New methods of producing narrower particle size distribution precipitated silica and/or silicate materials are provided. Such a method permits a significant reduction in manufacturing costs through the utilization of more efficient drying/evaporation components, in essence, in one potentially preferred embodiment, production of such silica and/or silicate materials followed directly by a hydraulic chamber press filtering step combined with vacuum dewatering subsequently leading to the needed resultant particle comminution. The resultant precipitated silicas and/or silicates produced thereby exhibit greater density prior to comminution and thus greater propensity for more uniform milling than previously utilized and prevalent spray/flash drying apparatuses. Also encompassed within this invention are the resultant precipitated silica and/or silicate particles produced, including those that surprisingly exhibit extremely high transmittance properties, thereby potentially providing excellent narrow particle distribution silica materials for clear (transparent) end-uses.

Precipitated silicas and/or silicates find use in a broad range of manufactured products ranging from cosmetic and food products to industrial coatings (such as for paper as one example) and elastomeric materials, such as tires. Silicas are particularly useful in dentifrice products (such as toothpastes) where they function as fillers, abrasives, and thickeners, as well as anti-caking agents and glidants for food and pharmaceutical uses. Because of this functional versatility, and also because silicas have good cleaning ability, are relatively safe, and have high compatibility with typical dentifrice ingredients like humectants, thickening agents, flavoring agents, and therapeutic agent such as anti-caries agents, there is a strong desire among toothpaste and dentifrice formulators to include them in their products. Silicates are utilized as active ingredients, such as oil absorbers and odor absorbers, as some examples, as well as additives for various physical and chemical purposes, such as viscosity modification, again, as one example within a number of different formulations, such as personal care compositions, antiperspirants, and other like products, and as paper coating agents and/or anti-caking agents. Such silicates (for example, sodium aluminosilicate) exhibit effective thickening, absorption, etc., characteristics as well as effective compatibility with much the same added ingredients listed above for silicas.
As known, synthetic precipitated silicas generally are produced by the de-stabilization and precipitation of amorphous silica from soluble alkaline silicate by the addition of a mineral acid and/or acid gases under conditions in which primary particles initially formed tend to associate with each other to form a plurality of aggregates (i.e., discrete clusters of primary particles), but without agglomeration into a three-dimensional gel structure. The resulting precipitate is separated from the aqueous fraction of the reaction mixture by filtering, washing, and drying procedures, and then the dried product is mechanically comminuted in order to provide a suitable particle size. Silicates are produced generally in the same manner by reacting sodium silicate with appropriate reactants to produce the desired silicate; i.e. calcium hydroxide to produce calcium silicate, magnesium hydroxide to produce magnesium silicate, aluminum sulfate replacing the mineral acid to produce an aluminosilicate. Mixed metal silicates can likewise be produced, i.e. sodium magnesium aluminosilicate by reacting sodium silicate, magnesium hydroxide and aluminum sulfate, or calcium magnesium silicate by reacting sodium silicate, calcium hydroxide, and magnesium hydroxide, as non-limiting examples.
The silica and/or silicate drying procedures are conventionally accomplished using spray drying, nozzle drying (e.g., tower or fountain), flash drying, rotary wheel drying, oven/fluid bed drying, and the like, which often require considerable expenditures for equipment and operating costs. The conventional drying procedures tend to reduce the ability to control final product physical properties and increase the chance of contamination. A similar issue is associated with other synthetically derived polishing agents, such as silica gel and precipitated calcium carbonate (PCC).
Additionally, precipitated silicas intended for dentifrices require comminution in order to reduce the particle size of the dried precipitated silica product down to a size that does not feel gritty in the mouth of a dentifrice user, while, on the other hand, not being so small as to lack sufficient polishing or thickening action. That is, in conventional practice, the median particle size of the silica in the reactor formed by acidulation of a metal silicate is too large for dentifrice applications and the like. To comminute silica particulates, grinding and milling equipment are used, such as a hammer or a pendulum mill used in one or multiple passes, and fine grinding has been performed, for example, by fluid energy or air-jet mill.
It has been found previously that narrow particle size distribution of comminuted precipitated silica materials provides very effective cleaning, polishing, and abrasion benefits for dental applications. Prior methods of precipitated silica production have proven effective to a certain extent for producing excellent materials for such purposes; however, it has also been found that such expensive spray/flash drying processes produce silica materials prior to comminution that exhibit an appearance and configuration that makes uniform milling for narrow particle size distribution results problematic. At the very least, such production methods result in a significant and appreciable amount of silica particles that exhibit particle sizes too great for effective utilization within such dental cleaning applications. Hence, not only are costs inflated through incorporation of the aforementioned spray/flash drying production steps, but the need to separate the unacceptably high particle size silica particles from the resultant precipitated materials also contributes to costs and inefficiency within the overall manufacturing procedure.
Furthermore, it has been desirable from a consumer aesthetic perspective to provide clear formulations of dentifrices within the pertinent market. Generally, silica particles are opaque in appearance and thus create difficulty when attempting to generate a clear or transparent gel or liquid toothpaste composition. It has been found in the past that certain manufacturing schemes could facilitate production of certain relatively high light transmittance precipitated silica materials to permit introduction of such a highly desired clear and/or transparent resultant dentifrice within the industry. However, even with such a possibility available, the highest transmittance level reliably provided by abrasive silicas was found to be at or around 70–75% on a reliable, consistent manufacturing basis. Thus, there remains the potential for significant improvement in this area with the evident possibility of providing greater amounts of effective silica particles (preferably exhibiting the above-discussed narrow particle size range for maximum dental abrasion and cleaning) within clear dentifrice gels, pastes, and/or liquids.
Additionally, the prevalent manufacturing methods for abrasive dental silicas have produced resultant materials that exhibit certain properties that, although not damaging or dangerous, leave room for improvement. Such properties include a propensity for dust generation from powdered silicas made via a process including at least one spray/flash drying step; difficulty in providing structural integrity in terms of consistently producing controlled low-structure silicas due to the number of process steps required for powdered silica manufacture; and suspect reliability in terms of reproducible narrow ranges of pellicle cleaning ratios and/or radiation dentin abrasion characteristics without potentially resorting to increased costs through separation methods of unwanted particle size silica materials.
Other issues that have arisen with such typically and traditionally produced silica and/or silicate materials include the need to ensure that pre-spray dried materials exhibit sufficiently low viscosities (and thus are relatively low in solids content) to prevent clogging of atomizers and other spray-drying equipment. The costs involved with such assurances may create increases to the silica and/or silicate manufacturer and/or dentifrice (or other type of composition if silicates are involved) producer that may be passed on to the consumer. Thus, the ability to overcome at least some of these issues, as well as provide suitable silica materials in terms of packing density (for storage and shipment), flowability (to facilitate transfer during incorporation into dentifrice formulations, at least), and, as noted above, a proper narrow particle size distribution, all without incurring increased manufacturing, additive, and/or separation costs, are all desirable for an improved production method for silicas and/or silicates, and, in particular, abrasive dental silica materials.
Therefore, a manufacturing method for precipitated silica and/or silicate materials that can provide not only lower costs and greater production efficiencies to the producer and highly effective cleaning and abrasion levels, or thickening capabilities (all due to easily produced narrow particle size ranges without waste particles outside such a range requiring sequestration and removal)(for silicas), or similar or other properties in terms of silicate materials, with possible higher light transmittance properties would be of great benefit both to the pertinent industry and to the aesthetic tastes of consumers. Unfortunately, to date, there have been no such advancements within the precipitated silica and/or silicate production industry.

Method for making precipitated silica or silicate compositions and products thereof


A package (1) for an object such as a preferably-sterile medical component, includes: a support element (2) provided with elements (21) for coupling the object (5); a stopper (3) that can be coupled to the support element (2) in such a manner as to define a first chamber (7) for containing the object (5), and such that a grip portion (20) of the support element (2) projects from the stopper (3); and a cover (4) that can be coupled to the stopper (3) in such a manner as to define a second chamber (8) inside which the grip portion (20) of the support element (2) extends, and such that a portion (30) of the stopper (3) coupled to the support element (2) projects from the cover (4).

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to packages for objects, in particular for medical components that are preferably sterilized.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the prior art, packages are known that are in the form of plastic blister shells or bags in which an object is contained. For medical components that must be unpackaged in near-aseptic conditions, such packages pose problems of contamination while the package is being passed from one person to another and while said package is being opened. Specifically, from its departure from a "dirty" work zone, i.e. without special aseptic conditions, to its arrival in a "clean" work zone, i.e. a work zone in which given aseptic conditions are maintained, e.g. the zone of an operating block, the package that arrives in the clean zone is contaminated on the outside, and this presents a risk of the medical object being contaminated while it is being removed from said package.
In order to limit the risk of contamination, it is known to open the bag in such a manner as to cause the object to fall onto a worktop without any need to touch said object. Only a sterile assistant or surgeon picks up the object. However, a solid object runs the risk not only of being damaged on impact with the worktop, or even of rolling onto the floor, but also of being contaminated by foreign bodies present on the worktop.
Document U.S. Pat. No. 5,062,800 describes a medical package for a dental implant that includes a support element provided with fastener means for fastening the implant, and a stopper that can be coupled to the support element in such a manner that the support element projects from said stopper. Said package also includes a cover that covers the stopper. However, the cover completely covers the length of the stopper such that the operator has no option other than to empty the content of the cover by causing said content to fall onto a worktop. As mentioned above, causing the implant to fall may damage it and increases the risk of contamination.

Packaging for an object and set comprising such packaging


A barbecue grill including a lower housing, heating means and food support means positioned within the lower housing, an upper housing or hood adapted to enclose the lower housing, a grease collecting grease pan mounted within the top surface of the lower housing so as to prevent heat flow therearound into the upper housing, and a plurality of apertures provided adjacent at least a portion of the perimeter of the lower housing to provide heat flow from the lower housing into the upper housing.

Outdoor barbecue grills have become very popular for outdoor cooking and are particularly enjoyed at both family cookouts as well as casual outdoor social occasions. As is well known to one skilled in the art, barbecue grills utilize different types of heating means for cooking meats and other foods. A conventional and well-known type of barbecue grill such as the WEBER.RTM. brand kettle grill utilizes combustible charcoal briquettes (or wood chips and/or wood pellets) which must be replenished with each use of the grill for cooking. More recently barbecue grills have become popular which utilize propane (or natural gas) and electric heating elements, and these types of grills have displaced many conventional grills utilizing combustible charcoal briquettes due to their greater convenience to the user.
The propane (or natural gas) and electric barbecue grills act to heat permanent cement briquettes or lava rock so that greases from the food being cooked will fall thereon and be vaporized in order to create a smokey environment for the food being cooked and to impart additional smokey aroma and flavor thereto similar to the flavor imparted to food being cooked with conventional combustible briquettes on a barbecue grill. Thus, the propane (or natural gas) and electrically heated barbecue grills provide a measure of convenience which is not obtainable with conventional combustible briquette-heated barbecue grills. Yet, the more convenient and popular propane (or natural gas) and electrically heated barbecue grills provide substantially the same measure of tasty, smokey flavor which outdoor cooks obtain from old-fashioned, conventional barbecue grills.
Regardless of the type of barbecue grill utilized for outdoor cooking, it is well known that it is most difficult to obtain any measure of control over the heat in the bottom of the grill versus the heat in the top of the grill. The ability to control the heat in the bottom of the grill relative to the heat in the top of the barbecue grill would be a very desirable feature of a grill since foods being cooked segregate very distinctly into two classes: (1) foods such as steak, hamburger, hot dogs and other hot grill items which primarily are cooked with heat from below (or the lower portion of the grill); and (2) foods such as roast, turkey, prime rib, leg of lamb, pies, and casseroles which are most suitably cooked by uniform heat from both above and below (the lower and upper portions of the grill).
In the past, it has been very difficult to cook the latter types of foods on an outdoor grill, and thus these types of foods have more traditionally been cooked in conventional electric or gas indoor kitchen ovens. However, some success has been achieved to date in developing a barbecue-type outdoor grill which can cook both types of foods. A commercially successful example of such an outdoor grill is the HOLLAND.RTM. brand grill manufactured by The Holland Company of the Carolinas located in Apex, N.C. This grill is the subject matter of applicant's own U.S. Pat. No. 4,773,319 which issued on Sep. 27, 1988. However, although capable of successfully cooking both types of foods, the HOLLAND.RTM. brand grill does not provide a high degree of selective control of the relative heat in both the lower and upper portions of the grill, but rather provides a relatively uniform heat within the entire grill. The grill thus very effectively cooks foods requiring uniform heat distribution but less efficiently cooks foods primarily requiring heat from therebeneath in order to be most effectively cooked.
The quest therefore continues for the development of a barbecue grill which enables the user to control the relative heat distribution between the bottom and top of the enclosed grill so as to optimize the cooking of foods which require uniform heat distribution (e.g., roast and turkey) as well as foods requiring primarily heat from below (e.g., hamburgers, hot dogs and other hot grill items).

Barbecue grill with controlled heat distribution


A new and distinct variety of strawberry plant named ‘DrisStrawFortyNine’ particularly characterized by having medium-sized, medium red fruit, a flat globose plant habit, and early harvest maturity, is disclosed.

The present invention relates to a new and distinct strawberry variety designated 'DrisStrawFortyNine' and botanically known as Fragaria×ananassa. This new strawberry variety was discovered in Hillsborough County, Fla. in December 2009 and originated from a cross between the proprietary female parent '18Q361' (unpatented) and the proprietary male parent '68N66' (unpatented). A single plant was selected and asexually propagated via tissue culture and vegetative cuttings in Shasta County, Calif. in 2009.
'DrisStrawFortyNine' underwent further testing in Hillsborough County, Fla. from 2009-2014. The present invention has been found to retain its distinctive characteristics through successive asexual propagations via stolons and tissue culture.

Strawberry plant named ‘DrisStrawFortyNine’


The present invention provides a flexible substrate with a high dielectric-constant film and a manufacturing method thereof. The manufacturing method comprises following steps: providing a flexible substrate; forming a polysilicon layer on the flexible substrate; coating an HfAlOx solution on the polysilicon layer and forming an HfAlOx insulating layer by baking or annealing the HfAlOx solution; forming a metal gate electrode on the HfAlOx insulating layer; and doping and activating the polysilicon layer to form a source/drain electrode. The metal gate electrode is spaced apart from the source/drain electrode by the HfAlOx insulating layer.

The present invention relates to a field of display devices and, in particular, to a flexible substrate with a high dielectric-constant film and a manufacturing method thereof.
As a core component in flat panel displays, a thin-film transistor (TFT) plays an important role in improving display performance and widening display applications. A threshold voltage, a subthreshold swing, and field-effect mobility of the thin film transistor is directly influenced by electrical properties of a gate insulating layer of a TFT device and by interface properties between the gate insulating layer and a channel of an active layer. As shown in FIG. 1, the gate insulating layer 1 of the TFT device is currently produced by using silicon oxide/silicon nitride (SiOx/SiNx) as an insulating layer to separate the gate electrode 2 from the source electrode 4 and the drain electrode 5 at two sides of the polysilicon layer 3. However, as development of flexible display devices, the display device tends to be ultra-thin, and the SiOx/SiNx insulating layer increases a leakage current due to a quantum tunneling effect, resulting in an increase in power consumption of the display device and thereby affecting normal operations of the display device. In addition, in a conventional process for producing a gate insulating layer, chemical vapor deposition (CVD) or physical vapor deposition (PVD) are used for coating, but these manufacturing methods have high requirements on equipment, and a vacuum environment is required, leading to high production costs and a slow production speed.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Flexible substrate with high dielectric-constant film and manufacturing method thereof

Wuhan China Star Optoelectronics Semiconductor Display Technology Co., Ltd.


A document transfer buffer device for holding temporarily a document between an upstream document feeding device and a downstream envelope inserter has a transporting device for moving the document from the upstream document feeding device to the envelope inserter and an envelope holding device for temporarily holding the document in a holding location between the upstream document feeding device and the envelope inserter and a controlling program that selectively activates the transporting device and the temporary holding device and is responsive to the upstream feeding device and the envelope inserter possible error conditions that initiate document holding and releasing situations.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention pertains generally to a system for temporarily halting the flow of one or more incoming mail pieces into an envelope inserter apparatus. More particularly, the subject invention relates to a document buffer system having a controlling program that is utilized in connection with a document interface feeding device, an envelope inserter, and documents being transferred through the interface feeding device into the inserter, wherein one or more of the incoming documents may be temporarily halted, within the interface feeding device, before entry into the envelope inserter and buffered or cued in known order until the controlling program directs any cued documents to once again enter the envelope inserter.
2. Description of Related Art
Traditionally, when a series of document packets (often one or more pages in a billing statement for goods and/or services provided) are delivered by a transport device to an envelope inserter and an error is detected in the process there were three solutions: 1) the transporter is stopped, with the accompanied stoppage in production until the problem is resolved; 2) the transporter continues running, the envelopes filled, and the error is resolved later; and 3) the transporter continues to run with the problem document packets diverted out of the production process. However, there are two significant problems with the traditional solutions: 1) reduced productivity and 2) reduced quality. For whatever reason the inserter stops (there are many and they often occur about every minute, during the average process), the negative results are the same. All document packets that are in transition (frequently, from one to four) stack up either in the inserter track of in a diverter tray. After an operator rectifies the inserter error, the operator must remove the document packet(s), manually separate then from each other, insure that each document packet is complete and correct, and hand place them back into the track one at a time while cycling the inserter between them. Clearly, this corrective action is time consuming and can significantly increase the time to complete a job (often as much as a 30% increase). Also, human intervention of document packet production always increases the chance of making significant quality errors. The operator can inadvertently make several different errors; not separating two document packets that may have nested when stacked will result in two document packets mailed in the same envelope, mixing sheets from one document packet with another when separating them will result in incomplete or incorrect mailed document packets placing document packets in the track in the wrong sequential order will result in improper insert matching, or placing document packets in the track in the wrong orientation will result in undeliverable mail. Plainly, many difficulties existed in the prior error-resolution processes.
Several mechanisms already exist to divert of buffer the flow of documents during document transfers in numerous specific settings, but these mechanisms do not make obvious, teach, suggest, or imply in any manner the subject invention.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,948,564 discloses a fluid bearing apparatus and method that utilizes a selective turntable diverter structure to temporarily store identical items in a buffer station. The buffer station merely maintains a ready pool of identical items to supply the needs of an associated apparatus. No item sequence information is recorded or needed with this device.
Described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,544,146 is an insertion machine with control signals stored on searchable medium. Envelopes are printed with desired information and utilized (buffered and flipped) with an inserter and associated inserter stations.
A control signal buffer for use in an inserter system is related in U.S. Pat. No. 4,707,790. An information control buffer, no physical item is buffered, is provided in which control information from the supervisory controller to the sheet inserter system is buffered so that synchronicity is achieved between the transfer of batches of documents from a web of incoming documents and what is actually inserted into designated envelopes.
A communication network and protocol for real-time control of mailing machine operations is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,003,538. Information buffers within microprocessors are utilized to facilitate the transfer of controlling information to operate a traditional mailing machine.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,029,832 presents an in-line rotary inserter for use with an envelope inserting machine. A number of diverter stations are disposed ahead of the envelope inserting station for diversion of envelopes and inserts and ahead of the inserted envelope stacking assembly to divert inserted envelopes during normal operation and detected error situations. Upon detection of an error situation, the subject invention halts incoming statements before any envelopes are encountered.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,503,388 and 5,538,140 disclose a buffered stacker that selectively diverts horizontally disposed documents from a main conveying path, then stacks and transports the documents to replaceable receiving containers. This system directly diverts the selected documents away from the conveying path and does not allow any selected documents to reenter the main conveying path.
Described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,613,669 relates a control process for use in the production of printed products and means for performing the process. In the sequential assembly of multi-page document sets a controller, using a camera/detector, is utilized to scan and analyze each incoming page to determine if the correct page has been delivered and, if not, to direct corrective actions.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,816,715 outlines an interfacing mechanical buffer that allows two streams of materials to be united, even if the rates of flow of the materials from each of the two streams differ. To merge two streams of documents, each traveling at different speeds, one stream is slowed by having a mechanical buffer receive the documents and then release them in a first-in-first-out order. The mechanical buffer comprises a matched set of four helical-shaped screws that receive a incoming document, rotate to receive additional documents, and permit discharge of the received documents in order of their entrance to the buffer.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,826,869 and 6,131,053 present a high throughput document-processing machine having a dynamic speed control. The device merely directs the flow accumulated sets of documents from a first transport pathway to a second transport pathway if a jam is detected in the first pathway.
A transporter buffer and inserter method are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,860,504. A plurality of sensors detect positions of items in a transfer system and stop the items at predetermined locations based upon when the items should enter a receiving area.
The foregoing patents reflect the state of the art of which the applicant is aware and are tendered with the view toward discharging applicant's acknowledged duty of candor in disclosing information which may be pertinent in the examination of this application. It is respectfully submitted, however, that none of these patents teaches or renders obvious, singly or when considered in combination, applicant's claimed invention.


Parallel testing of integrated circuit devices are facilitated such that it is not necessary that integrated circuit devices to be parallel tested be "ends only" devices. A side pad located along the sides, rather than the ends, of the integrated circuit device is electrically connected by multiplexing circuitry to a corresponding configurable probe pad located along the ends of the device. During parallel testing of the device, the side pad is effectively tested when the configurable probe pad is probed and tested. While the configurable probe pad is tested during parallel testing, the side pad is not directly exercised. Following parallel testing, the side pad is bonded to the device package but the configurable probe pad is not bonded to the device package.

The present invention relates generally to integrated circuit device testing, and more specifically to parallel testing of integrated circuit devices.
Testing is performed throughout the manufacture and assembly of integrated circuit devices, such as at wafer sort where the speed grade of a device may be determined. Integrated circuit devices subjected to parallel testing are typically placed side by side on a wafer, and the pads of the integrated circuit devices are then probed by a tester in order to test the electrical soundness of the devices. Because the integrated circuit devices are placed side by side next to each other, parallel testing is performed on "ends only" devices or integrated circuit devices whose pads are arranged along the two opposite ends, and not along all four sides of the device. Typically, then, "ends only" integrated circuit devices can be small density parts, and are usually rectangular in shape having an aspect ratio defined as the length to width dimensions of the device. The pads of the device are arranged only along opposite ends of the device to easily allow for parallel testing of the integrated circuit device simultaneously with other identical integrated circuit devices. Parallel testing could additionally be performed on a square die device if it had very few pads which were arranged along just two opposite sides of the die.
Small density integrated circuit devices are often "ends only" devices by virtue of their relatively small die size and limited number of pads. These pads must be probed during testing of the device, and thus lend themselves to parallel testing. Parallel testing of small density integrated circuit devices may not be necessary. Because of the relative lack of complexity of such small density integrated circuit devices, testing may be accomplished in relatively short order and thus testing time does not pose a significant concern to manufacturers of these devices. Thus, although testing time of small density integrated circuit devices could be reduced by parallel testing of two or more "ends only" devices side by side simultaneously, this option may not be pursued where testing time is not a concern for small density integrated circuit devices.
As integrated circuit devices have become larger, more dense and complex, however, the issue of test time reduction has become increasingly important as the time required to test higher density devices has increased in proportion to the complexity of the device. A logical approach to address the issue of test time reduction, is to test more than one integrated circuit device at a time, i.e. to perform parallel testing of two or more integrated circuit devices simultaneously.
A recent trend in integrated circuit memory devices has been to make most memory densities available in a variety of packages, and more recently in packages that are 300 mils in width. This necessitates a bonding configuration similar to that seen for the 1 Meg SRAM shown in FIG. 1. The assembly requirements shown in FIG. 1 are pertinent to any 300 mil device using similar lead frames. Additionally, other package types such as a DIP (dual in-line package) or SOJ may be used. The assembly demands for a larger density integrated circuit device, such as a 1 Meg SRAM (Static Random Access Memory) shown in FIG. 1, however, often dictate the placement of distributed pads along the long dimension of the die in order to optimize bonding to the device lead frame. Larger density integrated circuit devices, then, are typically not "ends only" devices and thus are not easily adaptable to parallel testing. The large number of pads to be tested in larger density and complex devices simply can not all be placed just along two opposite ends of the device. Thus, while large density integrated circuit devices could benefit from the reduced test time offered by parallel testing, the non- "ends only" configuration characteristic of most large density integrated circuit devices does not really allow for parallel testing.

Configurable probe pads to facilitate parallel testing of integrated circuit devices


A method and apparatus for disposing of paper in an asphalt plant. The asphalt plant comprises a container for stone aggregate to be heated, a burner for producing a burner flame to provide thermal energy for heating the stone aggregate in the container, the burner being positioned relative to the container so that an open space is defined therebetween, and a supplementary burner positioned in the open space between the burner and the container. The supplementary burner includes a supplementary burner member for producing a supplementary burner flame to provide thermal energy for heating the stone aggregate in the container, an air supply connected to the supplementary burner member for providing a stream of air to the supplementary burner member, and a supply of paper connected to the air supply for introducing paper into the stream of air. The paper is introduced into the stream of air such that the paper is entrained in the stream of air and is substantially incinerated in the container. The asphalt plant may further comprise a grate which is spaced from the burners. The grate defines a plurality of openings such that hot air stream produced by burner flames passes through the openings, and such that the grate improves the thermal efficiency of the asphalt plant for heating the stone aggregate.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to asphalt plants. More particularly, the invention relates to a method for disposing of paper in an asphalt plant.
2. Discussion of Prior Art
Asphalt mixtures of the type used for roadway surfacing or paving typically include stone aggregate and asphalt cement (hereinafter "asphalt"). As used herein, "asphalt" includes those mixtures of primarily hydrocarbon materials commonly referred to as "asphalt" and other binder materials suitable for producing asphalt paving mixtures or similar paving mixtures when mixed with stone aggregate. As used herein, "stone aggregate" includes any aggregate material suitable for use in asphalt paving mixtures or similar paving mixtures for roadway surfacing. Asphalt mixtures for asphalt paving are produced in an asphalt plant, typically by heating and thus drying the stone aggregate, and then mixing the hot stone aggregate with liquid asphalt. Typically, an asphalt paving mixture includes about 5% of asphalt and about 95% of stone aggregate.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,273,355 relates to an aggregate dryer and soil incinerator. The apparatus is adapted to heat and dry stone aggregate useful in the production of an asphalt paving mixture, and also is adapted to incinerate contaminated soil. The apparatus comprises a rotary dryer for heating and drying the stone aggregate, and a separate rotary incinerator for incinerating the soil.

Method for disposing of paper in an asphalt plant


A tip jar system comprises a receptacle for receiving a deposit of money and a signaling apparatus for sensing the presence of a person depositing the money in the receptacle and for responding to the sensed presence. The signal provided is generally of an amusing sort and preferably provides both audible and visible iconic simulation of a familiar action that is unrelated to the actual deposit. The preferred signaling apparatus uses an array of light sources configured to simulate a trajectory of an object involved in the familiar action. The signaling apparatus also provides a sound output to generate the simulation having both visual and audible components.

The invention relates to a system responsive to placement of currency in a container therefor, and, more specifically to a tip jar for providing both audible and visual indications when money is deposited.
Receptacles for collecting tips are widely used in restaurants and bars. These are commonly jars, goldfish bowls and the like, that are commonly selected to be transparent in order to show a currently present customer that previous customers have contributed tips and to thereby motivate the currently present customer to put money in the jar. In addition to the display of tips, some establishments encourage their staff to thank customers for contributing and to do so loudly enough that others customers hear the message and are thereby motivated to contribute. Sometimes, the 'thank you' message is delivered non-verbally and often in an amusing way, e.g., by a staff member ringing a bell whenever he or she sees a customer depositing money into the tip jar.

Tip jar providing audible and visible signals


An electronic program guide (EPG) hardware card is disclosed. The card is insertable into a television tuning device having EPG capability. A non-volatile memory, such as flash memory, is situated within a case of the hardware card, and has data stored thereon representing one or more loader programs for the device. Each program corresponds to an EPG provider, and gives the device the capability to receive EPG information from this provider. The case of the hardware card may have a form factor such as a Smart Card, a Compact Flash, a Smart Media, or another form factor. Alternatively, the data stored on the card represents non-executable information corresponding to an EPG provider. A business model and a server-based embodiment are also disclosed.

This invention relates generally to electronic program guides (EPG's), and more specifically to such EPG's that have data corresponding thereto stored on a hardware card.
Currently, most television (TV) viewers use one of two ways to obtain TV program information: channel surfing, or using printed program guides. The former entails the viewer switching from channel to channel to obtain an overview of the programs that are currently running. The latter entails the viewer studying paper guides that include descriptions and indices to TV programs in order to obtain TV program information. However, with the increasing number of TV channels offered, both of these approaches become less practical.
To this end, electronic program guides (EPG's) have become more popular, and are predicted to become more commonplace with the increasing selection of TV channels. EPG's are also known as interactive program guides (IPG's). EPG's allow viewers to see program information on their TV screens. They can view an index of shows over all channels within a given time period, or see detailed information on a particular TV program. Viewers do not have to refer to a printed program guide, nor channel surf, to learn of the programs currently on TV. As used in this invention, an EPG refers to television program information that is displayed on a TV screen or other display such that the user can reference such information without consultation to a printed guide. Typically, but not necessarily, such television program information is received electronically.
Currently, a user is locked into a particular EPG provider depending on the manner by which the user receives TV services. For example, a cable TV operator, a Digital Satellite System (DSS) TV provider, or a Digital TV (DTV) provider usually gives subscribers a television tuning device, such as a set-top box, that is hard-coded to a particular EPG provider. The subscriber has no way to switch EPG providers. Each provider typically supplies and encodes its EPG information in a different manner. While most EPG's provide the same basic information, some EPG's provide better information on certain types of programming, such as movies, sports, news, and the like.
For these and other reasons, there is a need for the present invention.


The present document is directed to co-crystals of resveratrol and/or curcumin with piperazine and their use in medicine and/or as food and feed supplements.

Animal health and welfare is not only an ethical aspect, but is a key financial issue in animal production and to secure the food supply. Poor animal husbandry conditions promote diseases, associated with losses in productivity. At the same time, food production typically requires large scale production facilities which in general represent disease promoting conditions. Ethical and economic reasons thus push a constant search for alternative products to promote health and reduce disease susceptibility. Meat production from swine is a major societal sector and food source for human feed and represents a major market.
Ileitis (also known as porcine enteropathy, porcine proliferative enteropathy, and porcine proliferative enteritis) is a serious problem in the breeding of swine where it is estimated that 50-70% of all the pigs are afflicted which causes major economic losses for the breeders and suffering for the animals.
Ileitis is an inflammation of the ileum in the lower part of the small intestine, affecting both humans and farmed animals. Ileitis causes the immune system to attack cells in the intestine, thus leading to a decreased nutritional uptake. Symptoms include chronic or intermittent diarrhea, abdominal cramps, fever, weakness, weight loss, and anemia may also occur. In swine farming, ileitis causes piglets to lose weight, due to the transition to solid food and un-developed gastrointestinal environment and function, with considerable losses to the producers. The microbial flora of the intestine is also affected which leads to an increased sensitivity to other microbial infections.
In order to treat ileitis the breeders administer large amounts of antibiotics to the animals, which e.g. increases the risk for antibiotic resistance development.
As an alternative to using antibiotics, animal producers have administered plant extracts or ZnO via the feed but these strategies have either been inefficient (plant extracts) or are associated with health risks (ZnO).
Compounds such as curcumin and resveratrol are diet derived compounds with well documented health promoting effects. Interestingly, both curcumin and resveratrol have been shown to be efficient alternatives to reduce the symptoms associated with certain autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis and IBD in a number of animal models, including swine. The biological mechanism of action of these compounds is presumed to be coupled to their ability to reduce the activity of a subset of immune cells, TH17 cells, and/or to increase the activity of T-reg immune cells and through this mechanism reduce the immunological response that leads to autoimmune diseases including IBD and Ileitis.
Curcumin is a curcuminoid from turmeric with proven beneficial effects after consumption. These effects include anti-inflammatory, antioxidant and anti-cancer effects. Curcumin has also been shown to have beneficial effects on the heart and to support and protect cognitive processes in the brain. Further it can improve insulin secretion and insulin sensitivity. Curcumin has been suggested for use in the treatment/prevention of osteoarthritis, prostate cancer, colon cancer, skin cancer, breast cancer, arteriosclerosis, digestive problems, ulcerative colitis, dementia and metabolic syndrome. However, the oral bioavailability of curcumin is low and it is also a fat-soluble substance, which must be taken into account when formulating curcumin.
Resveratrol may be found in red grapes, Japanese knotweed (Polygonum cuspidatum, a common source for industrial purposes), grapes, tomatoes, raspberries, plums, and peanuts. Resveratrol has antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and anti-cancer effects and can also protect the heart and brain. It is the trans-form of the molecule that has mainly been studied in terms of physiological effects. The cis-form has similar anti-oxidant properties but fail to mimic the anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer effects of the trans-form. Resveratrol has been suggested for use in protection against cancer in skin, prostate, colon, lung, breast, liver, protection against heart disease and arteriosclerosis, for lowering the blood pressure and improving insulin-sensitivity in type II diabetes, in metabolic syndrome and Alzheimer's disease, as having positive effects on mental disorders, ulcerative colitis, in different gastrointestinal porcine diseases such as ileitis, porcine enteropathy, proliferative haemorrhagic enteropathy and as an anti-inflammatory agent. Resveratrol is generally well tolerated after administration but has a low bioavailability due to low solubility in body fluids. Resveratrol is conjugated via sulphation and glucuronidation (P450 enzymes) that reduce the amount of free resveratrol.
Although therapeutic or clinical efficacy is the primary concern for a drug (or an active nutraceutical ingredient), the solid-state form (i.e., the crystalline or amorphous form) of a drug candidate can be critical to its pharmacological properties and to its development as a viable drug. Crystalline forms of drugs have been used to alter the physicochemical properties of a particular drug. Each crystalline form of a drug candidate can have different solid-state (physical and chemical) properties, which may be relevant for drug delivery. Crystalline forms often have better chemical and physical properties than corresponding non-crystalline forms, such as the amorphous form. The differences in physical properties exhibited by a novel solid form of a drug (such as a co-crystal or polymorph of the original drug) affect pharmaceutical parameters such as storage stability, compressibility and density (relevant for formulation and product manufacturing), and dissolution rates and solubility (relevant factors in achieving suitable bioavailability).
Co-crystals of nutraceutical compounds, including curcumin and resveratrol have been disclosed previously in e.g. WO2008153945A2, WO2015052568A2, U.S. Pat. No. 8,399,712B2, Cryst. Growth Des. 2011, 11, 4135-4145, International Journal of Pharmaceutics 509 (2016) 391-399. Although one may envisage a large amount of combinations with possible co-formers not all the combinations will lead to co-crystals, or stable solid forms. Further, although there is a good understanding of the co-crystal components in terms of their physical and chemical properties, elucidation of their a priori interaction in a new co-crystal structure is not possible, as the interactions that determine the structure are relatively weak and the number of degrees of freedom for the optimization problem is immeasurable.


In order to prevent penetration of lubricant into the combustion chamber, a piston for an internal combustion engine has a labyrinthine pressure equalizing passage between the combustion chamber and the crankcase. For this purpose, the piston ring closest to the combustion chamber is guided with relatively large axial play in the matching annular groove. The piston rings located farther from the combustion chamber are each provided with recesses that connect the annular chamber between the adjacent piston rings with the bottom of the respective annular groove. A bore is also provided in the annular groove that is farthest from the combustion chamber, the bore connecting the bottom of the annular groove with an interior chamber defined in the piston. In this way, the pressure can equalize between the combustion chamber and the crankcase.

This application claims the priority of 197 08 892.9 filed Mar. 5, 1997, the disclosure of which is expressly incorporated by reference herein.
The invention relates to an internal combustion engine with at least one cylinder whose cylinder axis extends at least approximately horizontally in the installed position.
An internal combustion engine of this type is known from German patent document DE 25 42 803 C2. In order to avoid the development of a large quantity of smoke when starting the engine, which depends on certain conditions (piston position, alignment of the engine and/or the vehicle at rest, temperature of the engine when shut off), it is known from DE 25 42 803 to provide recesses on the piston ring grooves that extend to the bottom of the groove and form a labyrinthine passage connected with the interior of the piston by a bore in the groove facing away from the combustion chamber. These recesses allow equalization of the pressure in the combustion chamber, which is a function of the piston position, and the ambient pressure in the crankcase. This passage prevents a pressure that prevails in the combustion chamber of the shutoff engine, said pressure being lower than the ambient pressure, being maintained for a long time after the engine is shut off, and resulting in lubricant being drawn into the combustion chamber. This lubricant that enters the combustion chamber is burned when the engine is restarted and produces an increased amount of smoke. Providing recesses in all the piston ring grooves, however, entails considerable expense. Very precise machining with low tolerances is required, particularly in the area of the first piston ring groove facing the combustion chamber, because of the high loads involved. If such a recess is formed in the first piston ring groove after the surface of the ring has been finished, there is an increased danger of formation of burrs at the transition from the recess to the edge of the ring groove. If on the other hand the ring groove is finished after the recess has been formed, the familiar machining problems caused by the open machining surface at the edge of the recess will result. In addition, such a recess in the vicinity of the first piston ring facing the combustion chamber leads to an undesired increase in blow-by gas flow. In addition, the part of the recess of the first piston ring groove that faces the combustion chamber during operation of the internal combustion engine has a tendency to become clogged by combustion residues. The desired reduction of the amount of oil drawn into the combustion chamber is therefore impeded after the engine has been operating for a while, while at the same time a significant increase in blow-by gas flow persists as a result of the recess on the first piston ring that faces away from the combustion chamber.
Hence there is a need for improvements in an engine having at least one cylinder aligned horizontally in the installation position of the engine such that reduction of blue smoke on starting is achieved at limited machining expense, while at the same time a blow-by gas flow is maintained that is as low as possible.
This and other needs have been met according to the present invention by providing an internal combustion engine, comprising: at least one cylinder having a cylinder axis extending at least approximately horizontally in the installed position, a piston defining at least three annular grooves along an outer circumference and defining an interior chamber; a piston ring disposed in each of the annular grooves, respectively, each piston ring having an at least approximately rectangular cross section, annular chambers being defined between the piston and the cylinder between adjacent ones of the piston rings, recesses being defined in the piston adjacent at least two of the annular grooves, each said recess extending between a bottom of the respective annular groove and the outer circumference of the piston and communicating with one of said annular chambers, at least one bore defined in the piston between the bottom of the annular groove located remote from a combustion chamber and the interior chamber of the piston, the annular groove closest to the combustion chamber being free of recesses, an axial play between the annular groove closest to the combustion chamber and the piston ring disposed therein being at least 50 .mu.m.
This and other needs have also been met according to the present invention by providing a piston for a horizontal cylinder of an internal combustion engine, said piston comprising: a piston bottom to be faced to a combustion chamber of the engine; a piston body integral with said piston bottom and extending in an axial direction from said piston bottom, an interior of said piston body and said piston bottom defining an interior chamber; at least three annular grooves being defined in said piston body extending circumferentially around the piston, a first of said annular grooves located nearest said piston bottom having a constant cross-section in said axial direction throughout, said first annular groove being dimensioned to receive a piston ring with an axial play between the piston ring and the first annular groove of at least 50 .mu.m, a second and a third of said annular grooves located further from said piston bottom having a cross-section which varies in said axial direction at recesses extending from an outer circumference of said piston to a bottom of said annular grooves, at least one bore defined in the piston communicating the annular groove located furthest from the piston bottom with the interior chamber.
By designing the first piston ring groove (closest to the combustion chamber) without a recess, the seal between the combustion chamber relative to the prior art is improved so that the blow-by gas flow is significantly reduced. At the same time, the tuned geometry of the piston ring and the axial play, which is relatively large by comparison to conventional piston ring geometries, permit pressure equalization between the combustion chamber and the annular chamber between the first and second piston rings. The second and third piston ring grooves can then be provided with recesses without a significant increase in blow-by gas flow, forming a labyrinthine passage connected by bores between the bottom of one of the annular grooves facing away from the combustion chamber and the interior of the piston. With this design of the piston rings and piston ring grooves, the machining cost for the piston is significantly reduced. In particular, the first piston ring groove that is subjected to very high stress can be machined completely without costly edge machining processes being required.
If recesses are formed in a piston ring groove on both sides of the piston ring, these recesses can advantageously be located opposite one another, simplifying machining because both recesses can be produced by a common drilling and/or grinding process for example.
Possible penetration of lubricant into the combustion chamber is prevented especially effectively when the second piston ring from the combustion chamber is prevented from twisting. This ensures that the face of the piston ring is always uppermost. The lower area over which the piston travels is therefore reliably sealed off so that penetration of lubricant along the lower wall is effectively prevented when the cylinder is inclined.
Such protection against twisting can be achieved in an especially advantageous manner by initially bending portions of one of the two ring faces in the axial or radial direction, with the bent section then cooperating with a recess in the annular groove that receives the piston ring.
Other objects, advantages and novel features of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of the invention when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

Internal combustion engine with a horizontal cylinder


In causing an organic electroluminescent device to emit light upon exerting a voltage between a hole injection electrode and an electron injection electrode in the organic electroluminescent device, the frequency of electricity supplied to the organic electroluminescent device is modulated, to adjust the luminance of the light emitted from the organic electroluminescent device. In an organic electroluminescent apparatus and a display device in which the organic electroluminescent device is provided, there is provided frequency modulation means for modulating the frequency of electricity and supplying electricity to the organic electroluminescent device.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to an organic electroluminescent device driving method in which an organic electroluminescent device is caused to emit light upon supplying electricity between a hole injection electrode and an electron injection electrode in the organic eletroluminescent device, an organic electroluminescent apparatus using such an organic electroluminescent device driving method, and a display device in which a plurality of organic electroluminescent devices are provided. More particularly, the present invention relates to an organic electroluminescent device driving method in which the luminance of light emitted from an organic electroluminescent device can be simply adjusted, and an organic electroluminescent apparatus utilizing such an organic electroluminescent device driving method, and a display device.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, the needs of flat panel display devices, the consumed power and the size of which are less than those of a CRT (Cathode-Ray Tube), which has been conventionally generally employed, have been increased as information equipments are diversified, for example, whereby an electroluminescent device has been paid attention to as one of the flat panel display devices.
The electroluminescent device is roughly divided into an inorganic electroluminescent device and an organic electroluminescent device depending on the material used.
The inorganic electroluminescent device is sued adapted that a high density electric field is generally exerted on a luminescent portion, and electrons are accelerated within the high density electric field to collide with a luminescence center, whereby the luminescence center is excited to emit light. On the other hand, the organic electroluminescent device is such adapted that electrons and holes are respectively injected into a luminescent portion from an electron injection electrode and a hole injection electrode, the electrons and the holes thus injected are recombined with each other in a luminescence center to bring an organic molecule into its excited state, and the organic molecule emits fluorescence when it is returned from the excited state to its ground state.
In the case of the inorganic electroluminescent device, a high voltage of 100 to 200 volts is required as its driving voltage because a high density electric field is exerted, as described above. On the other hand, the organic electroluminescent device can be driven at a low voltage of approximately 5 to 20 volts.
In the case of the organic electroluminescent device, a light emitting device emitting light in a suitable color can be obtained by selecting a fluorescent material which is a luminescent material. It is expected that the organic electroluminescent device can be also utilized as a multi-color or full-color display device or the like. Further, the organic electroluminescent device can emit light at a low voltage. In recent years, therefore, various studies have been conducted on such an organic electroluminescent device.
Developed as the organic electroluminescent device are ones having a three-layer structure which is referred to as a DH structure in which a hole transporting layer, a luminescent layer and an electron transporting layer are laminated between a hole injection electrode and an electron injection electrode, a two-layer structure which is referred to as an SH-A structure in which a hole transporting layer and a luminescent layer abundant in electron transporting characteristics are laminated between a hole injection electrode and an electron injection electrode, and a two-layer structure which is referred to as an SH-B structure in which a luminescent layer abundant in hole transporting characteristics and an electron transporting layer are laminated between the hole injection electrode and the electron injection electrode.
In recent years, the above-mentioned organic electroluminescent device has been utilized for a display or the like. Therefore, a method of adjusting the luminance of light emitted from the organic electroluminescent device has been examined in causing the organic electroluminescent device to emit light upon supplying electricity, i.e., exerting a voltage, between a hole injection electrode and an electron injection electrode in the organic electroluminescent device.
Examples of a method of adjusting the luminance of light emitted from the organic electroluminescent device include a method of changing a voltage exerted between an electron injection electrode and a hole injection electrode in the organic electroluminescent device, and a method of changing the duty ratio of a voltage applied to the organic electroluminescent device, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 54835/1996.
When the voltage applied to the organic electroluminescent device is changed to adjust the luminance of light emitted from the organic electroluminescent device, however, the change in the luminance with the change in the voltage becomes non-linear, whereby the luminance of the light emitted from the organic electroluminescent device cannot be suitably adjusted. In a display device such as a display in which a lot of organic electroluminescent devices are arranged in a matrix, the gray level characteristics are degraded, for example.
In the above-mentioned display device, when the voltage applied to the organic electroluminescent device is changed to adjust the luminance of the light emitted from the organic electroluminescent device, voltage drop caused by a resistance component of a wiring portion changes depending on a current flowing through the wiring portion. Thus, the voltage drop is also affected by the voltage applied to the organic electroluminescent device. When the luminance in a certain organic electroluminescent device is changed, therefore, the luminance in the other organic electroluminescent device is also changed.
On the other hand, when the duty ratio of the voltage applied to the organic elctroluminescent device is changed to adjust the luminance of the light emitted from the organic electroluminescent device, the change in the luminance of the light with the change in the duty ratio becomes approximately linear, whereby the luminance of the light emitted from the organic electroluminescent device can be suitably adjusted.
When the duty ratio of the voltage exerted on the organic elctroluminescent device is changed, however, pulse width modulating circuits having a large current-flowing capacity must be provided ahead of and behind the organic electroluminescent device. In a display device such as a display in which a lot of organic electroluminescent devices are arranged in a matrix, the device becomes complicated, for example.
Furthermore, when the duty ratio of the voltage of electricity supplied to the organic electroluminescent device is thus changed, the pulse width is widened as the duty ratio increases. Consequently, the root mean square value of the current of electricity, i.e., the effective value of the current also increases. When the average value of the current in a predetermined time period thus increases, the average value of the voltage drop caused by the resistance component of the wiring portion also increases as the duty ratio increases.
Even in such a case, therefore, when the luminance in a certain organic electroluminescent device is changed, the luminance in the other organic electroluminescent device is also changed, as in a case where the voltage is changed as described above.

Organic electroluminescent device driving method, organic electroluminescent apparatus and display device


Supplementary coding on inductive debit cards and reading method by which information regarding variables, such as date of issue and country in which the card is valid, are included without any change in the number of credits on the card by using front and back handling strips normally provided on such cards. Such an encoding comprises the division of the strips, into a number of segments or tracks equal to the number of cell columns on the card, each track coinciding with the columns. Metalized tracks correspond to bit "1 " and non-metalized tracks to bit "0 ", the 4 tracks located at the corners of the card always being metalized. Reading of the information on the card is carried out during the insertion of the card into a reading head by a row of sensors farthest away from the entrance slot of the reading head. On detecting the presence of a pair of metalized tracks on the corners of the card, the bits contained in the handling strip are read and stored in a temporary register for later interpretation.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention concerns the improvement of disposable inductive debit cards, such as the ones described in patent document BR 9201380-5 and BR 9304503-4 and, specifically, to the insertion of supplementary information on the cards, as well as to its reading using the existing reading devices as described in those patents.
2. Description of the Related Art
Inductive debit cards based on concepts originally contained in patents BR 7804885, DE 2650959 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,029,945 are well known and are widely used as credit elements in public telephone systems. FIG. 1 exemplifies the main features of a known card, akin to the one in FIG. 1 of above mentioned document BR 9304503-4, containing a plurality of credit elements 12, arranged in 6 rows and 9 columns, totaling 50 usable credits since four of the cells at corners 13, 14, 15 and 16 are used as indexing elements. The card also has blank strips 17 and 18, located between the central area and front end edge 19 and back edge 21, which are made use of during insertion and withdrawal of the card from the reading head.
Even though the shown card is suitable for experimental use, or small scale applications, the commercial use on a large scale basis requires the inclusion of additional information, such as, for instance, the following:
Card validation date PA1 Code of the country issuing the card PA1 Manufacturers identification code
The inclusion of this information in central area 11 would necessarily reduce the number of available credits on the card.
On the other hand, including the information on strips 17 and 18 entails, as a drawback, the need to modify the reading head, since the existing heads do not have sensors positioned at the strips. In view of the large number of telephone sets of this kind that are already in operation, such a solution would require the expenditure of large amounts of money, materials and labor, as all the installed reading heads would have to be replaced.

Supplementary coding on inductive debit cards and reading process


A method designs nuclear reactors using design variables and metric variables. A user specifies ranges for the design variables and threshold values for the metric variables and selects design parameter samples. For each sample, the method runs three processes, which compute metric variables for thermal-hydraulics, neutronics, and stress. The method applies a cost function to compute an aggregate residual of the metric variables compared to the threshold values. The method deploys optimization methods, either training a machine learning model using the samples and computed aggregate residuals, or using genetic algorithms, simulated annealing, or differential evolution. When using Bayesian optimization, the method shrinks the range for each design variable according to correlation between the respective design variable and estimated residuals using the machine learning model. These steps are repeated until a sample having a smallest residual is unchanged for multiple iterations. The final model assesses relative importance of each design variable.

In the discussion that follows, reference is made to certain structures and/or methods. However, the following references should not be construed as an admission that these structures and/or methods constitute prior art. The Applicant expressly reserves the right to demonstrate that such structures and/or methods do not qualify as prior art against the present invention.
A design for a nuclear reactor core must satisfy complex interactions of physics disciplines. For example, the design requires neutronics that sustain criticality (fission reactions), which is also dependent on fuel and moderator properties. A design also requires thermal properties such as heat flux profile, conductivity, and output. In addition, a design must satisfy stress analyses for the assembly's integrity and material properties that will not melt or split apart under the stresses of energy flux and cycling.
Testing the neutronics case with Monte Carlo N-Particle Transport Code (MCNP) or other validated simulators often takes days for a single design, after which thermal and stress simulations or calculations must also be run. Finding a valid combination of design parameters for a particular geometry can take months. Historically, attempts to speed up this process has taken the form of: (i) adding computing power and/or using supercomputers; (ii) accelerating the computations, such as using a GPU computing development; and/or (iii) utilizing top end software, which treats inefficiencies in workflow and format compatibility, and may deploy an alternative but non-validated solver. However, the processes are still very slow, and often take months to determine that a proposed design does not satisfy all of the requirements. In addition, some systems attempt to increase fidelity or further integrate physics-based Modeling and Simulation software, often via government labs, with expensive development, which often slows down the process even further.

Rapid digital nuclear reactor design using machine learning


A squeezing detection control method is provided for consumable electrode arc welding. The method includes a step of detecting a droplet squeezing phenomenon by checking that a change in a voltage or resistance between the consumable electrode and base material reaches a squeezing detection reference value, and a step of executing output control for rapidly decreasing a welding current passing through a short-circuited load when the squeezing phenomenon is detected, so that arc re-striking occurs in a state of low current. The squeezing detection reference value is set to a first value during the electrode positive polarity, and set to a second value during the electrode negative polarity. The second value is different from the absolute value of the first value, and each of the first and second values is set such that the resultant welding state is satisfactory.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a squeezing detection control method for consumable electrode arc welding, to detect squeezing phenomena of droplets during short circuiting periods in consumable electrode arc welding, in order to sharply reduce the welding current and improve welding quality.
2. Description of the Related Art
FIG. 5 is a diagram showing current and voltage waveforms and droplet transfer in consumable electrode arc welding in which short circuiting periods Ts and arc periods Ta are repeated. In the figure, (A) indicates the change with time in the welding current Iw passing through the consumable electrode (hereafter called the welding wire 1), (B) indicates the change with time in the welding voltage Vw applied across the welding wire 1 and base material 2, and (C) through (E) indicate the manner of transfer of droplets 1a.
During the short circuit period Ts between times t1 and t3, a droplet 1a at the tip of the welding wire 1 is in a short circuiting state with the base material 2, and as shown in (A) in the figure, the welding current Iw gradually increases, so that as shown in (B) in the figure the welding voltage Vw assumes a low value of approximately several volts due to the short-circuited state. As shown in (C) in the figure, at time t1 the droplet 1a comes into contact with the base material 2 and enters a short circuiting state. Thereafter, as shown in (D) in the figure, squeezing 1b occurs in the upper portion of the droplet 1a due to the electromagnetic pinching force resulting from the welding current Iw passing through the droplet 1a. This squeezing 1b progresses rapidly, and as shown in (E) in the figure, at time t3 the droplet 1a is transferred from the welding wire 1 to the molten pool 2a, and the re-striking of an arc 3 occurs.
When the above squeezing phenomenon occurs, the short circuit is opened after an extremely short time on the order of several hundred μs, and an arc 3 re-strikes. That is, this squeezing phenomenon is a precursor of the opening of the short circuit. When squeezing 1b occurs, the conduction path of the welding current Iw becomes narrow at the squeezed portion, so that the resistance of the squeezed portion increases. The resistance increases as the squeezed portion becomes narrower with the progress of the squeezing. Hence by detecting a change in the resistance between the welding wire 1 and base material 2 during the short circuit period Ts, the occurrence and progress of the squeezing phenomenon can be detected. The change in resistance can be calculated by computing (welding voltage Vw)/(welding current Iw). Further, as explained above, the squeezing occurrence duration is an extremely short length of time, so that as shown in (A) in the figure, the change in welding current Iw during this period is small. Hence in place of a change in the resistance, occurrence of the squeezing phenomenon can also be detected through a change in the welding voltage Vw. One specific method of squeezing detection involves computing the rate of change (differential value) of the resistance or the welding voltage Vw during a short circuit period Ts, and detecting squeezing when this rate of change has reached a squeezing detection reference value determined in advance. Another method involves computing the voltage increase ΔV from the stable short circuit voltage Vs prior to the occurrence of squeezing during a short circuit period Ts, as in (B) in the figure, and detecting squeezing when at time t2 this voltage increase ΔV has reached a squeezing detection reference value Vtn determined in advance. In the following explanation, a case in which the above squeezing detection method employing the voltage increase ΔV is assumed; but various other methods proposed in the prior art may be used. The re-striking of an arc at time t3 can easily be detected by judging that the welding voltage Vw has become equal to or greater than a short circuit/arc discrimination value Vta. The period in which Vw<Vta is the short circuit period Ts, and the period in which Vw≧Vta is the arc period Ta. The time from detection of the occurrence of squeezing between times t2 and t3 and the time of re-striking of an arc will hereafter be called the squeezing detection period Tn. When at time t3 an arc re-strikes, the welding current Iw rises rapidly and then gently declines, as shown in (A) in the figure; and as indicated in (B), the welding voltage Vw becomes an arcing voltage of magnitude approximately several tens of volts. During the arc period Ta between times t3 and t4, the tip of the welding wire 1 is molten and a droplet 1a forms. Thereafter, the operation from time t1 to time t4 is repeated.
In the above-described welding accompanied by short circuiting, the current at time t3 when the arc 3 re-strikes can be a large current. In that (case, the arc force from the arc 3 toward the molten pool 2a rapidly increases, and massive sputtering occurs. That is, the amount of sputtering increases substantially in proportion to the current at arc re-striking Ia. Hence in order to suppress the occurrence of sputtering, this current at arc re-striking Ia must be kept small. As methods to accomplish this, various welding power supplies have been proposed in the prior art in which occurrence of the squeezing phenomenon is detected, and the welding current Iw is rapidly decreased to reduce the current at arc re-striking Ia. Below, this technology of the prior art is explained.
FIG. 6 is a block diagram of a welding power supply which adopts a squeezing detection control method of the prior art. The welding power supply PS is a welding power supply for use in general consumable electrode arc welding. The transistor TR is inserted in series with the output, and the resistor R is connected in parallel therewith. The voltage detection circuit VD detects the welding voltage Vw and outputs a voltage detection signal Vd. The squeezing detection circuit ND takes this voltage detection signal Vd as input, and outputs a squeezing detection signal Nd which is set to high level when in the short circuiting period Ts the above-described voltage increase ΔV reaches a squeezing detection reference value Vtn determined in advance, and which is set to low level when the voltage detection signal Vd reaches a short circuit/arcing discrimination value Vta determined in advance. That is, this squeezing detection signal Nd is at high level during the above-described squeezing detection period Tn. The driving circuit DR outputs a driving signal Dr which turns on the transistor TR when this squeezing detection signal Nd is at low level (when squeezing is not detected). Hence the transistor TR is in the off state when the squeezing detection signal Nd is at high level (when squeezing is detected).
FIG. 7 is a timing chart of the various signals in the above welding power supply. In the figure, (A) shows the welding current Iw, (B) shows the welding voltage Vw, (C) shows the squeezing detection signal Nd, and (D) shows the driving signal Dr.
In the figure, at the periods other than the squeezing detection period Tn from times t2 to t3, the squeezing detection signal Nd is at low level, as shown in (C); hence as indicated in (D), the driving signal Dr is at high level. As a result, the transistor TR is in the on state, so that operation is the same as that of a welding power supply for normal consumable electrode arc welding.
At time t2, when as shown in (B) in the figure the welding voltage Vw rises in the short circuiting period Ts and the volt-age increase ΔV is detected as having become equal to or greater than a squeezing detection reference value Vtn determined in advance, so that droplet squeezing is judged to have occurred, the squeezing detection signal Nd goes to high level, as in (C) in the figure. In response to this, as shown in (D) in the figure, the driving signal Dr goes to low level, and so the transistor TR enters the off state. As a result, the resistor R is inserted into the conduction path of the welding current Iw. The value of this resistor R is set to a value ten times or more than the short circuit load (several tens of mΩ), so that as shown in (A) in the figure, the energy stored in the DC reactor within the welding power supply and the cable reactor is suddenly discharged, and the welding current Iw decreases rapidly. At time t3, when the short circuit is opened and arcing again occurs, the welding voltage Vw becomes equal to or greater than the short circuiting/arcing discrimination value Vta, determined in advance, as shown in (B). Upon detection of this, the squeezing detection signal Nd goes to low level, as shown in (C), and the driving signal Dr goes to high level, as shown in (D). As a result, the transistor TR enters the on state, and normal consumable electrode arc welding control is performed. By means of this operation, the arc re-striking current Ia at the time an arc re-strikes (at time t3) can be made small, and the occurrence of sputtering can be suppressed.
The above explanation is for the case of DC consumable electrode arc welding; but the case of consumable electrode arc welding accompanying short circuiting is similar. Below, a squeezing detection control method for consumable electrode arc welding is explained.
FIG. 8 is a current and voltage waveform diagram showing a squeezing detection, control method for consumable electrode arc welding. In the figure, (A) is a polarity-switching signal Spn, (B) is the welding current Iw, and (C) is the welding voltage Vw.
As shown in (A) in the figure, the polarity-switching signal Spn is at high level during an electrode positive polarity period Tep, determined in advance, and is at low level during an electrode negative polarity period Ten, determined in advance. The output polarity of the welding power supply is switched according to this polarity-switching signal Spn. In (B) and (C) in the figure, 0 A or 0 V and above indicate electrode positive polarity EP, and values below these indicate electrode negative polarity EN. Further, unless stipulated otherwise, the values of the welding current Iw and welding voltage Vw represent absolute values for both of the polarities.
When short circuiting occurs at time t1 during an electrode positive polarity period Tep, the welding current Iw increases, as shown in (B) in the figure, and as shown in (C), the welding voltage Vw becomes a low short circuit voltage value Vs of approximately several volts. When squeezing occurs at the droplet during the short circuit period Ts, the welding voltage Vw increases as shown in (C), and at time t2 the voltage increase ΔV reaches the squeezing detection reference value Vtn. In response, as shown in (B) in the figure, the welding current Iw falls rapidly. Then, at time t3 an arc re-strikes. The current Ia at the time of arc re-striking is low, so that there is extremely little occurrence of sputtering. During the arc period Ta, as shown in (B) in the figure, the welding current Iw rises rapidly and then falls gently, and as shown in (C), the welding voltage Vw assumes an arcing voltage value of several tens of volts. During the electrode positive polarity period Tep, the above operation is repeated. The electrode positive polarity period Tep is often set to approximately several hundred milliseconds, and so the number of short circuits during one period is approximately from several times to several tens of times.
At time t5, as shown in (A) in the figure, the polarity-switching signal Spn changes to low level, and the welding power supply output polarity switches to electrode negative polarity EN. At time t5, short circuiting occurs, and upon entering the short circuiting period Ts, the welding current Iw increases and the welding voltage Vw becomes the low short circuit voltage Vs, similarly to the above operation. Droplet squeezing occurs, and at time t6, when the voltage increase ΔV reaches the squeezing detection reference value Vtn as in (C), the welding current Iw drops rapidly, as shown in (B). Then, when arc re-strikes at time t7, the welding current Iw rises rapidly and then falls gradually as shown in (B), and as shown in (C), the welding voltage Vw assumes an arcing voltage value of several tens of volts. In this case also, the arc re-striking current Ia at time t7 is low, so that there is extremely little occurrence of sputtering. During the electrode negative polarity period Ten, the above operation is repeated. This electrode negative polarity period Ten is also set to approximately several hundred milliseconds, so that the number of short circuits in one period is, similarly to the above, from several times to several tens of times approximately.
As explained above, by performing squeezing detection control in consumable electrode arc welding also, the occurrence of sputtering can be greatly reduced, and high-quality welding becomes possible.
In the above-described squeezing detection control, the accurate detection of occurrence of the squeezing phenomenon is essential to greatly reduce sputtering and enable high-quality welding. Hence the squeezing detection sensitivity (the setting for the squeezing detection reference value Vtn) must be made appropriate for various welding conditions. Welding conditions include the material of the object for welding, joints, welding attitude, wire protrusion length, feed rate, welding rate, and numerous other parameters. In order to set the squeezing detection reference value Vtn appropriately for each of these welding conditions, in the prior art, a method is used in which the squeezing detection period Tn or current at arc re-striking Ia is used in feedback control to automatically adjust the squeezing detection reference value Vtn so as to attain a target value, as shown in FIG. 7. Further, in some cases a knob for adjusting the squeezing detection reference value Vtn is provided on the panel of the welding power supply. (As examples of the prior art see Japanese Patent Laid-open No. 2004-114088 and Japanese Patent Laid-open No. 2006-281219.)
In the above-described squeezing detection control method for consumable electrode arc welding of the prior art, the absolute value of the AC welding voltage Vw is detected and is used in constant-voltage control and squeezing detection control in the welding power supply. This is because using the DC signal facilitates the processing in the control circuit. Hence in a method of squeezing detection control for consumable electrode arc welding also, normally the squeezing detection reference value Vtn is set to one value for each set of welding conditions. For this reason, the squeezing detection reference value Vtn has been set to the same value during both electrode positive polarity periods Tep and during electrode negative polarity periods Ten.
However, the state of droplet formation and state of squeezing occurrence differ greatly for electrode positive polarity EP and for electrode negative polarity EN. As a result, if the squeezing detection reference value Vtn, which is the squeezing detection sensitivity, is set appropriately for electrode positive polarity EP, then a state ensues which is inappropriate for electrode negative polarity EN, and similarly for the reverse case. Moreover, even when the above-described method for appropriate selection of a squeezing detection reference value Vtn is used, the value is made appropriate to each set of welding conditions, but is not made appropriate to each polarity. For this reason, in consumable electrode arc welding, there are cases in which the effect in reducing the occurrence of sputtering is insufficient.

Squeezing detection control method for consumable electrode arc welding


Photodiodes and methods of fabricating photodiodes are provided. For example, a method of fabricating a photodiode includes forming a buried layer of a first conductive type on a semiconductor substrate and forming a first intrinsic capping epitaxial layer on the buried layer. A first intrinsic epitaxial layer of the first conductive type is formed on the first intrinsic capping epitaxial layer. A first junction region of the first conductive type is formed in the first intrinsic epitaxial layer. A second intrinsic epitaxial layer of the second conductive type is formed on the first junction region and the first intrinsic epitaxial layer. A second intrinsic capping epitaxial layer is formed on the second intrinsic epitaxial layer. A second junction region of the first conductive type is formed such that the second junction region passes through the second intrinsic capping epitaxial layer and the second intrinsic epitaxial layer. The second junction region contacts the first junction region. A first electrode is formed on a surface of the second junction region and a second electrode is formed on a surface of the second intrinsic capping epitaxial layer.

Typically, a photodiode used for an optical element is an optical sensor receiving an electrical signal (i.e., current or voltage) from an optical signal by converting optical energy into electrical energy. A photodiode can be a semiconductor element in which a junction unit of the photodiode has an optical detection function. Such a photodiode utilizes the principle that excessive electrons or holes are generated by photon absorption, thereby modulating the conductivity of the photodiode. That is, the electric current produced by a photodiode varies according to the generation of carriers in response to incident photons. Such a characteristic of a photodiode provides a method of converting optical signals into electrical signals. By converting optical signals into electrical signals, a photodiode can be used as a light-receiving element of a photo pickup device. The photo pickup device reads data or information from optical recording devices such as a CD, a DVD, a DVD R/W, COMBO, COMBI, or Blue ray. A photodiode integrated chip (PDIC) formed by combining a photodiode with a circuit unit is under development. In the PDIC, a signal may be processed by a preamplifier.
Examples of photodiodes include a P-N junction photodiode, a PIN (P type electrode-intrinsic epitaxial layer-N+ type layer-P substrate) photodiode, an NIP (N type electrode-intrinsic epitaxial layer-P+ type layer-P substrate) photodiode, and an avalanche photodiode (APD) using an avalanche multiplication effect. A P-N junction photodiode has a low response speed and bad frequency characteristics. An APD generates noise and consumes a large amount of power. Therefore, PIN photodiodes and NIP photodiodes are typically used.
The performance of a photodiode is evaluated by photoefficiency and frequency characteristics (i.e., bandwidth). A photodiode can achieve high performance if the photodiode has high photoelectric efficiency for wavelengths of detected light and a sufficient response speed.
Conventionally, an intrinsic epitaxial layer of a PIN photodiode or an NIP photodiode is formed to have a particular resistivity and a thickness using a single thin film growth method. When the doping density of the intrinsic epitaxial layer (which may not be an intrinsic semiconductor) increases, the number of current carriers increases, thus improving frequency characteristics. When the doping density of the intrinsic epitaxial layer increases, the probability of electron-hole plasma (EHP) recombination also increases, thus decreasing the photoefficiency of a photodiode. Thus, there is a trade-off relationship between photoefficiency and frequency characteristics of a photodiode. The performance of a photodiode may be improved by optimizing the thickness of an intrinsic epitaxial layer and the density of impurities.
When an intrinsic epitaxial layer is formed using a single thin film growth method, impurities may be out-diffused from a high density P type layer in upper or lower regions of an intrinsic epitaxial layer into an intrinsic epitaxial layer. The impurities may be diffused from a high density N type layer in upper or lower regions of an intrinsic epitaxial layer into an intrinsic epitaxial layer. That is, a high-temperature heat treatment (during an epitaxial layer fabrication, subsequent annealing, or baking) may be performed to form a photodiode or an element including a photodiode. During such a heat treatment, impurities such as a dopant diffuse from the high density P type or N type layer to the intrinsic epitaxial layer. The diffusion of impurities into the intrinsic epitaxial layer decreases the performance of a photodiode.
Referring to FIG. 1, a sectional view of a conventional NIP photodiode is shown. A high density P-type buried layer 2, a P type first intrinsic epitaxial layer 3, an N type second intrinsic epitaxial layer 5, and an N+ type high density layer 8 for contacting with a cathode are formed on a P type semiconductor substrate 1. A first P type junction region 4 is formed in the P type first intrinsic epitaxial layer 3. A second P type junction region 6 is formed in the N type second intrinsic epitaxial layer 5. A P+ type layer 9b contacting with an anode formed in the P type junction region 6 contacts a metal distributing structure 11 of an anode electrode. A P+ type dividing layer 9a is formed on the N type intrinsic epitaxial layer 5 to divide a light receiving unit of a photodiode. The metal distributing structure 11, which is an anode electrode, is insulated by an interlayer insulating layer 10 and an intermetal insulating layer 12. An element separating layer 7 formed by Local Oxidation of Silicon (LOCOS) electronically separates a photodiode from adjacent elements. A silicon oxide (SiO2) layer 14 and a silicon nitride (SiN) layer 15 form an anti-reflective coating (ARC) 16 for blocking the reflection of light projected on the light-receiving unit of the photodiode.
Growing the epitaxial layers 3 and 5 can be performed in a high temperature of about 1100□ to about 1150□ to fabricate the conventional NIP type photodiode shown in FIG. 1. Forming a subsequent element can be performed in a heat treatment such as annealing or baking. The heat treatment out-diffuses impurities from the high density P-type buried layer 2 into the P type first intrinsic epitaxial layer 3. The heat treatment diffuses impurities from the high density N+ type layer 8 into the N type second intrinsic epitaxial layer 5. Such diffusion or out-diffusion decreases the performance of the photodiode. That is, when impurities are diffused to the intrinsic epitaxial layers 3 and 5 due to a high-temperature heat treatment, the thicknesses of the intrinsic epitaxial layers 3 and 5 are substantially reduced, and the capacitances of the intrinsic epitaxial layers 3 and 5 are increased. As a result, frequency may be reduced. The diffusion of the impurities decreases a depletion layer, thus also decreasing photoefficiency. A conventional PIN photodiode has similar problems with a conventional NIP photodiode.

Photodiode and method of fabricating the same


A graphical user interface layout is defined by a resource definition file having a set of resource directives associated therewith. A method of translating the layout to native Java source code begins by identifying each resource file directive associated with the window layout. For each resource file directive, or for each subdirective within a file directive or subdirective, the method generates a stub or "snippet" of Java code. The Java code snippets may be generated by direct code or by using a text-editable file interface, and the snippets are then combined to created a Java source file.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates generally to computer software development tools and more particularly to a method for translating resource-based windowing data into native Java source code.
2. Description of the Related Art
Java, originally developed by Sun Microsystems, is an object-oriented, multi-threaded, portable, platform-independent, secure programming environment used to develop, test and maintain software programs. Java programs have found extensive use on the World Wide Web, which is the Internet's multimedia information retrieval system. These programs include full-featured interactive, standalone applications, as well as smaller programs, known as applets, that run in a Java-enabled Web browser or applet viewer.
Many enterprises have large investments in computer programs that were originally written for event-driven windowing environments. Such programs are platform-dependent and use so-called "resource definition files" to define the layout of windows, menus, bitmaps, icons and other basic controls that comprise a graphical user interface ("GUI"). In such environments, when an application needs a resource, it makes a request to the operating system to load and display the resource element. Resource definition files thus define the graphical layout for window-based applications. Java, on the contrary, uses native methods in its runtime to construct and load graphical layouts for an application. There are no binary formats, for example, that describe how particular windows-based resources should be laid out or generated. Java does not use or support resource definition files.
Enterprises that now desire to migrate applications from their existing resource-based window environments (which are platform-dependent) to Java (which is platform-independent) face a significant problem. The problem occurs in trying to migrate existing code from an event driven windowing environment (which uses resource definition files) to the Java environment (which does not). Before an application can be migrated from a resource based windowing environment to Java, the window interface code for the application must be completely rewritten. This is a costly and complicated task.
The present invention provides a solution to this problem.

Method for translating graphical user interface (GUI) resource data into native java code

International Business Machines Corporation