A anti-reflection member provided with an antistatic function and an electromagnetic radiation shielding function and having a reflection preventing optical thin film excellent in adhesion with the hard coat layer.. The anti-reflection member comprises a laminate composed of substrate, hard coat layer, and reflection preventing optical thin film having at least two layers, the first layer of the reflection preventing optical thin film provided in contact with the hard coat layer comprises a transparent conductive oxide film (for example, SnO.sub.2, ZnO, In.sub.2 O.sub.3, or ITO) formed by reactive physical vapor phase deposition, and the second layer of the reflection preventing optical thin film consists of a material (for example, SiO.sub.2 or MgF.sub.2) having a refractive index smaller than that of the first layer.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an anti-reflection member and manufacturing method thereof, and relates to a cathode ray tube having a front panel applied with such anti-reflection member.
2. Description of Related Art
For example for conventional cathode ray tubes (CRT), a picture displayed on the cathode ray tube is not viewed clearly because external light is reflected on the panel surfacel; that is a problem of conventional cathode ray tubes. On the other hand, the potential of the panel surface changes because of high voltage applied on the fluorescent screen formed on the inside surface of the panel of the cathode ray tube. As a result, dust adheres on the panel surface and the panel causes an electric discharge to an approching human body. To prevent such phenomena, it is required to provide an antistatic function on the panel surface. In addition, it is also important to provide an electromagnetic radiation shielding function so as not to release electromagnetic waves from the cathode ray tube. As a method for solving all the technical problems as described herein above, a technique in which an anti-reflection member having conductivity is applied on the panel surface has been known.
Such an anti-reflection member comprises a laminate composed of a substrate, a hard coat layer, and a multilayered reflection preventing optical thin film. The substrate consists of, for example, polyethyl-eneterephthalate (PET) or polycarbonate (PC). A hard coat layer consists of, for example, polymethyl-methacrylate (PMMA), and is formed on the surface of the substrate because the surface is susceptible to touching. In the case that it is not necessary to provide an antistatic function and an electromagnetic radiation shielding function to an anti-reflection member, at least two layers of dielectric thin film consisting of SiO, SiO.sub.2, TiO.sub.2, ZrO.sub.2, Ta.sub.2 O.sub.5, and Y.sub.2 O.sub.5, for example, and a high refractive index film/low refractive index film/high refractive index/low refractive index film . . . ) are formed on the hard coat layer. Materials having high refractive index (having a refractive index of 1.8 to 2.7 at around the wave length of 550 nm) such as TiO.sub.2, ZrO.sub.2, Ta.sub.2 O.sub.5, and Y.sub.2 O.sub.5 are excellent in adhesion with hard coat layers consisting of polymethyl-methacrylate.
On the other hand, in the case that it is necessary to provide an antistatic function and an electromagnetic radiation shielding function to an anti-reflection member, it is preferable to structure a reflection preventing optical thin film by laminating a transparent conductive oxide film and a thin film (referred as to low refractive index film hereinafter) consisting of a material having lower refractive index than that of the material used for the transparent conductive oxide film. By structuring the reflection preventing optical thin film as described herein, not only is antistatic function and electromagnetic radiation shielding function due to transparent conductive oxide film provided to the anti-reflection member but also an anti-reflection function due to the high refractive index film/low refractive index film structure is provided simultaneously. Thereby the structure of a reflection preventing optical thin film is simplified. An example of the transparent conductive oxide film includes ITO (I.sub.2 O.sub.3 doped with Sn) film (refractive index is 1.9 to 2.0). On the other hand, examples of the low refractive index film include SiO.sub.2 film (refractive index=1.46 at 550 nm) and MgF.sub.2 film (refractive index =1.38 at 550 nm).
Usually, by repeating the film forming process, namely, ITO film/low refractive index film/ITO film/low refractive index film . . . on a hard coat layer formed on a substrate, an anti-reflection member is provided with an anexcellent anti-reflection function in the wide wave length range from 450 to 650 nm. A schematic partial cross-sectional view of the anti-reflection member having such structure is shown in FIG. 4A. In FIG. 4A, a reflection preventing optical thin film having a four layer structure is shown; the first layer and third layer consist of ITO film, and the second and fourth layer consist of low refractive index film. Usually, ITO film is formed by spattering using a target of oxide ITO. An ITO film is formed under the spattering condition that the composition of such ITO target is, for example, In.sub.2 O.sub.3 /SnO.sub.2 =90 parts by weight/10 parts by weight, target current density is 2 W/cm.sup.2, and others are Ar/O.sub.2 =50 volume %/50 volume %, and 0.2 Pa.
It is reported that the crystallization temperature of ITO ranges from 150.degree. to 200.degree. C. Therefore, to improve the adhesion (adhesion strength) to a hard coat layer, it is desirable to heat the substrate to a temperature of 120.degree. C. or higher. However, such heating of a substrate can cause thermal damage such as deformation of the substrate consisting of plastic material. Heating of a hard coat layer consisting of polymethyl-methacrylate to a temperature of 100.degree. C. or higher can cause the reduction of the hardness.
Recently, ITO film formed on a color filter was used as a transparent electrode for a flat panel display of liquid crystal display devices. Such an ITO film is formed by DC magnetron spattering using ITO target. ITO film formed by such method is excellent in resistivity, wet etching performance, and reproducibility of characteristics. However, an ITO film formed on a hard coat layer by DC magnetron spattering using an ITO target is insufficient in adhesion strength to the hard coat layer.
The inventors of the present invention proposed a new anti-reflection member comprising a laminate of a substrate, a hard coat layer, and a multilayered reflection preventing optical thin film in Japanese Patent Application Hei 7-170925 (application date: Jul. 6, 1995). A schematic partial cross-sectional view of the anti-reflection member having such structure is shown in FIG. 4B. The substrate of the anti-reflection member consists of, for example, polyethylene-terephthalate (PET) and polycarbonate (PC). A hard coat layer consists of, for example, polymethyl-methacrylate (PMMA) an is formed thereon. To provide an antistatic function and an electromagnetic radiation shielding function to the anti-reflection member, the anti-reflection member has the first layer of the reflection preventing optical thin film comprising a conductive light absorbing film, and the second layer of the reflection preventing optical thin film consisting of a material having lower refractive index than that of the material used to structure the first layer.
The conductive light absorbing film consists of a material selected from the group composed of Ag, Au, TiN.sub.X (X=0.3 to 1), TiO.sub.X N.sub.Y (wherein X=0.3 to 1, Y<1, and Y.ltoreq.X), TaN.sub.X (wherein X=0.2 to 1), Pt, Al, Cu, Ta, Ni-Cr, Cu-Al, Cu-Zn-Al, Cu-Ni-Al and Cu-Sn-Al, and the thickness ranges from 4 to 40 nm. On the other hand, the second layer of the reflection preventing optical thin film consists of SiO.sub.2 or MgF.sub.2. The above-mentioned material to be used for the conductive light absorbing film has a characteristic that light absorption coefficient changes dependently on wave length. Reflection is prevented for a wide range of wave length (430 to 650 nm). This is possible even if the reflection preventing optical thin film has a two layer structure. The light transmittance of these materials ranges from 70 to 90%, however, because the two layer structure can be used for the reflection preventing optical thin film, the low light transmittance of the conductive light absorbing film does not cause any problem.
However, it was found that the adhesion (adhesion strength) of such conductive light absorbing film to a hard coat consisting of polymethyl-methacrylate was insufficient.
Therefore, it is the object of the present invention to provide an anti-reflection member provided with an antistatic function and an electromagnetic radiation shielding function which has a reflection preventing optical thin film excellent in adhesion to a hard coat layer, and a manufacturing method thereof. In addition, a cathode ray tube having a front panel applied with such anti-reflection member is provided.

Anti-reflection member, manufacturing method thereof, and cathode-ray tube


A server storage system operating in a cluster mode, and a method for operating the server system that provides additional memory for use by a non-failed server to store log records while taking over the operations of a failed server.

A file server is a computer that provides file service relating to the organization of information on writeable persistent storage devices, such memories, tapes or hard disks. The file server or filer may be embodied as a storage system including an operating system that implements a file system to logically organize the information as a hierarchical structure of directories and files on, e.g., the disks. Each "on-disk" file may be implemented as set of data structures, e.g., disk blocks, configured to store information, such as is the actual data for the file. A directory, on the other hand, may be implemented as a specially formatted file in which information about other files and directories are stored. An example of a file system that is configured to operate on a filer is the Write Anywhere File Layout (WAFL™) file system available from Network Appliance, Inc., Sunnyvale, Calif.
As used herein, the term "storage operating system" generally refers to the computer-executable code operable to perform a storage function in a storage system, e.g., that implements file system semantics and manages data access. In this sense, the ONTAP software is an example of such a storage operating system implemented as a microkernel and including a WAFL layer to implement the WAFL file system semantics and manage data access. The storage operating system can also be implemented as an application program operating over a general-purpose operating system, such as UNIX® or Windows NT®, or as a general-purpose operating system with configurable functionality, which is configured for storage applications as described herein.
A filer cluster is organized to include one or more filers or storage "volumes" that comprise a cluster of physical storage disks, defining an overall logical arrangement of storage space. Currently available filer implementations can serve a large number of discrete nodes or volumes. Each volume is generally associated with its own file system (WAFL for example). The disks within a volume/file system are typically organized as one or more groups of Redundant Array of Independent (or Inexpensive) Disks (RAID). RAID 4 implementations enhance the reliability/integrity of data storage through the redundant writing of data "stripes" across a given number of physical disks in the RAID group, and the appropriate storing of parity information with respect to the striped data. In the example of a WAFL-based file system, a RAID 4 implementation is advantageously employed and is preferred. This implementation specifically entails the striping of data bits across a group of disks, and separate parity storage within a selected disk (or disks) of the RAID group.
The Network File System (NFS) is a stateless UNIX based file system protocol used with filers that is generally not used with certain operating systems, such as Windows, running on most personal computers (PCs). The NFS protocol emphasizes error recovery over file locking; such error recovery is simple because no state information need be preserved. However, the protocol can "hang up" for hours without any timeout, which is detrimental. In addition, since NFS is not found in most PC operating systems it is not widely used in filers that are accessed by PC clients.
The Common Internet File System (CIFS) is an open standard, connection oriented protocol providing remote file access over the Internet that is typically used with filers to provide service to PCs. For example, CIFS is used in the Windows NT, 9X, ME and 2000 operating systems, Windows for WorkGroups and LAN Manager. Accordingly, it is widely used with servers, such as filers, that have PC clients accessing them. CIFS is not stateless and emphasizes locking over error recovery. Strict locking requires a sustained connection so it is important that an active session not be interrupted.
It is advantageous for the services and data provided by a storage system to be available for access to the greatest degree possible. Accordingly, some computer storage systems provide a plurality of filers in a cluster, with the property that when a first filer fails, a second filer is available to take over and provide the services and the data otherwise provided by the first filer. The second filer provides these services and data by a "takeover" of resources otherwise managed by the failed first filer.
Both filers store their WAFL, RAID and other information, as well as that of their partners, in non-volatile random access memories (NVRAMs) as part of their normal operation. The NVRAM is typically organized into two halves or segments, a local half or segment for storing requests directed to the local filer and a partner half or segment for storing requests "mirrored" from the partner. Each segment comprises a plurality of sections including RAID log, syslog and WAFL log sections. Each WAFL log consists of two portions designated log 0 and log 1.
As a file service request is processed by the WAFL file system, an entry for that request is written into the WAFL log as a journal entry. The journal entry may comprise, for example, "Create file", "Write file Data", "Open file", etc. Widely accepted file system standards, such as NFS, specify that a file server should not reply to a requesting client until a given request is written out to stable storage. By writing to NVRAM this requirement is met and a reply can be returned to the requesting client with respect to the service request before the results of the request have been written to a hard disk.
The NVRAM is temporarily loaded with service requests until such time as a consistency point (CP) is reached. CPs may occur at fixed time intervals, or when other key events arise, such as either log 0 or log 1 in the WAFL log section being filled. At such times, the accumulated contents of the log 0 or log 1 are "flushed" (written) to hard disk, thereby completing the CP.
When log 0 is filled, a CP is initiated and subsequent service request entries are stored in log 1. The entries in log 0 are then flushed to hard disk. Similarly, when log 1 is filled, another CP is triggered and subsequent service request entries are stored in log 0. The entries in log 1 are then flushed to hard disk. Once the information recorded in log 0 or log 1 are written to hard disk they are removed from the NVRAM. This process continues as each log fills, triggering a CP, and clearing the NVRAM.
After a takeover by a partner filer from a failed filer, the partner handles file service requests that have normally been routed to it from clients, plus file service requests that had previously been handled by the failed filer and that are now routed to the partner. Broadly stated, a takeover of a failed filer involves the partner filer asserting disk reservations to take over responsibility of the disks of the failed filer, and then sending a series of "please die" commands ("poison packets") to the failed filer.
The partner filer then "replays" the mirrored WAFL and RAID log entries of the failed filer stored in its NVRAM. A replay comprises flushing of the log entries to disk. As part of takeover processing the partner takes on two identities: its own identity and the identity of the failed filer. To that end, the partner activates network interfaces and network addresses that replicate the failed filer's network addresses. The identity, replicated network interfaces and network addresses are used to process service requests directed to the failed filer until the failed filer is restored and control is returned to it.
The partner filer then begins processing requests directed to the failed filer. These processed requests are temporarily stored in only the local half of the partner's NVRAM. That is, the WAFL entries for the failed filer are interleaved with WAFL entries for the partner filer in log 0 until it is full. After a CP, the entries are interleaved and stored within log 1 until it is full. Notably, only the local filer half of the NVRAM is used, while the half assigned for use of the failed filer is unused. This is clearly inefficient.
Subsequently, after correction of a failure, the "failed" filer is rebooted and resumes normal operation. That is, after the problem that caused filer failure has been cured, the failed filer is rebooted, returned to service, and file service requests are again routed to the rebooted filer. If there is a problem with the failed filer that prevents it from being rebooted, or there is a problem with other equipment to which with the failed filer is connected that prevents the rebooted filer from going back online and handling file service requests, the filer remains offline until the other problems are repaired.
Accordingly, it would be advantageous to utilize the unused half of the NVRAM during a takeover operation to increase the efficiency of the WAFL file system by providing additional NVRAM space to store log entries processed by the file system.

Efficient use of NVRAM during takeover in a node cluster


A method for producing a diacylglycerol-rich fat or oil is provided. This method includes the steps of reacting an acyl group donor with an acyl group receptor, and separating unreacted material and byproducts by distillation for use as a part of the starting material in the subsequent cycle of production. The distillation is conducted such that the content of monoacylglycerol in the fat or oil after the distillation is 0.5 to 15% by weight.

A fat or oil containing diacylglycerol at a high concentration is known to have physiological benefits, such as a very low degree of accumulation in the human body (JP-A-10-176181), and therefore is widely used as an edible oil. It has already been known that diacylglycerol is produced by chemical or enzymatic esterification using a fatty acid and glycerine as the starting materials (JP-A-1-71495) or by chemical or enzymatic glycerolysis using a fat or oil and glycerine as the starting materials (WO 03/29392 and JP-A-63-133992).
Some of the diacylglycerol-rich fats or oils produced by such methods, however, contain impurities, such as fatty acid, monoacylglycerol and odor components. For the diacylglycerol-rich fat or oil to be used as an edible oil, it is desirable to have a better flavor by reducing such impurities.
Among the methods of producing a diacylglycerol-rich fat or oil, there is a technique by which the fat or oil after the completion of the reaction is further purified and the monoacylglycerol recovered is added to the starting material of the subsequent cycle of the reaction (JP-A-8-294394). This technique is aimed to improve the speed of the esterification by increasing solubility of the glycerine in the fatty acid phase by adding the monoacylglycerol which has been collected upon removal of the impurities unsuitable for an edible oil by distillation under high vacuum conditions to the reaction system of the subsequent reaction cycle. Besides, there is another method by which the glycerine and monoacylglycerol remaining in the reaction system after completion of chemical glycerolysis using a fat or oil and glycerine as the starting materials are recovered by steam distillation or molecular distillation for use in the subsequent cycle of the reaction (WO 03/29392). This method is economically advantageous in that this method does not require the step of decomposing the fat or oil for use of the decomposition products in the subsequent esterification. Further, there is a technique requiring that an esterification reaction be performed after the partial hydrolysis of fat or oil without distillation, so that a trace of substances, such as phytosterol, could still be contained in the diacylglycerol product (JP-A-11-123097). While this technique has such an advantage, it should be noted that the concentration of the diacylglycerol obtained thereby is too low, and no consideration is made for re-use of the unreacted substances or the by-products.


A scanning ophthalmoscope scans an object plane in the interior of the eye by employing a first spatial light modulator to generate a time-varying first modulation pattern. A second spatial light modulator receives the illumination field generated by the interaction of the first modulation pattern with the interior of the eye. The second spatial light modulator generates a second modulation pattern corresponding to the first modulation pattern and transmits this second modulation pattern to an image detector, thereby forming an image of the object plane in the interior of the eye. The first and second spatial light modulators are linked by a function or mapping such that a modulation pattern generated by the first spatial light modulator maps to a particular modulation pattern generated by the second spatial light modulator.

In a conventional ophthalmoscope, the light illuminating the eyepiece or image detector is a combination of light from the object being viewed and light scattered from the region surrounding the object. The resultant image therefore includes a sharply focused image from the object and a superposition of out-of-focus images caused by scattered light from the region surrounding the object. This light originates in planes axially displaced from the plane containing the object being viewed (hereinafter referred to as the "object plane") and from points on the object plane but laterally displaced from the object being viewed. The reduction in contrast caused by these out-of-focus images can seriously interfere with the use of the ophthalmoscope to observe the retina.
A confocal ophthalmoscope rejects light originating from the region surrounding the object being viewed. It does so by directing light from the object through a pinhole located confocally with the object and with the source. As a result, light rays originating from the object pass through the pinhole to an image detector or other output element. In contrast, a major portion of the light rays originating both from planes other than the object plane and from points on the object plane but laterally displaced from the object do not pass through the pinhole. This permits the observation of objects deep within a three-dimensional structure, for example the retina of an eye, without interference from objects lying in planes above or below the object plane.
Because a confocal ophthalmoscope, as described above, observes an image through a pinhole, its field of view is severely limited. Such an ophthalmoscope can observe no more than a single point at a time. To observe additional points on an object, the pinhole's image can be scanned across the object plane. Conventional methods for scanning a pinhole light source are described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,213,678 and in U.S. Pat. No. 4,765,730. These methods typically use a rotating polygonal mirror or other mechanical apparatus to scan a laser beam across the pupil. Mechanical methods such as these are limited in performance by their mechanical inertia.
Additionally, the pinhole is typically constrained to be simply connected, e.g. circular, as opposed, for example, to an annulus or a more complex shape. An annular aperture is of particular interest in ophthalmologic applications. By using an annular illuminating source instead of a circular one, an ophthalmologist can exclude returning light originating from the point in the object confocal to the source and collect multiply scattered light originating from other points. Thus, by controlling the diameter of the annulus, the ophthalmologist can collect light multiply scattered from other parts of the retina. Although the image formed by collecting light in this manner mayl not be sharply focused, it will be a relatively bright image because the cross sectional area of the annular aperture is typically larger than the cross sectional area of the pinhole.
Further description of conventional practice is set forth in the literature, including Confocal Optical Microscopy, by R. H. Webb, Rep. Prog. Phys. 59 (1996) 427-471.
In light of the foregoing, there is a need for confocal ophthalmoscopes in which one or more light sources of specified size and shape can be programmed or otherwise reliably sequenced to illuminate an object plane within the eye or to traverse a specified path across an object plane within the eye and which can, with a minimum of light loss, transmit the corresponding image from the object plane within the eye to an image detector or other output element.

Scanning ophthalmoscope with spatial light modulators


A rolling bearing comprises an outer race member, an inner race member concentrically arranged therewith, rolling elements disposed therebetween, and a shield plate attached to a side end of an inner periphery of the outer race member by being caulked or latched. The shield plate is provided with a curled portion which curls outwardly in the axial direction at a stepped portion of a groove formed at a side end of the outer race member, and the shield plate is formed with slits extended toward an outer periphery of the shield plate from portions which are not located at and over the bottom of the curled portion, the number of the slits being more than (nZ.+-.X) inclusive of (nZ.+-.X), where n is a positive integer, Z is the number of balls and X is an integer more than 1.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a rolling bearing for supporting a rotary portion such as a hard disk drive (HDD) device for a computer or the like.
2. Related Background Art
Conventionally, to a rolling bearing used for a spindle device of a hard disk drive unit or the like, a caulked type or latched type shield plate has been attached.
When a conventional caulked type shield plate with no slit or cut-away portion is assembled to a rolling bearing by being caulked, there is a case where the shield plate is not held or supported with a stability because of deformation of a groove of an outer race member caused by thermal processing, or the like.
When the shield plate is caulked into the groove of the outer race, stress is apt to be concentrated onto a smaller diameter portion of the deformed portion at the groove of the outer race member deformed due to thermal processing. That deformation is apt to affect on an outer diameter portion of the outer race member, thereby causing deteriorated roundness or circularity.
Till now, no consideration has been paid to the number of the slit or cut-away portions even in the case where the shield plate formed with slits has been used.
The inventors have found that a rolling bearing with a shield plate formed with nZ or (nZ.+-.1) slit or cut-away portions (that is, the number of slit or cut-away portions of the shield plate is nZ or (nZ.+-.1), where n is a positive integer, and Z is the number of balls,) has a problem that vibration non-synchronous with rotation of the rolling bearing, that is, non-repetitive runout of the rolling bearing increases.
Such shield plate is attached, by being caulked, to a stepped portion of the groove formed on the outer race of the bearing. However, if the slit or cut-away portion(s) is (are) formed at the position of a curled bottom portion of the shield plate, the shield plate can not continue the tight contact relationship with the stepped portion of the groove of the outer race member, and this has caused a problem that grease in the bearing leaks out during the working time of the bearing.
Moreover, the conventional shield plate has another problem that, in the case where an angle is provided at the stepped portion of the groove of the outer race member, grease would leak out in the similar manner as last discussed herein above.


A method for creating a pattern on an exposure site of a material blank using an exposure apparatus includes providing a mask having a first mask pattern. The mask is positioned between the exposure apparatus and the material blank. The exposure site of the material blank is exposed. One or more additional exposure events are performed for patterning the exposure site of the material blank. Between each exposure event, the exposure site of the material blank is repositioned in a lateral direction with respect to the mask. Between successive exposure events involving the first mask pattern, there is a relative movement between the mask and the material blank of a distance less than or equal to a length of the first mask pattern.

The present invention relates to a method of forming features on a material blank. More particularly, the present invention relates to a method of forming features on a material blank using multiple exposure events.
Photolithography is a technique commonly used for the creation of three dimensional structures on a material blank, such as a substrate wafer, a semiconductor chip, a display device, a detecting device, or image pickup device, for example. The photolithography process generally allows features such as rails, grooves, ridges, tapers or gradients, and other features to be formed on a material blank that begins the photolithography process as one or more substantially flat layers.
Photolithography is often used in the formation of features on a slider for a transducer head apparatus. It may be desired to create tapered comers along the perimeter of the slider, at an air bearing surface (ABS). In addition, it may be desired to create three dimensional formations along an advanced air bearing surface (AABS), such as an AABS located in an interior portion of the slider. Such tapered features are desirable in addressing shock and contact, and also for providing secondary pressurization. Shock includes both operational-shock (i.e., shock occurring while the slider is in use) and non-operational-shock (i.e., shock occurring while the slider is not in use, such as during transportation). Contact is particularly a concern with load-unload disc drive systems, where a slider frequently comes in contact with a medium, such as a textured portion of a disc. Three dimensional features formed on a slider can help mitigate negative effects due to contact between the slider and an adjacent storage medium (e.g., a disc), as well as provide additional air lift force. A slider ABS having patterned, three-dimensional gradient or tapered features has been shown to have better fly capabilities and low-energy contact performance than a convention slider ABS.
In a typical slider fabrication process, individual sliders are initially formed as part of a large wafer that contains numerous individual sliders that are connected together. Photolithography for forming three-dimensional ABS and AABS features on individual sliders is typically conducted at wafer-level manufacturing. At a later point, individual sliders are separated from the wafer.
Generally, photolithography involves the use of a mask placed between an exposure apparatus and a material blank, such as a substrate wafer. The mask includes one or more patterns that are imaged on the material blank by exposing the mask and material blank with the exposure apparatus.
Numerous types of exposure apparatuses are available. For example, 1× steppers are known which produce a pattern on a material blank of the same scale as a pattern on the mask. Also known are reduction steppers that produce patterns on the material blank at a different, generally smaller, scale than the pattern on the mask (e.g., a 4× stepper).
The mask (e.g., a photomask) has at least one mask pattern thereupon. The mask is disposed between the material blank and the exposure apparatus during the exposure process. A typical mask is comprised of chrome and glass, where chrome is applied to the glass to prevent the transmission of light through discrete portions of the mask. Portions of the mask not made opaque by chrome typically allow transmission of some light through the glass to the material blank.
The first step in a photolithography process involves surface preparation, where a surface of the material blank is cleaned and dried. The purpose of cleaning the material blank is to remove any contamination on the surface of the material blank, such as dust, organic, ionic and metallic compounds. The cleaned material blank may be primed to aid adhesion of a photoresist to the surface of the material blank.
Next, a photoresist is applied to the material blank. The photoresist is a thin layer of light-sensitive material that is applied to a surface of the material blank where features will be formed. The photoresist is applied to the material blank at some early stage of the photolithography process, but is typically removed at some later point. A variety of positive and negative photoresist materials are available, and the particular photoresist used is selected according to the particular requirements of a specific application. The photoresist layer is typically applied to the surface of the material blank using a coating apparatus, such as a spin-coating machine, which applies the photoresist in a vacuum.
After the photoresist is applied, a softbake process may be used to promote partial evaporation of photoresist solvents and promote adhesion of the photoresist to the material blank.
Next, after the photoresist is applied and adhered to the material blank (and any softbake processes are conducted), an alignment process is conducted. During alignment, the material blank is precisely aligned relative the mask. The initial alignment is critical, and is conducted in X and Y directions, as well as rotationally. Positioning of the material blank and the exposure apparatus relative the mask will vary according to the type of exposure apparatus used. Types of exposure apparatuses include contact, proximity, and projection exposure machines.
After alignment, an exposure process is conducted where portions of the photoresist layer on the material blank are exposed according to the particular pattern sought to be formed on the material blank. During the exposure process, portions of the photoresist undergo a chemical reaction when illuminated, such as with ultraviolet (UV) light, by the exposure apparatus. Exposure of the mask positioned relative the material blank causes a pattern on the mask to be transmitted to the photoresist layer on the material blank. During the exposure process, portions of the photoresist are typically polymerized according to the desired pattern. In conventional photolithography, a single exposure event transfers all the illumination energy needed to image the desired pattern on the material blank.
In some photolithography systems, a mask includes multiple mask patterns. For example, a single mask may include a rough cut mask pattern and a fine cut mask pattern. During the exposure process, different mask patterns may be used to expose a single exposure site on the material blank (i.e, a discrete region on the material blank within which a distinct pattern is desired to be formed) with different mask patterns, or the same mask pattern may be used to expose different exposure sites on a large material blank. These processes typically involve initiating large-scale lateral movements of the mask, with such large-scale movements typically being of distances greater than a length or width of the mask patterns on the mask.
After the exposure process, a development process is typically conducted, where polymerized photoresist can be hardened and unpolymerized photoresist can be removed, through processes such as a postbake process and the application of a stripping solution.
At this point in the photolithography process, a three dimensional pattern is typically formed on the photoresist layer of the material blank. This transient three-dimensional pattern on the photoresist layer is not necessarily identical to the pattern desired to be finally formed on the material blank. The three-dimensional pattern formed on the photoresist layer is a protective layer of varying depths, with the depth and shape of the three-dimensional pattern on the photoresist varying as a function of the amount of protections desired for particular areas of the material blank.
Next, an etching process is conducted. During the etching process, portions of the material blank itself are removed. The etching process may be conducted using ion milling with charged ions, such as Argon plasma (Ar+), and sometimes along with other chemistry to assist the process. In addition, other techniques known in the art can be utilized. With techniques such as ion milling, the material blank, partially covered by protective photoresist material, is bombarded by ions, which erode or sputter away portions of the material blank. During the etching process, depth and shape of portions of the material blank removed will vary as a function of the three-dimensional pattern formed in the photoresist layer. Typically, areas of the material blank not protected (i.e., not covered) by photoresist material will be etched to a greater depth on the material blank. Accordingly, areas of the material blank protected by greater amounts (i.e, a thicker portion) of the photoresist will be etched to lesser depths of the material blank, if at all. In general, the etching process will depend on the particular materials and factors involved, such as photoresist responsiveness. During the etching process, the material blank may be rotated in order to achieve optimal results, as will be recognized by those skilled in the art.
After the material blank has been sufficiently etched, a final step involves removal of any remaining photoresist material.
In addition, various inspections of the material blank are typically conducted throughout the photolithography process.
Halftone (and grayscale, etc.) masks are a type of mask commonly used with photolithography processes for forming three-dimensional patterns on an air bearing surface (ABS) of a slider. Halftone masks use an array or grid of individual mask units. Individual mask units have a particular transmission intensity level, meaning that a particular percentage of illumination energy is resolved when transmitted through the individual mask units. The array of mask units forms regions with discrete transmission levels. By selecting the location and transmission levels of mask units in the array, a desired mask pattern is created for imaging the particular pattern on a material blank. However, halftone mask photolithography systems, particularly with 1× steppers, often do not permit enough of a gradual change in the transmittance level of the mask to produce smooth or relatively smooth features on the material blank.
High reduction-ratio steppers (e.g., 4× or 5× steppers) can utilize many transmission intensity levels, but such high reduction-ratio steppers are costly. In slider ABS fabrication, 1× steppers are most common due to high throughput and low cost-of-ownership benefits. However, using conventional photolithography techniques, 1× steppers typically do not provide enough transmission intensity levels to form desired features on a slider ABS. More particularly, conventional photolithography using 1× steppers does not produce features having desired smoothness characteristics.
Another type of mask is a high energy beam-sensitive (HEBS) glass mask. HEBS masks allow for gradual changes in the light transmittance properties of the mask, thereby allowing smoother and more detailed features to be formed than with traditional halftone masks. However, HEBS systems are very costly, and are often not compatible with photolithography equipment currently in use in labs and manufacturing facilities for forming ABS features on a slider.
A reflow method can be used to form three-dimensional features. Reflow methods typically involve applying a ductile ball of material to a desired location, and then heating that ball such that the ductile material flows enough to reshape it. However, reflow methods have little design flexibility except for spherical patterns. Thus, reflow methods are not particularly amenable to slider ABS fabrication.
The present invention relates to an alternative method for forming features on a material blank.

Mask complementary multiple exposure technique


A mobile cellular communication device of an apparatus in one example employs one or more cellular communication standards to exchange one or more portions of network management information with a network infrastructure device, of one or more network infrastructure devices, that is employable with one or more of the one or more cellular communication standards.

With the popularity of mobile phones and multimedia devices and competition for subscribers, service providers desire to improve the efficiency of management of the wireless network infrastructure. One system for management and monitoring of a wireless network comprises an operations and maintenance center ("OMC") that monitors the status of numerous network infrastructure devices which operate and maintain the integrity of the wireless network. The wireless network in one example comprises a cellular network, for example, a general packet radio service ("GPRS") network.
To monitor and support the wireless network equipment, the network technicians present at the operations and maintenance center analyze the incoming network management information and diagnose any problems or inefficiencies in the network services. When a problem with a network infrastructure device occurs, situations can demand the network technician travel to the site of the malfunctioning device, execute diagnostic procedures, analyze the results, and determine the root cause of failure. One shortcoming of the system is a delay in responsiveness of the network technician to the solution of problems because the network technician must travel between the operations and maintenance center and the site of the network infrastructure devices to perform the tasks of diagnosis and service.
Another shortcoming of the system is that the delay in the responsiveness of the network technician to the solution of problems results in a loss of revenue to the service provider. The loss of revenue can be highly significant, especially during peak traffic. The network service provider desires the network elements to have maximal availability and cause minimal network down time.
When a network technician at the operations and maintenance center notices a malfunction, the network technician gathers information about the current network conditions to aid in diagnosis of the problem when the network technician travels to the site of the faulty network infrastructure device. When away from the operations and maintenance center, the network technician has no access to the updated information that exists at the operations and maintenance center regarding the faulty network infrastructure device. Since the loads on the network infrastructure devices have fast-changing natures, the information gathered by the network technician loses accuracy during the journey that the network technician makes to arrive at the network infrastructure device. Another shortcoming of the system could be an inability of the network technician to obtain the updated information of the operations and maintenance center from the external location of the network infrastructure device.
After arrival at the site of the faulty network infrastructure device, the network technician can diagnose and correct problems. In some instances, the problem can be corrected with an electronic update of the network infrastructure device, for example, a software or firmware update. When the electronic update can be performed from the operations and maintenance center through a communication path, only identification but not correction of the problem requires the presence of the network technician at the site of the faulty network infrastructure device. It therefore would be desirable for the technician to be able to identify the problem without having to travel to the site of the faulty network infrastructure device.
Thus, a need exists for a decreased requirement for physical presence of a network technician at a network infrastructure device of a cellular network to diagnose a problem of the network infrastructure device.

Cellular communication standard employment by mobile cellular communication device for network management information exchange with network infrastructure device


A method and system for local computation of information to improve accuracy in a differential Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS). The method comprising: determining a current location of a reference receiver; comparing the current location with at least one stored location; if a resultant of the comparing is less than a selected threshold, identifying as a reference location the at least one stored location, which is closest to the current location; otherwise establishing the current location as the reference location and storing the current location. The method also includes computing the information from signals from one or more GNSS satellites the based on the reference location; and transmitting the information for reception by one or more remote receivers.

One GNSS is the Global Positioning System (GPS), which was established by the United States government, and employs a constellation of 24 or more satellites in well-defined orbits at an altitude of approximately 26,500 km. These satellites continually transmit radio signals in two frequency bands, centered at 1575.42 MHz and 1227.6 MHz., denoted as L1 and L2 respectively. These signals include timing patterns relative to the satellite's onboard precision clock (which is kept synchronized by a ground station) as well as a navigation message giving the precise orbital positions of the satellites, an ionosphere model, and other useful information. GPS receivers process the radio signals, computing ranges to the GPS satellites, and by triangulating these ranges, the GPS receiver determines its position and its internal clock error.
To overcome the errors of standalone GPS systems such as satellite clock error, and propagation delays that result when the signal travels through the ionosphere and troposphere, many applications of GPS have made use of data from multiple GPS receivers. Typically, in such applications, a reference receiver, located at a reference site having known coordinates, receives the GPS satellite signals simultaneously with the receipt of signals by a remote receiver. Depending on the separation distance between the two GPS receivers, many of the errors mentioned above will affect the satellite signals equally for the two receivers. By taking the difference between signals received both at the reference site and at the remote location, the errors are effectively eliminated. This facilitates an accurate determination of the remote receiver's coordinates relative to the reference receiver's coordinates.
The technique of differencing signals from two or more GPS receivers to improve accuracy is known as differential GPS (DGPS). It includes local DGPS systems that utilize a single reference receiver that delivers either range measurements or corrections to its range measurements to one or more remote receivers so that the remote receivers can correct its range measurements. If range measurements rather than differential correctors are utilized, the remote receiver must know the location of the reference receiver so that it may compute the correctors (or their equivalent) internally. For brevity, throughout this disclosure, we shall refer to the data sent by the reference in either approach as differential correctors even though technically, in some instances, is simply range measurements that are sent. DGPS also encompasses Wide Area Differential GPS (WADGPS) where differential correction terms are generated by combining data from multiple reference GPS receivers spread geographically over a region of intended coverage. In all forms of DGPS, however, the positions obtained by the end user's remote receiver are relative to the position(s) of the reference receiver(s). Thus, absolute accuracy of any DGPS system depends heavily on the accuracy at which the reference receiver locations were determined when installing or implementing the DGPS system.
In many applications involving GNSS/GPS relative accuracy is often all that is necessary or desired. In these cases, the reference location need not be extremely accurate relative to any one particular coordinate system. That is, it is not a question of determining so much exact position, but position relative to some starting point with a high degree of accuracy. For example, the primary need for swathing applications that guide farm vehicles applying pesticides, fertilizer, and the like is to be able to guide the vehicle so that, relative to an initial swath, the subsequent swaths are at a series of prescribed offsets from the original swath (or from each other). There is often no accuracy requirement on the initial swath, only that subsequent swaths be accurate relative to the initial swath.
Of course, with relative positioning, it is still necessary to have the position of the reference location. A matter simply addressed if relative accuracy is indeed all that is required. For first time operation in a new geographic area, the reference location may be determined as the position of the GPS receiver as computed from the ensemble of the non-differentially corrected GPS range measurements at some point prior to going into differential mode. For future use in the same area a new reference may be determined, or the location may be retrieved from computer memory (or other sources) after having returned to a mark for which this location was determined. The location also could have been determined in a past operation of relative DGPS positioning. Finally, of course, the location could be manually supplied based on external information, such as a survey.
Standard methods of supplying differential corrections to a GNSS (typically GPS) receiver have been available for many years. For example, RTCM GPS correctors are sent out from fixed reference stations maintained by the Coast Guard (or other governmental agencies for non-US systems) and are transmitted in the 300 KHz radio band of the radio spectrum. Transmissions of such signals propagate over a few hundred kilometers. Commercial operators have also supplied RTCM correctors via VHF and UHF radio links operating over several tens of kilometers.
More recently, other sources of differential corrections designed primarily for single frequency GNSS receivers (L1 only receivers) have arisen such as those from Satellite Based Augmentation Systems (SBAS), an example of which is the Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS). For dual frequency L1/L2 receivers, commercial satellite based correctors are available such as those from Omnistar or John Deere. Local differential correctors sent by radio can be supplied for operation in high accuracy real time kinematic (RTK) mode. Subscriptions to such L1/L2 based differential services are often expensive as is the dual frequency receiver technology. Many applications, such as swath guidance for farming, commonly require vehicle navigation or guidance accuracy exceeding that provided by SBAS capable L1 receivers alone and thus must rely on these more expensive technologies.
Therefore, what is needed is an economical means to rapidly deploy a cost effective GNSS differential reference station readily configured to supply differential correctors over a local area, typically 10 km radius or less.

Portable reference station for local differential GPS corrections


Disclosed are a structure with a nanopore and an apparatus for determining sequences of nucleic acids including the structure, the structure including three or more structures having facing surfaces, a plurality of oligonucleotides attached at one ends thereof to the surfaces, and a pore formed between the structures to which the plurality of oligonucleotides are bound, and allowing a pore of a desired size to be precisely formed by adjusting the length of a plurality of oligonucleotides.

Various methods have been developed to detect a target biomolecule in a specimen. Among them, a method using a nanopore is similar to a bio-pore system and has appealed to those skilled in the art as a high-sensitivity DNA detection system.
There are known various DNA detection systems using nanopores. One example of the detection systems is found in U.S. Pat. No. 6,015,714, which is entitled "characterization of individual polymer molecules based on monomer-interface interactions" and is intended to distinguish respective bases constituting DNA from each other using a very sensitive signal of a nanopore, thus performing DNA sequencing. According to the cited document, this has two pools, with a small pore being formed between the pools to permit DNA to enter one by one. After a DNA biopolymer is loaded on either of the pools, the passage of the biopolymer through the pore is measured, thus performing the DNA sequencing.
Further, U.S. Pat. No. 6,362,002, entitled "characterization of individual polymer molecules based on monomer-interface interactions", discloses a method for making a nanopore to allow bases of a single stranded DNA to sequentially pass and determining a double stranded nucleic acid and a single stranded nucleic acid. Here, since the double stranded nucleic acid is untwisted in a single strand prior to passage, a long time is required.
Furthermore, U.S. Pat. Appl. Publication No. 2003/0104428, entitled "a method for characterization of nucleic acid molecules", discloses technology that identifies a specific sequence using substances recognizing a specified local area of DNA, for example, protein or DNA and observes a signal variation caused by other substances bound to DNA so as to determine characteristics of a DNA sample using a nanopore, thus detecting a specific DNA sequence.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,428,959, entitled "methods of determining the presence of double stranded nucleic acids in a sample", discloses a method that measures amplitude of current flowing through a nanopore while nucleic acids in a fluid specimen pass through the nanopore having a diameter of 3 nm to 6 nm, thus distinguishing a double stranded nucleic acid from a single stranded nucleic acid by current blockade.
However, the conventional DNA detection method and apparatus using the nanopore is problematic in that a diameter of the nanopore is large to deteriorate resolution where a required diameter of nanopore should be less than 10 nm, preferably 5 nm, so that the structure and detection conditions for the DNA detection apparatus are very complicated.
Until now, many efforts have been made to form a nanopore of a small diameter like a bio-pore. However, there are practically many problems because of manufacturing difficulties.

Structure with nanopore and apparatus for determining sequences of nucleic acids including the same


A current reference device in integrated circuit form with a reference resistor includes a first MOS transistor and a second MOS transistor having the same type of conductivity, the first transistor having its gate and its drain connected together to a first terminal of the reference resistor, the second transistor having its gate and its drain connected together to a second terminal of the reference resistor, the first transistor having a threshold voltage greater than that of the second transistor, these two transistors being biased in saturated mode, the source of each of these transistors being biased at the same potential as the substrate or the well in which the transistor is made.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention pertains to a stable current reference device in integrated circuit form. Devices of this kind are used especially in memory circuits, in particular to generate the stable timing signals needed for the reading or writing of the memory cells.
Current stability is a quality that is desirable for a wide range of temperature on the order of -50.degree. C. to +130.degree. C. Furthermore, it is sought to design circuits capable of working in a range of voltage going from less than two volts up to about five volts. It is therefore necessary to be able to work under low voltage (two volts and less) while at the same time providing for voltage stability in this range. Finally, the variations in characteristics due to the manufacturing method must not have any effect on the reference current so as to obtain high reliability in manufacture.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
It has always been difficult to make current reference devices meeting these criteria of stability, especially in logic technologies such as MOS or CMOS technologies because, in principle, there is no known characteristic of a manufacturing process that can be used to obtain current stability of this kind.
The current reference generation devices known in logic technology are mostly based on the Wilson mirror structure. However, the reference current obtained is fairly dependent on the manufacturing method. There is another type of known device described in the patent application FR 95 09023. This device gives a current based on the difference between the threshold voltage V.sub.tN of an enhanced transistor and a threshold voltage V.sub.tNna of a native transistor having the same type of conductivity. The native transistor drives a reference resistor and the reference current is given by (V.sub.tN -V.sub.tNna)/R. This reference current is stabilized by a negative feedback loop formed by the series connection of a P type MOS transistor and an N type MOS transistor that is a native transistor mounted as a diode on the gate of the native transistor which drives the reference transistor. Nevertheless, the use of a negative feedback to obtain stability is not a very satisfactory approach. Furthermore, in this device, the threshold voltage of the native transistor which drives the reference resistor varies with the source-substrate voltage (substrate effect).
In the invention, another structure in integrated circuit form has been found to provide a stable current reference.
An object of the invention therefore is an intrinsically stable current reference device without negative feedback to compensate for one variation or another.

Current reference device in integrated circuit form


A device includes a first substrate including a pixel electrode and an underlayer electrode a part of which is opposed to the pixel electrode, a second substrate including a counter-electrode which is opposed to the pixel electrode, and a layer which is held between the first and the second substrate, and which is in a first state prior to power-on and transitions to a second state, at a time of a display operation, wherein the pixel electrode includes a first part that passes light and a second part that reflects light, the second part includes a projection which is opposed to the counter-electrode, and a transverse electric field generating section, which is provided near the projection so as to generate a transverse electric field between the underlayer electrode and the second part, is disposed at an end portion of the second part, which is opposed to the underlying electrode.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a liquid crystal display device, and more particularly to an active matrix liquid crystal display device.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, a liquid crystal display device has a liquid crystal display panel which includes a pair of mutually opposed substrates, namely, an array substrate and a counter-substrate, and a liquid crystal layer which is held between the pair of substrates. The liquid crystal display panel includes a display section which is composed of a plurality of display pixels which are arrayed in a matrix. The array substrate includes pixel electrodes which are disposed in association with the plural display pixels, and the counter-substrate includes a counter-electrode which is opposed to the plural pixel electrodes.
In the case of a transflective liquid crystal display device, the liquid crystal layer includes a transmissive display area and a reflective display area. The pixel electrode includes a transmissive electrode part that passes light, which is incident from the array substrate side, to the liquid crystal layer, and that is disposed in the transmissive display area of the liquid crystal layer, and a reflective electrode part that reflects light which is incident from the counter-substrate side to the liquid crystal layer, and that is disposed in the reflective display area of the liquid crystal layer.
An OCB (Optically Compensated Bend) mode liquid crystal display device, compared to a liquid crystal display device of, e.g. a TN mode, has features of a high responsivity and a wide viewing angle. Hence, the OCB mode liquid crystal display device is suited to liquid crystal TV products or the like, the market of which is expected to steadily increase in the years to come.
In the OCB mode liquid crystal display device, when no voltage is applied to the liquid crystal layer, the alignment state of liquid crystal molecules, which are included in the liquid crystal layer, is a splay alignment state that is a non-display state. Thus, when the OCB mode liquid crystal display device is activated, it is necessary to execute initialization to change ("transition") the alignment state from the alignment state of liquid crystal molecules in the non-display state to the alignment state ("bend alignment") of liquid crystal molecules in the display state.
Conventionally, there is proposed a liquid crystal display device wherein a transverse electric field is generated between neighboring pixel electrodes, thereby facilitating the transition of liquid crystal molecules from the non-display alignment state to the display alignment state before an image is displayed, and thus quickly displaying an image (see Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 2003-75873).
However, in the transmissive liquid crystal display device the pixel area is substantially planar, whereas in the transflective liquid crystal display device a recess-and-projection portion is provided, in some cases, on the reflective electrode part of the pixel area in the reflective pixel region, and it is necessary to form a proper transition nucleus for the three-dimensional recess-and-projection portion of the pixel electrode.

Toshiba Matsushita Display Technology Co., Ltd.


White-rot fungi are grown on a sugar beet pulp substrate. By-product of fungal growth, such as lignin-degrading enzymes, can be recovered from the culture.

Enzymes for degrading aromatic compounds have potential commercial application in the pulp and paper industry, the production of fuels and chemicals from lignocellulose, the enhancement of livestock feeds, and the bioremediation of aromatic hazardous wastes.
Lignin is a complex polymer of phenyl propanoid units with a variety of interunit linkages forming a nonlinear, random structure. Lignin comprises 10-35% of the dry weight of lignocellulose-rich materials such as wood, straw, and corn stover. Lignin is resistant to biological destruction, although it is enzymatically degraded by various higher order fungi. In nature, the basidiomycetes that cause white-rot wood decay are major degraders of lignocellulose. White-rot fungi oxidize lignin completely to carbon dioxide. Extracellular enzyme complexes secreted by these fungi catalize oxidative reactions of the lignin structure. White-rot fungi have also been shown to oxidize and degrade a wide range of other aromatic structures including a variety of man-made, toxic aromatic compounds. The term xe2x80x9cwhite-rot fungixe2x80x9d as used herein is intended to include fungi having enzymes capable of oxidizing and thereby degrading aromatic compounds.
There are an estimated 1700 species of white-rot fungi. However, research on enzymatic lignin degradation has concentrated on one organism: Phanerochaete chrysosporium. Lignin-degrading enzymes from this organism have been purified and characterized. A large volume of research literature describes processes for growing P. chrysosporium in liquid media for lignin degradation or production of lignin-degrading enzymes. The conventional production of lignin-degrading enzymes in liquid media occurs during secondary metabolism and is initiated by nitrogen or glucose starvation. For instance, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,554,075, Chang et al. describe a process for growing white-rot fungi by carrying growth into secondary metabolism wherein nitrogen starvation occurs. See also Ming Tien in an article in CRC Critical Reviews in Microbiology, titled xe2x80x9cProperties of Ligninase From Phanerochaete Chrysosporium and Their Possible Applicationsxe2x80x9d, Volume 15, Issue 2 (1987) at p. 143 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,891,230 to Aust et al.
The slow growth rates and low cell mass production associated with starved cultures results in long growth times and low yields thus making this impractical for commercially producing enzymes for pretreating wood pulp in paper making processes, for in situ treatment of toxic waste, or for enhancing lignocellulose for livestock feed. Tien notes on page 144 in the same article listed above that scale-up from liquid culture grown in flasks has proven difficult.
To overcome the low cell mass production, the art has suggested growing several species of white-rot fungi using solid culture media in solid state reactors. In these instances, the fungus grows on a substrate of moist solid lignocellulose-containing materials. Straw, several types of wood, and milled corn cob have been disclosed as substrates in the literature. These materials have been selected as culture substrates primarily because they are typical of the materials degraded by the white-rot fungi in nature. They have a relatively high lignin content of 10-35%, low nitrogen levels, and limited access to cellulose as a carbon source. White-rot fungi can be grown in such solid-state cultures, but obtaining lignin-degrading enzymes in cell and solids free extracts of such cultures has proved an elusive task as the enzyme activity remains bound to the substrate.
Several patents as well as other literature disclose processes for preparing ligninase in solid cultures including U.S. Pat. No. 4,711,787 to Odakra, which describes using okra as a substrate for the production of livestock feed. Rolz, et al., in an article in Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology titled, xe2x80x9cWhite-Rot Fungal Growth on Sugarcane Lignocellulosic Residuexe2x80x9d, Volume 25 (1987) pp. 535-541, report using sugarcane residue as a substrate. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,891,320, Aust et al. list as typical materials used to grow white-rot fungi for use in degradation of aromatic compounds shredded paper, wood shavings, sawdust, corn cobs, and humus. None of these references discloses the production of enzymes during the primary metabolic growth phase or the production of cell-free extracts of the culture containing lignin-degrading enzymes.
It is believed that the reason why extracting cell-free enzymes is difficult in conventional solid state processes for producing enzymes is that the enzymes are absorbed into the lignocellulosic substrate materials. Thus, when using substrates of the type normally associated in nature with white-rot fungi, lignin-degrading enzymes are difficult to extract or purify in active form. These substrates typically have a high lignin content and low protein content. On the other hand, small amounts of cell-free enzymes are present in liquid cultures, presumably because there are no surfaces for enzyme absorption.
Both liquid and solid substrate cultures of white-rot fungi have been the subject of at least 15 years of intensive research in numerous laboratories, as evidenced by the volume of research literature and patents granted in this field. However, the problems of producing enzymes during the primary metabolic growth phase, of producing cell-free enzymes from solid culture and of producing lignin-degrading enzyme preparations with commercially useful enzyme concentrations remain unsolved.
This invention pertains to a process for growing white-rot fungus in a solid state culture using sugar beet pulp as a substrate. The fungus can be grown for the production of by-products of fungal growth such as enzymes for degrading aromatic compounds such as lignin. The process advantageously permits the production of lignin-degrading enzymes during the primary metabolic growth phase of the fungus rather than during secondary metabolism, and the easy separation of lignin-degrading enzymes from the substrate material for the production of cell-free enzymes preparations.
According to the process, white-rot fungi are grown under growth supportive conditions on a sugar beet pulp substrate. A substrate of sugar beet pulp for growth of white-rot fungi may be prepared by, e.g., sterilizing the raw pulp as by autoclaving and then cooling and adding water or nutrient solutions. The substrate then is inoculated with what may be a conventional white-rot fungi inoculum. The inoculated substrate is then placed in a solid state reactor for growing fungi and the mixture is aerated to enhance growth.
The method of the invention is particularly advantageous for the production of lignin-degrading enzymes. The growth of white-rot fungi on sugar beet pulp substrate results in production of lignin-degrading enzymes during the primary metabolic growth phase of the fungi when an abundance of nutrients are available. This is in contrast to conventional culture systems where production takes place during secondary metabolism when nitrogen or carbon may be restricted.
At the conclusion of the growing period, the substrate can be washed with water to bring enzymes into solution. The lignin-degrading enzymes are not irreversibly bound to the substrate using this process. The enzyme-rich solution can be centrifuged and filtered to provide an active, cell-free liquid enzyme preparation containing lignin-degrading enzymes that have been removed from the substrate.
The ability to commercially produce lignin-degrading enzymes during the primary metabolic growth phase and further to produce cell-free lignin-degrading enzymes is an advantage of this invention over conventional solid state or liquid culture process used to produce these enzymes using white-rot fungi.
Sugar beet pulp is used as the substrate material for fungal growth in accordance with this invention. Sugar beet pulp is produced in large amounts and is readily available for high-volume, commercial applications for growing white-rot fungi.
Sugar beet pulp has not been reported as a natural substrate for white-rot fungi. It has a relatively low lignin content of 1% to 3%. White-rot fungi occurs naturally as decay organisms on woody materials with high lignin content such as okra, sugarcane, shredded paper, wood shavings, sawdust, corn cobs and humus. These materials have been used in conventional production of lignin-degrading enzymes.
Sugar beet pulp contains 8-10% protein and up to 5% residual sucrose and is not a carbon and nitrogen limited substrate. Yet, white-rot fungi produce lignin-degrading enzymes when grown on sugar beet pulp during the primary metabolic growth phase. Lignin-degrading enzymes are produced by white-rot fungi when grown on sugar beet pulp supplemented with glucose and the additional nitrogen sources peptone (a soluble protein hydrolysate) and yeast extract. This result is unexpected because production of these enzymes using conventional processes typically occurs only with nitrogen or carbon starvation during secondary metabolism.
Sugar beet pulp is a byproduct of the processing of sugar beets for sugar (sucrose). In a typical process, sugar beets are sliced and extracted with hot water to recover the sugar. Sugar beet pulp is the residue of sugar beets remaining after the extraction process. In most sugar beet processing plants, the sugar beet pulp is dried and sold as cattle feed. Sugar beet pulp is composed of the following constituents with the typical proportions shown as a percentage on a dry weight basis.
Particles of sugar beet pulp are typically 0.5 to 1 cm in the largest dimension and irregularly shaped.
Sugar beet pulp can be prepared for use as a solid culture substrate as follows. Dry sugar beet pulp is moistened with one of a number of standard nutrient solutions supportive of fungal growth and then sterilized by autoclaving, e.g., at 125xc2x0 C., 15 psi for 20 minutes. Other generally accepted methods for sterilization can be used involving different temperatures, pressures, and durations as long as the sugar beet pulp is sterilized before inoculation. The sugar beet pulp is then cooled to between 20-40xc2x0 C.
An inoculum of white-rot fungi is then aseptically and thoroughly mixed with the cooled sugar beet substrate. The inoculum can be prepared in any conventional manner such as by first selecting a pure culture of a white-rot fungus and maintaining this fungus on nutrient agar slants. Next, the culture on the agar slants is transferred to either a liquid or solid media and grown at 20-40xc2x0 C. The media selected varies somewhat depending upon which organism is selected for growth. If a liquid media is selected for growing the inoculum, the liquid inoculum media should contain glucose, a nitrogen source, and nutrient salts. Liquid cultures can be held stationary or agitated during the culture growth phase. If a solid media is selected for growing the inoculum, either sterilized sugar beet pulp, prepared as described above, or other known materials can be used as a substrate. Generally, sufficient inoculum culture is grown to provide approximately 1-20% by volume of the mass of substrate to be inoculated.
According to the present invention, the inoculated sugar beet pulp comprises a solid state culture characterized by a solid phase of particles of sugar beet pulp, an aqueous phase sorbed into the particles of the pulp and a gas phase in the interparticle spaces. Moisture content of the sugar beet pulp is 40 to 80%, typically 66% by weight. Optionally, 2-10% sterilized straw can also be added to the sugar beet pulp. Straw may be added before or, more typically, after the beet pulp is wetted. The straw improves the physical characteristics of the solid culture by increasing the volume and maintaining integrity of interparticle spaces resulting in improved aeration, temperature control, and moisture control.
The fungus grows on the surface of, and penetrates into, the particles of sugar beet pulp.
The inoculated substrate is placed in a vessel designed as a solid culture reactor or in a trench or pile. The shape and dimensions of the vessel used as the solid culture reactor may be varied widely. In one currently developed embodiment, the inoculated substrate is placed in cylindrical or rectangular vessel in a bed approximately 70 cm deep. The vessel is designed so that air at controlled temperature and humidity can be circulated through the bed and appropriate means are provided for this.
In a solid state reactor, the temperature, nutrients, aeration rate, and growing period can be varied to regulate the metabolic rate of the fungus. Metabolic conditions also can determine the specific types of lignin-degrading enzymes produced by the fungus. Typically, the temperature of the substrate is maintained between 20-40xc2x0 C. depending on the organism and enzyme preparation being produced. A nutrient solution may be added to the substrate as necessary to maintain primary metabolic growth phase. Sufficient conventional nutrient solution is provided during the growing period to prevent nitrogen or carbon starvation or secondary metabolism.
An atmosphere of air, or an artificially created atmosphere having an oxygen concentration of 7-100%, is circulated through the substrate during the growing period. An aeration rate of between 0.05 to 20 unit volumes of air per minute per unit volume of substrate may be used. The aeration atmosphere preferably is maintained between 70-99% relative humidity. The relative humidity typically is varied to maintain the absorbed water content of the substrate between about 40-80% initially, and then between about 60-80% at the end of the growing period, with 66-72% being typical. The growing period of the culture is varied from 4 to 30 days, depending on the identity of the organism and the type of enzyme to be produced.
At the completion of the growing period, the culture comprises a fungal cell mass, unutilized culture substrate, and extracellular enzymes. For some applications, particularly is situ degradation of toxic wastes, the whole wet culture may be used without further processing by merely turning the culture into the soil.
To produce a cell-free liquid enzyme preparation containing lignin-degrading enzymes, one can extract the culture by mixing it with water. Alternatively, water together with conventional, biologically compatible detergents, such as TWEEN 80, may be used as an extractant. A cell-free solution containing lignin-degrading enzymes can be produced by mixing the culture with the extractant, then centrifuging and filtering to remove all cells and solids (with, for example a 0.8 micron filter).
The sugar beet pulp substrate is capable of sustaining growth of a variety of white-rot fungi to induce production of at least four types of enzymes, namely, peroxidases, manganese peroxidases, oxidases and laccases. To determine the nature of the enzymes present in various extracts, conventional assay procedures such as those based on enzymatic oxidation of compounds such as phenol red, veratryl alcohol, vanillylacetone and anis alcohol with and without the presence of hydrogen peroxide or oxygen or manganese are used.
Assays of peroxidase are based on oxidation of phenol red or veratryl alcohol in the presence of hydrogen peroxide. See e.g., Tien, M. (1987) Critical Review in Microbiology 15(2):144; Farrell, R., U.S. Pat. No. 4,687,741; Kuwahare, M. et al. (1984) FEBS Letters 169(2):247-250; Walder, R. et al. (1988) Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology 29:400-407. Assays for manganese peroxidase measure oxidation of phenol red, veratryl alcohol or vanillylacetone with the presence of both hydrogen peroxide and manganese. See Kuwahare, M. et al. and Walder, R. et al., supra; Bonnarme, P. and Jefferies, T. W. (1990) Applied and Environmental Microbiology 56(1):210-217. Assays for oxidase are based on oxidation of veratryl alcohol or anis alcohol with the presence of oxygen. See Muheim, A. et al. Enzyme and Microbial Technology; Walder, R. et al., supra. Assays of laccase activity is based on oxidation of phenol red or 2,6-dimethoxy phenol in the absence of hydrogen peroxide and manganese. See Kuwahare, M. et al. and Walder, R. et al., supra; Haars, A. and Huttermann, A. (1980) Archives of Microbiology 125:233-237.
As illustrated in the examples below, culture extracts grown by the processes of this invention have been assayed using each of these procedures. The presence or absence of hydrogen peroxide, manganese, and oxygen in the enzyme reaction provides a basis for distinguishing the different types of activities.
It is an important feature of the invention that all of these different types of enzymes can be produced. Different commercial applications may require specific types or combinations of these types of enzyme activities. Furthermore, the different types of enzymes produced by various white-rot fungi grown by this process, differ in substrate specificity, pH optima, buffer requirements and stability. These differences may confer relative advantages of one organism and or one type of enzyme in specific commercial applications.

Method of cultivating white-rot fungi on a sugar beet pulp substrate


The method and apparatus provides a system for automatically determining the location of individual teeth within an electronic model image of a patients mouth. The electronic model image allows for manipulation of the electronic model image by end users. Possible horizontal cut lines are determined within a horizontal plane cut through the electronic model image corresponding to possible separation lines between the teeth. Possible vertical cut lines are then determined within a vertical plane cut through the electronic model image corresponding to possible separation lines between teeth. The system then automatically determines the locations of individual teeth using the possible horizontal cut lines and the possible vertical cut lines.

Computational resources available for use by various end users of computing systems has increased significantly. This increase in capability of systems has created the ability for many more end users to utilize computer based image systems to replace processes that utilize paper and physical model processes. In the past, computer aided design, drafting, and manufacture (CAD/CAM) tools represented an area of applications in which computer based image systems have migrated from paper and model based processes to electronic systems.
These CAD/CAM system typically consist of design and drafting tools that allow technical designers to build systems that were previously designed on paper using draftsmen. Over time, the computing system and their respective tools have allowed increasing interactive manipulation of components during the design process. This advance in design of items that are then manufactured has occurred using these computer aided systems.
These CAD/CAM systems, however, typically start their processes with a set of pre-defined libraries of components that may be used by the user of the computing system. For example, electronic schematics possess a library of components that are used to specify a circuit and its layout. The creation of these libraries, as well as the amount of computational resources needed to perform the operations related to these systems, has prevented the widespread use of these systems in other areas of technology.
With the advances recently made computational systems, these computer based image systems may be used to permit end users to replace paper and physical models with electronic images. Two areas of technology present additional obstacles to the more wide-spread use of these systems. First, a mechanism to capture image representations of physical objects accurately and with sufficient resolution is needed in a form that is both inexpensive to operate while providing rapid turn-around for users. Second, a mechanism to easily separate the electronic model into its separate components. This problem is especially acute when impressions of human teeth are to be scanned to allow electronic images of the models of a patient's teeth to be represented and manipulated as individual teeth. Neither of these latter obstacles have been overcome in existing imaging systems.

Method and apparatus for automatically determining the location of individual teeth within electronic model images


A chain of LEDs is formed from link units connected by wire pairs in electrical circuit. At least one wire pair is connected to a link unit to form external power supply wires. Each link unit is made of a tray housing a PCB in the housing, and LEDs mounted on the PCB in electrical connection with the wire pairs. Cured waterproof resin inside the tray housing encases the printed circuit board, the wire pair connection point to the PCB and the lower half of the light emitting diode elements.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a light emitting diode (LED) display array, and more particularly to a waterproof LED display array that has a watertight housing.
2. Description of Related Art
Light emitting diode (LED) displays are often used in signboard advertising. LED displays normally comprise a rectangular or hex array of LEDs mounted on one or more printed circuit boards (PCB) controlled by special hardware and/or software to perform certain images on a screen to provide images to attract the attention of potential customers. Such LED displays are also widely used by families or individuals for other purposes, such as Christmas tree decorations.
In numerous occasions, such LED displays must be placed outdoors. As a result, an LED display with waterproof function becomes desirable. Traditional covered LED displays, such as U.S. Pat. No. 6,501,084 by Sakai et al, show a housing with a cover and several LEDs mounted on a PCB inside the housing. However, if the waterproof cover was not sealed properly, water or water vapor can easily penetrate the LED display so that the LED display will fail quickly.
Another kind of waterproof LED display has also been commonly used, as seen in U.S. Pat. No. 6,364,507 by Yang. Waterproof silica gel is spread over joints between the joints between the panel and the housing. Unfortunately, Yang's invention was designed mainly for larger LED commercial displays and it is comparatively difficult to expand the number of the units.


A method and apparatus that reduces the amount of constellation rotation due to power amplifier (PA) insertion phase variation during activation (i.e., turn on) of a transmitter. This is accomplished by applying an instantaneous phase rotation during the transmitter turn on at digital baseband to counteract and minimize unwanted phase variations.

In a conventional time division duplex (TDD) system, a transmitter within the system is temporarily deactivated during receive time slots in order to reduce power consumption. However, once a turn on command is initiated, the bias current of a power amplifier (PA) in the transmitter requires a significant amount of time to move from its shut down value to its desired quiescent value. This type of time varying bias results in a proportional change in the PA insertion phase, which in turn will result in a rotation of the signal constellation.
An insertion phase variation will occur even if the input power of the transmitter is held constant. As a result, performance degradation of phase sensitive receiver algorithms at the beginning of time slots will occur unless the insertion phase variation is reduced and kept within some acceptable level when the transmitter is activated (i.e., turned on). A method and system for compensating for phase variations caused by activating the transmitter is desired.

Method and apparatus for compensating for phase variations caused by activation of an amplifier


A polarization luminaire is disclosed having a light source that emits light having random polarization directions, a first lens plate and a second lens plate. The first lens plate has a plurality of condenser lenses, the condenser lenses being decentered lenses. The second lens plate is a composite layered element having a condenser lens array, a polarization beam splitting prism array, and a half-wave plate placed on an exit side of the polarization beam splitting prism array. The polarization beam splitting prism array splits each light emitted from both the plurality of condenser lenses and the condenser lens array into a p-polarized light and an s-polarized light. The polarization beam splitting prism array includes a plurality of polarizing beam splitters and a plurality of reflecting mirrors alternately arranged.

1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to a polarization luminaire for uniformly illuminating a rectangular illumination area or the like with polarized light waves in which the polarization direction thereof is made to be uniform. Further, the present invention relates to a projection display for modulating polarized light, which has been emitted from this polarization luminaire, by means of a light valve and for enlarging an image and displaying the image on a screen.
2. Description of Related Art
Hitherto, a system of the optical integrator using two lens plates has been known as an optical system for uniformly illuminating a rectangular illumination area of a liquid crystal light valve or the like. The system of the optical integrator is disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Public Disclosure No. 3-11806/1991 Official Gazette and has already been put to practical use.

Polarization luminaire and projection display


The invention as disclosed is an apparatus that controls the wake of stator blades on an underwater vehicle. The apparatus comprises one or more stator blades each with a movable trailing edge that when actuated in a controlled manner produces a periodic flapping motion upstream of a propulsion rotor. The controlled periodic flapping of the trailing edge the fills the stator blade wake enough to overcome the stator blade's own drag and fill its wake deficit. This has the effect of reducing the blade rate tonal noise of the propulsion rotor.

(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to stator blades and rotor blades on an underwater vehicle. In particular, the present invention is directed to an apparatus to reduce stator blade rate tonal noise through altering the mean and instantaneous characteristics of the rotor blade inflow.
(2) Description of the Prior Art
Conventional stator blades on the hulls of underwater vehicles add swirl to the propeller inflow that increases the efficiency of the propeller through the cancellation of the swirl generated by the propeller. However, stator blades and other upstream appendages also produce discrete wakes due to the velocity deficit caused by viscosity of the fluid moving over the stator blade surface. When a propeller blade meets these velocity deficits during the rotation of the propeller, sudden variations of force are produced. These regular unsteady force disturbances create a recognizable noise, the blade rate signature. This noise can be used to detect and identify the vehicle. Experiments using "swirl inducing stator upstream of propeller propulsors" have highlighted the effect of sharp stator wakes on propulsor radiated noise. Anytime the inflow to the rotor is circumferentially unsteady, caused by the wakes of upstream appendages, control fins, guide vanes, or stators, for instance, the loading on the rotor blades is unsteady and periodic with the blade rate. In the case of swirl inducing stator upstream of propeller propulsors the sharp wake deficits behind the stators result in unsteady loading and distinguishable peaks in the noise spectra at harmonics of the blade rate, with the frequency of the peaks in the spectra dependent on the number of stator and rotor blades. This radiated noise signature can be used to classify vehicles using sonar.
Swimming and flying animals use flapping wings or fins to produce thrust and maneuvering forces. They do this through the creation of an alternating vortex wake, similar to the drag wake seen behind cylinders in a flow but with opposite sign. The discrete vortices form a thrust jet through the center of the vortex street which accelerates fluid away from the fin, accelerating the animal forward. This same effect can be used to fill a stator or guide vane wake, but rather than create a vortex wake powerful enough to produce net thrust as is the case with animal fins, the stators can be flapped just enough to overcome its own drag and fill its wake deficit.
Currently, there is a need to reduce or eliminate the radiated noise signature of rotors through the use of a simple flapping motion of the trailing edge of a stator blade in order to fill its mean wake deficit to reduce unsteady loading on the rotor blades. Interaction between the rotor blades and the discrete vortices in the flapping stator wake may increase unsteady loading on the rotor without careful timing. Through active control of the stator oscillations the timing of rotor blades passing through the wake can be chosen to minimize the periodic loads on the rotors. This reduction in the unsteady loading will diminish blade rate harmonic tones.

The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Navy


An apparatus is provided for harnessing ocean wave energy, wherein the apparatus relieves excessive loadings on components to avoid damage thereof in adverse wave conditions. The apparatus includes a buoyant actuator and a pump anchored within the body of water. Fluid at high pressure is pumped ashore by the pump, energy is extracted as useful work at an on-shore plant, and the resultant reduced pressure fluid is returned to the offshore pump to be re-energized. The buoyant actuator is operably connected to the pump by tether and is buoyantly suspended within the body of water above the pump. The buoyant actuator is provided with a connector that includes a damping mechanism configured to maintain a substantially rigid connection between the hollow body and the tether until such time as loading therebetween exceeds a prescribed load whereupon the damping mechanism facilitates limited relative movement therebetween to relieve the loading.

The following discussion of the background art is intended to facilitate an understanding of the present invention only. The discussion is not an acknowledgement or admission that any of the material referred to is or was part of the common general knowledge as at the priority date of the application.
It is known to couple wave motion to an energy conversion device operable in response to wave motion, one example of which is use of a buoyant actuator to translate wave motion into a reciprocating action at the energy conversion device.
When exposed to an aggressive sea state, typically adverse weather conditions (such as in storm conditions), buoyant actuators can be subject to extreme forces. Known buoyant actuators can be prone to damage or detachment when exposed to such conditions. Further, systems and components to which the buoyant actuators are coupled can be subjected to excessive loadings. In the case of a wave energy conversion system incorporating such a buoyant actuator, various components (such as the pump, the foundation to which the pump is anchored, and the coupling between the buoyant actuator and the pump) can be subjected to excessive loadings.
There have been various proposals for relieving excessive loadings on the foundations, pump and coupling components in a wave energy conversion system for the purpose of avoiding damage thereof in adverse sea conditions. One such proposal involves selectively opening the interior of the buoyant actuator to permit water to flow through the buoyant actuator in response to exposure of the buoyant actuator to adverse weather conditions. Because water can pass through the interior of the buoyant actuator there is a reduction in resistance to the moving water that impinges on the buoyant actuator. This removes much of the potential energy, as the buoyant actuator is not being heaved as much by the waves. Further, it also reduces the kinetic energy at the same time because the susceptible mass is reduced (as water is no longer trapped within the buoyant actuator) and the velocity is reduced (because the buoyant actuator is no longer providing such reaction to the wave forces that would cause it to accelerate). In this way loading on the pump and associated coupling (including the tether) can be attenuated to an acceptable level and achieve this in an acceptably short period of time
It is against this background that the present invention has been developed.