The present invention provides a method for slicing a silicon single crystal ingot having a plane direction (110) by a wire saw to manufacture a (110) silicon wafer, wherein slicing is performed in such a manner that each angle formed between a traveling direction of a wire in the wire saw and a [−112 ] direction and a [1-12] direction in the (110) silicon single crystal ingot or a direction crystallographically equivalent to the directions exceeds 30°. As a result, the method for manufacturing the (110) silicon wafer that can suppress occurrence of breaking at the time of slicing and improve a production yield ratio can be provided.

When manufacturing, e.g., a silicon wafer, a silicon single crystal ingot is sliced by a wire saw (see, e.g., Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 8-85053). FIG. 2 is a schematic view showing an example of a conventional wire saw. A wire saw 10 is an apparatus which allows a wire 1 (high-tensile steel wire) to travel at a high speed and presses an ingot 3 to be sliced (cut) while applying a slurry having GC (silicon carbide) abrasive grains dispersed in a liquid to this wire 1.
The wire is unreeled from one (right in this example) wire reel 7 to enter groove rollers 2 via a tension providing mechanism 4 formed of a dancer roller 4a including a dead weight 4b or a powder clutch 4c connected with a constant torque motor 4d or both the members. Each groove roller 2 is a roller obtained by press-fitting a polyurethane resin to a periphery of a cast steel cylinder and forming a groove on a surface of this cylinder at a fixed pitch, and the wire is wound around this roller for 300 to 400 turns and then taken up by the other wire reel 7 via the other tension providing mechanism 4. The wire is driven by a groove roller driving motor to reciprocate in a wire traveling direction 5 in a predetermined cycle. On the other hand, an ingot 3 is bonded to a slice beam 6, fixed to the wire saw through the slice beam 6, and pressed against the wire at a previously programmed ingot feed speed to be sliced.
On the other hand, a silicon wafer ((110) silicon wafer) having a crystal plane orientation (110) has preferable characteristics that its ID/VSD (inner conductance) is improved to substantially triple as compared with that in a regular (100) silicon wafer when manufacturing an MOSFET by using this (110) silicon wafer. However, a practical problem in a conventional technology is that a stable surface oxide film cannot be formed on a crystal plane having a plane orientation (110), and the (110) silicon wafer has not been exploited so far. However, a method for forming a stable surface oxide film irrespective of a crystal plane orientation (radical oxidation method) has been recently developed (see, e.g., Saito et al., "Advantage of Radical Oxidation for Improving Reliability of Ultra-Thin Gate Oxide", 2000 Symposium on VLSI Technology, Honolulu, Hi., Jun. 13th-15th, 2000), and the (110) silicon wafer has suddenly come under the spotlight.
The (110) silicon wafer can be manufactured by using a wire saw to slice a silicon single crystal ingot having a plane orientation (110) that has grown in a crystal orientation [110] as a growth direction. However, its slicing yield ratio is lower than that of a silicon wafer having a plane orientation (100), and development of a method for stably obtaining the (110) silicon wafer has been desired.
It is to be noted that a slicing method that avoids cracks or breaking is disclosed in regard to a slicing method for a semiconductor single crystal ingot (see Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 9-262825).

Method of manufacturing (110) silicon wafer


A roasting jack in the present invention includes a first turning tray, a second turning tray and several spears. The first turning tray is provided with a plurality of notches in the circumference. Each notch has a catching section properly provided for the pressing hook with a fixing portion and an inserting portion formed on one end of a spear to be fixed in. The other end of the spear, i.e. spearhead, can penetrate through a hole in the second turning tray in order to be secured to the roasting jack. When the fixing portion of the pressing hook of the spear being slightly turned upward, the pressing hook will be separated from the catching section so as to make the spear be separated from the notch of the first turning tray.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a roasting jack, which can be provided in a roasting oven or be used while barbecuing, and more particularly to a roasting jack with convenient device for a user to directly fix or take off a spear without taking off the whole roasting jack from its supporter.
2. Description of the Related Art
A conventional roasting jack is commonly used in a roasting oven, as shown in FIG. 6, the meat to be roasted must be penetrated through by at least two inserting rods 30 first, and then two ends of each inserting rod 30 are respectively inserted into two opposite holes 102, 202 respectively provided in two turning trays 10, 20 so as to make the inserting rod 30 with the meat be fixed to the roasting jack. Then, the against flange 101 and the sleeve end 201 provided on the outer sides of two turning trays 10, 20 are respectively fixed on the against base 401 and in the sleeve 404 connected with the forcing axle 403 of the motor 402 of the roasting oven 40, as shown in FIG. 7. Thus, the roasting jack with the meat will turn with the function of the motor 402 so as to make the meat be roasted equally. After the meat being done, the whole roasting jack must be dismounted from the roasting oven 40 so as for the meat to be taken out of the inserting rods 30.
However, the above-mentioned conventional roasting jack is found to be inconvenient and troublesome because the the whole roasting jack must be dismounted from the roasting oven every time when meat needs mounting on or dismounting from the roasting jack.

No. 72, Alley 105, Lane 274, Chung-Cheng South Road, Yung-Kang Shr


A new and distinct grapevine variety named ‘DM 8313-1’ is disclosed. The new variety originated from a hand pollinated cross made at South Haven, Minn., and is distinguishable by virtue of its cold hardiness in USDA Zone 4, combined with its fine muscat flavor similar to Vitis vinifera variety ‘Muscat Blanc.’

The new and distinct grapevine described and claimed herein originated from a hand-pollinated cross of 'ES 2-11-4' (unpatented) and 'DM P3-54' (unpatented). 'DM P3-54', the male parent, is a blue grape which resulted from a cross of 'Suelter' (unpatented) with the German vinifera variety 'Morio Muskat' (unpatented), and maintains the flavor of 'Morio Muscat' as well as much of the winter hardiness of 'Suelter'. 'ES 2-11-4', the female parent, is a white grape of French and American hybrid parentage with rather large clusters and berries having a pleasing neutral flavor and making a white wine that has been compared to Chenin Blanc. Thus the new variety is a complex hybrid with genes contributed by V. vinifera, V. riparia, and several other species, these having come from the at least three French hybrid varieties in the background of 'ES 2-11-4'. The cross was made in 1983 near South Haven, Minn., where the seedlings were grown out and evaluated and the new variety selected for additional testing in 1987.
In 1988 the original plant selection was propagated asexually by rooting hardwood cuttings at South Haven, Minn., and a second test planting was established. The new variety was found to root readily from hardwood cuttings and all propagules have been observed to be true to type in that the vegetative and fruit characteristics of the original plant have been maintained. Subsequently, other test plantings were made in Minnesota and at Pierce, Nebr. Nearly two decades of testing has shown considerable winter injury during cold winters at South Haven, Minn., a USDA Plant Hardiness Zone 3 location, but only light to moderate injury in zone 4B locations, similar to the 'Foch' French hybrid cultivar (unpatented). Compared to other grape cultivars of Minnesota origin, the new variety appears to be hardier than 'Swenson Red' but less hardy than 'Edelweiss'.
Vines of the new variety have been of moderate to somewhat less than moderate vigor, depending upon the growing location. 'DM 8313-1' displays the somewhat trailing growth habit typical of many French hybrid cultivars. It has tested from somewhat below average to somewhat above average in productivity compared to many other cultivars tested in several locations. The new variety is moderately resistant to most common fungus diseases of grapevines. Under the occasionally humid conditions of the Midwest it would seem to require a normal chemical disease control program to protect from downy mildew (Uncinula necator Burr.) which is controllable by the use of available fungicides. The fruit has shown no inclination to split following rains and hangs in good condition for late harvest. Berries adhere well to the fruit pedicel and do not shatter from the clusters during this time.
The new cultivar ripens in early midseason, about with the 'Foch' cultivar. Sugar and acid balance is good for winemaking with brix readings around 20 degrees and acid readings around 1%, these readings being considered good for grapes raised in a cool Zone 4 location. The berries are greenish yellow at harvest, weigh about 1.5 grams apiece, and are spherical in shape. Clusters are small medium in size, about 65 grams, cylindrical to conical in shape and moderately well filled but not compact. Clusters are borne two or three per shoot on medium long peduncles that are relatively easy to harvest. Grafted vines or vines grown on fertile soils have produced significantly larger clusters than the averages given here.
The new variety has a fine muscat flavor similar to Vitis vinifera variety 'Muscat Blanc' (unpatented), and has produced excellent wines when vinified by both amateur and professional winemakers.


The disclosure concerns encoding of information, such as content information for streaming, in a scalable manner. That is, a base layer of encoded content can be supplemented by one or more enhancement layers as channel capacity allows. Definition of bounds for the base layer and the one or more enhancement layers is governed by long-term channel information, while selection of layers for transmission at a particular time is governed by short-term, or instantaneous, channel state considerations.

Scalable video coding (SVC) is a video encoding technique, in which a video sequence is encoded as a hierarchy of video layers consisting of one base layer and at least one enhancement layer. This type of video encoding allows a video transmission system to adapt to changes in channel conditions by selectively discarding video layers or packets. Numerous existing algorithms for discarding video layers with reducing bandwidth exist. However, such algorithms, on their own, rely on the base layer rate being satisfied at all times.
If the base layer rate cannot be satisfied under a given channel condition, the base layer will not be transmitted. In that case, video playback will not be possible at the receiver—in fact, no video data will have been transmitted.

Rate optimization for scalable video transmission


A non-volatile electrically erasable and programmable memory provides both a SDP (software data protection) function and an OTP (one-time protection) function. The memory comprises a memory array having a plurality of memory cells each for storing an information bit. The memory further comprises at least one supplementary cell for storing a first state bit pertaining to the write-accessible (or non-write accessible) state of all the memory cells of the memory array, and at least one other supplementary cell for storing a second state bit relating to the blank state (or non-blank state) of a group of memory cells designed to be programmed only once by the user. A common management circuit for the SDP and OTP cells is located outside the memory array.

Electrically erasable and programmable non-volatile memory devices include serial access memories and parallel access memories. Certain serial access memories have a block of memory cells that are accessible only once in a write mode. These devices are memories that are programmable only once. This block of memory cells generally contains information, such as manufacturing references registered by the manufacturer of an electronic system incorporating the memory so that the component can be traced. These references could be the reference of the system, the manufacturing batch number, the date of manufacture, etc.
This block of memory cells is generally a group of cells of the memory array itself. More particularly, the block of memory cells is a row of cells of the memory array that is organized in a matrix of rows and columns. This row of memory cells is conventionally called an OTP row, or a one-time programmable row. The memory is then said to provide an OTP function. Since the memory cells of the OTP row have the same structure as those of the rest of the memory array, they are also accessible by an appropriate address. A particular bit of the memory, called an OTP bit, contains either a logic 0 value or a logic 1 value when the OTP row is blank. The OTP row is blank if it has not yet been programmed. If the OTP row is programmed, it has the complementary logic value. The OTP bit is generally a special bit of the OTP row itself. The memory has means to permit or not permit writing in the OTP row, depending on the value of this bit. These means naturally include means to read the OTP bit.
However, since the OTP bit is an unspecified bit of the memory array, it is subject to the same risks of deterioration as the other cells of the memory array. This type of deterioration is caused by the application of high voltages needed to program and erase the cells of the memory array. It is important that the OTP bit keep its programmed value once it is programmed to indicate that the OTP row is no longer blank. Failing to do so results in a risk that the OTP row will be erased by another write operation (intentional or unintentional), if the value of the OTP bit has not been accurately read.
The invention seeks to overcome this drawback of the prior art. None of the parallel access memories presently known in the prior art have any OTP function. On the contrary, parallel access memories often have a so-called SDP, or software data protection function, to protect all the memory cells of the memory array against unintentional write operations. Unintentional write operations could cause accidental loss of data.
For parallel access memories, a write operation is possible when a memory chip select input and a read/write input are in a logic 0 state (a third output enable input is in a logic 1 state). The write operation is prompted by the trailing edge of the last of these two inputs, both of which go to a logic 0 state. The logic values present at the data input are then recorded in the memory cell identified by the address corresponding to the logic values present at the address input of the memory chip. These conditions could all occur without being intentionally set up. Such a condition is when there is noise on the electrical lines connected between the above-mentioned inputs of the memory chip. The SDP function makes it possible to avoid this drawback by ensuring that a series of steps prior to a write command are performed at the inputs of the memory chip so that the write operation is possible. For example, the memory has means to prevent any write operation in the memory cells within the memory array. These means are made inadequate by the performance of the above-mentioned series of steps.
For this purpose, the memory comprises a particular bit called an SDP bit. The bit is a logic 0 value if the memory array is write protected and the bit is a complementary logic value if the memory array is not write protected. The value of this bit is read routinely as soon as a write operation is activated in the memory. The time taken to read this bit must be smaller than a certain period of time after which a memory write cycle is activated to perform a write operation. If the value of the SDP bit indicates that the memory is write protected, then means must be provided to prevent this write cycle from being carried out. Means of this kind generally act to inhibit the operation of a voltage booster circuit delivering the high voltages needed for writing in the memory cell.
For an increased reading speed, the SDP bit is generally a supplementary bit of the memory, i.e., it does not form part of the memory array. The SDP bit is write-accessible by a special procedure whose complexity is sufficient to prevent any unintentional programming or erasure of this bit. The SDP function does not have the same value for the serial access memories, where an unintentional write operation is practically impossible. This is due to the fact that for any operation in the memory, the serial input of the memory must be provided with a sequence of signals according to a specific protocol.

Non-volatile electrically erasable and programmable memory


An armrest adjustment mechanism is disclosed. The armrest adjustment mechanism includes a sleeve, a tubular member, a slider, a long plate, a fixing plate, a guiding plate, a retaining block, a lower base, an armrest pad and a lever arm. The armrest adjustment mechanism features on that: an insertion hole is disposed on upper end of the long plate while the lever arm is arranged inside a space between the armrest pad and the lower base. The lever arm inserts through the insertion hole on top end of the long plate so that the long plate hangs on the lever arm, working as a load. One end of the lever arm is arranged on one side of the lower base, working as the fulcrum while the other end of the lever arm is arranged on an opposite side of the lower base correspondingly. A push member projecting from a corresponding opening of the lower base is arranged on the other end of the lever arm, working as the effort. Thus the push member is moved upwards by being pushed by the user from the outside or elastically turned back to the original position so as to make the lever arm (like a Type-2 lever) drives the long plate to move upwards synchronously. Therefore, the adjustment of the armrest height is achieved.

The present invention relates to a height adjustment mechanism, especially to a height adjustment mechanism for an armrest that have a lever arm disposed between an armrest pad and a lower base and working like a Type-2 (Class two) lever for adjusting height of the armrest by pushing one end of the lever arm.
There are various designs of the armrest height adjustment mechanism. The inventor of the present invention has invented an armrest height adjustment device and obtained U.S. Pat. No. 6,336,680 HEIGHT-ADJUSTMENT MECHANISM FOR ARMREST, as shown in FIG. 10 & FIG. 11. The height adjustment mechanism for an armrest includes a sleeve 10, a tubular member 20, a slider 30, a long plate 40, a fixing plate 50, a guiding plate 60 and a retaining block 70. While adjusting height of the armrest, by pulling up a handle 41 manually, the long plate 40 is moved upwards elastically (the spring 43 is extended simultaneously) so that a projection 45 moves upwards and leans against a projection of the guiding plate 60 and a lower end of the guiding plate 60 moves outwards and leaves original position. Thus the retaining block 70 is released from a locating hole 22, as shown in FIG. 9 and now the slider 30 moves freely inside a sliding slot 21 for adjusting the height. After the armrest being adjusted to a new height, the handle 41 is released so that the long plate 40 turns back to the original position by elasticity of the spring 43 and the projection 45 moves downwards to leave the projection 61 of the guiding plate 60. Thus the retaining block 70 automatically turns back by elasticity of the guiding plate 60 and locks into a new locating hole 22 to finish the height adjustment. However, the pulling-up of the handle 41 mentioned above requires more effort and is inconvenient for the user. Moreover, the handle 41 on a top end of the long plate 40 projecting outwards has negative effects on appearance of the lower base of the armrest.


The present disclosure provides a vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser, structured light module, terminal comprising the structured light module, and method for projecting the structured light thereof. The structured light module includes a plurality of light sources and a single diffractive optical element (DOE); wherein the plurality of light sources simultaneously emit a plurality beams of invisible light to the single DOE, wherein the single DOE has a pseudo-random optical pattern groove, wherein the invisible light of each light source passes through the DOE and emits a beam of spectral encoded structured light, and the beam of structured light comprises a pattern corresponding to the pseudo-random optical pattern groove. The DOE projects an overall structured light that is formed by superimposing a plurality of beams of structured light, and there is an offset between patterns of different beams of structured light.

Generally, when applying structured light modules in the 3D depth estimation, the higher the complexity and density of the generated structured light, the better the accuracy of the 3D depth estimation. Generally, the higher the density of the pattern on the diffractive optical element (DOE), the higher the density of the generated structured light. For example, on a DOE of the same size, the number of patterns increases from ten thousand to one hundred thousand; however, since the power of the light source in the structured light module has a certain upper limit, simply increasing the number of patterns on the DOE may result in a decrease of the energy appropriated to each pattern, thereby jeopardizing the accuracy of the 3D depth estimation. Accordingly, there is a need for further improvement and innovation.

Vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser, structured light module and method for light projection and terminal


A parallel flooding topology repair method performed by a node for repairing a flooding topology. The parallel flooding topology repair method detects a failed link and/or a failed node on a flooding topology, determines whether the failed link and/or failed node results in a flooding topology split, and repair the flooding topology by performing a local flooding topology repair process when the flooding topology is split.

A routing protocol specifies how routers communicate with each other, distributing information that enables them to select routes between any two nodes on a computer network. An interior gateway protocol (IGP) is a type of protocol used for exchanging routing information between gateways (commonly routers) within an autonomous system (AS). This routing information can then be used to route network-layer protocols like Internet Protocol (IP) packets. An AS is a collection of connected IP routing prefixes under the control of one or more network operators on behalf of a single administrative entity or domain that presents a common, clearly defined routing policy to the internet (for example, a system of corporate local area networks).
Within IGP, there are different types. Type 1 IGP is referred to as a link-state routing protocol. The link-state routing protocol is performed by every switching node in the network (i.e., nodes that are prepared to forward packets; in the Internet, these are called routers). The basic concept of link-state routing is that every node constructs a map of the connectivity to the network, in the form of a graph, showing which nodes are connected to which other nodes. Each node then independently calculates the best logical path or the best next hop interface from it to every possible destination in the network. Each collection of best paths will then form each node's routing table. Examples of link-state routing protocols include Open Shortest Path First (OSPF) routing protocol and Intermediate System to Intermediate System (IS-IS or ISIS).
OSPF is a standard routing protocol designated by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). OSPF uses Link State Advertisement (LSA) to exchange routing information between routers. Each router within an area will flood a type 1 LSA (also called router LSA) within the area. LSA's are encapsulated behind an OPSF packet and then an IP packet. An area is a logical group of OSPF-based networks, routers, and links that have the same area number. Routers that belong to the same area keep a topological database for the entire area. The router LSA contains information about directly connected links in the area to which the router belongs (e.g., a list with all the directly connected links of this router). They are flooded to all routers in that area. If the router is an ABR (Area Border Router), it generates type 1 LSAs for all the areas to which it is connected and sends those LSAs to all neighbors in corresponding areas.
IS-IS is a routing protocol standardized by the International Standards Organization (ISO). IS-IS uses Link State Protocol Data Unit (LSP) to exchange routing information between routers. LSP is a packet of information generated by a network router in a link state routing protocol that lists the router's neighbors. A LSP packet can also be further defined as special datagrams that determine the names of, and the cost or distance to, any neighboring routers and associated networks. They are used to efficiently determine what the new neighbor is, if a link failure occurs, and the cost of changing a link if the need arises.
Some additional differences between OSPF and IS-IS are that OSPF supports non-broadcast multiple access network (NBMA) and point-to-multipoint links, whereas IS-IS does not; IS-IS runs on the data link layer (L2), whereas OSPF runs on the network layer (L3); and OSPF supports virtual link, whereas IS-IS does not.
Irrespective of which IGP routing protocol is used, as a network becomes bigger and bigger, IGP routing convergence is slower and slower when a change such as a link failure occurs in the network. IGP convergence occurs when all components of every router in the network, including the Routing Information Base (RIB) and Forwarding Information Base (FIB), along with software and hardware tables, are provided with the most recent route change(s) such that forwarding for a route entry is successful on the Best Egress (or say next hop) Interface.
One or multiple failures may split the flooding topology (FT) even though the underlying (physical) topology is not split. Computing and building a new FT, and flooding the new FT from the leader node to every node in the network takes time. During this time, link-state databases (LSDBs) may be out of synchronization, and network convergence is slowed down.


An ultrasonic, flow measuring device, which includes a measuring tube having a straight measuring tube axis, a transmitter for sending an acoustic signal on a first signal path, a receiver for receiving the acoustic signal on the first signal path and at least a first reflection surface, on which the acoustic signal is reflected at least once on the first signal path. The acoustic signal incident on the first reflection surface propagates along a first straight subsection, which has a first separation from the measuring tube axis, wherein the transmitter, the receiver and the first reflection surface are so oriented relative to one another and arranged in or on the measuring tube that the acoustic signal on the first signal path from the first transmitter to the first receiver is so reflected on the at least a first reflection surface that the acoustic signal reflected on the first reflection surface propagates through the measuring tube on the first signal path along a second straight subsection. A surface normal to the first reflection surface has an angle relative to the measuring tube axis, which is other than 90°.

Ultrasonic, flow measuring devices are applied widely in process and automation technology. They permit easy determination of volume flow and/or mass flow in a pipeline.
Known ultrasonic, flow measuring devices frequently work according to the travel-time difference principle. In the travel-time difference principle, the different travel times of ultrasonic waves, especially ultrasonic pulses, i.e. so-called bursts, are evaluated as a function of the direction the waves travel in the flowing liquid. To this end, ultrasonic pulses are sent at a certain angle to the tube axis both with, as well as also counter to, the flow. From the travel-time difference, the flow velocity, and therewith, in the case of known diameter of the pipeline section, the volume flow, can be determined.
The ultrasonic waves are produced, respectively received, with the assistance of so-called ultrasonic transducers. To this end, ultrasonic transducers are placed securely in the tube wall of the relevant pipeline section. There are also clamp on, ultrasonic, flow measuring systems. In such case, the ultrasonic transducers are pressed externally on the wall of the measuring tube. A great advantage of clamp on, ultrasonic, flow measuring systems is that they do not contact the measured medium and can be placed on an already existing pipeline.
The ultrasonic transducers are normally composed of an electromechanical transducer element, e.g. a piezoelectric element, and a coupling layer. In the electromechanical transducer element, the ultrasonic waves are produced as acoustic signals and led via the coupling layer to the pipe wall and from there into the liquid in the case of clamp-on-systems, and, in the case of inline systems, via the coupling layer into the measured medium. In such case, the coupling layer is sometimes called a membrane.
Between the piezoelectric element and the coupling layer, another coupling layer can be arranged, a so called adapting, or matching, layer. The adapting, or matching, layer performs, in such case, the function of transmitting the ultrasonic signal and simultaneously reducing reflection at interfaces between two materials caused by different acoustic impedances.
Both in the case of clamp-on-systems, as well as also in the case of inline systems, the ultrasonic transducers are arranged on the measuring tube in a shared plane, either on oppositely lying sides of the measuring tube, in which case the acoustic signal, projected onto a tube cross section, passes once along a secant through the measuring tube, or on the same side of the measuring tube, in which case the acoustic signal is reflected on the oppositely lying side of the measuring tube, whereby the acoustic signal traverses the measuring tube twice along the secant projected on the cross section through the measuring tube. U.S. Pat. No. 4,103,551 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,610,167 show ultrasonic, flow measuring devices with reflections on reflection surfaces provided therefor in the measuring tube. Also known are multipath systems, which have a number of ultrasonic transducer pairs, which, in each case, form a signal path, along which the acoustic signals pass through the measuring tube. The respective signal paths and the associated ultrasonic transducers lie, in such case, in mutually parallel planes parallel to the measuring tube axis. U.S. Pat. No. 4,024,760 and U.S. Pat. No. 7,706,986 show such multipath systems by way of example. An advantage of multipath systems is that they can measure the profile of the flow of the measured medium in the measuring tube at a plurality of locations and thereby provide highly accurate, measured values for the flow. This is achieved based on, among other things, the fact that the individual travel times along the different signal paths are weighted differently. Disadvantageous in the case of multipath systems is, however, their manufacturing costs, since several ultrasonic transducers and, in given cases, a complex evaluating electronics need to be used.
There are different approaches for weighting the signal paths. The paper "Comparsion of integration methods for multipath accoustic discharge measurements" by T. Tresch, T. Staubli and P. Gruber in the handout for 6th International Conference on Innovation in Hydraulic Efficiency Measurements, 30 Jul.-1 Aug. 2006 in Portland, Oreg., USA, compares established methods for weighting the travel times along different signal paths for calculating the flow.
WO 1995012110 A1 discloses an ultrasonic, flow measuring device having a measuring tube with planar walls and a straight measuring tube axis and at least one reflection surface in the measuring tube, wherein a normal to this reflection surface has three components different from zero in a right angled coordinate system, whose one axis corresponds to the measuring tube axis. This document teaches that an ultrasonic signal of predetermined width, which is markedly greater than a point shaped signal, has a Gauss shaped sensitivity across this width. This signal is used for flow measurement. The width of the signal corresponds, in such case, approximately to the width of the rectangular measuring tube. If such a signal would pass through the measuring tube parallel to the side walls, the region with the highest sensitivity would extend through the center region of the measuring tube, and, thus, also record the higher flow velocities with higher values. In the case of very small flow velocities, this would lead to a measurement error. The document teaches consequently, further, to irradiate the measuring tube largely homogeneously by leading the ultrasonic signals through all regions of the measuring tube by means of directed reflections. For illustration, the broad ultrasonic signal was represented by individual beam portions. The path lengths of the individual beam portions are equally long, so that the beam portions do not cancel by interference.


The boat storage container unit is adapted to be supported on a boat. The boat storage container unit has a support unit and a container sized and shaped to store fishing tackle, tools and the like and adapted to slide onto the support unit. The support unit has a vertical support member, an attachment device for attaching the vertical support member to a boat, a base and a connection device at one end of the base to pivotally connect the base to the vertical support member. The connection device is adapted to permit the base to be moveable from a vertical position to a retainable horizontal position. A top surface of the base and a bottom surface of the container have inter-engaging means to permit the container to slide onto and be retainer on the base.

Fisherman and recreational boaters need a solution to the storage of their tools and tackle boxes which provide easy storage and accessibility to tools and tackle while aboard the boat. Known devices have proven unsuccessful. The following US patents have attempted to provide a solution: U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,101,966, 4,271,624, and 4,033,648.


The present disclosure is generally directed to a multi-tool with more than one tweezer tip. In an example embodiment the multi-tool includes two plates and an interposed spring component. The plates have a plurality of tweezer tip pairs and the spring component permits pivoting articulation of the plates in order to apply pinching forces by the different tweezer tip pairs upon an area of interest.

Most types of tweezers are generally of a uniform size and are designed for use by women. These types of tweezers may not be suitable for use by men. Current tweezers are designed mainly with women's ergonomic/human-factor measurements in mind, meaning that they are designed for smaller hands and fingers. The small size of tweezers may make it more difficult for use by men because they typically have larger fingers and hands. Moreover, the amount of pressure exerted to operate cosmetic tweezers is also designed for use by women.
Additionally, most commercially available tweezers are designed for grooming rather than the removal of splinters or other debris that may lodge in the skin. Men are more likely to use tweezers to remove debris that is lodged in the skin as the result of manual labor.
Accordingly, it can be seen that needs exist for improved tweezers that are more suitable for use by men. It is to the provision of solutions to these and other problems that the present invention is primarily directed.


Silicon microcarriers suitable for fluorescent assays as a well as a method of producing such microcarriers are provided. The method includes the steps of providing a SOI wafer having a bottom layer of monocristalline silicone, an insulator layer and a bottom layer of monocristalline silicon, delineating microparticles, etching away the insulator layer and then depositing an oxide layer on the wafer still holding the microparticles before finally lifting-off the microparticles.

1. Field of the Invention
The present application relates to microparticles, in particular silicon microparticles, and a method for coating these.
2. Description of Related Art
Several publications (for example European Patent EP 1276555B1) describe the fabrication of microparticles, notably silicon microparticles, using wafer based microfabrication techniques. Biological probes, such as antibodies or nucleic acids, can then be attached to those microparticles using techniques known in the art and the microparticles can then subsequently be used for the detection of target analytes in a sample.
However, when attaching fluorescent probes (typically ssDNA probes labelled with FAM fluorophore at the 5′ end) on the surface of silicon microparticles and performing subsequently hybridization assays with complementary targets labelled with Cy5 fluorophore did not reveal any fluorescence signal neither on the FAM channel before hybridization or on the Cy5 channel after hybridization.
After investigation, this appeared to be caused by destructive light interference occurring right at the surface of the partially reflective silicon microparticles. This phenomenon is described in several scientific publications (Bras, M., et al., Optimisation of a silicon/silicon dioxide substrate for a fluorescence DNA microarray. Biosensors & bioelectronics, 2004. 20(4): p. 797-806; Voile, J. N., et al., Enhanced sensitivity detection of protein immobilization by fluorescent interference on oxidized silicon. Biosensors and Bioelectronics, 2003. 19(5): p. 457-464). The same phenomenon would be observed to some extent on any material that is reflective.
The scientific publications mentioned above suggest the addition of an oxide layer at optimized thickness to move the fluorophores away from the surface and reverse this effect into a constructive light interference which reveals and potentially amplifies the fluorescence signal. A similar method, i.e. the addition of a transparent layer (silicon dioxide, silicon nitride, or others) with the proper thickness, could be applied to other materials than silicon as a substrate.
The reflection coefficient of a polished silicon wafer (or SOI (silicon-on-insulator) wafer) is about 35-40% in the 500-700 nm wavelength range. This means that significant light interference occurs in this range, which includes the common fluorescent labels such as FAM, Cy3, and Cy5. The interference effect is dependent on the thickness of the layer (oxide in this case) that separates the fluorescent labels from the reflective surface of the silicon. In particular cases the interference can completely anneal the fluorescent signal while it can strongly enhance the signal in other cases. The interference can be either destructive or constructive, as function of the thickness of the layer, of the refractive index of the layer, of the wavelength of the light, and of its angle of incidence. For instance, at quasi normal incidence, constructive light interference of a light beam reflected specularly by a substrate is maximal at the position of the electromagnetic field "anti-nodes" which are located periodically at distances dan=(2k+1)λeff/4 from the substrate; k is a positive integer and λeff is the wavelength of light in the propagation medium. Thus, for k=0, dan=λeff=λcy5/noxide/4=654/1.45/4=113 nm for the common Cy5 fluorescent label, where λcy5 is the mean value between the absorbance peak and the emission peak and where noxide is the refractive index of silicon dioxide. Thus, in order to achieve maximal constructive light interference, the layer needs to have a thickness of ca. 113 nm. The same reasoning applies to any other fluorescent label.
The scientific publications referenced above describe methods to add an oxide layer on top of the silicon substrates. However, those methods are only applicable to large substrates that can be handled easily and that are already in their final format. For small microparticles in the micron range, typically from 1 to 300 micron, such as those that are contemplated herein, these methods are not readily applicable. Typically, such small microparticles are handled "in batch" as a powder, in suspension or temporarily tethered to larger substrates and the methods disclosed in the art do not teach how to perform the required steps in such conditions.
The fabrication of microparticles by using wafer-based microfabrication techniques is well known in the art. These techniques typically make use of particular wafers (SOI wafers) that have an insulator layer. The microparticles can be structured in the top device layer and then released by etching away the buried insulator layer. For example, WO 2009/014848, WO 07/081410, GB2306484, US2003/203390, EP 1 018 365 and EP 2 113 301 describe the fabrication of various types of (generally encoded) microparticles with various shapes and structures.
However, there is a need in the art for fabrication techniques providing for the addition of an essentially transparent layer that would contribute to the construction of a positive interference as described above. The problem of adding a transparent layer is particularly challenging when the material constituting this transparent layer is the same as the material used as the insulator layer (buried insulator layer in SOI wafer) because such additional layer would be partially or totally removed when etching away the insulator, typically in solution or in vapor of HF (hydrofluoric acid solution).
A possible way to overcome this problem and to perform the coating of those microparticles could be the use of conventional suspension techniques. Yet, there is no known method that would allow achieving a coating with a layer that has the required thickness and the required regularity/repeatability. Indeed, an irregular or a different thickness at each batch would result in irregular or different fluorescent signals readouts at each time, for the same amount of attached fluorophores (i.e. the same amount of labeled targets being captured), which renders quantization difficult or impossible. For example, a thin oxide layer of a few nanometers, typically 3 nm, as obtained when oxidizing the microparticles in piranha solution (mixture of sulfuric acid H2S04 and hydrogen peroxide H202 in typical ratio of 3:1), would prevent any fluorescence readout perpendicular to the microparticles by producing destructive light interference. Another example is the formation of a thin silica (silicon dioxide) shell around the microparticles using a sol-gel method similar to silica coating of nanoparticles (Graf C, Vossen D U, Imhof A, van Blaaderen A. A General Method To Coat Colloidal Particles with Silica. Langmuir. 2003; 19(17):6693-6700) but does not provide a controlled and homogeneous layer and does not achieve required thickness of approx. 100 nm. The sol-gel process, also known as chemical solution deposition, is a wet-chemical technique widely used in the fields of materials science used primarily for the fabrication of materials (typically an oxide) starting from a chemical solution (or sol) that acts as the precursor for an integrated network (or gel) of either discrete particles or network polymers.
Polymer layers instead of an oxide layer may also be considered but, here again, it becomes difficult to get layers with the required thickness (above 100 nm) and homogeneity.
There is therefore a need in the art for a method that allows the production of microparticles with a layer, preferably a transparent layer, more preferably an oxide layer, on their surface having the required thickness and regularity/repeatability.


A communication apparatus receives, from a first apparatus which has established a communication session, a signal indicating a state in which the communication session should be maintained. If the signal is not received from the first apparatus within a predetermined period of time while the communication session with the first apparatus is established, and a communication session establishment request is received from a second apparatus, the communication apparatus disconnects the communication session with the first apparatus.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a communication apparatus, a control method, and a storage medium for controlling to establish and disconnect a communication session for data transmission/reception.
2. Description of the Related Art
There is well known PTP-IP (PTP over TCP/IP) as a protocol for connecting PTP (Picture Transfer Protocol) and TCP (Transfer Control Protocol). Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2010-109595 describes a technique of performing direct printing with wireless connection using PTP-IP without using a USB (Universal Serial Bus). Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2010-109595 also describes a technique in which the operation of a printer serving as an image output apparatus is guaranteed in an apparatus for performing direct printing with wireless connection even if a digital camera serving as an image input apparatus disconnects connection with the printer before the printer disconnects the connection.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2010-109595 assumes that the digital camera disconnects connection, and does not describe a disconnection control operation on the printer side. On the other hand, in an apparatus for performing direct printing with wireless connection, a plurality of communication sessions for transmitting/receiving print data may not simultaneously be established due to restrictions imposed by the apparatus and a protocol. In this case, if a printer cannot disconnect a communication session with a digital camera, one digital camera may occupy the communication resources of the printer, thereby occupying the printing resources as well.
The present invention has been made in consideration of the above problems, and provides a technique for preventing a partner apparatus such as a digital camera from occupying the communication resources of a communication apparatus such as a printer, and resources for executing an application such as printing.

Communication apparatus, control method and storage medium


A method and apparatus for effecting superplastic forming of metal workpieces at temperatures greater than 1000.degree. C., wherein both oxidation and creep deformation of the tooling are minimized. The process is achieved by heating forming surfaces of ceramic forming dies to temperatures in excess of 1000.degree. C., and using metal housings to impart high loading conditions to seal the workpiece within a chamber for superplastic forming. More specifically, the metal housings are used not only for load bearing purposes, but also for creating an evacuated chamber within which superplastic forming can take place. The ceramic dies, on the other hand, are positioned on opposing sides of the workpiece region to be superplastically formed, and are insulated from, while being contained within, the metallic dies. Once the region of the workpieces to be superplastically formed has attained the desired temperature, expansion gases are introduced into the workpieces region via appropriate means to facilitate superplastic expansion of the workpiece within the chamber formed between the metallic housings.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to methods and apparatus for superplastic forming of metals, and more particularly to novel means for effecting superplastic forming of metals at temperatures greater than 1000.degree. C., while resisting oxidation and creep deformation ordinarily attendant conventional tooling.
2. Background of the Invention
For many years, it has been known that certain metals, such as titanium alloys, exhibit superplasticity within limited temperature ranges and strain rates. Superplasticity is the capability of a material to develop unusually high tensile elongations with a reduced tendency towards necking. Thus, when in a superplastic condition, the metal alloy exhibits low resistance to deformation and may be elongated with reduced thinning. This permits a sheet of such metal to be readily formed against dies to achieve desired shapes while maintaining a substantially uniform thickness in the finished part without any weak points.
Superplastic forming (SPF) may be performed in conjunction with diffusion bonding, a process in which the surfaces of facing metallic components are metallurgically joined through application of high temperatures and pressures sufficient to cause commingling of atoms at the junction of the surfaces.
Conventional superplastic forming (SPF) techniques are limited to temperatures below approximately 1000.degree. C. This temperature restriction is due to excessive oxidation of parts and tooling components, as well as creep deformation of metallic dies when subjected to press loads during forming. In addition, a significant need has developed for SPF processes which can use temperatures up to approximately 1250.degree. C. for fabrication of materials such as gamma titanium aluminide materials.

Superplastic forming of metals at temperatures greater than 1000 degree C


A spin-valve film used in a magnetoresistive-effect magnetic head includes an antiferromagnetic layer, a magnetization fixing layer, a non-magnetic layer, and a free layer. The magnetization fixing layer or the free layer is provided with a layered ferromagnetic structure which includes a pair of magnetic layers through the intermediary of a non-magnetic layer. In the layered ferromagnetic structure, a surface oxidation layer is formed on the surface of the non-magnetic intermediate layer to the side of the non-magnetic layer.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a magnetoresistive-effect thin film using the giant magneto-resistivity. The present invention also relates to a magnetoresistive-effect element and a magnetoresistive-effect magnetic head fabricated with the magnetoresistive-effect thin film using the giant magneto-resistivity.
2. Prior Art
Conventionally, there is a widely used magnetoresistive-effect magnetic head (hereafter referred to as the MR head) which uses magnetoresistance of a magnetoresistive-effect element (hereafter referred to as the MR element) to read signals recorded on a magnetic storage medium.
The MR element is a type of resistance element and varies electrical resistance according to an external magnetic field. The MR head reads magnetic signals recorded on a magnetic storage medium by using the fact that the MR element's electrical resistance varies with a signal magnetic field from the magnetic storage medium.
In recent years, there is an increasing need for a small, large-capacity magnetic storage medium. For example, a technique such as narrowing a recording track width accelerates the trend towards a higher recording density of magnetic storage media.
With respect to the MR head, a particular attention is paid to utilize an MR thin film based on the giant magneto-resistivity (GMR) instead of a conventional MR thin film using the anisotropic magneto-resistivity (AMR). The purpose is to prevent a signal output from decreasing due to narrowed tracks on the magnetic storage medium.
Of MR thin films using the giant magneto-resistivity, a spin-valve film comprises an antiferromagnetic layer, two ferromagnetic layers, and a non-magnetic layer. The non-magnetic layer is formed between the two ferromagnetic layers. The antiferromagnetic layer is formed adjacent to one of the two ferromagnetic layers. The ferromagnetic layer in contact with the antiferromagnetic layer is used as a pinned layer. The other ferromagnetic layer is used as a free layer. The free layer magnetization varies with an external magnetic field. The external magnetic field is detected according to a difference in magnetization directions for the pinned layer and the free layer.
The MR head tends to lower an MR element for improving outputs. Consequently, this thins the free layer in the spin-valve film. However, thinning the free layer makes the MR element asymmetric. For decreasing this asymmetry, it is only necessary to decrease demagnetization applied to the layer from the pinned layer. For this purpose, it is only necessary to decrease a magnetic moment for the pinned layer. For decreasing the pinned layer's magnetic moment, it is only necessary to thin the pinned layer. However, thinning the pinned layer decreases an MR head output.
From the viewpoint of increasing recording densities, the spin-valve film tends to thin the free layer for reducing its magnetic moment. However, thinning the free layer may degrade magnetoresistance.
To solve this, it is proposed to use a structure comprising a pair of antiferromagnetically combined ferromagnetic layers for the pinned layer or the free layer by forming a non-magnetic layer between a pair of ferromagnetic layers for the spin-valve film. This structure is called the layered ferrimagnetic structure (VS. Speriousu et.al; The 1996 IEEE INTERMAG,AA-04). The layered ferrimagnetic structure provides a 3-layer structure by forming a non-magnetic layer between a pair of ferromagnetic layers. Adjusting the non-magnetic layer thickness antiferromagnetically binds a pair of ferromagnetic layers. The above-mentioned non-magnetic layer is generally formed of Ru, Rh, Ir, Re, and the like.
When the pinned layer uses this layered ferrimagnetic structure, a pair of antiferromagnetically coupled ferromagnetic layers decreases an apparent magnetic moment for the pinned layer. Even if the free layer is thin, demagnetization applied to the free layer decreases. This makes it possible to improve the free layer's sensitivity against an external magnetic field without excessively thinning the pinned layer.
Examples of the spin-valve film which uses the layered ferrimagnetic structure for the free layer are reported in studies by A. Veloso et al. (IEEE Trans. Magn. Vol. 35, No. 5, P2568-2570, September 1999) and the like. Since a pair of ferromagnetic layers is antiferromagnetically coupled in the free layer, an apparent magnetic moment for the free layer can be decreased by maintaining the thickness of one magnetic layer associated with magnetoresistive-effect and adjusting the thickness of the other magnetic layer not associated therewith. Accordingly, it is possible to improve the free layer's sensitivity against an external magnetic field without excessively thinning the free layer.
On the other hand, improvement of the magnetoresistive-effect change necessitates consideration of increasing a probability that electrons scatter depending on spins in the spin-valve film and improving the magnetoresistive-effect change in the spin-valve film. Incidentally, this scattering of electrons is hereafter referred to as spin-dependent scattering.
When the layered ferrimagnetic structure is applied to the free layer, however, there is provided a new magnetic layer not associated with magnetoresistive-effect. A shunt loss may occur in this magnetic layer. There is the problem that a resulting magnetoresistive-effect change is not as high as expected despite the use of the layered ferrimagnetic structure for the free layer.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 11-8424 discloses an example of the spin-valve film which increases the probability of spin-dependent scattering as mentioned above. According to this example, a metal layer which easily causes mirror reflection is formed adjacent to the pinned layer and the free layer. However, many such metal materials provide low resistivity. Consequently, a current shunts to the layer of such metal easily causing mirror reflection, raising the possibility of decreasing MR head output.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 11-168250 and the study by W. F. Egelhoff et. al. (J. Appl. Phys. 82(12), Dec. 15, 1997) provide an example of the spin-valve film which increases the probability of spin-dependent scattering as mentioned above. According to this example, an antiferromagnetic film of oxide is formed in the spin-valve film. However, the antiferromagnetic film formed of oxide does not provide a sufficient exchange coupling force with a ferromagnetic film used as the pinned layer. The antiferromagnetic film formed of oxide lacks thermal stability and does not ensure the reliability as an antiferromagnetic film compared to an antiferromagnetic film formed of presently used ordered metal.
Further, the study by Y. Kamiguchi et. al. (The 1999 IEEE INTERMAG, DB-1) provides an example of the spin-valve film which increases the probability of spin-dependent scattering as mentioned above. According to the example, the spin-valve film contains a metal oxide layer formed in the middle of a pinned layer. However, forming a metal oxide layer in the middle of the pinned layer thickens it. Thickening the pinned layer increases demagnetization applied to the free layer.
Conventionally, the spin-valve film uses a non-magnetic layer with a thickness of 2.4 to 3.2 nm formed between the pinned layer and the free layer. From the viewpoint of improving the magnetoresistive-effect change, it is desirable to make the non-magnetic layer as thin as possible. However, thickening the non-magnetic layer excessively increases an inter-layer coupling field between the pinned layer and the free layer. A change in the free layer's magnetization direction may also change the pinned layer's magnetization direction.

Magnetoresistive-effect thin film, magnetoresistive-effect element, and magnetoresistive-effect magnetic head


A process for the preparation of photoconductive imaging members which comprises coating a supporting substrate with a photogenerator layer comprised of photogenerating pigments and a mixture of cyclic oligomers wherein said mixture is heated to obtain a polycarbonate resin binder, and subsequently applying to the photogenerating layer a layer of charge transport molecules.

This invention is generally directed to imaging members and processes for the preparation thereof. More specifically, the present invention relates to layered photoconductive imaging members with excellent mechanical characteristics, and which members contain high molecular weight and narrow dispersity polymers. In embodiments, the present invention is directed to the fabrication of photogenerating layers by the in situ polymerization of mixtures of macrocyclic oligomers and photogenerating pigments. The aforementioned photoresponsive imaging members can be negatively charged when the photogenerating layer is situated between the charge transport layer and the substrate, or positively charged when the charge transport layer is situated between the photogenerating layer and the supporting substrate. The layered photoconductive imaging members can be selected for a number of different known imaging and printing processes including, for example, electrophotographic imaging processes, especially xerographic imaging and printing processes wherein negatively charged or positively charged images are rendered visible with toner compositions of the appropriate charge. Generally, the imaging members are sensitive in the wavelength regions of from about 400 to about 850 nanometers, thus diode lasers can be selected as the light sources in some instances.
Imaging members are usually prepared by first providing on a supporting substrate a photogenerating layer of, for example, trigonal selenium in a polymer binder. Photogenerating pigments are usually milled in an organic solvent to obtain a small particle size and certain morphology. The polymer binder is chosen with consideration of the aforementioned milling; phthalocyanine pigments, for example, are often converted to less sensitive morphologies by chlorinated solvents, and thus, the use of polymers that are only soluble in these solvents such as polycarbonate is normally precluded. Yet, polycarbonate because of its clarity and toughness is otherwise an acceptable polymer binder. This invention provides in embodiments the use of polycarbonate as a binder for photogenerating pigments since, for example, the cruical milling step takes place in the presence of a mixture of macrocylic carbonate oligomers rather than a high molecular weight polymer. The oligomer mixture is soluble in a wide variety of organic materials, and addition, needs not be dissolved at all since it is friable and can be broken down into small particles and widely dispersed among the pigment particles by milling. Conversion to high molecular weight polymer takes place after the solvent has been removed. Alternatively, coating may take place in the absence of solvent using powder coating methods. This invention in embodiments allows one to effectively prepare charge generation layers comprised of a polycarbonate binder and charge generating pigments. With the invention of the present application, in embodiments there is selected a mixture of macrocyclic carbonate oligomers and this mixture is converted into a polymer after or simultaneously with the coating of the charge generation layer. The advantages of the aforementioned include the provision of polycarbonate as a binder for pigments that are sensitive to chlorinated solvents. The processes of the present invention and imaging members thereof allows the charge generation binder to be optionally crosslinked to provide tougher coatings. Also provided are higher 100,000 to 300,000 polycarbonate films or polymers versus about 40,000 for spray coated molecular weight films formed using spray or dip coating techniques achieved with a polymer solution. The use of a solvent for forming a photoreceptor film may be avoided entirely with the present invention in embodiments by coating the cyclic oligomers and charge generation pigment mixture as a melt or a powder before curing the cyclic oligomers to obtain high molecular weight polymers. Additionally, by using mixtures of different structured cyclic oligomers high molecular weight copolymers of exact stoichiometry can be obtained that are not readily obtained by either the known interfacial or melt transesterification processes for producing polycarbonates.
Layered imaging members with photogenerating and charge transport layers, including charge transport layers comprised of aryl diamines dispersed in polycarbonates, like MAKROLON.RTM. are known, reference for example U.S. Pat. No. 4,265,900, the disclosure of which is totally incorporated herein by reference. More specifically in U.S. Pat. No. 4,265,900 there is illustrated an imaging member comprised of a photogenerating layer, and an aryl amine hole transport layer comprised of amine molecules dispersed in a polycarbonate. Examples of photogenerating layer components include trigonal selenium, metal phthalocyanines, vanadyl phthalocyanines, and metal free phthalocyanines. Additionally, there is described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,121,006 a composite xerographic photoconductive member comprised of finely divided particles of a photoconductive inorganic compound dispersed in an electrically insulating organic resin binder. The binder materials disclosed in the '006 patent comprise a material which is incapable of transporting for any significant distance injected charge carriers generated by the photoconductive particles.
Photoresponsive imaging members with squaraine photogenerating pigments are also known, reference U.S. Pat. No. 4,415,639. In this patent there is illustrated a photoresponsive imaging member with a substrate, a hole blocking layer, an optional adhesive interface layer, an organic photogenerating layer, a photoconductive composition capable of enhancing or reducing the intrinsic properties of the photogenerating layer, and a hole transport layer dispersed in resin binders like polycarbonates. As photoconductive compositions for the aforementioned members, there can be selected various squaraine pigments, including hydroxy squaraine compositions. Moreover, there are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,824,099 certain photosensitive hydroxy squaraine compositions.
The use of selected perylene pigments as photoconductive substances is also known. There is thus described in Hoechst European Patent Publication 0040402, DE3019326, filed May 21, 1980, the use of N,N'-disubstituted perylene-3,4,9,10-tetracarboxyldiimide pigments as photoconductive substances. Specifically, there is, for example, disclosed in this publication N,N'-bis(3-methoxypropyl)perylene-3,4,9,10-tetracarboxyldiimide dual layered negatively charged photoreceptors with improved spectral response in the wavelength region of 400 to 700 nanometers. A similar disclosure is revealed in Ernst Gunther Schlosser, Journal of Applied Photographic Engineering, Vol. 4, No. 3, page 118 (1978). There are also disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,871,882 photoconductive substances comprised of specific perylene-3,4,9,10-tetracarboxylic acid derivative dyestuffs. In accordance with the teachings of this patent, the photoconductive layer is preferably formed by vapor depositing the dyestuff in a vacuum. Further, there is disclosed in this patent dual layer photoreceptors with perylene-3,4,9,10-tetracarboxylic acid diimide derivatives, which have spectral response in the wavelength region of from 400 to 600 nanometers. Also, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,555,463, the disclosure of which is totally incorporated herein by reference, there is illustrated a layered imaging member with a chloroindium phthalocyanine photogenerating layer. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,587,189, the disclosure of which is totally incorporated herein by reference, there is illustrated a layered imaging member with a perylene (BZP) pigment photogenerating component. Both of the aforementioned patents disclose an aryl amine component as a hole transport layer, and resin binders like polycarbonates.
Moreover, there are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,419,427 electrographic recording mediums with a photosemiconductive double layer comprised of a first layer containing charge carrier perylene diimide dyes, and a second layer with one or more compounds which are charge transporting materials when exposed to light, reference the disclosure in column 2, beginning at line 20.
In copending application U.S. Ser. No. 537,714 (D/90087), the disclosure of which is totally incorporated herein by reference, there are illustrated photoresponsive imaging members with photogenerating titanyl phthalocyanine layers prepared by vacuum deposition. It is indicated in this copending application that the imaging members comprised of the vacuum deposited titanyl phthalocyanines and aryl amine hole transporting compounds dispersed in resin binders like polycarbonates exhibit superior xerographic performance as low dark decay characteristics result and higher photosensitivity is generated, particularly in comparison to several prior art imaging members prepared by solution coating or spray coating, reference for example U.S. Pat. No. 4,429,029.
In copending patent application U.S. Ser. No. 905,697 (D/92090) filed Jun. 29, 1992, there is illustrated, for example, a process for the preparation of photoconductive imaging members which comprises coating a supporting substrate with a photogenerator layer comprised of photogenerating pigments, and subsequently applying to the photogenerating layer a mixture comprised of charge transport molecules and cyclic oligomers, and wherein said mixture is heated to obtain a polycarbonate resin binder from said cyclic oligomers.
The disclosures of all of the aformentioned publications, laid open applications, copending applications and patents are totally incorporated herein by reference.

Imaging members and processes for the preparation thereof


Fiber optic connectors and other structures that can be easily and quickly prepared by the craft for termination and/or connectorization in the field are disclosed. More specifically, the fiber optic connectors and other structures disclosed are intended for use with glass optical fibers having a large core. In one embodiment, the fiber optic connector includes a ferrule having a bore sized to receive an optical fiber and a buffer layer at a front end face of the ferrule. Methods of making the fiber optic connectors and other structures are also disclosed. The methods disclosed allow “rough cutting” of the optical fibers with a buffer layer thereon by the craft.

1. Field
The disclosure is directed to fiber optic connectors along with other structures and methods for making the same. More specifically, the disclosure is directed to fiber optic connectors and other structures for large core optical fibers and methods for making the same.
2. Technical Background
Optical fiber is increasingly being used for a variety of applications, including but not limited to broadband voice, video, and data transmission. Optical fibers may be formed from different types of materials such as plastic or glass depending on the application. Typically, plastic optical fibers (POF) have been used in short distance optical networks since they are relatively easy to terminate by untrained personnel. However, POF has limitations such as not being suitable for longer distance optical networks because the losses using POF increase dramatically with the transmission distance. On the other hand, glass optical fiber has extremely wide bandwidth and low noise operation with relatively low-losses over long distances. However, terminating or connectorizing conventional glass optical fibers is more complicated than terminating POF because it usually requires special cleaving tools and/or stripping tools for preparing the optical fibers. Moreover, conventional terminations or splicing of glass optical fibers may require a skilled technician and/or specialized equipment. For instance, fiber optic connectors for conventional glass optical fibers typically have a fine polish on the end face of the ferrule holding the glass optical fiber that is best accomplished in a factory setting with dedicated equipment. Field-terminated optical fiber connectors having a mechanical splice are available to the craft but are not typically used for short distance optical networks even though they are suitable for these applications.
Thus, there is an unresolved a need for a fiber optic connectors and other structures for use with glass optical fibers that are simple, cost-effective, reliable, easy to assemble, and which offers easy connection and disconnection for short distance optical fiber networks.

Fiber optic connectors and structures for large core optical fibers and methods for making the same


The present invention is directed to an apparatus for more efficient exergy and power usage in data centers. Denominated FRAME (standing for “Forced Recuperation, Aggregation & Movement of Exergy”), the apparatus is a power production and exergy management system (exergy being energy available to do useful work, as opposed to energy, which can be changed to a form, usually heat, rendering it unavailable). The apparatus integrates generally isothermal operation with phase-change and single-phase liquid cooling having variable operating temperatures and pressures, aided by a dynamically reconfigurable “thermal bus” comprising multi-fluid thermal fluid transport channels, virtual plumbing, and associated support devices. The apparatus minimizes exergy use through efficient operation and by recuperating and aggregating useful exergy that may then be dynamically repurposed to meet energy or power needs that would otherwise have to be met via external means.

With the explosion of internet usage, including cloud computing, in recent years, data centers have proliferated all over the world, and have brought with them enormous demand for electricity. A recent report in the New York Times (Sep. 22, 2012) after a year-long investigation quotes a designer of hundreds of data centers: "It's staggering for most people, even people in the industry, to understand the numbers, the sheer size of these systems. A single data center can take more power than a medium-size town."
Industry experts told the Times that all data centers in the world taken together probably consume around 30 billion watts of electricity—approximately the output of 30 nuclear power plants—with data centers in the U.S. consuming one fourth to one third of that. In 2010, U.S. data centers used approximately 76 billion kilowatt-hours, approximately 2 percent of all electricity used in the U.S.
The Times report cites an estimate by EMC and the International Data Corporation "that more than 1.8 trillion gigabytes of digital information were created globally last year." About three quarters of that was created by ordinary consumers doing what now are ordinary things on the internet (such as sending emails with attached videos), with little thought given to how much infrastructure and energy these uses take up.
This explosion of data shows no signs of slowing down, or even leveling off. For just one example, Facebook announced that it had reached one billion active users on Sep. 14, 2012 (http://newsroom.fb.com/download-media/4227). The New York Times report further quotes a former utility executive now consulting for the power and IT industries: "It's just not sustainable. They're going to hit a brick wall."
Industry attempts to deal with exploding power demands by data centers have given rise to the metric Power Usage Efficiency, or PUE. This is a data center's total power consumption (numerator) divided by the power actually running the electronics (denominator). A data center with a PUE of 1.7, for example, which is typical for a recently-built facility, would consume 1.7 megawatts of electricity in order to furnish 1 megawatt to the electronics doing the computing work. The additional 0.7 megawatts, or 700 kilowatts, represents overhead.
A sizeable fraction of this overhead is devoted to cooling the electronics. The typical state of the art is to use air cooling, with ambient air, pre-cooled with air conditioning equipment if need be, blown over and through the servers with electric powered fans. Some work has been done using liquid cooling of key individual electronic components, usually processors, but the remainder is still air-cooled.
For the foregoing reasons, there is a need for systems increasing the efficiency with which data centers use electrical power.

FRAME (forced recuperation, aggregation and movement of exergy)


An apparatus for manufacturing a semiconductor device is provided. The semiconductor device includes a chip packaged with a resin mold. The apparatus includes a first mold, a second mold, and a buffer sheet. The first mold has a first cavity for forming the resin mold on a first side of the semiconductor device, and a convex part for forming an exposed area of the chip. The second mold has a second cavity for forming the resin mold on a second side of the semiconductor device. The buffer sheet is disposed between the convex part and the chip for covering the exposed area.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus and a method for manufacturing a semiconductor device.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, a technique for packaging a semiconductor chip on a die pad of a lead frame by resin molding so as to expose the chip to an outside is developed. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,622,873 (corresponding to JP Patent No. 3,630,447) discloses a process for manufacturing a solid type image pick-up device. In the process, an image pick-up chip (a semiconductor chip), which is wire-bonded to leads of the lead frame, is packaged by resin molding by using an upper mold having a stepped projection of a size corresponding to a light-receiving region. Thus, a resin mold has a cavity through which the light-receiving part of the image pick-up chip is exposed to the outside.
The above-described manufacturing process can improve productivity compared with a manufacturing process, in which the image pick-up chip is attached to a cavity in a chip-receiving vessel formed by sintering, before the image pick-up chip is wire-bonded to a chip pad. In addition, U.S. Pat. No. 5,622,873 discloses that when the upper mold has a groove at a bottom of the stepped projection, the stepped projection is separated from the light-receiving region of the image pick-up chip. Therefore, the light-receiving region of the image pick-up chip can be prevented from contamination during a process of the resin molding.
However, in a typical image pick-up device, a distance between the light-receiving region and an adjacent pad for wire bonding is set to be about 0.1 to 1 mm. Therefore, at the bottom of the stepped projection, it is difficult to form the groove at a portion corresponding to the light-receiving region by using a mold with a normal accuracy required for a typical resin molding, while arranging a concave part surrounding the groove (i.e., the most projected portion of the stepped projection 20a which is located at both sides of the groove 20′a in FIG. 7 in U.S. Pat. No. 5,622,873) within an area separated from the pad for wire bonding, i.e., within the above-described distance.
Thus, in the manufacturing process disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,622,873, the upper mold having the stepped projection is required to be formed with a high accuracy. However, a cost of the upper mold is generally increased with accuracy, and a production cost of the image pick-up device is increased with an equipment cost. Further, a life of a microfabricated mold tends to be short compared with a mold for the typical resin molding. As a result, an equipment cost and a production cost may increase.
Additionally, in order to position the most projected portion of the stepped projection 20a within the area smaller than 1 mm, the stepped projection is required to be positioned within an accuracy of 10 μm with respect to the image pick-up chip bonded to the lead frame. Thus, the lead frame is required to be positioned with a high accuracy in a horizontal direction, and a carrying system of the lead frame is required to be changed to meet the high accuracy. Therefore, the equipment cost and the production cost may further increase.
As described above, in the manufacturing process disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,622,873, various problems are caused by increasing the accuracy of the mold. It is difficult to prevent the light-receiving region from contamination, i.e., to improve a reliability of the image pick-up device, without increasing the accuracies of the mold and the carrying system. Thus, a yield rate and a mass productivity may be reduced.

Apparatus for manufacturing semiconductor device


Provided are a positive electrode active material for a sodium ion secondary battery, and a positive electrode and a sodium ion secondary battery using the material. The positive electrode active material for a sodium ion secondary battery comprises a lithium sodium-based compound containing lithium (Li), sodium (Na), iron (Fe), and oxygen (O).

Nonaqueous electrolyte secondary batteries are widely used as power sources of portable electronic devices. Composite oxides such as LiCoO2 and LiMn2O4 are mainly used as positive electrode active materials of the nonaqueous electrolyte secondary batteries. Moreover, it has been proposed to use a lithium silicate compound Li2MSiO4 (M: a transition metal element) as a positive electrode active material (See Patent Document 1).
In recent years, nonaqueous electrolyte secondary batteries have been considered to be used not only in portable electronic devices but also in vehicles. In order to expand use of the nonaqueous electrolyte secondary batteries as power sources in vehicles, a sufficient amount of lithium resources needs to be secured.
The amount of lithium resources, however, is limited, so battery materials to be used instead of these materials are now under development. Among them, sodium is rich in resources and sodium ion secondary batteries using sodium are being studied.

Positive electrode active material for sodium ion secondary battery, positive electrode, and sodium ion secondary battery

NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ADVANCED INDUSTRIAL SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY


The present invention provides compositions and methods for regulating expression of nucleotide sequences in fungi. Compositions are novel nucleotide sequences for a tissue preferred promoter isolated from the Agaricus bisporus lectin gene. The sequences drive expression preferentially to fruit body tissue. A method for expressing a nucleotide sequence in fungi using the regulatory sequences disclosed herein is provided. The method comprises transforming a fungal cell to comprise a nucleotide sequence operably linked to one or more of the regulatory sequences of the present invention and regenerating a stably transformed fungus from the transformed cell.

About 40% of the commercially available enzymes are derived from filamentous fungi. Lowe, Handbook of Applied Mycology. Fungal Biotechnology (eds.) Arora, D. K. Elander, R. P. & Mukerji, K. G. 681-708 (Marcel Dekker, New York; 1992). These enzymes are usually produced by species of the genera Aspergillus and Trichoderma. Because they secrete large amounts of protein into the medium, they can be grown in large-scale fermentation, and they are generally accepted as safe for the food industry.
General problems associated with the commercial cultivation of mushrooms (Agaricus bisporus) include diseases caused by pathogens like Verticillium fungicola (dry bubble), Trichoderma aggressivum (green mold), Pseudomonas tolaasii (blotch), and dsRNA viruses (La France disease and patch disease), the major insect pest [sciarid fly (Lycoriella mali)], an extremely short shelf life of the product related to bacterial spoilage and rapid senescence, and browning (bruising) of the fruit body associated with the action of endogenous poly-phenoloxidases (PPO, like tyrosinase). To further improve product quality, conventional breeding programs for A. bisporus have been only moderately successful and may not be sufficient in the long term. This is because conventional breeding techniques for fungi are highly time consuming, and because the genetic variation in commercially available strains is limited, offering little advancement by selection (Horgen et al. "Homology between mitochondrial DNA of A. bisporus and an internal portion of a linear mitochondrial plasmid of Agaricus bitorquis" Curr Genet. 1991. 19:495-502).
In the case of A. bisporus, the main obstacle to effective breeding strategies is the rather abnormal life cycle involving the unusual simultaneous segregation of either parental nucleus into one basidiospore. After outgrowth of this basidiospore, heterokaryotic mycelium is formed containing nuclei and genetic characteristics that do not differ from those present in the parental mycelium. In addition, only little recombinational activity is observed during meiosis (Summerbell et al. Genetics, Oct. 123(2) 1989 pp. 293-300).
To overcome the limitations of conventional breeding, investigators all over the world have attempted to develop and improve transformation methods for commercial mushrooms, such as A. bisporus, for the introduction of novel characteristics. For other fungi, as well as plants, animals, and bacteria, the application of gene transfer technology is quite common and has already resulted in commercial application.
In order to enhance the economies of protein production in microorganisms, such as fungi, there have been substantial efforts to improve the efficiency of transcription and translation, maximize the proportion of total protein directed to production of the desired product, enhance the viability of the modified host, and improve the efficiency with which the modified host may be obtained. The primary promoter used in fungal transformation to date is the glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (gpd) promoter. Using strong promoters to express heterologous genes in appropriate hosts is a major strategy in biotechnological applications. The gpd promoter is a strong promoter that can be induced by any carbon source and has been widely used in the expression of heterologous proteins in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Pichia pastoris and other yeasts.
The gpd genes have also been cloned from basidiomycetous fungi, including Schizophyllum commune, Phanerochaete chrysosporium, Agaricus bisporus (Harmsen et al., 1992), and Lentinula edodes (Hirano et al., 1999). Among these mushrooms, genetic transformation using homologous gpd promoter was reported to be successful only in A. bisporus, Flammulina velutipes and L. edodes (Hirano et al., 2000, Kuo et al., 2004, van de Rhee et al., 1996). Although heterologous promoters have been used for the expression of drug-resistant marker genes, the genetic transformation is not sufficient to express heterologous genes (Ruiz-Diez, 2002). To sufficiently and effectively express a heterologous gene, it is important for a host cell to recognize the promoter sequence by its transcriptional machinery. Chun-Yi Kuo et al. demonstrated that a heterologous gene, hygromycin B phosphotransferase gene (hpt), can be expressed in F. velutipes (Kuo et al., 2004). However, it was found that although the gpd genes in basidiomycetous fungi are highly similar, these gene differ significantly in their promoter regions.
As illustrated by the foregoing, there is a continuing need in the art for development of effective, convenient, and expeditious fungal transformation systems and gene expression components.
It is thus an object of the present invention to provide a transformation system and in particular a strong regulatory element for fungi that will accomplish the foregoing need.
A further object of this invention is to provide mechanisms for application of transgenic techniques such as those applied to bacteria, non-filamentous fungi (yeast), plants, and animals to increase yield, disease, and pest resistance, product quality, shelf life, or culinary, nutritional, or medicinal value, to produce heterologous proteins commercially, or other such protocols.
It is yet another object of the invention to provide regulatory elements capable of driving high level protein accumulation of operably linked sequences in the fruit body of fungi, as well as tissues in plant, or animal cells.
It is yet another object of the invention to provide regulatory elements polynucleotide constructs, vectors, and transformed cells for use in such transgenic protocols.
Other objects of the invention will become apparent from the description of the invention that follows.

Regulatory element for heterologous protein production in the fruiting body of filamentous fungi


A material collection unit for a material handling system is disclosed. The material collection unit includes an elongated housing section, a separator, and an accumulation bin. The separator is disposed within the housing section and partially bisects the elongated housing section into first and second sections. The first section is in communication with an inlet for materials to pass through. The second section is in communication with an exhaust. The accumulation bin is disposed below the elongated housing and has an open top section that is in communication with the elongated housing section and a second opening that is configured to mate with an opening of a baler unit.

In certain commercial or industrial settings, handling of large volumes of flexible articles is required. As one non-limiting example, in a hospital setting, soiled linens are deposited in flexible waste bags, which are secured closed to contain bodily fluids within the waste bag, as well as to minimize undesirable odors emanating from the waste bags. However, to facilitate removal of the laundry from the waste bags, the most efficient manner is to tear the bags open, rather than attempt to untie the bags. The used waste bags are then discarded in a bin. However, as waste removal costs are high, it is desirable for the waste bags to be compacted and bundled together in a cost-effective manner for efficient removal. Currently, the waste bags are accumulated in a bin, which must be manually transported to a remotely located baler machine to compact and bundle the waste bags together in an efficient and manageable size.
While the extra time and manpower that manually transporting the waste bags is an issue that needs to be resolved, there also exists a need for determining when a baler should be operated to maximize efficiency. In other words, using the waste bag example above, current systems do not have an arrangement that is configured to maximize the number of waste bags to be compacted and bundled together in a given bundle. Thus, the current baling operations are not operating at maximum efficiencies.
In the context of laundry facilities that involve flexible articles such as textiles, which touch patients/employees directly or indirectly in a healthcare facility, there are certain standards that must be met for the protection of patients/employees, as well as to minimize exposure to bacteria and disease. For example, the Healthcare Laundry Accreditation Council (HLAC) is the authority on laundry standards for the preparation of hygienically clean, reusable healthcare textiles for patient care and offers a voluntary accreditation to those laundry facilities processing reusable healthcare textiles. Part of the HLAC accreditation standards involves guidelines for the laundry facilities' design and ventilation.
For example, the HLAC accreditation standards require that the laundry facility must have functional separation of areas that receive, store or process soiled textiles from areas that process, handle, or store clean textiles. Approved methods of achieving this requirement include 1) providing a physical barrier which includes a negative air pressure in the soiled textile area with venting directly to the outside (i.e., positive air flow from the clean textiles area through the soiled textiles area, or 2) providing a functional barrier by negative air pressure in the soiled textile area and positive air flow from the clean textiles area through the soiled textiles area with venting directly to the outside. Further, the ventilation of the clean textile staging and storage area must be under positive air pressure relative to adjacent spaces to prevent intrusion of contamination from the soiled textile areas.
Accordingly, there exists a need for a handling system that serves to increase efficiencies in handling flexible articles and bundling them together for removal from a commercial or industrial setting. There is also a need for providing a sanitary/infection controlled environment during a waste collection operation that vents to the outside through the use of a negative air pressure in a soiled textile area.


An arrangement comprising a laser beam receiver and a canal building laser device is intended to be disposed in a pipeline. The canal building laser device is located in a shaft at the beginning of the pipeline and the laser beam receiver is located at the end of the portion of the pipeline produced, for example, the previous day, in the region of a still open pit. Owing to the distance from the laser beam receiver and the unevenness of the pipe, it should be assumed, even with careful locating of the canal building laser device, that a laser beam from the laser device does not impinge exactly on the laser beam receiver. The laser beam receiver has an infrared light source for transmitting a control signal to an infrared light receiver on the canal building laser device. The angle of emergence of the laser beam emitted by the canal building laser may be remotely controlled via control buttons on the laser beam receiver. The laser beam may therefore conveniently be centred onto the longitudinal axis of the pipeline. If the laser beam is located in the region of detection of the target field of the laser beam receiver it may even be orientated automatically.

Known laser beam levelling devices serve to determine a horizontal or an inclined plane and are used for building purposes. The laser beam issuing from the device is received at a relatively great distance by a receiver. The inclination of the imaginary plane between the laser beam device and the receiver may therefore be measured. Laser beam levelling devices are used, for example, in ground excavation and the grading of pits, in the monitoring of concrete foundations and concrete ceilings, orientation of formwork, in the levelling of tracks for building cranes and many more.
Canal building laser devices are a subgenus of laser beam levelling devices. They are used in the construction of pipelines, for example of drainage pipes, in order to lay the individual lengths of pipe in the desired inclination and direction. The lengths of pipe are lined up until they form a pipeline with an inclination of, for example, 1.2%. Shafts are installed at intervals; there is no change of direction between the shafts. The inclination of the individual portions of pipeline between the shafts has to differ in each case in practice.
During the construction of a pipeline, the canal building laser device is erected at the beginning of a line, i.e. normally in the region of a shaft, such that the laser beam points in the desired direction and has the desired inclination. The laser beam therefore indicates both the direction and the inclination in which the pipeline is to be constructed. The receiver is inserted at the opposite end of the length of pipe to be positioned. The receiver usually has a transparent disc with markings in the form of a reticule. The laser beam issuing from the canal building laser device strikes the disc of the receiver as a spot of light. As soon as this spot of light is located in the centre of the reticule, the length of pipe is correctly positioned and may be fastened in this position.
The inventor has disclosed a laser beam receiver for canal building laser devices which has photocells arranged in the form of a cross on the side which is to face the laser beam. These photocells are opposed by light-emitting diodes on the opposite side of the receiver. The advantage of this receiver is that the laser beam may be received at a distance of up to 300 m and may easily be read off owing to the light-emitting diodes.
If work on a pipeline is shut down in the evening, the expensive laser beam devices have to be removed and stored safely. The devices have to be erected again on the following day before building work can continue. Although a canal building laser device is designed such that it may readily be orientated with respect to the longitudinal axis of the pipe during erection, it will be difficult to locate it as on the previous day to the nearest millimeter. A canal building laser device is usually provided with a spirit level which is visible from the exterior and allows the device to be erected in the pipe cross section such that it is almost orientated with respect to the longitudinal axis of the pipe. However, even the slightest deviation inevitably causes the laser beam arriving in the region of the receiver at a distance of, for example, 50 to 100 m to be located clearly next to the longitudinal axis of the pipe. As the concrete pipes normally used for producing water or drainage pipes also have a relatively rough and uneven surface, it is almost impossible to position the canal building laser device such that the laser beam issuing at the inclination and azimuth angle values input the previous day is located exactly in the longitudinal axis of the finished portion of pipeline. For this reason it is necessary to input again at least the azimuth angle or to shift the device until the direction of the laser beam matches. A drawback of this arrangement is that two people are required for this work: one who takes the receiver to the end of the pipeline and observes where the laser beam impinging as a spot of light is located and another person who remains at the canal building laser device and operates it. Problems of communication may also arise owing to the often great distance between the canal building laser device and the receiver, so radio equipment may also be required.

Laser beam receivers and canal building laser devices