The present invention relates to a restraint for an animal that comprises a longitudinally extended sheet and a plurality of individually releasably fastenable flap that are adapted to be disposed over the animal's body. The restraint provides a soft and comfortable feel to the animal and achieves the benefit of securing the animal for treatment, research or mere transportation, while maintaining the animal's composure and reducing stress and unwanted movement. The device is easily constructed and utilized and can be applied to a broad variety of animals, including rabbits, guinea pigs, birds, mice and the like.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to restraining devices for small animals, and particularly to a restraint for an animal such as a rabbit that is being used as a test subject, and that must be desirably restrained during the gathering of sample tissues or fluids in accordance with the test protocol, which affords comfort and security to the animal during such procedures.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In the course of conducting medical research, various small animals are engaged for purposes of testing particular potential therapeutic agents for their effectiveness. Usually, such animals are caused to ingest or otherwise receive the agent or device under test and are maintained in the test environment for a clinically significant period of time, after which tissues or fluids may be withdrawn for analysis, to determine from the results of the test the efficacy of the agent or device under investigation. In many instances, the animals under test are rabbits and the mode for the withdrawal of tissue samples or blood are via the ears of the animal. As such procedures are themselves disquieting to the animal test subject, it is desirable to maintain the animal in a secure and stable restraint so that the procedure can be performed with minimum injury and concomitant maximum efficiency.
Prior art devices for restraining animals have employed a variety of means, including cages and like containers where the animals are held rigidly in position. Such cages are usually constructed of metal or like rigid materials so that they are able to withstand both the stresses of movement of the animal during confinement and the conditions that are desirable for the cleaning and sterilization of the device before reuse. The devices in question offer hard surfaces and are extremely uncomfortable and stressful to the animal.
Several means have been disclosed in the prior art for restraining animals for a variety of purposes. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,137,870 to Cano discloses a device for the restraint and transport of an animal such as a dog. The device in question covers the torso of the animal however leaves the head and neck totally free. This does not serve to assist in the restraint, stabilization and quieting of the animal as is necessary in the instance where a blood sample or the like is to be withdrawn from the animal's ear. Further, U.S. Pat. No. 5,218,929 to Muck et al. shows a restraint for a bird which has as its object to prevent the bird from taking flight during examination or other similar activities. This device, likewise, fails to address the issues presently of interest, regarding the stabilization of the entire body of the animal and particularly the head and neck of the animal, so that specific parts may be accessed without injury and mishap. Likewise, U.S. Pat. No. 2,471,701 to Post discloses a poultry bag which, like the devices just reviewed, fails to provide the type of stabilization that is desirable for instances where specific body parts, such as the head and neck region of the animal are to be accessed for the withdrawal of a blood or tissue sample, or for other ministrations to the animal.
In summary, while numerous restraining devices are known and have been employed in the past for the stabilization and containment of animals for a variety of purposes, none has addressed the issues that are presently of interest, regarding the stabilization of an animal such as a rabbit for access to certain body parts or appendages such as the region of the head and particularly, to the ears, as well as the torso areas for administration of injections while keeping the head covered for the animal's security, in a manner which provides for the requisite stabilization and assistance to the researcher, while at the same time providing the most comfortable, quieting and least threatening experience for the animal. It is to the achievement of these objectives that the present invention is accordingly directed.


A protective enclosure for a food protection system includes a first hinge member, a second hinge member rotatably coupled to the first hinge member, and a coupler selectively repositionable relative to the first hinge member between an engaged position and a disengaged position. In the engaged position, the coupler engages the first hinge member to limit rotation of the coupler relative to the first hinge member. In the disengaged position, the coupler is free to rotate relative to the first hinge member. The coupler is rotatably coupled to the second hinge member such that (a) rotation of the coupler relative to the second hinge member in a first rotational direction is limited and (b) the coupler is free to rotate relative to the second hinge member in a second rotational direction opposite the first rotational direction.

The present disclosure relates generally to food and/or beverage stations used in the food service industry, such as to serve food and beverage items on a self-serve basis to patrons. Such food stations may include protective enclosures around the food and beverage items to help provide protection against airborne contamination. More specifically, the present disclosure relates to such food stations and protective enclosures in which the protective enclosure has a repositionable shield.
The food service industry uses food stations to present and serve food and beverage items. Multiple food stations often are used in combination in situations such as self-serve buffets, restaurant dining rooms, cafeteria-style serving facilities, catered events, and the like. A typical food station includes a base cabinet that may be on casters or other similar hardware to allow the station to be more easily moved to different locations or positions. The base cabinet is fitted with a countertop on which food and/or beverages as well as related meal utensils may be presented for consumption or use by patrons. Some food stations have one or more wells that hold pans of food. Eating utensils, and other meal related items also may be presented on a food station. Food stations also may include cooling or heating components to serve cold or hot food or beverages. To power heating and cooling components, food stations may include power supplies or components that allow the food station to be connected to power supplies. Some stations may include plumbing components to couple the station to a water supply and/or to drains.
Food stations may be set up for self-serve functionality in which a patron selects and serves his or her own food or beverages from the station. Self-serve stations may be single-sided so that patrons accomplish self-service from only one side of the station. Other food stations are configured to allow self-service from two or more sides of the station. Other food stations, such as those in cafeterias, allow the patrons to view and select food or beverage items, but it is service personnel who then serve the selections.
According to applicable food service regulations in many venues, a protective enclosure often is mounted over the countertop and food/beverage supplies of a food station to protect against airborne contamination. These protective enclosures are also known in the food service industry as sneeze guards or breathe guards. A typical protective enclosure used on self-serve food stations includes a top panel, and one or more side panels. Side panels often are included on the ends of the food station as well as on the side(s) on which patrons interact with the food station. The sides used by food service personnel optionally may include a side panel, but often do not. As used herein, a side panel that is deployed on the side(s) of a food station accessible to patrons will be referred to as a front panel or shield.
A typical front panel is transparent so that the items presented on the station can be easily viewed through the panel. For self-serve situations (e.g., in a self-serve mode of operation), the front panel or shield is deployed in a raised configuration so that it protects the food supply while still permitting the patron to reach under the panel to access the food supply. If a station permits self-serve access from two or more sides of the station, each such side is configured with a similar, raised shield panel. In contrast to self-serve situations, a typical front panel used on some foods stations (e.g., in a served mode of operation) is fully lowered so that patrons can view and select food choices, but the patrons are served by other personnel and cannot directly access food products for self-service.
It would be desirable if a protective enclosure allows one or more of the side panels of a protective enclosure, including but not limited to the front panels, to be easily raised and lowered to work in both self-service and cafeteria-style applications. It would also be desirable if the moveable side panel(s) could be set in multiple fixed positions as desired. For example, a configuration may be desired in which a side panel would be lowered to block access to the food station from that side. This can be done to close the station or to convert the station from a self-serve mode to a served mode. Another configuration may also be desired in which that same side panel could be raised and fixed in one or more raised positions to allow self-serve access by patrons or access by food service personnel for maintenance, upkeep, or service.


A modular dispensing device for mixing and dispensing reactive components includes a body, a triggering device, a dispensing cartridge, a control device, and a modular mixing assembly. The modular mixing assembly includes a primary central body shaped to accept the dispensing cartridge, the primary central body having a pair of opposed primary central body passages, two modular valve blocks to channel flow of a fluid from external sources to one of the primary central body passages, a secondary central body assembly attached to a downstream end of the primary central body, and a modular tip adapter mounted to the secondary central body and surrounding a tip of the dispensing cartridge and having an adapter passage for the flow of fluid to mix with fluid exiting the dispensing cartridge tip.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to mixing devices for mixing and dispensing reactive chemical streams. More particularly, this invention relates to a modular mixing device that provides flexibility to enable the device to be reconfigured to accurately mix and dispense different reactive input streams as a properly mixed end product.
2. Description of the Background of the Invention
Reactive chemical compositions, such as polyurethane foam compositions are well known in the art. These compositions typically are combined shortly before use by combining or intimately mixing the two reactive chemical components. For polyurethane foam, the two components are a polyol and an isocyanate. These two materials are highly reactive and readily react at various temperatures to form a foam material with a wide range of physical properties. Typical uses for these polyurethane foams include thermal insulation, floatation, cushioning for packaging, and the like. Most polyurethane foams used for insulation, floatation and packaging are rigid foams. These rigid polyurethane foams are formed when the polyol and isocyanate components are mixed. Upon mixture, the reaction commences and a voluminous foam is formed as the reaction products and/or optional blowing agents build volume within the reactive foam structure. As the reaction continues the foam hardens or becomes rigid.
Within the insulation industry, the two components are stored in separate drums or containers and are mixed just prior to the foam being placed within a structure to be insulated. In a manufacturing setting, this can include refrigerator or freezer walls, cooling chests, storage units and the like. In this setting, a dispensing device, often hand held, is used to both mix and dispense the foam into the cavity to be insulated. There have been numerous hand held devices, such as that disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,246,143, to mix and dispense reactive chemical streams such as the two part streams used to make polyurethane foam in situ. The device disclosed in this patent mixed two streams in a valve cartridge that is removable and can be disposed if the cartridge becomes fouled by reacted polymer.
In the past, chemical manufacturers produced foam insulation products as two premixed component foam compositions. These premixed components included the polyol component and the isocyanate component blended with various additives such as catalyst packages, blowing agents, curing agents, modifiers, colorants, and the like.
Recently, there has been a trend by chemical manufacturers to offer the end users incomplete pre-blend formulas intended for special applications. These pre-blend formulations typically do not contain the blowing agent, in part because of the special shipping and handling requirements for compositions containing blowing agents. In this case, the manufacturer provides components and pre-blends with instructions on the proper formulation of these materials to achieve specific results. As a result, the end users must now mix and blend the necessary blowing agents with one of the primary chemical components, typically the polyol, often requiring a significant investment in equipment, and engineering time. At present, there is no convenient way for an end user to custom blend these materials at the dispensing device to achieve custom individualized results.
In the past, the devices that were designed to mix and dispense these two part reactive compositions did not include the ability to mix various additive and additive packages into one or both of the main reactive chemical streams These prior devices do not have the flexibility to handle the task of custom mixing various input streams to enable a manufacturer or installer to easily prepare two part components systems in situ from the individual chemical components that are currently available from and usually sold by chemical manufacturers. Also, because these devices were developed to meet the needs based on prior complete and fully blended systems, they may not be able to handle the needs of a user that must accurately blend multiple components as they are being used and may need to adjust that blend during the dispensing process.
Depending on the specific type of foam to be produced, the dispensing devices must be able to adapt to these changing needs. For instance, a foam that is placed within a cavity may need a device that includes an extension of the exit tip or port so that the foam will be unconfined only after it enters the void volume and thereafter will expand to properly fill the entire void volume. In other applications, the foam will be sprayed on the exterior of a shape. In this instance, the foam components will be mixed with a carrier stream such as air as the foam components are sprayed onto the surface to be coated. In this instance, the foam will be formed either as the foam components are first dispensed or will expand once the components are deposited on the coating surface.

Modular mixing assembly and dispensing device


A method and apparatus for performing forecasting using time series data are described. In one embodiment, the method includes designating a last portion of the time series data as a base pattern, searching the remaining portion of the time series data for candidate patterns using the base pattern, and identifying candidate forecasts corresponding to the candidate patterns. The method further includes calculating a set of final forecast values based on the candidate forecasts.

A time series is a sequence of observations that are ordered in time (e.g., observations made at evenly spaced time intervals). Some examples of time series data may include end-of-month stock prices for General Electric, hits per day at a web site, weekly sales of Windows 2000, electrical demand per hour in Seattle, daily high tide readings in San Francisco Bay, etc.
A time series may be stationary or non-stationary. A stationary time series has no long-term trend over the period it has been observed. One example of a stationary time series is the electrocardiogram readings of a person at rest. The series may seem noisy and jagged, but the long-term averages stay approximately the same. Another example is the yearly average of daily high tide readings in San Francisco Bay. Although high tide readings may vary from one day to another, their yearly averages stay approximately the same.
A non-stationary time series is characterized by a trend. For instance, the yearly average of the S&P 500 over the postwar years has distinct trends. Similarly, electrical demand in Seattle has a long-term trend as the demand is increasing in response to a growing population. Most economic time series—sales, web site hits, stock prices—have trends. The trend curve is not necessarily linear. It can go up for a while and then go down.
Various forecasting methods exist that attempt to predict future values of the time series based on the past time series data. Some forecasting methods are as simple as continuing the trend curve smoothly by a straight line. Other forecasting methods are more sophisticated. The most well known and widely used method is the ARIMA procedure (auto-regression and moving averages) due to Box and Jenkins (George E. P. Box, et al., "Time Series Analysis: Forecasting And Control," 3rd Edition, Prentice Hall, Feb. 9, 1994). This procedure assumes that each measurement in a time series is generated by a linear combination of past measurements plus noise. Despite its popularity, the ARIMA method has proved to be inaccurate when used for non-stationary time series data (Spyros Markridaki, et al., "The Forecasting Accuracy of Major Time Series Methods," John Wiley And Sons 1984). Other existing forecasting methods also failed to provide accurate predictions for such commercial data as sales, web site hits, stock prices, etc.
Thus, an improved forecasting technique is needed that will have the ability to calculate future values of non-stationary time series with a sufficient degree of accuracy.

Time series analysis and forecasting program


The present disclosure discloses a multimedia file push method and apparatus, and relates to the field of network technologies. The method includes: obtaining first visual feature information, where the first visual feature information is visual feature information of a to-be-pushed multimedia file; determining a first user identity according to the first visual feature information, where the first user identity is a push target user identity of the to-be-pushed multimedia file; and pushing the to-be-pushed multimedia file according to the first user identity.

In the Internet age, when a user visits a social network, if a multimedia file that interests the user is pushed to the user, not only a visit click-through rate of the multimedia file is improved, but also influence of related products is further expanded; moreover, the user can perform operations, such as browsing and following related products, more easily, so as to improve user experience. Therefore, how to push a multimedia file to people accurately becomes a problem demanding prompt solution.
In the existing technology, when there is a newly-added multimedia file, a random push manner is usually used, that is: some users are selected randomly, the newly-added multimedia file is pushed to these users; and feedback information from the users is collected, all users in a social network that are interested in the newly-added multimedia file are determined according to the feedback information of the users, and the newly-added multimedia file is pushed to all the users in the social network that are interested in the newly-added multimedia file.
When a newly-added multimedia file is pushed to some users that are selected randomly, and if a small number of users are selected, feedback information of sufficient quantity cannot be collected; and when the multimedia file is pushed subsequently, push accuracy is relatively low.

Multimedia file push method and apparatus

Tencent Technology (Shenzhen) Company Limited


The invention relates to a method for supporting a transmission of data packets from a node attached to a mobile communication network to a first unit. In order to enable a second unit providing or forwarding the data packets to the node to influence the QoS for the transmission, it is proposed that the method comprises transmitting data packets of a specific data flow from the node to the first unit using a quality of service treatment which is selected based on a quality of service treatment associated with a quality of service identifier. The quality of service identifier is inserted by a second unit to each packet of the specific data flow. The invention relates equally to a terminal equipment, to a node, to a mobile communication network and to a system comprising means for realizing the proposed method.

It is known from the state of the art to enable terminal equipment to access a mobile communication network, e.g. a 3GPP (3rd generation partnership project) network, via a node which is attached to the mobile communication network. Thereby, a terminal equipment device, e.g. a portable computer, is able to exchange data with a peer device, e.g. an Internet server, via the mobile communication network. The node may be realized for example by a mobile terminal, which can be connected physically or via the air interface with the terminal equipment device.
An important aspect of such an environment which has not been standardized yet is the quality of service (QoS) management for involved packet switched data transmissions.
Currently, there is no effective way for a terminal equipment device to request a QoS profile for a data flow. A QoS profile can only be requested by a terminal equipment device through AT commands. AT commands, however, are quite clumsy, and it is not likely that terminal equipment applications would start to configure AT commands extensively in order to have the needed QoS. AT commands are moreover not scalable to scenarios where several QoS profiles are needed simultaneously.
Known flexible QoS management solutions do not take account of requirements by terminal equipment accessing a mobile communication network via a node which is attached to this network.
Document WO 00/76230 A1 proposes a method to control the PDP (packet data protocol) context of a data packet in a mobile terminal, which contains one or several applications performing packet format data transfer. First, a data packet is received from an application. The data packet contains a first identifier to identify the application that has created the packet. Then, input data pertaining to this application is received. The input data contains information about one or several data flows of the application. On basis of the input data, a PDP context is defined for each data flow of the application. Further, a second identifier indicating the data flow is added to the data packet. Finally, the departing data packet is classified into a PDP context on basis of the first and the second identifier.
Document WO 99/39480 A2 aims at supporting a flexible determination of the QoS in packet switched transmissions between a wireless communication device and an information network. The wireless communication device accesses a radio network, and data transmissions between the mobile terminal and the radio network are controlled by an access point controller. For setting up an Internet connection, the required QoS for the connection is determined, for example centrally by the access point controller. Then, it is attempted to establish the connection in the wireless communication network with parameters complying with the set QoS.
A possibility for enabling terminal equipment accessing the information network via the wireless communication device to influence the employed QoS is not dealt with in documents WO 00/76230 A1 and WO 99/39480 A2.
Similar problems may occur in other, similar environments, in which a unit desires to ensure a specific QoS for the transmission of data packets from a node which is attached to a mobile communication network to some other unit.
The mentioned problems are also of particular relevance for IP Multimedia Core Network Subsystems (IMS).
IMS was introduced in 3GPP Release 5 and is intended to provide IP (Internet protocol) based telephony and multimedia sessions with security and charging on top of 3G RAN (radio access network) and packet core infrastructure. In addition to basic telephony services, IMS should be able to provide SIP (session initiation protocol) based presence and messaging services. IMS can also be used to set up sessions related to all types of services, such as network gaming.
In IMS sessions, media is delivered directly from user equipment to user equipment, or from user equipment to Media Gateway or Media Resource Function, e.g. in RTP/UDP/IP (real time protocol/user datagram protocol/Internet protocol) packets. For this, end-to-end QoS is required in RAN, GPRS (general packet radio service) and IP core network (CN). However, session establishment, modification and teardown (i.e. the signaling plane) using the SIP protocol requires several application level servers, such as Call State Control Functions (CSCF). The role of CSCFs is to route the session establishment, to interact with authentication and accounting, and to act as the focal point in session related services through the interaction with UMS (unified messaging service) and Application Servers. UMS is a central repository for all subscriber-related data, including the authentication keys.
IMS interacts with Circuit Switched (CS) networks such as a PSTN (public switched telephone network) through Media Gateways and Media Gateway controllers. A subscriber is also able to roam between IMS and CS CN domain.
In theory IMS is completely independent of RAN and GPRS, i.e. it only requires an IP packet transport with a requested QoS from them. For example, IMS registration and authentication are completely separate and independent from the GPRS procedures. However, in reality IMS interfaces with GPRS to tie together the authorization of an IMS session and a PDP context carrying media for it. The main benefit from this to the operator is the ability to combine GPRS and IMS services and charging. However, separate GPRS and IMS subsystems are also possible without this kind of tight coupling. An IMS-GPRS interface is used to handle situations in which a user equipment leaves radio coverage or shuts down during an existing IMS session. This indication is needed in IMS to release session related state. The interaction between IMS and RAN is minimal. In some situations it would be beneficial for an IMS functional element to know which kind of radio interface a user equipment is using to optimize session related procedures, e.g. media streams or the usage of message compression.
IMS and a services subsystem interact with each other directly. From IMS point of view, a services subsystem is a combination of Application Servers, which can offer session-related services to subscribers. The interaction happens from Serving CSCF using an ISC (international switching center) protocol interface. A services subsystem is also able to offer non-session related services, such as instant messaging, push and presence to IMS endpoints.
IMS is built based on IETF (Internet engineering task force) protocols, such as SIP, SDP (session description protocol), RTP and Diameter. In some cases, extensions to these protocols are needed to either add new functionality, to optimize their usage in wireless environment or to utilize existing Release 99 solutions. The preferred way has been to do extensions, not modifications.


A basketball goal assembly (10) includes a base (11), a pole assembly (12) carried by the base (11), a rim assembly (14) pivotally carried by the pole assembly (12) and a backboard (13) carried by the pole assembly (12). The pole assembly (12) has a front face (21) having a recess (27) therein. A lug (36) on the rim assembly (14) is received in the recess (27) to hold the rim assembly (14) in a useable condition. Upon a downward force on the rim assembly (14), the rim assembly (14) breaks away from the pole assembly (12) as the lug (36) comes out of the recess (27). A yoke (59) extends between the base (11) and the pole assembly (12) to assist in supporting the pole assembly (12). However, the yoke (59) may be removed from the pole assembly (12) and the base (11) and positioned in a compartment (64) formed in the base (11). The pole assembly (12) may then be rotated to be generally flat with the base (11) and to be positioned over the yoke (59). A scoring system (44) may also be provided on the pole assembly (12).

Basketball goals which are particularly suited for use by young children are known in the art. Typically, such goals include a base to which a pole is attached and then a backboard and rim assembly is attached to the top of the pole. Many such devices require a plurality of fasteners for assembly purposes and do not, therefore, provide for quick and easy assembling. Moreover, most of these devices do not provide for compact storing during periods of nonuse.
Some of the prior art devices, such as those shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,793,611 and 5,082,261, provide for a height adjustment of the pole so that as the child grows in height or in skill, the rim may be raised to provide more of a challenge. However, in these devices, if the child is able to reach and grasp the rim, it is entirely possible that the entire assembly will tip and possibly fall onto the child.
In an attempt to solve this potential safety problem, a rim as been designed which fits over or otherwise straddles the pole. The design is such that upon a downward force on the outer end of the rim, the connection between the rim and the back of the pole will break allowing the rim to pivot slightly downwardly. However, because the inner end of the rim is still straddling the pole, the potential to pull the pole forwardly to tip the assembly still exists.
Moreover, a breakaway rim not only provides a safety feature to the product but also provides the child with a more realistic toy because most adult basketball rims are provided with a breakaway backboard.
Thus, the need exists for a basketball goal with a rim which will break away from the backboard in such a manner so as to reduce the possibility of the unit tipping and falling to the ground and to provide a more realistic children's toy.


The present disclosure illustrates a low density parity-check code decoder adapted for decoding coding data having bit nodes and check nodes. The decoder includes a calculation module and a memory. The calculation module includes k calculation units and n shift units, and the memory includes n memory units. The memory is coupled to the calculation module. Each shift unit is one-to-many coupled to the k calculation units. The n memory units are coupled to the n shift units. The calculation module operatively divides the coding data into n first-bit-strings. The ith calculation unit operatively generates a second-bit-string by calculating ith bits of the n first-bit-strings. The jth shift unit operatively generates a third-bit-string upon receiving jth bits of the k second-bit-strings, and shifts the third-bit-string. The memory units are configured for storing the n shifted third-bit-strings respectively.

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to a decoder, in particular, to a low density parity-check code decoder and a decoding method thereof.
2. Description of Related Art
During data transmission, data may be lost or damaged due to the poor reliability of the transmission medium or external interferences. Error correcting code or error control code has been designed for correcting the damaged or lost data and the reconstruction of the raw data. Common error correcting codes include Hamming Code, Reed Solomon Code, Bose Chaudhuri Hocquengham (BCH) Code, and Low Density Parity Check (LDPC) Code. Low density parity-check code has better capability of error detecting and error correcting than others, and it can decode at a high-speed rate. In the parallel-structure design of the traditional low density parity-check code decoder, in order to increase the computing parallelism and avoid the writing/reading problem in the row blocks and column blocks of the memory, the decoder usually divides the memory into memory blocks by the cyclic matrix unit, and operates writing or reading the memory blocks at the same time. But in this way, when the storage is written or read in the calculation processing, the data collision will still occur.
Thus, although the low density parity-check code includes a plurality of advantages, there exist many problems such as the data collision, circuit area, and calculating complexity that need improvement.

Low density parity-check code decoder and decoding method thereof


Disclosed is a punch pressing machine requiring no turret, having punch units and die units as die sets, the number of which is not inferior to a turret punch pressing machine, and exhibiting a working accuracy superior to the turret punch pressing machine. A plurality of punch units and die units are disposed in two or more lines on a mounting plate member. A hammer member confronting the respective punch and die units is positioned in X-and-Y axis directions, whereby a workpiece can undergo necessary punch press working.

Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a punch pressing machine equipped with a plurality of punch and die units.
A punch press having a plurality of die sets has hitherto been known as a turret punch pressing machine.
The turret punch press, however, presents a problem in which a working accuracy depends on the positioning accuracy of the turret to align the punch over the die.
Known also is a punch pressing machine having the plurality of punch/die sets requiring no index positioning process. In this pressing machine, the plurality of die sets are simply arranged in one line, and the number of die sets is small. Hence, there arises such a problem that a working range is limited as compared with the turret punch pressing machine.


The present invention provides a method for forming images comprising the steps of imagewise exposing a negative-working image-forming material which comprises a substrate provided thereon with an image-recording layer comprising a photopolymerization initiator system sensitive to light rays whose wavelength falls within the visible to ultraviolet ranges, a polymerizable compound carrying at least one ethylenically unsaturated group and a binder polymer and then developing the imagewise exposed image-forming material with a developer which contains at least one carbonate, at least one hydrogen carbonate and at least one alkali silicate and which has a pH value ranging from 9 to 13.0, wherein the ratio of the total molar number a of the carbonate and the hydrogen carbonate to the molar number b of the SiO2 component present in the alkali silicate: a/b ranges from 1:0.3 to 1:2 and the total molar number of these components: a+b ranges from 0.1 to 2 mole/L. The present invention provides a stable processing method even when an image-forming material having a narrow latitude (small discrimination) in developing is utilized.

The present invention relates to a method for forming images useful for a negative working image-forming material which can directly be formed into a printing plate by scanning a visible laser beam based on digital signals outputted from, for instance, a computer or which can be subjected to the so-called direct plate-making operation.
As a material for preparing lithographic printing plates, there has conventionally and widely been used a PS plate having such a structure that a lipophilic light-sensitive resin layer is formed on a hydrophilic substrate and a desired printing plate has currently been prepared from such a PS plate by a plate-making method which comprises the steps of subjecting the PS plate to a mask-exposure through a lith film and then removing the non-image area of the light sensitive layer on the exposed PS plate through dissolution.
Recently, there have widely been used digitization techniques in which image information is electronically treated, accumulated and outputted by the action of a computer and a variety of corresponding new image-outputting systems have been put to practical use. Consequently, it has been an important technical subject to develop a CTP technique for directly preparing a printing plate by scanning light rays having highly directional properties such as a laser beam in accordance with the digitized image information without using any lith film and to likewise develop an original plate for preparing a printing plate (printing plate precursor or PS plate for preparing a printing plate) suitably used for the CTP technique.
As such light sources, there have been adopted an Ar laser (488 nm), an FD-YAG laser (532 nm) and an InGaN type semiconductor laser (violet laser; 350 to 450 nm) and there has already been developed and put to practical use an original plate for preparing a lithographic printing plate, which comprises a highly sensitive photopolymerizable light-sensitive layer quite susceptible to light rays from such a light source and capable of ensuring a considerable productivity.
Most of the sensitivity-improving techniques relate to photopolymerization initiator systems and examples of such initiator systems highly sensitive to, for instance, Ar lasers and FD-YAG lasers include combinations of titanocene with coumarin dyes (Patent Article 1: Japanese Un-Examined Patent Publication Hei 9-268185; Patent Article 2: Japanese Un-Examined Patent Publication Hei 6-192309; Patent Article 3: Japanese Un-Examined Patent Publication Hei 10-204085), combinations of styryl dyes with titanocene (Patent Article 4: Japanese Un-Examined Patent Publication Hei 9-80750) and combinations of dyes having acidic 5-membered heterocyclic nuclei with titanocene (Patent Article 5: Japanese Un-Examined Patent Publication Hei 10-101719).
In addition, as photopolymerization initiator systems highly sensitive to light rays emitted from violet lasers, there have been known, for instance, combinations of naphtho-furanone type dyes with titanocene (Patent Article 6: Japanese Un-Examined Patent Publication Hei 2000-206690) and combinations of carbazolyl-styryl type dyes with titanocene (Patent Article 7: Japanese Un-Examined Patent Publication Hei 2001-42524).
On the other hand, the PS plate should have a high solubility difference (discrimination) between the exposed and un-exposed areas on the light-sensitive layer thereof as a developing characteristic property in order to provide a lithographic printing plate stably showing the desired functions thereof. It has been known that this problem may be solved to some extent by the addition of a specific surfactant to a developer (Patent Article 8: Japanese Un-Examined Patent Publication Hei 2003-43703), but it would further be important to reduce any damage of image areas and to steadily maintain the stable activity of a developer used, for the further improvement of the quality of the resulting printing plate.
In this respect, there has been reported the use of a strongly alkaline aqueous solution having a pH value of higher than 12.5 and comprising, for instance, potassium silicate for the development of a negative-working image-forming material which makes use of a photopolymerizable composition (Patent Article 9: Japanese Un-Examined Patent Publication Hei 8-108621), but the use of a developer having such a high pH value suffers from problems such that the developer may considerably damage image areas and the resulting printing plate has insufficient printing durability. Moreover, if such a developing treatment is continued over a long period of time, the developer may undergo a change in its ability of absorbing carbon dioxide due to environmental changes such as a change in the environmental carbon dioxide concentration and the developer correspondingly causes a change in the activity thereof. As a result, various problems arise such that the quality of the plate-making material is quite susceptible to such changes and that components of the plate-making material are accumulated in a developing tank and that the accumulation thereof leads to, for instance, the clogging of piping.
Over against it, there has been proposed a method for developing a layer of a light-sensitive resin composition formed on the surface of a glass surface with, for instance, a mixed aqueous solution containing sodium carbonate and sodium hydrogen carbonate, having a pH value of about 10 in order to inhibit any reduction of the developing ability of the developer with the elapse of time and due to the repeated use of the same (Patent Article 10: Japanese Un-Examined Patent Publication Hei 5-88377; Patent Article 11: Japanese Un-Examined Patent Publication Hei 11-65126).
When the inventors of this invention applied these developers to an original plate (PS plate) for preparing a lithographic printing plate which comprises an aluminum substrate provided thereon with a light-sensitive layer containing a photopolymerizable light-sensitive resin composition, however, it was found that the developers did not have any satisfactory ability to develop non-image areas of such a light-sensitive layer. Moreover, there has also been reported an alkaline developer to which an alkyl phenolic surfactant is added for the solution of a problem concerning the ability of developing a photoresist comprising a pigment dispersed therein (Patent Article 12: Japanese Un-Examined Patent Publication Hei 10-239858), but there has not yet been developed any developer which can satisfy the both requirements for the developing ability and the ability to produce a printing plate having sufficient durability.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


In a communication device compatible with either a SISO or MIMO access point, a set of antennas is configured as either sector-directional or omni-directional, depending upon whether the communication channel is characterized by the communication device as either strongly line of sight, or strongly scattering, respectively. In some embodiments, for the case in which a MIMO access point is utilized, the singular values of an estimated channel matrix are generated, and based upon the singular values, the characteristics of the communication channel is estimated. Other embodiments are described and claimed.

Multi-path wireless channels are capable of large channel capacities, and may be properly exploited through the use of an MIMO (Multiple-Input-Multiple-Output) communication system. An MIMO system employs multiple transmit antennas and multiple receive antennas. Standard IEEE 802.16e, sometimes referred to as Mobile Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (Mobile WiMAX), supports MIMO antenna technology. Future wireless networks will also support MIMO antenna technology. There have been efforts to introduce a unified proposal for the next generation of high performance wireless networks, developed under the guidelines of the IEEE Standards Association and submitted to the IEEE 802.11n Task Group N (TGn). One of the goals is to enable MIMO Spatial Division Multiplexing to provide reliable transmission speeds of up to 315 megabits per second (Mbps) with two antennas, and up to 630 Mbps with larger systems employing more than two antennas.
Access point density in an enterprise WLAN (Wireless Local Area Network) is expected to increase to where the typical distance between an access point and a client may at times be 10 feet or less. As a result, the effect of line-of-sight (LOS) communication is expected to become important. A strong LOS communication link increases spatial signal correlation, so as to diminish the benefit of an MIMO system.
Accordingly, it is useful to provide communication technology in a multiple antenna client that may be configured to perform well when a LOS communication path is dominant. Furthermore, because upgrading an access point to a MIMO system is more expensive than for a client, it is expected that there will be a period of time for which access points have not yet been upgraded from a SISO (Single-Input-Single-Output) system to a MIMO system. Consequently, it is also useful to provide communication technology in which a multiple antenna client is easily configured whether the access point is a SISO system or an MIMO system.

Adaptive multiple-antenna systems with omni-directional and sector-directional antenna modes


A method of analyzing a volumetric data set obtained by an imaging system from an object is provided includes defining a first region of interest comprising a population of voxels of a first tissue part of the object to obtain a first distribution of radiation attenuation coefficient values, defining a second region of interest comprising a sample of voxels of a second tissue part of the object to obtain a second distribution of radiation attenuation coefficient values, and distinguishing the second tissue from the first tissue using the properties of the first and second distributions of radiation attenuation coefficients.

X-ray tomographic, three-dimensional (3D) volumetric image data set acquisition apparatuses, and methods to translate these data into voxel matrices of X-ray attenuation values are known. The results are generally presented as various two-dimensional (2D) slice images of relative contrast of X-ray attenuation to provide geometrical and structural information about the object under investigation. Typically, the diagnostic or treatment targeting or other disease management activities only make use of the geometry and structure contrast of slice images. The shapes of the matrix voxels are generally asymmetric with relatively small dimensions (high spatial resolution) in the (x, y) plane perpendicular to the axis of rotation, and a larger dimension (lower spatial resolution) in the z-direction parallel to the axis of rotation. The ratio of the largest-to-smallest voxel dimension often exceeds a factor of four. The result is voxels that look more like rectangular soda straws than cubes. In digital tomosynthesis, this elongation of the z-dimension is even more significant due to the limited geometry directions from which the measured data are acquired.
It is known that X-ray attenuation is primarily a result of three types of interactions, namely photoelectric absorption, Compton scattering, and pair production. All the interactions have dependencies on the incident X-ray photon energy, object atomic number, and object mass density. Thus tomography determined X-ray attenuation values for voxels are an integral, complex weighted "average" over the atomic numbers, mass densities, and the energy distribution of the incident X-rays. The energy distribution of an incident X-ray changes with the distance the X-ray beam has to penetrate the object to reach the voxel being measured. In computed tomography, the resulting voxel attenuation values are typically calibrated using the average X-ray attenuation of water as the zero reference and free space attenuation as a value of minus 1000, expressed in Hounsfield units (HU).
Most recently, cone beam computed tomography is used to provide volumetric HU data sets with voxels of more symmetric dimensions in all three directions. The largest dimension can be in the range of 0.3 mm or larger, and the asymmetry ratio values can be less than two. Micro computed tomography systems have been made with reconstructed voxel dimensions of 100 μm or less on the longest side, but only in configurations for imaging small animals such as mice, rats, or rabbits.
The valuable properties of the distributions of attenuation HU values of voxels in specified regions of interests in mammals have not been used in cancer detection, diagnosis, staging, treatment planning, delivery, and monitoring. Further developments are needed to acquire data that can be reconstructed into small voxels approximately in cubic shapes with a system that can be used for human patients.

Cancer detection, diagnosis, staging, treatment planning, delivery, and monitoring using X-ray attenuation coefficient distributions


A polishing apparatus for polishing a surface of a workpiece includes a housing unit, a partition wall partitioning an interior of the housing unit into a first chamber and a second chamber, a polishing section disposed in the first chamber and having a turntable with an abrasive cloth mounted on an upper surface thereof and a top ring positioned above the turntable for supporting the workpiece to be polished and pressing the workpiece against the abrasive cloth, and a cleaning section disposed in the second chamber and cleaning the workpiece which has been polished. The polishing apparatus further includes a transferring device for transferring the workpiece which has been polished from the polishing section to the cleaning section through an opening and an exhaust system for exhausting ambient air from each of the polishing section and cleaning section separately and independently.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a polishing apparatus, and more particularly to a polishing apparatus having a polishing section for polishing a workpiece such as a semiconductor wafer to a flat mirror finish and a cleaning section for cleaning the workpiece which has been polished.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recent rapid progress in semiconductor device integration demands smaller and smaller wiring patterns or interconnections and also narrower spaces between interconnections which connect active areas. One of the processes available for forming such interconnections is photolithography. Though the photolithographic process can form interconnections that are at most 0.5 xcexcm wide, it requires that surfaces on which pattern images are to be focused by a stepper be as flat as possible because the depth of focus of the optical system is relatively small.
It is therefore necessary to make the surfaces of semiconductor wafers flat for photolithography. One customary way of flattening the surfaces of semiconductor wafers is to polish them with a polishing apparatus.
Conventionally, a polishing apparatus has a turntable and a top ring which rotate at respective individual speeds. An abrasive cloth is attached to the upper surface of the turntable. A semiconductor wafer to be polished is placed on the abrasive cloth and clamped between the top ring and the turntable. During operation, the top ring exerts a certain pressure on the turntable, and the surface of the semiconductor wafer held against the abrasive cloth is therefore polished to a flat mirror finish while the top ring and the turntable are rotating.
Further, in the polishing apparatus, abrasive slurry is supplied from a nozzle onto the abrasive cloth attached to the upper surface of the turntable. The abrasive slurry contains abrasive material such as silicon dioxide (SiO2) or cerium dioxide (CeO2) having a diameter of 1 xcexcm or less in a liquid. The abrasive slurry contains water, abrasive material, and a small amount of dispersing agent to prevent aggregation of the abrasive material. Further, in order to perform chemical polishing in addition to mechanical polishing, acid or alkali may be added to the abrasive slurry.
The surface of the semiconductor wafer which has been polished is generally quite contaminated not only with particles of semiconductor material but also with abrasive material. The count of contaminants on the surface of the semiconductor wafer may be as high as 100,000 particles per wafer, and it is required to reduce this count to about 100 particles per wafer by some efficient method.
The conventional polishing apparatus could not be placed in a clean room because of dust particles generated by the polishing apparatus itself. Once the contaminants which adhere to the surface of the polished semiconductor wafer have been dried, it is difficult to remove the contaminants by cleaning. Therefore, the present practice is to preserve the semiconductor wafers which have been polished in water, immediately after polishing, in a specially constructed water-containing carrier which is brought into the clean room so that the semiconductor wafers may be cleaned in a cleaning device.
However, in the conventional apparatus, the cleaning device is spaced from the polishing apparatus and the semiconductor wafers must be transferred from the polishing apparatus to the cleaning device in such a state that they are preserved in water, thus productivity of the semiconductor wafers are lowered. Further, because the cleaning device itself becomes quite polluted from the dust particles adhering to the semiconductor wafers, it is not possible to use general cleaning devices provided in the clean room. That is, a special cleaning machine must be provided for exclusively cleaning the semiconductor wafers which have been polished. This leads to high apparatus cost.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a polishing apparatus which can be installed in a clean room and does not contaminate the ambient atmosphere in the clean room, and which can polish, clean and dry workpieces such as semiconductor wafers so that the workpieces can be discharged to a next processing station by using regular carriers available generally in the clean room.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a polishing apparatus which can prevent particulate contamination originating in polishing activities so that the polishing apparatus can be installed in a clean room.
According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a polishing apparatus for polishing a surface of a workpiece comprising: a housing unit; a partition wall partitioning an interior of the housing unit into a first chamber and a second chamber, the partition wall having a first opening for allowing the workpiece to pass therethrough; a polishing section having a turntable with an abrasive cloth mounted on an upper surface thereof and a top ring positioned above the turntable for supporting the workpiece to be polished and pressing the workpiece against the abrasive cloth, the polishing section being disposed in the first chamber; a cleaning section for cleaning the workpiece which has been polished, the cleaning section being disposed in the second chamber; a transferring device for transferring the workpiece which has been polished from the polishing section to the cleaning section through the first opening; and exhaust means for exhausting ambient air from each of the polishing section and the cleaning section separately and independently.
According to the polishing apparatus presented above, the polishing section and the cleaning section are housed in the housing unit, and the two sections are isolated from each other by the partition wall. Therefore, the entire polishing apparatus can be disposed in a clean room without contaminating the clean room atmosphere. The semiconductor wafers can be polished and cleaned within the polishing apparatus, and transferred to the next processing stations using regular carriers available in the clean room generally. The two sections of the polishing apparatus are separated by the partition wall having the opening which is closed with a shutter, and the ambient atmospheres in the polishing section and the cleaning section are exhausted separately and independently. This arrangement prevents any dust particles such as mist of abrasive slurry and ground-off material generated during a polishing operation from contaminating the clean room by either maintaining the polishing section at a pressure lower than the cleaning section or by closing a shutter which is provided for the opening of the partition wall.
According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a polishing apparatus for polishing a surface of a workpiece comprising: a housing unit; a partition wall partitioning an interior of the housing unit into a first chamber and a second chamber, the partition wall having a first opening for allowing the workpiece to pass therethrough; a polishing section having a turntable with an abrasive cloth mounted on an upper surface thereof and a top ring positioned above the turntable for supporting the workpiece to be polished and pressing the workpiece against the abrasive cloth, the polishing section being disposed in said first chamber; a cleaning section for cleaning the workpiece which has been polished, the cleaning section being disposed in the second chamber; a transferring device for transferring the workpiece which has been polished from the polishing section to the cleaning section through the first opening; and exhaust means for exhausting ambient air from each of the polishing section and the cleaning section; wherein the cleaning section comprises a cleaning unit for cleaning the workpiece while supplying cleaning solvent and a drying unit for drying the workpiece which has been cleaned.
According to the polishing apparatus presented above, a workpiece such as a semiconductor wafer is polished in the polishing section, the workpiece which has been polished is transferred from the polishing section to the cleaning section, and then the workpiece is cleaned and dried in the cleaning section. Therefore, the workpiece is discharged from the polishing apparatus in such a state that the workpiece is clean and dry.
The above and other objects, features, and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings which illustrate preferred embodiments of the present invention by way of example.


In a high inner pressure type multistage compression system rotary compressor whose object is to improve sealability of a first rotary compression element and which includes a second rotary compression element having a displacement volume being smaller than that of the first rotary compression element and in which a refrigerant compressed by the first rotary compression element is compressed by the second rotary compression element to discharge the refrigerant into a sealed container, heights of a first cylinder of the first rotary compression element and a second cylinder of the second rotary compression element are set to be equal, diameters of both of eccentric portions are set to be equal, an inner diameter of the first cylinder is set to be larger than that of the second cylinder, and a thickness of a first roller is set to be larger than that of a second roller.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a rotary compressor which is provided with a driving element and first and second rotary compression elements driven by a rotation shaft of this driving element, the elements being disposed in a sealed container, and in which a refrigerant compressed by the first rotary compression element is compressed by the second rotary compression element to send the refrigerant into the sealed container.
2. Description of the Related Art
Heretofore, in this type of rotary compressor, for example, a high inner pressure type rotary compressor, a rotation shaft is of a vertically disposed type. The compressor includes: a driving element; a first rotary compression element driven by the rotation shaft of this driving element; and a second rotary compression element whose displacement volume is smaller than that of the first rotary compression element, the elements being disposed in a sealed container. The first and second rotary compression elements are constituted of: upper and lower cylinders constituting the first and second rotary compression elements, respectively; rollers fitted into eccentric portions disposed on the rotation shaft to eccentrically rotate in the respective cylinders; an intermediate partition plate disposed between the respective cylinders to close an opening of one of the opposite cylinders; and a support member which closes the other opening of each cylinder and which includes a bearing of the rotation shaft. The face of each support member on a side opposite to each cylinder is depressed, and this depressed portion is closed with a cover to thereby form a discharge noise absorbing chamber.
Moreover, when the driving element is driven, the rollers fitted into the eccentric portions disposed integrally with the rotation shaft eccentrically rotate in the upper and lower cylinders. Accordingly, a refrigerant gas is sucked from a suction port of the first rotary compression element into the cylinder on a low-pressure chamber side. The gas is compressed by operations of the roller and a vane to obtain an intermediate pressure. The gas is discharged from the cylinder on a high-pressure chamber side to the discharge noise absorbing chamber via a discharge port. Thereafter, the intermediate-pressure refrigerant gas discharged to the discharge noise absorbing chamber is sucked from the suction port of the second rotary compression element into the cylinder on the low-pressure chamber side. Then, the gas is compressed by the operation of the roller and vane in a second stage to form a high-temperature high-pressure refrigerant gas, and the gas is discharged from the high-pressure chamber side into the sealed container via the discharge port and the discharge noise absorbing chamber. Accordingly, the inside of the sealed container has high temperature and pressure. On the other hand, the refrigerant gas sent into the sealed container is discharged from a refrigerant discharge tube to the outside of the rotary compressor (see, e.g., Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-27970).
In such multistage compression type rotary compressor, a thickness (dimension in a roller diametric direction) of each roller is set so that a displacement volume of the first rotary compression element as a first stage is larger than that of the second rotary compression element as a second stage. That is, heretofore, the upper and lower cylinders having equal inner diameters (bore diameter) and heights, and the opposite eccentric portions having equal diameters are used with respect to the first and second rotary compression elements. The thickness of the first roller is set to be smaller than that of the second roller so that the displacement volume of the first rotary compression element becomes larger than that of the second rotary compression element.
However, the high inner pressure type rotary compressor has a large pressure difference between the cylinder of the first rotary compression element and the sealed container. In a case where the thickness of the roller of the first rotary compression element is reduced to reduce a sealing width by the roller, a problem occurs that the refrigerant leaks from a roller end face.
Especially, a gap between the intermediate partition plate and the rotation shaft has a high pressure in the same manner as in the inside of the sealed container. Therefore, this high pressure easily flows from the roller end face into the cylinder. When the thickness of the roller of the first rotary compression element is reduced, the inflow of such high pressure increases, and a volume efficiency of the first rotary compression element disadvantageously deteriorates.

Multi-stage rotary compressor having rollers which are different in thickness


A sample-and-hold amplification circuit can include a sampling circuit configured to sample first and second input signals in response to first and second control signals to generate first and second sampled signals, an amplification circuit configured to amplify a voltage difference between the first and second sampled signals to generate first and second output signals, and an offset compensation circuit configured to form a first path between input and output terminals of the amplification circuit in response to the first control signal to store an offset of the input terminal and form a second path between the input and output terminals in response to the second control signal to reflect the offset to the output terminal.

Recently, a paradigm for a computing environment has shifted to ubiquitous computing, which enables computer systems to be accessed virtually anytime and anywhere. As a result, the use of portable electronic devices (e.g., mobile phones, digital cameras, notebook computers, or the like) are rapidly increasing. Such portable electronic devices each may use or include a memory system having at least one memory device. As the market for a portable System-On-Chip (SoC) products is growing, sizes and power consumption of semiconductor devices embedded in the portable SoC products may become a factor for showing product competitiveness.
Specifically, as a process of the semiconductor device becomes more refined and a high-speed operation is required, a temperature change can greatly affect characteristics and performance of the semiconductor device. In order to measure such a temperature change, the semiconductor device may use a thermistor whose resistance value varies depending on temperature or a complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) device having characteristics of Proportional To Absolute Temperature (PTAT) and Complementary To Absolute Temperature (CTAT).
A temperature sensing circuit using a CMOS device may generate an output voltage based on a threshold voltage of a transistor, which changes with temperature. The temperature sensing circuit may include an analog-to-digital conversion (ADC) circuit for converting an analog signal corresponding to the output voltage into a digital signal. Further, in order to sample and amplify the analog signal without distortion, the CMOS device has a sample-and-hold amplifier at the input terminal of the ADC circuit, to reduce an effect caused by a jitter of the clock and a parasitic element of internal circuits

Sample-and-hold amplifier and semiconductor device including the same


An object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus having a fixing device, which can obtain good fixing ability while preventing occurrence of hot offset. The present invention provides an image forming apparatus that has image forming means for forming an image on a recording material, a heating member for heating the image on the recording material, a backup roller forming a nip with the heating member, a temperature detecting element for detecting a temperature of an atmosphere, and control means for controlling a power supply to the heating member, wherein when a print signal is inputted, the control means controls power supply (electrical communication) to the heating member in such a manner that the heating member maintains a set temperature in accordance with a detection temperature of the temperature detecting element, and, thereafter, a fixing operation is effected.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine, a printer and the like, and more particularly, it relates to an image forming apparatus including a fixing device having low heat capacity.
2. Related Background Art
In some copying machines and printers, there is provided a fixing device for thermally fixing an image formed on a recording material.
As kinds of the fixing device, there are a heat roller system in which a recording material is pinched and conveyed by a pair of rollers, a film heating system in which a film shifted while being contacted with a heater is used, and induction heating system in which a principle of electromagnetic induction is used. Particularly, since fixing devices of film heating type and of induction heating type have very low heat capacity, heating of the heater can be started after a print signal is inputted and the heating during a waiting condition can be stopped, with the result that such fixing devices save power consumption and are inexpensive.
A most fundamental performance of function required for the fixing device is that a toner image formed on a recording material is thermally fixed without excess and deficiency. This fixing ability depends upon a total amount applied to the toner image being passed through a nip of the fixing device. For example, if a temperature of an environment is high, since temperatures of a pressurizing roller and of the recording material may possibly be high relatively, even when a temperature adjustment temperature during the fixing is relatively low, the total heat amount required for the toner can be obtained. To the contrary, if the environmental temperature is low, since the pressurizing roller and the recording material may possibly be cold, the temperature adjustment temperature during the fixing must be increased to obtain the total heat amount required for the toner.
However, for the purpose of achieving the total heat amount required for the toner, if the temperature adjustment temperature during the fixing is made too high, the toner is heated abruptly, thereby generating a phenomenon (called as xe2x80x9chot offsetxe2x80x9d) in which a portion of the toner image is adhered to the film. If the toner is adhered to the film, endurance of the film may be worsened or the fixing ability may be worsened.
In this way, although the fixing device having low heat capacity in which the heating is started after the print signal is inputted has merits such as low power consumption and cheapness, since the heating is not effected during the waiting condition for waiting the print signal, the pressurizing roller is frequently cold under the low environmental temperature. Accordingly, if the temperature adjustment temperature is not set to be high, the adequate fixing ability cannot be obtained, thereby generating the hot offset.
The present invention is made in consideration of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus having a fixing device, which can obtain good fixing ability while preventing occurrence of hot offset.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus having a fixing device, which can prevent hot offset while maintaining low power consumption.
A further object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus comprising image forming means for forming an image on a recording material, a heating member for heating the image on the recording material, a backup roller forming a nip with the heating member, a temperature detecting element for detecting a temperature of an atmosphere, and control means for controlling a power supply to the heating member, wherein when a print signal is inputted, the control means controls power supply (electrical communication) to the heating member in such a manner that the heating member maintains a set temperature in accordance with a detection temperature of the temperature detecting element, and, thereafter, a fixing operation is effected.
A still further object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus comprising image forming means for forming an image on a recording material, a heating member for heating the image on the recording material, a backup roller forming a nip with the heating member, a temperature detecting element for detecting a temperature of an atmosphere, and control means for controlling a power supply to the heating member, and wherein, when a print signal is inputted, the control means controls electrical communication to the heating member in such a manner that the heating member maintains a set temperature by a set time corresponding to a detection temperature of the temperature detecting element, and, thereafter, a fixing operation is effected.
The other objects and features of the present invention will be apparent from the following detailed explanation referring to the accompanying drawings.


A sliding module positioning device for locking a sliding module at a predetermined position on a rack is described. The sliding module positioning device includes a base, a positioning pin, an elastic device, an internal pushing member, and an external control member. The positioning pin is moveable on the base and coupled to the elastic device for pushing the positioning pin into a positioning hole on a positioning bracket. The internal pushing member can push the positioning pin away from the positioning hole. The external control member connects with the internal pushing member, and the positioning pin couples to an inner surface of the internal pushing member to prevent the positioning pin protruding from the external control member after the positioning pin is moved away from the positioning hole. The positioning device further utilizes an elastic piece for coupling the positioning pin to the positioning hole.

Information technology and the computer industry are highly developed. People rely heavily on computer systems. Therefore, computer servers with high calculation capacity and high stability are becoming increasingly important. Due to increasingly reduced office space, the area occupied by computer servers must also be reduced. Computer servers must have a high degree of stability to serve users, and the space occupied by one computer server is therefore greater than or equal to that of a desktop computer. Accordingly, the management of computer servers is difficult and space utilization is tightened. Some companies have two or three computer servers, while others may have more than a thousand computer servers. Computer server management and space utilization is becoming more critical in companies that use many computer servers.
A 1U computer server assembled on a standard 1U server rack is the mainstream computer server arrangement. Each standard layer of the server rack is about 1.75 inches (about 4.5 centimeters), so that the 1U server and the server rack effectively conserve the space occupied by the computer servers. Moreover, the 1U servers and racks are more efficiently controlled because the 1U servers and racks can be centrally managed and easily stacked. Normally, hardware components used in the 1U server are smaller in size and lower in height to meet the 1.75 inch thickness limitation.
To conveniently control the stacked 1U computer servers on the server rack, KVM (keyboard-video-mouse) switches are used to connect and control the computer servers. Hence, the quantity of the displays and keyboards for controlling the computer servers can be effectively reduced and the occupied space thereof is also reduced.
However, due to the height constraints on the 1U server rack, the dimensions of the keyboard and the display have to fulfill the dimension limitations to operate on the server rack. Therefore, various sliding keyboard and display modules are designed to operate on the 1U server rack. The sliding keyboard and display modules have to be securely positioned on the server rack to avoid being dislodged by unexpected external forces or vibrations that would influence normal operations, damage the equipment, or hurt the users.


Embodiments of the present invention can be used to enhance signals in a peer-to-peer radio system, such as a two-way radio system. In one embodiment, the invention includes receiving a communications signal on a channel from a remote radio at a radio using a plurality of antenna elements, such as an antenna array. The received communications signal includes a squelch code. The radio detects the squelch code, and enhances the received communications signal using the squelch code.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention applies to the field of wireless communications systems and, in particular, to two-way radio communications using squelch codes.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Personal Radio Service (PRS) is the name applied by the Federal Communications Commission Wireless Telecommunications Bureau to cover a broad array of two-way (or, walkie-talkie) type radio services. Included under the PRS moniker are radio services such as the so-called 218–219 MHz service, the Citizens Band (CB) radio service, the Family Radio Service (FRS), the General Mobile Radio Service (GMRS), the Low Power Radio Service (LPRS), the Medical Implant Communications Service (MICS), the Radio Control Radio Service, and the Wireless Medical Telemetry Service.
These "two-way" radios, sometimes referred to as walkie-talkies or handie-talkies, generally broadcast directly from one communications device (typically a portable radio) to another, or they may use a repeater to amplify their signals. These devices generally use allocated channelized spectrum. These channels can be frequency bands around a central carrier. For example, the spectrum allocated to FSR has been divided into fourteen (14) channels from 462.5625 MHz through 462.7125 MHz, and again from 467.5625 MHz through 467.7125 MHz, with each channel occupying a 30 KHz frequency band (see, e.g., 47 CFR §95.627).
Since anyone can use the allocated channels at any time, when a radio is tuned to a particular channel, a user can hear anyone who transmits on that channel. Also, if two people transmit simultaneously on a given channel, the radio frequency (RF) signals interfere with one another, and the listeners will likely hear noise. Thus, a user has to listen to the conversations of other parties with whom the user does not wish to communicate if these parties are using the same channel. Furthermore, if these other parties communicate simultaneously with the user, or with people the user wishes to communicate with, this will interfere with the users ability to communicate.
To address the problem of listening to the conversations of strangers, some manufacturers of such two-way communication devices enable the use of squelch codes. Squelch is the phrase used for muting a speaker. For example, two-way radios generally squelch the speaker until a minimum signal strength is detected, so that the radio is not constantly humming with background noise. By using squelch codes, the radio only un-squelches the speaker when it detects the squelch code. Examples of squelch codes are Continuous Tone Coded Squelch System (CTCSS) sub-audible tones which are out-of-band tones and Digital Coded Squelch (DCS) code words, which are digital squelch codes. Motorola's trademarked version of these squelch systems are called Private Line (PL)™ and Digital Private Line (PL)™ respectively.
As an example, FSR uses CTCSS to create "sub-channels." Each user selects which CTCSS tone to use in conjunction with a selected RF channel. The radio then blocks, i.e. squelches, any signal received that does not include the selected CTCSS tone. Thus, if two users select a CTCSS tone not used by other parties, then the two users will only hear transmissions from each other. However, the use of squelch codes does not solve the problem of interference. Two users transmitting on the same channel at the same time using different squelch codes will still interfere with one another, leaving the receiver unable to render the desired content.

Enhancing signals in a two-way radio system


Antibodies that specifically bind TEM8 protein, and conjugates thereof, are disclosed herein. In some examples the conjugates and antibodies are useful for methods of detecting and treating pathogenic angiogenesis. In other examples the conjugates and antibodies are useful for methods of detecting and treating cancer. In additional examples, the conjugates and antibodies are useful for methods of decreasing binding of Anthrax protective antigen to a cell.

Angiogenesis, the process of developing a hemovascular network from pre-existing blood vessels, is essential for the growth of solid tumors and is a component of normal wound healing and growth processes. It also has been implicated in the pathophysiology of many diseases and conditions, including atherogenesis, arthritis, psoriasis, corneal neo-vascularization, and diabetic retinopathy. Angiogenesis factors play an important role in the development of malignancies.
Tumor Endothelial Marker 8 (TEM8), also known as Anthrax Toxin Receptor 1 (ANTXR1), is a single pass, cell surface glycoprotein originally identified, along with a number of other unrelated Tumor Endothelial Markers, based on its over-expression in the endothelial cells that line the tumor vasculature of human colorectal cancer. TEM8 also functions as a cell surface receptor for Anthrax toxin, and shares 58% amino acid identity with CMG2 (also known as ANTXR2), a second receptor for Anthrax toxin protein. Unlike VEGF, VEGFRs, and many other key angiogenesis regulators, TEM8 is not required for developmental angiogenesis, wound healing or normal physiological angiogenesis of the corpus luteum. TEM8 is up-regulated on tumor vessels of various tumor types in both mice and humans, and, in some tumors, is also expressed by the tumor cells. However, a need remains for chemotherapeutic agents that target TEM8, and for high affinity antibodies that specifically bind TEM8 on the cell surface.

TEM8 antibodies, conjugates thereof, and their use

The United States of America, as represented by the Secretary, Department of Health and Human Services


An ultrasonic probe is mounted in a centrifugal machine within close proximity to a maximum charge wall which is to be formed within a charge basket of the centrifugal machine. The probe comprises a tubular member which extends from an upper portion of an outer shell which surrounds the basket into the basket. A sensing head of the probe includes an ultrasonic transmitter and receiver which are mounted within a capsule formed of ultrasonic energy and vibration damping material. The transmitter and receiver are directed toward an inner surface of the charge basket of the centrifugal machine to monitor build up of a charge wall within the basket by directing bursts or pulses of ultrasonic energy toward the inner surface of the basket and receiving reflections or echoes of the pulses which are reflected from the charge wall building within the basket. The centrifugal machine is then controlled in accordance with the ultrasonically measured thickness of the building charge wall to more accurately and consistently fully load the basket with little or no underfill or overfill of the basket.

The present invention relates in general to heavy cyclical centrifugal machines and, more particularly, to a method and apparatus for determining the thicknesses of charge walls being formed along the inner sidewalls of rotating centrifugal baskets of such machines by charge material flowing into the baskets by using ultrasonic energy. While the present invention is generally applicable to such machines, it will be described herein with reference to heavy cyclical centrifugal machines used for manufacturing and refining sugar.
A problem encountered when operating heavy cyclical centrifugal machines of the type used to manufacture and refine sugar is the inaccurate loading of the centrifugal baskets of the machines. These baskets should be fully loaded to their maximum capacities to maximize the productivity of the machines. Unfortunately, underloading the baskets results in reduced production and, when striving for maximum loading, the baskets are often overloaded so that charge material is lost from the basket resulting in waste even though production is increased. Variations in the loading properties of the charge material, massecuite for sugar manufacture and refining, can effect the efficiency of cycle to cycle centrifugal processing. These variations often occur from one batch of charge material to another and even occur between different portions of a single batch of charge material. Since these variations in loading properties are difficult or impossible to control, it has been an ongoing goal in the industry to control the loading operations of centrifugal machines such that the machines operate with maximum charge in spite of the charge material variations.
To control loading a centrifugal machine, measurements of the volume of the charge as it is being loaded into the machines have been made. For example, mechanical charge wall thickness measuring devices have been used to determine the thickness of the charge wall and thereby the volume of material in the charge basket of a machine, see U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,727,630; 3,011,641; 3,079,046; and, 3,141,846. A capacitance probe has been used also to determine wall thickness and hence the volume of material in the charge basket of a centrifugal machine, see U.S. Pat. No. 4,229,298. The mechanical and capacitance charge wall thickness measuring devices have been used with a variety of loading gates and loading gate control processes.
For example, the loading gate may be progressively closed as the charge measuring device indicates progressively increasing charge thickness in the centrifugal basket. When the charge wall approaches the desired thickness, the loading gate has moved to and is maintained at a pinched or largely closed position. When the final wall thickness is actually reached, the loading gate is quickly closed so that only a limited amount of material can flow into the basket as it closes from its pinched position to its fully closed position. The amount of material entering the basket during final closure of the loading gate from its pinched position to its fully closed position is insufficient to appreciably deviate from the desired final charge volume.
In another gate control process, the loading gate may be closed rapidly from its full open position to a pinched position and thereafter fully closed when the final wall thickness or volume has been reached. In yet another gate control process, the loading gate can be rapidly moved from its full open position to its fully closed position upon sensing the desired final wall thickness.
In still another gate control process which is currently enjoying substantial commercial success, when the charge wall approaches the desired thickness, the loading gate is rapidly moved to a pinched position which is a proportion of a selectable full open position from which it is to be closed, see U.S. Pat. No. 5,254,241 which is incorporated herein by reference. When the final wall thickness is actually reached, the loading gate is quickly closed so that only a limited amount of material can flow into the basket as it closes from its pinched position to its fully closed position.
The variety of loading gate control processes have been implemented, at least in part, to compensate for limitations in the measuring abilities of mechanical and capacitive charge wall thickness measuring devices. As should be expected, mechanical charge wall thickness measuring devices are prone to becoming fouled by the charge materials flowing into a basket of a centrifugal machine. While capacitive charge wall thickness measuring devices are a distinct improvement over mechanical devices, the sensitivity of capacitive devices is proportional to the inverse of the sensing distance so that their resolution is greatly diminished at larger measuring distances.
Accordingly, there is a need for an improved charge wall sensing device which is less prone to being fouled than mechanical measuring devices and provides improved sensitivity in comparison to capacitive measuring devices, particularly at larger measuring distances.

Method and apparatus for determining thickness of a charge wall being formed in a centrifugal machine


Process for preparing a two layer metal palladium or palladium alloy composite membrane consisting of a porous substrate support and a palladium or palladium alloy membrane by rinsing/washing and drying the porous substrate support, treating the porous substrate support with a pore filler in order to decorate the pores of the support and the disfigurements of the substrate surface, sensitizing and activating with a palladium solution the decorated substrate support, and plating the resulting support with a palladium solution to form the two layer composite membrane, drying. The resulting composite membrane is subjected to a post-processing where the pore fillers residing in the pore-channels of the porous substrate are partly removed or reduced in volume through heating.

The present invention relates to a metal palladium—or alloy palladium—composite membrane which exhibits a high permeable hydrogen flux and high hydrogen selectivity for separation or purification. The present invention further relates to a preparation method for producing these said metal or alloy palladium composite membranes.
The increased demand for hydrogen in recent years in many sectors such as petroleum refining, petrochemical and semi-conductor processing and in new energy-related applications such as clean fuel for fuel cells and vehicles has led to a high interest in methods for separation and purification of hydrogen from gas mixtures. Palladium membranes or alloy palladium membranes have been the subject of many studies, due largely to their unmatched potential as hydrogen selective membranes for separation or purification and membrane reactors for hydrogenation/dehydrogenation reactions. However, these studies show that improvement regarding hydrogen permeability in pure and composite membranes is necessary, as the measured hydrogen permeation flux throughout the studies remained very low.
Another significant problem found in membrane studies is, under 275° C., pure palladium membrane is susceptible to cracking during the phase transformation due to the amount of hydrogen absorbed. This phenomenon is often termed 'hydrogen embrittlement'. It is known however that hydrogen embrittlement can be dramatically reduced, even at room temperature, by the formation of an alloy palladium membrane such as Pd—Ag alloy membrane, Pd—Cu alloy membrane or Pd—Au alloy membrane.
Membranes can either exist as a pure or as a composite membrane. A pure palladium membrane, that is an unsupported palladium membrane, is well known in the public domain. The corresponding thickness of the membrane must be greater than 200 microns in order to ensure enough mechanical strength to sustain the reaction; consequently this specified membrane thickness results in a low hydrogen permeable flux and a very high production cost. Therefore composite membranes are preferred, that is a supported palladium membrane where the palladium membrane layer is connected to a porous substrate support, hence reducing the required thickness of the palladium membrane layer and consequently reducing the expense and improving the hydrogen permeation flux, whilst still maintaining the mechanical strength of the whole membrane.
As shown in the prior art, conventional composite membranes exist in three defined layers; palladium/palladium alloy membrane layer, the surface substrate support and an intermediate layer interconnecting the previous two layers. Indeed, in order to obtain a thin palladium/palladium alloy membrane layer on porous substrates, an intermediate layer is usually introduced in the prior art, which results in a three-layer composite membrane. However this three layer formation again presents the major problem of a low hydrogen permeation flux.

Process for the preparation of a two-layer metal palladium or palladium alloy composite membrane


An apparatus for inspecting a component of an aerial power line. A frame has a support member extending along a support member axis. The support member is mountable about the power line in proximity to the component. The support member is rotatable about the line axis upon being mounted about the power line. A stabilizing member is mountable to a stabilizing structure separate from the power line. The stabilizing member is mountable to the support member to rotate the support member about the line axis. A source of electromagnetic imaging energy is mounted to the support member and has an emitter to face the component. A detector is mounted to the support member at a distance from the source to position the component between the source and the detector. The source and/or the detector is displaceable along the support member axis to vary the distance separating the detector and source.

It is sometimes necessary to inspect or monitor the components of electric power lines. Some conventional inspection techniques include visual observation, using a visual camera, and using an infrared camera. These techniques are not always suitable to determine whether the interior of a component being inspected has suffered damage or wear. In order to probe under the surface of these components, it is common to sample the component (i.e. by cutting of a piece for further in-lab investigation). To avoid this costly and tedious operation, inspection techniques with more penetrating power are used.
Some of these more penetrating inspection techniques involve using electromagnetic radiation, and in particular, X-radiation. Mounting X-ray equipment to an electrical power line, particularly one that is disposed high above the ground, is time-consuming and cumbersome, as fine adjustment and rigid mounting is required to obtain adequate and repetitive image generation. Furthermore, the technicians mounting the equipment to the power line may be exposed to radiation.

Apparatus and method for inspecting a power line


A system and method for creating and presenting modal dialog boxes in web-based applications is presented herein. The invention includes client devices that initiate requests for webpages that include modal dialog boxes and a server that receives and processes the web page requests and includes modal dialog controls to generate HTML instructions to render and display the modal dialog boxes at the client devices. The modal dialog controls include a web rendering module to determine the existence of children controls within the modal dialog box and to generate display related information. The modal dialog controls also include an event handling module to intercept attempts to access elements of the web page while the modal dialog box has not been responded to.

Generally, web pages are developed by employing HyperText Markup Language (HTML) code to specify how content is to be formatted and displayed by a web browser. In the past, web pages were only capable of containing "static" HTML codes, that is, content that is read directly from a file. A web server would then merely find the file corresponding to the web page's associated Uniform Resource Locator (URL) requested by the web browser, and return the contents of that file.
Eventually, the needs of the web demanded more dynamic content, which could not be generated with static HTML files. As such, the use of server-side programming evolved. With server-side programming, a web server could be adapted to respond to a request for a web page by running codes at the server in order to generate the HTML output that would be rendered to the web browser.
While server-side programming enabled the creation of dynamic web pages that were not previously available with static HTML programming, programmers also needed the ability to encapsulate the contents of a web page into more logical and reusable components. To help with this functionality, the concept of server-side web controls was introduced. Web controls are logical components that are hierarchically arranged on the web page. Each control has the responsibility of rendering specific HTML content. While web controls exist for creating many elements, such as, for example, labels, text boxes, and buttons, no web controls exist for creating modal dialog boxes at the server.
Modal dialog boxes are a common tool for building applications. Modal dialog boxes are generally presented as popup windows having informational inquiries that force a user to respond before allowing the user to interact with other controls in the application. Furthermore, modal dialog boxes allow applications to present a new user interface without taking away the user interface that is currently viewable. Modal dialog boxes are generally configured to remain on top of other windows within the application, until they are dismissed by performing the required action.
Attempts have been made to use modal dialog boxes for web-based applications. One such attempt uses a Javascript library running on a client device. HTML programming is used to generate a webpage and to call scripts from the library to generate a popup dialog. However, this method does not incorporate the use of web controls, as is commonly used in modern web application design. Furthermore, separate requests must be sent back to the server for the dialog and for the controls displayed on the main page. These and other drawbacks currently exist regarding the creation and display of modal dialog boxes for web-based application.

System and method for creating and presenting modal dialog boxes in server-side component web applications