A peptide including 8 animo acids having a sequence of cNGEGQQc, where c represents d-cysteine (Cys), N represents L-Asparagine (Asn), G represents L-Glycine (Gly), E represents L-Glutamic acid (Glu), and Q represents L-Glutamine (Gln).

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a small peptide and specifically to imaging and treatment of a non-small cell lung cancer.
2. Description of the Related Art
Lung cancer is one of the most common cancers and is the leading cause of cancer death worldwide. Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) accounts for approximately 85% of all lung cancers. There are three types of cancer that are considered NSCLC including adenocarcinoma, squamous cell carcinoma (SCC), and large cell undifferentiated carcinoma. Approximately three quarters of patients with lung cancer have an advanced stage of tumor at the time of diagnosis. The most recent statistics show the overall five-year survival of lung cancer is about 10% to 16% in the United States, Europe and China after diagnosis. The survival of lung cancer is heavily dependent on early diagnosis. For example, 5-year survival of Stage IA/B lung cancer is approximately 70% and for Stage IIA/B disease is in the range of 50% when patients are eligible to receive surgery. Therefore, early detection improves apparent survival of lung cancer patients, even if mortality remains unchanged.
Globally, imaging such as PET/CT or single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) remains the most effective methods for lung cancer detection. Unfortunately, these current scanning modalities are not sufficiently sensitive or specific to clearly determinate between benign and malignant solitary pulmonary nodules. The false-positive imaging may happen in inflammation (e.g., pneumonia and active tuberculosis) and granulomatous disease (e.g., sarcoidosis and Wegener's granulomatosis) because these pulmonary nodules have the same high uptake of FDG as malignancy. Meanwhile, limitations of PET/CT for evaluating lung nodules are a reduction in specificity and increased false negatives in very small tumors or those with low FDG uptake (e.g., bronchoalveolar carcinomas) (Maffione A M, et al. J Nucl Med. 2014; 55: 983-988). SPECT is widely available, has lower costs than PET/CT, and does not require the presence of a cyclotron adjacent to the hospital. Encouraging results have been obtained with SPECT scanning using sestamibi to detect primary lung malignancies and to perform mediastinal staging with a higher diagnostic accuracy higher than chest CTs. However, the main difficulty is related to the limited spatial resolution of SPECT. To overcome the limited resolution of SPECT, many investigators are working on developing novel sensitive and specific radiotracers for SPECT.
Application for molecularly targeted agents in a non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) has witnessed swift evolution in the last decade. These targeted anticancer agents promise more efficient and less toxic side effects for patients as compared with common chemotherapeutic agents. The EGF receptor (EGFR) is therapeutically targeted by antibodies (Cetuximab) and small molecules (Iressa, erlotinib) in solid tumors including lung, colorectal, and breast cancer. However, a small percentage of patients (21%) with an EGFR mutation have higher response rates and all patients eventually develop resistance. Another promising approach has been obtained in radioimmunotherapy (RIT) for the treatment of B-cell non-Hodgkin's lymphoma with yttrium-90 (90Y)-ibritumomabtiuxetan (Zevalin) and iodine-131 (131I)-tositumomab (Bexxar). 131I-chTNT is the first approved clinical trial radiolabeled antibody for the treatment of solid tumors including lung cancer, glioblastoma, head and neck cancer, colorectal carcinoma, hepatocellular carcinoma, etc. However, the response rate (ORR) was only 33% in non-small-cell lung cancer patients (Chen S, et al. J Clin Oncol. 2005; 23: 1538-47). 131I-chTNT was iodine-131-labeled recombinant human and mouse chimeric TNT antibody and has potential allergen. It is, therefore, essential to seek more effective and less toxic modes of therapy for advanced lung cancer.

Small peptide specific for lung cancer and application thereof

GUANGZHOU PEPTIDE MEDICAL TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD.


A test apparatus for measuring surface friction of a damping material such as brake pad insulator material includes a rotor configured to support the damping material for rotation therewith, an actuator pressurizable to apply axially-inward force to the damping material and a stator configured to support the actuator. A sensor determines the force applied to the actuator and a torque cell is axially aligned with the rotor for measuring torque of the rotor in relation to force applied to the damping material. The calculation of surface friction of the damping material is possible based on the measured load and torque. A method of measuring surface friction of a brake pad insulator material as well as a method using a brake dynamometer is also presented.

Brake pad insulators are typically used on the backing plate of a disk brake. Brake pad insulators are designed to perform a damping function at various vibrations, frequencies and temperatures. The brake pad insulators thus help quiet vibrations and induced noise of the disk brake pad.
Brake pad insulators exploit various damping mechanisms to achieve the desired noise reduction. It is hypothesized that insulators attenuate noise by extensional damping, shear-deformation, isolation damping and frictional damping. Extensional damping may also be referred to as free layer damping and involves relative movement of a relatively soft layer of material that is over, on or otherwise connected with a relatively stiff layer of material. If the stiff layer bends the soft layer stretches but does not shear. Shear-deformation damping, also referred to as constrained damping, involves relative movement of a soft layer of material positioned between two stiff layers. The stiff layers act as constraints and shear occurs in the soft material but mostly only bending occurs in the stiffer material. Isolation damping is well understood to be the type of damping occurring when the insulator absorbs vibration pulses. For instance, vibrations between the brake pad and rotor may be damped by axial compression of the insulator.
Frictional damping is perhaps the least studied of the damping mechanisms occurring with a brake pad insulator. Frictional damping occurs between contacting surfaces that have relative slip. In the brake pad insulator example, the outermost layer of the brake pad insulator is contacted by a brake actuator such as a piston or a caliper finger. Relative slip may occur, resulting in surface friction damping.
There are many mathematical models that can be construed to represent frictional forces between contacting surfaces. The simplest and fundamental representation shown below, is the Coulomb friction model, which relates the total frictional (damping) force (Ff) between contacting bodies, to the net contact force (Fc), through the kinetic coefficient of friction μk. The direction of the frictional force depends upon the sign (sgn) of the relative velocity (v) between contacting surfaces. The value of sgn(v) is +1 or −1.Ff=−μk·Fc·sgn(v)The values of friction measured near zero relative velocities (i.e., at the transition from sticking contact to slipping contact,) lead to the static coefficient of friction, μ, which itself is usually a good indicator of the surface frictional damping that can occur between contacting and slipping surfaces. Therefore, frictional damping of a brake pad insulator can be quantified by determining the surface friction. Known methods of surface friction measurements are not suitable for brake pad insulator material. For example, the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) Standard D 1894-01 is a standard method for determining the static and kinetic coefficients of friction of film and sheeting. The test method determines the coefficients of starting and sliding plastic film and sheeting when sliding over itself or other substances at specified test conditions. The procedure permits the use of a stationary sled with a moving plane, or a moving sled with a stationary plane. The sled and plane maybe referred to as a "sliding table" design. ASTM D 1894-01 standard method uses a pressure of less than one bar which makes the test unsuitable for measuring surface friction of brake pad insulators under realistic conditions, since the operating pressures in disk brakes are much higher, i.e., on the order of 10 times higher. Applying the method to a brake pad insulator would require a more rigid and frictionless sliding table. Also, it is cumbersome to test at temperatures other than ambient under ASTM D 1894-01, as the plane may be seated while the sled must be held at the ambient temperature. Finally, the ATSM D 1894-01 method is based on linear sliding instead of rotary, and is therefore not representative of a brake pad insulator application.
Known friction measurement test rigs for brake linings (i.e., brake pads) are relatively bulky and have high rigidity requirements due to the relatively large rotational displacement requirements and torque existing between a brake pad and a rotor. Insulators operate under conditions of much smaller relative motion (i.e., the movement between the insulator and the actuating brake piston or brake caliper finger) or load, making these friction measurements test rigs not quite suitable for brake pad insulator friction measurement.
It is desirable to know the surface friction characteristics of a damping material, such as brake pad insulator material, under specific conditions, such as likely in-use conditions including the ranges of temperatures, pressures and torques that the insulators will be subjected to, in order to evaluate the effect of surface friction on overall damping capability.

Test apparatus and method of measuring surface friction of a brake pad insulator material and method of use of a brake dynamometer


Electronic equipment comprises a plurality of apparatus each of which is driven by respective power source, voltage detector provided to each of the apparatus which detects the voltage of the power source and a display which indicates, when the voltage drop is detected by the voltage detector, at which apparatus of the plurality of apparatus the drop of source voltage has occurred.

1. Filed of the Invention
The present invention relates to electronic equipment and particularly to electronic equipment which is divided into plural number of units such as main equipment and peripheral apparatus that are driven by batteries.
2. Related Background Art
An electronic apparatus wherein plural number of units driven individually by batteries are connected by connecting means such as connector and the units thus make up one integrated system is often observed with portable equipments. A camera and strobe unit, tuner package for compact taperecorder, hand-held computer and its memory or printer unit etc. are of this type. Particularly in the case of apparatus such as camera, a system is sometimes constructed by connecting plural number of peripheral apparatus such as a strobe and a motor-drive. In the case of equipment of this type so far introduced, when plural number of peripheral apparatus are connected to a main equipment for performance, control system is often so designed that an entire system becomes unoperable when power source voltage decreases with one of the connected units.
Control for the prevention of malfunction of the entire system at the time of disorder of one unit is desired but with the conventional equipment, it has been often impossible to judge at which peripheral unit voltage drop has occurred and thus it has been difficult to estimate the period of stable operation of each unit and find out the appropriate timing for battery exchange. In the extreme case, it has been necessary to dismount the batteries of all apparatus for checking.

Electronic equipment including a plurality of independently powered apparatus


In the control apparatus of the invention, the power steering can be activated or deactivated by at least one control signal. The invention is characterized in that the control apparatus includes a member for measuring at least one parameter for activation of the power steering system as well as a member for measuring at least one parameter for deactivation of the power steering system. The control apparatus also includes a member for performing a first test to detect whether at least one activation parameter meets an activation condition, and a member for activating the power steering in response to the first test. Additionally, the control apparatus utilizes a member for performing a second test to detect whether at least one deactivation parameter meets a deactivation condition, and a member for deactivation of the power steering in response to the second test.

The invention relates to a control apparatus of a power steering system for a motor vehicle.
In the prior art, systems have already been proposed that enable control or power assistance of the rotation of steerable wheels in response to effort by the driver exerted on the steering wheel mounted on the steering column.
Until now, the power assist has most often been controlled by detecting the torque exerted on the steering column by the driver.
In particular, assemblies that enable measurement of the torque exerted have been proposed.
Such systems require that the steering column include either dual shafts, or a torsion shaft at one point, the difference in rotational angles between the two parts of the steering column being a measure of the torque exerted.
Such systems increase the price of power steering considerably and prevent these provisions from being adopted for vehicles at the low end of the price range.

Control apparatus for a vehicle power steering system


A door opening/closing control device includes: a controller controlling driving of an actuator opening or closing a door; a position detector detecting an opening/closing position of the door; a speed calculator calculating an opening/closing speed of the door based on a temporal change in the opening/closing position detected by the position detector; and a target assisting force calculator calculating target assisting force based on the opening/closing position and the opening/closing speed of the door. The controller controls the driving of the actuator to assist an operation of opening or closing the door based on the target assisting force calculated by the target assisting force calculator. Further, the controller controls the driving of the actuator such that the door is fully closed upon judgment that the opening/closing position of the door is in the vicinity of the fully closed position based on the opening/closing position detected by the position detector.

As a door opening/closing control device that is mounted in a vehicle, for example, there are a power back door (also referred to as "power tail gate") control device, and a power slide door control device. These door opening/closing control devices each uses a motor as an actuator, rotates the motor and activates a door opening/closing mechanism, to open or close the back door or the slide door. Further, there is also a door opening/closing control device provided with a power assisting function, which applies operation assisting force by the actuator so as to allow an operator to perform an operation of opening or closing the door by small force when the operation of opening or closing the door is manually performed (e.g., Unexamined Japanese Patent Publication No. 2008-95407, Unexamined Japanese Patent Publication No. 2011-236697, Unexamined Japanese Patent Publication No. 2001-193353 and Unexamined Japanese Patent Publication No. 2011-26940).
In a door opening/closing control device of Unexamined Japanese Patent Publication No. 2008-95407, in order to reduce impact at a sudden stop of a slide door at a fully closed or a fully opened position, a target door speed is switched to a smaller value in the case of a door speed being larger than a predetermined value when the slide door reaches the vicinity of the fully closed position or the fully opened position. Then, driving of a motor is controlled such that an actual door speed gets close to the target door speed.
In a door opening/closing control device of Unexamined Japanese Patent Publication No. 2011-236697, in order to realize comfortable operation feeling, an amount of power supply to a motor is regulated based on an electric current flowing in the motor and a change in a moving speed of the slide door, thereby to control an opening/closing speed of the slide door.
In a door opening/closing control device of Unexamined Japanese Patent Publication No. 2001-193353, in order to transfer opening/closing of a slide door from a manual to an automatic at whichever position the slide door is, an operating direction (opening/closing direction) of the slide door is judged based on two pulses with shifted phases which are generated from a pulse generating unit in accordance with opening/closing of the sliding door. The motor is then driven in the opening direction or the closing direction in association with that operating direction.
In a door opening/closing control device of Unexamined Japanese Patent Publication No. 2011-26940, an operation amount of a handle for opening/closing a back door is detected and driving of a motor is controlled in accordance with the operation amount, to assist part of operation force required for an operation of opening or closing the back door. Further, in order to reduce the size of the device by use of a low-power motor, the opening/closing operation is assisted by a motor in a range up to a half-opened state of the back door.
For example, when the driving of the actuator is stopped in the case of the operator stopping the manual operation of closing the door in the vicinity of the fully closed position in a power assisting state, the door is left in a slightly opened state. Further, for example, when the actuator is automatically kept driving in the case of the operator stopping the manual operation of closing the door so as to allow the door to stand still at an intermediate position being between the fully closed position and the fully opened position, the door does not stand still at the desired intermediate position. This is inconvenient.


An anisotropic scatterer is configured to allow a scattering characteristic of light in a display region of a display device to have an angle dependence, and is configured to change the scattering characteristic of the light continuously in an in-plane direction.

The present disclosure relates to a display device and an anisotropic scatterer. More specifically, the present disclosure relates to an anisotropic scatterer used to let a scattering characteristic of light in a display region of a display device have angle dependence, and a display device that includes an image display section using such an anisotropic scatterer as mentioned above.
A reflective image display section that displays an image by controlling a reflectance of outside light is known. For example, a reflective liquid crystal display panel includes a reflector electrode or the like that reflects outside light, and displays an image by controlling the reflectance of the outside light by a liquid crystal material layer. Since the display device that includes the reflective image display section displays the image by utilizing the outside light, it is allowed to attain power consumption reduction, thickness reduction, and weight reduction and hence it is used, for example, as the device for use in portable terminal.
The display device that includes the reflective image display section is allowed to increase the reflectance for a predetermined view position by letting the scattering characteristic of light in the display region of the image display section have angle dependence, thereby to compensate for a reduction in visibility due to a reduction in reflectance incidental to displaying in color and to hinder the image from being viewed from a position deviating from the predetermined view position. A display device that a directional scattering film is disposed on a front surface of a liquid crystal panel as an anisotropic scatterer is described, for example, in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2004-110055.

Display device and anisotropic scatterer


Features are disclosed for generating predictive personal natural language processing models based on user-specific profile information. The predictive personal models can provide broader coverage of the various terms, named entities, and/or intents of an utterance by the user than a personal model, while providing better accuracy than a general model. Profile information may be obtained from various data sources. Predictions regarding the content or subject of future user utterances may be made from the profile information. Predictive personal models may be generated based on the predictions. Future user utterances may be processed using the predictive personal models.

Natural language processing systems typically include one or more models that they use to process input. For example, automatic speech recognition systems typically include an acoustic model and a language model. The acoustic model is used to generate hypotheses regarding which words or subword units (e.g., phonemes) correspond to an utterance based on the acoustic features of the utterance. The language model is used to determine which of the hypotheses generated using the acoustic model is the most likely transcription of the utterance based on lexical features of the language in which the utterance is spoken. As another example, natural language understanding systems typically include models for named entity recognition, intent classification, and the like. The natural language understanding models can be used to determine an actionable intent from the words that a user speaks or writes.
Acoustic models, language models, natural language understanding models, and other models used in spoken language understanding (together referred to as spoken language understanding models), may be specialized or customized to varying degrees. For example, an automatic speech recognition system may have a general or base model that is not customized in any particular manner, and any number of additional models for particular genders, age ranges, regional accents, speakers, or any combination thereof. Some systems may have models for specific subject matter (e.g., medical terminology) or even specific users.

Generation of predictive natural language processing models


A children's tricycle comprises a body, a front wheel pivotally assembled to the body, a first pedaling assembly assembled to the front wheel, a second pedaling assembly assembled to the front wheel, a screw for making the first pedaling assembly threaded with the second pedaling assembly. A first inserting rod of the first pedaling assembly and a second inserting rod of the second pedaling assembly are connected to the front wheel separately, such that the first and second pedaling assemblies can be assembled to or detached from the front wheel quickly. The first and second pedaling assemblies can be assembled to the tricycle for the child to step on, and can also be detached from the tricycle when the child is learning to walk, such a tricycle is not only money-saving since the parents don't need to buy a special baby walker additionally, but also has high convenience and security.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a children's tricycle, and more particularly to a detachable children's tricycle that is applicable to ride or walk and has high security and convenience.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A conventional children's tricycle generally comprises a tricycle front, two handlebars assembled to the tricycle front, two pedals, a front wheel, two rear wheels and a seat. When in use, the steering of the tricycle in motion is done by a child who is seated on the tricycle, with both hands holding the handlebars. However, since the pedals are undetachable, when the child is learning to walk, the pedals will block the child's feet forward, or even cause feet hurt, and it is money-consuming since the parents have to buy a special baby walker.
The present invention has arisen to mitigate and/or obviate the afore-described disadvantages.


A surface cleaning substrate, which is essentially dry and loaded with a cleaning composition, which may very suitably be stored and transported in its dry form and which may be activated for surface cleaning by simple addition of a carrier, such as water. A method for the manufacture of such a loaded dry substrate, and to the method of surface cleaning using such a loaded dry substrate is also disclosed.

For surface cleaning it has long been a desire to combine cleaning compositions, such as detergents or scouring fluids, with a substrate, such that a user does not need to add such a composition for easing the work and/or optimizing the amount of used compositions. The prior art as well as commercial products show two main approaches.
A first approach employs one-time usage substrates, which may be of particular composition, such as micro-fibres, or may be particularly treated, such as antistatically. They may also comprise additives, such as cleaning compositions, and are delivered to the user in a dry or in a wet state. It is also known to deliver essentially dry ("dry to the touch") substrates, which can be wetted, such as with water, for the cleaning. Upon cleaning, the substrate is loaded with dirt, and discarded once the additive is exhausted and/or the dirt level reaches a critical level.
Such systems not only have the disadvantage that they are inefficient in the use of substrate, which is undesirable both from an economical as well as an ecological point of view. Also, such systems require special precautions with regard to storing and distributing the substrates, particularly if these are wet and thusly are prone to microbial contamination.
JP-A-2 047 397 relates to paper containing soap in its fiber tissues. U.S. Pat. No. 4,935,158 describes a (non-washable) cleaning pad comprising a solid detergent cleaning composition, which is reusable by means of a slow release of the active agent constituents.
The other conventional approach employs re-usable substrates, which are washed and dried and delivered to the cleaning location. There, they may be used as such, as well known for microfiber substrates. Alternatively, a cleaning liquor is prepared, often by adding a cleaning composition to water such as in a bucket with a squeezing insert. A further alternative uses cleaning implements which comprise a dosing unit, such as may be fixed to the handle of the cleaning implement, and which is used to deliver the cleaning liquor to the cleaning surface or substrate.
Such systems typically require that the cleaning liquor is prepared at the cleaning location, which often results in misdosage of the cleaning composition and/or of the water, which may result in unsatisfactory cleaning results, such as poor dirty pick-up and/or streaking, and which, in the case of overdosing, may deteriorate economics. In particular for professional cleaning, the use of larger containers for the cleaning composition may lead to complications in the logistics chain or on site. Further a significant portion of the cleaning composition is discarded with the cleaning liquor after use.
EP-A-0 153 146 relates to an article suitable for wiping surfaces including a substrate which can carry the detergent that is delivered to the surface during wiping. U.S. Pat. No. 4,014,808 describes a detergent formulation useful in aqueous working solution for the treatment of soiled floor surfaces. Other wiping articles and the like have been described, for example, in GB No. 1 522 759 (Airwick); EP 66 463A (Unilever); EP No. 68 830A (Unilever); GB No. 1 326 080 (Freudenberg); and GB No. 1 304 375 (L'Oreal). Therein, the active material (liquid or solid but usually liquid) is generally encapsulated or compartmented in some way and can be released only by the application of some stimulus, for example, squeezing, rubbing or wetting.
However, none of the publications addresses the problem of providing washable and re-usable substrates, which are essentially dry and which are preloaded with a cleaning composition for being wetted upon use. Also, there is no disclosure of loading a washable substrate with a cleaning composition during or after washing and subsequently storing and/or transporting it in a dry state to the cleaning location.
Thus, in one aspect the present invention addresses the remaining problems by providing a re-usable and washable substrate, which has been loaded with suitable cleaning substances but which can be stored and transported in an essentially dry state. In another aspect, the present invention relates to the method of preparing such a loaded, essentially dry substrate, and in a further aspect to a method for cleaning a surface, whereby a substrate is used, which is washed after being used and dirt loaded and loaded with a cleaning composition thereafter, such that it can be stored and/or relocated to the cleaning location, where it is combined with a cleaning carrier, such as water.

Dry, washable and reusable surface cleaning substrate loaded with cleaning composition


A photosensitive material processing method in which a sheet-formed photosensitive material, which has been cut to predetermined sizes, is conveyed to an exposure stage and processed, wherein: the exposure stage has a function of exposing simultaneously a plurality of sheet-formed photosensitive materials, and at the upstream of the exposure stage, the photosensitive materials are sorted and conveyed so as to be able to be exposed simultaneously. Therefore, in a case in which there is a plurality of exposure stages, the photosensitive materials are not prepared in advance on the conveying paths along the exposure stages, and the sheet-formed photosensitive materials, which are selectively conveyed from one direction, are sorted, if necessary.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a photosensitive material processing method in which a sheet-formed photosensitive material, which has been cut to predetermined sizes, is successively conveyed to an exposure stage and processed, and to a photosensitive material processing apparatus in which a plurality of sheet-formed photosensitive materials, which have been cut to predetermined sizes, is disposed in a row and conveyed to an exposure stage and processed.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a case in which a photosensitive material is processed, quick processing thereof is demanded. In order to achieve this, both increasing of the conveying speed of a photosensitive material and decreasing of the exposure time thereof are demanded. With regard to the increasing of the conveying speed of the photosensitive material, it suffices if the conveying path of the photosensitive material is provided. Further, with regard to the decreasing of the exposure time of the photosensitive material, it suffices if an exposure stage is provided at every additional conveying path.
In order to achieve this, an applicant proposes a photosensitive material processing apparatus in which a magazine is provided at every plurality of rows of conveying paths, such that a plurality of rows of photosensitive materials provided from the magazines can be simultaneously processed, and a wide photosensitive material can be processed over the plurality of rows of conveying paths (as an example, see Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 8-314022).
In the proposed photosensitive material processing apparatus, normally, the plurality of rows of photosensitive materials can be processed and the wide photosensitive material can be processed on the same stage.
However, when the plurality of rows of photosensitive materials is processed simultaneously, the photosensitive materials accommodated within the plurality of magazines become simultaneously empty. Accordingly, the process must be interrupted for the replacement of the magazines. The degrees of exhaustion of the photosensitive materials within the plurality of magazines are not invariably be the same due to the difference in size of the photosensitive materials. However, it is not clear when the photosensitive material becomes empty. Thus, an operator must invariably wait and monitor the process.
Further, as related art, the following prior arts are disclosed.
1 Japanese Utility Model Application Publication No. 58-29464
A technology in which a photosensitive material, which has been exposed and cut, is divided into a plurality of rows. Until the photosensitive material is exposed and accommodated, as in a conventional method, one-row processing of the photosensitive material is still effected.
2 Japanese Utility Model Application Laid-Open No. 57-78052
A technology in which in a printing apparatus of a single exposure system, a plurality of magazines is provided at the apparatus main body and the magazines can be replaced as occasion demands. It is necessary that photosensitive materials be sorted quickly.
3 Japanese Utility Model Application Laid-Open No. 60-107841
A technology in which a photosensitive material is selectively withdrawn from a plurality of magazines so as to be cut and supplied to an exposure section. Since the photosensitive materials are not conveyed in parallel, it is not an efficient technology.
4 Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 6-347905 and Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 6-347907
A technology in which an exposure stage exists in each of the plurality of rows of conveying paths and exposed photosensitive materials are processed individually. In all of the processing systems, the number of exposure stages in accordance with the number of conveying paths is needed. Consequently, the size of an apparatus is increased.
5 Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 6-347914
A technology in which a magazine is moved so as to correspond to a plurality of conveying paths and then photographic printing papers are sorted. Regarding the mass of the magazine, the size of a power source for rapid movement must be increased.
In this way, the above-described prior arts have both advantages and disadvantages. For example, there are drawbacks in that one-row processing is still effected, rapid sorting is needed, a plurality of exposure systems is required, and in a case in which a magazine is moved, the size of a power source for rapid movement is increased. Also, a lot of time is wasted.

Photosensitive material processing method and photosensitive material processing apparatus


A downhole combustor system for a production well is provided. The downhole combustor includes a housing, a combustor and an exhaust port. The housing is configured and arranged to be positioned down a production well. The housing further forms a combustion chamber. The combustor is received within the housing. The combustor is further configured and arranged to combust fuel in the combustion chamber. The exhaust port is positioned to deliver exhaust fumes from the combustion chamber into a flow of oil out of the production well.

Artificial lift techniques are used to increase the flow rate of oil out of a production well. One commercially available type of an artificial lift is a gas lift. With a gas lift, compressed gas is injected into a well to increase the flow rate of produced fluid by decreasing head losses associated with weight of the column of fluids being produced. In particular, the injected gas reduces pressure on a bottom of the well by decreasing bulk density of the fluid in the well. The decreased density allows the fluid to flow more easily out of the well. Gas lifts, however, do not work in all situations. For example, gas lifts do not work well with a reserve of high viscosity oil (heavy oil). Typically, thermal methods are used to recover heavy oil from a reservoir. In a typical thermal method, steam generated at the surface is pumped down a drive side well into a reservoir. As a result of the heat exchange between the steam pumped into the well and the downhole fluids, the viscosity of the oil is reduced by an order of magnitude that allows it to be pumped out of a separate producing bore. A gas lift would not be used with a thermal system because the relatively cool temperature of the gas would counter the benefits of the heat exchange between the steam and the heavy oil therein increasing the viscosity of the oil and negating the desired effect of the thermal system.
Other examples where gas lifts are not suitable for use are production wells where there are high levels of paraffins or asphaltenes. The pressure drop associated with delivering the gas lift, changes the thermodynamic state and makes injection gases colder than the production fluid. The mixing of the cold gases with the production fluids acts to deposit these constituents on the walls of production piping. These deposits can reduce or stop the production of oil.
For the reasons stated above and for other reasons stated below, which will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon reading and understanding the present specification, there is a need in the art for an effective and efficient apparatus and method of extracting oil from a reservoir.


A controller for a quarter car variable force suspension system responds to a signal representative of the system state. In response to the system state signal, the controller provides an actuator force control signal commanding (i) low level damping force when a magnitude value of the system state signal is below a magnitude of a dead zone limit, (ii) maximum available actuator force when the magnitude of the system state signal is above a magnitude of a boundary layer limit and (iii) actuator force proportional to the magnitude of the system state signal when the magnitude of the system state signal is above the magnitude of the dead zone limit and below the magnitude of the boundary layer limit, whereby the suspension system does not chatter and is not affected by system state signal error.

In the field of vehicle suspensions, the phrase "quarter car suspension" refers to the components of the vehicle suspension relating to one of the four wheels of the typical automotive vehicle. These components include the particular wheel with a tire that is in contact with the road, a spring that transfers the road force to the vehicle body (sprung mass) and suspends the vehicle body, and a damper or actuator that reduces undesirable relative movement between the vehicle body and wheel. The complete suspension system of an automotive vehicle comprises four quarter car suspensions.
In recent years, vehicle manufacturers have dedicated significant effort to developing suspension systems responsive to the driving conditions of the vehicle. This effort is triggered by desire to incorporate the best features of soft and stiff suspension systems into a single vehicle suspension system. The best feature of a soft vehicle suspension is the smooth ride it provides for the vehicle passengers. The best feature of a stiff vehicle suspension is the increased handling performance it provides for the vehicle.
The theory of semi-active suspension systems is to selectively switch between stiff suspension and soft suspension in response to the particular driving conditions of the vehicle. Selection between stiff suspension and soft suspension may be obtained by altering the damping force of the suspension system, e.g., a greater damping force for a stiffer suspension and a lower damping force for a softer suspension. With correct control of suspension damping force, a vehicle can provide both optimum driving comfort and optimum handling performance.
The theory of active suspension system controls is to provide an actuator force to the suspension system to reduce wheel hop and improve vehicle body attitude control beyond that achievable by damping forces alone. The actuator force is applied in equal and opposite directions between the wheel and vehicle body. Active and semi-active suspension systems can be commonly referred to as variable force suspension systems.
Difficulties in designing variable force suspension systems lie partially in system controls. A suspension system may, at any given time, be said to have a state. The suspension system state for a particular quarter of the vehicle includes the position of the vehicle body (the sprung mass), the position of the wheel (the unsprung mass), the velocity of the sprung mass, and the velocity of the unsprung mass. From these four components, the other characteristics of the quarter car suspension system may be determined. For example, the relative velocity between the sprung mass and the unsprung mass is equal to the velocity of the sprung mass subtracted by the velocity of the unsprung mass. The relative position of the sprung mass and unsprung mass is equal to the position of the sprung mass subtracted by the position of the unsprung mass. The relative velocity between the sprung and unsprung masses and/or the relative position of the sprung and unsprung masses may be included in what is referred to below as the relative system state.
The state of the quarter car suspension system is difficult to predict because the road surface is always changing and is, itself, not predictable. Directly measuring the suspension system state requires many sensors, and is difficult to do. What is desired is a controller for a variable force suspension system that estimates the quarter car suspension system state based on as few sensors as possible while keeping the error between the actual and estimated state within reasonable limits. It is also desired that the suspension controller not be affected by error in the estimated state.
There is also the desire to eliminate suspension system chatter. Chatter occurs when the suspension control system is on the border between commanding high actuator force and low damping force and constantly switches between the two.

Quarter car variable force suspension system control


The invention concerns an automobile display unit, an automobile infrared night vision device and an automobile with such a display unit or, as the case may be, with such an infrared night vision device. The display includes an image processing unit which processes the image data supplied to it such that contiguous areas of maximal light intensity are recognized and these image data are adapted to the extent that they are at least partially replaced by image data with reduced light intensity values. These changed image data are supplied to the display, which reproduces these image data. This display unit makes possible a reduction or a prevention of blinding by brilliant light, which is particularly disturbing in a case of display of infrared night vision image information.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention concerns an automobile display, an automobile infrared night vision device and a vehicle equipped with such a device.
2. Description of the Related Art
Automobile night vision devices are known from DE 39 32 216 C2 and DE 40 07 646 A1.
These include a camera having sensitivity outside the visible frequency range of light, for example, at a wavelength of between 800 nm and 2000 nm. Beyond this, they include light sources which emit polarized or, as the case may be, non-polarized infrared light, for illumination of the environment. The infrared light reflected from the environment is received by the infrared camera and is imaged upon a display device provided in the field of view of the vehicle operator, which may be in the form of a heads-up display. The image data received by the camera is relayed to the display device/display.
Night vision devices of this type for automobile applications have already been disclosed with various designs. On the basis of adverse effects in the camera ("blooming", "streaking") or due to scatter light effects, so called "tangential" or "acute" lights can result. These acute lights can be substantially larger in their geometric form than the actual image of the light source.
As a result of the high maximal light density in automobile display devices, a not insignificant blinding effect can occur in the observer as a result of the acute lights, even in the case of attenuated total illumination of the display in the automobile.
From DE 10017185 A1 a device and a process for recording and displaying images is known which provide a mobile observation system for scenes with an extremely high light intensity dynamic, without causing a blinding of the observer. Herein a process for image processing is employed, in order to subdivide recorded images into contiguous areas and, within the individual areas, to individually adapt the respective light intensity contrast to the light intensity dynamics of the display means. The distribution or division of the image into areas with various light intensities occurs preferably with the aid of processes and algorithms for image processing, such as the application of threshold values and area-oriented segmentation processes. A dimming of the field of view occurs particularly in the case of the occurrence of extreme light brightness. Published patent document DE 19950681 A1 discloses an image recognition system, in particular for automobiles, which makes it possible to completely or partially darken those individual parts of images to be displayed upon the image screen which exhibit too great of a light intensity. These image areas can either be completely dimmed with loss of the entire image information content, or alternatively the image areas may also be displayed with reduced intensity.

Automobile infrared night vision device and automobile display


An integrated circuit (IC) includes multiple circuit modules that have specific clocking requirements, multiple clock sources (e.g., PLLs, duty cycle re-shaper, etc.), and at least one clock input port. The clock sources have specific clock source specifications, and the circuit modules have specific clocking requirements. The clock sources are selected based on an identification of the most common clocking requirements, and then placed at routing distances measured from the input port that are less than corresponding predetermined maximum routing distances such that the clocking requirements of the circuit modules are met. The IC thus generates clock signals internally, rather than externally.

The present invention relates generally to integrated circuits (ICs), and, more particularly, to a system with a reduced number of external clock sources.
Integrated circuits usually include many circuit modules such as data converters, processors, memory arrays, and various combinational logic circuits, as well as interface circuitry. Examples of interfaces include universal serial bus (USB), double data rate (DDR), peripheral component interconnect express (PCIe), media independent interface (MII), and serial advanced technology attachment (SATA). The circuit modules exchange data using these interfaces. Thus, data and control signals are transferred among the circuit modules and interfaces within the IC. The IC requires clock signals to regulate and synchronize the flow of the data and control signals. A clock generator receives a reference clock signal from a crystal oscillator and generates multiple clock signals that are further distributed inside the IC. The characteristics of a clock generator are determined by signaling method, performance parameters, input voltage and frequency, and output voltage and frequency of the clock signals. The clock generator may use single-ended or differential signaling methods to generate the clock signals. The performance parameters of the clock generator include jitter, propagation delay, duty cycle, and output skew of the clock signals. Various circuit modules and interfaces have different clock signal requirements and hence require clock generators with different characteristics.
For example, a USB module requires a 480 megahertz (MHz) single-ended reference clock signal that is at a voltage of 1.8 volts (V) while a PCIe module requires a 5,000 MHz differential reference clock signal that is at a voltage of 1V. Thus, two separate clock generators are required. With an increase in the number of circuit modules and interfaces with various clock signal requirements, the number of clock generators increases. The multiple clock generators or clock oscillators are external to the IC, which increases the bill of materials (BOM) cost as well as require increased circuit board area. This is especially true for low cost, low performance systems. Having multiple off-chip clock generators also requires fixed clock ports on the IC. If a circuit module is placed at one side of the IC and the clock port is located at the opposite side, then the circuit modules through which the clock signal must traverse to reach its destination will introduce jitter and propagation delay in the clock signal. Thus, the overall performance of the circuit module and in turn that of the system is hampered.
Certain systems include a physical interface (PHY) chip that is placed on the circuit board (off-chip). The PHY chip includes a clock generation module that generates a clock signal that is used to synchronize the exchange of data and control signals of the IC, including memory clock signals, address and command signals, output data signals, etc. In certain cases, the clock signal requirements of the circuit modules and interfaces in the IC do not match the clock signal specifications of the clock signal generated by the PHY chip. As a result, the clock signal generated by the PHY chip may not be used.
Certain other systems include clock generators, such as PLLs that are used for clock generation. The PLLs have certain clock signal specifications. The circuit modules and interfaces that have clock signal requirements that match the clock signal specifications of the PLL are associated with the corresponding PLL. Thus, as the number of PLLs corresponding to the large number of the circuit modules and interfaces increases, the cost and area of the IC also increase.
Therefore, it would be advantageous to have a system that employs fewer clock generators, selects a location of a clock port based on a routing distance of a clock signal, uses clock signals generated by PHY chips, and reduces the BOM cost and area of the system, or otherwise addresses some or all of the above-mentioned limitations.

Clock distribution architecture for integrated circuit


The brazing process for an aluminum headered condenser is improved by adding a flux drying and preheating process that both dries the wet flux layer and prepares the part for more efficient brazing. An oven is divided into two directly connected zones, one that dries the flux layer at a lower temperature, and one that preheats the condenser at a higher temperature that is still too low to melt the flux layer. Both the tanks and the core of the condenser are heated hotter than they would be if they were only flux dried, although the core is heated significantly more. The preheated parts are then transported to the braze furnace indirectly, through ambient, which serves to cool the core more than the tanks, to a temperature lower than the tanks. Finally, the part is run through a normal braze cycle. Because the tanks begin hotter than normal, they reach braze melt temperature sooner than they normally would. Because the core starts out cooler than the tanks, they reach braze temperature closer in time to the tanks.

Aluminum heat exchangers, radiators, evaporators, condensers and the like, are typically manufactured from aluminum alloy that is coated with a thin surface layer of braze material, which has a lower melting point than the base alloy layer. The various components of the heat exchanger, tanks, slotted header plates, tubes, cooling fins, etc, are held together temporarily with various fixtures, and then cycled through a braze oven. In the braze oven, the heat exchanger is brought to a temperature just sufficient to melt the surface layer of braze material, but not the base alloy. The parts are held together with a close clearance wherever a braze joint is desired, as between tube ends and tank header slots, or between cooling fin peaks and tube surfaces. In these close clearances, molten braze material is drawn in by capillary action, later solidifying to form braze joints. The braze process per se is proceeded by a fluxing step, in which the part is sprayed with a coating of waterborne chemical that acts to remove any oxidation on the part during the braze process. The part must be dried, leaving only the solid flux layer, before brazing. The flux chemical acts to absorb any surface oxidation that would otherwise interfere with the formation of good braze seams.
Braze ovens include the radiant heat type, in which a part is conveyed through a space that has heat simply radiated passively into it, as well as newer, convection types, such as that shown in coassigned U.S. Pat. No. 5,172,847. Convection type furnaces actively force heated gas, which must be an inert gas such as nitrogen, at the part, so as to heat it more quickly. The part must be brought to braze temperature, that is, to the temperature at which the braze layer liquifies, quickly enough so that the part will have time enough in the braze cycle to form the necessary braze seams and joints. One relatively new type of brazed heat exchanger is the so called tank and tube or headered condenser, an example of which may be seen in coassigned U.S. Pat. No. 5,062,476. This design has a pair of side tanks that are extruded from a fairly thick aluminum stock, so as to resist the relatively high pressures involved. As a consequence, the sides of the condenser are high in mass, and a concentrated mass, with relatively little exposed surface area per unit of mass. The tubes and fins that run between the tanks, however, are lower in mass, since they must conduct heat quickly, with a lot of exposed surface area. Consequently, there is a significant potential time delay between the high and low mass areas of the part reaching braze temperature, within a given braze cycle time, which might necessitate the use of longer braze cycle times to let the higher, more concentrated mass areas "catch up". This means longer, larger, and consequently more expensive braze ovens.

Aluminum heat exchanger brazing method and apparatus


The present invention provides, in part, methods producing multilayer semiconductor structures having one or more at least partially relaxed strained layers, where the strained layer is at least partially relaxed by annealing. In particular, the invention forms diffusion barriers that prevent diffusion of contaminants during annealing. The invention also includes embodiments where the at least partially relaxed strained layer is patterned into islands by etching trenches and the like. The invention also provides semiconductor structures resulting from these methods, and further, provides such structures where the semiconductor materials are suitable for application to LED devices, laser devices, photovoltaic devices, and other optoelectronic devices.

The technology of the manufacture of semiconductor devices comprises a great variety of etching processes used for forming trenches and similar structures in multilayer stacks of semiconductor and insulator materials. Integrated circuits are typically comprised of a large number of circuit elements located on a given chip area according to a specified circuit layout, wherein in complex circuits the field effect transistor represents one predominant circuit element. Generally, a plurality of process technologies are currently practiced, wherein for complex circuitry based on field effect transistors, such as microprocessors, storage chips, and the like, CMOS technology is currently one of the most promising approaches due to the superior characteristics in view of operating speed and/or power consumption and/or cost efficiency of the resulting devices. During the fabrication of complex integrated circuits using CMOS technology, etching of trenches is commonly performed.
Among other procedural steps heat treatment of semiconductor component at different fabrication states has to be performed in various environments. Annealing processes that alter the microstructure of a (semiconductor) material causing changes in physical properties such as the conductivity, strength and hardness are commonly known. In the manufacture of small-sized transistors annealing may be included in an attempt to provide tensile or compressive strains to channel regions in order to enhance the performance of the transistors. In the context of compliant substances facilitating the employment of strained thin films hetero-epitaxially grown on some seed substrate, etched trenches can be provided for facilitating partial or complete relaxation of the strained thin films.
However, in trenches and similar etched structures, the bottom and side surfaces include portions of material layers of the etched multilayer stack that are exposed to the environment after the etching process was completed. When such etched components are subject to some heat treatment constituents of these material layers can diffuse from the exposed portions out to the environment. The diffusion can severely affect the subsequent manufacturing steps and performance of finished semiconductor devices due to contamination of the annealing environment and the resulting contamination of both already formed layers and structures and those structures being formed during the annealing process.
In the manufacture of InGaNOS devices with relaxed strained InGaN layers, for example, the formation of strained material InGaN islands facilitates the relaxation of the strained layer. The formation of the islands is achieved by etching trenches separating portions of the strained layer. Relaxation is initiated by a heat treatment of the islands that are formed above some compliant layer, e.g., comprising borophosphosilicate glass (BPSG). The heat treatment results in a plastic deformation of the BPSG layer and some reflow thereby elastically relaxing the strained InGaN layer. During the heat treatment, however, boron and phosphorous atoms diffuse out of the portions of the BPSG material that are exposed at the walls and bottoms of the above-mentioned trenches. If the heat treatment is performed in an epitaxial reactor before or during the growth of an active layer, the diffused atoms contaminate the reactor atmosphere and the growing layer and thus affect performance of the built active layer.
It is thus a problem underlying the present invention to provide means to avoid diffusion of material portions of buried layers exposed by etched structures at the inner walls and the bottoms of trenches etched in multilayer stack arrangements.

Passivation of semiconductor structures having strained layers

S.O.I.Tec Silicon on Insulator Technologies


To provide a method for discriminating a microorganism by selecting and using a marker protein capable of reproducibly and quickly discriminating a bacterial species of the genus Listeria. The method for discriminating a microorganism according to the present invention includes: a step of subjecting a sample containing a microorganism to mass spectrometry to obtain a mass spectrum; a reading step of reading a mass-to-charge ratio m/z of a peak derived from a marker protein from the mass spectrum; and a discrimination step of discriminating which bacterial species of Listeria bacteria the microorganism contained in the sample contains based on the mass-to-charge ratio m/z, in which at least one of 17 ribosomal proteins L3, L4, L23, L2, L24, L6, L18, S5, L15, S13, S11, L10, L21, L13, S9, L31, S16 is used as the marker protein and particularly at least one of 8 ribosomal proteins L24, L6, L18, L15, S9, L31, S16 among the 17 ribosomal proteins is used.

Homology analysis based on DNA base sequences has been known as one of methods for discriminating types of microorganisms and has been widely used for classification, identification or the like of microorganisms (see, for example, Patent Literature 1). In this method, DNA is first extracted from a test microorganism, and the DNA base sequence of a region, such as rRNA genes, existing in high conservation in all organisms is determined. Next, using the DNA base sequence, a database involving a large number of DNA base sequence data of known microorganisms is searched and a base sequence showing high similarity to the DNA base sequence of the test microorganism is selected. Then, the species from which the base sequence is derived is determined to be of the same species or closely related species to the test microorganism.
However, with such a method utilizing the DNA base sequence, it takes a relatively long time to extract DNA from a test microorganism and to determine a DNA base sequence, so that there is a problem that it is difficult to quickly identify the microorganisms.
Therefore, in recent years, a method of identifying a microorganism based on a mass spectrum pattern obtained by mass spectrometry of a test microorganism has been increasingly used. According to the mass spectrometry, analytical results can be obtained in a short time using a trace amount of a microorganism sample, and continuous analysis of multiple specimens is easily carried out, so that simple and quick microorganism identification is possible. In this method, a solution containing proteins extracted from a test microorganism, a suspension of a test microorganism or the like is analyzed by a mass spectrometer using a soft ionization method such as MALDI-MS (matrix assisted laser desorption ionization mass spectrometry). Note that the "soft" ionization method is an ionization method that hardly causes decomposition of a high-molecular weight compound. Then, the test microorganism is identified by comparing the obtained mass spectrum pattern with mass spectrum patterns of known microorganisms that have been involved in advance in a database in large numbers. Such a method is called a fingerprint method because a mass spectrum pattern is used as information (that is, a fingerprint) specific to each microorganism.
However, in the identification of microorganisms by the fingerprint method using mass spectrometry, it is possible to identify at the genus level or a relatively distant species level, but discrimination between closely related species and identification at the level of subspecies, pathogenic types, strains or the like as a classification level lower than the species are normally considered to be difficult. Further, in the fingerprint method, it is not determined from which protein each peak appearing on the mass spectra originates, leaving a problem of the theoretical basis of identification and reliability. Therefore, in order to solve the problem, utilizing the fact that about half of peaks obtained by mass spectrometry of microbial cells is derived from ribosomal proteins, a method of attributing the type of protein from which a peak is derived by associating a mass-to-charge ratio of the peak obtained by mass spectrometry with a calculated mass estimated from the amino acid sequence obtained by translating base sequence information of ribosomal protein genes have been developed (see Patent Literatures 2 and 3). According to this method, it is possible to perform microorganism identification with high reliability based on the theoretical basis by using mass spectrometry.
However, since peaks with different mass-to-charge ratios differ depending on the classification level of microorganisms (family, genus, species, subspecies, pathogenic type, serotype, strain, etc.), for example, in order to perform discrimination reproducibly at the pathogenic type or strain level, it is necessary to select marker peaks that can be used for discrimination at the pathogenic type or strain level to be identified. For example, as marker proteins for identifying and discriminating Pseudomonas putida and its analogous cells, 23 ribosomal subunit proteins (L5, L13, L14, L15, L18, L19, L20, L22, L23, L24, L28, L30, L35, L36, S7, S8, S10, S13, S14, S17, S19, S20, and S21) are available (Patent Literature 2).

Method for discriminating a microorganism


A high-sensitivity detector for opto-electronic detection using multiwall carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) is provided. More specifically, multiwall carbon nanotube films demonstrate an infrared bolometric photoresponse higher than SWCNT films at room temperature. The observed D* exceeding 3.3×106 cm Hz1/2/W with MWCNT-film bolometers and can be further improved to over 1×107 cm Hz1/2/W by adding graphene flakes. The response time of about 1-2 milliseconds with MWCNT bolometers is more than an order of magnitude shorter than that of SWCNT bolometers. For individual MWCNTs with specially designed asymmetric Schottky contacts, one on the sidewall and the other covering the end, the photocurrent has been efficiently harvested and provides a higher detectivity of 6.2×109 cm·Hz1/2/W at room temperature, which is one order of magnitude higher than the convectional VOx detector and makes MWCNT competitive for practical optoelectronic detections over infrared and even longer wavelength range.

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) may be used in a variety of devices, and have demonstrated outstanding absorption of light in a wide wavelength range, making them promising candidates for opto-electronic detector applications. Such photoresponse under infrared (IR) radiation may be a dominantly exciton (binded electron-hole pair) generation and dissociation either into the phonons (or lattice vibration manifested as sample temperature rise), or into free photo-generated charge carriers (photo-carriers). The exciton mechanism is in contrast to the direct photoconductivity possibly due to transition associated to the series of van Hove singularity in one-dimensional electronic density states.
With single wall CNTs (SWCNT), a one-dimensional system, the binding energy of the exciton is high (on the order of a few hundreds of milli-electron-volt), leading to difficulties in dissociation of the photo-excited excitons to photo-carriers without a provided strong electric field. Additionally, bolometric response may not be observable if the SWCNT's thermal link to the environment is sufficiently high. This is particularly true for SWCNTs, which have a high thermal conductance of up to 8000 W/mK at room temperature. Reducing the SWCNT film's thermal link to the environment is thus necessary in order to obtain an adequate bolometric photoresponse.
One way to reduce the thermal link is to suspend SWCNT films, which may enhance the bolometric photoresponse. Nevertheless, the best-obtained uncooled figure-of-merit detectivity (D*) around 4.5×105 cmHz1/2/W is nearly three orders of magnitude lower than that of conventional VOx bolometers. In addition, the response time of the SWCNT-film bolometers, in the range of 40-60 ms occurs in circumstances when SWCNTs are suspended, and must be further reduced by at least an order of magnitude for practical IR imaging systems. Further improvement of SWCNT-bolometer performance faces several fundamental limitations associated with the SWCNT films including reduced light absorption at small thicknesses approaching the CNT percolation thresholds, difficulties in suspending very thin CNT films, a large number of inter-tube junctions that may limit electrical and thermal transport, and a large surface area that amplifies effects of molecules such as oxygen absorbed/attached to the SWCNT surface. SWCNT have only one CNT shell so the surface effect, which is affected by almost any species absorbed/attached of the CNT surface, dominates the device properties. Consequently, the applications of SWCNTs on opto-electronic detections may be limited.
Individual CNTs may also be used to build Schottky devices, which typically consist a Schottky contact paired with another Ohmic contact on the other side, by collecting the photocurrent induced by the incident photons. The photocurrent is primarily generated from the excitons separated by the build-in electrical potential at the metal-CNT Schottky interface. However, the best current responsivity is below a few tens of A/W for CNT Schottky detectors and photocurrent may not be efficiently collected. The performances of previously reported CNT Schottky devices are far below practical requirements

Multiwall carbon nanotube opto-electronic devices


A heater for heating a reformer of a fuel cell system includes a combustion chamber having a combustion catalyst layer; a distributor having an inner space and uniformly distributing a combustion fuel and an oxidant flowing along the inner space to the combustion catalyst layer of the combustion chamber; and an igniter igniting the combustion fuel and the oxidant, wherein the igniter is placed in the inner space of the distributor. Thus, the igniter is protected from combustion heat of the combustion catalyst layer and thus has improved durability.

1. Field of the Invention
Aspects of the present invention relate to a heater for heating a reformer of a fuel cell, and more particularly, to a heater for a fuel cell system, in which an igniter is provided inside a distributor that distributes a combustion fuel and an oxidant to a combustion catalyst layer in the case where a combustion catalyst is used in burning the combustion fuel, so that durability of the igniter is enhanced.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, a fuel cell system is a power generation system that generates electricity through an electrochemical reaction between hydrogen and an oxidant. As an example of a fuel cell system, a polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) employs hydrogen produced by reforming a hydrogen-containing fuel. A PEMFC thus has advantages as compared with other types of fuel cells in that its output performance is excellent; its operation temperature is low; and its start and response are quickly performed. Further, the PEMFC can be used for a wide variety of purposes such as, for example, as a distributed power source for a house or a public building, as a small portable power source for portable electronic devices, etc., and as a transportable power source for vehicles.
A typical PEMFC system includes a fuel container to store hydrogen-containing fuel; a reformer to reform the hydrogen-containing fuel supplied from the fuel container and to produce hydrogen; and a fuel cell main body (hereinafter, referred to as a 'stack') to generate the electricity through an electrochemical reaction between hydrogen supplied from the reformer and oxygen.
As shown in FIG. 5, a reformer disclosed in Korean First Patent Publication No. 2004-0034026 comprises a preheater 10 to preheat water supplied from the outside; a mixing preheater 20 in which water preheated by the preheater 10 and hydrocarbonaceous gas supplied from the outside are mixed and preheated; a steam-reforming reaction unit 30 in which reaction gas preheated by the mixing preheater 20 absorbs heat and causes a steam-reforming reaction to produce hydrogen; and a burner 40 to provide heat for the endothermic reaction of the steam-reforming reaction unit 30. In the reformer, the preheater 10, the mixing preheater 20, the steam-reforming reaction unit 30 are manufactured to have a planar dimension such that they can be stacked with one another within a heat isolating reformer body 50. Specifically, the preheater 10, the mixing preheater 20 and the steam reforming reaction unit 30 are stacked from a top to a bottom of the reformer body 50 in sequence. The burner 40 is placed under the steam-reforming reaction unit 30. Further, two gas guiding plates 60 and 70 are provided between the preheater 10 and the mixing preheater 20 and between the mixing preheater 20 and the steam-reforming reaction 30, respectively. Such two gas guiding plates 60 and 70 are used to maintain the combustion heat transferred from the burner 40 at a proper temperature for the reforming reaction and preheating.
Further, a reformer, disclosed in Korean First Patent Publication No. 1996-0034070, comprises single dual cylinder type tube reforming pipe filled with a reforming catalyst. In this reformer, the reforming pipe is internally provided with a plurality of combustion catalyst layers having a honey-comb structure; a fuel supplying pipe provided in the center of the combustion catalyst layer; and a fuel gasifying coil provided inside and connected to the reforming pipe.
As illustrated by the related examples above, a heater for heating a reformer can typically be classified as one of two types, a catalyst heater that burns a combustion fuel by the catalysis of the combustion catalyst, and a combustion heater (i.e., burner) that burns the combustion fuel by flames.
A catalyst heater typically comprises a combustion catalyst layer; a distributor to uniformly distribute the combustion fuel and oxidant to the combustion catalyst layer; and an igniter to ignite the combustion fuel and air.
In the catalyst heater, heat generated when the combustion fuel and oxygen are ignited by the igniter is used in heating the combustion catalyst layer to its catalyst activity temperature. After the combustion catalyst layer is heated up to its catalyst activity temperature, the igniter stops operating. After the igniter stops operating, combustion of the combustion fuel and oxygen continues due to the catalytic activity of the heated combustion catalyst layer.
After the operation of the igniter is stopped, the igniter continues to be exposed to oxygen and continues to be heated by the heat generated by the catalytic combustion. Accordingly, the igniter is vulnerable to high temperature oxidation due to prolonged exposure to heat and oxygen, which reduces its durability.


The present invention relates to an electrode rolling roll cleaning apparatus for removing pollutants on an electrode rolling roll, the apparatus comprising: a cleaning part for cleaning a rolling roll by bringing the rolling roll into contact with a cleaning member; an air spraying part for spraying air onto the rolling roll; a heating part for applying heat to the rolling roll so as to dry the rolling roll; and a scraper part for mechanically removing a cleaning liquid and foreign substances attached to the rolling roll.

As the price of energy sources increases due to depletion of fossil fuels and the interest in environmental pollution increases, the demand for environmentally friendly alternative energy sources becomes an indispensable factor for future life. Especially, as technology development and demand for mobile devices are increasing, demand for secondary batteries as energy sources is rapidly increasing.
Typically, in terms of the shape of the battery, there is a high demand for a prismatic secondary battery and a pouch-type secondary battery that can be applied to products such as mobile phones with a small thickness. In terms of materials, there is a high demand for lithium secondary batteries such as lithium ion batteries and lithium ion polymer batteries having high energy density, discharge voltage, and output stability.
Generally, in order to prepare a secondary battery, first, a positive electrode and a negative electrode are formed by applying an electrode mixture containing an electrode active material to a surface of a current collector, then a separate is interposed therebetween to thereby make an electrode assembly, which is then mounted in a cylindrical or rectangular metal can or inside a pouch-type case of an aluminum laminate sheet, and a liquid electrolyte in injected or impregnated into the electrode assembly or a solid electrolyte to prepare a secondary battery.
Further, secondary batteries are classified according to the structure of the electrode assembly having a positive electrode/separator/negative electrode structure. Representative examples thereof include a jelly-roll (wound) electrode assembly in which long sheet type positive electrodes and negative electrodes are wound with a separator interposed therebetween, a stacked electrode assembly in which a plurality of positive and negative electrodes cut in a predetermined size unit are sequentially stacked with a separator interposed therebetween, and a stacked/foldable electrode assembly in which bi-cells or full cells, in which positive and negative electrodes of a predetermined unit are stacked with a separator interposed therebetween, are wound with a separator sheet.
On the other hand, the electrode generates a current through the exchange of ions, and the positive electrode and negative electrode constituting the electrode has a structure in which the electrode active material is applied to the electrode current collector made of metal.
The separator is positioned between the positive electrode and the negative electrode of the battery to perform insulation and maintain the electrolyte to provide a passage for ion conduction.
The roll press process, the slitting process, the notching process, the lamination process, or the folding process for manufacturing the electrode and the separator and the like are mostly performed by a roll-to-roll process. Herein, the roll-to-roll process refers to a process in which a plurality of bendable metal foils and the like move between rollers and perform a process such as coating and printing.
That is, for example, by unwinding the roll winding the flexible, a thin sheet-like material, materials are supplied, the supplied materials are coated and printed, and then materials processed from another roll are rewound and retrieved. In particular, positive and negative electrodes for secondary batteries are made by applying a positive electrode active material or a negative electrode active material on a sheet and rolling the sheet.
In this rolling process, when rolling is repeatedly performed, if active materials or other foreign materials remaining after rolling are attached to the roll during rolling, foreign materials may adhere to the electrode in the subsequent rolling process, thereby reducing the quality of the electrode and the battery including the same. As such, an apparatus for cleaning a rolling roll by removing contaminants of a rolling roll is used.
On the other hand, in the conventional rolling roll cleaning apparatus, oil-based cleaning oil is sprayed on a cleaning member such as a cleaning roller through a nozzle, and the rolling roll is wiped with a cleaning member sprayed with cleaning oil.
However, when using such an oil-based cleaning solution, there was a limitation in removing contaminants. For example, in the case of the negative electrode rolling roll for rolling the negative electrode of the secondary battery, the solvent of the negative electrode is water, and thus there was a limitation in removing contaminants from the negative electrode rolling roll with only oil-based cleaning oil. Therefore, the pollutants could not be completely removed and the pollutants were likely to remain. Likewise, when rolling an electrode using a rolling roll in a state where contaminants remain, there was a problem in that defects such as occurrence of being stamped of the electrode surface and electrode detachment due to contaminants on the rolling roll surface were generated.
Therefore, there is a need to develop a rolling roll cleaning apparatus for solving the above problems.

Apparatus for cleaning rolling roll for electrode and cleaning method


According to an embodiment, a mobile extender (82) is provided which may be configured to provide a base unit (81) with an additional uplink via a mobile network like LTE.

Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) technologies are widely used to provide broadband services like Internet to customers. While the bandwidth enabled by DSL communication has increased in the recent years due to development of new standards like VDSL2, which employ additional techniques like vectoring, in some cases the available bandwidth may still be insufficient.
On the other hand, the available bandwidth and data rates via mobile networks have also been steadily increasing from second generation networks (using for example GPRS) via third generation networks (using for example UMTS) up to fourth generation networks (using for example LTE standard).
Generally, it would be desirable to provide existing network connections, for example DSL connections, with additional capacitance.

System, method and apparatus for an uplink extender


An automatic wall cleansing apparatus is provided that includes a work platform, a lift unit, a supporting frame, a rotatable brush assembly, a blower unit, and a control unit. The work platform is moved up to a working position, by presetting the control unit. The work platform is lifted to the topmost portion of the building and downwardly executes the cleansing work with the aid of air supplied by the blower unit and a rubbing operation by the rotatable brush assembly. From the supply of detergent, cleansing, spraying of clean water, to drying by hot air, all of the steps are carried out automatically and successively without the need of manual operation.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an automatic wall cleansing apparatus, and more particularly, to an automatic wall cleansing apparatus which can reduce the use of manpower and natural resources, and in addition, improve work safety.
2. Description of the Prior Art
At present, wall cleansing for a high rise building is mostly carried out by manpower. The most common procedure is to lift up a work crew with a winch car and settle them down at individual positions, and then let them begin to work. However, such a conventional method has several shortcomings:
1. A considerably large amount of labor and work time along with necessary energy such as water and electric power are required, resulting in a high cost.
2. Skillful and experienced workers in this field are required.
3. For a large high rise building with wide wall areas, cleansing work is not only tiresome and time consuming, but also causes a problem in that a previously finished portion of the wall may become contaminated by dust or used water coming from an adjacent portion being cleaned. As a result, working efficiency is low with poor quality of the finished work.
4. Work safety cannot be satisfactorily assured because workmen have to work at a high altitude in a dangerous environment.
Although, some improvements have been made in the technique for high rise building wall cleansing, for example, providing a small sized electrically driven cleansing device and providing certain corrosive, strong acidic materials that are basically effective for improving cleansing techniques. Yet, the device and chemical materials are bulky or dangerous to store. A more reliable idea needs to be implemented for the sake of facilitating high rise building wall cleansing work.
Therefore, an invention devoted to resolving the aforesaid disadvantages of current practice in cleansing a high rise building wall, and for saving labor, time, water and electricity is necessary.
The main object of the present invention is to provide an automatic wall cleansing apparatus which can save labor, time, water and electricity and improve work safety as well.
To achieve the above mentioned object, the present invention comprises a work platform for accommodating a work crew and equipment, a lift unit, a supporting frame, a rotatable brush assembly, a blower unit, and a control unit. The work platform is moved up to a working position. By means of presetting the control unit, the working platform is lifted to the topmost portion of the building and then gradually and downwardly executes cleansing work with the aid of air supplied by the blower unit and the rubbing operation of the brush assembly against the wall. From supply of detergent, cleansing, spraying of clean water to hot air drying, all of the steps are carried out successively in order, without the need of a working crew being lifted up to a high altitude entrained on the work platform.

2fl., No. 29, Lane 109, Sec. 2, Baufu Rd.


In encapsulating an optocomponent with a plastics material, an MT-connector compatible interface is obtained having bores for guide pins in the wall of the capsule and optical connection surfaces. These bores are obtained from mold cavity guide pins that are used for aligning the optocomponent in a mold cavity in a mold in the molding operation of the encapsulating material on top of the component. In order to achieve a good accuracy in the positioning of the component during the molding operation, the mold guide pins are as short as possible and end directly behind the component where they are supported by projections extending from each mold half. Thus, cavities are created extending straight through the capsule behind the component. The cavities allow that the guide pin bores are cleansed and that material residues are removed after the molding operation. Further, the cavities can be used for spring clamps for retaining the optocomponent capsule at an optical connector having a similar interface. The clamps can then have tongues that are inserted in the cavities and that, in addition, can be provided with holes through which the guide pins can be pushed to safeguard the clamps against being lost.

In the earlier Swedish patent application SE-A 9400907-3, filed Mar. 18, 1994, a method is described of encapsulating optocomponents by means of transfer moulding and of obtaining an optical interface in the wall of the capsule at the same time. This method is developed from the conventional method for encapsulating microelectronic circuits, where an electrically conducting leadframe is used for establishing an electric connection to microelectronic circuit chips. The leadframe usually consists of a punched or etched metal piece, e.g. a thin copper or aluminium sheet. The leadframe comprises a special, suitably adapted portion termed "flag", onto which a microelectronic circuit is mounted before being moulded into the encapsulating material. Before the moulding embedment, the microcircuit chip is also electrically connected to contact pins of the leadframe by friction welding, "bonding" by means of "bonding" wires to "legs" or "fingers" of the leadframe.
Moreover, when encapsulating optocomponents an optical interface is to be formed in the wall of the capsule having a high accuracy as to the position of the component in relation to another component or a connector device, to which the encapsulated component is to be connected or coupled. The required mechanical accuracy is achieved by mounting the optocomponents on a common carrier or substrate such as a plate, which thereafter is attached to the flag. Finally the carrier is positioned in relation to the external geometry. For an optical interface, which is compatible with an optical multi-fiber contact of MT-device type, this is achieved by means of V-grooves on the carrier plate, in which guide pins extending through the mould cavity fit. These guide pins are pulled out after the encapsulating operation and then leave circular cylindrical holes in the encapsulation material. Into these holes, loose cylindrical guide pins are then inserted, at connection of the optocomponent or another device having the same optical interface.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,199,093 optical fiber connectors encapsulated with plastics are disclosed. One connector I of the device pair (FIG. 1), consisting of a moulded plastics body 2, comprises guide pins 3 like in an MT-device, and a passive integrated optical circuit board 6 connected to an optical fiber 4, where one side of the board 6 is exposed and centrally arranged between the guide pins 3. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 2 there are no guide pins, but here an optical contact device protrudes outside the rest of the capsule and the guiding is provided by means of a sleeve.
The published European patent application EP-A2 0 482 673 relates to an optical connector device of MT-device type, which can be designed as shown in FIGS. 12-16, having transverse cavities, which are amongst other things intended for retaining guide pins by means of spring clips, one at each device.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,214,730 and the published European patent application EP-A1 0 530 744 describe modifications and improvements of optical contact devices of "MT" type having somewhat different designed spring clips for the retainment of two connection devices at each other. In FIGS. 9-11 in the patent U.S. Pat. No. 5,214,730 contact devices having a protruding portion next to fiber ends and guide pins are shown.
The published European patent applications EP-A1 0 484 180, EP-A2 0 635 741 and EP-A2 0 496 331 which corresponds to U.S. Pat. No. 5,337,094, and the published International patent application WO-A1 94/28448 disclose various types of semiconductor and optoelectronic devices and production methods thereof. In the published Swedish patent application SE-B 451623 corresponding to U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,507,345 and 4,520,061, a method and a mould are disclosed for manufacturing a block used for adaption of component specific connection openings to openings standardized as to their position.

Optocomponent capsule having an optical interface


Methods and/or devices for detecting the flow rate of a flowing medium, in particular the flow rate of a flowing air mass, are described, in which the flowing medium is detected with two evaluation methods that operate according to different principles and the two measurement signals obtained are set in relation to each other in order to determine correction methods. Since the two measurement methods react differently to interference effects, the comparison of the two output signals permits conclusions to be drawn as to the type and the order of magnitude of the interference effects and a corrected measurement signal can be obtained, which is independent of the interference effects.

The invention relates to a method and device for detecting the flow rate of a flowing medium, in particular for detecting the air flow prevailing in the intake tube of an internal combustion engine and therefore determining the aspirated air mass.
In order to detect the air mass aspirated by an internal combustion engine, usually a hot film air mass measuring device is used. These devices have a heatable element, which is exposed to the air flow to be measured and is cooled by it. There are a variety of possibilities for embodying the hot film air mass measuring device, both for the heating regulation and the evaluation method. Both types of air mass measuring devices and an existing method for detecting the air mass flow with a hot film air mass measuring device are based on the measurement of the heat imparted to the air mass flow that is flowing past it. Air mass measuring devices of one type measure the electrical energy required for regulating the hot film to a constant temperature. A second method and an associated second sensor device are also based on the fact that the hot film is regulated to a constant temperature. However, the measurement signal used here is not the required calorific output, but the temperature profile at the edge of the hot film that is embodied as a membrane. With the aid of a temperature sensor disposed upstream of the heating region and a temperature sensor disposed downstream of it, the temperature difference between these two points is determined. Both of the temperature sensors, which are embodied as temperature-dependent resistances, are components of a bridge circuit. A measurement signal is obtained from the bridge voltage produced and represents the temperature difference between the temperature-dependent resistance upstream of the heating region and the temperature-dependent resistance downstream of the heating region.
Both types of sensors and evaluation methods can be impaired by interference effects, for example airborne moisture or dirt. This can cause a sensor of this kind to produce a false reading or can lead to an error in signal evaluation.

Method and device for determining the throughput of a flowing medium


Methods and apparatus for transmitting and receiving symbols in a communication system having a plurality of frequency bands are provided. A first symbol is transmitted on a first tone using a first constellation mapping and a second symbol is transmitted on a second tone using a second constellation mapping different from the first constellation mapping. The first symbol is retransmitted on the second tone using the second constellation mapping and the second symbol is retransmitted on the first tone using the first constellation mapping. The first and second symbols are detected from a combination of the received transmitted and retransmitted first and second signals.

Wireless personal area networks (WPANs) provide wireless short-range connectivity for electronic devices such as audio/video devices within a home. The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.15 High Rate Alternative PHY Task Group (TG3a) for WPAN is working to develop a higher speed physical (PHY) layer enhancement to IEEE proposed standard P802.15.3™—Draft Standard for Telecommunications and Information Exchange Between Systems (referred to herein as the proposed IEEE standard). Presently, Ultra Wideband (UWB) technology is under consideration by the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) as an alternative physical layer technology. UWB technology, in general, uses base-band pulses of very short duration to spread the energy of transmitted signals very thinly from near zero to several GHz.
In particular, Multi-Band Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (MB-OFDM) has been proposed for the IEEE standard due to its spectrally efficiency, inherent robustness against narrowband interference, and robustness to multi-path fading, which allows a receiver to capture multi-path energy more efficiently. The inverse fast Fourier transform/fast Fourier transform (IFFT/FFT) operation ensures that sub-carriers do not interfere with each other. OFDM signals have very good in-band and stop-band performance because they have generally flat power spectral density (PSD) in-band and a sharp cut off in the stop-band.
In MB-OFDM, the UWB frequency spectrum, which covers 7.5 GHz in the 3.1 GHz to 10.6 GHz frequency band, is divided into 14 bands, each occupying 528 MHz of bandwidth. Each band includes 128 sub-carriers of 4 MHz bandwidth each. Information is transmitted using OFDM modulation on each band. MB-OFDM may use coding such that information bits are interleaved across various bands to exploit frequency diversity and provide robustness against multi-path interference. MB-OFDM, however, does not offer sufficient frequency diversity for higher code rates (i.e., low redundancies). Typical techniques to increase frequency diversity in MB-OFDM systems, however, often have a relatively high level of complexity, which adds to the cost of implementing such techniques.

Multi-band OFDM UWB communication systems having improved frequency diversity


Systems and techniques are disclosed for a blockchain network based on machine learning-based proof of work. One of the methods includes accessing a blockchain associated with a blockchain network, and obtaining a first error value specified in a block of the blockchain, the first error value being associated with a machine learning model identified in the block, and the blockchain recording machine learning models. A new machine learning model associated with a second error value is determined, with the second error value being less than the first error value. A block proposal identifying the new machine learning model is generated, the block proposal specifying the first error value. Transmission of the block proposal to other entities is caused. In response to greater than a threshold percentage of the entities approving the block proposal, inclusion of the block proposal in the blockchain is caused.

Blockchain networks are commonly used to securely store information, and to ensure that the information can be exactly replicated across any entity which can access the blockchain network. These networks help guard against improper tampering by any of the storing entities. For example, each block in the blockchain may include a cryptographic hash of a prior block and/or the entire blockchain. Thus, certain blockchain networks may be utilized to record transactions. Example blockchain networks include Bitcoin and Ethereum. As new transactions are processed by the network, the transactions may thus be recorded in one or more blocks. To ensure that any entity (e.g., computer, server, mobile device) stores the same blocks—and therefore the same transactions—the entities may validate each new block proposed for inclusion in the blockchain. In this way, via validation the entities may arrive at a consensus regarding each new proposed block. Therefore, the validity of the transactions of the blockchain may be assured via the distribution of the blocks to each entity.
As is known, an example scheme to validate proposed blocks is via 'proof-of-work' (POW). In this example scheme, the entities running the blockchain network (e.g., processing transactions) may perform complex cryptographic functions. As an example, entities may perform particular cryptographic functions on, at least, transactions to be included in a proposed block. One example of such a cryptographic function is SHA-256. These entities may perform the cryptographic functions until stopping criteria is met. An example stopping criterion includes a result of the cryptographic function being lower than a threshold. Upon the stopping criteria being met, the proposed block may be validated and included in the blockchain. For example, the proposed block may include a cryptographic hash of a prior block and/or the entire blockchain. In this way, the blockchain may serve to record information in a distributed manner. However, the POW scheme described above does not cause useful work to be performed. Since these cryptographic functions are performed solely to identify the stopping criteria, they do not otherwise generate useful work (e.g., usable for other purposes). Thus, great processing and electricity power may be consumed in the search to solely identify the stopping criteria.

Blockchain network based on machine learning-based proof of work