The invention relates to a substrate with a check mark and a method of inspecting position accuracy of conductive glue dispensed on the substrate. The method is implemented on the substrate having at least one transfer pad and at least one check mark arranged near the border of the transfer pad. After the conductive glue spot is dispensed on the transfer pad, the method includes first capturing an image by a video capturing element, then determining whether the conductive glue spot exist in the image and determining whether the conductive glue spot from the image matches a predetermined standard, if not, generating a report and a warning.

1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to a method of inspecting position accuracy of conductive glue dispensed on a substrate. More particularly, the present invention relates to a substrate with check mark(s) and a method utilizing the substrate to inspect whether the conductive glue is dispensed on the right position.
2. Description of Related Art
Before glass substrates such as a color filter substrate and an array substrate are assembled with each other, a transfer pad of the array substrate must be dispensed with conductive glue that has conductive grains therein, thus, after the color filter substrate is assembled on the array substrate, the array substrate and the color filter substrate are able to electrically connect with each other via the conductive glue therebetween.
In view of that, the appropriate quantity of the conductive glue and the correct position where the conductive glue being dispensed on the transfer pad are two important factors to the effectiveness and the reliability of signal transmission between the array substrate and the color filter substrate.
That is, when a conductive glue spot with appropriate quantity is detected on a checking zone of the transfer pad by an inspection machine, the inspection machine determines that the conductive glue spot is dispensed correctly. Thus, the conductive glue spot can provide effective signal transmission from the array substrate to the color filter substrate and then the assembled panel can display a qualified image.
However, until now the location of the checking zone center can only be oriented by a relative coordinate based on predetermined reference points on the glass, rather than identifying the location of the transfer pad directly. Therefore, the inspection machine might check a conductive glue spot with appropriate quantity but out of the transfer pad, so that the deviation of conductive glue spot degrades the signal transmission from the array substrate to the color filter substrate and causes the assembled displaying panel to have the problems about flicker and image sticking, and even lose efficacy.
In light of that, the area of the transfer pad is expanded in order to raise the chance of dropping the conductive glue onto the transfer pad. Thus, although the image quality is ensured by the effective signal transmission from the array substrate to the color filter the area of through enlarging the area of transfer pad, the larger area of transfer pad may also decrease the number of panel that can be cut from the glass substrates and reduce the usage of the glass substrates.

Substrate with check mark and method of inspecting position accuracy of conductive glue dispensed on the substrate


A vehicle has an engine as a driving source. The vehicle has a charge system which generates electric power by using a part of rotational output of an engine, and charges a battery by the generated electric power. Optimal shaft efficiency points are combinations of revolution speed and torque of the engine for maximizing the shaft efficiency. Optimal shaft efficiency line passes through the optimal shaft efficiency points for each engine output level. Warming-up operation line is defined by shifting the optimal shaft output efficiency line to a side to increase heat loss. An engine controller stores the lines. The engine controller performs a warming-up operation by operating the engine at a revolution speed and a torque on the warming-up operation line. The engine controller controls the battery to reduce possibilities of a full charge at a next warming-up.

JP3673200B discloses an apparatus which performs an engine warming-up operation. In this engine warming-up operation, an increase of an engine temperature is promoted and accelerated by increasing an amount of heat loss by retarding ignition timing.
Here, an engine output, which is a work amount of the engine demonstrated per unit time, includes a rotational output, i.e., kinetic energy, on a crankshaft and a heat loss, i.e., thermal energy. Fuel consumption, i.e., fuel consumption rate, may be improved by reducing the heat loss and by increasing a ratio, i.e., shaft efficiency, of the rotational output to an amount of fuel consumption. By performing the ignition timing retarding, it is possible to increase the heat loss, and to promote a warming-up. However, the shaft efficiency becomes worse and the fuel consumption becomes worse.
On the other hand, vehicles, e.g., hybrid vehicles, which has a charge system for generating electric power by using a part of rotational output and charging the generated electric power to a battery is known. JP4300600B discloses a warming-up operation for such a hybrid vehicle. In this operation, the warming-up is accelerated by increasing the engine output. Simultaneously, an amount of increased rotational output caused by increasing the engine output is assigned to generate electric power, and generated electric power is charged to a battery. Therefore, it is possible to promote temperature increase without worsening shaft efficiency.
Points A, B1, C1, D1, and E1 shown in FIG. 3, may be referred to as optimal shaft efficiency points which are combinations of revolution speed of the engine and torque which maximize the shaft efficiency. A line Em shown in FIG. 3 may be referred to as an optimal shaft efficiency line which can be obtained by drawing a line passing through the optimal shaft efficiency points for each engine output level. In the operation, when an amount of temperature increase of the engine required for a warming-up is insufficient, an engine output is increased along the optimal shaft efficiency line Em so that the revolution speed and the torque are adjusted on the optimal shaft efficiency point. Thereby, it is possible to promote temperature increase without worsening the shaft efficiency.

Apparatus for controlling engine warming-up


Provided are compositions, methods, and systems that relate to use of crystallization temperature reduction additives in treatment fluids. A treatment fluid for use in subterranean operations, the treatment fluid comprising: a bromide brine having a first true crystallization temperature; a true crystallization temperature reduction additive, the first true crystallization temperature is the true crystallization temperature of the bromide brine without inclusion of the true crystallization temperature reduction additive; the treatment fluid has a second true crystallization temperature that is lower than the first true crystallization temperature. A method for treating a wellbore, wherein the method comprises: disposing a treatment fluid in the wellbore, wherein the treatment fluid comprises: a bromide brine and a first true crystallization temperature; a true crystallization temperature reduction additive, the treatment fluid has a second true crystallization temperature that is lower than the first true crystallization temperature.

Brines may be used in subterranean operations for a number of functions. By way of example, treatments fluids used in drilling, completion, or workover operations may include a brine. In some instances, the use of high-density brines may be problematic. Traditional high-density, solids-free completion fluids have relied upon the use of zinc bromide or cesium formate brines, which may have environmental, technical, and economic limitations. While both zinc bromide and cesium formate brines may have high costs associated with them, zinc brines are also known to be environmentally hazardous. Calcium bromide brines may be prepared at densities greater than about 14.2 pounds per gallon ("lbs/gal") (1,700 kg/m3) (up to about 15.5 lbs/gal (1,860 kg/m3) and manganese bromide (II) brines may be prepared at densities greater than about 14.2 lbs/gal (1,700 kg/m3) (up to about 17.0 lbs/gal (2,040 kg/m3); but these brines may suffer from crystallization temperatures that are too high for some operations.
One type of brine that may be used in the treatments fluids includes a calcium bromide brine. However, it may be challenging to develop a low cost, zinc free completion fluid that may be based on calcium bromide that can achieve densities in the range of about 14.2 lbs/gal (1,700 kg/m3) to about 17 lbs/gal (2,040 kg/m3) without precipitation of the salt. The pressurized crystallization temperature (PCT) is the point where solids form in brine solutions under pressure. The effects of pressure can be significant in deep water applications and cold climates where the brines may crystallize at a temperature higher than the expected True Crystallization Temperature (TCT). Some negative effects due to crystallization may include, at very low temperatures, plugging of choke lines and kill lines. Additionally, at low temperatures, valves may seize. The removal of deposited crystals during pressure testing in locations of the wellbore where circulation may be poor may be extremely difficult and costly. Also, if crystals form at the surface, the density of the resulting brine may be lowered which may present difficulties in controlling the pressure downhole.

Lowering the crystallization temperature of brines


According to the present invention, a lighting control circuit is provided in which various logic gates, transistors and other smaller-scale circuit elements are combined. The circuit receives as inputs the control signals from the vehicle, including the left and right indicator signals, the brake signal and the tail light signal. Each of these signals is fed into a first bank of logic gates whose outputs are supplied to a second bank of logic gates, whose output is in turn supplied to two transistors, each connected to a separate single filament bulb, one for the left side of the vehicle and the other for the right side.

A vehicle such as a motorcycle, an automobile or a truck uses a plurality of lights mounted externally on the vehicle to indicate certain information about the vehicle to other drivers and pedestrians. Typically, such lights are mounted on the rear end of the vehicle on both left and right sides of the vehicle's rear end.
A brake light is used to inform others that the driver has applied the brake and is thus beginning to slow down the vehicle. A tail light is used at night to indicate the presence of the vehicle to others. Indicator lights are used to inform others that the driver has signalled his/her intention to turn the vehicle either left or right, depending on which indicator light is turned on.
In the prior art, separate single filament lighting bulbs were used for all three of these functions. Alternatively, the brake and tail light functions were combined in a single two-filament bulb, with one filament dedicated to the brake light function and the other filament dedicated to the tail light function. Each filament requires a separate wire to energize the filament. Therefore, for the prior art systems mentioned above a total of six wires is required to energize the lighting system.
This leads to a complicated wiring scheme involving many wires. The more wires involved, the higher the chance that a wire defect will occur. Also, the connection of the lighting system is made more complicated by an increased number of wires. The more wires involved, the more space for laying wiring must be provided. In smaller vehicles such as a motorcycle, such space is critical. Further, with a motorcycle, drivers often like to custom design their vehicle, and thus a complicated wiring system involving many wires makes designing the vehicle quite difficult.
Another problem with the above-mentioned prior art is that with the first prior art version, many bulbs are required (two for each lighting function, since both the left and right sides must be accounted for). This makes it difficult to reduce the size of the overall lighting package, a goal which is especially important in smaller vehicles such as motorcycles.
For the second prior art version, although less overall bulbs are required, complex double filament bulbs must be used. This makes production of the lighting assembly more expensive. Also, this version still requires four bulbs total, and thus also suffers from the problem mentioned above for the first version, although to a lesser extent.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,241,241 discloses a circuit for driving a single bulb (for each of right and left sides) used for both brake and indicator operations. However, this arrangement requires that a separate bulb be provided for the tail light for each side of the vehicle.

System and apparatus for controlling rear indicator lights on a vehicle


An OFDM telecommunication device, i.e. a receiver, transmitter or transceiver for OFDM—(Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiplex) signals that generally employs the Inverse Fourier Transformation (IFT) technique to encode and transmit time-division multiplex signals and the Fourier Transformation (FT) technique to decode the received signals into time-division multiplex signals comprises a transformation unit (2) that incorporates at least an analog multiplication step and at least an analog convolution step of a multiplication convolution multiplication algorithm or a convolution multiplication convolution signal to perform a fourier transformation for demodulation and/or an inverse fourier transformation for modulation into the analog stage of said OFDM telecommunication device.

A common OFDM receiver is shown in FIG. 8a. The OFDM-signal is received by an antenna 100 and fed via an amplification and pre-processing circuit 101 as RF- or n-IF-signal to a multiplier 102 that down-converts the received, amplified and pre-processed OFDM-signal into an IF-signal on basis of a demodulation signal from an oscillator 103. This IF-signal is input to an IQ-demodulator 104 that additionally receives a demodulating signal from an oscillator 105 and produces the complex spectrum of the demodulated OFDM-signal, i.e. an inphase signal I and a quadrature signal Q. These both signals are input to an analog-to-digital converter 106 to leave the analog stage of the receiver and to enter its digital stage wherein first a Fast Fourier Transformation is carried out with a FFT-unit 107 before a demapper 108 produces a baseband signal for the further processing. It can be seen that an FT-process is implemented within the digital stage which therefore needs a relatively high processing power.
As OFDM modulation schemes seem to be widely accepted for different public broadcasting systems like DAB, DVB-T and private WLANs as a modulation scheme the requirements in regard to the needed bandwidth increase and therefore larger number of carriers are needed, which can be hardly handled by one digital processor. Therefore, to cope with this coming situation, different paralleling techniques have to be incorporated into future OFDM telecommunication devices. Such a block processing (parallel to serial conversion and vice versa) means that a large amount of processing power might be necessary and a large power consumption might arise as well as increased printed circuit board layout requirements have to be thought of.
On the other hand, analog processing techniques to perform the Fourier Transformation are known, e.g. from U.S. Pat. No. 5,226,038 which discloses a method and apparatus for converting electronic signals from frequency-division multiplex format into time-division multiplex format to perform an antenna beam forming and thereafter to perform a conversion from time-division multiplex-format into frequency-division multiplex-format while retaining substantially all phase and amplitude information of a band-limited continuous signal. This document describes the use of the well-known multiplication (M), convolution (C), multiplication (M) and CMC algorithm to perform siuch transformations. Furtheron, it is described that a Fourier Transformation of an analog signal sequence can be performed either by the MCM algorithm under use of chirp signals or the CMC algorithm with such signals. In this context also a reference is given to Fourier transform processors based on Surface Acoustic Wave filters.
Furtheron, a description given by the Phonon Corporation discloses to assemble spectrum analyzers and Fourier transformers from sets of dispersive delay lines to perform a scanning for determining on which frequencies signals are present. This description discloses that applications of such systems are also advanced communiation techniques, since they can process in real time at rates far in excess of current digital techniques, with relatively little size, weight and power.
The mathematical foundations for the MCM operation is shown in the following. Under consideration of the Fourier Transformation S(f) of a signal s(t) which is bandlimited to Be and of a maximum duration Te, the Fourier Transformation integral can be written in the form of the "chirp transform algorithm":
            Operation      :                                                                  S                          (          f          )                      =                  S                          (                                    -              a                        ·            t                    )                    =                        (                                    (                                                s                                                        (                    t                    )                                                  ·                                  Re                                                        (                    t                    )                                                              )                        *                          Re                                            (                t                )                                              )                ·                  (          t          )                      ,                                             M                                      C                                      M      where · is multiplication, * is convolution, a=Be/Te is a scale factor, Re(t) is a chirp signal with the chirp rate−a=−Be/Te and Rc(t) is the impulse response of an entity providing analog convolution with a length Tc=2Te and a chirp rate a=Bc/Tc.
However, no realization of a telecommunication device, e.g. an OFDM receiver as shown in FIG. 8a, using such analog Fourier transformers for modulation and/or demodulation purposes is known.

Telecommunication device with analog fourier transformation unit


The present invention encompasses a stain receiver article and its use in a fabric cleaning process. The invention also encompasses a kit, comprising: (a) an aqueous fabric cleaning/refreshment composition which is, optionally, releasably contained on a carrier substrate; a re-usable, preferably vapor-venting, containment bag; a stain receiver article according to this invention; optionally, but preferably, a fabric cleaning device, as disclosed herein; optionally, a re-usable holding tray; and optionally, a non-aqueous cleaning composition. The invention also encompasses the stain receiver article, itself.

The manufacture of certain types of "TBAL" structures is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,640,810, issued Feb. 3, 1987 to H. Laursen, et al. Use of such structures in diapers and feminine hygiene products is disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,264,268 issued Nov. 23, 1993 to Luceri, et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,364,382 issued Nov. 15, 1994 to Latimer, et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,525,407 issued to Yang on Jun. 11, 1996; U.S. Pat. No. 5,569,226 issued Nov. 29, 1996 to Cohen, et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 4,578,070 issued Mar. 25, 1996 to Holtman; U.S. Pat. No. 3,375,827 issued Apr. 2, 1968 to Bletzinger; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,798,603 issued Jan. 17, 1989 to Meyer, et al. Dry cleaning processes are disclosed in: U.S. Pat. No. 5,547,476 issued Aug. 20, 1996 to Siklosi & Roetker; U.S. Pat. No. 5,591,236 issued Jan. 7, 1997 to Roetker; U.S. Pat. No. 5,630,847 issued May 20, 1997 to Roetker; U.S. Pat. No. 5,630,848 issued May 20, 1997 to Young, et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,632,780 issued May 27, 1997 to Siklosi; EP 429,172A1, published May 29, 1991, Leigh, et al.; and in U.S. Pat. No. 5,238,587, issued Aug. 24, 1993, Smith, et al. Other references relating to dry cleaning compositions and processes, as well as wrinkle treatments for fabrics, include: GB 1,598,911; and U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,126,563, 3,949,137, 3,593,544, 3,647,354; 3,432,253 and 1,747,324; and German applications 2,021,561 and 2,460,239, 0,208,989 and 4,007,362. Cleaning/pre-spotting compositions and methods are also disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,102,573; 5,041,230; 4,909,962; 4,115,061; 4,886,615; 4,139,475; 4,849,257; 5,112,358; 4,659,496; 4,806,254; 5,213,624; 4,130,392; and 4,395,261. Sheet substrates for use in a laundry dryer are disclosed in Canadian 1,005,204. U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,956,556 and 4,007,300 relate to perforated sheets for fabric conditioning in a clothes dryer. U.S. Pat. No. 4,692,277 discloses the use of 1,2-octanediol in liquid cleaners. See also U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,591,510; 3,737,387; 3,764,544; 3,882,038; 3,907,496; 4,097,397; 4,102,824; 4,336,024; 4,606,842; 4,758,641; 4,797,310; 4,802,997; 4,943,392; 4,966,724; 4,983,317; 5,004,557; 5,062,973; 5,080,822; 5,173,200; EP 0 213 500; EP 0 261 718; G.B. 1,397,475; WO 91/09104; WO 91/13145; WO 93/25654 and Hunt, D. G. and N. H. Morris, "PnB and DPnB Glycol Ethers", HAPPI, April 1989, pp.78-82.


Devices, bandages, kits and methods are described that can control or regulate the mechanical environment of a wound to ameliorate scar and/or keloid formation. The mechanical environment of a wound includes stress, strain, and any combination of stress and strain. The control of a wound's mechanical environment can be active, passive, dynamic, or static. The devices are configured to be removably secured to a skin surface in proximity to the wound site and shield the wound from endogenous and/or exogenous stress.

Scars form in response to cutaneous injury as part of the natural wound healing process. Wound healing is a lengthy and continuous process, although it is typically recognized as occurring in stages. The process begins immediately after injury, with an inflammatory stage. During this stage, which typically lasts from two days to one week (depending on the wound), damaged tissues and foreign matter are removed from the wound. The proliferative stage occurs at a time after the inflammatory stage and is characterized by fibroblast proliferation and collagen and proteoglycan production. It is during the proliferative stage that the extracellular matrix is synthesized in order to provide structural integrity to the wound. The proliferative stage usually lasts about four days to several weeks, depending on the nature of the wound, and it is during this stage when hypertrophic scars usually form. The last stage is called the remodeling stage. During the remodeling stage the previously constructed and randomly organized matrix is remodeled into an organized structure that is highly cross-linked and aligned to increase mechanical strength.
While the histological features characterizing hypertrophic scars have been well documented, the underlying pathophysiology is not well known. Hypertrophic scars are a side effect of excessive wound healing, and generally result in the overproduction of cells, collagen, and proteoglycans. Typically, these scars are raised and are characterized by the random distribution of tissue bundles. The appearance (i.e., size, shape, and color) of these scars varies depending on the part of the body in which they form, and the underlying ethnicity of the person affected. Hypertrophic scars are very common, and can occur following any full thickness injury to the skin. Recently, it has been shown in U.S. Patent Application Publication 2006/0037091 (U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/135,992 entitled "Method for Producing Hypertrophic Scarring Animal Model for Identification of Agents for Prevention and Treatment of Human Hypertrophic Scarring," filed May 24, 2005) which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety, that mechanical stress can increase hypertrophic scarring in a murine model.
Keloids are typically characterized as tumors consisting of highly hyperplastic masses that occur in the dermis and adjacent subcutaneous tissue in susceptible individuals, most commonly following trauma. Keloids are often more severe than hypertrophic scars, since they tend to invade normal adjacent tissue, while hypertrophic scars tend to remain confined within the original scar border.
Previous attempts to treat scars and keloids have included surgery, silicone dressings, steroids, x-ray irradiation, and cryotherapy. Each of these techniques has disadvantages. Perhaps the biggest disadvantage is that none of them effectively prevent or ameliorate the formation of scars or keloids in the first instance. That is, these techniques have primarily been used to treat scars after they are already well established.
Devices and methods for preventing or ameliorating the formation of scars and/or keloids are therefore desirable.

Devices and bandages for the treatment or prevention of scars and/or keloids and methods and kits therefor

The Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University


An apparatus for the production of a stainless steel strip comprising the following devices provided in sequence: a twin-drum continuous casting machine; an atmosphere control cover having in its interior a bridle roll or a pinch roll; a hot-rolling machine; a heat-treating furnace comprising direct fire burners connected to header pipes juxtaposed to one another in the widthwise direction of the furnace over the longitudinal direction of the furnace; a cooler; and a coiler.

A technique where a molten steel is cast directly into a thin strip-like slab having a thickness of not more than 10 mm has recently been developed and tested using actual equipment. This new technique can simplify or eliminate the step of hot rolling.
A slab having a thickness exceeding 100 mm has hitherto been hot-rolled by means of a hot-rolling mill, consuming much energy. Therefore, the simplification or elimination of the step of hot rolling has been desired from the viewpoint of lower production costs as well as of the environment. The process involving the step of casting a molten steel into a thin strip-like slab having a thickness of not more than 10 mm will be hereinafter referred to as the "new process," while a process involving the step of hot-rolling a slab to a thin strip-like slab will be hereinafter referred to as the "current process."
The production of a cold-rolled sheet of a Cr-Ni-base stainless steel, represented by a 18%Cr-8%Ni steel, or a Cr-base stainless steel by the new process has posed a problem of surface roughening (called "orange peel" or "roping") created on the surface of products.
For example, an article in ZAIRYO TO PUROSESU (Current Advances in Materials and Processes) Vol. 3 (1990), p. 770, published by The Iron and Steel Institute of Japan describes a phenomenon of deterioration in surface quality of sheet products of SUS304 produced by the new process. According to this article, orange peel-like surface roughening (roping) is described to be created on the surface of a cold-rolled steel sheet due to the presence of coarse grains in the material before finish cold rolling. In order to prevent this phenomenon, the refinement of grains of the material before the finish cold rolling by the following two means is described to be useful.
1) The thin strip-like slab is subjected to hot rolling and annealing of the hot-rolled sheet. For example, it is hot-rolled at 1200.degree. C. with a reduction ratio of 16% and subjected to solution treatment at 1150.degree. C. for one min. PA1 2) The thin strip-like slab is subjected to cold rolling twice with intermediate annealing being performed therebetween. For example, it is rolled at room temperature with a reduction ratio of 10% and subjected to intermediate annealing and then to finish rolling.
Further, an article in ZAIRYO TO PUROSESU (Current Advances in Materials and Processes) Vol. 4 (1991), p. 996, discloses that, although the surface roughening (roping) of a cold-rolled sheet can be alleviated by subjecting the cold-rolled sheet to temper rolling with a high reduction ratio, this technique deteriorates the quality, particularly the elongation, of the material, necessitating the regulation of the steel composition so as to be brought to a .gamma.-phase unstable composition system, i.e., high Md30. For example, it describes that roping and workability (elongation) can be made comparable with those in the case of the current process by bringing Md30 to 30.degree. C. and conducting temper rolling with a reduction ratio of 1%.
Furthermore, an article in ZAIRYO TO PUROSESU (Current Advances in Materials and Processes) Vol. 4 (1991), p. 997 describes that the surface roughening (roping) of a cold-rolled sheet can be alleviated by designing the constituents so as to increase the .delta.-ferrite content, thereby providing a .gamma.-phase unstable composition.
Furthermore, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 2-133528 describes that hot rolling, at a temperature of 900.degree. C. or above, with a reduction ratio of not more than 60% results in the recrystallization of the texture of the thin strip-like slab, alleviating roping. This technique is described to alleviate the roping independently of the practice of annealing after hot rolling. Further, regarding the heat history of the strip after hot rolling, the document describes only that the strip is cooled in the temperature range of 900 to 550.degree. C. at a rate of not less than 50.degree. C./sec.
Regarding the production of a sheet of a Cr-base stainless steel having reduced ridging by a thin strip-like slab casting process, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 2-166233 discloses a production process which comprises the steps of: casting a steel into a thin strip-like slab having a thickness of not more than 10 mm; subjecting the thin strip-like slab to rolling with a reduction ratio of not less than 20% at a temperature above the .gamma.-phase precipitation initiation temperature; immediately after the rolling, introducing the resultant steel sheet into a soaking pit and holding in the above temperature region for 3 sec to 5 min; and then subjecting the steel sheet to coiling, cold rolling, and annealing.
Further, in order to prevent ridging of a C-base stainless steel strip, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication (Kokoku) No. 62-136526 discloses a process which comprises the steps of: casting a steel into a thin strip-like slab having a thickness of not more than 60 mm; holding the slab in the temperature range of 900 to 1150.degree. C. for 5 min or longer; hot-rolling the slab with final hot rolling being conducted at 800 to 1100.degree. C.; and then subjected to a series of conventional steps, i.e., annealing, picking, cold rolling, and finish rolling.
Further, with a view to improving the toughness of a sheet of Cr-base stainless steel, EP 0638653 A1 discloses a technique where a thin strip-like slab having a thickness of not more than 10 mm is hot-rolled in the temperature range of 1150 to 950.degree. C. with a reduction ratio of 5 to 40% and then passed through a heat-treating furnace, kept in that temperature region, over a period of 5 sec or longer, to permit carbonitride or the like contained in the rolled strip to be satisfactorily precipitated and grown.
In the above known publications, however, even when heat treatment is performed after hot rolling of the thin cast strip-like slab in order to improve the surface quality, no means for the heat treatment is specifically disclosed. Similarly, in the case of a technique where, after hot rolling, heat treatment is performed in order to improve the toughness, no means for the heat treatment is specifically disclosed.
Further, none of the above known publications disclose means for solving problems caused in direct rolling of the thin strip-like cast slab, such as meander, breaking, and creation of defects such as scab.
Furthermore, none of the above known publications propose means for alleviating the creation of roping due to uneven heat treatment caused in the case where the thickness of the thin cast strip-like slab is changed during casting.
An object of the present invention is to solve the above various problems caused in the production of sheet products using a continuous thin cast strip-like slab.
Another object of the present invention is to solve problems, associated with the surface quality, caused in the production of sheet products from a continuous thin cast strip-like slab.
A further object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus which enables a continuous thin cast strip-like slab to be stably rolled by means of a rolling machine connected directly with a casting machine.
A yet further object of the present invention is to provide a heat-treating furnace which can heat an as-rolled thin strip-like slab evenly in the widthwise direction.
A yet further object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus, for the production of a steel sheet, which can produce a steel sheet product without causing roping even when the sheet thickness has been changed during casting.

Apparatus for producing strip of stainless steel


An engine control apparatus includes a control unit configured to perform a feedback control based on a second amount of intake air until a engine speed reaches a target idle speed. The engine control apparatus then regulates the amount of intake air to an amount smaller than a predetermined second amount of intake air for a predetermined period when the engine speed exceeds the target idle speed, and then performs a feedback control based on a first amount of intake air. Such engine control apparatus minimizes variation in engine speed by reducing a convergence time of the engine speed to a target idle speed in switching control of the amount of intake air in a case where engine friction at a low temperature is high.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an engine control apparatus for a vehicle and to a vehicle incorporating the same. More particularly, the present invention relates to an engine control apparatus configured to adjust the amount of intake air supplied to an engine, and to a vehicle incorporating the same.
2. Description of the Background Art
The Japanese Patent Document JP-A-2010-7585 discloses an engine control system which increases an intake air flow rate above a flow rate prescribed for a normal idling state, to increase a engine speed to approach a target idle speed, in order to activate an exhaust air purifying catalyst in an early stage during a warm-up operation immediately after starting of an engine. The engine control system of JP-A-2010-7585 stops increasing the amount of intake air, and performs a feedback control on the engine speed with a normal amount of intake air after a predetermined time has elapsed.
However, in the engine control system disclosed in Japanese Patent Document JP-A-2010-7585, since the amount of intake air is configured to be switched when the predetermined time has elapsed, increase in the engine speed is delayed when the water temperature or the oil temperature is low and friction is high, so that the predetermined time has elapsed and the amount of intake air is switched to a smaller value before the engine speed reaches a target idle speed, which may reduce the engine speed at the time of the switching and cause a variation that the engine speed is momentarily reduced.
Therefore, in order to prevent such a phenomenon, switching the timing of the change in the amount of intake air to a time point when the target idle speed is reached is contemplated. However, when an operator opens a throttle to increase the engine speed, the engine speed temporarily increases to a level higher than the target idle speed, and hence the amount of intake air is switched to a smaller value. Consequently, since the feedback control is performed with a smaller amount of intake air at the time point when the throttle is returned, the problem that the engine speed reduced temporarily is not resolved.
Accordingly, it is one of the objects of the present invention to provide an engine control apparatus which is free from a variation in engine speed by reducing a convergence time of the engine attaining a target idle speed in switching control of the amount of intake air in a case where engine friction at a low temperature is high.

Engine control apparatus for a vehicle and vehicle incorporating same


A method of anchoring soft tissue to a suitable bone site, using a soft suture anchor, includes steps of disposing the soft suture anchor on a shaft of an inserter, and securing a proximal end of a tensioning suture limb, extending proximally from the soft suture anchor, to structure in a handle of the inserter, so that it is maintained in place at a first level of holding tension (Thold). The inserter shaft is inserted into a bone hole at a desired procedural site, so that the soft suture anchor is positioned at a location where it is to be anchored. A further step involves actuating a control mechanism in the inserter handle to move the structure proximally to apply a second level of deployment tension (Tload) to the tensioning suture limb.

There are many soft-tissue to bone repair procedures, such as rotator cuff, SLAP and Bankart lesion repairs, or reconstruction of labral tissue to the glenoid rim, in which a surgeon needs to secure tissue in close contact with bone by implanting an anchor, pre-loaded with suture, into a hole drilled in the bone at the desired anchor location. Commonly, the anchor which the sutures are attached to is made of either plastic such as PEEK or metal such as Titanium or Stainless Steel. Such anchors function like a nail or screw to secure them into the bone. Floating sutures, loaded into the rigid anchor body, are then passed through soft tissue near the anchor and the soft tissue is compressed against the bone surface by tying the suture ends into a knot. When the soft tissue is directly compressed against a bony surface, the body's healing response will affix the soft tissue to the bone to complete the repair. In the case of an implant pulling out of the bone there is a piece of hard material from that implant floating inside the joint space. That piece of material could temporary or permanently be stuck within the joint, causing damage to the articulating surfaces.
Many surgeons are beginning to favor using all-suture suture anchors over traditional suture anchors. One particular advantage of using an all-suture anchor is that it requires a smaller hole to be drilled to the bone. Preserving bone is preferred by surgeons. There are quite a few all-suture anchor designs on the market today intended to capture this trend.
The JuggerKnot™, by Biomet, has its anchor configuration made of a section of #5-polyester suture. The loaded suture is inserted through the length of the #5 suture section of the anchor. The anchor is preloaded on an inserter at the middle point. The inserter pushes the anchor into a drilled hole in the bone until a desired position is reached. The inserter is then removed. Both suture limbs are lightly pulled to contract the anchor, expanding it laterally against the wall of the drilled hole. This design relies on the friction between the suture ball of the anchor and the bone. Depending upon the position inside the hole to which the anchor is deployed or set, anchor slippage may occur when higher tension applied on the anchor until the anchor may move to a harder bone surface such as the cortex.
ConMed Linvatec also has introduced an anchor called the Y-Knot™. The anchor is very much the same construct as the Biomet JuggerKnot anchor in terms of design, but with different suture material. It uses high-strength suture for the anchor instead of polyester suture. The technique for using the anchor is also very similar as the company suggests in its own words: "Drill Pilot Hole, Insert Anchor, and Pull-to set." Since the anchor designs and techniques are similar, the anchor shares the same weakness of relying on friction. Thus, slippage can occur, and pull out strength could not be adequate.
Another similar anchor is from Stryker and is called Iconix™. The anchor is designed to have opening sections along the sheet portion, which claim to provide a bunching effect using targeted compression zones. The middle point of the anchor is also preloaded on an inserter and inserted into a pre-drilled hole. When deployed by applying tension on the pre-loaded suture limbs, instead of the whole section of the anchor expanding randomly within the hole, those opening sections on the anchor are intended to swing outward laterally up to 3 mm-4 mm. However, such claimed expansion dimensions are theoretical only, because the soft suture is not stiff enough to penetrate the hole to achieve such dimensions in practice.
All of the foregoing anchors are offered in different sizes (defined by the size of the hole drilled into the bone) and are pre-loaded with different sizes and numbers of floating sutures. All of these anchors, as noted above, are similar in construction: a floating suture or sutures are passed through a tube of larger suture. There may be one or more windows cut in the tube to allow the construct to bend at certain locations, as well as to allow the floating sutures to pass between the inside and outside of the tube. All of the anchors are then loaded onto similar inserters meant to push the anchor into a tunnel drilled into the bone. The anchors are wrapped around the top of the inserter shaft and secured in a fork at the tip. The floating sutures are routed along the inserter shaft and are secured in a cleat in the inserter handle.
Advantages of all-suture anchors that have resulted in their increased popularity in orthopedic procedures include:
a) the need for a smaller bone tunnel, because all-suture anchors deploy and change shape inside the bone tunnel, meaning that the drilled hole can be smaller than for rigid anchors with similar strength. This results in less bone removal and the ability to place anchors closer together when necessary;b) ease of revision, because if an all-suture anchor does not deploy correctly, or if the surgeon is not comfortable with the bone quality after drilling the bone tunnel, the small hole allows the practitioner to drill a slightly larger hole in the same location and to use a traditional rigid anchor. If the anchor is deployed, it is easy for the surgeon to drill through or remove the anchor in order to implant another one; andc) patient safety. In some cases, anchors can back out or be pulled out of the bone by patient activity or re-injury. If the anchor is located in a joint space, such as in the glenoid, and it pulls out of the bone after surgery, the soft material will not damage the bone surfaces (such as the humeral bead) as can be the case with a rigid anchor.
All of the foregoing anchors are also deployed in similar manners. Once the anchor is placed at the bottom of the bone tunnel, the floating sutures are removed from the inserter handle and the inserter is removed. To deploy the anchor, the physician is required to pull on the floating sutures. This tension applied to the floating sutures pulls the anchor upwardly in the bone tunnel, and the friction between the anchor and the bone causes the anchor to change shape and expand to create an interference fit in the tunnel. In addition, the larger diameter of the anchor prevents it from pulling up through the smaller hole in the harder cortical bone near the surface. The floating sutures are then passed through soft tissue and the remaining procedural steps are identical to those of any other pre-loaded suture anchor.
Currently available all-suture anchors require manual tensioning by the practitioner in order to deploy the anchor, as noted above. Often, to avoid anchor pullout in soft bone, the practitioner will pull gently on one suture limb, then pull on the other, and back and forth in like manner until the anchor is deployed. The amount of tension required to fully deploy the anchor depends upon the bone quality, as well as practitioner skill, training, and experience. At a minimum, this results in inconsistent tension applied to deploy the anchor. This, in turn, will lead to inconsistent performance, both in cyclic displacement and ultimate pull-out strength. If the practitioner is concerned about the bone quality and only pulls gently to deploy the anchor (to avoid pulling the anchor out), the anchor displacement under cyclic loading will be greater and the ultimate pullout force could be reduced. Another failure mode is the anchor not expanding properly and pulling out of the bone tunnel during practitioner tensioning. This can happen if the bone is very hard and the anchor cannot properly expand, or if the bone is very soft and the practitioner pulls hard enough to overcome the maximum pullout force of the anchor.

All-suture suture anchor systems and methods


The present invention is directed to an improved meter that utilizes a method of reducing the effects of interfering compounds in the measurement of analytes and more particularly to a method of reducing the effects of interfering compounds in a system wherein the test strip utilizes two or more working electrodes. In one embodiment of the present invention, a meter is described which applies a first potential to a first working electrode and a second potential, having the same polarity but a greater magnitude than the first potential, is applied to a second working electrode. The meter then measures the generated current and utilizes a predetermined algorithm to correct the measured current to compensate for the presence of interfering compounds in the sample.

Electrochemical glucose test strips, such as those used in the OneTouch® Ultra® whole blood testing kit, which is available from LifeScan, Inc., are designed to measure the concentration of glucose in a blood sample from patients with diabetes. The measurement of glucose is based upon the specific oxidation of glucose by the flavo-enzyme glucose oxidase. During this reaction, the enzyme becomes reduced. The enzyme is re-oxidized by reaction with the mediator ferricyanide, which is itself reduced during the course or the reaction. These reactions are summarized below.D-Glucose+GOx(OX)→Gluconic acid+GOx(RED) GOx(RED)+2 Fe(CN)63−→GOx(OX)+2 Fe(CN)64−
When the reaction set forth above is conducted with an applied potential between two electrodes, an electrical current may be created by the electrochemical re-oxidation of the reduced mediator ion (ferrocyanide) at the electrode surface. Thus, since, in an ideal environment, the amount of ferrocyanide created during the chemical reaction described above is directly proportional to the amount of glucose in the sample positioned between the electrodes, the current generated would be proportional to the glucose content of the sample. A redox mediator, such as ferricyanide is a compound that exchanges electrons between a redox enzyme such as glucose oxidase and an electrode. As the concentration of glucose in the sample increases, the amount of reduced mediator formed also increases, hence, there is a direct relationship between current resulting from the re-oxidation of reduced mediator and glucose concentration. In particular, the transfer of electrons across the electrical interface results in a flow of current (2 moles of electrons for every mole of glucose that is oxidized). The current resulting from the introduction of glucose may, therefore, be referred to as the glucose current.
Because it can be very important to know the concentration of glucose in blood, particularly in people with Diabetes, meters have been developed using the principals set forth above to enable the average person to sample and test their blood to determine the glucose concentration at any given time. The Glucose Current generated is monitored by the meter and converted into a reading of glucose concentration using a preset algorithm that relates current to glucose concentration via a simple mathematical formula. In general, the meters work in conjunction with a disposable strip that includes a sample chamber and at least two electrodes disposed within the sample chamber in addition to the enzyme (e.g. glucose oxidase) and mediator (e.g. ferricyanide). In use, the user pricks their finger or other convenient site to induce bleeding and introduces a blood sample to the sample chamber, thus starting the chemical reaction set forth above.
In electrochemical terms, the function of the meter is two fold. Firstly, it provides a polarizing voltage (approximately 0.4 V in the case of OneTouch® Ultra®) that polarizes the electrical interface and allows current flow at the carbon working electrode surface. Secondly, it measures the current that flows in the external circuit between the anode (working electrode) and the cathode (reference electrode). The meter may, therefore be considered to be a simple electrochemical system that operates in two-electrode mode although, in practice, third and, even fourth electrodes may be used to facilitate the measurement of glucose and/or perform other functions in the meter.
In most situations, the equation set forth above is considered to be a sufficient approximation of the chemical reaction taking place on the test strip and the meter reading a sufficiently accurate representation of the glucose content of the blood sample. However, under certain circumstances and for certain purposes, it may be advantageous to improve the accuracy of the measurement. For example, where a portion of the current measured at the electrode results from the presence of other chemicals or compounds in the sample. Where such additional chemicals or compounds are present, they may be referred to as interfering compounds and the resulting additional current may be referred to as Interfering Currents
Examples of potentially interfering chemicals (i.e. compounds found in physiological fluids such as blood that may generate Interfering Currents in the presence of an electrical field) include ascorbate, urate and acetaminophen (Tylenol™ or Paracetamol). One mechanism for generating Interfering Currents in an electrochemical meter for measuring the concentration of an analyte in a physiological fluid (e.g. a glucose meter) involves the oxidation of one or more interfering compounds by reduction of the enzyme (e.g. glucose oxidase). A further mechanism for generating Interfering Currents in such a meter involves the oxidation of one or more interfering compounds by reduction of the mediator (e.g. ferricyanide). A further mechanism for generating Interfering Currents in such a meter involves the oxidation of one or more interfering compounds at the working electrode. Thus, the total current measured at the working electrode is the superposition of the current generated by oxidation of the analyte and the current generated by oxidation of interfering compounds. Oxidation of interfering compounds may be a result of interaction with the enzyme, the mediator or may occur directly at the working electrode.
In general, potentially interfering compounds can be oxidized at the electrode surface and/or by a redox mediator. This oxidation of the interfering compound in a glucose measurement system causes the measured oxidation current to be dependent on both the glucose and the interfering compound. Therefore, if the concentration of interfering compound oxidizes as efficiently as glucose and/or the interfering compound concentration is significantly high relative to the glucose concentration, it may impact the measured glucose concentration.
The co-oxidization of analyte (e.g. glucose) with interfering compounds is especially problematic when the standard potential (i.e. the potential at which a compound is oxidized) of the interfering compound is similar in magnitude to the standard potential of the redox mediator, resulting in a significant portion of the Interference Current being generated by oxidation of the interfering compounds at the working electrode. Electrical current resulting from the oxidation of interfering compounds at the working electrode may be referred to as direct interference current. It would, therefore, be advantageous to reduce or minimize the effect of the direct interference current on the measurement of analyte concentration. Previous methods of reducing or eliminating direct interference current include designing test strips that prevent the interfering compounds from reaching the working electrode, thus reducing or eliminating the direct interference current attributable to the excluded compounds.
One strategy for reducing the effects of interfering compounds that generate Direct interference current is to place a negatively charged membrane on top of the working electrode. As one example, a sulfonated fluoropolymer such as NAFION™ may be placed over the working electrode to repel all negatively charged chemicals. In general, many interfering compounds, including ascorbate and urate, have a negative charge, and thus, are excluded from being oxidized at the working electrode when the surface of the working electrode is covered by a negatively charged membrane. However, because some interfering compounds, such as acetaminophen, are not negatively charged, and thus, can pass through the negatively charged membrane, the use of a negatively charged membrane will not eliminate the Direct interference current. Another disadvantage of covering the working electrode with a negatively charged membrane is that commonly used redox mediators, such as ferricyanide, are negatively charged and cannot pass through the membrane to exchange electrons with the electrode. A further disadvantage of using a negatively charged membrane over the working electrode is the potential to slow the diffusion of the reduced mediator to the working electrode, thus increasing the test time. A further disadvantage of using a negatively charged membrane over the working electrode is the increased complexity and expense of manufacturing the test strips with a negatively charged membrane.
Another strategy that can be used to decrease the effects of Direct Interfering Currents is to position a size selective membrane on top of the working electrode. As one example, a 100 Dalton size exclusion membrane such as cellulose acetate may be placed over the working electrode to exclude compounds having a molecular weight greater than 100 Daltons. In this embodiment, the redox enzyme such as glucose oxidase is positioned over the size exclusion membrane. Glucose oxidase generates hydrogen peroxide, in the presence of glucose and oxygen, in an amount proportional to the glucose concentration. It should be noted that glucose and most redox mediators have a molecular weight greater than 100 Daltons, and thus, cannot pass through the size selective membrane. Hydrogen peroxide, however, has a molecular weight of 34 Daltons, and thus, can pass through the size selective membrane. In general, most interfering compounds have a molecular weight greater than 100 Daltons, and thus, are excluded from being oxidized at the electrode surface. Since some interfering compounds have smaller molecular weights, and thus, can pass through the size selective membrane, the use of a size selective membrane will not eliminate the Direct interference current. A further disadvantage of using a size selective membrane over the working electrode is the increased complexity and expense of manufacturing the test strips with a size selective membrane.
Another strategy that can be used to decrease the effects of Direct interference current is to use a redox mediator with a low redox potential, for example, a redox potential of between about −300 mV to +100 mV (vs a saturated calomel electrode). This allows the applied potential to the working electrode to be relatively low which, in turn, decreases the rate at which interfering compounds are oxidized by the working electrode. Examples of redox mediators having a relatively low redox potential include osmium bipyridyl complexes, ferrocene derivatives, and quinone derivatives. However, redox mediators having a relatively low potential are often difficult to synthesize, relatively unstable and relatively insoluble.
Another strategy that can be used to decrease the effects of interfering compounds is to use a dummy electrode in conjunction with the working electrode. The current measured at the dummy electrode may then be subtracted from the current measured at the working electrode in order to compensate for the effect of the interfering compounds. If the dummy electrode is bare (i.e. not covered by an enzyme or mediator), then the current measured at the dummy electrode will be proportional to the Direct interference current and subtracting the current measured at the dummy electrode from the current measured at the working electrode will reduce or eliminate the effect of the direct oxidation of interfering compounds at the working electrode. If the dummy electrode is coated with a redox mediator then the current measured at the dummy electrode will be a combination of Direct interference current and interference current resulting from reduction of the redox mediator by an interfering compound. Thus, subtracting the current measured at the dummy electrode coated with a redox mediator from the current measured at the working electrode will reduce or eliminate the effect of the direct oxidation of interfering compounds and the effect of interference resulting from reduction of the redox mediator by an interfering compound at the working electrode. In some instances the dummy electrode may also be coated with an inert protein or deactivated redox enzyme in order to simulate the effect of the redox mediator and enzyme on diffusion. Because it is preferable that test strips have a small sample chamber so that people with diabetes do not have to express a large blood sample, it may not be advantageous to include an extra electrode which incrementally increases the sample chamber volume where the extra electrode is not used to measure the analyte (e.g. glucose). Further, it may be difficult to directly correlate the current measured at the dummy electrode to interference currents at the working electrode. Finally, since the dummy electrode may be coated with a material or materials (e.g. redox mediator) which differ from the materials used to cover the working electrode (e.g. redox mediator and enzyme), test strips which use dummy electrodes as a method of reducing or eliminating the effect of interfering compounds in a multiple working electrode system may increase the cost and complexity of manufacturing the test strip.
Certain test strip designs which utilize multiple working electrodes to measure analyte, such as the system used in the OneTouch® Ultra® glucose measurement system are advantageous because the use of two working electrodes. In such systems, it would, therefore, be advantageous to develop a meter for use with such test strips in the reducing or eliminating the effect of interfering compounds. More particularly, it would be advantageous to develop a meter for use with such strips in reducing or eliminating the effect of interfering compounds without utilizing a dummy electrode, an intermediate membrane or a redox mediator with a low redox potential.

Meter for use in an improved method of reducing interferences in an electrochemical sensor using two different applied potentials


An exemplary display device (1) includes a chassis (12), a circuit board (14) and a heat sink (16). The heat sink connects with the circuit board and the chassis. The chassis covers the circuit board and includes at least one heat conducting member (120) connecting with the heat sink. The display device performs an increased heat dissipating efficiency, and can be conveniently assembled or disassembled.

Referring to FIG. 7, a typical display device 7 includes a chassis 72, a circuit board 74, a heat sink 76, and a rectangular heat conductor 78. The chassis 72 covers the circuit board 74, the heat sink 76, and the heat conductor 78. The circuit board 74 includes an associated power socket 742. The heat sink 76 connects with the circuit board 74. The heat conductor 78 connects with the heat sink 76 and the chassis 72.
In operation, most of heat generated by electronic components (not shown) on the circuit board 74 can be conducted to the heat conductor 78 through the heat sink 76, whereupon the heat is conducted to the chassis 72. With this configuration, the circuit board 74 and other electronic elements (not shown) of the display device 7 can operate without overheating. However, during the process of heat conduction from the circuit board 74 to the chassis 72, heat must pass through the heat conductor 78. The heat conductor 78 itself has an amount of heat resistance. Therefore the heat dissipating efficiency of the system may still be unsatisfactory. Moreover, a tool and an associated manufacturing process are needed for localizing the heat conductor 78 during mass production of the display device 7. That is, assembly of the display device 7 is unduly complicated, and the overall cost of the display device 7 is increased.
What is needed, therefore, is a display device that can overcome the above-described deficiencies.

Display device with heat conducting member for heat dissipation


A method, apparatus and article of manufacture is provided for loading data from a remote data source record by record, in a computer system network connecting a source site and a target site via a database connection communication line. The source site has at least one data source and a Distributed Relational Database Architecture (DRDA) software server having multi-database access to DBMSs. The target site requests data loading from the source site DRDA via a block of Structured Query Language (SQL) statements. Data are transported record by record via the database connection communication line according to the DRDA communication protocol, wherein the target site loads records concurrently with the unloading of records in the source site. The data loading may also be performed in a pipeline manner, loading data records in multiple partitions with a plurality of parallel streams, pointed to by a plurality of data source partition cursors.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to database management systems, and, more particularly, to mechanisms within computer-based database management systems for unloading, transferring and loading persistent data residing in one data source into a remote data source, without being limited by physical constraints of the file transfer system at either the source or the target.
2. Description of Related Art
The increasing popularity of electronic commerce has prompted many companies to turn to application servers to deploy and manage their applications effectively. Quite commonly, these application servers are configured to interface with a database management system (DBMS) for storage and retrieval of data. This often means that new applications must work with distributed data environments. As a result, application developers frequently find that they have little or no control over which DBMS product is to be used to support their applications or how the database is to be designed. In many cases, developers find out that data critical to their application is spread across multiple DBMSs developed by different software vendors.
Often, it is desirable to unload/extract/export data from one data source, transport it to the target site, and load/import the data into the target site data repository, without being limited by physical constraints of the file transfer system, at either the source or the target site. It is also desirable that the loading of target records can be accomplished concurrently with the unloading of source records. This can be accomplished if data are transported record by record, so that operations of sending one record and receiving another record are happening concurrently on a source and target site.
Presently, however, there is no such capability. Data are unloaded into a file, the whole file is transported, and then data is loaded into a target. Transporting the data within files is conventionally performed using a file transfer procedure (FTP). Unfortunately, companies using FTP for DBMS applications may encounter some stumbling blocks. Often, there is a concern that source site and target site file formats may not be compatible. Moreover, the quantity of data to be transferred may exceed the maximum target site operating system file size. Furthermore, if design requirements call for a transfer of record data from database tables whose attributes must span multiple DBMSs, this is not currently supported, because presently record data may not be joined together from multiple data sources, while being transferred. Moreover, it is desirable to use different database products supported by a variety of leading information technology vendors, because they offer many potential business benefits, such as increased portability and high degrees of code reuse. Unfortunately, current DBMS vendors do not support data transfer in record by record mode, or joining of data from multiple data sources, while the records of data are being transferred.
Thus, the developer is forced to turn to more complex (and potentially cumbersome) alternatives to gain access to needed data records. Often, the alternatives are more costly and time-consuming to implement, require a more sophisticated set of programming skills to implement DBMS technology, may consume additional machine resources to execute, may increase labor requirements for development and testing, and potentially inhibits portability of the data itself
One presently available solution to this problem, when an application developer needs to build an application that accesses and transfers critical data present in multiple data sources, involves manually simulating transparent access. In that case, a programmer takes on the burden of writing the software to individually connect to each of the necessary data sources, read in any necessary data, correlate (or join) the results read in from multiple data sources, perform any necessary data translations, etc. This is a substantial amount of work and is well beyond the skill level of many programmers. Furthermore, it incurs a great deal of cost. In addition, it requires considerable knowledge of the application programming interfaces (APIs) of each data source involved, and affords less opportunity for query optimization, which may inhibit performance.
Another presently available solution to the problem calls for a physical consolidation of the data, where the data from different data sources have to be copied into a single data source, which a programmer will then transfer. However, this raises issues involving data latency and added cost. Due to the data latency, copies of data will be slightly to significantly "older" than data contained in the original data sources. Working with out-of-date (and potentially inaccurate) data can be unacceptable to many applications. Increased costs include software costs, since additional software must be purchased, installed, configured, and maintained to copy data from one source to another on a scheduled or periodic basis, as well as the labor costs involved with it. The software must support data migration effort or implement a data replication process that supports very low data latency.
Therefore, there is a need to provide a method and a system which can transfer persistent data, often residing in multiple data sources and possibly stored in different formats, to a target site depository, record by record. This would simplify the design, development, and maintenance of applications and provide more reliable applications with a function that would otherwise be inaccessible.

Data loading from a remote data source record by record

International Business Machines Corporation


Synthetic latex compositions and articles produced therefrom having improved tear strength while minimizing the effect on modulus. The compositions include a synthetic rubber latex and fumed silica typically present in an amount ranging between 0.5% and 5.0% by weight of rubber solids. In a preferred embodiment, the fumed silica is introduced into the synthetic rubber latex as an aqueous dispersion of fumed silica.

1. Field of Invention.
The present invention relates to synthetic latex compositions and latex films produced therefrom.
2. Description of the Related Art.
Natural rubber latex is commonly used in a wide variety of applications including films made by conventional dipping, coagulant dipping with bivalent salt or acid, and heat sensitive dipping. Films made from natural rubber latex are strong, flexible and are unlikely to sag during normal use. However, natural rubber produced articles are not always preferred or desirable under all circumstances. For example, films of natural rubber may be damaged by exposure to many solvents and petroleum-based fuels. In addition, natural rubber articles may be damaged by the action of light, heat and ozone. As a result, synthetic latex is often used and desired in various goods including, for example surgical gloves, examination gloves, protective gloves such as household gloves and electrostatic discharge conductive gloves, catheters, condoms, weather balloons, toy balloons, foamed products such as mattresses and pillows, and numerous other products. The goods may be produced wholly by the synthetic latex itself or may include a layer or coating of a synthetic latex on a natural rubber base. Commonly available synthetic latexes include: nitrile rubber; polychloroprene (also referred to as neoprene); butyl rubber; fluorocarbon rubber; polyurethane; styrene-butadiene rubber (SBR); and blends of nitrile, polychloroprene, butyl rubber, fluorocarbon rubber, polyurethane, styrene-butadiene rubber.
In spite of all the synthetic latexes commercially available, most synthetic latexes do not possess all the desirable characteristics of natural rubber such as low initial modulus, high tensile strength and high elongation. In addition, films produced from synthetic latex do not typically develop as much strength early in the drying process. This high wet-gel strength is critical in a coagulated dipping process. Similarly, articles made from synthetic latex tend to be deficient in tear strength. Therefore, tears tend to be prevalent in films and result from a number of activities, including removal of an article from its form (known as "hot" tears), tears on donning, and tears during contact with sharp objects during use by the wearer.
A need therefore remains for synthetic latexes with improved compositions and viscosity control, as well as films or coatings produced therefrom having enhanced mechanical and physical properties. In particular, a need exists for films and articles having increased tear strength while minimizing the detrimental effect on modulus, elongation and tensile strength. In addition, it is desired to retain the physical properties and tear strength upon ageing of these films and articles.


The horizontal type casting machine is capable of facilitating installation of a water jacket core and providing sufficient fluidity of the molten metal without generation of gas defect in casting a water-cooled type cylinder block. In the horizontal type casting machine, a cavity for the cylinder block is oriented vertically in which a cylinder bore portion of the cylinder block is positioned up and a crank chamber is positioned down. The cavity is defined by a stationary die, a movable die and movable cores. A movable slide core is provided movable relative to the movable die. When the movable slide core is moved to its retracted position, large working space is provided for installing the water jacket core at a given position. By the retracted movement of the movable slide core, large working space can be provided, thereby facilitating installation of the water jacket core. Further, since the water jacket core is set in its suspended fashion, easy positioning of the water jacket core results.

The present invention relates to a metal mold arrangement for casting a cylinder block of a water-cooled engine, and more particularly, to a type thereof used in a horizontal type casting machine where the cylinder block can be molded in its vertical orientation with a cylinder bore portion surrounded by a water jacket being positioned up and a crank chamber being positioned down during casting. Throughout the specification, the "horizontal type casting machine" implies the machine where a casting sleeve and a mold cavity are positioned on the horizontal plane.
Japanese Patent Application Kokai No. Hei 1-178361 discloses a method and apparatus for casting a cylinder block having a water jacket for use in a water-cooled type internal combustion engine. The disclosed invention uses a horizontal type casting machine where a metal mold is disposed so that the cylinder block extends horizontally. That is, as shown in FIG. 8, a stationary die 103 is fixed to a stationary platen 1, and a movable die 104 fixed to a movable platen 2 through a die base 14 is disposed in confronting relation to the stationary die 103.
In the stationary die 103, a stationary die 105 extends toward the movable die 104 for supporting a cast iron sleeve 23 which serves as a cylinder liner and for defining a crank chamber. That is, the stationary die 105 is provided so that a resultant cylinder block extends horizontally. To this effect, a bore pin 129 which defines a cylinder bore integrally protrudes horizontally from the stationary die 105. The cast iron sleeve 23 is disposed over an outer peripheral surface of the bore pin 129. The stationary die 105 has a gate 105a in communication with a casting sleeve 19 which extends through a stationary platen 1 and the stationary mold 105. A bushing 20 is disposed over a portion of the casting sleeve 20, the portion being positioned at a side of the stationary die 105. A plunger chip 21 is slidably disposed in the casting sleeve 19.
A movable die 106 is disposed in the movable die 104. An ejector pin 118' and a water jacket core support pin 118 extend through and are movable relative to the movable die 106. One end of the ejector pin 118' is fixed to an ejector plate 15 movable along a pair of guide rods 16 extending in a die base 14. The ejector plate 15 is connected to a push rod 17 driven by a driving means not shown. Thus, in accordance with the movement of the ejector plate 15 along the guide rods 16 because of the movement of the push rod 17, the ejector pin 118' extends through the movable die 106 and protrudes toward the stationary die 103. Consequently, casted product can be removed from the metal mold. One end of the core support pin 118 is connected to a driving mechanism 118A. Because of the operation of the driving mechanism 118A, the core support pin 118 moves in an axial direction thereof.
An upwardly movable core 108 and a downwardly movable core 109 are movably disposed between the stationary die 103 and the movable die 104 for surrounding the stationary die 105 and the bore pin 129. Thus, a cavity is provided by a space defined by the stationary die 105, the bore pin 129, the upwardly movable core 108, the downwardly movable core 109 and the movable die 106.
Within the cavity, a water jacket core 122 is disposed concentrically around the cast iron sleeve 23 supported by the bore pin 129. A projection 122a radially outwardly extends from an outer peripheral surface of the water jacket core 122, and an upper surface of the downwardly movable core 109 is formed with a recess 109a at a position engageable with the projection 122a. Further, a lower surface of the upwardly movable core 108 is formed with an abutment face 108a abuttable on the water jacket core 122. The water jacket core 122 is held at a predetermined position in the cavity by the abutment between the abutment face 108a and the water jacket core 122 and the engagement between the recess 109a and the projection 122a.
The water jacket core supporting pin 118 has a free end extendible into and retractable from the cavity so as to temporarily hold the water jacket core 122 at a predetermined position up to the closure of the metal molds. For example, in case of a four cylinder in line engine shown in FIG. 9, the water jacket core supporting pin 118 is moved to extend from the movable die 106, so that the free ends of the pins 118 are positioned immediately below joining portions 122b of neighboring cylinders.
To be more specific, while the metal molds is open, the cast iron sleeve 23 is disposed around the bore pin 129 of the stationary die 105. Then, the driving mechanism 118A is operated so as to extend the water jacket core supporting pin 118 toward the stationary die, so that the water jacket core 122 is mounted on the free end of the pin 118. Next, the upwardly movable core 108 is moved to its descent position, and the downwardly movable core 109 is moved to its ascent position. Thus, the projection 122a of the water jacket core and the recess 109a are engaged with each other, and the abutment face 108a is brought into abutment with the water jacket core 122. Thus, the water jacket core 122 is fixed at a position.
Then, the movable die 104 is moved toward the stationary die 103 for closing the metal molds. The water jacket core 122 is thus disposed around the outer periphery of the sleeve 23. The mold closure provides a cavity for casting a cylinder block. Consequently, a water-cooled type cylinder block having a water jacket is produced by filling molten metal into the cavity by way of the injection sleeve 19.
In the above described conventional casting apparatus, the water jacket core 122 is temporarily held by the water jacket core support pin 118 until the metal molds are closed, and the water jacket core 122 is fixed at a position by the abutment between the water jacket core 122 and the abutment face 108a and by the engagement between the projection 122a and the recess 109a, so that the water jacket core 122 is positioned around the sleeve at the time of closure of the metal molds, Accordingly, it would be difficult to stably position the water jacket core 122 at a given position.
Further, since gas in the water jacket core 12 and the cavity has a nature of moving upwardly, thickness of the casted cylinder block at its upper portion is likely to be non-uniform by the elevating gas due to the horizontal orientation of the casted cylinder block. Gas defects such as misrun, cold shut and blow hole is likely to occur. Moreover, if boss portion is provided at an upper portion of the cavity, gas accumulation may occur at the boss portion. Furthermore, since the cylinder block is oriented horizontally, sufficient fluidity of the molten metal may not provided, and horizontal orientation in the solidifying direction results. Thus, non-uniform casting may occur particularly in case of laminar flow casting. Consequently, desirable product may not be obtainable.

Metal mold arrangement for casting water-cooled type cylinder block in horizontal type casting machine


Test tube particularly suitable for carrying out immunological and immunohaematological analysis having at one end thereof an opening for charging reagents and biological liquids to be analyzed and, at the other end thereof, at least one venting opening and a respective controlled-stop filter.

As is known, these tests can be carried out according to a number of methods which include the use of specific reagents that once in contact with a biological liquid indicate the presence of sought element or elements in it.
Depending upon the type of research and reagent used, the operator will follow methods which differ in length, handling, quantity of reagent to be used and biological liquid to be put in reaction.
For instance, one of the methods most commonly used to determine the blood group of a person includes causing a reaction between blood of that person and an inert substance comprising microgranules of a synthetic material having various diameters hereinafter called "gel" for convenience, and a specific antiserum for the sought antigen.
More particularly, the method used in this case is the following:
a known quantity of gel, to which a specific antiserum for the test to be carried out has been homogeneously added in advance, is placed inside a glass or plastic test tube, PA1 a determined quantity of suitably diluted red globules to be tested is added in the same test tube, PA1 the test tube is located in a centrifuge to allow the red blood globules to mix with the solution previously placed in the test tube, and PA1 should the red globules react with the antiserum in the tube while being centrifugated, they form agglutinates, whereas the gel prevents them from sedimenting at the bottom of the test tube, PA1 should the reaction be optically positive, i.e. should the red blood globules react with the antiserum, no formation of a well defined "button" will occur at the bottom of the test tube, and dispersion of the agglutinates in the solution of the gel located on top will take place. PA1 a known quantity of gel is placed inside a glass or plastic test-tube in which Coombs serum was homogeneously added in advance, PA1 a determined quantity of "haemacies", i.e. panantigenic red globules including all the known antigens in their structure, is added to the same test-tube, PA1 a specific quantity of serum to be tested is added to the same test tube, PA1 the contents in test tube are then left to incubate for a time interval ranging from 10 to 15 minutes, PA1 after incubation the test tube is placed in a centrifuge to be centrifugated at a predetermined speed.
Another method used is that concerning the "Coombs test" and crossed tests.
In that case, the followed method comprises the following steps:
If during incubation and centrifugation steps a reaction has taken place, the result will be agglutination between "haemacies", serum to be tested and Coombs serum.
Also in this case, the gel prevents the agglutinates from forming a well defined "button" in the test tube.
Devices ready for use are available on the market which comprises a series of test tubes (usually six or eight in number that are placed one next to the other and connected to each other by a single plastic support), in which gel (i.e. a support substance for the reaction) suitably mixed with the reagent (such as antiserum, Coombs serum, or another serum) was previously added.
These devices have the definite advantage of offering the operator a device ready for use for carrying out tests, i.e. the test tube does not require to be filled with gel and reagent by the operator, since it is already loaded with such components.
There are, however, numerous disadvantages among which the pre-configuration of the tests. As a matter of fact, the manufacturers of these devices ready for use must necessarily foresee two things: a mininum number of already loaded test tubes to be included in the same device or system--hereinafter called "index card" for convenience--and a given configuration of tests to be carried out on the index card.
A frequent inconvenience of this state of affairs is to be faced when the operator has to carry out only three blood tests, but is going to use an index card which has six or eight test tubes ready for use, and thus he is not going to use more than half of the test tubes available, while the rest are to be disposed unused.
If one takes into account the great number of blood tests (anti-A, anti-B, anti-E, etc.) which are carried out, one will realize that substantial waste occurs, this being especially true in those centers where only relatively few blood tests are carried out.
An alternative solution would be that the operator should wait to carry out blood tests until he has gathered a number of tests at least approximately equal to that or a multiple of the available test tubes in an index card.
Another disadvantage of the "index card" lies in the difficulty in automating the testing procedure described above.
Bearing in mind that several working steps are involved, i. e. introduction of various liquids into the test tubes of an index card, incubation, centrifugation and surveying and reading the test results, a complex and expensive equipment is required.
Document EP-A-0295069 discloses a diagnostic test device for detecting the presence of a component in a liquid sample, comprising a liquid impervious receptacle vented by a liquofobic element. The receptacle houses an absorbent which contacts and draws liquid through a microporous reaction medium, gas being displaced from the absorbent during the liquid absorption.
Document EP-A-0141009 discloses a rotor unit of a centrifugal analyser. The rotor unit is divided into several different elements, each of these elements containing felt members and a pre-packaged reagent which, during the rotation of the rotor unit, is mixed up with the testing sample into a measuring room. The optical absorption measurement is carried out by means of a polychromatic photometer.
Document U.S. Pat. No. 4,226,531 discloses a disposable multi-cuvette rotor for use in an analytical photometer which comprises two injection molded parts from a transparent material of suitable chemical and absorption characteristics. Each of the cuvettes is divided into adjoining sample and reagent/measuring chambers by a wedge-shaped element.

Centrifuge apparatus for carrying out immunohaemtological analysis of blood and other biological liquids


A display device has a front surface and sides connected to each other using the same material. The display device includes a display panel, a case member wrapping around the side of the display panel, and a polarizing plate, which is attached to a front surface of the display panel and connects the display panel with the case member. The polarizing plate includes a polarizer disposed at the front surface of the display panel and a base film, which connects the front surface of the display panel with the case member.

Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the invention relate to a display device having a front surface and sides connected to each other using the same material.
Discussion of the Related Art
Examples of a flat panel display include a liquid crystal display (LCD), a plasma display panel (PDP), an organic light emitting diode (OLED) display, and an electrophoresis display (EPD). The liquid crystal display displays an image by controlling an electric field applied to liquid crystal molecules based on a data voltage. An active matrix liquid crystal display reduces its manufacturing cost and improves its performance with improved process technology and driving technology. The active matrix liquid crystal display is used for display devices including small-sized mobile devices and large-sized televisions.
Manufacturers of the flat panel display have made various attempts to implement a narrow bezel. The narrow bezel technology reduces a bezel, on which an image is not displayed at an edge of a display panel, thereby relatively increasing the size of an active screen, on which the image is displayed, as compared with other display panels of the same size. In general, because gate driver integrated circuits (ICs) are respectively disposed at left and right edges of the display panel, it is difficult to reduce left and right bezels of the display panel. Further, as shown in FIG. 1, because case members wrapping the display panel are installed at the edge of the display panel, it is difficult to reduce the left and right bezels of the display panel.
FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view showing an edge of a liquid crystal module.
As shown in FIG. 1, a liquid crystal module includes case members 20 and 21 for joining a display panel 10 and a backlight unit (not shown) into one module. Polarizing plates 11 and 12 are respectively attached to an upper substrate and a lower substrate of the display panel 10.
The case members 20 and 21 include a guide panel 20 for supporting the display panel 10 at the bottom, a bottom cover (not shown), and a top case 21, which wraps around an upper edge of the display panel 10, the guide panel 20, and an edge of the bottom cover.
The guide panel 20 may be manufactured using a plastic injection material. The top case 21 and the bottom cover may be manufactured using a metal material. As shown in FIG. 2, the polarizing plate 11 is exposed to the outside at the front of the liquid crystal module, and the top case 21 is exposed to the outside at the sides of the liquid crystal module. The front surface and the sides of the liquid crystal module are separated as different components (i.e., the polarizing plate 11 and the top case 21). When they are enlarged, as shown in FIG. 2, the bezel of the display panel 10 is more apparent.


A backlight unit includes a lamp housing, a plurality of elongate lamps received therein, and a cooling member having a heat-absorbing part and a heat-radiating part. The heat-absorbing part includes a plurality elongate heat-absorbing portions having a light reflecting function and arranged alternately with the elongate lamps. The heat-radiating part extends from the elongate heat-absorbing portions of the heat-absorbing part and is disposed outside the lamp housing. The cooling member has a heat-radiation function as well as a luminescence assistance function.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a backlight unit of direct emission type in which light sources are arranged at the rear side of the light emitting surface of the backlight unit. The present invention also relates to a LCD device including such a backlight unit.
2. Description of the Related Art
Backlight units are known in the art as planar light-emitting devices. The backlight units are generally classified into two types. The first type is a direct emission unit, in which a plurality of light sources (i.e., lamps) are arranged at the rear side of the light-emitting surface of the backlight unit. The second type is an edge-light emission unit, in which the light emitted by the light sources is guided toward the light-emitting surface by an optical guide plate. The direct emission unit has a larger light-emitting surface and thus can attain a higher luminance, compared to the backlight unit of the edge-light emission type. Having these advantages, the direct emission unit is suitable for use in, particularly, a large-screen LCD device.
FIG. 15 is an exploded perspective view illustrating the structure of a conventional backlight unit of the direct emission type. As shown in the drawing, the backlight unit 201 includes therein a reflecting plate 211, a plurality of lamps 212, a lamp-supporting base 215, a diffusion plate 216, an optical sheet 217, and a backlight chassis 218. The lamps 212 are connected at one end to an inverter 213, and at the other end to a return substrate 214a. A ground potential is applied to the return substrate 214a through a return cable 214b. Part of the light emitted from the lamps 212 is directly irradiated onto the diffusion plate 216, and other part of the light is reflected by the reflecting plate 211 and then irradiated onto the diffusion plate 216. The outer surface of the diffusion plate 216 generally defines the light-emitting surface of the backlight unit 201.
FIG. 16 is an exploded perspective view depicting a LCD device 200 that includes the backlight unit 201. In the LCD device, a liquid crystal panel 202 is connected to an X-direction drive circuit 204 and a Y-direction drive circuit 205 by respective TCPs (Tape Carrier Packages) 206. The panel 202 is clamped and held between a shield front frame 203 and the backlight unit 201. The liquid crystal panel 202 is mounted on the light-emitting surface of the backlight unit 201, or more precisely, on the optical sheet 217 thereof. The panel 202 controls the transmission of the backlight emitted by the backlight unit 210, to thereby display desired images.
In the backlight unit 201, the lamps 212 are interposed between the reflecting plate 211 and the diffusion plate 216. Therefore, the heat generated by the lamps 212 is hardly radiated outside. The heat generated by the lamps 212 heats the diffusion plate 216. Mounted on the diffusion plate 216, the liquid crystal panel 202 is heated by the heat it receives from outside, and also by the heat radiated from the diffusion plate 216. Consequently, in the LCD device 200, the liquid crystal panel 202 may be heated up to an undesired temperature, particularly in a higher-temperature ambient, and may fail to display images of desired quality. In other words, the LCD device 200 may have its rated operating temperature lowered by the backlight unit.
As in most cases, the lamps 212 exhibit a temperature characteristic. That is, the luminescence efficiency of the lamps 212 increases as the temperature rises, reaches a peak efficiency at a specific temperature, and decreases as the temperature falls from the specific temperature. Thus, in the backlight unit 201, there is a problem in that the lamps 212 have a reduced luminescence efficiency when their operating temperature rises above the specific temperature, due to the heat they generate. The backlight unit 201 has another problem in that when the lamps 212 are used at high temperatures, the lamps are degraded due to heat and thus the lifetime of the lamps 212 is reduced. As described heretofore, the backlight unit 201 has problems due to the heat that the lamps 212 itself radiate.
Various techniques of radiating the heat generated by the lamps 212 of the backlight unit are described in, for example, Jpn. Pat. Appln. Publication Nos. 2002-196326, 2003-84280, and 8 (1996)-29785. The technique described in Pat. Publication No. 2002-196326 is to radiate the heat of the lamps 212 through the ventilation holes that are formed in the reflecting plate 211 disposed at the rear side of the lamps 212. The technique described in Publication No. 2003-84280 is to radiate the heat of the lamps 212 from the reflecting plate 211, via a heat-radiating body that contacts the lamps 212 with the reflecting plate 211. The technique described in Publication No. 8-29785 is to provide a transparent substrate 220 with a stripe member 219 having a comparatively higher thermal conductivity, between the diffusion plate 216 and the lamps 212 as shown in FIG. 17, and to radiate the heat absorbed in the transparent substrate 220 through a heat-radiating member 221.
FIG. 18 is a sectional view taken parallel to the Y-Z plane in FIG. 16, and illustrates the LCD device 200 being assembled. It is desired in the LCD device 200 that the width (width D, in FIG. 18) of frame of the LCD device be reduced so that the LCD device 200 may become smaller without reducing the effective display area. To this end, the TCPs 206 are bent in the LCD device 200 to dispose the X-direction drive circuit 204 and the Y-direction drive circuit 205 on the rear side of the backlight unit 201 in the vicinity of the reflecting plate 211 of the backlight unit 201. In this configuration, however, if the heat is radiated from the reflecting plate 211 as is the case described in Publications Nos. 2002-196326 and 2003-84280, the X-direction drive circuit 204 and the Y-direction drive circuit 205 will be heated, thereby reducing the reliability of the drive circuits 204 and 205. If a transparent substrate having a stripe member is provided between the diffusion plate 216 and the lamps 212, as is the case described in Publication No. 8-29785, the luminance at the light-emitting surface will be reduced.
Another type of the backlight unit is also known. This type is called double-surface backlight unit, which has another light-emitting surface at the rear side thereof, in addition to the light-emitting surface on the front side. A double-surface backlight unit is described in, for example, Jpn. Pat. Appln. Publication No. 2000-338483. FIG. 19 is an exploded perspective view of the double-surface backlight unit 201a described therein. The double-surface backlight unit 201a includes a front part and a rear part, which are symmetrical with respect to the lamps 212. Each of the front and rear parts has a lamp-supporting base 215, a diffusion plate 216, an optical sheet 217, and a backlight chassis 218. The double-surface backlight unit 201a has no component that corresponds to the reflecting plate 211 (FIG. 15) that is opposed to the diffusion plate 216. The lamps 212, which are arranged in a row, emit light through both the light-emitting surfaces.
In the double-surface backlight unit 201a, the heat generated from the lamps 212 involves a problem as in the case of the single-surface backlight unit 201. Having no reflecting plate 211 at the rear side of the lamps 212, the double-surface backlight unit 201a cannot adopt a structure that radiates heat from the rear side, differently from the backlight units described in Publications Nos. 2002-196326 and 2003-84280. If the double-surface backlight unit 201a has a transparent substrate 220 provided between the diffusion plate 216 and the lamps 212 as is the case described in Publication No. 8-29785, the luminescence efficiency at the light-emitting surfaces will decrease similarly to the single-side backlight unit 210 described above.