A braking system comprises one or more brake cylinders (100, 200, 300, 400) each associated with one or more wheels, a fluid supply (10), and a brake control (14) for commanding the feeding of fluid to the cylinder or cylinders via one or more brake valves and one or more brake pipes (44, 46). The system also comprises a function selector (50) adapted to adopt an antislip mode position (50A) or antilock mode positions in which it connects a branch pipe (52) to a fluid feed pipe (54) or to a return line (56) and a control valve (110, 210, 310, 410) for the or each brake cylinder adapted to adopt a normal braking position (100A, 210A, 310A, 410A) to connect the cylinder to the brake pipe (44, 46) and one or more special mode positions (110B, 210B, 310B, 410B) to connect the cylinder to the branch pipe (52) that the function selector connects to the return line or to the feed. The system further comprises means (120, 220, 320, 420, UC) for detecting wheelspin or a wheel tending to lock and for commanding the function selector (50) and the control valve associated with the brake cylinder associated with that wheel accordingly.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an antislip regulation and antilock braking system for vehicles equipped with a braking system comprising one or more brake cylinders each associated with one or more wheels, a source of fluid under pressure, and a brake control that is operated to effect braking by feeding said cylinders with fluid under pressure via one or more brake valves and one or more brake pipes.
2. Description of the Art
Braking systems including a brake master cylinder equipped with a reservoir are already known in the art and are used in particular in motor vehicles for use on roads. To effect braking, a volume of fluid that depends on the operating force applied to the brake pedal is transferred from the reservoir to the brake cylinder(s) via the master cylinder. When the brake pedal is released, the fluid returns to the reservoir. The reservoir is small and the above systems can be used only in applications in which transferring a very small volume of fluid is sufficient to operate a brake cylinder. Some motor vehicles are further provided with an antislip regulation and antilock braking system. In an antilock braking system, fast-acting solenoid valves reduce the fluid pressure in the brake cylinder as soon as a wheel associated with the cylinder tends to lock. In an antislip regulation system, if a wheel tends to slip, an auxiliary source of fluid under pressure assists braking of that wheel by feeding the associated brake cylinder.
For larger vehicles, and in particular for self-propelled agricultural and civil engineering plant, much greater volumes of fluid have to be transferred into the brake cylinders to effect braking. Consequently, the brake circuits generally comprise a pressure source which feeds fluid accumulators via a priority flow valve and a connector-disconnector. The fluid that feeds the brake cylinders comes from these accumulators, which are located far away from the cylinders.
WO 92/03321 proposes an antilock braking and antislip regulation system that uses a two-position control valve for each braked wheel that is adapted to connect the brake cylinder to a brake pipe connected to a brake fluid feed pipe or to a connecting pipe connected to a supplementary valve associated with the wheel.
If the wheel locks, the control valve connects the brake cylinder to the connecting pipe and the unoperated supplementary valve reduces the pressure in the brake cylinder. When the pressure has fallen sufficiently, the supplementary valve must be operated to connect the connecting pipe to an auxiliary pressure source to restore braking.
In the event of wheelspin, the control valve connects the brake cylinder to the connecting pipe connected to the supplementary valve, which is operated to connect the connecting pipe either to the auxiliary pressure source, to brake the wheel that is subject to wheelspin, or to the return line, to prevent excessive braking of the wheel.
The above system and its operation are relatively complex. Also, it is not the brake pipe that restores braking after a wheel has locked, which means that the level of braking cannot be controlled by the operator in the normal way.

Motor vehicle wheel antiskid and antilock device using the braking circuit


Colorized components of a fertilizer concentrate blend may be apportioned according to a reference hue that may be associated with a target plan growth cycle and the apportionment may be refined according to referenced and measured electrical conductivity values of the blend in progress.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to blending plant fertilizer constituents and more particularly, the present invention relates to tailoring the ratio of nutrients in a fertilizer composition by colorizing fertilizer constituents according to their nutrient content and mixing the colorized fertilizers until the resultant color matches a reference color associated with a desired fertilizer composition.
2. State of the Art
Plants are harvested for a variety of useful products. Although some plants are coveted for their leaf such as spinach and lettuce, the stalk such as asparagus, and the root such as carrots, most plants are useful for some aspect of their reproductive cycle, such as the flowering portion (roses), the fruit such as avocado, and the seed such as corn and wheat. In addition to water and carbon dioxide that plants require to grow, plants also require minerals to grow in a healthy manner, and to provide us with those nutrients that are essential to our own health. These minerals are normally absorbed through the roots, though in some cases foliar application is effective. Although the specific needs and relative proportions of nutrients needed by different species of plants may vary, as a general rule, all plants require the same nutrients. The necessary proportions, however, vary from specie to specie, as well as throughout the life cycle of a plant. Environmental ranges of light, temperature, humidity, airflow, etc. can also have a controlling effect on ideal nutrient composition for various crops in their range.
"Primary nutrients" include nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium, commonly referred by the triplet "NPK." These are called primary because they are usually needed in the greatest proportion relative to other nutrients. "Secondary nutrients" include calcium, magnesium, and sulfur, usually in the form of sulfate. Trace element needs include iron, manganese, zinc, copper, boron, chloride, and molybdenum. Though the studies are in their formative stages, more recent evidence shows that cobalt, silicon, nickel and chloride are also needed, or helpful to plant growth, in trace amounts. The secondary nutrients are typically required in lesser quantities than the primary nutrients, but higher quantities than the trace elements. There is, however, some overlap. For example, calcium, listed above as a secondary nutrient, is often needed in higher quantities than phosphorus.
The required levels for some nutrients remain fairly stable over the life cycle of the plant. For other nutrients, however, the requirement levels vary significantly throughout the life cycle. Accordingly, the production of a healthy leaf at the beginning of a life cycle may have significantly different nutritional needs than the production of flower, fruit, or seed near the end of the life cycle.
Most plants are satisfied by a balance of nutrients at levels that remain fairly stable over the life of the plant. A few nutritional requirements, however, such as nitrogen, phosphate and magnesium often have a wide range of variation over the life of a plant for optimum growth, vigor, and yield. Young plants require high levels of nitrogen to enable their early structural growth of roots, stems, and foliage. At a later stage in a plants growth, such as the flowering, fruiting or seed production stages, the need for nitrogen decreases significantly. Simultaneously, the need for other nutrients may increase throughout the life of a plant. For example, phosphate and magnesium are important for flowering, and the required levels frequently increase during this stage of development. Because of this, it is not possible to maintain nutrients at optimal simply by increasing or decreasing the strength, or concentration, of a single general purpose fertilizer. The ratio between elements and their variation throughout the plant's lifecycle is a key to optimum growth and productivity.
As a consequence, gardeners, farmers, horticulturists and other plant growers collectively referred to herein as "growers," will typically apply a variety of fertilizers throughout the life of a plant. Our method provides a simple building-block method for the grower to easily mix a huge range of precise fertilizer blends.
The first problem is the life cycle of a plant. It is not as if the plant shifts from one stage to another in digital fashion. The process is an analog one, where the need for one nutrient decreases gradually as the need for another gradually increases. The more frequently the formula is adjusted throughout a plant's life, the more closely the mixture can follow the optimal ratio. Additionally, there is the problem of plant types. Different types of plants have different needs throughout their life cycle. To optimally meet the nutritional needs of the multiple stages of a life cycle for hundreds of different types of plants, over a range of environmental variations like field and greenhouse, summer, and winter, requires many different fertilizer formulas. Because it is not practical to manufacture, purchase or store an exhaustive or even extensive range of different fertilizer formulations, growers commonly try to formulate optimal, or near optimal mixtures by mixing a handful of basic fertilizer products in different ratios throughout the life cycle of a plant. Typically the measuring and mixing is by weight percentages, or may be volumetric for less sophisticated growers. There are drawbacks of such mixtures, however. A first drawback is that an optimal mixture is seldom a simple integral ratio of small numbers, such as "three parts of a first fertilizer and two parts of a second fertilizer." If an optimal ratio is closer to one hundred to one, and the grower does not need one hundred measures of fertilizer, the grower scales back the total amount of fertilizer and "eye-balls" the amounts used. The process immediately becomes an inexact science, forming a sub-optimal fertilizer. Another problem with volumetric measuring is that granulated solids, particularly fertilizers, can "clump" together, upsetting the measured volume required for an ideal ratio. Variations in the densities of fertilizers can occur through settling, impurities, and a variety of other causes. Moreover, in large commercial operations, fertilizers may not be placed in tidy graduated flasks before mixing. They can be dumped together from large bins or scoops lacking exact gradations, or being filled in very rough and inexact amounts. Air pockets can also form in a volume, affecting the actual amount of fertilizer used. Another problem with volumetric mixing is the language barrier. For example, in growing hydroponic tomatoes, the same fertilizer may be marketed in Mexico, Iran and China. Instructions for optimal fertilizer mixtures in Spanish will be of little value in Chinese or Farsi. In short, volumetric mixing of fertilizer formulas to obtain a particular formula for a particular stage of life of a particular plant can be inexact, tedious, boring, and difficult to communicate from language to language.
Coloring in the prior art includes U.S. Pat. No. 1,513,542 to Flagg. which is directed to using color coding to determine an amount of hemoglobin in the blood. U.S. Pat. No. 2,452,385 to Merckel relates to test apparatus for testing chemical presence and concentrations using colors. A translucent container has a colored translucent band around an upper portion of the container to serve as a color comparator against a solution within the container. Because the band is translucent, the light passing through the band serves as a concentration comparator as well. The apparatus can be used to test free chlorine in water, or can be used to test soils for mineral content such as nitrogen or potash. The soil sample is mixed in water with an indicator selected to react with the nitrogen or other mineral to produce a color. As the soil settles on the bottom, the color of the liquid can be compared to the colored band. Merckel teaches chemical alteration of a small test sample, not the entire target substance. Merckel selects a testing agent which produces certain shades and colors when it reacts with chemicals already in the sample substance. This testing agent may or may not produce a specific color, depending on the presence of underlying chemicals in the target substance. U.S. Pat. No. 4,126,417 to Edwards is directed to a testing and treatment kit for soil pH and nitrate levels. A stick with color coding allows the user to match a pH level or nitrate level to a color to determine concentrations. Pills can then be dissolved in water to adjust the pH or nitrate content of the soil. To distinguish nitrate enhancing pills from acid enhancing pills, nitrate enhancing pills are colored differently than acid enhancing pills. Modern commercial growers use ionic detection with computers to determine and maintain optimum nutrient character and strength at considerable cost and complexity. Examples of such complex system include the Priva™ Nutriflex™ and Priva™ Nutrifit™ systems from Priva B.V., The Netherlands; systems that may be used to control nutrients for state-of-the-art hydroponic greenhouses.

Selecting and mixing plant fertilizer components based on color


The inorganic fiber article according to the present invention is an inorganic fiber article comprising an inorganic coating layer having foams, the inorganic coating layer formed on at least a portion of the surface of an inorganic fiber molded body.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an inorganic fiber article.
2. Discussion of the Background
Solar batteries are manufactured by forming transistors and the like on a Si substrate as a starting material. Therefore, a heating treatment is normally applied to the Si substrate several times. Moreover, a conveyer for conveying the Si substrate is provided inside the furnace for heating treatment, and a heat insulating material is also provided such that it surrounds the conveyer in order to reduce heat energy loss.
Here, with respect to the heat insulating material, for example, there has been used a plate shaped body manufactured through the following processes: first, a slurry is produced by mixing and dispersing a ceramic fiber, an inorganic binder, a fiber coagulant, and fiber flocculants, and using this slurry, a wet-type sheet forming process is carried out to form an aggregate; next, the aggregate is pressed and compressed in the thickness direction to manufacture the plate shaped body.
In the method for manufacturing the solar battery, wiring and the like are directly produced on the Si substrate; therefore, the cleanness of the surface of the Si substrate is under extremely strict requirements. Moreover, several kinds of heating treatments are necessarily carried out on the Si substrate. The several heating treatments on the Si substrate employs a furnace, and as a matter of course, extremely strict conditions are also imposed on the particle generation from the heat insulating material that forms the inner wall and the tray of the furnace.
This is because, if the particle scattering from the heat insulating material that forms the inner wall and the tray of the furnace adheres to the surface of the Si substrate during the several heating treatments, this becomes a serious cause of generating defective circuits. Such particle generation from the heat insulating material have been one of the causes for producing defective products in processes such as a process for forming a semiconductor circuit on substrates such as a glass substrate and a ceramic substrate, a process for manufacturing a display substrate, and manufacturing processes carried out in a chip-manufacturing equipment.
Thus, in order to lower the particle generation from the heat insulating material, JP-B 3606744 discloses, as shown in FIG. 2, for example, a heat resistant material 11 formed of a base member 13 which is made in contact with a glass layer 12 as shown in FIG. 2, the base member 13 mainly composed of an inorganic fiber based material 14 and containing an inorganic particle 15, the glass layer 12 obtained through carrying out heating treatment on a glass material-containing base member mainly composed of glass material. The base member further contains as a binder a glass 16 obtained through carrying out heating treatment on the above-mentioned glass material, and the glass layer 12 contains the inorganic fiber based material 14 as a reinforcing material.
The contents of JP-B 3606744 are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.


The present invention provides a novel route for synthesis and production of linear alpha olefins (LAO) and central olefins from the feedstock comprising fatty acids, triglycerides and esters of fatty acids, and mixture thereof through controlled hydrogenolysis, hydrogenation and dehydration reactions simultaneously in a hydro processing reactor containing a catalyst system having dual site—a metallic site for hydrogenation/reduction reaction under hydrogen environment, and an acidic site for conversion of alcohol to olefin via E1 or E2 reaction mechanism.

Linear alpha olefins and central olefins have wide applications in day-to-day life, starting from household products like detergents to lubricants in the automobile industry. They are used in the production of poly alpha olefins, synthetic lubricants, base stock for synthetic drilling fluids, alkylate aromatics, oxo alcohols, linear alkyl benzene (LABS), etc. Applications are mainly based on the carbon number, for example, low carbon number olefins have wide applications in the polymer industry, carbon number ranging from C11 to C16 is used for drilling fluids and LABS production, high carbon number C20-C30 are used in synthetic waxes.
Fatty alcohol market demand is also hand in glove with linear alpha olefins. In addition to the applications in detergents and surfactants, fatty alcohols play a vital role in cosmetic and food industry as thickeners, co-emulsifiers, etc., and also in paper sizing and industrial solvents. Biodegradability is the governing parameter for increase in demand for linear alpha olefins and central olefins. The common routes for the production of LAOs and central olefins are oligomerization, metathesis and the Fischer-Tropsch process.
Ethylene oligomerization route is the most common route for alpha olefin production, in this process ethylene molecules are oligomerized over catalyst systems such as an alkylated metal catalyst. U.S. Pat. No. 4,545,941 by Staley Continental Inc., EP2609125 by ExxonMobil Chemical Patents Inc., and US2013130336 by Energy and Environment Research Center (EERC) Foundation describe the process for production of LAOs by oligomerization route. Depending upon the catalyst systems and reactor configurations there are various technologies available for ethylene oligomerization process. However, in all the available technologies, both reactors and catalyst systems are very complex. Ethylene oligomerization produces a wide spectrum of linear alpha olefin products and therefore, extensive fractionation is required to separate the alpha olefins having different carbon numbers. Ethylene is a costly feedstock as it is primarily obtained from steam crackers units. Due to the expensive feedstock and complex process, the capital expenditure (CAPEX) and operating expenditure (OPEX) are high.
Alpha olefins are also produced through olefin-metathesis route. In olefin metathesis processes, two olefin molecules in the presence of a metathesis catalyst are converted into one or more olefins different from the reactant olefins. If the two reactant olefins are different, then the process is called "hetero-metathesis" or "cross-metathesis". If the two reactant olefins are identical, then the process is referred as "homo-metathesis" or "self-metathesis". The production of alpha olefin (hexene-1) through metathesis of butane-1 and butane-2 has been explained in U.S. Pat. No. 6,727,396B2 by ABB Lummus Global Inc. Further, production of alpha olefin (decene-1) via metathesis reaction of propylene, butane-1 and butene-2 with vegetable has been explained in U.S. Pat. No. 7,812,185B2 by Dow Global Technologies LLC and U.S. Pat. No. 7,678,932B2 by IFP Energies Nouvelles (IFPEN).
Metathesis product mixture typically comprises one or more product olefins, metal-ligand of catalyst, catalyst degradation products, reaction by-products, and unconverted reactant olefins. The metathesis product mixtures may also contain extraneous metals added as catalyst promoters or metals leached into the reaction from a catalyst support.
Homogeneous catalysts are also used for commercial metathesis process. Homogeneous catalysts are active and selective, however, there is present a problem with respect to the process economics, as the catalyst (including catalytic metal) should be recovered from the product mixture. More importantly, it has been observed that metathesis catalysts and catalyst degradation products destabilize olefin product mixtures against isomerization (double bond migration). These isomerized produces are different from the target products.
Metathesis catalysts and catalyst degradation products can destabilize olefin products against thermal and chemical decomposition during storage or at elevated temperatures. The undesirable thermal or chemical reactions that occur due to presence of metathesis catalyst or catalyst degradation products cause unrecoverable raw material losses and low product olefin yields. Such adverse effects are generally attributed to the presence of the catalytic metal(s) in the metathesis catalyst and catalyst degradation products. Accordingly, metathesis products are required to be stabilized (U.S. Pat. No. 7,696,398 by Dow Global Technologies LLC).
Similar to the olefin oligomerization process, the feedstock for metathesis process is also costly. Further, due to contamination in metathesis product as explained in previous paragraphs, elaborate purification steps are required again leading to high CAPEX and OPEX.
In the Fischer-Tropsch process, synthesis gas (H2 and CO mixture) is generated from carbonaceous material viz., coal, biomass, pet coke, etc. The synthesis gas with appropriate H2 to CO ratio is then subjected to Fischer-Tropsch synthesis (FTS) for generating hydrocarbon mixture. Currently, two methods are followed for FTS, the first method is high temperature process, where high fraction of olefins is generated, however, it also makes a large variety of olefin, paraffin, naphthene, aromatic, alcohol, aldehyde, carboxylic acid, and carboxylic ester isomers. The separation of all these isomers is extremely difficult and involves a number of steps, including, but not limited to, isomeric distillation, solvent extraction, and extractive distillation. The second method is low temperature synthesis where primarily normal paraffins, naphthas, and waxes are generated.
For producing alpha olefin, two-stage FTS process is deployed. In the first-stage paraffinic hydrocarbons is generated and in the second stage olefinic hydrocarbons are produced. In the 1st stage, paraffinic product is made by processing sub stoichiometric synthesis gas feed (i.e., H2/CO feed ratio lower than about 2.1:1) over non-shifting catalyst. Since the H2/CO usage ratio is stoichiometric, the effluent of the first stage is significantly depleted in CO. The effluent of first stage is then used to make olefinic hydrocarbons in the second stage over a shifting Fischer-Tropsch catalyst.
The iron-based shifting catalysts produce hydrocarbons from synthesis gas with high alpha olefin content even at high CO conversion levels, the undesirable water gas shift reaction associated with shifting catalysts wastes part (as much as 50%) of the CO feed by converting CO to CO2. Furthermore, in addition to high CO loss due to the water gas shift conversion of CO to CO2, iron-based catalysts produce linear alpha olefins containing more than 1 and even as much as 10 wt. % oxygenates. These oxygenates are poisons to catalysts used for producing polymers and lubricants from olefins.
Further, use of non-shifting catalyst instead of shifting catalyst, also gives reasonably good conversion (up to 90% CO conversion) and yield C4-C20 alpha olefins with less than 3% oxygenates. The non-shifting catalysts refer to those catalysts which under reaction condition convert less than 5 mol % CO to CO2 (U.S. Pat. No. 6,982,355 by REG Synthetic Fuels LLC).
The alpha olefin production through FTS route is significantly cost intensive since, it involves gasification process followed by two-stage FTS.
From the referred prior arts, it can be seen that attempts have been made to produce alpha olefins employing various techniques like ethylene oligomerization, olefin metathesis route and the Fischer-Tropsch process. These processes are cost intensive and increase the CAPEX and OPEX and also require further purification steps. Therefore, it is desirable to develop a novel process which addresses the above-mentioned plethora of issues.


An interactive shopping system and method for use in a retail store. The system can include a removable sleeve which can be attached to a shopping cart or basket. The system can have a scanner for reading product codes and retrieving information on specific products and an onboard scale to match the product weight as products are placed in the cart or basket. A processor can be in communication with a network and configured to match products codes in real time to a store library of products. A display can be used to market products that might interest the user based on the user's shopping list and shopping history at the store. A light array and alarm system can be mounted to the removable sleeve to provide a visual or audible alarm to indicate the status of payment or nonpayment of products in the cart or basket.

A need exists to provide critical user data/information that will allow brick and mortar retail stores to compete with the online stores by providing analytics and user data that currently cannot be tracked and is unavailable for users that walk into retail stores.
A further need exists for an overall better customer experience at retail stores.
A further need exists for more efficient security in retail stores.
The present embodiments meet these needs.
The present embodiments are detailed below with reference to the listed Figures.


In one embodiment, a multiwall sheet comprises a first sheet comprising an inner surface and an outer surface, a second sheet comprising a first surface and a second surface; and a rib disposed between the inner surface and the first surface. The outer layer can have surface features and has a surface area of greater than or equal to 140% of a planar, flat, non-profiled surface area for a same unit area.

In the construction of naturally lit structures (e.g., greenhouses, pool enclosures, conservatories, stadiums, sunrooms, and so forth), glass has been employed in many applications as transparent structural elements, such as, windows, facings, and roofs. However, polymer sheeting is replacing glass in many applications due to several notable benefits.
One benefit of polymer sheeting is that it exhibits excellent impact resistance compared to glass. This in turn reduces maintenance costs in applications wherein occasional breakage caused by vandalism, hail, contraction/expansion, and so forth, is encountered. Another benefit of polymer sheeting is a significant reduction in weight compared to glass. This makes polymer sheeting easier to install than glass and reduces the load-bearing requirements of the structure on which they are installed.
In addition to these benefits, one of the most significant advantages of polymer sheeting is that it provides improved insulative properties compared to glass. This characteristic significantly affects the overall market acceptance of polymer sheeting as consumers desire structural elements with improved efficiency to reduce heating and/or cooling costs. Although the insulative properties of polymer sheeting are greater than that of glass, the thermal insulation value (U value) for a polymer sheet is limited by the number of air cavities as well as the solid polymer content in the sheet. Thus, there is a continuous demand for further improvement.

Multiwall sheet, an article, a method of making a multiwall sheet


Computer-readable media, computer systems, and computing devices of a method for facilitating providing offers utilizing population densities are provided. In embodiments, a population density for a geographical space is determined based on locations of a plurality of user devices. The population density associated with the geographical space is used to determine to provide an electronic offer to a user. The electronic offer may be associated with an item in the geographical space to entice the user to move to the geographical space. In accordance with determining to provide an electronic offer to the user, the electronic offer is provided for viewing by the user via a user device.

Offers, such as coupons, discounts, or sales, are oftentimes electronically provided to consumers to entice the consumer to purchase a particular item or product. For example, as a consumer enters a store, an electronic form of an offer can be provided to the consumer via a mobile device to attract the consumer to a particular product (e.g., a basketball) or a particular product section (e.g., sporting goods). Such electronic offers, however, may direct a consumer to an undesired or crowded environment.
Many individuals, however, prefer to avoid crowded locations, particularly in retail spaces. Geographical spaces, such as retail stores or retail centers, typically have periods of time during which at least a portion of the space (e.g., a retail section such as jewelry, footwear, clothing, toys, electronics, etc.) is crowded. In some cases, the crowded spaces develop by virtue of individuals incidentally being in the same place at the same time. In other cases, the crowded spaces develop based on an event or specific time period. For example, store aisles may become more crowded during the weekend, during a sale period, during a holiday time period, in the evening hours, etc. In an effort to avoid a crowded shopping area, a shopper may detour from a particularly crowded area of a store, even if it results in foregoing a particular item of interest to the shopper that is located in the crowded area. A shopper may instead navigate toward an undesired product(s) simply to avoid a crowded space.

Utilizing population density to facilitate providing offers


A resistive strain gauge pressure sensor including upper and lower housings coacting to define a pressure chamber within the housing. A board member is clamped between the housings and defines a diaphragm portion which extends across the pressure chamber to divide the pressure chamber into upper and lower chamber portions. All of the circuitry of the sensor is screen printed onto the lower planar face of the board member including the various resistor elements of the strain gauge assembly, the various elements of the conditioning circuit receiving the output of the strain gauge assembly, and the various further leads required to connect the circuitry elements to the terminals of the sensor. The sensor terminals are provided by a plurality of connector pins extending downwardly through the board member for connection at their respective lower ends to the circuitry provided on the lower face of the board member. Each resistor element of the strain gauge assembly is screen printed onto a pad which is screen printed onto the diaphragm portion. The pads increase the strain experience by the resistors in response to a given deflection of the diaphragm and thereby increase the sensitivity of the sensor to a given pressure differential applied across the diaphragm.

This invention relates to pressure transducers and more particularly to resistive strain gauge pressure sensors.
It is often necessary to determine the pressure of gases and liquids for purposes of measurement or control and many transducers and sensors have been proposed to facilitate the determination of the pressure of gases and liquids. One general type of transducer or sensor for such applications is a resistive strain gauge sensor in which the pressure is sensed and measured based on dimensional changes in strain gauges which generate proportional changes in the resistance of the gauge.
Whereas many types of resistive strain gauge pressure sensors have been designed and made commercially available, and whereas the various resistive strain gauge sensors have proven to be generally satisfactory, these prior art gauges have tended to be rather expensive, both in terms of labor and material, and have exhibited limited sensitivity in terms of generating a usable output signal for a given pressure differential.

Resistive strain gauge pressure sensor with increased sensitivity


In a cytotoxic compound of the general formula (I) R is H or methyl or methylene substituted by C1-C4 straight or branched alkyl, R1 is selected from the group consisting of H, C1-C4 straight or branched alkyl, methoxy, methoxy substituted by from one to three fluorine, halogen; R2 is H or C1-C4 straight or branched alkyl; X is CH or N; Y is CH or N.

New and effective anticancer drugs need to be developed for patients that suffer from disseminated cancer. Developing drugs for solid tumours is associated with specific problems due to complex biophysical and metabolic conditions in 3-D tumour tissue which may be difficult to mimic in experimental in vitro systems. Hypoxia and limited diffusion of nutrients is known to lead to quiescence and resistance to conventional anticancer agents and radiation therapy. Furthermore, anticancer drugs must be able to penetrate into tumour parenchyme to reach cancer cells at toxic concentrations. Some drugs that are in clinical use for the treatment of solid tumours show poor penetration into 3-D tumour masses, which may be one of the reasons for their limited efficacy. Multicellular spheroids (MCS) mimic human solid tumours better than 2-D monolayer cultures and, therefore, are better suited than monolayer cultures for screening drugs active on solid tumours.
Cell death is often subdivided into three types of cell death: apoptosis (type I), autophagic cell death (type II) and necrosis (type III). Apoptosis is mediated by the activation of caspases. Autophagy is an evolutionarily conserved mechanism for degradation of long-lived cellular proteins and damaged cell organelles. The formation of autophagosomes is a main characteristic of autophagy. Autophagosome formation requires activation of class III phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase and is also dependent of two ubiquitin-like conjugation systems (Atg-Atg12 and Atg8). Autophagy protects cells during conditions of nutrient deprivation, and cells undergo apoptosis when autophagy is inhibited. Morphological features of autophagy have also been observed during cell death under conditions of caspase inhibition.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Means and method for treating solid tumors


An air-directing unit for use in redirecting air flow in a memory module environment of a computer. The air-directing unit comprises a body portion configured to redirect air flow therearound such that the air flow is redirected in the memory module environment. The air-directing unit includes a coupling element for removably engaging the air-directing unit with a connector portion of the memory module environment, the coupling element removably engaging the air-directing unit without compromising electrical contacts in the connector.

In the memory module environment of a computer, electro-mechanical connectors, referred to as "connectors", are used to accommodate memory modules and establish an electrical connection between the memory module and other computer system components. A memory module is a collection of memory chips e.g. DRAMs mounted on a single substrate or a small printed circuit board. As is illustrated schematically in FIG. 1, a connector 101 typically comprises a mating portion 102 into which the memory module 103 is removably insertable to establish the electrical connection. The portion of the connector wherein the electrical connection is made is referred to as the "contact".
A single memory module 103 when inserted in the connector 101 is referred to as a "single in-line memory module" ("SIMM"). A SIMM is a memory module with contacts only on one side; actual DRAMs may be only on one side of the memory module PC board or substrate. A DIMM (double in-line memory module) is a variation of a SIMM in that a DIMM is a single memory module but comprises two rows of contacts, one on each side of the memory module PC board or substrate; actual DRAMs are also on both sides of the board or substrate. A single SIMM is installed into a single SIMM connector and a single DIMM is installed into a single DIMM connector.
To allow for incrementally increasing the amount of available memory to the computer, redundant connectors are provided to receive addition memory modules in the memory module environment.
In use, installed memory modules generate heat that must be dissipated. One way to dissipate the heat is to blow cooling air around and between the installed modules. However, if the installed modules are crowded together and/or if they are located in inaccessible areas in the memory environment, the cooling air will tend to take a path of least resistance and pass over the unoccupied space, instead of passing by the installed memory modules. Consequently, the installed memory modules are not effectively cooled.
In the prior art, one attempt to address the problem of air by-passing installed memory modules has been to install dummy memory modules in unoccupied connectors to eliminate paths of least resistance in the memory module environment. A sheet of plastic shaped like a SIMM or DIMM can also be used for this purpose. A problem with this solution is that since the dummy module or the plastic sheet, when inserted in the connector, rubs the contacts, the contacts prematurely wear and/or accumulate debris and film, causing degradation of the electrical connection between the subsequently installed memory modules and the connector.
Another prior art attempt to address the problem of air by-passing installed memory modules has been to install sheet metal in strategic areas of the memory module environment to control air flow. However, this solution is not always feasible due to lack of available space in the memory module environment to accommodate the sheet metal. Besides, this solution tends to be relatively expensive as the sheet metal has to be customized for each environment.
Yet another attempt to address the problem of air by-passing the installed memory modules has been to install the memory modules evenly throughout the available space in the memory module environment so as to eliminate paths of least resistance to air flow. However, this solution also is not always feasible if the design requires that the modules are clustered together.
Accordingly, there is a need for a better solution to ensure that cooling air is effectively directed around installed memory modules in a memory environment without compromising the electrical contacts in the connectors. There is also a need for a solution that is relatively inexpensive and suitable for use in industry-standard connectors. Embodiments of the present invention provide a novel solution to these needs.


Proteoglycan deficiency in articular cartilage is diagnosed based on quantified signal intensities of pixels of a magnetic resonance image (MRI) extending across a depth of the articular cartilage. A pattern of the thus quantified signal intensities is indicative of proteoglycan distribution across the cartilage depth.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the diagnosis of proteoglycan deficiency in articular cartilage based on magnetic resonance images (MRI) of the articular cartilage, and more particularly, based on a quantified signal intensity of each pixel of the magnetic resonance image extending across a depth of the articular cartilage.
2. Description of the Related Art
In magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), which is widely used for diagnostic purposes in medicine, a large magnet supported by complicated electronics and computers is employed for image acquisition. When a patient is made to lie in the magnet's magnetic field, individual atoms within the patient's tissues and organs become aligned with the magnetic field. Radiofrequency pulses are then transmitted at a defined rate to the magnetized atoms in the area of interest to thereby elevate the energy levels in the atoms. During a pause period between pulses, the atoms relax and part of the energy gained becomes released. This process represents the unique phenomenon of magnetic resonance. A receiving antenna collects the released energy signals which are then subjected to image processing to convert the energy signals into light dots (pixels) having an illumination level (e.g. a gray-scale) corresponding to an intensity of the energy signals. Thousands and thousands of such light dots form an image. The thus obtained MR image is displayed on a television monitor, printed as a hard copy image and/or stored on a magnetic tape or other recording medium.
An MR image provides structural information, such as size and shape, regarding most tissues and organs in the body, and permits the visual detection of changes in such structural characteristics. For example, if a person develops a meniscal or anterior cruciate ligament tear as a result of a sports related injury, an MRI of the joint will reveal the presence of a discontinuity, swelling and/or shortening in the image of the torn tissue. The structural image information provided by the MRI helps to decide whether a patient requires surgical repair or other remedial action.
FIG. 1 is a parasagittal section view (lateral to midline) of the human knee joint. Reference numeral 101 denotes the femur; 102 denotes the articularis genus muscle; 103 denotes the quadriceps femoris tendon; 104 denotes 104 denotes the suprapatellar fat body; 105 denotes the suprapatellar synovial bursa; 106 denotes the patella; 107 denotes the subcutaneous prepatellar bursa; 108 denotes the articular cavity; 109 denotes the infrapatellar fat body; 110 denotes the patellar ligament; 111 denotes the synovial membrane; 112 denotes the subcutaneous infrapatellar bursa; 113 denotes the deep (subtendinous) infrapatellar bursa; 114 denotes the lateral meniscus; 115 denotes the tuberosity of tibia; 116 denotes the bursa under lateral head of gastrocnemius muscle; 117 denotes the synovial membrane; 118 denotes the articular cartilages; and 119 denotes the tibia. Articular cartilage covers the opposing femur and tibia bone ends in the human knee joint. The articular cartilage, which is rich in extracellular matrix and poor in cellularity, has shock absorption and lubrication functions based on its visco-elasticity which depends on the high water content of its extracellular matrix. Normal human articular cartilage has a water content of 73%-81% (w/w) on a weight basis. Proteoglycans (PG) are the vital organic component required for the functions of articular cartilage. PG contains numerous sugar chains, namely glycosaminoglycans, which contain negatively charged groups such as carboxylates and sulfate groups. These water absorbing, i.e. hydrophilic, groups attract an excess of water hydrogen atoms and water carrying cations. The wide spread network of PG retains this water in the cartilage matrix. A decrease in PG causes changes in the amount and state of water contained therein, resulting eventually in cartilage dysfunction. Thus a PG depletion is indicative of cartilage degeneration and precedes such problems as osteoarthritis.
Although the MRI is used to visually detect structural changes in the articular cartilage of post-trauma joints, currently no non-invasive diagnostic tool is available to detect a biochemical change such as PG depletion in the articular cartilage at very early stages of cartilage degradation. Detection of PG depletion in cartilage prior to a structural change taking place could be extremely beneficial because steps could be initiated to preserve the cartilage by therapeutic intervention. Once PG depletion has started, the surface of the cartilage begins to break after 1-2 years (fibrillation). As a result of fibrillation, usually in about 5 years the cartilage becomes thinned resulting in a narrowing of the joint space. Therefore any attempt to protect or preserve the cartilage must be made before initiation of surface breaking.
Present techniques employing MRI are not capable of detecting biochemical changes, particularly PG depletion, that develop in articular cartilage following joint trauma several years in advance of structural disorganization referred to as osteoarthritis (OA).

Method for diagnosing proteoglycan deficiency in cartilage based on magnetic resonance image (MRI)


A recharging apparatus for charging a plurality of units coupled thereto. The apparatus includes a housing having parallel first and second elongate slots defined therein and first and second elongate magnetic strips disposed within their respective slots. First and second elongate electrodes are disposed within the slots adjacent respective first and second magnetic strips, wherein each of the electrodes have an upper edge which extends beyond a surface of the housing for electrical contact with respective electrodes on the unit to be charged. Charging contacts are electrically coupled to supply a potential difference across the first and second electrodes and to consequently charge the rechargeable units mounted magnetically to the housing.

This invention relates generally to charging systems for battery operated, cordless tools, appliances and the like and more particularly to such a device used to charge a plurality of portable speaker units at the same time.
Rechargeable appliances have been utilized in the prior art. Such devices typically have a rechargeable battery, such as nickel-metal hydride, lithium or other types known in the art, which are depleted from remote use of the device. The battery may then be recharged and the device used again. Such devices are typically referred to as "cordless" since once the battery is charged, the device may be used without the need of a power cord plugged into a fixed outlet. The convenience that these devices offer the user has contributed to their growing popularity since a user no longer has to rely on the proximity of a power outlet to use the rechargeable device.
Each such rechargeable device typically includes its own recharging adaptor or "rack" which couples between a power outlet and the device and supplies a measured amount of electrical power thereto. Recharging systems are known in the art which recharge a plurality of units simultaneously. One such multistation recharging system is U.S. Pat. No. 5,039,929 to Veistroffer et al. which discloses a battery recharging rack for charging nickel cadmium batteries. The Veistroffer recharging rack includes an elongate rail to which a plurality of battery receptacles are connected. The bottom of the receptacles are connected to positive and negative electrodes which transfer current to a battery received within the receptacle.
Another such multi-unit recharging system is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,739,242 to McCarty et al. which describes a multistation, modular charging device comprised of units which couple together as needed and are capable of charging multiple rechargeable tools from a single power cord/source. Each charging unit has internal lateral metallic strips which contact the ends of adjacently placed units for electrically connecting multiple units together.
The Veistroffer and McCarty recharging systems are typical of those known in the art whereby they are made up of multiple stations or receptacles each of which will only fit a single one of a certain type of device. For instance, the Veistroffer rack would not allow the rechargeable devices to be placed anywhere along the rack but only in fixed receptacles. Additionally, the rechargeable elements are maintained in contact with the electrodes via gravity only. Thus, the unit must be used upright or else the rechargeable elements will lose contact with the charging electrodes.
Accordingly, a need remains for a recharging system which solves the limitations of the prior art.


The present invention relates to a method for the preparation of a purified amylase recovered from a fermentation broth, by the addition of a precipitation agent which is a halide salt, most preferably sodium or potassium chloride. According to a preferred embodiment, a further precipitation agent is added which is an organic compound, most preferably an alkyl ester of 4-hydroxybenzoic acid.. The present invention also relates to the purified amylases so obtained and to the uses of these purified amylases.

The color and odor of amylases, i.e. of enzymes which catalyze the hydrolysis of starch, can adversely affect the quality of the therapeutic compositions and of the detergent formulations in which they are incorporated.
It is thus desirable that amylase preparations for detergent applications, pharmaceutical applications and food applications be free from components which can cause undesirable color and odor, as well as undesirable haze, instability and allergic activity in the final product. These components may be derived from the microorganisms themselves or from residual fermentation raw materials. In preparations of Gram positive Bacilli, cell wall anionic polymers, peptidoglycans, galactosyl polymers, and other polysaccharide contaminants become solubilized during cell growth due to cell wall turnover. The presence of these bacterial cell wall polymers in amylase preparations can cause several undesirable effects including an increase in the allergenicity, a decrease in amylase stability by binding cations, e.g., Ca.sup.++, and may cause haze formation in detergent formulations. Therefore, it is essential to purify amylases recovered from fermentation broth.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,041,377 discloses a method of producing crystalline subtilisin, i.e. proteases, derived from Bacillus subtilis and Bacillus amyloliquefaciens by the addition of a halide salt to an alkaline subtilisin solution at temperatures less than 10.degree. C., whereby halide salts comprise chlorides, bromides, iodides and fluorides of sodium, potassium or calcium and preferably sodium and calcium chloride.
PCT application WO 91/09943 discloses a method for crystallization of enzymes, such as an amylase, by means of a crystallization agent which is an easily soluble salt of the non-halide type, such as Na, K, Ca, or Mg formate, acetate or nitrate, is added to the aqueous enzyme.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,659,667 discloses a process for producing crystalline alpha-amylase enzyme by concentrating to supersaturation the alpha-amylase solution at a pH in a range near the isoelectric point of the enzyme. However supersaturated solutions are unstable and have to be treated with great care avoiding shocks, dust particles or scratches on the inner wall of the solution's containers. Moreover once the crystallization has been induced by stirring, incubation times of around 72 hours are necessary in order to have approximately 85%-86% of the amylase being in crystallized form.

Method of purification of amylase by precipitation with a metal halide and 4-hydroxybenzic acid or a derivative thereof


A recipe of Chinese herbal composite used in horticulture to kill pests. The practical applications of this recipe include pest killing, germ and virus eradication of vegetables, fruit trees, flowers and economical plants. This recipe is composed of Gleditisia Sinensis, Sophora flavescens, Aloe vera, Stemona tuberosa, Brucea javanica and Dioscorea collettis vice versa. We prepare it with modern principles and scientific methods to emulsion spray. Those so called modern and scientific are the emulsion processes, micronization, permeability and the multiply potency it possessed. Several laboratory and field test proved that this invention had definite effect on the past killing, germ eradiation and virus inhibition. This invention is belongs to non toxic Chinese herbal preparation. The spray does not harm or cause toxic effect as it touch human skin, eyes, nasal mucosa, lip, mouth and tongue. It does not accumulate in human body and pollute environment.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to medicine, and more particularly to a Chinese herbal composite recipe and its preparation which used in horticulture to kill pests.
2. Description of the Related Art
The progress in material civilization in these 2 or 3 centuries bring many positive values to human beings. At the same time, there are many severe negative effects appear in ecosystem and environment. The population of the world increased and the horticulture and agriculture plants which feed human must increasing production. Therefore, under the negative changes and effects of the ecosystem, such crops must face the disturbance of disease, toxicity and pest and made it to produce difficultly.
The chemical agricultural chemicals propagate, because it's definitely killing effects and easily usage. It becomes the standby of production in farmers and always the most popular in the market. Until the mid of the twentieth centuries, the techniques of test and examination propagate. The senses of environment and pollution arose and proved gradually that such chemical toxins will remain toxin and pollution. They endanger human health and natural environment. The developed countries prohibit their production domestically. From Jan. 1, 2004, the European Allies will stop selling 320 kind of agricultural chemicals officially and import agricultural side products which polluted by such residues. In fact, the entrepreneurs knew that trend early and devote themselves in production and selling of low toxicity agricultural chemicals. They spent many capitals in research and development and the real effects of such low toxic products are far from those and make the resistance of virus and pest easily.
There are many records about agricultural pest killing, germ eradiation and toxin inhibition in the Chinese medical books. The pest killing plants, such as the Buddleia officinalis, Veratrum mentzeanum, Skimmia japonica, Euphorbia fischeriana steud, Sapindus mukorossii Gaertn, tobacco, Pyrethrum cineraefolium, Chalcanthite, Stemona tuberosa, Gleditsia sinensis, Melia azedarach and vice versa. Therefore, the potent Chinese herbs do not according to the specifications of environment protection and sanitation. By the actual experiments, we can kill pests by 6:1 preparations if we can use non toxic Chinese herbs. It shows the conditional situations in economic benefits and usage applications. Therefore, we need some breakthrough in the idea to develop non toxic agricultural chemicals in Chinese herbs.

Preparation of Chinese herbal composite recipe used in horticulture


A data recording and/or reproducing apparatus records and/or reproduces file data by processing the file data on the unit of a predetermined block length, a data block and information data for identifying the data block on predetermined unit regions. A supplement data is recorded on a region other than the region recorded the file data, the block data and the information data for identifying within the unit regions. Thereby these data are recorded and/or reproduction processed at every predetermined units so that the bit error rate is remarkably improved.

This invention relates to a data recording and/or reproducing apparatus, and more particularly is suitable to apply a computer external memory and the like, for example.
In a magnetic tape recording and reproducing apparatus of this kind, proposed hitherto is the so-called ID-1 format data recorder (ANSI.times.3.175-1990 19 mm Type ID-1 Recorded Instrumentation), wherein recording tracks are formed obliquely in sequence on a magnetic tape, and thus desired data can be recorded and reproduced in high density.
That is, as shown in FIG. 1, in such data recorder, a magnetic tape I is wound on a rotary drum rotating at a predetermined speed, the magnetic tape 1 is run at a predetermined speed, thereby forming recording tracks TR (. . . TR1, TR2, TR3, TR4, TR1, TR2, . . . ) obliquely in sequence by the magnetic head mounted on the rotary drum, and thus desired data is recorded on the recording track TR1.
Further in this case, the data recorder forms recording tracks TA, CTL and TC extending longitudinally on both upper and lower ends of the magnetic tape 1, and a track set identification (ID) of the recording tracks TR is recorded on the recording track CTL.
Here the track set identification (ID) i the absolute position information beginning from the first of the magnetic tape 1, put between predetermined synchronizing signals, and is recorded at a 4-track period with reference to the recording tracks TR.
Further the recording tracks TA and TC are ready for recording user's controlling data and others, thus data recorded in high density on the recording tracks TR can be searched simply by reproducing the recording tracks TA, CTL and TC.
Further in the data recorder, when recording data on the recording tracks TR, an error detecting/correcting parity code comprising the so-called product code is applied to record the data concerned, thereby recording and reproducing desired data securely.
That is, as shown in FIG. 2, after loading in data DATA in a predetermined unit (=36,108[BYTE]), the data recorder divides the data DATA into 306 blocks, and applies Reed-Solomon error detecting/correcting code (comprising C2 code) at each block.
Further, after dividing the block into a first field FIELD0 and a second field FIELD1, the data recorder applies Reed-Solomon error detecting/correcting code (comprising C1 code) so as to come orthogonal with the C2 code.
Thus in the data recorder, a bit error rate can be enhanced by correcting erroneous reproducing data by means of the C1 and C2 codes in reproducing.
Further in the data recorder, when recording the data DATA with the C1 and C2 codes applied thereto in the magnetic tape 1, interleaving is effected at every recording tracks TR, thus where a drop-out or the like arises, the data DATA can be reproduced securely.
That is, in the data recorder, with reference to the data DATA inputted in the order indicated by arrows al, a2, ..., an-1, an, an+l, an+2, ..., ax-1 and ax, the data DATA is recorded by changing the inputting order as indicated by arrows b1, b2, . . . , bn-1 and bn, thereby interleaving the data DATA.
Further in the data recorder in this case, a synchronizing signal SYNC and sync block data ID are added at every predetermined unit (hereinafter called sync block), and preamble and postamble data are added as a whole to record the data DATA.
Thus in reproducing, in the magnetic recording and reproducing apparatus, the synchronizing signal SYNC, the sync block data ID and the data DATA are reproduced on the basis of track sync data included in the preamble, and subjected to deinterleaving on the basis of the synchronizing signal SYNC and the sync block data ID.
Further from interleaving, an error exceeding an error correcting capacity of the C1 and C2 codes is prevented from concentrating into one spot effectively even in case drop-out or the like has arisen.
Meanwhile, in the ID-1 format data recorder for reproducing desired data as described above, a bit error rate 10.sup.-10 which is sufficient practically as the data recording and reproducing apparatus intended mainly for measurement is ensured.
If the bit error rate can be enhanced to 10.sup.-15 or so, then it is conceivable that important data may be safedeposit from applying to a magnetic tape recorder for computer system working, for example, in banks or the like.
Accordingly, a serviceability of this kind of data recorder will be enhanced to expand the applicable field.

Data recording and/or reproducing apparatus


The inventive subject matter herein is directed toward an improved scheduling and planning system in which a workflow scheduling system automatically detects a problematic workflow event. The system then selects a primary human contact and a secondary human contact from a hierarchical selection list and automatically attempts to notify the primary human contact by escalating through the primary human contact's contact methods. When the primary human contact fails to respond within a threshold of time, the system automatically attempts to notify the secondary human contact by escalating through the secondary human contact's contact methods.

In manufacturing and other applications, scheduling and decision making systems use computers to mange the increasing quantity of data. Traditionally, the cost of data storage was relatively expensive, but today the cost of storing data is so low that in most instances the quantity of data is not cost prohibitive. What can be cost prohibitive, however, is the time and effort required to filer the data and to get relevant information to the appropriate user in a timely manner.
In batch systems, filtering of data can be accomplished either automatically or manually. Automatic filtering may take the form of an instruction hard coded in a program, an input parameter to a program (e.g. a selection criteria), or a routing instruction that instructs the system to route particular output to a particular user. Manual filtering of data is generally performed by a person and can be as simple as discerning the appropriate user to receive a computer generated report and giving the report to that user. Systems which utilize manual filtering may also utilize bins or mail boxes that store hard copy reports for an associated user. A persisting problem, however, with batch systems, is that massive reports are often created and much of the information in the report is either superfluous, out-dated, or intended for more than one user.
Online reporting and display of data alleviated some of the problems associated with massive hard copy reports and timeliness of data by allowing users to view real time or near real time data using a display screen. Additionally, online systems empowered users with the ability to make decisions that more accurately reflected current conditions. Still, there were problems getting the right information to the right person at the right time. At times, the right person was not available or access to the right information was limited. Even still, there were instances in which too much information was available and this added to the time needed to make a timely decision. There remains a need for improved scheduling and decision making systems and methods which facilitate getting the right information to the right people at the right time.


A microphone device includes a support bracket, a microphone unit, and a unit mounter supported on the support bracket and holding the microphone unit thereon. The unit mounter includes a base, a connecting portion connected to the support bracket, and a thin portion situated between the base and the connecting portion and having an annular shape to operate as a vibration absorbing device. The base, connecting portion and thin portion are integrally formed together by one material such that the thin portion exhibits rubber elasticity to absorb vibration, and the base and the connecting portion are made thick to provide predetermined hardness required as a difficult-to-deform property.

Both a condenser microphone and a dynamic microphone are provided with a diaphragm vibrated by acoustic waves. The diaphragm is vibrated not only by acoustic waves but also by vibrations applied, for example, through a microphone case, and thereby generates noise. Most of the noise is handling noise caused by rubbing the microphone case by hand.
To prevent such noise, when a microphone unit is housed in the microphone case, a shock mount having vibration absorbing power is provided between the microphone unit and the microphone case. As one example, Patent Document 1 (Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2003-92792) has disclosed a microphone device having a shock mount applied to a stand microphone. An example of the construction thereof is shown in FIG. 3. FIG. 3A is a side sectional view, and FIG. 3B is a front sectional view.
This microphone device 1 includes a support bracket 2 and a unit mounter 3. The support bracket 2 is formed of a metal or a hard synthetic resin material, and is mounted on the not illustrated microphone case side.
The unit mounter 3 is mounted with a microphone unit M, and is provided with a shock mount 4 formed of a rubber elastic material, which serves as vibration absorbing means. The microphone unit M is supported on the support bracket 2 via the unit mounter 3. In this example, the microphone M is a unidirectional condenser microphone unit.
The unit mounter 3 is made up of three components; a unit case 3a for the microphone unit M, a support ring 3b for supporting the unit case 3a, and a base 3c. The unit case 3a is formed by a cylindrical body having many sound diffraction holes at the periphery, and incorporates a diaphragm and a backplate, which are principal components of the microphone unit M.
The support ring 3b is arranged around the unit case 3a, and is attached to the base 3c in a state of being tightened by a screw to prevent the unit case 3a from dropping. The unit mounter 3 is assembled in this manner, and then the unit mounter 3 is attached to the support bracket 2 via the shock mount 4 mounted on the base 3c.
According to the above-described microphone device 1, vibrations transmitted through the microphone case are absorbed or damped by the shock mount 4, so that vibration noise generated from the microphone unit M is reduced.
However, in the above-described microphone device 1, the unit mounter 3 is made up of three components of the unit case 3a, the support ring 3b, and the base 3c, and also the shock mount 4 is formed as a separate member, which increases the number of components.
Therefore, much manpower is required for assembly, and also the purchase cost of components is high. Also, the shock mount 4 is fittingly connected to the base 3c and an adhesive is also used as necessary. However, if a strong shock such as a drop shock is applied to the microphone device 1, the shock mount 4 may come off. Also, if the support ring 3b is tightened loose, the microphone unit M may be dropped together with the unit case 3a by a drop shock etc.


A route guidance method includes: if, on a set route from a departure point to a destination of a vehicle, a travelling road at a present position of the vehicle has a first plurality of lanes, and a next road following a nearest branch point from the present position has a second plurality of lanes, finding a branch-merge point up to which lanes other than a lane for reaching the destination out of the second plurality of lanes have gone away; and if a start point of traffic congestion is downstream of the branch-merge point, and an end point of the traffic congestion is upstream of the nearest branch point, guiding the vehicle to the lane for reaching the destination as a target before reaching the end point.

Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2009-25235 discloses a navigation device that gives a lane change guidance in advance so that even when there is traffic congestion for right turn or left turn on a plurality of links continuing in the travelling direction of a host vehicle at the intersection at which the host vehicle is going to turn right or left, the host vehicle can reach the end of the traffic congestion.
Unfortunately, in the technique described in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2009-25235, if the road after a right or left turn has a plurality of lanes, and the traffic congestion continues, an interruption, which is a lane change during traffic congestion, may occur after the right or left turn, depending on the traveling direction after the right or left turn.

Route guidance method and route guidance device


A corrosion-resistant test port kit is specially adapted to be retrofitted into existing duct work for use in testing or monitoring gases and vapors in an exhaust air transfer system that is designed to handle a wide range of potentially corrosive exhaust streams found in a wide variety of industrial applications. The apparatus provides the ability to install the test port kit in existing duct systems quickly and easily to monitor the gas stream without having to disassemble the duct system or interrupt its use for long periods. The test port kit has a corrosion-resistant threaded test port sleeve with a mounting shoulder, a corrosion-resistant shouldered washer that fits over the threaded test port sleeve and is disposed opposite the shoulder of the sleeve with the shouldered side of the washer facing away from the shoulder of the sleeve, a corrosion-resistant threaded nut to hold the test port in place in a hole in the duct system which is to be tested, a corrosion-resistant plug to block the test port when the test port is not in use for testing, and an installation tool.

The use of field-installed test ports is known in the prior art. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,411,459 to Ver Nooy discloses a branch fitting for accessing the interior of a pipe which may be used as a test port. Specialized tools or valve parts used to pierce or otherwise provide a tapping means of a closed air or fluid system are similarly disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,301,532 to Bickmore et al. (Device for tube piercing and fluid irrigation); U.S. Pat. No. 4,955,406 to Antoniello (Connector device for water pipes); U.S. Pat. No. 4,752,387 to Thomas (Device and method for installing a by-pass filter); U.S. Pat. No. 4,620,576 to Owen, Jr. (Device and method for piercing a container); U.S. Pat. No. 4,537,214 to Cowan (Single seal pipeline tapping device with secure valve); U.S. Pat. No. 4,112,944 to Williams (Tube clamp and piercing device); U.S. Pat. No. 4,043,333 to Munsch (Clamp on injection site device); U.S. Pat. No. 3,999,785 to Blakeley (Mechanical pipe outlet device); and U.S. Pat. No. 3,981,322 to Gebelius (Pipe connecting device). Thus the basic concept of field-installed access to the interior environment of an existing pipe or duct system is known. Each of these prior art patents discloses apparatus designed to tap into an existing pipe or duct system. Each apparatus fulfills its respective particular objectives and requirements and is most likely quite functional for its intended purposes. It will be noticed that none of the prior art cited discloses an apparatus that allows a user to efficiently and inexpensively install a corrosion-resistant test port in an existing exhaust air transfer ductwork system which is designed to handle a wide range of corrosive exhaust streams which may be found in a wide variety of industrial applications. There apparently still exists the need for new and improved test ports and installation kit apparatus operable with an existing exhaust air transfer system that is designed to handle a wide range of corrosive exhaust streams without having to customize a test port or otherwise custom cut the duct carrying the gas stream to be monitored. The present invention substantially fulfills this need.


Insect pheromones and pheromone precursors, containing one or more Z-alkenyl groups, are prepared by treating an alkyne with a copper complex, reducing agent, and proton donor in an organic solvent. The pheromones and pheromone precursors are prepared with high stereoselectivity and substantially no over reduction.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to insect pheromones and their synthesis, particularly methods of synthesizing Z-alkenyl insect pheromones.
2. Description of the Related Art
Insects use sex pheromones as a form of chemical communication to attract members of the opposite sex in order to engage in reproduction. Increasingly, synthetic insect sex pheromones are used as eco-friendly alternatives to conventional pesticides. They have been used in attract-and-kill, mating disruption, mass trapping, and insect monitoring approaches to pest control, and offer a number of advantages over conventional pesticides: they only affect the targeted species, they are typically not environmentally persistent, and the target insect does not develop resistance to the treatment.
The sex pheromones produced by female moths (Lepidoptera) are complex mixtures of straight chain acetates, alcohols, and aldehydes, typically 10-18 carbons in length, with one-three double bonds. It has been stated that this class of pheromones, Type I, according to Ando's classification scheme (Ando T. et al., "Lepidopteran sex pheromones," Top Curr Chem 239: 51-96, 2004) accounts for roughly 75% of the known pheromones. Another class of pheromones, Type II (15%), comprises polyunsaturated hydrocarbons and epoxy derivatives with long, straight chains (C17-C23).
One example of a Type I insect sex pheromone is (Z,Z)-11,13-hexadecadienal (HDAL). HDAL has been identified as the primary component of the sex pheromones of the navel orangeworm (Amyelois tranitella)—a significant crop pest—and the meal moth (Pyralis farinalis)—which infests grains and other dry foodstuffs. A method of synthesizing HDAL in seven or more steps was described as early as 1980 (Sonnett, P. E. and R. R. Heath, "Stereospecific synthesis of (Z,Z)-11,13-hexadienal, a female sex pheromone of the navel orangeworm, Amyelosis transitella, (Lepidoptera:Pyralidae)" Journal of Chemical Ecology, 6,221-228, 1980). U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,198,533 and 4,228,093 describe similar seven or more reaction step methods. An improved synthesis of HDAL is described in U.S. Pat. No. 8,115,035.
A traditional route to accessing Z-alkenes is semi-hydrogenation of alkynes, using hydrogen gas and a Lindlar-type catalyst. Lindlar-type catalysts typically consists of palladium metal deposited on calcium carbonate or barium sulfate, with a "catalyst poison," such as lead acetate or lead oxide, added to deactivate some of the palladium active sites. Homogeneous catalysts can also be used. Traditional semi-hydrogenation has certain benefits, including low-cost reagents, reusable catalysts, high selectivity for Z isomers, clean (efficient) reactions, and a proven track record in the petroleum and fine chemicals industries. Unfortunately, the method also suffers from a number of drawbacks: Hydrogenation processes using heterogeneous catalysts can be challenging to scale; catalyst cost and availability are problematic; specialized equipment is required; the scope of viable substrates is limited; and the use of lead additives poses environmental problems.
In an effort to determine whether traditional semihydrogenation of diynes could be a viable route to (Z,Z)-1,3-dienes found in many insect pheromones, the present applicant undertook a detailed study of catalysts and conditions for the following reaction:

The applicant screened 22 catalysts and 22 solvents under a variety of reaction conditions, including different hydrogen pressures, different reaction times, different catalyst poisons, and several different hydrogen sources. A total of ca. 180 data points were collected over the course of more than 100 different reactions. The best result achieved was 60% conversion (alkyne to alkene), 52% desired product (the Z,Z isomer). From this, the applicant discerned that traditional semihydrogenation of alkynes is not a commercially viable route to this particular Z, Z-alkenyl insect pheromone backbone.
An alternate approach to semireduction of alkynes is described in Lalic, G., et al., "Monophasic Catalytic System for the Selective Semireduction of Alkynes," Organic Letters, Vol. 15, No. 5, 1112-1115, 2013. The approach uses a copper catalyst (e.g., ICyCuOtBu, IPrCuOtBu, IMesCuOtBu, etc.), a silane, and an alcohol to semi-reduce an alkyne to a Z-alkene with high stereoselectivity. The reference provides little or no guidance for the semireduction of long-chain (>C12) alkynes, mixed alkyne-alkene compounds (other than 1,3-terminal enynes), or alkynes bearing specific functional groups of interest in the manufacture of insect pheromones. Lalic et al. do not describe a method for making insect pheromones or pheromone precursors by this semireduction protocol.

Method of preparing Z-alkene-containing insect pheromones


For broadcasting purposes a multi-channel audio encoder board has been designed. A requirement for such encoders is that they are able to operate with different encoding parameters. It may happen that encoding parameters change during encoding operation. In order to avoid the output of invalid data the encoding parameters required for a specific processing path are added to the input streams for the audio channels and become linked with the associated audio data and are stored in various buffers together with its audio data, i.e. the corresponding encoding parameters are kept linked with the audio data to be encoded throughout the encoding processing.

The invention relates to a method and to an apparatus for encoding or decoding audio or video frame data.
For broadcasting purposes a 4-stereo-channel MPEG audio encoder board has been designed. A requirement for such encoders is that they are able to operate with different encoding parameters. MPEG allows e.g. various sample frequencies and overall data rates.
A problem arises when during normal encoding operation one or more parameters change. This may happen when the current type of program changes, e.g. from pure speech or news to music.
Normally the audio frames are processed in an encoder in subsequent different stages, for example conversion to frequency coefficients in a first stage and bit allocation and quantisation in a further stage. In a path in parallel to the first stage the psychoacoustic masking is calculated. A video encoder includes the following stages: block difference stage, DCT (discrete cosine transform), quantisation and in the feedback loop inverse quantisation, inverse DCT, motion compensated interpolation the output of which is input to the block difference stage, wherein the output of the quantisation is possibly VLC (variable length coding) encoded and buffered before final output and the buffer filling level is used to control the quantisation in such a way that encoding artefacts are masked as far as possible. If the encoding parameters would generally change at a time instant where a certain audio frame has been processed in such first stage but not yet in such further stage, the data of this frame will become useless after having been processed in the further stage with the changed encoding parameters.
In order to avoid such problem a big table with the old encoding parameters and a big table with the new encoding parameters could be stored in the encoder for some time for each channel wherein the xe2x80x98depthxe2x80x99 of the tables would depend on the number of streams within the encoder and which would require repeated updating. All processing stages of the encoder would need to have access to both channel tables and would need to determine at which time to access which of the tables. In particular in a multichannel encoder in which different channels may change different encoding parameters at different times, the channels possibly being assigned to different microprocessors, this solution could easily produce errors. The tables would require more memory capacity than the solution described below.
It is one object of the invention to disclose a method for encoding or decoding audio or video frame data for which encoding or decoding parameters are required. It is a further object of the invention to disclose an apparatus which utilises the inventive method.
In the invention intermediately stored general parameter tables are not used. Instead, the encoding parameters required for a specific processing path are added to the input streams for the audio channels and become linked with the associated audio data and are stored in the various buffers together with its audio data, i.e. the corresponding encoding parameters are kept linked with the audio data to be encoded throughout the encoding processing in the different data streams and data paths. Preferably the original encoding parameters assigned to the processing paths become converted to a different format in order to minimise the required word length and/or to facilitate easy evaluation in the related processing stages.
Thereby each data stream can be processed with the correct parameter set without waiting for finishing encoding of the old data stream and for reset and loading of new parameters before starting encoding of a new data stream with new parameters.
The invention can also be used in audio or video decoders whith a corresponding inverse order of processing stages.
In principle, the inventive method is suited for encoding audio or video frame data for which encoding parameters are required, wherein the required encoding parameters become linked at the input of the processing with frames of said audio or video data to be encoded and throughout different stages in the encoding processing, and wherein in each of theses stages the corresponding encoding parameters linked with current frame data to be processed are regarded in order to allow switching of the encoding parameters for any frame thereby avoiding encoding of invalid output data without reset, or:
for decoding audio or video frame data for which decoding parameters are required, wherein the required decoding parameters become linked at the input of the processing with frames of said audio or video data to be decoded and throughout different stages in the decoding processing, and wherein in each of theses stages the corresponding decoding parameters linked with current frame data to be processed are regarded in order to allow switching of the decoding parameters for any frame thereby avoiding decoding of invalid output data without reset.
In principle the inventive apparatus is suited for encoding audio or video frame data for which encoding parameters are required, and includes:
means for linking the required encoding parameters with frames of said audio or video data, said linking means arranged near the input of the apparatus;
means for converting time domain samples into frequency domain coefficients, to the input of which means buffer means are assigned;
means for calculating masking properties from said time domain samples, to the input of which means buffer means are assigned;
means for performing bit allocation and quantisation of the coefficients under the control of the output of said masking calculating means, to the input of which bit allocation and quantisation means buffer means are assigned,
wherein in said conversion means, in said masking calculating means and in said bit allocation and quantisation means the corresponding encoding parameters linked with current frame data to be processed are regarded in order to allow switching of the encoding parameters for any frame thereby avoiding encoding of invalid output data without reset.

Method and apparatus for encoding or decoding audio or video frame data


An image diagnosis device comprising: a positioning image collection unit configured to collect a positioning image for an object; a weight distribution estimation unit configured to estimate a weight distribution of the object from the collected positioning image; a top board sagging amount estimation unit configured to estimate an amount of sagging of a top board on which the object is placed, from the estimated weight distribution; and an alignment adjustment unit configured to perform alignment for each captured image of the object, based on the estimated amount of sagging of the top board.

In recent years, a medical image diagnosis device in which a plurality of medical image diagnosis devices are integrated is being put to practical use. Specifically, a device (referred to also as a PET-CT device) in which a PET (Positron Emission Tomography) diagnosis device for performing function diagnosis with respect to biological tissues of an object and an X-ray CT (Computed Tomography) device for imaging morphological information about biological tissues of an object are integrated is being put to practical use.
This PET-CT device is capable of performing PET examination and X-ray CT examination in succession. Accordingly, the PET-CT device is capable of generating a PET image and an X-ray CT image by one device, and of generating a fused image by combining the PET image and the X-ray CT image.
Now, generally, according to such a medical image diagnosis device, a PET gantry (a radiation detection unit) used by the PET diagnosis device and an X-ray CT gantry (an X-ray scanning unit) used by the X-ray CT device are arranged near each other. Furthermore, such a medical image diagnosis device includes a couch having a top board where an object is to lie, and the PET diagnosis device and the X-ray CT device are to share this couch.
Also, according to such a medical image diagnosis device, the PET gantry of the PET diagnosis device and the X-ray CT gantry of the X-ray CT device are sequentially arranged in tandem, and a tunnel portion is provided inside both gantries in such a way as to pass through the PET gantry and the X-ray CT gantry. The couch has the top board inserted in the tunnel portion inside the gantries along the lengthwise direction of the top board.
Accordingly, with such a medical image diagnosis device, the distance from the couch to the radiation detection unit of the PET diagnosis device and the distance from the couch to the X-ray scanning unit of the X-ray CT device are different, and thus, the sinking of the top board (also referred to as the sagging of the top board) due to the weight is different for each capturing position of the gantries. Accordingly, various methods of correcting the sagging of the top board are being studied.
Now, with a medical image diagnosis, device adopting a plurality of capturing methods, capturing is performed according to each capturing method, and the positions (captured positions) indicated by the captured surfaces are different, and the sagging of the top board is different for each captured position. That is, even with the same captured portion, the sagging of the top board due to weight is different for the PET gantry and for the X-ray CT gantry. Also, since the position of the top board is not shown in a PET image of the PET diagnosis device, alignment of the top boards of the captured images becomes difficult at the time of combining a PET image and an X-ray CT image, and it is difficult to generate a highly accurate fused image where the PET image and the X-ray CT image are appropriately combined.

Image diagnosis device and control method thereof


A highly clean fluid treatment system having a small system volume is provided by using a Bernoulli holder to accomplish stable holding of a specimen in a simple configuration. A holder having a specimen hold face formed almost the same as a specimen or having a Bernoulli effect producing region and a region surrounding the Bernoulli region made of a specific combination of materials is used and fluid supply sources are connected to the holder for supplying one or more fluids containing a treatment agent of a specimen. Since a force for inhibiting a position shift occurs on the end face of the specimen 10, stable specimen holding is enabled. The space between the specimen and the holder where treatment is executed is narrow and fluid always flows from the treatment space to the outside. Therefore, the fluid treatment system of a small volume producing high treatment efficiency and minimizing the chances of recontamination of the specimen can be provided.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a holding method of a plate-like specimen in a noncontact condition, a fluid treatment method of a specimen surface using the holding method, and systems for carrying out the methods and in particular to a holding method of a plate-like specimen in a noncontact condition, a fluid treatment method of a specimen surface using the holding method, and systems for carrying out the methods appropriate for a thin-film device manufacturing process, etc., requiring cleanness.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, thin-film devices such as semiconductors and liquid crystal displays have advanced in microstructures, and demands for high performance of their manufacturing technologies and a highly clean manufacturing process have increased. For example, thin-film devices of semiconductors require that the foreign material with the size 0.3 .mu.m or more should be removed, that the adsorptive ion amount should be less than 10.sup.9 atoms/cm.sup.2, and that the thickness of an oxide film formed on exposure to air should be 1 nm or less. Although thin-film device substrates at the manufacturing time become large-sized, demands for preventing an increase in the system volume and low costs of systems also increase. Further, drastic improvement in the processing speed is desired.
A method of processing substrate specimens (simply called specimens) one at a time, called single wafer processing, is available as one specific measure for meeting the demands; for example, it is put into practical use in a film formation step, etc., of a semiconductor manufacturing process.
However, the state-of-the-art single wafer processing system does not satisfy all the demands. This point will be discussed separately for each of specimen holding and treatment.
The main specimen holding methods in single wafer processing include a method of placing a specimen on a holder, a method of adsorbing and holding a specimen by vacuum chuck, and a method of mechanically grasping a specimen end. However, in every method, the holder comes in direct contact with the specimen. Thus, the contact part of the specimen is contaminated, leading to one source of an increase in the defective product occurrence rate. Since spatial restrictions for an operation drive and power transmission path are placed on the holder and transfer device, the treatment system becomes larger and complicated.
A specific example related to the single wafer processing method is given in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. Hei 4-287922, which will be hereinafter called the first conventional example, wherein a specimen is fixed by substrate rotation means (spin chuck) and fluid is jetted to the specimen surface for surface treatment while the specimen is rotated mechanically.
Available as a method for avoiding the above-mentioned disadvantage is a specimen noncontact holding method using the Bernoulli effect of fluid, which will be hereinafter referred to as Bernoulli holding or Bernoulli chuck, as described in Japanese Patent Publication No. Sho 53-29550, which will be hereinafter called the second conventional example.
FIG. 1A is a sectional view of the main part showing a typical structure of Bernoulli holding. In the second conventional example, a specimen 10 having a plane and a flat plate (holder) 20 having a fluid supply hole 30 made on a surface are opposed to each other in parallel and the specimen 10 is noncontact-held by using negative pressure p between the specimen 10 and the holder 20 occurring when fluid 100 is supplied from the fluid supply hole 30, namely, the known Bernoulli effect. F in the figure denotes a fluid jet force that the specimen 10 receives when the fluid is jetted.
The principle of negative pressure p occurring between the specimen 10 and the holder 20 is known by the Bernoulli's theorem and therefore will not be discussed in detail here. Assuming that the negative pressure p is an attractive force, the fluid jet force becomes a repulsive force. The specimen 10 is noncontact-held by the holder 20 at a position where the attractive force and repulsive force and gravity caused by the specimen weight are balanced.
The Bernoulli holding is true as in FIG. 1A if the positional relationship between the specimen 10 and the holder 20 is inverted with respect to a top as shown in FIG. 1B.
The Bernoulli holding, which is noncontact holding, enables low contaminated specimen holding. The holding method also enables miniaturization of the system because a large-scaled drive and a power transmission path need not be used.
However, in the conventional method as described above, a force for inhibiting a lateral position shift of a specimen does not act, so that a position shift is prone to occur, To solve the problem, a method of mechanically bringing a stopper into contact with a specimen or a method of detecting a position shift and correcting it can be used. However, the former method does not provide complete noncontact holding because the position shift prevention means, etc., comes in partial contact with the specimen. The position shift prevention means in the latter method leads to a complicated system; it is hard to miniaturize.
Available as another noncontact holding method is a method of providing a fluid jet substrate on both or either of the top and bottom between which a wafer as a specimen is sandwiched and rotating the wafer with it picked up for treatment, which will be hereinafter referred to as the third conventional example, as described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. Sho 60-74438 and Japanese Patent Publication No. Hei 4-69420.
In the related arts, a force for inhibiting vertical and lateral position shifts of the wafer does not act. Further, the wafer has a chipped part called orientation flat and is asymmetric with respect to an axis. Thus, the fluid jet amount needs to be accurately controlled to enable packing up and rotation of the wafer.
That is, means for sensing the wafer position and control means for determining the point, direction, and amount of jetting fluid are required as described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. Hei 5-211225. This results in a large-scaled, complicated, and high-cost system, which is contrary to the present demands as described above.
Since gas can also be handled as incompressible fluid like liquid in an area in which the gas flow velocity is about a half of acoustic velocity (173 m/s) or less, it is well known from the fluid mechanics field that similar discussion can be applied in the related arts regardless of whether fluid is gas or liquid.
However, the art described in the first conventional example provides the holding method in which the holder comes in direct contact with a specimen, and contamination of the contact part of the specimen cannot be avoided. Since the specimen is held, washed, and dried by separate mechanisms, the system volume becomes large.
The art described in the second conventional example, which provides the holding method via fluid, is more excellent in the system volume and cleanness than the first conventional example, but a projection located on the outer surface of a holding plate to stabilize the holding position comes in contact with a specimen. Therefore, the contamination problem of the contact part of the specimen remains unsolved.
The art described in the third conventional example picks up and rotates a specimen by jetting wash liquid; it does not have means for ensuring that the specimen holding position is stable. Thus, the specimen is placed out of position due to an uneven jet caused by vibration, ripple, uneven rotation, pressure change, involved bubbles, etc., of a pump jetting wash liquid. In a remarkable case, the specimen collides with the side wall connecting the upper and lower jet parts or the upper or lower jet part. The specimen may be broken by the collision, broken pieces causing contamination. Particularly, a semiconductor wafer, which has a notch called orientation flat, is not a true circle and the rotation center and center of gravity differ. Thus, in picking up and rotation by the method, a position shift is prone to occur.
As described above, the related arts do not provide a system meeting the present demands, namely, a system which can stably hold a specimen in a noncontact condition, provide high cleanness by treatment, be small-sized and inexpensive because of few mechanical features, inhibit oxide film growth because of nonexposure to air, and perform high-speed treatment because of fast flow velocity of treatment fluid.

Specimen holding method and fluid treatment method of specimen surface and systems therefor