A lithographic printing plate precursor including a photopolymerisable coating and an overcoat layer provided on top of said layer, characterized in that the overcoat layer includes a compound comprising at least one moiety having a structure according to Formula (I): (I).

Lithographic printing presses use a so-called printing master such as a printing plate which is mounted on a cylinder of the printing press. The master carries a lithographic image on its surface and a print is obtained by applying ink to said image and then transferring the ink from the master onto a receiver material, which is typically paper. In conventional, so-called "wet" lithographic printing, ink as well as an aqueous fountain solution (also called dampening liquid) are supplied to the lithographic image which consists of oleophilic (or hydrophobic, i.e. ink-accepting, water-repelling) areas as well as hydrophilic (or oleophobic, i.e. water-accepting, ink-repelling) areas. In so-called driographic printing, the lithographic image consists of ink-accepting and ink-adhesive (ink-repelling) areas and during driographic printing, only ink is supplied to the master.
The so-called "analogue" printing plates are generally obtained by first applying a so-called computer-to-film (CtF) method, wherein various pre-press steps such as typeface selection, scanning, color separation, screening, trapping, layout and imposition are accomplished digitally and each color selection is transferred to graphic arts film using an imagesetter. After processing, the film can be used as a mask for the exposure of an imaging material called plate precursor and after plate processing, a printing plate is obtained which can be used as a master. Since about 1995, the so-called "computer-to-plate" (CtP) method has gained a lot of interest. This method, also called "direct-to-plate", bypasses the creation of film because the digital document is transferred directly to a printing plate precursor by means of a platesetter. A printing plate precursor for CtP is often called a digital plate.
The support of the lithographic printing plates are typically aluminum supports which have a hydrophilic surface or on which a hydrophilic layer has been provided. This hydrophilic surface and/or layer should improve the water acceptance of the non-printing areas of a lithographic printing plate and the repulsion of the printing ink in these areas. During developing the soluble portions of the coating should be easily removed whereby the surface of the support remains substantially residue-free so that clean background areas are obtained during printing.
Digital plates can roughly be divided in three categories: (i) silver plates, working according to the silver salt diffusion transfer mechanism; (ii) photopolymer plates containing a photopolymerisable composition that hardens upon exposure to light and (iii) thermal plates of which the imaging mechanism is triggered by heat or by light-to-heat conversion.
Photopolymer printing plates rely on a working-mechanism whereby the coating—which typically includes free radically polymerisable compounds—hardens upon exposure, optionally followed by a heating step to enhance or to speed-up this process. "Hardens" means that the coating becomes insoluble or non-dispersible in the developing solution and may be achieved through polymerization and/or crosslinking of the photosensitive coating upon exposure to light. Conventional photopolymer plates were exposed with ultraviolet light from a lamp through a separate photomask film having a predetermined imaging pattern that is placed between the light source and the plate. Nowadays laser sources are generally used to imagewise expose printing plate precursors that are sensitized to a corresponding laser wavelength, allowing the elimination of the photomask film. However, such laser imagable plates often have the drawback of limited room light stability and/or should have a high photospeed (sensitivity) because of the limited power of current laser imagers. Photopolymer plate precursors can be sensitized to blue, green or red light i.e. wavelengths ranging between 450 and 750 nm, to violet light i.e. wavelengths ranging between 350 and 450 nm or to infrared light i.e. wavelengths ranging between 750 and 1500 nm.
Photopolymer plates typically contain a polymerizable monomer, a binder, a photoinitiator and a sensitizing dye. In general, a toplayer or protective overcoat layer over the imageable layer which acts as an oxygen barrier layer is required to maintain the sensitivity of the plate. A toplayer typically includes water-soluble or water-swellable polymers such as for example polyvinylalcohol. Besides acting as barrier for oxygen, the toplayer should best be easily removable during processing and be sufficiently transparent for actinic radiation, e.g. from 300 to 450 nm or from 450 to 750 nm or from 750 to 1500 nm.
The classical work flow of photopolymer plates involves first an exposure step of the photopolymer printing plate precursor in a platesetter, followed by an optional pre-heat step, a wash step of the protective overcoat layer, an alkaline developing step, and a rinse and gum step. Over the past years, there is a clear evolution in the direction of a simplified workflow where the processing and gumming step are carried out in one single step. Alternatively, on-press processing wherein the plate is mounted on the press and the coating layer is developed by interaction with the fountain and ink that are supplied to the cylinder during the press run, has become very popular. During the first runs of the press, the non-image areas are removed from the support and thereby define the non-printing areas of the plate.
However, the developing step becomes much more critical when the alkaline developer is replaced by a gum solution and/or by an on-press processing. Indeed, the hydrophilic polymers in the protective overcoat layer may result in a problematic viscosity increase of the gum solution and/or the fountain solution limiting the exhaustion behavior. This viscosity increase may cause an unacceptable formation of sludge, speckles on the plate and/or deposits in the clean-out unit, and this already at low exhaustion level. Sludge formation such as salted-out compounds, precipitated or flocculated ingredients and/or other undissolved compounds may cause problems such as clogging of pumps, deposit on the exit and/or other rollers and/or, build-up on heater elements and/or the need for intensive cleaning/maintenance of processing vessels. Sludge may also be deposited on the printing plate which impairs the images formed thereon. Moreover, lithographic printing plate precursors which are processed on-press with fountain and ink, or which are processed and gummed in a single step by using a gumming solution, often show an insufficient clean out behaviour and/or roll-up performance. Insufficient roll-up performance means that the ink acceptance at the printing areas is too weak during the start-up of the printing process. This too low take-up of ink results in a too low optical density at the printing areas on the first number of printed sheets. It is desirable that this number of these "unusable" printed sheets is as low as possible in order to reduce the waste of paper in the start-up of the printing process.


A windsurfing board game includes a game board divided into a shore area, a water area and an island area. The water area and island areas are divided into playing spaces, and playing pieces in the form of windsurfers are moved on the playing spaces according to the roll of a die. A treasure indicia is hidden on the island spaces. The players move from the water area to the island area in an effort to uncover the treasure indicia by exposing the undersurface of the island space landed upon. Once the treasure indicia is located, the player returns back to the shore area from the island through the water area. Chance cards are employed during movement through the water area with each turn, with each chance card containing either a favorable, adverse or neutralizing indicia.

This invention relates to games, and more particularly to a board-type game.
In accordance with the game of the invention, a board game apparatus generally consists of a game board having a shore area, a water area, and an island area. At least the water area is divided into a series of contiguous playing spaces. A series of island playing spaces, resembling a puzzle, are removably mountable to the island area of the game board, with each island space defining a top surface and an undersurface. A treasure indicia is provided on the undersurface of one of the island spaces. A series of playing members or pieces are provided for movement on the game board. The playing members are preferably representative of windsurfers. The board game apparatus of the invention further includes a die for use in advancing the playing members on the game board, and at least one set of chance cards. Each set of chance cards includes one or more favorable chance cards favorably affecting a player's progress in the game and one or more adverse chance cards adversely affecting the player's progress in the game. Each player employs the die to move a playing member on the game board from the shore area to the water area playing spaces, toward the island area. A chance card is drawn for each roll of the die while the player is on the water area playing spaces. Once a player reaches the island area, the player searches for the island space containing the treasure indicia, by rolling the die and exposing the undersurface of the island playing space landed upon. When a player lands upon the island playing space carrying the treasure indicia on its undersurface, the player takes possession of the treasure indicia space and leaves the island area. The player then returns to the shore area by rolling the die to advance the playing member through the water area playing spaces.
In accordance with other aspects of the game of the invention, a path arrangement is provided in the water area of the game board for defining a path which must be followed by the playing members during movement through the water area playing spaces. In addition, each island playing space is defined by first and second island space members. The first island space member defines the undersurface of the island playing space, and the second island space member overlies the first island space member and defines the top surface of the island playing space. The second island space members are located on the island area of the game board in predetermined positions, and the positions of the first island space members are changed from game to game, to vary the location of the treasure indicia for each game. In addition to the treasure indicia, adverse indicia are provided on the undersurface of others of the island playing spaces for adversely affecting a player's progress on the island during the search for the treasure indicia. The board game apparatus of the invention preferably contemplates two sets of chance cards. A first set of chance cards is used when the player is advancing from the shore area to the island area, and a second set is used when the player is returning from the island area back to the shore area. The second set of chance cards includes one or more dive cards which cause the player in possession of the treasure indicia to lose one or more turns. This provides an opportunity for the remaining players to attempt to catch the player possessing the treasure indicia, thereby setting the stage for a battle to determine which player takes or retains possession of the treasure indicia. Each set of chance cards further includes one or more neutralizing cards which are retained by the players, for offsetting the adverse affect of the one or more adverse chance cards.
The invention further contemplates a method of playing a board game, substantially in accordance with the foregoing summary.
Various other features, objects and advantages of the invention will be made apparent from the following description taken together with the drawings.


A prefabricated modular sun deck is disclosed, comprising a floor seated on a frame and preferably including a railing. The deck is easily erected and disassembled into modular sections capable of transport. The frame includes a levelling feature which facilitates levelling of the deck when erected, and periodic relevelling as required, without the need for sunken piers or other permanent supports.

An outdoor deck structure, commonly known as a sun deck, is a popular extension to the living space offered by residential housing and the like. Sun decks can be virtually any size and shape and are conventionally constructed out of weather resistant lumber, either attached to or detached from the main structure. Myriad styles and finishes are known, but virtually all ground-supported sun decks are subject to the limitation that they are permanent structures.
This limitation arises because of the practical considerations involved in constructing any type of living space, the main ones being the load that the structure must bear and the ability to resist shifting of the ground underneath the structure. The latter consideration is particularly important if the deck is to retain its integrity and a level orientation, since the ground underneath a structure shifts unevenly and often substantially from year to year. Conventional construction techniques utilize concrete piers sunk four feet or more to stable ground. However, the permanence of such a structure poses a considerable disadvantage to those living in some kind of mobile abode, such as a trailer or mobile home. There is little incentive to construct a permanent deck where eventual relocation of the main living space is likely, especially on land owned by another such as a trailer park.
The present invention overcomes this disadvantage by providing a prefabricated modular sun deck mounted on an adjustable frame. The deck is easily erected and disassembled into modular sections capable of transport, and the frame facilitates levelling of the deck when erected and periodic relevelling as the supporting ground shifts, without the need for sunken piers or other permanent supports. The deck frame according to the invention is designed to facilitate levelling by a single person, and is also suitable for use as a supporting frame for a permanent deck.


A humidity sensor having temperature sensing includes a substrate and a RLC (damped resonant) circuit formed in or on the substrate. The RLC circuit comprises a capacitor having a first and a second electrically conductive plate and a moisture sensitive dielectric interposed between the first and second plate. An RL network comprising an inductor and a resistor is coupled to the capacitor and comprises a high relative temperature coefficient of resistance (TCR) portion formed from a first material which is coupled to a low relative TCR portion formed from a second material different from the first material. The RLC circuit can be a series RLC circuit. In another embodiment, the RLC circuit can comprises a parallel RLC circuit.

Humidity sensors are widely used for humidity and air quality measurement in a wide variety of markets. Such markets include automotive and truck for comfort, safety and powertrain, home appliance for moisture and temperature control, energy efficiency, humidity switches, HVAC, reprography for inkjet and laser/copy, for weather stations, humidity displays and air quality measurement. There are presently trends that the humidity sensor be used without a power source (e.g. battery-less) and have wireless features, such as when the space available does not accommodate a generally bulky battery, or the environment does not facilitate changing the battery.

Passive humidity sensors and methods for temperature adjusted humidity sensing


Provided is a semiconductor device including a vertically oriented capacitor extending above the substrate surface and a method of manufacturing such devices in which cell, peripheral and boundary areas between the cell and peripheral areas are defined on a semiconductor substrate. Capacitors are formed in the cell area, a mold pattern is provided in the peripheral areas and an elongated dummy pattern is provided in the boundary areas. The dummy pattern includes a boundary opening in which a thin layer is formed on the elongated inner sidewalls and on the exposed portion of the substrate during formation of the lower electrode. A mold pattern and lower electrode structures having substantially the same height are then formed area so that subsequent insulation interlayer(s) exhibit a generally planar surface, i.e., have no significant step difference between the cell areas and the peripheral areas.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to semiconductor devices, and more particularly, to semiconductor devices comprising a higher density cell area having a plurality of capacitors including, for example, projecting lower electrodes, adjacent a lower density peripheral region and methods of manufacturing the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
Due to the technical requirements associated with achieving higher degrees of integration in semiconductor devices, there has been continuing emphasis on reducing the surface area required for forming a memory cell in semiconductor memory devices. These efforts have led to difficulties in forming capacitors having a sufficient storage capacitance within the memory cell. Various methods have been proposed and/or adopted for maintaining the capacitance of such storage capacitors at acceptable levels in a reduced cell area. One approach involves increasing the height of the storage node by, for example, increasing the height of the lower electrode of a capacitor to form what is widely referred to as a cylindrical capacitor.
Examples of such cylindrical capacitor structures are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,700,153 and 6,171,902, the disclosures of which are hereby incorporated, in their entirety, by reference.
FIG. 1 is a cross sectional view illustrating a semiconductor device that includes a cylindrical capacitor. FIGS. 2A and 2B are cross sectional views illustrating various processing steps according to a method of forming the cylindrical capacitor as shown in FIG. 1. As illustrated in FIG. 1, the semiconductor device includes a capacitor 22 formed on a substrate 10 that includes a cell area in which the memory cells are formed and a peripheral area in which other associated circuitry will be formed. Although not shown, those of skill in the art will appreciate that the semiconductor device also includes a number of other underlying structures including, for example, wells, isolation regions, gate patterns and bit lines, formed on the substrate 10.
A first insulation interlayer 12 is formed on the substrate 10, and a contact pad 14 is formed through the first insulation interlayer 12 in the cell area of the substrate 10. The capacitor 22 includes a cylindrical lower electrode 16, a dielectric layer 18 formed on the cylindrical lower electrode 16 and an upper electrode 20 formed on the dielectric layer 18. The contact pad 14 is electrically connected to a lower electrode of the capacitor 22, and a second insulation interlayer 24 is formed on the capacitor 22.
The cylindrical capacitor 22 is formed in the cell area of the substrate 10, and a mold pattern 26 in the peripheral area of the substrate 10 is removed simultaneously when the mold pattern 26 in the cell area and the sacrificial layer 28 are removed after a node separation of the lower electrodes as shown in FIGS. 2A and 2B. As a result, as illustrated in FIG. 1, the second insulation interlayer 24 exhibits a large step difference between the cell area and the peripheral area of the substrate.
This step difference results when the second insulation interlayer 24 in the peripheral area of the substrate 10 is formed directly on the first insulation interlayer 12 while the second insulation interlayer 24 in the cell area of the substrate 10 is formed on the upper electrode 20 of the capacitor 22, thereby producing a step difference corresponding to the relative height difference between the surface in the cell area and the surface in the peripheral area of the substrate 10. Accordingly, the step difference exhibited by the second insulation interlayer 24 corresponds to the height of the capacitor 22.
However, this large step difference in the second insulation interlayer 24 increases the likelihood of various processing and/or patterning defects during the manufacture of semiconductor devices that include a cylindrical capacitor. An additional process, for example, a chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) process, may been utilized for reducing or removing the step difference from the surface of the second insulation interlayer 24. However, the inclusion of one or more additional process steps requires additional time and increases the cost of manufacturing such semiconductor devices.
Accordingly, a need remains for an improved method of reducing or removing the step difference from the surface of an insulation interlayer formed on a semiconductor substrate that includes a cell area having cylindrical capacitors and an adjacent peripheral region.

Semiconductor device and method of manufacturing the same


Embodiments are directed to managing user associations with service providers. A status value for an association between a user and a service provider may be provided if a user may be non-compliant with one or more terms of the association. Treatment plans for the user may be determined based on the classification of the user. Response information associated with the user may be generated based on execution of the treatment plans such that the user information may be updated based on the response information. During execution of the treatment plans at each evaluation point, result models may be employed to classify the response information or the updated user information. In response to non-compliance by the user with one or more conditions of a current treatment plan, other treatment plans may be determined and executed based on the updated user information.

Internal of external Service providers may spend significant resources to find, acquire, train, or otherwise on-board users. In many cases, service providers and user may enter into an association that requires the service provider to provide various services in exchange for the user complying with various conditions put forth by the service provider.
For example, an internal service provider may require users agree to various conditions, such as, password rules, providing signed documents that acknowledge allowed or prohibited activity, BYOD rules/restrictions, rules regarding data access or privacy protection for customers, or the like. Likewise, external service providers, such as, mobile telephone carriers, streaming media services, financial services, various other subscription or fee based services, or the like, may require users to comply with a variety of terms or conditions to maintain their relationship with the service provider.
In some cases, the cost of user acquisition requires that a user remain with a service provider for many months to recoup the costs of acquiring each user. However, in some cases, some of these valued users may become non-compliant or otherwise require specialized management to avoid losing the user whether is the user is a customer, student, or employee.
In some cases, organizations deploy expensive resources to help users remain in good standing or return to good standing rather than losing those users. However, since users may become non-compliant or become at risk for non-compliance for many reasons, personalized interventions may be advantageous. Also, in some cases, different users at risk for non-compliance may respond differently to various retention or restoration techniques. In some cases, a user may respond favorably to some retention tactics while at the same time another user may respond negatively to the same retention tactics. Accordingly, determining effective retention tactics for each user that may be at risk for becoming non-compliant may be difficult such that in worse case scenarios, retention tactics employed by an organization may result in actively driving some users away rather than rehabilitating them. Thus, it is with respect to these considerations and others that the present invention has been made.


A freezing diagnosing device to be installed in an engine includes an ambient temperature sensor, a liquid temperature sensor, and a freezing determination unit. The ambient temperature sensor detects an ambient temperature. The liquid temperature sensor detects the temperature of a liquid held in the engine. The freezing determination unit determines that a freezing state of a pipe coupled to a pressure sensor in the engine is established when one or both of a first condition and a second condition are satisfied. The first condition is that the ambient temperature detected by the ambient temperature sensor is equal to or less than a first threshold. The second condition is that the temperature of the liquid detected by the liquid temperature sensor is equal to or less than a second threshold.

The disclosure relates to a freezing diagnosing device that determines a freezing state in an exhaust system of an engine and to an engine control apparatus that includes the freezing diagnosing device.
An exhaust passage of an engine mounted on a vehicle such as an automatic vehicle is provided with a post-processing device that purifies exhaust gas. One example of the post-processing device is a particulate matter filter, such as a gasoline particulate filter (GPF) or a diesel particulate filter (DPF). The particulate matter filter includes ceramics, for example, and filters the exhaust gas to collect particulate matter (PM) contained in the exhaust gas. As a technique to detect the state of the particulate matter deposited on the particulate matter filter, it is known to detect a pressure difference (differential pressure) between an upstream (inlet) side and a downstream (outlet) side of the particulate matter filter, for example. However, in a low-temperature environment, water vapor contained in the exhaust gas discharged from the engine can transform into condensed water in a pipe for introducing the exhaust gas to a differential pressure sensor that detects the differential pressure. The condensed water can be frozen in some cases. Such freezing of the pipe coupled to the differential pressure sensor can hinder an accurate detection of the differential pressure between before and behind the particulate matter filter, causing an error in estimating a soot accumulation amount on the basis of the detected differential pressure or an error in a self-diagnosis of the vehicle, such as a diagnosis of the particulate matter filter.
Techniques relevant to differential pressure detection for a particulate matter filter are disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication (JP-A) Nos. 2009-221862, 2012-184756, 2007-002694, and 2011-069259, for example. JP-A No. 2009-221862 discloses that an estimation of the PM accumulation amount based on the differential pressure of the particulate matter filter is prohibited from being executed when the temperature of cooling water for the engine is low because the differential pressure of the particulate matter filter decreases after the start of cooling of the engine. JP-A No. 2012-184756 discloses to determine the likelihood of freezing of a differential pressure pipe of a differential pressure sensor disposed on the particulate matter filter on the basis of the ambient temperature. JP-A No. 2007-002694 discloses that the differential pressure sensor is determined as being in a non-freezing state when the atmospheric temperature has been higher than a predetermined temperature for a predetermined period of time or longer or when the temperature of exhaust gas has been higher than a predetermined temperature for another predetermined period of time or longer. JP-A No. 2011-069259 discloses to determine whether the differential pressure pipe is in a freezing state on the basis of detected differential pressure. When the differential pressure pipe is determined as being in the freezing state, the normal regeneration operation of the particulate matter filter is prohibited from being performed until the differential pressure pipe is determined as being in a non-freezing state.

Freezing diagnosing device and engine control apparatus


An electrophotographic photoreceptor which can respond to a reduction in diameter of photoreceptor and a process having high circumferential speed, due to the demand in the miniaturization and increase in the speed of copiers and printers. The photoreceptor has high sensitivity in long-wavelength region, and is free from deterioration of electric characteristics even after repeated use, and is highly stable. The electrophotographic photoreceptor has a conductive support member and a photosensitive layer laminated thereon, which includes at least a charge-generating agent, a charge-transfer agent, and a binder resin. The charge-generating agent is oxytitanium phthalocyanine, which has a Bragg angle (2θ±0.2°) providing a maximum peak at 27.2° in the X-ray diffraction spectra using CuKα as a radiation source.

The present invention relates to an electrophotographic photoreceptor including oxytitanium phthalocyanine which is in specified crystal form, as a charge-generating agent, and including a specified compound as a charge-transfer agent.
As the exposure source for non-impact printer adopting electrophotographic method, long-wavelength light sources (such as semiconductor laser and LED) have mainly been applied in recent years. With the current movement of miniaturization and increased speeds for copiers and printers, a reduction in diameter of photoreceptor and a process having high circumferential speed have been adopted. As a result, a charge-generating agent having sensitivity in long-wavelength region is generally used for the electrophotographic photoreceptor. Conventionally, this type of material often adopts a phthalocyanine-based pigment. The phthalocyanine-based pigment is known to have different sensitivities depending on the crystal form thereof. In addition, along with the power-saving trend in recent years, the electrophotographic photoreceptor has been facing increasing requirement for higher sensitivity than ever to suppress the output of exposure source of electrophotographic apparatus such as a printer.
(1) As of phthalocyanine-based pigments, the one which has high sensitivity in a long-wavelength region includes oxytitanium phthalocyanine. Although there have been many crystal forms introduced for this oxytitanium phthalocyanine, the one having a maximum diffraction peak at 27.2° is accepted as highly-sensitive. If, however, oxytitanium phthalocyanine is used in a high-speed process, the potential characteristics of the photoreceptor become deteriorated after repeated use, and fog, black stripes, uneven concentration, or the like occurs in the formed image.
These phenomena presumably come from relatively large quantity of charge generated due to the high sensitivity characteristic of the oxytitanium phthalocyanine. That is, although the large quantity of generated charge normally has advantages such as high response, the charge remains in the photosensitive layer and remains in memory on the photoreceptor when the oxytitanium phthalocyanine is used in a high-speed process, thereby creating images as a memory phenomenon in the succeeding electrophotographic process. There is also an effect due to the charge transport capacity of a charge-transfer agent that is present; thus, the combination of both of them is important, for example, refer to JPA No. 1-106069
Consequently, it has been necessary to have an electrophotographic photoreceptor, which has high sensitivity in the long-wavelength region and which maintains the stability of electrophotographic characteristics even after repeated use at high speed, specifically the stability of reproducibility of an initial potential for a potential after repeated use. Even when a charge-generating agent having high charge-generating efficiency is used, if the compatibility with the charge-transfer agent is poor, satisfactory sensitivity cannot be attained and high quality image cannot be formed in various environments, when in use, ranging from high temperature and high humidity to low temperature and low humidity. Although compatibility between the charge-generating agent and the charge-transfer agent has been studied from various standpoints, it has not yet been definitely formed.
(2) On the other hand, various methods for manufacturing electrophotographic photoreceptor have been studied. A general method therefor is to disperse the charge-generating agent, the charge-transfer agent or the like in a solvent together with a binder resin to prepare the coating solution, and then apply the coating solution on a conductive support member to form a thin film.
In a general practice for forming the charge-transfer layer is to dissolve the charge-transfer agent and the binder resin in a coating-preparation solvent in order to form the coating solution, and then to apply the coating solution on a conductive support member, followed by drying the solution.
The charge-transfer agent, however, is difficult to be fully dissolved in varieties of solvents, and is also difficult to be fully dissolved in varieties of binder resins.
Conventionally, the use of methylene chloride or dichloroethane is examined as a coating-preparation solvent. These coating-preparation solvents are considered to have relatively high solubility to the above-discussed charge-transfer substances or binder resins, and to have a low boiling point in order to easily attain uniformity of coating film thickness and to make it easy to conduct drying (see, for example, JPA No. 2001-125288, JPA No. 2000-314977 and JPA No. 2004-354673).
However, when methylene chloride or dichloroethane is used as a coating-preparation solvent, there arises a problem of generation of portions decreasing locally the charged voltage in the organic photoreceptor, and of deterioration of the image quality by image noise, unless heating and drying are fully given after the application and formation of the charge-transfer layer to completely evaporate the coating-preparation solvent.
Moreover, in order to solve this problem, for a long period of heating and drying, there arises another problem of crack generation on the charge-transfer layer, thereby generating image noise, and a problem due to the difficulty in determining adequate drying condition, thereby making it difficult to increase the mass production yield.
(3) Recently additional electrophotographic apparatuses (such as, digital copier and printer) have been widely used, and the requirements for high image quality, miniaturization, and high speed have been further increasing.
Particularly for the high speed copier, which has short transition time from the exposure step to the development step, a problem occurs due to the failure in providing clear reproduction of dot image and fine lines. In response to this problem, there is proposed and commercially used a laminated electrophotographic photoreceptor which includes the photosensitive layer by allocating the functions, respectively, to the charge-generating layer that includes a charge-generating agent having high sensitivity in long-wavelength region and to the charge-transfer layer such that the charge-transfer agent having high plate life and high transfer degree is dispersed into the binder resin.

Electrophotographic photoreceptor and electrophotographic apparatus


A magnetometer is constructed wherein the sweeping is performed at one half the Larmor frequency and has as its center the absorption line. This allows the emitter to tune onto the absorption line twice per cycle as it passes through the line. This causes the increase in absorption as would the normal sweep of a Bell-Bloom magnetometer but avoids the drawbacks, such as drift and heading error.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of magnetometers. More specifically, the present invention relates to a Bell-Bloom magnetometer having an altered sweep.
2. Description of the Related Art
Magnetometers are used to measure the strength and direction of a magnetic field. They can be useful in measuring minute changes in the Earth's magnetic field that allow users to identify geological conditions under the Earth's surface, such as the location of oil and mineral deposits, as well as other conditions.
FIG. 1 is a diagram of a typical Bell-Bloom Magnetometer. A Bell-Bloom Magnetometer involves the use of a photon emitter 100 containing a cesium light emitter or lamp, an absorption cell 102 containing cesium vapor and sometimes a "buffer gas", and a photon detector 104. The photon emitter 100 emits photons through the absorption cell 102 and the photo detector 104 detects changes in the photons that pass through the cesium vapor.
The basic principle that allows the device to operate is the fact that a cesium atom can exist in any of nine energy levels, which involve the placement of electron atomic orbital's around the atomic nucleus. When a cesium atom within the cell encounters a photon from the emitter, it jumps to a higher energy state and then re-emits a photon and falls to an indeterminate lower energy state. The cesium atom is "sensitive" to the photons from the emitter in three of its nine energy states, and therefore all of the atoms will fall into a state through which all the photons from the emitter will pass through unhindered and measured by the photon detector. At this state, the Cesium in the cell is saturated.
Once the Cesium is saturated, the system is prepared for the measurement procedure. The axis of the spin and orbital motion of the electrons precesses about the ambient magnetic field. This precession causes the alignment between the electron and the light to vary, in a cyclic manner, between an alignment that favors the absorption of light and one that reduces the absorption. If the light is pulsed on and off at the same frequency as the precession rate of the electrons, those electrons that are aligned such that they absorb the light will be drive to a higher energy level. These electrons will then fall back to the lower state. When the electrons return to the lower state, the phase of their precession will have been changed. If the precession is now such that the electron is aligned so as to not absorb light when the light pulses on, the electronic will remain in this state. Thus, when the light is pulsed on and off at a rate equal to the precession rate, the absorption in the cell is decreased.
The light from the emitter is typically swept on an off of what is called an absorption line. This is the wavelength at which the absorption in the cell is maximized. In existing Bell-Bloom systems, the absorption line is swept at a frequency known as the Larmor frequency, which is the resonate frequency of the underlying material and is proportional to the strength of the magnetic field. FIG. 2 is a diagram of the typical sweep on and off the absorption line at the Larmor frequency. As can be seen, the wavelength of light 200 from the emitter is varied in an attempt to approach right up to, and then come off, the center of the absorption line 202, and the rate of variation is performed at the Larmor frequency 204.
A Bell-Bloom magnetometer typically tracks the variation in the Larmor frequency, which can be used to track the strength of the magnetic field, by slightly varying the rate at which the emitter is swept and observing the variation in absorption with the frequency of the sweeping.
The absorption line, however, is not a single line but a small group of lines that are wider than their spacing so as to appear as a single line. The Larmor frequency for the different sub lines is slightly different. As the emitter is swept off the line, it tends to bias towards the line on the side to which it is sweeping. As a result, the details of the sweeping waveform affect the absolute value of the reading, leading to drift and heading error. Additionally, the signal gain varies with the angle between the ambient field and the light path. This causes the frequency response of the system to vary, leading to inaccuracies.
Furthermore, a semiconductor laser emitter does not naturally produce the exact wavelength of light needed. The wavelength is controlled by varying the temperature of the laser. The laser is tuned to the center of the line by varying its own "on the line" point slightly and adjusting it so that the absorption decreases equally on each side. This variation in the tuning of the laser causes a variation in the Larmor frequency which appears a variation in the measured magnetic field.
What is needed is a solution that does not suffer from the drawbacks of the prior art.


A signal receiving apparatus includes at least one signal separating apparatus that separates a specific signal from a plurality of received signals. Each of the at least one signal separating apparatus includes a spatial filtering unit that separates at least one equalized signal and a decision signal outputting unit that generates a first decision signal by deciding the equalized signal and outputs the generated first decision signal. The spatial filtering unit separates the at least one equalized signal by multiplying at least the plurality of received signals among the plurality of received signals and either the first decision signal output from the decision signal outputting unit or a second decision signal output from another signal separating apparatus by predetermined weighting coefficients.

With the recent spread of smartphones, high-definition moving-image service delivery, development of Internet of Things (IoT) services, and the like, communication traffic flowing through optical networks has increased year by year. In optical networks, an increasing communication traffic demand has been dealt with by an advanced functionality of optical communication system apparatuses installed at end stations of optical networks, the introduction of optical amplifiers and optical switches, and the like without changing the structure of optical fibers that serve as transmission paths.
Single mode fibers are used as optical fibers which are the backbone of current high-capacity optical networks, except for local networks for a short distance such as local area networks (LANs). A single mode fiber is a fiber having a single core that serves as a path of an optical signal within a cladding and configured to support only a single mode in a wavelength band such as a C band or an L band used in high-capacity optical networks. Thereby, a high-capacity optical network that stably transfers information at a rate of several terabits per second over a long distance is realized.
Also, digital coherent transmission technology in which digital signal processing technology is combined with coherent transmission/reception technology has already been introduced into 100 gigabit-class optical transmitting apparatuses. With the digital coherent transmission technology, it is possible to extract the information independently loaded on the amplitude and phase of an optical carrier and correct waveform distortion caused during transmission with high accuracy.
As a simple example, an example of polarization-division multiplexing optical transmission using two modes of orthogonal polarized waves in a single mode fiber is given. In the polarization-division multiplexing optical transmission, different pieces of information can be loaded on polarized waves in an orthogonal relationship. These polarized waves are mixed in the optical transmission path in a complex manner. Also, the orthogonal axes of these polarized-wave modes fluctuate at a high speed and thus it is generally difficult to perform tracking using optical devices. Therefore, a receiving apparatus that deals with a polarization diversity structure receives a mixed polarization-division multiplexed optical signal, converts the mixed polarization-division multiplexed optical signal into a digital signal, and separates the signals using digital signal processing. The above-described process can be modeled as a 2×2 multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) system used in wireless communication systems. Information for each of the polarized waves is extracted from the separated signals and communication between optical signal transmitting/receiving apparatuses is established.
As another example, an example of mode-division multiplexing optical transmission using a plurality of modes in a multimode fiber is given. In mode-division multiplexing optical transmission, a plurality of modes can be excited also in a wavelength band such as a C band by broadening a core diameter as compared with that of a single mode fiber and different pieces of information can be loaded in the respective modes. Also in the case of mode-division multiplexing optical transmission, as in the case of polarization-division multiplexing optical transmission, mode-division multiplexed optical signals are mixed in a complex manner during propagation in a multimode fiber. A receiving apparatus that deals with the mode diversity structure receives the mixed mode-division multiplexed optical signal, converts the mixed mode-division multiplexed optical signal into a digital signal, and separates the signals using digital signal processing. The above-described process can be modeled as an NT×NR MIMO system. Here, NT denotes the number of optical signal transmitting apparatuses and NR denotes the number of optical signal receiving apparatuses. Both NT and NR are integers greater than or equal to 2. Also, the following description assumes that separate modulated signals are respectively transmitted from the optical signal transmitting apparatuses.
Next, a signal separation algorithm used by the optical signal receiving apparatus for digital signal processing of polarization-division multiplexing optical transmission or mode-division multiplexing optical transmission will be described. It is to be noted that, in the following description, a polarization mode in a single mode fiber and a spatial mode in a multimode fiber will be treated in the same way using the term "mode". Various signal separation algorithms have been proposed for wireless communication MIMO systems. For example, signal separation algorithms include spatial filtering, an interference canceler, maximum likelihood decoding, and the like. In general, the signal processing scale and the mode separation capability are in a trade-off relationship, and the mode separation capability is improved whereas the signal processing scale is increased in the above-described order. However, in optical communication systems, spatial filtering of linear processing has generally been used because the modulation rate of signals is very high as compared with that in wireless communication systems and the tracking characteristic for transmission path fluctuation and real-time processing are required. Assuming that a transmitted signal is x, a received signal is y, noise added to the signal is z, and a transmission path matrix is H, the relationship of Formula (1) holds therebetween.[Formula 1]y=Hx+z  (1)
In the spatial filtering, an equalized signal x{circumflex over ( )} ({circumflex over ( )} is added above x) of the transmitted signal x is obtained by multiplying the received signal y by a separation matrix WT. Here, the superscript T of W denotes transposition. In a minimum mean square error (MMSE) criterion, WT that satisfies Formula (2) is obtained.[Formula 2]WT=arg min[|WTy−x|2]  (2)
By solving Formula (2), Formula (3) is obtained as WT.
                    [                  Formula                                                              3                ]                                                                      W          T                =                                            H              H                        (                                          HH                H                            +                                                1                  γ                                                I                                      )                                -            1                                              (        3        )
In Formula (3), I denotes a unit matrix, y denotes a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), and the superscript H denotes a complex conjugate transpose. As shown in Formula (3), H is required to obtain WT. Although H can also be obtained using a pilot signal or the like, a least mean square (LMS) method, a recursive least squares (RLS) method, a constant modulus algorithm (CMA) method, and the like for adaptively obtaining H are used in optical communication systems in consideration of the tracking characteristic for transmission path fluctuation and the sacrifice of a transmission rate. The equalized signal x{circumflex over ( )} is obtained as in Formula (4) using Formula (3).
                    [                  Formula                                                              4                ]                                                                      x          ^                =                                            W              T                                    y                    =                                                                      H                  H                                (                                                      HH                    H                                    +                                                            1                      γ                                                            I                                                  )                                            -                1                                                                (                              Hx                +                z                            )                                                          (        4        )
With the spatial filtering of Formula (4), certain excellent results have been obtained particularly in polarization-division multiplexing optical communication systems. However, in an environment where the transmission path matrix H has non-unitarity and noise is large, the equalized signal x{circumflex over ( )} includes residual crosstalk from other modes. The non-unitarity here means that the relationship of Formula (5) is established with respect to H.[Formula 5]HHH≠I  (5)
The non-unitarity of the optical communication system results from the mode dependent gain of an optical amplifier, imperfection in an optical device, core axis deviation at a fusion point, and the like. These phenomena are known as polarization-dependent loss in the single mode fiber and are known as mode dependent loss in the multimode fiber. In the following description, these phenomena will be treated in the same manner using the Wan "mode dependent loss".
An interference canceler is a signal separation algorithm different from spatial filtering. Interference cancelers are divided into two types, a parallel interference canceler and a successive interference canceler. A successive interference canceler will be described below with reference to FIG. 17. A spatial filtering unit of a first successive interference canceler shown in FIG. 17 first detects a stream having the highest signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR) from among received signal vectors. In order to determine the stream having the highest SINR, for example, a method using a pilot signal or a method for calculating an SINR directly from a transmission path matrix H and an SNR on the basis of Formula (6) may be used.
                    [                  Formula                                                              6                ]                                                                      ρ          i                =                              1                                                            (                                      i                    ,                    i                                    )                                th                                                                                component                                                                                of                                                                                (                                                                                H                        H                                                                  H                                        +                                                                  1                        γ                                                                  I                                                        )                                                  -                  1                                                              -          1                                    (        6        )
In Formula (6), ρi is an SINR of an ith stream. In the following description, components of the received signal y are assumed to be sorted in descending order of SINR for simplicity. That is, a description will be given on the assumption that the SINR of the first stream is highest. The first stream is detected as shown in Formula (7).[Formula 7]=w1Ty  (7)
In Formula (7), wTi denotes a row vector of an ith row of wT. A temporary decision signal outputting unit of the first successive interference canceler decides an equalized signal x1{circumflex over ( )} ({circumflex over ( )} is added above x1) obtained by the spatial filtering unit and outputs x1− (− is added above x1). Thereafter, a multiplier of the first successive interference canceler multiplies x1− by a first column vector h1 of H obtained by a transmission path matrix estimating unit, and a multiplication result of h1x1− is input to a second successive interference canceler.
The second successive interference canceler detects a stream having the second highest SINR. Specifically, the second successive interference canceler subtracts the component h1x1− derived from the first stream signal from the received signal y as shown in the following Formula (8).[Formula 8]y←y−h1x1  (8)
Also, the second successive interference canceler reconstructs H with (NT−1) column vectors obtained by excluding the first column vector from H as shown in Formula (9).[Formula 9]H←[h2 h3 . . . hNT]  (9)
The detection of the stream is performed on the basis of Formula (7) by newly obtaining a separation matrix wT using H obtained by Formula (9). In this way, in the successive interference cancelers after the second successive interference canceler, the interference cancellation shown in Formula (8), the reconstruction of H shown in Formula (9), and the detection of the stream are sequentially performed. This process is continued until the last NTth stream is detected.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Signal separating apparatus and signal separating method

NIPPON TELEGRAPH AND TELEPHONE CORPORATION


An integrated sigma-delta radio frequency (RF) receiver subsystem (200) and method utilizes a multi-mode sigma-delta analog-to-digital converter (215) for providing a single and multi-bit output. A programmable decimation network (221) for reducing the frequency of the in-phase and quadrature bit stream and a programmable formatting network (223) are also used for organizing the in-phase and quadrature components from the decimation network (221) for subsequent signal processing. The invention offers a highly integrated digital/analog RF receiver back-end which incorporates integrated filtering and a smart gain control that is compatible for use with other receiver systems and offering superior performance characteristics. Dynamic programmable interference mitigation is provided which facilitates power reduction and use in multi-tier products.

This invention relates in general to radio receivers and more particularly to integrated digital radio receiver subsystems.
It is well known in the art that a dual conversion radio receiver converts incoming radio frequency (RF) signals using a common heterodyning process with two mixers. The RF signal is most often detected, converted and amplified into an audible format using some type of transducer such as a speaker. As seen in prior art FIG. 1, a known integrated radio receiver back-end or second intermediate frequency stage 10 will include an IF signal input 11 that is amplified by preamp 13 and then fed to a mixer 15 where it is mixed with a signal from a local oscillator synthesizer 17 controlled by a clock synthesizer 19. The resultant second IF signal is then processed by a bandpass sigma-delta (xcexa3-xcex94) converter 21 where it is noise shaped and converted into a digital format. Undesired out of band components of the converter signal can then be filtered using a discrete time filter 23. Thereafter, it is further processed and mixed to baseband using a frequency translator 25. Undesired components of this resultant signal are filtered using another discrete time filter 29 whose output is fed to the parallel to serial data converter 33 and the output 35. In order to limit the input signal to the xcexa3-xcex94 converter 21, an automatic gain control (AGC) circuit is employed to keep the xcexa3-xcex94 converter out of xe2x80x9cclipxe2x80x9d and reduce signal distortion.
Thus, as can be readily seen from FIG. 1, the radio receivers of today have greatly increased in complexity where they are not only highly integrated but also convert analog signals into a digital format where they can be manipulated and/or digitally processed for use as either audible information or data.
One problem typically associated of such high level integration of digital radio receiver has been to provide the back-end i.e. the second intermediate frequency (IF) components in addition to the digital mode sigma-delta converter in one integrated package. Specific obstacles such as analog or lumped filters (such as inductor-capacitor (LC) filters or ceramic resonators), have made such integrated circuits difficult to use and implement. Thus, the need exists to provide a highly integrated digital/analog RF receiver back-end which incorporates integrated filtering and a smart gain control that is easy to use with other receiver systems and offers superior performance characteristics.

Integrated multi-mode bandpass sigma-delta receiver subsystem with interference mitigation and method of using same


A system of displaying hierarchical information in a user interface includes displaying a first plurality of icons aligned in a first arc course on a display device, selecting one of the first plurality of icons using a user input device, rotating the first plurality of icons to position the selected one of the first plurality of icons to a front position of the first arc course in response to the selecting to define a first selection indicator and displaying a second plurality of icons aligned along a second-level arc course, the second-level arc course displayed adjacent to and positioned co-axial with the first arc course, and the second plurality of icons representing sub-hierarchical data for the first selection indicator.

1. Field of the Invention
The field of the invention relates to graphical user interfaces, and more particularly to graphical user interfaces for display of hierarchical information.
2. Description of the Related Art
Cloud computing, search engine, video surveillance and multimedia systems typically make use of systems that are capable of storing large amounts of data in a reliable manner, typically through the use of a RAID (Redundant Array of Independent Disks) array that combines multiple RAID disks into logical units ("LUNs") for file storage. Through the use of LUNS, user data may be divided and distributed across multiple RAID drives and addressed by a network-attached storage ("NAS") server attached to the RAID array by means of block level interfaces such as Fibre Channel ("FC") or the Internet Small Computer System Interface ("iSCSI") for high data throughput. The NAS server is in turn connected to a computer network through powerful network "pipes" that may provide file-based data access to the RAID array to hundreds or even thousands of users over the network.
Unfortunately, the RAID drives and NAS server in a particular integrated system may be manufactured by different companies and so are typically difficult to set up for operation. The RAID drives may have a management interface to configure its operation with the NAS server, and the NAS server may have a management interface to configure it for operation with the network and RAID drives. Some system integrators provide a single management interface to set up the NAS server and RAID array with their product, but a need still exists to present users with an improved management interface in order to provide users with a simple yet powerful set-up for the NAS server and RAID array.

System for displaying hierarchical information


A method of reducing resonance phenomena in a transmission train of an internal combustion engine of a vehicle; when the rotation speed of at least part of the transmission train is such that the frequency of a disturbance harmonic component of the drive torque lies in the neighborhood of a resonance frequency of the transmission train, the standard control mode of the cylinders is modified to modify the pattern of the drive torque as a function of the engine angle, and so modify the distribution of the harmonic components of the drive torque to reduce the amplitude of the disturbance harmonic component.

The internal combustion engine of a vehicle transmits power to the vehicle along a transmission train comprising a succession of components. For example, in a vehicle (as shown in FIG. 1) with a front engine, rear-wheel drive, and rear axle gearbox, the front engine is connected by the clutch to a propeller shaft which terminates inside the gearbox casing at the rear axle; and two axle shafts extend from the gearbox casing, and are each integral with a respective rear drive wheel which transmits its own part of the drive torque to the road surface. This type of transmission train is an elastic-torsional system, by comprising a series of high-inertia components (e.g. the drive shaft, flywheel and gearbox) and a series of highly elastic components (the propeller shaft and wheels).
Being an elastic-torsional system, the transmission train has intrinsic oscillation modes, each of which has its own resonance frequency. More specifically, the transmission train described has three intrinsic oscillation modes: a first characterized by a node at the engine, a node at the vehicle, and an antinode at the wheels; a second characterized by a node at the wheels; and a third characterized by a node at the engine, a node at the wheels, and an antinode at the gearbox. Using real-vehicle characteristics, the resonance frequencies of the first, second, and third intrinsic oscillation mode work out at around 4 Hz, 8 Hz, and 75 Hz respectively.
An internal combustion engine has a finite number of cylinders, each of which generates a torque pulse for every two complete rotations of the drive shaft, so that the torque transmitted from the engine to the vehicle by the transmission train has a pattern varying as a function of the engine angle, and which can be modelled by superimposing a constant mean value and a series of harmonics. For example, an 8-cylinder internal combustion engine has a torque pattern as shown in FIG. 2, and harmonics of the fourth, eighth, twelfth, sixteenth . . . order, as shown in FIG. 3. The only harmonic of relatively high amplitude, however, is the fourth-order one (in an eight-cylinder engine, the amplitude of the eighth-order harmonic is roughly a quarter of that of the fourth-order harmonic). At 1000 rpm, the drive shaft has a frequency of 16.67 Hz, so that the fourth harmonic has a frequency of 66.67 Hz; at 1200 rpm, the drive shaft has a frequency of 20 Hz, so that the fourth harmonic has a frequency of 80 Hz.
When an eight-cylinder internal combustion engine goes from 1000 to 1200 rpm, the frequency of the fourth harmonic of the drive torque transmitted from the engine to the transmission train therefore increases from 66.67 Hz to 80 Hz, i.e. through the roughly 75 Hz resonance frequency of the third intrinsic oscillation mode of the transmission train. When the frequency of the drive torque fourth harmonic is in the neighbourhood of the resonance frequency of the third intrinsic oscillation mode, resonance phenomena occur, which have the antinode at the gearbox, and which generate annoying mechanical noise in the gearbox which is clearly audible by the driver of the vehicle. The reason for this is that, at around 1100 rpm, the engine is close to idling, i.e. vehicle speed is low, if not zero, so that the noise of the vehicle itself (aerodynamic noise, wheel rolling noise, engine noise) is extremely low and not enough to conceal the mechanical noise generated by resonance phenomena.
To eliminate the mechanical noise generated by resonance phenomena as described above, it has been proposed to equip the transmission train with high-torsional-elasticity members, which reduce the effects of resonance phenomena and lower the resonance frequency of the third intrinsic oscillation mode to values corresponding to below-idling engine speeds, i.e. to speeds not actually used by the engine. Such high-torsional-elasticity members may be defined by torsional dampers—which, however, often fail to provide for a sufficient reduction in the resonance frequency of the third intrinsic oscillation mode—or by a damped double flywheel of the type described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,755,143 or U.S. Pat. No. 6,306,043.
Though substantially successful in sufficiently reducing the resonance frequency of the third intrinsic oscillation mode, a damped double flywheel is expensive, bulky, and heavy, and impairs engine response, which is a major drawback in racing vehicles.

Method of reducing resonance phenomena in a transmission train of a vehicle internal combustion engine


The separator according to the invention comprises: a tank (1) for receiving waste material and containing fluid to separate waste material by density into floating and settled material; automatic feed means (18, 37), for example, a double screen (18) to feed waste material to the tank (1); motorised conveyor belts (3, 4) divided into a floating waste material conveyor (3) and a settled waste material conveyor (4) to extract floating or settled waste material from the tank (1): and a blower-type sorting device (21) comprising: a turbine (22) that provides an airflow; and a branched duct (23) divided into: a riser duct (26) to transport part of the airflow to a diffuser (39) beneath the automatic feed means (18, 37) to raise light-weight waste material; and a discharge duct (27) to transport and horizontally expel another part of the airflow in order to remove previously raised waste material. The separator according to the invention may incorporate bubble-making means, with injectors (2) to facilitate floatability and remove floating waste material.

The applicant is also the owner of Spanish utility models with application numbers U200401407 and U200602591, as well as United States patent U.S. Pat. No. 7,775,371.
Said utility model and patent documents describe respective devices for separating waste material, rubble in particular, according to the density of the components of the waste material.
In particular, U200401407 relates to a separator with a tank filled with water for receiving the rubble through a feed chute and separating the waste material by flotation. Floating, that is, lower density, waste material such as papers, plastics, woods, etc., are removed through a first conveyor belt, which churns the surface of the water to bring the waste material closer to the first conveyor belt. Moreover, the denser waste material sinks and settles at the bottom, where a second conveyor belt collects it and takes it out of the tank.
In turn, U200602591 and U.S. Pat. No. 7,775,371 incorporate improvements with respect to U200401407. In particular, U200602591 additionally comprises a vibrating screen preceding the feed chute and the tank, which can be a single screen (that is, allowing only the coarsest or only the finest material to pass through), or a double screen (that is, filtering out both the finest and the coarsest material to allow only the intermediate material to pass through) to pre-select the waste material before being admitted into the tank, preventing the finest material (grit and the like) from accessing the tank and leaving behind silt, sludge and the like. To prevent the build-up of sludge, it also has a third conveyor belt which removes the settled waste material, where sprinklers are preferably arranged above the third belt to wash the waste material. The incorporation of a plenum to remove plastic waste material by blowing air is also contemplated.


A process for producing pig iron or liquid primary steel products in a smelting unit (1), in particular a melter gasifier. Iron-ore-containing charge materials, and possibly additions, are at least partially reduced in at least one reduction unit (R1, R2, R3, R4) by means of a reducing gas. A first fraction of the at least partially reduced charge materials is melted down in the smelting unit (1), while carbon carriers and oxygen-containing gas are supplied, with the simultaneous formation of the reducing gas. The reducing gas is fed to the reduction unit (R1, R2, R3, R4) and, after the reducing gas has passed through the reduction unit, it is drawn off as top gas. A second fraction of the at least partially reduced charge materials is fed to a smelting reduction unit for reducing and smelting.

The invention relates to a process for producing pig iron or liquid primary steel products in a smelting unit, in particular a fusion gasifier, in which iron-ore-containing charge materials, in particular fine ore, and possibly additions, are at least partially reduced in at least one reduction unit by means of a reducing gas.
The invention also relates to an installation for producing pig iron or liquid primary steel products by the process according to the invention, with a smelting unit, in particular a fusion gasifier, and at least one reduction unit for reducing iron-ore-containing charge materials, and possibly additions, by means of a reducing gas formed in the smelting unit while carbon carriers, in particular coal, and oxygen-containing gas are supplied.
It is known from the prior art that pig irons or liquid primary steel products can be produced in a smelting reduction process. In particular, it is known to use reducing gas that is produced in a smelting unit while coal is supplied for reducing iron-containing ores.
To increase the efficiency of such installations, DE 44 21 673 discloses that the reducing gas formed in a fusion gasifier can be used in a treated form in a blast furnace, so that the export gas can be used and the efficiency of the process can be increased. It is disadvantageous in this case that the export gas has a high calorific value for the blast furnace, so that the efficiency of the process that is achieved is restricted. One object of the present invention is to increase further the efficiency of the process, with in particular the amount of coal that is necessary per tonne of pig iron or liquid primary steel products being lower, so that a smaller amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) occurs.
This object is achieved by the process according to the invention and by the apparatus thereof.

Process and device for producing pig iron or liquid steel precursors


A method adapted to transfer a sample container such as a capped sample tube is disclosed. In one aspect, the method includes gripping a sample tube body with a first gripper pair and a cap with a second gripper pair of a gripper apparatus. In another aspect, a seating member may contact the cap to aid in the positioning of the sample container. Apparatus and systems for carrying out the method are provided, as are other aspects.

In testing within clinical laboratories to measure various chemical constituents in biological fluids obtained from patients, such as whole blood, blood serum, blood plasma, interstitial fluid, urine, and the like, automated clinical analyzers and other automated equipment (e.g., centrifuges) may reduce the number of trained technicians required to perform analyses or pre-analysis processing, improve overall accuracy, and reduce the cost per operation performed.
Typically, an automated analyzer or automated equipment for performing pre-analysis processing may include an automated system (e.g., a robot) that is adapted to automatically transfer sample containers (e.g., sample tubes) from one location to another.
During the transfer operation, a robot under the control of a robot controller, may position a pair of fingers in order to grip the sample container. During the transfer step, sometimes the tube may slip within the fingers, and, thus, may become improperly positioned for the next operation. Additionally, the location within the fingers may be unknown especially given that the sample containers may be from an assortment of sizes and types (i.e., have different width and/or length sample tube bodies and various configurations of caps). As such, the robot controller may either crash the sample container into a receptacle adapted to receive the sample container because the sample container is improperly positioned in the fingers, or otherwise allow it to be improperly inserted (e.g., not bottomed out) into a receptacle. Accordingly, the inventor recognized there is a need for a method of transferring sample containers that does not suffer from the aforementioned problems.

Methods, systems, and apparatus adapted to transfer sample containers


There is provided an information processing terminal that is provided with an IC chip that is capable of non-contact communication with a reader/writer. The information processing terminal includes a first storage portion, a second storage portion, and a data transfer portion. The first storage portion is provided within the IC chip and is capable of storing at least one type of data item that is used by the IC chip. The second storage portion is disposed outside the IC chip. The data transfer portion transfers the data item between the first storage portion and the second storage portion in accordance with a user input.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an information processing terminal, a data transfer method, and a program.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, information processing terminals have come into widespread use that are capable of non-contact communication with a read/write unit (reader/writer), such as a mobile telephone or the like that is provided with a non-contact type integrated circuit (IC) card (hereinafter called by its generally used name "smart card") or a non-contact type IC chip.
The information processing terminal that is capable of non-contact communication with the reader/writer, such as the mobile telephone or the like that is provided with the non-contact type smart card or the non-contact type IC chip, has a storage portion from which the reader/writer can read and to which the reader/writer can write. The information processing terminal stores data items that pertain to various services and functions in the storage portion. Further, by reading and writing the data items that are stored in the storage portion, the reader/writer can provide various services to a user who uses the information processing terminal.
It is in this context that various technologies have been developed that utilize the information processing terminal that is capable of non-contact communication with the reader/writer. A technology that acquires information that is stored in the information processing terminal and stores the acquired information in a system is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. JP-A-2004-54428, for example. Further, a technology that uses information that is acquired from the information processing terminal to issue a ticket is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. JP-A-2005-11211, for example. Moreover, a technology that stores information such as a transaction history, electronic money, and the like in the information processing terminal and sells and redeems an electronic ticket is disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 3614480, for example.
Known technologies that use the information processing terminal that is capable of non-contact communication with the reader/writer, such as the technologies disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. JP-A-2004-54428, Japanese Patent Application Publication No. JP-A-2005-11211, and Japanese Patent Publication No. 3614480, for example, are based on the assumption that the data items to be used are stored in the storage portion of the information processing terminal. Therefore, in a case where the data items to be used are not stored in the storage portion of the information processing terminal, the data items to be used must be stored anew by a process of item-by-item registration or the like.

Information processing terminal, data transfer method, and program


A method for breeding polyploid two-line hybrid rice includes determining a tetraploid rice photo thermosensitive genic male sterile line with the gene characteristic of PMeS (polyploid meiosis stability) and a tetraploid rice restoring line with the gene characteristic of PMeS; hybridizing and matching by indica sterile/japonica restoring or japonica sterile/indica restoring hybrid combination; preparing a tetraploid rice hybrid by adopting a tetraploid rice photo thermosensitive genic male sterile line and a tetraploid rice restoring line; and breeding a stable tetraploid rice hybrid combination which is determined as the polyploid two-line hybrid rice combination. The breeding method disclosed by the present invention utilizes the strong heterosis of polyploid rice, and transforms the existing diploid heterosis into the heterosis of polyploid two-line hybrid rice; and by adopting the method disclosed by the present invention, a new polyploid two-line hybrid rice variety with large ears, large grains and high yield can be bred.

The background description provided herein is for the purpose of generally presenting the context of the present invention. The subject matter discussed in the background of the invention section should not be assumed to be prior art merely as a result of its mention in the background of the invention section. Similarly, a problem mentioned in the background of the invention section or associated with the subject matter of the background of the invention section should not be assumed to have been previously recognized in the prior art. The subject matter in the background of the invention section merely represents different approaches, which in and of themselves may also be inventions.
Heterosis is a widespread phenomenon of the living nature. Three-line hybrid rice formed by hybridization of three rice lines (a male sterile line, a male sterility maintainer line and a male sterility restoring line) completed by scientists represented by Yuan Longping in 70s of last century is known as the second green revolution, which has a significant promoting role in rice production in China. Hereafter, the Hubei photo thermosensitive genic male sterile line and the two-line restoring line thereof found by Shi Mingsong (1973) promote the rice heterosis utilization to a new level. However, rice planted all over the world currently is diploid, that is, the cells of the rice only contain two sets of chromosomes, namely, 2n=2X=24. After decades of experiencing the first green revolution of transformation from tall variety to short variety and the second green revolution of transformation from conventional rice variety to hybrid rice variety and obtaining substantial increase of production, rice yield stays in the high-yield gentle hovering period for a long time since the mid-1980s. The increase in production among bred varieties in different generations does not exceed 5% and it is difficult to meet the requirement of 50% increase in 2050 to alleviate the world food crisis. For this reason, Cai Detian, Yuan Longpin, et al. (2001) proposed a new strategy of 'breeding super rice by utilizing distant hybridization and polyploid dual advantages' from the view of evolutionary biology. After research of 20 years, they determined a three-step strategy of polyploid rice inter-sub specific, inter-specific and inter-genome heterosis utilization, and solved the bottleneck problem of low setting percentage of polyploid rice breeding as the priority. They invented a patented technology of efficiently inducing to form the polyploid rice by utilizing combination of tissue culture and colchicines treatment and bred a high setting variety line with PMeS (Polyploid meiosis stability), breaking the bottleneck problem of low setting percentage of the polyploid rice, thus causing the rapid development of breeding of the polyploid rice. A large quantity of polyploid rice materials have been formed, and a batch of conventional polyploidy rice line enters a variety regional trail stage. Making full use of the polyploid heterosis, breeding the polyploid rice sterile line and the polyploid rice restoring line and preparing the polyploid hybrid push rice production to a new stage, thus playing a significant role in guaranteeing world food safety. If it is evolved from the diploid wild species to the cultivated tetraploid or hexaploid species like wheat, cotton and rape, and the yield has a fold increase, the bred polyploidy rice with four sets or six sets of chromosomes has a potential of yield increase of 50%, which can fundamentally relive the world food crisis.
Therefore, a heretofore unaddressed need exists in the art to address the aforementioned deficiencies and inadequacies.

Polyploid two-line hybrid rice and breeding method thereof


Provided is an aqueous gel ink-filled ball point pen having less blobbing and capable of drawing stable lines having vivid color and no uneven written intensity. The aqueous gel ink-filled ball point pen has a ball of a diameter of 0.3 to 2.0 mm at a tip point with an aqueous gel ink having a viscosity ratio (a value of (viscosity at 10 rpm)/(viscosity at 50 rpm) measured by means of an E type rotational viscometer) of 1.1 to 4.0 and controlled an ink lay down value according to JIS Standard S6053 to 50 to 200 mg/m.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an aqueous gel ink-filled ball point pen, more specifically to a ball point pen filled with an ink having properties expressed by pseudo-plasticity, non-Newtonian viscosity or shear thinning viscosity.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A ball point pen is composed of a pen tip comprising a ball and a tip holder, an ink reservoir and a barrel. In writing with a ball point pen, the ink flowing out of the inside of the tip with rotation of the ball is transferred on or penetrated into a recording material such as paper, whereby letters and lines are written.
An aqueous ink-filled ball point pen has the advantage that it uses an ink having a low viscosity of several mPa.cndot.s and therefore can write at a low writing pressure and has a good writing feeling. However, it has the defect that natural outflow of the ink from the point of the tip, a so-called point seepage (hereinafter called a direct flow phenomenon) or a back-leaking phenomenon in which air flows in from the tip of the ball point pen to allow the ink to flow out from the ink reservoir is liable to take place. A method in which an ink absorber such as a bundle of fiber is used is employed to prevent these phenomena.
Further, there is the problem that if the ball point pen is left in a cap-off condition, the solvent is dried up because of the high vapor pressure of the solvent, and therefore the pen point is dried to prevent the ink from flowing out, so that the ball point pen becomes incapable of writing.
On the other hand, a conventionally known oil base ball point pen uses an ink having a high viscosity of several thousand mPa.cndot.s and therefore has the defect that the ball receives large resistance in rotating when the ink flow out of the pen tip to deteriorate a writing feeling. Further, there are the problems that the less amount of the ink flows out of the tip in writing to cause a blobbing phenomenon and bring about unevenness on drawn lines and that the line intensity is weak and therefore a high writing pressure is required.
In order to improve the oil base ball point pen, a ball point pen for an aqueous ink having a so-called medium viscosity which falls within a middle viscosity region (several mPa.cndot.s to several thousand mPa.cndot.s) ranging between the viscosities of an aqueous ink and an oil base ink has recently been developed. This is a ball point pen using a relatively low viscosity aqueous ink having the characteristic that the viscosity of the ink is lowered by the rotation of the ball point to allow the ink to flow out smoothly, a so-called shear thinning viscosity.
This ink is called a gel ink, and the property thereof is shown by expression such as pseudo-plasticity, non-Newtonian viscosity and the like in a certain case.
However, if this ink has too strong property as gel, the flowability of the ink is inferior, and the outflow of the ink from the pen point is deteriorated in writing, so that starving and inferior writing are caused. Too much outflow brings about feathering and blobbing phenomena in some cases. On the other hand, if gelation is weak and the viscosity is low, the phenomenon that the ink is liable to bring about back flow or direct flow is observed. Accordingly, writing feeling, back flow and direct flow phenomena and pen structure exert influence on each other, so that an ideal aqueous gel ink-filled ball point pen has not yet been obtained.


A first through hole is formed in a laminate by trepanning machining using laser light, for example. The trepanning machining refers to a process for irradiating laser light along such a trajectory that the laser light is first irradiated onto a substantially central area of a first through hole to be formed, the laser light is irradiated along a circumference corresponding to the bore diameter of the first through hole to be formed, and the laser light is finally irradiated onto the substantially central area of the first through hole to be formed again. A second through hole being substantially concentric with and having a larger bore diameter than the first through hole is formed by irradiating the laser light, similarly to the first through hole.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a through hole forming method for forming a though hole in a conductor laminated plate having a laminated structure of a conductor layer and an insulating layer, and a printed circuit board manufacturing method including the through hole forming method.
2. Description of the Background Art
Conventionally, printed circuit boards have been used for various types of electric equipment or electronic equipment. The printed circuit boards generally have laminated structures of insulating layers composed of polyamide and conductor layers composed of a copper foil, for example, formed on both surfaces of the insulating layers. The insulating layers and the conductor layers may, in some cases, be made to adhere to each other by adhesive layers. The conductor layers are subjected to etching, to have predetermined patterned conductors.
When such printed circuit boards are manufactured, a copper laminated plate having the above-mentioned laminated structure, for example, is used. The copper laminated plate is obtained by previously laminating a plurality of conductor layers composed of a copper foil or the like on an insulating layer composed of polyamide or the like using an adhesive layer.
The copper laminated plate is provided with a through hole for electrically connecting the plurality of conductor layers. The through hole is formed by irradiating laser light onto the copper laminated plate. After the through hole is thus formed, a metal thin film (an electroless plating layer and an electrolytic plating layer) for electrically connecting conductor layers are formed on a surface of the through hole (see JP 2005-072324 A, for example).
When the laser light is irradiated in order to form the through hole in the copper laminated plate, as described above, however, a surface of the adhesive layer on an inner wall of the through hole that is being formed is gouged with heat energy generated within the through hole, to have a concave (or convex) shape. As a result, the metal thin film is disconnected in forming the metal thin film, so that electrical connection reliability is degraded.


A fluctuating annuity payment is determined and generated, and that annuity payment is subsequently fixable. The fluctuating annuity payment may be based on an interest rate, such as the market yield of a 1-year U.S. Treasury adjusted to constant maturity, for example. The fluctuating annuity payment may be determined on a certain date, or periodically, for example. The annuity payment, while fluctuating, may have a predetermined floor or minimum threshold amount that is does not pay less than. At some point, a request may be received to fix the payment, and the fluctuating annuity payment is converted to a fixed annuity payment. The fixed annuity payment may be based on a long term interest rate, for example. After receiving a request to fix the annuity payment, a payment schedule may be determined based on the value of the remaining payments that are to be made.

The application relates generally to financial products known as annuities. An annuity is an insurance policy including a guarantee that the issuer will make a series of payments. This policy is usually given in exchange for a sum of money that the issuer may invest in short or long term investments. There are two types of annuities, immediate annuities and deferred annuities. An immediate annuity is an annuity where the annuitant receives payments immediately and a deferred annuity is one where the annuitant receives a lump sum at the end of a time period. The advantage of the deferred annuity is that generally the account is not taxed until the lump sum is paid. Generally immediate annuities are structured so that the payment varies with the performance of a specific set of investments, or an index. Typically, in prior art immediate annuities the interest rate used to calculate the varying payments is set at the time the annuity is purchased. Since the interest rate is fixed at the time of purchase, individuals who are thinking of purchasing an annuity will generally try to avoid buying one when interest rates are low because they will then be stuck with a low interest rate for the life of the annuity.

Single premium immediate annuity with adjustable payment

United Services Automobile Association (USAA)


An electrode paste for a solar cell, a solar cell electrode using the paste, a solar cell having such an electrode, and a fabrication method of the solar cell are described. The paste for a solar cell electrode comprises a first component that includes silver (Ag) or a metal alloy containing the silver (Ag); a second component that includes zinc (Zn), and at least one selected from a group consisting of silicon (Si), aluminum (Al), copper (Cu), manganese (Mn), bismuth (Bi), phosphorous (P), boron (B), barium (Ba), and palladium (Pd); a leaded or lead-free glass frit; and a resin binder that is dispersed in an organic medium.

Because of the rapid rise in oil prices, environmental concerns, the exhaustion of fossil energy, waste treatment associated with nuclear power generation and the like, interest in renewable energy has dramatically increased. In particular, there has been increased interest in the research and development of solar cells, which are a pollution-free energy source.
Solar cells are been advantageous because they are a pollution-free, sustainable resource with a semi-permanent life span. It is believed solar cells can ultimately solve our energy problems.
Solar cells are categorized into various types: silicon solar cells, thin film solar cells, dye sensitized solar cells, organic polymer solar cells and the like, according to its constituent material. In particular, crystalline silicon solar cells make up the majority of solar cells throughout the world. Crystalline silicon solar cells have a higher efficiency compared to other solar cells and techniques to lower the unit cost of manufacturing is continuously being developed.
In order to further improve the efficiency of crystalline silicon solar cells, there are ongoing studies to increase the short circuit current (Isc), the open circuit voltage (Voc), and the fill factor (FF). The present invention is also concerned with improving efficiency and more specifically to an electrode paste for use with high efficiency solar cells.
there are also ongoing studies relating to ultra-thin solar cells, which are easy to handle and are very versatile. Thus, there is a need to improve the manufacturing process for forming ultra-thin emitters on ultra-thin solar cell wafers.

Electrode paste for solar cell, solar cell using the paste, and fabrication method of the solar cell


The described technology is generally directed towards an input/output (I/O) load balancer of a data storage system that detects an I/O overloaded (“hot”) storage unit and logically moves its hot data to a non-overloaded (“cold”) storage unit. Threshold load levels can be used to determine hot and cold storage units. In one implementation, new writes to the hot storage unit are prevented while its hot data is logically moved to a cold storage unit. To avoid reads from the hot storage unit, the hot data can be recreated from redundant data obtained via a recovery path. To avoid a capacity imbalance, once enough hot data has been moved so that the (formerly) hot storage device is no longer considered hot, cold data from the cold storage device can be written to the formerly hot storage device. New data writes to the formerly hot storage device can then resume.

Contemporary data storage systems, such as Dell EMC®'s ECS (formerly Elastic Cloud Storage) service, store data in a way that ensures data protection while retaining storage efficiency. For additional protection of user data and metadata, ECS supports geographically distributed setups of multiple zones (geographically distributed node clusters), with the data and metadata of one zone distributed and replicated to two or more zones by asynchronous replication.
Such storage systems can be considered as a hierarchy of storage units; there can be different zones/node clusters with nodes hierarchically under each node cluster. In turn, each node of a node cluster is hierarchically above its storage devices, generally disks.
Such hierarchical systems use capacity load balancing techniques to assure more or less even distribution of data among storage units at one level, that is, at the clusters/nodes/disks levels. However, in general, such capacity load balanced storage systems do not perform satisfactory I/O (input/output) load balancing. For instance, I/O load balancing can be performed by round robin; however there is often little benefit from round robin I/O load balancing (as well as other known I/O load balancing mechanisms). This is because user data normally has just one copy (albeit protected) within a system, and if that user data is on a "hot" disk that is being overwhelmed with I/O requests, significant delays result, adversely impacting the data storage system's overall performance characteristics severely.
Significant I/O imbalance across storage units may result in such hot spots. There may be several causes for a significant I/O imbalance, including specific data access patterns, expansion of a storage system, storage unit replacement, specific features of capacity load balancing, and/or a combination of any of these causes.

Input / output load balancing in a data storage system