The present invention is directed to a system and a method to unload bulk powders from large bulk containers. The system and method are particularly useful for unloading bulk cohesive powders.

Transport of bulk powders from the manufacturing location to user location often pose problems particularly for powders that are by nature cohesive.
To transport bulk powders economically, they are typically shipped in metric ton bags commonly called semi-bulk containers (SBC's) or large bulk containers commonly called COFC's (container on railway flat car) or IMC's (intermodal containers). But, these alternatives have associated problems that increase transportation and handling costs, particularly for cohesive powders.
Use of SBC's offer efficiencies if the end user is willing to accept the SBC for direct use in their operations. If the end user prefers bulk delivery, the SBC must be dumped into large storage containers or into bulk trucks for delivery or use. This operation requires time and potentially represents some loss of product due to the incomplete emptying of the bag. The residual material (known as a heel) is often discarded with the bags.
IMC's may be used to efficiently transport bulk powders by rail or by sea, but on receipt at the receiving location the bulk powder must be transferred to storage or to bulk trucks for delivery. Economical unloading of bulk materials from IMC's at a transfer terminal or end user must be accomplished rapidly (ideally in one or two hours) in order to make effective use of labor and the expensive capital equipment needed to handle or unload the IMC. Any connection between the IMC and an unloading system must be made (and later removed) rapidly in order to minimize the impact on the total unloading cycle time. Spillage or airborne dust is not permissible due to product losses and environmental and housekeeping concerns.
Free flowing bulk materials such as plastic pellets and agricultural grains can easily be unloaded from IMC's containing 20 tons or more of material. Cohesive powders, on the other hand, are extremely difficult to unload from IMC's due to their bulk handling properties. These properties fall into four categories—dustiness, wall friction, gas permeability, and cohesive strength.
Discharging a load of cohesive bulk powder requires long times and presents unloading problems even when gravity unloading is assisted by the extensive use of vibrators or the use of pneumatic aeration systems. Such assisted unloading methods generally lead to dusting problems. Often, in spite of much effort directed to discharging all the powder stored in the IMC, substantial heels remain in the liner unavailable for use.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,999,741 teaches a method of unloading pigments from a bulk container by adding liquid to the container and removing the pigment as dispersion.
German Patent Publication DE 34 29 167 A1 teaches a method and apparatus for unloading a flexible container (such as a big bag) by placing the container on a vibrating element.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,781,513 teaches an apparatus for unloading and spreading a bulk material such as asphalt over the ground.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,875,811; 5,096,336; and 5,378,047 teach related inventions. In each case the invention is directed to unloading a bulk container using a pneumatic conveying apparatus. In the apparatus and process taught in these patents, bulk material such as polycarbonate resin is directed through a flexible conduit to a rotary valve that feeds the particulate material into a lower hopper for pneumatic conveying into a suitable storage facility.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,301,943 teaches a container and process to unload melamine powder from a bulk container. According to this patent melamine powder is unloaded through a discharge device having a hopper portion, a connector portion and a rotary pump assembly wherein certain hopper dimensions of angle, height and opening diameters are required.
The present invention provides an unloading system that is fully effective even with cohesive bulk powders such as pigmentary titanium dioxide.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

System and method for unloading bulk powder from large bulk containers


An example fluidic device includes an elastic tube, a first actuator coupled to an outer surface of the elastic tube between a first end and a second end of the elastic tube, and a second actuator coupled to the outer surface of the elastic tube between the first actuator and the second end of the elastic tube. The first actuator and the second actuator are configured to move apart from one another to transition a portion of the elastic tube positioned between the first actuator and the second actuator from a first condition to a second condition. A diameter of the elastic tube is greater in the first condition than in the second condition. The fluidic device also includes one or more rotatable components coupled to the first actuator and the second actuator which are configured to rotate the portion of the elastic tube positioned between the first actuator and the second actuator.

Unless otherwise indicated herein, the materials described in this section are not prior art to the claims in this application and are not admitted to be prior art by inclusion in this section.
Small samples of human tissue are often required for a definitive disease diagnosis and prognosis. Needle biopsy specimens from tissue are less invasive and costly than surgically removed tissue samples. Typically, these specimens are elongated samples of tissue with a core specimen of 0.3 to 3.0 mm in diameter and up to 2.5 cm in length. Often these needle biopsy tissues are removed from the body in a vital or living state although chemically and mechanically fragile. The processing steps often require chemical fixation using alcohol or formalin to halt unwanted chemical changes and prevent mechanical damage. To provide optical contrast in imaging the cells and tissue, stains are applied to highlight different structures. Immediate and rapid processing of such specimens can provide valuable information, such as whether the needle sampled from the tumor and provided an adequate amount of material to make a diagnosis and chemical analysis. A rapid view of the surface of the needle biopsy can provide this adequacy test, and a higher quality view can provide a disease diagnosis. Deeper views into the tissue or tissue fragments can provide comparative measures of the disease and host immune response and provide a means to stage the cancer and any metastatic growth. These needle biopsies are also valuable for doing more personalized therapies based on genomic (e.g. DNA), transcriptomics (e.g. RNA), proteomic (e.g. protein), metabolomics (e.g. metabolites), glycomics, (collectively "'omics") analysis from the diseased cells and regions and their surrounding cells and tissue matrix.
The current methods of handling needle biopsy specimens is a series of manual steps that end up by adhering the cells or thin sections of the tissue onto glass slides and observing the fixed and stained specimen on an optical microscope. This method takes from several hours to several days and is destructive to the cells and tissue. If the needle did not adequately sample the targeted region, such as a tumor, then the patient will need to return in order to repeat the needle biopsy procedure for a more diagnostic sample. Once the sample is determined to be diagnostic, there are challenges to perform 'omics analysis on the plated and paraffin encased specimen, so often a second needle biopsy is obtained which adds cost, more suffering, and risk of sampling error. Furthermore, the conventional view of the cells and tissue by a cytologist and pathologist is two-dimensional (2D), and depth information is lost.

Biopsy sample manipulation and imaging system and methods for use


A proton conductive membrane capable of sufficient proton conductivity even at low humidities and low temperatures is provided. The proton conductive membrane includes a copolymer including an ion conductive polymer segment (A) and an ion nonconductive polymer segment (B) , the membrane absorbing water when it is soaked in 90° C. water for 30 minutes of which the quantity of water showing freezing temperatures in the range of −30 to 0° C. is 0.01 to 3.0 g based on 1 g of the copolymer. The copolymer has a structure in which main chain skeletons of the copolymer are covalently bound at aromatic rings thereof through binding groups.

A fuel cell essentially consists of two catalyst electrodes and a solid electrolyte membrane sandwiched between the electrodes. Hydrogen, the fuel, is ionized at one of the electrodes, and the hydrogen ions diffuse through the solid electrolyte membrane and combine with oxygen at the other electrode. When the two electrodes are connected through an external circuit, an electric current flows and electric power is supplied to the external circuit. Here, the solid electrolyte membrane has functions to diffuse the hydrogen ions, as well as to physically isolate the fuel gas (hydrogen) and oxygen and to block the flow of electrons.
It is accepted that the solid electrolyte membranes diffuse hydrogen ions through water clusters in hydrophilic channels (ion conducting channels). Therefore, the ion conductivity drastically lowers at low humidities by drying of water and at low temperatures by freezing of water. The quantity of water adsorbed and bound to ion conductive groups in the membrane and the channel structure formed by the ion conductive groups are considered very important for the ion conductivity.
The present inventors studied in view of the above problems in the background art and have arrived at a solid polymer electrolyte membrane that comprises an ion conductive polymer segment (A) and an ion nonconductive polymer segment (B), wherein ion conductive groups adsorb water of which a sufficient quantity shows melting temperatures in the range of −30 to 0° C., whereby water is prevented from drying at low humidities and from freezing at low temperatures and consequently the membrane can achieve sufficient proton conductivity even at low humidities and low temperatures. It has also been found that when the solid polymer electrolyte membrane has a morphology in which the ion conductive polymer segment (A) forms a continuous phase, the membrane achieves a sufficient quantity of water showing melting temperatures of −30 to 0° C.

Proton conductive membrane comprising a copolymer


A modulator device for modulating a gas ejection section, includes a shutter member for partially shutting a nozzle throat, a control guide of the shutter member, a main piston, and a primer piston. The control guide is movable between a retraction position for retracting the partial shutter element relative to the nozzle throat and a shutting position in which the partial shutter element is in contact with the nozzle throat. The primer piston is movable between a rest position and a priming position for priming the main piston when the pressure in the modulator device reaches a first predetermined value. The main piston is movable between a first position for locking the control guide against movement in its retraction position, and a second position for locking the control guide when the pressure in the modulator device reaches a second predetermined value less than the first predetermined value.

The present invention relates to the general field of thrusters or rocket engines for delivering thrust for driving aerospace vehicles such as missiles, launchers, or indeed satellites, using the principle of propulsion by reaction or by ejecting gas. The invention relates more precisely, but not exclusively, to the fixed diverging portion nozzles fitted to solid propellant thrusters.
A solid propellant thruster is mainly constituted by a shell containing a block of powder (propellant), an ignitor, and a nozzle with a fixed diverging portion. The block of powder is pierced by a channel lying on the axis of the thruster that acts as a combustion chamber. The ignitor ignites the powder at one end of the shell and combustion of the propellant propagates from the front towards the rear of the thruster. The powder burns at a predefined rate, thereby producing combustion gas that is expelled via the nozzle.
The throat section of the nozzle makes it possible to control the combustion of the block of powder so as to maintain a desired pressure in the combustion chamber while producing the expected thrust. Thus, for a thruster delivering thrust at a single discharge rate, the throat section of the nozzle is unvarying and predetermined as a function of the desired level of thrust.
Nevertheless, having recourse to a single unvarying throat section is not suitable for a thruster that has two rates of operation (typically a high discharge rate and a low discharge rate).
In order to mitigate such a drawback, it is known to provide the nozzle with a throat section that is variable. In practice, a needle that is movable in translation is received inside the nozzle. The position of the needle in the flow of combustion gas serves to determine the flow section for the gas passing through the nozzle, thereby adjusting the gas ejection section to the operating rate of the thruster.
Nevertheless, the positioning systems associated with the movable needle are active systems requiring an external source of energy in order to operate, thereby making more complex the device for modulating the ejection section and increasing the risk of the device failing or operating in faulty manner. There thus exists a need to provide modulation of the ejection section in a nozzle without using an external source of energy so as to cause the combustion gas to pass through the main ejection section of the nozzle during a stage of operation with a high level of pressure in the thruster (corresponding to operating at a high discharge rate) and then, during a stage of operation at a lower level of pressure in the thruster (corresponding to operating at a low discharge rate), causing the gas to pass via a secondary ejection section positioned in the nozzle, in order to optimize the thrust coefficients during the various stages of operation (high discharge rate and low discharge rate).

Device for modulating a gas ejection section


A safety device of an air balancing hoist according to the present invention is provided to instantaneously brake a reel drum in the manner that a braking pawl mounted to be rotatable on an end cap is pushed to the outside direction of the circumference of a circle by centrifugal force to be locked into a ratchet wheel fixed on the end cap when the reel drum is suddenly fast rotated during a hoisting process. The safety device of the air balancing hoist comprises a housing including a chamber in which compressed air is induced/discharged; a piston connected into the inside of the housing to be slidably reciprocated; a ball screw penetrating the piston and including both ends fixed not to be rotated in the housing; a reel drum rotated along the ball screw upon movement; a ratchet wheel in a ring shape mounted on an inner side surface of an end cap formed at one end of the housing; a braking rotor mounted in the center of the end cap to be rotatable; a braking shaft, wherein one end is fixed on the rotor and the other end is connected with a fixing hole of the reel drum; and a braking pawl, wherein one end is elastically inserted in the braking rotor to be pivotable in the circumferential direction and the other end is fixed by a hinge on the braking rotor.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a safety device of an air balancing hoist for instantaneously stopping a hook from being suddenly lifted up by a sudden rotation of a reel drum in case where a workpiece is broken away from the hook or a switch is suddenly operated at more than a predetermined pressure in the hoisting process, as lifting up by means of the air balancing hoist driven by compressed air.
More specifically, the present invention relates to a safety device of an air balancing hoist for instantaneously braking the reel drum when a braking pawl, mounted to be rotated with not easy on an end cap, is pushed in the outward direction of the circumference of a circle by centrifugal force and is locked into a ratchet wheel in case the reel drum is suddenly rotated during the hoisting process.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, when a light or heavy weight workpiece lifted by a hook is assembled or mounted at a predetermined position as in a vehicle production line, an air balancer is mostly used to lift up the hook by a cylinder drive which is reciprocated within a predetermined stroke by an air pressure supplied as a worker operates a switch.
FIGS. 1 and 2 schematically show a conventional air balancing hoist. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the air balancing hoist includes a cylindrical housing 2 with a chamber 1 through which compressed air is induced in or discharged from an air supply source when a push button switch P is selected by a user; a ball screw 5 with both ends fixed by locking members 3 and 4 not to be rotated around the inside of the housing 2; an end cap 7, mounted at one end of the housing 2, for tightly closing a chamber 1, including a manifold 6 mounted at one outer side to induce or discharge the compressed air; a piston 8 slidably reciprocated along an inner periphery of the housing 2 by the air pressure induced into the chamber 1; and a reel drum 12, whose an end fixed by a ball nut 9 engaged with the ball screw 5 and the other end supported to be rotatable at the piston 8 by a bearing 10, for rotating by driving power at the piston 8 from side to side and winding up an wire 11.
When an up lever P1 of the push button switch P is operated by a user, the compressed air from the air supply source passes through the manifold 6 so as to be supplied to the chamber 1, such that the piston 8 is slidably moved to the left direction along the inner periphery of the housing 2 as shown in FIG. 1.
As the reel drum 12 supported by the piston 8 through the bearing 10 is axially moved by the rectilinear movement of the piston 8, and simultaneously the reel drum 12 supported by the ball screw 5 through the ball nut 9 is rotated, an outer periphery of the reel drum 12 is wound with the wire 11. Thereby, it is possible to lift up the workpiece fixed by the hook assembly which is also fixed at the end of the wire 11.
On the other hand, when a down lever P2 of the push button switch P is operated, as the compressed air in the chamber 1 is discharged in the air though the manifold 6, the reel drum 12 is rotated along the ball screw 5 and is moved to the right direction in FIG. 1 so that the wire 11 is unwound from the reel drum 12. Thereby, it is possible to descend the workpeice fixed to the hook assembly.
However, when the workpeice is broken away from the hook during the hoisting process using the aforementioned air balancing hoist, the compressed air in the chamber 1 is suddenly expanded so that the reel drum 12 is very speedily rotated and therefore the hook assembly is suddenly lifted up. Thereby, it may cause an accident that a hook or a jig fixed on the hook may strike the worker.
Taking consideration such a problem, a braking pipe 21, where a ratchet groove 20 is, in the circumferential direction, formed on the outer periphery, is integrally fixed to the end cap 22; a ring-shaped groove 25 corresponding to the braking pipe 21 is formed longitudinally; and a braking pawl 24 is mounted to be pivotable in the circumferential direction on the side surface of the reel drum 12. Thereby, when the reel drum 12 is suddenly rotated, the braking pawl 24 is pivoted in the circumferential direction to be locked into the ratchet groove 20 to instantaneously brake the reel drum 12.
However, the air balancing hoist described above has the problems that since the braking pipe 21 is made of metal material and weighs heavy, the work competitiveness for assembling the completed products is decreased by the overweight of the whole hoist, and that since the ring-shaped groove 25 corresponding to the braking pipe 21 is formed on the reel drum 12, the mechanical strength of the reel drum 12 is weakened.
On the other, if the up lever P1 of the push button switch P is pressed at more than the predetermined pressure during the hoisting process, the compressed air in great volume is instantaneously induced into the chamber 1 and thereby suddenly rotating the reel drum 12. Hence, the hook is suddenly raised (raised by about 1 M per second) and the workpiece pulled by the hook may stroke the worker to cause the accident.
Taking consideration this problem, a safety device (not shown) is installed on a hose for inducing the compressed air at the push button switch P. When the up lever P1 is suddenly operated at more than the predetermined pressure, a spool of the safety device is alternated to discharge the compressed air induced into the chamber 1 in the air to be intercepted, and thereby preventing the hook from being suddenly raised by the sudden rotation of the reel drum 12.
However, in case of additionally mounting the safety device described above to the push button switch P, there are still the problems that the whole cost for products is high by increasing the number of components, and that the competitiveness of the products may be decreased accordingly.


A vessel with powered display portion, powered by heat differential from a liquid in the vessel, and a thermoelectric generator. Heat from the liquid is used to generate electricity using a thermoelectric generator in thermal contact with the liquid, and a heat sink or radiator. Cold liquid in the vessel can also be used to generate electricity, by the difference in temperature outside the vessel. The powered display may be made of flexible material and can include LEDs, OLEDS, LCD, luminous tubing, fiber optics, or other light emitting structures.

There are a number of devices which provide an illuminated cup holder, typically in automobiles or theater seating, which aid in using the cup holder in low light situations. There are also various cups that bear a logo or utilize an illuminated or powered graphic, in which the illumination is typically an LED (light emitting diode) or backlit LCD (liquid crystal display) that is powered by a battery. There is a strong market for promotional materials for any particular brand, such as coffee, beer, tea, sports teams, cities, sporting equipment, and many other articles. Each of these entities produces products in which their insignia may be displayed. The products can be pennants, shot glasses, collectible spoons, enameled pins, travel mugs, coffee cups, can openers, decals, and many other articles. Sometimes these are given away or sold inexpensively as a memento of a trip.
A cup which is illuminated, or bears a powered graphic display, which does not require a battery would be very desirable in this product field. Having it be powered by solar power is one option, but solar power is only available when the product is in the sunshine. A novel way of powering the display would be to use the heat or cold from the product itself, such as heat from a hot cup of coffee or the chill of an ice-cold beer, to power the display. The display could be a logo, an interesting phrase, the trademark of a sports team or a company, or other graphics which are typically used in promotional products.


A clasp for an ornamental material, such as knitwear, has two portions. One end of a clasp portion serves as a mating face, while the other end of a clasp portion has an aperture. The mating faces have complementary registration structures, such as a bump and well, peg and hole, and so on. The apertures receive and conceal the ends of the ornamental material. Thus, a wearable item, such as a necklace, belt, anklet, shawl, sweater, shrug, cape or bracelet, and so on, can be readily formed from knitwear or other ornamental material.

The present invention relates to a clasp, and more particularly, is directed to a two-piece connector for ornamental material such as a knitwear necklace.
Necklace clasps are well-known to the jewelry trade. Necklaces are typically made from beads, pearls, gemstones, links, or the like, which are intended to be fully visible. Accordingly, a typical jewelry clasp has loops on the end, and the thread or wire that the beads are strung on is wrapped around the loops.
Recently, specialty yarns have become available so that material knitted from these yarns has sufficient visual appeal to serve as neck, waist and/or wrist ornaments. The ends of the material are usually considered unsightly and to be hidden from view. Thus, conventional jewelry clasps are inappropriate since they do not serve to conceal the ends of the knitted material.
FIG. 1A shows a rectangular piece 90 of knitting or other material, generally 2-3″ wide and 14-28″ long, for a necklace, has its long sides curled under to form a generally cylindrical shape. Instead of a rectangular piece, the knitwear can alternatively be triangular so as to form a shawl.
As shown in FIG. 1B, clasp 50 is a three piece unit having a main piece adapted to receive connectors 70 and 80 that are connected to the respective short ends of knitwear piece 90. When assembled, clasp 50 provides a smooth receptacle for the ends of piece 90 and completely conceals connectors 70, 80.
Clasp 50 is generally cylindrical with apertures 52, 54 at its short ends. The front of clasp 50 is smooth. The back of clasp 50 has a generally rectangular opening 40, with wall 30 positioned approximately midway along its length. One side of wall 30 has bezel 20 at approximately its midpoint. Bezel 20 contains magnet 10. On the inside back of the main piece of clasp 50, there is located loop 60.
Connector 70 has hook 75 at one of its ends, for engaging with loop 60 of clasp 50. The other end of connector 70 has an aperture for receiving an end of piece 90. As shown in FIG. 1C, the long edges of piece 90 naturally curl under themselves.
Attaching an end of piece 90 to connector 70 is described with reference to FIGS. 1D-1F.
At the aperture end of piece 70, there are holes 71, 72 on opposite sides of the aperture. After an end of piece 90 is inserted into the aperture end of connector 70 (not shown for clarity in understanding the following activity), nail 73 is inserted through holes 71, 72 until nailhead 74 is flush against the outside of connector 70. The portion of nail 73 that protrudes outside hole 72 is cut, and the end of nail 73 is tapped with a riveting hammer so that the metal of nail 73 is formed into a head slightly larger than the circumference of hole 72. In short, the end of piece 90 is held in connector 70 by a rivet formed from nail 73. Nail 73 is formed of the same or a similar material as the main piece of clasp 50, that is, a material appropriate for riveting.
FIG. 1G shows the outside of connector 5, also referred to as endcap 5, which may be employed in place of connector 70 discussed above. FIG. 1H shows the aperture end of connector 5. Openings are made in the sides of connector 5 to form posts 6. As with the connector discussed above, magnet 8 is located in setting 7 in the face of endcap 5 facing its aperture. An end of piece 90 is placed in aperture 5, and then piece 90 is sewn to the connector by making stitches in which the thread passes around the outside of posts 6 and through the material of piece 90.
Connector 80 has protrusion 85 at one of its ends, for engaging with the force from magnet 10 of clasp 50. The other end of connector 80 connects to the end of knitwear 90, in similar fashion as described above for connector 70.
A problem with the knitwear clasp of FIG. 1A is that it is awkward to attach hook 75 to loop 60 while the knitwear necklace is located around the wearer's neck; specifically, the hook requires very careful adjustment so as to be tight enough to stay in place yet loose enough to be easy to disconnect. Another problem is the difficulty of attaching piece 90 to the connectors; if the riveting technique is used, most consumers cannot do this, so a third party must do the riveting. Another problem is that each connector attaches to only one side, resulting in consumer frustration if an incorrect orientation is attempted. Another problem is that consumers misplaced clasp 50, rendering the necklace unwearable. Another problem is that the thickness of the wall of clasp 50, plus the thickness of the wall of endcaps 70 and 80 (or 5), creates a gap or step-off between the material, 90, and the clasp 50, which is visually undesirable. In addition, the thickness of the walls of the endcaps limits the space available for the knitting or other decorative band 90.
FIG. 2A shows another known clasp for knitwear. Knitted piece 96 has its ends coupled to connectors 76, 86, which in turn are held in clasp 56 by magnets. More specifically, as shown in FIG. 2B, connector 76 has nose 79 that holds a magnet. Similarly, connector 86 has nose 89 that holds a magnet. Clasp 56 has apertures 57, 58 for receiving connectors 76, 86, respectively. The back of clasp 56 has openings 46, 47. Walls 36, 37 are located inside clasp 56 and have noses 26, 27 for holding respective magnets that engage with the magnets in the noses of connectors 76, 86 when these connectors are inserted into clasp 56. As shown in FIG. 2C, an end of piece 96 is held in connector 76 using screw 77.
Accordingly, there is room for an improved clasp for knitwear and the like.


A digital camera includes a distortion correction section, which is composed of a focal length determining section, a distortion evaluation section and a correction amount calculating section. The focal length determining section evaluates a focal length at the time of image capture. Based on the focal length, the distortion evaluation section evaluates the magnitude of wide-angle distortion and optical distortion in a captured image. Based on this evaluation, the distortion correction section selects an appropriate coefficient from an optical distortion correction coefficient table or a wide-angle distortion correction coefficient table. Using the selected coefficient, the correction amount calculating section applies a coordinate transform processing to cause positive or negative distortion to the captured image, and corrects the wide-angle distortion or the optical distortion.

Digital cameras that have been popular in recent years obtain an image in the form of digital data. Unlike the photographic images, the digital image data can be subjected to various image processing that allows so-called retouching to modify the image and correct color in a later time. It is also a common technique during image capture to detect human faces in a picture frame and control to have a proper face size and appropriate brightness (see, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. 2004-320284 corresponding to U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2004/0207743).
Meanwhile, when a subject image is formed on a photographic film or an image sensor through a lens, the image is sometimes blurred or distorted. A main cause of such blur and distortion is aberration of the lens used. In particular, the blur is caused by spherical aberration, astigmatism, coma and curvature of field.
The distortion of image, on the other hand, is caused by distortion aberration. Since the distortion aberration is a phenomenon in which the incident light is more refracted with distance from a lens center, the resultant distortion (hereinafter, optical distortion) of image changes according to positional relationship between a lens and an aperture stop. Therefore, in a zoom lens whose aperture stop changes the relative position to the lens system, it is difficult to reduce the optical distortion uniformly.
For film cameras, there would be no choice in reducing the optical distortion but to arrange the layout of a photographic film or the design of a taking lens. For digital cameras, however, the optical distortion can be reduced by applying an electrical image conversion processing to image data. For example, there are known a video camera to display different portions of an image with different magnifications (see, for example, Japanese Laid-open Publication No. 09-018763), and a digital camera to reduce the optical distortion of a captured image by using an image conversion processing (see, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. 11-252431).
Apart from the optical distortion, there is also known wide-angle distortion. The wide-angle distortion is a phenomenon that arises when a three-dimensional subject is projected through a lens onto a flat plane (a light receiving surface of an image sensor or a photographic film), and has an effect to elongate the image radially from the center of the picture frame. Therefore, the wide-angle distortion usually becomes apparent in wide-angle images, and is more prominent in the periphery of picture frame.
Since it results from a basic principle of the imaging apparatus, the wide-angle distortion cannot be eliminated completely. However, it is known that the wide-angle distortion becomes less noticeable when a lens with large distortion aberration is used (see, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. 11-065033).
Conventionally, a popular lens has a 45 degree angle of view, and the wide-angle distortion has not been a problem. In recent years, however, the wide-angle lenses with a 70 degree or more angle of view become popular, and loss of image quality due to the wide-angle distortion grows into a serious problem. For example, if a group image is captured with this type of wide-angle lens, the person at the periphery of the picture frame may be saddled with a distorted face due to the wide-angle distortion.
Nonetheless, if a lens with large distortion aberration is employed to minimize the wide-angle distortion, the optical distortion will be promoted excessively in a captured image. For example, capturing a building or such a rectilinear object with this type of lens will only produce unnatural images where the straight lines are curved. This is not a problem to special effect cameras, such as the lens-fitted film unit of the Publication No. 11-065033, but a serious problem to normal digital cameras.

Imaging apparatus for correcting optical distortion and wide-angle distortion


An optoelectronic semiconductor component includes a basic body, at least one semiconductor chip arranged thereon, and an encapsulation embedding the at least one semiconductor chip and composed of a radiation-transmissive material with scattering particles. A radiation-transmissive covering layer with an absorber is applied to the encapsulation.

Optoelectronic semiconductor components are used, for example, in an area of display technology where a homogeneously illuminated and high-contrast image is important.
A production method for conventional optoelectronic semiconductor components of the type mentioned involves firstly injection-molding a suitable plastic material around a prefabricated leadframe, the material forming a basic body for the housing of the device. The basic body has a cutout at the top side, connections of the leadframe being led into the cutout from two opposite sides. On one connection, the semiconductor chip, for example, an LED chip or a laser diode, is adhesively bonded and electrically contact-connected. A generally radiation-transmissive potting compound is then filled into the cutout and embeds the semiconductor body. This basic form of a surface-mountable optoelectronic semiconductor component is known, for example, from the article "SIEMENS SMT-TOPLED für die Oberflächenmontage", ["SIEMENS SMT-TOPLED for surface mounting"], F. Möllmer und G. Waitl, Siemens Components 29 (1991), Issue 4, pages 147-149.
In order to generate, in a video display, for example, an image that is illuminated as homogeneously as possible and has the highest possible contrast, the light sources used are optoelectronic semiconductor components whose basic bodies are entirely diffusely reflective, that is to say they appear white, or basic bodies whose edge region is printed dark, and the rest of the basic body remains white. A dark embodiment of the basic body of the semiconductor components results in the generation of a high-contrast image. The contrast can be reduced by incidence of extraneous light, since the extraneous light is reflected at the emission area of the semiconductor component and the chip surface. By way of example, the contrast decreases as the brightness of the ambient light increases and the displayed image appears bleached out.
If the potting compound of the semiconductor components also contains scattering particles, then the emission area is diffusely reflective. The contrast and the homogeneity of the image can be optimized further by the use of screen devices and/or diffuser plates disposed upstream of the optoelectronic semiconductor components. However, these devices also lead to a loss of light, such that the light emitted by the semiconductor chip must have a higher brightness.


A method, system, and computer-program product for automatically monitoring websites (e.g., web-based shopping sites, catalogs, auction sites, etc.) for acquisition parameters (e.g., prices, rental amounts, trading/barter requirements, etc.) on one or more commodities, for a predetermined time period.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to E-commerce and, more particularly to online comparison shopping.
2. Description of the Related Art
The merger of the Internet and commerce to form what is now known worldwide as "E-commerce" has led to the proliferation of the use of the Internet and World Wide Web ("the web") for purchases of all kinds. Everything from airline tickets to automobiles to vitamins can be purchased on the web and such sales have experienced explosive growth.
A "web crawler" is a program that systematically fetches web pages, typically based upon the input of one or more search terms. Google (www.Google.com) is one example of a web crawler that has gained some notoriety. Using a web crawler, a consumer wishing to shop for a particular item, for example, an IBM Thinkpad® computer, can simply type in the search terms "IBM Thinkpad" and obtain a listing of pages that use this term. Obviously, such a search is extremely broad, as it will also return pages relating to Thinkpad repair, Thinkpad endorsements, and the like. A person trying to find Thinkpad vendors must wade through the numerous "hits" returned by the web crawler to locate those that are selling the article.
Another option is to go to the website of a known retailer, e.g., www.CircuitCity.com or www.CompUSA.com, and perform a search within their website for the desired item. While this is an acceptable option, it requires multiple entry of the same query at each site, and also requires that the shopper be aware of the various sites and their web addresses.
To simplify a user's online shopping experience, a specialized form of web crawler, called a "shop-bot," was developed. Shop-bot sites such as www.Froogle.com and www.MySimon.com have refined the way in which many people do on-line shopping. Instead of going to several websites manually and then comparing prices among the websites, the shop-bot concept allows users to simultaneously find the current prices of a particular item on several websites, by inputting identification information (e.g., a part number) once and then issuing a search command to the shop-bot. Essentially, the shop-bot "crawls" only sites that sell the type of item being searched for, filtering out extraneous sites that are not E-commerce sites.
Shop-bots are beneficial to E-commerce shoppers and E-commerce sites. However, prices invariably vary from one day to the next, especially for "high tech" products. Thus, users who are truly bargain-conscious must repeatedly search the web, for days or weeks on end, in the hope that they hit the "best price" for the particular item they are looking for.
When on-line auction sites like eBay and Auctions by Amazon are considered, it becomes even more difficult. A search for an online auction may yield several items matching the desired item, and whose current bid price is quite low, but whose auctions do not end for several days.
What is needed is a way to seamlessly enable a user to identify a desired item and automatically monitor prices on the item for a predetermined time period.

Method, system, and computer program product for long-term on-line comparison shopping

International Business Machines Corporation


The invention relates to a universal and greatly simplified method as well as a composition for isolating nucleic acids from different starting materials containing nucleic acids. The composition contains at least one buffer solution for proteolytically solubilizing biological samples, the buffer containing no chaotropic or antichaotropic component, at least one alcoholic component and/or a detergent, a solid phase, and a wash and elution buffer.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a universal and greatly simplified method as well as a formulation for isolating a nucleic acid from a variety of starting materials containing nucleic acids which both results a very high quality and high yields of the isolated nucleic acid.
2. Discussion of the Background
Under conventional conditions the isolation of DNA from cells and tissues is carried out such that the starting materials containing the nucleic acids are digested under highly denaturing and reducing conditions, in part with the use of protein-degrading enzymes. The released nucleic acid fraction is purified in phenol/chloroform extraction stages and the nucleic acids are isolated by dialysis or ethanol precipitation from the aqueous phase (Sambrook, J., Fritsch, E. F. und Maniatis, T., 1989, CSH, "Molecular Cloning").
These conventional methods for the isolation of nucleic acids from cells and especially from tissues are very time consuming (in part longer than 48 h), require considerable apparative expenditure and moreover are not realizable under field conditions. In addition, such methods are hazardous to health and environment due to the chemicals used in amounts that are not inconsiderable, such as phenol and chloroform.
Different alternative methods for the isolation of nucleic acids from various biological starting materials allow the elaborate and health-damaging phenol/chloroform extraction of nucleic acids to be circumvented and a reduction in time expenditure to be achieved.
All of these methods are based on a method for the preparative and analytical purification of DNA fragments from agarose gels developed and described for the first time by Vogelstein and Gillespie (Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 1979, 76, 615-619). The method combines the dissociation in a saturated solution of a chaotropic salt (NaI) of the agarose containing the bands of the DNA to be isolated with binding of the DNA to glass particles. The DNA fixed to the glass particles is then washed with a wash solution (20 mM Tris HCl [pH 7.2]; 200 mM NaCl; 2 mM EDTA; 50% v/v ethanol) and then separated from the support particles.
Until now, this method has undergone a series of modifications and is currently used for different methods for the extraction and purification of nucleic acids from various sources (Marko, M. A., Chipperfield, R. und Birnboim, H. G., 1982, Anal. Biochem., 121, 382 387).
In addition, a plurality of reagent systems exists world-wide today, predominantly for the purification of DNA fragments from agarose gels and for the isolation of plasmid DNA from bacterial lysates, and also for the isolation of longer chain nucleic acids (genomic DNA, cellular total RNA) from blood, tissues or cell cultures.
All these commercially available kits are based on the well-known principle of binding nucleic acids to mineral supports in the presence of solutions of different chaotropic salts and use suspensions of finely-milled glass powder (e.g. Glasmilk, BIO 101, La Jolla, Calif.), diatomaceous earths (Sigma) or silica gels (Diagen, DE 41 39 664 A1) as support material.
A method for the isolation of nucleic acids practicable for a number of different applications proposed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,234,809. A method is described therein for the isolation of nucleic acids from starting materials containing nucleic acids, whereby the starting material is incubated with a chaotropic buffer and a DNA-binding solid phase. The chaotropic buffer carries out both the lysis of the starting material as well as the binding of the nucleic acids to the solid phase. The method is well suited for the isolation of nucleic acids from small amounts of sample and finds practical use particularly in the area of the isolation of viral nucleic acids.
Specific modifications of these methods concern the use of novel support materials which have applicative advantages for particular problems (WO-A 95/34569).
More recent patent applications disclose that so-called antichaotropic salts can be used very efficiently and successfully as components of lysis/binding buffer systems for the adsorption of nucleic acids to silicate materials known and used by the person skilled in the art (EP 1 135 479 A). The advantage of this method is that by circumvention of the use of chaotropic salts a clearly lower hazard to health is posed by the extraction system. However, a draw-back is that high salt concentrations (>1.5 M) are required in the lysis buffer for an efficient isolation of nucleic acids from a complex biological sample especially with respect to a highest possible nucleic acid recovery. Thus, EP 1 135 479 A discloses that the lysis buffers used contain salt concentrations of between 1.5 M-3 M.
A method is described in the unexamined application DE 43 21 904 A in which an efficient isolation of nucleic acids is possible with a combination of chaotropic high salt buffers and alcoholic components. The lysis buffers disclosed in DE 43 21 904 A always contain salt concentrations of 4 M-8 M, guanidine hydrochloride, guanidine thiocyanate or potassium iodide in particular are used as salts. It is known that these salts bring about lysis of the starting material as well as potent inactivation of nucleolytic enzymes. The addition of an alcohol is carried out after lysis of the starting material. The patent document discloses that the addition of the alcoholic component to the high salt lysis buffer mediates a highly efficient binding of the nucleic acids to the silicate filter material employed. The disadvantage of the use of lysis buffers with high ion strength chaotropic salts is always the restricted and also inefficient use of additional proteolytic enzymes for an effective digestion of complex biological samples, for these enzymes are themselves damaged by the protein-denaturing action of chaotropic buffers. Furthermore, extensive wash stages are needed subsequently to remove the high salt concentrations from the adsorption material employed. It is known to the person skilled in the art that chaotropic salts exert a high inhibitory action on a number of down-stream applications.
A further possibility for the isolation of nucleic acids is disclosed in utility patent application DE 20 20 7793 U. The method includes the binding of nucleic acids to clay minerals in the presence of a salt of a polyvalent cation. The method is considered to be based on the formation of a so-called cation bridge between the nucleic acids to be isolated and the clay minerals. The desorption of the nucleic acids to be isolated does not take place with water or a low salt buffer as with other known methods but with an elution agent which is at least one complexing agent that is specific for the polyvalent cation in the binding buffer. The disadvantage of the invention is in particular that the complexing components (EDTA; EGTA etc.) as part of the elution buffer often greatly inhibit a number of downstream applications. Although the method for the purification of nucleic acids as described in the utility patent specification ought to be feasible without the use of chaotropic salts, a series of buffers of the embodiment examples always contain chaotropic salts (e.g. guanidine salts). This concerns all embodiment examples that describe the isolation of nucleic acids from complex biological samples. It thus appears that the isolation of nucleic acids from complex samples cannot be realized in the absence of chaotropic salts.
DE 198 56 064 A1, DE 102 53 351 A1, DE 699 08 795 T2 and EP 0 796 327 B1 also belong to the background art. Methods for the isolation of nucleic acids are described therein whereby, however, no antichaotropic components are used.
The analysis of the background art illustrates quite impressively that a plurality of possibilities exists for the binding nucleic acids to solid support materials, in particular silicon-based mineral support materials, then to wash and to release once more the nucleic acids from the support material. It is also clear that a plurality of lysis buffer systems can be employed for the isolation of nucleic acids from complex biological samples. The lysis buffer systems described also always contain salt components that are essential for the necessary binding of the nucleic acids to be isolated to the respective preferred support material, whereby the chaotropic salts selected for the binding of the nucleic acids also at the same time carry out the lysis of the starting material. The salt concentrations of the lysis buffers employed always lie in the high-salt range. This also applies to the utility patent specification DE 20 20 7793 U, although as explicitly described there the binding of the nucleic acids with the use of polyvalent cations and the utilization of clay minerals should take place with low concentrations of polyvalent salts. The concentrations of the guanidinium salts used in this utility patent specification for the isolation are the high salt concentrations known to the person skilled in the art.

Method and formulation for the extraction of nucleic acids from any complex starting materials


An information processing apparatus is provided for generating delivery data to be delivered to a delivery destination in response to an input of processing data. The information processing apparatus includes an acquisition unit configured to acquire other data from a reference destination specified by specific information included in the processing data in a case where the specific information specifying the reference destination of the other data is extracted from the content of the processing data, and a generation unit configured to generate the delivery data in response to an input of the processing data, the delivery data being configured such that the other data acquired by the acquisition unit is viewable based on the delivery data.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus and an information processing system.
2. Description of the Related Art
Document delivery systems that use an information processing apparatus such as a document delivery server to deliver document data are known (see e.g. Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2013-020326). In such document delivery systems, document data that is input by scanning an original document with an image forming apparatus such as a scanner may be delivered to a desired delivery destination that is designated by a user, for example.
In a growing number of cases, document data to be delivered includes one or more links (references to other resources including document data, image data, and other types of data). In such cases, a user at a delivery destination of the document data may view the linked data by accessing the link destination.
However, in general, linked data can often be deleted or changed. Thus, by the time the user at the delivery destination accesses the link destination, the desired data may already be unavailable.
In view of the above, an information processing apparatus such as a document delivery server that delivers document data is preferably configured to implement a mechanism for ensuring the availability of linked data in order to improve usability for the user at the delivery destination.

Information processing apparatus and information processing system


The invention relates to a magenta toner having magenta-colored resin particles comprising at least a binder resin and a magenta colorant. The magenta pigment is a magenta pigment composed of a combination of C.I. Pigment Red 31 and C.I. Pigment Red 150.

In an image forming apparatus such as an electrophotographic apparatus or electrostatic recording apparatus, an electrostatic latent image formed on a photosensitive member is first developed with a developer (toner). After the toner image formed on the photosensitive member is then transferred to a transfer medium such as paper as needed, the image is fixed thereto by any of various methods such as heating, pressing and use of solvent vapor.
As such image forming apparatus, a digital full-color copying machine and a digital full-color printer are put to practical use. In the digital full-color copying machine, after a colored image original is subjected to color separation through respective filters of blue, green and red, electrostatic latent images of the respective colors composed of a dot diameter of 20 to 70 μm corresponding to the colored image original are formed. These electrostatic latent images are developed with respective toners of yellow, magenta, cyan and black colors to form a full-color image making good use of a subtractive mixture effect.
In recent years, a demand for formation of full-color images with high image quality and high definition has more and more increased. In order to improve color reproducibility in particular, it is desirable that an image using color toners can be printed with a hue equivalent to printing with inks. As colorants for magenta toner, have heretofore been generally used organic pigments such as quinacridone pigments, perillene pigments, thioindigo pigments and β-oxynaphthenic anilide pigments (i.e., Naphthol AS pigments). Among these, the quinacridone pigments are widely used in that they are excellent in light resistance, heat resistance and transparency. With respect to the quinacridone pigments, it has been proposed to use a quinacridone pigment and another quinacridone pigment in combination or use a quinacridone pigment and another magenta pigment in combination for the purpose of improving toner properties.
For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 10-312088 has proposed a magenta toner making combined use of C.I. Pigment Red 122 and C.I. Pigment Red 57:1 as a colorant. Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2000-181144 has proposed a magenta toner making combined use of a dimethylquinacridone pigment (i.e., C.I. Pigment Red 122) and at least one red pigment having negatively charging ability or weakly positively charging ability as a colorant. Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2002-91086 has proposed a magenta toner making combined use of a quinacridone pigment and a Naphthol AS pigment or β-naphthol lake pigment as a colorant.
However, these magenta toners has involved a problem that magenta toner particles are easy to be broken by contact between the magenta toner particles or stress between a feed roll and a development roll, or between a development and a photosensitive member in an image forming apparatus. When the magenta toner particles are broken, the flowability and printing density of the magenta toner are lowered.
In addition, C.I. Pigment Red 57:1 that is a magenta pigment used in respective Examples in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 10-312088 and Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2002-91086 is poor in light resistance, and so the resulting image may be faded with time in some cases.
Further, since C.I. Pigment Red 5 and C.I. Pigment Red 209 that are magenta pigments used in respective Examples in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Nos. 2000-181144 and 2002-91086 are chlorine atom-containing compounds, there is a possibility that dioxin may be generated when paper, on which images have been formed, is incinerated.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2000-156795 discloses magenta toners containing C.I. Pigment Red 122, C.I. Pigment Violet 19 and C.I. Pigment Red 150 as colorants. However, these magenta toners are low in printing density and may cause fog in some cases.
As described above, when a quinacridone pigment is used as a magenta colorant, light resistance is improved compared with the case where another pigment is used. However, such a pigment tends to lower the printing density of the resulting magenta toner. In order to raise the printing density using the quinacridone pigment, it is necessary to use the pigment in a great amount. When the quinacridone pigment is used in a great amount, however, not only the cost of the resulting magenta toner is increased, but also the fixing ability of the toner is liable to lower.
On the other hand, it is investigated to use a Naphthol AS pigment alone without using any quinacridone pigment to provide a magenta toner. Naphthol AS pigments are classified into a mono-azo system and a dis-azo system. However, mono-azo pigments are generally widely adopted.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Nos. 2000-81734 and 2002-182433 disclose magenta toner particles comprising C.I. Pigment Red 31 as a mono-azo pigment in Examples thereof. These magenta toner particles are applied to formation of images by a two-component development system as a two-component developer combined with carrier particles. However, the investigation by the present inventors has revealed that when these magenta toner particles are applied to formation of images by a non-magnetic one-component development system, not only the density of an image printed becomes low, but also hot offset occurs, and moreover storage stability becomes poor.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2002-72569 discloses a magenta toner comprising C.I. Pigment Red 150 as a mono-azo pigment. However, the investigation by the present inventors has revealed that not only this magenta toner can form only images having a hue far from a hue by printing with inks and is poor in color reproducibility, but also it is low in printing density and poor in low-temperature fixing ability and causes fog under high-temperature and high-humidity conditions.

Magenta toner and production process thereof


A highly flexible process for preparing butene oligomers from field butanes. The process can be controlled to produce the desired oligomerization products by appropriate selection of the starting materials.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a process for preparing butene oligomers, which are valuable starting materials for plasticizer alcohols, from field butanes. The process is highly flexible because the oligomer products may be determined by judicious selection of the starting materials.
2. Description of the Background
Dibutenes are an isomeric mixture which are formed, in addition to higher butene oligomers, by dimerization and/or codimerization of butenes, i.e., of n-butene and/or isobutene, in the oligomerization of butenes. The term di-n-butene refers to the dimerization product of n-butene, i.e., dimerization 1-butene and/or 2-butene. Important components of di-n-butene are 3-methyl-2-heptene, 3,4-dimethyl-2-hexene and, to a lesser extent n-octenes. The term dibutene may also refer to the dimerization products obtained by the reaction of n-butene and isobutene. Di-isobutene is the mixture of dimers which is formed by dimerization of isobutene. Di-isobutene contains molecules which are more highly branched than dibutene, and this, in turn, is more highly branched than di-n-butene.
Dibutene, di-n-butene and di-isobutene are starting materials for preparing isomeric nonanols by hydroformylation and hydrogenation of the C.sub.9 aldehydes thus formed. Esters of these nonanols, in particular the phthalic esters, are plasticizers which are prepared to a significant extent, and are primarily used for poly(vinyl chloride). Nonanols from di-n-butene are linear to a greater extent than nonanols from dibutene, which are in turn less branched than nonanols from di-isobutene. Esters of nonanols from di-n-butene, because of their more linear structure, have application advantages as compared to esters of nonanols obtained from dibutene or di-isobutene, and are particularly in demand.
Butenes can be obtained for the dimerization reaction to form dibutenes from the C.sub.4 fraction of steam crackers or of FC crackers, for example. This C.sub.4 fraction is generally worked up by first separating off 1,3-butadiene by a selective scrubbing, e.g., using n-methylpyrrolidone. Isobutene is a desirable and particularly valuable C.sub.4 fraction component because it may be chemically reacted to give sought-after products, e.g., with isobutane to provide high-octane iso-octane or with methanol to afford methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE), which, as an additive to motor gasoline, improves its octane rating. After the reaction of the isobutene, the n-butenes, n-butane and isobutane remain behind. The proportion of n-butenes in the cracking products of the steam cracker or the FC cracker is relatively low, however, approximately 10 percent by weight, based on the principal target product ethylene. A steam cracker having the respectable capacity of 600,000 metric t/year of ethylene therefore only provides about 60,000 metric t/year of n-butene. Although this amount (and that of the isobutenes) could be increased by dehydrogenating the approximately 15,000 metric t/year of n-butane and isobutane which arise in addition to the n-butenes, this is not advisable, because dehydrogenation plants require high capital expenditure and are not economic for such a small capacity.
Isobutene is, as discussed above, a cracking product in high demand, and is therefore not generally available for the oligomerization reaction to produce n-butenes. The amount of n-butenes which a steam cracker or an FC cracker produces directly is not sufficient, however, to produce sufficient dibutene for a nonanol plant whose capacity is high enough that it could compete economically with the existing large-scale plants for preparing important plasticizer alcohols, such as 2-ethylhexanol. Butenes from several different steam crackers or FC crackers would therefore have to be collected and oligomerized together, in order to meet the dibutene demand of a large nonanol plant. Opposing this, however, is the fact that the transport of liquefied gases is expensive, not least because of the complex safety precautions required to do so.
It would be desirable if butenes could be provided at only one site without transport over relatively large distances in amounts for the oligomerization as are required for the operation of a large scale plant for preparing nonanols having a capacity of 200,000 to 800,000 metric t/year, for example. It would also be desirable to have a process for preparing butene oligomers in which the valuable di-n-butene product can be separated off from the dibutene product mixture. Finally, it would be desirable if the process could be controlled in such a manner that, in addition to higher butene oligomers, only di-n-butene or di-isobutene is formed as the dibutene product.

Process for preparing butene oligomers from field butanes


A vehicle wheel bearing apparatus for supporting a driven wheel of a vehicle has an outer member formed with double row outer raceway surfaces on its inner peripheral surface. An inner member includes a wheel hub with an integrally formed wheel mounting flange at one end of the inner member. A cylindrical portion axially extends from the wheel mounting flange. At least one inner ring, formed with at least one of double row inner raceway surfaces, opposes the double row outer raceway surfaces. The inner ring is adapted to be press-fit onto the cylindrical portion of the wheel hub. Double row rolling elements are freely rollably contained between the outer and inner raceway surfaces, respectively, of the outer and inner members. The inner ring is axially immovably secured relative to the wheel hub by a caulked portion. The caulked portion is formed by plastically deforming the end of the axially extending cylindrical portion radially outward. A partition wall is formed in the axially extending cylindrical portion of the wheel hub at a portion subjected to a load applied to at least the inner raceway surface of an inboard side of the double row inner raceway surfaces. A hollow portion is formed within the cylindrical portion at a portion outboard from the partition wall.

Vehicle wheel bearing apparatus has advanced not only in reducing its manufacturing cost but in reducing its weight and size in order to improve fuel consumption. In these bearing apparatus, a wheel hub and a double row rolling bearing are formed as a unit. This is known as a representative example of a so-called third generation type. Here, each of the inner and outer members is formed with a flange. One of the inner raceway surfaces of the double row rolling bearing is formed directly on the wheel hub. The other inner raceway surface is formed on a separate inner ring which is press-fit onto the wheel hub.
FIG. 4 illustrates a vehicle wheel bearing apparatus which rotatably supports the wheel relative to the suspension apparatus of the third generation type of the prior art. An outer member 51, an inner member 54, including a wheel hub 52 and an inner ring 53 press-fit onto the wheel hub 52, and double row rolling elements 55 and 55, contained between the outer and inner members 51 and 54, form the bearing apparatus. The wheel hub 52 is integrally formed at one end with a wheel mounting flange 56. The flange 56 mounts a vehicle wheel (not shown) and has an inner raceway surface 52 on its outer circumferential surface. A cylindrical portion 52b axially extends from the inner raceway surface 52a. Hub bolts 57, to secure the wheel, are arranged, via an equidistant space, along the circumference of the wheel mounting flange 56. The inner ring 53, formed on its outer surface with an inner raceway surface 53a, is press-fit on the cylindrical portion 52b of the wheel hub 52. The inner ring 53 is secured on the wheel hub 52 by a caulked portion 52c. The caulked portion 52c is formed by plastically deforming the end of the axially extending cylindrical portion 52b radially outward to prevent the inner ring 53 from slipping off the wheel hub 52.
The outer member 51 is integrally formed with a body mounting flange 51b. The outer member 52 has double row outer raceway surfaces 51a and 51a on its inner circumferential surface. Double row rolling elements 55 and 55 are freely rollably contained between the double row outer raceway surfaces 51a and 51a and the opposed inner raceway surfaces 52a and 53a.
The wheel hub 52 is made by forging carbon steel, including carbon of 0.40˜0.80% by weight, and surface hardening it by high frequency induction quenching in a region from the base of the wheel mounting flange 56 to the cylindrical portion 52b through the inner raceway surface 52a. However, the caulked portion 52c remains in its rare condition as having its surface hardness after forging. On the other hand, the inner ring 53 is made of high carbon chrome bearing steel such as SUJ 2 and is hardened to its core by quenching.
Accordingly it is possible to realize a low cost vehicle wheel bearing apparatus that has a sufficient durability to prevent a generation of damages such as cracks at the caulked portion 52c. A through bore 58 is formed in the center of the wheel hub 52 which also realizes weight reduction of the wheel hub 52 and reduction in manufacturing cost by commonly using the wheel hub 52, after forging between structures of the bearing apparatus, to support a driving wheel and to support a driven wheel. See, Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2002-61660.
In the prior art vehicle wheel bearing apparatus described above, since the wheel hub 52 is formed with the through bore 58 at the center of the wheel hub 52, it is possible to reduce the weight of the wheel hub 52. The through bore 58 enables common use of the wheel hub 52, after forging, between the bearing apparatus to support a driving wheel and to support a driven wheel. On the contrary, the through bore 58 in the wheel hub 52 also causes several problems such as reduction of rigidity of the wheel hub 52 especially at a region on the inboard side of the wheel hub 52 where a large moment load is applied. Thus, this reduces the strength and durability of the wheel hub 52.
If the rigidity of the cylindrical portion 52b is small, the cylindrical portion 52b near the caulked portion 52c would be deformed radially outward during the caulking process. Accordingly, the inner ring 53 would also be deformed radially outward and thus hoop stress is generated within the inner ring 53 which reduces the durability of the inner ring 53.
In addition, this kind of bearing apparatus is usually subjected to severe external environments above a road surface and frequently suffers from exposure to muddy water. Especially in coastal regions, the bearing apparatus is exposed to salt water. Further, in cold environments, it is exposed to muddy water which includes salt or anti-freezing agents. Since the inner ring 53 is exposed to these conditions, as a naked steel surface, it would become rusty. If the generation of rust progresses in the inner ring 53, it sustains a large hoop stress. Diffusive hydrogen present in the environment enters into the metallographic structure of the inner ring 53 and causes a so-called "delayed fracture" causing the hydrogen embrittlement which causes destruction of the metallic grain boundary.

Bearing apparatus for a wheel of vehicle


The present invention relates to an energy absorption device (1) for a bumper arrangement of a vehicle, with a hollow longitudinal section (2) intended for deformation, a rolled-back region (3) adjoining the hollow longitudinal section, and an extension section (4) connected to the rolled-back region. In order to improve an energy absorption device of this type to the extent that obliquely acting accident forces can be absorbed with a high degree of efficiency in as simple a manner as possible, it is proposed, in an initial state prior to energy absorption, to orient the hollow longitudinal section (2) obliquely with respect to the axial direction of the extension section (4).

The present invention relates to an energy absorption device with a first hollow longitudinal section with a first horizontal cross section width and a second hollow longitudinal section with a second horizontal cross section width, as well as a rolled-back transition section between the two hollow longitudinal sections.
Energy absorption devices of this type are used in vehicles and, located, for example, between bumper and chassis. In an accident, they plastically deform and thereby absorb energy. In light accidents, the ability to absorb energy can be sufficient in order to prevent a plastic deformation of the chassis.
In order to guarantee faultless deformation, i.e. telescoping together, the energy absorption device is mounted parallel to the longitudinal direction of the vehicle.
In practice however, accidental forces can occur that are active oblique to the longitudinal direction of the vehicle. In such a case it can happen that the hollow longitudinal section of the energy absorption device positions itself oblique relative to the hollow longitudinal section. In order to control such an oblique position, i.e. to align both hollow longitudinal sections straight again with respect to each other, from DE 103 24 403 A1 a specific design of the transition section is known. On the outside of the transition section, a large, U-shaped curve is provided. Against it, the inner hollow longitudinal section comes to abut and when it is telescoped together it is aligned straight again. An inner U-shaped curve of the transition section is designed with a small radius, as a result of which the inner hollow longitudinal section is always mounted close to the outer, large curve.
A similar arrangement in which a hollow longitudinal section on the side of the bumper is straightened again is known from U.S. Pat. No. 6,702,345 B1.
One possibility for absorbing obliquely acting accident forces is known from U.S. Pat. No. 6,802,458 B2. Here, a generic energy absorption device is used, which is aligned at oblique to the longitudinal direction of the vehicle. Thus an oblique accident force acts in longitudinal direction in the energy absorption device, whereby it can faultlessly telescope together.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,802,548 B2 proposes the use of a cup-shaped shock absorption element, which is mounted before the energy absorption device on the bumper side. In the event of an obliquely acting accident force with respect to the longitudinal axis of the energy absorption device, with the help of the cup-shaped shock absorption element a pivoting of the hollow longitudinal section is prevented or at least largely minimized.
The present invention further concerns an energy absorption device for a shock absorption arrangement of a vehicle with a hollow longitudinal section designed for deformation, that is aligned oblique to the longitudinal direction of the vehicle and a section that follows it that is a rolled-back section at which the mounting plane of the energy absorption device is provided which defines the mounting plane of the energy absorption device.
From DE 19 31 844 A, an energy absorption device is known which is provided with a certain tube for deformation and a following rolled-back section to which an extension piece is connected which extends outward. The extension piece is mounted at a guide component that is designed as a circular disk. The extension piece and the guide piece are aligned parallel to the horizontal cross section plane of the tube. In this manner, the tube can faultlessly deform rolling back and project through the opening of the guide component.


Semiconductor devices are provided. The semiconductor devices may include a non-planar conductive pattern. The non-planar conductive pattern may be on an insulating layer and may contact a connection terminal at a plurality of different heights. Related methods of forming semiconductor devices are also provided.

The present disclosure relates to semiconductor devices and methods of forming semiconductor devices. A wire bonding technique and a flip-chip bonding technique may be used in a process of packaging a semiconductor chip on a package substrate. In the wire bonding technique, gold balls may be attached on bonding pads of the semiconductor chip, and may be elongated to form gold wires to be connected to conductive patterns of the package substrate. In the flip-chip bonding technique, bumps may be formed on the bonding pads of the semiconductor chip, and may be connected to the conductive patterns of the package substrate. Moreover, as the integration density of semiconductor devices increases, the area of individual bonding pads may decrease. Accordingly, there may be an increased risk of failure in a packaging process in which a semiconductor chip is packaged using the wire bonding technique or the flip-chip bonding technique.

Semiconductor devices including a non-planar conductive pattern, and methods of forming semiconductor devices including a non-planar conductive pattern


An improved steering assembly for a tricycle comprises a front fork whose tubular stem is received in a head tube and has a flat area which is engaged by an internal projection extending from the wall of the head tube toward the head tube axis so as to limit the angular excursions of the fork about that axis and thereby prevent the tricycle from tipping over due to oversteering.

Conventional children's tricycles are steered by turning handlebars attached to a front fork which supports the front wheel of the vehicle. Usually there is no provision for limiting the degree to which the front wheel can be turned. Therefore, if the tricycle is moving forwardly at a relatively high rate of speed and the front wheel is oversteered to the right or left, the forward momentum of the tricycle and its rider may cause the toy to tip over, resulting in possible injury to the rider.
Indeed, in the case of some tricycles, the front fork and handlebars may have unlimited rotary freedom so that they can actually face backwards relative to the remainder of the trike which can be confusing and annoying particularly to very young children just learning to ride.
Also, industry standards covering children's tricycles require that the tricycle steering assembly pass a rotational torque test of at least 35 lbs. This means that with the front fork held in a fixed position, a torque on the handlebars of 35 lbs. must not cause the handlebars to turn relative to the front fork; see U.S. Pat. No. 3,955,828.
It has been proposed to provide some kind of stop for limiting the rotational movements of the front fork and handlebars of tricycles. However, there has been some difficulty accomplishing this objective and still satisfying the above torque requirement while avoiding unduly increasing the overall cost of the tricycle. Some obvious solutions require the use of relatively expensive machined parts. Others necessitate the use of parts which must be spot welded or otherwise held in place prior to assembling the tricycle, thereby increasing labor costs. Still other solutions make it more difficult to assemble the front end of the tricycle. Bearing in mind that most tricycles of this type are shipped to the customer in a knocked-down condition and must be assembled by the parent in the home without any special tools or equipment, it is imperative that the construction be such that the tricycles can be put together by an unskilled person with a minimum amount of time and effort.


A light emitting device having an anode and a cathode provided on a substrate, and an organic light emitting layer between the anode and the cathode, where the organic light emitting layer includes a light emitting material and first and second dopants for improving the dispersability thereof. The first and second dopants are metal organic complex compounds having the same ligand skeletal structures.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a light emitting device utilizing an organic compound, and more detailedly to a light emitting device, particularly an organic electroluminescent device (organic EL device), having excellent luminance, efficiency and drive durability by doping a light emitting layer with plural compounds.
2. Related Background Art
The organic EL device is being actively investigated for its applications as a light emitting device capable of showing a high speed response and a high efficiency. The basic configuration of such device is shown in FIGS. 1A, 1B and 1C (for example see. Macromol. Symp., 125, 1-48 (1997)).
As shown in FIGS. 1A, 1B and 1C, the organic EL device is generally composed, on a transparent substrate 15, of a transparent electrode 14, a metal electrode 11, and an organic layer sandwiched therebetween and consisting of plural organic films.
In the configuration shown in FIG. 1A, the organic layer consists of a light emitting layer 12 and a hole transport layer 13. The transparent electrode 14 is composed for example of ITO having a large work function, thereby achieving satisfactory hall injection characteristics from the transparent electrode 14 into the hole transport layer 13. The metal electrode 11 is composed of a metallic material of a small work function such as aluminum, magnesium or an alloy thereof for achieving satisfactory electron injection characteristics into the light emitting layer 12. These electrodes have a film thickness of 50 to 200 nm.
In the light emitting layer 12, there is employed for example an aluminum quinolinol complex having electron transporting property and light emitting characteristics (as exemplified by Alq3 shown in the following). Also in the hole transport layer 13, there is employed a material showing electron donating property such as a biphenyl diamine derivative (as exemplified by α-NPD shown in the following).
The device of the above-described configuration shows an electric rectifying property, and, when an electric field is applied in such a manner that the metal electrode 11 becomes a cathode and the transparent electrode 14 becomes an anode, the electrons are injected from the metal electrode 11 into the light emitting layer 12 and the holes are injected from the transparent electrode 14 into the light emitting layer 12 through the hole transport layer 13.
The injected holes and electrons cause recombination in the light emitting layer 12 to generate excitons, thereby generating light emission. In this operation, the hole transport layer 13 serves as an electron blocking layer, whereby the efficiency of recombination is increased at the interface of the light emitting layer 12 and the hole transport layer 13 thereby improving the light emitting efficiency.
In the configuration shown in FIG. 1B, an electron transport layer 16 is provided between the metal electrode 11 and the light emitting layer 12 in FIG. 1A. Such configuration separates the light emission from the transportation of electrons and holes, thereby achieving more efficient carrier blocking and realizing efficient light emission. As the electron transport layer 16, there can be employed, for example, an oxadiazole derivative.
Conventionally, the light emission in the organic EL device is generally based on the fluorescence of molecules of a high emission center in a shift from a singlet exciton state to a base state. On the other hand, there is being investigated a device utilizing phosphorescence through a triplet exciton state, instead of the fluorescence through the singlet exciton state. Representative examples of the references reporting such device are:
1) D. F. O'Brien et al, Improved Energy Transfer In Electrophosphorescent Device, Applied Physics Letters Vol. 74, No. 3, p. 422 (1999), and
2) M. A. Baldo et al, Very High-efficiency Green Organic Light-emitting Devices Based On Electrophosphorescence, Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 75, No. 1, p. 4 (1999).
In these references, there is principally employed an organic layer of a 4-layered configuration as shown in FIG. 1C, consisting of a hole transport layer 13, a light emitting layer 12, an exciton diffusion preventing layer 17 and an electron transport layer 16 from the anode side. There are employed following carrier transporting materials and phosphorescence emitting materials, which are abbreviated as follows:
Alq3: aluminum-quinolinol complex
α-NPD:N4,N4′-dinaphthalen-1-yl-N4,N4′-dipheny-biphenyl-4,4′-diamine
CBP: 4,4′-N,N-dicarbazole-biphenyl
BCP: 2,9-dimethyl-4,7-diphenyl-1,10-phenanthroline
PtOEP: platinum-octaethylporphilline complex
Ir(ppy)3: iridium-phenylpyridine complex

Also Forrest et al., Nature, 403, p. 750 discloses an EL device of laminated structure utilizing CBP as a host material of the light emitting layer, and causing triplet-singlet energy transfer from a green light emitting layer based on Ir(ppy))3 to a red light emitting layer based on DCM (dicyanomethylene).
These configurations are different from that of the present invention in that the co-existing light emitting materials have distant light emitting wavelengths and that the forming method does not involve vacuum evaporation of a mixture, as will be clarified later in the examples.
In the above-described organic EL device utilizing phosphorescent light emission, it is important to inject a larger amount of carriers into the light emitting layer at a lower voltage while maintaining the balance of electrons and positive holes at such lower voltage, in order to achieve a high luminance and a high efficiency.
Among such phosphorescent materials, there are known ones with low charge injecting and charge transporting properties, in which it is difficult to cause a large current at a low voltage.
Also many organic materials are known to form a cluster of plural molecules at the evaporation, and the light emitting layer involving such clusters is considered to show a locally high concentration of the light emitting material, leading to a loss in the light emitting efficiency of the device.
Also the organic materials are known to cause deterioration of the characteristics, for example by crystallization of the same molecules in the light emitting layer.
Because of the above-described background, there is desired a light emitting device capable of providing a high luminance of light emission and a long service life.

Light emitting device having dopants in a light emitting layer


One embodiment is a method that receives a seed Uniform Resource Locator (URL) that represents a category for website classification. Clickstream data generated from the seed URL and additional URLs are analyzed to determine whether the additional URLs belong to the category. The method selects one or more of the additional URLs to represent the category.

Accurately classifying websites assists with many web-related tasks. For example, a prominent task is to roughly understand the content of websites, e.g., which broad topic is covered by a blog, which website is an online store, which website provides information on a specific topic, etc.
Standard text classification approaches require sets of labeled, representative examples for websites. These approaches are too intensive for many applications to execute efficiently, and for dynamically changing topics (like "top news") it is difficult to keep classifiers up to date. Moreover, many web pages cannot well be analyzed with traditional text classification techniques because of the proliferation of video news and flash animations.

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