A vibration damping device wherein a stopper rubber disposed between opposing faces of a first mounting member and the retainer member so as to project from one of the opposing faces to the other. When the first and second mounting members undergoes relative displacement axially towards each other, a shock produced at a time when an abutting face of the first mounting member comes into contact with the open end face, i.e., an abutting face of the retainer member absorbed by the stopper rubber coming into contact with the other one of the opposing faces until the first mounting member comes into contact with the open end face of the retainer member. A receiving space is disposed between the opposing faces of the first mounting member and the retainer member so that the stopper rubber is accommodated in an elastically compressive-deformed state within the receiving space when the abutting faces contact together.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a vibration damping device disposed between components to be coupled in a vibration damping manner, and more particularly to a vibration damping device suitable for use in an automotive engine mount, body mount, or the like.
2. Description of the Related Art
Vibration damping devices that involve a rubber elastic body disposed between a first mounting member and a second mounting member respectively mounted on components to be coupled in a vibration damping manner enjoy widespread use in a variety of fields. One known type of device, disclosed in JP-A-9-66721 for example, is a device of a structure comprising a rubber elastic body of generally frustoconical shape overall, with the cylindrical section of the second mounting member affixed to the outer peripheral face on the large diameter end thereof, and with the first mounting member affixed to the center section thereof which includes the small diameter section, whereby the first mounting member and the second mounting member are elastically coupled directly by the rubber elastic body.
Vibration damping devices of this kind can advantageously ensure the volume of the rubber elastic body, and can prevent creation of excessive strain, due to deformation of the rubber elastic body being constrained by the second mounting member. This arrangement makes it possible for the devices to advantageously achieve high load bearing performance and endurance, particularly against load input in the direction forcing the small-diameter end face and the large-diameter end face of the rubber elastic body into proximity with one another. Thus, the application of such devices to engine mounts and other arrangements involving heavy initial load is under study.
With vibration damping devices of conventional design comprising such a rubber elastic body of frustoconical shape, when the rubber elastic body is subjected to load in the rebound direction in the opposite direction from the initial load, forcing the small-diameter end face and the large-diameter end face thereof apart from one another, unavoidably the rubber elastic body is subjected directly to tensile stress. Thus, the rubber elastic body is susceptible to cracking or the like due to input load in the rebound direction, posing the risk of appreciably diminished endurance.
Other known vibration damping devices of this kind are sealed fluid type vibration damping devices like those disclosed in JP-A-8-128493 and JP-A-2002-81491, for example, having a non-compressible fluid sealed in a fluid chamber a portion of whose wall is constituted by the rubber elastic body, with vibration damping action derived on the basis of resonance or other such flow action of the non-compressible fluid.
However, in such sealed fluid type vibration damping devices, in addition to the problem discussed previously, there is the further problem that since the fluid sealed in the fluid chamber is the non-compressible, when the rubber elastic body is subjected to a large load in the rebound direction, the sealed fluid exerts constraining force on the rubber elastic body in the direction hindering elastic deformation, so that vibration damping performance is diminished.
Additionally, where the rubber elastic body is subjected to a large load in the rebound direction, a high level of negative pressure occurs within the fluid chamber, and there is a risk that dissolved air present in the sealed fluid will separate and form bubbles, as well as the risk of noise and shock occurring as the bubbles form and disappear. Additionally, there is a risk that due to bubbles forming in this way becoming compressed during input of vibration, pressure changes within the fluid chamber will not be produced effectively, so that the intended vibration damping characteristics are not obtained.


A method of manufacturing a planet carrier of a gearbox comprises manufacturing a plurality of preforms. Each preform comprises a base portion, a first end portion connected to a first end of the base portion, a second end portion connected to a second end of the base portion, a first side portion connected to a first side of the base portion, a second side portion connected to a second side of the base portion and a top portion. The first and second end portions and the first and second side portions are folded relative to the base portion and the top portion is folded and the adjacent edges of the portions of each preform are secured together to form a support structure. A first ring and a second ring are manufactured. The first and second end portions of each support structure are secured to the first and second rings respectively.

The present disclosure relates to a method of manufacturing a planet carrier for a gearbox and in particular for a planet carrier for a gearbox for a geared gas turbine engine, e.g. a geared turbofan gas turbine engine.
In the pursuit of ever-more efficient air travel, some new designs of gas turbine engine are incorporating gearboxes to enable further optimisation of the engine's operating parameters. Whilst the inclusion of one or more gearboxes in the engine allows the various turbines and compressors to operate closer to their optimal speeds, it does also add mass to the engine, which is usually to be avoided if possible. To complicate the issue further, such gearboxes must be made to withstand enormous forces acting upon them during operation. To that end, it is known to construct gearbox components using single-piece high-strength steel forging, but such techniques require large, complex and expensive equipment, and such components are difficult to machine in such a way as to minimise their mass. It is therefore desirable to provide a method for constructing gearbox components for a gas turbine engine which allows the use of stronger, more lightweight materials in the component construction. It is also desirable to provide a method for manufacturing gearbox components which are as light as possible, whilst still having the required structural integrity to withstand the forces that act upon them during operation.

Method of manufacturing a planet carrier of a gearbox


Disclosed is a method of manufacturing a spherical seamless capsule formed by encapsulating a filler material such as a medicine with a capsule shell material such as gelatin. A concentric multiple nozzle is positioned above the liquid surface of a curing liquid such that the tip of the nozzle faces down. A concentric columnar composite flow which is discharged from this concentric multiple nozzle and which is composed of a filler material and a capsule shell material outside the filler material is immersed in the curing liquid, and cut in the curing liquid to form a droplet. The capsule shell material of the droplet is cured by the curing liquid, and thereby a seamless capsule is formed. Since, the droplet is not dropped into the curing liquid, no deformation of the droplet caused by collision against the liquid surface occurs. The tip of the multiple nozzle is positioned above the liquid surface of the curing liquid. This prevents water contained in the curing liquid from adhering to the surface of the nozzle and penetrating into the composite flow.

Conventionally, a seamless capsule of the above-mentioned type is manufactured by a so-called air nozzle method, as disclosed in, e.g., Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. HEI4-338230, which uses a concentric multiple nozzle comprising a center nozzle and an annular nozzle which concentrically surrounds the center nozzle. That is, a liquid filler material is discharged from the center nozzle of the concentric multiple nozzle, and at the same time a liquid capsule shell material is discharged from the annular nozzle surrounding the center nozzle, thereby forming a composite flow having a concentric columnar form in which the capsule shell material flows so as to cover the outside of the filler material flow. A vibration is applied to the composite flow to cut the composite flow from its lower end in the air, thereby forming a droplet. This droplet is dropped onto the liquid surface of a curing liquid and brought into contact with the curing liquid to cure the capsule shell material. In this way, a spherical seamless capsule is manufactured by encapsulating the filler material with the capsule shell material.
The air nozzle method has the problem that the droplets cut in the air deform when they drop onto and collide against the liquid surface of the curing liquid, and this produces irregularity in the sphericity of manufactured seamless capsules.
It is, therefore, a main object of the present invention to provide a seamless capsule manufacturing method for obtaining high-quality seamless capsules without irregularity.

Method of manufacturing seamless capsule


There is provided a light emitting device which emits bright light, has low power consumption, and is inexpensive. An organic compound (polynuclear complex) with a molecular structure which is apt to generate a spin-orbit interaction is used for a light emitting layer or a dopant pigment of an EL element, so that a light emitting device in which an energy from a triplet excitation state can be converted into light emission is obtained. At this time, a center metal of the polynuclear complex is made an inexpensive metal (for example, Cu, Ni, Co, V, Mn, Fe, Zn, etc.), so that a manufacturing cost is reduced.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a light emitting device including an element (hereinafter referred to as an EL element) including a thin film (hereinafter referred to as an organic EL film) which is made of an organic compound to produce EL (Electro Luminescence) and is interposed between electrodes. Particularly, the invention relates to a light emitting device using an organic compound which can convert an energy (hereinafter referred to as a triplet excitation energy) generated in a returning from triplet excitation state to a ground state, into light emission.
2. Description of the Related Art
An EL element using an organic EL film is an element which emits light by applying an electric field, and has attracted attention as an element used for a next generation flat panel display, with characteristics of light weight, low DC voltage driving, high speed response, and the like. Besides, since the element spontaneously emits light and has a wide angle of view, it has been considered to be effective for a display screen of a portable instrument.
In the EL element, an electron injected from a cathode and a hole injected from an anode are recombined at the luminescence center of the organic EL film to form an exciton, and when the exciton returns to the ground state, an energy is radiated to emit light. The excitation state includes a singlet excitation state (S*) and a triplet excitation state (T*), and it has been thought that the statistical generation probability of them is S*:T*=1:3.
However, since light emission (phosphorescence) from the triplet excitation state (T*) is not observed at room temperature in a general organic compound, it has been considered that a theoretical limiting value of an inner quantum efficiency is 25%. Besides, all the generated light can not be radiated to the outside of the element, but part of the light can not be extracted due to a refractive index which is intrinsic to the element. The ratio of the light extracted to the outside of the element to the generated light is called a light extraction efficiency, and it is said that the extraction efficiency is about 20%.
Accordingly, even if all of injected carriers generate excitons, the ratio (external quantum efficiency) of light which can be finally extracted becomes 25%xc3x9720%=5% considering the light extraction efficiency. That is, according to the calculation, even if all the carriers are recombined, only 5% can be extracted as light.
However, recently, an organic material in which the triplet excitation energy can be converted into light emission (phosphorescent emission) is proposed, and its high luminous efficiency attracts attention. As examples in which the triplet exciton is used and the external quantum efficiency is improved, there are following reports.
(1) T. Tsutsui, C Adachi, S. Saito, Photochemical Processes in Organized Molecular Systems, ed. K. Honda, (Elsevier Sci. Pub., Tokyo, 1991) p. 437.
(2) M. A. Baldo, D. F. O""Brien, Y. You, A. Shoustikov, S. Sibley, M. E. Thompson, S. R. Forrest, Nature 395 (1988) p. 151.
(3) M. A. Baldo, S. Lamansky, P. E. Burrows, M. E. Thompson, S. R. Forrest, Appl. Phys. Lett., 75 (1999) p.4.
(4) T. Tsutsui, M. -J. Yang, M. Yahiro, K. Nakamura, T. Watanabe, T. Tsuji, Y. Fukuda, T. Wakimoto, S. Mayaguchi, Jpn. Appl. Phys., 38 (12B) (1999) L1502.
Organic materials set forth in the above reports are examples in which the external quantum efficiency is improved by converting the triplet excitation energy into light emission. Among them, there is one which fully exceeds 5% as the theoretical limiting value of the external quantum efficiency described before. For any of the above organic material, a metal complex with platinum, which is a third transition series element, as a center metal (hereinafter referred to as a platinum complex) or a metal complex with iridium as a center material (hereinafter referred to as an iridium complex).
Besides, when a layer made of the iridium complex and a layer made of DCM as a well-known fluorescent pigment are alternately laminated, the triplet excitation energy generated in the iridium complex is transferred to the DCM, and the luminescence center of the DCM is excited so that it is indirectly converted into light emission. Although the light emission of the DCM is light emission (fluorescent emission) from the singlet excitation state, there is a merit that the efficiently generated triplet excitation energy of the iridium complex can be converted to the singlet excitation energy of the DCM.
As described above, the EL element using the organic compound in which the triplet excitation energy can be converted into light emission has a higher external quantum efficiency than that of a conventional one. If the external quantum efficiency is high, light emission brightness is also improved, so that it has been thought that the EL element using the organic compound in which the triplet excitation energy can be converted into light emission has great weight as means for achieving light emission with high brightness in future development.
However, since platinum or iridium is an expensive metal, the metal complexes using those are also expensive, and harmful effects on cost reduction in future is expected. Besides, considering the influence of the metal complex containing a heavy metal upon a human body, a material which is as safe as possible in addition to simplicity of the disposal is desirable as the center metal.
Besides, the luminescent color of the iridium complex is green and the luminescent color of the platinum complex is orange, that is, the both have wavelengths positioned at intermediate places of a visible light region, and red or blue with high color purity has not been obtained. Accordingly, considering the use for a full color flat panel display in future, it is expected that an organic compound becomes necessary; which has a high external quantum efficiency like the iridium complex and the platinum complex and can obtain red light emission and blue light emission with high color purity.
From the above, it can be seen that development of a new organic compound from which phosphorescent can be obtained emission is indispensable in addition to the existing iridium complex and platinum complex.
An object of the present invention is to provide an organic compound in which a triplet excitation energy can be converted into light emission at a lower cost than the prior art.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an organic compound in which a triplet excitation energy can be converted into light emission at a higher efficiency than the prior art.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide an EL element with a high luminous efficiency by using the organic compound.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a light emitting device which has brightness and low power consumption by using an EL element with a high luminous efficiency, which is obtained by carrying out the present invention, and an electric instrument using the same and having low power consumption.
The present inventors have paid attention to a heavy atom effect known in photoluminescence (PL). The heavy atom effect indicates a phenomenon in which a spin-orbit interaction is intensified by a heavy atom (atom comprising a lot of atomic nucleus load) introduced in a molecule of an organic compound or a solvent and phosphorescent emission is accelerated. Incidentally, the atomic nucleus load is equivalent to an atomic number, that is, the number of positive electric charges of an atomic nucleus.
Then, the present inventors have considered that it is necessary that the spin-orbit interaction is intense in order to convert the triplet excitation energy into light emission, and an EL element in which the triplet excitation energy can be converted into light emission can be obtained by intentionally using an organic compound containing a molecular structure to intensify the spin-orbit interaction. That is, the present inventors have considered that even if a heavy atom is not used as a center metal, the triplet excitation energy can be converted into light emission provided that an organic compound containing a molecular structure which can produce the heavy atom effect is used.
In order to intensify the spin-orbit interaction without using the heavy atom, it is possible to cite a method of increasing the total atomic nucleus load by increasing the number of center metals to form a molecular structure substantially containing a heavy atom, a method of forming a molecular structure showing ferromagnetism or antiferromagnetism, and a method of forming a molecular structure using a ferromagnetic metal as a center metal. Particularly, it can be said that to form the molecular structure showing ferromagnetism or antiferromagnetism is preferable since the intensity of the spin-orbit interaction can be adjusted by molecular design.
Then, the present invention is characterized in that, as an organic compound containing a molecular structure to intensify the spin-orbit interaction, a polynuclear complex (metal complex including two or more center metals) which has transition elements as center metals is used for an EL element.
That is, the polynuclear complex using a more inexpensive metal (specifically, a first transition series element) than platinum or iridium is used for a light emitting layer (layer made of an organic compound in which recombination is occurred) of an EL element or a dopant pigment (pigment which is added to a light emitting layer and functions as a luminous center), so that the EL element with a high inner quantum efficiency can be obtained at a lower manufacturing cost than the prior art.
Besides, by using the polynuclear complex, the heavy atom is substantially increased as compared with a conventional mononuclear complex using a heavy atom (platinum or iridium), and as a result, the spin-orbit interaction is intensified, and the inner quantum efficiency of the EL element can also be increased.
By using the polynuclear complex, the same or different metals can be made to exist in one metal complex. That is, a molecular structure which a mononuclear complex can not obtain can also be obtained by a combination of center metals, and the selection width of center metals or ligands of the metal complex which emits phosphorescence is widened.
For example, by introducing nickel as a ferromagnetic metal into a metal complex, such as a metal complex with platinum as a center metal, in which phosphorescent emission is originally obtained, there is a possibility that it becomes easy to obtain light emission from the triplet excitation state. Besides, there is a possibility that a transition probability from the triplet excitation state to the singlet excitation state is increased by the introduction of nickel, and there is a possibility that the luminous efficiency of phosphorescent emission can be made higher than the prior art.
Besides, in the case of the polynuclear complex, an excitation energy state is changed by a combination of center metals. In the triplet excitation by the metal complex, there is a case where the center metal receives the triplet excitation energy generated at the ligand and comes to have the triplet excitation state and phosphorescent light is emitted. Accordingly, the luminous color of the phosphorescent light can be changed by changing the excitation energy state through the combination of the center metals.
Further, in the polynuclear complex, it is also possible to design a metal complex in which center metals are combined through a covalent bond. The present inventors consider that it is possible to cause the heavy atom effect when metals in the metal complex exist in a cluster state.
Besides, the polynuclear complex often has a structure in which ligands form a chelate to surround the center metal, and there is a merit that a three-dimensional molecular structure (stable molecular structure) can be easily obtained. Since such three-dimensional structure (also called a steric hindrance) has an effect of suppressing the interaction between molecules, it is possible to eventually made a complex in which it is hard to cause concentration quenching (phenomenon in which light emission disappears when the concentration becomes high).
As described above, the luminous efficiency of the EL element can be made higher than the prior art by making the molecular design while the polynuclear complex is used for the light emitting layer or the dopant pigment. Besides, the luminous color can also be controlled by the molecular design of the polynuclear complex. Besides, as a result, it is possible to obtain a light emitting device which is inexpensive and has low power consumption.
Incidentally, in the present specification, the light emitting device indicates an image display device or a plane emission device using an EL element as a light emitting element. Besides, the light emitting device includes a module in which a TAB (Tape Automated Bonding) tape or a TCP (Tape Carrier Package) is attached to a substrate over which an EL element is formed, a module in which a printed wiring board is provided at an end of a TAB tape or a TCP, and a module in which an IC (Integrated Circuit) is directly mounted on a substrate over which an EL element is formed by a COG (Chip On Glass) system.

Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd.


A vibration canceler for use on the outer circumference of a shaft rotating about an axis and including two enlargements. The vibration canceler includes half-shells which can be pressed on to the outer circumference of the shaft. The half-shells are joined to at least two inertial masses formed as circle segments by elastic elements which are deformable in a circumferential direction. The inertial masses are joined together by retaining elements. The inertial masses are hingedly joined by link elements and can be restrained in a ring shape by at least one lock element.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention concerns a vibration canceler for use on the outer circumference of a shaft rotating about an axis and having enlargements on the ends. The vibration canceler at least two half-shells which can be pressed on to the outer circumference of the shaft. The half-shells are joined to at least one inertial mass formed as a circle segment by at least one elastic element made of an elastomeric material, such as rubber, deformable in a circumferential direction. A fastening apparatus joins the inertial masses to one another. The fastening apparatus includes at least one link element which hingedly joins the inertial masses as well as a lock element by which the inertial masses can be restrained in a state in which they are joined together in a ring shape.
2. Description of the Related Art
A vibration canceler of this sort is known. The assembly takes place in a direction transverse to the shaft, which makes it unnecessary to remove the shaft beforehand. However, the disadvantage so this device is that the two inertial masses must be joined together using a very costly joining apparatus. The joining apparatus includes locking pins and screws at the points at which the inertial masses touch one another. Fabrication of this device is very costly. Manifestations of imbalance in this device can be observed very frequently when the shaft is rotating.

Vibration canceler which is mountable on shaft with enlargements


A memory system 107,300 is provided which includes a memory 107 having a data area for storing data words and a mask area 302 for storing a control mask. Mask generation circuitry 301 is provided for generating such a control mask for storage in the mask area 302 of the memory 107. Mask controlled memory read control circuitry 303 is provided which is operable to selectively retrieve from the mask area 302 bits of the mask stored therein and in response selectively retrieve and output data words stored in the data area of the memory 107.

As multimedia information processing systems increase in popularity, system designers must consider new techniques for controlling the processing and display of data simultaneously generated by multiple sources. In particular, there has been substantial demand for processing systems which have the capability of concurrently displaying both video and graphics data on a single display screen. The development of such systems presents a number of design challenges, not only because the format differences between graphics and video data must be accounted for, but also because of end user driven requirements that these systems allow for flexible manipulation of the data on the display screen.
One particular technique for simultaneously displaying video and graphics data on a single display screen involves the generation of "windows." In this case, a stream of data from a selected source is used to generate a display within a particular region or "window" of the display screen to the exclusion of any nonselected data streams defining a display or part of a display corresponding to the same region of the screen. The selected data stream generating the display window "overlays" or "occludes" the data from the nonselected data streams which lie "behind" the displayed data. In one instance, the overall content and appearance of the display screen is defined by graphics data and one or more "video windows" generated by data from a video source occlude a corresponding region of that graphics data. In other instances, a video display or window may be occluded or overlaid by graphics data or even another video window.
In the multimedia environment, the "windowing" described above yields substantial advantages. Among other things, the user can typically change the size and location on the display screen of a given window to flexibly manipulate the content and appearance of the data being displayed. For example, in the case of combined graphics and video, the user can advantageously create custom composite visual displays by combining multiple video and graphics data streams in a windowing environment.
Significantly, occluded video windows cannot be managed by software alone, as can occluded graphics windows. Special hardware windowing controls are required because video data is constantly being updated whereas graphics data is updated (painted) only once.
In order to efficiently control windows in a multimedia environment, efficient frame buffer management is required. Specifically, a frame buffer control scheme must be developed which allows for the efficient storage and retrieval of multiple types of data, such as video data and graphics data. To be cost competitive as well as functionally efficient, such a scheme should minimize the number of memory devices and the amount of control circuitry required and should insure that data flow to the display is subjected to minimal delay notwithstanding data type.
Thus, due to the advantages of windowing, the need has arisen for efficient and cost effective windowing control circuitry. Such windowing circuitry should allow for the simultaneous processing of data received from multiple sources and in multiple formats. In particular, such windowing control circuitry should be capable of efficiently and inexpensively controlling the occlusion and/or overlay of video and graphics data in a windowing environment.

Apparatus, systems and methods for controlling data overlay in multimedia data processing and display systems using mask techniques


A snow and ice-clearing track assembly (16) for a vehicle (10) is provided which has a plurality of rotatable track wheels (22-26) including a specialized drive wheel (24) together with a continuous loop, substantially imperforate track (34) disposed about and engaging the wheels (22-26). The track (34) includes a plurality of inwardly extending drive lugs (36) which are received within circumferentially spaced lug openings (56) and snow and ice-clearing passages (58, 60) on opposite sides of the central openings (60). An alternate drive wheel (70) has a pair of polyurethane rings (84, 86) on opposite sides of lug-receiving openings (78) preventing buildup of ice and snow adjacent the drive wheel.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is broadly concerned with tracked vehicles and the drive track assemblies thereof designed for use on snow and ice for ski and snow mobile trail dressing operations. More particularly, the invention pertains to specialized drive track assemblies for such vehicles which are specially modified so as to clear snow and ice adjacent the drive wheels of the track assemblies to thereby prevent buildup of snow and ice and consequent breakage thereof.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Owners of ski resorts are confronted with the problem of periodically "dressing" their ski and snow mobile trails to facilitate use thereof. Equipment has been designed for the dressing task, and generally includes a tracked vehicle equipped with a forward dozer blade as well as pull-behind snow dressing equipment. In use, the vehicle is driven along a trail to be dressed with the forward dozer blade clearing a path through freshly fallen or packed snow. The trailing dressing equipment completes the treatment by providing a generally flat surface of desired width or, in the case of cross-country ski trails, adjacent sets of narrow ski-receiving furrows.
One known class of tracked snow vehicle makes use of a pair of track assemblies each made up of relatively narrow, spaced-apart belts which support outwardly and transversely extending metallic angles or cleats. Such track assemblies are deficient in that the vehicles cannot be driven or used except in snow and ice. Thus, during the off-season, these vehicles are essentially useless. Moreover, they cannot be driven over conventional roadways for any distance because the track cleats will destroy the roadway.
Vehicle track assemblies made up of a series of track wheels supporting a continuous, substantially imperforate rubber track have also been proposed in the past. These track assemblies present significant potential advantages, in that the vehicle could be used year round and not limited solely to snow and ice operations. Thus, such a vehicle could be used in wintertime for trail dressing operations, and in summer for mowing or the like. Furthermore, such track assemblies can be driven over conventional roadways without damaging the latter or destroying the track assemblies.
Attempts at using rubber track assemblies of this type as a part of a snow dressing vehicle have met with a very serious problem, however. Specifically, it has been found that snow and ice picked up by the imperforate rubber track tends to rapidly build up in the region of the drive wheel of the track assembly. This in turn imposes stresses on the support axles of the forwardmost tensioning wheel, causing it to break. Indeed, experiments with conventional rubber track drive assemblies has proven that, in snow and ice conditions, the vehicles are rendered inoperative only after a short distance of travel.
There is accordingly a significant need in the art for an improved rubber track assembly having drive wheel structure which can effectively clear snow and ice and prevent undue buildup thereof between the drive wheel and the adjacent belt.

Low profile rubber tracked snow vehicle with snow-clearing drive wheels


A social media control method, system, and computer program product, include detecting a contextual meaning of a content of a third-party post on a user's social media account, classifying the content into user-defined categories based on an overlap between the contextual meaning and the user-defined categories, identifying an undesired piece of information from the content, identifying a trusted online friend within a social media circle of the user, and providing a one-time access control to the identified trusted online friend to rectify the undesired content in the third-party post.

The present invention relates generally to a social media control method, and more particularly, but not by way of limitation, to a system, method, and recording medium for providing an editing mechanism to user's friends to correct posted social media content of the user when the user is not present online based on a dynamically computed trust score and content undesirability.
Social networks help people to stay connected with the each other and the external world. Once any content is shared, then friends of the social network user can view the contents, can provide comments, can provide reactions etc.
Efforts are made to restrict posting of potentially objectionable content to members of sensitive or protected cohorts, for example, blocking the posting of such content, presenting the poster to review the content before posting the content, etc. However, conventional techniques mainly focus on analyzing the content of the post with respect to user cohorts and providing suggestions to the poster in order to correct the post.
Thus, there is a need in the art to create an automated technique to take control at the appropriate time and provide a one-time access control to one or a subset of friends after alerting them about any possibly unintentionally posted content by their friends.

Social media control provisioning based on a trusted network

INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION


A method for representing the structure of an article of manufacture having a plurality of design variants includes defining a plurality of positions corresponding to different predefined locations on the article of manufacture and assigning at least one variant to each position. Each variant identifies a specific part that may be used in the respective position or a specific type of connection between a pair of parts. In any given position, at most one part or connection variant can be selected. Code rules are defined for each variant which indicate when a particular variant should be used in accordance with specified design options. The position and variant representation can be implemented as part of a bill of materials used for manufacturing resource planning. Improved methods for defining the code rules, for evaluating the code rules in the bill of materials to determine manufacturing parts requirements for a plurality of orders, and for generating documentation for manufactured variants of the article are also disclosed.

Products which are made of many different parts and subassemblies, such as automobiles, trucks, boats, airplanes, etc. are typically built and assembled in a factory using mass-production assembly techniques. In order to produce a large volume of items, the amount of each type of part which is required for each item must be determined. When only one product design is permitted, the material production requirements can be determined simply by multiplying the requirements for one item by the number of items to be produced. However, when the product to be produced is available in a variety of designs, each of which has different parts, determining the production requirements for a set of product orders becomes more difficult. This is particularly true for products, such as automobiles, which have a large number of parts, are produced in high volumes, and are often marketed with a large variety of different features and options that must be installed at the factory, such as engine type, transmission, and the like.
A manufacturing resource planning ("MRP") system is used to process and track information related to manufacturing, marketing, costs, part and spare part requirements, and other aspects of the production, sale, and maintenance of an article. In a conventional MRP system of the tape used in the mass production of automobiles, the parts requirements of a standard version of the product are detailed in a list or table called a bill of materials ("BOM"). To introduce each new design variation (e.g. an automatic transmission instead of a standard transmission), an auxiliary BOM is generated which details the parts which must be added to the standard BOM to produce the variation, as well as the parts which must be removed from the standard BOM. Because design variations selected in combination may affect the parts requirements in ways which differ from inclusion of the variations separately, additional auxiliary BOMs are also often required to adjust the original and adjusted part requirements.
To calculate the manufacturing parts requirements for a car produced with the new option, the parts requirements specified in the standard BOM and one or more auxiliary BOMs are combined using an add-subtract process wherein the parts detailed in the appropriate auxiliary BOMs are added to and subtracted from the part requirements detailed in the standard BOM. Logical rules which can be evaluated in accordance with customer order options are defined and are used to select which of the many auxiliary BOMs should be combined with the primary BOM for a particular customer order. While effective for designs with a small number of options, when more than a small number of design variations are available, the various BOMs and associated documentation quickly become very complex and difficult to process.
In an alternative representation, every part used in all of the defined variants is included in a single BOM. Each part has an associated construction code rule which indicates when the part should be included. The construction code rules for all valid design variations are typically defined at the same time. The code rules which are entered can be very complicated because they must be defined in such a way that code rules for alternate variations do not "overlap" each other or have other logical ambiguities or inconsistencies.
The difficulty of defining code rules is further complicated when new design variants are added after the initial design is defined because a given code rule for one particular variation can be dependent on which other variations are permitted. In addition to defining a new code rule when a new design variation is added, one or more other, previously generated rules may also need to be updated. This can be a complex and error-prone task because conventional systems do not provide an easy mechanism to identify which code rules may be affected.
In addition to defining one or more BOMs, extensive design documentation must be prepared. Documentation is necessary both for making decisions about the cost, production and delivery time, capacity restrictions, connecting processes. etc. which result from including a variant in the customized product, and also to ensure that information about all the parts used in each product produced is available for historic analysis—i.e. for recalls, analysis in the event of product failure, etc. Conventional systems document each module or subassembly variant from the "top-down", wherein all possible combinations of variants are separately documented. For example, a car design may include a seat assembly which can have one of three types of material (e.g., cloth, leather, vinyl), two adjustment mechanisms (manual or power), and two heat options (none, or heated seat). There are therefore 3*2*2=12 possible combinations of seat assemblies. In the conventional top-down design method, each of the twelve seat assembly variants is documented separately.
It is apparent that as the number of design variants increases, the amount of documentation required increases exponentially. When product assemblies have a large number of options, it becomes practically impossible to document every variant. In a particular truck design, for example, the total number of possible wiring harness configurations (which depends on a large number of factors, including not only the electronic components used, but also the relative position of the components) can be on the order of 263 (about 1019). Because it is practically impossible to document every design variation, a manufacturer must predict which design variations or combinations of options are likely to be the most popular with customers, document only those variations, and then prevent the customer from ordering other non-documented option combinations. This prediction can be both under inclusive, omitting options which may be popular with customers, and over inclusive, including options which are at best, only infrequently ordered.
In addition to the difficulties associated with defining code rules and documenting numerous design variations, a further drawback to conventional MRP systems is the time required to analyze customer orders and to generate information about what parts are required to manufacture the set of orders, when they are needed, and where the parts must be on the assembly line. Conventional systems determine part totals by evaluating, for each customer order, every code rule in the BOM. When a "hit" occurs (i.e., an evaluated code rule is true and thus the part will be used), a data item is written to an output record in a computer data file. This process is repeated for every customer order being considered.
A typical BOM for a luxury automobile can include 70,000 separate part/rule entries. Each part entry has an associated code rule which must be evaluated to determine whether the part should be included in a given build according to the selected customer options. In a typical example, about 4000 particular rules are likely to be true for a given customer order and processing a single order may take up to several minutes. Thus, for a production run of 8000 cars, it is not unusual for the MRP process to take a considerable amount of time to process and to result in a parts requirement file on the order of 10 gigabytes in size, which file does not include process information. Even if the MRP system utilizes parallel processing to evaluate multiple customer orders simultaneously, the process can still take several hours to complete. Because of the file size and duration of the process, conventional MRP systems are operated as batch routines. In addition, the long time needed for the analysis prevents production line managers and others from making rapid changes in the sequence customer orders are filled, because the effect of those changes cannot be calculated quickly enough.
Since many factories now operate on the "just-in-time" and "real-time" principles, where parts required for production are delivered to the factory shortly before or as they are needed, the slowness of current MRP systems can have a significant impact on a factory's profitability. If the production line cannot respond quickly to temporary shortages in parts or delayed deliveries, the resultant slow-downs or shut-down of the production line can directly affect the profitability of the factory.
Accordingly, it is an object of the invention to provide a process for defining and managing the part, part variant, part connection, and part connection variant details related to the manufacture of an article in a simple and compact manner.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a process for use in preparing a BOM which fully describes the part requirements for all variants of a given product design while avoiding the exponential growth of auxiliary BOMs and variant documentation as new design variants are introduced.
Another object of the invention is to provide a method and system for more quickly evaluating the code rules in a BOM to determine the manufacturing parts requirements and other information in accordance with one or more customer orders.
Yet a further object of the invention is to provide a resource and requirement planning system and method in which process and activity data relating to the physical and/or functional connections between parts can be tracked.

Method and system for resource requirement planning and generating a production schedule using a uniform data model


A toilet seat cover for a toilet seat including a sheet made of unwoven fabric having a shape corresponding to a shape of an upper surface of the toilet seat, and a mount layer including synthetic resin emulsion and applied to one surface of the sheet. Upon placing and pressing slightly the toilet seat cover against the toilet seat, air in pores formed in the mount layer is discharged, thereby reducing pressure in the pores. Accordingly, the toilet seat cover can be easily attached to the toilet seat due to the vacuum suction force. Further, the toilet seat cover can be easily detached from the toilet seat by peeling the mount layer therefrom, leaving nothing on the toilet seat. The sheet has a laminated structure including a fabric layer, a porous buffer layer which provides comfortable seating and good heat insulation effect, and a permeation inhibitor layer for inhibiting material of the mount layer from permeating the porous buffer layer.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a toilet seat cover attachable to a toilet seat.
2. Description of Related Art
As a toilet seat cover for a U-shaped toilet seat of the Western type, there has been known the one whose schematic plan view is shown in FIG. 1 (Japanese Utility Mode Application Laid-Open No. 63-140294). This toilet seat cover is in the general form of a pair of trousers. In FIG. 1, indicated at 31, 32 are leg portions, at 33 a waist portion, at 34 an elastic annular portion, and at 35 a reinforced edge portion. The cylindrical leg portions 31, 32 are spaced apart by a specified distance and configured into shape of the toilet seat respectively. Leading ends of the leg portions 31, 32 are shunt-woven slightly round, and base ends thereof are formed continuously to the waist portion 33 configured into a cylindrical form bigger than the leg portions 31, 32. The waist portion 33 is formed to the elastic annular portion 34 having a greater elasticity than the waist portion 33. Further, the reinforced edge portion 35 is formed over an entire peripheral portion of the elastic annular portion 34. This toilet seat cover is fitted to the toilet seat from the reinforced edge portion 35, and leading ends of the toilet seat are fitted respectively to the leading ends of the leg portions 31, 32. The reinforced edge portion 35 is moved up to a pivot portion of the toilet seat. In this way, the toilet seat cover is completely fitted to the toilet seat. However, the toilet seat cover has suffered the problem that it is cumbersome to take it off the toilet seat for washing and fit it to the toilet seat again since the elastic annular portion 34 has a high degree of elasticity.
As a toilet seat cover for an O-shaped toilet seat of the Western type, there has been known the one whose rear view is shown in FIG. 2. In FIG. 2, indicated at 91 is a seat cover main body formed of a cylindrically woven stretchable fabric. One circumferential end of the main body 91 is turned up, and thereby forming a cylindrical frame core inserting portion 92. In the inserting portion 92 is inserted a frame core 94 which is slightly longer than an inner circumferential end of the toilet seat. The other circumferential end of the main body 91 is also turned up, and thereby forming a cylindrical elastic member inserting portion 93. In the inserting portion 93 is inserted an elastic member 95 such as an elastic braid.
Opposite ends of the elastic member 95 are pulled outside in specified positions from a circumferential direction of the elastic member inserting portion 93. S-shaped hooks 96, 96 are mounted to the opposite ends of the elastic member 95. In the case where thus formed toilet seat cover is fitted to the O-shaped toilet seat, a rear surface of the seat cover main body 91 is attached to an underside of the toilet seat in such a manner as to put the frame core inserting portion 92 along the inner circumferential end of the toilet seat. Next, the elastic member inserting portion 93 provided at the other circumferential end of the main body 91 is pulled upward through an opening defined by the toilet seat. Then, the main body 91 is expanded outside while pulling the inserting portion 93, and the inserting portion 93 is pulled downward from the outer circumferential end of the toilet seat. Consequently, the S-shaped hooks 96, 96 are engaged with each other behind the pivot portions of the toilet seat. However, this toilet seat cover is also cumbersome since the frame core 94 needs to be taken out when it is to be washed.
In view of the above problems, there has been proposed a toilet seat cover as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 (Japanese Utility Model Application Laid-Open No. 63-144098). FIG. 3 is a plan view showing a toilet seat and surface fasteners, and FIG. 4 is a rear view showing a seat cover main body. In FIG. 3, indicated at 21 is a toilet seat. A plurality of surface fasteners 22 in the form of a strip are adhered to an upper surface of the toilet seat 21 longitudinally along a circumferential direction thereof.
In FIG. 4, indicated at 23 is a seat cover main body made of desired material. The main body 23 is configured identically to the shape of the upper surface of the toilet seat 21, and has surface fasteners 24 sewn to a rear surface thereof so as to oppose the surface fasteners 22 adhered to the toilet seat 21. The seat cover main body 23 is attached to the toilet seat 21 by attaching the corresponding surface fasteners 22, 24. This seat cover main body 23 is easily attachable to and detachable from the toilet seat 21. However, in the case where the main body 23 is detached for washing or other purposes, the surface fasteners 22, remaining upon the upper surface of the toilet seat 21, are liable to be dirtied or damaged. In addition, it is uncomfortable for one to sit upon the toilet seat having the surface fasteners 22 when the main body 23 is detached.


Variable power ratio (VPR) directional couplers that permit an amount of power directed to different outputs to be varied and managed. In some embodiments, the power ratio of the VPR coupler is represented by an equivalent coupling factor C′ corresponding to a conventional coupling factor C. The VPR coupler may include one or more variable reactive network (VRN) circuits, each configured to reflect a portion of power received from an input back toward the input, and to transmit a remainder of the power toward an output. An amount of power reflected and transmitted by the VRN circuit may be varied based on a control voltage applied to the VRN circuit. In one example, a plurality of VPR couplers can be arranged in series to create a versatile and simplified network for distributing signals to a plurality of end units.

Directional couplers are generally used to split and combine radio frequency (RF) signals and other signals among multiple nodes corresponding to signal sources and/or endpoints. Directional couplers are commonly used for "in building" signal distribution between a central source point and multiple endpoints. In these and other applications, directional couplers are used to split a fixed amount of power from a "trunk" input between different "branch" outputs.
A conventional directional coupler 10 is illustrated in FIG. 1. The conventional directional coupler 10 includes a main coaxial line 12 extending between input port 14 and transmitted port 16, and a coupled coaxial line 18 extending between coupled port 20 and isolated port 22. In conventional directional couplers, such as directional coupler 10 in FIG. 1, the main line 12 and the coupled line 18 are arranged in close proximity. This arrangement permits a portion of input power applied to the input port 14 to be diverted, or "coupled," to the coupled port 20, based on the inductance of the main line 12 and the coupled line 18, and is output at ninety degree (90°) phase to the input signal. The remainder of the input power is transmitted to the transmitted port 16 in phase with the input signal (i.e., at zero degree (0°) phase).
In many applications, the isolated port 22 is connected to a matched load 24 (e.g., a 50 ohm resistor), which is connected to ground to dissipate any power that is reflected back toward the isolated port 22. This matched load 24 can be internal to the directional coupler 10, with the isolated port 22 not accessible to a user, effectively resulting in a three port device.
Conventional directional couplers 10 have a fixed "coupling factor," measured in decibels (dB), that is based on the ratio of the power output at coupled port 20 (Pcoupled) to the power input at input port 14 (Pinput) within a given frequency range. Coupling factor C can be expressed as Equation 1 below.
                    C        =                              -            10                                                                                log                                      (                                                P                  coupled                                                  P                  input                                            )                                          dB                                    Equation                                                  1
Thus, for a directional coupler 10 that diverts fifty percent (50%) of its input power from input port 14 to the coupled port 20, the coupling factor is −3 dB. −3 dB directional couplers, also known as hybrid couplers, are a common design because they split an input signal from input port 14 equally, with half of the input power being coupled to coupled port 20 and the other half of the input power being transmitted to transmitted port 16. A −6 dB directional coupler is another common type of coupler that couples twenty five percent (25%) of the input power to the coupled port 20 and transmits seventy five percent (75%) of the input power to the transmitted port 16. Likewise, a −10 dB directional coupler couples ten percent (10%) of the input power to the coupled port 20, and transmits ninety percent (90%) of the input power to the transmitted port 16.
Because hybrid couplers are bi-directional, they can be used to coherently combine power in addition to splitting it. For example, when a signal is applied to coupled port 20 of a directional coupler 10 having a coupling factor of −3 dB (a hybrid coupler), and the same signal is applied to the transmitted port 16 at ninety degree (90°) phase to the signal applied to coupled port 20. The signals add to each other at the isolated port 22 because the directional coupler 10 causes both signals output at the isolated port 22 to be in phase with each other. Likewise, the signals output at the input port 14 cancel each other out because the directional coupler 10 causes the signals to be at one hundred eighty degree (180°) phase to each other. Likewise, if the signal applied to transmitted port 16 is instead at ninety degree (90°) phase to the signal applied to the coupled port 20, the signals add at the input port 14 and cancel each other out at the isolated port 22.
Coupling factor C is centered around a particularly rated frequency band. Although the coupling factor C can be made to be relatively flat within the rated frequency band, coupling nevertheless varies with frequency. Therefore, couplers are specified in terms of the coupling accuracy at the frequency band center. However, for common applications, such as RF signal distribution, the coupling factor C of directional couplers 10 can be considered to be effectively constant for those applications.
Coupling factor C is a negative quantity that cannot exceed 0 dB for a passive device such as conventional directional coupler 10. In practice, a coupling factor C does not typically exceed −3 dB since a coupling factor C between −3 dB and 0 dB would result in more power output from the coupled port 20 than power from the transmitted port 16, effectively, reversing the roles of the coupled port 20 and transmitted port 16.
Additional discussion of directional couplers can be found at, for example, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_dividers_and_directional_couplers (accessed Feb. 1, 2013), U.S. Pat. No. 8,258,889, filed on Nov. 30, 2009 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,689,217, filed on Mar. 14, 1996, which are hereby incorporated by reference herein in their entirety for this purpose.

Directional couplers having variable power ratios and related devices, systems, and methods

Corning Optical Communications Wireless Ltd


A method and apparatus for facilitating interconnection of lead wires to an integrated circuit including the provision of an additional protective layer of insulation to the top of an integrated circuit chip or die and the provision of enlarged plated electrodes to the surface of the additional insulation to form enhanced bonding pads, such pads being electrically connected through the protective layers to the normal bonding pads of the integrated circuit device. The enhanced bonding pads are made of a soft conductive metal such that external wires to be attached thereto can be bonded to the pads using a thermal compression bonding technique.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the manufacture of miniature electronic devices and more particularly to a method and apparatus for facilitating the attachment of electromagnetic antenna wire leads to an integrated circuit chip used in a miniature transponder device suitable for implantation in a living animal.
This application is related to U.S. Pat. No. 5,025,550 (filed 05/25/90), entitled "Automated Method for the Manufacture of Small Implantable Transponder Devices", assigned to the assignee of the present invention.
2. Description of the Prior Art
As pointed out in the above-identified copending application the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated into this application by reference, miniature passive transponders of the type used for object identification, and particularly those which are implantable into living creatures, such as livestock, are very small and have inherent size restrictions that must be considered in their design and manufacture. Most such devices include a wire-wound electromagnetic antenna electrically connected to an integrated circuit which, in response to received transmitted energy obtained from the antenna, generates a response signal which is retransmitted to and through the antenna to a nearby sensor.
Heretofore, the integrated circuit was first mounted to a metal leadframe, potted, and then the potted device having leadframe leads extending therefrom was attached to the antenna by bonding the antenna wires to the leads. The necessity of providing a leadframe and assembling the semiconductor die to the leadframe not only adds to the cost of the device but also has a substantial bearing on the minimum size to which a particular device may be reduced.

Integrated circuit device including means for facilitating connection of antenna lead wires to an integrated circuit die


A motorized cart is disclosed which allows a rider to safely ride an escalator. The motorized cart includes front wheels 2 and rear wheels 3 mounted on a vehicle body 1. A first support portion 6 is formed on the bottom of the vehicle body 1, and includes a plurality of contact portions which support the vehicle body 1 on the step surfaces of the escalator when it reaches the maximum inclined portion of the escalator.

A. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a motorized cart, and more particularly to a motorized cart which allows a rider to safely ride up and down an escalator while in a seated position.
B. Related Art
There are numerous types of motorized carts in the prior art which are designed to allow its passenger to descend and ascend a flight of stairs. For example, a so-called "crawler type" vehicle has been proposed in which a plurality of wheels are arranged under the vehicle body, with a belt extending around the wheels. With this type of device, hook claws or the like are provided on an outer surface of the belt. In addition, a motorized cart that includes front wheels, rear wheels, and auxiliary wheels on the vehicle body which can be raised and lowered has been proposed.
All of the above-proposed motorized carts are designed to descend and ascend a flight of stairs, however they are not designed to ride on an escalator.
In particular, with respect to the "crawler" type motorized cart, an intermediate portion of the belt will come into contact with the corners of each step on the escalator, thus decreasing the total contact area of the belt. It is therefore difficult to keep the vehicle in a stable position on the escalator.
With the motorized cart having front and rear wheels, the front wheels and the rear wheels will each be positioned on different steps of the escalator. If the braking on the front and rear wheels is not suitable, there is a possibility that the vehicle could slip backward. In addition, when the corners of the steps of the escalator come into contact with the bottom of the motorized cart located between the front and rear wheels, the front or rear wheels may be lifted off of the steps so that the vehicle is slanted at a much larger angle than the slant angle of the escalator. This is quite dangerous.


A topical pharmaceutical composition having penetration enhancing properties for treating fungal dermatological conditions, comprising a pharmaceutically active topical antifungal agent selected from sulconazole and naftifine with an acetate penetration enhancing compound is disclosed.

The risks associated with parenteral treatments, the concerns associated with variable rates of absorption and metabolism inherent in oral treatments, and difficulties in maintaining the continuity of drug administration can be avoided by relying upon efficacious topically applied compounds to treat certain maladies. Topical delivery allows effectively treating conditions which are local in nature, or which exhibit local manifestations, systemically, as well as locally with the same treatment regimen.
Dermatological pharmaceutically active agents are frequently applied topically to obtain desired results. Topical application in the form of creams, lotions, gels, and solutions, for example, may avoid systemic side effects and permits the application of high concentrations of the pharmaceutically active agent at the site of action. Some dermatological agents are applied topically for achieving a systemic effect and others are applied topically for achieving a situs effect.
Conditions such as onychomycosis pose serious problems in dermatology. Onychomycosis is a condition recognized by discoloration beneath toe nails and finger nails along with pain when pressure is placed near or at the site of discoloration. Various fungi, classified as white superficial fungi, cause the condition. Frequently the condition is treated by the combination of nail avulsion and pharmaceutical agent, as presently available topical anti-fungal formulations for treating onychomycosis have been met with limited success. This is primarily due to the limited ability of such compounds to penetrate into the nail plate, which is hyperkeratotic. The treatment of the condition is further problematic in geriatric patients where therapeutic options are often limited due to possible drug interactions, systemic side effects of treatment, and contra-indications secondary to other medical ailments.
Compounds known as penetration or permeation enhancers produce an increase in the permeability of skin or other body membranes to a pharmacologically active agent. The increased permeability allows an increase in the rate at which the drug permeates through the skin and enters the blood stream. Penetration enhancers have been successful in overcoming the impermeability of pharmaceutical agents through the skin. However, the thin stratum corneum layer of the skin, which is about 10 to 15 cells thick and is formed naturally by cells migrating toward the skin surface from the basal layer, has been found to be easier to penetrate than nails.
Penetration enhancers have been primarily categorized according to their ability to enhance permeation via three pathways. The first is the continuous polar or aqueous pathway composed of proteins. The second pathway is a continuous non-polar pathway consisting of lipids. The third pathway is a heterogenous polar-non-polar multilaminate of lipids and proteins.
Binary penetration systems comprising N-(2-hydroxyethyl) pyrrolidone in combination with a cell envelope disordering compound, such as oleic acid, enhances the penetration and percutaneous delivery of pharmaceutically active agents to human and animal tissue and systems. U.S. Pat. No. 4,537,776, Cooper, Aug. 27, 1985.
Anti-microbial compositions for controlling bacterial and fungal infections comprising a metal chelate of 8-hydroxyquinoline and an alkyl benzene sulfonic acid have been shown to be efficacious due to the increased ability of the oleophilic group to penetrate the lipoid layers of microcells. The compounds however, do not effectively increase the ability to carry the pharmaceutically active anti-fungal through the cornified layer or stratum corneum of the skin. U.S. Pat. No. 4,602,011, West et al., Jul. 22, 1986; U.S. Pat. No. 4,766,113, West et al., Aug. 23, 1988.
Percutaneous absorption accelerators containing glycerols or polyglycerols and alcohols as essential components are known. U.S. Pat. No. 4,859,696, Kamiya et al., Aug. 22, 1989; U.S. Pat. No. 4,948,588, Kamiya et al., Aug. 14, 1990. The percutaneous absorbent preparations may be formulated by incorporating pharmaceutically effective anti-fungal components with the percutaneous absorbent accelerator. The percutaneous absorption accelerator can be advantageously used for many preparations of topical agents which are expected to exhibit the pharmacological effect to be absorbed from, for example, a liquid spraying agent, a lotion, an ointment, a cream, a gel, a sol, and aerosol, a cataplasm, a plaster, a tape preparation, and the like.
Other penetration enhancing pharmaceutical compositions for topical transepidermal and percutaneous application may contain an active pharmaceutical permeant, including hydrophilic salt forms. The hydrophilic salts are contained in a penetration enhancing vehicle comprising a cell envelope disordering compound. The formulation enhances the penetration of pharmaceutically active agents through the integument. U.S. Pat. No. 4,863,970, Patel et al., Sep. 5, 1989. It is also known to use compositions including diethylene glycol monoethyl or monomethyl ether in addition to an ester component to enhance the absorption of pharmaceutically active agents through the skin. U.S. Pat. No. 5,053,227, Chiang et al., Oct. 1, 1991.
Other compositions known for enhancing the transdermal delivery of pharmaceutically active agents may contain a polar solvent material and a polar lipid material. U.S. Pat. No. 5,026,556, Drust et al., Jun. 25, 1991. Compositions for carrying physiologically active agents through skin and for retaining these agents in body tissues may use a wide range of alkyl compounds to enhance penetration of such formulations. U.S. Pat. No. 5,162,315, Nov. 10, 1992.
The penetration enhancers discussed have been found to have limited potential for improving the permeability of finger nails and toe nails to pharmaceutically active agents. In order to overcome the highly impermeable nature of finger and toe nails, specifically selected vehicles or carriers to aid in the penetration of such compounds through nails must be found or developed. The successful treatment of persistent dermatological and other conditions which develop beneath nails will depend upon the ability of a penetration enhancer to allow a pharmaceutically active agent to pass through the thick, keratinized cell layers of the nails to attack the cause of the condition.

Topical composition for fungal treatment


An optical imaging lens includes a first, second, third and fourth lens element, and an aperture stop positioned between the second and third lens elements. The first lens element has an object-side surface with a convex portion in a vicinity of its periphery, the second lens element has an image-side surface with a concave portion in a vicinity of the optical axis, the third lens element has an image-side surface with a convex portion in a vicinity of the optical axis, the fourth lens element is made of plastic and has an object-side surface with a concave portion in a vicinity of the optical axis, and the optical imaging lens set does not include any lens element with refractive power other than said first, second, third and fourth lens elements.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to an optical imaging lens set and an electronic device which includes such optical imaging lens set. Specifically speaking, the present invention is directed to an optical imaging lens set of four lens elements and an electronic device which includes such optical imaging lens set of four lens elements.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In recent years, the popularity of mobile phones and digital cameras makes photography modules (including optical imaging lens set, holder and sensor, etc) well developed. Mobile phones and digital cameras become lighter and thinner, so that the miniaturization demands of photography modules get higher and higher. As the charge coupled device (CCD) or complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) technologies advance, the size of the photography modules can be shrunk too, but these photography modules still need to maintain good imaging quality.
Conventional optical imaging lens sets mostly have only four lens elements, and since they have fewer lens elements, the total length of the optical imaging lens set is relatively short. However, as the requirements of good imaging quality increase, the conventional optical imaging lens set of four lens elements can hardly satisfy these requirements. U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,848,032, 828,450 and 8,179,616 disclose an optical imaging lens set of four lens elements respectively, and all of the total length (the distance between the first object surface of the first lens element to an image plane) of the optical imaging lens sets are over 8 mm. In fact, the total length of the optical imaging lens set disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 8,179,616 is over 11 mm. The size of the optical imaging lens set is too big to satisfy the specification requirements of consumer electronics products.

Optical imaging lens and electronic device comprising the same


A write driver system comprises first switching devices that generate gate drive signals. A write driver circuit includes second switching devices that are controlled by the gate drive signals. The second switching devices have higher voltage stress thresholds than the first switching devices and wherein the second switching devices have slower switching times than the first switching devices.

Referring now to FIG. 1, an exemplary data storage device 20 is shown. A buffer 24 stores data that is associated with the control of a hard disk drive. The buffer 24 may employ SDRAM or other types of low latency memory. A processor 26 performs processing that is related to the operation of the hard disk drive. A hard disk controller (HDC) 30 communicates with the buffer 24, the processor 26, a host 34, a spindle/voice coil motor (VCM) driver 36, and/or a read/write channel circuit 40.
During a write operation, the read/write channel circuit (or read channel circuit) 40 encodes the data to be written onto the storage medium. The read channel circuit 40 processes the signal for reliability and may include, for example error correction coding (ECC), run length limited coding (RLL), and the like. During read operations, the read channel circuit 40 converts an analog output from the medium to a digital signal. The converted signal is then detected and decoded by known techniques to recover the data written on the hard disk drive.
One or more hard drive platters 42 include a magnetic coating that stores magnetic fields. The platters 42 are rotated by a spindle motor that is schematically shown at 44. Generally the spindle motor 44 rotates the hard drive platter 42 at a fixed speed during the read/write operations. One or more read/write arms 46 move relative to the platters 42 to read and/or write data to/from the hard drive platters 42. The spindle/VCM driver 36 controls the spindle motor 44, which rotates the platter 42. The spindle/VCM driver 36 also generates control signals that position the read/write arm 46, for example using a voice coil actuator, a stepper motor or any other suitable actuator.
A read/write device 48 is located near a distal end of the read/write arm 46. The read/write device 48 includes a write element such as an inductor that generates a magnetic field. The read/write device 48 also includes a read element (such as a magneto-resistive (MR) sensor) that senses the magnetic fields on the platter 42. A preamplifier (preamp) circuit 50 amplifies analog read/write signals. When reading data, the preamp circuit 50 amplifies low level signals from the read element and outputs the amplified signal to the read channel circuit 40. While writing data, a write current that flows through the write element of the read/write device 48 is switched to produce a magnetic field having a positive polarity or negative polarity. The positive or negative polarity is stored by the hard drive platter 42 and is used to represent data. Data storage rates of these systems are proportional to a rate that the write driver circuit can change the direction of the write current through the write head.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Write driver system for data storage systems


An article of footwear is made by (a) providing a component having a contaminant on a receiving area of a surface; (b) blast cleaning the receiving area of the surface by propelling an abrasive alkali, alkaline earth, or ammonium compound in a pressurized gas stream against the receiving area; (c) applying a pressurized gas stream free of the abrasive compound, liquid water, and organic liquid to the receiving area to remove any residual abrasive compound from the receiving area of the surface to produce a cleaned receiving area; (d) applying a layer of material to the cleaned receiving area, wherein the material is selected from the group consisting of adhesives and coating compositions; and (e) incorporating the component into an article of footwear.

This section provides background information related to the present disclosure but not necessarily prior art.
Various patents disclose blasting articles with sodium bicarbonate. Yam et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,865,902 discloses a method and abrasive blast medium for cleaning contaminants from electronic hardware and teaches that, advantageously, the electronic hardware component cleaning compositions are water soluble and can readily be rinsed off. Winston et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,332,447 discloses a blast media for stripping contaminant from a solid surface that comprises abrasive particles and a surfactant. The surfactant is said to reduce the amount of water-soluble residues remaining on the targeted surface and enhances the removal of dirt, grease, and oil from the surface. Kurtz, U.S. Pat. No. 5,322,532 discloses a blast media of agglomerated fine particles of sodium bicarbonate and sodium sesquicarbonate for stripping contaminants from a substrate. Yam et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,316,587 discloses a blast media for stripping contaminants from a solid surface that comprises water-soluble abrasive particles and a surfactant that reduces the amount of water-soluble residues of blast media remaining on the targeted surface and enables any residues to be readily removed by fresh water. Yam et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,308,404 discloses a blast media for stripping contaminants form very soft and sensitive substrates. Water-soluble blast media is preferred because it can be disposed of by a water stream. Yam et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,308,403 discloses a blast media for stripping coatings or other contaminants from a solid surface that comprises water-soluble abrasive particles and a rise aid that reduces the amount of water-soluble residues of blast media remaining on the targeted surface and that enables any residues remaining to be readily removed by fresh water.
Footwear may include painted components. In addition, footwear assembly may include securing certain components using an adhesive.

Sodium bicarbonate puck cleaning and painting


The invention pertains to a firing mechanism for a small arm, particularly a rifle, with a trigger (2) that can be pivoted about a trigger axis (12), with a trigger rod (4) that is displaceably arranged within a housing (1) and serves for respectively retaining and releasing a prestressed firing pin (6), and with an articulated lever (3) that is arranged within the housing (1) such that it can be pivoted about a pivot axis (20) and is connected in an articulated fashion to the trigger rod (4), with said articulated lever being connected to the trigger (2) via the trigger rod (4). The resistance of the trigger can be easily changed without requiring significant constructive modifications if the articulated lever (3) that is connected in an articulated fashion to the trigger rod (4) has an upwardly protruding catch (22) that engages into a lower latching groove (19) on the trigger (2) in a cocked position of the firing mechanism, with the latching groove (19) being provided with an oblique stopping face (33) for a front edge (34) of the catch (22).

In classic latch-type firing mechanisms, the firing lever is provided with a latch element that engages with a complementary latch element of a trigger plate in the cocked position. When a shot is fired with such a latch-type firing mechanism, the latch elements are disengaged and the trigger elements are separated from one another. This means that another spring needs to be provided in addition to the trigger spring in order to cock the firing mechanism anew. This additional spring presses the trigger lever and the firing sear back into their engaged starting position. Under extreme conditions such as, for example, significant soiling, gumming or icing, it may occur, however, that individual elements of the firing mechanism are not returned to their starting positions after a shot is fired. This prevents the breech lock from being cocked anew and therefore makes it impossible to fire another shot. Under the aforementioned extreme conditions, there is also a certain risk of the firing sear of conventional latch-type firing mechanisms remaining in its position and not releasing the firing pin after a shot is fired.
In a firing mechanism known from DE 93 10 821 U, these problems are prevented by coupling the trigger elements to one another with the aid of a toggle link mechanism. This is achieved by providing a link that is coupled to the trigger plate on one side and to a first lever arm of an articulated lever that is pivotable about a fulcrum pin on the other side. The second lever arm of the articulated lever is connected in an articulated fashion to the lower end of a trigger rod that can be moved in the axial direction. This resulted in an engagement-free forcible connection between the trigger and the trigger rod that also made it possible to manually reset the firing mechanism. However, the resistance of the trigger cannot be easily adjusted in such a firing mechanism.
The invention is based on the objective of developing a firing mechanism of the initially described type that also makes it possible to easily change the resistance of the trigger without requiring significant constructive modifications.
This objective is attained with a firing mechanism as set forth herein. Practical embodiments and advantageous additional developments of the invention are characterized in the dependent claims.


A keyable brace system for stretched canvases provides for keying-out the stretcher bars of a stretcher frame when needed, using interchangeable brace components that can be used face-up or face-down. The braces are of low profile, suitable even for stretcher frames of nominal ¾ inch depth, about ½ inch at inner side of the stretcher bar. Instead of relying on a tongue at the end of each brace to extend into a groove in the side of the frame's stretcher bar, the brace end and the side of the stretcher bar are both grooved and a tapered key is relied on to engage with both the brace and bar grooves to hold the brace in place.

The invention concerns artist's canvases, and particularly stretching frames and bracing systems for bracing the stretcher bars in medium and relatively large size canvas frames, to prevent pulling inward of the stretcher bars due to tension resulting from having stretched and tensioned the canvas.
The invention is concerned with generally the same subject matter as U.S. Pat. No. 6,520,240. The patent discloses a bracing system for large canvases, including those requiring more than two cross braces. As explained in the patent, braces have typically been used in a crossing configuration, with a pair of brace bars orthogonally arranged relative to the peripheral stretcher bars. Usually these bars were crossed over one another with routed out sections of each brace, such that the two crossing braces would notch together and lie in the same plane. Where the ends of the braces met the stretcher bars, typically each brace included a protruding tongue or tenon at its end, received in a routed out groove or mortise in the inside surface of the stretcher bar at that location. This would maintain the braces in place. In addition, and as shown in the patent, the ends of the braces could have a groove adjacent to the protruding tenon, allowing a tapered key or wedge to be inserted into the groove with enough force applied to spread the stretcher bar outward relative to the brace-end when needed, such as when the corners of the canvas frame have been keyed out to retighten the canvas.
FIGS. 1 and 2 show a conventional prior art brace system. As seen in FIG. 1, the upper and lower braces 10 and 12 are different, in that the joining notches 14 and 16 are at the bottom and the top, respectively, of these braces. These braces include a tongue or tenon 18 at each end, for extending into a corresponding groove or recess 17 in the side of a stretcher bar 19, to maintain each brace in proper position. A key or wedge could then be inserted into a notch 20 adjacent to the tongue at the end of each brace. This allowed the brace to be supported by the key and to push out or separate the brace-end from the stretcher bar as needed, by use of the key, while the tongue 18 remained in the groove of the stretcher bar. FIG. 2 shows the two cross braces assembled. The braces of U.S. Pat. No. 6,520,240 used this same basic principle.
There are problems with such a brace system in several important applications. Wood is traditionally used in the brace material, as well as for stretcher bars of the frame. It is a practical impossibility to construct braces for ¾ inch deep canvas frames, which are most of the frames sold in the marketplace, many being large frames that tend to require bracing. For ¾ inch frames the braces and wood components would have to be so small that the end features would be thin and susceptible to breakage. The braces must be thinner than the depth of the canvas frames, since they are spaced back from the back of the canvas.
Another problem is that illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2 and discussed above. These drawings include examples of dimensions, but dimensions will vary. To provide a bracing system for use by consumers, two braces of different configurations would have to be provided such as shown in FIG. 1 (notch at top, notch at bottom), making this impractical for the retailer, who would have to carry two different braces for each length of stretcher bar, therefore doubling the required inventory.
It is a primary object of the invention to simplify bracing of canvas frames with the provision of only one style of brace for each length, and to provide bracing that can be used with ¾ inch depth stretcher frames, as well as frames of other depths.

Keyable braces for canvas stretcher frames


The present inventive concept provides a multiple separation device and a method of separating a blood cancer cell using the same. In the device and the method, a blood sample is put in a fine channel and then cancer cells can be separated according to the type of cancer by controlling a flow velocity of the blood or a magnetic force of ferromagnetic pattern.

The present inventive concept herein relates to multiple separation devices of material species including a biomaterial and methods of separating blood cancer cells.
As a preparation tool for diagnosis and treatment in the field of medicine, and an ultimate object or a different analysis in the field of study, a cell type or a separation of components in a cell is required. The blood cancer cell indicates a cancer cell exists in a peripheral blood of a cancer patient and also indicates cancer cells which are left out of primary lesion or metastasis lesion. The blood cancer cell is expected as a strong biomarker in a cancer diagnosis, a treatment prognosis analysis, a minute metastasis analysis, etc. Since a blood cancer cell analysis has an advantage of non-invasive method as compared with an existing cancer diagnosis method, it has bright prospects as a future cancer diagnosis method. However, since a blood cancer cell has a very low blood distribution ratio, that is, one cancer cell per one billion cells or one cancer cell per white blood cells of 106˜107, it is very difficult to perform an accurate analysis and a very sophisticated analysis method is required.
Various methods as a blood cancer separation method are being studied. However, the methods have disadvantages that a long test time is required, information only on whether a cancer cell exists and the quantity of cancer cells is suggested, and it is difficult to analyze types of cancer. Interference by non-specifically combined blood cells becomes a problem.

Multiple separation device and method of separating blood cancer cell

ELECTRONICS AND TELECOMMUNICATIONS RESEARCH INSTITUTE


The present invention provides an improved synthetic strategy for the preparation of solifenacin and pharmaceutically acceptable salts thereof.

Solifenacin succinate is a commercially marketed pharmaceutically active substance indicated for the treatment of overactive bladder with symptoms of urinary incontinence, urgency and high urinary frequency. Solifenacin succinate is the international common denomination for butanedioic acid compounded with (1S)-(3R)-1-azabicyclo[2.2.2]oct-3-yl-3,4-dihydro-1-phenyl-2(1H)— isoquinolinecarboxylate (1:1), having an empirical formula of C23H26N2O2.C4H6O4 and the structure represented in formula I given below.

Solifenacin and its pharmaceutically acceptable salts are reported in U.S. Pat. No. 6,017,927 (the '927 patent).
The following Scheme 1 shows the synthetic routes disclosed in the '927 patent for the preparation of (1RS,3′RS)-solifenacin and (1S,3′RS)-solifenacin:

However, the processes described in the '927 patent for the preparation of solifenacin are not very efficient or suitable for industrial scale-up because they include laborious and costly work-ups. Further, since the ethyl carboxylate is used as the starting material in the process of Route A, ethanol is by-produced, and the by-produced ethanol launches a nucleophilic attack against solifenacin in the presence of a base. Thus, it is necessary to carry out the reaction while removing the ethanol from the reaction system, for example by the toluene azeotrope or the like, so that the control of the reaction is troublesome.
The following Scheme 2 shows the synthetic route disclosed in WO2005075474 for the preparation of solifenacin and solifenacin succinate:

However, the process described in this reference does not overcome the drawbacks associated with the state of the art processes.
Processes described in the prior art for the preparation of solifenacin and solifenacin succinate are not very efficient or suitable for industrial scale-up because they include expensive operations such as refluxing a mixture at high temperature for hours and laborious and costly work-ups including solvent exchanges and purification steps. So, there is a need for an improved and simplified process for the preparation of solifenacin and/or one of its salts that avoids the drawbacks of current state of the art processes.

Process for the synthesis of solifenacin


A system and method for producing fluid from a completed well is provided wherein the method in one aspect includes determining a first setting of at least one first device under use for producing the fluid from the well; selecting a first set of input parameters that includes at least one parameter relating to health of at least one second device and a plurality of parameters selected from a group consisting of information relating to flow rate, pressure, temperature, presence of a selected chemical, water content, sand content, and chemical injection rate; and using the selected first set of parameters as an input to a computer model, determining a second setting for the at least one first device that will provide at least one of an increased life of at least one second device and enhanced flow rate for the fluid from the completed well.

1. Field of the Disclosure
This disclosure relates generally to monitoring of production well equipment for enhanced production of hydrocarbons.
2. Background of the Art
Wellbores are drilled in subsurface formations for the production of hydrocarbons (oil and gas). A variety of wells are formed, including vertical wells, inclined wells, horizontal wells and multi-lateral wells. Some such wells penetrate multiple production zones and may traverse substantial distance in the subsurface formations. Wells are typically completed by cementing jointed metallic pipes (referred to as the casing) in the well, with the cement forming a bond between the formation and the casing that lines the well. Complex wells may include multiple remote control devices such as chokes, valve, artificial lift devices, such as an electrical submersible pump (ESP); a variety of sensors, such as pressure sensor, temperature and flow sensors; hydraulic lines that inject chemicals at various depths in the well or operate downhole devices; and electrical devices, circuits and processors that process data and signals downhole and establish communication with surface and other downhole equipment.
Downhole well conditions, such as high pressure differential between the formation and the well, high formation fluid flow rate and the condition of the formation rock, such as high permeability can cause excessive production of sand, cause formation of scale, corrosion, hydrate, paraffin and asphaltene, each of which can erode downhole equipment, block fluid flow paths in the downhole equipment and the tubing that carries the fluids to the surface, degrade performance of the ESP, etc. Cracks in the cement bond can allow undesirable fluids from adjoining formations to penetrate into the well. For efficient production of fluids from the formation to the surface, it is desirable to monitor the wellbore condition and the physical condition or health of various equipment, take actions that may provide enhanced or optimal production of hydrocarbons from the well.

System and method for monitoring physical condition of production well equipment and controlling well production