A silane resin that can be structured photochemically and/or thermally is obtained by at least partial condensation of a mixture of a) at least one silane compound RaR2bSiX4-a-b wherein R is a group polymerizable photochemically and/or thermally via an organic group by radical or cationic polymerization; R2 is a straight-chain, branched, or cyclic C1-C12 alkyl group; X is identical or different and is a leaving group; a is 1 or 2; b is 0 or 1; a+b is not more than 2; and b) at least one silanediol R12Si(OH)2 wherein R1 is identical or different and is a straight-chain, branched, or cyclic C1-C12 alkyl group or a group polymerizable photochemically and/or thermally via an organic group by radical or cationic polymerization, provided the group does not contain aryl. The silane resins have dielectric properties useful in extremely high frequency applications.

The present invention relates to silane resins that can be structured (also referred to as organically modifiable (hetero) silicic acid poly condensates or organopolysiloxanes) that are reacted when exposed to radiation (in particular, in the UV range) or reacted thermally to inorganic-organic, O—Si—O group containing hybrid polymers with improved dielectric properties as well as excellent substrate adherence and, in particular, can be processed to structured layers. These materials are suitable for use in high and extremely high frequency ranges (for example, as multi-layer systems in SBU (sequential build-up) technology, in multi-layer thin-film circuits (TFC)). The invention further relates to a method for producing such silane resins. Finally, the invention relates to intermediates with which the aforementioned polymers can be produced, as well as a method for their preparation.
Polymers are used in various day-to-day applications well as in a series of high-tech uses (for example, information acquisition, information processing, and information transfer). Compared to purely organic polymers, organic-inorganic hybrid polymers, for example, those that are commercially available under the trademark ORMOCER® registered to the Fraunhofer Gesellschaft, exhibit in general excellent temperature resistance and thermal shape stability, excellent adherence to a plurality of materials, and many other beneficial properties. Such hybrid polymers are prepared in general by the so-called sol-gel process according to which the monomer or pre-condensed components (in general, optionally organo-modified silanes, partially in combination with additional metal-alkoxy compounds and/or other compounds) are subjected to hydrolysis and condensation of the appropriate groups. After removing, exchanging or supplementing the solvent that is present or the solvent that has been produced, a low viscosity to high viscosity resin or a lacquer is obtained that can be brought into a suitable form, for example, as a coating of substrate, as a shaped body, or as a diaphragm that, after shaping, can be dried, optionally can be cured further by polymerization of the organic groups that are present. The last-mentioned organic polymerization, if desired, can be realized only at predetermined locations, for example, for curing by selective irradiation by means of actinic radiation, wherein subsequently the material that has not been polymerized can be removed by means of suitable solvents. In this way, it is possible to obtain photo-lithographically structured three-dimensional bodies or surfaces. For example, DE 199 32 629 A1 discloses organo-modified silicic acid polycondensates that are stable under storage conditions, can be UV-cured and can be photo-structured; the polycondensates are transparent in the near infrared range (NIR). These resins can be used, for example, as a photoresist, as a photoresist with negative resist behavior, or as a dielectric (generally an insulating material) for microsystems technology (includes inter alia microelectronics, microoptics, and micromechanics).
Support materials for thin film circuits are partially ceramic materials that are directly developed for hybrid applications; silicon wafers; or organic materials of the printed circuit board technology and semiconductor technology. Their dielectric or other properties, however, would not appear to make them useful in application in connection with the extremely high frequency range. For example, commercially available dielectrics (for example, benzocyclobutene: BCB such as Cyclotene™ 4026-46 of the Dow Chemical Company; polyimide PI: Pyraline™ 2722 of the DuPont Company; or glass fiber-reinforced PTFE laminate: RT/Duorid™ 5880 of the Rogers Corporation) exhibit good dielectric properties (for example, εr<3 and tan δ=40−8·10−3) within the low high frequency range (10 kHz). Moreover, with the aforementioned glass fiber reinforced PTFE laminate it has been shown also that attenuation values tan δ<3·10−3 in the lower extremely high frequency range at approximately 10 GHz can be obtained. The class of polyimides that can be structured by UV and the class of the benzocyclobutenes exhibit stability at higher temperatures but are designed only for thin film applications (processable film thickness for each layer ≦25 μm) and require curing conditions that must be critically reviewed in connection with sensitive components. A further disadvantage of these materials resides in that the adhesion strength varies greatly with the substrate properties and that these materials partially cannot be structured by means of conventional lithography. The high mechanical and thermal stability expected from the dielectric is not ensured when using such materials.
Inorganic-organic hybrid polymers containing O—Si—O groups are also suitable for use in the microelectronics industry. Resins and lacquers of such materials can have properties that enable their use as dielectrics in the low high frequency range. With them, it is possible to obtain, for example, dielectric constants of up to εr≈3 and dielectric loss of up to tan δ≈4·10−3 at 10 kHz. For applications in high and extremely high frequency range the known materials are not useable however. For example, it was found that the UV-structured resins disclosed in the already mentioned DE 199 32 629 A1, which resins, because of their high transparency and good mechanical properties, would appear to be well suited for applications considered in the instant invention, exhibit significantly decreased values within the extremely high frequency range (in the GHz range). For example, a polymer of diphenyl silanediol and methacryloxy propyl trimethoxy silane in this range shows a loss of tan δ of 0.03. Accordingly, the application of such materials as a dielectric for extremely high frequency applications in communications technology (RF sending and receiving modules; multichip modules, MCM) or in the automobile industry (distance radar, multilayer thin/thick film circuits, TFC) has not been found to be satisfying up to now. This is so because such applications pose extreme requirements with regard to the properties of the dielectric in the microwave range, in particular, for frequencies between 10 and 100 GHz.

Silane-based resins that can be photochemically and/or thermally structured, single-step method for their production, parent compounds and production methods that can be used for said resins

Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft zur Förderung der angewandten Forschung e. V.


Genes encoding microbial β-glucuronidase and protein that is secreted and its uses are provided.

The natural habitat of E. coli is the gut, and the β-glucuronidase (GUS) activity of E. coli plays a specific and very important role in its natural history. The gut is a rich source of glucuronic acid compounds, providing a carbon source that can be efficiently exploited by E. coli. Glucuronide substrates are taken up by E. coli via a specific transporter, the glucuronide permease (U.S. Pat. No. 5,288,463 and 5,432,081), and cleaved by β-glucuronidase. The glucuronic acid residue thus released is used as a carbon source. In general, the aglycon component of the glucuronide substrate is not used by E. coli and passes back across the bacterial membrane into the gut to be reabsorbed into the bloodstream and undergo glucuronidation in the liver, which begins the cycle again.
In E. coli, β-glucuronidase is encoded by the gusA gene (Novel and Novel, Mol. Gen. Genet. 120:319–335, 1973), which is one member of an operon comprising three protein-encoding genes. The second gene, gusB, encodes a specific permease (PER) for β-glucuronides. The third gene, gusC, encodes an outer membrane protein (MOP) of approximately 50 kDa that facilitates access of glucuronides to the permease located in the inner membrane. The principle repressor for the GUS operon, gusR, maps immediately upstream of the operon.
β-glucuronidase activity is expressed in almost all tissues of all vertebrates and many mollusks (Levvy and Conchie, 1966). In addition, the free-living soil nematode, Caenorhabditis elegans, has an endogenous β-glucuronidase activity (Sebastiani et al, 1987; Jefferson et al, 1987), which occurs at low levels in the intestine of the worm. The enzyme has been purified from many mammalian sources (e.g. Tomino et al, 1975) and forms a homotetrameric structure with a subunit molecular weight of approximately 70 kDa.
The vertebrate enzyme is synthesized with a signal sequence at the amino terminus, then transported to and glycosylated within the endoplasmic reticulum, and ultimately localized intracellularly within vacuoles. If any of the mammalian enzyme is secreted, it probably contributes little to the total activity as the enzyme is relatively unstable. Thus, for use in medical diagnostics (e.g., drug testing) and transgenic constructions, the E. coli enzyme is preferred because it is much more active and stable than the mammalian enzyme against most biosynthetically derived β-glucuronides (Tomasic and Keglevic, 1973; Levvy and Conchie, 1966).
Production of GUS for use in in vitro assays, such as medical diagnostics, is costly and requires extensive manipulation as GUS must be recovered from cell lysates. A secreted form of GUS would reduce manufacturing expenses, however, attempts to cause secretion have been unsuccessful. In addition, for use in transgenics, the current GUS system has somewhat limited utility because enzymatic activity is detected intracellularly by deposition of toxic colorimetric products during the staining or detection of GUS. Moreover, in cells that do not express a glucuronide permease, the cells must be permeabilized or sectioned for introduction of the substrate. Thus, this conventional staining procedure generally results in the destruction of the stained cells. In light of this limitation, a secreted GUS would allow for development of non-destructive marker system, especially useful for agricultural field work.
The present invention provides gene and protein sequences of secreted β-glucuronide, variants thereof, and use of the protein as a transformation marker, while providing other related advantages.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Microbial β-Glucuronidase genes, gene production and uses thereof


Systems and techniques relating to input/output (I/O) command aggregation include, according to at least one implementation, a method including receiving a first command from a device driver through interface hardware for accessing a storage device; identifying the received command as an aggregation command having a tag corresponding to consolidated command information; communicating a transfer ready notification to the device driver; receiving the consolidated command information from the device driver, wherein the consolidated command information includes memory addresses and data transfer counts for a defined quantity of aggregated I/O commands or for aggregated I/O commands that are received within a defined period of time; storing the consolidated command information in memory; receiving a second command including the tag corresponding to the consolidated command information; and processing the second command with respect to the storage device based on the memory addresses and the data transfer counts in the consolidated command information.

The present disclosure describes systems and techniques relating to input/output (I/O) command aggregation for Small Computer System Interface (SCSI) enabled devices.
A solid state disk (SSD) comprises an array of solid state electronic memory chips. A SSD generally includes two parts. A control unit and a storage unit (e.g., Dynamic Random-Access Memory (DRAM), FLASH memory, etc.). The storage unit is responsible for storing data, and the control unit is responsible for reading and writing data. SSD technology is high speed, durable and shockproof, noiseless, and lightweight. As a result, SSD drives are suited to widespread applications in fields such as the military, vehicle-based devices, industrial control, video monitoring, network monitoring, network terminals, electrical power, medical care, aviation, and navigational devices.
Small computer system interface (SCSI) is a system-level interface standard for physically connecting and transferring data between computers and peripheral devices (e.g., hard disk drives, solid state disk drives, floppy disk drives, optical disk drives, printers, scanners, etc.). The SCSI standard defines commands, protocols, and electrical and optical interfaces. Some characteristics associated with the SCSI standard include multi-tasking, large bandwidth, low CPU usage, and hot swapping. SCSI host adapters and peripheral devices (e.g., SSD devices) can employ an Advanced SCSI Programming Interface (ASPI) for communication between the host adapters and peripheral devices. ASPI is an application programming interface which standardizes communication on a computer bus between a SCSI host adapter and SCSI peripherals.
Serial Attached SCSI interface (SAS) is a newer generation SCSI technology. SAS is a point-to-point serial protocol that is used to move data to and from computer storage devices such as hard drives, SSD drives, tape drives, optical drives, and the like. SAS uses the standard SCSI command set.


A packaged roll-shaped silver halide photosensitive material comprising a winding core, a roll-shaped silver halide photosensitive material wound on the winding core and a packaging material covering the periphery and the both two lateral sides of the roll-shaped silver halide photosensitive material, wherein at least one surface of the three surfaces in the periphery and the both two lateral sides of the roll-shaped silver halide photosensitive material is packaged with a packaging material comprising a combination of a paper material with a pored film, and the water vapor permeability of such packaging material is not less than 5.1 g/m.sup.2 .multidot.24 hours. It is possible to prevent deterioration of a roll-shaped silver halide photosensitive material through abnormal sensitization of photographic performance.

The packaging material for a photosensitive material, that is a material whose commercial quality or value is lost on exposure to light, is required to have characteristics of completely interrupting the light (light-shielding properties). In particular, for prolonged storage or transportation of the photosensitive material, the packaging material is required to have various properties for preventing deterioration of the photosensitive material due to fogging, such as light-shielding properties, physical strength or heat-sealing strength. In particular, for storing or transporting a large-format film in a compact state, a packaged roll-shaped photosensitive material having the above properties is employed.
As a packaged roll-shaped photosensitive material, a packaged photosensitive material having a winding core, a roll-shaped photosensitive material wound on the winding core and a light-shielding film covering the peripheral surface and lateral sides of the roll-shaped photosensitive material and having both ends secured to the winding core (JP Patent Kokai JP-A-3-53243). It is stated in this disclosure that the light-shielding film has a transmittance to moisture of 5 g/m.sup.2 .multidot.24 hours or less, that is it has moisture-tightness.

Packaged roll-shaped silver halide photosensitive material


An oscillating foil turbine has a foil having a first fluid dynamic surface for producing lift in a fluid flow, a support for the foil, and a second fluid dynamic surface, wherein the support allows for cyclic motion of the first and second surfaces with respect to each other. A driven member is provided to tap energy from flow throughout each cycle. Throughout at least part of the cyclic translation, the fluid dynamic surfaces are oriented sufficiently parallel, and separated by a distance that is sufficiently small, to achieve a substantial wing-in-ground effect.

Renewable energy tapped from tidal or wind forces has been demonstrated in several ways. Various hydrofoil/airfoil turbine designs have been designed and deployed as electrical power generators. The majority of these turbines are coupled to electrical generators to produce electricity, and most use either horizontal or vertical axis with rotor blades to tap energy from the flow, that requires relatively high threshold inflow speed. While this arrangement provides the most uniform drive throughout the cycle, and therefore provides stable power generation, the energy density of this arrangement leaves something to be desired, and the volume they occupy is large and unwieldy. It is difficult to arrange rotary blade turbines compactly in either horizontal or vertical configuration, and therefore in a manner that efficiently harvests energy over a broad area. The fluid forces on rotary turbine blade's surface are unevenly distributed because of the uneven velocity distribution across the span of the blades. In addition to efficiency loss, very heavily loaded blade surface in the tip region may cause a further efficiency reduction due to compressibility effect for wind turbine blades and due to cavitation for tidal turbine blades. Cavitation, in addition to being a source of noise and vibration, is known to fracture tidal turbine blades.
In underwater embodiments, high velocity flows tend to be confined to substantially planar features. Uniform flows are therefore provided within regions that are frequently limited in depth, but are frequently expansive in length and width. Furthermore, many bodies of water are required for surface vehicle navigation and so minimum depths of water clearance must be maintained. Oscillating foil turbines occupy less depth and hence provide more water clearance for a given span, and thus requires less water depth, and can be deployed in a greater variety of locations. Deep water operation demands much higher cost in design, fabrication of turbines, and in installation, maintenance and operations. Oscillating foil turbines are friendlier to marine creatures and less prone to catch fishing nets and seaweed. There are therefore several reasons for seeking viable oscillating foil turbine designs.
The idea of oscillating foil turbines has been around for many years. Instead of spinning blades of rotary blade turbines, you oscillate the foil, typically translating the foil in a direction perpendicular to the direction of flow. Most often oscillating foil turbines displace only in heave and pitch directions, although other motions are known such as motions that additionally involve surge displacements. Foils are known to have different amounts of lift depending on the effective angle of attack (pitch), and as a result of an oscillating foil's instantaneous motion with respect to the direction of flow. By controlling the pitch angle to provide the maximum possible positive lift during a first stroke (typically called an "up" stroke, regardless of orientation), and nearly equal negative lift during a second ("down") stroke, a substantial net power per cycle may be obtained with an oscillating foil.
These generators can be deployed in isolated coastal communities, inland water ways, and on off-shore installations, as well as for extremely large power generation. Such generators have small environmental impact compared with dams, relatively low installation and operating costs, and do not require highly special coastal geology or marine current dynamics, making them very attractive. However they are still not accepted in the power generation industry and the technology remains substantially underdeveloped.
Pulse Tidal (UK) has a website showing two pairs of oscillating hydrofoils on a single submersible deck. The two pairs are separated horizontally, side-by-side facing the flow, and the two pairs of the foils are in tandem (one fore and the other aft). The paired foils are shown operating 180° out of phase, so that while one foil is on a power stroke, the other is on the return stroke, and vice versa. Furthermore, the second pair is 90° out of phase with respect to the first pair, as the foils of the first pair are near the transitions between power and return strokes, and the second pair is in a middle of the power and return strokes. The document does not describe how the foil motion is converted into electricity, although it is clearly shown that the foils are coupled to a pivoting arm structure that has an articulated elbow joint. Consequently the motion of the foils is of a combination of heave, pitch and surge due to the arcurate motion. Surge motion of the foil is the result of the arcurate motion and this motion produces an added inflow velocity during part of the cycle and reduces inflow velocity in equal measure during an opposite part of the cycle. This change in effective flow velocity is generally not preferred as it decreases efficiency of power generation.
Given the separation of the paired foils in the direction of flow, no dynamic wing-in-ground (WIG) effect is produced between the foils in operation. Given the angled elevating structures to which the arm is mounted, and the arcuate course of the foils that provides greatest surge displacements as the foil approaches the ground, no static WIG effect is produced. In operation, these foils generate lift as per normal hydrodynamic forces on a foil.
WO 2009/068850 to Paish teaches a paired oscillating hydrofoil turbine in which foils run in counterphase and bear rotationally symmetrically on a crankshaft. The foils are pivotably mounted to a frame and a pitch control is provided by a linear actuator attached to the pivoting arm. The pushrods coupling the foil to the crankshaft are also coupled to the pivoting arm.
The turbine shown in FIG. 2 of WO 2009/068850 has a lot of frame in the inflow and outflow paths of the turbine, partially occluding the foils and reducing a velocity of the flow. The longer the pushrods, the less pronounced the reduction in velocity of the flow, but the longer the pushrods, the stronger and heavier they need be to reduce losses and the greater the inertia of the turbine.
WO 2009/068850 does not teach or suggest leveraging the WIG effect. At the instant shown in FIG. 2 the foils appear to be somewhat parallel (given the position of the crankpin, one foil is slightly up stream of the other). It will be appreciated that they drive a crankshaft and so only when one foil is mid down stroke, and the other is mid up stroke, the foils will be aligned in the flow. As their directions of motion are opposite, the angles of attack of the foils are therefore pitched in a same direction (one for positive lift, the other for negative lift, but pivoted the other way) when they are closest, so that adjacent sides are one suction and one pressure. This would decrease any WIG effect that might be present at that juncture, if the foils had been close enough to produce a substantial dynamic WIG effect. But in any case the separation of the foils appear to be far greater than 20% of the chord of the foils, and thus would not produce a meaningful WIG effect.
It is known to use WIG effect in propulsion systems for submersible and surface watercraft, as is taught, for example, in Applicant's U.S. Pat. No. 6,877,692. However propulsors have substantially different properties from passive foils that tap energy from steady flows. The foils have low load compared with propulsor foils, and optimization of foils to generate wing-in-ground effect has not been experimented with in power generation. Indeed propulsors would be expected to have very poor properties if used as a turbine for a generator. The turbines known in the art are not designed to leverage the WIG effect. The floor of a body of water can rarely be used as a ground for WIG effect oscillating foil turbines, because substantial clearance to floor has to be maintained for operation safety, and because the inflow velocity is slowest near the large boundary layer on the floor. The power generated generally varies with a cube of the inflow velocity.
There remains a need for higher efficiency, higher power capacity oscillating foil turbines that are suited for deployment in relatively shallow flows.


In order to verify a design of an integrated circuit in terms of a peak current density limit of electromigration specifications, a plurality of transistors, included in a given net of the integrated circuit, are assorted into a plurality of transistor groups. This assortment is based on different logical states which the given net is capable of assuming. Following this, both a lead resistance and load capacitance of the net are determined. Further, a plurality of peak currents respectively associated with the transistor groups are determined using the lead resistance and the load capacitance. Subsequently, a check is made to determine a maximum peak current among the plurality of peak currents already obtained. A peak current density of the maximum peak currents is determined using data of lead shapes, after which a check is further made to determine if the peak current density exceeds the peak current density limit of electromigration specifications.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to improvement in verifying reliability of an integrated circuit against electromigration, and more specifically to a tool of verifying design specifications of a CMOS (complementary metal oxide semiconductor) in connection with a peak current limit of the electromigration specifications.
2. Description of the Related Art
As is well known in the art, metal conductors in an integrated circuit have an upper current density limit imposed by electromigration, the movement of atoms from one place to another under the influence of electrical force. This effect limits the maximum current density of an aluminum (for example) conductor. More specifically, when a high current flows through thin metal conductors in an integrated circuit, metal ions in some regions will pile up and voids will form in other regions. The piled-up metal ions can short-circuit adjacent conductors while the voids can cause an open circuit.
A technique of verifying circuit reliability against electromigration is used to check portions of an integrated circuit, which may be affected by the electromigration, on the basis of data or information of integrated circuit designs.
One example of a conventional technique for investigating the electromigration is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,410,490 to Yastrow. This conventional technique examines the shapes of metal on a basis of an average of currents flowing through a variety of portions in the circuit. More specifically, data on a capacitance, an average frequency, and a voltage swing of a net are gathered, after which the average current needed to charge and discharge the net is computed. The average current is able to specify a minimum width of metal. Therefore, which do not satisfy the minimum width are checked and the result is displayed on the artwork.
According to the aforesaid conventional technique, the occurrences of electromigration are expected merely relying on the average current density. In other words, no consideration is given to an instantaneously occurring high current density (viz., a large amplitude pulse) by which the electromigration is abruptly induced. As metal conductors become very fine, it is very significant to avoid such an abrupt occurrence of electromigration. A study of a current pulse large enough to cause a metal line to fail instantaneously is disclosed in a paper titled "Short-Time Failure of Metal Interconnection Caused by Current Pulses" by James E. Murguia, et al., IEEE Electron Device Letters, Vol. 14, No 10, October 1993. In order to prevent the instantaneously occurring electromigration due to short-lived, high current pluses, it is necessary to design integrated circuits in consideration of maximum possible currents flowing through the circuits. That is, in the leading semiconductor fabrication field, it is vital to consider the peak current density in addition to the average currents.

Method and apparatus of verifying reliability of an integrated circuit against electromigration


In a steering apparatus for a car which presses and retains a steering column upon a fixing bracket to car body to be telescopically adjustable, the steering column is molded from a tubular material by a hydroforming process to have a swelled portion as a unitary structure thereof. There is formed on each side surface of this swelled portion an elongated hole for telescopic adjustment through which a fastening bolt of a clamp mechanism provided on a fixed bracket to steering column is inserted.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a steering apparatus for a car with the enhanced retaining force of a telescopically adjustable steering column to a car body, and a method of manufacturing the same steering apparatus.
2. Related Background Art
Conventionally, it is required for a steering apparatus for a car to enhance the pressing force or the retaining force of a telescopically adjustable or tilt adjustable steering column to a car body.
For instance, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 10-35511 discloses a tilt/telescopic steering apparatus in which a steering column is arranged to be capable of being tilt adjustable and telescopically slidable and a fixed member to steering column is brought into pressure contact with a fixing member to car body to be fastened and retained by the use of a clamp mechanism at the time of tilt/telescopic clamp. Especially, at the time of clamp by the use of the clamp mechanism, a large number of thin friction plates made of metal are interposed between a fixing member to car body and the clamp mechanism so as to drastically enhance the retaining force (the pressing force) of the steering column to the car body.
Generally, the fixed member to steering column (e.g., a distance bracket) is formed with an elongated hole for telescopic adjustment through which a fastening bolt of a clamp member is inserted so as to guide the steering column in the axial direction. This fixed member to steering column is formed separately from the steering column and is secured to the steering column by welding or caulking when it is manufactured.
However, in the conventional steering apparatus for a car described above, since the fixed member to steering column (distance bracket) is separately formed from the steering column and welding or caulking is employed for its manufacture, the steering column itself can not be maintained to be of high rigidity. There is another problem that the manufacturing cost required for the materials, the processing works, assembly, etc., is increased and the total weight of the steering column is also increased.
Note that in the above-mentioned Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 10-35511, in Japanese Utility Model Application Laid-Open No. 6-74562, and in EP0770537A1, a pair of flanges which are cut up from the steering column to be bent are provided with a pair of elongated holes for telescopic adjustment, and these elongated holes are formed on the steering column.
However, since the flanges are cut-up flanges, the steering column is formed to have an "open section". Thus, the steering column itself can not be formed as having high rigidity, so that the high retaining force of the steering column to the car body can not be always maintained.
In Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 8-276852 and in EP0721875A1, a swelled portion is formed as a unitary structure with a steering column by press work and this swelled portion is formed with a circular hole for tilt adjustment. Since the steering column has a "closed section" with this arrangement, the steering column itself can be maintained to have high rigidity. Moreover, this circular hole for tilt adjustment is a simple circular hole and is not extended in the axial direction, so that the swelled portion is small in size and can be easily formed by press work. However, when an elongated hole for telescopic adjustment which is largely extended in the axial direction is to be formed in the swelled portion, the swelled portion has to be formed to be elongated in the axial direction as a unitary structure with the steering column, so that it will be extremely difficult to realize such a structure if using the press work like that disclosed in the above disclosures.

Steering apparatus for a car and method of manufacturing the same


A process and apparatus for identifying defects within the structure of a tubular sleeve used to make toothed belts, the sleeve, having a toothed inner surface 2a, is operatively mounted on rollers 5, 6 operable in rotation to move the sleeve transversely to the extension of the teeth 3. An ultrasonic emitting and receiving member 15 movable parallel to the rollers 5, 6 detects the presence of structural cavities 3a in the sleeve. An electronic processing unit 20 carries out the identification and memorization of the position of the structural cavities 3a on the longitudinal extension of the sleeve 2.

The present invention relates to a process and an apparatus to identify the presence of structural cavities in sleeves for the manufacture of driving belts.
The invention is adapted to carry out quality control tests on sleeves for the production of driving belts of different kinds, such as toothed belts, flat grooved belts, toothed V-belts and so on.
In the course of the present description reference will be particularly made, by way of example only, to the test carried out on a sleeve for the manufacture of toothed belts.
It is known that toothed belts are obtained by a cutting operation carried out at several axially spaced circumferential lines on an axially elongated cylindrical tubular sleeve having a toothed inner surface.
This sleeve is made by wrapping at least a reinforcement layer incorporating a plurality of inextensible cords around a cylindrical grooved die which has negatively reproduced toothing on its outer surface and upon which one or more layers of elastomeric material are then superposed.
The semifinished product thus obtained is then submitted to a vulcanization process in an autoclave.
During the above operation the semifinished product, previously enclosed in a rubber coating sheath, undergoes a suitable heating by means of steam under pressure which is sent into the die and to the outside of the sheath surrounding the semifinished product.
Due to the steam pressure, the layers of elastomeric material are submitted to homogeneously-distributed centripetal compressive forces urging the elastomeric material to forcedly pass through the inextensible cord layer. Thus the elastomeric material will fill the grooves provided in the die, thereby creating the inner toothing on the finished sleeve.
It may however happen that, during the vulcanization step, the proper formation of teeth is impaired due to undesired infiltrations of steam and/or condensate between the elastomer layers of the semi-finished product.
These infiltrations give rise to cavities in the sleeve structure and in particular within the teeth and the presence of said cavities causes an alteration to the operating features and strength of the toothed belts that will be subsequently obtained from the above cutting operation.
The formation of cavities can also take place for other reasons, for example due to the development of gas resulting from an incorrect composition of the materials forming the elastomeric layers.
It is clear that when a belt having defects of the above described type is used, it could easily break thereby involving the risk of serious damages to the apparatus on which the belt itself is mounted.
In order to avoid these risks as much as possible, it is necessary that the sleeves produced and/or the belts subsequently obtained be submitted to suitable quality control tests or inspections.
At the present state of the art these inspections are merely based on the visual examination of the toothing by an operator.
As can be easily understood, these empirical inspecting methods offer insufficient reliability. In fact, the identification of possible cavities in the sleeve toothing depends to a great extent on the skill of the operator entrusted with the inspection and the care he or she puts in carrying out the operation.
It is also necessary to take into account the fact that the cavities can be of very small sizes, having a diameter smaller than half a millimeter.
In addition and above all, the mere visual evaluation of the toothed surface enables only cavities appearing on the surface itself to be identified, without offering the possibility of detecting those cavities that are incorporated internally in the elastomeric material.
It is also to be pointed out that the presently used inspection methodologies do not permit timely interventions in the cases in which the structural cavities are due to incorrect operation of the apparatuses used during the sleeve vulcanization step or to errors in the composition of the materials used.
The main object of the present invention is substantially to solve the problems of the known art, by a process and an apparatus enabling an accurate and reliable inspection of the toothing.
A further object of the invention is to provide a process and an apparatus capable of identifying and signalling the presence of structural cavities in the toothing in a very timely manner, when they are due to incorrect operation of the apparatuses adopted in the vulcanization processes or to wrong compositions of the materials used for the manufacture of the sleeves, in order to allow immediate interventions for the elimination of these anomalies.

Process and apparatus to identify the presence of structural cavities in sleeves for the manufacture of driving belts


Providing a high peak power short pulse duration gas discharge laser output pulse comprises a pulse stretcher a laser output pulse optical delay initiating optic diverting a portion of the output laser pulse into an optical delay having an optical delay path and comprising a plurality of confocal resonators in series aligned to deliver an output of the optical delay to the laser output pulse optical delay initiating optic. The plurality of confocal resonators comprises four confocal resonators comprising a twelve pass four mirror arrangement. An apparatus and method may comprise a plurality, e.g., two pulse stretchers in series and may include spatial coherency metrology.

It is also known that spatial coherence is a factor in laser light sources, e.g., excimer and other gas discharge laser light sources, e.g., molecular fluorine laser light sources properly performing according to specification in, e.g., the use of such light, e.g., in the DUV range, for, e.g., exposure of photoresists on integrated circuit wafers. The makers of such integrated circuit lithography tools are demanding tighter and tighter specifications for spatial coherence. Some lasers manufactured by applicants' assignee, e.g., XLA lasers, are borderline passing tests for spatial coherence according to current practice and may become even more susceptible to being out of specification in the future as specifications are defined more tightly. In the past the metrology used to define spectral coherence was to, e.g., find a point with maximum interference fringe contrast in the laser beam and use that as a measure of spatial coherence. However this data point does not represent the property of coherence of the whole beam. Applicants have, therefore, determined that a better means of measuring beam spatial coherence is needed and propose such a method in the present application.


A closed-loop current transducer for measuring a current (Ip) flowing in a primary conductor, the transducer powered by series connected voltage supplies (V_H, V_L) and comprising a magnetic field detector, a signal processing circuit including an amplifier circuit connected to the magnetic field detector, and a compensation coil (WS1) connected to the amplifier circuit and configured to generate an opposing magnetic field seeking to cancel a magnetic field generated by the current flowing in the primary conductor. The amplifier circuit comprises a first switched mode power stage configured to drive the magnetic field generator, and a second switched mode power stage configured to balance the currents of the voltage supplies.

The present invention relates to a current transducer of the closed-loop type with a switched mode amplifier.
Certain known current transducers have a magnetic field detector and a magnetic circuit designed to surround a primary conductor through which a current to be measured flows, and to concentrate the magnetic field generated by the current flowing in the primary conductor. This magnetic field, which forms an image of the current to be measured, is sensed by the magnetic field detector. Open-loop current transducers generate a measurement signal from the magnetic field detector, whereas in closed-loop transducers the signal from the magnetic field detector is used to generate an opposing magnetic field by means of a compensation coil (also called secondary coil) that seeks to cancel the magnetic field generated by the primary conductor. In other words, closed-loop sensors have a feed-back signal that seeks to annul the magnetic field generated by the primary conductor. The current that flows in the compensation coil represents an image of the current to be measured and may thus be used to supply the current measurement signal. Closed-loop current transducers are generally more costly than open-loop current transducers for a given current measurement range, but have the advantage of greater sensitivity and accuracy. Magnetic field detectors employed in current transducers may be Hall effect detectors, magneto-resistive detectors or fluxgate detectors. Fluxgate detectors are generally more sensitive and accurate than Hall effect detectors.
In closed-loop transducers, the signal generated by the magnetic field detector needs to be processed and amplified in order to drive the compensation coil and provide the measurement signal output. In certain conventional current transducers, linear amplification circuits are employed, however linear amplifiers consume, dissipate and waste a relatively high amount of energy. For certain applications, particularly applications that require large current measurement as found in electrical motors for railways or in other high current applications, the transducer amplification circuit requires cooling means and a large volume in order to evacuate excess heat at the high operational temperatures.
Heat generation may be reduced by using more efficient amplifiers, in particular switched mode amplifiers such as the well-known H bridge amplifier circuits used in known closed-loop current transducers. An example of a known H bridge amplifier for a current transducer is described for example in WO 9836281. This type of amplifier is however generally more costly than linear amplifiers of comparable power, may require a split compensation coil, and generates a differential output voltage that is less useful or less desirable than an absolute measurement output (i.e. with respect to ground (0 Volts)).

Closed-loop current transducer with switched mode amplifier


Caller name is authenticated using authentication certificates issued by a registration authority that registers callers who wish to terminate calls to callers subscribed to the registration authority. In one embodiment, the authentication certificates are sent to a called device or a proxy for the called device via a path that is separate from the call setup path. An indication is conveyed to the called party to indicate whether the caller name was successfully authenticated.

Caller ID, as traditionally provided by the switched circuit Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN), was reasonably secure. However, the introduction of Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) has made it relatively simple to change caller ID so that a real identity of a calling party is concealed. Changing caller ID name is referred to as "caller spoofing", and it is generally done for fraudulent purposes.
In the VoIP domain, caller spoofing is so simple that there are web sites dedicated to permitting anyone to place calls using any caller ID they desire. Examples of such web sites can be found at telespoof.com and spooftel.com. Since it is now possible to originate calls from a VoIP network that are terminated in the PSTN, caller ID can no longer be trusted as a reliable caller authentication system. Spoofing only the displayable Caller ID Name part of Caller ID is even easier, because this can be arbitrarily chosen by the caller either during caller subscription or on a call-by-call basis in VoIP and this cannot be controlled by currently adopted authentication mechanisms, even those available in IP Telephony. Furthermore, even if caller ID name could be authenticated using prior art methods, certain "legitimate" names may be maliciously selected to resemble authentic trusted names, and this creates another opportunity for phishing attacks.
Identity theft has also become a serious problem nearly everywhere. The United States Justice Department estimated in 2002 that up to 700,000 people in the United States were victimized by identity thieves. More recent analyses place the estimates much higher. A recent report on identity theft warned that there is likely to be "mass victimization" of consumers within the next two years.
Caller spoofing provides a new way to perpetrate Identity Theft using a new variation of the old computer phishing attack. In this new variation, instead of using web pages, the identity thief calls the victim, and claims to be calling from a financial institution, for example. The identity thief impersonates an employee of the financial institution and asks for account information and passwords. If the identity thief spoofs the Caller name to appear as if the call is actually originating from the financial institution's telephone system, then there is a higher probability that the thief will succeed in obtaining the information they desire.
It is therefore highly desirable to provide a caller authentication system that is not susceptible to caller name spoofing.

Caller name authentication to prevent caller identity spoofing


A light guide plate structure includes a light guide plate, a first medium layer, a micro structure, a second medium layer, and a reflection layer. The light guide plate has a light exit surface and a bottom surface opposite to the light exit surface. The first medium layer is formed on the light exit surface. The micro structure is formed on the bottom surface for redirecting light inside the light guide plate to emit from the light exit surface. The second medium layer is formed on the micro structure. The refractive index of the first medium layer and the refractive index of the second medium layer are less than the refractive index of the light guide plate but greater than the refractive index of air. The reflection layer is formed on the second medium layer for reflecting light inside the light guide plate to emit from the light exit surface.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a light guide plate structure and a light-guide-plate manufacturing method thereof, and more specifically, to a light guide plate structure in which refractive indexes of medium layers respectively formed on a light exit surface and a bottom surface of a light guide plate are between a refractive index of the light guide plate and a refractive index of air and a light-guide-plate manufacturing method thereof.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Please refer to FIG. 1, which is a partial sectional diagram of a keyboard 1 in the prior art. As shown in FIG. 1, the keyboard 1 includes a bottom board 10, a plurality of keyswitches 112, and a backlight module 14. Each keyswitch 12 is disposed on the bottom board 10 for a user to perform input operations. The backlight module 14 is disposed under the bottom board 10 as a light source of the keyboard 1. The backlight module 14 includes a light shielding board 140, a light guide plate 142, a metal board 144, a reflection sheet 146, and a light emitting unit 148. The light shielding board 140 is disposed under the bottom board 10. The light guide plate 142 is disposed under the light shielding board 140. The metal board 144 is disposed under the light guide plate 142. The reflection sheet 146 is disposed on the metal board 144 and located under the light guide plate 142. The light emitting unit 148 is disposed at a side of the light guide plate 142. In such a manner, light could be evenly emitted out of the light guide plate 142 by total reflection of light occurring in the light guide plate 142 and reflection of the reflection sheet 146, and then be projected out of the keyswitches 12 after passing through the light shielding board 140 toward the bottom board 10. Accordingly, the purpose that the keyboard 1 could emit light is achieved.
In the aforesaid design, the total reflection of light could be generated by the design in which a refractive index of the light guide plate 142 is greater than a refractive index of air (i.e. 1) located between the light shielding board 140 and the light guide plate 142. However, since a surface of the light guide plate 142 is not protected appropriately, pollution of the surface of the light guide plate 142 due to attachment or scratch of foreign matter (e.g. grease or dust) may occur during the process of assembling the light guide plate 142 in the keyboard 1, so as to frustrate the total reflection of light in the light guide plate 142. Thus, it may cause the light leakage problem or reduce the travel distance of light in the light guide plate 142, so that the light use efficiency and illumination uniformity of the light guide plate 142 could be influenced. Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 1, the backlight module 14 utilizes the design in which the light guide plate 142 is disposed between the light shielding board 140 and the reflection sheet 146, to guide light to be evenly projected out of the keyswitches 12. However, since disposal of the light guide plate 142, the light shielding board 140 and the reflection sheet 146 may occupy excessive inner space of the keyboard 1, the aforesaid design is disadvantageous to the thinning design of the keyboard 1.

Light guide plate structure and light-guide-plate manufacturing method thereof


A method of controlling a clock frequency is disclosed and includes monitoring a plurality of master devices that are coupled to a bus within a system. The method also includes receiving an input from at least one of the plurality of master devices. The input can be a request an increase to the clock frequency of the bus. Further, the method includes selectively increasing the clock frequency of the bus in response to the request.

As technology advances, portable multimedia devices are being designed with increased functionality and increased efficiency to support that functionality. For example as storage within portable audio players, such as an MPEG-1 Audio Layer-3 (MP3) player, increases, the need to quickly and efficiently access stored audio files also increases. One way to increase the performance of the MP3 player and provide quicker access to stored files is to increase the clock frequency of the clock used in the device. However, as the clock frequency increases to deliver more performance, the power consumption of the MP3 player also increases.
Accordingly, there is a need for an improved system and method of controlling a clock frequency in an electronic device in order to selectively deliver faster clock speeds.

System and method of managing clock speed in an electronic device


A debugging framework that exposes debug data in a standardized rowset format such that a relational database engine may be utilized to analyze the data. Conventional high-level scripting languages may be used to generate scripts for reuse and in extracting the debug data. An OLE-DB provider facilitates the query and analysis of debugging information through the database engine.

There exist today a variety of debugging tools and methods to perform diagnostics for analyzing various types of problems with server applications. However, these conventional tools are complex to use, and thus, typically only trained support professionals can implement such tools to extract data for problem resolution. Complex cases, and those involving userdumps (a userdump is a file which contains a copy of the memory used by the process at the time of the failure) need to be funneled through the support professionals or development, since only these groups had the training required to use the debugging tools.
More specifically, when a tabular data stream (TDS) connection is available and working in the server (i. e., a "live" server), queries may be performed against virtual tables or system catalog tables. To look at persistent disk pages of the server, the live database is examined, and a dump or log is loaded. Database console command (DBCC) commands (e.g., PAGE or LOG) are then used to view the disk pages or log records.
When a TDS connection is not available (i.e., the server is hung), in many cases, an attempt is made to have the customer provide a complete userdump of the server process for post-mortem analysis. In some cases, retrieval of the userdump is attempted even if the server is not fully hung to obtain the maximum amount of information possible. In other cases, it may be requested of the customer to attach with a debugger, or run the server (or another component) under the debugger with an automated script to capture particular information based on some type of sequence. This procedure is more complicated than simply getting a userdump at a known point in time.
Querying the virtual tables or utilizing DBCC commands can only work against a live server, and are performed on an ad-hoc basis. To get several snapshots, a script must be configured to "poll" for this information. Some problems associated with live process debugging include when to start running the query or diagnostic command, how long to run it, or how often to capture the right data at just the right time. Furthermore, post-mortem analysis on a userdump file is only as good as the person using the debugger or existing debugger extensions written for the server. No method exists today to look at disk pages or log records "offline" (i.e., from a backup). For other processes, components, or services, there may be virtually no diagnostic capabilities aside from using a debugger.
Many memory structures or lists within the server are not available via a virtual table. A variety of DBCC commands are available to analyze the various server memory structures. DBCC commands can provide much valuable information, but face the same limitations as the virtual tables. However, the problem with pure DBCC or the extended logging approach is that invariably something gets overlooked or a bug introduces behavior that the built-in diagnostics do not cover. Moreover, the commands may not address all members of certain structures and cannot provide the associated output as a result set. No framework exists for using these tools based upon some event that occurs within the server.
Limitations of conventional diagnostics include the following. A complete userdump may be very resource intensive. If the server is not completely hung, customers are hesitant to perform a dump, especially for machines with large amounts of physically memory. Moreover, virtual tables (sysprocesses, syslockinfo, etc.) may not provide all the information needed such that some members of the structures on which these tables are based are not included for analysis. Creating new virtual tables or expanding these tables may cause compatibility issues when changes are needed for future versions.
What is needed is a debugging architecture with reduced complexity such that frontline personnel can implement and operate the architecture for more expedient problem resolution.

Server debugging framework using scripts


Real time periodic messages generated by a plurality of stations on a data communication network and having data periods ranging from a shortest to a longest, where the longest data period is an integer multiple of all the others, are assigned by a server station to transmit time slots, equal in duration to the shortest data period, on a global basis to minimize the number of messages transmitted by all stations during each transmit time slot.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the transmission of periodic data in a real time data imaging network system, and more particularly, in such a system in which different data messages are repetitively transmitted at different periodic rates.
2. Background Information
In a real time or deterministic data imaging network system, data messages containing current images of specific data are periodically transmitted by stations on the network to the other stations. Data latency, that is the maximum time period in which the data must be updated at receiving stations, determines the periodic rate at which messages must be transmitted. Periodic rate in turn determines the amount of message traffic that must be handled by the system.
A network conforming to the FDDI (fiber distribution data interchange) standard is an example of a network which can be utilized as a real time data network. The FDDI protocol defines a ring topography and utilizes a token passing scheme in which a token is passed from station to station to allocate transmission time on the network. On an FDDI network, traffic is controlled by allocating messages to one of two classes: synchronous and asynchronous. The synchronous class of messages is used for periodic data, because it guarantees a maximum data latency equal to twice the target token rotation time (TTRT) where the TTRT is selected to achieve the required performance in the time domain. For example, if a maximum data latency of 100 milliseconds is required, the TTRT is selected to be 50 milliseconds. The TTRT then determines the maximum amount of traffic which can be broadcast on the network, because in the worst case, all on the network must be capable of broadcasting their synchronous mode messages and passing the token within the TTRT.
In some real time systems, such as for example, a real time control system, there are often data which must be updated at a high data rate for appropriate control. Normally, most of the data in the system has a much longer latency requirement, and can in fact have varying latency requirements. In such a non-homogeneous system, the capacity of the network is constrained by the periodic data having the smallest broadcast period. This is because the peak loading occurs when all nodes on the network simultaneously require the token to transmit all of their periodic data during a single token rotation.
There is a known real time token passing network system in which periodic data is transmitted at one of two rates, a fast rate (having a short period) and a slow rate (having a longer period). The short period data is transmitted during every token rotation. Each station individually, and without regard to the messages transmitted by the other stations, distributes its periodic data messages having the longer period over the number of short data periods contained within the longer data period. Thus, each station tries to average out its own messages of the longer period. The effectiveness of this scheme is related to the number and length of the messages being transmitted. For example, if, within each station, the number of messages with the longer data period to be transmitted is equal to the ratio of the longer data period to the shorter data period, an equal number of longer data period messages would be transmitted in each of the shorter data periods, and therefore, the message traffic would be fully averaged out. For a network having very short messages, such a scheme is usually effective for providing smoothing across the entire network. However, as message sizes increase, it becomes more unlikely that such averaging within a station will provide effective smoothing. In the worst case, each station may have only a single long data period message and, there can be no averaging. Since all of the stations are distributing their long period messages independently, in the worst case, each station could transmit its one long data period message in the same short period.
There is another known real-time token passing network protocol, known as FDDI, which permits periodic, or synchronous, data to be transmitted at one of many periodic rates. The FDDI protocol does not have any provisions for smoothing synchronous data of differing periods, either within a station or across the entire network. Thus, the worst case (peak loading) occurs when all synchronous data from all stations on the network transmit their synchronous mode messages in a single token rotation. The likelihood of such an occurrence is compounded by the fact that each station generally transmits only a few messages which are relatively large in size. This is a case because the FDDI network is a very high throughput data network (100 Megabits per second). In such a network, software processing times generally dictate the performance; although the network can sustain a very high transmission rate, it cannot sustain a very high message rate, since each message must be processed by software. Therefore, it is very likely that the messages from each station on the network are constrained to be a certain minimum size, and that individual data entities are grouped into a single message. As a result, an FDDI network having multiple synchronous data periods has very uneven loading, and also has reduced capacity, since the capacity is determined by the worst case synchronous data traffic in a single token rotation.
There is a need therefore for a system which more effectively distributes long period data in systems with multiple data periods.

Global load smoothing in a real time data imaging network system


A polyolefin product can be coated with a matte, uniform coating having good adherence, good solvent resistance. and good abrasion resistance. The coating includes a primary coating of a coating composition composed of a polymer solution or water dispersion of polyurethane or polyester in an amount of 100 parts by weight in solid content, and a polycarbodiimide compound in an amount of 2-100 parts by weight. A secondary coating is disposed on the primary coating. The secondary coating is formed from a solution of polyurethane with or without a carboxyl group.

This invention relates to a coating composition and, more particularly, to a coating composition suitable for providing polyolefin formed products, such as polyolefin sheets, with a uniform, matte coating which exhibits good adhesion to the products, good abrasion resistance, and good chemical resistance. The invention relates also to polyolefin products coated with such coating composition.
Soft polyvinyl chloride is frequently used for sheets, from which, for example, interior furniture of automobiles is formed. However, soft polyvinyl chloride products are disadvantageously subject to discoloration and tend to become brittle due to a large amount of plasticizer used therein for providing softness to the products.
Recently, polyolefin, e.g. olefin thermoplastic elastomer, is frequently used in place of soft polyvinyl chloride because polyolefin itself is soft and, therefore, need not be softened by use of any plasticizer. In addition, polyolefin has a smaller specific gravity than soft polyvinyl chloride, which makes it possible to provide lighter products than soft polyvinyl chloride. Furthermore, polyolefin is recyclable.
An olefin thermoplastic elastomer used for forming, for example, interior furniture of automobiles, includes an ethylene-propylene copolymer, or an ethylene-propylene-diene terpolymer consisting of an ethylene-propylene copolymer and a third component having a partial bridge structure, with an antistatic agent, a thermostabilizer, an ultraviolet absorbing agent, a pigment etc. added to it.
Generally, it is difficult to apply a coating over the surface of a product of such olefin thermoplastic elastomer, and if a coating can be provided, the coating will have poor physical properties, such as poor adhesion and poor abrasion resistance. This is because the surface of polyolefin products is inactive.
In prior art, polyolefin products are provided with a coating by first activating the surface of a product with corona discharge, then, coating the activated surface with a chlorinated polyolefin primer or a two-pack curing primer including, for example, polyester and polyisocyanate, or polyurethane and polyisocyanate, and finally providing a top coating. Such a method is disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication Nos. SHO 63-272547 A, HEI 7-247381 A and HEI 7-247382 A.
Recently, people tend toward higher class interior furniture for automobiles, and, therefore, furniture formed simply of olefin thermoplastic elastomer is hardly seen. For example, trim panels for automobiles are frequently formed of polyolefin sheet over which fabric or the like is bonded by an adhesive. Accordingly, surface treatment of polyolefin products must provide products with resistance against solvent in the adhesive used to bond fabric to polyolefin products and creep resistance against temperature within automobiles.
Accordingly, two-pack curing type coating compositions composed of polyester and polyisocyanate or polyurethane and polyisocyanate are used in many cases. However, recently, the use of polyisocyanate curing agents has raised problems in human health and safety. Further, two-pack curing type coating compositions in which polyisocyanate is used as a curing agent have a disadvantageously short pot life because the polyisocyanate curing agent, when it is mixed, increases the viscosity of the coating compositions.
According to the present invention, a coating composition for treating the surface of a polyolefin resin product is provided. The coating composition includes a curing agent of polycarbodiimide compound. The use of polycarbodiimide compound as the curing agent can solve the above-discussed various problems, and can provide a matte, uniform coating which exhibits good adhesion to a polyolefin product, good heat resistance, and good solvent resistance.
The coating composition according to the present invention is composed of 100 parts by weight in solid content of polymer solution or water dispersion essentially consisting of a polyurethane resin or a polyester resin, and from 2 to 100 parts by weight of a polycarbodiimide compound. The polymer solution or water dispersion is referred sometimes to as main component.
The polyurethane or polyester resin may contain a carboxyl group in an amount not greater than unity (1) in terms of acid value.
According to the present invention, a polyolefin product, e.g. a polyolefin sheet is coated with the coating composition with or without a carboxyl group.
A polyolefin product may be coated with primary and secondary coatings. The primary coating is formed by applying the above-described coating composition with or without a carboxyl group, over the surface of the product, and the secondary coating is formed by applying a polyurethane solution over the primary coating.
The polyurethane resin in the secondary coating may also contain carboxyl group.
Before applying the coating composition, the surface of the polyolefin product to be coated is preferably treated with corona discharge, which increases adhesion of the coating to the product surface.
The polycarbodiimide compound used as a curing agent in the present invention is a compound which includes a highly reactive carbodiimide group expressed as xe2x80x94Nxe2x95x90Cxe2x95x90Nxe2x80x94 in its main chain. The carbodiimide group reacts with an active hydrogen group, e.g. a carboxyl group, an amino group or an hydroxyl group, to thereby provide a cross-linked structure. In particular, the polycarbodiimide compound can react with the carboxyl group at normal temperature. When a polyurethane or polyester resin containing no carboxyl group is used for the main component of the coating composition, the adhesion of the resulting coating to a polyolefin product can be provided by treating the polyolefin product with corona discharge prior to the application of the coating composition. By corona discharge, an active group, e.g. a hydroxyl group or a carboxyl group, may be produced on the surface of the polyolefin product. The carbodiimide group in the polycarbodiimide compound in the coating composition reacts with such hydroxyl group or carboxyl group or with an amino group or a hydroxyl group or water in the main component, which makes the resulting coating adhere to the surface of the polyolefin product. The coating composition composed of the main component with no carboxyl group and a polycarbodiimide compound has no pot life problem.
On the other hand, by introducing a carboxyl group into the above-described main component of the coating composition, or by using a polyurethane or polyester resin having a carboxyl group, the polyurethane or polyester resin can rapidly crosslink with the carbodiimide group. This results in a coating having good solvent resistance and good abrasion resistance. However, the resulting coating composition with a carboxyl group is more or less unstable and short in pot life.
Knowing this-fact, the inventors have found that the amount of the carboxyl group in the. main component is preferably not greater than unity (1) in terms of acid value. A coating composition composed of the main component containing a carboxyl group in this: amount and a polycarbodiimide compound is applied over the surface of a polyolefin product to form a coating. Further, this coating may be used as a primary coating, over which a secondary coating of polyurethane is disposed. The polycarbodiimide compound in the primary coating moves into the secondary coating and reacts with a carboxyl group in the secondary coating. The resulting composite coating exhibits not only good adhesion to the polyolefin product but also good solvent resistance and good abrasion resistance.
A polycarbodiimide compound commercially available from Nisshinbo Industries, Inc., Japan or from Union Carbide, Inc., U.S.A. may be used as the polycarbodiimide compound in the present invention. As for the amount of the polycarbodiimide compound, when the polycarbodiimide resin in an amount of less than 2 parts by weight to 100 parts by weight of the main component in solid content is used, the resulting coating exhibits poor adhesion to a polyolefin product and insufficient solvent resistance. If the amount of the polycarbodiimide compound exceeds 100 parts by weight, the resulting coating exhibits satisfactory adhesion, but poor solvent resistance. Accordingly, the amount of the polycarbodiimide compound is from 2 to 100 parts by weight relative to 100 parts by weight of the main component in terms of solid content.
The polymer resin solution or water dispersion mainly composed of polyurethane or polyester resin may be provided by various combinations of materials. The polyurethane or polyester resin of the main component may be in the form of a blend with another polymer resin, or may be in the form of a copolymer or graft polymer with a monomer forming another polymer resin. For example, the polyurethane or polyester resin of the main component may be blended with chlorinated polyolefin resin, silicone resin, acrylic resin, epoxy resin, cellulose resin, nitrile rubber or other resin, depending on the use of the resulting coating composition. The resin of the main component may be in the form of a graft polymer with acrylic monomer or copolymer with reactive silicone resin.
The polyurethane resin solution of the main component can be manufactured by, for example, heating a polyol having a terminal hydroxyl group and having an average molecular weight of from about 500 to 5,000, in an organic solvent together with organic diisocyanate, and a chain extender. Such polyol may be polyester diol, polyether diol, lactone diol, or polycarbonate diol.
To prepare a solution of polyurethane resin with a carboxyl group, to be used as the main component, dimethylol propionic acid, which is a diglycolic acid, is preferably used as the chain extender.
The polyester diol useable in preparing the polyurethane resin for the coating composition of the present invention can be prepared by condensating a dicarboxylic acid with a diol. The dicarboxylic acid may be adipic acid, sebacic acid, terephthalic acid, or isophthalic acid, and the diol may be ethylene glycol, propylene glycol, 1,4-butanediol, 1,6-hexanediol, or neopentyl glycol.
The polyether diol may be polyethylene glycol, polytetramethylene glycol, or their copolymer ethers. The lactone diol may be polylactone diol prepared by ring-opening polymerization of xcex5-caprolactone. An example of the polycarbonate diol is polyhexamethylene carbonate diol.
The organic diisocyanate useable in the present invention may be 2,4 or 2,6-tolylenediisocyanate (TDI), 4,4xe2x80x2-diphenylmethane diisocyanate (MDI), hexamethylene diisocyanate (HDI), isophorone diisocyanate (IPDI), or 4,4xe2x80x2-dicyclohexylmethane diisocyanate (H2MDI).
The chain extender may be diglycolic acid, or a diamine, e.g. ethylene diamine, isophorone diamine, 4,4xe2x80x2-diaminodicyclohexylmethane, hydrazine, or piperazine.
The organic solvent useable in the present invention may be dimethyl formamide (DMF), dimethyl acetamide, methyl ethyl ketone (MEK), acetone, toluene, xylene, dioxane, tetrahydrofuran, ethyl acetate, butyl acetate, isopropyl alcohol, or N-methyl pyrrolidone. These solvent may be used solely or in combination.
The polyester resin used as the main component of the coating composition of the present invention may the ones exemplified above as the materials for preparing the polyurethane resin, but its average molecular weight is preferably 10,000 or more.

Coating composition for polyolefin products and polyolefin products coated with such coating composition


An alarm ready portable case is provided in which to secure a firearm or other protectable. The case includes sensors, a lock and, in several embodiments, structure to support the article to be protected. The case is adaptable to become part of a pre-existing facility security system of any of a plurality of manufacturers by being configured to receive any of several connectivity elements that are compatible with at least one of the security systems. For example, wireless transmitters that are compatible with different alarm systems may be connected. Terminals may also be directly wired into a hardwired zone of a security alarm panel. Transmitter receiving structure may be provided in the case for holding any such transmitter. Terminals are provided to connect to external wiring. Slots may be provided for communication interface cards, such as ethernet cards, wireless telecommunications cards, or other connectivity hardware. Internal conductors are provided in the case to connect the sensors to the transmitter, external wiring or other connectivity devices. The sensors may be normally closed switches that are opened when the lid or the lock of the case are opened, motion detectors that actuate when the case is moved, or other detection devices that generate a signal when the case is otherwise tampered with. The case provides an efficient way of retrofitting an existing facility alarm or security system to specifically protect a firearm or other protectable item.

Facility security systems are available from a variety of vendors and installers and can be provided with a variety of features and with various levels of sophistication. Most systems require elections to be made at the time of initial installation. Upgrades or modifications to these systems often involve reconfiguration of the system at added cost, and many of these are limited by vendor-specific accessories provided by or for the original system manufacturer. Typically, the need arises for owners and users of such systems to add zones, specific objects or enclosures to pre-existing installations. Accordingly, there is a need to provide for the extension of pre-existing systems with a maximum of flexibility and a minimum of cost.
The addition of safes, vaults, displays and specific items of property to a secured or protected premises may call for the addition of additional sensors to an existing system and additional enclosures for certain valuable items, such as documents, jewelry, and particularly firearms. It might be desirable to allow such additions to be secured or monitored even when an overall premises alarm is disabled. Furthermore, the manufacture of accessories specially configured for protecting specific articles might not be cost justified where such accessories are compatible with only one manufacturer's security system.
The need to safely secure firearms, for example, has produced a number of specialty products, including, for example, trigger locks, gun safes, gun drawers, gun cases, gun cables, barrel locks, locking gun racks, finger print identifiers, trigger pins and other devices. Each device is intended to make gun ownership safer, but many have undesired side effects that arise from their design or use. Furthermore, essentially all such devices are incapable of detecting unauthorized access to a firearm and alerting an outside authority when the weapon is compromised. Advancements in technology have not been effectively used to address gun safety, and particularly, to provide secure yet convenient gun storage.
The use of alarm systems in securing firearms typically involves the installation of permanent hardware to the facility in which guns are kept. If such features are not included at the time of facility construction or security system installation, expensive retrofitting is required which deters the incorporation of firearm protection into existing facility security systems. Furthermore, providing alarm equipped portable or firearm specific enclosures is complex and costly, further posing an obstacle to those seeking safe gun storage.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,797,405; 5,416,826; 5,598,151 and 5,987,941, for example, are some that disclose security features. U.S. Pat. No. 2,797,405 to Stelter shows facility alarm systems that have been adapted to protect portable containers for valuables. U.S. Pat. No. 5,416,826 to Butler discloses a gun safe that is hard wired to a phone line to notify authorities when security is breached. It discloses detection of emergency and non-emergency conditions and the transmission of emergency and 911 signals over the phone lines. It acknowledges that an alarm signal has been transmitted in prior systems when a gun safe is breached without authorized entry. U.S. Pat. No. 5,598,151 to Torii discloses a firearm security system having the features of the Butler system and contemplating the use of wireless communications. U.S. Pat. No. 5,987,941 to Zocco discloses a wall safe for a firearm and lists a number of features in FIG. 7 that are not explained in detail in the written specification. None of these patents discloses a gun storage system or a system for protecting items in general that makes it easy to take advantage of the features of an existing alarm or security system.
Accordingly, there remains a need for an improved method and apparatus for securing firearms or other valuables or protectables in an alarm-protected facility or in an environment otherwise protected by a security or monitoring system.

Method and apparatus for securing firearms and other valuables in an alarm protected facility


A system (10) for measuring magnetic fields, wherein the system (10) comprises an unmodulated or direct-feedback flux locked loop (12) connected by first and second unbalanced RF coaxial transmission lines (16a, 16b) to a superconducting quantum interference device (14). The FLL (12) operates for the most part in a room-temperature or non-cryogenic environment, while the SQUID (14) operates in a cryogenic environment, with the first and second lines (16a, 16b) extending between these two operating environments.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates broadly to systems for measuring magnetic fields using flux licked loops and superconducting quantum interference devices. More particularly, the present invention concerns a system comprising an unmodulated or direct-feedback flux locked loop electrically connected by first and second unbalanced coaxial transmission lines to a superconducting quantum interference device.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Superconducting quantum interference devices (SQUIDs) are small, cryogenically-cooled magnetic field sensors comprising a ring of superconducting material interrupted by two Josephson junctions. SQUIDs are designed to detect changes in magnetic flux, and, when suitably biased with a small DC current, will exhibit a magnetic flux sensitivity noise floor of approximately 1×10−6 0/Hz for low temperature devices that operate near 4 degrees Kelvin (typically cooled by liquid Helium), and approximately 7×10−6 0/Hz for high temperature devices that operate near 77 degrees Kelvin (typically cooled by liquid Nitrogen). SQUIDs exhibit a transfer function that converts magnetic flux into a periodic electrical output signal.
The standard read-out method for SQUID measurements is to inject an alternating current (AC) magnetic field modulation signal into the SQUID and then, using a flux locked loop (FLL) circuit, sense changes in the modulating signal due to external magnetic fields. Without the FLL, the SQUID would have a very limited dynamic range because of its extremely non-linear magnetic field-to-voltage transfer function characteristic. The FLL maintains a stable magnetic flux operating point at the SQUID by introducing a feedback magnetic flux that precisely counteracts the externally applied magnetic field, provided the slew rate and dynamic range of the SQUID and FLL are not exceeded. Measurements of the external magnetic flux can be made by measuring the feedback signal which is an identical image of the external magnetic flux signal within the tracking bandwidth of the FLL.
Also, as the input magnetic signal to the SQUID is varied, the output voltage of the SQUID appears as a distorted sine wave with a period equal to the flux quantum: (φo=h/2e ≈2femtoWebers), where h is Plank's constant and e is the charge on an electron. Only fields smaller than one-half φo can be uniquely detected because any change in the magnetic field of greater than one-half φo results in a nonmonotonic (multivalued) output signal. This small limiting field strength provides little dynamic range and has little practical value.
Systems using SQUIDs for non-destructive testing/evaluation of materials or structures or for making biomagnetic measurements were long impractical for use in field settings (i.e., environments containing high levels of magnetic interference). The prior art had been limited to a flux modulation frequency of approximately 500 kHz with a maximum tracking loop bandwidth of 250 kHz. In magnetically unshielded environments, large amplitude or high slew rate external stray magnetic fields from 50/60 Hz AC power lines, AM broadcast transmitters, small changes in the Earth's magnetic field, and other sources, caused the FLL to lose lock and thereby invalidate any measurement in progress. Furthermore, the prior art employed traditional twisted-pair wires which were highly undesirable for several reasons, including that they had a high degree of linear attenuation versus frequency that severely distorts square waves of even moderate frequencies, they allowed for a large amount of radiated leakage and corresponding susceptibility to radio-frequency interference, and they had a highly variable characteristic impedance that changed with mechanical stress and was difficult to impedance match. The incorporation of digital signal processing (DSP) technology into the FLL had been attempted with limited success due to inherent delays associated with signal acquisition, processing and reconstruction of the feedback signal, and the maximum clock frequency of the DSP. Because of these problems, early attempts to incorporate DSP into the FLL failed to increase the operating frequency above that obtainable with standard analog read-out systems. For these reasons, SQUIDs were restricted to use in controlled environments shielded from magnetic interference, and were typically expensive, bulky, and non-portable.
A great many of these limitations and disadvantages were overcome by the improvements and advances disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,420,868; 6,448,767; and 6,356,078 (the '868, '767, and '078 patents, respectively). More specifically, the '868 patent discloses read-out electronics incorporating innovative circuit designs that extend the frequency of operation of the FLL and improve upon the earlier prior art by a factor of at least ten, thereby making operation of the SQUID practical in unshielded environments by alleviating the effects of high levels of magnetic interference on SQUID measurements. The '868 patent also discloses replacing traditional twisted-pair wires with shielded, unbalanced, controlled-impedance transmission lines to overcome many of the problems encountered in the earlier prior art, including reducing the amount of radiated leakage and corresponding susceptibility to radio-frequency interference. The '868 patent also discloses employing DSP algorithms to filter, extract, and measure the weak SQUID output signal. Problems encountered in earlier attempts to incorporate DSP technology into SQUID read-out electronics were overcome by locating the DSP outside of the FLL.
The '767 patent discloses implementing the FLL with analog and radio-frequency (RF) components to improve upon the earlier prior art by a factor of at least ten. The use of RF techniques results in a flux modulation frequency of at least 33 MHz and a maximum tracking loop bandwidth of at least 5 MHz. The FLL is thus able to track, without unlocking, undesired high slew rate magnetic interference, thereby further eliminating the need for expensive and restrictive magnetic shielding for the SQUID.
The '078 patent discloses a system with continuous signals and no time switching devices and therefore none of the associated problems found in the earlier prior art. The '078 patent also discloses operating a plurality of RF FLLs and their associated SQUIDs on different flux modulation frequencies (f1 through fN). This allows for a 1×N architecture which reduces from 2N to N+1 the number of required cable connections between the cryogenic SQUIDs and their associated room temperature read-out electronics. Thus, for example, a system comprising an array of ten SQUIDs, which previously would have required at least twenty cable connections, with their associated heat transfer and added complexity, now requires only eleven connections. The '078 patent also discloses reducing redundancy of FLL componentry by sharing certain components among the SQUID subsystems, thereby reducing complexity, cost, and size of the system as a whole. Thus, while each SQUID still requires some dedicated, frequency-specific FLL componentry, other non-frequency-specific FLL component functions are performed by shared or common components.
Thus, the '868, '767, and '078 patents greatly improved upon and enhanced the usability of prior art FLLs and SQUIDs. These prior art patents, however, refer to and make use of only modulated FLLs. Unfortunately, modulation is associated with a greater number of electronic components, a greater number of more difficult adjustments, and distortion-producing non-linear RF components such as, for example, modulation oscillators, that emit RF interference. Modulation of the SQUID transfer function can also create unwanted distortion and signal sidebands with high level magnetic field signals applied to the SQUID. Modulated FLLs also require substantial bandwidth to process signal information. Modulated FLLs are also non-linear and therefore require band-limiting RF filters, which results in lower slew rates and narrower tracking bandwidths
Due to the above-identified and other problems and disadvantages in the prior art, a need exists for an improved FLL for use with a SQUID in a system for measuring magnetic fields.

System having unmodulated flux locked loop for measuring magnetic fields

Honeywell Federal Manufacturing & Technologies, LLC


A high temperature membrane reactor or gas purification apparatus includes a housing containing a gas heating chamber and a gas extraction component, preferably one or more tubular membranes. The preferred application is for extracting hydrogen from a mixed gas flow or for generating hydrogen, e.g., by reforming methanol, ethanol, or gasoline. A surrounding annulus provides heat exchange and insulation by circulating the mixed gas flow about the housing and then injecting the mixed gas flow into the housing for extraction or reaction. The apparatus further includes an outlet for releasing raffinate preferably including a flow controlling restriction. Heating is provided by conducting the raffinate from the gas extraction component to the heating chamber wherein reaction with a catalyst generates heat. These features, alone or in combination, provide better energy management, better flow management, and better safety than current designs. A spring-type support for the membrane is further described which increases the maximum useable operation pressure of the membranes to take better advantage of the membrane reactor and gas purification features.

The common technology for extracting gases such as hydrogen from industrial streams, for use in the electronics industry for hydrogenation or for changing the balance of hydrogen in those streams is to use membranes. The membranes are disposed in a housing. A mixed gas flow is conducted to the housing wherein the extraction occurs. Extracted gas (such as hydrogen) is preferentially extracted through the membranes and exits through an outlet port. A second outlet allows for the exhaust of raffinate out of the chamber, Examples of such chambers are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,205,841, and 4,468,235.
Many protocols require the mixed gas to be at elevated temperatures. In such cases, heat is lost from the housing, through the housing walls or carried away with the extracted gas, thereby resulting in loss of thermal efficiency of this system. Furthermore, heating methods currently in use tend to produce large thermal gradients, with the gas extraction membrane often being heated excessively in some areas and being under heated in others. The result of this is decreased flow rates and/or damage to the membranes. Johnson Matthey, LTD, has used a system of multiple heaters and temperature controllers, but this approach is energy inefficient and does not control the temperature much better than the single heater as the multiple controllers often fight one another. A system that helps to conserve heat and avoid these problems is disclosed in the pending U.S. application Ser. No. 08/875,046, published as WO 97/17125 to the inventor of the present invention.
Raffinate flow control and safety are also problems with the currently available purification and generation systems. The inventor has observed an input gas explosion during hot start up. Similarly, explosive conditions can result from a cool down in air where the module, full of combustible gas, sucks air in through the raffinate port. In either case, an explosive mixture of air and gas mixture suddenly contacts a hot membrane and thus creates a serious danger. This danger is all the more severe as if the present invention is used as a hydrogen generator to fuel a fuel cell, e.g., to run a car, because of the demanding operating environment and the variety of mechanical talent, and the desire for a unit can be turned on or off instantly.
Pure gas suck-back can also ruin a membrane if the sucked-back gas has already been mixed with a component, like arsine, that can poison the membrane. Purified hydrogen is mixed with arsine in the manufacture of semiconductors.

High temperature gas purification system


A seat assembly is provided having a side shield having a leading edge. The side shield adapted to cover at least a portion of the seat cushion of the seat assembly. The assembly further includes a seat cushion, the side shield positioned adjacent to the seat cushion, the seat cushion having an elongated trench adapted to receive the leading edge of the side shield so as to prevent the formation of a gap between the shield and the cushion portion thereby providing an aesthetically appealing appearance to the user. The seat cushion includes a side surface positioned adjacent to the side shield. The trench is further defined as a generally horizontal momentary discontinuous surface extending into the side surface of the seat cushion, the leading edge of the side shield resting within the trench. The side shield extends around the seat cushion to a front portion of the seat cushion and the trench adapted to accept the leading edge of the side shield at the front portion of the seat cushion. The trench further extends horizontally from the rear to the front of the seat cushion to accommodate the leading edge of the side shield.

Seat assemblies having a side shield are well known in the art. Side shields are used to provide an aesthetically appealing appearance to the user and to also provide a barrier from the inside and underneath components of the seat assembly. The side shield may also hold the operator controls for the seat assembly, such as seat movement, slide, tilt, memory, recline . . . etc. However, current seat assembly configurations do not provide for a close mating condition between the side shield and the seat cushion. The prior art, such as illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2, show a large gap between the leading edge of the side shield and the seat cushion. This gap is not only not aesthetically pleasing, it also may result in objects dropped by the user becoming lost by falling through the gap and the side shield and creates an inconsistent gap. Accordingly, there exists a need in the art to provide a seat assembly having a side shield having an improved mating condition between the leading edge of the side shield and the seat cushion.

Toyota Motor Engineering & Manuufacturing North America, Inc.


A supplement application for ordering genetic tests is disclosed herein. The supplement application receives an identifier for a medication for a patient and an identifier for the patient from an electronic health records application. The supplement application retrieves an identifier for a variant form of a gene based on the identifier for the medication. The variant form of the gene is known to have an interaction with the medication. When the supplement application determines that the patient has failed to undergo a genetic test for the variant form of the gene, the supplement application retrieves an identifier for a genetic laboratory that offers the genetic test. The supplement application then constructs an order for the genetic test using the identifier for the patient, the identifier for the variant form of the gene, and the identifier for the genetic laboratory and transmits the order to a genetic laboratory computing device.

Electronic health record applications (EHRs) are computer-executable applications utilized in healthcare environments. EHRs are generally configured to perform various tasks related to healthcare including patient intake tasks, insurance processing tasks, billing tasks, prescription generation tasks, health record maintenance tasks, and so forth. Some EHRs are configured to present information to a healthcare worker relating to medications that are taken by or will be taken by a patient. For instance, an EHR may present dosage information, allergy interactions, usage guidelines, etc.
Some medications are known to have interactions with gene variants in the human genome. For instance, a gene in the human genome may have many different potential variants. Many of the variants may not impact how a medication is processed by a patient. However, some variants may impact how medication is processed by the patient. For example, when the patient possesses a gene variant, the gene variant may cause the medication to be less effective for the patient as compared to a person who does not have the gene variant. Healthcare workers often prescribe medications without regard to genetics of a patient as healthcare workers are not geneticists and often lack genetic knowledge.
Conventional EHRs have generally not been configured to present information regarding medication-genetic interactions. Furthermore, conventional EHRs have generally not been configured to order genetic tests for patients. Thus, if a healthcare worker wishes to ascertain whether a patient has a gene variant that may impact how the patient metabolizes a medication and/or when the healthcare worker wishes to order a genetic test to ascertain whether the patient has the variant, a conventional EHR is not configured to assist the healthcare worker with such tasks. Instead, another computer-executable application must be initiated on a computing device, must accept input from the healthcare worker (which invites user error, as the healthcare worker must type information about the patient, the gene, and so forth into the another application), and then be provided with the results.