Provided are a far-infrared radiation material and a medicine and a food derived therefrom. The far-infrared radiation material is obtained by steps comprising pulverizing a stone (SGES) having been absorbing solar energy for a geologically long time, emitting far-infrared radiation of the wavelength 4-14 .mu.m and comprising at least about 28% of Si, about 10% of Al, about 6% of K and about 4% of Fe, and forming the pulverized stone into spheres. This material can be used as sand for a sand bath. Also ultrafine powder obtained by pulverizing the SGES and grinding the pulverized SGES can be used as a medicine or a food.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a far-infrared radiation material and a medicine and a food derived therefrom. In particular, the far-infrared radiation material is one that is remarkably effective for activating normal cells, for inhibiting the lipid peroxide production, and for inhibiting the proliferation of leukemia and transplanted cancer cells.
2. Related Art Statement
Stones such as granite, platinum, tourmaline and so on have been known to emit far-infrared radiation of the wavelength 4-14 .mu.m.
The far-infrared radiation emitted from these stones dissociates water clusters into the molecules. Thus impurities inside water clusters can be removed by applying the radiation, whereby the water is purified. For example, water contaminated with such gases as sulfurous acid gas, hydrochloric acid gas, carbonic acid gas, and so on, which lie inside the water clusters, is purified by applying the radiation since it cleaves the clusters, and thus the gases are released therefrom. Also for the case of contamination of water with such heavy metals as mercury, cadmium, and so on, the application of the radiation causes the dissociation of the clusters which include the metals inside, and consequently these metals precipitate. Then by removing the precipitates from the water, the water is purified.
The far-infrared radiation having the wavelength 4-14 .mu.m have been known as "growth ray", which is energy necessary for raising animals and plants.
Recently, researches by the present inventors have shown that the above-described radiation activates animal and plant cells as well as inhibits the lipid peroxide production which is considered to be one of factors causing such diseases as rheumatoid arthritis, thrombophlebitis, progressive systemic scleroderma, Buerger's disease, Raynaud's disease, intractable dermatoulcer, and the like. It has also been proved that the application of such radiation to a human body promotes the circulation of blood, and is widely useful in preventing paralysis and cardiac infarction as well as in curing a topic dermatitis. Furthermore, the present inventors have proved that the radiation inhibits even the activity of cancer cells (See Igaku to Seibutsugaku, Vol. 123: pp. 113-118, 1991, Ensho, Vol. 11: pp. 135-141, 1991, Ensho, Vol. 12: pp. 63-69, 1992, Int. J. Biometeorol., Vol. 37: pp. 133-138, 1993).
However, the far-infrared radiation emitted from these known stones, granite and tourmaline, does not show the remarkable effect to all the following actions: the activation of normal cells, the inhibition of the lipid peroxide production, and the inhibition of the proliferation of leukemia and transplanted cancer cells.
The present inventors have utilized a particular stone, SOES (super growth-ray emitting stone), as described below, to make experiments relating to the effects of the far-infrared radiation emitted therefrom. The radiation from SGES has been applied to cancer cells transplanted to a mouse, to human white blood and leukemia cells, and to lipid peroxides. Compared with the known stones, SGES has been found to be remarkably effective, whereby the present invention has been accomplished.


This application provides an uplink information transmission method and apparatus. The method includes: determining a value of a power control parameter in a value set of the power control parameter, where any value set of the power control parameter includes at least two values; sending indication information to a terminal device, where the indication information is used to indicate the value of the power control parameter; and receiving uplink information, where the uplink information is from the terminal device at a transmit power adjusted based on the value of the power control parameter.

To cope with explosive growth of mobile data traffic, massive mobile communications device connections, and various emerging services and application scenarios in the future, a fifth generation (5G) mobile communications system emerges. The international telecommunication union (ITU) defines three types of application scenarios for 5G and a future mobile communications system: enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB), ultra-reliable low-latency communication (URLLC), and massive machine-type communications (mMTC).
Because an eMBB service and a URLLC service have different reliability requirements, reliability changes from 90% for the eMBB service to 99.999% for the URLLC service, a corresponding block error rate (BLER) changes from 10−1 for the eMBB service to 10−5 for the URLLC service, and a maximum change range of a corresponding signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), namely, a maximum operating point change range can reach 5 dB to 10 dB. However, a current adjustment value of a transmit power control (TPC) command field (TPC control command field) does not meet a requirement for an operating point change from the eMBB service to the URLLC service.

Uplink information transmission method and apparatus


A pressure swing adsorption method for separating gas components includes pressurizing an adsorption bed to an adsorption pressure using a first gas component of a feed gas, the adsorption bed including an adsorbent for substantially adsorbing a second gas component of a feed gas; introducing the feed gas to the pressurized adsorption bed, wherein the first gas component of the feed gas substantially passes through the pressurized adsorption bed and the second gas component of the feed gas substantially adsorbs onto the adsorbent; and depressurizing the pressurized adsorption bed to recover at least a portion of the second gas component of the feed gas in the pressurized adsorption bed.

Gases often include impurities and contaminants. For example, natural gas retrieved from the ground using wells often includes nitrogen, a common contaminating gas. Similarly, biogas often includes nitrogen, oxygen, and/or carbon dioxide. In some instances, as much as eighty percent of natural gas is nitrogen, and as much as twenty percent of biogas is nitrogen. Various attempts have been made to devise systems and processes for removing contaminating gases or otherwise separating components of gas. Each, however, involves inefficiencies.

Pressure swing adsorption method and system for separating gas components


A method and system are provided for controlling a throttle valve and an EGR valve in internal combustion engine. The method includes, the steps of measuring an actual fresh mass air flow value entering the engine, determining an exhaust oxygen concentration set point indicative of the oxygen concentration in the exhaust manifold, calculating an air reference value as a function of the exhaust oxygen concentration set point ([O2]spEM) and determining an oxygen concentration feedback value representative of the oxygen concentration in the engine. The method further includes, but is not limited to the steps of obtaining a position information for the throttle valve by comparing the actual fresh mass air flow value and air reference value and obtaining a position information for the EGR valve by comparing the oxygen concentration feedback value and oxygen concentration set point. The method also includes the steps of controlling the throttle valve and the EGR valve according to the position information.

The combustion process in an internal combustion engine produces NOx (principally NO and NO2), CO, CO2, HC (HydroCarbons), and PM (Particulate Matter).
The amount of CO2 depends on the amount of fuel injected into the cylinders and the amount of CO and HC depends on the combustion efficiency of the internal combustion engine. The amount of NOX depends on the combustion temperature and on the amount of oxygen introduced into the cylinders, while the amount of PM is strictly dependent on the air to fuel ratio (λ).
To optimize the amount of PM and NOX produced, combustion engines are provided with an EGR (Exhaust Gas Recirculation) circuit. The EGR system recirculates exhaust gas from the exhaust manifold to the intake manifold in order to dilute the fresh air introduced into the engine. This leads to emission optimization during the combustion process, because higher amount of H2O and CO2 are introduced, which have a high heat capacity that reduces the combustion temperature. Another effect of diluting the intake flow is that it is possible to control the amount of O2 in the intake flow. The counter effect of this system is that the more the fresh air is diluted, the more the air to fuel ratio (λ) is reduced. This leads to higher amount of PM emissions.
The quantity of fresh air and exhaust gas flowing into the cylinders is controlled by the throttle valve and the EGR valve, respectively.
In conventional engines there is an electronic control unit (ECU) arranged to control the position of the EGR valve in closed loop (if the EGR valve may be controlled with a position feedback loop) and to control the air or the oxygen quantity in the intake manifold, the EGR rate, the λ, the oxygen quantity in the exhaust manifold, by acting either on the throttle valve or on the EGR valve.
The ECU is also arranged to control the temperature of the gas flowing through the EGR circuit in open loop (in case of presence of a cooler bypass in the EGR system) and to control the flap position of the charging system (in case of presence of a charging system that may be controlled with a position feedback loop).
Moreover, the ECU is arranged to control the pressure downstream the charging system, if present, by means of a boost pressure controller, using signals coming from a pressure sensor.
Known air control systems are provided with an air controller and a boost pressure controller, contained in the ECU, that make the engine operate using predetermined fresh air set point and boost set point set by the ECU.
The inputs of the air controller are the fresh air set point and an actual value of fresh mass air flow entering the engine, measured by an air mass sensor placed at the inlet of a turbocharger. The inputs of the boost pressure controller are the boost set point and an actual value of boost pressure in the intake manifold, measured by a sensor placed in the intake manifold downstream the mixing point between the fresh air flow and the recirculated gas flow. The output of the air controller is an actuation request both for the EGR and the throttle valve, which is sent respectively to two different position controllers which control the opening of the two valves.
The drawbacks of such architecture is that the control of the throttle valve and the EGR valve are based on a single air set point, and this leads to difficulties in controlling the emissions and coordinating the two valves.
In view of the above, it is at least one object of the present invention to provide an improved method for controlling the EGR valve and the throttle valve, which allows for control of each valve independently so as to obtain a better emission control. In addition, other objects, desirable features, and characteristics will become apparent from the subsequent detailed description of the invention and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and this background.

Method for controlling the EGR and the throttle valves in an internal combustion engine


A device for reversing an image of an object includes selector for selecting a reverse mode and control signal generator for generating a plurality of control signals. The control signal generator outputs a down-counting signal when the reverse mode is selected. A memory stores image data when the memory receives a store-enable control signal from the control signal generator and outputs the stored image data when the memory receives an output-enable control signal from the control signal generator. The device also includes an address generator for generating an address at which the image data is stored in the memory according to a control signal received from the control signal generator. During the reverse mode, the address generator generates an address to sequentially access the memory, beginning with a last address of the memory according to the down-counting signal.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a device for reversing an image of an object. More particularly, the present invention relates to a device for reversing an image of an object displayed using a video display system.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Video display systems commonly include a CCD (Charge Coupled Device) for converting an optical image of an object into an electrical signal. A display device, such as a monitor or television, receives the electrical signal and transforms it into an image.
The CCD consists of pixels which pick up the optical image and sequentially output corresponding image data. The CCD also has top and bottom, and right and left sides. Thus, if the object is not oriented correctly with respect to the sides of the CCD, then the displayed image can be displayed in reverse. In other words, since the CCD has a fixed orientation, the object to be displayed must be correctly aligned with respect to the CCD in order to prevent the object's image from being disolaved in reverse. As shown in FIG. 2A, an object, or manuscript 21, should be placed on a manuscript table 23 so that its upper portion A' is turned toward side A of the manuscript table.
As shown in FIG. 2B, if the prior art video device is used as a camera, then head 25 of the video device is rotated to display a correct image since the top and bottom orientation of the CCD is fixed.

Device for reversing an image of an object


A spark plug includes a central electrode, an insulator exterior to the central electrode, a metallic shell exterior to the insulator and having the central electrode protrude from one end of the metallic shell, a ground electrode having one end coupled to the metallic shell and having another end facing the central electrode, and an igniting portion secured to either the central electrode or to the ground electrode or to both for forming a spark discharge gap, wherein the igniting portion comprises a chip including a metal-oxide composite material including at least 10 wt % of Ir, an alloy having at least one element selected from a group consisting of Rh, Mo, Nb and Pt in a total amount in a range of 0.5 to 88.4 wt %, and a rare earth oxide in an amount ranging from 1.6 to 15 wt %.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a spark plug with igniting portion chip composition for use in internal combustion engines.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventional spark plugs used in internal combustion engines, such as automotive engines, have an igniting portion formed of a platinum (Pt) alloy chip welded to a tip end of an electrode in order to improve its resistance to spark consumption. However, in view of the high cost of platinum, it has been proposed to use less expensive iridium (Ir) as a chip material.
A problem with the use of Ir as a material for the igniting portion of the spark plug is that Ir easily oxidizes and evaporates in a high temperature range of 900 to 1,000.degree. C. Therefore, if it is directly used in the igniting portion of the electrode, it is consumed by oxidation and evaporation to a greater extent than by sparking. In order to retard the oxidation and evaporation of Ir, it has been proposed that a material having a rare earth oxide, such as Y.sub.2 O.sub.3, dispersed in Ir, should be used as added to the chip composition (See Unexamined Japanese Patent Publication (kokai) No. Hei. 7-37677). However, as recent engine models are designed to increase output power, the range of temperatures over which the spark plug is used tends to shift towards the higher end, and even the spark plug that uses a chip made of the proposed material may not have a satisfactory durability.

Spark plug with igniting portion chip composition


A heat exchanger is provided. The heat exchanger includes a stack assembly with a plurality of plates and a plurality of frames arranged in an alternating stacked relationship with the plates along a stack direction. The stack assembly also includes a plurality of foam blocks disposed within the plurality of frames. A first and second fluid flow path extend through the stack assembly, with the first fluid flow path in thermal contact with the second fluid flow path and fluidly isolated from the second fluid flow path.

Plate-type heat exchangers are used for certain industrial applications in place of fin and tube or shell and tube type heat exchangers because they are less expensive and easier to make than most forms of heat exchangers. In one form of such plate-type heat exchangers, a plurality of primary surface plates are brazed together in a unitary structure with spacer frames located between adjacent plates and traversing a course adjacent to the plate peripheries. Flow of the two fluids involved in heat exchange is through alternate layers defined by the brazed plates. The space between the plates may be occupied by protuberances or fins formed in the plates to increase turbulence or heat exchange in the fluid flow. All of the fluid flowing in a given defined space is in contact with the plates to enhance heat transfer.
In order to handle larger heat loads, existing plate-type heat exchangers may be scaled up in size by adding more layers or using denser configurations of layers. However, one problem that arises with some designs is that the pressure loss across the heat exchanger increases. One technique used to decrease the pressure loss is to transversely supply each layer from a single conduit. The conduit is sized to minimize any pressure drops. An example of such a heat exchanger is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,911,273 to Brenner et al. ("the '273 patent"). The '273 patent discloses a heat exchanger having a stacked plate construction made of four distinct parts: a cover, a flow duct plate, a connection cover plate, and a connection plate. These parts are alternated and rotated in a stack assembly. A first fluid flows into the heat exchanger through a connection opening, into a single connection conduit, then transversely through fluidically parallel layers. A second fluid has a similar flow pattern, with the heat exchange occurring across the parallel layers of the stack assembly.
While the configuration of the '273 patent attempts to decrease pressure losses, it results in an increased manifold volume or supply conduit volume to heat exchanger volume ratio. As the size or the number of layers in the heat exchanger increases, the size of the manifold volume increases as well. For applications requiring a compact construction, this may prove to be unacceptable. In addition, there may be non-uniform heat exchange such that layers farthest from the supply conduit inlets may receive less flow than layers closest to the supply conduit inlets.
The present disclosure is directed to overcoming one or more of the problems set forth above.


A method of controlling a discharge of bit lines of a matrix of memory cells comprises conditioning a value of a current flowing through a bit line of the matrix during a bit line discharge phase to an absence of an indication of defectiveness of the bit line. The method allows preventing crowbar currents that otherwise flow during the bit line discharge phase when a defective bit line exhibits a short-circuit to a defective word line.

Ovonic unified or phase-change memories are an emerging type of electrically-alterable non-volatile semiconductor memory. These memories exploit the properties of materials (phase-change materials) that can be reversibly switched between an amorphous phase and a crystalline phase. A phase-change material exhibits different electrical characteristics, particularly a different resistivity, peculiar of each one of the two phases; thus, each material phase can be conventionally associated with a corresponding one of the two logic values, "1" and "0". An example of a phase-change semiconductor memory is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,166,758.
Typically, the memory includes a matrix of phase-change memory cells, arranged in rows and columns with associated word lines and bit lines, respectively. Each memory cell consists of a storage element connected in series to an access element; as the access element, the base-emitter junction of a bipolar junction transistor, particularly a PNP BJT, associated with the storage element can be used.
In a stand-by condition, or before any read or write access to the memory, the word lines are kept at a relatively high voltage (word line deselection voltage), so that all the access elements are reverse biased.
During a write or read operation, the voltage of a selected word line is lowered, and one or more selected bit lines are brought to a voltage corresponding to the operation to be performed, while the remaining, non-selected bit lines are left floating. In this condition, the access elements associated with the memory cells of the selected word line and of the selected bit lines are forward biased, and the access to the corresponding storage elements is enabled.
However, leakage currents inevitably flow through the access elements even when they are reverse biased; the leakage currents, delivered to the access elements by the word line drivers, cause the charging of stray capacitances intrinsically associated with the bit lines, and the voltage of the bit lines raises, therefore, towards the word line deselection voltage.
If, as a consequence of the leakage currents, the voltage of a generic bit line reaches and, possibly, exceeds the turn-on voltage of the access elements (the threshold voltage of the base-emitter junction diodes, typically 0.6 V), an undesired access to the storage element that belongs to such a bit line and to a selected word line takes place, even if the bit line is actually kept unselected.
In this condition, the current flowing through the spuriously selected storage element may cause the voltage of the selected word line to rise, disturbing the operation of the memory device. Even worse, when the current flowing through the spuriously selected storage element reaches a value sufficient to cause a switch of phase in the phase-change material, the phase switch can cause an undesired change of the logic value stored in that memory cell. Even when the phase switch is only temporary and not permanent, a wrong value can be read if the memory cell is selected before a corresponding recovery time.
These problems are exacerbated as the temperature increases, since the leakage currents typically depend on the temperature according to an exponential law. In addition, the total leakage current injected into each storage element in the selected word line is directly proportional to the number of access elements in the corresponding deselected bit line.
For these reasons, before any operation involving the selection of a word line, the bit line voltage has to be brought to a properly low value, typically to ground, and thus the bit line stray capacitances need to be discharged. To this purpose, controlled switching elements, typically pass transistors, are associated with the bit lines, which are activated during a bit line discharge phase preceding any operation that involves the selection of a word line, so as to electrically connect the bit lines to a reference voltage line, for example, the ground line, and to discharge the associated stray capacitances.
A problem arises when, due to a manufacturing defect, a short-circuit (or, generally, a low-resistance path) exists between a generic bit line and a generic word line of the matrix. Especially in very dense memory matrices, this type of defect may be relatively highly probable. Known redundancy techniques allow repairing such a defect, by functionally replacing the defective bit line and word line with redundant bit line and word line; any attempt of selecting the defective bit line and word line would automatically result in a selection of the redundant bit line and word line.
Regreffully, according to the known approach, during the bit line discharge phase, before the desired word line is selected (thus, when all the word lines are still kept at the word line deselection voltage), the short-circuit between the defective word line and bit line causes a short-circuit between the word line driver supply voltage line (the line supplying the word line deselection voltage to the word line driver) and the reference voltage line; this short-circuit causes the flow of a significant crowbar current, for a time corresponding to the activation time of the bit line discharge pass transistors (typically, some tens of nanoseconds). This may easily cause the memory to exhibit an unacceptably high power consumption. Additionally, when the word line deselection voltage is generated on-chip by means of charge-pump voltage generators, the excessive current absorption due to the short circuit may easily cause the charge-pump output voltage to fall below a safety level, with the consequence that the correct operation of the whole memory might be prejudiced (for example, a too low word line deselection voltage may prevent the proper deactivation of the memory cell access elements, with the possible consequence that the data stored in the memory cells of the selected bit line are corrupted).

Bit line discharge control method and circuit for a semiconductor memory


A flexible sanding composite in accordance with the principles of the invention includes about 10% to about 70% by weight liquid component, such as polybutene and/or oleic acid; about 30% to about 80% by weight abrasive material including calcium carbonate and aluminum oxide; and about 0% to about 5% by weight synthetic rubber. The invention also includes a method of removing dirt or contamination from a surface, or flattening surface irregularities, which includes rubbing the flexible sanding composite against the surface repeatedly until the dirt or contamination is diminished.

For centuries, sandpaper and abrasive-impregnated emery cloth papers have been the tools of choice for removing small layers of material, such as dirt and contamination, and leveling irregularities from surfaces. Sandpaper can also make the surface smoother or rougher. The flexibility of a paper backing allows sandpaper to follow irregular or rounded contours of virtually any surface shape, with limitations. Numerous motor-driven devices have been developed to facilitate the handling of sandpaper, such as belt sanders, detail sanders, disc sanders, palm sanders, and orbit sanders.
Despite the development of these sanding devices, sandpaper is still commonly used by hand for both small touch-up areas as well as large areas. Sanding a surface by hand, as opposed to using a motor-driven sanding device, provides the user with complete control over the amount of pressure applied and the exact location to which the abrasive material is applied.
A variety of sanding blocks provide a handle in order to more easily grip the sandpaper. The most basic type of sanding block is essentially a block of wood or other hard material around which sandpaper can be wrapped, thus providing a handle for gripping the sandpaper while sanding a surface. Once the sandpaper has become worn in at least one area, the position of the sandpaper can be adjusted on the block in order to utilize other lesser-used areas of the sandpaper. Such sanding blocks are often more comfortable to use than sandpaper alone, but these blocks typically lack the flexibility needed to follow irregular, contoured, or narrow surfaces, which results in uneven pressure being applied to such surfaces and, consequently, uneven sanding.
Some sanding blocks are integral with the sandpaper, such as sponge-backed sanding blocks. These sponge-backed sanding blocks provide a handle and the sponge backing maintains sufficient flexibility to allow the sandpaper to follow the contours of the surface being sanded. One drawback of these sponge-backed sanding blocks is that the surfaces of abrasive material are prone to uneven wear. That is, the abrasive material may wear off on certain areas of the sanding block while other less-frequently-used areas of the sanding block remain intact. However, the less-frequently-used areas may experience less usage because their locations are impractical or uncomfortable for the user. Thus, the sponge-backed sanding block is typically discarded after only a fraction of the abrasive material has worn off.
There is a need or desire for an aggressive sanding device for use in removing dirt and contamination from a surface, particularly from a painted metal surface, and to smooth and/or flatten uneven, irregular surfaces. There is a further need or desire for a sanding device capable of applying even pressure along the surface being sanded. There is yet another need or desire for a sanding device that can be used repeatedly without uneven wear.


An inductive device including an inductor coil located over a substrate, at least one electrically insulating layer interposing the inductor coil and the substrate, and a plurality of current interrupters each extending into the substrate, wherein a first aggregate outer boundary of the plurality of current interrupters substantially encompasses a second aggregate outer boundary of the inductor coil.

RF inductors play an essential role in microwave front-end modules, including low noise amplifiers and voltage-controlled oscillators. For on-chip inductors, a spiral-shape inductor is often implemented. However, such implementation often exhibits a low quality factor Q at desired operating frequencies. Quality factor is the ratio of energy stored in the inductor to the energy loss in the inductor. Low-Q inductors drain more energy and generate excessive electronic noise. The lossy nature of silicon substrates employed with such inductors, as well as the resistive loss attributable to metal lines in such microelectronic devices, make it difficult to design high-Q inductors.
Substrate losses are at least partially caused by eddy currents induced by current flowing in the metal lines of the device. Approaches to minimize the eddy currents and, thereby, to reduce substrate losses include removing portions of the substrate and forming large doped regions encompassing the footprint of the inductor coil. However, the substrate removal approach results in poor resistance to environmental vibration and is difficult to integrate with existing fabrication processes. In addition, the large doped region approach provides little reduction in eddy current, partially because eddy currents can flow inside the doped regions.

Inductor energy loss reduction techniques

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Ltd.


A device for adjusting a parameter includes a selector that is actuated by an operator. A coder is driven in rotation by the actuation of the selector and emits a signal representative of the rotation. A first detector detects an actuation of the selector, and a second detector detects the emission of the signal indicating the change of the selected value. A comparitor, linked to the first and second detectors, determines a malfunction when only one of the first and second detectors makes a detection.

It is known that aircraft are furnished with a customary automatic pilot system, comprising a manual control module of said system, this module usually being of the FCU (Flight Control Unit) type. Such a module comprises an adjustment device which allows the adjustment of a certain number of parameters, in particular the altitude of the aircraft, its speed (or its Mach number), its heading (or its flight path), its vertical speed (or its angle of descent), etc.
It is also known that such an adjustment device usually comprises, for the adjustment of a parameter:                at least one selector which is capable of being actuated by an operator;        at least one coder which is driven in rotation by said selector, when the latter is actuated, and which then emits a signal representative of that rotation; and        at least one arithmetic unit which receives the signal emitted by the coder, formats it, makes a computation to deduce the selected value therefrom and is capable of transmitting the selected value thus computed. This selected value is made available to the items of equipment that use it (such as the automatic pilot system in particular), for example by means of an "ARINC 429" type link. It is also communicated, for example, by means of a serial link inside the FCU module, to a display module situated on the front face of the latter.
In exceptional cases, corresponding for example to an operation of the FCU module in environmental conditions of extreme interference from an electromagnetic point of view or in cases of malfunction, even though extremely brief, of the coder or of a component of one of the portions of the adjustment device of said FCU module, the risk cannot be totally excluded that the value of one of the parameters, selected by a pilot, is modified without there having been an action of said pilot on the selector with the intention of modifying it. Such behavior could be disorientating for the pilot, since the flight of the aircraft would then no longer correspond to the parameters selected by said pilot.

Device for adjusting at least one parameter, in particular for an aircraft automatic pilot system


A method and a device for performing the methods, for response to a spill on water whereby one end of an oil boom is towed from the shore of a watercourse with flowing water, at an angle to the water current, to a suitable position in the watercourse, using a waterborne current rudder. The current rudder is secured to one end of a line, the other end of the line is secured to an upstream point ashore, allowing the current rudder to move out into the stream and to maintain one end of the oil boom in a suitable position in the watercourse, while the other end of the oil boom is secured to a downstream point ashore, where an oil recovery device is positioned. The current rudder is fitted with a balance rudder operated by a line or a remote control from shore, allowing the current rudder and the oil boom end attached thereto, to be recovered to shore when so required.

The subject invention concerns a method and a device for performing the method, for response to a spill on water whereby e.g. one end of an oil boom is towed from the shore of a watercourse with flowing water e.g. a river, at an angle to the water current, to a suitable position in the watercourse, using a waterborne current rudder. The current rudder is secured to one end of a line, the other end of the line is secured ashore, allowing the current rudder to move out into the stream and to maintain one end of the oil boom in a suitable position in the watercourse, while the other end of the oil boom is secured to shore further downstream, where an oil recovery device is positioned.
The current rudder is fitted with a balance rudder operated by a line or a remote control from shore, allowing the current rudder and the oil boom end attached thereto, to be recovered to shore when so required.
The method can also be used to protect the shoreline from being impacted by oil, by securing the upstream end of the oil boom to shore and using the current rudder to tow the downstream end of the oil boom out from the shore.
The method can also be applied from a vessel making speed through the water. The current rudder, secured to one end of a line, the other end of the line being secured to the fore part of the vessel, tows out one end of an oil boom from the side of the ship, the other end of the oil boom being secured to the vessel""s oil recovery device or to an oil recovery device being towed by the vessel. Current rudders with oil booms can be operated from both sides of the vessel at the same time, to increase the oil recovery swath and to counteract the steering imbalance of the vessel resulting from drag created by deployment of a current rudder on one side of the vessel only.
Earlier known methods for oil spill response operations in flowing waters entail either mooring the upstream end of the oil boom to the bottom, by anchor or fixed buoy or other fixed mooring device, or deploying the oil boom across the entire watercourse by mooring it to both shores to the disadvantage of any vessel traffic. Both these alternatives require a suitable boat for towing out the oil boom in the watercourse. Earlier known methods for oil spill recovery in open water require either two vessels towing the oil boom and possibly a third vessel for the actual oil recovery, or one vessel with a jib or mast rigged horizontally from the vessel side, alternatively from both sides, to which the end of the oil boom or oil booms are secured. The jibs or masts are subjected to great forces, and are often difficult to handle in heavy seas.
The object of the subject invention is to eliminate the major disadvantages with earlier known methods for oil spill response operations in flowing waters and to facilitate deployment and recovery of oil booms from shore by, in accordance with the patent claims, using a waterborne and remotely, e.g. by line, manoeuvred current rudder to tow one end of an oil boom to a suitable position in the watercourse and at any time recover the same to terminate operations or to let vessels pass through the area of operation. The current rudder and the required mooring and control lines can be transported, handled and deployed by two persons without the aid of any vessel. When deployed and positioned the operation of the current rudder and oil boom requires one person on the shore from which the device was deployed.

Method and device for oil spill response operation


A light path circuit apparatus suited for a small sized ring laser gyro, includes a base having a standard plane, one or more substrates laminated parallel against the standard plane in a direction orthogonal to the standard plane, a light source, wherein on the base and/or the one or more substrates, 3 or more reflective surfaces, having normal lines within a prescribed one plane orthogonal to the standard plane, are constituted parallel or with tilt by a prescribed angle to the standard plane, the light source is disposed to emit light within the prescribed one plane, and the light emitted from the light source circulates within the one plane in a forward and backward direction by three or more reflective surfaces and constitutes a light path circuit that laser oscillates.

1. Field of the invention
The present invention relates to a light path circuit apparatus and a ring laser gyro.
2. Description of the Related Art
An angular velocity sensor has applications in many fields such as car navigation, vibration correction of cameras, video games, air planes, rockets and robots and so on. As an angular velocity sensor, a vibration type is conventionally known that lets an object vibrate by piezoelectricity or electrostatic force and calculates the angular velocity by detecting the Coriolis force generated, or an optical fiber gyro or a ring laser gyro that utilizes Sagnac effects.
A vibration type gyro is not suited for detection of absolute angles because the zero point offset is large. Although optical fiber gyros or a ring lasers gyro have high performance, they are not suited to consumer use because of their comparatively large size and high price.
By MEMS technologies, a technology to constitute a light path circuit part of a ring laser gyro using anisotropic etching of a silicon is disclosed in JP3751553B. This technology can easily constitute a light path circuit part with high precision by batch processing so that a smaller sized and lower cost ring laser gyro can be realized.
However, because the technology described in JP3751553B forms a light path circuit on a surface parallel to the substrate, the angular velocity in only one axial direction is detected. When performing angular velocity detection in more than two axial directions, if a light path circuit part described in JP3751553B is used, it is necessary to combine two or more light path circuit parts used for the detection of each of the axial directions and the device thus becomes too large in size. In addition, when combining two light path circuit parts used for angular velocity detection in one axial direction, it is difficult to ensure that the two parts are mutually orthogonal at the time of assembly.

Light path circuit apparatus and ring laser gyro


A spot welding head comprises a spot electrode 6, a spot electrode supporter 3 holding the electrode 6 on its tip, a base member 2 holding the supporter 3 in such a manner that the supporter 3 can swing on a first pin 4, a frame 1 holding the base member 2 in such a manner that the member 2 can swing on a pivot pin 14 as a second pin, a guide 17 for guiding the base member 2 relative to the frame 1 in such a manner that the member 2 can slide longitudinally, a first actuator 5 connected at its one end to the supporter 3 for swinging the supporter 3 relative to the base member 2 when a steel strap is spot-welded, and a second actuator 9 connected at its one end to the frame 1 and at its other end to the base member 2 for swinging or sliding the member 2 relative to the frame.

Known is a conventional spot welding head of the aforenoted type for spot-welding a steel strap longitudinally at one, two or three spots at regular intervals (Japanese Patent Publication H.2-274383).
There is another spot welding head for spot-welding a steel strap laterally at two or more spots at one or more predetermined intervals (Japanese Utility Model Publication H.7-31891).
Before these spot welding heads were developed, there were only available spot welding heads exclusively for spot welding at only one spot or longitudinally in only one line. With regard to those steel straps which were spot-welded at only one spot or longitudinally in only one line, however, if tensile force is applied to each of the straps from both sides of the weld spot, the welded minute area behaves in such a manner that it turns perpendicularly to the direction of tension. This causes a bending moment to act on the welded portion. As a result, relatively small forces broke some of such welded portions.
Therefore, spot welding heads for multi-point spot welding as mentioned above have been provided, and measures have been taken so that no bending moments act on the spot-welded portions, or so that the portions are sufficiently secure against bending moments, if any.
With regard to the above multi-point spot welding, if a tensile force is applied to a welded steel strap, a slight bending moment acts on the welded portions on both sides. In addition, because the strap is welded at multiple spots in a line within a size limited for compactness of the apparatus, the distances between the weld spots are shortened. Therefore, the spot welding temper hardening extremely reduces the allowable bending stress in the directions along the line connecting the weld spots, and also lowers the allowable stress in the direction of the tension. In the present situation, these reduced and lowered stresses are allowed within allowable ranges. In particular, for a steel strap of high-carbon material (with an equivalent carbon content of 0.2% or more), the above evils or ill effects of temper hardening due to spot welding are remarkable.
Therefore, a steel strap may be spot-welded in zigzag, square or rectangular modes. Because a spot welding head needs to be compact, however, it has been practically impossible to provide a spot welding head for automatic zigzag, square or rectangular spot welding.
In other words, it has been difficult to devise such a mechanism that can move a spot electrode in a zigzag, square or rectangular mode as stated above in a spot welding head, which has only a relatively narrow space.
Furthermore, the spot electrode of a conventional spot welding head for the foregoing multi-point spot welding is moved by a rotary actuator or the like through a gear mechanism. Therefore, the intervals between the nuggets of spot welding due to gear back lash are not accurate. For example, it was originally necessary for nuggets to have intervals of 10 mm, but their actual intervals were 8 mm and 9 mm. In addition, a spot welding head with this type of mechanism is complicated in structure and therefore expensive, and it is structurally impossible to easily adjust the spot welding intervals from the outside.


A resin injection apparatus 19 for use in connection with a drilling apparatus 10 for installing ground anchors. The resin injection apparatus 19 comprises a resin injector adaptor 20, adapted to be connected in fluid communication with a hollow drill shaft 21 of a drill rig 10. The resin injector adaptor 20 can be used to inject one or more resin fluids into the drill shaft 21 wherein, in use, when a hole has been drilled in a rock stratum, resin can be injected into the hole via the drill shaft prior to inserting a ground anchor.

In most underground mines, ground anchors form the basis of the primary roof and/or wall support systems within tunnels. To enforce a roof or wall, ground anchors can be installed mechanically or manually using resin, cement grout, friction anchors or point anchors or a combination of such. It has been estimated that 30%-35% of the rock anchors do not perform to specification and may represent some risk to the maintenance of a safe workplace environment (Galvin et al 2001).
Typically the method for installing chemical anchors, otherwise known as resin anchors, first requires for a hole to be drilled into the roof or wall. Resin anchors comprise steel bolts/cables which when in position are encased in a resin within the drill hole. The resin protects the bolt from the corrosive influences within the drill hole and penetrates the surrounding rock formation to adhesively unite the strata and hold the steel bolt in position.
The resin is typically supplied in a cylindrical two component cartridge which comprises a resin component and a resin catalyst component. In use the cartridge is manually inserted into a drilled hole and the steel bolt/cable is then inserted into the hole. The insertion of the bolt causes the plastic sheath of the cartridge to break. The steel bolt is then rotated to shred the cartridge, mix the resin components and disperse the resin. The resin mixture fills the annular area between the drill hole wall and the shaft of the steel bolt. The mixed resin cures and binds the steel bolt to the surrounding rock strata.
Breaking the plastic sheath of the cartridge and mixing the resin components effectively can be problematic. Many resin anchors are ineffective because the resin components are not mixed completely. The shredded cartridge can interfere with the resin and catalyst mixing. Poor mixing results in an inferior cured resin and results in poor bond strength between the bolt and drill hole wall. Furthermore this method of installing resin anchors is complicated and time-consuming. The method requires a mineworker to be positioned in the non-supported portion of tunnel for the manual insertion of the resin cartridge. The method results in slow resin anchor installation and provides for workplace safety issues.
A single-stage self-drilling resin anchor system has been proposed as a solution to overcome the aforementioned limitations. This system utilises a hollow bar with a passage through the centre of the bar serving as a flowpath for water. A cavity is provided at the centre of the bar for housing the resin cartridge. In this system, after the drill hole has been completed, water is injected into the cavity containing the resin cartridge. The water ruptures the resin cartridge, forcing resin through a hole in the tip of the bar into the drill hole with the steel bolt. The resin then sets, bonding the bolt to the rock strata.
A disadvantage with this system is that the resin cartridge may prematurely rupture during transportation, or during the boring process, prior to completion of the boring process. A further problem is that there may not be sufficient resin forced into the hole for securing the steel bolt.
A dedicated drill rig has also been proposed. This system has a dedicated drill and installation platform where the hole is drilled, a resin injector guide tube is indexed over to the drilled hole and the resin is fired into the drilled hole. Once the resin is fired into the hole then the ground anchor is indexed across and installed into the drilled hole. Throughout this process, the drill component is stationary. This rig provides a very good process for ground support installation. However, because it is a dedicated machine it is very expensive for a mining business to incorporate into their fleet as it cannot perform any other function apart from ground support installation. Further, the resin cartridge can break open causing the two chemicals to mix and form into a solid mass, and thereby blocking off the hole and stopping the ground anchor from entering the drilled hole.
From the above description of several prior art methods of installing ground anchors it can be seen that the prior art systems utilised suffer from issues associated with at least resin stability and effective mixing of resin components once in use. Various safety issues also arise. Therefore, the present invention was developed with a view to providing a simple and effective method and apparatus for injecting resin for use during the installation of resin anchors.
References to prior art in this specification are provided for illustrative purposes only and are not to be taken as an admission that such prior art is part of the common general knowledge in Australia or elsewhere.

Resin injection apparatus for drilling apparatus for installing a ground anchor


A magnetic recording disk favorably employable in a magnetic recording and reproducing method in which a magnetic recording disk is rotated at an increased rotation rate is essentially composed of a flexible support, a non-magnetic undercoating layer, and a thin magnetic layer which has a smooth surface and utilizes an iron-containing ferromagnetic metal powder, wherein the ferromagnetic metal powder contains an amount of an aluminum element in an amount of 5 to 30 atomic % based on the amount of iron element, and the magnetic layer is adjusted to have a squareness ratio of in the range of 0.15 to 0.30.

Magnetic recording disks such as floppy disks have been widely employed as external storage devices, with the spread of various office automation apparatuses such as word processors and personal computers. The floppy disk is composed of a flexible non-magnetic support (such as a support of plastic material) and a magnetic layer comprising a ferromagnetic powder such as a ferrite powder.
The magnetic recording disk can be produced by coating a magnetic paint for forming a magnetic layer comprising a ferromagnetic powder, a binder and an organic solvent continuously on a support and drying the coated magnetic paint layer. The coated magnetic layer ought to contain auxiliary materials such as an electroconductive powder, a lubricant and a abrasive powder so as to impart high performance to the magnetic layer, for instance, to increase its abrasion resistance to a practically satisfactory level and/or reduce its surface electric resistance.
The incorporation of the auxiliary materials into the magnetic layer results in decrease of the amount of the magnetic powder, increase of the thickness of the magnetic layer (e.g., 3 to 6 .mu.m), an production of so-called thickness loss such as reduction of output. It is known that the thickness loss can be effectively reduced by decreasing the thickness of the magnetic layer. It is also known that the reduced thickness of the magnetic layer further results in increase of recording density. However, if the thickness of the magnetic layer is reduced, it is difficult to incorporate an enough amount of the auxiliary materials into the magnetic layer. In that case, the surface electric resistance of the magnetic layer is apt to be higher and the endurance decreases. Particularly, if the thickness of the magnetic layer decreases to 2 .mu.m or less, the surface of the magnetic layer is easily influenced by the roughness of the surface of the support whereby the running property deteriorates and the electromagnetic conversion property lowers.
Japanese patent Provisional Publications No. 62-154225 and No. 62-222427 describe a magnetic recording disk having a thinner magnetic layer (0.3 to 1 .mu.m) and a thick non-magnetic undercoating layer which is thicker than the magnetic layer and is provided between the support and the thin magnetic layer. Thus produced magnetic recording disk shows improved electromagnetic conversion characteristics as well as improved running endurance.
Japanese Patent Provisional Publications No. 63-191315, No. H4-325917, No. H5-109061 and No. H6-68453 describe a process for preparing the magnetic recording disk which comprises the steps of: coating on a support a coating dispersion for the non-magnetic layer which contains a non-magnetic powder dispersed in a binder resin solution to form a non-magnetic layer; coating a magnetic paint (i.e., coating dispersion for the magnetic layer which contains a magnetic powder dispersed in a binder resin solution) on the non-magnetic layer while the non-magnetic layer is still wet; and then drying these layers simultaneously. This process enables formation of an extremely thin magnetic layer with little influence of the conditions of the non-magnetic layer. Therefore, the resulting magnetic layer has satisfactory surface smoothness and shows improvement of the electromagnetic conversion property. The above Patent Provisional Publications further describe the incorporation of a lubricant and carbon black (i.e., electroconductive particles) in combination into both layers, i.e., the non-magnetic undercoating layer and the magnetic layer of the magnetic recording disk, so as to further improve the electromagnetic conversion characteristics, anti-static property, and running endurance. Further, description is given for the non-magnetic powder employed for the preparation of the non-magnetic undercoating layer of 0.5 to 5 .mu.m thick.
Requirements for increase of the recording capacity and reduction of the disk size are getting stronger. Therefore, the magnetic recording disk now should ensure, or further improve, high performances on the reproduction output, and running endurance, notwithstanding the requirements for the high recording capacity by the employment of the thinner magnetic layer. However, the thinner magnetic layer such as of not thicker than 0.5 .mu.m likely becomes to lower in its running durability, because the magnetic recording layer of the recording disk is rotated at a high speed in contact with a magnetic head and other members of the disk cartridge. Such rotation of a high speed is necessarily employed to ensure the desired high recording density.
It has been known that incorporation of an aluminum element into a ferromagnetic iron powder is effective to enhance electromagnetic conversion characteristics and running durability. For instance, Japanese Patent Provisional Publication No. H6-215360 describes a magnetic recording medium having a magnetic layer containing a ferromagnetic iron powder which comprises 100 weight parts of an iron atom, 2 to 10 weight parts of an aluminum atom, and 1 to 8 weight parts of a rare earth element atom.

Magnetic recording disk and magnetic recording and reproducing method


A method and apparatus is provided for interconnecting thin-walled vessels. Lip and groove alternatively disposed on the exterior upper edges of contiguous vessels fit together to interlock the vessels. Tensioning brackets provided with tension screw engage the contiguous vessels. Tightening the tension screw causes force to be exerted on the interconnected lip and groove, thereby providing a rigid connection between the vessels.

The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for interconnecting several vessels, wherein a stable multi-vessel assembly with thin, rigidly connected walls is provided. The invention is particularly useful in assemblies and systems which require utilization of several different liquids in succession, such as the development of photographic film, or in the performance of a large scale process, such as the dyeing of cloth.
Methods for interconnecting various types of containers are known. However, none of the existing methods has been shown to be useful for creating a stable and rigid array of thin-walled vessels or tanks.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,343,706 to Berend discloses multiple drawers which can be connected to each other in varying positions via interlocking lips. The purpose of Berend is to provide flexible storage devices which can adapt to different storage areas.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,604,474 to Erickson discloses a sectional carrying case which can be interlocked with another carrying case via dovetailed tongue and groove formations on the sides of the respective cases. The carrying cases of Erickson are not designed to contain liquids.
U.S. Pat. No. 863,536 to Hudson relates to a skillet with two interlocking sides and interlocking handles which can be used to cook two different foods at once. The skillet and handle assemblies of each side connect via laterally extending members which interconnect at corresponding recesses.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,684,174 to Schmitz discloses the employment of a series of vertical ribs disposed along adjacent sides of fermentation tanks wherein the ribs line up parallel to each other and are secured to walls of adjacent tanks. Means for spanning the upper and lower ends of the ribs and securing the adjacent sides of the tanks also are disclosed.
A frame holding multiple ice cans is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 1,564,282 to Shipley. U.S. Pat. No. 3,811,595 to Eckdahl discloses interlocking serving trays.
Thus, it has not been known in view of the prior art to utilize a combination of interlocking lips and grooves at the upper portions of the vessels and interlocking tension bracket assemblies and bracket receptacles at the lower portions of the vessels to provide a rigid connection between adjacent thin-walled vessels intended to contain liquids.

Method and apparatus for interconnecting vessels


A method for machining curved surface includes the flowing steps. A lathe is provided. The lathe includes a work table and a feeding device. The feeding device has a cutter. A workpiece is held on the work table. The work table rotates the workpiece. The feeding device controls the cutter to move backwards and forwards at a high speed to machine the workpiece circumferentially. The feeding device moves in a plane relative to the work table to machine the curved surface.

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure generally relates to methods for machining curved surface, and particularly, to a method for machining curved surface using a lathe.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the related manufacturing field, a milling cutter with different cutting edges is used for machining curved surfaces. Some tracks occur on the milled surface of the workpiece because of intermitted contact and interrupted milling by the milling cutter. Then a polish process needs to be added for a better appearance.
Therefore, there is room for improvement within the art.

Method for machining curved surface using lathe


The present invention relates to polypeptide having a primary structure of amino acid sequence shown by Sequence List Sequence No. 1 and DNA encoding for the polypeptide. The polypeptide is obtainable by following steps (1)-(3):. Step (1): extracting small granule fraction of homocytes of horseshoe crab with a buffer containing protein denaturing agent and chelating agent, PA1 Step (2): subjecting said extract to reverse phase high performance liquid chromatography, PA1 Step (3): eluting by concentration gradient elution with a hydrophobic organic solvent.. Also, the polypeptide is produced by chemical synthesis. The polypeptide has similar chemical structure to defensin and is useful as gargles, disinfectants, antiseptics or antimicrobials.

Horseshoe crabs have a type of hemocyte that is filled with two kinds of granules, large and small, having different densities. The large granules contain a body fluid coagulation factor and an anti-lipopolysaccharide factor, and the small granules contain antimicrobial substances such as tachyplesin. The inventors of the present invention isolated six proteins, designated S1-S6, from the hemocytes of horseshoe crab which are components of small granules (Shigenaga, T. J. et al., J. Biochem., 114, 307-316(1993)).
A group of peptides having antimicrobial activity and generally called defensins have been previously isolated from cellular granitles of neutrophils and macrophages of mammals such as humans, rabbits, guinea pigs and rats, and their total amino acid sequences are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,242,902. The growth stimulating effect of defensins on epidermal cells and fibroblast cells is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,242,902, in addition to the antimicrobial activity against Gram negative and positive bacteria and fungi. Defensins are basic peptides having about 30 amino acid residues and the common feature of six cysteine residues and three disulfide bonds.
No polypeptide isolated from the hemocytes of horseshoe crab having a similar amino acid sequence to those of the defensins has been reported. Furthermore, no nucleotide sequence corresponding to the amino acid sequence of the polypeptide of the present invention has been reported.
The inventors of the present invention further investigated the S5 peptide fraction in the isolated components of small granule fractions of horseshoe crab hemocytes and determined its full length amino acid sequence. The amino acid sequence is similar to the sequence of the C-terminus of known defensins. Further, the antimicrobial activity of the S5 peptide fraction was found to have potent antimicrobial activities against Gram positive and negative bacteria and fungi.

Horseshoe crab hemocyte polypeptides, and preparation and DNA encoding thereof

Seikagaku Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha (Seikagaku Corp.)


A system for using natural gas to safely provide large amounts (at least 30 megawatts) of electricity to consumers. The system includes a floating generating vessel (110) that lies offshore and carries one or more turbine-generator sets (114, 116) that use natural gas as fuel and whose electricity output is delivered though a power line (138) that extends at least partially in the sea to a consumer. One consumer is a process vessel (112) that processes natural gas and that has transfer facilities (68) that transfer liquified gas to or from a tanker (106) that holds over 10,000 tons of liquified gas. Some of the gas is transferred from the process vessel through a conduit (136) in the sea to the generating vessel (110) to provide fuel. Another consumer is an onshore facility (52). The generating and process vessels (110, 112) are widely separated (e.g. at least 0.2 kilometer) to protect personnel in the event of a gas explosion or fire. The separate generating and process vessels enable rapid acquisition of the vessels, which is especially useful to quickly supply large quantities of electricity in newly developed areas.

The storage of large quantities of natural gas carries the danger of an explosion or great fire. Large quantities of natural gas are becoming available by transporting it as liquified gas (by cooling to liquify or hydrate it) by tankers each holding over 10,000 tons of gas, from distant hydrocarbon fields that produce large quantities of natural gas. Such gas (primarily gas with three or four carbon atoms per molecule) may be liquified by a production and processing vessel lying over an offshore hydrocarbon reservoir, and later heated to regas it as its destination. For both liquefaction by cooling and regas by heating, large amounts of electricity are used. It would be desirable if such system for processing gas and generating electricity could be readily acquired. It also would be desirable if a maximum portion of personnel were safeguarded from explosions or large gas fires.


An encryption apparatus for block data, comprises a first processing unit randomizing the block data in units of first portions obtained by dividing the block data, and a second processing unit diffusing the block data output from the first processing unit with respect to a second portion of the block data which is wider than the first portion. The first processing unit comprises first nonlinear processing units nonlinearly transforming the block data in units of the first portions. The second processing unit comprises a first linear diffusion processing unit linearly diffusing the second portion of the block data. At least one of the first nonlinear processing units comprises second nonlinear processing units nonlinearly transforming the block data in units of the first portions, and a second linear diffusion processing unit linearly diffusing the second portion of the block data.

The present invention relates to an encryption apparatus and method, and a decryption apparatus and method based on block encryption scheme, and an operating unit used in the encryption and decryption apparatuses.
Typical fundamental structures of common key block encryption scheme include SPN type and Feistel type. For both structures, a design method for improving strength evaluation and resiliency against differential/linear cryptanalysis have been studied (reference [1] V. Rijmen, J. Daemen, B. Preneel, A. Bosselaers & E. Dcwin, "The Cipher SHARK," Fast Software Encryption, LNCS 1039, 1996, reference [2] Kazumaro Aoki, Kazuo Ota, "More Strict Evaluation of Maximum Mean Differential Probability and Maximum Mean Linear Probability," SCIS 96-4A, 1996, reference [3], Mitsuru Matsui, "Block encryption scheme MISTY," ISEC 96-11, 1996).
With the SPN structure, since the number of active S-boxes can be guaranteed, the number of stages for achieving the set strength can be easily determined (reference [1]). However, when the block size increases, and the parallelness of S-boxes becomes high, the process of diffusion layers becomes complicated, resulting in low speed.
SQUARE/Rijndael Cipher can solve this problem (reference [4] J. Daemen, L. R. Knudsen & V. Rijmen, "The Block encryption scheme Square," Fast Software Encryption, LNCS 1267, 1997, reference [5] J. Daemen & V. Rijmen, "AES Proposal: Rijndael," http://www.east.kuleuven.ac.be/{tilde over ( )}rijmen/rijdael/ rijndaeldocV2.zip).
In cipher of this type, 16 parallel S-boxes are arranged in a 4×4 matrix to limit linear diffusion within a single column, thus reducing the processing load. By combining rearrangement of byte positions with linear diffusion, the influence of one byte in a given stage is diffused to all bytes two stages later, and 25 or more active S-boxes in four stages (robust against differential/linear cryptanalysis) are achieved.
However, since bytes in a single column do not mix in the next stage, dedicated attack called SQUARE attack is present (reference [1], reference [5]). This results from achievement of both high strength and efficiency under the restriction of only one type of diffusion layers.
The SPN structure allows easy estimation of the lower limit of the number of active S-boxes, and can be designed to guarantee high strength against differential/linear cryptanalysis. However, when the parallelness of S-boxes becomes higher with increasing block size of plaintext/ciphertext, the calculation cost of a coupling portion of diffusion layers becomes high. Also, uniform data diffusion cannot be attained depending on the design of diffusion layers.

Encryption apparatus and method, and decryption apparatus and method based on block encryption


For a hydraulically driven diaphragm pump with a diaphragm consisting of at least two individual layers, these layers are clamped at least in their central area between a coupling part on the feed area side and the hydraulics area side and are thus mechanically linked with one another. The coupling parts are also connected with a relay valve of a leak replenishment system which is attached in the pump body in a moveable manner.

It is of extreme importance for maintaining faultless operation of hydraulic driven diaphragm pumps that the allotted quantity of hydraulic fluid is always present in the hydraulic area, that the proper diaphragm motion is ensured and that strain which could lead to damage of the diaphragm is avoided.
It is known from DE-PS 23 33 876 that a leak replenishment device controlled by the diaphragm system can be designed in order to compensate for the hydraulic fluid deficit in the hydraulic area. This means that the diaphragm itself activates the operation of a control valve, whereby a relay valve which is linked with the diaphragm and is attached in a movable manner within the pump body opens a connection in the intake stroke end position from a storage chamber for the hydraulic fluid to the hydraulic area. Leak replenishment can and should only be then carried out if the diaphragm has reached a predetermined boundary position at the end of the intake stroke.
Additional designs of this type of leak replenishment devices for diaphragm pumps are described in DE-PS 28 43 054 as well as in FR-PS 24 92 473.
The control of leak replenishment by the diaphragm system offers numerous advantages in comparison to pressure controlled leak replenishment with a blow valve. In this manner, high suction levels can be overcome on the one hand, with the suction level being limited by the steam pressure of the delivery fluid and hydraulic fluid alone. On the other hand, overloading of the hydraulic area can be avoided, as can occur with pressure controlled leak replenishment through vacuum points. This type of distinctive vacuum points mainly present themselves with large high pressure diaphragm pumps at the beginning of the suction phase if the fluid columns in the suction line are accelerated in a jerky manner upon opening of the upstroke valve. Finally, leak replenishment controlled by the diaphragm system enables hydraulic fluid to be drawn forward upon low differential pressure of less than 0.3 bar as an example, with absolute pressure remaining at approximately 0.7 bar. As a result, gas accumulation in the hydraulic area can largely be avoided which offers corresponding advantages with respect to feed performance and precision. In contrast, pressure controlled leak replenishment requires a relatively high adjustment of the differential pressure at the blow valve to the extent of 0.6 bar, for example, in order to ensure reliable operation. The resulting decrease in pressure in the hydraulic area during the drawing process of 0.4 bar in absolute pressure, for example, leads to increased gas accumulation. This results in decreased feed performance and precision.
It has nonetheless been shown in practice that this known diaphragm pump still has certain weaknesses whose elimination is desirable. For example, before the initial operation of the pump it must be made sure that the diaphragm is in no case displaced too far in the direction of the feed area with respect to the pistons.
Furthermore, only a predetermined amount of hydraulic fluid can be located in the hydraulic area, because too much hydraulic fluid would lead to stress or even the bursting of the diaphragm when the first piston pressure stroke is executed. An incorrect amount of hydraulic fluid in the hydraulic area can nonetheless be expected if during a break in operation a vacuum has appeared at the blow valve or the pressure valve of the feed area. The vacuum present at the blow valve, for example, can reproduce itself through the statically not very thick blow valve in the feed area as well as in the hydraulic area and can lead to the hydraulic fluid being sucked through the piston sealing from the storage chamber to the hydraulic area.
In order to avoid the diaphragm having to be manually repositioned every time before starting the diaphragm pump to prevent damage to the diaphragm, it is already known from DE-OS 41 41 670 that diaphragm stroke limitation can be provided both in the intake stroke as well as the pressure stroke boundary position of the diaphragm. This ensues in the intake stroke boundary position in a purely mechanical manner, namely by means of a support plate against which the diaphragm lies in the intake stroke boundary position. In the pressure stroke boundary position, the diaphragm stroke limitation is however carried out purely hydraulically, in that a valve part, which is located on the piston end of the relay valve of a leak replenishment device, breaks off the hydraulic connection from the piston working area to the diaphragm working area, with the surplus hydraulic oil being forced out through a pressure control valve in the storage chamber.
What it problematic here though is that the hydraulic diaphragm stroke limitation being used is relatively costly and no display device is included which would signal damage or the rupture of the diaphragm.
In order to be able to carry out monitoring of the condition of the diaphragm, it is already known for a diaphragm pump of the same type (DE-OS 40 18 464) to make the diaphragm as a sandwich diaphragm, with the diaphragm consisting of two individual layers held at a distance from each other. The gap between the individual layers is connected with a display device which reacts as soon as the fluid pressure increases upon the break of an individual layer--either from the feed area or from the pressure area--into the diaphragm gap. With regards to this known diaphragm pump, in order to avoid the reciprocal lifting of the individual layers which particularly occurs in the intake stroke, these are connected to numerous locations, particularly through welding, which is nonetheless relatively costly from a technical standpoint and can lead to the splitting of these connections when exposed to high vacuum levels.

Hydraulic driven diaphragm pump with mechanical diaphragm stroke limitation


Information for determining whether to evacuate or not is provided to a user by a computerized process. The process includes: acquiring a number of evacuees for each of a plurality of targets corresponding to a predetermined user; selecting a target of the plurality of targets based on the acquired numbers of evacuees for the plurality of targets and importance levels respectively set for the plurality of targets; and associating information on the selected target with information on the acquired number of evacuees for the selected target and outputting the information on the selected target and the information on the acquired number of evacuees for the selected target to the predetermined user.

When a disaster, such as an earthquake or a flood, occurs, information on the disaster is provided to residents based on the situation of the disaster. This prompts the residents to appropriately evacuate. The information on the disaster is, for example, evacuation information indicating preparation for evacuation, an evacuation order, an evacuation instruction, or the like, and may be provided to residents via televisions, radios, the Internet, administrative radio, a publicity vehicle, and the like. The information on the disaster is, for example, provided by an administrative institution, such as a national ministry or a national agency, a private institution designated by the country, and the like. The administrative institution and the private institution are referred to as "public institutions" in some cases. For example, the public institutions may provide, to residents, a hazard map indicating risk of disasters for each of regions.
As a related technique, for example, there is a technique for determining evacuation statuses of persons affected by a disaster based on a list of persons who are affected by the disaster and have to evacuate to evacuation sites and identification information that identifies the persons affected by the disaster and has been read by integrated circuit (IC) tag readers installed in the evacuation sites from radio IC tags that are portable by the persons affected by the disaster. An example of related art is Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2007-334628.

Computer-readable recording medium, information processing method, and information processing device


Embodiments according to the present invention can enhance an efficiency of an apparatus or method capable of converting power of a system. An apparatus for converting power includes a load state variation detector that detects a load characteristic state of the load unit; and an adjusting unit that adjusts a preset value of the circuit device of the load unit in accordance with the value detected by the load state variation detector. A method for controlling a power includes checking a load characteristic with respect to one or more than one element of system elements; and adjusting one or more than one circuit device value of a power block of the one or more than one element with respect to the load characteristic. In embodiments, it is possible to increase an efficiency of a DC/DC converter by varying a turn ratio of an inductor among the circuit devices of a converter and adjusting an inductance L.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus and method for converting a DC power.
2. Background of the Related Art
FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a conventional computer system. As shown in FIG. 1, a bus or a data line connects a CPU (Central Processing Unit), a power supply 10, and a LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) of a display unit.
The power supply 10 includes an AC (Alternating Current) adaptor 20 that rectifies an alternating current voltage that is a power source, a battery 30 that is installed in the interior of the system and is used as an assistant power, and a DC/DC converter 40. The DC/DC converter is connected with the above loads and increases and decreases the DC voltage.
A portable device such as a notebook computer, etc. generally includes the DC/DC converter 40 capable of increasing and decreasing the power source for achieving a desired level of power from the AC adaptor 20 or the battery 30. Accordingly, the portable device system uses the power having a certain level.
FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a system that includes a power block adapted in the conventional art that can be adapted according to the present invention. As shown in FIG. 2, there are provided an AC adaptor 20 capable of converting an input AC power into a DC power, and a battery 30 used as an assistant power.
Power is selectively switched by a load switch and is applied to each power block 60. The power is applied to each element (e.g., CPU, etc.) of the system through each power block.
FIG. 2 is a view illustrating a power block of a notebook computer system. Each power block shows different efficiency characteristics. FIG. 3 is a circuit diagram of a buck DC/DC converter 50 having 1.1 volts used by the CPU power with a large variation in a load characteristic in the power block.
As shown in FIG. 3, the buck DC/DC converter 50 includes an input capacitor Ci driven with an input power, voltage Vi or a current source, one or more than one FET 50b, 50c that performs a switching operation from a source input terminal to an output terminal. The DC/DC converter also has an IC 50a that controls the switching unit and an inductor (L) 50d that is adapted for a voltage source.
FIG. 4 is a circuit diagram of an inductor (L) 50d of FIG. 3 where an input terminal 1 and an output terminal 2 are fixed. In the circuit diagrams of FIGS. 3 and 4, the efficiency of the circuits could be computed based on the following equation 1.
                                                                        Eff                                                  (                  %                  )                                            =                                                P                  OUT                                                  P                  IN                                                                                =                                                P                  OUT                                                                      P                    OUT                                    +                                      P                    LOSS                                                                                =                                                                    V                    OUT                                                                          I                    OUT                                                                                V                      OUT                                                                                I                      OUT                                                        +                                      P                    LOSS                                                                                [                  Equation                                                              1                ]
FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating circuits or circuit components that affect a loss of the above circuit. As shown in FIG. 5, input parameters are formed of circuit devices such as voltage, inductor, FET, capacitance, IC, etc. The inductor can be determined to most affect the loss of the circuit. The inductor can cause over 40% in the total loss. The loss of the inductor may be expressed in the following equation 2.Lloss=Io^2*Rdc—L+(ILrpl/2)^2*Rac—L(where Rdc—L: DCR of Inductor, ILrpl: Inductor ripple current, Rac—L: ACR of Inductor)  [Equation 2]In the equation 2, the loss of the inductor is formed of a loss caused because of a winding resistance and a core loss.
The inductor has DC resistance loss, skin effect loss, hysteresis loss, eddy current loss, etc. In addition, the loss can be classified into a loss caused due to a DC resistance component and a loss caused due to an AC resistance component with respect to an output ripple current based on the cause of the loss.Inductor loss=copper loss+core loss  [Equation 3]
In equation 3, the copper loss represents a loss caused due to a DC resistance component and a resistance component based on a skin effect. The core loss is formed of an eddy current loss and a hysteresis loss.
In the conventional (buck) DC/DC converter, the equation for selecting the inductor can be expressed as follows.
                    L        =                                            (                                                V                  i                                -                                  V                  S                                -                                  V                  O                                            )                        *            D            *                          T              s                                            I            ripple                                              [                  Equation                                                              4                ]            As shown by the equations 2 and 4, the inductance L of the inductor is in inverse proportion to ILrpl, and ILrpl is in square proportion to the loss of inductor.
Accordingly, it is possible to decrease the loss of the inductor by increasing the value L. When the value L is increased, the values Rdc_L and Rac_L are changed. Since the variation of the value Ilrpl is much larger, it is possible to improve the loss of the inductor.
FIG. 6 is a graph of a simulation formed by adapting the loss of each circuit device of FIG. 5 with respect to the conventional converter of FIG. 3. Namely, there is shown an efficiency curve in the entire load sections of the CPU, and DC/DC converter.
As shown in FIG. 6, in the overall or entire load sections, the efficiency of over 80% is achieved. However, the efficiency in FIG. 6 is largely decreased when the load current is low. The efficiency is low in the section 0-2 A (in particular 0-0.2 A) that is an actual load section during the use of the CPU.
Thus, the efficiency is not uniform in the entire load sections 0-13.5 A. It means that the loss is changed by the load section.
A certain or calculatable efficiency difference can be seen when the CPU load is high, and the CPU load is low, respectively. FIGS. 10 and 11 ate diagrams illustrating the degrees of the loss by each circuit device when the CPU load is high or low. FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating that the loss is 58.4% due to the inductor when the CPU load is low (for example, 0.2 A). FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating that the loss is 19.3% due to the inductor when the CPU load is high (for example, 13 A).
As shown in FIGS. 10-11, the ratio of the inductor is largest of multiple causes. As the load is getting more decreased, the ratio is getting increased. When the load is 0.2 A, the ratio is over 58.4%.
Therefore, it is possible to increase the efficiency as long as the loss caused due to the inductor is decreased. Thus, there is a long felt need to increase the efficiency of the DC/DC converter. However, it is known that it is impossible to achieve the loss of the inductor with the fixed value L.
The above references are incorporated by reference herein where appropriate for appropriate teachings of additional or alternative details, features and/or technical background.

Apparatus for converting DC power and method of the same


An electrocautery instrument in accordance with the present invention facilitates a relatively non-invasive procedure for treating small varicose and spider veins. In the furtherance of this and other objectives, an electrocautery device is provided that does not have to be inserted or into the veins in order to satisfactorily treat them. In particular, an exemplary electrocautery instrument can destroy the target tissue when brought into with the target vein. Moreover, the electrocautery instrument can destroy target veins without causing collateral damage to neighboring tissue. In the furtherance of this and other objectives a thin sheath of biocompatible material coats substantially the entire needle portion of the electrocautery instrument so as to prevent the exposure of neighboring tissue to its therapeutics. The sheath effectively shields surrounding tissue from exposure, while being sufficiently thin to allow for unobstructed insertion of the needle through the skin of a patient to the target site.

Varicose veins are blood vessels that have become twisted and swollen when their one-way valves are compromised or when the vein wall weakens. As people grow older, the likelihood of having large and/or smaller varicose and spider veins increases. In fact, varicose and spider veins affect over half the population by age 55 and is linked to factors such as heredity, pregnancy, estrogen medications, prolonged standing or sitting, sedentary lifestyle, and injury to the legs. Left untreated, varicose veins can cause pain, swelling, phlebitis, chronic skin ulcers, and potentially life-threatening blood clots. Unsightly and embarrassing spider veins, on the other hand, are not dangerous and are simply enlarged venules.
Though benign, many individuals desire treatment of spider veins because of their appearance. Traditional treatment has consisted of sclerotherapy, which involves injecting a small amount of a mild sclerosing solution into the affected veins. Many different kinds of chemical solutions have been used for this purpose, including hypertonic sodium chloride, sodium morrhuate, sodium tetradecyl sulfate, Polilocanol, Sclerodex-Dextroject, Chromated glycerin and Polyiodide Iodine to name a few. Treated veins gradually disappear over one to six months. It frequently takes several sessions to provide the most effective results. Unfortunately, sclerotherapy treatments are not effective for larger varicose veins, which require more aggressive treatment.
Another approach is to obliterate the spider veins directly with the laser. Although this treatment can be successful, there is a significant risk of scarring. In addition, the equipment is very expensive.
An illustrative example of conventional solutions to the limitations of first-generation treatments is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,695,495 to Ellman. The '495 patent discloses an electrode for use in an electrosurgical procedure for treating varicose veins. The invention disclosed in the '495 patent is impractical in theory and inoperable in practice. Moreover, the disclosure itself has inherent limitations. One principal limitation is that the needle must be introduced into the target vein to be effective. In fact, the needle with an insulating coating is inserted into the target vein, resulting in increased invasiveness and diminished accuracy. An additional limitation is the fact that the insulation stops short of the needle tip, resulting in increased collateral tissue damage. Moreover, because of the active tip configuration, it is difficult to control the dispersion of the electrical charge. This is a function, inter alia, of an available electrical current throughout the non-insulated area. Without extraordinary skill, a physician that uses such a device could cause significant tissue damage around the target vein.
Therefore, there exists a need for a relatively inexpensive micro-invasive procedure for treating spider veins. Moreover, there is an existing need for a device that can destroy the target veins without causing collateral damage to neighboring tissue. Preferably, an exemplary device would have an ultra thin insulating sheath that is substantially co-terminal with the active tip, wherein the active tip does not have to penetrate the target tissue. Moreover, it would also be desirable if the active tip of the device were beveled at an acute angle to maximize physician control and working surface area while reducing collateral tissue damage.


A fuel distribution rail for a fuel injection system of an internal combustion engine has connected base tube sections defining a longitudinal fuel channel with connector devices fixed on the base tube and a force relieving groove provided on the outer surface of the base tube sections spaced from the connector devices which extend over at least a part, preferably at least over a greater part of the outer surface of the base tube. In one form a cylindrical base tube has a circular force relieving groove surrounding the base tube spaced from the connector device.

The invention concerns a fuel distribution rail for fuel injection for internal combustion engines, with a base tube and a fuel channel extending in the longitudinal direction with respect to the base tube whereby one connector device is at least fixed to the base tube. Such a fuel distribution rail is normally part of a fuel injection device of a multi-cylinder internal combustion engine of a vehicle. The fuel distribution rail may also be designated as a common rail.
Fuel distribution rails of the type mentioned at the outset are, in practice, known in different embodiments. These fuel distribution rails are generally under high internal pressure and in particular also variations in internal pressure. Further, such fuel distribution rails are also subject to vibrations and similar mechanical stresses occurring in the region of the engine. For these reasons, the fuel distribution rails must meet the high requirements in quality and service life. Particularly, they must fulfill high requirements of strength. Weak areas with respect to strength, particularly in joint areas like solder or weld areas and particularly in joint regions of the base tube sections as well as in connection areas of lateral connection pipelines. Due to mechanical stresses, frequent breaks and/or cracks occur in these areas. In this respect, there is room for improvement in fuel distribution rails known in practice.
Thus, the technical problem on which the present invention is based lies in providing a fuel distribution rail mentioned at the outset, in which the described disadvantages can be avoided and which distinguishes itself by resistance to mechanical stresses, particularly in the joint regions.


A vehicle deceleration communication system includes a deceleration detecting sensor mounted on a decelerating device for detecting deceleration action performed by a driver in traveling so as to send out a deceleration signal, a deceleration signal emission displaying device activated by the deceleration signal from the deceleration detecting sensor, the deceleration signal emission displaying device comprising a deceleration signal emitter mounted at a rear end of a car and a deceleration display to alert a trailing car driver to deceleration of the car, and a deceleration signal reception displaying device comprising a deceleration signal receiver mounted at a front end of the car and a receiving signal display which will flash and/or send out warning sounds to alert the trailing driver to the deceleration of the front car.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates a vehicle deceleration communication system and in particular to one which will send out a warning to alert a trailing vehicle driver to the deceleration of the front vehicle whereby the trailing vehicle driver will know whether the car in front of him is decelerating or preparing to apply brakes.
2. Description of the Prior Art
It has been found that rear and vehicular collisions are one of the most common accidents occurring on our road systems today and result in countless loss of money, time and sometimes, life to those involved. Hence, the addition of a third eye-level brake light in the rear window of presently manufactured automobiles has been proposed, which has, no doubt, helped to reduce the number and severity of rear end collisions. Nevertheless, a reliable and more efficient system to alert a trailing vehicle operator that the lead vehicle is, or may be, decelerating prior to actual illumination of the vehicle brake lights could prove a valuable safety device that could further reduce the number and severity of rear end collisions now occurring.
Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a vehicle deceleration communication system which will send out a warning to alert a trailing vehicle driver to the deceleration of the front vehicle.
The present invention relates a vehicle deceleration communication system
It is the primary object of the present invention to provide a vehicle deceleration communication system which will send out a warning to alert a trailing vehicle driver to the deceleration of the front vehicle.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a vehicle deceleration communication system which enables the trailing vehicle driver to know whether the car in front of him is decelerating or preparing to apply a brake.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide a vehicle deceleration communication system which will send out a waning signal to alert the trailing vehicle driver to the deceleration of the front vehicle even if the visibility is poor.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide a vehicle deceleration communication system which can be easily installed in a car or built in a car when the car is manufactured.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a vehicle deceleration communication system which will reduce rear-end collision incidence and severity.
The foregoing object and summary provide only a brief introduction to the present invention. To fully appreciate these and other objects of the present invention as well as the invention itself, all of which will become apparent to those skilled in the art, the following detailed description of the invention and the claims should be read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. Throughout the specification and drawings identical reference numerals refer to identical or similar parts.
Many other advantages and features of the present invention will become manifest to those versed in the art upon making reference to the detailed description and the accompanying sheets of drawings in which a preferred structural embodiment incorporating the principles of the present invention is shown by way of illustrative example.

Vehicle deceleration communication system