Thermal infrared image data of at least a region of a face of a person in an enclosure is provided. The enclosure, for example, may include a first enclosed volume and a second enclosed volume physically separated from the first enclosed volume. The first enclosed volume may include an entrance door sized to allow a person to enter the first enclosed volume. The enclosure provides a controlled environment for performing measurements (e.g., capturing thermal infrared image data) for use in determining a physiological state of a person (e.g., anxiety, deception, etc.).

The present invention relates generally to thermal analysis systems and methods. More particularly, the present invention pertains to use of such systems and methods in a controlled environment (e.g., use of thermal analysis in the detection of physiological response characteristics representative of one or more altered human states such as anxiety, alertness, fear, depression, etc., or use of thermal analysis to detect deception, such as like a polygraph).
In many situations, detection of one or more characteristics or behaviours of an individual is very important. For example, in various high-end security applications, e.g., at an embassy building where there is a need to know who certain individuals are within a particular setting and/or what individuals are about to do within a particular setting, detection of one or more characteristics of an individual is required. Further, for example, such detection systems and methods may not only be required in high-end security situations, but may also be needed in other settings such as various government buildings, schools, airports, and border control points. As such, systems for detection of, for example, deception or anxiety associated with individuals need to be developed and implemented.
Generally, certain recent biometric technologies (e.g., such as face recognition systems that may be able to match prestored data regarding a particular individual to real time collected data of an individual) have been developed which may be used in situations such as those described above. However, such systems have problems when employed in a realistic setting. For example, many face recognition systems are only applicable to repeat offenders with archived facial pictures. As such, these systems cannot address the case of a person in a security setting who has a clear record, or no record, that appears for the first time in a critical facility or any other civilian facility (e.g., an airport), and who may be, for example, attempting to do either harm or smuggle harmful materials. For example, a foreign national may not be captured when trying to smuggle explosives into the country as the foreign national may not have a record. However, an immigration officer with an experienced eye can detect an anxious state of such an individual who has no record and initiate an examination of the individual and the individual's belongings. Generally, deception when answering questions, alertness, anxiety, and even fear, accompany such people who are involved in terrorist or harmful activities at the time of their action. Manners to detect such characteristics and/or individuals with such characteristics are needed.
Traditional human identification systems used in circumstances such as those described above generally seek to detect an answer to the question, "Who are you?" Thereafter, upon determining who the person is, the potential of such an individual's risk is then based on the identification of the person. However, as described above, the identification of such persons may not be possible or may at least be problematic, e.g., the problematic identification of a person with no record. As such, when persons cannot be effectively identified, the risk posed by such an individual cannot be determined.
The use of interrogation of an individual by certain personnel, e.g., security agents, to detect potentially dangerous individuals has been conventionally used. However, it is unrealistic to expect ticket or security agents, for example, in a border or airport setting, to perform subject questioning of the same quality as a professional psychologist in order to detect, for example, deception on the part of an individual, or, for example, to detect anxiety in an individual. Likewise, it would be extremely costly to employ highly skilled psychologists at a massive scale to perform such duties. Even if such personnel could be hired, there would be an inescapable variability to such questioning and almost impossible to establish a baseline for who may pose a danger in such settings, e.g., based on anxiety or deception.
Polygraph testing is one standard security procedure used by various entities, e.g., governmental bodies, the military, etc., to detect deception in an individual. The objective of polygraph testing is to ascertain if the subject under investigation truthfully or deceitfully answers the questions presented thereto. Specially trained psychologists structure the questions to maximize elicitation.
Generally, during the testing, three physiological parameters are closely monitored. Such physiological parameters include blood flow rate, breathing rate, and perspiration rate. Typically, such physiological parameters are recorded using invasive methods and produce scalar values over time, e.g., signals. Then, a scoring system is used to quantify the subject's response and classify the subject's response as deceitful or truthful, i.e., deceptive or non-deceptive.
However, the success rate for conventional polygraph testing varies depending on the circumstances and persons being questioned. In some circumstances, the success rate may be very high, while in others, the success rate may be much lower.
There is generally a need for improved detection systems such as those that may become necessary to detect deception of an individual or anxiety of an individual at airports, borders, government buildings, etc.

Controlled environment thermal image detection system and methods regarding same


A resist 4 is printed on the areas where the dynamic pressure generating grooves 2 are to be formed, on curved surface of a shaft core member 1a. After the resist 4 is hardened by baking, hard electroless plating is conducted to form a plated layer 3 of a thickness equal to the depth of the grooves 2. Then the resist 4 is removed to obtain a shaft 1 with dynamic pressure generating grooves 2. The dynamic pressure during rotation is free from fluctuation as the dynamic pressure generating grooves are highly precise and constant in the depth and in the cross-sectional shape.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a shaft with grooves for generating a dynamic pressure in a dynamic pressure fluid bearing adapted for use in a light deflecting device of a laser beam printer or the like. Also, the present invention relates to a motor with a dynamic pressure fluid bearing employing said shaft, adapted for use in a light deflecting device of a laser beam printer or the like.
2. Related Background Art
In such a light deflecting device, there has been employed a dynamic pressure fluid bearing for realizing non-contact rotation of the shaft in order to achieve a high precision in the device.
The shaft of such a dynamic pressure fluid bearing is provided with fine grooves for generating a dynamic pressure, and the working precision of said grooves is an important factor, governing the rotational reliability of the dynamic pressure fluid bearing. For forming said grooves, there have been proposed following methods.
A first method is to form the grooves for generating the dynamic pressure, by etching areas on curved surface of the shaft, not covered by a resist. FIG. 13 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a dynamic pressure generating groove formed by such etching, and an undercut 32a is formed on the internal wall, close to the aperture of a dynamic pressure generating groove 32, formed on the curved surface of the shaft 31.
A second method utilizes a rolling. As shown in FIG. 14, a dynamic pressure generating groove 42 formed by the rolling on a shaft 41 often shows a shoulder 42a at the aperture of said groove.
A third method is to form a film of a material capable of easily absorbing a laser beam on curved surface of a shaft member, and to form grooves for dynamic pressure generation by eliminating said film with a laser beam, as disclosed in the Japanese Patent Laid-Open Application No. 62-1886.
The prior art explained above has been associated with the following drawbacks.
Because of the undercut in the etching method and the shoulder in the rolling method, the grooves for dynamic pressure generation show complex cross-sectional shape, and fluctuate in the cross-sectional area along the longitudinal direction. For this reason, the dynamic pressure generated during rotation fluctuates, leading to an uneven revolution or vibration of the shaft. Also, the method utilizing the laser beam involves a high cost because of the complexity of the apparatus.

Shaft with grooves for dynamic pressure generation and motor employing the same


A developing device is provided with: a developing roller for performing an electro-photography on a photosensitive body by using charged toners; a supplying roller for supplying the toners to the developing roller, the supplying roller being pushed against the developing roller so that an outer circumference of the supplying roller be deformed in a radius direction of the supplying roller; and a rotating device for rotating the supplying roller and the developing roller in directions opposite to each other at a contact portion between the supplying roller and the developing roller so that the toners be supplied from the supplying roller to the developing roller. A deformation amount in the radial direction of the supplying roller is not less than 0.5 mm, and a value of dividing an absolute value of a line speed on an outermost circumference of the supplying roller by an absolute value of a line speed on an outermost circumference of the developing roller is less than 0.7 when the line speed on the outermost circumference of the developing roller is set to not less than 70 mm/second.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a developing device in an image forming apparatus, which supplies electrically-charged toners by a supplying roller to a developing roller and then forms an image by means of an electro-photography by using the toners.
2. Description of the Related Art
There is an image forming apparatus, such as a printer or the like, which forms and records an image onto a record paper by means of a so-called electro-photography by use of a developing device, which is provided with at least a photosensitive drum servicing as a photosensitive body and a developing roller.
In this image forming apparatus, when toners are supplied to the developing roller, the toners are firstly adhered to an outer circumference of a supplying roller. Then, the developing roller and the supplying roller are mutually rotated in the same directions (for example, both are clockwise rotated) under the condition that the supplying roller to which the toners are adhered is pushed against the developing roller, and thereby the toners adhered to the supplying roller are supplied to the developing roller. After that, the toners supplied to the developing roller are adhered to an electric-static latent image on the photosensitive drum, and accordingly the development is performed.
In the developing device in the above mentioned image forming apparatus, the development is performed by using, for example, a toner made of a non-magnet material of a single component. However, in this developing method, the surface of the outer circumference of the supplying roller is made of a sponge material having a predetermined hardness (for example, in a case of an urethane foam roller, a hardness in which a cell number is equal to or more than 80/inch and an ASKER-C hardness ranges between approximate 30 and 20). The supplying roller is deformed so as to be collapsed in a radius direction thereof by pushing the supplying roller against the developing roller made of an elastic member such as rubber or the like. Then, the supplying roller is made in contact with the developing roller at a predetermined area, and accordingly the toners are supplied. Here, the deformation amount in the radius direction of the supplying roller is tentatively referred to as a collapse amount.
The reasons why the toners are supplied by rotating both of the supplying roller and the developing roller in the same directions under the condition that the supplying roller is pushed against the developing roller are described below. That is, as a first reason, when both are rotated in the same directions, the supplying roller and the developing roller are in contact with each other while they are moving in the directions opposite to each other, at the portion (i.e. the nip portion) where they are in contact with each other. However, it is intended to use the friction at that time to thereby charge the toners, which is a first function of the supplying roller. As a second reason, in order to prevent an image in a previous development from having an influence onto a subsequent development, it is intended to scrape off the toners, which are not electrically adhered from the developing roller onto the photosensitive drum in the previous development and thereby remains on the surface of the developing roller, which is a second function of the supplying roller. And as a third reason, it is intended to substantially uniformly supply the toners to the developing roller, which is a third function of the supplying roller.
At this time, in the developing device of the above mentioned image forming apparatus, the collapse amount is typically set to a value less than 0.5 mm. Moreover, a rotational speed of the supplying roller is set such that, in order to sufficiently exhibit the second function of the supplying roller especially among the above mentioned three functions of the supplying roller, the result of dividing an absolute value of a line speed on the outermost circumference of the supplying roller by an absolute value of a line speed on the outermost circumference of the developing roller is approximate 0.7.
Recently, it is extremely desired to make a printing speed faster. However, for this end, it is also necessary to make the developing speed in the developing roller and the photosensitive drum faster. Thus, it is necessary to increase a rotational speed of the developing roller. Hence, it is also necessary to make the rotational speed of the supplying roller faster to thereby maintain the ratio between the above mentioned speeds (approximate 0.7).
However, for example, if increasing the line speed on the outermost circumference in the developing roller equal to or more than 70 mm/second, the abrasion of the developing roller becomes severe because of the friction with the supplying roller. This results in the problem that a life of the developing roller becomes shorter and also a life of the developing device itself becomes short.

Developing device and image forming apparatus


From the detection result of a sensor for detecting a card, whether or not the card exists in the inside, and whether or not the card exists in a return area are determined, respectively, and in the state where it is determined that the card exists in the inside, if the time counted by a first timer has reached a time while a command from a host system is not received by a communication unit, then it carries out the communication error process of addressing that the command is not received. That is, the card in the inside is returned to the area, and subsequently, in the state that it is determined that the returned card exists in the area, if the time counted by a second timer reaches a second time while the card is not taken out from the area, the card is taken to the inside.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a card processor receiving a card and carrying out predetermined processes.
2. Description of the Related Art
Card processors mounted on cash automatic teller machines (hereinafter, referred to as "ATM"), or the like, of a bank include the one, which is connected to a host system, such as ATM, through a predetermined interface, and carries out predetermined processes concerning a card in response to instructions from the host system, and discharges the card to the outside upon completion of the predetermined processes. In case of such a card processor, a user inserts a card to a relevant card processor in accordance with the guidance which a host system displays on a display unit, and the user will stands by in front of the host system until the predetermined processes are completed and the card is returned from the card processor.
Moreover, card processors connected to a host system and carrying out processes in response to instructions from the host system include the one, which discharges a card existing in the inside to the outside and returns in case that abnormalities occurred in the communication line to the host system and there is no communication from the host system for a certain period of time, or in case that the host system ran away for some reasons and there is no processing instruction with respect to the card for a certain period of time, the processing instruction being based on instructions from the host system (see, for example, Japanese Utility Model No. 2526916 and Japanese Patent No. 3175956).
On the other hand, host systems connected to a card processor and sending instructions to the card processor include the one, which instructs the card processor to take a card to the inside if the card is still held at the return area in a certain period of time after instructing the card processor to return the card to the return area, (see JP-A-7-334588).


Provided are a ceria-based composition having an undoped or metal-doped ceria and an undoped or metal-doped bismuth oxide, wherein the undoped or metal-doped bismuth oxide is present in an amount equal to or more than about 10 wt % and less than about 50 wt % based on the total weight of the ceria-based composition, and at least one selected from the ceria and the bismuth oxide is metal-doped. The ceria-based composition may ensure high sintering density even at a temperature significantly lower than the known sintering temperature of about 1400° C., i.e., for example at a temperature of about 1000° C. or lower, and increase ion conductivity as well.

1. Field
The present disclosure relates to a ceria-based composition including bismuth oxide, a ceria-based composite electrolyte powder including bismuth oxide, a method for sintering the ceria-based composition or the ceria-based composited electrolyte powder, and a sintered body of the ceria-based composition or the ceria-based composited electrolyte powder.
2. Description of the Related Art
Electrolyte for use in sensors or fuel cells, etc., is an ion conductor through which ions generated at one electrode move toward the other electrode. Therefore, it is required for the electrolyte to have high ion conductivity and have no electron conductivity. In addition, when used in fuel cells, electrolyte is required to be so dense that a so-called cross-over phenomenon, in which anode gas is mixed with cathode gas, may be prevented, and to be stable structurally and chemically at high temperature and under both oxidative atmosphere and reductive atmosphere.
As for a material satisfying the above-described requirements relatively well, there is yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ). Yttria stabilized zirconia has an excellent mechanical strength and shows a stability and a reproducibility as an electrolyte of solid oxide fuel cells, etc., and thus is most widely used now.
However, manufacturing sensors or solid oxide fuel cells, etc. using yttria-stabilized zirconia electrolyte in large scale is difficult and requires high cost due to a high sintering temperature of about 1400° C. or higher.
Meanwhile, recently, studies have been conducted on electrolyte materials having high oxygen ion conductivity to provide high-performance solid oxide fuel cells. For example, studies have been conducted on bismuth oxide (Bi2O3), perovskite structured compounds such as lanthanum gallate (LaGaO3) or barium cerate (BaCeO3), ceria (CeO2), etc.
Particularly, among them, ceria has significantly high ion conductivity and relatively excellent mechanical properties, and thus is given many attentions as a prominent alternative electrolyte.
However, sintering ceria-based electrolytes is difficult and thus requires a higher sintering temperature (at least about 1500° C.) as compared to the known yttria-stabilized zirconia electrolyte. Moreover, ceria may be provided with electron conductivity when Ce4+ is reduced into Ce3+ under reductive atmosphere at an anode side, thereby causing a short circuit between a cathode and an anode. This makes it difficult to commercialize the ceria-based electrolyte.
Low-temperature sintering methods applicable to such electrolyte may include chemical vapor deposition (CVD), electrochemical vapor deposition (EVD), plasma sputtering, electrophoretic deposition (EPD), or the like. However, these methods require expensive equipments or processes, and thus are not suitable for scaling-up and cost saving.
Q. Zhu et al. discloses very fine particles with a size of about 9 nm obtained by using a hydrothermal process to reduce the sintering temperature of yttria-stabilized zirconia (Solid State Ionics 176, 889-894, 2005). Since a decrease in particle size results in an increase in surface energy, sintering of particles may be carried out at a temperature much lower than the conventional sintering temperature of bulk particles. However, the present inventors note that the above-mentioned method requires high cost to reduce the size of particles into several nanometers, which results in an increases of total manufacturing cost.
Zhang et al. discloses that incorporation of about 1% copper oxide or cobalt oxide to samarium-doped ceria may reduce a sintering temperature from about 1400° C. or more to near about 1000° C. (Journal of Power Sources, 162, 480-485, 2006). However, the present inventors note that the above-mentioned method still does not allow the sintering temperature to be reduced to about 1000° C. or lower. In addition, it is noted that even if a sintering aid agent (e.g. Co3O4, CuO, MnO3, etc.) is used in Zhang et al. to reduce the sintering temperature of ion conductive materials such as ceria, the sintering aid agent itself may serve as impurities so that it rather causes a degradation of the ion conductivity of the ion conductive material.

Ceria-based composition including bismuth oxide, ceria-based composite electrolyte powder including bismuth oxide, method for sintering the same and sintered body made thereof

KOREA INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY


Methods of introducing heterologous cells into fish are provided. After introduction cells remain viable, and in some instances proliferate, for sufficient time to conduct a variety of analyses on the heterologous cells or the fish or both. Such methods are also useful, for example, for diagnosing the presence of small quantities of cancerous cells or pathogens in patient tissue samples.

Currently, the mouse is the model system of choice for cell transplantation assays (Greiner, et al., 1998). Cells are injected into adolescent or adult mice followed by injection of compounds and examination for viability and tumor size (Yang, et al., 1997; Katsanis et al., 1998). To prevent cell rejection, transplantation of human cells must be performed using immunosuppressed mice from either Nude or SCID mouse lines (Yang, et al., 1997; Greiner, et al., 1998; Katsanis et al., 1998). However, because these mice do not exhibit an immune response, they are less hardy than normal mice and more susceptible to toxic effects of the compounds. In addition, these animals are expensive to develop and maintain. Furthermore, because mice develop en utero, it is not possible to assay mouse embryos, greatly complicating assessment of the effect of compounds on developmental processes. A hollow fiber model, in which tiny tubes filled with tumor cells are implanted into mice in a variety of sites is also used for drug screening. By monitoring the tumor cell killing effects of drugs on the implants, researchers can test which drugs actually make it to the tumor sites when the drugs are administered in different ways: intravenously versus orally, for example.
Limitations of animal models have spurred the NCI and others to also test drug candidates in cultures of human cells and the Institute now relies on a panel of 60 human tumor cell lines, including samples of all the major human malignancies. Drugs to be tested are fed to subsets of the panel, based on tumor cell type and their cell killing activity is monitored.
Clonogenic assays are also performed. In this method, cell lines or a patient's tumor cells are grown in petri dishes or culture flasks and the cell's responses to various anticancer treatments are monitored. However, these assays are also problematic. Sometimes they do not work because the cells simply fail to divide in culture. Furthermore, results do not predict how an anticancer drug will perform in the body.
In a continuing search for faithful models of human carcinogenesis, NCI has recently begun reclassifying the cells based on tissue type-breast cancer versus colon cancer, for example, according to the types of genetic defects the cells carry. To enable drugs that counteract specific defects to be prescribed most effectively, researchers are also developing technologies for analyzing the gene defects in each patients' tumors in order to determine if drugs that correct specific defects can be identified, since they could then be matched to each individual tumor cell makeup.
To create better models of cancer development in humans, investigators are now drawing on the growing knowledge of human cancer related gene mutations. They are genetically altering mice so that they carry the same kinds of changes either abnormal activation of cancer promoting oncogenes or loss of tumor suppressor genes that lead to cancer in humans. The hope is that the mice will develop tumors that behave the same way the human tumors do. One mutant mouse strain, for example lacks a working APC gene, a tumor suppressor that lead to colon cancer when lost or inactivated. So far the results have been mixed.

Methods for introducing heterologous cells into fish to determine if the heterologous cells contain cancer cells or a pathogen


To provide a perpendicular magnetic recording head which can prevent unintentional recording and erasing from occurring on recording media.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a perpendicular magnetic recording head which performs a recording action by applying a recording magnetic field perpendicularly to a recording medium plane.
2. Related Background Art
As is well-known, a perpendicular magnetic recording head includes a main magnetic pole layer and a return yoke layer which have front end faces exposed at a surface opposing a recording medium (medium-opposing surface) and are magnetically coupled to each other on the deeper side in the height direction of the medium-opposing surface, a magnetic gap layer interposed between the main magnetic pole layer and return yoke layer on the medium-opposing surface, and a coil layer inducing a recording magnetic field between the main magnetic pole layer and return yoke layer upon energization. The recording magnetic field induced between the main magnetic pole layer and return yoke layer perpendicularly enters a hard film of the recording medium from the front end face of the main magnetic pole layer and returns to the front end face of the yoke layer through a soft film of the recording medium. This performs magnetic recording at a part opposing the front end face of the main magnetic pole layer. The size in the track width direction of the front end face of the main magnetic pole layer, i.e., recording track width size, has been becoming narrower as hard disk drives have been attaining higher recording densities.
In a perpendicular magnetic recording head having a narrowed track, how to suppress side fringing at the time of skewing has become a problem. It has conventionally been well-known, as described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2005-92929, for example, to provide a pair of side shield layers on both sides in the track width direction of the magnetic pole part of the main magnetic pole layer, so that lateral magnetic fluxes leaking from both side faces in the track width direction of the magnetic pole part are absorbed by the pair of side shield layers without reaching the recording medium, thus suppressing side fringing. It has conventionally been typical for the pair of side shield layers to be formed rectangular by photolithography.

Abstract: In a perpendicular magnetic recording head comprising a pair of side shield layers made of a soft magnetic material on both sides in a track width direction of a magnetic pole part of a main magnetic pole layer, the pair of side shield layers have a front end face exposed at a medium-opposing surface and a side end face extending from one end part of the front end face remote from the magnetic pole part in the track width direction to the deeper side in a height direction, while the front end face and the side end face form an angle of 90° or greater therebetween.


A personnel guidance and location control system for controlling movement of one or more individuals to a particular destination, e.g. guiding one or more individuals in a selected path to a waiting point and then to an activity in advance of that waiting point or otherwise to a particular destination. The system relies upon a plurality of indicators or markers which may be secured to a floor or ground surface and which define guide paths for the one or more individuals. Various floor covering segments can be also secured in desired combinations to achieve a desired guide path.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to certain new and useful improvements in personnel waiting guidance, placement and location control systems for guiding individuals in a controlled manner and also for providing floor located informational material to one or more individuals while in that pathway or otherwise at a particular place for an activity.
2. Brief Description of the Related Art
Personnel guidance and location control systems have been used in a variety of activities for controlling a path of movement for one or more individuals to a particular activity. These guidance and location control systems usually rely upon a group of poles with guide ropes to guide a group of individuals into a standing line, where each of the individuals in that line advance progressively toward a particular activity as, for example, a teller in a bank or otherwise to a ticket counter in an airline terminal, etc.
There have also been personnel guidance and location control systems which rely upon painted lines on a floor or ground surface to define a guidance path to a particular activity.
Each of these commercially available guidance and location control systems suffer from a number of drawbacks which limit their effectiveness. In the case of the poles and flexible ropes or cables, the individual components are loosely mounted on a floor surface and are subject to vandalism and theft. Secondly, they can be readily moved by the individuals for either enhancing the position of such individuals in a line of waiting individuals, or because of sheer nuisance purposes. Moreover, when these temporary personnel guidance and location control systems are located in an exterior environment, they must be periodically removed and stored to prevent further theft or vandalism as, for example, when an activity has closed.
Painted markers suffer a number of problems, such as the erosion and the wearing away, as previously described. Moreover, there are many ground surfaces in which it is virtually impossible to paint a straight line or other guide forming line. For this purpose, tapes have been applied to ground surfaces in order to produce a guide path. However, the tapes rub off or, again, after a period of time, loose their adhesiveness for securement to the ground surface.
In my aforesaid co-pending patent applications, there are set forth various guidance and location control systems which meet and, at least, partially overcome some of the previously described problems. However, these presently available personnel guidance, placement and location control systems do not provide any informational material at a floor level to the one or more individuals who may be walking or standing in that guide path. It has been recognized that while waiting in a line of individuals or in a guide path to reach a particular activity, the people standing are particularly amenable to reading or observing material which will at least occupy a portion of the time while waiting to reach or achieve a particular activity. There has been no commercially available or even proposed system which provides for the interchangeability of informational bearing substrates in a floor covering and which allows for an occupant in that pathway or at a particular location to observe that material. Moreover, it is important to constantly change that material, as, for example, from day to day, so that the user of the guidance and location control system will not become bored by a single message which seemingly never changes.
There have been individual placemats or, for that matter, floor coverings which bear information as, for example, placemats at soft drink dispensers identifying the location for obtaining a soft drink or otherwise containing promotional or advertising material. As a simple example, a particular placemat or floor covering in front of a drink dispenser could read "Drink Crush Cola". However, in all such cases, the information bearing material is permanently provided and, if there was any need or desire to change the message or, for that matter, the graphic material surrounding the message, it would be necessary to use or install a new placemat. In like manner, carpet sections have been located at the entrance to various institutions as, for example, a carpet section bearing a hotel's name at the entrance to that hotel. However, and here again, the information in that carpet section is permanently incorporated in the mat and cannot be changed.
It would be desirable to provide a personnel location control system which not only provides cuing information to the individual for instructing placement of the individual at a particular location, but to also provide readily changeable informational bearing material on the floor surface. It would also be desirable to provide a personnel location control system which also functions as a guidance system for guiding a group of individuals in a selected pathway and also providing readily changeable informational bearing material thereon.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Personnel location control system with informational message presentation


A dishwasher appliance includes a cabinet having a wash chamber for receipt of articles for cleaning, a rack assembly slidably received into the wash chamber and configured for the receipt of the articles, and a fluid dispensing assembly for dispensing a fluid onto the articles in the rack assembly during operation of the dishwasher appliance. Further, the dishwasher appliance includes a spot detection assembly. The spot detection assembly includes a transparent component and an imaging device arranged adjacent to the transparent component. As such, the imaging device is configured to detect one or more fluid spots on the transparent component, which is indicative of fluid spots being present on the articles.

Dishwasher appliances clean dishes disposed therein using a washing fluid (e.g., water and detergent) to remove debris and stains from the dishes. Thereafter, the dishes are rinsed with water to remove the washing fluid. After rinsing, the dishes can be dried by the dishwasher appliance, e.g., to avoid streaking or spotting on the dishes. Conventionally, certain dishwasher appliances use a heating element (e.g., an electric resistance element) to dry the dishes after rinsing. In addition, such dishwasher appliances are vented to allow steam and humid air to escape the appliance during drying.
At the end of the drying cycle, however, dishes may be left with undesirable water spots, leaving the dishes with an unclean appearance. In such instances, the dishes must be rewashed, often by hand, to remove such spots. Furthermore, current dishwasher appliances lack the ability to detect the formation of these spots on the dishes following a wash cycle. In particular, the disordered nature of how the dishwasher appliance is loaded with the dishes, as well as the varying types of dishes loaded therein may it difficult for spot detection.
Accordingly, a dishwasher appliance that includes a spot detection assembly would be useful. Thus, the present disclosure is directed to a dishwasher appliance having a spot detection assembly, wherein, when spots are identified, one or more spot mitigating algorithms may be employed.

Spot detection assembly for a dishwasher appliance


A valve core gripper device is capable of providing a gripping and a grasping collet, that extends out of the remover end and clips onto the small ball end of a valve core, to insert or remove a valve core. This device has many uses due to available modifications including, but not limited, a tire valve, a refrigerator, and a high pressure tire valve. The device may permit the valve to receive or expel gas.

A valve core, also known as a Schrader valve insert, is commonly used to provide access to an item, a device or an apparatus containing gas under pressure. Most commonly, tires on a vehicle have a valve stem with a valve core therein. The valve core provides access for a gas to be put into or removed from a tire. In a refrigeration system, the valve core provides access to the refrigerant for the system for removal or insertion purposes relative to the refrigerant.
Commonly, a valve core can get stuck in either the tire valve or the refrigerant system. This sticking problem with the valve core interferes with maintenance of the tire or a refrigeration system. It is very desirable to be able to remove or insert the valve core without damaging the tire or the refrigeration system. Such a removal is difficult with the tools of the prior art.
With regard to refrigerant system, a typical valve core is a Schrader-type valve core. Any refrigerant system is a closed system to contain the refrigerant gas and provide the necessary cooling. The valve, together with the valve core, provides access to the refrigerant in the system. Through this valve, refrigerant may be added or removed from the system as desired. Great problems occur when the valve core requires replacement. Various problems can occur with the removal of the valve core, especially when it is highly desired not to damage the surrounding area of the valve core.
Various problems can lead to the valve core being stuck in the refrigerant system. Special tools are required to remove that valve core from refrigerant system in order to repair or service that system. Thus, the valve core can and does cause problems, if it becomes stuck in the system. Accordingly, a tool to remove that valve core without damaging the surrounding area can provide a great advantage.


A semiconductor device includes a semiconductor substrate having an integrated circuit, a first insulating film formed on the semiconductor substrate, at least one power source internal wiring line formed on the first insulating film, and a second insulating film formed on the first insulating film and on the internal wiring line and having a plurality of openings exposing parts of the internal wiring line. At least one wiring line is formed on an upper side of the second insulating film to correspond to the internal wiring line and electrically connected to the internal wiring line via the plurality of openings of the second insulating film. The wiring line has at least one external electrode pad portion whose number is smaller than the number of openings in the second insulating film.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a semiconductor device and a mounting structure thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, in equipment such as personal computers and mobile devices, it has often been the case that, in order to reduce equipment size, a semiconductor device is flip-chip-mounted on a substrate. In this case, a method is employed, wherein a bare semiconductor substrate having an integrated circuit formed therein is directly provided with external electrode pads connected to the integrated circuit, and solder balls are formed on the external electrode pads, and then the solder balls are bonded to connection terminals of an external circuit board, thereby minimizing a mounting area (e.g., refer to Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 2001-196374).
In the above-mentioned semiconductor device, a silicon oxide film is formed on a silicon substrate, and a plurality of through-holes are formed in the silicon oxide film and metal layers are provided in the through-holes. Then, a thin silicon layer is formed on the silicon oxide film, and an integrated circuit including P-type and/or N-type MOS transistors is formed in the silicon layer, and then an upper surface of the integrated circuit is covered with an interlayer insulating film. Subsequently, the silicon substrate is polished in its thickness direction from its lower side so that it completely removed to expose a lower surface of the silicon oxide film. Then, external electrode pad portions are formed at places corresponding to the through-holes provided in the silicon oxide film before solder balls are provided on the external electrode pad portions. In this manner, the external electrode pad portions and the solder balls are provided to correspond to one another in the metal layers connected to the integrated circuit via the through-holes.
Recently, semiconductor devices for control use driven at a high-speed clock of several gigahertz have emerged. It is necessary to supply a current of several tens of amperes from an external power source to such a semiconductor device. In this case, if the diameter of the solder balls provided on the external electrode pad portions is about 100 μm, a current of about 30 mA can only be passed to one solder ball in order to prevent the breakdown of the solder balls due to heat generation. Therefore, when a power source of a large current of several tens of amperes is required, a current passed to several thousand external electrode pad portions via several thousand solder balls converges inside.
For the purpose of, for example, face-down mounting to connection terminal portions of the external circuit board via the solder balls thus provided on a large number of external electrode pad portions, the size of the semiconductor device is significantly increased, which requires a large mounting area. Moreover, due to the large number of solder balls, a short-circuit occurs in a bonding step, and there is a great variation in the size of the solder balls, making it impossible to obtain reliability in connection.

Semiconductor device having reduced number of external pad portions


According to method and apparatus embodiments taught herein, power control feedback is generated for a control channel signal that is received in conjunction with a reference channel signal based on the reference channel's signal strength or quality, and an estimate of a gain factor relating the control and reference channel signals. By way of non-limiting example set in a Wideband CDMA (WCDMA) context, the reference channel signal comprises a Common Pilot Channel (CPICH) signal and the control channel signal comprises a Fractional Dedicated Physical Channel (F-DPCH) signal that is transmitted at an (unknown) power gain relative to the CPICH signal.

The present invention generally relates to transmit power control, and particularly relates to determining transmit power control feedback.
Transmit power control plays an important role in interference-limited communication networks, such as those based on Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) technologies. Reliable communication and targeted levels of data throughput require transmission at sufficient power to insure adequate received signal quality, but transmitting at excess power is avoided as a mechanism to limit or otherwise reduce interference.
As one example of transmit power control, a first transceiver transmits an information signal to a second transceiver, and the second transceiver transmits power control feedback to the first transceiver as a function of received signal quality, as measured by the second transceiver for the information signal. In turn, the first transceiver increases or decreases transmit power for the information signal in response to the power control feedback. In this manner, the transmit power moves up and down, often within an allowable or otherwise bounded range, as needed to keep the received signal quality at the second transceiver at or about the targeted level over changing reception conditions.
Commonly, the power control feedback comprises Transmit Power Commands (TPCs) transmitted as 1s or −1s, depending on whether the measured signal quality is above or below a reference target. Such control often is referred to as "inner loop" power control and, as the term suggests, an "outer loop" power control mechanism often is paired with inner loop power control. With outer loop power control, one or more additional metrics, such as Bit Error Rate (BER) or Frame Error Rate (FER), or Block Error Rate (BLER), provide the basis for adjusting the inner loop target. That is, the inner loop power control generates TPCs by comparing measured signal quality to a target value, and outer loop power control adjusts the target value by comparing the additional metric(s) to corresponding target values, e.g., an FER or a BLER target of one percent.
Some contexts complicate the above approach to transmit power control. For example, the Wideband CDMA (W-CDMA) standards call out the use of downlink associated dedicated physical channels (ADPCHs) to send TPCs to user equipment (UE), to ensure that the UE transmits certain uplink control channels at transmit powers that result in the base stations receiving those channels at targeted signal qualities. For example, in the extension of W-CDMA systems denoted High Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA), High Speed Dedicated Physical Control Channels (HS-DPCCHs) used by UE to signal Acknowledgement or Negative acknowledgement (ACK/NACK) for Hybrid automatic repeat request (H-ARQ) operation of the High Speed Downlink Shared Channel (HS-DSCH) generally are power-controlled by the network to ensure reliable reception by the supporting network base station(s). In turn, the UE returns TPCs to the transmitting network to ensure that the downlink TPCs are transmitted to the UE with sufficient power for reliable reception. In other words, the UE sends transmit power control feedback for the downlink power control channels to ensure that the UE receives the network-transmitted TPCs at a targeted signal quality.
Pilot information is included in the DPCH transmissions, e.g., one pilot symbol per time slot, and the receiving UE can use the received pilot information to estimate DPCH signal quality for generation of per-slot power control feedback. That is, the UE generates uplink TPC commands as feedback for the received DPCH by comparing downlink signal-to-noise-plus-interference ratio (SINR) measurements with a target SINR, which is set by the outer-loop power control.
However, to support greater numbers of HS-DSCH users without requiring additional downlink DPCHs for each user, the W-CDMA standards identify the use of "Fractional Dedicated Physical Channels" (F-DPCHs), which time multiplex a number of DPCHs for different UE onto one downlink channel. While this methodology consumes fewer spreading code resources on the downlink, it does complicate transmit power control at the UE because the F-DPCHs do not include per-slot pilot information on which UEs could base their signal quality estimation. Nor does the F-DPCH provide enough data symbols per slot to support accurate signal quality estimation from the received data symbols. Thus, as a non-limiting example, the F-DPCH exemplifies the type of channel that complicates inner/outer loop power control.

Method and apparatus for transmit power control


Spectroscopic system and spectrometers including an optical bandpass filter unit having a plurality of bandpass regions and a spatial encoding unit for encoding discrete frequencies of light passing through the optical filter. The incorporation of the encoding unit allows the spectrometer system to use a detector having one or a small number of elements, rather than using a more expensive detector array typically used with filter-based spectrometers. The system can also include an integrating chamber that collects the light that is not transmitted through the bandpass filter unit, and redirects this light to strike the filter unit again, resulting in a significant increase in the optical power passing through the filter. The integrating chamber maximizes the return of the reflected light to the filter assembly and minimizes optical losses. The integrating chamber may be an orthogonal design to preserve the optical geometric characteristics of the light entering the chamber.

Optical spectrometers are systems that permit the measurement of optical intensity at specific wavelengths within a spectral region. In broad terms, a spectrometer can either measure each of the wavelengths individually, or it can measure multiple portions of the spectrum at one time. In the first case, the spectrometer operates in a sequential mode and is referred to as a scanning spectrometer system. In the latter case, the spectrometer is said to operate in a multiplexed fashion. Multiplexed spectrometers can be further divided into those that are based upon a detector array and those that use just a single detector. Array-based spectrometers incorporate some optical element such as a grating or prism to separate the light and distribute it across the detector array to record the individual intensities incident on the detector pixels. In contrast, a single-element multiplexing spectrometer incorporates an optical encoding subsystem such as an interferometer to encode the light in a manner that the resulting signal can be processed after collection to regenerate the individual spectral intensities. The subject of this disclosure is a new method for constructing a multiplexing spectrometer that is based on a single element detector, an optical filter assembly, and an encoding mask.
Spectroscopic measurement systems operating in the visible or near-infrared spectral regions may be used to measure a wide variety of sample characteristics that convey information regarding the presence and/or quantity of analytes. In particular, they can be used to measure analytes in inanimate samples, biological samples, and in human subjects. They can provide identifying information about the person or other sample type, provide information about the age, gender, or other demographic factors about the person being measured, provide information about the disease state of the person or sample being measured, or provide information about the quality or similarity of the sample being measured relative to some known population. In order to design and build a commercially viable spectroscopic system for these types of measurements, the spectrometer should be multiplexed and have high optical throughput in order to allow the spectroscopic system to collect as much light as possible in a given measurement time, and thereby increase the total measurement signal-to-noise ratio. The spectrometer system should also be stable to reduce the effect of instrument drift and reduce noise. Also, in order to facilitate the ability to perform a calibration on one instrument and use the same calibration model for other similar instruments (i.e. calibration transfer), the spectrometer system should be of a simple and robust design with a minimum number of components that have critical dimensions or require precise movement.
In addition, in order to facilitate efficient manufacture of such a spectrometer, it should contain few parts with a minimal number of adjustable critical dimensions. Ideally, the parts of the spectrometer would be well suited for large-scale manufacturing processes in order to fulfill the demands of large-volume production. It is also desirable that the parts of the spectrometer are manufactured using well-developed and well-understood technologies and materials to avoid unexpected interactions and effects when the parts are assembled into a complete spectrometer.
For broad commercial viability, the spectrometer should be designed to be as small and as inexpensive as possible. Due to the high cost of near-infrared detector arrays, a near-infrared spectrometer suitable for low-cost applications preferably will be based upon a single-element detector. In addition, the spectroscopic system must be rugged to withstand shock, dust, humidity and other adverse environmental influences.
There is a variety of spectrometers capable of being incorporated in a spectroscopic system to produce optical spectra which potentially can be used for analysis of analytes in biological media. Examples of suitable spectrometers include: diffraction spectrometers utilizing scanned or array diffraction gratings; refraction spectrometers utilizing a prism or mock interferometer; interference spectrometers utilizing a scanning Fourier Transform interferometer or stationary interferometer (e.g., Sagnac interferometer as described by Rafert, et al., Monolithic Fourier-Transform Imaging Spectrometer, Applied Optics, 34(31), pp 7228–30, 1995.); discrete light source spectrometers utilizing light emitting diodes, laser diodes or tunable diode lasers; and filter-based spectrometers utilizing acousto-optical transmission filters, liquid crystal filters, discrete optical filters, linear variable filters, or circular variable filters.
While each of these spectrometers is viable for generating spectra, each has shortcomings in terms of either optical throughput, stability, versatility, availability, size, or cost, depending upon the application. For example, in the case of using near-infrared spectra (1.25–2.5 μm) to measure analytes in biological media, Fourier Transform instruments that provide high optical throughput, high stability, high versatility and are readily available tend to be large and relatively expensive. While design improvements can be made to reduce size and cost while maintaining the other desirable characteristics of an FTIR system for this application, other methods for generating spectra with fewer, less costly parts could be competitive with the FTIR approach.
One such alternative is the use of optical filters. There are commercially available assemblies for spectral separation and detection that use optical filters, such as the MicroPac assembly available from Optical Coating Laboratories, Inc. (OCLI), as schematically shown in FIG. 1. The MicroPac assembly 10 receives light or radiation 12 through a dielectric linear variable filter (LVF) 14, micro-optics 16 and a detector array 18. The LVF 14 is a bandpass dielectric filter whose properties vary over its length such that the central wavelength of the pass band varies linearly across the filter 14. OCLI's MicroPac assembly 10 images the LVF 14 onto the detector array 18 to generate a spectrum of the light incident on the LVF 14. The cost of the MicroPac assembly 10 that can be used for visible and/or very near infrared regions is significantly affected by the price of the particular silicon detector array utilized. Due to the relative scarcity and high cost of NIR arrays that can detect light with a wavelength as long as 2.5 μm (e.g., InGaAs or PbS), the NIR embodiment of the OCLI MicroPac assembly is expensive.
During the proceedings of the MicroPac Conference hosted by OCLI in California, on May 11th and 12th, 2000, Shroder proposed the use of a fiber optic coupling to increase efficiencies of the assembly 10 by twenty (20) to forty (40) times. See Current Performance Results by Robert Shroder, MicroPac Forum Presentation, May 11, 2000. However, in all instances, the OCLI assembly 10 is used on the detector side of a spectrometer just prior to the detector array. It has not been suggested to use the LVF 14 on the illumination side of the system, prior to the sample under analysis, nor has it been suggested to include the LVF with an integrating chamber for coupling a light source to an encoded filter-based spectrometer.
Another approach used in spectrographic analysis is to incorporate a Hadamard or other encoding mechanism in a spectrometer to enable multiplexing and thereby increase the overall optical throughput of the system, as is known in the art. For example, Harwitt and Sloan (Harwit, M. and N. Sloan, Hadamard Transform Optics, pages 109–145, Academic Press, 1979) discuss the application of a Hadamard mask to either or both the entrance and exit planes of a grating spectrometer. However, such prior art does not indicate that the encoding can be combined favorably with a filter-based instrument.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,031,609, entitled "Fourier Transform Spectrometer using a Multielement Liquid Crystal Display," teaches a system and method for combining prisms or gratings with a liquid crystal spatial light modulator in such a way as to create a Fourier Transform spectrometer. The advantages claimed for this system include increased signal-to-noise ratios over scanning dispersive instruments for a fixed integration time without any moving parts. However, such prior art does not indicate that multiple encoding methods and systems can be applied for encoding, or that the encoding can be combined favorably with a filter-based instrument.
From the foregoing, it should be apparent that there is an unmet need for an encoded filter-based spectrometer that optimizes optical throughput, stability, versatility, availability, size, and cost.


A method for determining variations among multiple three-dimensional stone images extracorporeally and a computer program product using the method are disclosed. The method involves during a lithotripsy process performed on a human body, multiple three-dimensional stone images taken from a stone location in the human body are processed outside the human body using the following steps: using a processing unit to execute a computing process for the multiple three-dimensional stone images one by one in an order from the first taken said image to the last taken said image, wherein the computing process involves using an entropy texture equation or an inverse difference moment (IDM) texture equation to calculate a texture feature value for each said three-dimensional stone image; and when the texture feature values calculated using the entropy texture equation or the inverse difference moment (IDM) texture equation substantively stop changing, making the processing unit output a prompt signal.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a method for determining variations among multiple three-dimensional stone images extracorporeally, and more particularly to a method involving computing texture feature values of multiple three-dimensional stone images and determining variations among the images according to the texture feature values, and to a computer program using this method.
2. Description of Related Art
Wealth has a tendency to make people have high-oil, high-protein and refined diets, which are adverse to physical health and may incur illness. Among the most affected organs are kidneys that serve to remove waste products of metabolism from the human body. Kidneys are essential in the urinary system, and responsible for filtering out impurities from blood, maintaining fluid-electrolyte balance, and at last producing urine that then leaves the body through the urinary system. One of the commonest disorders seen in kidneys is nephrolithiasis, which refers to having minerals contained in urine crystallizing and accumulating in kidneys as stones. These stones may be as small as sand particles, or as large as golf balls. When moving into the ureters, the small ones may be discharged with urine and those having a diameter of several millimeters may clog the ureters and block urine discharge, causing intense loin pain that may sometimes extend to the hypogastrium or the groin.
One effective treatment for kidney stones is extracorporeal shock wave lithotrity, which only has minimal harm to the body and is usually non-hospitalizing. For the stones not fragmented by shock waves, a laparoscope treatment, i.e. using an ureterorenoscope, is typically effective. Only a small minority of patients need to be treated through the traditional open surgery as their stones are too large. Yet the traditional open surgery has its advantage that is ensuring the stones to be completely taken out.
The conventional extracorporeal shock wave lithotrity has the following shortcomings:
1. During the treatment, the real-time situation of stone fragmentation in the body is unavailable. The health care professional can only refer to X-ray or ultrasonic images before the operation to determine the size and location of the stones, and after a certain duration of operation, decide when to end the shock wave lithotrity depending on his/her experience.
2. During the treatment, the patient's kidneys and the stones therein can move as the patient breathes, bringing about uncertainty to the effect of the lithotripsy. In the event that the stone fragmentation is insufficient, the through-urethra discharge of the stones may fail, and causes additional pain and hydronephrosis to the patient.
For tracing kidney stones more effectively throughout the process of the shock wave lithotrity despite the displacement of the kidneys, the inventor of the present invention has invented a 3D ultrasonic image tracing system for extracorporeal shock wave lithotripters, which is now granted as Taiwan Patent No. 1414267. The prior-art invention involves building a patient's 3D ultrasonic stone image database in a computer system by using a 2D ultrasonic scanner to acquire ultrasonic image slices of the patient's stones and reorganizing theses 2D ultrasonic image slices. The 3D ultrasonic image database so built is then used as a reference database for the 3D tracing system. During the later lithotripsy treatment, the real-time 2D ultrasonic stone image slices are compared with the 3D ultrasonic stone image database for correlation analysis and location determining, so as to accurately focus the shock waves on the patient's stones and thereby ensure the effectiveness of the lithotripsy treatment. However, while the prior-art invention only proposes how to effectively trace the location of the stones in a patient's body, there is no mention about using the built 3D ultrasonic stone images for further analysis.

Method for determining variations among multiple three-dimensional stone images extracorporeally and computer program using the same


A magnetic disk apparatus comprising a magnetic disk 1, a head, a servo-information detecting unit 3, a servo-information position calculating unit 4, a write-permission determining unit 15, a data-writing unit 6, and a head-drive control unit 17. Servo information and data are recorded on the disk 1. The head reads and writes data from and on the magnetic disk 1. The servo-information detecting unit 3 detects a present head position from a signal supplied from the head. The write-permission determining unit 15 calculates a present head speed and a present head acceleration from the present head position and a previous head position detected in the past, and determines whether data can be written, from the present head position, the present head speed and the present head acceleration. The data-writing unit 6 writes data in accordance with a decision made by the write-permission determining unit 15. The head-drive control unit 17 drives the head in accordance with the present head position.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a magnetic disk apparatus, a method of controlling a magnetic disk, and a program for controlling a magnetic disk, all designed to enhance the efficiency of writing data on a magnetic disk.
2. Description of the Related Art
First, a conventional magnetic disk apparatus will be described. FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating the configuration of the conventional magnetic disk apparatus. As FIG. 5 shows, this magnetic disk apparatus comprises a magnetic disk 1, a read head 2, a servo-information detecting unit 3, a servo-information position calculating unit 4, a write-permission determining unit 5, a head-drive control unit 7, a data-writing unit 6, an actuator 8 and a write head 9.
Servo information and data are recorded on the magnetic disk 1. Located above the magnetic disk 1, the read head 2 reads signals from the disk 1. The signals are output to the servo-information detecting unit 3. The servo-information detecting unit 3 detects the servo information from these signals from the read head 2 and outputs the servo information to the servo-information position calculating unit 4. The servo-information position calculating unit 4 acquires from the servo information a PES (Position Error Signal), which represents the position that the head assumes at present. The PES is output to the write-permission determining unit 5 and the head-drive control unit 7. The write-permission determining unit 5 determines whether the data-writing should be prohibited or not, on the basis of the position at which the head is located at present and the speed at which the head is moving. The data representing the decision made is output to the data-writing unit 6. In accordance with this data, the data-writing unit 6 performs a data-writing operation. Meanwhile, the head-drive control unit 7 controls a current so that the PES becomes 0 (zero) before it is supplied to the actuator 8 that drives both the read head 2 and the write head 9.
It will be explained how the write-permission determining unit 5 determines whether the data-writing should be prohibited or not. The write-permission determining unit 5 finds the speed of the head, p(n)−p(n−1), from the previous head position p(n−1) and the present head position p(n) obtained from the servo information position calculating unit 4. Further, the unit 5 infers the position p(n+1)=p(n)+(p(n)−p(n−1)) that the head will take next, from the present head position and the present head speed. If the present head position and the next head position inferred fall within a predetermined write-prohibiting slice, the unit 5 outputs a write-permission signal to the data-writing unit 6. Otherwise, the write-permission determining unit 5 outputs a write-prohibition signal to the data-writing unit 6.
Once the data-writing unit 6 has received the write-prohibition signal, no data is written until a prescribed condition is satisfied. The prescribed condition is, for example, the receipt of three consecutive write-permission signals.
The retry operation that the head-drive control unit 7 performs will be explained. If the write head 9 fails to write data on the disk 1, the unit 7 makes the write head 9 try to write the data several times. Every time the write head 9 tries to write data, the head-drive control unit 7 changes servo-related parameters. For example, the unit 7 decreases the servo band to prevent a data-writing failure that may otherwise occur when the servo control is performed to cancel data disruption that takes places while the STW (Servo Track Writer) is carrying out discontinuous data-writing.
In the conventional magnetic disk apparatus, however, the determination whether the data can be written is conducted in accordance with only the position of the head and the speed of the head. Since the head moves very fast from one position to another, it may write data not on the target track, but on the track adjacent to the target track. Further, the data-writing performance is extremely low, because no data is written until a prescribed condition is satisfied, once data-writing unit 6 has received a write-prohibition signal. Furthermore, if the heads 2 and 9 vibrate and the head-drive control unit 7 therefore performs an retry operation, no measures cannot be taken to compensate the vibration during the retry operation.

Magnetic disk apparatus, method of controlling a magnetic disk, and program for controlling a magnetic disk


The invention relates to a light string having bulb assemblies with various connective statuses, wherein the bulb assembly includes a shell to receive the bulb holder and the bulb. The shell is provided with a male flange and a female groove for connecting with another groove and another flange of related shells respectively. The connective bulb assemblies of the light string display a stable outlook, which is also variable by adjusting the connecting position between the bulb assemblies, to provide various decorative effect.

A conventional light string includes an electrical wire connecting with a plurality of bulb assemblies, which provide lighting for special decoration at all. Since the electrical wire is soft and each bulb assembly is connected with the wire in interval, a rigid frame should be provided for hanging the string in order to position the bulb assemblies at desired place. This is very inconvenient.

Bulb assemblies of light string with various connective status


A glue gun stand including a basin formed therein, a pedestal extending upwardly from the base adjacent the basin, and two narrow channels extending substantially downwardly into the pedestal. Each narrow channel provides bilateral restraint for legs of a glue gun, and the basin catches drips that may drop from a glue gun held in the stand. Two glue guns of different sizes may be held by the glue gun stand.

The present invention relates to the field of tool stands and, in particular, to a stand that is designed to hold electric glue guns in an upright position and in close connection to a drip basin. Such guns typically will have a hot tip at the end which should be allowed to drip after use to clean off excess glue. It is believed that such a stand will have primary utility in catching glue that tends to drip off the tips of such guns and so create a clean working environment.


A handheld electronic device comprises a shiftable pivot structure (230) interconnecting a flip cover (210) to a base (220) of the device. The base has a pivotal accommodation groove (224) and the flip cover has a pivot sleeve (212). The shiftable pivot structure comprises a sliding axle (240) slideably fitted in the pivotal accommodation groove. The shiftable pivot structure is hinged to the pivot sleeve. When the flip cover is closed, the pivot sleeve of the flip cover can be moved to be hidden within the pivotal accommodation groove to get protection and to keep the appearance of the device neat. For communication, the flip cover needs to be opened, which is accomplished by firstly shifting the pivot sleeve and the sliding axle outwardly to a position in which the pivot sleeve protrudes from the pivotal accommodation groove, and then pivoting the flip cover relative to the base to an open position.

1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to a handheld electronic device. More particularly, the present invention relates to a handheld communication device having a shiftable pivot structure slideably and pivotably interconnecting a base and a cover of the handheld communication device.
2. Description of Related Art
Handheld electronic devices are gadgets that are portable and small in size, for example, mobile phone, pocket Personal Computer (pocket PC), Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), or portable Personal Computer (portable PC), are all classified. Thus handheld electronic devices have become one of the most popular high-tech commercial products for convenience, effectiveness, as well as better quality of mobile communication are brought in the fields of wireless communication and Internet.
FIG. 1 is a stereogram showing a conventional flip-cover handheld electronic device having a pivot structure 130 pivotably interconnecting a cover 110 and a base 120 thereof. The handheld electronic device in the shown example is a mobile phone. The cover 110 comprises a pivot shaft 112, whereas the base 120 comprises a pair of corresponding pivot joints 124 and 126 engaging with the ends of the pivoting shaft 112, so that the cover 110 is able to pivot relative to the base 120. When a user lifts up the cover 110, a display screen 114 on the cover 110 shows all talk functions, whereas the user may press the numerical keypad 122 or other functional keys, or answer calls to make conversation with the other party. Thus, the cover 110 not only protects the display screen from inexpectant external impact, but also miniaturizes the size of mobile phone so as to keep up with the current trend for portable products.
Note that one disadvantage of deploying this fixed pivot structure 130 is that the pivoting shaft 112 is exposed when the cover 110 is closed so that the pivoting shaft 112 is vulnerable regarding external impact. Once the pivoting shaft 112 is critically damaged, a user can no longer flip open the cover 110 to conduct talk function. In addition, the exposure of the pivoting shaft 112 outside the cover 110 and the base 120 as well degrades neatness and aesthetics of appearance.

Handheld electronic device having shiftable pivot structure


The present invention is a driving circuit applied to a piezoelectric activation element, which comprises: a driving period generation unit and a switch circuit unit. The driving period generation unit further comprises: a driving indication signal and a programmable micro-controller, in which the programmable micro-controller is to receive the driving indication signal, and to generate a programmable driving period signal in response to the driving indication signal; and, the switch circuit unit is connected to the driving period generation unit and the piezoelectric activation element, and to receive the driving period signal, and generate an alternate driving voltage in response to the driving period signal; in which, the half-wave leading edge of the alternate driving voltage has the waveform of a parabolic curve waveform, and the half-wave trailing edge of the alternate driving voltage has the waveform of approximately a vertical line waveform, and the alternate driving voltage is connected to the piezoelectric activation element.

FIG. 1E is a driving circuit of a conventional piezoelectric activation element, which is disclosed in Japan Patent No. JP2004282988A. The driving circuit shown in FIG. 1E could only charge and discharge the single-side electrode of the piezoelectric activation element 11, so the vibration amplitude of the piezoelectric activation element 11 could only reach a half level. FIG. 1F is a driving circuit of another conventional piezoelectric activation element, which is disclosed in US Patent No. US20070046143A1. In FIGS. 1E and 1F, the source of driving signal is generated by the electrodes of the piezoelectric elements 11, 13, which is to make the piezoelectric material being vibrated with its own natural oscillation frequency. However, this kind of driving method would make the driving frequency for the piezoelectric material generated by the circuit could not be arbitrarily changed.
FIG. 1G is a clock frequency generation chip 15 used in a driving circuit of a conventional piezoelectric activation element. The clock frequency generation chip 15 is used as a generation unit for driving period. When the clock frequency generation chip 15 outputs a driving signal with a certain frequency, it has to externally connected with other passive elements, such as resistors and capacitors, except for increasing the circuit layout space, when the resistors or capacitors have the variation of resistance or capacitance due to external conditions, such as temperature, it would seriously affect the precision for the driving signal of the output frequency. Moreover, when the circuit layout is completed, if it is required to change the output frequency of the driving signal, it has to adjust or replace together with the periphery passive elements, so that the flexibility for variation of circuit would be greatly limited, and the piezoelectric activation element could not be applied with intermittent driving function.
FIG. 1A to 1D are various waveform diagrams for the alternate driving voltages V2 driving the piezoelectric activation elements in the prior art, which sequentially are the sine waveform, triangular waveform, square waveform, and quasi-square waveform. In FIG. 1A, we first define the half-wave leading edge 10 as the waveform for charging on the piezoelectric activation element, and the half-wave trailing edge 12 as the waveform for discharging on the piezoelectric activation element, and the half-wave leading edge 10 and the half-wave trailing edge 12 both form a "half wave."
Both the sine wave in FIG. 1A and the triangular wave in FIG. 1B are belonging to the analogy driving waveform. Comparing with the driving wave of square wave in FIG. 1C and quasi-square wave in FIG. 1D, the circuit designs for FIG. 1A and FIG. 1B are more complicated, and required for more layout components, so the required layout space is also larger, which is the defect of the circuit design.
The square wave in FIG. 1C and the quasi-square wave in FIG. 1D are belonging to the digital driving waveform, in which the designed circuits have the advantages of simple layout and rapid discharging. As seen on the half-wave leading edge in FIG. 1C and FIG. 1D, the circuit would proceed rapid charging on the piezoelectric activation element, although the rapid charging would make the piezoelectric driving element fast reaching the peak of the amplitude, and also increase the power consumption. Moreover, because of the rapid charging on the piezoelectric element, after the piezoelectric activation element reached the peak of the amplitude and before the activation of the piezoelectric activation element in opposite direction, the piezoelectric driving element would vibrate in natural oscillation frequency until the piezoelectric activation element is discharged and activated toward the opposite direction. Thus, the natural vibration would also cause the problem of larger noise.
Furthermore, as seen in FIG. 1D, the waveform of the alternate driving voltage is provided with the features of fast charging and slow discharging, except for the more power consumption. The half-wave trailing edge in FIG. 1D is gradually descending in a slope, which indicates that the piezoelectric activation element could not have rapid discharging, so as to delay the time required for entering the next charging and discharging period, and further affect the activation reaction time for the piezoelectric activation element.

Piezoelectric micro-pump and driving circuit thereof


A well pumping system has a downhole rotary pump that drives a downhole reciprocating pump. The reciprocating pump is an intensifier, having a primary piston and a secondary piston of lesser diameter. A sequencing valve connects between the discharge of the rotary pump and the primary cylinder for alternately supplying well fluid from the rotary pump to the primary piston to stroke the primary and secondary pistons. The secondary piston pumps well fluid to the surface.

In some hydrocarbon production wells, it is desirable to pump relatively low volumes at significant depths. For example, most gas wells will produce some liquid. If the pressure is inadequate to cause the liquid to flow to the surface along with the gas, the liquid will accumulate at the bottom of the well. The accumulation of liquid can eventually block the flow of gas from the perforations.
Centrifugal pumps are commonly utilized in oil wells for producing high volumes of liquid. A centrifugal pump has a number of stages, each stage having a rotating impeller that cooperates with a diffuser. Typically these pumps are utilized in wells that produce significant amounts of water along with oil. Generally, the number of stages required is proportional to the lift necessary to produce the liquid. For example, a 4″ diameter pump produces about 20 to 25 feet of lift per stage. Consequently, 2500 feet of lift requires 100 or more stages. Such a centrifugal pump would produce far more liquid than would be necessary in most gas wells.
Reciprocating pumps used for low volume oil production typically use a sucker rod extending from the surface to stroke a reciprocating pump in the well. Because of the moving sucker rod, this type of pump is generally not applicable to producing small accumulations of liquid from gas wells. Also, sucker rod pumps are not efficient for pumping low volumes from deep wells because they require a large unit at the surface to accommodate the weight of the sucker rod as well as stretch and compression during each stroke.


The invention provides a process for reducing bio-catalytic oxidation of a product in a post-production stream. More particularly the invention provides a process for reducing bio-catalytic oxidation of an alcohol in a product stream, the product stream comprising an alcohol product, dissolved carbon dioxide, and at least one enzyme capable of oxidizing the alcohol. The invention finds applicability in fermentation processes, wherein a C1-fixing microorganism utilizes a C1-containing substrate to produce a fermentation product.

Carbon dioxide (CO2) accounts for about 76% of global greenhouse gas emissions from human activities, with methane (16%), nitrous oxide (6%), and fluorinated gases (2%) accounting for the balance (United States Environmental Protection Agency). The majority of CO2 comes from the burning of fossil fuels to produce energy, although industrial and forestry practices also emit CO2 into the atmosphere. Reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, particularly CO2, is critical to halt the progression of global warming and the accompanying shifts in climate and weather.
It has long been recognized that catalytic processes, such as the Fischer-Tropsch process, may be used to convert gases containing carbon dioxide (CO2), carbon monoxide (CO), and/or hydrogen (H2), such as industrial waste gas or syngas, into a variety of fuels and chemicals. Recently, however, gas fermentation has emerged as an alternative platform for the biological fixation of carbon in such gases. In particular, C1-fixing microorganisms have been demonstrated to convert gases containing CO2, CO, and/or H2 into products such as ethanol and 2,3-butanediol.
Environmental concerns over fossil fuel greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions have led to an increasing emphasis on renewable energy sources. As a result, ethanol is rapidly becoming a major hydrogen-rich liquid transport fuel around the world. Continued growth in the global market for the fuel ethanol industry is expected for the foreseeable future, based on increased emphasis on ethanol production in Europe, Japan, and the United States, as well as several developing nations. For example, in the United States, ethanol is used to produce E10, a 10% mixture of ethanol in gasoline. In E10 blends, the ethanol component acts as an oxygenating agent, improving the efficiency of combustion and reducing the production of air pollutants. In Brazil, ethanol satisfies approximately 30% of the transport fuel demand, as both an oxygenating agent blended in gasoline, and as a pure fuel in its own right. In addition, the European Union (EU) has mandated targets, for each of its member nations, for the consumption of sustainable transport fuels such as biomass-derived ethanol.
The vast majority of fuel ethanol is produced via traditional yeast-based fermentation processes that use crop-derived carbohydrates, such as sucrose extracted from sugarcane or starch extracted from grain crops, as the main carbon source. However, the cost of these carbohydrate feed stocks is influenced by their value in the marketplace for competing uses, namely as food sources for both humans and animals. In addition, the cultivation of starch or sucrose-producing crops for ethanol production is not economically sustainable in all geographies, as this is a function of both local land values and climate. For these reasons, it is of particular interest to develop technologies to convert lower cost and/or more abundant carbon resources into fuel ethanol. In this regard, carbon monoxide (CO) is a major, energy-rich by-product of the incomplete combustion of organic materials such as coal, oil, and oil-derived products. CO-rich waste gases result from a variety of industrial processes. For example, the steel industry in Australia is reported to produce and release into the atmosphere over 500,000 metric tons of CO annually.
More recently, microorganism (bacterial) based process alternatives for producing ethanol from CO on an industrial scale have become a subject of commercial interest and investment. The ability of microorganism cultures to grow, with CO being the sole carbon source, was first discovered in 1903. This characteristic was later determined to reside in an organism's use of the acetyl coenzyme A (acetyl CoA) biochemical pathway of autotrophic growth (also known as the Woods-Ljungdahl pathway and the carbon monoxide dehydrogenase/acetyl CoA synthase (CODH/ACS) pathway). A large number of anaerobic organisms including carboxydotrophic, photosynthetic, methanogenic, and acetogenic organisms have since been shown to metabolize CO. Anaerobic bacteria, such as those from the genus Clostridium, are known to produce ethanol from CO, CO2 and H2 via the acetyl CoA biochemical pathway. For example, various strains of Clostridium ljungdahlii that produce ethanol from gases are described in WO 00/68407; EP 1117309 A1; U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,173,429; 5,593,886; 6,368,819; WO 98/00558; and WO 02/08438. The bacterium Clostridium autoethanogenum sp is also known to produce ethanol from gases (Abrini et al., Archives of Microbiology 161: 345-351 (1994)).
Because of an organism's enzyme specificity, selectivity to a certain product can be very high (100%), enabling microbial synthesis routes to achieve higher yields than Fisher Tropsch (FT) catalysis. Other benefits over FT catalysis include operation at near ambient temp and near atmospheric pressure; and an ability to use varying ratios of CO, H2, and CO2. In addition, concerns over the poisoning of catalysts, due to impurities in the reaction medium, are diminished. Despite these apparent advantages associated with the microbial synthesis of ethanol from CO, such processes must nonetheless be competitive with other technologies, in terms of ensuring that the production rate is competitive. When using CO as their carbon and energy source, the anaerobic bacteria described above produce ethanol by fermentation, but they also produce at least one other metabolite, for example CO2, methane, n-butanol, and/or acetic acid. The formation of any of these metabolites has the potential to significantly impact productivity and overall economic viability of a given process, as available carbon is lost to the metabolite(s) and the production efficiency of the desired end product is compromised. In addition, unless a metabolite (e.g., acetic acid) itself has value at the time and place of the microbial fermentation process, it may pose a waste disposal problem. Various proposals for addressing the formation of products other than the desired end product in the anaerobic fermentation of CO-containing gases to make ethanol are discussed in WO2007/117157, WO2008/115080 and WO2009/022925.
Ethanol production rate, which is a key determinant as to whether a given fermentation process is economically attractive, is highly dependent on managing the appropriate conditions for bacterial growth. For example, it is known from WO2010/093262 that the CO-containing substrate must be provided to a microbial culture at a rate that results in optimal microbial growth and/or desired metabolite production. If insufficient substrate is provided, microbial growth slows and the fermentation product yields shift toward acetic acid at the expense of ethanol. If excessive substrate is provided, poor microbial growth and/or cell death can result. Further information regarding the relationships among operating parameters in these processes is found in WO2011/002318.
The art of biological processes for producing ethanol from CO, and particularly CO-containing waste streams such as the gaseous effluents emitted in industrial processes, is continually seeking solutions that improve process economics and therefore industry competitiveness. One area of interest relates to preserving the yield of a desired product in a fermentation broth downstream of the bioreactor, before the product recovery stage. Many C1-fixing microorganisms capable of producing ethanol are also able to oxidise ethanol to other products under certain conditions. Conditions which enable the oxidation of ethanol may be found at ethanol production facilities. The microbial oxidation of ethanol, prior to the ethanol product being recovered, represents a loss of the desired ethanol product.

Biological conversion and product recovery processes