An alloy of tetragonal polycrystalline structure acts as a thin film magnetic medium. The medium can be for recording or sensing magnetic transitions representative of data and is of a thickness less than about 200 .ANG., and has a coercivity in excess of about 2000 Oe. The film is in the L1o phase which is suitable for longitudinal recording and can be constituted by an alloy selected from cobalt or iron together with platinum or palladium. The film is formed by sputtering from a target and thereafter annealing the thin film and at a temperature in excess of about 500.degree. C.

This invention is directed to a thin film format of magnetic medium which is capable of high density magnetic recording, particularly longitudinal recording. The invention is also directed to having such a medium capable of use in magnetic sensing in a magnetoresistive ("MR") head.
Current art indicates that conventional magnetic recording and sensing mediums, such as cobalt alloy media, for instance, CoPtCr (Cobalt, Platinum, Chrome), are unable to achieve recording densities above 2 to 5 Gbit/in.sup.2. An historic trend has been to require reduced magnetic areal moment ("Mrt") and increased coercivity ("Hc") for recording at higher densities. This trend has been extrapolated to theoretical models for 10 Gbit/in.sup.2 recording densities. E. S. Murdock, IEEE Trans. Mag. 28, 3078, 1992.
High density recording media also need to consist of exchange decoupled particles. Smaller particles are required at higher densities for reasons of reduced noise, and thereby the ability to obtain a higher signal to noise ratio ("SNR"). Thus, high density recording media requires a reduced Mrt and a reduced particle size. This has been theoretically estimated at 8 to 10 nm for 10 Gbit/in.sup.2. E. S. Murdock, IEEE Trans. Mag. 28, 3078, 1992.
Coercivity, Magnetic Moment and Particle Size
Hc, Mrt, and particle size for a 1 Gbit/in.sup.2 demonstration and for a theoretical model of a 10 Gbit/in.sup.2 requirement are shown in Table I. E. S. Murdock, IEEE Trans. Mag. 28, 3078, 1992; T. Yogi, C. Tsang, T. Nguyan, K. Ju, G. Gorman, and G. Castillo, IEEE Trans. Mag., 26, 2271, 1990.
TABLE I ______________________________________ 10 Gbit 10 Gbit 1 Gbit Case 1 Case 3 Demo (Theoretical Model) (Theoretical Model) ______________________________________ tpi (track density) 6,350 11,000 25,000 kbpi (linear density) 158 909 400 HC (Oe) 1800 4500 2500 Mrt (memu/cm.sup.2) 0.7 0.35 0.5 Grain size (nm) 15-20 8-10 8-10 ______________________________________
It is not expected that conventional cobalt alloy systems can meet the Hc, Mrt, and particle sizes shown for high density recording in mediums and ranges of greater than 1 Gbit/in.sup.2 and particularly approximating about 10 Gbit/in.sup.2. In fact, scaling of the 1 Gbit/in.sup.2 demonstration to 10 Gbit/in.sup.2 suggests an even smaller particle size than that shown, namely as small as 5 to 7 nm, would be needed.
Anisotropy and Superparamagnetism
For all magnetic material systems Hc eventually drops as particle size is reduced due to thermally assisted switching, a phenomena described as superparamagnetism. B. D. Cullity, "Introduction to Magnetic Materials", Addison-Wesley Publishing Co., Reading MA, 1972.
It has not been possible in the prior art to attain all hexagonal phase cobalt alloy systems with a media Hc/Mrt ratio needed to permit for 10 Gbit/in.sup.2 densities. I. L. Sanders, T. Yogi, J. K. Howard, S. E. Lambert, G. L. Gorman, and C. Hwang, IEEE Trans. Mag., 25, 3869, 1989. Hc falls off as Mrt is reduced in the 0.4 to 0.6 memu/cm.sup.2 range or as grain size or particle size, if exchange decoupled, is reduced.
To achieve a smaller particle size without superparamagnetic effects, a higher crystalline magnetic anisotropy is required. B. D. Cullity, "Introduction to Magnetic Materials", Addison-Wesley Publishing Co., Reading MA, 1972. Table II compares the crystalline anisotropy expressed as the intrinsic coercivity field for coherent rotation of an isolated spherical particle and superparamagnetic particle size limit calculated for a spherical isolated particle for several different magnetic materials.
TABLE II ______________________________________ Hci = 2K/Ms Grain size (Oe) minimum (nm) ______________________________________ Co-alloy* 4,000 15.0 Barium Ferrite 17,000 9.7 CoPt 80,000 5.3 SmCo.sub.5 200,000 3.4 ______________________________________ *Co--19% Cr, T. Weilinga et al, IEEE Trans. Mag., V 18, p 1107, 1982.
The conventional hexagonal phase cobalt alloys are represented by a Co - 19 at. % Cr alloy. Corresponding values for a CoPtCr, CoPtCrB, or CoCrTa alloy can be assumed similar.
Additional alloying elements may increase anisotropy which, acting alone, would reduce the limiting superparamagnetic particle size. This improvement is however mitigated by the moment dilution that occurs with the addition of the alloying elements. Experimental data of hexagonal cobalt alloys do not show suitable Hc/Mrt and particle size.
Table II identifies several alternative materials systems with a theoretical potential to achieve 10 Gbit/in.sup.2 requirements.
The L1o Ordered Phase of Magnetic Material
The L1o phase has a tetragonal crystal structure and is related to its disordered FCC solid solution. With a CoPt alloy, for example, there is a layering of the Co and Pt atoms, in alternate planes, along the FCC [001] direction. This direction then becomes the c-axis of the tetragonal L1o.
An L1o ordered phase medium is, for example CoPt, with a compositional range of 45 to 60 atomic percent cobalt. Such a material is known as a high magnetic anisotropy (Hc=4,000 to 5,000 Oe) permanent magnet material. D. J. Craik, Platinum Met. Rev., 16, 129, 1972; A. S. Darling, Platinum Met. Rev. 17, 95, 1963.
The c-axis of the L1o is similar to the c-axis of hexagonal cobalt in that both are the easy axis of magnetization for the crystal. Thus, while the disordered FCC solid solution of Co and Pt has cubic symmetry and low magnetic anisotropy, the ordered L1o phase has uniaxial anisotropy similar to, but greater in magnitude, than hexagonal cobalt.
Thin films of this L1o material have been prepared by previous workers. V. Tutovan, V. Georgescu, and H. Chiriac, Thin Solid Films, 103, 253, 1983; J. A. Aboaf, S. R. Herd, E. Klockholm, IEEE Trans. Mag., 19, 1514, 1983; A. Tsokatos, G. C. Hadjipanayis, C. P. Swann, and S.I. Shah, page 701 in "Science and Technology of Nano-structured Magnetic Materials", Plenum Press, New York N.Y., 1991.
A very high Hc has been reported (max testing field 5,000 Oe) at room temperature. J. A. Aboaf, S. R. Herd, E. Klockholm, IEEE Trans. Mag., 19, 1514, 1983. Films with such materials are still relatively too thick, namely greater than 500 .ANG., for currently required applications. U.S. Pat. No. 4,438,066 (Aboaf). An Hc of about 10,000 Oe at 10.degree. K has been reported by another group. A. Tsokatos, G. C. Hadjipanayis, C. P. Swann, and S. I. Shah, page 701 in "Science and Technology of Nano-structured Magnetic Materials", Plenum Press, New York N.Y., 1991.
Thin epitaxial films in the range of 100 .ANG. to 500 .ANG. with a coercivity of 4000 to 8000 have been reported. Such films are epitaxial or monocrystalline and thus are not suitable for use as a magnetic recording films, particularly in the longitudinal mode. V. G. Pyn'Ko, L. V. Zhivayeva, N. A. Ekonomov, A. S. Komalov, N. N. Vevtikhiyev and A. R. Krebs, Fiz. metal metalloved., 45, No. 4, 879-881, 1978.
A. Tsoukatos, G. C. Hadjipanayis, Y. J. Zhang, M. Waite and C. P. Swaim, Met. Res. Soc. Symp. Proc. Vol. 232. 1991 Materials Research Society has reported that the magnetic hysterisis of atomic CoPt films is such that as the film decreases in thickness the coercivity reduces.
None of the prior art with regard to CoPt is directed to thin film material suitable for high density recording media. The teachings suggest that as the material becomes thinner the coercivity decreases below a level suitable for high density recording. In particular, as the thickness of polycrystalline L1o material becomes less than 500 .ANG. the coercivity decreases below acceptable levels. Despite the work done on such films, it has not been possible to provide sufficiently thin films suitable for effective use as a high density recording media.
There is a need to provide a sufficiently thin film magnetic medium capable of achieving high recording densities. Such material should ideally have a coercivity sufficiently high to operate with hardware so as to effectively permit recording and sensing of the magnetic signal. The medium should also ideally have a high anisotropy.
More particularly there is a need to provide a thin film medium, preferably less than a few hundred Angstrom, capable of recording in a longitudinal direction and having recording densities at least as high as about 10 Gbit/in.sup.2.

Thin film magnetic recording medium having high coercivity


The present disclosure provides a method and device for transmitting recommended product information. In one embodiment, a system retrieves product evaluation records given by one or more users. Each of the product evaluation records includes an identification of the user (user ID), an identification of the product (product ID), and evaluation information. The system uses the user ID and the product ID as a primary key, and then, based on intervals of the primary key, divides the product evaluation records into several subsets of records, and assigns these subsets of records into multiple calculation nodes. The system retrieves such SVD calculation results of the multiple subsets of records from the multiple calculation nodes. The recommended product information is sent to a client terminal based on the SVD calculation results. The present disclosure implements the distribution processing of SVD calculation, reduces the calculation complexity, and saves the calculation time.

As the internet becomes more popular and widespread, and internet systems provide more and more options for users, the contents of websites become more complicated. Take the e-commerce website as an example, users often get lost in the variety of product information provided by the e-commerce website, and have a hard time finding the product that they need. In order to solve this problem, internet systems often, based on the user's product evaluation information, perform a recommendation algorithm to determine the products that the user would need, and then send such product information to the user. This would help the user find the product in need, and complete the purchase process.
Among the recommendation algorithms used in the internet, the singular value decomposition (SVD) is a relatively accurate algorithm, which breaks down and analyzes the main variables using a matrix to obtain dimension reduction and find latent variables. Specifically, the order m×n real matrix A may be decomposed into m-order orthogonal matrix U, n-order orthogonal matrix V, and the product of diagonal matrix S. Through the SVD algorithm, user preference information and evaluated product information may be derived from the user's product evaluation information. The product may be recommended to the user based on the user preference information and the evaluated product information.
When the current internet systems use the SVD algorithm to recommend products to users, however, they are unable to distribute the user information, product information and the user's product evaluation information to multiple calculation nodes to perform calculation. Instead, they can only perform calculation on a single calculation node. This leads to problems such as the large volume of data to be processed, the complicated calculation process, and the long consumption time. In addition, using one calculation node has a limited expansion capability. As the user information and product information increase, this processing model cannot satisfy the performance requirements.


A thermoplastic blend composition is provided containing an aromatic polycarbonate, a phosphate flame retardant and a hydroxy functional graft copolymer. The compositions exhibit flame retardancy and low gloss and are useful as molding resins.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to flame retardant blends of aromatic polycarbonate resin and a graft polymer, and more particularly relates to flame retardant polymer blend compositions comprising an aromatic polycarbonate, a phosphate flame retardant compound and functionalized graft copolymer which reduces the gloss exhibited by the compositions.
2. Description of the Related Art
Blends of polycarbonate resin and ABS resin are known, see for example, German Patent 1,170,141 and flame retardant blends comprising polycarbonate resin, ABS resin and a phosphate flame retardant are known--many flame retardant polycarbonate resin/ABS resin blends however exhibit high levels of gloss while in various applications it is desired that the blends exhibit low surface gloss.

Low gloss flame-retarded polycarbonate/ABS blends obtained by using hydroxyalkyl (meth) acrylate functionalized ABS


A process for edge isolation or texture smoothing of a substrate, in which a process medium which allows control treatment of limited regions of the substrate is used. The process is therefore particularly suitable for one-sided treatment of substrates. The viscosity of the process medium plays a central role here. Furthermore, an apparatus designed for the process is presented.

Two different facilities are for example described in the references DE 10 2005 062 528 A1 and DE 10 313 127 B4. In the last-mentioned reference a method is described in which the lower side of the wafer is contacted with the etching solution, wherein a meniscus is formed. During the whole process time the lower side of the wafer is continuously in contact with the etching solution. In the first-mentioned reference a method is described in which the lower side of the wafer is not continuously in contact with the etching solution. The etching solution is applied onto the lower side of the wafer by a special profile pattern of the rotating transport rolls, wherein the wafer at the same time is horizontally moved on. At the lower side of the wafer a liquid film is formed.
Through the etching reaction inter alia nitrogen oxides ("NOx" gases) are produced which are partially dissolved in the etching solution, but which also partially reach the headspace of the process modules. Nitrogen oxides in connection with vapors of hydrofluoric acid have an etching effect on silicon, in particular on highly doped silicon, such as the emitter, and through the HF portion also on phosphorus silicate glass or borosilicate glass. For avoiding an undesirable (since nonuniform) etching of the emitter side, the reaction vapors are withdrawn by suction from the process compartment and/or additives are added to the process medium for avoiding the formation of gas.
In DE 10 2009 050 845 A1 a method is described in which onto the upper side of the wafer before the one-sided etching process a defined amount of water is applied onto the wafer. The water spreads out across the hydrophilic wafer surface (with phosphorus silicate or borosilicate glass) and thus forms a protection layer against the etching vapors.
In DE 10 2008 037 404 A1 a one-sided etching process is described in which the composition of the gas phase above the process medium is influenced in such a manner that the surface during the process of edge isolation is made hydrophobic and/or after a previous treatment in diluted hydrofluoric acid stays hydrophobic. Only acidic media are described.
It is also possible to use the reaction vapors for an intentional back-etching of the emitter. Such a process is described in WO 2011/035748 A1. In order that the emitter side is etched as homogenously as possible, the reaction vapors are accordingly withdrawn by suction or an inert gas is fed to the gas phase over the process medium in addition or a reactive gas such as HF or ozone is fed in addition. For back-etching of the emitter optionally an additional etching step, preferably with HF and ozone, as solution or in the gas phase, is mentioned for a better adjustability of the process of back-etching. A uniform controlled back-etching of the emitter is desirable, because by the removal of highly doped topmost emitter layers the surface recombination of the produced charge carriers is reduced and thus the efficiency factor of the solar cells is improved. Normally, the edge isolation and the back-etching of the emitter are conducted in two separated process modules with different etching solutions. The etching media which are proposed are acidic.
The NOx/HF vapors have to be aftertreated separately in suitable facilities. Fluoride is precipitated as CaF2 by bubbling through lime milk, the NOx gases are reacted to nitrogen. The etching solution of HNO3/HF is toxic. Therefore, the disposal of spent etching solutions of HNO3/HF is costly.
In all mentioned and industrially used methods an etching solution on the basis of hydrofluoric acid and nitric acid is used.
An alkaline process for the removal of the undesired doped region on the back side is described in US 2004/0259335 A1. Here the front side and the edges are protected by a protection layer/mask of silicon nitride. The etching rate of silicon nitride in an alkaline solution is negligible low. But a disadvantage of alkaline solutions is that the tendency of creeping is still higher than in the case of acidic solutions.
A reliable practicable alkaline method for one-sided etching of a substrate, in particular for edge isolation, without the need of a mask for the protection of the emitter side is not known.

Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft zur Förderung der Angewandten Forschung E.V.


A hair collection device for collecting hair from the hand of user to remove hair from the head left on the hand of the user during a shower. The hair collection device includes a collection member being designed for being selectively coupled to a wall of the shower. The collection member is designed for receiving the hair from the hand of the user to allow the user to collect the hair at a later time to be thrown out when the hand of the user is wiped across the collection member. At least one mounting member is coupled to the collection member. The mounting member is designed for selectively engaging the wall of the shower to secure the collection member to the wall.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to hair removal systems and more particularly pertains to a new hair collection device for collecting hair from the hand of user to prevent the hair from being rinsed down the drain.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The use of hair removal systems is known in the prior art. U.S. Pat. No. 5,269,073 describes a device for vacuuming hair as it clipped from the head of a person getting their hair cut. Another type of hair removal system is U.S. Pat. No. Des. 205,452 showing a combined electric hair clippers, vacuum cleaner and stand. U.S. Pat. No. Des. 459,028 shows a electrical hair ball remover.
While these devices fulfill their respective, particular objectives and requirements, the need remains for a device that has certain improved features to remove hair from the head left on the hand of the user during a shower.


Provided are an ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymer having a high degree of crosslinking by controlling a temperature difference in an autoclave reactor and an input ratio of an initiator during polymerization, even though a reduced amount of a crosslinking agent is used, and a preparation method thereof.

Ethylene vinyl acetate is a copolymer of ethylene and vinyl acetate. Depending on the content of vinyl acetate, ethylene vinyl acetate has a wide range of applications from hard materials to soft materials such as hot melt adhesives, and it has low crystallinity and excellent low-temperature characteristics and impact resistance, as compared with polyethylene.
Further, ethylene vinyl acetate is a thermoplastic polymer. However, it has rubber properties and has excellent electrical insulation and withstand voltage properties, and has excellent transparency, barrier property, adhesive property, UV property, etc. Therefore, ethylene vinyl acetate is widely used in tubes, packing materials, wire coating materials, electrical insulators, tapes, adhesives, various sheets, etc. Recently, its application has been widened to protective films or encapsulant materials of optoelectronic devices such as solar cells.
In general, ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymers may be prepared in either an autoclave reactor or a tubular reactor. Ethylene vinyl acetate prepared in the autoclave reactor generally has a wide molecular weight distribution, and ethylene vinyl acetate prepared in the tubular reactor has a narrow molecular weight distribution. Thus, ethylene vinyl acetate is generally prepared by selecting the reactor according to use thereof.
However, when the autoclave reactor in which back-mixing occurs is used, a uniform and high reaction temperature may be maintained, and thus it is advantageous in that an ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymer having a high content of vinyl acetate may be prepared, as compared with use of the tubular reactor in which mixing occurs by turbulent plug flow.
Meanwhile, it is known that the ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymer has high transparency and adhesive properties, but its mechanical strength is generally low, as compared with polyethylene.
Recently, ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymer products have been frequently used as an encapsulant material that protects solar cell modules from moisture and dust. In this case, as the mechanical strength is excellent, performance of the encapsulant material may be increased.
Accordingly, there is a need to study a preparation method of improving mechanical strength of the ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymer.

Ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymer and preparation method thereof


A device for clearing pipe blockage includes: pumping means (A) for compressing air by pumping and having an outlet (18) for discharging compressed air out; and an inflatable balloon mounted at the outlet and expanding by air discharged through the outlet. The outlet is a one-way valve, and a cylindrical guide member (24) is formed to surround the outside of the inflatable balloon, guides the inflatable balloon to move forward inside a pipe when a front end part of the guide member is inserted into the pipe, and is made of flexible material. A presser which cleans the inner surface of the pipe while moving in a state where it gets in contact with the inner surface of the pipe is mounted at a front end of the inflatable balloon, and the blocked pipe is cleared by shock pressure by movement of the pumping unit and a change in pressure by expansion of the inflatable balloon by the compressed air.

In general, toilets, washstands and sinks are designed to discharge foreign matters out when water is drained. Moreover, because a part to drain water adopts a U-shaped trap structure in order to prevent a bad smell from backing up, such a trap structure causes pipe blockage. In addition to such a structural reason, of course, pipes of the toilets, washstands and sinks are frequently blocked by relatively large-sized foreign matters.
Now, various devices for clearing blockage of a pipe come on the market, but it is difficult to effectively clear the blockage using such devices. The difficulty in effectively clearing the blocked pipe using the conventional devices may be caused by that sufficient shock or pressure is not applied to the blocked part. For instance, when a predetermined pressure is applied from the outside to the inside of a toilet in a bathroom, the conventional devices do not provide sufficient airtightness between the outside and the inside of the toilet and cannot effectively generate or transfer pressure to the pipe connected from the inside of the toilet.


A method and apparatus are provided for detecting banding noise in a digital signal representative of an image. The method includes determining, by a banding noise detector, a count of increment steps in pixel values and a count of decrement steps in pixel values along a filter direction in a neighborhood of a current pixel of the image, checking, by the banding noise detector, if the count of increment steps or the count of decrement steps in the neighborhood of a current pixel exceeds a step threshold value, and classifying, by the banding noise detector, the current pixel as being located in the banding noise zone if the count of increment steps or the count of decrement steps does not exceed the step threshold value.

1. Technical Field
This disclosure relates to digital video processing methods and apparatus. In particular, the disclosure relates to image quality improvement by removal of banding artifacts, also known as banding noise. More particularly, the disclosure relates to detection of banding noise.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
Banding artifacts, or banding noise, in a digital image or a video sequence can be caused by quantization of gray scale values or color values and may appear as a false contour effect in a smooth region of the image. False contours may appear as bands in a uniform or continuously varying area of the image.
Techniques have been proposed for removing banding artifacts from digital images. In one approach, a method for detecting digital contours utilizes a selected one of a plurality of search window sizes based on a corresponding variance of the image, and removes the digital contour by using a low pass filter matched to the selected search window size. Another approach utilizes a block based texture/flat area classification by analyzing the coded block maximum/minimum edge value and utilizing a debanding filter with adaptive window size based on the texture/flat classification results.
Conventional debanding techniques have various drawbacks, including but not limited to undesired side effects on image quality and high implementation cost. Implementation costs include integrated circuit chip area and processing time. Accordingly, there is a need for improved methods and apparatus for banding noise detection in digital image signals.

Banding noise detector for digital images

STMICROELECTRONICS ASIA PACIFIC PTE. LTD.


A rinse nozzle for gently and efficiently rinsing the interior and exterior of breathing regulators, snorkels, buoyancy compensator vests and other SCUBA equipment. The nozzle has an outlet adapted to releasably mate with regulator and snorkel mouthpieces and with the mouthpiece of a buoyancy compensator inflator. The nozzle includes a flow metering means, baffle means, and diffusing passage to provide low velocity fluid rinsing to prevent damage to the equipment. The rinse nozzle can be attached to any standard hose or faucet.

SCUBA equipment, and particularly self-contained underwater breathing apparatus, is frequently used under conditions where cleaning or rinsing immediately after use is necessary. Such equipment, for example, generally includes SCUBA breathing regulators, snorkels and buoyancy compensators. SCUBA regulators, of course, are the equipment which enable a diver to breathe underwater. They usually are provided in a unit comprising a first stage for stepping down high pressure air to a lower pressure and a second stage for controlling the air supplied for breathing on demand. These devices usually comprise a mouthpiece and a large diaphragm connected to a valve lever, providing an on demand breathing apparatus. Snorkels, of course, are devices having a mouthpiece and a curved breathing tube which permits a person to float on the water's surface and view downwardly without twisting the head for breathing. Buoyancy compensators, on the other hand, generally comprise inflatable vests which are worn by divers to adjust their buoyancy. These vests may be inflated either orally or by power inflators connected to the low pressure outlets of the first stage of the SCUBA regulator. The oral inflation devices usually comprise a hose having a mouthpiece at one end with a valve which can be operated while underwater to permit the introduction of air into the buoyancy compensator vest by the diver orally.
It is essential that such SCUBA equipment be cleaned or rinsed after use, not only to extend its useful lifetime, but also to ensure that it will not fail during subsequent use, which could be a potentially life-threatening occurrence. This need for cleansing is particularly acute when SCUBA equipment is used in salt water, for example. Once salt water dries, it leaves a salt residue, which can be both corrosive and abrasive. These effects can shorten the useful life or interfere with the performance of the life support equipment. For example, salt left in the second stage of a breathing regulator may interfere with the valve operation or corrode the metallic valve parts. Dried salt crystals can also accumulate on the diaphragm and cause undue wear during subsequent uses.
It is also common for at least some salt water to enter a buoyancy compensator, for example, through the mouthpiece of the inflator. When such salt water dries inside the compensator, it leaves a salt residue, particularly in the bottom creases and seams of the inflatable bladder. The effects of dried salt can cause undue wear within the compensator wall, and possibly result in material failure. This could result in air leaks and the ingestion of water during a dive, reducing the lift capacity of the BC.
In the usual method of cleaning or rinsing such equipment, an ordinary garden hose or faucet is used to rinse the equipment, either at the dive site, boat dock, or later at home or lodging. Although this method appears to be quick and easy, it suffers from two major shortcomings.
First, the water flowing through a garden hose or faucet is at relatively high speed and under high pressure, particularly when a nozzle of the normal garden hose variety is utilized. When such high speed streams are directed onto regulators, buoyancy compensators or snorkels, the high velocity streams can damage the equipment. Such high velocity streams could bend or break a valve component in the regulator, tear or unseat diaphragms or the like.
To prevent damaging the diaphragms and valve mechanisms of the second stage of a breathing regulator, extreme care must be exercised during the rinsing process. As a result, the breathing regulator often receives an inferior cleaning, or is not cleaned at all. Moreover, the water splash from a hose at the rinsing site may wet everything in the rinse area.
Secondly, in cleaning such equipment, it is often necessary to ensure that water flows through or into the device in order to cleanse the interior. Currently, it is necessary to distort and stretch the mouthpieces associated with these devices over the threaded end of a hose or faucet to accomplish this task. However, this practice causes the mouthpiece to quickly wear, or may even result in permanent damage to the mouthpiece, not to mention the potential damage from potentially high water velocity against sensitive components. Accordingly, it has been one objective of this invention to provide a nozzle for gently rinsing or cleaning SCUBA equipment.
A further objective of the invention has been to enable the use of a high pressure water source, such as a typical consumer water supply, in cleaning or rinsing delicate SCUBA equipment parts without damaging such apparatus.


An alloy made of heat treated material represented by Gd5(SixGe1−x)4 where 0.47≦x≦0.56 that exhibits a magnetic entropy change (−ΔSm) of at least 16 J/kg K, a magnetostriction of at least 2000 parts per million, and a magnetoresistance of at least 5 percent at a temperature of about 300K and below, and method of heat treating the material between 800 to 1600 degrees C. for a time to this end.

Magnetic refrigeration is being considered as an alternative technique to gas compressor technology for cooling and heating based on engineering and economic considerations that indicate that magnetic regenerator refrigerators, in principle, are more efficient than gas cycle refrigerators and thus can yield savings in the cost of operation and conservation of energy.
Magnetic refrigeration utilizes the ability of a magnetic field to affect the magnetic part of a solid material's entropy to reduce it and, therefore, increase the lattice (vibrational) part of the entropy in an isothermal process or the temperature of the solid material in an adiabatic process. When the magnetic field is removed, the change or return of the magnetic entropy of the magnetic solid material reduces the temperature of the material. Thus, magnetic refrigeration is effected by cyclic heat dissipation and heat absorption in the course of adiabatic magnetization and adiabatic demagnetization of the magnetic solid material via application/discontinuance of an external magnetic field. A refrigeration apparatus that exhausts or vents the released heat on one side of the apparatus when the magnetic solid material is magnetized and cools a useful load on another side when the magnetic solid material is demagnetized is known in the magnetic refrigeration art as an active magnetic regenerator magnetic refrigerator (also known by the acronym AMR/MR).
U.S. Pat. No. 5,743,095 describes active magnetic refrigerant materials having general molecular formula Gd5(SixGe1−x)4 that provide a giant magnetocaloric effect for use in magnetic refrigerators when 0≦x≦0.5. Also as described in that patent are alloys for 0.5<x≦1.0 which order magnetically between 295 and 335 K and have useful and large (but not giant) magnetocaloric properties. The giant magnetocaloric effect in the former alloys (x≦0.5) is due to a first order magnetic/structural transition,1 and thus these alloys are useful for cooling applications from just below room temperature (275 K) down to liquid hydrogen temperatures (20 K). The large magnetocaloric effect in the latter alloys (x>0.5) is due to a second order magnetic transformation, making these alloys useful magnetic refrigerants for the high temperature layer of a multilayered active magnetic regenerator of a cooling device for the rejection of heat to the ambient, and also for heat pumps to reach ˜−350 K. The upper temperature limit can be increased from 275 K to 300 K by providing x=0.525 and heat treatment pursuant to this invention as described below such that x values of 0.525≦x≦1.0 provide a large magnetocaloric effect material.
For most magnetic refrigeration and heat pump applications, large amounts (e.g. several hundred grams to hundreds of kilograms) of the magnetocaloric materials per device are needed to obtain sufficient cooling. For example, for a highly efficient magnetic air conditioner about 0.5 kg of magnetic refrigerant could provide a cooling power of 1 kW (kilowatt). Since a typical home requires about 5 kW of cooling power, about 2.5 kg of magnetic refrigerant are needed. For less efficient devices, more magnetic refrigerant material is required. The current process for making the giant and the large magnetocaloric materials Gd5(SixGe1−x)4 involves arc-melting the appropriate amounts of the individual elements (Gd, Si, and Ge), but this technique normally is limited to 50 to 100 gram quantities. Larger quantities can be prepared by arc-melting but generally the resulting ingots are inhomogeneous; i.e. parts of the ingot have excellent magnetocaloric properties much greater than other parts of the ingot having lower magnetocaloric properties, which at best are about the same as the current prototype magnetic refrigerant, Gd, for near room temperature applications. The ingot inhomogeneity is readily understood since, for the Gd5(SixGe1−x)4 alloys, the exact Gd to (Si+Ge) ratio 5:4 has been found to be critical. For example, small deviations from the 5:4 ratio have been found to lead to the appearance of the Gd(SixGe1−x), 1:1, or Gd5(SixGe1−x)3, 5:3, phases, and therefore, to significantly reduced magnetic refrigerant cooling capacity.
These very same alloys, which exhibit the giant magnetocaloric effect, also exhibit an extremely large magnetostriction and also a large magnetoresistance when undergoing the first order transformation. Based on crystallographic data, Gd5(Si2Ge2) has a reversible linear colossal magnetostriction of ˜10,000 parts per million (ppm) along the [100] axis, or a volumetric colossal magnetostriction of ˜4500 ppm. In comparison, the magnetostriction of Terfenol-D [(Tb0.7Dy0.3)Fe2] is ˜1200 ppm. Since the colossal magnetostriction is due to the first order phase transition it is expected to occur in all Gd5(SixGe1−x)4 alloys for 0≦x≦0.56. Thus the method of this invention described herein for the production of the giant magnetocaloric materials also applies for producing the colossal magnetostrictive alloys, which are useful as actuators, positioning devices, etc. controlled by the change of the magnetic field and also for magnetoelastic sensors to detect stresses.
Measurements of the electrical resistance of Gd5(SixGe1−x)4 alloys for 0.24≦x≦0.525 as a function of temperature and magnetic field show that there is a large (˜25%) change in the resistance at the first order phase transformation when induced by a magnetic field above their respective ordering temperatures. The sign of the change is positive for x=0.375 and negative for x=0.5. Such large changes have been observed in artificial, non-rare earth, magnetic multilayered materials, and have been labeled as "giant" magnetoresistors. There are a number of applications in the electronics field for giant magnetoresistance materials, including read heads in magnetic recording devices and sensors.
Furthermore, the Si to Ge ratio is also important since the magnetic ordering (Curie) temperature (TC) is strongly dependent on the relative amounts of these two elements. For example, for x greater than 0.525 for the Gd5(SixGe1−x)4 material, the giant magnetocaloric, colossal magnetostriction, and giant magnetoresistance effects are not observed; and for x greater than or equal to 0 and less than or equal to 0.525, the Curie temperature varies almost linearly with x from approximately 20 K at x=0 to approximately 300 K at x=0.525, and the material exhibits the giant magnetocaloric, colossal magentostrictive, and giant magnetoresistance effects.
Arc-melting 100 gram quantities at a time is labor intensive and thus an extremely expensive operation. Furthermore, use of commercially pure Gd (having more than 0.1 wt. % interstitial and other impurities) instead of high purity Gd (less than 0.1 wt. % impurities) to prepare the Gd5(SixGe1−x)4 material for 0≦x≦0.525 by arc-melting has led to only average magnetocaloric properties and not the giant magnetocaloric properties desired. The magnetocaloric properties of Gd5(SixGe1−x)4 for 0.525≦x≦1.0, however, are not nearly as sensitive to the impurities in the Gd metal used to prepare the alloys by arc-melting.
Copending Ser. No. 09/793,822, now U.S. Patent 6,589,366, describes a method of making relatively larger quantities of the Gd5(SixGe1−x)4 material for 0≦x≦1.0 using commercially pure Gd, Si and Ge as starting charge components in a more cost effective manner.
The present invention provides a heat treatment for Gd5(SixGe1−x)4 and other alloys to provide heat treated material having improved magnetocaloric and other magnetothermal properties that are better than those of Gd metal at and near room temperature.

Method of making active magnetic refrigerant materials based on Gd-Si-Ge alloys

Iowa State University Research Foundation, Inc.


A nonradioactive atmospheric pressure method for ionization of analytes comprises creating an electrical discharge in a carrier gas thus creating metastable neutral excited-state species. The carrier gas containing the excited-state species is directed into a reactant gas to form ions of the reactant gas. The ionized reactant gas is then directed at the analytes at atmospheric pressure near ground potential to form analyte ions.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to atmospheric ionization of analytes and mass spectrographic methods.
2. Description of Related Art
Regulatory and safety issues related to the use of radioactive materials, such as 63Ni, 241Am, and 3H, among others, have led to a search for non-radioactive ion sources for analytical instruments, such as ion mobility spectrometers. (See Turner et al. U.S. Pat. No. 6,225,623 entitled "Corona Discharge Ion Source for Analytical Instruments", Doring U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2002/0185593 entitled "Ion Mobility Spectrometer with Non-Radioactive Ion Source".), and Kojiro et al., "Determination of C1–C4 Alkanes by Ion Mobility Spectrometry", Anal. Chem., 1991, 63, 2295–2300.
Certain available corona discharge ion sources for atmospheric pressure ionization (API) mass spectrometers or ion mobility spectrometers (IMS) or chemical agent monitors (CAM) introduce the analyte (including solvent, air, and other contaminants) into the region containing a discharge needle. This leads to several problems:
1. The presence of oxygen or other contaminants in the air leads to degradation of the electrodes.
2. It can be difficult to maintain the discharge in the presence of contaminants, requiring a high electrical potential or pulsed potentials.
3. A corona discharge in air leads to the formation of species, such as NO2−, NO3−, and related cluster ions. These ions can cause a loss of sensitivity for analyte ions (C. A. Hill and C. L. P. Thomas, Analyst, 2003, 128, pp. 55–60) and can interfere with the detection of NO2− and NO3− produced from analytes containing nitro functional groups, such as nitro explosives or in the case of chloride ion interference with chlorate propellants for rocket motors or phosphate interference with chemical warfare-related compounds. Attachment of these mixed nitric oxides to explosive molecules will misrepresent the degree of nitration of the explosive. This is a serious drawback because the scale of explosive power is related to the degree of nitration on the molecule.
4. Introducing air and analyte into the discharge region limits the possibilities for controlling the nature of the chemical background to control the ion-formation chemistry.
Taylor et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,684,300 entitled "Corona Discharge Ionization Source" and Turner et al. U.S. Pat. No. 6,225,623 B1 entitled "Corona Discharge Ion Source for Analytical Instruments" describe corona discharge ion sources, but do not describe separating the region where the discharge occurs from the region where the analyte is introduced. See also Zhao et al. entitled "Liquid Sample Injection Using Atmospheric Pressure Direct Current Glow Discharge Ionization Source," Anal. Chem., 64, pp. 1426–1433, 1992.
Tsuchiya et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,546,253 entitled "Apparatus for Producing Sample Ions" describes a method for using metastable atoms to produce ions from a sample introduced at the tip of an emitter needle downstream from the corona discharge. This technique requires that the sample be placed on or near an intense electric field emitter needle. See also Otsuka et al. entitled "An Interface for Liquid Chromatograph/Liquid Ionization Mass Spectrometer," Analytical Sciences, Vol. 4, October 1988. Tsuchiya has developed a technique called "Liquid Surface Penning Ionization" (LPI) that uses excited-state argon atoms produced in a corona discharge to ionize liquid samples. The liquid samples are deposited onto the tip of a heated needle at atmospheric pressure to which kilovolt electrical potentials are applied.
The present invention avoids use of an emitter needle at high electrical potential placed downstream of the corona discharge source. Further, the present invention provides a method of sampling neutral analyte molecules without the restriction of relocating the analyte from the surfaces on which they are attached. For example, cocaine from cash currency, and chemical/biological warfare agents from surfaces of military interest can be sampled directly and in situ without swabbing or solvent washing the surface. Each time sample is relocated, analyte molecules are lost (30 to 100% for trace-level concentrations). Therefore, direct surface sampling is always preferred.
Long-lived excited-state atoms and molecules (metastables) have been used in only a few other ion source designs. Bertrand et al. U.S. Pat. No. 6,124,675 entitled "Metastable Atom Bombardment Source" discloses a metastable atom source operating at reduced pressure for generating ions in a mass spectrometer. The device described requires substantially reduced pressures and does not describe means for using metastable atoms for atmospheric pressure ionization mass spectrometry or ion mobility spectrometers. The MAB source produces a beam of metastable atoms at reduced pressure that are introduced under vacuum into a conventional chemical ionization source. Analyte ions are produced by Penning ionization, a reaction between an energetic atom or molecule M* and a sample molecule S:M*+S->S++M+c−  (1)
A high degree of selectivity can be achieved by selecting species with excited-state energies just above the ionization potential of a specific analyte. Background interference with ionization potentials greater than the energy of the excited-state will not be ionized. The MAB source was tested in our laboratory and was found to be efficient and selective. However, it is limited to volatile analytes that can be introduced into a mass spectrometer vacuum system.
McLuckey and coworkers developed a technique called "Atmospheric Sampling Glow Discharge Ionization" (ASGDI) in which sample vapors are introduced through an orifice into a glow discharge at reduced pressure. McLuckey, S. A.; Glish, G. L.; Asano, K. G.; Grant, B. C., Anal. Chem., 1988, 60, 2220. "Atmospheric Sampling Glow Discharge Ionization Source for the Analysis of Trace Organics in Ambient Air." Guzowski et al., J. Anal. At. Spectrom., 1999, 14, 1121–1127 "Development of a Direct Current Gas Sampling Glow Discharge Ionization Source for Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometer".
Hiraoka and coworkers recently reported atmospheric pressure Penning ionization mass spectrometry (APPeI) in which a gas stream was passed through an atmospheric pressure argon corona discharge to induce ionization prior to introduction into the atmospheric pressure interface of a time-of-flight mass spectrometer. Hiraoka, K.; Fujimaki, S.; Kambara, S.; Furuya, H.; Okazaki, S., Rapid Commun. Mass Spectrom., 2004, 18, 2323–2330. "Atmospheric-Pressure Penning Ionization Mass Spectrometry".
All of these methods suffer from certain limitations that prevent direct analysis under ambient conditions. For example, MAB and ASGDI require that a volatile sample be introduced into a region of reduced pressure. LPI requires that the sample be placed on a heated needle that is held at high (kilovolt) electrical potentials. APPeI makes use of a ring of ten corona needles operated at kilovolt potentials surrounding the orifice into the mass spectrometer API interface. These factors hinder the ability to analyze samples directly without modification and without risk to the operator.
Furthermore, MAB, ASGDI, and APPeI introduce the sample directly into the electrical discharge region. It is well known that an electrical discharge can cause sample decomposition and unwanted reactions. In fact, corona discharge methods are used for the destruction of naval and cruse derived wastes.

Method for atmospheric pressure analyte ionization


In a system for providing software maintenance service, a server includes: a storage unit that stores a determination rule for determining whether to deny a process request to the faulty software; and a transmitting unit that transmits the determination rule to the client. The client includes: a determination-rule receiving unit that receives the determination rule; a process-request receiving unit that receives the process request; and a determining unit that determines whether to deny the process request based on the determination rule.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a technology for providing software maintenance service for a software installed in a computer connected to a network.
2. Description of the Related Art
Software has been complicated and extensive and the development period for the software has been shortened in recent years. With these circumstances, a burden of software design and program coding on software vendors that develop and distribute software has been growing year by year.
Therefore, the software developed and distributed under these circumstances has potentially many design errors and program code errors, and software faults due to these errors may cause serious damage to users who use the software.
A fault related to security of the software in particular is called "vulnerability" or "security hole" (hereinafter, "security hole"), and third parties having no authorized right to access a computer use the security hole to make unauthorized accesses to the computer. Such accesses as above are rapidly increasing.
In general, if such a fault is found, the software vendor develops a correction program to correct a relevant program code that causes the fault (it is sometimes called "updater" or "patch"), and releases the correction program to the users without charge. The user acquires the correction program released and causes the computer to execute it, and the program code is thereby corrected.
When the correction program is released, to solve the software fault, the user has to acquire the correction program released as quickly as possible and cause the computer to execute it and to correct the program code. As a technology to correct the program code as quickly as possible, a device as follows is disclosed. The device automatically performs acquisition of a correction program for software having a fault and correction of the software by the correction program acquired (see Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H11-272454).
However, when the fault is found in the software, the software vendors generally release a correction program for the fault to the users in the following steps. At first, the software vendor reproduces a symptom of the fault, creates a correction program to correct the fault, examines the correction program created, confirms that the correction program surely fixes the software fault and exerts no effect on the rest of a program other than the fault, and releases the correction program after all these steps. Therefore, a long period of time is required from finding the software fault to releasing the correction program. Consequently, the conventional technology disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H11-272454 has a problem such that the correction program cannot quickly be provided to the users. Therefore, the users have no other choice but leave the program code uncorrected until the correction program is created, and may be damaged due to occurrence of the software fault during this period.
As a method of preventing unauthorized access using the security hole, it is general to build a firewall. More specifically, source information such as an IP address of a computer, from which the unauthorized access is made, is found out from its access log, and the firewall performs a process for denying an access request, as unauthorized access, from the computer that includes the source information.
In this method, however, it is impossible to deny an access from a computer until the access from the computer is verified as unauthorized access. Another device as follows is therefore disclosed. The device checks whether an access from a computer matches any known pattern indicating unauthorized access, and denies the access as unauthorized access if there is a match (see Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2002-342279).
However, even if the conventional technology disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2002-342279 is used, there still remains some problems on how to quickly and efficiently acquire an unauthorized access pattern that is created to deal with new unauthorized access and how to protect against the unauthorized access.

Method and system for providing software maintenance service, and computer product


A close-up attachment lens, for enabling close-up photograph along with a main lens, is arranged to be attached to the object side of said main lens. The close-up attachment lens comprises, in that order from the object side, a positive first lens element, a negative second lens element, and a positive third lens element formed as a meniscus lens that is convex on the image side. Furthermore, the close-up attachment lens satisfies the following conditions: EQU 0.005<d2/fA<0.040 (1) EQU 0.010<(d2+d4)/fA<0.060 (2). wherein:. di designates the distance between the ith surface and (i+1).sup.th surface; PA1 fA designates the focal length of the attachment lens.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a close-up attachment lens to be attached to a photographic lens (main lens) of a camera on the object side, enabling close-up photography of a magnification from -0.5 to -1.0.
2. Description of the Related Art
Close-up attachment lenses, for example, which are disclosed in the laid-open Japanese Patent Publications (No.3-39917 and No.5-224121) have been known. In addition, the U.S. patent application Ser. No. (505,640), which was based on one of the Publications, JP3-39917, has been patented as the U.S. Pat. No. 5,216,546 (Jun. 1, 1993). Both of these laid-open patent publications and the U.S. patent have disclosed a three-lens-element arrangement, having two positive lens elements and one negative lens element.
However, as the magnification of the lens taught in the above laid-open Japanese Patent Publication No.3-39917 is -1.1 to -2.1, which is relatively high, the correction of spherical aberration and lateral chromatic aberration cannot sufficiently be made. On the other hand, the magnification of the lens taught in the above laid-open Japanese Patent Publication No.5-224121 is -0.9 to -0.80. This means that the magnification does not reach -1.0 (the life size), and is not suitable for the purposes of the close-up attachment lens of the present invention which has a magnification of -0.5 to -1.0. Furthermore, with the lens arrangement of JP5-224121, it should be noted that astigmatism and distortion are relatively large.
Generally, in order to satisfactorily correct aberrations, making the power of each lens weaker can be effective. However, if the power of the lenses are made too weak, the entire length the lens system becomes longer as well as the diameter of the lens on the object side increasing. Usually, in a main lens of a camera, there is a fixing member having thread groves for detachably attaching a filter or other accessories to the frontmost inner peripheral wall of the lens barrel of the main lens. However, if the lens diameter on the object side of the attachment lens is made larger, the internal diameter of an installing portion of the attachment lens inevitably becomes larger than the internal diameter of the fixing member of the main lens. Consequently, various sizes of accessories have to be prepared depending on the diameter on the object side of the attachment lens and that of the main lens.


A roasting rack for cooking fowl comprising a horizontally disposed U shaped stand having integrally interconnected and spaced apart mutually parallel legs, a vertically disposed post detachably connected to the stand, said post having first and second vertically spaced apart branches projecting over the stand where the first and second branches are situated in a vertical plane that bisects the space between the legs of the stand, a handle pivotally attached to the first branch and a fowl supporting saddle attached to the second branch.

Birds, such as chickens and turkeys, are most often roasted in a pan where the flat back of the bird rests on the bottom of the pan and the breast of the bird faces upwardly. In this position the meat juices tend to move downwardly toward the back and into the roasting pan. Accordingly, it is the primary object of the present invention to provide a holding rack that positions the bird upside down for cooking, allowing the juices to run into the breast instead of away from it. Additional advantages of the rack of the present invention include cooking the bird in the air and not in the fat. Basting is not required because the bird browns evenly.


A mobile terminal including a user input unit configured to input information into the mobile terminal; a display unit configured to display data; a Wi-Fi module configured to provide an Access Point (AP) function such that an external terminal can access a wireless network through the Wi-Fi module providing the AP function; and a controller configured to control a state of the Wi-Fi module to be switched between 1) a power saving mode in which the Wi-Fi module is alternated between a sleep state and an awake state and 2) a power saving off mode in which the Wi-Fi module is continuously maintained in the awake state until a Wi-Fi connection request signal is received from the external device or a predetermined amount of time passes from a specific timing point.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a mobile terminal, and more particularly, to a mobile terminal and controlling method thereof. Although the present invention is suitable for a wide scope of applications, it is particularly suitable for facilitating a terminal to be used in further consideration of user's convenience.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
A mobile terminal is a device which may be configured to perform various functions. Examples of such functions include data and voice communications, capturing images and video via a camera, recording audio, playing music files and outputting music via a speaker system, and displaying images and video on a display. Some terminals include additional functionality which supports game playing, while other terminals are also configured as multimedia players. More recently, mobile terminals have been configured to receive broadcast and multicast signals which permit viewing of contents, such as videos and television programs.
Generally, terminals can be classified into mobile terminals and stationary terminals according to a presence or non-presence of mobility. And, the mobile terminals can be further classified into handheld terminals and vehicle mount terminals according to availability for hand-carry.
There are ongoing efforts to support and increase the functionality of mobile terminals. Such efforts include software and hardware improvements, as well as changes and improvements in the structural components which form the mobile terminal.
Recently, a mobile terminal capable of an access point (hereinafter abbreviated AP) for providing a wireless LAN service to other devices according to IEEE 802.11 Standards has been introduced. The wireless local area network (hereinafter abbreviated WLAN) means a network environment that provides a LAN service to such an external device as a notebook computer equipped with a WLAN card using an AP device corresponding to a hub of a wire LAN. In the field of the mobile communication technology, the IEEE 802.11 technology is generally called 'Wi-Fi'. In the following description, the terminologies 'WLAN' and 'Wi-Fi' mean the technologies based on IEEE 802.11.
Once the AP function is activated in the mobile terminal, such an external device as a notebook computer can perform a Wi-Fi access to the mobile terminal via the AP function.
In case of a general AP device, a power is supplied from a commercial power source (e.g., a wall electric outlet). Therefore, since a use of the general AP device is barely limited due to its power consumption, the necessity for the power saving is not considerable.
However, unlike the general AP device, since the mobile terminal normally needs a battery power to work instead of receiving a power from a commercial power source, the necessity for the power saving should be taken into consideration. Hence, many efforts are ongoing to be made to research and develop a method of reducing power consumption without interrupting the AP function activated in the mobile terminal.

Mobile terminal and controlling method thereof


Non-woven fibrous scaffolds made by electrospinning from the synthetic biodegradable polymer such as, for example, poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) and natural proteins, such as, for example, gelatin (denatured collagen) and elastin and a method of making thereof.

1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to engineering of functional three-dimensional (3-D) tissue constructs for the replacement and/or repair of damaged native tissues.
2. Description of Related Art
Engineering of functional three-dimensional (3-D) tissue constructs for the replacement and/or repair of damaged native tissues using cells and scaffolds is one of the ultimate goals of tissue engineering. The following references describe various scaffolds:                Zhang Y, Ouyang H, Lim C T, Ramakrishna S, Huang Z M., Electrospinning of gelatin fibers and gelatin/PCL composite fibrous scaffolds, J Biomed Mater Res. 2004 Sep. 22;        Xu C, Inai R, Kotaki M, Ramakrishna S., Electrospun nanofiber fabrication as synthetic extracellular matrix and its potential for vascular tissue engineering. Tissue Eng. 2004 July-August; 10 (7-8):1160-8; and        Stankus J J, Guan J, Wagner W R., Fabrication of biodegradable elastomeric scaffolds with sub-micron morphologies. J Biomed Mater Res. 2004 Sep. 15; 70A(4):603-14.
Further information regarding scaffolds can be obtained from U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,306,424, 6,616,435, 6,689,166, 6,753,311, 6,790,455, 6,790,528 and 6,821,479 and U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2002/0090725 to Simpson et al.
Problems with currently available scaffolds include the following: current scaffold need to be crosslinked, mechanical properties are not suitable for multiple applications, and limited cell in-growth.
Accordingly, there is a need in the art to provide scaffolds with better mechanical properties and improved cell in-growth capabilities.
All references cited herein are incorporated herein by reference in their entireties.

Electrospun blends of natural and synthetic polymer fibers as tissue engineering scaffolds


A method for fabricating a micro structure includes depositing a first layer of a first material over a substrate; patterning a first hard mask over the first layer; depositing a second layer of a second material over the first layer and the first hard mask; patterning a second hard mask over the second layer; and selectively removing the first material and the second material not covered by any of the first mask and the second mask to produce over the substrate the micro structure having a first structure portion having a first height and a second structure portion having a second height.

The present disclosure relates to the fabrication of micro structures such as spatial light modulators.
A micro-mirror array is a type of spatial light modulator (SLM) that includes an array of micro mirrors. Each micro mirror can be tilted about an axis by electrostatic forces. The electrostatic forces can be generated by electric potential differences between the mirror plate and an electrode over the substrate underneath the mirror plate. In a digital mode of operation, the micro mirror plate can be tilted to two positions: an "on" position and an "off" position. In the "on" position, the micro mirror plate directs incident light to an assigned pixel of a display device. In the "off" position, the micro mirror plate directs incident light away from the display device. The micro mirror can be stopped by mechanical stops and held to stay at the "on" and the "off" positions. The SLM can selectively tilt micro mirrors in the micro-mirror array to project light to display image pixels in a display image. A display device is usually required to refresh image frames at high frequencies typical of video applications. Each image frame refreshing can involve the tilting of the micro mirrors once or multiple times. Reliable and fast mirror tilt movement is therefore an essential requirement for mirror-based SLM devices. One issue related to the mirror response rate is the stiction between the mirror plate and the mechanical stops. The stiction can cause a delay in the mirror tilt response or prevent a mirror from tilting to a new orientation.

Method for fabricating a micro structure


According to one aspect of the invention, a method is provided in which a set of probabilistic attributes in an N-gram language model is classified into a plurality of classes. Each resultant class is clustered into a plurality of segments to build a code-book for the respective class using a modified K-means clustering process which dynamically adjusts the size and centroid of each segment during each iteration in the modified K-means clustering process. A probabilistic attribute in each class is then represented by the centroid of the corresponding segment to which the respective probabilistic attribute belongs.

Modern speech recognition systems are based on principles of statistical pattern recognition and typically employ an acoustic model and a language model to decode an input sequence of observations (also referred to as acoustic events or acoustic signals) representing an input speech (e.g., a sentence or string of words) to determine the most probable sentence or word sequence given the input sequence of observations. In other words, the function of a modern speech recognizer is to search through a vast space of potential or candidate sentences and to choose the sentence or word sequence that has the highest probability of generating the input sequence of observations or acoustic events. In general, most modern speech recognition systems employ acoustic models that are based on continuous density hidden Markov models (CDHMMs). In particular, CDHMMs have been widely used in speaker-independent LVCSR because they outperform discrete HMMs and semi-continuous HMBs. In CDHMMs, the probability function of observations or state observation distribution is modeled by multivariate mixture Gaussians (also referred to herein as Gaussian mixtures) which can approximate the speech feature distribution more accurately. The purpose of a language model is to provide a mechanism for estimating the probability of a word in an utterance given the preceding words. Most modern LVCSR systems typically employ some forms of N-gram language model which assumes that the probability of a word depends only on the preceding (N-1) words. N is usually limited to 2 (for a bi-gram model) or 3 for a tri-gram model). In a typical LVCSR system, the size of the language model is usually very large. For example, for a Chinese dictation system having a vocabulary size of about 50,000 words, the size of a typical tri-gram language model file is about 130 Mbytes and the size of a typical bi-gram look-ahead language model file is about 109 Mbytes. Since the language models files are usually very large, it is difficult to load such files directly into memory because of insufficient physical memory in most of the desktop machines. One solution is to use a memory-map file format to access language model files in LVCSR system. Accessing the language model files using memory-map file format is slower than loading the language model files directly into memory. In addition, because a LVCSR system accesses language model files randomly, searching such a big space randomly also costs much time. In short, the large size of language model files in a LVCSR system can negatively impact the system performance in terms of memory requirement and run-time speed.

Method, apparatus and system for building a compact language model for large vocabulary continuous speech recognition (LVCSR) system


In order to remove oxides produced as a result of natural oxidation, from a semiconductor wafer, the semiconductor wafer is transported into a preparatory chamber filled with an inert gas via a loading/unloading passage and held by open/close pins of a loading platform atop an intermediate cover lowered in the preparatory chamber; the intermediate cover then raises, the preparatory chamber and an intermediate chamber located immediately above the preparatory chamber are isolated; and the loading platform and the semiconductor wafer thereon are positioned in the intermediate chamber. Thereafter, a closed open/close cover located at the upper part of the intermediate chamber opens upward; a treatment gas from a treatment gas atmosphere chamber located immediately above the intermediate chamber flows into the intermediate chamber; and a process is performed for removing oxidation film from the semiconductor wafer surface. Then, the open/close cover lowers to isolate the treatment gas atmosphere chamber from the intermediate chamber, and by supplying an inert gas, treatment gas in the intermediate chamber is exhausted, and afterwards, the intermediate cover lowers, and the treated object is transported via the loading/unloading passage from the preparatory chamber to a load lock chamber. Thus, leakage of the treatment gas to the outside is prevented.

The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for surface treatment of such objects as semiconductor wafers.
Among conventional semiconductor wafer film forming apparatus of this type is a wafer surface treatment apparatus, in which a semiconductor wafer is contained in a treatment chamber and rotated while being exposed to a treatment gas atmosphere. The treatment gas thus acts uniformly on the semiconductor wafer surface so as to perform uniform surface treatment.
For example, in the case of a natural oxidation film removal apparatus for removing a natural oxide film formed on the semiconductor wafer, a predetermined liquid, for example, a mixture of hydrofluoric acid and water, is placed at the bottom section of a treatment chamber under normal or raised pressure. The produced hydrofluoric acid vapor is then dispersed within the treatment chamber.
At the upper section in this treatment chamber, the semiconductor wafer is arranged with the surface to be treated faced downwards. While the semiconductor wafer is being rotated, the hydrofluoric acid vapor acts on the semiconductor wafer surface so as to remove natural oxide film.
When surface treatment is performed using for example hydrofluoric acid solvent vapor, since this vapor is corrosive to metals such as heavy metals, the treatment object insertion and removal procedures with respect to the treatment chamber need to be performed without even a minute quantity of treatment gas leakage to the exterior from the treatment gas atmosphere chamber and treatment chamber.
However, in the case of conventional treatment apparatus in which the treatment chamber and a preparatory chamber for insertion and removal are used in common, and the treatment gas atmosphere chamber is provided at the bottom section of the treatment chamber, problems are encountered such as vapor leakage to the treatment chamber and, although in minute amounts, treatment gas also leaks to the exterior.


Apparatus are provided for measuring coating thickness. The apparatus include first and second inductors, which may be coils, and measuring the impedance of conductors by passing alternating current through the conductors. The conductors are arranged so that the first inductor may be positioned sufficiently close to a conductive surface so that its impedance changes and, when so positioned, any change in the impedance of the second inductor brought about by the surface is negligible compared to that in the impedance of the first. A microprocessor is provided and arranged to calculate a temperature compensated thickness measurement from the measured impedances of both inductors.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to an apparatus and method for measuring thickness and, in particular, to an apparatus and method for measuring the thickness of non-electrically conductive coatings on electrically conductive substrates and of electrically conductive materials, including electrically conductive coatings on nonelectrically conductive substrates.
2. Related Art
A number of types of coating thickness measuring instrument are known. One method used by such instruments to determine coating thickness is the so-called eddy current method. This method relies on the fact that the impedance of a coil carrying an alternating electric current varies in dependence on the distance of the coil from an electrically conductive surface. Instruments using this method typically include a probe including a coil. The probe is placed in contact with a coated conductive substrate, thereby placing the coil a predetermined distance from the substrate. An alternating current is applied to the coil and its impedance measured. This enables the distance from the coil to the substrate to be measured, from which the predetermined distance can be subtracted to obtain the thickness of the coating.
One way of measuring the impedance of a coil is to incorporate it into an LC oscillator the frequency of oscillation of which depends on the impedance of the coil. Impedance can then be determined from the frequency of oscillation. One apparatus using this approach is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,241,280.
A problem with the eddy current method is that the impedance of a coil is usually temperature dependent. Therefore, variations in ambient temperature can affect the accuracy of measurements made using a coil based measuring instrument.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,828,212 discloses a coating thickness measuring instrument including a magnetic field responsive sensor means, a measuring means for measuring the temperature dependent internal resistance of the sensor means and temperature compensation means connected to the measuring means for compensating for temperature drift of the measuring means. It appears from the disclosure that the instrument determines the temperature of the sensor and then makes an appropriate compensation based on the determined temperature. This is a rather complex approach because it is necessary to know the temperature response of the sensor in order to make an appropriate correction. Also, the temperature response of a sensor may change over time which cannot be compensated for by this instrument.
It is an object of the present invention to overcome, or at least mitigate, the above problems. It is also an object to provide an improved apparatus and methods for measuring thickness using the eddy current method which compensate for the effects of temperature.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an apparatus for measuring coating thickness which is sufficiently economical to produce so that it can be made available at a cost which is acceptable to an occasional lay user and which is able to indicate measured values in a way which is easy to understand by a lay user. Attempts have been made to provide a simplified instrument for use by lay persons, such as that described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,828,192, which discloses the use of a simplified display including three display elements to indicate the range into which a coating thickness measured by a conventional apparatus falls. Another such instrument is described in GB 2108672. Since both instruments employ conventional coating thickness apparatus they are restricted to measuring coating thickness on only ferrous or only non-ferrous substrates. Although instruments for measuring thickness on both ferrous and non-ferrous substrates are known, such as that described in U.S. Pat. No. Re. 35,703, they tend to be complex and costly and are therefore unsuitable for occasional use by lay persons. It is a further object to provide apparatus that is able to measure coating thickness on both ferrous and non-ferrous substrates.
It is a particular object to provide a low cost, easy to use, compact instrument for use in the automotive industry to detect if repair work has been carried out on automotive bodies which provides for some temperature compensation.
Other objects, features and advantages of the invention shall become apparent as the description thereof proceeds when considered in connection with the accompanying illustrative drawings.
According to an aspect of the present invention there is provided an apparatus for measuring thickness including first and second inductors each forming part of a respective tuned oscillator circuit the resonant frequency of which varies with the impedance of the inductor, means for causing an alternating current to flow in each circuit, and hence inductor, means for measuring the frequency of oscillation of alternating current in each circuit and processing means, the inductors being arranged so that the first inductor may be positioned sufficiently close to a conductive surface so that its impedance changes and, when so positioned, any change in the impedance of the second inductor brought about by the surface is negligible compared to that in the impedance of the first inductor, and the processing means being arranged to determine a temperature compensated thickness measurement from the measured frequencies of oscillation.
According to another aspect of the present invention there is provided a method of measuring thickness including the steps of providing a first inductor forming part of a first tuned oscillator circuit the resonant frequency of which varies with the impedance of the inductor, positioning it close to a surface from which a measurement is to be taken, causing an alternating current to flow in the first circuit, measuring the frequency of oscillation of the inductor, providing a second inductor forming part of a second tuned oscillator circuit the resonant frequency of which varies with the impedance of the inductor, positioning it away, or otherwise isolating it, from the surface so that any effect the surface has on its impedance is negligible compared to any effect the surface has on the impedance of the first inductor, while exposing both inductors to substantially the same environmental conditions, measuring the frequency of oscillation of the second circuit and determining from the measured frequencies a temperature compensated thickness measurement.

Apparatus and method for measuring thickness


A method and/or system for suggesting media content based on an image capture may include receiving, from an electronic device, a request for recommendations based on an image capture, wherein the request comprises data associated with the image capture. One or more search objects may be determined based on an analysis of the request. A particular user associated with the electronic device and one or more search interest associated with the particular user may be determined. One or more custom recommendations for the particular user may be determined based on the one or more search objects and/or based on the one or more search interests. Recommendation data comprising the one or more custom recommendations may be sent to the electronic device.

Various types of electronic devices are now commonly utilized. In this regard, electronic devices may include, for example, personal and non-personal devices, mobile and non-mobile devices, communication (wired and/or wireless) devices, general and special purpose devices. Examples of electronic devices may comprise cellular phones, smartphones, tablets, personal computers, laptops and the like. Determining interests of and recommendations for users of such electronic devices is complex and frequently results in recommendations that diverge from the actual interests of the users.
Further limitations and disadvantages of conventional and traditional approaches will become apparent to one of skill in the art, through comparison of such approaches with some aspects of the present method and/or system set forth in the remainder of this disclosure with reference to the drawings.

Suggesting media content based on an image capture


The optical reproduction system comprises an even number (e.g., four) of reflecting surfaces for producing an image rotated 90.degree. relative to an object to be produced, on an image plane that is parallel to the plane of the object. The incoming optical axis and the outgoing optical axis rest on the same straight line.

The present invention relates to an optical reproduction system. Optical reproduction systems which reproduce an object on an image plane parallel to the plane of the object and where the image produced in the image plane is rotated by 90.degree. relative to the object are known to the prior art in numerous designs. Examples are the so-called Dove/Amici prisms, the Abbe/Konig prism, and the Schmidt/Pechan prism. These reproduction systems differ among themselves significantly in the number of reflecting surfaces they employ (Dove/Amici: 1, Abbe/Konig : 3, Schmidt/Pechan: 5). But each of them has an odd number of reflecting surfaces, with the result that the produced image is indeed rotated 90.degree. on the image plane relative to the object; in each case, however, the image is also inverted in its orientation (a right-handed system becomes a left-handed system, and vice versa).
Of interest are those reproduction systems which rotate the object 90.degree. and are used in photographic copy machines and photographic processing paths. In the production of copies out of originals, for example from the negatives of a negative film, there are both film frames in full format (full-frame, for example, 24 mm.times.36 mm) and film frames in half-format (half-frame, for example, 24 mm.times.18 mm). On the negative film the half-frames are rotated 90.degree. relative to the full-frames due to the uniform film width. In the case of conventional simple exposure on paper, the copied image of the half-frame original would also be rotated by 90.degree. on the paper relative to the image of a full-frame original.
As a rule, films with originals (film frames) in full-frame arise more frequently than films with half-frames that are rotated 90.degree.. Still, films with rotated half-frames are so commonplace today and arise in such large number that for an efficient distribution of load on copy machines or photographic processing paths it must be possible to copy onto the paper the half-frame originals rotated 90.degree., and in such a way the copies of these half-frame originals rotated 90.degree. have the same position and also the same dimensions on the paper as the copies of full-frame originals.
This requirement quickly becomes obvious: whether the client has shot a film with half-frame or full-frame originals, he will want to receive paper copies, for example, in the particularly popular 9 cm.times.13 cm format. At the same time, copying with copy machines usually involves first combining the individual films or film strips to form a long tape. This long tape is then processed by exposure onto the paper. Likewise a long tape of photosensitive paper is employed for copies of one and the same format. This long paper tape has a uniform width (always for copies of one and the same format). If an attempt were made to copy both the originals in full-frame and the half-frame originals rotated 90.degree. onto the paper with a single enlargement, the paper width-adjusted to the smaller dimension (for example, 9 cm dimension) of the copies of full-frame originals--would be insufficient for the copies of half-frame originals. Even if the paper width were given adequate dimensions (which for copies of full-frame originals would result in a large excess length on the paper margin), the paper tape would have to be advanced each time a non-uniform distance before the next copy could be cut from the paper tape, depending on whether the next copy on the paper tape was that of a full-frame or a half-frame original inasmuch as the copy of the half-frame original would be copied onto the paper rotated in 90.degree. rotation.
In the past, therefore, copy machines were proposed in which--in the case of half-frame originals rotated 90.degree. --these rotated originals were copied onto the paper in 90.degree. "reverse rotation", and such copies consequently occupy the same position on the paper as copies of full-frame originals that have not been rotated in copying. To be sure, the reproduction systems discussed at the outset are unsuited for this purpose, since--as already mentioned--they have an uneven number of reflecting surfaces, and though they could provide the 90.degree. rotation, the orientation of the objects shown on the originals would be inverted. On the other hand, an even number of reflecting surfaces, which can also provide the 90.degree. rotation, will maintain the orientation of the reproduced objects. Copy machines which have these even number of reflecting surfaces are described in, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,743,103 and EP 0,157,325.
The solution described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,743,103, employing two Schmidt/Pechan prisms and a large number of lenses, is disadvantageous in several respects. It is disadvantageous with respect to spatial requirements (a reproduction system for use in copy machines cannot be of any desired size). Primarily, however, the expense with respect to the high precision required for justification of the reflecting surfaces of the prisms with the increasing number of reflections (in the present example the number of reflections is ten) is very high, and a true reproduction of the original by the produced copy is associated with a very high cost--or will otherwise be considerably impaired by a less precise justification of the prisms and their reflecting surfaces.
The variation suggested in EP 0,157,325 comprises a total of six reflecting surfaces, four of which are required to achieve the desired 90.degree. rotation. To be sure, after four reflections the incoming optical axis and the outgoing optical axis of the system would not coincide and the image would consequently be copied in displaced fashion on the paper. Such displacement results in increased paper consumption, since the gaps in the paper tape between copies which are produced from half-frame originals and copies which are produced from full-frame originals are larger than when only copies of full-frame originals are produced. In addition, displacement produces increased expense in terms of the transport means and the cutting device of the corresponding copy machine or photographic processing path: the paper tape must be advanced a differing distance before the next copy can be cut from the paper tape, depending on whether a copy of a full-frame or a half-frame original is the next copy on the paper tape. In order to avoid this kind of displacement and the associated expense, EP 0,157,325 furnishes two additional reflecting surfaces which assure that the image rotated 90.degree. is not copied in displaced fashion but rather in the same position on the paper as the unrotated image of a full-frame original. Additional reflecting surfaces, however, make for an increased spatial requirement, apart from the increased expense represented by the additional mirrors. Most important, however, the expense with respect to the high precision required in justifying the prisms and their reflecting surfaces remains very high, so that a true reproduction of the original by the produced copy can only be achieved at great expense, or at the cost of reduced quality when there is a less precise justification of the prisms and their reflecting surfaces.


The described process utilizes the ash from a trash-to-steam plant and a cementitous binder along with the hot output of an earth purification process and a strictly defined quantity of water in calculated amounts to produce an aggregate which satisfies leach and strength tests and qualifies for use in road building and as a landfill cover.

Enormous quantities of garbage are generated by modern societies. For example, United States residents produce on the average 400,000 tons of solid waste per day. This is about 3.5 pounds per day per resident. Two disposal techniques are predominant.
In the first technique, called landfill, the trash is conveyed to a place where it can accumulate, the landfill. Since trash may include many organic materials, including kitchen and other wastes, and wastes which attract birds and rodents, and also wastes from hospitals and homes in which disease contaminated materials reside, there are published regulations governing how the garbage is to be protected. Generally such regulations require the external surface of the mound of trash to be protected by a layer of earth and that each layer of trash within mound be covered at the end of each working day by a layer of impermeable material such as soils and aggregate, to limit the access of so called vectors, rodents and birds which could contribute to dissemination of such diseases. Further, the space available for landfills is sharply limited by various environmental factors. Political entities are struggling to reduce the quantity of waste produced within their jurisdictions not only to extend the life of their landfills but because the costs of employing landfills can be significant. It is not unusual to find landfill owners charging $100.00 per ton, so called "tipping" fees, for their use. One reduction technique is to require separation of and recycling of specific kinds of waste. For instance, organic and garden or lawn waste can be composted. Glass, plastic and paper wastes can be recycled.
In the second technique, called trash to steam, the trash is burned in a steam generating boiler plant. The steam is employed to generate electricity or for other purposes. The volume of waste is reduced by 80 to 90 percent, thereby increasing the capacity and life of existing landfills by a factor of 5 to 10. Further, burning waste eliminates any risk of hazardous diseases surviving the high temperatures inherent in the burning process. For example, steam generating plant having an electrical output of 50 megawatt (MW), burning 100 percent prepared trash having a heat content of 4500 Btu/pound requires about 4500 tons (T) of fuel trash per week. However, enormous quantities of hot ash are produced by such plants. The above 50 MW generating plant would produce about 675 T per week of ash. About 75 percent of the total amount of ash produced resides in the discharge grate and is known as bottom ash. The remainder is entrained in the stack gasses and is called fly ash. Fly ash is found and removed from the boiler heat transfer surfaces and from bag type filters or electrostatic precipitators through which exhaust gasses from the burning process are passed. Unfortunately, both the bottom ash and fly ash from both sources frequently contain concentrations of toxic metals such as zinc, lead and cadmium and of acid forming materials such as sulphate. Further, fly ash may have many times greater concentration of toxic organic elements and toxic metals and metallic compounds than bottom ash. This is both because fly ash leaves the fire zone before it can be fully affected by the hottest furnace temperatures and because the fly ash is exposed to and becomes contaminated with the vapors of the metals, metal compounds and organic toxins which have been decomposed and distilled out of the burning trash. Most trash burners combine the bottom and the fly ash and soak the combined ash with water to reduce its temperature. Others keep the fly ash separate and treat both independently. Since the cooling water itself becomes contaminated by contact with the ash, an effective process must fully utilize the water retained by the cooled ash.
Disposal of the ash in such a way that the toxic material cannot leach into the water supply has been a serious problem. In many cases the trash burning plants must pay contractors to remove the ash and to safely dispose of it. The EPA and other agencies have generated regulations governing disposal of this ash.
In other environments, great tonnages of earth, which have been contaminated by leakages of fuel and other oils and chemicals, must be treated in such a way as to make the leachate from such earth non-contaminating to water supplies. The usual process employed to decontaminate such contaminated earth is burning or pyrolysis. In the burning process the contaminated earth is heated to a high temperature. The toxic vapors emanating from the contaminated earth are recovered and safely disposed of. The earth, now devoid of all organic material and therefore useless for any farming purpose must be safely disposed of. The earth disposal process requires first cooling the heated earth and then depositing it in an environmentally non-damaging site.
The process of the invention produces an aggregate product in which the particles of ash are micro-encapsulated so that toxic and leachable elements are confined. The product, formed according to the process, has the required physical properties, such as compressive strength and abrasion resistance, to be employed as aggregate in either road base, hot mix asphalt or lime and cement based concrete or as cover in landfills. Further, by employing the normally wasted heat contained in an uncooled input stream of one of the constituents, the heating process in many cases can be conducted without the cost of carbon based fuel or the cost of mechanism required to burn it or the environment degrading products of fuel combustion such as carbon dioxide, sulphur dioxide, etc., though that method may be employed.
In order to produce an aggregate which meets the requirements of compressive strength, hydraulic conductivity, freeze thaw weathering and contaminant leachability mandated by standards, unique and strictly controlled conditions must be met and strictly maintained. Further, by strict control of the temperature and the initial moisture levels in the pre-baked/tumbled aggregate and the physical properties of the final product, the product qualitites are enhanced to the point where they can be freely employed in road construction despite the expansive effect of high sulphate content in the fly ash.

Process for producing aggregate from waste