The invention has disclosed a method for diagnosis of dentinogenesis imperfecta type II (DGI-II) and/or dentinogenesis imperfecta type II with deafness (DGI-II with deafness). Said method comprises the steps of detecting the DSPP gene, transcript and/or protein in said subject and comparing it with the normal DSPP gene, transcript and/or protein to determine whether there is any variation, wherein said variation indicates that the possibility of suffering DGI-II and/or DGI-II with deafness in said subject is higher than the normal population. The present invention also discloses the method and pharmaceutical composition for treating DGI-II and/or DGI-II with deafness.

The odontoblasts produce the dentin, which consists in mature tooth or the tooth during tooth development phase. During dentinogenesis, the odontoblasts form dentinal tubules. Dentin cell processes in these tubules make dentin a living tissue. During the primary stage of dentinogenesis, the odontoblasts synthesize, secrete and re-absorb the dentin matrix components. Protein synthesis occurs within cells. Exocytosis and endocytosis occurs mainly in cell processes. The first material formed is unmineralized mantle dentin matrix, mainly including collagen secreted by cells and non-collagenous components. The fasciculata collagen fibers congregate to a ball structure. Due to the continual increase of new fibrils, collagen becomes closer and closer. As a result, these prophase collagen fibers change into collagen fibers. Thus predentin characterized by collagen matrix is formed. Later, the mineralization crystals gradually deposited to become dentin at some distance away from cells.
The mature dentin contains more inorganic minerals than the bone. 65 wt. % of dentin are minerals, mostly hydroxyapatite crystals. Organic materials are 20%, mainly collagenous proteins and non-collagenous proteins. These collagens offer braces to the deposition of hydroxyapatite plate like crystalline.
Type I collagen is predominant (about 97%) in dentin collagens, 10%-15% of which is type I collagen trimer. Different from other connective tissue, type III collagen is lacking in dentin. Moreover, there are types V and VI collagens in dentin, but the contents are small. Although the contents of non-collagenous proteins in dentin are small, there are various kinds. According to the source of proteins, the dentin noncollagenous proteins can be divided to four kinds: dentin specific protein, mineralized tissue specific protein, aspecific protein, and blood serum source protein (or dentin affinity protein). Dentin specific protein is the only one which is synthesized and secreted by odontoblasts and exists only in dentin. Mineralized tissue specific proteins means those that are found and exist not only in dentin but also in cementum and bone. They are synthesized and secreted by osteoblasts, odontoblasts and cementoblasts. The non-specific proteins exist both in dentin and other tissues, including parenchyma, and synthesized and secreted by odontoblasts and other kinds of cells. Blood serum source proteins are those which are synthesized by other cells in the body, mainly by liver cells, and secreted to serum. These proteins have a high affinity to dentin, though they are not synthesized by dentin. They can enter dentin by blood circulation, so they are also called dentin affinity proteins. Proteoglycans or PGS are other primary non-collagenous proteins in dentin. They are large covalent molecules formed by many anylose side chains and one core protein. These side chains are composed of repeating disaccharide chain units, each of which consists of one glycuronic acid and one N-acetamidoacetose. One function of PGS in dentinogenesis is to affect or even control the systematism of collagen skeleton in predentin. The dentin proteoglycans fixed on the solid bracket can induce the formation of hydroxyapatite in vivo and in physiologic pH and ionic condition in vitro. On the contrary, the liquid proteoglycans restrain the form of mineral components in vitro. The combination of PGS and Ca2+ is the precondition of inducing the formation of hydroxyapatite.
Dentinogenesis imperfecta or DGI is an autosomal dominant dental genetic disease that has a prevalence of 1/8000. There are three types according to clinical taxonomy(1) (The number in brackets shows the relative literature.). Dentinogenesis imperfecta Type I is also named DGI-I. Except for dentinogenesis imperfecta, patients usually have osteogenesis imperfecta The pathogeny is broad mutations in collagen type I gene(2). Type II or DGI-II is also called hereditary opalescent dentin. DGI-II has a relationship with the improper mineralization of dentin and its penetrance is nearly 100%(3). Type III or DGI-III is also called dentinogenesis imperfecta Brandywine type or isolate hereditary opalescent dentin. It is a special hereditary opalescent dentin, only found in three isolates in Washington, D.C., the State of Maryland, USA. Witkop first reported this illness in 1956(4) and there is no related report in China till now. DGI-III has an obviously genetic heterogeneity. Its pathogeny is related to malamineralization. Because the gene causing DGI-I has been found and DGI-III is only found in the isolates in the State of Maryland, USA, DGI-II becomes the focus of tooth endodontics.
The clinical symptoms and pathology changes of DGI-II are as follows. The malajustment and turbulence of mineralization result in embryonic layer dysplasia in dentin. Both the primary dentition and permanent dentition are affected, with a more serious damage in primary dentition. A predominant feature is a blue-gray or amber brown discoloration of the teeth. The improper mineralized dentin is soft and the crown is prone to be worn. Moreover, compensatory hyperplasia of matrix increases in improperly mineralized dentin, leading to small or obliterated pulp chambers. Radiographs reveal that the affected teeth have bulbous crowns, narrow roots and small or obliterated pulp chambers and root canals. The pathology shows that the enamel surface is normal, but hypoplasia and hypocalcification can be found in about ⅓ of the patients. The enamel dentin junction changes greatly. Some teeth have a non-obvious sector structure in the enamel dentin junction. However, others are especially obvious. Dentin is lamellar with nearly normal outerdentin and dentinal tubules having subdivisional branches. In other parts, the dentin is obviously abnormal. Some short tubules or tubules with abnormal form distribute in dentin matrix disorderly. The predentin zone is very wide. Along the plywood, the remaining embedded cell can be seen, similar to embedded odontoblast and bloods. Observation under electron microscope indicates that the form and size of hypoplastic dentin micro-crystal are unchanged, but the quantity is small. Uncalcified or partly calcified transverse collagen fasciculi and volumes of crystal space can be seen discontinuously.
For the mapping of DGI-II gene, in 1969, Bixler et al.(5) tried to use some protein polymorphic markers, such as ABO, Rh, MNSs, Kell, Fy, JK, HP, ACP1, PGM1 and PTC, to perform a linkage analysis in DGI-II families, but they failed to get the linkage evidence. In 1977, Mikkelsen et al.(6) mapped a group of specific components (GC) in Vitamin D conjugated protein to 4q11-q13. In the next year, Kühnl identified that GC included six phenotypes: GC2/2, 2/1+, 2/1−, 1+/1−, 1+/1+, and 1−/1−. Later, Ball. S. P. et al.(7) analyzed the linkage in a DGI-II big family named Family MRC4000 with the polymorphic markers of GC and found that DGI-II had a close linkage with GC (Lod=+7.9, θ=0.13). In 1992, Crall et al.(8) mapped DGI-II to interval defined by two protein polymorphic markers: GC and interferon-inducible cytokine INP-10. The relative chromosome location was 4q12-21. The results above only offered a gross orientation of disease gene of DGI-II. Under that condition, it was almost impossible to clone the disease gene in this region.
In 1995, Crosby A.H et al(9) analyzed the linkage in two big DGI-II families with 9 short tandem repeat polymorphic markers (STRP) and mapped the disease gene to the 4q21-23 region defined by two STRPs of D4S2691 and D4S2692. Multipoints linkage analysis suggested that the disease gene might be in the region within about 3.2 cM around SPP1. Recently, Aplin H. M et al.(10) genotyped two big families used by Crosby A. H with 5 hyperdense STRPs. The linkage analysis showed that the disease gene of DGIII located between two STRPs of GATA62A11 and D4S1563 with a genetic distance of 2 cM. Moreover, this research group established the YACs Contigs in this region. They also identified that DMP1, IBSP, SPP1 and DSPP are all in this candidate region by PCR technology.
However, the mechanism of dentinogenesis imperfecta type II is still unclear so far. Also the direct relationship between dentinogenesis imperfecta type II and some special kind of protein is not reported.
In addition, there is still no effective method to diagnose DGI-II early and/or antenatally and to cure DGI-II by non-operative treatment in the art.
Therefore, there is an urgent need to develop new and efficient methods to diagnose and cure DGI-II, the relative pharmaceuticals, and diagnostic technology and reagents.

Method of diagnosing and treating dentinogenesis imperfecta type II by using dentin sialophosphoprotein gene and coded product thereof

Shanghai Institutes of Biological Science, Chinese Academy of Science


In an electrolyte membrane for a fuel cell, having nanofiber unwoven cloth buried in an electrolyte resin, the nanofiber unwoven cloth is disposed being exposed only from one face of the electrolyte membrane. The fuel cell includes a MEA having an anode electrode disposed on one face of the electrolyte membrane and having a cathode electrode disposed on the other face thereof, and a pair of separators holding the MEA by sandwiching the MEA therebetween. Thereby, the electrolyte membrane for a fuel cell, the manufacturing method of the electrolyte membrane, and the fuel cell are provided with which the electric power generation property and productivity are improved.

A fuel cell (especially, a solid-state polymer-type fuel cell) is an apparatus that simultaneously generates electric power and heat by electrochemically reacting a hydrogen-containing fuel gas and an oxygen-containing oxidant gas such as, for example, air.
The fuel cell is generally configured by stacking plural cells (single cells) on each other and press-fastening the stacked plural cells with a fastening member such as a bolt. Each one of the cells is configured by sandwiching a membrane electrode assembly (MEA) using a pair of plate-like electrically conductive separators therebetween.
The MEA includes an electrolyte membrane and a pair of electrodes formed on both faces of the electrolyte membrane. One of the pair of electrodes is an anode electrode and the other thereof is a cathode electrode. Each of the electrodes includes a catalyst layer formed on the surface of the electrolyte membrane, and a gas diffusion layer formed on the catalyst layer.
Such a thin film is used as the electrolyte membrane, as a perfluorosulphonic acid polymer that is a fluorine-based electrolyte resin (an ion exchanger resin). A stretched porous membrane formed by stretching, for example, PTFE or a polyolefin resin is used being buried in the electrolyte resin as a reinforcing body because any sufficient mechanical property cannot be acquired with a thin film of the electrolyte resin alone (see, e.g., Patent Document 1).
The configuration of the electrolyte membrane for a fuel cell of Patent Document 1 is depicted in FIG. 8. As depicted in FIG. 8, an electrolyte membrane 50 includes an electrolyte resin 51 and a reinforcing body 52 buried in the electrolyte resin 51. A stretched porous membrane is used as the reinforcing body 52, and the reinforcing body 52 is disposed in the electrolyte membrane 50 at a substantial center in the thickness direction thereof. For the electrolyte membrane of Patent Document 1, it has been proposed that the electric power generation property is improved by adjusting the position of the reinforcing body 52 in the thickness direction of the electrolyte membrane 50.
A manufacturing method of the traditional electrolyte membrane 50 will be described with reference to FIG. 9. The reinforcing body (the stretched porous membrane) 52 is prepared that is formed on a sheet-like base material 53 ((A) of FIG. 9). An electrolyte solution 51a is applied to the reinforcing body 52 for the overall reinforcing body 52 to be immersed therein, to impregnate the reinforcing body 52 with the electrolyte solution 51a. Thereafter, the electrolyte solution 51a is dried to be the electrolyte resin 51 to establish the state where the reinforcing body 52 is buried in the electrolyte resin 51 ((B) of FIG. 9). The base material 53 is peeled off ((C) of FIG. 9) and the electrolyte solution 51a is further applied to the reinforcing body 52 from the face that is left after the peeling off. Thereafter, the newly applied electrolyte solution 51a is dried to form the electrolyte resin 51, and the electrolyte membrane 50 is manufactured that has the reinforcing body 52 disposed in the electrolyte resin 51 at the substantial center in the thickness direction thereof ((D) of FIG. 9).
It has also been proposed that the mechanical property and the proton conduction property of the membrane are improved by disposing a reinforcing material formed by a paste including conductive nanofibers, on the surface of an electrolyte membrane (see, e.g., Patent Document 2).

Electrolyte membrane for fuel cell, manufacturing method of electrolyte membrane, membrane electrode assembly, and fuel cell

PANASONIC INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY MANAGEMENT CO., LTD.


Provided are a transmission power reporting method and apparatus. A terminal determines a configured maximum transmission power based on a maximum power reduction (MPR) and transmission power configured by a base station and determines whether reporting of the configured maximum transmission power is triggered. If reporting of the configured maximum transmission power is triggered, the terminal transmits a reporting message including the configured maximum transmission power to the base station.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to wireless communication and, more particularly, to a method and apparatus for reporting transmission power of a terminal in a wireless communication system.
2. Related Art
3rd generation partnership project (3GPP) long term evolution (LTE) is an improved version of a universal mobile telecommunication system (UMTS) and is introduced as the 3GPP release 8. The 3GPP LTE uses orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) in a downlink, and uses single carrier-frequency division multiple access (SC-FDMA) in an uplink. The 3GPP LTE employs multiple input multiple output (MIMO) having up to four antennas. In recent years, there is an ongoing discussion on 3GPP LTE-advanced (LTE-A) that is an evolution of the 3GPP LTE.
In order to mitigate interference due to uplink transmission, transmission power of a terminal is required to be regulated. If transmission power of a terminal is too low, it is difficult for a base station (BS) to receive uplink data. If transmission power of a terminal is too high, uplink transmission may cause excessive interference to transmission of other terminals.
In order to recognize uplink transmission power of a terminal, the terminal reports power headroom to a BS. However, power headroom is merely a difference between maximum transmission power and transmission power to be used. Thus, if a terminal arbitrarily limits transmission power, a BS may not be able to accurately recognize available transmission power of the terminal.

Transmission power reporting method and apparatus


An overcurrent protection circuit for a voltage regulator has a first transistor having a gate for connection to a gate of an output transistor of the voltage regulator, a resistor connected to a drain of the first transistor, an output voltage detecting transistor having a gate connected to an output terminal of a dividing resistance circuit of the voltage regulator, and a current mirror circuit having an input terminal connected to the drain of the output voltage detecting transistor. A second transistor has a gate connected to the drain of the first transistor and a drain connected to an output terminal of the current mirror circuit. A third transistor has a gate connected to the output terminal of the current mirror circuit and a drain for connection to the gate of the output transistor of the voltage regulator.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a voltage regulator including an overcurrent protection circuit.
2. Description of the Related Art
FIG. 3 is a circuit diagram of a drooping type overcurrent protection circuit in a conventional voltage regulator. The overcurrent protection circuit generates such a short circuit current as shown in FIG. 4 when short circuit occurs at its output terminal, and is therefore called a drooping type overcurrent protection circuit.
The circuit is composed of: an error amplifier 11 for amplifying a difference voltage between a reference voltage of a reference voltage circuit 10 and a voltage Va at a node or dividing point A of bleeder resistors 13 and 14 for dividing a voltage Vout of the voltage regulator; and an output transistor 12. When an output voltage of the error amplifier 11 is Verr, an output voltage of the reference voltage circuit 10 is Vref, and Vref≦Va, then Verr decreases. When Vref≦Va, Verr increases.
When Verr decreases, at the output transistor 12 which is a P-ch MOS transistor in this case, a gate-source voltage increases and ON resistance decreases. Thus, an output voltage Vout increases. When Verr increases, the ON resistance of the output transistor 12 increases and the output voltage decreases, thereby keeping the output voltage Vout constant. When a load resistance 20 decreases and an output current increases, the gate-source voltage of the output transistor 12 increases. A current flowing into a transistor 15 having a gate voltage common with the output transistor 12 also increases. With the larger current flowing into the transistor 15, a current flowing into a resistor 16 increases. When the current is equal to or larger than the predetermined value, the voltage increase by the resistor 16 exceeds a threshold value of a transistor 17. The transistor 17 is turned ON and a current flows into a resistor 18. Then a transistor 19 is turned ON, the gate voltage of the output transistor 12 increases, and the output voltage decreases, whereby overcurrent protection operates.
With respect to the drooping type overcurrent protection circuit in the conventional voltage regulator, irrespective of the output voltage, the current generated upon overcurrent protecting operation is constant. The output voltage is controlled to be low, but the output current is kept high and a load imposed on the circuit is kept large (see JP 2003-029856 A (page 6, FIG. 3)).

Voltage regulator having overcurrent protection circuit


A method for controlling a digital shower system includes the steps of: actuating the digital shower system for operation; detecting whether the system is in order or not, and if not, generating an error message; otherwise, performing the next step; entering a ready mode, for discharging in advance a water flow in an outlet pipe that does not reach a preset outlet water temperature; entering a shower mode, in which a desired message is input through a digital user interface, a water outlet is controlled by a control unit to continuously output water maintained at the same temperature as the preset outlet water temperature; and providing several preset power-off conditions for automatically turning off the digital shower system. The method may not only achieve the function of discharging water in advance, but also automatically shut off the water output in a certain time period, so as to save water.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for controlling a digital shower system, and more particularly to a control method capable of discharging water in advance and automatically shutting off the water output in a certain period of time so as to save water.
2. Related Art
Nowadays, people are paying more and more attention to the quality of their daily lives. Besides pursuing the comfort of habitation, they also have a high demand for daily used bathing equipments.
Currently, in a common water tap of a bathing equipment, a cold water inlet pipe, a hot water inlet pipe, a valve, and an outlet pipe are disposed within a body, and the body is provided with a handle connected to the valve. The cold water inlet pipe and the hot water inlet pipe are respectively used for supplying cold water and hot water. The outlet pipe is communicated with a water outlet at an end of the body. The valve is communicated with the cold water inlet pipe, the hot water inlet pipe, and the outlet pipe, and is connected to the handle. Therefore, the handle may not only drive the valve to adjust the quantity of the water flowing out of the outlet, but also drive the valve to change the communication of the outlet pipe with the cold water inlet pipe and the hot water inlet pipe so as to adjust the temperature of the water flowing out of the outlet.
Compared with an ordinary water tap, a water tap for shower is additionally provided with a shower water outlet in communication with a shower head via a water pipe. Moreover, the tap body is further provided with a water flow selector between the shower water outlet and a universal water outlet. The water flow selector protrudes from the tap body, such that a user may adjust and select whether to allow the water to flow out from the shower water outlet or the universal water outlet.
In the above structure, the handle is manually controlled by the user to adjust the quantity and pressure of the cold water and hot water flowing through the cold water inlet pipe and the hot water inlet pipe, so as to obtain an output water flow at a desired temperature through the universal water outlet, the outlet pipe, and the water pipe connected to the shower head or the water tap. However, the accuracy of manually controlling the temperature of the water flow is low, and the user has to directly touch the outlet water to sense whether the water temperature is within a preset temperature range or not. If the outlet water temperature is too high, the user may easily be scalded. If the outlet water temperature is too low in winters, the user may easily catch a cold and feel bad. In addition, during the manual adjustment of the temperature, the water has to be kept flowing out from the water outlet (the outlet pipe), thus resulting in the waste of water and also the increase of the water cost.
Therefore, in order to allow the user to directly set the outlet water temperature in a detected manner, a control panel is used for directly setting and controlling the temperature. U.S. Pat. No. 6,286,764 discloses a fluid and gas supply system, which includes a cold water source, a hot water source, a mixing device, a flow control valve, an outlet pipe, a shower head, and a user interface. The hot water source is provided with a hot water temperature sensor at an inlet end thereof for sensing the temperature of the inlet hot water. The cold water source and the hot water source are respectively provided with a cold water supply valve and a hot water supply valve for controlling the quantity of the inlet cold water and the quantity of the inlet hot water, and are both connected to the mixing device for mixing the cold water and the hot water. A cold water supply valve sensor is disposed between the cold water source and the mixing device, and a hot water supply valve sensor is disposed between the hot water source and the mixing device, for respectively sensing the quantity of the cold water flowing into the mixing device and the quantity of the hot water flowing into the mixing device.
A mixed water flow from the mixing device passes through the flow control valve and the outlet pipe, and then flows out from the shower head for the user to take a shower. A mixed fluid temperature sensor and a fluid and gas composition sensor are sequentially mounted between the mixing device and the flow control valve for respectively sensing the temperature and pressure of the mixed water flow. The outlet pipe is provided with a flow sensor for sensing the quantity of an outlet water flow provided to the user.
After the user inputs a desired outlet water temperature into a control unit through the user interface, the control unit simultaneously controls the cold water supply valve, the hot water supply valve, the mixing device, and the flow control valve, receives temperature and pressure information from the hot water temperature sensor, the mixed fluid temperature sensor, the fluid and gas composition sensor, and the flow sensor, and then accordingly controls the valves to obtain the outlet water temperature preset by the user.
Further, U.S. Pat. No. 6,705,534 discloses a shower control system, which includes two inlet pipes, a stem pipe, a shower head, and a mixing assembly. The two inlet pipes are respectively used for supplying cold water and hot water. A solenoid is disposed between each inlet pipe and the stem pipe. The solenoids are respectively used for controlling the quantities of the inlet cold water and the inlet hot water. The mixing assembly includes a pressure sensor, a temperature sensor, and a control assembly. The pressure sensor and the temperature sensor are mounted on the stem pipe. A power assembly is provided for supplying power to the control assembly. The control assembly is electrically connected to the solenoids, the pressure sensor, and the temperature sensor. After a user inputs a desired outlet water temperature through the control assembly, the control assembly changes the quantities of the inlet cold water and the inlet hot water, receives information sent by the pressure sensor and the temperature sensor, compares the water temperature input by the user according to the received information, and then controls the solenoids until the outlet water temperature matches the water temperature input by the user.
Although the above structures and methods allow the user to directly input the desired outlet water temperature without sensing the outlet water temperature by directly touching the water, a lot of water is wasted in controlling the outlet water temperature. In addition, as the water flow previously left in the hot water source that does not reach the preset outlet water temperature and the water flow in the outlet pipe cannot be discharged in advance, even when the user intends to take a shower after the cold water and the hot water are mixed, the user is bound to first contact the water flow previously left in the hot water source that does not reach the preset outlet water temperature and the water flow in the outlet pipe. As such, the water flow output at first is not at the temperature preset by the user. Moreover, if the user leaves the shower room for other business and forgets to turn off the shower equipment, the shower equipment is still on and cannot be automatically turned off to compensate for the inattention of the user, thus resulting in the waste of water.
Therefore, it is the problem in urgent need of solutions to provide a method for controlling a shower system. The method allows the user to digitally input and adjust a preset outlet water temperature, and is capable of discharging water in advance before the shower system is used and automatically shutting off the water output during a shower if the user does not use the shower system in a certain period of time, so as to save the water.

Method for controlling digital shower system


A domain wall injector device uses electrical current passed across an interface between two magnetic regions whose magnetizations are aligned non-collinearly to create a domain wall or a series of domain walls in one of the magnetic regions. The method relies on a combination of innate fringing fields from the magnetic regions and the spin-transfer torque derived from the charge current. The device may be used to store data that are subsequently read out.

Racetrack memory is a memory storage device that stores data in the form of magnetic domain walls that separate magnetic regions magnetized in oppositely oriented directions (for example, see U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,834,005, 6,920,062, 7,551,469 and 8,638,601 to Parkin and co-workers, which are hereby incorporated by reference). As described in these patents, FIG. 1 (FIGS. 1A and 1B) illustrates an exemplary high-level architecture of a magnetic memory system 100 comprising a magnetic shift register 10 that utilizes a writing device (also referred to herein as writing element) 15 and a reading device (also referred to herein as reading element) 20. Both the reading device 20 and the writing device 15 form a read/write element of system 100.
The magnetic shift register 10 comprises a fine track 11 made of ferromagnetic material. The track 11 can be magnetized in small sections, or domains, in one direction or another. Information is stored in regions such as domains 25, 30 in the track 11. The order parameter of the magnetic material from which the track is fabricated, that is, the magnetization direction or the direction of the magnetic moment, changes from one direction to another. This variation in the direction of the magnetic moment forms the basis for storing information in the track 11. In one embodiment, the magnetic shift register 10 comprises a data region 35 and a reservoir 40. The data region 35 comprises a contiguous set of domains such as domains 25, 30 that store data. Additional length is provided to the magnetic shift register 10 in the form of a reservoir 40.
The reservoir 40 is made sufficiently long so that it accommodates all the domains in the region 35 when these domains are moved completely from region 35 across the writing and reading elements for the purposes of writing and reading domains into region 40. At any given time, the domains are thus stored partially in region 35 and partially in region 40, so it is the combination of region 35 and region 40 that forms the storage element. In one embodiment, the reservoir 40 is devoid of magnetic domains in a quiescent state.
Thus, the storage region 35 at any given time may be located within a different portion of the magnetic shift register 10 and the reservoir 40 would be divided into two regions on either side of the storage region 35. Although the storage region 35 is one contiguous region, and in one embodiment of this application the spatial distribution and extent of the domains within the storage region 35 would be approximately the same no matter where the storage region 35 resides within the shift register 10, in another embodiment portions of the storage region may be expanded during the motion of this region particularly across the reading and writing elements. A portion or all of the data region 35 is moved into the reservoir 40 to access data in specific domains.
The reservoir 40 is shown in FIG. 1A as being approximately the same size as the data region 35. However, other alternative embodiments may allow the reservoir 40 to have a different size than the data region 35. As an example, the reservoir 40 could be much smaller than the data region 35 if more than one reading and writing element were used for each magnetic shift register. For example, if two reading and writing elements were used for one shift register and were disposed equally along the length of the data region, then the reservoir would only need to be approximately half as long as the data region.
An electric current 45 is applied to the track 11 to move the magnetic moments within domains 25, 30 along the track 11, past the reading device 20 or the writing device 15. In a magnetic material with domain walls, a current passed across the domain walls moves the domain walls in the direction of the current flow. As the current passes through a domain, it becomes "spin polarized". When this spin polarized current passes through into the next domain across the intervening domain wall, it develops a spin torque. This spin torque moves the domain wall. Domain wall velocities can be very high, i.e., on the order of 100 msec, so that the process of moving a particular domain to the required position for the purposes of reading this domain or for changing its magnetic state by means of the writing element can be very short. The domains are moved (or shifted) back and forth over the writing device 15 and reading device 20, in order to move the data region 35 in and out of the reservoir 40. Additional details regarding racetrack memory can be found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,834,005, 6,920,062, 7,551,469 and 8,638,601, for example.
The spin torque that is used to move the domain walls can be generated from several distinct physical phenomena that can be used to generate currents of spin polarized electrons. The most straightforward mechanism is derived from spin-dependent scattering in the interior of the magnetic materials that form the racetrack itself. The scattering rates for majority and minority spin polarized electrons can be very different depending on the detailed composition of the magnetic materials. Another mechanism that generates spin polarized currents is the Spin Hall Effect (SHE) in nominally non-magnetic layers in proximity to the magnetic layers that form the racetrack itself. The SHE is derived from spin orbit coupling in these layers that converts charge currents into pure spin currents that flow in a direction perpendicular to the charge current with a spin polarization direction that is both perpendicular to the current direction and to the spin current direction. These spin currents can give rise to highly efficient motion of domain walls, especially for racetracks that are formed from perpendicularly magnetized materials, via a chiral spin torque mechanism1-2.
A key principle underlying racetrack memory is the controlled creation3-5 and manipulation6-13 of domain walls in magnetic racetracks. This concept is also at the heart of several proposed logic14-15 and other proposed memory16 devices. Domain walls are also of interest as artificial traps of magnetic entities including magnetic nano-particles and atoms with magnetic moments such as in ultracold atom gases17. These rely on the use of magnetic fringing fields from either magnetic domains or magnetic domain walls to trap and transport the nanoscopic magnetic entities or atoms17. The racetracks can in general be formed from two types of magnetic materials, where the magnetization of the magnetic material can be either (i) primarily oriented within the plane of the nanowire or (ii) primarily oriented perpendicular to the plane of the nanowire. Materials of class (i) are typically composed of soft magnetic materials with small intrinsic magneto-crystalline anisotropies compared to the shape magnetic anisotropy derived from magnetostatic energies associated with the dimensions of the nanowire. Materials of class (ii) are typically composed of ultrathin magnetic layers in which their interfaces with non-magnetic layers give rise to interfacial magnetic anisotropies that can result in their magnetization preferring to be oriented perpendicular to these interfaces. For such materials the width of the domain walls decreases as the perpendicular magnetic anisotropy (PMA) is increased and can be as narrow as 0.5-10 nm, whereas in the case of magnetically soft materials (class (i)), the width of the domain walls scales with the width of the racetrack. Thus materials of class (ii) are preferred for the fabrication of dense racetrack memory devices (i.e., devices having high data densities).
The creation (sometimes also referred to as injection) of these domain walls in nanowires entails the controlled reversal of the magnetization in a localized region of the nanowire. Existing techniques for the domain wall injection have been based on the creation of local magnetic fields from nearby contact lines that are typically fabricated orthogonal to the nanowire. Other techniques for domain wall creation have been based on shaping and tuning the properties of the nanowire at a specific location in order to promote the likelihood of magnetization reversal from that section. This allows for the creation of domain walls through the use of a global magnetic field. However, these techniques are not applicable for denser racetrack memory devices, where the placement of many magnetic nanowires in close proximity is required, since individually addressing which magnetic nanowire a domain wall is injected into becomes difficult.
In either of these two cases (i) and (ii), however, the use of local magnetic fields to reverse the magnetization thus requires very large currents while also requiring the addition of several peripheral circuitries, which renders it not useful for dense racetrack memory devices.

Domain wall injector device using fringing fields aided by spin transfer torque

International Business Machines Corporation


A solution for dynamic packet filtering includes, at a network device, if an n-tuple of a packet matches an n-tuple filter, applying an action of the filter to the packet. If the packet has not been discarded as a result of the filter application, and if the packet is identified, by using payload portion, as a network application associated with a filter policy, an n-tuple filter is generated based on the packet. If the application ID of the packet is not associated with a filter policy, the packet is forwarded to the network application.

A network monitoring system monitors traffic on a network and must process all of the packets in order to avoid lost information. One symptom of reaching a processing limit is lost packets due to overflow of buffer capacity.
A network monitoring system typically has two major processing blocks. One processing block receives the packet, and a second block processes the packet. The "receiving" of the packet and "processing" of the packet typically reside on the same computational platform and both blocks compete for CPU and memory resources. For example, if the receiving block utilizes 80% of the computational capacity of the system, only 20% of the computational capacity of the system remains to perform the "processing" phase. The value added work in a network monitoring system is in the "processing" phase. Any reduction of load from the "receiving" phase will add capacity to the "processing" phase and translate into improved performance of the system and thus allowing more advanced application "processing" that addresses real customer needs.
One solution that addresses the problem of excessive packet load filters incoming packet traffic by dropping packet traffic that is not of interest to the system that is under customer control. In firewall-type systems, this filtering is typically done by configuring firewall rules to selectively allow or deny traffic. Any traffic that is denied would not be forwarded. These firewall rules inspect the header of the TCP/IP packets, and operate on what is referred to as the 5-tuple of source address, source port, destination address, destination port and protocol. These rules are typically created to deny or allow traffic on a particular application protocol such as FTP or HTTP. These rules work well when the ports are well known since static rules can be created to allow or deny traffic. But in the case where the customer wants to specify a rule such as "Block all FTP" traffic, the standard firewall rule will not suffice. Accordingly, a need exists in the art for an improved solution for packet filtering.


Provided is a bioink comprising a mixture comprising a collagen and a polysaccharide, and a polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane (POSS), a hydrogel matrix formed from a bioink comprising a mixture comprising a collagen and a polysaccharide, and a polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane (POSS), a 3D biomaterial scaffold comprising a hydrogel matrix of the disclosure as a first hydrogel layer and a hydrogel matrix of the disclosure as a second hydrogel layer, optionally having an intervening layer between the first hydrogel layer and the second hydrogel layer, and methods of forming and using same.

Three dimensional ("3D") bioprinting is a tissue engineering technique that can produce biocompatible complex three dimensional structures from digital models, analogous to conventional 3D printing for plastic based materials. 3D bioprinting is accomplished using materials collectively known as bioinks, which include broad classes of compounds like hydrogels or decellularized extracellular matrix proteins, which can, e.g., create synthetic organ-like structures.
A significant advantage of bioprinting over conventional tissue engineering is the ability to produce multicellular structures that are well organized and, using multiple printer heads, bioligands and signaling molecules can be specifically deposited to direct cellular assembly and architecture, mimicking the dynamics of organioid formation.
The largest current bottleneck in the bioprinting industry is the development of printer compatible bioinks that are affordable, can be loaded with drugs or signaling molecules, and that maintain their designed shape during handling and for a defined time post grafting to the organism. A significant challenge associated with bioinks is associated with the conditions required to cure the gel into a stable structure. There are currently three approaches to cure the printed materials. The first approach is physical crosslinking, which requires specific hydrogen bonding patterns between molecules of the printed material. These networks require strict temperature control during the printing process that is difficult to achieve, resulting in structures with non-uniform composition. The second approach is chemical crosslinking, which provides uniform, rigid structures with excellent mechanical properties. Unfortunately, a large number of crosslinkers are required to produce these structures, which results in materials with poor porosity, preventing the release of embedded drugs or signaling molecules. Additionally, many of the chemicals used to achieve crosslinking are toxic, requiring careful monitoring of the amount of crosslinking agent used to ensure host compatibility. The third approach is UV crosslinking, which provides materials comparable to those achieved with chemical crosslinking strategies, but photoinitiator agents are dose-dependently toxic to cells and prolonged exposure to UV irradiation can cause significant DNA damage that may render embedded cells useless, at best, and malignant, at worst.
Thus, a need exists for bioinks that can be crosslinked in a manner that is compatible with biological materials.

POSS nanocomposite hydrogel for 3D bioprinting

THE REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN


The present disclosure is directed at an Internet Exchange Grid (IEG) which, in one embodiment, provides a distributed Internet architecture.

An interact Exchange Point (IXP) is a physical infrastructure through which Internet Service Providers (ISPs), Content Delivery Networks (CDNs) and Enterprise networks exchange traffic between their autonomous systems networks. The primary purpose of the IXP is to allow autonomous system networks to interconnect directly, via the IXP, rather than through one or more third-party networks. The advantages of the direct interconnection are numerous, but the primary reasons are improvements in cost savings, latency, and bandwidth.
In traditional IXPs, the ability to exchange network traffic is only locally considered by using a physical interface on the fabric network switch or router. The drawback to this is the inability to connect other networks that are not physically located on the same IXP fabric or subsequently within the same physical location.
A typical IXP includes one or more Ethernet-based local area network (LAN) switches housed in a single location or metropolitan area. The IXP operates in a layer-2 configuration and utilizes a single IP subnet for participating autonomous systems connections. It is these very design choices that made the traditional IXPs successful, however, they are very centralized in their uses or applications.
It is, therefore, desirable to provide a novel method and apparatus for a distributed Internet architecture.

Method and apparatus for a distributed internet architecture


A hulling optical bridge includes light means for supplying light and splitter means for splitting the light into a first light beam and a second light beam. The first light beam is directed to a surface having a parameter to be measured, and a first photodetector receives light reflected from or transmitted through the surface and generates a first signal indicative of the magnitude of the reflected or transmitted light. A second photodetector receives the second light beam and generates a second signal indicative of the magnitude of the second light beam. An electronic balancing circuit operates in a first mode when the parameter is maintained at a constant level, for adjusting the first and second signals to equal magnitudes, and operates in a second mode when the parameter varies, for applying a compensating signal to the first signal to balance the first and second signals. Further, a monitor is provided which is responsive to the magnitude of the compensating signal for indicating the magnitude of the parameter.

Measuring the temperature of a semiconductor device during various stages of processing is necessary for characterizing and controlling processing of the device. A preferred method of conducting such temperature measurements is by contactless temperature monitoring.
Commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 5,022,765, entitled "NULLING OPTICAL BRIDGE FOR CONTACTLESS MEASUREMENT OF CHANGES IN REFLECTIVITY AND/OR TRANSMISSIVITY", issued to Guidotti et al , incorporated herein by reference, discloses an apparatus for conducting contactless temperature monitoring by implementing a hulling optical bridge for measuring the difference in relative power of more than one light beam. As shown in FIG. 1, labelled as "Prior Art", an optical beam source 1 is linearly polarized by a polarizer 2 such that the electric field direction of the emerging beam makes an angle (.PHI.) with respect to an optic axis of a polarization sensitive beamsplitter prism 3. The prism 3 splits the incident light into two orthogonally polarized beams, beam A and beam B. The power of the beams A,B depends on the angle .PHI., and the divergence angle (.THETA.) of the beams A,B depends on the design properties of the prism 3. As .PHI. is varied by rotating polarizer 2, the difference in power between the two beams (A-B) is varied while the total power emerging from the prism 3 remains constant. The polarizer/prism combination is therefore used as a continuously variable beamsplitter. Beam A is directed from the prism 3 to a reflector 4, and the reflected beam A' is then directed to a photodetector 5. The other beam B is directed to the sample to be measured and the reflected beam B' is reflected from the sample surface at near-normal incidence and directed to a photodetector 6. The photo-current from photodetectors 5 or 6 is proportional to the power in beams A' or B', respectively The photo-current from detectors 5 and 6 is fed to a balance circuit 7, where a difference signal (A'-B') is amplified by amplifier 8 and measured.
Power fluctuations in the light source are eliminated by the null-point measurement of the difference signal (A'-B') which converts a measurement of change in reflectivity or transmissivity into a measurement of the angle .PHI.. This is accomplished by rotating the polarizer 2 by an angle so as to maintain the null condition (A'-B') at all times. The null condition renders the device measurement independent of source power fluctuations because whatever the source variation, variations in A and B are identical in magnitude, and occur in synchronism and therefore are always subtracted. The null condition is automatically, continuously maintained during a measurement by a feedback loop 9 which governs the rotation of the polarizer 2 as dictated by the sign and magnitude of the error signal (A'-B').
Thus, if a change in sample temperature causes a change in sample reflectivity, then the reflected power in beam A' will vary, and the difference (A'-B') will deviate from null. The polarizer angle .PHI. is then rotated by an amount necessary to restore null. The amount of rotation is proportional to the change in sample temperature for small angular variations. Unfortunately, the use of such a nulling optical bridge apparatus has been found to be somewhat impractical in many applications. Since the polarizer 2 must be mechanically rotated, a motor and associated mechanical linkage is required to accomplish such rotation. These components have been found to be overly large and cumbersome, and highly expensive, causing difficulty in incorporating the apparatus in a manufacturing environment. Although the components can be downsized to a certain extent, downsized components reduce the accuracy in accomplishing the required small incremental rotations of the polarizer 2. For instance, it has been found that the polarizer 2 must be rotated approximately 1/1000 of a degree to reflect a change of one degree celsius in a sample. Further, mechanically rotating the polarizer 2 for balancing has the limitation of not being capable of adequately compensating for unpolished or slightly polished wafers. In this regard, the degree by which the polarizer 2 must rotate for compensating for the low reflectivity of such wafers is too extreme for the mechanical components to properly achieve. Thus, the reflectivity and/or transmissivity of unpolished or slightly polished wafers cannot be properly measured using this mechanical apparatus.
Thus, there remains a need for a cost-effective nulling optical bridge which eliminates the problems associated with physical rotation of a polarizer for nulling, and which is easily adaptable for use in a manufacturing environment.

Nulling optical bridge for measurement of changes in reflectivity and/or transmissivity

International Business Machines Corporation


An above-ground swimming pool base structure for supporting the swimming pool. The base structure comprises a plurality of base units so that when linked together, they form a shape matching the contour of the above-ground swimming pool. Each base unit comprises an upper and lower surface. The lower surface is adapted to rest on the ground and the upper surface is adapted to receive a bottom portion of the above-ground swimming pool wall. The base units are made of a flexible and compressible material that can withstand pressure caused by temperature variations.

Unevenness of the ground caused by successive freezing and thawing of same is very damaging to above-ground swimming pool substructures. Indeed, unevenness of the ground often causes the walls of the swimming pool to undulate at its base, causing them to collapse, which consequently results in misalignment of the liner which in turn causes the latter to fall off and tear.
Such problem is often encountered with conventional installations viz when the wall of the above-ground swimming pool is anchored in either sand, dust rocks or cement.
It is known to use a base structure for supporting swimming pools and/or reservoirs but the ones currently used are quite different from the base structure of the present invention.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,231,807 describes a swimming pool support structure which is incorporated in the swimming pool structure.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,352,525 is concerned with a base structure. The base structure comprises a plurality of base portions so that when linked together, they also form the floor of the swimming pool.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,403,478 is also concerned with a base structure for transformer tanks. The base consists essentially in a grid-like structure which extends throughout the base of the swimming pool.

Base structure for above-ground swimming pool


Toaster cum microwave oven having a heater for toasting bread, including a memory for storing a voltage level to a heater according to the function of the toaster the user selects, a temperature sensor for sensing an inside temperature of the toaster, and a microcomputer for controlling a toasting time period according to a kind and a toasting level of bread the user selects, and an inside temperature of the toaster, and controlling the microwave oven according to a command received through the first key input part, thereby permitting toasting bread to a desired degree of toasting regardless of the inside temperature and continued user of the toaster.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to microwave ovens, and more particularly, a toaster cum microwave oven, and a method for operating the same.
2. Background of the Related Art
In general, the microwave oven heats a heating object with a microwave oven. As shown in FIG. 1, a related art microwave oven is provided with a heating chamber 2 in a cavity assembly 1 for heating the heating object placed therein by applying the microwave thereto, and a door 4 for opening/closing the heating chamber 2.
There is an outfit chamber 10 at a side of the heating chamber 4, covered with an outer casing 6. The outfit chamber 10 is provided with a magnetron 12 for generating a microwave, a high voltage transformer 14 for applying a high voltage, and a fan (not shown) for forming an air flow that cools the electric components and passes through the heating chamber 2.
However, though the related art microwave oven, having different functions, can cook different food, there is no microwave oven that can toast bread, yet.
That is, because the related microwave oven having no heater can not toast bread at all, despite of the many functions of microwave oven, users can not but use separate toaster for simple toasting of bread, there are not only an expense for buying a toaster, but also inconvenience in use.
Under the foregoing reasons, a toaster cum microwave oven has been developed, which has a system as illustrated in FIG. 2.
Referring to FIG. 2, the related art toaster cum microwave oven is provided with a cavity assembly 20 having a cavity 22 formed therein, and an outfit chamber 23 at a side of the cavity 22. In the cavity 22, the object (food) is heated with a microwave. Different electronic components for generating the microwave oven are provided in the outfit chamber 23. The microwave oven illustrated in FIG. 2 is provided with a front plate 21.
There is a cavity door 24 for opening/closing the cavity 22. When the cavity door 24 is closed, the cavity door 24 is brought into contact with the front plate 21 to enclose the cavity 22. The cavity door 24 has a door handle 25 for the user to open/close the cavity door 24.
There is an outer case 27 covered on an upper part, sides of the cavity assembly 20 and the outfit chamber 23. There is a toaster 30 in the outfit chamber 23 in front of electronic components for generating the microwave. The toaster 30 is mounted through an opening in the front plate 21. There is a toaster panel 32 in front of the toaster 30. An outside of the toaster panel 32 is formed of a material the same with the cavity door 24. Therefore, the toaster panel 32 forms a smooth surface together with the cavity door 24.
The toaster 30 will be described in more detail. There are a plurality of fastening hooks (not shown) on a rear surface of the toaster panel 32, a toaster door 40 hinged on the toaster panel 32, and two trays 74 for supporting at least one sliced piece of bread.
There is a control panel 26 in an upper part of front surface of the cavity door 24, provided with a first selection part 26a for selecting functions of the microwave oven, and a second selection part 26b for selecting a toaster function, and a display part 26c for displaying an operation state for a key input at the first selection part 26a or the second selection part 26b.
According to this, the related art toaster cum microwave oven carries out a function of a signal received from the first or second selection part 26a or 26b of the control panel 26, for toasting the bread according to a kind of bread and a level of bread toasting the user selected.
However, the related art toaster cum microwave oven has a problem in that the bread is not toasted as the user desired because the bread is toasted only according to kind of bread and a level of bread toasting the user selected without taking an inside state of the toaster into account.

Combination toaster microwave oven and method for operating the same


A shape-restoring device and a restoring method for distorted filmstrips are proposed for restoring filmstrips that are distorted due to vinegar syndrome. During the implementation of the method, the air compressor is started such that pressure reaches 0.6-0.9 MPa; three-way valves are regulated so as to introduce pressure into film-clasping cylinders and pressing-plate cylinders via diverter valves; the cylinder spindles of the film-clasping cylinders move the upper collets fixedly connected therewith, for fixing filmstrips; the cylinder spindles of the pressing-plate cylinders move the pressing plate fixedly connected therewith such that the binding underlay on the lower surface of the pressing plate contacts the heating plate; in this way, pressuring, heating and restoring are carried out. Through steps of pressing, heating, fixing filmstrips, shape-restoring and transporting the distorted filmstrips under the pressure of 0.5-0.8 MPa and the temperature of 80-90° C. for 50-80 s, the distorted filmstrips can be restored segment by segment.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to the field of protecting and restoring documents, and specifically, to technology for shape-restoring filmstrips that are distorted due to vinegar syndrome, and more particularly, the invention relates to a shape-restoring device and a restoring method for distorted filmstrips.
2. Background Information
As a great invention even in the technological history, filmstrips convey artistic essence and historical documentaries, and therefore are special and irreplaceable cultural relics. Vinegar syndrome results from degradation of the base material of filmstrips, i.e., cellulose triacetate, which subjects to high temperature, high moisture, and other hash environmental factors in the storage environment. There are no practical ways of halting the course of degradation, and therefore vinegar syndrome is deemed as the cancer of film industry. At present, precautions are taken to improve storage environment to preserve filmstrips. The onset of vinegar syndrome is indicated by acidic smell released from filmstrips. As the acidic smell becomes strong, plasticizer of the film base is precipitated and film base is softened. Hence, colorful images begin to fade and black-and-white images tarnish. As the course processes, crystalloid appears on the film base, film base becomes distorted, and emulsion becomes tacky. At last black tacky glue solution is released from filmstrips and filmstrips are self-destroyed. Occurrence of vinegar syndrome leads to degradation of recorded images, breakage of mechanical strength and destroy of filmstrip size, which distort the filmstrips. In this way, filmstrips cannot be projected, cannot be digitized, nor can they be restored via digital means.

Shape-restoring device and a restoring method for distorted filmstrips


An improved serviceability gearing element generally includes a support having a plurality of obstacles for co-operating with teeth of a neighboring gearing element. The gearing element further includes a pin, a roller mounted to move in rotation about the pin via a rotary guide, blocking bearings shaped substantially to prevent the roller from moving in translation along the pin, and one or more fasteners for fastening at least one of the blocking bearings to the support.

In the field of aviation, provision is now made to fit aircraft with members for driving wheels in rotation so as to enable an aircraft to move on the ground without using its aeroengines. In general, such drive members comprise an electric motor connected to reduction gearing having an outlet fitted with a pinion. The pinion co-operates with a toothed ring secured to the aircraft wheel. In that way, the electric motor drives the pinion in rotation, which in turn drives the toothed ring, and thus the wheel, so as to move the aircraft.
Naturally, the above-described type of drive requires the use of an electric motor that delivers a large amount of torque. The gearing formed by the pinion and the toothed ring must then mesh without slip and must present clearance that is as small as possible in order to withstand torque from the motor, in particular while starting when the torque is delivered relatively suddenly.
Gearing of that type is made possible by using a roller pinion, in particular as proposed by the supplier NEXEN® under the name Roller Pinion System (RPS).
The RPS type of pinion comprises a plurality of rollers that are to co-operate with the teeth of a toothed wheel or of a rack. The rollers are mounted on their gearing element so as eliminate slip relative to the teeth of the neighboring gearing element. At all times, two rollers are in contact with a given tooth of the neighboring gearing element, so as to enable transmission to take place without clearance and with very high relative efficiency.
When applying motor drive to an aircraft wheel, the operating environment of such a drive member is particularly constraining. Specifically, the wheel of an aircraft is subjected to high temperature levels, in particular during stages of braking while landing, in which a natural thermal convection and conduction stream becomes established between the braking system and the wheel. The wheel is also exposed to impacts from external elements (e.g., by pebbles, grains, and other debris) that are projected at high speed, and to being sprayed with any water present on the runway. Under these operating conditions, the risk of the rollers of the pinion being damaged or suffering premature wear is significant.
As a result of the design, an RPS pinion roller can be replaced only by completely dismantling the pinion, thereby leading to excessive maintenance time and costs that are not negligible.


According to one embodiment, there is provided a laser ion source. The laser ion source includes a vacuum chamber which is vacuum-exhausted and in which a target is transported and set, a valve which is opened when the target is transported into the vacuum chamber and is closed except for the transportation, a target supply chamber which holds the target to be movable, and a transportation unit which transports to the vacuum chamber the target held on the target supply chamber while opening the valve after the target supply chamber is vacuum-exhausted while closing the valve.

In recent years, a therapy method for cancer by high-energy carbon ion irradiation has been developed and a therapy using an ion source that generates an ion beam has been disclosed.
For advanced performance improvement of the ion source, a high-density C6+ needs to be generated. However, for example, since an ion source using μ-wave discharge plasma is lack of capability to generate the high-density C6+, development of a new ion source is required.
Therefore, a laser ion source having an ability to generate a high-density ion beam has been known. The laser ion source is a device that collects and irradiates a laser beam onto a solid target set in a space that satisfies a predetermined vacuum condition, ionizes the solid target by energy of the laser beam, and electrostatically extracts the ions to generate an ion beam.
A feature of the laser ion source is that the solid target is used as a generation source of the ion. By using the solid target as such, high-density ion current can be extracted in the laser ion source.
However, in the case where the laser ion source is continuously operated, the generation source of the ion (that is, the solid target) needs to be supplied in the laser ion source.
For example, in the ion source using the discharge plasma, gas may be just supplied as the generation source of the ion. In this regard, in the laser ion source, the solid target is generally supplied (exchanged) by releasing the laser ion source to the atmosphere whenever supplying the generation source of the ion (that is, the solid target).
When the laser ion source is applied to a medical service, since a long stabilizing operation is required for the corresponding laser ion source, the target is required to be supplied (exchanged) without damaging the vacuum condition in the space where the solid target (hereinafter, simply referred to as a target), which is the ion generation source is set.
In other words, it is important to establish a consecutive supply method of the target which does not significantly damage the vacuum condition in the laser ion source.
However, when the laser ion source is released to the atmosphere whenever supplying the target, the vacuum condition in the space, where the target is set, is damaged.
Therefore, in the laser ion source, a special device is required to supply the target.


A milling tool includes a body which is rotatable about a first axis. At least one cutting tooth mounted on the body having a cutting edge for cutting about the first axis. A wiper tooth extends from the mill body. The wiper tooth includes at least at a portion having a peripheral surface about the second axis and the peripheral surface intersects a face surface defining a cutting edge that is round about the second axis for cutting about the first axis. In some embodiments, the peripheral surface, the face surface and the cutting edge are formed on an insert that is mounted the mill body.

In one embodiment, the present disclosure addresses the need for improving the surface finish—reducing the surface roughness—of surfaces created on a work piece by a face milling tool. A face milling tool, also known as a face mill, has one or, more generally, multiple primary cutting teeth affixed to a face mill body around the face mill body circumference, generally substantially equally spaced, and aligned to one another in both the axial and radial dimensions of the face mill. Each primary cutting tooth is generally made up of a replaceable cutting insert and has provisions for attachment to the face mill body. A face mill is operated by attaching it to a spindle of a machine tool. The spindle rotates to produce a cutting motion at a relatively high cutting speed, also referred to herein as the tangential speed, while the machine provides a feeding motion of the work piece or the face mill, relative to the other, that occurs in the plane to which the spindle axis is perpendicular. The face mill removes a shallow layer of material from the work piece creating, with the tips of the primary cutting teeth, a new surface on the work piece that is substantially parallel to the plane of the feeding motion. Upon that surface and at a smaller, microscopic scale is the surface roughness. The surface roughness is comprised of a series of radiused feed grooves that trace the nearly-circular cutting motion of the primary cutting teeth. The feed grooves exhibit cusps/peaks occurring where adjacent feed grooves overlap one another leaving the radiused valleys of the feed grooves between the cusps/peaks.
The feeding action may be quantified as a distance traveled in the time it takes for one revolution of the face mill, referred to as the feed per revolution. Of greater significance as related to surface roughness is the feed per primary tooth, which is the feed per revolution divided by the number of primary cutting teeth affixed to the face mill cutter body. The feed per primary tooth dictates the distance between the microscopic peaks—the widths of the feed grooves.
Surface roughness may be characterized by one or more of numerous quantitative parameters, such as the roughness average value that is generally referred to as Ra. Ideally, the roughness average value is proportional to the square of the feed per primary tooth and inversely proportional to the radius on the tips of the primary cutting teeth. In practice the roughness average value will exhibit these types of proportional and inversely proportional trends; however, because the multiple primary cutting teeth are not perfectly aligned with one another, the roughness average value in practice will always be higher (a rougher surface) than the ideal value. While the radial misalignments of the primary cutting teeth have a deleterious effect on surface roughness by perturbing the widths of the feed grooves from their ideally equal widths, the axial misalignments of the primary cutting teeth have an even greater deleterious effect on surface roughness by also perturbing the depths of the feed grooves relative to their ideally equal depths.
Thus, four parameters combine to impact the surface roughness—feed per primary tooth, tool tip radius (often referred to as the corner radius, or sometimes the nose radius), tooth-to-tooth axial misalignments, and tooth-to-tooth radial misalignments. Assuming one has reduced the misalignments to be as small as possible by applying the degree of effort that can be afforded, it is the feed per primary tooth and the corner radius that are adjusted to achieve the desired/specified surface roughness on a face milled surface. Decreasing the feed per primary tooth, due to its squared effect on the average roughness (Ra), has the greater impact on decreasing/improving (making more smooth) the surface roughness, but, holding all other cutting conditions constant, such as spindle speed, this also results in a proportionate decrease in productivity. Increasing the corner radius will result in a proportionate decrease/improvement in surface roughness, but it also tends to direct a larger percentage of the cutting forces acting between the primary cutting teeth and the work piece into the axial direction, which can lead to structural deflections that result in dimensional error in the location of the face milled surface produced.
When producing a machined surface, it is common to take multiple passes, including one or more roughing passes to more rapidly remove larger amounts of material without concern for the aforementioned dimensional error or higher surface roughness, followed by a finish pass at a lower rate of material removal to facilitate meeting the dimensional and surface roughness requirements. To achieve particularly low surface roughness without excessively reducing the feed per primary tooth and, likewise, in the presence of some level of tooth-to-tooth misalignments that always exist in practice, one or more secondary "wiper" teeth may be added to the face mill. When viewed in the direction that is tangential to the face mill body (the cutting motion direction), wiper teeth have either a straight cutting edge or a cutting edge with a very large radius or "crown" that is much larger than the corner radius of the primary cutting teeth. Wiper teeth serve to remove the cusps/peaks of the surface roughness geometry. Because Ra is inversely proportional to the radius of the cutting edge, and the radius of the wiper is either very large (or infinite in the case of a non-radiused/straight wiper tooth cutting edge), the wiper can create a much smaller Ra value even if the feed per wiper tooth is larger than the feed per primary tooth. Of course, if there is more than one wiper tooth, the multiple wiper teeth must be carefully aligned in the axial direction, and for that reason, there are generally far fewer wiper teeth than primary cutting teeth, which is consistent with the ability to accommodate higher feed per wiper tooth than feed per primary tooth.
Wiper teeth, or rather the indexible cutting insert that makes up the cutting portion of the wiper tooth, are usually common-size square or rectangular cutting inserts made from one of the many cutting insert materials (e.g., tungsten carbide, ceramic, cubic boron nitride, etc., either with or without a coating) that are well known to those working in the field. Viewing in the direction of the axis of the face mill, the wiper tooth cutting edge is substantially straight and has finite length. Wiper teeth are set with their cutting edge length running substantially radially outward from the axis of the face mill. They are set at an axial position on the cutter body so the wiper cutting edge protrudes axially toward the machined surface just slightly more than the furthest protruding primary cutting tooth. The added protrusion of a wiper tooth may be up to approximately 0.003 inch (75 micron), sometimes less and sometimes more; it is desired to keep this added protrusion, or wiper depth, as small as possible while still assuring the wiper removes the entirety of all the cusps/peaks down to the lowest of the feed groove valleys. When a wiper has a non-radiused straight cutting edge, the wiper teeth may be set to have a very small angle relative to the feed plane so that the full, and generally excessive (relative to the feed per wiper tooth), length of the wiper tooth's cutting edge is not continuously rubbing on the machined surface that was wiped by a previous wiper tooth passing over that part of the surface.
While a face mill having wiper teeth may have them in addition to a full complement of evenly spaced primary cutting teeth, most face mills having wiper teeth replace some of the primary cutting teeth with a wiper tooth. While this is convenient and is easy to accomplish given the limited space available between successive primary cutting teeth, replacing some of the primary cutting teeth results in the primary cutting tooth that follows that replaced primary cutting tooth position to realize twice the nominal feed per primary tooth. As such it removes double the nominal amount of material, which can cause those primary cutting teeth to wear more quickly than the others.
Generally, a wiper tooth has a means of axial adjustment so that the wiper teeth can be adjusted to the desired wiper depth (relative to the furthest axially protruding primary cutting tooth) and, in the case of multiple wiper teeth, adjusted to be well aligned with all other wiper teeth. It is common, though without restriction, for there to be one wiper tooth for every three to eight primary cutting teeth.

Round wiper tooth and face mill incorporating the same


A method and an apparatus for posttreatment of the exhaust gases of an internal combustion engines in which nitric oxides contained in the exhaust gas can be selectively catalytically reduced, and a first auxiliary agent kept on hand can be delivered to the exhaust gas, and means are provided for at least intermittently subjecting a portion of the first auxiliary agent to a chemical conversion into a second auxiliary agent, and an intermediate reservoir is provided for storing the second auxiliary agent, so that at least intermittently, the second auxiliary agent can be delivered to the exhaust gas parallel to or in alternation with the first auxiliary agent.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention directed to an improved a method of and an apparatus for posttreatment of the exhaust gas of an internal combustion engine.
2. Description of the Prior Art
German Patent Disclosure DE 197 20 209, discloses one known method in which ammonia is introduced into the exhaust gas system upstream of a catalytic converter for selective catalytic reduction.

Method for after treatment of exhaust gases, and exhaust gas after treatment array


A wall mounted kaleidoscope is suitable for mounting within an opening passing through a wall, ceiling or other building structure to provide a visually attractive kaleidoscope display to a viewer within the building interior. A kaleidoscope housing extends through the wall opening and is mountable to the wall. A kaleidoscope mirror structure is mounted within the housing and includes three generally triangular mirrors arranged in the shape of a triangulated pyramid, with its base facing the viewer. A rotatable drum associated with the mirror holds loose articles for generating a kaleidoscope display; the drum may be rotated by an electric motor or manually. The light source may consist of artificial illumination and/or a light-transmitting cover which protects the structure from the elements.

Kaleidoscopes are well known for providing an interesting visual display, by providing multiple moveable reflections of objects. The principle of a kaleidoscope relies on a V-shaped mirror structure, with the inside surfaces being mirrored, a collection drum for holding display elements such as colored glass pieces, and a viewing window or portal for viewing the display. Rotation of the drum or kaleidoscope as a whole causes shifting of the moveable elements within the drum, resulting in endlessly variable and visually interesting displays.
The kaleidoscope may be illuminated, for example as described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,644,819, to Nelson, which describes a triangular tubular structure having three internally mirrored panels, with a light source for illuminating the interior of the tubular structure. Rotation of the kaleidoscope may also be motorized, for example as described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,184,249 to Dickman. It is also known to provide a kaleidoscope that projects the kaleidoscope image, for example onto a wall or screen. One such example is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,077,706 to Yaeger.
The interesting visual effects provided by a kaleidoscope can provide a decorative and visually interesting feature in a structure.


A memristor with a channel region in thermal equilibrium with a containing region. The channel region has a variable concentration of mobile ions. The containing region, formed of stoichiometric crystalline material, contains and is in thermal equilibrium with the channel region.

Current memory technologies such as DRAM (dynamic random access memory), SRAM (static RAM), and HAND flash are approaching their scalability limits. There is a growing need for new memory technologies that can meet increasing performance requirements of future memory applications. Memristor technology has the potential to satisfy this need. Memristors rely on drift of mobile charges upon application of an electric field. A memristor comprises a conducting channel disposed between two contacts. A large number of memristors may be fabricated in a crossbar configuration. Memristors offer con-volatile and multiple-state data storage. They are stackable in three dimensions and compatible with CMOS technology. Memristors fabricated of materials such as oxides of tantalum have shown high endurance, in some eases exceeding 1012 on-off cycles.

Memristor with channel region in thermal equilibrium with containing region

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Development LP


The ophthalmic lens according to the invention includes a substrate made of organic glass, at least one abrasion-resistant coating and at least one primer layer inserted between the substrate and the abrasion-resistant coating, the impact-resistant primer layer being formed from a latex composition including at least one latex comprising butadiene units.

The present invention relates to an ophthalmic lens made of organic glass with an impact-resistant interlayer and to its process of manufacture.
Ophthalmic lenses made of organic glass are more sensitive to scratching and to abrasion than lenses made of inorganic glass.
It is known to protect the surface of lenses made of organic glass by means of hard coatings, generally based on polysiloxane.
It is also known to treat the lenses made of organic glass so as to prevent the formation of interfering reflections which are a nuisance for the wearer of the lens and for people to whom he or she is speaking. The lens is then provided with a single- or multilayer antireflective coating, generally made of inorganic material.
When the lens comprises an abrasion-resistant coating in its structure, the antireflective coating is deposited on the surface of the abrasion-resistant layer. Such a stacking reduces the impact strength, stiffening the system, which then becomes brittle. This problem is well known in the industry of ophthalmic lenses made of organic glass.
Thus, Japanese patents 63-141001 and 63-87223 describe lenses made of organic glass comprising an impact-resistant primer based on thermoplastic polyurethane resin. U.S. Pat. No. 5,015,523, for its part, recommends the use of acrylic impact-resistant primers, while European patent EP-040411 describes the use of impact-resistant primers based on heat-curable polyurethane.
None of the techniques described in the above patents makes it possible to combine high resistance to abrasion of the final lens and the absence or low content of organic solvent in the primer composition.
In addition, organic glasses which have increasingly high refractive indices have been employed in recent years for manufacturing ophthalmic lenses. As the refractive index increases, the lens thickness needed to obtain the same degree of correction has decreased. The resulting lenses are therefore thinner and lighter and consequently more attractive to the user.
These organic glasses with a higher refractive index tend, however, to be relatively soft and to scratch more easily. It is possible, of course, to coat these lenses with abrasion-resistant hard coatings, optionally with an interlayer of impact-resistant primer as previously, but the materials which were then recommended for forming these impact-resistant primers have turned out to be unsuitable for use with these new organic glasses of high refractive index.
Document EP-A-0680492 recommends the use of an impact-resistant primer layer formed from an aqueous dispersion of polyurethane applied directly to a surface of the organic glass substrate.
Although such primers are satisfactory, it would be desirable to find primer compositions which have enhanced impact strength properties while maintaining the abrasion resistance of the abrasion-resistant layer. In addition, it would also be desirable to have available materials for this impact-resistant primer layer enabling its index to be easily adapted to that of the organic glass substrate, in particular in the case of substrate made of organic glass of high refractive index.
The applicant company has just discovered, unexpectedly, that the use of latex compositions containing at least one latex including butadiene units makes it possible to obtain impact-resistant primer layers between a substrate made of organic glass and an abrasion-resistant coating, optionally coated with an antireflective coating, which have the desired properties of impact strength and the index of which can, if need be, be easily adapted to the refractive index of the organic glass without detriment to the abrasion resistance and antireflective properties of the abrasion-resistant and antireflective coatings.
The subject-matter of the present invention is therefore an ophthalmic lens including a substrate made of organic glass, at least one abrasion-resistant coating and at least one impact-resistant primer layer inserted between the organic glass and the abrasion-resistant coating, in which the impact-resistant primer layer is formed from a latex composition including at least one latex containing butadiene units.
Another subject-matter of the invention relates to a process for the manufacture of this lens.
In the present application a butadiene unit is intended to mean the butadiene unit properly so called "Parenopenst"CH2xe2x80x94CHxe2x95x90CHxe2x80x94CH2"Parenclosest", as well as the isoprene unit
As is well known, latices are stable dispersions of a polymer in an aqueous medium.
The latex compositions of the present invention may consist solely of one or more latices comprising butadiene units. These compositions may also consist of one or more latices comprising butadiene units mixed with one or several other latices not comprising butadiene units.
The latices comprising butadiene units according to the invention are free from urethane functional groups.
Among the latices comprising butadiene units which are suitable for the latex compositions according to the present invention there may be mentioned natural (NR) or synthetic (IR) polyisoprene latices, polybutadiene (BR) latices, butadiene-styrene copolymer (SBR) latices, carboxylated butadiene-styrene copolymer (C-SBR) latices, butadiene-acrylonitrile copolymer (NBR) latices, carboxylated butadiene-acrylonitrile copolymers (C-NBR), latices of the ABS (acrylonitrile, butadiene, styrene) type, hydrogenated butadiene-acrylonitrile copolymer (H-NBR) latices, polychloroprene (CR) latices, isobutylene-isoprene copolymer (IIR) latices, halogenated, for example chlorinated or brominated, isobutylene-isoprene copolymer (XIIR) latices, and mixtures thereof.
The latices containing butadiene units which are recommended according to the present invention are polybutadiene, carboxylated butadiene styrene copolymer, carboxylated acrylonitrile-butadiene copolymer and polychloroprene latices.
The latex including the polybutadiene units preferably contains from 20 to 100% of polybutadiene.
Among the latices not comprising any butadiene units which are suitable for the latex compositions according to the invention there may be mentioned poly(meth)acrylic (ACM) latices, polyurethane latices and polyester latices.
Poly(meth)acrylic latices are latices of co-polymers consisting chiefly of a (meth)acrylate such as, for example, ethyl or butyl, or methoxy- or ethoxyethyl (meth)acrylate, with a generally minor proportion of at least one other comonomer, such as, for example, styrene.
The poly(meth)acrylic latices recommended in the latex compositions according to the invention are acrylate-styrene copolymer latices.
The latex compositions particularly recommended according to the invention are latex compositions comprising either solely a polybutadiene latex, a butadiene-styrene copolymer latex, a butadiene-acrylonitrile copolymer latex, a polychloroprene latex or a mixture of butadiene-styrene copolymer latex with a polyacrylic and/or polyurethane latex.
In the compositions containing a mixture of latices the solids content of the latex or latices not comprising any butadiene units may represent from 10 to 80%, preferably 10 to 60%, by weight of the solids content of the latices present in the composition.
The latex compositions according to the invention may comprise any ingredient conventionally employed in the primer layers for the adhesion of abrasion-resistant coating to ophthalmic lenses made of organic glass. In particular, they may include a crosslinking agent, an antioxidant, a UV absorber or a surface-active agent in the proportions conventionally employed.
Surface-active agents which may be employed are Baysilone OL 31 and FC 430 which are marketed by 3M, and Silwer LS 7657, L 7604 or L 77 from OSI Specialities.
The quantity of surface-active agent which is employed is generally from 0 to 1% by weight relative to the total weight of the latices present in the composition.
The quantity of crosslinking agent which is employed is generally from 0 to 5% by weight relative to the total weight of the latices present in the composition, preferably of the order of 3%.
The presence of a crosslinking agent makes it possible to avoid the possible appearance of crazing of hard varnish subsequently applied to the primer.
A recommended crosslinking agent is an aziridine derivative marketed under the name CX 100 by Zeneca Resins.
It is particularly desirable to include an antioxidant and/or a UV absorber in the latex compositions according to the invention, in proportions, for each of these agents, varying from 0 to 10% by weight of active substance, preferably from 0 to 5% by weight, and better still of the order of 2.5% by weight.
The antioxidant and the UV absorber are chosen to be soluble or easily dispersible in aqueous solution. The antioxidant is preferably introduced into the latex in the form of an aqueous dispersion.
Phenolic antioxidants, which have been found remarkably effective for the primers of the invention, are more particularly employed.
An example of such an antioxidant type is Irganox DW 245, marketed by Ciba. This is triethylene glycol bis-3-(3-tert-butyl-4-hydroxy-5-methylphenyl)propionate, in aqueous solution.
A UV absorber of benzimidazole type will be preferably employed as UV absorber, and preferably of the type comprising a sulphonate functional group.
As an example of such a UV absorber there may be mentioned Parsol HS, which is the sodium salt of the following sulphonic acid
marketed by Givendon-Roure.
The combined presence of an antioxidant and of a UV absorber in the primer layer is advantageous, because it makes it possible to improve remarkably the total adhesiveness of the abrasion-resistant coating when dry. Thus, when the primer layer comprises such an antioxidant and UV absorber combination, the total adhesiveness of the abrasion-resistant coating when dry is retained even after 200 hours of sunlight exposure, which is not the case when the primer layer does not comprise any anti-oxidant.
The Irganox DW 245 and Parsol HS combination is particularly preferred.
The substrates of the lenses in accordance with the present invention are all substrates made of organic glass and commonly employed for organic ophthalmic lenses.
Among the substrates which are suitable for the lenses according to the invention there may be mentioned susbtrates obtained by-polymerization of alkyl (meth)acrylates, in particular C1-C4 alkyl (meth)acrylates, such as methyl (meth)acrylate and ethyl (meth)acrylate, allyl derivatives such as linear or branched, aliphatic or aromatic polyol allyl carbonates, thio(meth)acrylics, thiourethanes, and polyethoxylated aromatic (meth)acrylates such as polyethoxylated bisphenol A dimethacrylates.
Among the recommended substrates there may be mentioned substrates obtained by polymerization of polyol allyl carbonates, among which may be mentioned ethylene glycol bisallyl carbonate, diethylene glycol bis-2-methyl carbonate, diethylene glycol bis(allyl carbonate), ethylene glycol bis(2-chloroallyl carbonate), triethylene glycol bis(allyl carbonate), 1, 3-propanediol bis(allyl carbonate), propylene glycol bis(2-ethylallyl carbonate), 1,3-butanediol bis(allyl carbonate), 1,4-butanediol bis(2-bromoallyl carbonate), dipropylene glycol bis(allyl carbonate), trimethylene glycol bis(2-ethylallyl carbonate), pentamethylene glycol bis(allyl carbonate) and isopropylene bisphenol A bis(allyl carbonate).
The substrates which are particularly recommended are the substrates obtained by polymerization of diethylene glycol bisallyl carbonate, sold under the trade name CR39(copyright) allyl diglycol carbonate by PPG Industrie (Essilor ORMA(copyright) lens).
Among the substrates which are also recommended there may be mentioned the substrates obtained by polymerization of thio(meth)acrylic monomers, such as those described in French patent application FR-A-2 734 827.
Obviously, the substrates may be obtained by polymerization of mixtures of the above monomers.
The abrasion-resistant coatings of the ophthalmic lenses according to the invention may be any abrasion-resistant coatings which are known in the field of ophthalmic optics.
Among the abrasion-resistant coatings recommended in the present invention there may be mentioned the coatings obtained from compositions based on silane hydrolysate, in particular epoxysilane hydrolysate, and compositions based on acrylic derivatives, such as those described in French patent application No. 93 026 49.
The abrasion-resistant coating preferably includes a UV absorber in proportions of 0 to 10%, preferably of 0 to 5%, and better still of the order of 1% relative to the total weight of the composition of the abrasion-resistant coating.
The presence of such a UV absorber in the abrasion-resistant coating together with the presence of an antioxidant and/or a UV absorber in the inserted impact-resistant primer layer increases the scratch resistance of the lens obtained.
As indicated above, the ophthalmic lens according to the invention may additionally comprise an antireflective coating deposited on the abrasion-resistant coating.
To give an example, the antireflective coating may consist of a single- or multilayer film, of di-electric materials such as SiO, SiO2, Si3N4, TiO2, ZrO2, Al2O3, MgF2 or Ta2O5, or mixtures thereof. It thus becomes possible to prevent the appearance of the reflection at the lens-air interface.
This antireflective coating is generally applied by vacuum deposition according to one of the following techniques:
1. By evaporation, optionally assisted by an ion beam.
2. By ion beam sputtering.
3. By cathodic sputtering.
4. By plasma-assisted vapour phase chemical deposition.
Besides the vacuum deposition it is also possible to envisage a deposition of an inorganic layer by a sol/gel route (for example starting from tetraethoxy-silane hydrolysates).
In the case where the film includes a single layer, its optical thickness must be equal to xcex/4 where xcex is a wavelength between 450 and 650 nm.
In the case of a multilayer film comprising three layers it is possible to employ a combination corresponding to respective optical thicknesses xcex/4-xcex/2-xcex/4 or xcex/4-xcex/4-xcex/4.
It is possible in addition to employ an equivalent film formed by more layers, instead of any one of the layers forming part of the abovementioned three layers.
The ophthalmic lenses according to the invention may consist of a substrate made of organic glass coated on its rear face or its front face with an interlayer of impact-resistant primer according to the invention, with an abrasion-resistant coating deposited on the primer layer and optionally with an antireflective coating on the abrasion-resistant layer.
The substrate may also be coated on both its faces with a layer of impact-resistant primer according to the invention, an abrasion-resistant coating and optionally with an antireflective coating.
The ophthalmic lenses according to the invention preferably comprise a stack of the impact-resistant primer layer, of abrasion-resistant coating and optionally of antireflective coating on the rear face of the substrate or on both faces of the substrate.
The preferred ophthalmic lenses according to the invention comprise a single impact-resistant primer layer deposited on the rear face of the lens and, on each of the faces, an abrasion-resistant coating and an anti-reflective coating applied onto the abrasion-resistant coating.
For example, such a lens is obtained by depositing the primer layer by centrifuging on the rear face of the lens. Then, after drying this layer, the hard coating is applied by dip coating on both faces of the lens. Finally, after curing of this hard coating, an anti-reflective coating is applied on both faces of the lens.
An ophthalmic lens thus obtained has an excellent abrasion resistance on its front face, the one more stressed when the user is handling his or her glasses.
According to the present invention the thickness of the impact-resistant primer layer obtained after drying is preferably between 0.2 and 1 xcexcm and more particularly between 0.4 and 0.8 xcexcm.
The thickness of the abrasion-resistant coating, for its part, is generally between 1 and 10 xcexcm and more particularly between 2 and 6 xcexcm.
Another subject-matter of the present invention is therefore also a process for the manufacture of a lens including a substrate made of organic glass, at least one abrasion-resistant coating, optionally covered with an antireflective coating, and at least one impact-resistant primer layer inserted between the substrate and the abrasion-resistant coating, the process including:
the deposition on at least one face of the substrate, for example by centrifuging, of a layer of a latex composition as defined above;
the drying of this latex composition to form the impact-resistant primer layer(s);
the deposition of an abrasion-resistant hard coating on the impact-resistant primer layer(s) formed; and, optionally,
the deposition of an antireflective coating on the abrasion-resistant hard coating(s).
The conditions of drying and curing of the layer can be determined by a person skilled in the art.
For example, a drying operation may be performed by heating to temperatures that can vary generally from 90xc2x0 C. to 140xc2x0 C. for a period varying, for example, from 1 hour to a few minutes.
The following examples illustrate the present invention.
In the examples, all the percentages and parts are expressed by weight, unless indicated otherwise.

Ophthalmic lens made of organic glass with an impact-resistant interlayer, and process for its manufacture

Essilor International Compagnie Generale d""Optique