agent to be used at the treatment of pre-dyed fabrics or its garments, which contains a colloid in an amount of 0.4 g or more per 500 avicelase units of cellulose. The present invention has rendered possible simple and efficient prevention of redeposition of dyes at the time of the treatment of pre-dyed fabrics or its garments. Especially, when an enzyme is used in the treatment, adverse influenced upon the enzyme is characteristically small.

The following phenomena occur when woven cloth which is with dyed yarn and undyed yarn, such as denim cloth or the like, is subjected to desizing, enzymatic weight reducing treatment or the like processing.
When desizing is carried out, a desorbed dye redeposits to the bleached yarn to cause staining of the white area. When enzymatic weight reducing treatment is carried out, a desorbed dye redeposits not only to the bleached yarn to cause staining of the white area but also to the stripped area (white area) of the top-dyed yarn, thus reducing quality of the product considerably.
There is a treatment in which its garments dyed with not only the indigo denim dye but also other dyes are washed using a washer with the joint use of pumice, enzymes and the like to create a washed out and faded also worn-out feeling, and such a treatment also causes redeposition of desorbed dyes and reduction of the quality.
With the aim of preventing the staining of white areas and redeposition of dyes, a number of materials have been developed but with no success in resolving the above problems.
For example, CMC (carboxymethylcellulose) sodium, poval, polyvinyl pyrrolidone and the like have been known from old times. Examples of such materials so far disclosed in patents include calcium chloride (JP-A 46-330; the term "JP-A" as used herein means an "unexamined published Japanese patent application"), sodium polyacrylate (JP-A 48-64283), nonionic type surface active agent (JP-A 50-18786), mixture of .beta.-naphthol and ethylene oxide (JP-A 55-22081), .alpha.-olefin sulfonate (JP-A 56-53274), water soluble high polymer whose carboxyl groups are partially or entirely made into salt (JP-A 56-63081), copolymer of maleic anhydride with isoamylene and/or amylene (JP-A 58-41981), specified organosilane and organosiloxane (JP-A 58-70774), specified aromatic sulfonic acid condensate and oil (JP-A 60-45676), a water soluble copolymer containing unsaturated carboxylic acids and a formalin condensate of a specified polycyclic aromatic compound sulfonate (JP-A 61-215769), a vinyl polymer having a pyrrolidone skeleton or a copolymer of vinyl pyrrolidone with other monomer (JP-B 5-61395; the term "JP-B" as used herein means an "examined Japanese patent publication"), specified diquaternary ammonium salt and mono-, poly-quaternary or specified polymer-ammonium salt or unquaternarized basic nitrogen-containing polycondensates (JP-A 62-117887), organic sulfonic acid and/or its salts (JP-A 63-135581), synthetic detergent active component, vinyl pyrrolidone polymer and nonionic cellulose ester (JP-A 63-37200), significantly insoluble trapping agent (JP-W 63-502761; the term "JP-W" as used herein means an "unexamined published Japanese international patent application"), cationic cellulose (JP-A 1-201588), polyalkylene oxide-based graft polymer (JP-A 63-260994), water soluble salts of polymerized fatty acids (JP-A 1-272888), specified water soluble polymers (JP-A 1-185398) and the like. In addition, a method in which the prevention is effected by controlling the treatment conditions and a method in which redeposition of dyes and stains is reduced by processing the surface of fabrics have also been developed.
However, when mediums such as surface active agents and the like are used as one of such prior art findings, they cause environmental problems such as water pollution and the like, or a mixture of a desorbed dye and a surface active agent redeposits to fabrics in some cases. The invention in which canonized cellulose is used (JP-A 01-201588) contemplates overcoming such problems but is highly costly, because it is necessary to cationize cellulose at a ratio of 100 to 3,000 milli equivalent/kg fabric.
Also, when the dye of interest is anionic and disperse type, it is necessary to anionize with an anionic dispersing agent. More disadvantageously, when an enzyme is present in the washing, the enzyme itself becomes anion under general washing conditions and therefore is electrically adsorbed by cationic cellulose, thus entailing reduction of its effect.
On the other hand, an attempt has been made to use an insoluble adsorbent for pigments and/or fat soils but on condition that washing should be effected under application of ultrasonic wave (JP-W 63-502761). Since this method is also characterized by the cationization treatment of polyquaternary ammonium compounds and the like, it has problems similar to the case of the aforementioned catonized cellulose. In addition, though there is a case in which effects of a nonionic cellulose ester are found by the combined use of other mediums (JP-A 63-37200), carboxymethylcellulose as a representative of the cellulose ester itself is already known in the art and the method has a problem similar to the case of the aforementioned canionized cellulose in terms of the necessity to carry out etherification.

Method for preventing redeposition of desorbed dyes to pre-dyed fabrics or its garments and dye antiredeposition agent


A manifold (2) is provided with a first passage (4) for supplying pressurized oil and a second passage (5) for air venting. The manifold (2) has a support surface (9) to which a housing (12) of every hydraulic cylinder (7) is hermetically fixed through a sealing member (10). A piston (14) is inserted into a cylinder bore (13) of the housing (12). A hydraulic chamber (15) is formed between the piston (14) and the support surface (9). The hydraulic chamber (15) directly opposes to the support surface (9). The first passage (4) communicates with the respective hydraulic chambers (15) through branched passages (17). The hydraulic chamber (15) has an upper portion communicated with the second passage (5) through an air vent passage (18).

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a cylinder assembly comprising a large number of hydraulic cylinders.
2. Explanation of Related Art
Japanese Patent Public Disclosure No. 6-190464 recited a conventional example of the cylinder assembly of this type. The conventional cylinder assembly comprises a large number of hydraulic cylinders arranged in a horizontal direction. A housing of every hydraulic cylinder has a lower end wall fixed to a support pedestal. A hydraulic chamber is formed between a piston inserted into the housing and the lower end wall. The respective hydraulic chambers are connected to a hydraulic source via hydraulic pipes.
There has been a desire for improving the conventional technique on the following points.
Hydraulic pipes must be connected to each of the large number of hydraulic cylinders in a narrow and limited piping space, which entails a problem of troublesome piping work. Further, the hydraulic pipes require a huge quantity of joints, which invites an easy leakage of pressurized oil.
The present invention has an object to provide a cylinder assembly which facilitates the piping work and can prevent the leakage of the pressurized oil.
In order to accomplish the above-mentioned object, the present invention has constructed the cylinder assembly in the following manner, for example, as shown in FIG. 1.
There is provided a manifold 2 having a passage 4 to which pressurized oil is supplied. A plurality of hydraulic cylinders 7 are detachably attached to the manifold 2. Each of the hydraulic cylinders 7 comprises a housing 12 hermetically fixed to a support surface 9 of the manifold 2, a piston 14 hermetically inserted into the housing 12 and a hydraulic chamber 15 which is formed between the piston 14 and the support surface 9, and directly opposes to the support surface 9. The manifold 2 has an interior area provided with branched passages 17. Every branched passage 17 has one end communicated with the passage 4 and has the other end communicated with the hydraulic chamber 15.
The present invention offers the following function and effect.
When supplying pressurized oil to the plurality of hydraulic cylinders, the pressurized oil is supplied to the passage of the manifold. Then the pressurized oil is supplied to every hydraulic chamber of every hydraulic cylinder through the passage and each of the branched passages.
As such, the pressurized oil can be supplied to the hydraulic chambers through the passage and the branched passages formed within the manifold. There is no need of connecting hydraulic pipes to each of the hydraulic cylinders. This facilitates the piping work for the cylinder assembly. Further, the number of joints is decreased by an amount corresponding to the omission of the hydraulic pipes to result in the possibility of preventing the pressurized oil from leaking out of the cylinder assembly.
Additionally, the manifold has its support surface directly opposed by the hydraulic chamber within the housing. Therefore, a front wall portion of the support surface can serve as an end wall of the hydraulic chamber. This has made it possible to remove the end wall for the hydraulic chamber from the housing. As a result, the cylinder assembly can be manufactured with a simple structure at a low cost and besides facilitates the maintenance. Besides, the removal of the end wall decreases the height of the housing to result in the possibility of making the cylinder assembly compact.
The present invention includes the following cylinder assembly.
For instance, as shown in FIG. 1, the manifold 2 is provided with another passage 5 and the housing 12 has its interior area formed with an air vent passage 18. The air vent passage 18 has one end communicated with the another passage 5 and has the other end communicated with an upper portion of the hydraulic chamber 15. The invention can expel air within the hydraulic chamber to an exterior area through the air vent passage and the another passage when the pressurized oil has been supplied to the hydraulic chamber. Accordingly, it can effect air venting for every hydraulic cylinder substantially completely. This assures a reliable and smooth operation of the cylinder assembly.
The present invention further includes the following cylinder assembly.
For example, as shown in FIG. 4, the housing 12 has a cylinder bore 13 in which an annular attaching groove 46 is formed. A sealing member 45 attached to the attaching groove 46 seals the piston 14. The sealing member 45 has a lower side provided with a cavity 53, with which the air vent passage 18 communicates.
The present invention still more includes the following cylinder assembly.
For example, as shown in FIG. 4, at least one of the upper portion of the hydraulic chamber 15 and the air vent passage 18 is provided with a flow resistance applying means.


Methods of inducing systemic acquired resistance to infection in a plant by applying a composition comprising a Bacillus control agent to said plant wherein said plant is capable of producing defense proteins.

Effective biological control of plant diseases with epiphytic microbes has been documented for numerous phyllosphere- and rhizosphere-inhabiting organisms. Foliar biological control agents include yeast and filamentous fungi (see Hofstein R and A. Chapple, "Commercial development of biofungicides," Biopesticides: Use and Delivery (Hall F R, Menn J J, eds.), Totowa: Humana Press (1999); and Sutton, J. C. and G. Peng, "Manipulation and vectoring of biocontrol organisms to manage foliage and fruit diseases in cropping systems," Annual Review of Phytopathology, 31:473-493 (1993)) as well as bacteria; including both gram (−) species such as Erwinia sp. and Pseudomonas sp. (see Andrews, J. H., "Biological control in the phyllosphere," Annual Review of Phytopathology, 30:603-635 (1992)), and gram (+) organisms such as Bacillus sp. See Kokalis-Burelle, N., P. A. Backman, R Rodriquez-Kabana, and L. D. Ploper, "Potential for biological control of early leafspot of peanut using Bacillus cereus and chitin as foliar amendments," Biological Control, 2:321-328 (1992). Biological control agents applied to the rhizosphere include Pseudomonads (see Alstrom, S., "Induction of disease resistance in common bean susceptible to halo blight bacterial pathogen after seed bacterisation with rhizosphere pseudomonads," Journal of Genetic and Applied Microbiology, 37:495-501 (1991); van Peer, R, G. J. Niemann, and B. Schippers, "Induced resistance and phytoalexin accumulation in biological control of fusarium wilt of carnation by Pseudomonasa sp. strain WCS417r," Phytopathology, 81:728-734 (1991); and van Loon L. C. and C. M. J. Pieterse, "Biological control agents in signaling resistance," Biological Control of Crop Diseases (Gnanamanickan S S, ed.), New York: Mercel Dekker, Inc, 486 (2002)) as well as Bacillus sp. (see Zhang, S., M. S. Reddy, N. Kokalis-Burelle, L. W. Wells, S. P. Nightengale, and J. W. Kloepper, "Lack of induced systemic resistance in peanut to late leaf spot disease by plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria and chemical elicitors," Plant Disease, 85(8):879-884 (2001); and Murphy, J. F., G. W. Zehnder, D. J. Schuster, E. J. Sikora, J. E. Polston, and J. W. Kloepper, "Plant growth-promoting rhizobacterial mediated protection in tomato against Tomato mottle virus," Plant Disease, 84(7):779-784 (2000)) that are classically referred to as plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria. For the most part biological disease control is attributed to direct antagonism against the pathogen via production of antibiotics or hydrolytic enzymes, or through competition for nutrients. See Weller. D. M., "Biological control of soil-borne plant pathogens in the rhizosphere with bacteria." Annual Review of Phytopathology. 26:379-407 (1988). However, plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria and rhizosphere inhabiting fungi have been shown to stimulate the induction of systemic resistance responses within the plant. See van Peer. R. G. J. Niemann. and B. Schippers, "Induced resistance and phytoalexin accumulation in biological control of fusarium wilt of carnation by Pseudomonasa sp. strain WCS417r." Phytopathology, 81:728-734. (1991); Wei. G. J. W. Kloepper, and S. Tuzun, "Induction of systemic resistance of cucumber to Colletotrichum orbiculare by select strains of plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria," Phytopathology, 81:1508-1512 (1991); van Loon, L. C. and C. M. J. Pieterse, "Biological control agents in signaling resistance." Biological Control of Crop Diseases (Gnanamanickan. S. S., ed.). New York: Mercel Dekker, Inc. 486 (2002). All publications mentioned above are incorporated herein by reference in their entireties for all purposes.
Systemic induced resistance (SIR) has been described in many plant systems, most notably tobacco, bean, tomato, cucumber, and Arabidopsis thaliana. See Ross, A F., "Localized acquired resistance to plant virus infection in hypersensitive hosts," Virology, 14:329-339 (1961); Kuc, J., "Induced immunity to plant disease," BioScience, 32:854-860 (1982); Ryals, J. A., U. H. Neuenschwander, M. G. Willits, A. Molina, H. Y. Steiner, and M. D. Hunt, "Systemic acquired resistance," The Plant Cell. 8:1809-1819 (1996); and van Loon, L. C. and C. M. J. Pieterse, "Biological control agents in signaling resistance." Biological Control of Crop Diseases (Gnanamanickan. S. S., ed.). New York: Mercel Dekker, Inc. 486 (2002). The broad-spectrum resistance makes an otherwise susceptible plant resistant to a wide array of subsequent pathogen attacks. See Kuc, J. "Induced immunity to plant disease," BioScience, 32:854-860 (1982); and Hutcheson, S. W., "Current concepts of 'active defense in plants." Annual Review of Phytopathology, 36:59-90 (1998). Elicitation of systemic disease resistance in plants has thus far been achieved through treatment by three types of stimuli: necrotizing pathogens (see Pieterse, C. M. J., S. C. M. van Wees. E. Hoffland, J. A., van Pelt, and L. C. van Loon, "Systemic resistance in Arabidopsis induced by biocontrol bacteria is independent of salicylic acid accumulation and pathogenesis-related gene expression," The Plant Cell, 8:1225-1237 (1996); Ross, AF., "Localized acquired resistance to plant virus infection in hypersensitive hosts," Virology, 14:329-339 (1961); Ross. AF., "Systemic acquired resistance induced by localized virus infection in plants," Virology. 14:340-358 (1961); and Kuc, J., "Induced immunity to plant disease." BioScience. 32:854-860 (1982)), secondary signal molecules (Le. salicylic acid, SA) (see White, R. F., "Acetylsalicylic acid (aspirin) induces resistance to tobacco mosaic virus in tobacco," Virology. 99:410-412 (1979)) and their functional analogs (e.g. 2,6-dichloroisonicotinic acid, INA (see Metraux, J. P., P. Ahl-Goy, T. Staub, J. Speich, A Steinemann, J. Ryals, and E. Ward, "Induced resistance in cucumber in response to 2,6-dichloroisonicotinic acid and pathogens," Advances in Molecular Genetics of Plant-Microbe Interactions, Vol. 1. (H. Hennecke, D. P. S. Verma, eds.), Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 432-439 (1991)) and acibenzolar-5-methyl. ASM (see Tally, A, M. Oostendorp, K. Lawton, T. Staub, and B. Bassi, "Commercial development of elicitors of induced resistance to pathogens," Induced Plant Defenses Against Pathogens and Herbivores (AA Agrawal, S. Tuzun, and E. Bent, eds.) St. Paul: APS Press, 299-318 (1999)), and plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria introduction into the rhizosphere. See Alstrom, S., "Induction of disease resistance in common bean susceptible to halo blight bacterial pathogen after seed bacterisation with rhizosphere pseudomonads," Journal of Genetic and Applied Microbiology, 37:495-501 (1991); van Loon, L. C. and C. M. J. Pieterse, "Biological control agents in signaling resistance," Biological Control of Crop Diseases (Gnanamanickan, S. S., ed.), New York: Mercel Dekker, Inc, 486 (2002); Wei, G., J. W. Kloepper, and S. Tuzun, "Induction of systemic resistance of cucumber to Colletotrichum orbiculare by select strains of plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria," Phytopathology, 81:1508-1512 (1991); Zhang, S., M. S. Reddy, N. Kokalis-Burelle, L. W. Wells, S. P. Nightengale, and J. W. Kloepper, "Lack of induced systemic resistance in peanut to late leaf spot disease by plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria and chemical elicitors," Plant Disease, 85(8):879-884 (2001); and Murphy, J. F., G. W. Zehnder, D. J. Schuster, E. J. Sikora, J. E. Polston, and J. W. Kloepper, "Plant growth-promoting rhizobacterial mediated protection in tomato against Tomato mottle virus," Plant Disease, 84(7):779-784 (2000). Additionally, oomycete and fungal hyphal wall fragments (see Doke, N., "Generation of superoxide anion by potato tuber protoplasts during the hypersensitive response to hyphal wall components of Phytophthora infestans and specific inhibition of the reaction by suppressors of hypersensitivity," Physiological Plant Pathology, 23:359-367 (1983); and Anderson, A. J., "Studies on the structure and elicitor activity of fungal glucans," Canadian Journal of Botany, 58:2343-2348 (1980)), bacterial cell wall fractions (lipopolysaccharides) (see Sequeira, L., "Mechanisms of induced resistance in plants," Annual Review of Microbiology, 37:51-79 (1983), and phytohormones (see Cohen, Y., M. Reuveni, and A. Baider, "Local and systemic activity of BABA (DL-3-aminobutyric acid), against Plasmopara viticola in grapevines," European Journal of Plant Pathology, 105(4):351-361 (1999); Oka, Y., Y. Cohen, and Y. Spiegel, "Local and systemic induced resistance to the root-knot nematode in tomato by DL-beta-amino-n-butyric acid," Phytopathology, 89(12):1138-1143 (1999); and Cohen, Y. R., "β-Aminobutyric acid-Induced Resistance Against Plant Pathogens," Plant Disease, 86(5):448-457 (2002)) have SIR-displayed induction capability. All publications mentioned above are incorporated herein by reference in their entireties for all purposes.
Two systemic resistance pathways have been described: 1) systemic acquired resistance, which utilizes salicylic acid as a secondary signal molecule and leads to the production of pathogenesis-related (PR) proteins (see Delaney, T. P., "Genetic Dissection of Acquired Resistance to Disease," Plant. Physiology, 113:5-12 (1997)) and 2) induced systemic resistance, which utilizes jasmonates and ethylene as secondary signal molecules and controls disease independently of PR-protein production (see Pieterse, C. M. J., S. C. M. van Wees, J. A. van Pelt, M. Knoester, R. Laan, H. Gerrits, P. J. Weisbeek, and L. C. van Loon, "A Novel Signaling Pathway Controlling Induced Systemic Resistance in Arabidopsis," The Plant Cell, 10:1571-1580 (1998)). All publications mentioned above are incorporated herein by reference in their entireties for all purposes.
Systemic resistance results in the activation of defenses in uninfected parts of the plant. As a result, the entire plant is more resistant to infection. The systemic resistance is long lasting and often confers broad-based resistance to different pathogens.
One of the issues surrounding systemic resistance is the occurrence of necrotic cell death at the site of application of the agent that induces systemic resistance.
Increased societal concerns related to the use of agrichemicals and genetically modified organisms as a means of managing crop diseases has prompted interest in methods of biological control. A biological control agent capable of inducing systemic resistance would provide a method of increasing disease resistance in a plant without the use of agrichemicals. Of particular interest would be a biological control agent capable of inducing systemic resistance without inducing necrotic cell death.
Thus, a need exists for new biological control agents capable of inducing systemic induced resistance in plants. A need also exists for new methods of identifying new biological control agents capable of inducing systemic resistance in plants.

Bacillus isolates and methods of their use to protect against plant pathogens


Complementary heterostructure field effect transistors (30) with complementary devices having complementary gates (40, 50) and threshold adjusting dopings are disclosed. Preferred embodiment devices include a p.sup.+ gate (50) formed by diffusion of dopants to convert n.sup.+ gate material to p.sup.+, and a pulse-doped layer adjacent the two-dimensional carrier gas channels to adjust threshold voltages. Further preferred embodiments have the conductivity-type converted gate (50) containing a residual layer of unconverted n.sup.+ which cooperates with the pulse-doped layer threshold shifting to yield threshold voltages which are small and positive for n-channel and small and negative for p-channel devices.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to electronic semiconductor devices and integrated circuits, and, more particularly, to complementary field effect transistors with heterostructure insulated gates and integrated circuits including them and methods of fabrication.
2. Description of the Related Art
Very large scale integrated semiconductor memory and logic devices are being pushed for ever higher speed switching, lower power consumption, and larger noise margins. Thus there has been considerable effort to combine the intrinsic high switching speed and semiinsulating properties of gallium arsenide (GaAs) with the inherent large noise margins and low standby power dissipation of complementary field effect transistor (FET) logic. Complementary GaAs JFET circuits have shown very low standby power dissipation, but the low hole mobility of GaAs leads to low extrinsic transconductance of the p-channel devices and relatively low switching speeds; see, for example, R. Zuleg et al. 5 IEEE Elec. Dev. Lett. 21 (1984).
High hole mobilities have been obtained in modulation doped aluminum gallium arsenide/gallium arsenide (Al.sub.x Ga.sub.1-x As/GaAs) heterojunction FET WHICH relay on a channel consisting of a two-dimensional hole gas at the heterojunction: see, for example, H. Stormer et al. 44 Appl. Phys. Lett. 1062 (1984). This is the complement of the modulation doped heterojunction FET which utilizes a two-dimensional electron gas (HEMT. MODFET, etc.). However, the threshold voltages of these modulation doped heterojunction devices depend critically on the thickness and doping concentration of the Al.sub.x Ga.sub.1-x As layer, and reported variations in HEMT threshold voltages across a two inch wafer typically have a standard variation in the range of 0.15 V to 0.4 V; see K. Arai et al. 7 IEEE Elec. Dev. Lett. 158 (1986). Even the use of pulse doping of the Al.sub.x Ga.sub.1-x As (see, Hueschen et al, 1984 IEDM Tech. Digest 348) does not solve the problem. Consequently, heterostructure insulated gate FETs (HFETs). which use an undoped Al.sub.x Ga.sub.1-x As layer as a gate insulator in a MIS-like structure have appeared; see, P. Solomon et al, 5 IEEE Elec. Dev. Lett. 379 (1984). HFETs have the advantage of uniformity and reproducibility of threshold voltage because the threshold voltage is primarily determined by the gate material and is independent of the Al.sub.x Ga.sub.1-x As layer thickness.
Complementary HFET devices, using a two-dimensional electron gas for the n channel device and a two-dimensional hole gas for the p channel device, have been fabricated on a single undoped Al.sub.x Ga.sub.1-x As/GaAs substrate: see N. Cirillo et al. 1985 IEDM Tech. Digest 317-320. Both the n and p channel devices use tungsten silicide (WSi is used to represent the various silicides of tungsten) Schottky barrier gates on the undoped Al.sub.x Ga.sub.1-x As and are relatively easy to fabricate. However, the threshold voltage for the WSi Schottky barrier gate is about 0.8-1.0 V for the n-channel device and about -0.7--0.4 V for the p-channel device: whereas for 1 V power supply operation the n-channel threshold should be about 0.2-0.3 V and the p-channel threshold should be about -0.3--0.2 V.
In contrast, K. Matsumoto et al. 7 IEEE Elec. Dev. Lett. 182 (1986), have fabricated complementary HFET devices with Al.sub.x Ga.sub.1-x As as the insulator and n.sup.+ and p.sup.+ GaAs gates for the n and p channel devices, respectively. This yields low threshold voltages (about 0 V), but the fabrication requires a mesa etch and epitaxial refill.
In either case, the threshold voltage may be adjusted by uniformly doping the GaAs layer which would be analogous to the channel implants in MOSFET technology to adjust threshold voltage. However, to adjust the threshold voltage by 0.1 V would require a doping level of about 5.times.10.sup.15 /cm.sup.3. which is too low to be reproducibly controlled by the growth techniques used to fabricate the basic heterostructure (i.e., by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) or metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD)).
Thus it is a problem to fabricate complementary HFET devices with desirable threshold voltages by a simple process.

Method of making complementary heterostructure field effect transistors


Described are systems and methods for magnetically assisted boom refueling. In certain examples, a magnetic refueling receiver is disclosed that includes a refueling receptacle configured to receive a portion of a refueling boom and a receptacle magnet disposed around at least a portion of a perimeter of the refueling receptacle. In another example, a magnetic refueling boom is disclosed that includes a refueling boom structure that includes a first end configured to be inserted into a refueling receiver and a pipe magnet disposed around at least a portion of a perimeter of the refueling boom structure.

Certain aerial refueling aircraft utilize an aerial refueling boom to perform refueling. Typically, when a deployment of the refueling boom is commanded, the refueling boom is flown towards an aircraft to be refueled. The refueling boom must be lined up with a fueling receptacle of the aircraft to be refueled before the boom is inserted into the receptacle. Fuel is only delivered after the boom has been properly inserted into the receptacle.


Systems and methods employing authenticated connections to a central server to establish and authenticate a peer-to-peer connection between peer devices. The invention circumvents the potential vulnerability of clear-text transmission of secrets through a series of encrypted data transfers. A secret key is encrypted and then transmitted from one peer device to another using authenticated connections to the server. The secret key is then used to transmit encrypted data over a peer connection between the peer devices for the purpose of authenticating the peer devices on each end of the connection.

With the increased popularity of the Internet and other computer networks, communication-oriented applications such as instant messaging applications are now widely employed to exchange messages and other data (e.g., files) between peer devices. Instant messaging services often expose, among other features, mechanisms to detect presence information about a designated peer (sometimes referred to as a "buddy") and to exchange messages with that peer when the peer is online. When a user gets online, the instant messaging application on the client device typically connects to an instant messaging server that then authenticates the user using a suitable client-server authentication protocol. Thereafter, the server typically identifies for the user those of the user's buddies who are also online and connected to the server, and may likewise inform the user's buddies that the user is online. The user and his or her buddies can then initiate sessions with one another for exchanging messages and other data. The authenticated communication channel between each client device (i.e., either the user or a buddy) and the server commonly remains active throughout the duration that the client is online, until the client chooses to disconnect or shut down the instant messaging application.
If all data exchanged between peer devices is routed through the server, the server typically becomes a limiting factor (e.g., a bottleneck) in terms of data throughput, especially when large amounts of data are transferred as in the case of file transfers. Additionally, some peer devices may wish to communicate with one another using a language or protocol that the server does not support. Though some existing systems may include functionality that allows peer devices to establish direct peer-to-peer connections between the peer devices, such existing systems do not provide mechanisms to authenticate the peer-to-peer connection.
For these reasons, a system for verifying that peers on opposite ends of a peer-to-peer connection are the same peers that previously established authenticated or otherwise trusted connections with a server common to both peers without requiring additional functionality from the common server is desired to address one or more of these and other disadvantages.


A problem to be solved is to allow adhered substances to be removed from a bead. An apparatus (1) tor discharging liquid, the apparatus (1) comprising: a liquid discharge head (122) to discharge liquid; a holder (111) to hold a liquid application target (400) to which the liquid is applied; and a cleaner (601) to clean the liquid discharge head (122), wherein the cleaner (601) is detachably attached to the holder (111), and wherein, with the cleaner (601) attached to the holder (111) being in contact with the liquid discharge head (122), the holder (111) and the liquid discharge head (122) are relatively moved to clean the liquid discharge head (122) with the cleaner (601).

An apparatus using a liquid discharge head includes a maintenance recovery device (maintenance device) including, e.g., a wiper to wipe a nozzle surface of the liquid discharge head and a cap to cap the nozzle surface of the liquid discharge head, to perform an operation for maintaining and recovering a state of the nozzle surface (a normal maintenance operation).
For example, an apparatus is known that includes a liquid discharge head having a nozzle formation surface on which nozzles to jet liquid toward a target are formed, a support portion to support the target to be discharged with the liquid, a carriage reciprocally movable in a scanning direction in a state of holding a liquid jetting head, and a maintenance unit that is detachably attached to a maintenance area outside the support portion in the scanning direction and performs a normal maintenance operation of the liquid jetting head (PTL 1).

Apparatus for discharging liquid, method for maintaining liquid discharge head, and cleaner for liquid discharge head


A method for monitoring a machine element in a paper finishing machine (10). The machine element mounted for rotation machine elements (16-19) equipped with a sensor assembly (24) measuring force or pressure, and a counter-pair (15, 20, 33, 44) for said machine element. The machine element is made to rotate against the counter-pair, a measurement signal (25) is generated between the machine element and the counter-pair with the sensor assembly, and recording a reference cross-directional profile (21) of force or pressure generated. Condition monitoring (38) of vibration with the reference profile is by comparison of current signals with the reference so as to detect periodic variation (39.1, 39.2) in the cross-directional pressure profile, and producing visual information (37) from the analysis for monitoring. The invention also relates to a corresponding system, a rotating machine element for the method or the system, and a computer program product.

The invention relates to a method for condition monitoring of a fiber web or paper finishing machine, said fiber web or paper finishing machine including one or more sub-entities of which at least some have one or more rotating machine elements equipped with a sensor assembly measuring force or pressure, and a counter-pair for said machine element, and wherein                the machine element is made to rotate against the counter-pair,        a measurement signal is generated between the machine element and the counter-pair with the sensor assembly,        a cross-directional profile of force or pressure generated between the machine element and the counter-pair is formed from the measurement signal.The invention also relates to a corresponding system and a computer program product.
Measurement of vibrations on rolls is often critically important in fiber web and paper finishing machines. For example, vibration measurements based on acceleration sensors on bearing houses of rolls are known. However, it is often the case that vibration has increased excessively before it can be detected with a measurement on a bearing housing. This is particularly influenced by the fact that vibration is often excited in the middle of a roll nip.
Prior art vibration measurement sensor assemblies require a great amount of cabling, measurement electronics and customized software. Vibration measurement is often implemented in a machine as a retrofitting system. In this case, it is separate from the rest of the paper machine automation. This creates extraordinary costs.
Publication EP2187190 proposes an arrangement for measuring nip roll vibrations, wherein sensors have been installed on the roll as separate rings. A sensor assembly can reveal certain vibration problems that are caused by the roll pair itself. For example, these include unevenness or eccentricity of the roll cover, which can be repaired by local grinding of the cover. The measurement proposed in the EP publication requires a specific sensor assembly method, which does not provide a full profile for other purposes.

Method, system and a computer program product for condition monitoring of a fiber web or paper finishing machine


A Resource Reservation System includes a Token Generation Unit (TGU) which generates and circulates among nodes of a communications system a Slotted Token (SLT) message having sub-fields to carry identification number for each input port in a node and the resource available for each input port. On receiving the message the Resource Control Unit (RCU) in each node can write port identification number, available resource in appropriate sub-fields of the SLT message, and reserve resources in other nodes by adjusting information in the sub-field associated with the other nodes.

a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to communications systems in general and in particular to resource reservations within said communications systems.
b) Prior Art
A conventional communications system or network is comprised of a plurality of nodes coupled by an interconnect medium. Communication is effected by one node termed "Source Node" sending data to another node termed the "Destination Node". In order to maintain a particular Qualify of Service (QoS) the Destination Node must reserve sufficient resources to process the data without undue delay. In fact, not only must the destination node reserve sufficient resources but any intermediate node that the data must traverse before reaching its destination must also reserve sufficient resources to ensure prompt processing of the data within these intermediate nodes. For example, the nodes must have enough storage space to buffer the data before processing. If adequate buffering is not available the node may have to discard the data. In this example storage is a resource. But, in general, a resource can be anything required to receive and process data. As a consequence a resource may include memory space, processor cycle, link, bandwidth etc.
The prior art provides several flow control proposals for managing data flow within communications networks. Resource management is an integral part of the flow control method. The prior art flow control proposals include Braden et al; Resource Reservation Protocol (RSVP), IETF RFC 2205, September 1997. The RSVP provides for receiver-initiated setup of resource reservation. In other words the destination node reserves resources based on a message sent by a source node. The RSVP protocol can be used by a host to request bandwidth from the network for data flows. The RSVP is usually used by routers to deliver bandwidth requests to all nodes along the patch or paths of a flow. The node issuing the RSVP can also request confirmation assuring that the request has been installed in the network. One of the drawbacks is that the RSVP protocol reserves resources only for simplex flows. Stated another way, RSVP requests resources in only one direction. To this end RSVP treats a sender (source) as logically distinct from a receiver (destination) even though the same application process may act simultaneously as both a sender and receiver.
In another flow control scheme termed "Rate Base" the rate at which data is permitted to be delivered from a source to a destination is controlled via a feedback signal from destination to source. If resources are available at the destination the source may transmit data without restriction. If resources at the destination are in short supply or unavailable the rate of transmission is restricted to the point of cut off altogether. One such rate base technique is described in an ATM document #94-0735 entitled "Enhanced Proportional Rate Control Algorithm" by Larry Roberts, August 1994.
In yet another flow control scheme termed "Credit Base Control", a destination node generates and forwards "credits" to the Source node which may only transfer data if it has credits outstanding. The credits reflect the ability of the destination node to handle data. One such credit base controlled system is described in an ATM Forum document #94-0632 entitled "Credit-Based Proposal for ATM Traffic Management by Hunt et al., July 1994.
Because the above techniques treat the Source Node and Destination Node as separate entity when in fact they may not, a more dynamic system and method for managing data flow including Resource Reservation is required.

Apparatus, method and computer program to reserve resources in communications system

International Business Machines Corporation


Stabilized aqueous compositions of tissue factor pathway inhibitor (TFPI) or TFPI variants comprise a solubilizing agent, an antioxidant, and a buffer. The combination of a solubilizing agent and an antioxidant can lead to a significant improvement in the storage life of TFPI or TFPI variant compositions. The solubilizing agent and antioxidant substantially counteract the effects of TFPI or TFPI variant degradation through aggregation and oxidation.

Tissue factor pathway inhibitor (TFPI) is 276 amino acids in length and functions as an inhibitor of tissue factor-mediated blood coagulation. Its amino acid sequence is shown in SEQ ID NO:1. The amino terminal end of TFPI is negatively charged, and the carboxy terminal end is positively charged. The TFPI protein contains three Kunitz-type enzyme inhibitor domains. TFPI contains 18 cysteine residues and forms 9 disulfide bridges when correctly folded. The primary sequence contains three N-linked consensus glycosylation sites (Asn-X-Ser/Thr). The asparagine residues of the glycosylation sites are located at positions 145, 195, and 256. TFPI is also known as lipoprotein associated coagulation inhibitor (LACI), tissue factor inhibitor (TFI), and extrinsic pathway inhibitor (EPI).
Use of TFPI has been proposed for the treatment of various indications, including sepsis (U.S. Pat. No. 6,063,764 and WO 93/24143), deep vein thrombosis (U.S. Pat. No. 5,563,123, U.S. Pat. No. 5,589,359, and WO 96/04378), ischemia (U.S. Pat. No. 5,885,781, U.S. Pat. No. 6,242,414, and WO 96/40224), restenosis (U.S. Pat. No. 5,824,644 and WO 96/01649), and cancer (U.S. Pat. No. 5,902,582 and WO 97/09063). A TFPI variant, which differs from TFPI by the addition of an alanine residue at the amino terminus ("ala-TFPI"), has been shown to be efficacious in animal models for the treatment of sepsis. Carr et al., Circ Shock November 1994; 44(3):126-37.
Following preparation, the compositions of TFPI or a TFPI variant can be packaged for storage in an aqueous form or in a frozen state. TFPI or TFPI variants, however, can form aggregates during storage in aqueous formulations. Aggregation is caused by interactions between the TFPI or TFPI variant molecules that result in the formation of oligomers. These oligomers may remain soluble or may form large, visible aggregates that precipitate from solution during storage. Aggregate formation by TFPI or TFPI variant during storage of an aqueous composition can adversely affect its biological activity, resulting in loss of therapeutic efficacy as an anti-coagulant effective for the treatment of a variety of conditions, including sepsis. Furthermore, aggregate formation may cause other problems, such as blockage of tubing, membranes, or pumps when the TFPI-containing or TFPI variant-containing composition is administered using an infusion system. To minimize these problems, there is a need in the art for improved stabilization of compositions of TFPI and TFPI variants.

Stabilized compositions comprising tissue factor pathway inhibitor protein or tissue factor pathway inhibitor variant proteins


A high velocity pressure burner system burns air and gas thereby creating a flue gas. The system comprises a blower for pressurizing the air; a control for adjusting the pressure of the pressurized air; a combustion chamber having a flue gas outlet; and a burner disposed on the combustion chamber. The burner includes an air orifice for receiving the pressurized air; a gas orifice for receiving the gas; the air orifice causing the pressured air to flow over the gas orifice to form an air/gas mixture; at least one spinner vane disposed upstream of the gas orifice creating turbulence in the air/gas mixture; and a retender disposed downstream of the gas orifice creating turbulence in the air/gas mixture. The flue gas outlet is sized to create a back pressure on the burning air/gas mixture. The flue gas from the combustion of the air/gas mixture in the combustion chamber increases in velocity as the flue gas passes through the flue gas exit. The high velocity pressure burner system is disposed on a vessel for heating the vessel such as a boiler. The boiled includes an exhaust stack sized to maintain a back pressure on the flue gas passing through the boiler. To eliminate the CO and reduce the NOX to less than 10 PPM, the burner is operated at a lower temperature of 2200° F. The vessel is then heated by forced convection heat transfer maintaining the velocity of the flue gas through the vessel at a velocity which is compatible with the insulation lining the vessel.

The present invention relates to apparatus and methods for heating and more particularly to systems utilizing high pressure combustion air and high velocity flue gas and still more particularly to a combustion system for boilers producing low NOX and CO in the stack emissions.
Heat exchangers function to remove or add heat from one fluid to another. A common heat exchanger used in industrial applications involves a plurality of parallel tubes with one fluid flowing through the tubes and another fluid flowing across the tubes thereby exchanging heat. Such an exchanger is preferably constructed such that the two fluids are not allowed to mix and that the heat from one fluid is transferred to the other fluid through the walls of the tubes. This type of exchanger is often employed in industrial boilers. In a boiler, a burner combusts a mixture of air and gas to create hot flue gases. These hot gases pass through the boiler and across the tubes, sometimes called water tubes. Heat is transferred from the hot flue gasses across the tube walls and into the fluid that is being heated, usually water (water tube boilers) or some type of crude oil or derivates thereof (petro-chemical boilers). The hot flue gases pass through the exhaust stack and are emitted into the atmosphere.
Various types of burners are used with boilers. Atmospheric burners may be used but provide the poorest control of the flame, allow only incomplete and uneven combustion of hydrocarbon fuel, normally gas, and also provide poor heat transfer through the tube walls. The deficiencies in transferring heat through the tube walls of water or petro-chemical boilers, is always on the gas side of the tube walls over which the hot flue gases flow.
Stack draft is a problem for a process heat vessel of any kind or description. It causes all sorts of problems from incomplete complete combustion, uneven heat transfers, to a reduction of draft when the units are trying to increase heat input.
Also atmospheric burners and all long flame forced draft (blower air) burners have to have a stack draft to function. Stack drafts draw in air, flame and combustion gases through the boilers on a path of least resistance which results in a wide variation of heat transfer through the tube walls. Normally these stack drafts are in the −3″ to 4″ water column (w.c.) range, i.e., negative pressure caused by a negative partial vacuum.
The controls for prior art burners are located at the inlet side of the burner and are subject to stack draft-negative pressure.
Prior art boilers and petro-chemical heaters also have the problem of soot (coke) build-up on the insulation walls around the tubes. All of the petrochemical units have excessive tube warpage caused by uneven heat and hot spots. This coking, warpage, uneven heat distribution and hot spots also cause internal problems on the fluid side of the tube wall.
The government is highly regulating emissions into the atmosphere from vessels heated by combustion. In particular emissions from exhaust stacks from heat exchangers or boilers are required to have a low content of CO and NOX.
Atmospheric burners have high pressure (psi) gas orifices that entrain atmospheric air into the gas stream in order to get the fire started. Then the exhaust stack draft dominates to draw in the balance of the air passing through the boiler. How much air is drawn in is not known, but it is a lot more than is normally needed for good combustion, i.e., excess air. Regardless of the percentage of excess air used over that required for combustion, the excess air causes the boiler to produce an atrocious amount of CO which is very undesirable.
Prior art burners have no control over the flames in their burners. All of the prior art atmospheric burners and primary forced draft burners with the two valve control system cannot be controllable at any set NOX emission number. For instance, the John Zink Company markets and guarantees a burner that will only produce 7 parts per million (PPM) NOX. The Zink burner will produce such low NOX emissions as long as the controller does not move the valves in the system. If the valves move, the system becomes uncalibrated and will no longer return to the low 7 PPM NOX. This is true of all two-valve systems because they have no controllability. Also if the NOX emissions change, then the CO emissions change and the ratio of air/gas mixture also change.
To lower NOX, prior art burners have attempted to use excess air, which in turn lowers the maximum flame temperature. However, when the prior art burners increase excess air, the NOX emissions come down but the CO emissions increase.
All of the atmospheric burners and the forced draft burners have long blue flames. Blue fires are in the ultra violet light range and therefore are very poor emitters of radiant heat.
Still further the long flames of prior art burners start getting erratic at about 30 PPM NOX and very few will reduce the NOX down to 20 PPM. The flames have been known to get so erratic at sub 30 PPM that the U.V. (ultra-violet) flame scanner will lose sight of the flame and shut down the burner.
Summarizing, the burners presently being used by the boiler industry have elongated flames and attempt to control combustion with a two valve system (one on the air and one on the gas) which is impossible to control on ratio and is not repeatable. These fires are not controllable as they rely on a negative stack draft to operate. They will not operate at positive pressure therefore they will not furnish high velocity forced convection heat transfer. They lack uniformity and by the nature of the long lazy flames, they cause coking because they cannot burn the CO. A negative pressure causes hot spots, uneven heat distribution across tubes, incomplete combustion which leaves CO (unburned fuel) in the exhaust emissions. The CO cools the tubes and causes soot or coke on the tubes. Soot also interferes with heat transfer. A stack draft also loses some of its pulling power at the higher firing rates when things are hotter; this is when more negative draft is required.
The advent of forced draft burners, using combustion air blowers, resulted in a vast improvement in BTU's per hour per cubic foot combustion space. This was made possible by improved air-gas mixing. These forced draft burners, however, still require a stack draft of 2″ to 4″ w.c. and still produce long uncontrolled flames but shorter with faster burns than atmospheric burners. Normally the forced draft burners operate best with 8″ w.c. air pressure or less. They still have no control of their flames.
Area or refractory lined combustion blocks may be required by some firing rates (BTUH per cubic foot) or design requirements.
My prior art U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,309,165; 4,410,308; and 4,556,386, hereby incorporated herein by reference, disclose a diffuser head which is angled to the outside at a lesser angle than a flat surface. Such diffusers are made of low carbon steel that perform quite well, 10 years plus service life. The prior art diffuser head tends toward a blue flame and extends in length at the higher excess air flow rates. These prior art patents have a higher flame temperature and rely upon radiant heat rather than forced convection.
The present invention overcomes the deficiencies of the prior art.

High velocity pressure combustion system


A system for distributed utilities including electrical power and water. A generation device is provided for converting an available resource to a desired utility; the resource may be water, in which case the generator is a purifier for purifying untreated water, or, alternatively, the generator may convert a fuel to electrical power. In either case, an input sensor is provided for measuring input to the generation device, while an output sensor is provided for measuring consumption of output from the generation device. The monitoring system has a controller for concatenating measured input and consumption of output on the basis of the input and output sensors. Measured parameters are telemetered to a remote site where utility generation and use are monitored and may also be controlled. At least a portion of the electrical power capacity of the electric generation unit may power a water purification unit such as a vapor compression distillation unit, and heat output of the electric generation unit may supply heat to the water purification unit.

A dependable source of potable water eludes vast segments of humanity, the Canadian International Development Agency reporting that about 1.2 billion people lack access to safe drinking water. A person must depend, for a supply of clean water, on proximity to uncontaminated natural sources, or must otherwise have access to a dependable common system of publicly treated water, or else dependable supplies of chemical purifying agents or power sources for distillation, none of which are typically available in much of the developing world. Consequently, an integral and reliable source of treating water, whether for medical purposes, for human consumption, or otherwise, that is robust, efficient, and requires only readily available materials is very desirable. As used herein, and in any appended claims, the term 'purifying' refers to substantially reducing the concentration of one or more contaminants to specified levels or otherwise substantially altering the concentration of one or more substances to specified levels. The term 'specified levels' refers to some desired level of concentration, as established by a user for a particular application. One instance of a specified level may be limiting a contaminant level in a fluid to carry out an industrial or commercial process. An example is eliminating contaminant levels in solvents or reactants to a level acceptable to enable an industrially significant yield in a chemical reaction (e.g., polymerization). Another instance of a specified level may be a certain contaminant level in a fluid as set forth by a governmental or intergovernmental agency for safety or health reasons. Examples might include the concentration of one or more contaminants in water to be used for drinking or particular health or medical applications, the concentration levels being set forth by organizations such as the World Health Organization or the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Distributed water purification systems, such as described in U.S. Provisional Application 60/425,820 and concurrently filed U.S. application Ser. No. 10/713,617, entitled "Pressure Vapor Cycle Liquid Distillation, and distributed electrical generators, such as diesel-powered internal combustion generators and generators based on the Stirling cycle, such as described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,253,550, may be used to provide electricity and safe drinking water without the expense and delays associated with building and maintaining utility plants and the infrastructure required to bring the electricity and safe drinking water and to its point of use. With the use of such distributed utilities, however, comes the need to appropriately distribute these utilities to the people who need them and to monitor the operation and correct usage of these systems.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Locally powered water distillation system


A bearing lubricant composition includes a base oil containing an ester compound (α) represent by the general formula (1), and has a pour point of −30° C. or lower and a viscosity index of 150 or more.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a bearing lubricant composition.
2. Description of the Related Art
The miniaturization and low power consumption of the electronic apparatuses, such as home electrical appliances, electronic and information products, industrial machines, and mobile terminals, progress every year. The usable temperature ranges of these electronic apparatuses also expand every year. With these trends, spindle motors in which fluid bearings (fluid dynamic bearings), etc., are mounted, have been used in disk drive devices to be used in these electronic apparatuses.
The miniaturization and low power consumption of these electronic apparatuses, and the expansion of the usable temperature ranges thereof are achieved mostly by improvements in the performances of motors. One of the means for achieving an improvement in the performance of a motor or a device in which the motor is mounted is to enhance the performance of a bearing, such as a fluid bearing, which is mounted in the motor. Accordingly, in order to achieve an improvement in the performance of a bearing, various bearing lubricant compositions have been presented (see, for example, Patent Documents 1 and 2).
[Patent Document 1] International Patent Application Pamphlet No. 2004/018595
[Patent Document 2] Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2008-7741
In recent years, there is an increasing demand for expanding the usable temperature ranges of these electronic apparatuses. In particular, there is a need for expanding the applications of these electronic apparatuses to mobile apparatuses, and hence motors and devices in which the motors are mounted are required to withstand the use under severer temperature environments. That is, there is a strong demand that the usable temperature ranges of motors and devices in which the motors are mounted should be expanded and they should be stably driven when temperature changes. Accordingly, bearing lubricant compositions are also required to have expanded usable temperature ranges and have small changes in viscosity with temperature.

Abstract: [wherein, A1 is a C3-8 linear or branched alkylene group; and at least one of Xa and Xb is a C2-20 linear or branched alkyl ether group, or when it is not an alkyl ether group, it is a C5-13 linear or branched alkyl group.]


An image processing system includes a main unit of an image processing apparatus and an operational unit. The operational unit includes a request receiver that receives a request to modify operational unit administrative information, an administrative information modifying unit that modifies the operational unit administrative information in response to the received request to modify, and an administrative information reporting unit that reports modified content of the operational unit administrative information to the main unit of the image processing apparatus. The main unit of the image processing apparatus includes an apparatus information synchronizer that modifies the apparatus administrative information that corresponds to the reported modified content after receiving the modified content of the operational unit administrative information from the operational unit.

Technical Field
The present invention relates to an image processing system and information synchronizing method.
Background Art
Conventionally, in image processing apparatuses such as printers, facsimile machines, copiers, multifunctional peripherals (MFP), and scanners, operational commands are input via an operation display unit fixedly mounted on the image processing apparatus and various information from the image processing apparatus is displayed on the operation display unit.
Technologies that make the operation display unit removable from the image processing apparatus, and accept operation and displays information on the operation display unit performing communication between the operation display unit and the main unit of the image processing apparatus, have been proposed (e.g., JP-2009-186607-A).

Image processing system and information synchronizing method