An electrical grounding device can have a grounding plate and an insulated connecting wire. Having an insulated connecting wire reduces or prevents corrosion of the connecting wire by the surrounding underground soil. A grounding assembly is also provided and can have such a grounding device. The grounding assembly can include additional grounding devices which can also have an insulated connecting wire. A method of measuring resistance to ground of a grounding device of a grounding assembly having a multiple grounding devices and one or more bonding wires routed through a conduit is also disclosed. Having all but one of the connecting wires and bonding wires insulated or insulating all the connecting wires of the grounding devices of the grounding assembly allows measurement of resistance to ground by electrically disconnecting all but the connecting wire of the grounding device to be tested, contacting one terminal of an ohm meter to the connecting wire of the grounding device to be tested and contacting the other terminal of the ohm meter to the earth or ground, and reading the ohm meter.

The present disclosure relates to a grounding assembly for electronic equipment and a method for testing the resistance to ground of a grounding device in such assemblies. In particular, the disclosure relates to a grounding device and a grounding assembly having such a grounding device for use with outdoor electrical equipment that is subject to being damaged by lightning and a method for testing the resistance to ground of such a grounding device. An example of such electrical equipment is the electronic control systems used on underground irrigation systems, such as those installed on golf courses and the like.
Irrigation systems include numerous sprinkler heads and controllers located throughout a property. The controllers typically include a solenoid valve and one or more circuit boards which are typically connected to a central control computer and a power source by wires buried under ground. Lightning striking the ground far from a particular controller can induce voltage spikes in the wires leading to the controller that can destroy its circuit boards. Lightning arrestors are typically incorporated in such equipment to prevent this but for such arrestors to protect the equipment adequately they must have an effective connection to ground. Typically outdoor electrical systems, and especially irrigation systems with electronic controllers, include grounding assemblies which have multiple grounding devices. For further protection of electrically connected outdoor equipment such as irrigation systems the grounding assemblies of the controllers are connected or bonded to each other for added protection.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,081,415, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety, discloses various effective grounding assemblies which can be used in accordance applicable electrical codes. The grounding assemblies disclosed therein typically include two grounding devices for each of the controllers. These grounding devices can include a grounding rod and a grounding plate. When the grounding plate is buried in the soil it is surrounded by a suitable amount of a grounding enhancement backfill material, such as the backfill products sold under the trademarks PowerSet or PowerFill by Loresco International of Hattiesburg, MS. The backfill material enhances the conductivity between the ground plate and the surrounding soil.
The irrigation controller is typically enclosed in an above-ground housing which rests on a concrete pad. A conduit extends from the housing through the pad to an underground location. Underground wires extend through the conduit to electrically connect the controller to a power source and a central control computer. The controller includes a lighting protection board which is electrically connected to the grounding assembly. The grounding assembly can include a bus bar, a bridging wire electrically connecting the bus bar to the lighting protection board, a first grounding wire electrically connecting the bus bar to a first grounding device (e.g., a grounding plate) buried in the soil, a second grounding wire electrically connecting the bus bar to a second grounding device (e.g., a grounding rod) buried in the soil, and first and second bonding wires each electrically connecting the bus bar to either the ground of adjacent controllers or to a power supply ground. Bare copper wires have been used for the grounding and bonding wires, since they are connecting grounding devices or grounding assemblies of adjacent controllers. The grounding and bonding wires extend through the conduit from a location adjacent the bus bar to below ground level where the grounding and bonding wires emerge and separate towards their individual destinations.
In certain installations the grounding wires can be exposed to harsh soil environments that can result in premature corrosion of the grounding wires. In particular, it has been found that the interface between the grounding enhancement backfill material and the surrounding native soil is a harsh environment from a corrosion standpoint. Where the bare grounding wire emerges from the grounding enhancement backfill material and enters the surrounding native soil the bare grounding wire is particularly susceptible to corrosion. This can reduce the effectiveness of the ground.
In addition, when traditional bare grounding and bonding wires are routed through a conduit, testing of the resistance to ground of any individual wire can be frustrated as contact between the wires may occur within the conduit which can alter the circuit intended to be tested. Contact between the bare grounding and bonding wires and/or the conduit can result in false or ineffective testing of the resistance to ground measurement.

Grounding device having a grounding plate and an insulated connecting wire


Disclosed is a method for storing a stereo image. One file is created by using a JPEG File Interchange Format (JFIF) file structure used for storing a Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPEG) format image and a stereo image can be more simply and efficiently stored and compressed.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a method and an apparatus for storing a stereo image, and in particular, to a file format structure suitable for storage of a stereo image and a method of storing the stereo image by using the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
With the wide spread popularity of camera phones, functions of camera phones have been increased and a camera phone capable of photographing a stereoscopic image as well as a two-dimensional image has appeared. A camera phone photographs a three-dimensional stereoscopic image, that is a stereo image, by using two camera sensors. A stereo image is compressed and stored by using conventional Codecs, such as conventional MPEG series, JPEG, H.26X series and file formats, such as MP4 and AVI. However, since there is no special file format for a stereo image in a conventional mobile communication terminal, it is impossible to transfer additional information representing a stereo image.
In a mobile communication terminal mounted with a barrier LCD, it is possible to display a three-dimensional stereoscopic image as well as a conventional two-dimensional image. Such a mobile communication terminal can realize not only a conventional two-dimensional image, but also a stereo image just as an actual image of a three-dimensional object viewed by the two eyes of a person. Specifically, a stereo image is a three-dimensional stereoscopic image created by using a left-viewpoint image and a right-viewpoint image, in which the left and the right images attached with each other are stored as one. Then, when the left image and the right image are displayed on a mobile communication terminal mounted with a barrier LCD through an interleaving process, a user can view a three-dimensional stereoscopic image.
In this manner, such a mobile communication terminal mounted with a barrier LCD can store a stereo image as well as a two-dimensional image, but a problem occurs in lower compatibility when a stereo image is stored using a process for storing a two-dimensional image.
As described above, since there has been no file format specifically defined for storing a stereo image, a stereo image has been stored using a conventional file structure without considering the characteristics of the stereo image. Therefore, although a mobile communication terminal mounted with a barrier LCD can display a stereo image as well as a two-dimensional image, it has been impossible to divide the two images and to display the two images according to image characteristics because both images are stored as a same file structure.

Method and apparatus for efficiently storing stereo image


The invention pertains to a thickened rinseless hand sanitizer composition comprising a quaternary ammonium compound. The invention also pertains to a method of applying to the skin of a human a thickened rinseless hand sanitizer composition that comprises a quaternary ammonium compound that evaporates off the skin. The invention further pertains to a thickened rinseless hand sanitizer composition comprising a quaternary ammonium compound with additional functional ingredients. Finally, the invention pertains to a thickened rinseless hand sanitizer composition comprising a quaternary ammonium compound composed of food additive ingredients.

Proper hand care has long been cited as an effective way of reducing the spread of germs, diseases, and other contaminants. Proper hand care is especially important in industries where bacteria are particularly problematic such as the health care industries, patient care industries, and the food and beverage industries. Typically, hand care has involved the washing of hands with soap followed by rinsing the hands with water to remove the soap. However, antimicrobial products that do not require a water rinse because they evaporate off, also referred to as rinseless hand sanitizers, have become popular in recent years as another way of sanitizing hands. When such a rinseless hand sanitizer is used, the user applies the product to the hands and rubs the hands together so that the product eventually either evaporates or is absorbed into the skin. These antimicrobial products come in the form of lotions, gels, and foams. Antimicrobial agents that may be used in such products include alcohols, trichlorohydroxy diphenyl ether (Triclosan), parachlorometaxylenol (PCMX), and quaternary ammonium compounds.
When alcohol is present as the antimicrobial agent, it is usually present from about 60 wt. % to about 90 wt. % and is usually present in a gel or liquid. However, alcohol based gels or liquids often dry out the user's hands which leads to skin irritation and less frequent use by the user. Quaternary ammonium compounds have been developed as a way of sanitizing hands without drying skin the way alcohol sanitizers do. Currently, quaternary ammonium compound based rinseless hand sanitizers have been used as foams or water thin liquids because the compositions are not viscous enough to be used as a gel without running off of the user's hands. Further, the thickeners used to thicken alcohol based hand sanitizer gels are often incompatible with a quaternary ammonium compound in that they chemically react with the quat, thereby reducing the antimicrobial activity of the quat and generating unwanted byproducts. Therefore, a need exists for a thickened quaternary ammonium compound sanitizer that effectively sanitizes hands without the drying effects of an alcohol based sanitizer, can be used as a gel, and provides containment on the hands, where containment refers to a product remaining on a user's hands and not running off.
In the food and beverage industry, employees touch food on a regular basis. Therefore, a need exists for a thickened quaternary ammonium compound sanitizer that is composed of food additive ingredients so that employees are encouraged to use the hand sanitizer when working with food and the hand sanitizer may be safely consumed by humans and mammals.

Thickened quaternary ammonium compound sanitizer


The disclosed woven belt may include first filament yarn bundles extending in a substantially longitudinal direction of a webbing and second filament yarn bundles extending in a substantially transverse direction of the webbing. At least one of the first filament yarn bundles and the second filament yarn bundles may comprise filament yarn bundles containing middle-shrinking synthetic filament yarns.

The present invention relates to a woven belt prepared by weaving a plurality of filament yarn bundles substantially orthogonal to each other into a strip, and in particular, to a woven belt having a high load-bearing strength and a seatbelt device incorporating the woven belt as a webbing.
Woven belts prepared by weaving high-strength filament yarns have been widely used as strips for restraining heavy articles and for bundling together a plurality of materials and the like. One well-known example of an application for such woven belts is a webbing for a seatbelt device for restraining the bodies of occupants onto seats such as those of vehicles.
Webbings of seatbelt devices are required to fulfill various quality requirements regarding comfort during fastening and ease of withdrawing the webbing from a reactor, i.e., a device for retracting the webbing, in addition to the basic requirement of a sufficient load-bearing capacity for restraining the body of an occupant in the event of a vehicle collision. Accordingly, various techniques for improving the filament yarns for use in woven belts and weaving structures of the belts have been proposed (for example, refer to Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2004-315984).
A woven belt by its nature is not for temporary use but for repetitive use. For example, in the aforementioned example of the seatbelt device, an occupant fastens the belt as the occupant enters a vehicle and unfastens it as the occupant exits the vehicle. When the belt is used for material handling or for hey articles, the belt is unfastened after it is used to restrain or bundle articles and fastened again next time the belt is used.
Because woven belts are expected to be repeatedly fastened and unfastened and put under large tension during use, they preferably have as high a wear resistance as possible.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


A system and method for recording and reproducing holographic interferogram with servos. A servo process is provided by the system and method to continuously record a holographic interferogram in a holographic recording medium with servo trace layers. Also, by the servo process, the intensity distribution of a reference beam is monitored, which is reflected by a reflecting mirror disposed on the other side of the holographic recording medium. By analyzing the distribution, one can adjust the distance and the incidence angle between the reflection mirror and the reference beam. Moreover, a plurality of servo tracks on different layers are provided for recording the holographic interferogram on different layers of holographic recording medium.

1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to a system and method for recording and reproducing holographic storage, and more particularly, to a system and method which has an optical servo.
2. Related Art
Today, the storage capacity of commercial blue-ray disks rarely exceeds 100 GBytes, and various approaches to achieve super-high storage capacity have been widely researched and developed. The holographic disk is the most important approach of all. The holographic storage technology has been developed for long time. However, many factors make it difficult to be applied to commercial optical storage products. For example, in the early days holographic experiments had to employ a large laser source with high power of several hundreds of milliwatts, and a complex optical servomechanism, and a large and heavy anti-vibration system. Meanwhile, photo-refractive crystals serving as holographic storage media are too expensive, so that the development of holographic storage is limited. Presently, miniaturized high-power laser sources, high-photosensibility materials, and miniaturized optical servomechanism have been developed significantly. Also, inspired by the track-at-once optical disks, such as CD-R and DVD-R, it has gradually become a common view that holographic storage is not necessarily to be rewritable. Many organic materials that are cheap and have high photosensibility are used as the data layer of holographic storage media, such as photopolymer. When the photopolymer suffers a light irradiation with high intensity, the molecular arrangement of the photopolymer is changed to change the optical characteristics of the photopolymer, such that the photopolymer can be used to record and reproduce three-dimensional holographic interferograms. The miniaturized optical servomechanism derived from the CD or DVD players is also vital to the application of holographic storage technology.
Holographic storage technology, for example, Joint International Symposium on Optical Memory and Optical Data Storage 2005 (ISOM/ODS 2005), Hawaii, US, paper ThE2 discloses a transmissive holographic storage media for data storage. The approach of the paper include a two-dimensional image sensor and a spatial light modulator disposed on the same side of a holographic storage media, and a reflecting mirror set disposed on the other side of the holographic storage media. When reproducing data, a reproducing reference beam is reflected by the reflecting mirror set, and travels in a direction which is opposite the direction of the recording reference beam. Thus, the reproducing reference beam is projected to the holographic storage media. However, to a continuously moving holographic storage media, it is very difficult to adjust the position and the direction of the reflecting mirror set on time.
Other related art is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,721,076 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,909,529. They put forward a mechanism for a reflective holographic storage media, but they also failed to provide optical servomechanism for a continuously moving holographic storage media.
US Patent Publication No. 20040212859 discloses a recording method for transmissive holographic storage media. The method includes a two-dimensional image sensor and a spatial light modulator disposed on different sides of the holographic storage media. A servo beam is projected to the servo tracks of the holographic storage media via the objective lens. But the holographic interferogram is recorded only on a single layer, so the capacity of storage is limited.

System and method for recording and reproducing holographic interferogram with optical servo

Industrial Technology Research Institute


A playback unit resembling a home audio component, retrieves audio data from a remote server and plays them back in real time, using a home audio system, in response to user selection. The playback unit provides an interface between a network source for audio material, such as the Internet, and a conventional home audio system for playback. The playback unit has a relatively simple operating system that does not require a lengthy boot-up sequence, cannot be accessed by the user, and does not require the launch of special software to initiate playback. Access to audio material and distribution rights can be controlled by network servers. In this to way, the playback unit can retrieve audio material from the network on demand, thereby vastly expanding the range of music available for playback, and can reproduce that music using the home audio system for high quality playback in a comfortable setting, with controlled access to audio material and controlled distribution and duplication of the material.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to music playback systems and, more particularly, to playback of network audio material in response to user command.
2. Description of the Related Art
Two popular means of listening to digitally encoded audio material are conventional home audio music playback systems that include conventional media players that reproduce recorded music information and computer-based systems that typically include a standard personal computer (PC) or similar machine capable of utilizing a variety of digital music formats, including pre-recorded media and computer audio files. Both types of systems permit users to initiate playback of a selected piece of audio material, such as recorded songs or other music.
Conventional home audio music systems typically include a player that accepts media encoded with digital audio material. Such media include the compact disc (CD), MiniDisc (MD), and digital audio tape (DAT) formats. The CD format comprises a plastic-coated aluminum substrate from which digital audio material can be optically retrieved. The MiniDisc is a magneto-optical storage format. The DAT format comprises a tape substrate with a magnetic recording layer in which digital audio material is magnetically recorded. The CD format is the most popular current means of delivering recorded music and offers the largest library of recorded works for selection. Other popular media for playback of digital music information include the xe2x80x9cLaserdiscxe2x80x9d (LD) format and the xe2x80x9cDigital Video Discxe2x80x9d (DVD) format, both of which can combine video information with music or other digital audio information. All of these formats offer a relatively stable recording media, high quality audio reproduction, convenient storage and playback, and simple operation of players.
Home audio players, such as CD players and DAT players, can provide exceptional quality sound reproduction, made all the better because such players are typically connected to a relatively good quality, home high-fidelity music system. The CD format discs are convenient because they are especially easy to store and take up comparatively little storage space. Playback of CDs also is convenient, because the CD player is ready to read the digital audio material upon power-up of (application of electrical power to) the player. For playback the discs are simply inserted into a CD player""s tray or slot and started with simple one-button operation. In addition, such home music systems are typically arranged in a comfortable setting within the home. Such home music systems typically include, in addition to the CD player that reads the digital audio material and produces a playback signal, one or more amplification and control devices, signal processors, and power amplifiers to process and amplify the analog playback signal, and also a set of loudspeakers, to receive the amplified playback signal and convert it to sound.
Home music systems permit a user to initiate playback on demand by the selection of an appropriate disc or tape media. The selection, however, must be made from the user""s personal collection of media on hand, which limits the available music to that which the user has purchased, borrowed, or otherwise received. This limits the repertory from which the user may select and discourages many users from review of and experimentation with audio material and musical products. This is undesirable from the perspective of the music industry, because it is believed that such experimentation and review can lead to further sales of recorded audio material. Borrowing media from another user or from a commercial enterprise, thereby expanding the library of material available to include that which is maintained by acquaintances or rental shops but this is not convenient.
In contrast to the home audio system with CD or DAT player, the conventional computer-based system with appropriate software and hardware can provide music either from pre-recorded digital media or from computer audio files. For purposes of this discussion, the computer-based playback system will be referred to as a PC-based system, regardless of the computer on which it is based.
If the PC-based system includes a CD-ROM drive and sound card, for example, a CD with digital audio material can be inserted into the drive and the sound recorded on the CD can be listened to through PC speakers that receive output from the sound card. This mode of listening has the same limitations of repertoire as the home audio CD player. Moreover, the typical PC-based system does not have audio components as good as that of the typical home audio system, and is usually not located in as comfortable a setting as the typical home audio system.
A PC-based system with access to a network such as the Internet can, with the appropriate software, download audio material for playback. This audio material can comprise, for example, digitized sound clips stored as xe2x80x9c.wavxe2x80x9d files, MPEG (Motion Picture Experts Group) Audio Layer 3 (MP3) compressed-audio files, streaming audio formats for continuous play of audio material, and other digital formats for the storage of audio material, all of which can be stored on a fixed media and received by the PC. More recently, another sound file format called the Secure Digital Music Initiative (SDMI) has been proposed. Alternatively, the audio material can be received from a network file server, and then stored on the hard drive of the PC itself. Additional software can be used for convenient organization of downloaded music files. Other audio material may comprise streaming audio files, which require additional streaming audio playback software.
Such network downloading of music can vastly expand the repertory from which the user may select, and encourages review of and experimentation with audio material. Again, however, the PC-based system provides limited enjoyment because the typical PC-based system does not have audio components as good as that of the typical home audio system, and is usually not located in as comfortable a setting as the typical home audio system. Furthermore, the PC-based system is not as convenient to use as the home audio system, because the PC is typically located in a work environment away from the home audio system, and the operating system of the PC requires an initial lengthy boot-up process that loads an operating system from peripheral storage, the launching of appropriate player software, and the navigation of a potentially complicated software interface with multiple windows and drop-down menus to select before initiating playback each time the user wants to listen to audio material.
In addition, operating a PC-based system, gaining Internet access, and downloading audio files can require computer skills not possessed by the average listener, in addition to requiring the initial purchase of the computer equipment. Peripheral playback devices also may need to be installed on the PC-based system, requiring knowledge of the operating system and peripheral interface, and some of these formats only provide low-fidelity playback that is adequate for audio while working at the computer, but is not useful as an adjunct or replacement for the home audio system and CD player.
Some forms of PC-based systems also are meeting with resistance from commercial music industry interests and from artists because of the potential for widespread copyright violation and the difficulty of policing the download and duplication of audio information files by users. The availability of network databases and the download and duplication of audio files make it almost impossible to monitor and control the distribution of recorded musical performances. Some PC-based systems also may be problematic in view of governmental regulation, such as the Audio Home Recording Act passed by the U.S.A. legislature, which under certain conditions mandates a serial copy management system (SCMS) to control digital copying. It would be advantageous to provide a system that is capable of interfacing with home audio systems for high quality playback, that has access to the large repertory possible through network databases, and would have the acceptance of commercial music interests and artists.
From the discussion above, it should be apparent that there is a need for a system that can provide playback of a wide range of audio material on demand, using the home audio system for high quality playback, without requiring sophisticated computer skills, and with controlled access to audio material and controlled distribution and duplication of the material. The present invention fulfills this need.
The present invention provides a system for playback of network audio material on demand by using a playback apparatus that provides an interface to network audio files that are retrieved in real time in response to user selection. In accordance with the invention, the playback unit provides an interface between a conventional home audio system and a network source for audio material, such as the Internet. The playback unit has a relatively simple built-in operating system that is not accessed from peripheral storage, does not require a lengthy boot-up sequence, and cannot be manipulated without the authorization of the manufacturer or network source. As a result, the playback unit can be operated without special computer skills or navigation of complicated PC-like windows. Receipt of audio material and enforcement of distribution rights can be controlled by network servers that provide the audio material to the playback unit. In this way, the playback unit can retrieve a wide range of digital audio material from the network on demand, thereby vastly expanding the range of music available for playback, can reproduce that music using the home audio system for high quality playback in a comfortable setting, and can provide controlled access to audio material and controlled distribution and duplication of the material.
The playback unit includes a user interface and display component, which presents an easy-to-use interface that simulates playback controls that might be found on a conventional player such as a CD player or DAT player. The user interface and display component substantially duplicates the appearance of a conventional home audio player control panel, such as CD player buttons and track displays. The playback unit also includes memory for holding program instructions and temporarily storing audio material for playback so it is not accessible to the user, and includes a microprocessor that controls operation of the playback unit. In one aspect of the invention, the playback unit includes a network interface to communicate with the network, send user commands, and receive audio material. The network interface can communicate using a number of different protocols having a variety of physical connection schemes, such as telephone line modem connections, high-speed Ethernet connections, and cable modem connections. The playback unit also includes an output interface that receives the audio material and provides it to the home audio system in a format that can be reproduced by that system.

System for playback of network audio material on demand


A vane pump (20) is provided which has an output pressure hat can be selected from a continuous range of pressures, independent of the operating speed of the pump. The pump has first (68) and second (72) control chambers which create opposed forces on the pump control ring (40) to selectively move the pump control ring (40) between maximum displacement and minimum displacement positions. In one embodiment, the control chamber (68) which urges the ump control ring to the minimum displacement position is continually supplied with pressurized working fluid during operation of the ump while the control chamber (72) which urges the pump control ring to the maximum displacement position can selectively be supplied with pressurized working fluid, isolated, or can be relieved of pressurized working fluid to alter the displacement of the pump.

Mechanical systems, such as internal combustion engines and automatic transmissions, typically include a lubrication pump to provide lubricating oil, under pressure, to many of the moving components and/or subsystems of the mechanical systems. In most cases, the lubrication pump is driven by a mechanical linkage to the mechanical system and thus the operating speed, and output, of the pump varies with the operating speed of the mechanical system. While the lubrication requirements of the mechanical system also vary with the operating speed of the mechanical system, unfortunately the relationship between the variation in the output of the pump and the variation of the lubrication requirements of the mechanical system is generally nonlinear. The difference in these requirements is further exacerbated when temperature related variations in the viscosity and other characteristics of the lubricating oil and mechanical system are factored in.
To deal with these differences, prior art fixed displacement lubricating pumps were generally designed to operate safely and effectively at high, or maximum, oil temperatures, resulting in an oversupply of lubricating oil at most mechanical system operating conditions and a waste, or pressure relief, valve was provided to "waste" the surplus lubricating oil back into the pump inlet or oil sump to avoid over pressure conditions in the mechanical system. In some operating conditions such as low oil temperatures, the overproduction of pressurized lubricating oil can be 500% of the mechanical system's needs so, while such systems work reasonably well, they do result in a significant energy loss as energy is used to pressurize the unneeded lubricating oil which is then "wasted" through the relief valve.
More recently, variable displacement vane pumps have been employed as lubrication oil pumps. Such pumps generally include a control ring, or other mechanism, which can be operated to alter the volumetric displacement of the pump and thus its output at an operating speed. Typically, a feedback mechanism, in the form of a piston in a control chamber or a control chamber acting directly upon the control ring, is supplied with pressurized lubricating oil from the output of the pump, either directly or via an oil gallery in the mechanical system, alters the displacement of the pump to operate the pump to avoid over pressure situations in the engine throughout the expected range of operating conditions of the mechanical system. An example of such a variable displacement pump is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,342,545 to Schuster.
While such variable displacement pumps provide some improvements in energy efficiency over fixed displacement pumps, they still result in a significant energy loss as their displacement is controlled, directly or indirectly, by the output pressure of the pump which changes with the operating speed of the mechanical system, rather than with the changing requirements of the lubrication system. Accordingly, such variable displacement pumps must still be designed to provide oil pressures which meet the highest expected mechanical system requirements, despite operating temperatures and other variables, even when the mechanical system operating conditions normally do not necessitate such high requirements.

Continuously variable displacement vane pump and system


A bacterium strain JM1 (FERM BP-5352) capable of degrading organic compounds without inducers is disclosed. Further, methods for degrading organic compounds and remedying an environment using the bacterium strain are also disclosed. The microorganism is brought into contact with the environment under conditions which stimulates the organism to degrade the organic compounds and thus, remedying the environment of pollutants. A kit and method for selectively detecting the strain expressing oxygenase from a sample containing strain J1 FERM BP-5102 is also disclosed. The latter strain expresses oxygenase when induced, however, strain JM1 FERM BP-5352 does not require induction. In addition, a process for obtaining strain JM1 FERM BP-5352 is also disclosed.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a novel microbial strain capable of degrading organic compounds, and to a process for degrading organic compounds and remedying environment using the same.
The present invention also relates to a process for obtaining a microorganism constitutively expressing oxygenase, and remedying environment using the microorganism obtained thereby.
The present invention also relates to a process for detecting a microorganism constitutively expressing oxygenase.
2. Related Background Art
Recently, a great problem has been an environmental pollution by chlorinated organic compounds which are harmful to organisms and difficult to degrade. Especially the soil in the manufacturing area of paper and pulp industry and semiconductor industry in Japan as well as abroad is considered to be contaminated with chlorinated organic compounds such as tetrachloroethylene (PCE), trichloroethylene (TCE), dichloroethylene (DCE) and the like. Actually there have been many reports on detection of such chlorinated organic compounds through environmental surveys.
It is supposed that chlorinated organic compounds remaining in soil dissolves in groundwater via rainwater etc. thus spread over the area. There is a strong suspicion that these compounds are carcinogens, and further, these are quite stable in the environment; therefore contamination of groundwater, which is used as a source of drinking water, is a serious social problem.
Thus purification of an aqueous medium such as groundwater, soil, and gas phase surrounding them to remove and degrade chlorinated organic compounds, is a very important problem in view of the protection of environment, and techniques needed for the purification have been sought to develop.
Recently, microbial degradation of these compounds has been reported as one of the techniques for purifying the environment contaminated with such chlorinated organic compounds, and various studies have started to put the process to a practical use. The advantages of the biodegradation process utilizing a microorganism includes degradation of chlorinated organic compounds into harmless substances by using an appropriately selected microorganism, no requirement for any special chemicals, and reduction of the labor and costs of maintenance.
The examples of strains capable of degrading TCE are given as follows:
Welchia alkenophila sero 5 (U.S. Pat. No. 4,877,736, ATCC 53570), Welchia alkenophila sero 33 (U.S. Pat. No. 4,877,736, ATCC 53571), Methylocystis sp. strain M (Agric. Biol. Chem., 53, 2903 (1989), Biosci. Biotech. Biochem., 56, 486 (1992), ibid. 56, 736 (1992)), Methylosinus trichosporium OB3b (Am. Chem. Soc. Natl. Meet. Dev. Environ. Microbiol., 29, 365(1989), Appl. Environ. Microbiol., 55, 3155 (1989), Appl. Biochem. Biotechnol., 28, 877 (1991), Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application (JPUPA) 02-92274, JPUPA 03-292970), Methylomonas sp. MM2 (Appl. Environ. Microbiol., 57, 236 (1991)), Alcaligenes denitrificans ssp. xylosoxidans JE75 (Arch. microbiol., 154, 410 (1990)), Alcaligenes eutrophus JMP134 (Appl. Environ. Microbiol., 56, 1179 (1990)), Mycobacterium vaccae JOB5 (J. Gen. Microbiol., 82, 163 (1974), Appl. Environ. Microbiol., 55, 2960 (1989), ATCC 29678), Pseudomonas putida BH (Journal of Japan Sewage Work Assosiation, 24, 27 (1987)), Acinetobactor sp. strain G4 (Appl. Environ. Microbiol., 52, 383 (1986), ibid. 53, 949(1987), ibid. 54, 951 (1989), ibid. 56, 276(1990), ibid. 57, 193 (1991), U.S. Pat. No. 4,925,802, ATCC 53617, this strain was originally classified as Pseudomonas cepacia then classified into Acinetobactor sp.), Pseudomonas mendocina KR-1 (Bio/Technol., 7, 282 (1989)), Pseudomonas putida F1 (Appl. Environ. Microbiol., 54, 1703 (1988), ibid. 54, 2578 (1988)), Pseudomonas fluorescens PFL12 (Appl. Environ. Microbiol., 54, 2578 (1988)), Pseudomonas putida KWI-9 (JPUPA 06-70753), Pseudomonas cepacia KK01 (JPUPA 06-22769), Pseudomonas sp. (JPUPA 02-273599), Nitrosomonas europaea (Appl. Environ. Microbiol., 56, 1169 (1990)), Lactobacillus vaginalis sp. nov (Int. J. Syst. Bacteriol., 39, 368 (1989), ATCC 49540) and so on.
All these strains, however, require a chemical substance such as aromatic compounds and methane as an inducer in order to express their TCE degrading activity.
For example, when the above microorganisms are used for degrading TCE, aromatic compounds such as phenol and toluene are very effective as an inducer. On the other hand, such compounds themselves are contaminants to environment; therefore considering the release into the environment, a complicated operation and monitoring are required. Methane can also serve as an effective inducer; but it is dangerous and difficult to introduce and control it in the environment because it is a flammable gas. Further, the inefficient degradation is another problem because the competitive antagonism occurs between the inducer and the substance subjected to degradation. The same problem occurs when chlorinated aromatic compounds such as PCP and PCB are degraded using a microorganism. The competitive antagonism also occurs between phenol and PCP, and biphenyl and PCB.
To overcome the above problems, Nelson et al. developed a process for degrading chlorinated organic compounds which uses tryptophan, an amino acid, as an inducer (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No.4-502277).
Although use of tryptophan allows us to avoid the problem of the toxicity and danger of the inducer itself, tryptophan is very expensive, and the intricacy of introduction and following control of a specific substance in the environment still remains.
Further, the enzyme activity of a TCE degrading enzyme such as oxygenase, expressed with an inducer, is normally maintained for only several hours to one day, and after that, successive addition of the inducer is required, which may cause competitive inhibition in TCE degradation.
Attempts have been made to introduce into a host bacterium a plasmid containing a DNA fragment encoding oxygenase, a TCE degrading enzyme, so that the bacterium will express TCE degrading activity with a harmless inducer or constitutively express it without any inducer. The bacterial strain from which the DNA fragment originates includes Pseudomonas mendocina KR-1 (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No.2-503866), Pseudomonas putida KWI-9 (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No.6-105691) and Pseudomonas putida BH (Proceedings of the 3rd Meeting of Assembly for study of groundwater/soil contamination and of countermeasures against it, p.213 (1994)).
There are various problems for such a recombinant, for example, requirement for IPTG (isopropyl thiogalactopyranoside), a very expensive substance, as an inducer, or insufficient stability of the plasmid in the host strain. Furthermore, from the viewpoint of public acceptance, release of a recombinant strain into an environment will be inevitably restricted.
Seales et al. made another attempt, that is, Acinetobactor sp. G4 (reclassified from Pseudomonas cepacia G4 to Acinetobactor sp. strain G4 when deposited in ATCC) was mutagenized using a transposon to obtain a strain constitutively expressing oxygenase necessary for TCE degradation (Appl. Environ. Microbiol., 58, p.3977 (1992), WO 92/19738).
This mutant derived from strain G4, however, does not have a sufficient TCE degradation activity, and its stability is questionable because of the transposon. Further, the transposon itself contains resistant markers such as kanamycin resistance, which causes a problem that it may undesirably affect other microorganisms through horizontal transfer when it is released into an environment.
As mentioned above, conventional microorganisms which require no inducer for degrading activity had to be selected by skilled experts using expensive equipments, and they are still not satisfactory in the degradation activity of contaminants.

Oxygenase expressing microorganism strain JM1 (FERM BP-5352) for degrading organic compounds without an inducer


The present invention provides an electronic device having more than two conductive layers that cross but not in contact with each other. At least one of the conductive layers comprises a width change part, a width of which changes in a length direction of at least one of the conductive layer. The width change part is formed away from a region of at least one of the conductive layers that crosses a neighboring conductive layer. The present invention also provides a flat panel display device that includes the electronic device described above and manufactured in accordance with the principles of the present invention. The electronic device of the present invention may comprise a thin film transistor.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to electronic devices, such as thin film transistors (TFTs) and flat panel display devices including the same, and more particularly, to an electronic device, and flat panel display device including the same, in which electrostatic damage caused by static electricity is prevented or reduced.
2. Description of the Related Art
Many kinds of display devices are used for displaying images. Recently, a variety of flat panel display devices have replaced cathode ray tubes (CRTs). Flat panel display devices may be classified as either emissive or non-emissive, depending on the type of light emission used. Emissive display devices include CRTs, plasma display panel devices, vacuum fluorescent display devices, field emission display devices, and organic/inorganic electro-luminescent display devices, and non-emissive display devices include liquid crystal display devices. Flat panel emissive organic electroluminescent display (OELD) devices draw attention since they do not include a light emitting device, such as a back light, and are capable of operating with low power consumption and at high efficiency. Advantages of OELD devices include low operating voltage, a light weight, a thin profile, wide viewing angles, and fast video response times.
A conventional electroluminescent unit of an OELD device includes a first electrode (anode) that is formed in a stack on a substrate, a second electrode (cathode), and an organic light-emitting layer (thin film) interposed between the first and second electrodes. In operation, OELD devices emit light of a specific wavelength using energy generated from exitons formed from recombining electrons injected from the anode and holes injected from the cathode into the organic thin film. To increase the efficiency of light emission, an electron transport layer (ETL) may be interposed between the cathode and the organic emitting layer. Similarly, a hole transport layer (HTL) may be interposed between the anode and the organic emitting layer. Also, a hole injection layer (HIL) may be disposed between the anode and the HTL and an electron injection layer (EIL) may be interposed between the cathode and the ETL.
A passive matrix organic electro-luminescent display (OELD) device uses a manual driving method, while an active matrix (AM) OELD device uses an active driving method. In the passive matrix OELD device, the anodes are arranged in columns and the electrodes are arranged in rows. Scanning signals are supplied to the cathodes from a row driving circuit, and data signals are supplied to each pixel from a column driving circuit. On the other hand, the active matrix OELD device controls a signal inputted to a pixel using a thin film transistor (TFT) and is widely used for implementing animation since it is suitable for processing a large number of signals virtually simultaneously.
A disadvantage associated with conventional active matrix OELD devices is that one or more faulty pixels may develop in the devices' display regions due to static electricity generated when manufacturing, or operating, the OELD devices. Examples of correctly functioning and faulty pixels are shown in FIG. 1A, FIG. 1B, and FIG. 1C.
FIG. 1A is a plan view photograph of a conventional OELD device that shows faulty pixels as bright spots. FIG. 1B is a magnified photograph of a normal pixel indicated as A in FIG. 1A, and FIG. 1C is a magnified photograph of faulty pixel indicated as B in FIG. 1A. FIGS. 1B and 1C are bottom views of the conventional OELD device of FIG. 1A. These bottom views are taken from the OELD's substrate side looking through the multilayered structure of the substrate and the various electrical and electroluminescent components formed on it. Thus, in FIGS. 1B and 1C, the gate lines 3a and 3b appear to be positioned above the conductive layer 5.
In FIGS. 1B and 1C, each of the pixels 1a and 1b comprises an electroluminescent unit, a gate electrode (2a in FIG. 1A and 2b in FIG. 1B), and a light emitting thin film transistor (Ma in FIG. 1B and Mb in FIG. 1C) that transmits electrical signals from a driving thin film transistor (not shown) to the pixel. Source electrodes of the light emitting thin film transistors Ma and Mb are electrically connected to the driving thin film transistors (not shown) via conductive layers 5.
FIG. 1D is a magnified plan view of a portion indicated as B′ in FIG. 1C. Referring to FIG. 1D, a conductive layer 5 may extend across other conductive layers. In the magnified bottom view of FIG. ID, for example, the conductive layer 5 is shown crossing the gate line 3b. In this exemplary drawing, the gate line 3b appears to be positioned above the conductive layer 5. In operation, the gate line 3b may act as a scan line and/or an extension unit of a scan line for supplying electrical signals to a thin film transistor.
To meet design specifications, the width of each gate line 3b may change along a length thereof. In the conventional design illustrated in FIGS. 1B, 1C, and 1D, for example, each gate line 3b changes in width at a portion thereof that crosses the conductive layer 5. As shown in FIG. 1D, the wider portion of the gate line 3b may be a width change part Aw, and a narrower connected portion of the gate line 3b may be a crossing unit Ac. Both the width change part Aw and the crossing unit Ac are positioned above the conductive layer 5 and within the side bounds thereof. During manufacture of the conductive layers, the conductive layer 5 may accumulate an electrostatic charge. Because electricity tends to discharge at pointed regions of a conductor, an electrostatic discharge (ESD) tends to occur at angled portions Ad of the width change part Aw shown in FIG. 1D. In most cases, the ESD damages the corresponding pixel 1a/1b, causing it to overluminate (e.g, appear as a bright spot, such as the bright spot B shown in FIG. 1A). Such an electrostatic discharge is easily induced since static electricity is concentrated at the crossing portion, and thus the possibility of generating a short circuit between conductive layers increases if an insulating layer interposed between the conductive layers is damaged. As depicted in FIGS. 1B and 1C, even though the same desired electrical signal is inputted to the pixel la in FIG. 1B and the pixel 1b in FIG. 1C, the pixel 1b in FIG. 1C malfunctions and produces a bright spot having a greater brightness than the normal pixel la in FIG. 1B. The greater brightness occurs because the short circuit between different conductive layers 3b and 5 creates and applies a different electrical signal than one that is desired. This undesired electrostatic discharge may seriously degrade a flat panel OELD device's picture quality, which requires high uniformity over an entire display region of the OELD.

Electronic device, thin film transistor structure and flat panel display having the same


Described herein is a framework for facilitating user interface development. In accordance with one aspect, a trigger for creating a native user interface element for a target platform based on a user interface context is received from a client system. The native user interface element may be instantiated and initialized, along with an associated native control. The user interface context with the native user interface element may then be returned to the client system.

A transcompiling environment provides the ability to write software code once in a source (or master) language and reuse the code on multiple different target software platforms. A perfect adaption to the native platform is crucial, especially for graphical user interfaces, the acceptance of which depends on a smooth integration of the standard look and feel of the platform.
To build full end-to-end applications with a graphical user interface (GUI), a library is needed to support native GUIs on different platforms. There are a number of portable GUI libraries currently available, such as Standard Widget Toolkit (SWT), SWING and QT. However, none of these libraries work in a transcompilable environment with different target languages. Presently, no good solution exists for most known environments, and hence quality problems are common.

User interface development in a transcompiling environment


One embodiment of a method for forming a low-k dielectric for a semiconductor device assembly comprises forming a silicon dioxide layer, then forming a patterned masking layer such as silicon nitride on the silicon dioxide. Using the patterned nitride layer as a pattern, the silicon dioxide is etched to form a plurality of hemispherical microcavities in the silicon dioxide. Openings in the patterned nitride are filled, then another layer is formed over the silicon nitride layer using the silicon nitride as a support over the microcavities. An inventive structure resulting from the method is also described.

Many structures are required during the manufacture of a semiconductor device, such as conductive plugs, transistors, capacitors, and conductive lines. A common design goal of semiconductor engineers is to decrease the size of these features to increase the number of features which can be formed in a given area. Decreasing feature size results in decreased production costs and, ultimately, miniaturized electronic devices into which the semiconductor device is installed.
Increasing electrical interference between adjacent features is a concern with decreasing device feature size. For example, as the width of conductive lines and the spacing between adjacent lines decreases, electrical crosstalk and resistance-capacitance (RC) delay increases. Copper interconnections with low-k interlayer dielectric (ILD) materials have been introduced for advanced integrated circuits (IC's) to reduce the RC delay of interconnections. Properties of ILD's and their fabrication techniques used with circuit miniaturization, for example using fine copper interconnects, must provide various properties such as a low dielectric constant (low-k) and electrical properties such as high bulk resistivity and breakdown field strength. They must also have good mechanical properties, such as resistance to separation from the copper interconnect during thermal changes and good chemical properties such as being chemically inert and stable. Further, they must accept planarization, have narrow gap filling capability, and have a low processing temperature to conserve the thermal budget.
One method currently used to form ILD's comprises doping silicon dioxide with fluorine which results in an SiO2F layer having a decreased dielectric constant. However, present processing technologies are not able to deliver high quality films of SiO2F for low-k ILD, and these films typically suffer from relatively high dielectric constants of about 3.6. Chemical vapor deposition (CVD) processes are limited by thermodynamic constraints and, consequently, the reduction in the dielectric constant is relatively small. It is difficult to reduce the dielectric constant of fluorinated SiO2 films to below 3.5, because the electrical and mechanical properties of SiO2F dielectric films, such as bulk resistivity and breakdown field strength, are usually degraded. Also, there are reliability concerns with the addition of fluorine which result from chemical interaction of the fluorine with the metal interconnect which the SiO2F ILD contacts. Fluorine species in SiO2F films are not stable and easily absorb moisture to form OH and HF radicals. The existing OH will increase the dielectric constant of the ILD, and both HF and OH radicals can corrode dielectrics and metal layers.
To overcome the thermodynamic and reliability problems of SiO2F films formed using CVD, ion implantation, particularly multi-species implantation by plasma immersion ion implantation (PIII), can be used to fabricate fluorinated SiO2 ILD's. However, PIII fluorinated SiO2 films have a minimum dielectric constant of about 2.8. Further, this technique is relatively new and films formed using this process need to be more thoroughly investigated for stability.
Porous dielectric materials have also been developed to reduce the dielectric constant and overcome problems with prior films. Dielectric constants as low as about 2.6 have been claimed by these dielectrics. Various challenges are associated with this class of materials for use with integrated circuits. For example, most low-k porous dielectric processes involve the use of either organic or inorganic materials which require a relatively high temperature for the decomposition and chemical reaction which uses a significant portion of the thermal budget. These materials may also suffer from poor mechanical, chemical, and thermal stability due to their lower density and the porous structure itself, and thus the reliability of the porous films is questionable. With decreasing dielectric constants the stability and reliability of the porous film also decreases. A barrier layer may be required between a copper interconnect and a porous ILD layer to protect the dielectric from copper diffusion and from process gasses and other chemical penetrations. A thin film which is formed on a porous ILD can also become porous from absorption of the then film into the porous ILD. Thus sealing of the pores of porous ILD's is required. Barrier layers of silicon carbide (SiC), titanium nitride (TiN), tungsten nitride (WN), and tantalum nitride (TaN) formed by atomic layer deposition (ALD) have been proposed due to the good barrier capability and highly conformal result on the porous ILD. While a k-value as low as about 2.6 has been claimed by porous ILD's, it is difficult to achieve this result reliably with a reliable, stable film.
Generally, porous ILD's suffer from various problems. It is difficult to use porous ILD's with interconnects such as copper, because during surface planarization the porous ILD continues to etch at a high rate once the copper interconnect is exposed, thereby resulting in an uneven surface. Porous ILD's also have poor mechanical strength due to its lower density and porous structure. Moisture absorption of the porous film is also a concern due to the large porous surface area, and it is difficult to reliably seal the porous film with a barrier which will not itself be absorbed into the film. New materials and processes must be developed before porous ILD layers can be successful.
A method for forming a dielectric layer, and a structure resulting from the inventive method, which allows for a multilayer interconnect while reducing or eliminating the problems with prior films as described above would be desirable.

Low-k dielectric process for multilevel interconnection using mircocavity engineering during electric circuit manufacture


A pinion carrier includes a first disc including ring segments, each ring segment extending angularly about an axis and spaced angularly from the other ring segments, a second disc, spacers secured to the discs and separating the discs axially, and retention elements, each retention element secured to one of the ring segments.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to an integrated one-piece pinion carrier disc and the race of an overrunning control element, such as a one-way clutch or brake.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A pinion carrier is a device for an automatic transmission that supports pinions of a planetary gearset in rotation and revolution about an external axis. An overrunning clutch is a device that transmits rotating power between two rotatable components in one rotary direction and overruns in the opposite direction. An overrunning brake holds one component against rotation in one rotary direction and overruns in the opposite direction, thereby allowing the component to rotate freely.
Conventionally pinion carriers are used in combination with overrunning control elements, such as a one-way clutch or brake. A need exists in the automotive industry to reduce weight of motor vehicles components and assemblies.

Integrated pinion carrier and overrunning element race


Provided is a refrigerating and freezing device. The refrigerating and freezing device comprises a cabinet body with a first storage space defined therein, an oxygen-enriched membrane assembly and an air extraction device. A storage container in which an atmosphere-controlled freshness-keeping space is formed is disposed in the first storage space. The oxygen-enriched membrane assembly is provided with at least one oxygen-enriched membrane and an oxygen-enriched gas collection chamber. The air extraction device is communicated with the oxygen-enriched gas collection chamber through a pipeline to extract and discharge the gas that permeates into the oxygen-enriched gas collection chamber out of the storage container. The refrigerating and freezing device not only has good freshness-keeping performance, but also has relatively low requirements on the rigidity and strength of the storage container. Besides, it is small in size and low in noise, and it is suitable for household and individual use.

A refrigerator is a refrigerating device that maintains a constant low temperature, and is also a civilian product that keeps food or other articles in a constant-low-temperature cold state. With the improvement of life quality, consumers demand more and more on freshness keeping of stored food, especially, the color, the taste, etc. of food. Thus, the stored food should be guaranteed to keep its color, taste, freshness, etc. unchanged as much as possible during storage. At present, there is only one method to better store food on the market, namely, vacuum freshness-keeping. Freshness keeping with a vacuum bag and freshness keeping with a vacuum storage compartment are frequently-used vacuum freshness-keeping manners.
When the vacuum bag is adopted for freshness keeping, the consumers need to perform vacuumizing every time they store food, and thus is not favored by the consumers due to the troublesome operation.
When the vacuum storage compartment is adopted for freshness keeping, since a refrigerator body, etc. are of rigid structures, to keep a vacuum state, the demands on a vacuumizing system and the sealing performance of the refrigerator are very high. Every time an article is taken and placed, a large quantity of new air floods in, leading to relatively high energy consumption. Besides, in a vacuum environment, it is relatively difficult in cold energy transmission, which is particularly unfavorable for food storage. Moreover, in the vacuum environment, it takes a lot of effort for a user to open a door of the refrigerator every time, causing inconvenience for the user to use it. Although the vacuum storage compartments of some refrigerators can be ventilated through vacuumizing systems, the user needs to wait for a relatively longer time, resulting in poor timeliness. In addition, a relatively longer vacuum time will also cause the refrigerator body, etc. of the refrigerator to be severely deformed. That is, a conventional refrigerator with a vacuumizing structure cannot well complete vacuum freshness-keeping, its requirements on the strength of the refrigerator body, etc. are very high, and thus the implementation requirement and cost are also high.
In addition, the inventor has discovered: since a traditional nitrogen generating device for atmosphere-controlled freshness-keeping is large in size and high in cost, this technology is basically limited to various large-scale special storehouses (their storage capacities are generally at least 30 tons above). So to speak, a technical problem that those skilled in the field of atmosphere-controlled freshness-keeping have been eager to solve but has not successfully solved is that what kind of appropriate gas-conditioning technology and corresponding device may be adopted to economically minimize and silence an atmosphere-controlled system to make it applicable to family or individual users.


The disclosure relates to toy figures, corresponding play sets and play set accessories. In particular, the toy figures have a body portion comprising at least two articulated appendages and a magnetic base portion disposed at the bottom of the body portion, wherein the magnetic base portion has a distinct shape permitting the magnetic base portion to be detachably coupled with a recess of compatible shape. Additionally, corresponding play set and play set accessories can have magnetic, distinctly shaped recesses for receiving the particular distinctly shaped base of the toy figure. Thus, the magnetic base portion and the recess of a play set or play set accessory have essentially the same distinct shape.

1. Field
This disclosure relates to toy figures and corresponding toy play sets and play set accessories. In particular, it relates to toy figures with articulated appendages and a distinctly-shaped, magnetic base.
2. General Background
Toy figures with articulated limbs are generally known. Toy figures with magnetic bottoms and accompanying magnetic play sets are also known. In particular, many of these magnetically operable play sets and toy figures are magnetically attracted to each other so that the movement of a particular piece causes the toy figure to move. Furthermore, magnets have been utilized in the toy industry for such purposes as adhering magnetizable members to a structure. Other toy figures have a magnetic bottom and magnetic play set where the toy figures are magnetically held to the play set. Additionally, the prior art includes toy figures with a play set and play set accessories where the toy figure can connect to or fit within a corresponding peg or recess of a play set or play set accessory.
Although these features are found in the toy industry, the prior art has so far failed to combine a toy figure with different magnetic distinctly-shaped bases and with corresponding play set and play set accessories.

Toy figures, play set, and play set accessories


A one-transistor type DRAM comprises a floating body storage element configured to store data in a floating body in a SOI wafer, a plurality of access transistors each connected between a bit line and one end of the floating body storage element, a word line configured to control the floating body storage element, and a plurality of port word lines each configured to select one of the plurality of access transistors.

Generally, a semiconductor device such as a DRAM is integrated over a silicon wafer. However, in the silicon wafer used in the semiconductor device, the whole silicon is not used in the operation of the device, rather a limited thickness of the device, e.g. several μm from the surface, is used. As a result, the rest of the silicon wafer, except a portion required in the operation of the device, increases power consumption and degrades driving speed.
A Silicon On Insulator (SOI) wafer has been required which includes an insulating layer in a silicon substrate to obtain a silicon single crystal layer having thickness of several μm. In a semiconductor device integrated in the SOI wafer, a smaller junction capacity facilitates high speed operation in comparison with a semiconductor device integrated in a general silicon wafer, and a low voltage due to a low threshold satisfies high speed operation and low voltage.


A cermet powder includes a) from 50 to 90 wt-% of at least one hard material, and b) from 10 to 50 wt-% of a matrix metal composition. The wt.-% for a) and b) are based on a total weight of the cermet powder. The matrix metal composition comprises i) from 40 to 75 wt-% of iron and nickel, ii) from 18 to 35 wt-% of chromium, iii) from 3 to 20 wt.-% of molybdenum, and iv) from 0.5 to 4 wt-% of copper. The wt-% for i) to iv) are based in each case on a total weight of the matrix metal composition. A weight ratio of iron to nickel is from 3:1 to 1:3.

Thermal spraying powders are used for producing coatings on substrates. Pulverulent particles are thereby introduced into a combustion or plasma flame directed onto the (mostly metallic) substrate which is to be coated. The particles melt in the flame, entirely or to some extent, and impact the substrate, where they solidify and, in the form of solidified "splats", form the coating. Thermal spraying can produce coatings up to a layer thickness of a number of mm. A frequent application of thermal spraying powders is the production of antiwear layers. Thermal spraying powders typically involve a subgroup of cermet powders which firstly comprise a hard material, most frequently carbides, such as tungsten carbides, chromium carbides, and molybdenum carbides, and secondly comprise a matrix composed of metals, for example, cobalt, nickel, and alloys of these with chromium, or else less frequently comprise iron-containing alloys. Thermal spraying powders and spray layers produced therefrom are therefore composite materials.
Coatings, like bulk materials, have empirically determinable properties. Among these are hardness (for example, Vickers, Brinell, Rockwell and Knoop hardness), wear resistance (for example, ASTM G65), cavitation resistance, and also corrosion performance in various media. Corrosion resistance is increasingly important during selection of spraying materials since many antiwear layers must exhibit dependable stability under acidic conditions in chemically aggressive environments (examples being use in the oil and gas industry, paper industry, chemicals industry, the food-and-drink industry, and the pharmaceutical industry, often with the exclusion of oxygen). This applies by way of example to displaceable parts of valves and to piston rods when acidic mineral oil or natural gas are conveyed in the presence of chlorides or seawater. There are also many applications in the food-and-drink industry, and also the chemicals industry, where wear and corrosion exert negative synergy and thus reduce the lifetime of antiwear coatings.
The corrosion of spray layers in acidic liquids and in the presence of chlorides takes place in accordance with the principle known to apply to cemented hard materials: the matrix alloy is attacked, and ions of the matrix metals are thus liberated. This provides access to the hard materials of the spray layer, and ablation of the spray layer takes place. When tribological wear is superposed, there is then a negative synergy from wear and corrosion. Corrosion performance is further reduced by the fact that contact corrosion can occur between the hard materials and the matrix, the matrix therefore being more susceptible to corrosion in the composite material than it would be alone. This is equally observed in cemented hard materials.
Various materials have become established as thermal spraying powders for producing spray layers for the abovementioned applications, examples including WC—CoCr 86/10/4 or WC—CoNiCr 86/9/1/4, WC—Cr3C2-Ni and Cr3C2-NiCr. A feature shared by all of the abovementioned is that they comprise Cr in the matrix since this ensures corrosion-resistance.
Another material is WC—NiMoCrFeCo 85/15 which is obtainable commercially in the form of thermal spraying powder (Amperit® 529 from H. C. Starck GmbH, D). Its matrix is composed of an alloy similar to Hastelloy® C. Although Hastelloy® C is used successfully in acidic media, this alloy lacks wear resistance. However, it exhibits poorer properties as a matrix alloy in a composite "spraying powder" or "spray layer" material.
Analogous considerations apply to the chromium carbide-NiCr (80/20) materials available on the market. The good acid resistance of NiCr 80/20 cannot be transferred to the thermal spraying powder with chromium carbides or to the spray layer produced therefrom.
Fe-based matrix alloys, for example, those derived from austenitic stainless steels such as 316L, or based on FeCrAl 70/20/10 as described in DE 10 2006 045 481 B3, fail in an acidic environment at low pH.
When any of the abovementioned materials in the form of compacted spray powder is exposed to hydrochloric acid, sulfuric acid, or citric acid, it exhibits weakness in at least one of these media, or a weaknesses in mechanical properties.


A device for protecting data for operating or controlling functions of an operating system, process, equipment, and/or a machine, which is stored in a switching arrangement that consists of electronic components and a processor, wherein the switching arrangement is mounted on a printed circuit board inside a housing or is embedded by an insulating material. A pickup or sensor, which is electrically conductively connected with the switching arrangement, is arranged along the walls on the inside of the housing, is embedded in the walls of the housing, or is arranged inside the insulating material.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a device for protecting data for operating or controlling functions of an operating system, process, equipment, and/or a machine, which is stored in a switching arrangement that consists of electronic components and/or a processor, wherein the switching arrangement is mounted on a circuit board inside a housing or is embedded in a plastic.
2. Description of the Related Art
In every organization, not only the internet but in general all handling of electronic data and information, which represents an important part of business secrets, requires secure storage and transmission of data. In this regard, various risk management strategies are based, for example, on the use of cryptographic methods in order to be able to guarantee the protection, security, and availability of data for controlling operating systems, equipment, and/or machines and to be able to enter and retrieve critical technical, business, or legal results in rapid succession.
In the past, application developers had little interest in the incorporation of security functions in their products, because there was a lack of demand, and the incorporation of security functions would have appreciably increased the price of the products.
An important security measure is cryptography, which engineers incorporate in newly developed products and which reliably protects the products with respect to use and misuse. Cryptographic methods or encryption by characters and numbers or well-defined algorithms are also used in data banks, which control the protection and traffic of confidential information. Personal data also needs to be protected, which is certainly not the least important aspect of self-protection.
To protect secrets from misuse or unauthorized access, repeatedly acting protective measures are introduced in computer operating systems. An attack on encrypted data is often made by a decryption operation, in which the attacker attempts, for example, to determine the code or break the algorithm. If an attack is successful, then the attacker can use the compromised and still valid code and can cause great damage without being detected.
One countermeasure to this type of procedure is an electromechanical housing lock, which, when the housing is opened, causes the operating system of a device or at least the security-relevant data of the electronic components of a switching arrangement to be immediately erased. The lock consists, for example, of an electromechanical switch which, on the one hand, is mounted on a printed circuit board, circuit card, or the like and, on the other hand, is connected with the housing. However, this security principle is unsuitable if an attack on the operating data is planned which does not involve opening a housing that comprises several housing sections, for example, by drilling an access hole into the housing. Therefore, more extensive security precautions are demanded for the protection of electronically stored operating data.
Protective sensors were previously wound around the outside of a housing. This has the disadvantage that the sensors have connections, which are led out from the inside and thus convey high-frequency signals. Filter measures are necessary, but these cannot totally eliminate the security risk.
WO 99/48055 describes, among other things, a "tamper-resistant postal security device" with a housing for protecting data carriers that contain electronic components for storing and generating print data for printed postal indicia.

Device for protecting data stored in a switching arrangement that consists of electronic components and a processor


A wiring fixing member for fixing a receiving member, receiving wiring therein, to a mating member includes a base portion, a pair of holdingwalls which are formed on and project upwardly from the base portion, and can hold the receiving member therebetween in a manner to position the receiving member, and a pair of retaining portions which extend respectively from the pair of holding walls, and can retain the receiving member held by the pair of holding walls, the pair of retaining portions defining an opening therebetween which intersects a longitudinal direction of the receiving member, held by the pair of holding walls, at an acute angle.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a wiring fixing member for fixing wiring to a mating member.
2. Related Art
Various electronic equipments are mounted on a mobile body such as an automobile. Therefore, wire harnesses are installed in the automobile so as to supply electric power from a power source or the like to the electronic equipments and also to transmit control signals from a computer or the like to the electronic equipments. The wire harness comprises a plurality of wires, and connectors secured to end portions of the wires.
The wire comprises an electrically-conductive conductor, and a sheath portion which is made of an insulative synthetic resin and covers the conductor. The wire is a so-called sheathed wire. The connector comprises electrically-conductive metal terminals, and an insulative connector housing. The metal terminal is secured to the end portion or other portion of the wire, and is electrically connected to the conductor of the wire. The connector housing is formed into a box-like shape, and receives the metal terminals.
One example of holding members for the wire harness is the type which holds the wire harness received in a generally cylindrical corrugated tube. Referring to this wire harness holding member, a plurality of grooves are formed in an outer periphery of the corrugated tube, and the plurality of grooves are arranged at equal intervals in a direction of an axis of the corrugated tube, and each groove is formed over an entire circumference of the corrugated tube. With this construction, the corrugated tube has a generally bellows-shape, and reduces damage applied from other parts to the wire harness.
The holding member has a generally cylindrical shape, and the corrugated tube is passed through the holding member, so that the wire harness is held by the holding member through the corrugated tube. A generally annular plate-like rib is formed within the holding member, and this rib is inserted in the groove of the corrugated tube, thereby preventing the axial movement of the corrugated tube relative to the holding member.
Biting projections are formed within the holding member, and the biting projections bite into the outer periphery of the corrugated tube, thereby preventing the rotation of the corrugated tube relative to the holding member.
Another conventional holding member for holding a wire-like member such as a wire harness is disclosed in JP-UM-A-6-71906 Publication. In this holding member, a pair of elastic holding walls which are open respectively in opposite directions are formed respectively on opposite end portions of an upper surface of a base plate, and a space larger than the diameter of the wire-like member is formed between the two elastic holding walls. With this construction, merely by turning the wire-like member through an angle of 90 degrees in normal and reverse directions on the base plate, the wire-like member can be quite easily mounted on and removed from the base plate.
Although the operations for mounting and removing the wire-like member relative to the base plate have been simplified by the use of the holding member of the above JP-UM-A-6-71906 Publication, there has been encountered a problem that the holding member increases in size when the wire-like member becomes thick with an increased number of the wires and for other reasons. Therefore, the holding member has been required to have a smaller design, and it has been necessary to eagerly study the possibility of such a small design.


Included are systems and methods for transcription transfer. In some embodiments a method includes receiving text data in an electronic format, determining a header in the text data, and in response to determining the header in the text data, determining a segment associated with the header. Some embodiments may include providing a dialog box associated with the text data, where the dialog box includes a first option for inserting the segment into a user interface provided by a destination application, receiving a user selection of the first option, and inserting the segment into a predetermined portion of the user interface provided by the destination application.

Field
Embodiments provided herein generally relate to systems and methods for transcription transfer, and particularly embodiments for communicating transcribed data from a first application to a second application.
Technical Background
In many professions, dictation (and thus transcription) is a valuable process for documenting events. As an example, in the medical field, physicians often dictate medical diagnoses and/or other information related to the medical practice. While this process may be beneficial for computing the dictated information, there are often difficulties in transferring the transcribed data from the transcription application to a destination application. Additionally, while current solutions utilize "cut and paste" functionality that is provided with many operating systems and word processors, this generic formatting functionality often proves inefficient with regard to solving this deficiency in the art.

Systems and methods for transcription transfer


In an electric vehicle in which a motor is driven using the electric power of a battery, and a PWM controller controls an inverter mounted between the battery and the motor. The frequency of the PWM control means is usually set higher than an audio frequency, in order to decrease the switching noise of the inverter. Motor operational state detecting devices detect when the motor is at low speed and high-load operational state, and if there is a possibility that switching elements of the inverter may be over-heated, the frequency of the PWM controller is decreased by a frequency changing device, thereby preventing damage to the switching elements of the inverter due to the over-heating.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a control system for an electric vehicle in which an AC motor is driven using electric power from a battery using a PWM control means to control an inverter mounted between the battery and the AC motor.
2. Description of the Related Prior Art
In an electric vehicle, in PWM controlling an inverter using a PWM control means, a switching noise is generated. For this reason, in a conventional electric vehicle, the generation of the switching noise is prevented by setting the frequency of the PWM control at a frequency (e.g., 20 kHz or more) higher than a frequency audible by a human.
A technique is conventionally known from Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 5-115106, in which the temperature of a switching element of an inverter is detected, and when the temperature rises, the frequency of the PWM control is decreased to prevent the over-heating of the switching element.
During traveling of the electric vehicle at a low speed, the number of revolutions of the motor is small and for this reason, the timing of the switch-over of an excitation phase is retarded to prolong the time T of continuous energization of each switching element of the inverter as shown in FIG. 9. When the ON/OFF of the pulse of the PWM control is switched over, the switching element of the inverter generates heat. Therefore, when the PWM control frequency is set at a higher value, there is a possibility that the number of ON/OFF switch-over of the pulse is increased, and damage to the switching element due to the over-heating may be produced because of the prolongation of the time of continuous energization of the switching element during traveling of the vehicle at a low speed.
In this case, the following problem is encountered: even if the PWM control frequency is decreased after detection of the rising temperature of the switching element, as described in the above Patent, a sudden rise in temperature cannot be avoided because of a response retardation and hence, damage to the switching element due to the over-heating cannot be reliably prevented.


An automatic disk changer has a recording/reproducing device capable of operating a reproducing-only disk and a recording/reproducing possible disk, disk trays that can be placed on the recording/reproducing device, and each of which has a disk-type discriminating means able to discriminate as to whether the disk could be a reproducing-only disk or a recording/reproducing possible disk, a tray storage holding the disk trays, and a tray carrier able to pullout/insert the disk trays from/into the tray storage and able to transport the disk tray to/from the recording/reproducing device.

This invention relates to an automatic disk changing apparatus for plural reproducing-only or recording/reproducing possible optical disks such as CD-ROMS, magneto-optical disks, phase change optical disks, etc, and a disk tray for the automatic disk changing apparatus. In addition to these, this invention relates also to an automatic disk changing apparatus for plural reproducing-only or recording/reproducing possible high-density double-faced optical disks, such as digital optical disks (DVD).
The applications of optical disks are now rapidly expanding, since the disks are now available, not only for use as the external memory of a computer, but also as the image processing medium utilizing its extremely high memory capacity and processing speed. Such a recording/reproducing capability became possible recently. Even an automatic disk changing apparatus (hereinafter, autochanger in short) for holding high volume optical disks, which makes the management and operation of high volume data possible, is now commercially available.
Two types of known autochangers are now available, i.e., a cartridge type autochanger holding plural cartridges in a cartridge storage, each of which includes an optical disk, and a tray type autochanger holding plural detachable trays in a so-called magazine, each of which has an optical disk therein.
The former is used mostly in an autochanger dedicated to the recording/reproducing possible optical disks, such as the magneto-optical disk and the phase change optical disk. The later is used an autochanger dedicated for reproducing-only optical disks, such as a CD-ROM.
In the cartridge type autochanger, such as shown in Japanese Laid-Open Utility Patent Hei 3-45319 dealing optical disks, a cartridge is pulled out by an instrument called a picker, and the pulled out cartridge is placed on a data processing drive, wherein processes, such as the recording or reproducing of data, are executed. In a case where the disk is a double-face type of disk, wherein recording/reproducing on both surfaces is possible, the cartridge can be reversed by reversing the picker so that a recording/reproducing process can be performed on each of the double surfaces.
Moreover, a cartridge provided with a write-protect tug, confirming the recording possibility of internally held recording/reproducing possible optical disks, is shown in the Japanese Laid-Open Utility Patent Hei 2-92887. By providing a write protect tug and by using a drive adapted for this, the possibility of erratic data erasing can be prevented beforehand.
However, with such autochangers, the occupied device volume per disk is inevitably large so that a problem, such as a excessively large volume of high-capacity autochanger, is possible. Moreover, since the drive is operational only for recording/reproducing optical disks, such as the magneto-optical disk and the phase change optical disk, a reproducing-only optical disk, such as a CD-ROM, cannot be stored and processed together with a disk of another type. Hence, an autochanger of this type would not be able to meet with various applications that will be possible in the coming multimedia age.
On the other hand, with the tray-type autochanger dealing optical disks, as shown in Japanese Laid-Open Utility Patent Hei 3-212847, for example, a number of trays having individual optical disks are held within the autochanger of this type. One of the trays is fetched by the picker and is placed on the drive and processed. Since the volume per disk occupied by an autochanger of this type is much less than that of before-mentioned autochanger, this would be advantageous with respect of the volume reduction of a device.
However, since the drive is operational only with reproducing-only optical disks, such as CD-ROMs, excluding the recording/reproducing type of optical disks, such as magneto-optical disks and phase change optical disks, a problem, such as the impossibility of recording and storage of high capacity data, including video images, is inevitable. Moreover, since only reproducing-only disks can be held in the tray adapted for this device and these disks cannot be discriminated from the recording/reproducing possible optical disks, this could be another problem.
Furthermore, since optical disks having double surfaces, such as the digital optical disk (DVD) are coming in the near future, requiring a disk reversing means, the automatic processing cannot be preformed within the changer so that a manual disk reversing process would have to be carried out after taking out of the device.

Automatic disk change apparatus and disk tray for the apparatus

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., LTD.