There is provided an ink composition for ink jet recording that, even on printing paper for running-on, can realize excellent gloss and good color reproduction and, at the same time, is excellent in ejection stability and recovery from clogging. The ink composition for ink jet recording comprises at least a colorant, water, an alkanediol, and a surfactant, wherein the alkanediol comprises a water soluble 1,2-alkanediol and a slightly water soluble 1,2-alkanediol, and the surfactant is a polyorganosiloxane.

1. Field of Invention
The present invention provides an ink composition for ink jet recording, which, even on various recording media, especially printing paper for running-on, can yield images having excellent gloss and color reproduction and, at the same time, can realize excellent ejection stability and recovery from clogging, and a method for ink jet recording using the ink composition.
2. Background Art
Ink jet recording is a printing method wherein droplets of an ink are ejected and deposited on recording media, such as paper, to perform printing. An innovative advance of a recent ink jet recording technique has made it possible to realize the production of images having quality comparable to images produced by silver salt photography or images yielded by high-definition printing realized only by offset printing. This trend has led to the development of inks for ink jet recording that can realize images having a high level of glossy impression comparable to the gloss of images produced by silver salt photography, using the so-called specialty papers which are recording media having a high level of gloss comparable to photographic paper, art paper and the like used in the field of silver salt photography and offset printing. Further, inks for ink jet recording which can realize image quality comparable to the image quality of images produced by silver salt photography even on plain paper, have also been developed.
Inks, which have been generally used for ink jet recording, are water-based inks that comprise water as a main component and a colorant and various additives. Regarding the colorant, the development of pigment-based inks utilizing the properties of the pigment has recently been forwarded because pigments are superior to dyes in weatherfastness properties such as lightfastness, gasfastness, waterfastness, and moisturefastness. For example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 194500/2005 discloses a pigment-based ink composition having feathering- or bleeding-free properties and excellent gloss on specialty papers that have been realized by using a polysiloxane compound as a surfactant and adding an alkanediol such as 1,2-hexanediol as a solubilizer additive to the ink. Further, Japanese Patent Laid-Open Nos. 72905/2001 and 12583/2003 disclose an ink containing 1,2-hexanediol, which is a water soluble alkanediol, and 1,2-octanediol, which is a slightly water soluble alkanediol, as additives. The claimed advantage of this ink is feathering- or bleeding-free properties on plain papers. Further, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 263970/2005 discloses an ink composition comprising an acetylene glycol compound and a polysiloxane compound as surfactants and further 1,2-octanediol. The claimed advantage of this ink composition is to realize high print density on plain paper.
The widespread use of techniques for forming images from digital data in recent years has led to an increased need for digital color proofs (DTPs) particularly in the field of printing, and an ink jet recording method has also become applied to DTPs. The color reproduction and stability reproduction of printed matters are required of DTPs. Accordingly, when proofs are prepared by the ink jet recording method, specialty paper for ink jet recording has been generally used. In applications for color proof, however, ink jet recording on printing paper for running-on rather than specialty papers has been highly desired. Further, it is considered that proof cost can be significantly reduced if printed matter output directly on printing paper for running-on can be used as a final proof sample without use of any specialty paper. The printing paper for running-on is a coated paper having on its surface a coating layer for receiving an oil-based ink. In the printing paper for running-on, however, the capability of the coating layer to absorb ink is disadvantageously poor. Therefore, when water-based pigment inks, which have been generally used in ink jet recording, are used, the penetrability of the inks into recording media is so low that feathering or bleeding or uneven coagulation sometimes occurs in images.
When a high-penetration ink comprising the above polysiloxane surfactant and 1,2-hexanediol as a solubilizer for the polysiloxane surfactant is used from the viewpoint of solving the above problem, the feathering or bleeding problem can be reduced, but on the other hand, a problem of a difference in color reproduction between proofs and final printed matters and a problem of stable color reproduction sometimes take place.

Ink composition for ink jet recording, recording method and recorded matter


Fuel compositions for internal combustion engines, comprising a principle amount of a liquid hydrocarbon fuel and an amount, which has a cleaning effect, of at least one propoxylate additive of the formula I

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to novel propoxylate-containing fuel compositions and novel additive concentrates.
2. Description of the Background
Carburetors and intake systems of gasoline engines as well as injection systems for fuel metering in gasoline and diesel engines are increasingly being contaminated by impurities. The impurities arise from dust particles from the air taken in by the engine, unburnt hydrocarbon residues from the combustion chamber and the vent gases from the crank case which are passed into the carburetor.
These residues shift the air/fuel ratio during idling and in the lower part-load range so that the mixture becomes richer and combustion less complete. As a result of this, the proportion of uncombusted or partially combusted hydrocarbons in the exhaust gas increases and the gasoline consumption rises.
It is known that these disadvantages are avoided by using fuel additives for keeping valves and carburetor or injection systems clean (cf. for example: M. Rossenbeck in Katalysatoren, Tenside, Mineralöladditive, editors J. Falbe, U. Hasserodt, page 223, G. Thieme Verlag, Stuttgart 1978). A distinction is now made between two generations, depending on the mode of action and preferred place of action of such detergent additives. The first generation of additives could only prevent the formation of deposits in the intake system but could not remove existing deposits. On the other hand, the additives of the second generation can prevent and eliminate deposits (keep-clean and clean-up effect). This is permitted in particular by their excellent heat stability in zones of high temperature, in particular at the intake valves.
The molecular structural principle of these additives of the second generation which act as detergents is based on the linking of polar structures with generally higher molecular weight nonpolar or oleophilic radicals.
Typical members of the second generation of additives are products based on polyisobutene in the nonpolar molecular moiety, in particular additives of the polyisobutylamine type. Such detergents can be prepared by two different multistage synthesis processes, starting from polyisobutenes: the first process takes place via chlorination of the polymeric parent structure, followed by nucleophilic substitution of the polymeric parent structure by amines or preferably ammonia. The disadvantage of this process is the use of chlorine, which results in the occurrence of chlorine- or chloride-containing products, which is now by no means desirable. In the second process, the polyisobutylamines are prepared starting from polyisobutene, by hydroformylation and subsequent reductive amination according to EP-A-0 244 616.
Detergent additives, which may originate from a large number of chemical classes of substances, are used in general in combination with a carrier oil. The carrier oils have an additional "washing function", often support and promote the detergents in their action and can help to reduce the required amount of detergent. Specific detergents do not display their action at all until they are combined with a carrier liquid. Usually, viscous, high-boiling and in particular heat-stable liquids are used as carrier oils. They coat the hot metal surface (for example the intake valve) with a thin liquid film and thus prevent or delay to a certain degree the formation or deposition of decomposition products on the metal surfaces, but without being able to replace the detergent additive components.
Suitable carrier oils for the fuels for internal combustion engines are, for example, high-boiling refined mineral oil fractions, as well as synthetic liquids. Suitable mineral carrier oils are, for example, fractions obtained in mineral oil processing.
Examples of suitable synthetic carrier oils are polyolefins, (poly)esters, (poly)alkoxylates, and in particular aliphatic polyethers, aliphatic polyetheramines, alkylphenol-initiated polyethers and alkylphenol-initiated polyetheramines.
Adducts of butylene oxide with alcohols have excellent solubility in fuels but are comparatively expensive products and the starting material butylene oxide has to be prepared by a relatively expensive procedure.
More economical carrier oils can be made available in the form of adducts of propylene oxide with alcohols.
EP-A-0 704 519 describes propoxylates as carrier oil components in combination with a high molecular weight amine and a hydrocarbon polymer.
EP-A-0 374 461 describes such propoxylates for use as a carrier oil in combination with esters of mono- or polycarboxylic acids and alcohols or polyols and amino- or amido-containing detergents. EP-A-0 374 461 expressly states (cf. page 4, line 29 et seq.) that the sole use of the propoxylates described therein reduces the intake valve deposits only to an insufficient extent, namely to values of from 80 to 220 mg per valve.
However, the known additive systems of the prior art which contain carrier oils based on propylene oxide still do not have the optimum cleaning effect in the engine. Furthermore, such adducts of propylene oxide with alcohols often give rise to problems owing to their limited solubility in fuels and owing to their poor compatibility with other additives, so that separation may occur. This effect is displayed in a particularly dramatic way when additive concentrates—additive systems are usually marketed as such—are to be formulated.

Fuel compositions containing propoxylate

Abstract: where    n is an integer from 10 to 20 and    R1 is straight-chain or branched C8-C18-alkyl or C8-C18-alkenyl,if required in combination with at least one detergent additive, e.g. a polyalkylamine additive of the formula IIR2—NH2   (II)where    R2 is a straight-chain or branched polyalkyl radical having a number average molecular weight of from about 500 to about 5000,and fuel additive compositions which contain propoxylates of the formula I and, if required, further additives, such as the aforementioned polyalkylamines of the formula II, as intake valve cleaners.


A doghouse includes a plurality of side panels connecting a front panel and a rear panel. A roof includes two roof panels each including runners that slidably connect to upper ledges in the front and rear panels. The side panels can be connected to the front and rear panels using hooks on the side panels that are slidably engaged to receiving members in slots in the front and rear panels. Alternatively, the side panels can slidably connect to the front and rear panels using a tee or dovetail joint. The prefabricated doghouse can be disassembled and reassembled multiple times over the lifetime of the doghouse without experiencing significant wear and tear. The doghouse can be assembled and disassembled efficiently by following a series of easy-to-follow steps. A user can disassemble the doghouse, store the doghouse, and easily assemble the doghouse with a minimal amount of time and effort.

Conventional doghouses are available in different sizes, shapes, and materials. Doghouses also differ in the way in which they are manufactured and assembled.
One type of conventional doghouse is one that is built board-by-board from scratch using nails and other non-removable permanent fasteners for connecting the walls and roof. Building a doghouse from scratch involves excessive amounts of time and effort to plan and construct. Furthermore, such a doghouse is usually further limited by a lack of mobility once the house is built, since the nails and other non-removable fasteners for connecting the adjoining walls are permanently fixed to the doghouse. Any holes created by nailing the boards together may become worn and loose once the nails are removed from the doghouse, thereby preventing the nails from being reinserted into the holes. Thus, this type of doghouse is not typically built to be disassembled and reassembled.
Another type of conventional doghouse is prefabricated in two pieces and has a separate roof that is fastened to a body of the doghouse. This type of doghouse uses a large amount of space to store or transport due to the bulkiness of the body and the roof, especially if the doghouse provides a large amount of interior space.
Some conventional doghouses use pegs for connecting walls or other portions of the doghouse. These types of fasteners do not provide a sufficient amount of strength and reliability, since the pegs can slip out of their respective holes.
What has heretofore not been available is a sturdy and reliable prefabricated doghouse that can be assembled and reassembled without excessive wear and tear. Additionally, what has heretofore not been available is a doghouse that can be stored and transported using a minimal amount of space while providing a large amount of interior space for the pet after the doghouse is assembled.


The present invention relates to lubricating oil compositions comprising sulfurised esters that exhibit good antioxidancy performance whilst maintaining nitrile elastomer seal compatibility

Lubricating oil compositions for automotive engines have evolved over the years to include a variety of additives to enhance performance. In recent years environmental concerns have lead to ever stricter limits on chemical emissions whilst consumer pressure leads to ever more demanding performance requirements.
There are many types of lubricating oil composition additives used to enhance engine performance. Whilst a particular additive may exhibit benefits in one aspect of engine performance that same additive may also exhibit detrimental effects in another aspect.
One of the most effective antioxidant and antiwear agents, from both a performance and cost-effectiveness standpoint, used conventionally in lubricating oil compositions for internal combustion engines comprises dihydrocarbyl dithiophosphate metal salts. The metal may be an alkali or alkaline earth metal, or zinc, aluminum, lead, tin, molybdenum, manganese, nickel or copper. Of these, zinc salts of dihydrocarbyl dithiophosphate (ZDDP) are most commonly used. While such compounds are particularly effective antioxidants and antiwear agents such compounds introduce phosphonis, sulfur and ash into the engine that can contribute to deleterious exhaust emissions. Thus levels of phosphorous, sulfur and ash in a lubricating oil composition are now strictly controlled in order to reduce environmental impact. In particular, dihydrocarbyl dithiophosphate metal salts contribute significantly towards the phosphorous content of a lubricating oil composition.
In order to reduce the phosphorous content of a lubricating oil composition it is usual to limit the amount of dihydrocarbyl dithiophosphate metal salts in the lubricant. However, it is proving difficult to reduce the amount of dihydrocarbyl dithiophosphate metal salts in lubricating oil compositions without causing an unacceptable reduction in engine performance.
In the past sulfur containing compounds were considered for their antioxidancy properties, but were not favoured over dihydrocarbyl dithiophosphate metal salts due to the sulfur content and their association with copper corrosion and poor nitrile elastomer seals compatibility.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,840,672 discloses an antioxidant system for a fully formulated lubricant comprising a sulfur containing compound which is stated to exhibit excellent nitrile elastomer seals compatibility. The antioxidant composition comprises a combination of (A) a secondary diarylamine, (B) at least one sulfurised olefin and or sulfurised hindered phenol and (C) at least one molybdenum compound. Typically, the molybdenum compound is present in an amount sufficient to provide the lubricating oil composition with from 60 to 1000 ppm of molybdenum. U.S. Pat. No. 5,840,672 postulates that the sulfur containing compound can be used in the composition without detrimental effect on the nitrile elastomer seals. It is clear from the disclosure of U.S. Pat. No. 5,840,672 that the combination of all three elements of this composition is essential in order to achieve the antioxidancy performance without the detrimental nitrile seals performance. It would seem that the molybdenum compound is acting as a sulfur scavenger in the composition of U.S. Pat. No. 5,840,672 and thus controlling the amount of active sulfur present in the lubricant and thereby the nitrile seals performance.
It is an object of preferred embodiments of the present invention to provide an alternative means of attaining antioxidancy performance without detriment to nitrile seals performance and without causing metal corrosion.


Electromagnetic deflectors and methods for their manufacture are disclosed. The excitation coils inside such deflectors can be situated relative to each other and to an optical axis with a high degree of accuracy and precision. A pair of loop-shaped channels are formed opposite each other in the sides of a cylindrical insulating cylinder. An electrically conductive material is embedded in the channels to form a set of opposing coils operable to deflect a charged particle beam passing axially through the cylinder in one dimension. Multiple cylinders each comprising a set of opposing coils can be concentrically assembled to provide, e.g., a biaxial deflector operable to deflect the beam in an X-dimension and a Y-dimension. In such a biaxial deflector, the sets of coils are arranged perpendicular to each other. The cylinder(s) is placed concentrically inside a cylindrical outer casing made of a ferromagnetic material such as ferrite to make an electromagnetic deflector.

Deflectors are used in various devices for deflecting a beam of charged particles in a desired direction or manner. An example of an apparatus employing deflectors is a scanning electron microscope in which an electron beam must be scanned at high speed and with high precision across the surface of a specimen.
Another example of an apparatus employing deflectors is an electron-beam transfer device used to reductively transfer a mask pattern defining, e.g., a semiconductor integrated circuit, onto the surface of a substrate, e.g., a semiconductor wafer. In such apparatus, a field-selection deflector is used to direct the electron beam onto a single mask subfield, among multiple subfields of a complete mask pattern to be transferred to the substrate. Deflectors are also used in such apparatus to direct the electron beam, after the beam has passed through the mask subfield, to the corresponding transfer subfield on the substrate surface.
Electromagnetic deflectors, used principally to deflect an electron beam using a magnetic field generated by a excitation coil, are primarily used in applications requiring the beam to be deflected with low aberration.
Prior-art excitation coils are formed by winding copper wire usually having a round or nearly square cross-section and having an insulative coating. Normally, deflectors operable to deflect a beam in one dimension include a pair of excitation coils opposing each other across an "optical axis." Such coils are usually disposed inside a cylindrical element made, e.g., from ferrite, thereby forming an electromagnetic deflector. Since it is normally necessary that the electron beam be independently deflectable in two orthogonal dimensions, many prior-art deflectors employ two pairs of coils, each pair being situated perpendicularly to the other pair.
In making prior-art electromagnetic deflectors as described above that include a pair of coils made by winding copper wire, it is difficult to position and attach the pair of coils to a cylindrical outer casing with a degree of accuracy demanded by modern applications. As a result, whenever the coils are energized with electric current, they frequently exhibit an unacceptable degree of deflection aberration (deflection distortion).
Prior-art electromagnetic deflectors intended for use in deflecting an electron beam in two perpendicular directions also frequently exhibit problems due to the difficulty in arranging the two pairs of coils precisely perpendicular to each other inside the outer casing. Representative problems with such deflectors include a tendency for the beam to not be deflected accurately in the desired direction(s).


A vehicle occupant restraint systems including an airbag which has a first airbag chamber and a second airbag chamber or, more generally, a first partial region and a second partial region. The first and the second airbag chambers are connected to each other so that, as a function of the internal pressures present, gas from the first airbag chamber can flow into the second airbag chamber and gas from the second airbag chamber can flow into the first airbag chamber. The second airbag chamber may include an elastic wall, so that, upon a loading of the first airbag chamber, gas flows into the second airbag chamber and, in the process, elastically expands the second airbag chamber.

The application relates to vehicle occupant restraint systems and to a method for distributing gas between two airbag chambers of an airbag, and to a method for increasing the internal pressure in a partial region of an airbag.
Multipart airbags for vehicle occupant restraint systems, which have at least one first and one second airbag chamber, are generally known. Multichamber airbags of this type are used, for example, in side airbag systems, the airbag forming, for example, a thorax chamber and a head chamber. A multichamber airbag of this type is described in U.S. 5-A-5,718,450.
EP 1 375 262 A1 and EP 0 835 193 B1 describe airbag systems, in which an inner bag or a tube is situated in the interior of a main chamber of an airbag and, when the airbag is deployed, is rolled back outwards. In this case, the parts which are rolled back outwards have a discharge opening. The effect of the airbag systems described is to provide a discharging of gas from a discharge opening in a manner offset in terms of time by the regions which are arranged on the inside first of all having to be rolled back outwards.
EP 1 022 198 A1 discloses an airbag system, in which a discharge opening of an airbag is closed on its outer side by an elastic membrane. The elastic membrane expands without being separated from the airbag in the event of the airbag interacting with a vehicle occupant and there being an associated increase in pressure in the airbag. In this case, a low equalizing volume is provided.
DE 100 18 170 A1 describes an airbag arrangement for motor vehicles with an inflatable airbag, the expansion of which is restricted by a restricting casing in the event of an occupant being out of position. In the normal protective case, the restriction casing tears due to a higher internal pressure in this case in the airbag.

Vehicle occupant restraint system including an airbag


Devices in a processing system may be managed by performing a first scan of a bus of the processing system from a first partition. In one embodiment, the first scan may discover location information for devices on the bus. A communications hub of the processing system may be programmed to hide at least one of the devices on the bus. After the communications hub is so programmed, the first partition may scan the bus again. A second partition of the processing system may receive location information for one or more of the devices detected in the first scan but not detected in the second scan. In one embodiment, the second partition may boot, and then the communications hub may again be programmed to hide at least one of the devices on the bus. An operating system may then boot on the first partition. Other embodiments are described and claimed.

In a typical legacy data processing system, firmware provides the machine instructions that control the system when the system is being powered up or has been reset, but before an operating system (OS) is booted. That is, the firmware controls the pre-OS or pre-boot operations. Firmware may also control certain operations after the OS has been loaded, such as operations for handling certain hardware events and/or system interrupts. The firmware may handle pre-boot and post-boot operations through a set of routines referred to collectively as a basic input/output system (BIOS). The BIOS thus provides the interface between the hardware components of the system and software components such as the OS.
For purposes of this disclosure, the term "firmware" refers to software that may execute in a processing system before the processing system has booted to an OS, software that may provide runtime services that allow the OS or other components to interact with the processing system hardware, and similar types of software components. Traditionally, firmware has typically been stored in non-volatile memory. In more recent years, however, processing systems have been developed that store firmware in other types of storage devices or obtain firmware from remote repositories.
For purposes of this disclosure, depending upon the particular implementation under consideration, the term "processing unit" may denote an individual central processing unit (CPU) within a processing system, a processing core within a CPU, a logical processing unit such as a hyper-thread (HT), or any similar processing resource, or any collection of such resources configured to operate collectively as a unit. In a system where multiple processing units exist, the operating system (OS) normally owns all of the processing units.
Also, in some processing systems, it is possible to hide one or more of the processing units from the OS, for instance by modifying the advanced configuration and power interface (ACPI) tables produced by the BIOS. In some systems it is also possible to hide one or more portions of random access memory (RAM) from the OS. Additionally, in some systems, several peripheral and integrated devices can be hidden from the OS, for example by updating device-hide registers or other locations in the system's input/output (I/O) controller hub (ICH). These techniques may be used to hide devices for debugging purposes.

Method and apparatus for assigning devices to a partition


Method, apparatus and system for isolating input/output adapter error domains in a data processing system. Errors occurring in one input/output adapter are isolated from other input/output adapters of the data processing system by functionality in a host bridge that connects the input/output adapters to a system bus of the data processing system, thus permitting the use of low cost, industry standard switches and bridges external to the host bridge.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates generally to the data processing field and, more particularly, to a method, apparatus and system for isolating input/output adapter error domains in a data processing system.
2. Description of Related Art
In a server environment, it is important to be able to isolate input/output adapters (IOAs) so that an IOA can only obtain access to the resources which are allocated to it. Isolating IOAs from one another is important to create a system that is robust from a reliability and availability standpoint, and is especially important in a logical partitioned (LPAR) data processing system, so that IOAs, or parts of IOAs, can be allocated on an individual basis to different LPAR partitions.
In particular, in an LPAR data processing system, multiple operating systems or multiple copies of a single operating system are run on a single data processing system platform. Each operating system or operating system copy executing within the data processing system is assigned to a different logical partition, and each partition is allocated a non-overlapping subset of the resources of the platform. Thus, each operating system or operating system copy directly controls a distinct set of allocatable resources within the platform.
Among the platform resources that may be allocated to different partitions in an LPAR data processing system include regions of system memory and IOAs or parts of IOAs. Thus, different regions of system memory and different IOAs or parts of IOAs may be assigned to different partitions of the system. In such an environment, it is important that the platform provide a mechanism to enable an error occurring as a result of an operation with an IOA to be isolated to the particular partition to which the IOA is assigned. For example, for peripheral component interconnect (PCI) busses, if one IOA activates the System Error (SERR) signal on the bus, it is indistinguishable as to which IOA activated the signal since it is a shared signal. In such a situation where the error is not isolated, the system hardware must ensure that all partitions see the same error; and this requirement is contrary to the definition and intent of logical partitioning.
One solution that addresses the PCI problem is to assign all IOAs under one PCI Host Bridge (PHB) to the same LPAR partition. However, doing so results in a granularity that is not very usable. Ideally, a user should be able to assign IOAs to different partitions regardless of which PHB the IOA falls under.
Currently, error isolation between IOAs is accomplished by using unique, specially designed bridge chips that are located externally of the PCI Host Bridge (PHB). These external bridge chips include Enhanced Error Handling (EEH) technology (see, for example, commonly assigned application entitled "ISOLATION OF I/O BUS ERRORS TO A SINGLE PARTITION IN AN LPAR ENVIRONMENT", Ser. No. 09/589,664), which is effective in preventing errors generated by one IOA from affecting partitions other than the partition to which the IOA is assigned. Such unique bridge chips, however, are relatively expensive and preclude the use of less costly, industry standard bridges in the data processing system.
It would, accordingly, be advantageous to provide for isolation of input/output adapter error domains in a data processing system without requiring the use of expensive, unique bridge chips.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Isolation of input/output adapter error domains

International Business Machines Corporation


A user interface at a computing device with a sensitive display is disclosed. A dialog is popped up, on the sensitive display, at a position that is predetermined pixels away from the position of hover or a tap of an object detected by the sensitive display. A menu for operation of a computer program is displayed responsive to such hover being detected above a predetermined location within a screen of the computer program on the sensitive display. An assistance object for assisting a tappable object to be tapped is displayed responsive to such hover being detected above the tappable object on the sensitive display. A tappable object is emphasized responsive to such hover being detected above the tappable object on the sensitive display.

There have been marketed computing devices such as PCs (Personal Computers), laptops, mobile phones, and tablets. Such computing device nowadays has one or more great memories and one or more great processors, thereby becoming multi-functional with various computer programs executable on the device. Such computer programs may include, for example, a text editor, a WWW (World Wide Web) browser, and video games.
The multi-functional computing device should be welcomed, but, at the same time, may require complicated operations for users thereby making usability worse. Improvement in a user interface in such computing device is great concern for making usability better. For example, the user interface is improved by use of a sensitive display. The sensitive display typically detects a contact or a tap of an object like a user's finger onto the surface of the sensitive display as well as displays graphics. The sensitive display may be advantageous in that it may enable intuitive and easy operations for the users. More improvement in a user interface through the sensitive display has been sought.
Usability may be made worse when the multi-functional computing device is a handheld device that is small for mobility and is provided with a tiny display and a tiny loudspeaker. For example, in playing video with such computing device, the video displayed on its local display is so small that the user may feel he/she would like to enjoy the video with a larger remote or external display device. In another example, in playing music with such computing device, the sound outputted through its local loudspeaker is so unsatisfactory that the user may feel he/she would like to enjoy the music with a larger remote or external loudspeaker. To do so, it is advantageous if the multi-functional device can communicate with a remote media-playing device such as a remote display device and a remote loudspeaker. Thus, improvement in a user interface for use in a computing device in connection with a remote media-playing device is also great concern.

User interface for use in computing device with sensitive display


A metal gasket 10 includes a pair of bead plates 14 and 14 having a cylinder hole 12 corresponding to a cylinder bore, a full bead 22 surrounding the cylinder hole, a first intermediate plate 18 interposed between the pair of bead plates, and a shim plate 16 interposed between the first intermediate plate and one bead plate in an area around the cylinder hole. The shim plate 16 is disposed to overlap with the full bead 22, and the thickness of a contact portion 19 to contact with the shim plate 16 of the first intermediate plate changes in the peripheral direction of the cylinder hole.

Heretofore, there has been known a metal gasket which is interposed between joint surfaces of a cylinder block and a cylinder head to fasten the cylinder block and the cylinder head by a fastening bolt so as to seal the joint surfaces. It is known that when this kind of metal gasket is interposed between the cylinder head and the cylinder block to fasten them by the fastening bolt, a fastening load of the position adjacent to the bolt hole into which the fastening bolt is inserted enlarges, and the fastening load of the position away from the bolt hole lessens, that is, the fastening load around the cylinder hole becomes nonuniform.
To solve such a problem, heretofore, a metal gasket has been proposed, in which a pair of bead plates having a cylinder hole corresponding to a cylinder bore and a full bead surrounding the cylinder hole, an intermediate plate interposed between this pair of bead plates, and a shim plate interposed between one bead plate and the intermediate plate inside the full bead are provided, and the thickness of a contact portion to contact the shim plate in the intermediate plate is set thin at the position adjacent to the bolt hole into which the fastening bolt is inserted, and is set thick at the position away from the bolt hole (Patent Document 1).
According to the above described metal gasket, since the thickness of the contact portion at the position adjacent to the bolt hole whose fastening load increases is made thin, the fastening load of that portion can be made small, whereas the thickness of the contact portion at the position away from the bolt hole whose fastening load decreases is made thick, and therefore, the fastening load of that portion can be made large. Consequently, if the thickness of the contact portion is changed so as to be most appropriate, the fastening load around the cylinder hole can be made uniform.
Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H11-201285
However, in the conventional metal gasket disclosed in the Patent Document 1, since a shim plate is provided inside a full bead, effective utilization of the elasticity of the full bead has been interfered by a thickness portion of the shim plate as a result. In other words, if the shim plate is not provided, the full bead can utilize the whole area of the height of the full bead as an elastic area, but if the shim plate is provided, the full bead has the elastic area reduced by the thickness portion of the shim plate, and consequently, effective utilization of the elasticity of the full bead is interfered by a thickness portion of the shim plate. As a result, a follow-up performance to head amplitude at the time of combustion is lowered, thereby bringing about a lowering of sealability.
The present invention has been made in view of the above described problem, and an object of the invention is to provide a metal gasket capable of enhancing the sealability by effectively utilizing the elasticity of the full bead, and eliminating the fluctuation of fastening load distribution around the cylinder hole to suppress the local concentration of the fastening load, thereby to enhance durability by suppressing damages of the full bead and the shim plate in the metal gasket applied by interposing into joint surfaces with a cylinder block and a cylinder head.


A chemical compound having the formula: wherein R is an alkyl group and M.sup.+ counterion is an alkali metal, and a process of making the same.

Various taxane compounds are known to exhibit anti-tumor activity. As a result of this activity, taxanes have received increasing attention in the scientific and medical community. Primary among these is a compound known as "paclitaxel" which is also referred to in the literature as "taxol". Paclitaxel has been approved for the chemotherapeutic treatment of several different varieties of tumors, and the clinical trials indicate that paclitaxel promises a broad range of potent anti-leukemic and tumor-inhibiting activity. Paclitaxel has the formula: ##STR1##
Paclitaxel is a naturally occurring taxane diterpenoid which is found in several species of the yew (genus Taxus, family Taxaceae). Unfortunately, the concentration of this compound is very low. The species of evergreen are also slow growing. Even though the bark of the yew trees typically exhibit the highest concentration of paclitaxel, the production of one kilogram of paclitaxel requires approximately 16,000 pounds of bark. Thus, the long term prospects for the availability of paclitaxel through isolation are discouraging.
While the presence of paclitaxel in the yew tree is in extremely low concentrations, there are a variety of other taxane compounds, such as Baccatin III, cephalommanine, 10-deacetylbaccatin III, etc., which are also able to be extracted from the yew bark. Some of these other taxane compounds are more readily extracted in higher yields. Indeed, a relatively high concentration of 10-deacetylbaccatin III can be extracted from the leaves of the yew as a renewable resource.
In order to successfully synthesize paclitaxel, convenient access to a chiral, non-racemic side chain and an abundant natural source of a usable baccatin III backbone as well as an effective means of joining the two are necessary. However, the esterification of the side chain to the protected baccatin III backbone is difficult because of the sterically hindered C-13 hydroxyl in the baccatin III backbone which is located within the concave region of the hemispherical protected baccatin III skeleton.
One technique for the semi-synthesis of paclitaxel is found in U.S. Pat. No. 5,684,175 to Sisti et al. In that patent, paclitaxel is synthesized by joining C7-TES baccatin III with N-carbamate protected C2' hydroxyl benzyl-type protected (2R,3S)-3-phenylisoserine, where the C2' hydroxyl is protected by a hydrogenable benzyl-type group such as benzyloxymethyl (BOM) or benzyl. Following the esterification of the protected baccatin III and the protected side chain, the compound may be suitably deprotected, acylated, and further deprotected to yield paclitaxel.
While the existing techniques for synthesizing paclitaxel certainly have merit, there is still a need for improved chemical processes which can produce this anti-cancer compound and intermediates useful in the synthesis and semi-synthesis thereof. The present invention is directed to the synthesis of C-7 CBZ protected baccatin III and analogs thereof through a metal alkoxide intermediate. The C-7 CBZ protected baccatin III can then be esterified with a suitably protected side chain, then the resulting compound deprotected to yield paclitaxel or other analogs.


A patterned perpendicular magnetic recording medium of the type that has spaced-apart pillars with magnetic material on their ends and with trenches between the pillars that are nonmagnetic regions is made with a method that allows use of a pre-etched substrate. A nonmagnetic capping layer is located in the trenches above the nonmagnetic regions. The substrate has diffusion material in the trenches that when heated will diffuse into the magnetic recording layer material and chemically react with it. The pillars are formed of material that will not diffuse into the recording layer. The recording layer is formed over the entire substrate and a nonmagnetic capping layer that is not chemically reactive with the diffusion material is formed over the recording layer in the trenches. The substrate is annealed to cause the recording layer material in the trenches and the material in the substrate to diffuse into one another and chemically react to render the trenches nonmagnetic. The capping layer suppresses the diffusion of material from the substrate to the surface in the trenches and thus prevents migration of diffusion material to the recording layer material on the ends of the pillars.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to patterned perpendicular magnetic recording media, such as disks for use in magnetic recording hard disk drives, and more particularly to patterned disks wherein the data bits are stored on elevated magnetic data islands isolated from one another by recessed nonmagnetic regions.
2. Description of the Related Art
Magnetic recording hard disk drives with patterned magnetic recording media have been proposed to increase data density. In patterned media the magnetic recording layer on the disk is patterned into small isolated data islands arranged in concentric data tracks. Patterned-media disks may be longitudinal magnetic recording disks, wherein the magnetization directions are parallel to or in the plane of the recording layer, or perpendicular magnetic recording disks, wherein the magnetization directions are perpendicular to or out-of-the-plane of the recording layer. To produce the required magnetic isolation of the patterned data islands, the magnetic moment of the spaces between the islands must be destroyed or substantially reduced to render these spaces essentially nonmagnetic. In one type of patterned media, the data islands are elevated, spaced-apart pillars that extend above the disk substrate surface to define troughs or trenches on the substrate surface between the pillars. This type of patterned media is of interest because substrates with the pre-etched pattern of pillars and trenches can be produced with relatively low-cost, high volume processes such as lithography and nanoimprinting. The magnetic recording layer material is then deposited over the entire surface of the pre-etched substrate to cover both the ends of the pillars and the trenches. It was believed that because the trenches were recessed they would be far enough from the read/write head to not adversely affect reading or writing. This type of patterned media is described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,440,520, and by Moritz et al., "Patterned Media Made From Pre-Etched Wafers: A Promising Route Toward Ultrahigh-Density Magnetic Recording", IEEE Transactions on Magnetics, Vol. 38, No. 4, July 2002, pp. 1731-1736. This type of patterned media with perpendicular magnetization on the pillar ends is believed to provide opportunity for ultra-high density magnetic recording. However, it has been discovered that the magnetic material in the trenches creates noise in the readback signal and also adversely affects writing the individual data bits (i.e., magnetizing the recording material on the pillar ends).
Pending application Ser. No. 11/558,846 filed Nov. 10, 2006, and assigned to the same assignee as this application, describes a patterned perpendicular magnetic recording medium that allows use of a pre-etched substrate with patterned pillars. The substrate has material in the trenches that diffuses into the magnetic recording layer material in the trenches during an annealing process. The diffusion material chemically reacts or interdiffuses with one or more of the elements in the recording layer material to render the trenches nonmagnetic or with significantly reduced magnetic moment. The time and temperature of the annealing process needs to be carefully controlled to assure there is no adverse effect on the recording layer material on the pillars.
What is needed is a patterned perpendicular magnetic recording medium with trenches rendered nonmagnetic by chemical reaction of diffusion material and recording layer material, and a manufacturing process that prevents any chemical reaction of the diffusion material with the recording layer material on the pillars.

Perpendicular magnetic recording medium with patterned magnetic islands and nonmagnetic trenches and manufacturing method for suppressing surface diffusion of trench material

Hitachi Global Storage Technologies Netherlands B.V.


In a fuel injection control system for a multi-cylinder internal combustion engine including a high pressure fuel pump for supplying fuel under pressure to the fuel injection valves of the various cylinders through a distribution line including a fuel distribution element dividing the fuel supply to two groups of fuel injection valves, the fuel distribution element includes a piston disposed in a cylinder and adapted to interrupt fuel flow to any one of the two groups in which a leak occurs such that fuel supply to the other group of fuel injection valves can be maintained for an emergency operation of the engine. If small leaks are detected by the electronic engine operating control, the valves of one of the groups are momentarily deactivated to cause the distribution element to interrupt the fuel supply to the other group of fuel injection valves. If this action eliminates the leakage, the leakage is determined to be in the supply to the other group of fuel injection valves and the fuel supply to the other group of fuel injection valves remains interrupted while the fuel injection valves of the one group are reactivated to permit operation of the engine on an emergency basis.

The invention resides in a fuel injection control system for a multi-cylinder internal combustion engine especially a Diesel engine, including a high-pressure fuel pump supplying fuel, by way of a distribution element and distribution lines, to the fuel injectors of the various cylinders.
Such a fuel injection control system is known, for example, in D 43 35 171 C1. The fuel injection system disclosed therein permits the recognition of leakage in the system and includes means for shutting down the leaking system line. However, the system recognizes only relatively large leakages and, consequently, is effective only when relatively large leakages occur.
It is the object of the present invention to provide a fuel injection control system, which, with improved accuracy can also recognize relatively small leakages and is adapted to provide counter measures in a simple manner.

Fuel injection control system for a multi-cylinder internal combustion engine


A gastrointestinal simulator system includes a thermoregulated bath, two glass beakers situated within the thermoregulated water bath, and a pump. The beakers simulate the stomach and intestines and are coupled together using a tube. A sieve, positioned within the “stomach,” has a plurality of 2 mm holes on its surface to mimic in vivo conditions, where only particles smaller than 2 mm in diameter are transferred to the “intestines.” These collected particles move from “stomach” (specifically, from the sieve) to the “intestines” through the tube coupling the beakers. Cameras may be located inside the water bath for monitoring/recording of the digestion. Alerts, such as voice alerts, may be generated to notify users of any important information and instructions. After digestion, reports of the digestion are automatically generated and stored in a data repository. One or more users are notified that the reports are available for access.

The approaches described in this section are approaches that could be pursued, but not necessarily approaches that have been previously conceived or pursued. Therefore, unless otherwise indicated, it should not be assumed that any of the approaches described in this section qualify as prior art merely by virtue of their inclusion in this section.
Studying human digestibility of food is an essential step in the food industry, especially when new and innovative products are being developed. This is particularly important in the plant-based food industry, where every day new products are created, using unique and often completely new ingredients.
Digestion models can be categorized as either in vitro models or in vivo models. In certain situations, in vitro digestion models are preferred over in vivo digestion models because of their easy implementation, rapid sample processing and data acquisition, and not needing to use animals.
However, traditional in vitro digestion models are costly and inaccessible to most low-resource development teams and countries. Additionally, these traditional in vitro digestion models have been built to be of high capacity (volume). As such, the amounts of reagents and food products to be added during digestion is high, which makes these traditional digestion models expensive to operate.
What is needed is a simulator that allows the simulation of human gastrointestinal conditions, on a laboratory scale and at a lower production and operating cost, and that can be easily built.

Compact dynamic simulator of the human gastrointestinal system


A system for transplanting plants from a seedling tray to a plant tray includes a gripper head having gripper arms which are selectively movable between gripping and release positions. The gripper head moves in combination with a pusher assembly which pushes the plug out of the seedling tray. A frame mounts the gripper head and pusher assembly for movement relative to a seedling tray. The gripper head includes a number of unique features, ensuring that the gripper head gently grips the plant plug, such that the plant plug is not damaged. Further, the pusher assembly "sweeps" a plug out of the compartment such that the gripper head may grip it. In further embodiments, plural units may be used in combination to increase the speed of operation of the inventive system.

The present invention relates to a system for transplanting young plants from seedling trays to larger trays.
In the prior art, complicated systems have been developed to transplant plants from a seedling plug tray, where they have initially germinated, to a larger flat tray where they will have more room to grow. These systems have been unduly complicated, and have sometimes injured the seedlings. These systems have also not been able to rapidly transplant the large number of seedling in a typical seedling tray.
Further, the prior art has not been easily adaptable for use with varying trays and plants. Also, in the prior art, pointed members have often been used to force the seedlings out of the seedling tray compartments. These pointed members have sometimes damaged the young seedlings and their roots.
It would be desirable to develop a plant transplant system which can quickly and accurately transplant plants from a seedling tray to a larger tray. Further, it would be desirable to develop such a system which can transplant the plants without damaging the seedlings. It would also be desirable to develop such a system which is adaptable to various sizes and types of trays and plants.


Dental drill handpiece having a disposable filter cartridge for cleaning drive air, water, chip air, and exhaust passing through the handpiece.

Dental equipment commonly found in a dentist's office today includes a hand held instrument, such as a high speed or low speed drill which is operated by a foot pedal rheostat. The equipment includes several tubes gathered in an adaptor to connect the instrument to a source of compressed air, a source of pressurized water, and an exhaust outlet. The instrument can be easily disconnected from the tubes for cleaning purposes by way of a threaded sleeve coupler. Generally the instrument is sterilized after every use and made ready for the next patient. The water and air, however, are not always filtered to remove dirt and other contamination, and the exhaust which may contain water, air, oil, etc. is frequently open to the atmosphere.
It is an object of this invention to provide a filter cartridge which is designed to fit snugly between the instrument handpiece and the adaptor so as to filter the lines of air, water, and exhaust going to and from the handpiece. It is another object of the invention to provide an easily replaceable filter cartridge to remove dirt, bacteria, and the like from the lines leading to the handpiece. Still other objects will become apparent from the more detailed description which follows.

Dental handpiece with disposable filter cartridge


A hydraulic brake system is provided which does not need a mechanism to feed back the wheel cylinder pressure. The hydraulic brake system generates a brake force by supplying the brake fluid to a wheel cylinder under a high pressure generated by a high pressure source. The brake fluid is supplied to the high pressure source from a reservoir tank storing the brake fluid under atmospheric pressure. A fluid passage connects the high pressure source to both the wheel cylinder and the reservoir tank. An amount of the brake fluid flowing from the high pressure source to the wheel cylinder is controlled by a constant flow valve.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a hydraulic brake system and, more particularly, to an automobile hydraulic brake system which gene rates a brake force by introducing fluid pressure generated by a high pressure source into a wheel cylinder.
2. Description of the Related Art
A conventional hydraulic brake system is described in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No.6-344894 which generates a desired brake force by introducing a hydraulic pressure generated by a hydraulic pump into a wheel cylinder when a brake pedal is operated. The hydraulic pressure introduced into the wheel cylinder is responsive to a force applied to the brake pedal.
In a hydraulic brake system of this type, since the hydraulic pressure introduced into the wheel cylinder is generated by the hydraulic pump, a large brake force can be obtained by applying only a small force to the brake pedal. Accordingly, a brake system having such a hydraulic brake provides a good brake feeling.
The hydraulic brake system described in the above-mentioned patent application has a spool valve which selectively connects one of the hydraulic pump and the reservoir tank to the wheel cylinder. One end of the spool valve is provided with a first pressure receiving surface onto which a master cylinder pressure generated by the master cylinder is applied. Thus, a force equal to a multiplication of the master cylinder pressure and the pressure reviving area of the first pressure receiving surface is applied to the spool valve. This force is hereinafter referred to as a spool valve driving force. The other end of the spool valve is provided with a second pressure receiving surface onto which a wheel cylinder pressure generated by the wheel cylinder is applied. Thus, a force equal to a multiplication of the wheel cylinder pressure and the pressure receiving area of the second pressure receiving surface is applied to the spool valve. This force is hereinafter referred to as a feedback driving force. When the spool valve driving force is greater than the feedback driving force, the spool valve is moved in a direction where the hydraulic pump is connected to the wheel cylinder. Or the other hand, when the spool valve driving force is less than the feedback driving force, the spool valve is moved in a direction where the reservoir tank is connected to the wheel cylinder.
According to the above-mentioned structure, when the spool valve driving force is greater than the feedback driving force, the wheel cylinder is connected to the hydraulic pump until the feedback driving force becomes equal to the spool valve driving force. On the other hand, when the feedback driving force is greater than the spool valve driving force, the wheel cylinder is connected to the reservoir tank until the feedback driving force becomes equal to the spool valve driving force. In this case, the feedback driving force accurately balances with the spool valve driving force. Thus, according to the above-mentioned hydraulic brake system, a precisely controlled pressure, which is responsive to a force applied by an operator and supplied to the wheel cylinder, can be generated by using the hydraulic pump as a high pressure source.
However, since one of the hydraulic cylinder and the reservoir tank is selectively connected to the wheel cylinder, the wheel cylinder pressure is continuously increased while the connection between the hydraulic pump and the wheel cylinder is selected. Thus, it is required to interrupt the connection between the wheel cylinder and the hydraulic pump, when the wheel cylinder pressure reaches a predetermined pressure relative to the master cylinder pressure, by applying to the spool valve the feedback driving force which is against the spool valve driving force generated by the master cylinder pressure. That is, a mechanism is needed to apply the wheel cylinder pressure to the spool valve as the feedback driving force which is against the spool valve driving force. In this respect, the above-mentioned conventional hydraulic brake system has room for improvement in that a complex mechanism is needed to control the wheel cylinder pressure.

Hydraulic brake system for controlling fluid flow to a wheel cylinder


The invention relates to a method for detecting residual, undifferentiated pluripotent stem cells (PSCs) in a culture of cells differentiated from PSCs, the method comprising:                culturing the cells on a substrate coated with laminin-521 and E-cadherin in a medium comprising a ROCK inhibitor;        quantitating in the cultured cells expression of a marker of residual, undifferentiated PSCs; and        comparing the marker expression in the cultured cells with the marker expression in a reference culture of cells comprising a known proportion of PSCs,        wherein lower marker expression in the culture of cells than marker expression in the reference culture of cells indicates absence of residual, undifferentiated PSCs in the cultured cells or presence of residual, undifferentiated PSCs in the cultured cells at a proportion lower than the known proportion of PSCs in the reference culture of cells. The invention also relates to a method for manufacturing a therapeutic composition and a method for treating or preventing a condition in a subject.

Pluripotent stem cells (PSCs), in particular human PSCs, which include Embryonic Stem Cells (ESCs) and induced Pluripotent Stem Cells (iPSCs), provide the opportunity to develop novel cell-based therapeutic products.
Differentiated derivatives of iPSCs have therapeutic efficacy in a variety of disease applications (e.g. cirrhosis, Parkinson's disease, age-related macular degeneration, cardiac ischemia, diabetes, graft-versus host disease).
However, use in clinical trials of therapeutic compositions comprising PSC-derived cells poses several challenges, in particular the presence of residual undifferentiated PSCs in the final product that have a known potential for tumour formation. Such a challenge is especially pertinent to therapies that require high doses of differentiated, PSC-derived cells.
Accordingly, there is a need for a method, or an improved method, for detecting residual, undifferentiated PSCs in a culture of cells derived from PSCs, to be used in quality control when producing therapeutic compositions comprising PSC-derived cells.
Any publications mentioned in this specification are herein incorporated by reference. However, if any publication is referred to herein, such reference does not constitute an admission that the publication forms a part of the common general knowledge in the art in Australia or any other country.


Imaging circuitry integrated into a golf club head, such as a putter, obtains an image from as the golf club head strikes a golf ball as well as successive images after the golf ball is struck, such n<5. The images can be analyzed by integral computational software provided in the imaging device operable to (i) analyze whether the ball was struck in the middle of the golf club head, (ii) whether the golf club head was square to the target and (iii) based on comparison of n successive images, calculate the immediate path of the golf ball.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method, a system and a computer program product for monitoring golf putting. More particularly, the present invention relates to a method, a device and a computer program product for determining golf putting characteristics while playing the game of golf.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The best chance for a golfer to sink a putt is to line the putt up properly and strike the ball in the middle of the putter face with the putter face square to the target line. Small deviations, such as not striking the ball in the center of the putter face, or slightly opening or closing the putter face results in the ball traveling off-line or traveling too short or too long a distance. A key to good golf is to learn to use the putter.
A variety of mechanical and optical technologies to improve putting, as well as driving, are available for the golfer. One technique utilizes a golf club that is designed with movable pins on the head of the club. By the displacement of the set of movable pins located on the head of the club a physical impression of the ball contact after a stroke is given and the properties of the contact such as primary position and uniformity are evident. However, The presence of the pins is invasive since they may affect the golf putting.
Optical technologies based on LED sensors and CCD or CMOS cameras have been employed for the purpose of teaching a golf stroke. For example, one technique implements IR cameras to record a golfer's swing which may be viewed and analyzed in playback. Another technique implements a dual camera for imaging golf club head movement prior to, at, and after impact of the golf club head. The speed, direction and orientation of the golf club may be determined by use of an integrated computer to analyze the images. Another technique implements a set of cameras that are triggered by motion of a golf ball and take images of the golf ball that can be used to measure the motion of a golf ball. Other techniques implement sensors that detect golf club path or golf club head speed, angle and contact positions to determine the speed, direction and orientation of the golf club.
Virtual reality technology is being employed in sports training systems to analyze the speed, direction and orientation of the golf club. In general these training systems employ a variety of cameras and rely on computer analysis of the image data that is presented in scenes of a virtual golf course to measure ball movement and to sense golf head properties. In general, the current technologies available rely on devices that require set-up and alignment and, as such, provide information on golf stroke characteristics separate from the actual playing of golf.
Accordingly, there is a need for a device to monitor golf stroke characteristics. There is a further need for the device to monitor golf stroke characteristics while playing the game of golf. There is a need for the device to be integrated into the putter for the purpose of monitoring the putting stroke while playing the game of golf. There is a need for the device to operate in a free standing mode and separate from the golf club.

Method and imager for determining the point of impact on a putter face


A disposable wearing article including a tape tab being capable of fix the used disposable wearing article by a simple handling. The disposable diaper includes a chassis, an absorbent structure attached to a skin-contact surface of the chassis and a tape tab attached to a non-skin-contact surface. The tape tab is attached to a rear waist sheet and folded back so as to define a first section, a second section and a third section. The first section is provided with a mechanical fastener which is substantially not retained on the second section. Outside in the longitudinal direction of a fastening portion provided with the mechanical fastener, first temporary joint spots for temporarily joining part of the first and second sections and second temporary joint spots for temporarily joining part of the first through third sections are provided.

Conventionally, disposable wearing articles are known including tape tabs used to roll up used wearing articles and to fix the articles in such a rolled up state. For example, Patent Literature 1 discloses a disposable wearing article including a tape tab formed of tape base material partially provided with mechanical hooks.


The generation of an N-dimension look-up table used (N≧2) in conversion processing of input image data includes acquiring a value of the input image data for every channel corresponding to a respective dimension of the N-dimension look-up table by analyzing the input image data to be processed, determining an input value range of each dimension of the N-dimension look-up table based upon the acquired value, arranging a predetermined number of grid points in the determined input value range with regard to each dimension of the N-dimension look-up table, and setting an output value of each arranged grid point based upon desired image conversion processing.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to image processing utilizing a look-up table.
2. Description of the Related Art
An image sensing apparatus such as a digital still camera converts an electric signal, which represents a captured image obtained through opto-electronic conversion of the optical image of a subject by an image sensing device such as a CMOS or CCD, to digital data and records the digital data on a storage medium such as a memory card. The recorded digital data is read by a computer or the like and can be output by an output device such as a monitor.
A digital image captured by a digital still camera can readily be manipulated into an image having a color reproducibility desired by the user by having the user specify such parameter adjustment quantities as a tone curve, tint and color density and then applying image processing using a computer. Generally, when such image processing is executed, each pixel value of the input digital image is subjected to processing for successively adjusting the tone curve, tint and color density, etc., whereby the desired output image is obtained.
In order to raise the speed of processing in a system in which processing from the deciding of the parameter adjustment quantities to the outputting of the image is executed in dialog fashion, use is made of a three-dimensional look-up table (referred to as a "3D-LUT" below). More specifically, in addition to applying a tone curve correction and adjusting tint and color density, use is made of a method in which image processing inclusive of color matching is incorporated in a single 3D-LUT and the desired output image is obtained by referring to the 3D-LUT based upon each of the pixel values of the input digital image data.
The processing for incorporating image processing in a 3D-LUT includes the following:
(1) preparing a 3D-LUT that has been initialized in such a manner that an input value is output as is as an output value of the 3D-LUT; and
(2) successively applying a plurality of image processes to output values at grid points of the initialized 3D-LUT to thereby correct the output value of each of the grid points.
This makes it possible to create a 3D-LUT for a color conversion in which a value prior to application of image processing is adopted as an input value and a value after the application of a plurality of image processes is adopted as an output value.
If the number of grid points is made the same as the number of bits of the image data in the 3D-LUT described above, the number of grid points will be enormous (e.g., 2563 grid points in the case of an 8-bit RGB image). As a consequence, the operation for generating the 3D-LUT requires a long period of time. This offsets the advantage of using the 3D-LUT. On the other hand, if the number of grid points in the 3D-LUT is made too small, there may be a decline in the precision with which interpolation is performed between grid points at the time of the conversion to image data. Accordingly, a variety of techniques have been adopted in regard to the setting of grid points in a 3D-LUT. The specification of Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2002-015314 proposes an arrangement in which the above-mentioned grid points are set in accordance with the number of bits of input image data. In accordance with Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2002-015314, a 3D-LUT comprising (2n/8)+1 grid points of each color is generated in a case where the input image is composed of n bits.
However, the method described above always generates a 3D-LUT having the full data range of the image, namely 8 bits or 16 bits, as input values regardless of the range over which the input image data actually possesses values, i.e., regardless of the value range. This leads to various problems, namely wasting of grid points of a 3D-LUT that exceeds the value range of the input image data, and a decline in the image quality of the output image data. For example, with regard to image data in which the data range that can be expressed by this number of bits is not used fully, as in the case of a dark image, grid points of a 3D-LUT that exceeds the value range of the input image data will be wasted and a decline in image quality resulting form interpolation processing tends to occur.


A system configured to perform decision tasks carried out by a machine learning engine operates with a machine learning model, and includes a training component for improving the machine learning model, a device for carrying out decisions based on a set of input data, and an interaction interface for switching the machine learning model between training component and a device that includes a model attestation checker. The device performs acquiring input data, and ascertaining at least one machine learning model over the interaction interface. The model attestation checker performs checking if said machine learning model is trusted by a model attestation, and considering, for decision making, only those machine learning models that are trusted. The machine learning engine performs carrying out the decision task for input data by using a trusted machine learning model, and providing a result attestation for the decision output.

Today a growing amount of tasks for which in earlier times human interaction was needed are today fulfilled by automatized system, thanks to so-called artificial intelligence methods, mainly subsumed under "machine learning" systems. Such machine learning system comprise at least a machine learning model which is trained with many input data. Such data may come from various sources, and are supposed to build a link between a subject and a qualification of the subject. E.g. for face recognition hundreds of thousands of pictures of a person are loaded, and the qualification assigns names to such pictures. This assignment is typically done by humans.
But more and more such tasks relate to decisions where people can be really severely impacted depending upon the decision. Such situations may in particular occur in automated systems relating to traffic, e.g. break-assistance, autonomous speedometer with sign detection, up to autonomous driving. In other areas like health and financial analysis this applies as well, as it is known for credibility scoring, access to health care etc. This already indicates the wide range of scenarios where machine learning based decision methods may heavily impact the affected individuals.
It is apparent that such systems may lead to outcomes, where a human decision would most likely come to less impacting decisions. This is in particular true in case of car accidents, that a conscious human driver would be able to avoid.
Furthermore such systems are also due to the heavy impact prone to hacking activities. Should hackers may make themselves empowered to full brake a good share of cars produced by a certain brand at one time, this could costs lives, ruin large enterprises or make them open to blackmailing.
Such hacking activities may affect different areas of the decision making engine, in particular adding malicious data on purpose or modifying hardware car components. Besides common security violations that may affect all kinds of digital systems, for a machine learning based systems additionally manipulation of input data are an additional issue, which need special consideration. Such poisonous measures are called "causative attacks", which are such hacker attacks intended to alter training data for creating a machine learning model. Furthermore altering the machine learning model is another open gate for hackers.
By now only measures are known where such hacking attempts are tried to globally stop or to detect algorithmically if training data are faked. None of both measures can fully cover the risks and lead to accountability when a machine learning based decision was tampered.
Hence it requires not only securing such system as such but to introduce measures to mitigate any other hacking attempt.
It is therefore the goal of present invention to propose a solution for an improved security of machine learning based decision systems.
Further alternative and advantageous solutions would, accordingly, be desirable in the art.

Method for securing a machine learning based decision system


A structure and method for selectively forming interconnections between the interconnect lines of a printed circuit board. At the same time solder is deposited through a solder application mask to bond the modules to the board, solder is also deposited on pad interconnect structures between the interconnect lines. Thus, line interconnections can be formed at minimal additional cost, reducing the number of different boards needed to mount different sets of modules or alternate component or circuit configurations. In a preferred embodiment, the pads comprise an arcuate member and an elongated member extending within the arc described by the arcuate member. By optimizing the spacing between the members, the total area of the members, and the volume of the solder, a highly reliable solder fillet interconnection can be formed.

1) Technical Field
The invention relates generally to forming selective line-line interconnections, and more particularly to the use of additive solder processing to provide such interconnects.
2) Background Art
In the field of semiconductor processing, the use of a lead-tin solder to provide the interconnection between a metal lead from a mounted semiconductor chip and a card (or printed circuit board) is well known. In such processes, the board is coated with an epoxy or similar material upon which the lead-tin solder will not wet (a so-called "solder-phobic" material). Then a first mask is used to selectively remove the solder-phobic material from areas in which the solder is desired. Thus, when the solder is subsequently deposited by evaporation or otherwise, it will only wet in these selected areas.
In general, due to the ever-increasing sophistication of the memory and logic chips to be mounted on a given card, the card designer must have the flexibility to selectively alter the connections between the metal interconnect lines on the card that couple the card inputs to the leads of the mounted modules. In general, if a card designer is constrained to only build one interconnect line pattern for a given set of chip modules, he/she will quickly produce a large amount of cards that differ very minimally from one another. This is especially true in memory card design. For a given memory program, a number of different memory modules (ones with all arrays functional, versus ones with 3/4 of the arrays functional, versus ones with only 1/2 of the arrays functional) are produced. The goal of the memory card designer is to formulate a single card design that can accommodate the different pinouts associated with these modules, by providing different interconnect patterns on the card, without altering the configuration (or placement) of the interconnect lines themselves.
In the prior art, this was done by the use of "jumpers," which are discrete resistor devices of substantially zero ohms that are selectively bonded between the interconnect lines to be coupled together. In general, this is relatively time-consuming and inefficient process.
Accordingly, a need exists in the art for a simple structure and method for selectively providing connections between the metal interconnect lines on a card after the lines have been formed thereon.

Soldering interconnects for selective line coupling

International Business Machines Corporation


A tubular roller to support a belt having an inner surface provided with a protruding circumferential edge having a width includes a first portion, a second portion, and a third portion. The first portion has a first outer radius and contacts the inner surface of the belt. The second portion has a second outer radius smaller than the first outer radius of the first portion. The third portion is connected to the first portion with a first vertically extending wall and to the second portion with a second vertically extending wall and has a third outer radius smaller than the second outer radius.

Image forming apparatuses have been marketed as electro-photocopying apparatuses, printers, facsimile devices, or the like, or as multifunctional apparatuses having at least one combination of these devices. Such image forming apparatus includes a fixing belt, an image carrying belt (e.g., intermediate transfer belt), and a transport belt for transporting a recording medium or a document.
Conventionally, belts in the above-mentioned image forming apparatus are provided with a belt straightener to prevent the belt to wave. Such a straightener protrudes from an inner circumferential portion of the belt and engages with a groove-type engagement portion provided to a belt roller around which the belt extends. With such arrangement, the belt straightener may not disengage from the groove-type engagement portion, thereby preventing the belt from waving.
Conventionally, belt rollers include solid-type rollers. However, fixing belt rollers are tubular in order to accommodate a heater inside and have a relatively small heat capacity so as to insure a short heat-response time. Furthermore, the use of tubular rollers for image carrying belts and transport belts is also desired so as to reduce the weight of the image forming apparatus. Furthermore, belt rollers disposed near a fixing unit are more susceptible to heat energy generated in the fixing unit. If a solid-type roller is used in such area, heat dissipation from the roller is more difficult. Accordingly, tubular rollers are preferred in order to reduce heat effects in such areas. In view of such background, tubular belt rollers are preferred.
However, tubular rollers have a drawback because their strength is reduced in the engagement portion area where the belt straightener is provided. The formation of the engagement portion (i.e., for example, in the form of a groove) in the tubular roller leads to a relatively smaller thickness at the groove portion, thus reducing the roller's strength at the groove portion. If a tubular roller having a relatively large thickness is used to lessen such drawback, the heat capacity of the roller increases, leading to a deterioration of the heat-response time of the tubular roller and lowering the fixability of toner images. Furthermore, the weight of a tubular roller having a relatively larger thickness increases, thereby lessening the desirable weight reduction effect obtained by using the tubular roller.
In order to increase the roller's strength, the depth of the engagement portion can be made shallower. However, a shallower engagement portion may not adequately prevent the belt from waving because belt waving is prevented by the engagement of the belt straightener with an engagement portion having an appropriate depth.

Image forming apparatus, roller, belt, and fixing unit of image forming apparatus


A system and method of capturing solar energy, and related method of manufacturing, are disclosed. In at least one embodiment, the system includes a first lens array having a plurality of lenses, and a first waveguide component adjacent to the lens array, where the waveguide component receives light, and where the waveguide component includes an array of prism/mirrored facets arranged along at least one surface of the waveguide component. The system further includes at least one photovoltaic cell positioned so as to receive at least a portion of the light that is directed out of the waveguide. A least some of the light passing into the waveguide component is restricted from leaving the waveguide component upon being reflected by at least one of the prism/mirrored facets, hereby the at least some light restricted from leaving the waveguide component is directed by the waveguide toward the at least one photovoltaic cell.

Solar energy systems are of greatly increased interest due to rising energy demands worldwide and consequent rising prices for existing energy resources, especially petroleum resources. While much effort is being focused upon developing more efficient photovoltaic (PV) cells that can generate ever greater amounts of electrical energy based upon a given amount of solar radiation directed upon those cells, high efficiency PV cells nevertheless remain expensive. A less-expensive alternative to employing high efficiency PV cells is to employ low (or lower) efficiency PV cells. However, such PV cells need to be implemented across larger surface areas in order to collect sufficient solar radiation so as to generate the same amount of energy as can developed using high efficiency PV cells having a smaller surface area.
Although the efficiency of a PV-based solar energy system depends upon the efficiency of the PV cell(s) employed in that system, the amount of energy generated by such a system can also be enhanced without increasing the efficiency of the PV cell(s) or larger area PV cell(s) by combining the use of PV cell(s) with additional devices that concentrate the solar radiation prior to directing it upon the PV cell(s). Because such solar concentration devices can employ components that are less expensive than the PV cell(s) themselves, a solar energy system employing such a solar concentration device in combination with PV cell(s) covering a relatively small surface area can potentially produce, at a lower cost, the same high level of energy output as that achieved by a solar energy system employing only PV cell(s) of the same or greater area. Also, a solar energy system employing such a solar concentration device in addition to high efficiency PV cell(s) covering a relatively small area can achieve higher levels of energy output than would be possible using those PV cell(s) alone, even if those cells covered a large area.
While potentially providing such advantages, existing solar energy systems employing both PV cell(s) and solar concentration devices have certain disadvantages as well. In particular, some stationary solar concentration devices tend to be not very efficient. For example, one particular type of existing solar energy system employing both PV cell(s) and solar concentration devices is a system employing one or more fluorescent solar concentrators (FSCs). In such a device, light incident on the surface of a slab waveguide is absorbed by an atomic or molecular transition of material embedded in the slab. Upon absorption, some of the energy is then emitted as fluorescence uniformly in all directions, and this fluorescent light is emitted at a longer wavelength with less energy than the incident light. While a fraction of the emitted fluorescence is trapped within the slab, and guided to an edge of the waveguide for illumination of a PV cell, a large fraction of the fluorescent light is re-absorbed and re-emitted into a non-guided direction, thus resulting in substantial inefficiency.
An additional problem associated with some conventional solar concentrators (e.g., imaging lens or mirror-based concentrators) is that, for proper operation, such solar concentrators require sunlight that is incident from a particular direction relative to the concentrator. That is, while such solar concentrators are able to condense/magnify light incident over a large area onto a smaller area PV cell, such large magnifications require precise alignment that must be maintained as the sun moves through the sky through the daily arc, and through the seasonal variation of elevation. Although it is possible to achieve such alignment by way of an "active" system that uses tracking (with or without positional feedback, such active systems are expensive and often complicated to implement. The alternative, "passive" systems, which do not use active alignment, can achieve only a relatively small concentration factor (e.g., of approximately 10 suns), depending on the range of angles over which the concentrator is designed to maintain relatively high throughput efficiency.
Still another disadvantage associated with at least some conventional solar energy systems employing solar concentrators is that they are complicated and/or expensive to manufacture.
It would therefore be advantageous if an improved design for a solar energy system employing both PV cell(s) and solar concentration devices could be developed. More particularly, it would be advantageous if such an improved design allowed for one to achieve one or more of the benefits of conventional solar energy systems employing both PV cell(s) and solar concentration devices, while not suffering from (or suffering as much from) one or more of the above-described disadvantages of such systems.

System and method for solar energy capture and related method of manufacturing

THE REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA


A collision detecting device providing the accurate and early determination of a collision with a vehicle or the like and a passive safety system using this collision detecting device. A low-rigid portion and a crash box are arranged ahead of the high-rigid portion in a front portion of a frame. The front end of a rod is fixed to a bumper. The rod is inserted into a magnetic detector disposed on the high-rigid portion. In the rod, a number of magnets are aligned in the longitudinal direction of the rod such that their N poles and S poles are alternatively arranged. As a vehicle collides, the crash box is first deformed so that the rod moves backward, whereby a collision can be detected before large acceleration is generated.

Airbag devices for protecting an occupant by inflating an airbag during a vehicle collision, and pretensioners for removing a slack of a webbing of a seat belt device by rapidly winding up a predetermined length of the webbing are well known. For activating such an airbag device or a pretensioner, it is required to determine the occurrence of a vehicle collision and the magnitude of the vehicle collision (crash severity). The crash severity correlates with the relative velocity to the object and the mass and the rigidity of the object.
Conventionally, the acceleration is detected for determining the magnitude of the collision. For example, in Japanese Patent Unexamined Publication No. 11-78769, the crash severity is determined on the bases of the magnitude of acceleration, the variation with time of the acceleration, and the variation with time of the velocity. In this publication, the variation with time of the velocity is obtained from the values by integrating the acceleration with time. It also should be noted that the protection of an occupant will be sometimes referred to as "restraint". In addition, acceleration means acceleration (the derivative with respect to time of speed) acting on a vehicle in the decelerating direction during a collision.
A collision determining method by detecting the deformation of an exterior member of a vehicle due to the collision is disclosed in Japanese Patent Unexamined Publication No. 11-78770. Distortion sensors are mounted on the exterior member of the vehicle so as to detect the deformation amount and the deformation speed of the exterior member, thereby determining the magnitude of the collision.
A collision determining method by detecting the deformation speed of a front part of a vehicle during deformation of the vehicle body due to the collision is disclosed in Japanese Patent Unexamined Publication No. 2001-171476. According to this publication, acceleration sensors are disposed at two predetermined locations on a vehicle body so as to detect the compressive deformation speed of the vehicle body between the two sensors, thereby determining the magnitude of the collision.
In the conventional systems, the determination of collision is carried out by signals from an acceleration sensor located in a vehicle cabin. The acceleration sensor placed in the vehicle cabin is suitable for judging the full perspective impact pulse applied to an occupant by the vehicle collision. Since the location is far from the front, the delay in time for collision determination is improved by placing another acceleration sensor at a location near the front.
In a typical airbag device, it takes time from 30 milliseconds to 40 milliseconds to fill an airbag with gas so that the airbag is sufficiently developed. Therefore, it is required to detect the occurrence of a collision and, then, activate an occupant protective device before a large impact is transmitted to the occupant.
In case of a typical sedan, the duration of an impact pulse due to a collision against a full-overlap barrier at a velocity of 50 kilometers per hour (km/h) is on the order of 70 milliseconds to 100 milliseconds (this is the amount of time it takes for the velocity to become zero). Of course, it is necessary to activate the occupant protective device before the occupant collides with a vehicle cabin portion by forward movement. The amount of time for which the occupant moves forward about 10 centimeters (cm) relative to the vehicle body is on the order of 50 milliseconds after collision at an impact velocity of 50 kilometers per hour. For ensuring the airbag to function as an occupant protective device, it is required to judge the occurrence of a collision and output an activation signal within 20 milliseconds after collision. In case of collision at a velocity of 50 kilometers per hour, the crashing stroke of a front end of a bumper is on the order of 13 centimeters after 10 milliseconds from collision and on the order of 25 centimeters after 20 milliseconds from collision. During the first 5 milliseconds after collision, the bumper receives impact so as to create an impact pulse. After 10 m sec., the interference between the impact barrier and the main frame of the vehicle body starts to create a large impact pulse.
Even with a collision at a velocity of 18 kilometers per hour (such a collision does not always need the activation of the airbag), an impact pulse is created because of the crashing of a bumper. The control system is provided with a function to determine whether to activate the airbag within 20 milliseconds after collision, without reacting to such a minor collision, by detecting the deceleration of the vehicle as a whole with the force received by the front end of the bumper.
In the collision determining method by detecting the acceleration disclosed in Japanese Patent Unexamined Publication No. 11-78769, the result of collision determination and crash severity is affected by the structure of a vehicle around a collided portion, the rigidity of the object, and the like.
In the collision determining method disclosed in Japanese Patent Unexamined Publication No. 11-78770, the deflection speed of the exterior member can be detected by the sensors mounted on the exterior member. However, the detected deflection speed is not always the deformation speed of the vehicle body structure in an impact loading direction. In addition, since the deformation stroke of the exterior member is generally short, it is difficult to detect the deformation speed as the collision deformation progresses.
Therefore, it is difficult to determine in an early stage of collision whether the collision is a collision between the vehicle and a small-mass high-velocity object, with which only the exterior member is deformed (a collision not creating such a vehicle deceleration that occupant restraint by a passive safety system is needed) or a medium-velocity barrier collision, with which the vehicle body is largely deformed (a collision creating such a vehicle deceleration that occupant restraint by a passive safety system is needed). That is, it is difficult to determine the occurrence of a collision and the crash severity from the deformation speed of the exterior member.
The collision determining method disclosed in Japanese Patent Unexamined Publication No. 2001-171476 is not a method of detecting the deformation speed of the vehicle front end portion. As one of the acceleration sensors is located at the vehicle front end, an excess impact over the rated value of the sensor is exerted on the sensor in an early stage of a collision so that the mounting portion of the sensor is deformed, thus shifting off the detection axis of the sensor. With the shifted detection axis of the sensor, the deformation speed of the vehicle front end can not be properly detected.
The systems mentioned in the above have a number of shortcomings. For example, there is poor stability in collision determination. It is desired to activate a restraint device at a proper timing for every type of collision. However, the configuration, the rigidity, and the velocity of a collided object actually differ from collision to collision. For instance, in cases where the configuration of a collision barrier is offset or center pole, the impact at the early stage of collision is small so as to delay the collision determination unnecessarily. In cases of pole collision, the impact at the early stage is small, but a large impact is created after that. In this case, the collision delay determination degrades the restraint performance.
Since an airbag is filled with high-pressure and high-temperature gas for 30 milliseconds by igniting powder, the airbag has large energy during deployment. During the deployment, if the airbag collides with an occupant, a large force is exerted on the occupant. To reduce this result, it is desired to shorten the time for the collision determination so as to lengthen the time to be used for deployment of the airbag, thereby reducing energy of gas for deployment. In the conventional sensor system, to prevent the restraint device from activating due to a large impact pulse created by a low-grade collision, running on a rough road, or bumping of the engine against a curb, the time for the collision determination should be on the order of 15 milliseconds that is longer than the duration of the pulse. The technology for shortening the time almost reaches the boundary.
In addition, there is difficulty in determining the crash severity. Occupant protective devices have been improved to increase the safety for every person having a large body or a small body. An airbag with high pressure is needed for sufficiently restraining an occupant having a large body against a sever collision at high velocity. On the other hand, airbag with high pressure is not needed for softly receiving an occupant having a small body in case of a collision at moderate velocity. To satisfy this, a passive safety system which has a choice between two levels in controlling the amount of gas to be supplied into the airbag has been introduced. If the crash severity can properly be determined at an early stage by a collision detecting means, the pressure of the airbag can be controlled according to the crash severity, thereby further improving the performance of the occupant protective device. Therefore, it is desired to provide a high-precision detecting means.
Improved body structures for controlling the crash property has been employed. The structure of the front end is configured to absorb energy when encountering a predetermined force. Even with any crash severity, this configuration mitigates the deceleration acting on the vehicle body at an early stage of collision. Therefore, it is difficult to determine the crash severity with high precision at an early stage of collision by the conventional means, because there is no large variation in impact pulse at the early stage.

Collision detecting device and passive safety system