A method for forming vertically oriented, crystallographically aligned nanowires (nanocolumns) using monolayer or submonolayer quantities of metal atoms to form uniformly sized metal islands that serve as catalysts for MOCVD growth of Group III nitride nanowires.

This invention relates to a method of fabricating Group III nitride nanowires or nanocolumns that are vertically oriented with respect to a crystallographic template substrate, single-crystal, and free of threading dislocations.
The availability of substrate-bound high-density arrays of group III nitride columns or nanowires that are single crystal, free of threading dislocations, and vertically aligned with respect to the substrate would enable a wide range of applications in optoelectronics, electronics, field emitters, and sensors. Control of crystallographic orientation and growth direction are important properties for a method of fabricating suitable nanowires for many such applications.
Sapphire is the most common substrate for growing GaN heteroepitaxial films because it has the same crystal symmetry and is approximately lattice matched with GaN (lattice mismatch approximately 15% for c-plane sapphire and c-plane GaN). While this degree of lattice matching allows epitaxial growth, it also leads to a high density of threading dislocations in continuous GaN layers grown directly atop the sapphire substrate. The deleterious effects of threading dislocations on device performance in many applications have lead to the search for better alternative substrates. Alternative substrates that are sometimes used include substrates that are nearly lattice matched such as (111) γ-LiAlO2 (0.9% mismatch) and (111) MgO. Most conventionally grown GaN is c-plane GaN grown on (0001) sapphire (c-plane). The c-plane GaN is polar and columns of c-plane GaN ideally form hexagonal prisms or hexagon-derived shapes that exhibit angles characteristic the hexagonal structure. Other commercially available sapphire substrates include a-plane (11 20), m-plane (10 10), and r-plane (1 102) orientations. Nonpolar (11 20) a-plane GaN has been grown on (1 102) r-plane sapphire substrates, with [0001]GaN∥[ 1101]sapphire and [ 1100]GaN∥[11 20]sapphire (M. D. Craven, S. H. Lim, F. Wu, J. S. Speck, and S. P. DenBaars, "Nonpolar (11 20) a-plane Gallium nitride Thin films Grown on (1 102) r-plane Sapphire: Heteroepitaxy and Lateral Overgrowth," Phys. Stat. Sol. (a), vol. 194 (2002). pp. 541-544). A selective epitaxy regrowth over a patterned SiO2 mask was used to produce low-threading dislocation material in the regrown regions over the SiO2 mask.
For applications where columnar GaN or GaN-based heterostructures including other nitrides such as AlN, AlGaN, AlGaInN, InGaN, and InN are required, direct growth of the columns on a suitable substrate without the use of a sacrificial template may be highly useful.
GaN nanowires have been reported using a technique where multi-layer Ni, Fe, or Au films (2-10 nm) are thermally evaporated onto silicon, c-plane sapphire, or a-plane sapphire and used as catalysts for metal-initiated metalorganic chemical vapor deposition. Metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) and substrate selection has been used to control the crystallographic growth directions of high-density arrays of gallium nitride nanowires. Kuykendall and coworkers report gallium nitride nanowires synthesized via metal-initiated MOCVD. Wires were prepared on silicon, c-plane sapphire, and a-plane sapphire substrates. The wires were formed via the vapor-liquid-solid (VLS) mechanism with gold, iron, or nickel as growth initiators and were found to have widths of 15-200 nm. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) showed that the wires were single-crystalline and were oriented predominantly along the [210] or [110] directions. Wires growing along the [210] orientation were found to have triangular cross-sections (T. Kuykendall, P. Pauzauskie, S. Lee, Y. Zhang, J. Goldberger, and P. Yang, "Metalorganic Chemical Vapor Deposition Route to GaN Nanowires with Triangular Cross Sections," Nano Letters Vol. 3 (2003) pp. 1063-1066). The wires reported in this paper were not vertically oriented with respect to the substrate surface. Kuykendall and coworkers further report the epitaxial growth of wurtzite gallium nitride on (100) γ-LiAlO2 and (111) MgO single crystal substrates resulting in the selective growth of nanowires in the orthogonal [1 10] and [001] directions, exhibiting triangular and hexagonal cross-sections (T. Kuykendall, P. J. Pauzauskie, Y. Zhang, J. Goldberger, D. Sirbuly, J. Denlinger, and P. Yang, "Crystallographic alignment of high-density gallium nitride nanowire arrays," Nature Materials Vol. 3 (2004) pp 524-528). The wires reported in this paper were vertically oriented with respect to the substrate surfaces, with triangular cross-section wires (15-40 nm wide and 1-5 micrometer long) grown on (100) γ-LiAlO2 and hexagonal cross-section wires grown on (111) MgO.
Lieber et al. U.S. Pat. No. 7,211,646 reports a method comprising growing a population of semiconductor nanowires catalytically from catalyst colloid particles. Laser vaporization of a composite target that is composed of a desired material (e.g. InP) and a catalytic material (e.g. Au) creates a hot, dense vapor which quickly condenses into liquid nanoclusters through collision with the buffer gas. Growth begins when the liquid nanoclusters become supersaturated with the desired phase and continues as long as the reactant is available. Growth terminates when the nanowires pass out of the hot reaction zone or when the temperature is turned down. Au is generally used as catalyst for growing a wide range of elongated nanoscale semiconductors. However, the catalyst is not limited to Au only. A wide rage of materials such as (Ag, Cu, Zn, Cd, Fe, Ni, Co . . . ) can be used as the catalyst. Generally, any metal that can form an alloy with the desired semiconductor material, but doesn't form more stable compound than the desired semiconductor with the elements of the desired semiconductor can be used as the catalyst. The key point of this process is that laser ablation generates liquid nanoclusters that subsequently define the size and direct the growth direction of the crystalline nanowires. The diameters of the resulting nanowires are determined by the size of the catalyst cluster, which in turn can be varied by controlling the growth conditions (e.g. background pressure, temperature, flow rate). For example, lower pressure generally produces nanowires with smaller diameters. Further diameter control can be done by using uniform diameter catalytic clusters. Laser ablation may be used as the way to generate the catalytic clusters and vapor phase reactant for growth of nanowires and other related elongated nanoscale structures, but fabrication is not limited to laser ablation. Many ways can be used to generate vapor phase and catalytic clusters for nanowire growth (e.g. thermal evaporation). Catalysts for LCG can be chosen in the absence of detailed phase diagrams by identifying metals in which the nanowire component elements are soluble in the liquid phase but that do not form solid compounds more stable than the desired nanowire phase; that is, the ideal metal catalyst should be physically active but chemically stable. From this perspective the noble metal Au should represent a good starting point for many materials. This laser-assisted catalytic growth (LGC) method of Lieber is readily extended to many different materials simply by producing solid targets of the material of interest and catalyst.
In the LGC method of Lieber, a pulsed laser is used to vaporize a solid target containing desired material and a catalyst, and the resulting liquid nanoclusters formed at elevated temperature direct the growth and define the diameter of crystalline nanowires through a vapor-liquid-solid growth mechanism. A key feature of this method is that the catalyst used to define 1D growth can be selected from phase diagram data and/or knowledge of chemical reactivity. A related approach termed solution-liquid-solid phase growth has been used by Buhro and coworkers to prepare nanowires of several III-V materials in solution, although not nitrides. LCG using a GaN/Fe target produces a high yield of nanometer diameter wire-like structures. A typical FE-SEM image of the product produced by LCG (FIG. 20A of Lieber et al., U.S. Pat. No. 7,211,464) shows that the product consists primarily of 1D structures with diameters on the orders of 10 nm and lengths greatly exceeding 1 micrometer. (The wires in FIG. 20A are not vertically oriented with respect to a substrate, but appear randomly distributed thereon and recumbent.) However, Au exhibits poor solubility of N and thus may not transport N efficiently to the liquid/solid growth interface. Consistent with this analysis, Lieber et al. reported being unable to obtain GaN nanowire using the Au catalyst.
The patent of Cuomo and coworkers (J. J. Cuomo, N. M Williams, A. D. Hanser, E. P. Carlson, and D. T. Thomas, U.S. Pat. No. 6,692,568) reports a method utilizing sputter transport techniques to produce arrays or layers of self-forming, self-oriented columnar structures characterized as discrete, single-crystal Group III nitride posts or columns on various substrates. The columnar structure is formed in a single growth step, and therefore does not require processing steps for depositing, patterning, and etching growth masks. A Group III metal source vapor is produced by sputtering a target for combination with nitrogen supplied from a nitrogen-containing source gas. The III/V ratio is adjusted or controlled to create a Group III metal-rich environment within the reaction chamber conducive to preferential column growth.
Wang and coworkers have reported the growth of well aligned, vertically oriented GaN nanowires on (1 102) r-plane sapphire wafers via metal-organic chemical vapor deposition using nickel nitrate catalyst. This paper reports that the degree of alignment and size uniformity of the nanowires is highly dependent on the nickel nitrate catalyst concentration used. This paper (G. T. Wang, A. A. Talin, D. J. Werder, J. R. Creighton, E. Lai, R. J. Anderson, and I. Arslan, "Highly aligned, template-free growth and characterization of vertical GaN nanowires on sapphire by metal-organic chemical vapour deposition," Nanotechnolotgy, vol. 17 (2006) pp 5773-5780) is incorporated herein by reference.

Highly aligned vertical GaN nanowires using submonolayer metal catalysts


A clustering system that clusters a language model group includes a union language model preparation unit that prepares a union language model for each language model so as to include a union of vocabularies in the language model group as entries, and a clustering unit that performs clustering with respect to the union language model group so as to classify the union language model group into a plurality of clusters. When the union language model preparation unit prepares a union language model for a certain language model, the union language model preparation unit records, regarding vocabularies included in the certain language model as a basis, occurrence frequencies of the corresponding entries in the certain language model, and records, regarding vocabularies not included in the certain language model, data showing that an occurrence frequency is 0. Thereby, a clustering system capable of clustering language models that includes voice uttered by or text written by a plurality of speakers can be provided.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a clustering system that performs clustering of a language model, a clustering method, a clustering program and an attribute estimation system using a clustering system.
2. Description of Related Art
Conventionally, a system performing attribute estimation and speech recognition using an audio model is known. FIG. 26 shows the flow of data in a conventional attribute estimation apparatus. An attribute estimation apparatus 901 of FIG. 26 is intended to estimate the attributes of speakers, such as age groups. When receiving an input speech uttered by a speaker, the attribute estimation apparatus 901 estimates an age group of the speaker using an audio model concerning a plurality of age groups recorded beforehand, and outputs the estimation result. In the example of FIG. 26, an audio model is prepared, in which audios included in voice uttered by the respective age classes of ages 0 to 10, 11 to 20, . . . 61 to 70 and 70 or older are collected. Conventionally, an audio model is prepared using such age classes determined by a human.
In the age classes set by a human, it is difficult to incorporate the ages at which one's voice changes, the ages at which the voice of an adult changes into elderly hoarse voice, the ages at which use of words is changed from the young to adult, the ages at which use of words is changed from adult to the elderly and the like into the age classes of the audio model. In this way, the attribute classes of an audio model set by a human as he/she sees fit will inhibit the improvement in performance of an attribute estimation apparatus.
In order to understand the attribute classes accurately, it is preferable to cluster a model composed of a large amount of speaker's data. Conventionally, technology for clustering audio models composed of a large amount of speaker's data has been developed. For instance, a clustering apparatus is proposed, in which feature quantities of vocal-tract configurations of a plurality of speakers are estimated from speech-waveform data of the respective speakers, and the speakers are clustered based on these feature quantities (e.g., see JP H11(1999)-175090A). Another method is proposed, in which based on information about a vocal-tract length obtained from speech data of a speaker and information for correcting influences of his/her way of vocalization and habits, a feature quantity of the speaker is extracted, and the speaker is clustered using this feature quantity (e.g., see JP 2002-182682A). As a result of such clustering, the classes of the attributes of an audio model can be set accurately, and the clustered audio models can be obtained.
FIG. 27 shows the flow of data in a conventional attribute estimation apparatus that performs attribute estimation using a language model and audio models subjected to clustering. The audio model group is clustered according to ages of speakers, where audio model 1, audio model 2 . . . audio model n are audio models recorded according to their clusters. When receiving an input of voice uttered by a speaker, an attribute estimation apparatus 902 estimates an age group of the speaker using the audio model group subjected to clustering into a plurality of age groups and the language model, and outputs the estimation result. The attribute estimation apparatus 902 of FIG. 27 uses the audio models subjected to clustering into clusters according to age groups, but uses a language model common to all of the age groups.
Therefore, the attribute estimation apparatus 902 can recognize a difference in voice between different age groups, but cannot recognize a difference in wording between different age groups. As one specific example of Japanese, a youth may speak, "Boku-wa-genki-desu", whereas an old person may speak in a different way as in, "Washi-wa-genki-jya".
As one specific example of English, an old person may use the wording of "Nature calls", whereas a youth does not use such a wording, but uses "I have to go to bathroom".
In order to enable the attribute estimation with consideration given to such language information, it is necessary to cluster language models in which vocabularies appearing in voice uttered by or text written by a plurality of speakers are collected.
In this regard, although a method for clustering speakers based on speech data has been developed already, a method for clustering speakers based on a language model has not been established. In other words, a method for clustering language models has not been developed. The difficulty in clustering of a language model results from the fact that different language models contain different vocabularies, and therefore when a plurality of different language models are to be clustered, they cannot be processed simply as the same vector.
As a simple example, Japanese has a plurality of words representing the first person such as "boku", "washi", "watashi", "ore" and the like. Among these plurality of words representing the first person, the frequency in use is different between age groups and genders. In general, a 70-year-old man uses often "washi" as the first person, whereas a 20-year-old man uses often "boku" as the first person. Therefore, a language model for 70-year-old men will contain the word of "washi", but a language model for 20-year-old men will contain the word of "boku" instead of "washi".
As a simple example of English, a language model for 70-year-old men may contain the wording, "Nature calls", whereas a language model for 20-year-old men may contain, "to bathroom", instead of "Nature calls".
Therefore, with the foregoing in mind, it is an object of the present invention to provide a clustering system capable of clustering language models in which vocabularies appearing in voice uttered by or text written by a plurality of speakers are collected, a clustering method and a clustering program.

Clustering system, clustering method, clustering program and attribute estimation system using clustering system


A fully programmable graphics processing engine is provided. The graphics processing engine includes three independent, programmable processors that run independent sets of instructions from independent instruction storage facilities. Graphics processing tasks may be distributed among the serially pipelined processors to allow for load balancing and parallel processing. The graphics processing engine may be a graphics co-processing core within a larger, general purpose computing system. Register files and storage units may be addressable by the system host processor. Each processor accepts incoming data for state or context updates. Each processor may execute a specific graphics processing function by executing a set of instructions when a predetermined memory address is accessed.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to data processing and, in particular, to three-dimensional graphics processing. Still more particularly, the present invention provides a fully programmable three-dimensional graphics engine.
2. Description of Related Art
Three dimensional (3-D) graphics is the creation, display, and manipulation of objects in a computer in three dimensions. 3-D graphics programs allow objects to be represented with width, height, and depth. As 3-D entities, objects may be moved, scaled, rotated and viewed from all angles. 3-D graphics may also allow lighting, texture mapping, and shading to be applied automatically in the rendering stage. 3-D graphics may be implemented using hardware or software or a combination of both.
A graphics accelerator is a high-performance display adapter that provides graphics functions in hardware. When functions are executed on the graphics adapter, the host processor is relieved of much of the processing to render the images on screen. Many display adapters include some acceleration. For 3-D graphics, the operations may include texture mapping, Gouraud shading, and the like.
Many current graphics accelerators use fixed function macros that implement the various graphics vertex and pixel processing tasks in non-programmable, specific logic. Other solutions use both programmable elements and fixed function elements whereby some graphics tasks are implemented in programmable processors while others are relegated to non-programmable, specific hardware logic macros. Currently, the programmable solutions are limited by instruction set size, memory constraints, and the capability of increasing the working set of data elements beyond the size of the intial input data set.
One drawback to the fixed function approach is a lack of flexibility. Fixed function solutions, which can achieve high performance, fail to accommodate new requirements as the graphics Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) evolve. Thus, there is a desire for programmability within the 3-D graphics pipeline, as seen with the industry trend toward "vertex shaders" and "pixel shaders," existing across the spectrum of graphics offerings available today. These systems must often be redesigned to incorporate new graphics features.
Generally, 3-D graphics accelerators include specific hardware that is costly, consume a large amount of power, and generate a great deal of heat. On the other hand, software acceleration typically places too much of the processing burden on the host processor using compute cycles otherwise reserved for the host application and ultimately not achieving rendering performance typical to hardware graphics accelerators.

International Business Machines Corporation


The invention concerns a thermoplastic-coated roll for a paper/board machine, a method for manufacture of the roll, a composition of a thermoplastic coating for the roll, a method of calendering by using rolls in accordance with the invention, and paper/board manufactured by means of such rolls.

The present invention concerns a thermoplastic-coated roll for a paper/board machine, a method for manufacture of the roll, a composition of thermoplastic coating for the roll, a method of calendering by means of thermoplastic-coated rolls in accordance with the invention, and paper/board manufactured by means of such rolls.
In a paper/board machine, currently polymer-coated rolls are employed in a number of applications. As examples of such rolls can be mentioned press rolls, suction rolls, soft rolls for a supercalender, and so-called soft-calender rolls. So far, the coatings have been mainly based on polymers and in particular on the use of thermosetting-plastic based resins, such as polyurethane or epoxy or unsaturated polyester. From the point of view of technology of manufacture, these polymers have been suitable for coating of large rolls; among other things, their casting in moulds or rotation casting is possible, even though problems of work hygiene have arisen from vapours of volatile organic compounds, such as styrene. Further manufacturing techniques that have been used include, among other things, extrusion, spraying, winding of fibre, winding of band, centrifugal casting, and use of various impregnated mats.
As an example of a thermosetting-resin coated roll should be mentioned the patent publication EP 321,561, in which a calender roll is described whose metal core has been coated with a resin layer consisting of a thermosetting plastic, such as polyurethane, polyisocyanurate, cross-linked polyesteramide, or epoxy resin.
The use of thermosetting plastic materials in demanding applications has, however, been limited, among other things, by their deficient properties of strength and toleration of heat as well as by an unfavourable viscoelastic conduct, i.e. by a phenomenon of hysteresis. If the temperature of a thermosetting plastic is raised to a level higher than its glass transition temperature Tg, its mechanical properties collapse. If there are so-called micro cracks in the coating, in a dynamic situation the edges of these cracks may be rubbed against each other so that locally the Tg of the coating material is exceeded and a macroscopic damage arises in the coating. With thermosetting plastics, no effect of strengthening/toughening occurs when the temperature is raised to or beyond the glass transition range, but the properties of strength of a thermosetting plastic collapse in the glass transition range. This property is an essential Imitation of the permitted running conditions of a roll. Out of these reasons, rolls coated with thermosetting plastics cannot be operated at a temperature higher than 200xc2x0 C.
The need of polymer coatings for rolls which endure heat and have high strength has increased to a great extent in recent years. Owing to the limitations and difficulties related to thermosetting plastics, the possibility of finding new, alternative coatings among thermoplastic resins has also been examined, but a problem has been the lack of suitable materials and difficulties of manufacturing technology. Attempts have been made to solve these problems in the Finnish Patent Application No. 920501, in which a method has been suggested for coating a roll for a paper machine with a thermoplastic powder, together with a roll manufactured by means of the method. In such a case, the roll is coated by using a hypersonic plasma and a granular polymer powder in order to obtain the desired coating layer. This method is, however, expensive, the coating does not include any reinforcement material.
Thus, there is still a need to find a solution by whose means it is possible to provide a thermoplastic-coated roll whose properties and range of operation are more satisfactory and which is reasonable in respect of the manufacturing technique.
The objectives of the invention are achieved and the drawbacks of the prior art are overcome by means of the solution in accordance with the present invention.
The subject of the present invention is a thermoplastic-based roll coating (Shore D 70 . . . 98) for highly demanding applications, such as, for example, for supercalenders and soft calenders, which applications are ever more demanding in respect of the linear load, running speed, and temperature and of combinations of same in an attempt to provide a better quality level of paper. Further, the invention concerns a method for manufacture of a thermoplastic-coated roll, a composition of thermoplastic coating, a method of calendering by means of thermoplastic-coated rolls, as well as paper/board manufactured by means of thermoplastic-coated rolls.
The thermoplastic-coated roll in accordance with the invention, the method for manufacture of the roll, the composition of thermoplastic coating, the method of calendering by means of thermoplastic-coated rolls in accordance with the invention, and the paper/board manufactured by means of such rolls are characterized in what is stated in the patent claims.

Thermoplastic-coated roll, method for manufacture and calendering of the thermoplastic-coated roll for use in paper/board machines


A ready to assemble construction system for erecting small structures such as houses, sheds, garages, etcetera. Comprising specially designed connecting plates which both secure laminate sections of lumber to each other to form constructive elements and also act as a rigid connecting means between the elements to enable the structure to be easily, quickly, and inexpensively built and later disassembled if necessary.

It is not believed there has been any prior attempts to accomplish what the RTA system invention does. The Center for Research Engineering and Manufacturing Building Systems in Kirov, Russia has developed and patented (in Russia) a nail plate connector which is used to laminate wood products. Several Russian patents are provided herewith which show this configuration. Generally, the Russian method of attaching laminates is designed around a plate with nails welded to the edges of the plate. Welding of nails on the plate perimeter limits nail placement, which limits the magnitude of stress that the plate can resist. The RTA connector differentiates from the Russian method inasmuch as it provides for locating the nails in the interior of the plate. Interior nail placement provides greater flexibility in plate design for the specific stresses that the nail plate assemblies must resist. Experiments have demonstrated that nails located in the plate interior will effectively resist shear stresses that can break the welds on the Russian nail plate. A great difference is that the RTA invention acts as a moment resistant connection between component laminate members. The nails in the RTA invention are friction fit not welded which resist sheer much more readily under tests conducted on the products. The RTA design is a result of testing components after design to insure that loads typically encountered can be accommodated without failure of the plate/member connection. This has dictated the interior located three/two parallel nail patterns which are found to be superior to edge nail fastening and other configurations.

Ready to assemble wood construction system


A pressure control valve for a vehicle is provided. The pressure control valve for a vehicle includes: a valve body having an oil inlet part into which oil discharged from a wheel cylinder flows; a driving part installed in the valve body; a plunger connected to the driving part and movably installed inside the valve body; a valve seat disposed inside the valve body and having an oil passage part formed such that the oil flowing into the oil inlet part is supplied to an accumulator; a first elastic member installed to apply an elastic force to the plunger such that the plunger returns to an original position; an opening and closing member installed in the oil passage part to open the oil passage part when the opening and closing member is pressed by the plunger; and a second elastic member applying an elastic force to the opening and closing member such that the opening and closing member closes the oil passage part.

The present invention relates to a pressure control valve for a vehicle, and more particularly, to a pressure control valve for a vehicle, capable of reducing the number of parts and reducing operating noise.
Generally, mild hybrid is a device that cannot be driven by a motor alone, but can reduce manufacturing cost and improve fuel efficiency. The mild hybrid charges a battery through regenerative braking and uses electricity charged in the battery to drive an air conditioner or an air conditioning system. Therefore, the burden on an engine can be reduced.
A regenerative braking apparatus allows a motor to operate as a generator by using a braking force when a vehicle decelerates (brakes) and charges a battery with electric energy. The regenerative braking apparatus is provided with an electronic braking system, a pedal simulator, a pedal stroke sensor, and a hydraulic control valve. In the regenerative braking apparatus, a braking force of a driver applied to a brake pedal is partially cut off and used for regenerative braking. For example, if the driver's pedal effort of a brake pedal is 50 bar, the hydraulic braking force of 30 bar is transmitted, and the remaining braking force of 20 bar is distributed to the regenerative braking.
In addition, in the hydraulic control valve, an elastic force of a plunger spring pushes a plunger to close a valve seat. Furthermore, when a magnetic force is generated in a stator by an electromagnetic force of a coil part, the flow path of the valve seat is opened as the plunger is attached to the stator.
However, since the regenerative braking device is provided with the electronic braking system, the pedal simulator, the pedal stroke sensor, and the hydraulic control valve, the layout of the hydraulic line and the component parts in the regenerative braking apparatus is complicated. Therefore, the manufacturing cost is increased, and the assemblability is deteriorated because a separate brake line must be connected.
In addition, when the plunger is attached to the stator due to the generation of the magnetic force in the stator, the electromagnetic force is sharply increased as the gap between the plunger and the stator is narrowed. Thus, the impact of the plunger and the stator increases the operating noise.
Therefore, there is a need to improve this problem.
The background art of the present invention is disclosed in Korean Patent Application Publication No. 2012-0053216 (published on May 25, 2012, entitled "Braking Apparatus for Regenerative Braking and High Efficiency Regenerative Braking Method").


A washing apparatus includes a bubbling wash section for impinging bubbles in washing liquid to a material such as a machined work to be washed so as to remove solids such as sludges and oils adhered to the material to be washed, and a sludge removal and oily water separation section for removing sludges or the like mixed with the washing liquid at the bubbling wash section and for separating oily water in the washing liquid, the washing liquid passed through said sludge removal and oily water separation section being returned to the initial bubbling wash section for circulation. An activated carbon filtration section for connection with the bubbling wash section is optionally provided.

Since cutting chips and machining oils are deposited on a machined work, a process for removing the cutting chips and the machining oils through washing is inevitably performed after the work has been machined.
Conventionally, in such a washing process, fleon, ethane, etc. are used as washing liquids.
Such washing liquids such as fleon and ethane are excellent in their cleaning efficiency but may cause environmental pollution, and therefore, their use will inevitably be inhibited in the near future.
For this reason, various kinds of washing liquids have been proposed for use in place of fleon and ethane and have been practically used. However, waste liquids of most of the proposed washing liquids may not be thrown out as they are after the washing process, and a special dealer must be retained for disposing the waste liquids as industrial wastes. Therefore, there has been a problem that considerable expenses must be born and that public nuisance may be caused in some cases.
For this reason, there has been desired for a washing apparatus which can be adapted for washing a work without using fleon or ethane and without using other types of washing liquids which involve the problem in their disposal. In connection with such a washing apparatus, there has been desired for an oily water separation device operable to efficiently separate oily water after the washing process, and there has been desired for an activated carbon filtration device operable to provide clean filtrate.
It is, accordingly, an object of the present invention to provide a washing apparatus which is operable to efficiently perform a washing process by using water, and which permits the washing liquid to be used in a recycle manner without being discharged to the outside as waste liquid, and which brings reduction of the washing costs, and which can inhibit environmental pollution and public nuisance attendant thereon.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a washing apparatus which may improve the washing efficiency by substantially entirely removing the sludges or oils deposited on materials to be washed and to reliably separate the removed sludges and oils from each other through both an impinging action of high-pressurized washing liquid and an impinging action of fine bubbles on the materials.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a washing apparatus which may minimize residual sludges and oils in a bubbling section after removal and separation by bubbles in the bubbling section.
It is a still further object of the present invention to provide a washing apparatus in which removal of sludges and separation of oily water is performed in a two-stage manner so as to reliably and smoothly perform removal of the sludges and separation of the oily water and in which the life of the washing apparatus is improved.
It is a still further object of the present invention to provide a washing apparatus in which a washing process is efficiently performed in two vessels including a first bubbling vessel and a second bubbling vessel.
It is a still further object of the present invention to provide an oily water separation device which is best suited to a washing apparatus.
It is a still further object of the present invention to provide an oily water separation device in which the separation of oily water can be efficiently performed.
It is a still further object of the present invention to provide an oily water separation device in which the separation of oily water can be performed with excellent accuracy.
It is a still further object of the present invention to provide an oily water separation device in which the separation capability of a coalescer is excellently maintained so as to permit efficient separation of oily water.
It is a still further object of the present invention to provide an oily water separation device which is simple in construction.
It is a still further object of the present invention to provide an oily water separation device in which washing water can be effectively utilized without disposal.
It is a still further object of the present invention to provide an activated carbon filtration device which is optimal for use with a washing apparatus.
It is a still further object of the present invention to provide an activated carbon filtration device which may obtain clean filtrate liquid including no fine particles of activated carbon mixed therein when starting a filtration process.
It is a still further object of the present invention to provide an activated carbon filtration device which may reliably prevent fine particles of activated carbon from flowing out from the device by means of a filter.
It is a still further object of the present invention to provide an activated carbon filtration device which improves the degree of freedom in selection and design of a supporting member for a filter and which is economic to manufacture and efficient in use.
It is a still further object of the present invention to provide an activated carbon filtration device in which a filter can be easily and reliably mounted and in which fine particles of activated carbon are reliably prevented from flowing out from the device.


An exercise machine designed to enhance flexibility and allow for controlled stretching of torso muscles is herein disclosed. The machine comprises a padded cushion upon which a user is situated in a seated position. The machine also comprises a padded bolster which moves in a circular arc which the user pushes against with their back, chest, or side, depending on the seated position. The bolster supports and guides the user through a full arcuate motion from a vertical position downwardly toward the floor. The machine comprises a stationary second pad which supports a user's pelvis or waist area during the stretching therapy. The positions of both the bolster and stationary pad are adjustable in order to accommodate the user's size. The exercise machine utilizes a series of counterbalancing springs housed within a main enclosure to enable the user to easily return to a sitting position.

Back pain and injury is a widespread ailment. Many such injuries can linger for extended periods and can cause recurring discomfort and pain. These injuries and pain can stem from many different sources, including repeated lifting, bending, long periods spent in fixed positions, and the like.
In many cases, proper stretching of the back is considered to be an integral part of the recovery and rehabilitation process. However, personal back stretching routines such as twisting and bending is inadequate to fully stretch the back muscles. A much wider range of motion in many more directions is required in order to most completely and efficiently heal back ailments and restore comfort to the inflicted.
Various attempts have been made to provide a device which aids in the stretching and recuperation of back muscles. Examples of these attempts can be seen by reference to several U.S. patents. U.S. Pat. No. 5,256,126, issued in the name of Grotstein, describes an abdominal and back exercising apparatus. The Grotstein apparatus provides a resilient member to allow a user to undertake resistive sit-ups or resistive back exercises.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,746,384, issued in the name of Cole et al., describes an apparatus for exercising the lumbar region of the back. The Cole apparatus is designed for a user to exercise their back by bending and subsequently elevating their back muscles while simultaneously holding a set of handheld weights.
Additionally, ornamental designs for abdominal and back muscle stretching apparatuses exist, particularly U.S. Pat. Nos. D 288,459 and D 380,024. However, none of these designs are similar to the present invention.
While these devices fulfill their respective, particular objectives, each of these references suffer from one (1) or more of the aforementioned disadvantages. Many such devices do not allow sufficient customizability for users of different sizes and preferences. Also, many such devices are limited to the number of back stretches that can be performed. Furthermore, many such devices do not provide precise data feedback to a user.
Accordingly, there exists a need for a personal stretching and rehabilitation apparatus without the disadvantages as described above. The development of the present invention substantially departs from the conventional solutions and in doing so fulfills this need.


A measuring apparatus and method for measuring dynamic parameters in a driven bicycle wheel are described. Parameters which are measured are; driven torque, angular velocity, angular acceleration, lateral angular acceleration, and applied power of the driven wheel. The measuring apparatus is affixed to the rear driven cog(s) of a bicycle wheel. One or more strain sensing elements affixed to the rear driven cog(s) detect the applied driven torque. Three or more acceleration sensing integrated circuits are used to determine angular velocity, angular acceleration, and lateral angular acceleration of the driven rear cog. These circuits reside on the primary electronics board and are affixed to the rear driven cog; hence they rotate along with the driven rear cog. Power applied to the driven wheel is derived from the torque and angular velocity measurements of the invention. These performance variables will aid a competitive cyclist to evaluate and observe progress in his or her physical training.

Dynamic parameter measurement devices for bicycles have been implemented in various ways. Prior art exists primarily in the measurement of torque and driven wheel angular velocity. Of this prior art, torque measurement and angular velocity have been implemented in the bicycle hub, cranks, chain, pedals, and spokes. All of the prior art references determine angular velocity thru the means of a reed type magnetic switch or a low-resolution optical encoder. Angular velocity measurements taken using such methods provide updates of wheel speed too infrequently to use this data for evaluation of dynamic power applied to the rear wheel during sprint events.
Torque measurement is typically achieved in the prior art thru the use of wire bonded resistive strain gauges. The approach to mounting of these strain gauges in the prior art has typically resulted in measurements, which are subjected to errors due to undesired strains imposed on the particular object to which the gauge is bonded too. Resistive type wire bonded strain gauges perform a point-to-point measurement of the strain, which may not be fully representative of the strain imposed across the entire object being stressed. In addition, these devices require power in order to measure a change in voltage due to strain induced resistance changes.
There has been no evidence of prior art, which claims to measure centripetal acceleration or lateral angular acceleration of the rear driven wheel. It is apparent that measurements of this type would not be possible given the current state of the art in angular velocity apparatus and methods.
The invention disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,418,797 consists of a device, which measures power applied to the rear wheel thru the rear hub of a bicycle. The invention uses resistive wire bond strain gauges and a reed type wheel velocity sensor to determine power applied to the rear wheel. As described previously these methods of measuring torque and wheel velocity cannot determine instantaneous power applied to the rear wheel of a bicycle. In addition implementation of U.S. Pat. No. 6,418,797 implies that a dedicated bicycle wheel is required in order to use the device disclosed in the invention to measure power output of a rider. This prevents the user from easily transferring the device to different wheels of varying sizes. The invention of U.S. Pat. No. 6,418,797 does not provide the user the capability of measuring instantaneous angular acceleration or lateral angular acceleration of the rear driven wheel. It is apparent that the invention described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,418,797 cannot measure dynamic parameters associated with a driven bicycle wheel.
There exists prior art, which appears to have been commercialized before any pending patent applications have either been filed or approved at the time of this writing by the authors. The device is a power measurement device manufactured by Polar Electro, Inc. The device uses a sensor mounted below the chain of a bicycle, which measures the frequency of oscillation of the chain under applied load. This technique is similar to how an individual tunes a guitar string. When load is applied to the chain this changes the 1st natural frequency of the chain under tension. If one knows the mass of the chain and measures this frequency it is relatively simple to determine the tension present in the chain. This method presents problems when the chain has added mass due to containments such as mud, grease, etc. Shifts in natural frequency, which directly influence the computation of chain tension, can occur if added mass is present at the time of data acquisition. In addition the device requires a chain system, which contains significant slack and therefore is not adaptable to single speed-tensioned systems. Velocity measurement is achieved in this system through the use of a pulley, which rides along with the chain. The speed of the pulley is measured through perforated holes in the pulley and a sensing unit, which measures the time at which these perforations pass the sensing unit. This system produces velocity signals, which are proportional and controlled by the rotational speed of the pulley. This limits the maximum sample rate to the speed of the pulley multiplied by the number of perforations. High sample rates are not possible due to hardware limitations of the product. Taking the product of chain tension and chain velocity derives power applied to the chain and hence the rear wheel. The product offered by Polar does not provide the user the capability of measuring instantaneous angular acceleration or lateral angular acceleration of the rear driven wheel or chain. It is apparent that this product offered by Polar cannot measure dynamic parameters associated with a driven bicycle wheel.
The invention disclosed in German Patent DE 3722728 consists of a device, which measures power applied to the cranks of a bicycle. The invention uses resistive wire bond strain gauges and a reed type velocity sensor or a low-resolution encoder to determine power applied to the cranks of a bicycle. As described previously these methods of measuring torque and crank velocity cannot determine instantaneous power applied to the cranks of a bicycle. In addition implementation of German Patent DE 3722728 implies that dedicated bicycle cranks are required in order to use the device disclosed in the invention to measure power output of a rider. This prevents the user from easily transferring the device to different bicycles. The invention of German Patent DE 3722728 does not provide the user the capability of measuring instantaneous angular acceleration or lateral angular acceleration of the bicycle. It is apparent that the invention described in German Patent DE 3722728 cannot measure dynamic parameters associated with a bicycle.
The invention disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,836,711 utilizes a high resolution optical encoder to overcome many of the deficiencies of the prior art. Despite the inventions high resolution optical encoder implementation the invention produces data at the same rate as wheel rotation, thus limiting the maximum achievable sample rate to a integer multiple of the wheel rotation. This severely limits the ability to control the rate at which a user records sensory information. The invention of U.S. Pat. No. 6,836,711 shares the same characteristic problems as the prior art already mentioned in that the hardware selected to measure angular speed dictates the maximum rate at which data can be collected, which is not desirable. This invention claims to measure the rotational displacement of the wheel as a function of time. Thus it is clear to see that two quantities are being measured and used in the computation of angular velocity and angular acceleration. Each of the measured quantities, rotational displacement and time will each have an associated measurement error. In order to compute angular velocity (1st derivative) and angular acceleration (2nd derivative) these independent errors must be propagated through the computations thus resulting in a final product, which is inherently less accurate than the original measurements intended. Further errors could be induced due to the use of a high resolution optical encoder which are susceptible to mounting and alignment induced errors. Implementation of a system like this requires sophisticated calibration routines to ensure the alignment of the device is within specification. Lastly, implementation of this invention requires that the sensor has surfaces that move independently with respect to each other, thus requiring a rotating seal to eliminate containments to the electronics. The invention of U.S. Pat. No. 6,836,711 does not provide the user the capability of measuring torque generated or instantaneous lateral angular acceleration of the bicycle; therefore it is impossible to compute applied power to the driven wheel. It is apparent that the invention described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,836,711 cannot measure all dynamic parameters associated with a bicycle driven wheel.

Apparatus and method for measuring dynamic parameters for a driven wheel


An adaptive request handler (ARH) receives a virtual machine (VM) request from a user and determines whether to automatically approve the VM request using a tolerance that defines an allowable amount of deviation from preset resource specifications. In some embodiments, the ARH adaptively varies the tolerance based on one or more monitored factors, such as an aggregate system resource utilization by and/or a billing history of the user or a group that includes the user. In some embodiments, the VM request is based on a template selected by the user from among a plurality of templates eligible for automatic approval, wherein a plurality of tolerances each defines an allowable amount of deviation from preset resource specifications of a respective one of the eligible templates. The ARH may, in some embodiments, vary each of the plurality of tolerances independently based on one or more monitored factors.

The present invention relates in general to the data processing field. More particularly, the present invention relates to a method, apparatus and computer program product for automatically approving virtual machine (VM) requests using a tolerance that defines an allowable amount of deviation from preset resource specifications, wherein the tolerance can be varied adaptively based on one or more monitored factors.

Adaptive virtual machine request approver


A disposable-type hearing aid uses a relatively large single diaphragm or a large single diaphragm subdivided into a plurality of smaller active diaphragm areas obtained using a grate-like back support plate with ridges which contact and divide the diaphragm into the several smaller active diaphragm areas. The diaphragm and a backplate are enclosed in a metal housing and are disposed proximal and parallel to a shell-like hearing aid enclosure having sound inlets. The metal housing is closed at an end opposite the sound inlets by a printed circuit board (PCB) forming an acoustical seal for a back volume of the microphone. The PCB also carries substantially all the electronic components for the hearing aid thereon. The PCB has a ground plane in contact with the housing whereby the PCB also acts as an EMI shield. An electrical connection is formed in various ways between the back support plate and the PCB during assembly of the metal housing and components with the PCB. Mass production of disposable hearing aids with large diaphragms and relatively low noise levels is thus possible using this invention.

The performance of a hearing aid depends, among other things, upon the design of the microphone pickup. The microphone is a substantial part of the hearing aid. Further, where a hearing aid uses a circuit board which requires electrical connections to be completed during the hearing aid assembly, the ease and simplicity with which the electrical connections can be made impacts the cost of manufacture. Hearing aids which can be manufactured at relatively lower cost are desirable, since they can be disposed of after use.
Examples of the use of hearing aid microphones or transducers are known in published literature.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,388,163 to Elko et al. teaches an electret foil transducer array comprising an electret foil having a layer of insulating material and a layer of metal in contact therewith. The transducer portion of the array comprises one or more discrete areas of foil with the surrounding areas removed. Alternatively, the discrete areas of foil could be formed by selective metal deposition. Electrical leads are coupled to the discrete areas of metal. By means of the electrical leads, electrical signals produced by each transducer in response to acoustic signals which become incident in use on the areas of foil are used for further processing. The electret foil is made up of the discrete areas of foil with a backing of polytetrafluoroethylene PTF or, alternatively, Mylar®. The electret foil is backed by a porous backplate (e.g., of sintered aluminum) with a rough surface to provide air channels. The porous backplate may be supported by a uniformly supporting metal screen to provide increased rigidity.
Nevertheless, despite such prior art, a need exists for a hearing aid with a relatively large diaphragm and improved low noise microphone characteristics performing with high efficiency, which is capable of being manufactured at low cost and economy, thereby facilitating the manufacture of hearing aids which are sufficiently inexpensive so that they can be disposed of after short periods of use. Additionally, there is a need for a hearing aid wherein electrical connections, which need to be made during manufacture, can be completed in a simple and economical manner and in a less labor intensive and effective process.

Hearing aid with large diaphragm microphone element including a printed circuit board


The present invention proposes improving the yield of a microgenerator (1) used for operating a timepiece. Such a microgenerator operates on the basis of the phenomenon of electromagnetic induction, it is thus desirable to limit as far as possible the presence of magnetic masses in proximity to said generator. Research undertaken has shown that the electrically conductive paths (9), and even their single protective layer, arranged in proximity to the microgenerator brake it, when they are formed of a magnetic material, and in particular a ferromagnetic material. Thus, the selection of exclusively non-magnetic materials is proposed for manufacturing the conductive paths.

This application claims priority from Swiss Patent Application No. 0367/01, filed Feb. 28, 2001.
The present invention concerns a timepiece including in particular a functional unit including magnetised masses, an electronic module including a support with conductive paths connected to at least one integrated circuit.
In particular, the object of the present Application concerns a timepiece wherein said functional unit is a microgenerator which is not shielded laterally.
Hereinafter in this Application, "non-magnetic" material means a material which is not ferromagnetic, which is not or only very slightly paramagnetic, and which may have a slight diamagnetism. Likewise, "in proximity to the microgenerator" means the entire peripheral region of the microgenerator in which the magnetic flux of the magnetised masses has a significant value.
The operating principle of such a watch movement is described in particular in Swiss Patent No. 597636 and European Patent No. 851322, the teaching of which is incorporated herein by reference. Swiss Patent No. 597636, for example, discloses a watch movement wherein a spring, via a set of gears, drives hands, on the one hand, and a generator generating an ac current, on the other hand. The generator powers an electronic circuit including in particular a stabilised quartz oscillator which allows the working of the generator, and thus the working of the hands, to be regulated. Such a watch consequently combines the advantages of a mechanical watch with the precision of a quartz watch.

Use of non-magnetic paths for an electronic module intended for a timepiece


An image transfer device includes: first and second rollers; and exit-side roller disposed downstream of the second roller; an endless transfer belt tensioned between the first roller and the exit-side roller with the second roller in between so that the part of the transfer belt between the first and second rollers can be kept in contact with a photoreceptor; a conductive, endless voltage supplying belt tensioned between the first and second rollers so as to come in contact with a wide area of the inside surface of the transfer belt. The first roller is applied with a predetermined voltage from a power source so that the voltage is supplied to the transfer range of the transfer belt via the voltage supplying belt. In this arrangement, when a sheet of paper is conveyed into the contact area between the transfer belt and the photoreceptor, a toner image formed on the photoreceptor is transferred to the fed sheet of paper.

(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image transfer device for use in an image forming apparatus, particularly relating to an image transfer device in which an image formed on the recording medium is electrostatically transferred to a sheet of paper.
(2) Description of the Prior Art
In the image forming apparatus using electrophotography, a photoreceptor which is made up of a conductive substrate (drum) coated with a photoconductive layer as a recording medium, is exposed to an optical image so that an electrostatic latent image is formed in accordance with this image. In order to visualize the latent image, toner as a coloring pigment is adhered thereto. The thus developed toner image is then electrostatically transferred to a transfer sheet which is fed in synchronism. Subsequently, the sheet is passed through the fusing fixing unit and discharged from the image forming apparatus body.
As a device for transferring the toner image formed on the photoreceptor, corona-chargers have been widely used, which supply opposite polarity to that of the static charge of the toner, to the undersurface of the paper sheet being conveyed, so that the toner image is electrostatically transferred to the paper sheet. Alternatively, in place of the corona charger, a device having a transfer roller which presses the paper sheet against the photoreceptor can be used. In this contact stage, the transfer roller is applied with a voltage opposite to the polarity of the toner, so that the toner is electrostatically transferred onto the paper sheet.
In stead of transferring the toner image formed on the photoreceptor as stated above, in some cases, the static latent image may be transferred by bringing a paper sheet, whose surface is treated with an insulator such as a dielectric layer etc., into intimate contact with the photoreceptor using a transfer roller etc. By this configuration, there is no longer a need to clean the photoreceptor of leftover toner after the toner image has thereon been transferred.
In contrast to those using the conventional corona charger or the transfer roller, it has been disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Hei 3 No. 231,273 that a transfer belt should be provided in order to convey the sheet which has had toner transferred, at the same time as transferring the toner image thereto. This transfer belt is tensioned between a pair of rollers; one of the rollers is abutted against the photoreceptor with the transfer belt inbetween and is supplied with a voltage for the transfer operation. FIG. 1 shows a typical example of it.
As shown in FIG. 1, a paper sheet P is fed inbetween a photoreceptor 10 and a transfer belt 11. One roller 12 which stretches the transfer belt 11 is applied with a voltage from a power source 14 so that an electric field is generated. This electric field causes the toner image formed on the photoreceptor 10 to electrostatically transfer to the paper sheet P side. The above transfer belt 11 is driven in synchronism with the rotation of the photoreceptor, by means of the driving roller 12.
In this way, in accordance with the transfer device shown in FIG. 1, roller 12, or one of the rollers for driving the transfer belt 11, is applied with a voltage for the transfer operation so that the toner image is transferred to the paper sheet P. Therefore, the paper sheet P after the toner has been transferred thereto is conveyed along the surface of the driven belt 11, to the next stage where the fixing operation is to be made. That is, the transfer device can also be used as the conveying device thus making it possible to make the apparatus compact.
Nevertheless, since in the transfer position of transfer belt 11, the photoreceptor 10 and roller 12 contact with one another in their arc portions, the contact range is narrow. That is, the contact range between the photoreceptor 10 and the transfer belt 11, which will form the transfer area, is extremely narrow so that the contact portion between the paper sheet P and the photoreceptor 10 becomes small. Hence, if the speed of the image formed in the image forming apparatus is raised, the passage time of the paper through the transfer position is shortened due to the shortness of the contacting time. This means that the necessary amount of charge cannot be imparted to the paper sheet to achieve an adequate transfer operation, thus causing transfer failure etc.
In order to eliminate the above problem, if the voltage to be applied to the roller 12 is increased, the transfer efficiency may be improved so that the transfer defect can be inhibited. The application of the high voltage, however, causes a large variation in the amount of charge to be imparted to the paper sheet P due to resistance fluctuation of the transfer belt 11. This variation directly affects as the dispersion of the transfer efficiency. This means that, when the toner image of `solid black` is transferred to the paper sheet, a pattern with various uneven spotted densities is transferred as it is, resulting in failures to produce a transferred image with even density. Thus, a measure against transfer failures could, on the contrary, promote the transfer failures.
The above problem of transfer failures can be eliminated if the resistance value of the transfer belt is set uniformly throughout the entire area thereof. However, it is very difficult to make the resistance value of the transfer belt uniform, and if it is done in manufacturing, the cost can become very high.


A system and method for reducing the number of input/output connections required to connect a microfluidic substrate to an external controller for controlling the substrate. In one example, a microfluidic processing device is fabricated on a substrate having a plurality of N independently controllable components, (e.g., a resistive heating elements) each having at least two terminals. The substrate includes a plurality of input/output contacts for connecting the substrate to an external controller, and a plurality of leads for connecting the contacts to the terminals of the components. The leads are arranged to allow the external controller to supply control signals to the terminals of the components via the contacts using substantially fewer contacts than the total number of component terminals. For example, in one embodiment, each lead connects a corresponding contact to a plurality of terminals to allow the controller to supply to signals to the terminals without requiring a separate contact for each terminal. However, to assure that the components can each be controlled independently of the others, the leads are also arranged so that each component's terminals are connected to a unique combination of contacts. Thus, the external controller can activate a selected component by supplying control signals to the combination of contacts uniquely associated with that component.

Micro/nano technology devices are known in the art as devices with components on the scale of 1 μm to 100s of μm that cooperate to perform various desired functions. In particular, microfluidic devices are micro/nano technology devices that perform fluid handling functions which, for example, cooperate to carry out a chemical or biochemical reaction or analysis.
Microfluidic devices include a variety of components for manipulating and analyzing the fluid within the devices. Typically, these elements are microfabricated from substrates made of silicon, glass, ceramic, plastic, and/or quartz. These various fluid-processing components are linked by microchannels, etched into the same substrate, through which the fluid flows under the control of a fluid propulsion mechanism. Electronic components may also be fabricated on the substrate, allowing sensors and controlling circuitry to be incorporated in the same device. Because all of the components are made using conventional photolithographic techniques, multi-component devices can be readily assembled into complex, integrated systems.
Most microfluidic devices in the prior art are based on fluid flowing through micro-scale passages and chambers, either continuously or in relatively large aliquots. Fluid flow is usually initiated and controlled by electro-osmotic and electrophoretic forces. See, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 5,632,876, issued Apr. 27, 1997 and entitled "Apparatus and Methods for Controlling Fluid Flow in Microchannels;" U.S. Pat. No. 5,992,820, issued Nov. 30, 1999 and entitled "Flow Control in Microfluidics Devices by Controlled Bubble Formation;" U.S. Pat. No. 5,637,469, issued Jun. 10, 1997 and entitled "Methods and Apparatus for the Detection of an Analyte Utilizing Mesoscale Flow Systems;" U.S. Pat. No. 5,800,690, issued Sep. 1, 1998 and entitled "Variable Control of Electroosmotic and/or Electrophoretic Forces Within a Fluid-Containing Structure Via Electrical Forces;" and U.S. Pat. No. 6,001,231, issued Dec. 14, 1999 and entitled "Methods and Systems for Monitoring and Controlling Fluid Flow Rates in Microfluidic Systems." See also products from, e.g., Orchid, Inc. (www.orchid.com) and Caliper Technologies, Inc. (www.calipertech.com).
Microfluidic devices that manipulate very small aliquots of fluids (known herein as "micro-droplets") in micro-scale passages rely principally on pressure and other non-electric forces to move the liquid volume. These devices are advantageous because smaller volumes of reagents are required and because non-electric propulsion forces can be generated using relatively small voltages, on the same order of magnitude as voltages required by standard microelectronic components. See, i.e. the following patents, the contents of which are incorporated herein in their entirety by reference: U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,057,149, issued May 2, 2000 and entitled "Microscale Devices And Reactions In Microscale Devices;" 6,048,734, issued Apr. 11, 2000 and entitled "Thermal Microvalves in a Fluid Flow Method;" and 6,130,098, issued Oct. 10, 2000. (Citation or identification of any reference in this section or any section of this application shall not be construed that such reference is available as prior art to the present invention).
U.S. Pat. No. 6,130,098 ("the '098 patent"), for example, discloses microfluidic devices that include micro-droplet channels for transporting fluid droplets through a fluid processing system. The system includes a variety of micro-scale components for processing the fluid droplets, including micro-reaction chambers, electrophoresis modules, and detectors (such as radiation detectors). In some embodiments, the devices also include air chambers coupled to resistive heaters to internally generate air pressure to automatically withdraw a measured volume of fluid from an input port, and to propel the measured micro-droplet through the microfluidic device.
These components are connected to input/output (I/O) pins at the edge of the micro-fluid device which mate with corresponding I/O pins of the external controller. The external controller operates these components by sending and receiving control signals via the input/output pins. For example, a control device, external to the microfluidic device, activates a resistive heater within a microfluidic device by supplying current to the heater through the input/output pins. Microfluidic devices can include a large number of such components which are controlled by external devices. Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to reduce the number of input/output pins required for controlling such microfluidic devices from such external controllers.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Microfluidic devices having a reduced number of input and output connections


To facilitate disturbance measurements within a WLAN network, a portable measuring device is introduced. The portable measuring device comprises at least a casing, one or more interfaces to detachably connect an external device to the portable measuring device, a processor placed in the casing, one or more antennas, two simultaneously operating radios placed in the casing, one or more power sources placed in the casing, and a power switch.

Wireless local area networks, WLAN networks, using unlicensed radio frequencies for data transfer, have become more and more common both at home and in public premises. Companies often have a WLAN network on their business premises, to which WLAN devices of employees, including smart phones, laptop computers, and tablets, as for example, may connect. For visitors' devices, the business premises may have a separate WLAN network. Restaurants, cafes, hotels, and airports, for example, provide a WLAN network for their customers to use. In addition, municipalities have set up open WLAN networks that may cover the built-up areas, libraries, and/or schools of the municipality. In addition to WLAN devices, other devices, too, make use of license-free radio frequencies in wireless data transfer. Devices operating on the same radio frequency band disturb each other. There may further be other interfering factors, such as a microwave oven.
When WLAN networks are designed and maintained, one should take into account the various sources of disturbance in the WLAN network area. For this purpose, systems have been developed in which one or more separate measuring devices are connected to a laptop computer or tablet, each with their own USB interface either directly or through a USB hub to the computer or tablet, and the entire system is moved within the WLAN network area to carry out measurements. In particular when a plurality of WLAN frequencies are simultaneously measured, the system is clumsy and may even itself cause errors in measurement results.


An apparatus is provided for the drilling of a borehole and its simultaneous lining with cement or the like by the same apparatus. The apparatus comprises a combination spray head and reamer head, a means to drive the reamer head through a borehole and a means for delivering cement to the spray head. Cement is fed to a rotatable spray disc or arms of the spray head, which is arranged to distribute the cement substantially evenly over the internal surface of the borehole created by the reamer head. The apparatus uses lined drill rods, as well as a lined reamer core with a double walled plastic tube. An air transfer assembly is used to connect an internal air source to an air passage contained in the plastic tube, such that the external air source remains stationary during rotation of the lined drill rods and attached reamer and spray heads.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for raise bore drilling and lining of a borehole, more specifically to bore holes drilled for use in the mining industry.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Raise bore drilling has been used in the mining industry for many years and has been successful in virtually all types of rock. Modern raise bore drilling machines are capable of boring a pilot hole of up to 1000 meters and then reaming the pilot hole out to between 3 and 20 feet. Prior to the drilling of the pilot hole, information relating to the bore bole (i.e. location, start and end co-ordinates, size of hole, start-and-break-through mine levels, and the type of rock) are required to determine the size of raise drilling machine required, size of reamer, length of hole, and the size and number of drill rods required to complete the bore hole formation. Once this information is ascertained, the layout of the drilling apparatus is calculated and the drilling station is set up.
The first stage of borehole drilling involves the creation of a pilot hole. The piloting process generally begins by assembling a pilot bit, roller bit stabilizer, one or two ribbed stabilizers and loading the assembly into the raise drill. On drilling, the hole is flushed with a fluid medium, typically water, to flush cuttings away from the pilot bit. The resultant slurry is forced up through the drilled hole around the outside of the drill and is piped away from the raise drill by means known to one skilled in the art. Typically, a new drill rod is added after each live feet of drilling is completed, however lesser drill rod lengths are also used, The pilot process continues until the pilot bit breaks through at a lower level of the mine.
The second stage involves the replacement of the pilot bit with a reamer to enlarge a portion of the pilot hole. Generally the reamer is positioned such that it is adjacent to the surface of the rock face and is loaded to the tension required to force the reamer cutters into the rock during rotation of the drill string. Typically, after each drill rod length of reaming is complete, a drill rod is removed and the process is repeated until the reamer is immediately below the raise drill set up rail, At this point the reamer is removed and the borehole is completed.
The third stage involves lining of the borehole with a material such as cement to guard against the crosion and potential collapse of the borehole walls. Once the reamer and drilling equipment are removed, a lining delivery equipment is set up. Typically, this process involves the use of a separate device under remote control in order to avoid an operator having to descend into the boreholes. Several Systems exist for the application of this lining, such as preformed liner sleeves, shuttering, and a spray-on apparatus. However, each is an independent system to the apparatus used for the drilling of the borehole, This arrangement has disadvantages in that set-up time is required for both the drilling apparatus and lining delivery equipment. Accordingly, the use of two separate and independent systems in the creation of a borehole, one for drilling and one for lining, can require two crews and two sets of equipment. This method can be particularly time consuming and costly.
In the art, Canadian Patent 1,308,249 describes a process for the lining or boreholes involving an apparatus for the remote spraying of cement on the walls of a bore hole. This patent focuses solely on the lining of the borehole once the borehole has been created. Canadian Patent 1,251,475 teaches a raise bore mining method; however, the patent does not discuss the lining of the bore itself.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a drilling system and method to obviate or mitigate at least some of the above-mentioned disadvantages.

Process and system for drilling and lining a bore hole


In a dividing method according to the present invention, a wiring board formed of ceramic is forced up (upper swing) by a lower clamp claw of a clamper, and some of a protruded wiring board portion protruding from a conveying chute is pressed against a support body to perform a first division under bending stress. Thereafter, the upward-located clamper is rotatably swung (lower swing) downward to allow an upper clamp claw to press down the protruded wiring board portion, thereby performing a reverse division at the first division section again as a second division. Since the second division allows a tensile force to act on a remaining and thin non-divided resin portion, the non-divided resin portion is torn off. Thus, the perfect division is enabled. Fractionalizing is done by a one-row division and an individual division so that each semiconductor device is formed.

The present invention relates to a method of manufacturing a semiconductor device such as a hybrid integrated circuit device (hybrid IC) and a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus, and to, for example, a technique effective if applied to the manufacture of a semiconductor device built in a cellular phone.
As one manufacturing method of a semiconductor device such as a hybrid integrated circuit device, there is known, for example, a technique for mounting a bare chip and other parts over unit sections of a package base substrate, which can be taken or picked up in multi form, thereafter sealing the bare chip and other parts with an insulating resin to form a sealing resin and then cutting the package base substrate together with the resin to thereby manufacture semiconductor devices based on the unit sections (see, for example, a patent document 1 (Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. Hei 11(1999)-31704)).
The patent document 1 has pointed out that a problem arises in that when the sealing resin is formed by a potting method, the surface of the sealing resin is hard to be flattened, and when a semiconductor device manufactured as a result thereof is surface-mounted to a circuit substrate, sorbability based on a vacuum adsorption nozzle is degraded.
On the other hand, there is known a semiconductor device having a structure wherein a semiconductor chip and chip parts are mounted over one surface of a module substrate and covered with an insulating resin to form a sealing or encapsulating section. When, in this case, a semiconductor device in which chip parts are fixed to a module substrate by solder connections and an encapsulating section is formed of a high elastic resin, is connected to a mounting board by solder reflow, solder of the solder-connected portion in the encapsulating section is remelted so that a malfunction such as a short occurs. The short occurs due to the fact that, for example, when solder is remelted, expanded pressure produced due to its melting peels or strips an interface between each chip part and a resin for forming the encapsulating section or an interface between the resin and the module substrate, and solder flows into it so that electrode terminals at both ends of the chip part are connected by solder. Therefore, there has been proposed a semiconductor device wherein in place of the high elastic resin, a resin (e.g., resin having an elastic modulus of 200 MPa or less at a temperature of 150° C. or more: e.g., silicone resin) having low elastic modulus is used to form an encapsulating section. The semiconductor device is capable of preventing a short because even if solder in the encapsulating section is remelted upon mounting reflow, pressure produced due to its melting expansion is relaxed by the low elastic resin (see, for example, a patent document 2 (Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2000-208668)).
Also the patent document 2 has described that a resin is applied onto the full surface of a multi-pickup substrate by a printing method and cured by baking to form a batch encapsulating section, and thereafter the multi-pickup substrate is subjected to primary division inclusive of the batch encapsulating section to manufacture semiconductor devices. As the resin, a silicone resin or a low elastic epoxy resin is used. As to the division, a one-row division (primary division) and fractionalization (secondary division) are performed twice, whereby a module (semiconductor device) is manufactured.
The patent document 2 has described that when a soft silicone resin is used upon division, the division is not perfectly done and hence a non-divided spot occurs, and the division is carried out by laser or dicing.
On the other hand, a semiconductor device such as a high frequency power amplifier device employed in a transmitting unit is known as a semiconductor device mounted over a mounting board of a cellular phone. The present semiconductor device has a structure wherein, for example, an electronic part comprising active parts (active elements) such as a transistor, etc. and passive parts (passive elements) such as a resistor, a capacitor, etc. is mounted over the upper surface of a module substrate having a wiring board structure. A plurality of electrode terminals (external electrode terminals) are provided over the back surface of the module substrate, and hence the present semiconductor device results in a surface-mounting semiconductor device. The module substrate is formed of a low temperature calcined substrate (low temperature calcined multilayer wiring board) formed of ceramic (see, for example, a patent document 3 (Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. Hei 9(1997)-116091)).

Manufacturing method of semiconductor device and semiconductor device


A printed circuit assembly comprises a module with a component secured to a pad on a dielectric substrate using a tin-free metal composition. A terminal of the module is coupled to a second printed circuit board with a solder composition of at least approximately 40% tin. The tin-free solder composition may comprise approximately 90% lead and 10% antimony.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of printed circuit assembly construction. More specifically, the present invention relates to component and lead soldering techniques for preventing solder reflow during serially performed soldering steps.
2. Description of the Related Technology
In the manufacture of electrical and electronic products, it is essentially universal practice to create circuits by soldering components to printed circuit boards which incorporate conductive traces interconnecting the components in the desired manner. In some instances, components are individually hand soldered to their appropriate locations. In other applications, several components are placed on a printed circuit board at once, and are soldered in place essentially simultaneously by a wave soldering method, or by an infrared or convection oven reflow technique. Reflow methods are especially common in printed circuit assemblies which include surface mount components.
In a typical reflow procedure, the pads of the printed circuit board traces are coated with a solder paste by a stencil or screening process. Circuit components such as resistors, capacitors, and the like are then secured to their appropriate positions, typically with a small amount of adhesive. The assembly is then placed inside an oven, where the solder paste is raised to a temperature above its temperature of "liquidus", the temperature at which the solder is completely liquid. Upon cooling, the solder solidifies, securing the components to the pads.
In many modern electronic applications, a printed circuit assembly as described above is packaged or encapsulated to form a single electronic module having terminals and/or leads for external connection to other circuitry. Such a module can be then used as a component of another, "downstream", printed circuit assembly. In this case, the terminals or leads of the module are soldered to another printed circuit board at a downstream manufacturing facility. This soldering process may again comprise hand, wave, or reflow soldering techniques. It can be appreciated that during this subsequent soldering procedure performed on the module, it is desirable to have the solder internal to the module remain below its temperature of "solidus", the temperature at which the solder alloy is entirely solid. If the solder internal to the module is raised above the solidus temperature, migration and cracks will begin to form, reducing the stability of the internal solder connections. If the liquidus temperature is approached, the solder internal to the module may reflow again, forming internal short circuits and causing module failure.
Efforts to resolve this problem have focused on the use of a module solder system which have higher solidus and liquidus temperatures than the soldering system used to secure the module to the other printed circuit board. Most common solders use alloys of tin (Sn) and lead (Pb) having a solidus temperature of approximately 183 degrees C. A 63% tin, 37% lead (63 Sn/37 Pb) alloy is a common formulation, and ratios can often range from 40% to 60% Pb, with the balance being Sn. Although these tin-lead alloys are most common, other elements can be added or substituted for all or part of the Pb or Sn to produce solders with different mechanical strengths, grain sizes, or liquidus/solidus temperatures. Such elements include, for example, cadmium (Cd), bismuth (Bi), antimony (Sb), and silver (Ag).
Most downstream printed circuit assembly manufacturers use a Sn/Pb alloy solder at a reflow oven temperature of approximately 220 to 235 degrees C. To try to avoid module reflow under these oven conditions, a higher temperature module soldering system using an 85 Pb/10 Sb/5 Sn has been employed in some commercially available prior art modules. This solder has a solidus temperature of approximately 239 degrees C., and a liquidus temperature of approximately 243 degrees C. Even though modules using this solder alloy have been produced using pads plated first with nickel and then gold (thereby eliminating the thin coating of Sn/Pb solder typically placed on bare copper printed circuit board pads), these modules have been found to exhibit undesired solder reflow and its associated module failure in many downstream manufacturing environments which use standard Sn/Pb solder alloys.
Another prior art system, one that is currently produced by the assignee of the present application, uses 88 Pb/10 Sn/2 Ag solder on pads treated with a standard Sn/Pb solder dip rather than nickel and gold plate. The 88 Pb/10 Sn/2 Ag solder alloy has a liquidus temperature of approximately 299 degrees C. This solder does not have subsequent reflow problems in downstream manufacturing, but the initial reflow temperature of 320 to 330 degrees C. required with this solder renders the use of expensive high temperature printed circuit boards 30 such as epoxy/polyphenylene oxide resin boards, available, for example, as type GETEK (TM) from General Electric. This high initial reflow temperature also tends to over-stress the components mounted on the printed circuit board 30, as they are commonly rated by component manufacturers to withstand only approximately 260 degrees C. during soldering.
There is accordingly a need in the art for an improved module soldering system which does not have reflow problems during downstream incorporation into another printed circuit assembly which utilizes standard Pb/Sn soldering methods. The module soldering technique should also use a reflow temperature which can be tolerated by standard inexpensive printed circuit boards and circuit components.

Soldered component bonding in a printed circuit assembly


Described is a hair cosmetic composition comprising an amide compound having a melting point of 0 to 50.degree. C. The hair cosmetic composition according to the present invention can impart the hair with suppleness, improve the touch feeling and bring about spilt hair preventive effects. Concerning the touch feeling, in particular, the composition can impart the hair with natural feeling, more specifically, with moisturized feeling, finger passing ease, styling ease, luster and not greasy but good oily feeling, whereby the hair with healthy, moisturized and young impression can be obtained.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a hair cosmetic composition which can impart hair with suppleness and improve the touch feeling.
2. Description of the Related Art
Various changes in the hair conditions such as deterioration in the touch feeling, for example, loss of moisturized touch feeling from hair, and weakening of hair strength have generally been recognized as hair troubles. These changes in the physical properties of hair are presumed to occur because of the mechanical or chemical treatment usually given to hair for a long period of time. With a view to overcoming the deterioration in the touch feeling of hair, for example, loss of moisturized touch feeling from hair, the addition of an oily ingredient to a hair cosmetic composition has been adopted as one measure.
The oily ingredient is however accompanied with the problems that it imparts hair with greasy touch feeling and heavy looking and instead of improving the smoothness, it arouses somewhat resistance against combing or finger combing.


Fungicidal compositions comprising a mixture of xcex2-amino butyric acid and conazoles provide synergistic effects for protecting seeds, plants, and other vegetative material from fungi.

The present invention relates to compositions with useful fungicidal properties. The present invention more particularly relates to synergistic mixtures of fungicides.
xcex2-Aminobutyric acid is reported in copending Israel Patent Applications No. 111,824 as protecting crops against fungal diseases caused by fungi by inducing systemic resistance of said crop.
Conazoles are imidazole or 1,2,4,-triazole compounds containing a halogenated phenyl group having fungicidal properties as described in xe2x80x9cPesticide Manual, Tenth Edition, 1996, published by the British Crop protection council.
It is the objective of the present invention to provide a new fungicidal composition. It is a further objective of the present invention to provide for improved fungicidal compositions which have advantageous properties over the individual components and that often demonstrate synergism and affords a increase in the yield of the crop.
The present invention provides a fungicidal composition comprising:
(a) xcex2-aminobutyric acid, and
(b) a conazole compound which is a steroid demethylation inhibitor.
Conazoles are defined in ISO standard 257 as compounds based on imadazole or 1,2,4,-triazole and containing a halogenated phenyl group. Examples include prochloraz, propiconazole, flusilazole, hexaconazole, tebuconazole, difenoconazole, bromuconazole, cyproconazole, diniconazole, fenbuconazole, imibenconazole, furconazole, tetraconazole, myclobutanil, penconazole, fluquinconazole, azaconazole, imazalil, triflumizole, epoxiconazole, triticonazole, metconazole, flutriafol, triadimenol, and the fungicide having the code No. SSF 109 (and their metal complexes-especially complexes with manganese, copper, or zinc).
The names quoted for these conazole compounds are the non-proprietary common names and the chemical structure can be found for example by reference to the xe2x80x9cPesticide Manualxe2x80x9d, Tenth Edition 1996, published by the British Crop Protection council.
The weight ratio of component (a) to component (b) can vary over wide ranges. Suitable ranges of (a) to (b) are from 800:1 to 1:800 especially 200:1 to 1:200 and most especially 50:1 to 1:50.
In addition other pesticides may be employed in conjunction with the active ingredients described above providing they do not adversely effect the interaction between the fungicidal components.
The composition of the invention are active against a wide range of fungi, e.g. powdery mildew (Erysiphe graminis) on cucumbers and cereal crops such as wheat, barley, oats and rye and other foliar diseases such a glume blotch (Septoria nodorum), leaf blotch (Rhynchosprium secalis), eyespot (Pseudocerocosporella herpotrichoides) and rusts (e.g. Puccinia graminis). Certain compositions of the present invention can be used to control seed-borne organisms such as bunt (Tilletia caries) on wheat, loose smut (Ustilago nuda and Ustilago hordei) on barley and oats, leaf spot (Pyrenophora avenae) on oats and leaf stripe (Pyrenophora graminis) on barley.
The compositions can also be applied to rice for control of rice blast (Pyricularia oryzae), to horticultural crops such as apple trees for the control of apple scab (Venturia inaequalis), roses and other ornamentals for the control of powdery mildew (Sphaerotheca pannosa), rust and black spot, to many crops, for the control of Botrytis cinera, to turf for the control of dollar spot (Sclerotinia homeocarpa) and to stored produce for the control of storage rot organisms of citrus fruit, potatoes, sugar beet, apples, pears etc., (e.g. Penicillium spp., Aspergillus spp. and botrytis spp.). Other diseases that may be combated include Helminthosporium spp. and Cercospora spp.
The composition of the invention may be employed in many forms and are often most conveniently prepared in aqueous form immediately prior to use. One method of preparing such a composition is referred to as xe2x80x9ctank mixingxe2x80x9d in which the ingredients in their commercially available form are mixed together by the user in a quantity of water. In addition to tank mixing immediately prior to use, the compositions may be formulated into a more concentrated primary composition which is diluted with water or other diluent before use. Such compositions may comprise a surface active agent in addition to the active ingredients and examples of such compositions are as follows.
It can be a dispersible solution which comprises the active ingredients dissolved in a water-miscible solvent with the addition of a dispersing agent. Alternatively it can comprise the ingredients in the form of a finely ground powder in association with a dispersing agent and intimately mixed with water to give a paste or cream which can if desired be added to an emulsion of oil in water to give a dispersion of active ingredients in an aqueous oil emulsion.
An emulsifiable concentrate comprises the active ingredient dissolved in a water-immiscible solvent which is formed into an emulsion with water in the presence of an emulsifying agent.
A granular solid comprises the active ingredients associated with powder diluents such as kaolin, which mixture is granulated by known method. Alternatively it comprises the active ingredients absorbed or absorbed on a pre-granular diluent, for example Fuller""s earth, attapulgite or limestone grit.
A dispersible or wettable powder usually comprises the active ingredients in admixture with a suitable surfactant and an inert powder diluent such as china clay.
Another suitable concentrate is a flowable suspension concentrate which is formed by grinding the active ingredients with water, a wetting agent and a suspending agent.
In some circumstances may be desirable to combine two types of formulation e.g. one of the components is present in an emulsifiable concentrate and the second component is dispersed as a powder in this concentrate.
The concentrate of the active ingredients (when used as the sole active components) in a composition for direct application to the crop by conventional ground methods is preferably within the range of 0.001 to 10 percent by weight of the composition, especially 0.005 to 5 percent by weight, but more concentrated compositions containing up to 40 percent may be desirable in the case of aerial sprays.
The compositions of the invention are particularly useful for treating seeds, especially cereal seeds, in order to control, particularly, seed borne diseases. The seeds can be treated in conventional manner using a variety of formulation types, such as dusts, solutions in an organic solvent or aqueous formulations such as flowable suspension concentrates. If cereal grain is to be stored in the store room or container it is sometimes convenient to treat the store room or containers with a composition according to the invention instead of, or in addition to, treatment of the cereal grain itself. A suitable rate of application for a seed dressing is from 0.005 to 5.0 per kilogram of seed, such as for example from 0.01 to 1.0 g per kilogram of seed.
Alternatively the composition of the invention can be applied directly to plants by, for example, spraying or dusting either at the time which the fungus has begun to appear in the plant or before the appearance of fungus, as a protective measure. In both cases the preferred mode of application is by foliar spray. When the composition of the invention is applied directly to the plant a suitable rate of application is from 0.005 to 2 Kilograms per hectare, preferably form 0.1 to 1 Kilogram per hectare.
The invention thus includes a method of combating phytopathogenic fungi which comprises applying to the fungus or its locus a mixture according to the invention.
The invention is illustrated in the following Examples which describe in vivo experiments of potted plants in growth chambers in which a synergistic effect was observed.