An improved arc discharge ballast is disclosed which comprises harmonic resonators, simple switching means and a drive circuit. The harmonic resonators, switching means and drive circuit are coupled to the lamp to provide squaring of the current waveform and provide even light output. By adding odd harmonic current elements to a lamp driven by a conventional ballast, advantages of even light output or power saving is obtained.

This invention relates to an improved ballast circuit for an arc discharge lighting circuit and wherein improved current waveform to the lamp is provided, and particularly but not exclusively to ballasts for supplying power to arc discharge lamps such as for filming, commercial or street lighting. This invention also relates to the method of supplying a substantially square wave current derived from an alternating voltage source to feed an arc discharge lamp circuit.
An arc discharge lamp is a device for producing light output when electrical energy is applied to the connecting electrodes. In equipment used for driving arc lamps, it is well known that iron and copper reactors or electronic ballasts are used for regulating current to the lamp. The iron and copper ballast produces an approximate sine waveform current to the lamp and hence a modulated light output is obtained. Electronic ballasts produce either square wave or quasi sinusoidal current waveforms of varying frequencies, depending on the application, and often do not exhibit light modulation.
An advantage of electronic ballasts over conventional ballasts is that they often provide more power efficient operation of the lamp for a given power input. However, the high cost and lower reliability of electronic ballasts has limited application and usage.

Method and circuit for square wave current generation by harmonic injection


A nonwoven composite fabric including a first nonwoven layer composed substantially of meltblown fibers, the fibers within the first nonwoven layer having diameters that vary in accordance with a first distribution, a second nonwoven layer composed substantially of meltblown fibers, the fibers within the second nonwoven layer having diameters that vary in accordance with a second distribution, and a third nonwoven layer composed substantially of meltblown fibers, the third nonwoven layer disposed between the first and second nonwoven layers, the fibers within the third nonwoven layer having diameters that vary in accordance with a third distribution that is greater than the first and second distributions.

Continued improvements in nonwoven fabrics is of interest in personal care products (e.g. baby diapers, feminine care, adult products) and medical care barrier products (e.g. gowns, chucks, drapes, aprons, and the like) both for functional and perceptual reasons. In particular, abrasion and water resistance, as well as softness, of a fabric are properties that are of interest. Additionally, water resistant fabrics with improved leakage protection—in other words, with improved surface dryness—are desirable.

Multilayered nonwoven fabrics and method of making the same


A method and apparatus are described for stopping oil and/or gas from spewing from a defective blowout preventer (BOP) stack located on a floor of an ocean by entombing the defective BOP stack. A containment assembly, which is lowered below a surface of the ocean, includes a hollow wall and a large diameter high pressure valve mounted on an upper opening of the containment assembly. The large diameter high pressure valve is maintained in an open position. The containment assembly is positioned on a portion of the ocean floor such that a hollow inner cavity of the containment assembly circumvents the defective BOP stack. The hollow wall is filled with reinforcement material via a first set of valves, and the hollow inner cavity is filled with reinforcement material via a second set of valves. The upper opening may also then be filled with reinforcement material.

An offshore platform, often referred to as an oil platform or an oil rig, is a large structure used in offshore drilling to house workers and machinery needed to drill wells in the ocean bed, extract oil and/or natural gas, process the produced fluids, and ship or pipe them to shore. Depending on the circumstances, the platform may be fixed to the ocean floor, may consist of an artificial island, or may float.
Remote subsea wells may also be connected to a platform by flow lines and by umbilical connections. These subsea solutions may consist of single wells or of a manifold center for multiple wells.
FIG. 1 shows a deep sea drilling rig 100 on an ocean surface 105 that processes oil and/or gas 110 obtained from below an ocean floor 115 via a blowout preventer (BOP) stack 120 and a riser assembly 125.
FIG. 2 illustrates a deep sea drilling rig 100′ after exploding due to a defective BOP stack 120′, causing an oil and/or gas spill 210 that pollutes the ocean and needs to be stopped. The explosion may further cause the riser assembly 125 to break into portions 125′ and 125″.
The Deepwater Horizon oil spill, also called the BP oil spill, the Gulf of Mexico oil spill or the Macondo blowout, was a massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, and is considered the largest offshore spill to ever occur in U.S. history. The spill stemmed from a sea floor oil gusher that started with an oil well blowout on Apr. 20, 2010. The blowout caused a catastrophic explosion on the Deepwater Horizon offshore oil drilling platform that was situated about 40 miles (64 km) southeast of the Louisiana coast in the Macondo Prospect oil field. The explosion killed 11 platform workers and injured 17 others. Another 98 people survived without serious physical injury.
Although numerous crews worked to block off bays and estuaries, using anchored barriers, floating containment booms, and sand-filled barricades along shorelines, the oil spill resulted in an environmental disaster characterized by petroleum toxicity and oxygen depletion, thus damaging the Gulf of Mexico fishing industry, the Gulf Coast tourism industry, and the habitat of hundreds of bird species, fish and other wildlife. A variety of ongoing efforts, both short and long term, were made to stop additional oil from spilling into the Gulf, without immediate success.
After the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig explosion on Apr. 20, 2010, a BOP should have activated itself automatically to avoid an oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The oil spill originated from a deepwater oil well 5,000 feet (1,500 m) below the ocean surface. A BOP is a large valve that has a variety of ways to choke off the flow of oil from a gushing oil well. If underground pressure forces oil or gas into the wellbore, operators can close the valve remotely (usually via hydraulic actuators) to forestall a blowout, and regain control of the wellbore. Once this is accomplished, often the drilling mud density within the hole can be increased until adequate fluid pressure is placed on the influx zone, and the BOP can be opened for operations to resume. The purpose of BOPs is to end oil gushers, which are dangerous and costly.
Underwater robots were sent to manually activate the Deepwater Horizon's BOP without success. BP representatives suggested that the BOP may have suffered a hydraulic leak. However, X-ray imaging of the BOP showed that the BOP's internal valves were partially closed and were restricting the flow of oil. Whether the valves closed automatically during the explosion or were shut manually by remotely operated vehicle work is unknown.
BOPs come in a variety of styles, sizes and pressure ratings, and usually several individual units compose a BOP stack. The BOP stack used for the Deepwater Horizon is quite large, consisting of a five-story-tall, 300-ton series of oil well control devices.
The amount of oil that was discharged after the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig explosion is estimated to have ranged from 12,000 to 100,000 barrels (500,000 to 4,200,000 gallons) per day. The volume of oil flowing from the blown-out well was estimated at 12,000 to 19,000 barrels (500,000 to 800,000 gallons) per day, which had amounted to between 440,000 and 700,000 barrels (18,000,000 and 29,000,000 gallons). In any case, an oil slick resulted that covered a surface area of over 2,500 square miles (6,500 km2). Scientists had also discovered immense underwater plumes of oil not visible from the surface.
Various solutions have been attempted to stop an undersea oil and/or gas spill. One solution is to use a heavy (e.g., over 100 tons) container dome over an oil well leak and pipe the oil to a storage vessel on the ocean surface. However, this solution has failed in the past due to hydrate crystals, which form when gas combines with cold water, blocking up a steel canopy at the top of the dome. Thus, excess buoyancy of the crystals clogged the opening at the top of the dome where the riser was to be connected.
Another solution is to attempt to shut down the well completely using a technique called "top kill". This solution involves pumping heavy drilling fluids into the defective BOP, causing the flow of oil from the well to be restricted, which then may be sealed permanently with cement. However, this solution has not been successful in the past.
It would be desirable to have a method and apparatus readily available to permanently stop oil and/or gas from spewing from a defective BOP stack.

Contained top kill method and apparatus for entombing a defective blowout preventer (BOP) stack to stop an oil and/or gas spill


A mold assembly includes a mold moving half, at least one heat sink positioned on the mold moving half, and a plurality of heat pipes positioned on the mold fixed half and on the at least one heat sink. The at least one heat sink includes a plurality of parallel fins. The plurality of parallel fins is secured to the heat pipes with the heat pipes passing therethrough. The heat pipes are capable of moving together with the mold moving half.

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to mold assemblies, and particularly to mold assemblies with heat sinks.
2. Description of Related Art
A typical injection mold usually includes a fixed mold half and a movable mold half. During the injection process, the movable mold half moves relative to the fixed mold half for shaping the work piece. The movable mold half includes a plurality of cooling pipes passing therethrough. One terminal of each of the cooling pipes is fixed on an injection machine. The cooling pipes are dissipating heat for the movable mold half by flowing water therethrough. However, the pluralities of cooling pipes tend to bend when the movable mold half moves toward the fixed mold half during the injection process, which will have further influence on the heat dissipation efficiency when the cooling pipes are damaged.
Therefore, there is room for improvement within the art.

Mold assembly having heat pipes passing through parallel fins

Hong Fu Jin Precision Industry (ShenZhen) Co., Ltd.


A mechanism is provided for balancing workload to one or more storage disks in a plurality of storage disks during redistribution or replication associated with adding or removing a storage disk to the plurality of storage disks. Historical information in collected information from the plurality of storage disks is analyzed to identify I/O operation patterns on a per storage disk level. An average amount of I/O operations that occur within each storage disk for a given time period are identified. For each storage disk that is impacted, a disk on/off-hoarding plan is generated that identifies a subset of I/O operations from a set of I/O operations to execute in the given time period using the average amount of I/O operations that historically occur within the storage disk that is impacted during the given time period. The subset of I/O operations are then executed in the given time period.

The present application relates generally to an improved data processing apparatus and method and more specifically to mechanisms for smart load balancing replication when adding or removing storage disks in a distributed storage system.
Current distributed storage technology, such as OpenStack® Swift, Hadoop Distributed File System (HDFS), or the like, generates massive production use of commodity storage disk drives (e.g. Serial ATA (SATA) disks) in cloud-based, social, and mobile applications, some of which store billions of photos per day. To prevent data loss in case of storage disk failures, which happens more on commodity storage disk drives than traditional high-performance storage disk drives (e.g., Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) disks), replication of objects is commonly used to store multiple copies of the object onto different storage disks that are physically separated by nodes, rack, sites, or the like. For example, FIG. 1 depicts an exemplary data distribution system using current distributed storage technology. In data distribution system 102, data distribution ring 104 comprises storage disks 106a-106n. To prevent from data loss in case of a failure in one of storage disks 106a-106n, data distribution ring 104 replicates objects onto two or more of storage disks 106a-106n. For example, object 108a is replicated onto storage disk 106a, storage disk 106b, and storage disk 106n; object 108b is replicated onto storage disk 106a and storage disk 106b; and object 108n is replicated onto storage disk 106a and storage disk 106n. When a new disk is added, such as new storage disk 120, to prevent from data loss in case of a failure in one of storage disks 106a-106n and new storage disk 120, new data distribution ring 114 replicates objects onto two or more of storage disks 106a-106n and new storage disk 120. For example, in addition to the previous replication performed by data distribution ring 104, new data distribution ring 114 replicates object 108a, object 108b, and object 108n onto new storage disk 120.
Therefore, when a data distribution system is running out of space, one or more new storage disks may be added to the data distribution system. Likewise, when a data distribution system is shrinking, one or more current storage disks may be removed from the data distribution system. In either instance, as the data placement mechanism in those general distributed system, data store locations need to be re-calculated when storage disks are added or removed with data re-distribution work to occur immediately after among multiple storage disks, this process sometimes will run for many hours according to the capacity.
However, the issues with a data distribution system, such as that depicted in FIG. 1, if there is real-time application input/output (I/O) occurring or going to occur on the same source or target storage disk of existing data that is being redistributed based on the addition or removal of a storage disk. Since bandwidth of those storage disks are occupied by the redistribution work, the real-time application I/O is impacted. Further, existing data on one or more of the storage disks may be in dangerous situation, such as only one replica is left because of one or more bad storage disks. Thus, if replication of the existing data is not performed onto new storage disks immediately, a risk of data loss may exist. So simply holding all backend re-distribution or replication work until little or no I/O work is occurring is not a good solution.

Smart load balancing replication when adding or removing storage disks in a distributed storage system

International Business Machines Corporation


There is provided a new and useful water sprinkler unit for use as a toy in connection with a water source in which the unit is constructed so as to be within a single housing. The unit comprises a water inlet, a water sprinkler head and a fluid conduit between the water inlet and the water sprinkler head. There is also provided a power supply, motion-detection apparatus with up to 360 degrees visibility and a valve between the water inlet and the water sprinkler head. Circuits are provided to control the valve wherein the circuits open the valve for a pre-determined or variable period of time in response to movement detected by the motion-detection apparatus.

Children frequently enjoy playing in water sprinklers, particularly on hot and humid summer days. However, it is now known that water is not an ever-lasting resource and as such, homeowners are often advised by their municipalities to conserve water when watering their lawns for example. In addition, people are often advised to restrict their unnecessary use of water during particularly hot and humid period when the demands on the local water system are greatest.
To reconcile these two competing interests, namely the desire of kids to play in the water and the need to conserve water, a sprinkler system or unit which can be used as a toy but still conserves water is required and desired. A unit which limits the spray of water on an "as-needed" basis is one such unit. As a toy, therefore, such a unit would be one in which a spray is created whenever children are present or using the sprinkler, but in which the spray is turned off automatically when the children get tired or stop playing in the area. Similarly, a unit which limits the duration of the spray would also be advantageous as both a toy and a water conservation tool.
To be further profitable as a toy, the unit should be one in which all of the parts are housed in a single shell or case such that it can be simply hooked up to a hose and put in use. Also, a unit which offers a variety of spray options would be commercially useful and valuable.
Motion detection water systems have been used in the past, primarily as animal deterrents. In those systems known to the applicant, the motion detector covers a fixed area of the garden and activates a valve upon sensing the motion of an animal in that area. The valve opens and water is sprayed on the animal, or in the general vicinity of the movement to, hopefully, scare away the animal. Such systems are typically comprised of several discreet components which must each be placed in the proper position and are also typically meant to be more of a permanent or long-term addition to a garden. Reference is made for example to U.S. Pat. No. 5,458,093 of MacMillan, which issued Oct. 17, 1995 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,009,192 of Burman, which issued Apr. 23, 1991. However, neither of these systems would be suitable for use as a child's toy and neither are housed within a single shell or case for ease of use.


Disclosed is a curable resin composition comprising (a) 100 parts by weight of a siloxane-amide block copolymer of formula (1): ##STR1## where R.sup.1 is a substituted or unsubstituted divalent hydrocarbon group; R.sup.2 may be the same or different and each is a substituted or unsubstituted monovalent hydrocarbon group; R.sup.3 is substituted or unsubstituted divalent aromatic hydrocarbon group; and m and an each are a number of 1 or more; (b) from 1 to 100 parts by weight of a crosslinking agent containing 2 or more epoxy groups in the molecule, and (c) up to 15 parts by weight of a curable catalyst. The composition can be cured at room temperature and in the absence of moisture in a closed system to give a cured product having high oil resistance and mechanical strength.

As is well known, silicone polymers are different from other organic polymers and have particular characteristics. For instance, rubbers of silicone polymers are characterized in that they can maintain rubber elasticity for a long period of time even under a high temperature condition. They do not lose this rubber elasticity even when exposed to a low temperature condition of -70.degree. C. Additionally, temperature dependent fluctuation of the rubber property is small. In addition, they show stable electric characteristic values in a broad temperature range, and they have excellent arc resistance, corona resistance, and weather durability. Accordingly, even when they are exposed outdoors for a long period of time, or exposed to ultraviolet light, or exposed to ozone the rubber property thereof is not deteriorated. As silicone polymers have excellent characteristics as rubber elastic materials, as mentioned above, they have been put the practical use in various industrial fields and have been evaluated as indispensable and important materials therein.
However, silicone polymers are inferior to any other organic polymers in terms of mechanical strength. For instance, room temperature vulcanizing (hereinafter RTV) silicone rubber compositions are used in construction of outer walls of buildings, but they are not used as a structural material because of the weak rubber strength and are, therefore, exclusively used as a sealant material. Accordingly, silicone rubbers are not used as general resins or engineering plastics because of this poor mechanical strength. Such silicone rubbers, therefore, have a drawback in that they can be used only for limited, particular uses.
RTV silicone rubber compositions are used as a sealant of a non-shaped gasket for car engine parts because of the in-situ shapability thereof. In addition, for compositions are also significantly evaluated from the viewpoint of the excellent storage stability, operability, sealability, and heat resistance. However, they do not have sufficient oil resistance, and the cured product has been found to cause oil leakage when used in conjunction with gear oil containing a large amount of additives. Such oil leakage is a problem in this technical field.
The RTV silicone rubber compositions have the characteristic of changing into an elastomer upon contact with moisture at room temperature. However, as they are cured after being hydrolyzed with the moisture in air, they are required to be exposed to air so as to be cured. Accordingly, a long time is necessary before the composition is completely cured, and, if the composition is not exposed to air, no curing will take place. Thus, the composition still has such problems.
For such drawbacks of silicone rubbers, JP-A-59-80463 (the term "JP-A" as used herein means an "unexamined, published Japanese patent application") mentions a means of improving only the oil resistance of the materials, and JP-A-60-219284 mentions a means of improving the oil resistance of the materials and lowering the elasticity thereof. However, each of these are silent on the means of elevating the mechanical strength of the cured products as well as on the means of obtaining silicone rubber materials curable under moisture-free conditions.


A liquid crystal display device free from reduction of chromaticity and having a good image quality in comparison with a normally white mode semi-transmission liquid crystal display device even in a case of employing a normally black mode, able to secure a gap of a reflection portion able to suppress occurrence of defects, enabling a reduction of voltage, able to realize a reduction of power consumption, exhibiting a more natural color of the dark state of transmission, and able to improve the image quality, wherein a reflection portion and a transmission portion are provided in one pixel, a normally black mode which becomes a dark state when no voltage is supplied is employed, an orientation mode of the liquid crystals is a twist orientation, a polarization plate and one phase difference plate are provided on a viewing surface side, and a polarization plate is provided on a back surface side.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to semi-transmission type liquid crystal display device having a reflection portion and a transmission portion together in one pixel region.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, mobile phones, personal data assistants (PDAs), and other portable information terminals have spread in use. Demand for liquid crystal display devices, which have the advantages of thin shape and the light weight, is rising as a result.
Transmission type liquid crystal display devices for display utilizing backlight consume large power since the backlight is always turned on. Further, under sunlight or other very strong ambient light, the ambient light becomes stronger than the display brightness, so the viewability is remarkably deteriorated ("washout"). For these reasons, these are not suitable as the display devices of portable information terminals for which a reduction of the power consumption is demanded and for which a good viewability under any environment is demanded.
On the other hand, reflection type liquid crystal display devices for display utilizing external light consume very low power since backlight is not required and in principle do not suffer from washout even under sunlight. For this reason, they are suitable as the display devices of portable information terminals. In dark places where the ambient light is weak, the display becomes hard to see, but it is possible to arrange a front light at the display surface side of a reflection type liquid crystal display device and turn on the front light to secure the viewability under all environments.
As a reflection type liquid crystal display device, for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 10-154817 discloses a normally black mode using one phase difference plate on the display surface side.
Further, Japanese Examined Patent Publication No. 3236504 discloses a normally white mode using two phase difference plates on the viewing surface side.
In the front light system, the front light is arranged at the viewing surface side, so there are the defects that a reduction of the contrast is induced and the viewability is lowered. As a method of avoiding this, a semi-transmission type liquid crystal display device provided with a reflection portion and a transmission portion in each pixel portion and arranging a backlight at the back surface is disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 2000-333624. In this method, since nothing is arranged at the viewing surface side, the contrast is not lowered and the viewability is good under all environments.
Generally, semi-transmission type liquid crystal display devices as well come in the normally white mode and the normally black mode.
FIG. 1 is a sectional view of a semi-transmission type liquid crystal display device of the normally white mode.
In this semi-transmission type liquid crystal display device, at the back surface side, a first surface side of a transparent substrate 1a has a phase difference plate (λ/4) 2a, a phase difference plate (λ/2) 3a, and a polarization plate 4a stacked on it. A transparent electrode (ITO film) 5 is formed in a region of approximately half of a second surface side of the transparent substrate 1a, an insulator 6 thicker than the transparent electrode 5 is formed in the region where the transparent electrode 5 is not formed, and a reflection electrode 7 is formed on the insulator 6. On the viewing surface side, at the back surface side, a first surface side of a transparent substrate 1b has a phase difference plate (λ/4) 2b, a phase difference plate (λ/2) 3b, and a polarization plate 4b stacked on it. A common electrode 8 is formed on a second surface (upper surface) side of the transparent substrate 1b. Further, the transparent electrode 5 and reflection electrode 7 and the common electrode 8 are bonded so that they face each other. Liquid crystals 9 are sealed between these electrodes.
FIG. 2 is a sectional view of a semi-transmission type liquid crystal display device of a normally black mode (for example refer to IDW′00 Preprints LCT2-2, p. 41–44). In FIG. 2, for easy comparison of the configuration with the semi-transmission type liquid crystal display device of the normally white mode of FIG. 1, the same components are given the same reference numerals. The points of difference of the semi-transmission type liquid crystal display device of the normally black mode from the semi-transmission type liquid crystal display device of the normally white mode are that only one phase difference plate (λ/2) 3b is arranged on the viewing surface side and that no phase difference plate is arranged on the back surface side.
As will be understood also from FIG. 1, the semi-transmission type liquid crystal display device of the normally white mode uses two phase difference plates on the viewing surface side and two phase difference plates on the back surface side, i.e., a total of four phase difference plates. This becomes a cause of higher cost. Further, in recent years, advances have been made in reducing the thickness of liquid crystal display devices, but if using these four phase difference plates, reduction of thickness inevitably becomes difficult.
On the other hand, the semi-transmission type liquid crystal display device of the normally black mode, as shown in FIG. 2, uses one phase difference plate on the viewing surface side, but does not use a phase difference plate on the back surface side, so enables realization of a lower cost in comparison with the normally white mode and is further advantageous in the reduction of thickness. Note that the orientation mode of the liquid crystal disclosed here is the homogeneous orientation.
Summarizing the problems to be solved by the invention, based on IDW′00 Preprints LCT2-2, p. 41–44, red (R), green (G), and blue (B) color filters were formed in the substrate 1b on the viewing surface side of the semi-transmission type liquid crystal display device of the normally black mode system and the chromaticities of colors in the reflection mode and the transmission mode in the case where voltages were supplied to the pixels of the different colors were measured. In the same way, a semi-transmission type liquid crystal display device of the normally white mode system was prepared and the chromaticities measured.
FIG. 3A is a view of results of measurement of reflection chromaticities of semi-transmission type liquid crystal display devices of a normally white mode and a homogeneously oriented normally black mode. FIG. 3B is a view of results of measurement of the transmission chromaticities of semi-transmission type liquid crystal display devices of a normally white mode and a homogeneously oriented normally black mode. In FIGS. 3A and 3B, the characteristics indicated by NW show the results of measurement of the normally white mode, and the characteristics indicated by HNB show the results of measurement of the homogeneously oriented normally black mode.
As will be understood from the figures, a homogeneously oriented normally black mode semi-transmission type liquid crystal display device has the disadvantage that a remarkable reduction of the chromaticity is seen in comparison with the chromaticity of the normally white mode semi-transmission type liquid crystal display device, so it is very poor in image quality.
Further, in the case of a homogeneously oriented normally black semi-transmission type liquid crystal display device, in order to realize a good dark state in the reflection portion, when the thickness of the liquid crystal layer of the reflection portion is "d", Δnd=135 nm, and the phase difference value of the phase difference plate on the viewing surface side is preferably 275 nm. In terms of production, the refractive index difference Δn of a liquid crystal material for which reliability can be secured is 0.07 or more. When further considering the response of the liquid crystals and other characteristics, 0.075 or more is more preferred When using a liquid crystal material of Δn=0.075, the gap of the liquid crystal layer of the reflection portion becomes 1.8 μm. Usually, when lower than 2 μm, short-circuits of the upper and lower substrates and gap failure due to entry of foreign matter frequently occur. For this reason, a normally black mode semi-transmission type liquid crystal display device using homogeneous orientation has the disadvantage that production is very difficult.
Further, when using homogeneous orientation, there are the disadvantages that the inclination of a transmittance curve with respect to the voltage is gentle, a reduction of the voltage is very difficult, and, as a result, a reduction of the power consumption is difficult.
Further, in this homogeneously oriented normally black mode semi-transmission type liquid crystal display device, a phase difference plate is not used on the back surface side, only a polarization plate is used. In this case, wavelength dispersion cannot be compensated for in the transmission light. Therefore, the dark state, that is, the black color, becomes colored. In actuality, in a homogeneously oriented semi-transmission type liquid crystal display device, it was confirmed that the dark state was colored blue, so the image quality was not good.
Further, in a normally black mode semi-transmission type liquid crystal display device, when the shape of the boundary between the transmission portion and the reflection portion is rectangular, there is the disadvantage that light is reflected at the reflection electrode portion (refer to FIG. 2) of the recessed portion of the reflection portion step difference, so the reflection contrast is lowered.


A method is disclosed to control access to stored information. The method supplies a control unit in communication with a computing device and in communication with stored information. If the computing device requests access to that stored information, the method determines if access to the stored information is available. When access to the stored information becomes available, then the method reserves a communication pathway interconnecting the control unit and the requesting computing device, thereby disallowing the sending of non-MPLF unsolicited status via that reserved communication pathway, and provides a message to the computing device, using that reserved communication pathway, granting access to the stored information.

It is known in the art for multiple computing devices to have access to the same stored data. When requesting access to that stored data, a requesting computing device makes a lock request. If the computing device obtains that lock, then only that computing device can access the requested information. Oftentimes, the requesting computing device is notified that a requested lock has become available via an attention interrupt and message.
Using prior art methods, however, such MPLF attention interrupt messages are assigned a lower priority than non-MPLF unsolicited status provided to computing device. For example, a pack change interrupt has a higher priority than an attention interrupt. As a result, when pack change interrupts are initiated for hundreds of devices due to changing states from PPRC Full Duplex to PPRC Suspended after the execution of a PPRC Freeze or Thaw command from the computing device, delivery of an attention interrupt may be delayed for an extended period of time.

Apparatus and method to control access to stored information


The present invention relates to a method for handling or transmitting encrypted user data objects. According to such method, a data preparation component (D) of a data preparation system provides user data objects. The data preparation component first encrypts a user data object that has been prepared. It then determines a checksum of the encrypted user data object and creates a container data object (DCF), in which the encrypted user data object and the determined checksum are provided. The container data object is subsequently transmitted to a first telecommunications device (A). Preferably, in order to use the encrypted user data object, the data preparation component (D) transmits descriptive information (BI1) containing a description of the possible usage rights for the encrypted user data object to the telecommunications device (A). After the selection of a specific rights object (RO), the data preparation device first transmits a confirmation object (DCFV) to the telecommunication device in order to verify the compatibility of the desired rights object and the encrypted user data object provided in the telecommunication device and if said verification is successful, subsequently transmits the rights object (RO) to the telecommunications device (A).

The present invention relates to a method for handling (in particular, transmitting) encrypted user data objects which are provided by a data provisioning component and transmitted to a telecommunications device such as, for example, a mobile phone. Specifically, the present invention relates to a method which enables a user of the telecommunications device to download different rights or rights objects from the data provisioning component to the telecommunications device in return for an appropriate charge.
A method or, as the case may be, a service for reliable and accountable downloading of user data objects to a telecommunications device, in particular in the embodiment of a mobile radio device or mobile phone, in a data communications network is currently under discussion. In a proposed scheme, the downloading of the user data objects to the mobile radio device is intended to be implemented via a protocol specified by the WAP Forum (WAP: Wireless Application Protocol) or an Internet protocol (e.g., Hypertext Transfer Protocol: HTTP). The downloading service is specified here in such a way that a user with an application program which is available on the mobile radio device and which is referred to as a download client is to be allowed to download any user data objects which are provided by one or more data provisioning components, particularly servers or, as the case may be, download servers of service providers or content providers in the data communications network. A possible embodiment of the service makes provision for a downloadable user data object to be provided with restrictions in relation to its usage by the user of the mobile radio device. This can be used, for example, to restrict the number of uses of the user data object or also the usage period. The practical implementation is effected by the description of the restrictions using a suitable language such as, for example, ODRL (Open Digital Rights Expression Language), whereby the download client or another special application, called a DRM agent, receives the rights description for management of the rights associated with a (digital) user data object (DRM: Digital Rights Management), evaluates it, stores it in a protected memory area that is not accessible to the user on the mobile radio device and, in response to a request by the user to use the object, grants or does not grant such rights in accordance with the rights description. The user data object itself can be protected against unauthorized access either by being stored in encrypted form in a freely accessible memory area on the mobile radio device or by being managed by a special application, such as the DRM agent, which does not allow any unauthorized access to the object by the user.
According to a variant specified by the WAP Forum for the management of DRM-protected contents, a user data object provided by a data provisioning component is encrypted and finally packed for transport and storage onto a telecommunications device such as a mobile radio device in a so-called container file or a so-called container object (which, for example, has been assigned the data type or content type "Application/VND.OMA.DRM.Content"). Through the use of a service for reliable downloading of content by a data provisioning component (content download), the encrypted user data object is packed in the container object and transmitted to the telecommunications device using WAP protocols (such as, for example, the WSP: Wireless Session Protocol) or Internet protocols (such as, for example, the HTTP). A so-called rights object is transmitted to the telecommunications device separately from the encrypted user data object; for example, via a WAP push. The rights object contains a description of the rights granted to the user for using the encrypted user data objects, a reference to the container object which enables the rights object to be assigned to the corresponding container object, and a key by which the encrypted user data object can be decrypted so that it subsequently may be used. A special device or application, which may be the above-mentioned DRM agent, is necessary on the telecommunications device, such as the mobile radio device, in order to use the combination of the encrypted user data object packed in the container object and the rights object. After the transmission of the rights object to the telecommunications device, the rights object is transferred directly to the DRM agent which is responsible for the management and safekeeping of the secret; namely, the key for decrypting the encrypted user data object. In practice, the DRM agent stores the rights object on the telecommunications device and protects it against unauthorized access by other applications or users. The first step when an encrypted user data object is to be used is that the DRM agent is activated.
The latter searches for a rights object that matches the container object in the memory area managed by it in the telecommunications device on the basis of the identification contained in the container object and also in the rights object, checks whether rights can be granted for the requested usage type (such as, for example, "playing back" music data or "displaying" image data, etc.) and decrypts the user data object using the key from the rights object if the rights can be granted. Pursuant to the above described method, wherein an encrypted user data object and a rights object separate therefrom can be used, the value of digital data is no longer represented by the encrypted user data object or the container object itself, but rather by the rights object and the key contained therein, without which, of course, the encrypted user data object cannot be used. Thus, in this case the encrypted user data objects can be stored in packed form in the container objects on the telecommunications device and be freely accessible. This also allows encrypted user data objects, packed in container objects, to be forwarded by a user to one or more other users, a process referred to as "superdistribution".
In order to make the encrypted user data object contained in a forwarded container object usable, an individual user must download a suitable rights object from a rights provider that may be identical to the content provider providing a specific user data object.
The method just described, in which in order to make user data objects usable it is necessary firstly to download a container object containing an encrypted user data object, and secondly to download a rights object from an identical or from different data provisioning component(s), does, however, have the disadvantage that before downloading a rights object a user has no way to check whether the rights object offered, for example, by an arbitrary provider does in fact enable the use of the encrypted user data object which is already present, stored in the container object, on the user's own telecommunications device; i.e., whether the offered rights object includes, for example, the right key for decrypting the encrypted user data object contained in the container object. A further disadvantage is that a user without a purchased or downloaded rights object has no way whatsoever to check whether the encrypted user data object received by his or her telecommunications device or even the entire container object is undamaged.
Accordingly, the present invention seeks to provide a method by which a user is rendered capable of checking the integrity or, as the case may be, usability of an encrypted user data object stored on his or her telecommunications device.

Method for transmitting encrypted user data objects


An energy supply for a test device includes an energy source configured to provide energy via an inductive element for use by test circuitry; and an energy recovery circuit electrically couplable to the energy source and configured to direct unused energy from the inductive element to the energy source.

Due to the variations in components, processes or physical phenomena during fabrication, semiconductor devices must undergo certain tests in an early stage of a production process in order to screen out semiconductor devices of sub-par quality.
Inductors can behave as a relatively constant current source, and, therefore, inductors have been used to deliver electrical energy to perform quality testing of semiconductor devices, including, for example, unclamped inductive switching tests. In order to ensure that a sufficient amount of energy is available for inductive testing, inductors are selected in accordance with the power level required for testing. However, since it is possible that not all of the energy stored in an inductor is used during a test interval of a device under test (DUT), the unused energy remaining in the inductor must be dealt with. Conventionally, the unused energy may be dumped via a crowbar circuit or even via the device under test (DUT) after each test interval, which may result in overheating of components of the test circuit or even damaging the DUT itself. Since the inductor is usually emptied after each test interval, the energy storage device must be recharged fully to refill the inductor for a subsequent test interval. Such dumping and refilling of energy occur upon the completion of each interval, resulting in waste of usable energy and waste of time to dump and to refill before beginning the next test interval. Further, since the rate of testing can be very high (e.g., 10 tests per second), the already high power consumption level due to having to fully recharge the energy storage device before each test interval increases even more.

Apparatus and method for energy recovery


Method of desalination and wastewater treatment in a microbial desalination cell reactor is provided, the microbial desalination cell reactor has three compartments, an anodic compartment, a cathodic compartment and a saline compartment, the method is carried out by (a) adding electrically conductive particles or electrically conductive material in the anodic compartment and cathodic compartment, (b) adding bacteria species of the genus Geobacter in the anodic compartment and several solutions in the compartments (c) replacing the solutions in the cathodic compartment and in the saline compartment and (d) oxidizing organic matter present in wastewater by bacteria from the genus Geobacter in the anodic compartment and desalinating the solution in the saline compartment and (e)after 20 to 30 operation cycles, replacing the solution in the saline compartment by a solution of hypochlorite salt.

Microbial Electrochemical Technologies (METs) represent a number of technologies where bacteria interact with electrically conductive material. For instance, Microbial Fuel Cell (MFC) converts chemical energy into electrical energy by using microorganisms. In this kind of electrochemical bioreactor, the oxidation of organic matter is carried out by microorganisms that efficiently transfer electrons to an electrode (anode). The circuit is closed by the presence of a cathode so electricity can be harvested.
Biological wastewater treatment is based on the biological oxidation of the organic matter present in wastewater. This oxidation needs coupling to a reduction reaction (e.g. oxygen reduction), usually limiting the process due to the high cost of artificially supply of oxygen to the system.
Microbial Desalination Cells (MDC) are bioelectrochemical devices where biological wastewater treatment can be effectively coupled to desalination of a saline stream. A MDC consists of an electrodialysis unit cell allocated in a MFC, in which at least one of the electrodes, normally the anode, host a biofilm to produce the electrochemical oxidation of the organic matter. By using the electric potential generated in the microbial cells, the migration of the ions is enhanced and desalination is achieved.
MDC devices are able to desalinate brackish/saline water by using the energy extracted from the coupled biological oxidation of organic matter present in the wastewater and reduction of oxygen (air).
Electrodialysis is a membrane based technology that is able to desalinate saline streams with low energy cost and has demonstrated its economic feasibility in a broad number of processes. Electrodialysis has the advantage of combining easy operation with flexibility in variation of operation conditions. Moreover, the energy used to drive the migration of ions across the membranes is in the range of the energy provided by bioelectrogenic bacteria that oxidizes organic matter in a MFC.
MDC represent a feasible solution to provide desalinated water at zero cost, as they uses the energy produced by the coupled reactions of oxidation of organic matter (contained in the wastewater) and the reduction of oxygen. Besides, from a theoretical point of view, it is possible to harvest some useful electric energy by decreasing the production of desalinated water. So, in these cases, electric power is obtained at the same time saline water is desalinated, and wastewater is treated in the same device.
In spite of MDC devices represent a promising technology for water desalination, at the moment it could be considered that the production is too low to have practical relevance. For this reason, the application of these devices (MDC) in real environments requires i) to increase the production of desalinated water, ii) develop a proper strategy for start-up process, and iii) develop strategies to avoid biofouling on the membranes for industrial deployment of the MDC concept.

FUNDACION INSTITUTO MADRILENO DE ESTUDIOS AVANZADOS IMDEA AGUA


Described herein are technologies pertaining to presenting a map to a user that comprises graphical icons that are representative of retail stores. The user has provided a shopping list, wherein the shopping list includes a plurality of products that are desirably purchased by the user. Inventories of retail stores in a geographic region of interest to the user are searched, and a map is generated that includes graphical icons representative of the retail stores, data that indicates that product(s) in the shopping list are available at the retail stores, and price data that indicates prices of product(s) in the shopping list at the respective retail stores.

Many retail stores have websites corresponding thereto such that an individual wishing to shop at that retail store can direct an Internet browser toward the website of the retail store and search for products that the retail store sells online. For example, the individual may enter a keyword or phrase into a text entry field and the website could be configured with search functionality that searches for a product or products corresponding to the keyword or phrase. Products located through use of the search can be displayed to the user such that the individual can view pictures of the product at different angles and be provided with a price for the product at the retail store. The individual may then choose to purchase the product online by providing the website with account information (e.g., credit card or debit card account information). The purchased product is subsequently shipped to the individual such that the product arrives at a specified location a few days subsequent to the individual purchasing the product via the website.
Alternatively, if the individual wishes to view the product and obtain the product on the same day, the individual can travel to the retail store to purchase the product. Oftentimes, however, it is difficult to ascertain whether the product is in stock at the retail store. Thus, the individual can take the time to drive to the retail store only to find that the retail store does not have the product in stock or is priced at a price point that is above what the individual wishes to pay for the product.

System, method, and medium for generating a map of a geographic region based on client location data


An optical system includes an objective lens; and a plastic coupling lens to change a divergent angle of a light flux emitted from a light source and is structured such that the light flux emitted from the light source passes through both of the coupling lens and the objective lens when the light flux is converged onto an optical information recording medium and the reflected light flux reflected from the optical information recording medium passes through the objective lens without passing through the coupling lens when the reflected light flux is detected by a photo-detector. A ring-shaped diffractive structure is formed on at least one surface of the coupling lens and the diffractive structure generates an under-spherical aberration when a light flux having a longer wavelength comes in, and the coupling lens has a positive refractive power as a whole.

The present invention relates to an optical system for an optical pickup device, a coupling lens used for the aforementioned optical system and an optical information recording/reproducing apparatus which has therein the optical system and conducts at least one of recording and reproducing of optical information.
In the diffusion of optical discs such as CD and DVD, an optical information recording medium capable of recording optical information has become the center of public attention. In the optical information recording medium capable of recording these optical information, for example, in the optical information recording medium utilizing phase changes, energy of the spot of image formation is important. In this case, even when light sources each having the same angle of divergence are used and even when NA of the objective lens closer to the medium is the same, it is clear that establishment of a coupling lens having the positive refractive power on the light source side of the objective lens shown in FIG. 3 is more advantageous on the point of the light source energy efficiency, compared with an occasion where no coupling lens is provided. In this case, when the optical system magnification for the forward direction is different from that for the return direction as shown in FIG. 3, the following points are feared.
Namely, an object point (light source light-emitting position) and an image point (optical information recording medium image formation position) both in the forward optical system are fixed, and an object point (optical information recording medium position) and a sensor position of a photo-detector both in the return optical system are fixed. If a decline of a refractive index in the course of temperature rise is caused, it is necessary to drive the objective lens in the direction for the objective lens to part from the optical information recording medium, when excessive spherical aberration is caused on the forward optical system and when trying to form a spot satisfactorily on the optical information recording medium. In this case, however, following troubles are caused.
If the objective lens is driven by an actuator in a way to obtain the best image point on the forward optical system, an excellent image formation spot is formed on at least on optical information recording medium. However, an image formation magnification is changed on the forward optical system because the objective lens is driven. In this case, with respect to the mechanical light-emitting point and the image formation point of the return optical system, the distance between them is constant in the same way as in the distance between a disc and a sensor. Therefore, the distance between the optical image formation point and a mechanical image formation point becomes great, causing harmful influences.
One of the harmful influences is that recording or reproducing is conducted as an optical pickup device under the condition which is not optically excellent image formation, because the mechanical image formation point is given priority. Another harmful influence is an occurrence of a trouble that a numerical aperture of the objective lens on the light emergence side is also changed when the image formation magnification on the forward optical system is changed, and a desired spot diameter cannot be obtained on the surface of an optical information recording medium.

Optical system for optical pickup device, coupling lens and optical information recording/reproducing apparatus


An image forming apparatus including a process cartridge detachably attached to a main body the apparatus, the process cartridge having an image bearing member, a processor device acting on the image bearing member, and, storage device for electrically connecting the main body to the process cartridge through a connector, biasing device for biasing the process cartridge in a connecting direction of the connector, and presence/absence detection device for detecting whether the process cartridge is mounted onto the main body, the detection device detecting the presence/absence of the process cartridge after the biasing device operates.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine or a printer and, more particularly, to an image forming apparatus having a process cartridge detachably mounted onto the apparatus main body.
The "process cartridge" means a cartridge having a charging means, a developing means, a cleaning means, and an electrophotographic sensitive member (image bearing member), which are integrated and detachably mounted onto the image forming apparatus main body. Alternatively, at least one of the charging means, the developing means, and the cleaning means is integrated with the electrophotographic sensitive member into a cartridge detachably mounted onto an electrophotographic image forming apparatus main body. Alternatively, at least the developing means and the electrophotographic sensitive member are integrated into a cartridge detachably mounted onto the electrophotographic image forming apparatus main body.
2. Related Background Art
For a conventional image forming apparatus using an electrophotographic image forming process, a process cartridge system is employed such that an electrophotographic sensitive member and a process means acting on the electrophotographic sensitive member are integrated into a cartridge detachably mounted onto the image forming apparatus main body. According to this process cartridge system, when the developing agent or photosensitive member is consumed, the user can perform maintenance of the apparatus, e.g., replenish the photosensitive member with the developing agent or exchange it by himself/herself without requiring help of a serviceman, so that the operability can be largely improved. For this reason, the process cartridge system is popularly used for image forming apparatuses.
Some process cartridges have additional functions. For example, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 59-61854, a nonvolatile memory (RAM) as a memory medium is mounted in the process cartridge. The amount consumed in the image forming apparatus main body is stored in the nonvolatile RAM, and the use limit of the process cartridge is determined on the basis of the stored information, thereby prompting the user to exchange the cartridge. Alternatively, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 6-149051, a quality code is stored in the above-described nonvolatile RAM at the time of delivery. Unless the quality code coincides with that of the image forming apparatus main body, the image forming operation is disabled, thus assuring apparatus protection.
The conventional process cartridge having the nonvolatile RAM uses a circuit as shown in FIG. 13 to diagnose the nonvolatile RAM, i.e., check whether the nonvolatile RAM itself normally functions, by a so-called check sum method according to the procedure shown in FIG. 14, thereby increasing the reliability.
More specifically, in the conventional image forming apparatus, when a process cartridge 20 is mounted onto an image forming apparatus main body 100 (step 1), a nonvolatile RAM 22 mounted in the process cartridge 20 and a CPU 24 mounted in the image forming apparatus main body 100 are connected through connectors 21 (21A and 21B), and a unique signal (Hi-Low signal) represented by ON/OFF of a predetermined voltage value is sent from the CPU 24 (step 2). The nonvolatile RAM 22 outputs a predetermined signal which is quantitatively converted according to the received signal to the CPU 24. Signal input to the nonvolatile RAM 22 is repeated a plurality of number of times while changing the signal contents. The CPU 24 calculates the sum of output signals.
The CPU 24 reads out an output value stored in a ROM 25 in the image forming apparatus main body in advance in correspondence with each signal output to the nonvolatile RAM 22, and calculates the sum of output values. The CPU 24 compares the sum of outputs from the nonvolatile RAM 22 with the sum of output values read out from the ROM 25 in the image forming apparatus main body 100. If the sums are equal, it is determined that the nonvolatile RAM 22 is normal, and the image forming operation starts (steps 3 and 4).
For the conventional image forming apparatus, the connectors 21 (21A and 21B) are used to connect the image forming apparatus main body 100 to the nonvolatile RAM 22 mounted in the process cartridge 20 such that the process cartridge 20 can be detachably mounted onto the image forming apparatus main body 100. Generally, the connectors 21 are constituted such that the process cartridge 20 is mounted onto the image forming apparatus main body 100 and simultaneously connected to the image forming apparatus main body 100.
When the image forming apparatus is constituted such that, when the process cartridge 20 is mounted onto the image forming apparatus main body 100, the state information of the process cartridge is read out from the memory medium such as a nonvolatile RAM and used for the subsequent image forming operation or apparatus protection, it is important to complete the read operation simultaneously at the time of mounting the process cartridge.
As described above in the related background art, generally, the memory medium such as the nonvolatile RAM 22 mounted in the process cartridge 20 and the image forming apparatus main body 100 are often connected through the connectors 21. The connectors 21 are set such that the process cartridge 20 can be easily connected to the image forming apparatus main body 100 in mounting the process cartridge 20 onto the image forming apparatus main body 100. To increase the reliability of connection, the connectors must have precise accessory components or a shape for facilitating connection.
In an image forming apparatus which communicates with the memory medium 22 mounted in the process cartridge 20 to detect the presence/absence of the process cartridge 20, if a connection failure occurs at the connectors 21, it is erroneously determined that the process cartridge 20 is not mounted even when the process cartridge 20 is properly mounted.
In the image forming apparatus which detects the abnormality of the memory medium 22 itself, when a connection failure occurs at the connectors 21, the memory medium abnormality is erroneously detected although the memory medium itself has no abnormality. In this case, the image forming apparatus performs various control operations on the basis of the erroneous detection result. For this reason, the stability of the operation of the apparatus degrades to lower its reliability.

Image forming apparatus having detection unit for detecting presence/absence of process cartridge


A method for producing a cast aluminum component having at least one reinforcing element arranged therein includes producing a core by placing at least one reinforcing element in a first mold and at least partially overmolding the at least one reinforcing element with a foam material. In the alternative, or in addition to, a core is produced by surrounding an inner element composed of a foam material by at least one reinforcing element. The method includes placing the core in a second mold and pouring liquid aluminum into the second mold and overcasting the core such that the liquid aluminum at least partially surrounds the core and the foam material is at least partially removed during the overcasting.

The statements in this section merely provide background information related to the present disclosure and may not constitute prior art.
U.S. Pub. No. 2017/0297086 A1 discloses a method for producing a cast component, wherein a structure composed of polylactic acid is first of all produced by 3-D printing and is then provided on its outside with sand. In a subsequent step, the structure is placed in a container, and metal is poured into the structure. During this process, the structure composed of polylactic acid melts, and the resulting metal component acquires the shape of the original structure.
U.S. Pub. No. 2006/0254744 A1 discloses a method for selectively reinforcing a structure, wherein at least two tapes composed of a metal matrix composite material are arranged in a mold, and wherein the mold is filled with a material, with the result that the two tapes are arranged within the material. The tapes can be tapes composed of aluminum oxide in an aluminum matrix, and the material can be metal, polymer, foam, glass or ceramics.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,921,503 B1 discloses a method for producing a fiber-reinforced polymer component. In this case, two spacers are first of all placed in a mold, wherein a cavity is formed between the two spacers. This cavity is filled with a foamable material, which expands between the spacers in the cavity and forms a foam core. The spacers are then removed from the mold, and the foam core is surrounded with fibers, and the mold is closed again. In the next method step, resin is introduced in the region of the spacers and is cured. The foam core within the fibers is then removed.

Method for producing a cast aluminum component, and cylinder head for a motor vehicle, and production line for carrying out a method


A method for forming, in a single-crystal semiconductor substrate of a first conductivity type, doped surface regions of the second conductivity type and deeper doped regions of the first conductivity type underlying the surface regions, including the step of negatively biasing the substrate placed in the vicinity of a plasma including, in the form of cations dopants of the first conductivity type and dopants of a second conductivity type, the dopants of the second conductivity type having an atomic mass which is greater than that of the dopants of the first conductivity type.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to the manufacturing of MOS transistors in a semiconductor substrate. More specifically, the present invention relates to the manufacturing of transistors having a gate of a length smaller than 100 nm.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
Certain MOS transistors comprise pockets of a same first conductivity type but more heavily doped than the substrate, at the surface of which are formed lightly-doped regions (LDD) of the second conductivity type and heavily-doped surface regions (HDD) of the second conductivity type.
The present invention will be described hereafter in relation with the forming of an N-channel MOS transistor formed in a P-type doped silicon substrate. FIG. 1 illustrates, in a partial simplified cross-section view, an N-channel MOS transistor at an intermediary step of its manufacturing according to a known method.
The method starts with the definition of a gate G insulated from the surface of substrate 1 by a thin insulator 3. The method continues with the forming by implantation, at the substrate surface, of N-type lightly-doped regions (LDD) 4 on either side of gate G. In this implantation, gate G is used as an implantation mask. Pockets 6 of the same conductivity type as substrate 1 are also formed by implantation. The pockets are more heavily doped than the substrate, but less heavily than regions 4. Pockets 6 are formed between regions 4 and substrate 1. The pockets are generally formed, as illustrated in FIG. 1, along the entire junction between the substrate and regions 4, gate G being also used as an implantation mask.
The two successive implantations of the dopants of regions 4 and of pockets 6 are performed in any order.
The same diffusion anneal during which the dopants of regions 4 and of pockets 6 diffuse to provide the structure of FIG. 1 is then performed. This anneal can be performed at the end of the transistor forming process, after the implantation (not shown) of N-type dopants at the surface of regions 4 to form heavily-doped drain and source regions (HDD).
FIG. 2 schematically illustrates the doping profiles of the structure of FIG. 1 after the diffusion anneal. The abscissa axis corresponds to horizontal direction X of FIG. 1. As described previously, channel region 8 underlying gate G exhibits a small P-type doping and is separated from LDD lightly-doped N-type regions 4 by superficial portions of pockets 6 more heavily P-type doped than substrate 1, but less heavily doped than regions 4. As an example, the doping of substrate 1 and of channel region 8 is on the order of from 1015 to 1018 at·cm−3, the surface doping of regions 4 is on the order of from 1018 to 1020 at·cm−3, and the doping of pockets 6 is from 1016 to 1019 at·cm−3.
Pockets 6 are often used in transistors with small gate lengths to limit uncontrolled untimely switching problems imputed to so-called short channel effects. Such short channel effects are due to the diffusion of the dopants of regions 4 under gate G. Indeed, in the anneal performed to obtain regions 4 of an appropriate depth d, on the order of 20 nm, the dopants also diffuse under gate G with a diffusion length W. In operation, in the absence of pockets 6, in a biasing of regions 4, space charge areas create between regions 4 and substrate 1. Such space charge areas mostly extend into substrate 1, more lightly doped than regions 4. When gate G is narrow, the space charge areas extend until they cover each other. The control of the channel establishment by the gate is then lost.
The presence of pockets 6 more heavily P-type doped than substrate 1 enables limiting the extent of the space charge areas to these pockets. This enables keeping, in substrate 1, a channel area 8 controlled by the sole biasing of gate G.
FIG. 3 schematically illustrates a type of known implantation device 30 with a magnetic deviation dopant species selection. A target is ionized in a cation source IS. The cation flow coming out of chamber IS is accelerated under a potential difference V. The obtained beam is collimated by a diaphragm D and sent into a magnetic deviation chamber MAGDEV where a cation mass discrimination is performed. Indeed, from a given target, a great number of cations is obtained. For example, for a P-type doping by means of boron, a source of boron trifluoride BF3 which provides, on ionization, cations B+, BF+, BF2+, and BF3+, is used. Magnetic deviation circuit MAGDEV enables only selecting the cations B+ which are sent to wafer 31 to be implanted. Thus, fundamentally, this type of device only enables implanting a single species (ionized atom or molecule) and dopant type.
FIG. 4 schematically illustrates another type of known plasma implantation device 40 generally used for extremely fine implantations. In device 40, a plasma 43 is created in the vicinity of a wafer 41. Plasma 43 comprises, in the form of cations that can be dispersed in an inert carrier gas such as argon or xenon, a species to be implanted. The wafer is biased to a negative reference voltage Vs. Then, the cations implant into wafer 41. Device 40 enables performing implantations at reduced implantation powers with respect to device 30. The penetration depths of the doping cations is then reduced.
Whatever the used implantation device 30 or 40, two successive N-type and P-type implantations are performed, in an indifferent order, to obtain the structure of FIG. 1 and the diffusion profiles illustrated in FIG. 2.
A disadvantage of such a MOS transistor forming method lies in the long times linked to the implantations and the costs of use of two separated implanters.


The present invention generally relates to a read head in a magnetic recording head. The read head utilizes two reader elements that are stacked in the down track direction within the same read gap to improve resolution and SNR by combining the signals from the two reader elements. The output waveform from each read element is asymmetric in the down track direction; however, by use of equalizer settings and waveform combining the algorithm in signal processing, the combined waveform has a similar or better resolution and higher SNR compared to a single read element in a smaller read gap.

1. Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the present invention generally relate to a magnetic read head for use in a hard disk drive.
2. Description of the Related Art
The heart of a computer is a magnetic disk drive which typically includes a rotating magnetic disk, a slider that has read and write heads, a suspension arm above the rotating disk and an actuator arm that swings the suspension arm to place the read and/or write heads over selected circular tracks on the rotating disk. The suspension arm biases the slider towards the surface of the disk when the disk is not rotating but, when the disk rotates, air is swirled by the rotating disk adjacent an air bearing surface (ABS) of the slider causing the slider to ride on an air bearing a slight distance from the surface of the rotating disk. When the slider rides on the air bearing, the write and read heads are employed for writing magnetic transitions corresponding to host data. The read and write heads are connected to a signal processing circuitry that operates according to a computer program to implement the writing and reading functions.
Improved signal to noise ratio (SNR) in magnetic recording involves improved reader resolution in the down-track and cross-track directions to enable reading the closely packed transitions on a narrow track. Reader resolution and SNR is mostly determined by the reader sensitivity (dR/R), RA product and shield to shield spacing. Most of the gains in readers have come from continuous improvement in the film stack and reduction in shield to shield spacing. The material limits are just about reached.
Therefore, there is a need in the art for an improved read head.

Multiple readers for high resolution and SNR for high areal density application


A method to expand a RAID subsystem from a first array of disk drives to a second array of disk drives. The first array includes a set of data disk drives storing old data and spare space, and the second array includes the first array and at least one new disk drive. First, the old data are distributed among the set of data disk drives and at least one new disk drive while, at the same time, new data are mapped to the spare space. Upon completion of the distribution, the new data are copied from the spare space to the set of data disk drives and at least one new disk drive to enable concurrent expansion of the first array while accessing the old and the new data.

Most modern, mid-range to high-end disk storage subsystems are arranged as redundant arrays of independent disks (RAID). A number of RAID levels are known. RAID-1 includes sets of N data disk drives and N mirror disk drives for storing copies of the data disk drives. RAID-3 includes sets of N data disk drives and one parity disk. RAID-4 also includes sets of N+1 disk drives, however, data transfers are performed in multi-block operations. RAID-5 distributes parity data across all disk drives in each set of N+1 disk drives. At any level, it is desired to have RAID systems where an input/output (I/O) operation can be performed with minimal operating system intervention.
When a drive fails, the redundant data are used to reconstruct all of the failed data on the array. While the RAID subsystem is reconstructing the data of the failed drive for the user, the RAID array is vulnerable to a second disk failure. When the array is in this state of reconstruction, it is known as a degraded array, as opposed to being fully protected.
Because degraded arrays can cause failure of services to a user with only one drive failure, it is imperative to minimize the time the array is in the degraded state. To alleviate this problem, RAID subsystems use the concept of a hot spare space. Spare space can either be allocated on a dedicated spare disk, or allocated in a distributed manner over all of the active disk drives of the array. When the array is in the degraded state, the RAID subsystem can immediately begin to repair the array by generating a new set of user and redundant data in the spare space. When the rebuild is complete, the RAID array is again in a fully protected state.
FIG. 1 shows a RAID array 110 with spare space 100. The RAID array 110 can failover 120 to the spare space 100 should one of the disk drives 111–116 fail. The spare space 100 can be located on the disk drives 111–116 or on a dedicated disk drive.
Unfortunately, the spare space has drawbacks because it leaves a large amount of disk space unused. Some RAID subsystems have tried to use this empty space in a very narrow fashion. See for example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,666,512 issued to Nelson on Sep. 9, 1997 "Disk Array Having Hot Spare Resources To Store User Data."
In addition to the spare space being part of most modern RAID subsystems, special features such as RAID level migration, i.e., changing RAID levels, and RAID array expansion, i.e., making RAID arrays larger, are becoming basic requirements in any RAID implementation. The functionality of changing RAID levels and array size expansion should be dynamic, allowing users to access the data while these changes take place.
RAID array expansion, for RAID levels which stripe across disk drives in particular, can be a difficult task. In known RAID subsystems, the expansion takes place by adding a new disk, blocking access to all of the new space on the new disk and then distributing the data in the RAID array to the expanded array of disk drives, while the additional new disk cannot be used. Only when the distribution is complete, can access to that new space be permitted so that new data can be stored again.
The reason why the new disk cannot be used for new data are that the new data would need to be stored someplace. Attempting to store the data on the new disk, and then distributing the data cannot be done because the distributed data would overlap both old and new data mapping.
When an array needs to be expanded, it presents a difficult situation, especially when files storing old data cannot be deleted, and there is insufficient storage for new data. Even with modern RAID arrays, which do not block data access while expanding, the process of redistributing the old data can take many hours, or perhaps even days, under extreme I/O load conditions. The inability to add new data during this time would be a severe constraint in any file or database system where the "turn-over" of data are short-term.
Therefore, there is a need for a system and method for expanding a RAID subsystem in such a way that access to both old and new data are not interrupted.

Expansion of RAID subsystems using spare space with immediate access to new space


Provided herein are graphene nanoribbons with high structural uniformity and low levels of impurities and methods of synthesis thereof. Also provided herein are graphene nanoplatelets of superior structural uniformity and low levels of impurities and methods of synthesis thereof. Further provided herein are mixtures of graphene nanoribbons and graphene nanoplatelets of good structural uniformity and low levels of impurities and methods of synthesis thereof. The method includes, for example, the steps of depositing catalyst on a constantly moving substrate, forming carbon nanotubes on the substrate, separating carbon nanotubes from the substrate, collecting the carbon nanotubes from the surface where the substrate moves continuously and sequentially through the depositing, forming, separating and collecting steps. Further processing steps convert the synthesized carbon nanotubes to graphene nanoribbons, graphene nanoplatelets and mixtures thereof.

Graphene nanoribbons (GNRs) are a single or a few layers of the well-known carbon allotrope graphitic carbon, which possesses exceptional electrical and physical properties which may lead to application in electronic devices, transistor fabrication and oil additives. GNRs structurally have high aspect ratio with length being much longer than the width or thickness.
Graphene nanoplatelets (GNPs) are similar to GNRs except that that the length is in the micron or sub-micron range and hence GNPs lack the high aspect ratio of GNRs. GNPs also possess many of the useful properties of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and GNRs.
GNRs have been prepared by CVD and from graphite using chemical processes. Most typically GNRs were prepared from CNTs by chemical unzipping and the quality of GNRs depends the purity of the CNT starting material.
GNPs have been typically prepared from graphite by chemical exfoliation, thermal shock and shear, or in a plasma reactor. However, the above methods fail to provide GNRs and GNPs in high yield, good purity with good control of width and length.
Recently, a number of methods have emerged which convert carbon nanotubes to GNRs in good yield and high purity (Hirsch, Angew Chem. Int. Ed. 2009, 48, 2694). More extreme conditions of some of the above methods used to prepare GNRs can result in the synthesis of GNPs from GNRs. However, the purity and uniformity of carbon nanotubes and of the GNRs and GNPs produced from these CNTs is determined by the method of manufacture of the CNTs.
Current CNT manufacturing methods typically produce CNTs which include significant impurities such as, for example, metal catalysts and amorphous carbons. Purification steps are typically required after synthesis of CNTs, which are flow reactor methods to provide carbon nanotubes which are not contaminated with significant amounts of metal catalysts and amorphous carbon. CNT purification steps require large and expensive chemical plants which makes producing large quantities of CNTs of greater than 90% purity extremely costly. Furthermore, present CNT manufacturing methods produce CNTs with low structural uniformity (i.e., CNTs of variable lengths).
Accordingly, what is needed are new methods for providing high quality and inexpensive GNRs and GNPs with high structural uniformity and purity. These methods will involve preparing CNTs of high structural uniformity and purity which then may be converted to GNRs and GNPs of high structural uniformity and purity.

Graphene nanoribbons, graphene nanoplatelets and mixtures thereof and methods of synthesis


A mild, palladium-free synthetic protocol for the cross-coupling reaction of vinyl or aryl iodides and thiols or selenols using, in certain embodiments, 10 mol % CuI and 10 mol % neocuproine, with NaOt-Bu as the base, in toluene at 110 ° C. A variety of vinyl/aryl sulfides and vinyl/aryl selenides can be synthesized in excellent yields from readily available iodides and thiols or selenols.

Methods for the formation of aryl-sulfur bonds are indispensable tools in synthetic chemistry. Their importance stems from the prevalence of aryl-sulfur bonds in many molecules that are of biological, pharmaceutical and materials interest. Similarly, diaryl selenides have attracted considerable interest because of their potential as anticancer and antioxidant agents. They are also key intermediates in the synthesis of a plethora of biologically and pharmaceutically important selenium compounds such as selenonium salts, selenoxides, selenimines, and selenide dihalides. In recognition of their importance, various synthetic methods for the formation of diaryl selenides have been reported in the literature.
Traditional methods for the synthesis of aryl-sulfur bonds often require harsh reaction conditions. For example, coupling of copper thiolates with aryl halides requires polar solvents such as HMPA and temperatures around 200° C. Reduction of aryl sulfones or aryl sulfoxides requires strong reducing agents such as DIBAL-H or LiAlH4. Likewise, earlier selenide preparatory methods often required photochemical or harsh reaction conditions such as the use of polar, toxic solvents such as HMPA and high reaction temperatures. Other reported protocols include the reaction of aryl halide and benzeneselenate anion in liquid ammonia under UV light and the reaction of sodium selenide with arenediazonium salts.
In 1980, Migita and co-workers first reported the cross-coupling reaction of aryl halides and thiols with Pd(PPh3)4 as the catalyst and NaOt-Bu as the base in polar solvents such as refluxing ethanol or DMSO at 90° C. Thereafter, however, few reports have appeared in the literature for the formation of aryl-sulfur bonds using transition metal catalysts, and then only for Pd(0) or Ni(0)—in sharp contrast to the volume of literature that exists for the formation of aryl-nitrogen and aryl-oxygen bonds. In 1996, following Hartwig's mechanistic studies on the reductive elimination of palladium(II) arylthiolate complexes with chelating phosphines, Zheng and co-workers reported the first general palladium-based protocol for the synthesis of aryl sulfides from aryl triflates. More recently, in 2001, Schopfer and Schlapbach reported a general palladium-catalyzed method for the synthesis of aryl sulfides from aryl iodides, in toluene, using DPEPhos as the ligand.
The current state of aryl-selenium chemistry can be viewed from an analogous historical perspective. In recent years, only a handful of reports have appeared in the literature with synthetic protocols for the formation of aryl-selenium bonds that are general, mild and tolerant. In 1985, Cristau and co-workers first showed that aryl selenides can be obtained by a cross-coupling reaction of aryl halides and sodium benzeneselenolate using Ni(II)-based catalysts. In 2000, Millois and Diaz modified and extended Cristau's method to accommodate diaryl diselenide as a starting material instead of sodium benzeneselenolate. Very recently, the groups of Nishiyama and Beletskaya have independently reported protocols for the cross coupling reaction of aryl iodides and PhSeSnBu3 using palladium-based catalysts.
Various concerns in the art, however, continue to prompt development of new catalytic systems. In particular, the price of palladium is prohibitive, having risen by about 900% in recent years. Further, expensive ligands are required for employment of palladium in reactions of interest. As a result, alternate metals and ligand systems have been the subject of increased study. One such approach involves copper-based systems. Traditional copper-mediated reactions suffer from drawbacks such as high reaction temperatures, the use of copper salts in greater than stoichiometric amounts, sensitivity to functional groups on the aryl halide and irreproducibility. Yet, they remain as the reactions of choice in large- and industrial-scale syntheses. As such, in the past five years, there has been a resurgence in interest in developing mild synthetic methods based on copper-based catalysts as an alternative to palladium(0) catalysts for the formation of aryl-carbon and aryl-heteroatom bonds. In this regard, several research groups have reported copper-based methods for the formation of aryl-carbon, aryl-nitrogen and aryl-oxygen bonds. In addition to being simple and mild, these protocols also accommodate substrates that do not otherwise undergo coupling by palladium catalysis. Moreover, from an economic standpoint and in comparison to palladium, copper-based catalysts are quite attractive. However, several concerns remain, as such catalytic systems have shown limited utility—in particular, with respect to the formation of aryl-sulfur and/or aryl-selenium bonds.

Methods for formation of aryl-sulfur and aryl-selenium compounds using copper(I) catalysts


A gasket is formed by applying an adhesive on four sides of an elastic body of a closed cell polyurethane material, wrapping a copper film around the elastic body other than a bottom bonding surface, forming a coating layer by depositing or plating nickel on a surface exposing the copper film, and forming a resin coating layer on the nickel coating layer A conductive adhesive is applied on the bottom surface.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an EMI gasket for shielding electromagnetic waves, and more particularly, to an EMI gasket for shielding electromagnetic waves, which has excellent electromagnetic wave shielding performance.
2. Background of the Related Art
Generally, electromagnetic waves generated by internal circuits of various kinds of electronic devices are radiated to outside through the air or conducted through a power line or the like.
Such electromagnetic waves are known to generate noises and malfunctions in the components or devices in the neighborhood and have a bad effect on human bodies.
As electronic devices are becoming thinner and their circuits are getting complicated recently, possibility of generating electromagnetic waves abruptly increases, and regulations on the electromagnetic waves are strengthened in Korea as well as in developed countries.
Accordingly, conductive sponges are used conventionally so that the electromagnetic waves generated by the circuits of the electronic devices may not be radiated to outside.
However, the conductive sponge is disadvantageous in that since conductive powders are generated, a module risk factor may occur, and its restoring force is low.
In addition, Korean Utility Model Registration No. 20-0208434 discloses a gasket formed by wrapping a copper plate of high conductivity on three sides of an electric conductor, in a general gasket in which four sides of a rectangular elastic body of a polyurethane material are wrapped by a conductor of a PE fiber coated with copper and nickel, and an adhesive tape is attached on the bottom side.
However, since a conductive fabric of a coated fiber is also used in this case and generates conductive powders, a short circuit or a malfunction is worried, and corrosion is also worried since a copper plate is used.


An optical module, in particular for microlithography, with an optical element unit, a support device, a deformation device and a measuring device is disclosed. The support device is supported on the optical element unit, whereas for deforming an optical surface of the optical element unit, the deformation device engages a deformation section of the optical element unit comprising the optical surface. For determining the position and/or the orientation of the optical element unit with respect to an external reference in at least one degree of freedom, the measuring device comprises at least one measuring element, wherein the measuring element is arranged on a reference section of the optical element unit.

The present invention relates to an optical module, an optical element unit for the optical module and a method for determining the position and/or the orientation of an optical element unit. The invention can be used in connection with microlithography employed in the fabrication of microelectronic circuits.
In particular in the area of microlithography, in addition to the use of components made with the highest possible accuracy, it is necessary, among other things, to position the components of the imaging device, for example the optical elements such as lenses or mirrors, as precisely as possible, in order to achieve a correspondingly high image quality. The high requirements on accuracy, which are in the microscopic range of the order of magnitude of a few nanometers or less, are not least a consequence of the constant need to increase the resolution of the optical systems used in the fabrication of microelectronic circuits, in order to drive forward the miniaturisation of the microelectronic circuits that are to be produced.
With the increased resolution and, therefore, as a rule the concomitant decrease in wavelength of the light used, it is not only the requirements on the positional accuracy of the optical elements used that increase. Naturally, there is also an increase in the requirements with respect to minimising the imaging errors of the whole optical arrangement.
To minimise the imaging errors, it is known, for example from U.S. Pat. No. 6,842,277 B2 (Watson; the complete disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference) and U.S. Pat. No. 7,443,619 B2 (Sakino et al.; the complete disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference), to actively deform the optically active surfaces of one or a plurality of optical elements of the imaging system, in order to correct wavefront aberrations. To this end, for example, a number of actuators supported by a support structure of the mirror engage a back side of a mirror and introduce the corresponding forces and/or moments into the mirror, in order to achieve a desired deformation of the mirror surface relative to a setpoint geometry or rigid body geometry of the mirror.
These forces and/or moments for deformation of the mirror surface may as a rule also lead to a change in the position and/or orientation of the mirror (insofar as it is regarded as an infinitely rigid body), which in its turn must be corrected. The terms rigid body position or rigid body orientation of the optical element are often used in this context.
Correction of the position and/or orientation of the optical element is typically based on the measuring signals of one or a plurality of sensors, which detect the position and/or orientation of the optical element with respect to at least one reference, as is also known from U.S. Pat. No. 6,842,277 B2. A critical factor is that the deformation can cause a relative movement in the region of the measurement point, although the rigid body position or rigid body orientation of the optical element has not changed, or not to the extent captured by the sensors, so that corrections of the position and/or orientation of the optical element are performed, although these are not required.
A disadvantage of the solution proposed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,443,619 B2 is that the optical element and the deformation device form one unit, which in its turn has to be corrected in its position and/or orientation. If this correction of the rigid body position or orientation must take place very quickly, a heavy unit is a disadvantage. Moreover, rapid correction is hampered by cables or the like, which supply the deformation device. Moreover, such a unit requires considerable space, so that attainment of a high resonant frequency of the unit, which would be necessary for favourable control behaviour, becomes much more complicated.


A large aperture uniform-amplification laser module including a longer, larger diameter crystal bar is disclosed. The laser module includes a ring-shaped pump bar structure, a crystal bar, a glass sleeve, and a structural component. The pump bar structure includes pump blocks composed of a bar, a cooling heat sink, and a cooling pipe. The bar is connected with the heat sink, and a cooling water channel is provided inside of the cooling heat sink. Heat sinks are provided with outlet pipes and an inlet pipes to communicate with water channels, which are connected in series through the cooling pipes to form a ring shape. The bar is close to a center axis of the ring-shaped pump bar structure. The crystal bar is provided in the glass sleeve. A plurality of the ring-shaped pump bar structures are sleeved on the glass sleeve along the length of the glass sleeve.

Field
The disclosed technology relates to laser devices, and more particularly to large aperture uniform-amplification laser modules.
Description of the Related Technology
The chemical formula of polycrystalline aluminium-yttrium garnet (YAG) is Y3Al5O12, or 3Y2O3.5Al2O3, where Y2O3 is 57.06 wt %, Al2O3 is 42.94 wt %. YAG is a laser host with an excellent combination of optical, mechanical and thermal properties. In laser devices with low and medium power, the quantity of yttrium aluminium garnet crystal (Nd:YAG) made of yttrium aluminium garnet far exceeds that of other laser material. Yttrium aluminium garnet crystals are prepared by melting and crystallizing certain proportions of Al2O2, Y2O2 and Nd2O3 in a single crystal furnace. The process of growing yttrium aluminium garnet crystals may include growing a crystal blank using the Czochralski method (CZ method). The thermal properties of yttrium aluminium garnet crystal make it a very suitable laser material.
The quality of crystals grown using the Czochralski method are adversely impacted by melt flow effects, transmitted vibrations, and temperature fluctuations. Due to characteristics of the crystal itself, the doping concentration of two ends of the crystal gradually rises as growth length increases. Usual methods for making a crystal bar process along the growth direction of the crystal blank, and the length of the crystal bar determines the difference of doping concentration on the crystal bar. For example, crystal bars with a diameter greater than or equal to 8 mm and a length greater than or equal to 100 mm have a difference of doping concentration of 20%-30%.
Commonly used laser amplification modules include a pump block composed of a bar, a cooling heat sink and a cooling pipe. A plate-like pump bar structure is composed of a plurality of connected pump blocks, and a plurality of plate-like pump bar structures arranged around a crystal bar in the laser amplification module. The distance from the bar on each pump bar structure to the crystal bar is the same and fixed, and the doping concentration is proportional to an absorption coefficient of the crystal bar to pump light. For a longer crystal bar with a larger diameter, the doping concentration gradient of the crystal bar on its main body may be too high, and the absorption coefficient of two ends of the crystal bar may be significantly different from that of the middle part, which makes the whole pump on the crystal bar nonuniform resulting in nonuniformity of the final gain output. Therefore, there is a need for large aperture laser modules with uniform amplification.

Large aperture uniform-amplification laser module

Academy of Opto-Electronics, Chinese Academy of Science