The invention provides a purification column that contains an adsorbent and shows excellent adsorptivity. Specifically, this purification column is provided with an adsorbent and a case that contains the adsorbent and has a tubular housing and treatment fluid supply port and discharge port at both ends of the housing. The purification column is characterized in that: a distribution plate is disposed at least on one end face side of the adsorbent; the distribution plate has a plurality of openings that allow communication of the treatment fluid, a support body, and a protrusion extending from the supporting body to the adsorbent side; and at least part of the protrusion is inserted into the adsorbent.

Purification columns to adsorb substances to be removed from a fluid may have adsorbent of beads, fiber bundle consisting of a plurality of fibers, or knitted fabric. The adsorbent of beads packed uniformly in the purification column is advantageous with less uneven flow of fluid because the fluid has a small difference of channel resistance between an axial direction connecting openings at both housing ends of the purification column and a radial direction orthogonal to the axial direction.
On the other hand, although surface area per unit volume of adsorbent may be increased to improve the purification column in adsorptivity, small diameter of adsorbent beads might narrow gaps between beads to increase pressure loss so that the fluid doesn't flow well. Further, spherical shape of beads leads to disadvantageous small surface area per, unit volume.
The adsorbent of knitted fabric cannot be made porous easily by forming adsorption holes on the fiber and might cause a pressure rise in the purification column when the fluid is viscous.
In contrast to the beads and knitted fabric, the fiber bundle consisting of fibers can be packed in parallel with the axial direction connecting openings at both housing ends of the purification column.
To keep the adsorbent inside the purification column, a filter having many fine holes or a resin layer having through-holes is provided on an end for supplying and/or discharging the fluid from the purification column. The filter or the resin layer has an opening as large as capable of flowing the fluid but the adsorbent.
It is known that a channeling (which means non-uniform flow distribution) might deteriorate the adsorptivity of the purification column. The channeling might generate a region where the fluid doesn't contact the adsorbent or a region where the flow of fluid stagnates, so that the effective surface area of the adsorbent decreases to deteriorate the adsorptivity of the purification column.
The channeling may be caused by non-uniform distribution of adsorbent packed in the purification column, or by small ratio L/D of length L to average diameter D of the packing section of adsorbent.
To prevent the channeling, Patent document 1 discloses a blood purification column capable of flow blood widely in the cross section of channel in the column by adjusting the channel resistance of blood flowing according to the part of the filter to support adsorbent particles in the column.
Patent document 2 discloses a purification column having a housing, in which hollow fibers are contained, of cylindrical casing of which both ends are provided with a partition wall through which a through-hole communicates the outside and the inside.
Patent document 3 discloses a blood treatment device comprising a column provided with inserts inside to block the shortest path from inlet to outlet of blood flowing in the column.
Patent document 4 discloses a blood purification device having a container containing an adsorbent, an elastic body provided on both ends of the adsorbent and a supporting body to support the adsorbent and the elastic body from both ends of the elastic body.
Patent document 5 discloses a hollow fiber membrane module comprising a distribution regulation member provided at an end of the hollow fiber bundle and a rectifier tube surrounding a part of the end of the hollow fiber bundle, the rectifier tube being partially fixed to an adhesive fixing layer, the distribution regulation member being included in the adhesive fixing layer to reduce a non-uniform density distribution of the hollow fiber in the hollow fiber bundle.


A base cam/power cam assembly for a compound bow is disclosed, the base cam/power cam assembly comprising: a) a base cam for letting out a draw cable when the assembly rotates as the bow is drawn, the base cam having an oblong shape with a major axis and a minor axis and an eccentric rotation axis substantially perpendicular to the plane of the base cam; b) a power cam for taking up a power cable when the assembly rotates as the bow is drawn, the power cam being secured to the base cam and having an oblong shape with a major axis and a minor axis and an eccentric rotation axis substantially perpendicular to the plane of the base cam and coinciding with the rotation axis of the base cam; and c) an eccentric attachment for securing the end of a let-out/take-up cable to the assembly and for letting out the let-out/take-up cable when the assembly rotates as the bow is drawn. The major axes of the base cam and power cam are angularly displaced from one another, and are arranged so that a draw cable lever arm increases and a power cable lever arm decreases when the assembly rotates as the bow is drawn. Efficiencies of at least 82% and as large as 94% are achieved.

Solo or single-cam compound bows are well known in the art. A plurality of these have been previously disclosed, some of which are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,505,185 and 5,368,006, both of which are incorporated by reference as if fully set forth herein. Dual-cam compound bows are also well known in the art, some of which are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,739,744 and 5,040,520, both of which are incorporated by reference as if fully set forth herein, and in which are described in detail the mechanics of a compound bow including non-circular dual cam members which impart dynamic forces on the bow limbs.
Whether single-cam or dual-cam, the purposes and advantages of compound bows are well known to those skilled in the art and need not be repeated herein. Compound bows typically are comprised of: a handle from which resilient bow limbs extend oppositely; pulley means comprising cams, levers, and/or pulleys and typically being disposed at the tips of the limbs of the bow; and one or more cables coupled to the bow limbs and/or pulley means to give assorted mechanical advantages.
When a bow is drawn potential energy is stored in the bow limbs which are deflected substantially equally when the bow string (or draw cable) is drawn. Stored potential energy may be calculated from the draw force as a function of draw distance. Potential energy is converted to kinetic energy when the archer releases the drawn bow with the arrow placed on the draw cable, thereby allowing the bow limbs to return to their resting position and propelling the arrow. Kinetic energy may be calculated from the speed and mass of the arrow, which may in turn allow the efficiency (i.e., the fraction of potential energy converted to kinetic energy) of the bow to be calculated. It is well accepted in the industry and within the sport that efficiency is critical to bow performance: the more efficient a bow the faster the bow will propel an arrow of given weight for a given draw length and given peak draw force. Previous compound bows, single- or dual-cam, have AMO standard efficiencies of approximately 70-81% (see Table 2 on page 80 of "Bowhunting World, August, 1995, which is incorporated by reference as though fully set forth herein; see Table 2 on page 68 of "Bowhunting World" December, 1996, which is incorporated by reference as if fully set forth herein; see FIG. 3 on page 62 of "Bowhunting World" April, 1997, which is incorporated by reference as if fully set forth herein; and see Table 2, Bowhunting Buyers Guide, 1997, which is incorporated by reference as if fully set forth herein). A number of bow characteristics impact the efficiency of a bow, but many of these are well known in the art and therefore need not be repeated herein. The power cam in a single-cam compound bow (or the power cams in a dual-cam compound bow) plays a critical role in bow performance and efficiency. The power cam substantially determines the rate of and total amount of deflection of the bow limbs. There is clearly an industry need and demand for more efficient bows and specifically power cam designs which render more efficient compound bow performance. The preferred embodiment of the present invention has an AMO standard 30" draw efficiency of at least 82% and has achieved an efficiency of 94%.
Previous pulley assemblies, on either single-cam or dual-cam compound bows, typically include a base cam and a power cam module mounted to the base cam, which is rotatably mounted on the bow limb tip. Different power cam modules may be used for different draw lengths and different peak draw force. Specifically, the pulley assembly typically comprises a base cam with either one or two grooves in the perimeter portion of the base cam and one or more posts, typically on the power cam side of the base cam. As is well known in the art the posts secure the ends of the bow cable sections. A power cam module is typically mounted to the power cam side of the base cam.
Previous compound bows, single- or dual-cam, with an AMO standard 30" draw have pulley assemblies which rotate between approximately 235 and 275 degrees. The preferred embodiment of the present invention includes a power cam and base cam design which with an AMO standard 30" draw results in cam rotation of no more than approximately 210 degrees, resulting in quicker (arrow speed) and more efficient (potential energy vs. kinetic energy) bow performance. This arises from the oblong shape of the power cam disclosed herein, which is novel and unobvious for a power cam for a compound bow.


A power resistor assembly includes an anodizable metal substrate, preferably an aluminum alloy, having an insulating anodized coating on at least one flat side. A resistive or partially conductive ink is screen printed on the anodized coating in a pattern to provide one or more resistors. The ink has a curing temperature below 660.degree. C. which is below the melting point of aluminum. The resistor assembly is a vehicular fan motor controller or an interior dimmer switch. The fan motor controller has resistor ends which are soldered with tin-lead solder.

This invention will be described in two embodiments, a vehicular fan controller and a vehicular interior light dimmer switch.
Presently used vehicular fan controllers are mounted in the output air duct of the fan and incorporate several resistors of different value. The speed of the d.c. fan motor is controlled by placing one or more of the resistors in circuit with the fan motor. Because of the large numbers made each year and the potential for cost savings, a great deal of development has gone into vehicular fan controllers. Until recently, the standard fan motor controller used wound wire resistors which are relatively expensive and which tend to collect debris, such as lint or leaves, circulating in the air duct. Because the wound wire resistors get rather hot, there is a statistically significant fire hazard.
State of the art fan motor controllers incorporate thick film resistors printed on a non-conductive substrate and fall into two categories: those where the substrate is a porcelain coated steel substrate and those where the substrate is wholly ceramic. Typical fan motor controllers are found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,000,662; 5,192,940; 5,274,351; 5,291,174 and 5,408,575. Quite a few millions of thick film vehicular fan controllers are made annually.
Thick film resistor assemblies, although superior in many ways to wound wire resistance controllers, have their own set of difficulties. The motor controllers having porcelain coated steel substrates tend to be more expensive but dissipate heat better than the motor controllers having wholly ceramic substrates which are less expensive but which have more difficulty dissipating heat. The porcelain coatings are typically applied to the metal by firing a glass frit on the metal substrate at very high temperatures, e.g. approaching 850.degree. C.
Another application of this invention is in dimmer switches used in the interior of vehicles. For some time, a major automotive manufacturer has been making an interior dimmer switch comprising a plastic housing having a series of conductive elements ending in plug in terminals, a rotatable dimmer controller having several conductive arms continuously in contact with the conductive elements in the housing, an aluminum heat sink having a flat side and a finned side, and a planar ceramic substrate providing a series of fixed resistors. One side of the ceramic substrate abuts the heat sink and the other side provides the resistors which are in circuit with the dimmer controller arms. A thermally conductive paste provide good thermal contact between the ceramic substrate and the flat side of the heat sink. The heat generated by current passing through the resistors transfers to the heat sink and is dissipated through the finned side. Quite a few millions of dimmer controllers of this type are made each year.
Because of the large numbers made each year and the potential cost savings, a great deal of development and refinement has gone into dimmer controls of this type. Examples are found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,935,717; 5,119,063 and 5,181,313.
Also of interest relative to this invention are the disclosures in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,179,566; 3,895,272; 4,119,937; 4,138,656; 4,404,237; 4,912,306; 5,035,836; 5,038,132; 5,119,063 and 5,181,313.

Thick film resistor assembly for fan controller


Methods for reducing line width roughness and/or critical dimension nonuniformity in a photoresist pattern are provided herein. In some embodiments, a method of reducing line width roughness along a sidewall of a patterned photoresist layer disposed atop a substrate includes: (a) depositing a first layer atop the sidewall of the patterned photoresist layer; (b) etching the first layer and the sidewall after depositing the first layer to reduce the line width roughness of the patterned photoresist layer. In some embodiments, (a)-(b) may be repeated until the line width roughness is substantially smooth.

As the dimensions of integrated circuit components decrease, more elements are put in a given area of a semiconductor integrated circuit. Accordingly, lithography processes have become more and more challenging to transfer even smaller features (e.g., less than 64 nm) onto a substrate precisely and accurately without damage. In order to transfer precise and accurate features onto a substrate, a desired high resolution lithography process requires having a suitable light source that may provide radiation at a desired wavelength range for exposure. Furthermore, the lithography process requires transferring features onto a photoresist layer with minimum photoresist line width roughness (LWR) and acceptable critical dimension uniformity. A defect-free photomask is required to transfer desired features onto the photoresist layer.
Accordingly, the inventors have provided improved methods for reducing the line width roughness and/or critical dimension nonuniformity on a patterned photoresist layer.

Methods for reducing line width roughness and/or critical dimension nonuniformity in a patterned photoresist layer


A motorcycle includes a body frame, an engine, a lead-in duct, and an air cleaner case. An air cleaner includes a convex cleaner element protruding in a direction opposite to a direction extending toward the lead-in duct, and a convex support frame that supports the inner surface of the cleaner element. The support frame includes an outer frame that supports a periphery of the cleaner element. The cleaner element includes a convex element body and a seal provided adjacent the peripheral edge of the element body to project toward the inner surface of the element body so as to work together with the periphery of the element body to hold the outer frame. The periphery of the element body has a smaller thickness than the other portions of the element body.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to straddle-type vehicles including an air cleaner that supplies clean air to the engine.
2. Description of the Related Art
Straddle-type vehicles including an air cleaner for supplying clean air to the engine are known. In such a straddle-type vehicle, as disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Application Publication No. JP S63-128262, an element holder is attached by a screw to a fixing means fixed to the surrounding edge of the opening of the induction passage. A cup-shaped air cleaner element is mounted on the element holder to cover its outer side.
In the arrangement disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Application Publication No. JP S63-128262, the element holder includes an engagement portion for engaging with a seal of the fixing means. In the area of this engaging portion, the edge of the air cleaner element is tucked into its inner side. Thus, as the element holder with the air cleaner element attached to it is attached to the fixed means by a screw, as discussed above, the edge of the air cleaner element is sandwiched by the element holder and the seal of the fixing means.
In the case of a convex solid cleaner element, such as the air cleaner element disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Application Publication No. JP S63-128262, the support frame for supporting the cleaner element is formed by a frame member with an outer frame. As such, the outline of the cleaner element, defined by the periphery of the cleaner element adjacent to which the outer frame of the support frame is located, is dependent on the diameter of the outer frame of the support frame and the thickness of the cleaner element. The design of the outer frame of the support frame is dependent on the desired strength and the size of the opening in which the cleaner element is located, for example. The thickness of the cleaner element is dependent on the desired air cleaning functionality and durability. Since the dimensions of the outline defined by the periphery of the cleaner element depend on the performance and other properties, it is difficult to reduce the size of the air cleaner.
The thickness of the portions of the air cleaner adjacent to which the outer frame of the support frame is located may be reduced by providing a separate member made of rubber, for example, that has no air cleaning function at the periphery of the cleaner element. However, such an arrangement has a smaller region that possesses the function of a cleaner element, resulting in reduced air cleaning functionality of the air cleaner.

Straddle-type vehicle and method of manufacturing the same


The hair cosmetic composition of the present invention, which is a one-agent type or a multi-agent type hair cosmetic composition, contains, the following components (A) to (D), the component (C) content, relative to the total composition of the hair cosmetic composition, being 0.1 mass % or higher and lower than 20 mass %:                (A): a compound selected from the group consisting of glyoxylic acid, a glyoxylic acid hydrate, a glyoxylate salt, and a glyoxylamide;        (B): a phenolic compound having an electron-donating group on at least one m-position and having a hydrogen atom on at least one of the o-positions and the p-position, wherein the electron-donating group on the m-position may form, together with an adjacent carbon atom, a benzene ring optionally substituted with hydroxyl group(s);        (C): an organic solvent having a boiling point of 100° C. or higher; and        (D): water.

Conventionally, semi-permanent or permanent deforming of hair is carried out through a technique such as using a reducing agent (e.g., permanent waving) or using a strong alkaline hair treatment agent (pH: 12 to 14), typically an alkaline relaxer. These techniques, however, are well known to considerably damage hair for a long period of time. In recent years, there has been developed a curly or frizzy hair straightening method employing a large amount of formaldehyde, as a method for semi-permanently or permanently deforming hair with less hair damage. However, the method, employing highly toxic formaldehyde, must be performed with care due to the high volatility of formaldehyde. Thus, the method is not a preferred hair treatment method.
For overcoming these drawbacks, there have been investigated such treatment methods which do not damage hair, which employ no formaldehyde, and which is more safe to the human body. For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a technique for straightening strongly curled hair, which technique includes applying an α-keto acid, particularly glyoxylic acid, and heating the hair at 200° C.±50° C. by means of a flat iron. Patent Document 2 discloses a method of continuously relaxing keratin fiber, the method including applying a polyhydroxyl aromatic compound to hair and heating the hair at 110° C. or higher.
Meanwhile, temporary hair deforming, in which the shaped hair can be freed by rinsing with water, is realized by use of a shaping agent. For example, Patent Document 3 discloses a hair use composition containing an oligomer produced through heat reflux of glyceraldehyde and resorcin in the presence of boric acid or silicic acid. The composition enhances hair set retention performance and moisture resistance. When the user wets the hair, new shaping of the hair can be performed. In addition, mechanical strength of the hair can be enhanced.    Patent Document 1: EP-A-2538916    Patent Document 2: JP-A-2009-537619    Patent Document 3: U.S. Pat. No. 4,278,659

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


A bag tossing game target having first and second generally planar, equally sized panels that are connected together by a hinge. The first and second panels are moveable between a first, in-use configuration in which the first and second panels are coplanar, and a second, folded configuration in which the first and second panels lay back-to-back to each other. The first panel has a hole therein which is sized such that a bag can be tossed therethrough. The first and second panels each include an elongated hole adjacent one edge to form a handle by which the folded target can be carried. The panels are formed of a lattice structure to render the target lightweight. Further, the thickness of the lattice structure is reduced whereby a series of pockets are defined between the panels when folded. Elongated support legs are provided which can be detachably secured to one of the panels at one end and rest upon the ground at the other end to support one of the panels above the ground while an end of the other panel rests upon the ground. The legs are sized and shaped such that when detached from the panel, the legs can be nested within one of the pockets when the panels are folded. In this way, the legs are retained within the folded target, reducing the chances that the legs will be misplaced. The bags used during play of the game can also be nested within the pockets.

Bag tossing games are popular because they are safe and fun to play for people of all ages, and can be transported to, and played in, almost any location. Such games generally have few parts and can be set up relatively quickly, which further adds to the appeal of these games, particularly for children for whom a complicated and difficult set-up procedure may tend to discourage them from playing a game. Since these games are transportable, they are made to be as lightweight as possible to make transport thereof easier, while still providing a sturdy structure for use during game play.
Bag tossing games generally include a target structure having a hole through which players try to toss, pitch, or otherwise project, bean filled bags or the like. A myriad of target devices are known in the prior art. For instance, U.S. Pat. No. 3,837,650 to Haney discloses a target device that utilizes two sheets hinged together, with a brace pivotally secured to one of the sheets and engaged with the opposite sheet, thus forming a foldable target. However, the two sheets are hinged together in a manner such that one sheet is shorter than the other sheet, which would make carrying of the folded sheets difficult since the shorter sheet would often times tend to rotate toward the unfolded position. Further, due to a lack of a handle or similar structure, carrying of the folded target would be difficult for young and old alike. In addition, the brace must be specially locked with locking structure provided on the opposite sheet, which would make set-up of the target difficult for children to accomplish, thus deterring children from using the game.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,943,065 to DeLapa discloses a box-like target structure that is foldable for storage purposes, and which utilizes a handle to facilitate carrying of the folded structure. The target structure includes an upper planar, flexible member having a hole formed therein to allow passage of a bag. Front, rear and side support members are hingedly attached to the flexible member to support the member at an angle above the ground. However, the large number of support members needed to support the flexible member would make it difficult to set-up the target, since adjacent edges must be secured together in order to provide a rigid structure. Further, the use of the handle requires a complicated attachment/detachment procedure of the handle each time the target is folded/unfolded, which would make the target difficult to use, particularly for children.
Further, each of the above noted folding target structures require that the user separately carry the bags associated with the game, since no provision is made for carrying the bags along with the folded structure. This can often result in the bags being separated from the target structure and lost, rendering the game useless until additional bags are obtained.
Therefore, there is a continuing need for an improved target structure that is lightweight, foldable and is easily carried during transport, yet which can be set-up into a sturdy structure in an easy manner. Further, there exists a need for a bag toss game in which the bags can be carried along with the folded target structure.


The present invention combines the storage capacity of redox flow batteries and the production of hydrogen and other products of chemical redox reactions. The redox couple of each electrolyte is chemically regenerated on a specific catalyst bed 11, replacing the discharging processes of the battery, while oxidizing or reducing other species present. This allows for the production of hydrogen on the cathodic side, and various useful products on the anodic side, such as oxygen for fuel cell application. The proposed system uses a dual circuit arrangement from which electrolytes 8 may be pumped through the catalyst beds 11 as desired, once they are in their charged state.

This invention relates to a redox flow battery system for electrical energy storage and hydrogen production.
There is a clear need for new and sustainable power production technologies, which produce green emissions, negligible waste, are low cost, efficient and suitable for a wide range of geographical conditions. Technology such as this that is already widely commercialised includes photovoltaic panels and wind farms. A major setback in the widespread use of photovoltaics and wind-based power sources is the variable and unpredictable production of electricity, owing to a direct dependence on sunlight or wind. Intermittent energy production prevents a supply and demand routine, with high currents difficult to produce on demand at peak times. For a future "smart grid" it is therefore as important to develop new technology for large-scale energy storage, as it is to efficiently harness renewable energy so as to fully integrate intermittent and green energy production. Large-scale storage systems would already be beneficial for "load levelling", i.e. the combination of the storage of energy produced but not immediately consumed, as, for instance, nuclear energy produced during the night when energy demand is at its lowest, with its utilization during high demand periods.
Redox flow batteries (RFBs) have been proposed for large-scale energy storage systems. RFBs do not require specific geographical siting, or extensive maintenance, they have a long lifetime, easy implementation and they are resistant to charge and discharge microcycles. The main disadvantage of RFBs is that energy storage capacity is determined by the solubility of the actives electrolytes and that large tanks are thus usually required. They may be applied to load levelling, wind farms and photovoltaic panels [Ponce de León, C., Frías-Ferrer, A., González-García, J., Szánto, D. A., and Walsh, F. C. (2006). Redox flow cells for energy conversion. Journal of Power Sources 160: 716-732]. A RFB is a system in which two half-cells of the battery are each connected to a storage tank containing a solution composed of the redox species and the supporting electrolyte. An ion-exchange membrane separates the half-cells, whilst allowing ion transfer and electrical continuity during charging and discharging of the cell. During charging, the negatively polarised electrode is the cathode, and the electrolyte, in which the redox species is being reduced, is termed the catholyte. Correspondingly, the positive half-cell has the anode and the electrolyte termed the anolyte. Pumps are used to transfer electrolytes from their respective storage tanks to the electrochemical cell, and to the storage tanks again. The key to the system is in choosing appropriate redox species. Generally the redox couples and the electrodes are selected to achieve close-to-reversible kinetics, allowing higher voltage and energy efficiencies of the battery.
Since the study of the first RFB in 1973 a variety of redox species have been used in the catholyte and anolyte [Bartolozzi, M. (1989). Development of redox flow batteries. A historical bibliography. Journal of Power Sources 27: 219-234], and consequently a wide range of RFBs have been patented [e.g. U.S. Pat. No. 4,882,241, U.S. Pat. No. 4,469,760]. The vanadium redox flow battery (VRFB) is a particular case, as it works with vanadium species in both half-cells: the redox couple V(III)/V(II) on the cathodic side, and the redox couple V(V)/V(IV) on the anodic side [U.S. Pat. No. 4,786,567]. It has the advantage that cross-diffusion of cations through the membrane does not affect the cycle current efficiency, and allows for a longer battery lifetime. A VRFB charges when connected to an electricity source, and discharges when connected to an electrical load. The electrolytes flow in one direction through the half-cells, regardless of the process underway, yet the electrochemical reaction taking place differs. The corresponding reactions are:
At the cathode:V3++e−→V2+(charge)  (1a)V2+→V3++e−(discharge)  (1b)
At the anode:V4+→V5++e−(charge)  (2a)V5++e−→V4+(discharge)  (2b)
Since their invention RFBs, and especially all-vanadium RFBs, have been applied to various systems. For instance they have been successfully connected to wind turbines, coupled to solar panels [U.S. Pat. No. 6,005,183], turned into a biofuel powered fuel cell [U.S. Pat. No. 5,660,940], assembled into a stack for a load levelling application [U.S. Pat. No. 7,820,321], and connected to a system that electrochemically regenerated both degraded electrolytes [U.S. Pat. No. 4,956,244].
Hydrogen gas is becoming increasingly important in energy production and consumption management, and is considered as a potential means for energy storage as it can be used as a clean fuel for electricity production. Indeed, in a fuel cell, H2 and O2 gases react to generate electricity and water as the only products. The predominant methods of obtaining hydrogen are steam methane or coal reforming, gasification, and alkaline water electrolysis over nickel electrodes [http://www.hydrogen.energy.gov/pdfs/doe_h2_production.pdf]. The first two processes have the drawback of evolving CO2, and electrolysis cannot be applied intermittently as the nickel electrodes degrade rapidly due to open-circuit corrosion. More sustainable systems with longer lifetimes are therefore needed for H2 production, and some alternatives are already under development [http://www.hydrogen.energy.gov/pdfs/roadmap_manufacturing_hydrogen economy.pdf].
One major aspect in the study of hydrogen evolution is catalysing the reaction, but the most efficient catalyst known to-date is platinum. Platinum is rare and expensive, and is therefore pushing manufacturers and researchers to seek alternative, lower cost, abundant, stable, and equivalently efficient catalysts. One such catalyst is molybdenum sulfide, which has been reported to be an efficient catalyst for H2 evolution. This catalyst has been primarily used in the hydrodesulfurisation reaction in refinery industries, but is now attracting attention for the catalysis of the reaction of hydrogen formation. [Merki, D., Fierro, S., Vrubel, H. and Hu, X. L. (2011) Amorphous molybdenum sulphide films as catalysts for electrochemical hydrogen production in water. Chemical Science 2(7) 1262-1267; Li, Y., Wang, H., Xie L., Liang, Y., Hong, G., and Dai, H. (2011) MoS2 nanoparticles grown on graphene: an advanced catalyst for hydrogen evolution reaction. Journal of American Chemical Society 133 (19) 7296-7299]. This heterogeneous catalyst may be deposited on silica [Rivera-Muñoz, E., Alonso, G., Siadati, M. H., and Chianelli, R. R. (2004). Silica gel-supported, metal-promoted MoS2 catalysts for HDS reactions. Catalysis Letters 94 (3-4):199-204; An, G., Xiong, C., Lu, C., and Chen, Z. (2011). Direct synthesis of porous molybdenum disulfide materials using silica sol as template. Journal of Porous Materials 18: 673-676], should it need to be separated from the products, as for instance, where a fixed or fluidized catalytic bed is used.

Redox flow battery for hydrogen generation


A method for fabricating a DRAM cell having a crown-type capacitor over a semiconductor substrate is disclosed. The method includes steps of: (a) forming a transistor over the semiconductor substrate; (b) forming an insulating layer over the transistor; (c) selectively etching the insulating layer to form a contact opening; (d) forming a first conducting layer over the insulating layer and filling into the contact opening; (e) forming an etching stop layer and a mask layer over the first conducting layer; (f) pattering the mask layer to form a plurality of openings; (g) forming a dielectric spacer on the sidewall of the mask layer, and removing exposed portions of the etching stop layer; (h) anisotropically etching the mask layer and the first conducting layer by using the dielectric spacer as a mask, to expose, respectively, the etching stop layer and the insulating layer; (i) removing uncovered etching stop layer to expose the first conducting layer; (j) anisotropically etching the first conducting layer to a predetermined depth by using the dielectric spacer as a mask, thereby forming a crown-type storage electrode; (k) removing the dielectric spacer and the etching stop layer; (l) forming a dielectric layer over exposed portions of the storage electrode; and (m) forming a second conducting layer as an opposite electrode over the dielectric layer.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for fabricating a semiconductor memory device, and more specifically, to a method for fabricating a crown-type capacitor of a dynamic random access memory (DRAM) cell, thereby improving the uniformity of a spacer in the capacitor structure, and providing a larger process window.
2. Description of Related Art
A conventional DRAM cell, referring to FIG. 1, consists of a transistor T and a capacitor C. The source of the transistor T is connected to a corresponding bit line BL. The drain of the transistor T is connected to a storage electrode of the capacitor C. The gate of the transistor is connected to a corresponding word line WL. An opposite electrode of the capacitor C is biased with a constant voltage source. A dielectric layer is arranged between the storage electrode and the opposite electrode. As known to those skilled in the art, the storage capacitor C is provided for data storage. Therefore, a large capacitance is required for the capacitor to prevent data loss and to lower the refresh rate.
For a conventional DRAM of less than 1 MB capacity, a two-dimensional capacitor structure is utilized for data storage. This capacitor structure is well known as a planar-type capacitor. However, in order to provide a capacitance large enough for data storage, the planar-type capacitor occupies a very large base area. This structure cannot therefore be applied in a high-density DRAM process.
Accordingly, some three-dimensional capacitor structures, such as a trench-type or stack-type structure, have been developed to satisfy the requirement of a high-integrated DRAM device of more than 16 MB. However, the trench-type structure has, evidently, defects in the substrate during the trench formation, thereby increasing leakage current and affecting the device performance. Moreover, since the etching rate of the trench decreases as the aspect ratio increases, the process becomes more difficult, and the DRAM productivity is reduced. Therefore, the trench-type structure is not that applicable in reality. The stack-type capacitor, on the contrary, is free of all the problems mentioned above. It is therefore very popular in small-dimensional memory fabrication, and has attracted a lot of attention regarding structure optimization.
Among all kinds of stack-type capacitors, a crown-type capacitor in which an electrode has an upward extending portion to provide a very large area for data storage is favorable for highly-integrated memory devices, especially for those have a capacity of more than 64 MB. The upward extending electrode can be fabricated by, for example, anisotropically etching a conducting polysilicon layer through a spacer mask. This electrode is a storage electrode. As a crown-type capacitor of a DRAM cell, the capacitor further includes a dielectric layer over the storage electrode, and an opposite electrode over the dielectric layer.
However, the steps to fabricate a crown-type capacitor are numerous and complicated, thereby affecting the DRAM productivity. Even though some process modification has simplified the steps, the process conditions have become correspondingly stricter, and are not applicable in DRAM production.
The conventional process steps of a crown-type capacitor for a DRAM cell will be described in accompaniment with the drawings of FIG. 2A through FIG. 2C. Referring to FIG. 2A, a field oxide layer 12 is formed over a semiconductor substrate 10, which is, for example, a silicon substrate, to define an active region thereon. Then a gate oxide layer 13, a polysilicon layer 14, a tungsten silicide (WSi.sub.x) 15, and an insulating layer 16 are successively formed over the active region, and are etched to be a gate electrode G. By using the gate electrode G as a mask, impurities are implanted into the semiconductor substrate 10 to form lightly-doped source/drain regions 17a and 17b. A spacer 18 is formed on the sidewall on the gate structure G by depositing a dielectric layer and etching back the dielectric layer. Then the gate structure G and the spacer 18 are both utilized as a mask for further implanting impurities into the semiconductor substrate 10 to form heavily-doped source/drain regions 19a and 19b, thereby forming a transistor.
The transistor is successively covered by a first planar layer 20 and a second planar layer 21 which are both etched to form a contact window (not shown in the figure), by micro-lithography and etching, to expose the drain region 19b of the transistor. Then a first conducting layer is formed over the first planar layer 20 to fill the contact window, thereby electrically connecting the drain region 19b. This conducting layer is patterned to be a bit line of the memory device. Then a BPSG layer 22 is deposited over the first planar layer 20 and the exposed bit line surface. A contact opening is then formed through the first planar layer 20, the second planar layer 21 and the BPSG layer 22 by microlithography and etching, to expose the source region 19a as a contact region. A conducting layer 24, such as a doped polysilicon layer, is deposited over the BPSG layer 22 and fills in the contact opening 23, thereby electrically contacting the contact region.
The micro-lithography and etching steps are successively carried out to form several shallow trenches on the conducting layer 24, thereby separating several memory cell regions, that is, regions between the contact openings 23. Then a dielectric layer is deposited and etched back to form dielectric spacers 30 on the sidewalls of the shallow trenches 26.
The critical step for forming the crown-type capacitor will be described in accompaniment with the schematic diagram of FIG. 2B. Referring to FIG. 2B, using the dielectric spacers 30 as a mask, the conducting layer 24 is anisotropically etched by, for example, the reactive ion etching (RIE) method to remove the portions under the shallow trenches 26, thereby defining the capacitor regions. Since the remaining conducting layer 24 has a constant thickness of t1, a storage electrode 24 having the crown-type structure 24a is formed.
Referring to FIG. 2C, the dielectric spacers 30 are then removed. The storage electrode 24 is successively covered by a dielectric layer 27 and an opposite electrode 28, thereby forming a capacitor. The complete DRAM cell further includes a passivation layer 29 over the capacitor.
The aforementioned fabrication method utilizes the dielectric spacer 30 as a mask for anisotropically etching the conducting layer, thereby forming the crown-type structure and defining the capacitor region. Therefore, the etching condition must be precisely controlled. In order to isolate each capacitor, over etching the conducting layer is generally required, therefore reducing the conductivity due to an insufficient thickness of t1. Moreover, the crown-type structure may be broken, thereby affecting the performance of the device. Furthermore, since the crown-type structure is defined by the spacers 30, the shape of the spacers 30 transfers to the electrode structure, and a sharp-point discharge will happen to the device.

Method for fabricating a crown-type capacitor of a DRAM cell


The present disclosure concerns methods of detecting a molecule, interleukin 18, in a sample, and using the detection of IL-18 to predict a condition. In a particular embodiment, the present invention concerns methods of detecting interleukin 18, in a sample, preferably prior to the increase in serum creatinine in a subject predisposed to a condition. In certain embodiments, the methods may comprise obtaining a sample from a subject such as a urine or blood sample and analyzing the sample for the presence or absence of IL-18 to predict a condition for example acute renal failure or organ transplant failure. In another embodiment, the methods may comprise analyzing a sample from a subject for the presence of IL-18 and applying information obtained from analyzing the presence of IL-18 to determine a treatment for a medical condition of the subject.

Acute renal failure (ARF) occurs in approximately 1% to 25% of critically ill patients depending upon the population being studied and the criteria used to define its presence. For example, ARF complicating a nonrenal organ failure in the intensive care unit (ICU) is associated with a mortality of around 50% to 70%. This statistic has not improved significantly over the last five decades (1–7). In addition, it is well established that the development of ARF is independently associated with an increase in mortality (2, 8–11).
In the past, several agents have been used as potential treatments of ARF to impact the high mortality associated with ARF; however, none of them have been successful. One principle reason for the failure of these therapeutic interventions in clinical trials of ARF is the dependency of serum creatinine as a screening process for initial enrollment of patients, for the diagnosis of ARF and for initiating the intervention. ARF has been typically diagnosed by a progressive rise in serum creatinine over several days, which may or may not be associated with oliguria, (decreased urine output for example producing less than 500 ml of urine in 24 hours).
Because of the vital importance of earlier administration on the success rate of therapies, many markers have been explored for early diagnosis of ARF. Several cytokines and molecules have been analyzed as potential early markers of ARF. Although the initial studies on some molecules like tubular enzymes, growth factors, adhesion molecules and some cytokines (14–16, 29–31) were promising, subsequent studies have shown inadequate sensitivity or specificity to advocate clinical use for diagnosis. Recently described molecules such as kidney injury molecule-1 (KIM-1), cystein-rich protein 61 (Cry61), neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (NGAL) and sodium/hydrogen exchanger isoform 3 (NHE3) have demonstrated results as markers of ARF at the pre-clinical level (14–16, 29–31). However, to date, none of these molecules have been systematically explored in human ARF diagnosis.
Renal hypoperfusion or ischemia account for about 50% of the cases of ARF (1, 2). The main functional problem in these patients is a decrease in GFR (glomerular filtration rate) and its consequent effects on uremic toxin accumulation, fluid, electrolyte and acid-base balance. The course of the illness is highly variable ranging from a transient disease lasting less than one week and associated with full recovery of renal function, to a disease persisting for longer than one month and requiring dialysis and intensive care management. There is no clear relationship between the severity of the initial ischemic insult and the course of the illness. However, there is a correlation between the duration of the kidney dysfunction and mortality from ARF. Fresh renal ischemic lesions have been found in biopsy or autopsy specimens of patients with ARF as late as 3 weeks after the initial ischemic event (4). Thus, a better understanding of the pathogenesis of ARF is needed to allow interventions which would prevent the need for hemodialysis, shorten the course of ARF and improve survival. The virtual complete recovery of renal function in those patients who survive ARF, as well as the minimal renal histological abnormalities during ARF when the GFR is less than 10 ml/min, suggest that there are reversible components in the pathophysiology of ARF. In addition, ARF is a common life threatening complication following allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplant (HSCT), previously termed a bone marrow transplant, Thus, early detection of ARF is imperitive for early intervention and treatment.
Because early intervention of renal disfunction is critical, a need exists for the detection of early signs that predict the onset of the condition. The present invention, concerns the detection of an indicator molecule to predict the onset of organ failure. The detection of this indicator can alert a medical practitioner that treatment may be required immediately to attenuate the condition and possibly prevent full onset of organ shutdown and death.

Methods for detection of IL-18 as an early marker for diagnosis of acute renal failure and predictor of mortality


The present invention relates to an apparatus for stunning and separating poultry during the stunning process. The apparatus includes a multi-zone trough having a plurality of basins and a separator adapted to separate shackled poultry hung from a conveyor system into a respective one of the plurality of basins. Each of the plurality of basins is separated by a divider. Once separated, the divider maintains the poultry in a separated condition during a stunning process.

This invention is related to the poultry industry and, more particularly, to an apparatus for stunning and separating poultry during the stunning process.
In the U.S. and throughout the world, poultry consumption is very large. With the increasing popularity of wings and other parts, the poultry industry is now benefiting from the sale of poultry parts that, in the past, would have been thrown away. However, one of the problems the poultry industry faces is damage to poultry parts during processing, resulting in millions of dollars being unrealized.
In current poultry processing plants, chickens or other poultry are typically hung on a shackle of an inline conveyor system which delivers the chickens to a stun zone where stunners are used to render chickens unconscious. The inline conveyor system positions the chickens in a side by side, closely knit position that allows the chickens to come into contact with each other.
During the stunning process, the chickens move their wings toward their body. Because of the side by side arrangement of the inline conveyor systems, the wings often get caught on chickens residing directly next to the chicken being stunned. As a result, the wings and shoulders of the chickens are damaged.
Different voltages, different currents in the stunner, and increased distances from hanging shackle to hanging shackle on the conveyor systems have all been tried with little or no improvement in reducing the physical damage caused to the poultry during this phase of the processing.
Accordingly, there is a need for a poultry processing apparatus that allows the poultry to be processed while minimizing the amount of physical damage to the poultry.

Apparatus and method for stunning poultry with minimum damage to the poultry products


Advertisement insertion techniques are described. In an implementation, a network operator decrypts a stream of content received from a content provider at a first server. The decrypted stream of content is communicated to an advertisement splicer, which locates one or more advertisement insertion points in the decrypted stream of content. One or more advertisements are then inserted in the located one or more advertisement insertion points. The decrypted stream of content having the inserted one or more advertisements to a second server, which encrypts the decrypted stream of content having the inserted one or more advertisements. The encrypted stream of content having the inserted one or more advertisements is emitted to be communicated to one or more clients for output.

Traditional television is supported in large part through provision of advertisements. Advertising may be inserted into television channels by a variety of entities including content providers, local affiliates, pay TV network operators, and so on.
Content deals between content providers and pay television network operators, for instance, typically include the rights for the operator to insert advertisements at predetermined times. These advertisements have typically been inserted on a per-market basis (since pay television operators have historically operated as a per-market business). These advertising opportunities are called "avails," and the ones that are inserted on a per-market basis are generally referred to as "local avails."
Non-broadcast-oriented television distribution systems (e.g. those that distribute content over packet-switched IP networks), however, have characteristics that differ from those of traditional television network. For example, non-broadcast-oriented television distribution systems typically encrypt the content at the source before distributing the content over the network, e.g., to prevent content theft.
Non-broadcast-oriented television distribution systems (e.g., IP-based distribution networks) are also different from traditional broadcast-oriented television distribution systems in that clients on packet-switched networks have equal access to each content stream. Broadcast and cable distribution, however, use physical bottlenecks (e.g. geography or cable topography) to limit client access to only those content streams that are geographically relevant. Thus, some techniques that are used to solve encryption and content distribution in a traditional television content distribution system are not applicable in an IP-based distribution system


A transducer assembly includes a transducer and a coupler with rheological material. A loudspeaker further includes an acoustic radiator. The coupler is mounted to the transducer and is operatively connected to the acoustic radiator. The transducer excites bending waves in the acoustic radiator to produce an acoustic output. By control of the rheological material, which may include mageto-rheological liquid or electro-rheological liquid, the transducer in various embodiments may selectively be substantially rigidly or substantially flexibly coupled to the acoustic radiator. If flexibly coupled the force experienced by the transducer when the host device is dropped, jarred, or pressured may be reduced from that experienced with a rigid connection. The acoustic radiator may be, for example, a display such as an LCD or a window mounted over a display. A mobile terminal may include such a loudspeaker in accordance with one embodiment.

This invention relates to the field of acoustic devices, and more particularly to bending wave loudspeakers, also known as distributed mode loudspeakers (DMLs), including acoustic radiators and transducers.
Cellular phones, televisions, and like products often include loudspeakers having a diaphragm excited by an axially driven transducer. Such speakers are relatively large for products where space is at a premium and where there is a continual drive to reduce the size of the products. In a recently developed alternative to conventional piston-driven loudspeakers, sound may be produced by bending wave loudspeakers. Bending wave loudspeakers may use the device's display as an acoustic radiator, recognizing space savings by eliminating a relatively large conventional speaker. Further, in some cases the listening experience produced by a bending wave loudspeaker is superior to that of a conventional speaker in that the sound coming from a DML is not as localized as that produced by traditional receivers.
Bending wave loudspeakers include an acoustic radiator that is capable of supporting bending wave vibration and an electromechanical transducer mounted to the acoustic radiator. Bending wave energy may be transmitted to the acoustic radiator by a transducer, or exciter, to generate bending waves in the radiator, which may be a panel, and produce an acoustic output. The exciter is mounted to the panel, and may be a dynamic exciter such as an electromechanical moving coil or other inertial exciter, a piezoelectric exciter, or the like. A piezoelectric exciter is often preferable as compared to other types of exciters because it is generally smaller (and in particular thinner) and lighter. Piezoelectric materials, however, are also relatively brittle and fragile. Electronic acoustic devices, and particularly handheld ones, are susceptible to being dropped or otherwise jarred, and the piezoelectric material, rigidly mounted to the acoustic radiator, is subjected to impact force and possible breakage.

Transducer assembly and loudspeaker including rheological material


An automatic washing and sterilizing device for a stable comprising a crane moving on a steel cable at various speeds and a nozzle mounted on the crane for spraying water for washing or sterilizing solution for sterilization all over in a stable.

The present invention relates to a washing and sterilizing device, and more particularly to an automatic device for use in washing and sterilizing in a stable.
The U.S. Pat. No. 4,805,648 granted to this applicant discloses an automatic device for use in washing and sterilizing stables for farm animals. The device comprises two cranes, each of which is provided with a pipe for conveying fluids, such as water and disinfectant. The fluids can be emitted through a nozzle, which can be caused to swivel within a predetermined angular range by means of a threaded rod that can be moved up and down by a power wheel controlled by a motor capable of decelerating.
Another U.S. Pat. No. 4,981,268 granted to the applicant of the present invention discloses an improved automatic device for washing and sterilizing stables for farm animals. Such an improved device comprises a crane provided with a nozzle for emitting fluids such as water and disinfectant. The crane includes mainly a motor, a gear, a plurality of pulleys, and two winding wheels powered by the motor via the gear. The crane can be actuated to travel on a guide cable by the winding of an actuating wire which is wound on the two winding wheels. The device is further provided with a timer to control the timing of the motion of the motor.
The prior art devices described above are limited in that the emitting angle of the nozzles can not be easily altered as required and that the cranes can not be caused to travel at various speeds.

Automatic washing and sterilizing device for a stable


A dense array of ink jets is achieved by a fanning-in of chambers to a linear array of orifices. The ends of the chambers remote from the orifices have actuation locations which are coupled to elongated transducers having axes of elongation which are parallel to the axes of ejection of droplets from the orifices.

This invention relates to impulse or drop-on demand ink jet printers employing an array of ink jets which are capable of printing a substantial field of droplets on demand.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,714,934 discloses an ink jet apparatus of the type shown in FIGS. 1 through 3. The apparatus includes a print head 10 having a reservoir 12 and an imaging head of 14. The print head 10 is juxtaposed to a target 16 which is advanced by means of a transport system, including rollers 18 and 20, in an incremental fashion. As shown in FIG. 1, print head 10 includes an orifice plate 22, including orifices 24. In FIG. 1, the orifices are shown further apart from each other than they are in practice for purposes of illustration.
The orifices 24 actually comprise a plurality of sets of orifices which are more fully described with reference to FIGS. 2 and 3. The sets of orifices 24 are vertically displaced as a result of the inclination of the print head 10 with respect to the scanning direction depicted by arrow 26. The orifices 24 are arranged in groups of three (3) and inclined on the orifice plate 22 so as to be substantially vertical when the print head 10 is inclined with respect to the scanning direction 26 as shown in FIG. 1. The hash marks 28 and the orifice plate actually show this angle of inclination. The angle of the orifices 24 in each group with respect to the vertical as shown in FIG. 2 is chosen such that when the orifice plate 22 is inclined as shown in FIG. 1, sets of orifices 24 will be vertical. As scanning in the direction depicted by the arrow 26 proceeds, there is no overlap of any droplets projected from the orifices so as to permit the apparatus as shown in FIGS. 1 through 3 to create a vertical bar when the droplets are ejected sequentially in the proper timed relationship. Of course, the droplets can also produce an alphanumeric character by ejecting appropriate droplets on demand.
By changing the angle of inclination of the hash marks 28, it is possible to change the angle of inclination of the print head 14. However, if the angle of inclination is increased beyond a certain limit, it becomes impossible to print a continuous bar since the orifices cannot be spaced sufficiently close together to provide full coverage of the field. In addition, the chambers associated with those orifices become starved for ink when operated at a sufficiently high frequency. Moreover, it has not been possible to increase the number of chambers since cross-talk and limited real estate do not allow transducers to be coupled to the chambers.
As also shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,714,934, the individual ink jets include feet which are coupled to the ink jet chambers. These feet 46 are secured to a foot plate by a resilient rubber-like material, such as silicone. As a consequence, ink within the ink jet chambers is exposed to a variety of materials including the foot, the silicone and the materials from which the remainder of the ink jet including the chamber and the orifices are made. This in turn produces compatibility problems which effectively limit the type of ink which may be employed in an ink jet apparatus.

Apparatus for printing with ink jet chambers utilizing a plurality of orifices


An electric power panel used in an injection molding machine is formed of a box-like member mounted with an electrical component. An electric power panel mounting member secured to a bottom portion of the electric power panel is attached to a floorboard by means of a vibration absorber. The electric power panel mounting member has a width greater than a width of the box-like member in a depth direction, and the vibration absorber is disposed on either end portion of the electric power panel mounting member outside the box-like member.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an injection molding machine, and more particularly, to an injection molding machine provided with an anti-vibration structure for an electric power panel.
2. Description of the Related Art
As shown in FIG. 11, an injection molding machine M has such a structure that a mold clamping mechanism section Mc and an injection mechanism section Mi are mounted on a base Mb and an electric power panel is accommodated in the base Mb. The electric power panel accommodated and secured in the base Mb is mounted with electrical components, such as a controller and control circuit of the injection molding machine M.
The injection molding machine M is designed to mass-produce molded products and requires reduction of the molding cycle time to improve productivity. In general, the cycle time is reduced by increasing the speed of a motor to achieve high acceleration-deceleration response. If mold opening/closing operation or resin injection operation is quickly performed with high response, therefore, vibration occurs in a mold opening/closing direction.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 5-318274 discloses a system in which electrical components, such as a controller and control circuits of an injection molding machine, are mounted on an integral electric power panel and accommodated and secured in a base of the injection molding machine. This electric power panel comprises a duct section and a floorboard section, and principal electrical components are mounted on the duct section. Thus, vibrations generated in a mold clamping mechanism section and an injection mechanism section in each molding cycle are transmitted directly to the electronic components through the base and the electric power panel.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 5-278071 discloses a structure in which an entire injection molding machine is supported by mounts that are attached to the underside of its base.
Further, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2000-185335 discloses a structure in which electrical components of an injection molding machine are accommodated in an electric power panel, which is attached to a base of the injection molding machine with a vibration absorbing material therebetween. The vibration absorbing material, rubber, must be replaced, since it is believed to be degraded depending on or in proportion to the environmental temperature, amplitude of vibration, and repeat count and finally broken. Since the vibration absorbing material is disposed just below the electric power panel, however, it cannot be easily replaced if it is degraded and broken.
If the motor speed is increased to achieve high acceleration-deceleration response, in order to reduce the molding cycle time, vibration acceleration produced by the mold clamping mechanism section Mc and the injection mechanism section Mi increases and is transmitted to the electrical components on the electric power panel through the base Mb.
In the electrical components, including the controller and control circuits, mounted on the electric power panel, cracking of solder, loosening of connector fitting portions, etc., may occur, possibly resulting in a reduction in product life and hence breakdown, if vibration acceleration of an unallowable value repeatedly acts on the components. Accordingly, the vibration acceleration applied to the electrical components must be restricted to a predetermined value or less. If this is done, however, the motor speed and acceleration must inevitably be reduced, so that the cycle time cannot be reduced.
Vibration of the entire injection molding machine can be suppressed by replacing the mounts that support the injection molding machine with larger mounts with higher vibration absorption performance. There is a problem, however, that the larger mounts are more expensive and require larger-scale replacement work.

Injection molding machine with anti-vibration structure for electric power panel


A signature device for capture or capture and verification includes a variety of advantageous features including, for example, an ability to work in conjunction with an IC card; an improved angle correction technique; an improved technique for adapting to biometric signature changes; and many other new improvements.

If the customer is not paying cash for a transaction but instead is charging the transaction cost to a credit card or bank account, a retailer typically may require the customer to sign a charge slip as evidence that the customer is who he says he is and actually purchased the goods or services. Retailers commonly save and file these signed paper receipts, and forward them upon request to a credit card company or other financial institution as evidence of the transaction. In addition, some retailers attempt to "authenticate" the customer's signature at time of transaction by visually comparing it with a presumed authentic signature on the back of the credit card and/or on a photo ID such as a driver's license. Thus, the store clerk makes a quick visual comparison between (a) a presumed-to-be-authentic signature presented by the customer, and (b) the signature the customer created on a paper charge slip in the presence of the store clerk.
This "authentication" technique may sometimes be successful in detecting amateur thieves, but has severe limitations that make it totally ineffective against any serious and/or intelligent thief. For example, a thief can easily avoid detection by simply practicing the signature to be forged beforehand--since store clerks typically are not skilled in the art of handwriting comparison. Skillful thieves can distract the store clerk with small talk or compliments--thereby effectively destroying the effectiveness of any visual handwriting comparisons. Moreover, many store clerks (especially those faced with a long line of anxiously waiting customers) may not be willing to take the time to make a careful visual signature comparison. Still further, a thief can destroy the reliability of the entire visual inspection handwriting authentication process by presenting his own handwritten signature of an alias name as the presumed-to-be-valid signature for comparison purposes. People sometimes do not sign the backs of their credit cards as they are supposed to, and a thief can easily write the credit card owner's name in the thief's own handwriting on the back of an unsigned card--which the thief can of course easily reproduce on demand on a paper charge slip. Professional thieves sometimes also forge photo IDs--completely bypassing efforts to detect fraudulent transactions based on visual handwriting comparison. In addition, store clerks very seldom study the hand-written signature on the back of the card and there is thus little chance of detecting the use of a lost or stolen card.
An alternative to using a signature for establishing authorization to conduct a transaction is to have the customer input his or her PIN (personal identification number) into a transaction terminal. This PIN technique has recently become quite popular for point-of-sale transactions involving ATM (automatic teller machine) bank cards. However, PIN-based transactions suffer from the following problems as compared to requiring a signature:
1) If the PIN is known by an imposter, the transaction is compromised with 100% certainty. If the signature is known by the imposter, however, there is a lower probability of success so there is a significant deterrent to the would be imposter attempting to forge the signature. PA1 2) The PIN may be forgotten by the customer. The signature is never forgotten. PA1 3) The PIN provides no hard audit trail back to the actual customer. With a signature, the audit trail is in the form of a reproducible signature image. PA1 4) Requiring a signature provides a convenient (albeit not always 100% reliable) human comparison of submitted and authentic signatures. The PIN system offers no comparable capability. PA1 (a) the customer account is credited temporarily pending investigation; PA1 (b) the acquiring bank (or merchant bank) is debited pending investigation; PA1 (c) the retailer is asked by the acquiring bank to produce a copy of the sales slip with the customer's signature on it (about 30% of these slips are not produced by the retailer); PA1 (d) if the retailer cannot produce a sales slip with a valid or legible signature he loses the revenue from the transaction. If the signature is fraudulent, either the card issuer or the retailer stands the loss; PA1 (e) if the retailer produces a valid transaction record, the charge is reinstated in the customer's account and the acquiring bank is once more credited with the transaction value. PA1 1) $1.0 Billion in credit card transactions PA1 2) Average ticket value $200 PA1 3) 3000 ECR's PA1 Savings=$600,000/year PA1 Savings=$540,000/year PA1 Savings=$612,000/year PA1 Total system costs=$850,000 PA1 (a) eliminating the chargebacks attributable to lost or illegible transaction copies; PA1 (b) virtually eliminating the administrative effort associated with filing, retrieval and the chargeback process; PA1 (c) streamlining the payment process at the register by eliminating the duplicate copy of the credit card slip and automating the reconciliation process; PA1 (d) vastly improving the efficiency of satisfying the "request for copy" process in the acquiring merchant banks so that close to 100% of these requests will be satisfied within days rather than 70% of the requests satisfied in weeks. In addition, the acquirer is compensated handsomely by the issuer for satisfying the retrieval requests in a timely manner; PA1 (e) significantly reducing credit card fraud (which, today stands at over $1 billion) using the electronic signature verification feature (some of these signature terminals which generate such an attractive return to the retailer contain the capability, turned on by software at the host device or register, to verify the submitted signature at point of service). PA1 1) The transaction items are rung up at the register and the customer tenders a smart card which could be used to trigger a charge transaction to the retailers loyalty card, to a bank card or to a travel related proprietary card. Alternatively it could be tendered as a check guarantee card. In any case, the card is inserted into the slot of the smart card reader integrated into the signature terminal which is connected to the register and the customer selects the appropriate transaction type. PA1 2) The signature image of the authentic cardholder which was written at personalization (stored on the card in ROM in less than 500 bytes) is passed to the register which displays it prominently on the screen. PA1 3) The verification template of the cardholder (stored in EEPROM in about 50 bytes with an embedded message authentication code) created at personalization, is read from the smart card and passed to the signature terminal which tests the template for authenticity and then prompts for a signature. The signature is captured electronically as the receipt is signed by the customer and is passed to the register for display and (human) comparison with the authentic image already displayed. PA1 4) In parallel with this process, the signature terminal carries out the signature verification analysis and passes back to the register the result of the analysis (pass or fail and/or a mis-match score). This is the third significant item of information that the sales associate requires for validation of identity. The sales associate will now use this information to determine whether further identity checks are required. The whole process has taken place while the signature is being submitted--part of the normal transaction process--and the system forces the comparison decision to take place by requiring the sales associate to ACCEPT or DECLINE the transaction before it is closed out. PA1 5) Only if the signature is accepted by the signature terminal, irrespective of the sales associate's decision on the transaction, is the verification template (with a new authentication code embedded within it) re-written to the smart card. The calculation uses the previous template and the last good signature as the basis for the new template. This allows the template to mold itself to the user over time and a constantly changing authentication code protects a verification template, changed on the card by some third party, from being used at the next transaction. PA1 A digitizer located beneath and spaced from the writing surface together with circuitry to locate the position of a stylus moving on the surface or on a record member located on the surface. PA1 A means of locating the record member on the signature tablet such that the plane of the record member coincides with that of the x,y plane of the digitizer during the writing of the signature. PA1 A means of enabling said record member to be inserted easily into position from the top or from the side and to avoid the member moving on the surface when the signature is written with the stylus. PA1 A stylus coupled electrically or electro-magnetically to the digitizer with or without a replaceable ink refill. PA1 An integrated IC (smart) card connector controlled by the signature tablet processor such that data including an electronic signature image may be read from and/or written to an intelligent or memory based IC card. PA1 A means of two-way communication with a host device so that a signature captured electronically may be compared with that stored on the smart card or at the host device and may be communicated to the host together with the result of the signature comparison for display, storage, onward transmission or hard copy reproduction. PA1 A method of comparing a submitted signature against a signature verification template supplied from the host or from a smart card based upon the extraction of a number of mathematically defined features. PA1 A method of authenticating the verification template against tampering by means of writing a template authentication code into the signature verification template at creation and update and by checking the authentication code whenever the template is communicated to the tablet. PA1 A method of updating the verification template after each accepted signature so that the template molds itself to the author if the signature changes gradually over time. PA1 A means of enrolling new authors through checking for compatibility of a minimum of three initial signatures. PA1 A means of automatically detecting the host communications protocol and adapting the communications port accordingly. PA1 A means of operating the signature tablet wirelessly allowing it to be moved easily from one location to another. PA1 A means of determining the angle of submission of the signature and correcting for said angle before signature comparison. PA1 A special means of calculating the angle of submission which minimizes the sum of squared errors perpendicular to the line of regression rather than the sum of vertical or horizontal squared errors. PA1 A special means of compressing and representing the captured signature to minimize the number of points defining the signature so that points almost on a straight line are eliminated and each x,y coordinate pair, or the differences between successive coordinate pairs, is represented in two eight bit binary numbers or in three bytes or more of ASCII code. PA1 A means of encrypting the captured signature using a transaction based number communicated to the tablet from the host prior to communicating the signature back to the host. PA1 A means of decrypting the signature when supplied with the encrypted signature and the original transaction based number from an attached host. PA1 A signature tablet with these features containing a PIN pad allowing PIN based cardholder authentication to take place supporting DUKPT (derived unique key per transaction) and Master Session key management. PA1 An electronic signature tablet containing these features with an integrated LCD display allowing the electronically captured signature to be displayed on said LCD. PA1 A means of authenticating the validity of an IC card by utilizing public key encryption, using the IC card's public key to decrypt a message encrypted by the private key from the card. PA1 Customization parameters stored in non-volatile fashion characterizing the operation of signature capture, signature verification, signature compression, and signature encryption.
The handling of signed paper receipts as evidence of a transaction has also become a significant problem. For some time now retailers and the acquiring banks have been concerned with the cost in time and effort associated with dealing with the "request for copy" process. The process starts when a customer, not recognizing an item on his monthly credit card statement, calls his issuer to query the charge. The credit card company rules define the further procedures as follows:
About 0.4% of all credit card transactions are challenged in this manner. With the paper-based "signature on file" process, each investigation can drag on for about four weeks before a resolution is reached. The acquiring bank is out of pocket during this period to the extent of the value of the transaction and expends valuable time attempting to resolve the dispute. Recent rules have been introduced by Visa and MasterCard which cause the issuers to provide a strong financial incentive to the acquirers to respond quickly to retrieval requests.
The retailer, in order to service the request for copy efficiently, often installs expensive microfilm systems and is asked to keep copies for up to three years. To service each request someone must physically search out the copy and regenerate an image of the transaction. If the retailer does not install such equipment it is estimated that on an average of up to 30% of the copies cannot be found and the retailer loses the sale revenue under these circumstances. In order to prepare for requests for copy and to reconcile the credit card transactions with the register audit tape, all systems generate an extra copy of the transaction details which are reconciled and batched for processing each day. All this effort is quite costly to the retailer.

Signature capture/verification systems and methods


A graphical-user-interface manipulable lighting system is disclosed in which a light source having a position of focus is moved by an articulator adapted to receive and send signals through a control box indicating the current and intended positions of the focus of the light source, and further a computer interface operating wirelessly which graphically displays the current position of the light source and is adapted to allow a user to drag an icon indicating the current position of the light source onto a new intended position thereby resulting in the movement of the light source to the new position.

There is a need for a device which will allow a user to wirelessly and seamlessly manipulate the focal point of a light source in a user-friendly manner. In many applications, light sources must be directed to a target area such as on an actor on a stage. Because these target areas move, the light source must also move with the actor. The light source can be manually moved, as by an operator moving an articulable light source by hand, in order to follow the actor. This can expose the operator to dangerous heights, high temperatures from the light source, and can result in jerky or improper following of the target. An automated system may also be used but should the target stray from the choreographed positions then the light source will no longer be correctly located. Even partially manual systems, whereby a position is tracked utilizing an electromechanical system operated by a user, thereby moving the operator from the ceiling to the ground and resulting in somewhat smoother movements, is not user friendly. If several knobs corresponding to the various axes of motion are provided to a user, said user may accidentally mistranslate the direction of the light source owing to confusion.
As such, there is a need for a device which provides a user friendly manner of directing a light source to a target and for allowing the ready tracking of a target.

Graphical user interface manipulable lighting