An electromagnetic drive causes a cantilever of a probe-based instrument to deform flexurally by transmitting a high frequency AC signal through an electromagnetic actuator located in the vicinity of the cantilever. The AC signal preferably is an RF carrier signal having a frequency that is substantially higher than the resonant frequency of the cantilever. The carrier signal may, if desired, be modulated with a lower frequency modulation signal to induce the cantilever to oscillate, preferably at resonance. Alternatively, the carrier signal may be transmitted to the electromagnetic actuator without being modulated in order to deflect the cantilever quasi-statically. Cantilever response can then be monitored either directly in response to the imposition of the electromagnetically induced deformation of the cantilever in response to probe/sample interaction to obtain measurements regarding characteristics of the sample, the environment, and/or the cantilever.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to probe-based instruments and, more particularly, relates to a method and apparatus for driving a cantilever of such an instrument using either acoustic radiation pressure generated by an ultrasonic actuator or an interaction generated by an electromagnetic drive.
2. Description of Related Art
Several probe-based instruments monitor the interaction between a cantilever-based probe and a sample to obtain information concerning one or more characteristics of the sample. For example, scanning probe microscopes (SPMs) typically characterize the surface of a sample down to atomic dimensions by monitoring the interaction between the sample and a tip on the cantilever probe. By providing relative scanning movement between the tip and the sample, surface characteristic data can be acquired over a particular region of the sample, and a corresponding map of the sample can be generated.
The atomic force microscope (AFM) is a very popular type of SPM. The probe of the typical AFM includes a very small cantilever which is fixed to a support at its base and which has a sharp probe tip attached to the opposite, free end. The probe tip is brought very near to or into contact with a surface of a sample to be examined, and the deflection of the cantilever in response to the probe tip's interaction with the sample is measured with an extremely sensitive deflection detector, often an optical lever system such as described in Hansma et al. U.S. Pat. No. RE 34,489, or some other deflection detector such as strain gauges, capacitance sensors, etc. The probe is scanned over a surface using a high-resolution three axis scanner acting on the sample support and/or the probe. The instrument is thus capable of creating relative motion between the probe and the sample while measuring the topography or some other surface property of the sample as described, e.g., in Hansma et al. U.S. Pat. No. RE 34,489; Elings et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,226,801; and Elings et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,412,980.
AFMs may be designed to operate in a variety of modes, including contact mode and oscillating mode. In contact mode operation, the microscope typically scans the tip across the surface of the sample while keeping the force of the tip on the surface of the sample generally constant. This effect is accomplished by moving either the sample or the probe assembly vertically to the surface of the sample in response to sensed deflection of the cantilever as the probe is scanned horizontally across the surface. In this way, the data associated with this vertical motion can be stored and then used to construct an image of the sample surface corresponding to the sample characteristic being measured, e.g., surface topography. Alternatively, some AFMs can at least selectively operate in an oscillation mode of operation such as TappingMode™. In TappingMode™ the tip is oscillated at or near a resonant frequency of the cantilever of the probe. The amplitude or phase of this oscillation is kept constant during scanning using feedback signals, which are generated in response to tip-sample interaction. As in contact mode, these feedback signals are then collected, stored, and used as data to characterize the sample.
Regardless of their mode of operation, AFMs can obtain resolution down to the atomic level on a wide variety of insulating or conductive surfaces in air, liquid or vacuum by using piezoelectric scanners, optical lever deflection detectors, and very small cantilevers fabricated using photolithographic techniques. Because of their resolution and versatility, AFMs are important measurement devices in many diverse fields ranging from semiconductor manufacturing to biological research.
One potentially problematic characteristic of AFMs and other probe-based instruments lies in the technique employed to provide an external force to deflect or oscillate the instrument's cantilever. In an AFM, the cantilever is typically oscillated using a piezoelectric drive, often known simply as a piezo drive. Referring to FIG. 1A by way of example in this type of system, the typical probe 20 includes a cantilever 22 that extends outwardly from a substrate 26 coupled to a piezoelectric drive 24 via a probe mount 27. Probe 20 also includes a tip 28 that is provided on the opposed, free end of the cantilever 20. The piezoelectric drive 24 can be selectively excited by a signal generator 29 to move the cantilever 22 up and down relative to a sample 30. When the instrument is configured for an oscillating mode of operation, the drive voltage is applied to the piezoelectric drive 24 to drive the cantilever 22 to oscillate at a frequency that is dependent upon the frequency of the drive voltage. This frequency is typically at or near the cantilever's resonant frequency, particularly when the instrument is operated in TappingMode™.
Such a traditional piezoelectric drive necessarily acts only on the base of the cantilever, not on the free end portion. It therefore must apply substantially greater forces to the cantilever to obtain a given deflection magnitude at the free end than it would if it were to apply forces directly to the free end or even to the body of the cantilever. This inefficiency limits the range of applications for this common type of piezo-electrically-driven probe.
For instance, the piezoelectric drive shown in FIG. 1A works well in air because the typical AFM cantilever can be excited to resonance in air relatively easily. This characteristic is quantified by the "quality factor" of a resonance of the cantilever. The quality factor, Q, denotes the sharpness of a cantilever's resonance curve as denoted by the ratio: f0/Δf where f0 is the resonant frequency and Δf is the bandwidth between the half-power points of the curve as reflected by the half-peak amplitude points 41a and 41b on the curve 40 in FIG. 2A. The curve 40 demonstrates that the typical cantilever operating in air has a Q of 100–200 or even higher. The Q of a cantilever resonance is a measure of how much gain the resonance provides in an oscillating system. A resonance with a large Q can be excited to relatively large cantilever oscillation amplitudes with relatively small excitation forces. For operation in air or other gaseous environments, the cantilever typical piezoelectric drive usually has ample excitation force to drive the cantilever to produce a resonance peak 42 that is easily identified and distinguished from other, parasitic resonance peaks such as those of the mounts for the cantilever and the piezoelectric drive and the piezo material itself (note the much smaller peaks 42a, 42b, etc. denoting these parasitic resonances).
Conversely, a cantilever operated in liquid such as water has a dramatically lower Q because the liquid damps the oscillating cantilever. In fact, the typical cantilever operating in water can have a Q of less than 30 and even less than 10. As a result, the typical piezoelectric drive does not have enough gain to excite the cantilever sufficiently to produce a resonance peak that is easily located and differentiated from parasitic resonances. This effect is discussed below in conjunction with FIG. 2B.
Specialized cantilever drives are available that act along the length of the cantilever rather than only on the base. One such drive is the so-called magnetic drive. Referring to FIG. 1B, the typical magnetic drive system 50 has a magnetic cantilever 52 that is driven by an electromagnetic drive. The cantilever 52 has a fixed base rigidly attached to a support 54 and bears a tip 56 on its free end that interacts with sample S. The cantilever is also rendered magnetic by coating one or more of its surfaces with a magnetic layer 58. The static electromagnetic drive comprises at least one electromagnet coil 60 spaced from the cantilever 52. The coil(s) can be energized by a controller 62 including a signal generator to impose a variable magnetic field on the magnetic layer 58. The magnetic field produces a torque on the cantilever 52 of a magnitude that increases with the amplitude of the applied magnetic field acting on the layer 58. By controlling the amplitude of the applied magnetic field, the cantilever 52 can be deflected as desired while the tip 56 interacts with the sample S. This deflection is monitored by a photodetector 66 receiving reflected light transmitted by a laser 68. In the usual case in which the magnetic drive 60 is controlled to maintain a specified characteristic of cantilever deflection constant during scanning, an output signal related to the amplitude of the signal provides an indication of a surface force applied to the probe. A magnetic drive system having these characteristics is described in greater detail in U.S. Pat. No. 5,670,712 to Cleveland, the subject matter of which is hereby incorporated by reference by way of background.
A magnetic drive system has inherent limitations that considerably restrict its range of applications. For instance, it requires a special magnetically coated cantilever and, accordingly, cannot be used in applications in which the cantilever is not capable of being coated with a magnetic material. It also is not usable in applications in which magnetic properties of the sample and/or the environment cause unwanted deflection of the cantilever and introduce errors into the measurements. The practical operating ranges of the magnetic drive system are also limited. A typical magnetic drive coil may operate with a current exceeding one amp and result in a cantilever deflection on the order of 1–100 nm at the cantilever resonance frequency generated can cause thermal drift errors in the measurement of the AFM. The frequency range of the magnetic drive system is also limited by the inductance of the drive coil. Higher actuation forces can be achieved by using more loops in the drive coil, but this also increases the inductance and limits the maximum operating frequency. With the limits of inductance and maximum heat load, the typical magnetic drive operates at less than 50 kHz and with oscillation amplitudes of less than 30 nm. For example, the MAC-Mode™ magnetic drive system, sold by Molecular Imaging, advertises an operating range of 5–30 kHz and a maximum amplitude of 30 nm.
Another instrument having a cantilever driven other than from its base utilizes the so-called acoustic drive. Referring to FIG. 1C, in an instrument 70 of this type, a cantilever 71 and a piezoelectric drive 72 are mounted on a common head 74 in a spaced-apart relationship. The head 74 is mounted above a fluid cell 76 by mounting balls 78 or other supports so that the cantilever 71 extends into the fluid cell 76 so as to interact with a sample (not shown) in the cell. The piezoelectric drive 72 can be excited by a signal generator 80 to generate acoustic waves that propagate through the glass walls of the fluid cell 76, through the fluid in the cell 76, and onto the cantilever 71, causing the cantilever 71 to oscillate. An acoustic drive having these characteristics is disclosed, for example, in Putman et al in "Tapping Mode Atomic Force Microscopy in Liquids" Applied Physics Letters 64: 2454–2456.
Acoustic drive has distinct disadvantages that limit its effectiveness. For instance, the acoustic energy also impinges on many other components of the system, such as mounts for the cantilever and the piezoelectric drive, the fluid cell, and even the fluid, exciting resonances in those components. These resonances can be difficult to distinguish from the cantilever resonance. The acoustic drive also has sufficient actuation force at a limited selection of operation frequencies and it can be a challenge to match the cantilever resonance with the operation frequency of the acoustic actuator. If a user selects a resonance that does not overlap with the cantilever resonance, the measurements may be unstable.
An ultrasonic force microscope (UFM) is a scanning probe microscope that uses high frequency acoustic waves to image the mechanical properties of a sample, often showing sub-surface contrast. Specifically, referring to FIG. 1D, a UFM 90 includes a cantilever 91 having a base fixed to a stationary support 94, a sample support 92 located beneath the cantilever 91, and on an XYZ scanner 96 that supports the sample support. An ultrasonic actuator 98 such as a commercial ultrasound transducer mounted on the bottom of the sample support 92 is excited by an RF voltage from an RF signal generator 100. The ultrasonic actuator 98 is relatively large (typically a centimeter or more in diameter) with a resonant frequency often in the low-MHz range. When it is excited by the RF signal generator 100, it generates ultrasonic waves that impinge over a broad area of the sample S. Some of the incident ultrasonic energy is reflected or absorbed, and some penetrates the sample S and then impinges on the cantilever 91, causing the cantilever 91 to deflect away from the sample surface. The magnitude of the cantilever deflection is related to the percentage of the energy that penetrates the sample S and, accordingly, reflects variation in sample properties such as density. Accordingly, as the sample S is scanned relative to the probe using the scanner 96, variations in cantilever deflection can be detected to provide information concerning the sample. In addition, while UFMs have been in use for almost a decade, no one has adapted an ultrasonic device as a general purpose cantilever actuator capable of deflecting the cantilever at a wide range of frequencies. In the UFMs, the tip must be in contact with the sample surfaces. The ultrasonic energy is transferred into cantilever deflection through surface displacement of the sample. Such an energy transfer mechanism requires constant contact of the tip with sample surfaces, and would not work in the case of TappingMode AFM where the tip is in contact with surfaces only 1 to a few percent of time.
Turning to FIG. 2B mentioned above, the plots demonstrate the frequency response of a typical AFM cantilever to excitation. The curve 44 plots the actual or true response of a relatively short and thick cantilever in water as determined by a known process called a "thermal tune." A thermal tune measures the natural intrinsic motion of the cantilever in response to the temperature driven molecular motion of its surroundings. Basically, the "heat bath" that surrounds the cantilever provides the energy to naturally oscillate the cantilever at a very small amplitude, usually sub-nm. Since the cantilever oscillation amplitude due to the thermal energy is so small, thermal tunes cannot be used for image data acquisition, but they do provide a very clean representation of the true oscillatory response of the cantilever. The curve 46 plots the detected response of the same cantilever as it is driven acoustically by a piezoelectric drive (FIG. 1C). The true response as denoted in curve 44 has a sharp peak 48 at the fundamental resonance of about 15 kHz. However, when the cantilever is driven acoustically by a piezoelectric drive, fluid damping and other effects reduce that response to the point that the cantilever resonance peak cannot be differentiated from parasitic resonance peaks. The parasitic resonances often dominate the response spectra.
Hence, the need has arisen to provide a probe-based instrument that has an actuator that drives the cantilever 50 as to produce a "clean" frequency response, preferably by driving the cantilever body rather than the base, but that is versatile in bandwidth/or types of measurements.
The need has also arisen to provide an improved method of driving a cantilever of a probe-based instrument.

Method and apparatus for the actuation of the cantilever of a probe-based instrument


A system, method, apparatus, computer program code, and other embodiments for allowing a call to a busy telephone number extension to be queued and/or handled in accordance with one or more rules. The telephone may be connected to a PBX (Private Branch Exchange) or other switch or otherwise may be connected to a telephone network. In addition, a computer associated with the person also may be connected directly or indirectly to the PBX. A server connected to the PBX via a CTI (Computer Telephone Integration) link may be connected to the computer via a computer network. If a new call arrives at the PBX for the specific extension while the extension is busy, the PBX may notify the server of the call. When multiple incoming calls to the same extension exist, the server may indicate to the PBX how or in what order to queue the calls to the person.

Quite often a person may receive one or more telephone calls while the person is busy with another call or is simply unable or unwilling to take the new call. For example, a salesperson for, a company may receive many calls throughout the day from customers, company representatives, family members, etc. In some circumstances, the salesperson's incoming calls may be placed on hold and be treated identically when the salesperson already is on the phone. However, the salesperson may want to queue or otherwise process the calls in a designated order or otherwise be able to direct how the calls should be queued or processed. For example, if the salesperson is receiving a number of calls, the person may want to queue the incoming calls such that the salesperson takes the calls from customers first, then calls from other company employees, then calls from family members.
It would be advantageous to provide methods, apparatus, computer software and means for allowing a call to a busy telephone number to be queued and/or handled in accordance with one or more rules.

Methods and apparatus for processing a call


Devices and assemblies for providing light to a display panel, including methods of attaching such devices and assemblies to a circuit board, are disclosed. An illustrative device can include a light emitting panel including at least one light interface for receiving light from a light source. The light interface may define an aperture adapted to receive a portion of the light source, forming an air gap between the light source and interface. A number of centering ribs and/or beveled sections can be used to align the light source within the aperture during assembly of the device to a circuit board.

Display panels such as liquid crystal displays (LCDs) are commonly used in appliances such as thermostats, watches, pagers, cellular telephones, video cameras, etc. to display information. Such devices typically include a light source and light emitting panel that can be used to generate light across a surface for illuminating the display panel. In some thermostat designs, for example, the light source and light emitting panel may form part of a backlight of the display panel that can be used to facilitate viewing at night or in low-lighting conditions. Typically, the light emitting panel will include a point-type light source such as a light emitting diode (LED) or bulb adapted to direct light into a light guide, which acts as an optical waveguide to distribute the light rays across the surface of the light emitting panel. In some designs, a diffusive pattern of ridges, grooves or dots on the light emitting panel may be used to disperse the light rays in a desired pattern across surface of the light emitting panel for providing a desired lighting characteristic to the display panel.
For some designs, the light generated by the light source may be transmitted through an air gap interface disposed between the light source and the light guide. In such configuration, the uniform distribution of light within the light emitting panel is often dependent on the proper alignment of the light source relative to the light guide as well as the dimensions of the air gap. In some applications, for example, improper alignment of the light source and light guide can cause the light rays directed across the surface of the light emitting panel to be distributed non-uniformly and in a pattern different than the desired pattern. Visually, such inconsistency of light across the surface of the light emitting panel may result in hot spots or streaks on the panel, reducing the brightness and uniformity of the lighting.

Light emitting panels for display devices


The present invention relates to a digital image reality aligning kit, applied to a mixed reality system integrated with a surgical navigation system including: a plurality of moveable markers corresponded to a plurality of moveable marker coordinates respectively and a part of the plurality of moveable markers configured on a surgical instrument; a positioning marker corresponded to a positioning marker coordinate and configured in proximity to a surgical area corresponded to a surgical area coordinate, when the positioning marker is settled, the relative position thereof with respect to the other part of the plurality of moveable markers and the surgical area are determined accordingly, so as to transform the surgical area coordinate to the positioning marker coordinate; and a mixed reality device corresponded to a mixed reality device coordinate and detecting the positioning marker to transform the positioning marker coordinate to the mixed reality device coordinate accordingly, so as to project a surgical area digital image corresponded to a surgical area digital image coordinate onto the surgical area.

Nowadays, there are still many high-risk surgeries, such as but not limited to: a craniotomy, an arterial embolization surgery, a minimally invasive surgery, and a spinal surgery. All of these surgeries have the same problems, such as: difficulties to precisely position, high level of operation difficulty, high technicality required, and highly complexity. These problems are resulted from that a surgeon fails to actually see the surgical area during the operation visually, but just sees a minor portion of the surgical area or outer layer tissues thereof, directly resulting in very high risk for the surgery to operate.
In view of the abovementioned reasons, prior to the execution of these high-risk surgeries, typically the surgeons must utilize, such as: the X-ray imaging technique, the computed tomography (CT) technique, the computed tomography angiography (CTA) technique, the digital subtraction angiography (DSA) technique, the maximum intensity projection (MIP) technique, or the magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) technique to film a series of 2D slice images for a surgical area in advance. Then surgeons view and refer to these images at times before and during the operation, and speculate and imagine the actual state and condition of the surgical area according to their own expertise and experience to execute and complete the entire surgery. Thus it is conceivable the difficulty for these high-risk surgeries, and the mental stress the surgeons endure in executing and operating these high-risk surgeries.
Therefore, in order to enable surgeons to visually see the reality, and to manage the actual state and condition of surgical area easily and intuitively before and during the surgery, the same applicant of this case ever proposed a real-time and dynamic mixed realty system capable of integrating with a surgical navigation system, to project a digital model for the surgical area including the blood vessels, nerves, brain tissues, lesions and surgical instruments onto the surgical area directly by using a mixed reality (MR) technique, so that the surgeons can manage the actual state of surgical area and the surgical progress at any time in an intuitive way, before and during the surgery, so as to reduce the difficulty to operate the surgery and mitigate surgeon's stress.
However, in the abovementioned real-time and dynamic mixed realty system integrated with a surgical navigation system, in an open three-dimension space, how to align a virtual digital images of the surgical area to the surgical area accurately and dynamically in real time, and to correctly position the surgical area in the spatial space, is another critical technical issue required to overcome and deal with.
Hence, there is a need to solve the above deficiencies/issues.

Digital image reality aligning kit and method applied to mixed reality system for surgical navigation


A footman loop clip includes a body and a bend formed in the body such that an end of the body is inboard of the bend, the body having an aperture. A pin passes through the aperture and has a pin head on one end, and a pull feature on the other end. A spring biases the pull feature toward the body. The pull feature is biased toward the body and when the pull feature is pulled a gap is formed and increased between the pin head and the end of the body.

Military and other outdoor rugged (non-military) terrain vehicles often include attachment features on the exterior and interior surface for carting equipment safely and intact. Vehicles may include but are not limited to military vehicles (tanks, Humvees, and Bradley Fighting Vehicles, as examples) and recreational vehicles. Other types of vehicles that may use attachment features may include firetrucks, emergency response vehicles, and boats, as further examples. These attachment features (better known as tie-down points on most vehicles) enable a user to readily and quickly attach equipment to the exterior or interior of the vehicle, such as when soldiers are moving out or deploying, and need a device to hold their equipment to the vehicle. The equipment may itself be attached directly to the attachment feature, or the equipment may be contained within cargo netting, which is attached to the vehicle via the attachment features.
Equipment may be contained on an outside of a vehicle by a rope attached to a simple hook, with the hook captured against the footman loop. Other attachment devices and methods may include straps that attach to the attachment features, which may then be tightened by pulling the strap taught using a tensioning device, for example. On the ends of the straps may be attachment devices such as clips or hooks. One such device is the Kinedyne® clip that is permanently sewn into the straps at each end. This method with the Kinedyne clip can only be used if the tie-down point is small enough to allow the clip to go around.
This known device, commonly referred to as a Kinedyne cargo strap, includes a strap that extends between metal hook components, such as a Kinedyne clip, and is used to attach equipment to a vehicle. The metal hook components of the Kinedyne clip include a metal loop shaped as a "J" that can pass over an attachment feature on a vehicle, and a spring-loaded pin mechanism captures the metal hook. The metal hook components also include an opening surrounded by metal, to which straps attach. The straps extend between metal hook components on each end, and the straps are coupled together via a tensioner device (such as a ratchet) that operates to tighten the straps by shortening the distance between the metal hook components. Thus, in use, the Kinedyne cargo strap is attached at each end to a respective attachment feature, and the strap is placed over equipment (such as a ruck sack or other gear) that is desired to be held fast to a vehicle. The tensioning device is operated to hold the equipment to the vehicle, and includes a release feature that can subsequently be activated that releases tension in the strap so that the equipment can be quickly grabbed from the vehicle.
During use, however, the Kinedyne clip may be difficult to remove from its attachment feature. The spring-loaded mechanism that constrains the hook from falling loose includes a spring-loaded extension that is pressed from one end, which then frees up the hook so that is may pass over the attachment feature. However, the spring-loaded extension often will fall or be pressed against the vehicle, and when the cargo strap is tightened, it may be inaccessible and therefore difficult to remove. In addition and even if the spring-loaded extension is facing away from the vehicle, its operation also is difficult nevertheless. Typically a person will use their thumb to press the spring-loaded extension. In doing so, when the spring-loaded extension is depressed, the thumb thereby is positioned blocking the hook, which interferes with the ability to pass the hook over the attachment feature. That is, when the spring-loaded extension is depressed, the thumb doing the depressing falls squarely in the region of the hook that is passed over the attachment mechanism. Also, if a Kinedyne clip is used on an armored military vehicle, the open "J" shape will face the vehicle and render the release pin useless, making the task of removal more difficult. Generally, however, the Kinedyne clip is too small of a clip in every aspect and therefore is not used on footman style vehicles in the military.
In addition, the Kinedyne clip is typically fabricated having its pin elastically deformed so as to cause interference with its body. During fabrication of the Kinedyne clip, such deformation makes it impractical to repair damaged product, such as a faulty spring or a faulty pin, and the pin needs to be cut from the body for repair.
When soldiers are moving out and need a device to hold their equipment to their armored vehicle these tie-down points become footman loops that allow a strap with one end bare and the other with an alligator style tensioning clip. The straps are fed through slots in a metal bracket attached to the armor (footman loop bracket). Another style includes a strap that is fed through openings under welded rods shaped like half a rectangle protruding off the vehicle surface about a quarter of an inch and repeats every couple of inches down the side off the vehicle (footman loop). These known devices include several disadvantages in use. They can be cumbersome, difficult to tighten (such as using an "alligator" tensioning clip), and are prone to be jarred loose during use—to name just a few. Also, the Kinedyne clip is prone to snag with equipment because the pin head is exposed and can catch on straps, equipment, clothing, and the like during use.
There therefore remains a need for improving how to attach equipment to an attachment feature of a vehicle.


A development device includes a developer bearing member including a plurality of magnetic poles for bearing a two component developer, and rotating so that the toner is supplied to a latent image bearing member, a supply and conveyance path including a member configured to convey the developer in a first direction, a regulation member configured to regulate the developer on the developer bearing member, a collection and conveyance path including a member configured to convey the developer in a second direction parallel to the first direction, arranged below the development bearing member and at a substantially same height as the supply and conveyance path, an agitation and conveyance path including a member configured to convey the developer in a third direction opposite to the first direction, arranged at a substantially same height as the collection and conveyance path, and partition members partitioning the three paths.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a development device and method used in a copier, a facsimile machine, a printer, and so forth, and more particularly to a development device and method using a two component developer including toner and a magnetic carrier, capable of maintaining a toner concentration at a constant level without shortening the life of the developer, and a process cartridge and image forming apparatus using the development device.
2. Discussion of the Background
A background development device using a two component developer including toner and a magnetic carrier has a configuration shown in FIG. 1. As shown in FIG. 1, a development device 4a includes a development roller 5a serving as a developer bearing member, an agitation and conveyance path 10a, an agitation and conveyance auger 11a serving as an agitation and conveyance member, a supply and collection auger 401, a supply and collection path 402, and a partition 403 serving as a partition member.
The agitation and conveyance path 10a includes the agitation and conveyance auger 11a, while the supply and collection path 402 includes the supply and collection auger 401. As shown in FIG. 1, the supply and collection auger 401 and the agitation and conveyance auger 11a are arranged side by side in a horizontal direction. The agitation and conveyance path 10a and the supply and collection path 402 are partitioned by the partition 403. The partition 403 includes an opening at each end in a longitudinal direction thereof, connecting the agitation and conveyance path 10a and the supply and collection path 402.
The supply and collection auger 401 supplies developer to the development roller 5a. The development roller 5a supplies the developer to a latent image bearing member (not shown). The supply and collection auger 401 then collects developer having been used for development from the development roller 5a. The collected developer is conveyed to a downstream end in a conveyance direction of the supply and collection auger 401, and is transferred into the agitation and conveyance path 10.
The agitation and conveyance auger 11a is provided with the collected developer, and toner as necessary. While agitating the developer and the toner, the agitation and conveyance auger 11a conveys the developer mixed with the toner in a direction opposite to the conveyance direction of the supply and collection auger 401.
The developer is circulated in the agitation and conveyance path 10a and the supply and collection path 402 through the openings of the partition 403.
When the developer is used for development, a toner concentration of the developer decreases as the toner is consumed for development. Therefore, the collected developer has a toner concentration lower than a toner concentration of the developer yet to be used for development.
In the development device 4a, as the developer is supplied and collected by the same auger by using the same path, the collected developer is mixed with the developer yet to be used for development during agitation. As a result, the toner concentration of the developer to be supplied to the development roller 5a is lower as the developer is conveyed further downstream in the supply and collection path 402. Especially when an image with high coverage is developed, the development consumes a large amount of toner and significantly lowers the toner concentration of the developer at a downstream side in the conveyance direction, resulting in a problem such that image quality may hardly be maintained.
Increasing an amount of developer to be conveyed can solve the problem. However, an increase in the amount of developer imposes increased stress on the developer, causing a shortening of life of the developer.
The above problem can be solved by separately providing an auger for supplying developer to a development roller and an auger for collecting developer having been used for development in different conveyance paths.
Configurations of development devices 4b, 4c, and 4d each provided with the different conveyance paths are described below referring to FIGS. 2, 3, and 4, respectively.
As shown in FIG. 2, the development device 4b includes a development roller 5b, a supply and conveyance auger 8b, a supply and conveyance path 9b, a collection and agitation auger 110, an accumulation prevention auger 209, a collection and agitation path 210, and a partition 403b serving as a partition member.
The supply and conveyance path 9b includes the supply and conveyance auger 8b, while the collection and agitation path 210 includes the collection and agitation auger 110. The supply and conveyance auger 8b is arranged above the collection and agitation auger 110. The supply and conveyance path 9b and the collection and agitation path 210 are partitioned by the partition 403b. The partition 403b includes an opening at each end in a longitudinal direction thereof, connecting the supply and conveyance path 9b and the collection and agitation path 210.
The supply and conveyance auger 8b supplies developer to the development roller 5b while conveying the developer. The developer passes by a development area on the development roller 5b, and is collected into the collection and agitation path 210. Surplus developer conveyed to a downstream end in the supply and conveyance path 9b without being used for development falls through one of the openings located at the downstream end therein into the collection and agitation path 210.
The collection and agitation auger 110 agitates and conveys the collected and surplus developer in a direction opposite to a conveyance direction of the supply and conveyance auger 8b. The conveyed developer is jammed into a downstream end in the collection and agitation path 210, and rises therein by conveyance force of the collection and agitation auger 110. As a result, the developer is supplied through the other opening located in the downstream end therein into the supply and conveyance path 9b.
The collection and agitation path 210 is provided with the accumulation prevention auger 209 for preventing excessive developer from accumulating at the downstream end therein, and for conveying the excessive developer in an upstream direction.
In the development device 4b, the developer having been used for development is collected into the collection and agitation path 210, and is not mixed into the supply and conveyance path 9b. Therefore, the developer in the supply and conveyance path 9b maintains a toner concentration at a constant level, and as a result, the development roller 5b is supplied with the developer having a constant toner concentration.
As shown in FIG. 3, the development device 4c includes a development roller 5c, a collection and conveyance auger 6c, a collection and conveyance path 7c, a supply and conveyance auger 8c, a supply and conveyance path 9c, an agitation and conveyance path 10c, an agitation and conveyance auger 11c, first and second partitions 404 and 405 serving as partition members.
The supply and conveyance path 9c includes the supply and conveyance auger 8c, while the agitation and conveyance path 10c includes the agitation and conveyance auger 11c. The supply and conveyance auger 8c is arranged above the agitation and conveyance auger 11c. The supply and conveyance path 9c and the agitation and conveyance path 10c are partitioned by the first partition 404. The first partition 404 includes an opening at each end in a longitudinal direction thereof, connecting the supply and conveyance path 9c and the agitation and conveyance path 10c.
The collection and conveyance path 7c includes the collection and conveyance auger 6c. The collection and conveyance path 7c and the agitation and conveyance path 10c are arranged side by side in a horizontal direction, and are partitioned by the second partition 405. The second partition 405 includes an opening at a downstream end in a conveyance direction of the collection and conveyance auger 6c, connecting the collection and conveyance path 7c and the agitation and conveyance path 10c.
The supply and conveyance auger 6c supplies developer to the development roller 5c while conveying the developer in the same conveyance direction as the collection and conveyance auger 6c. The developer passes by a development area on the development roller 5c, and is collected into the collection and conveyance path 7c. The collection and conveyance auger 6c conveys the collected developer to the downstream end in the conveyance direction thereof. The collected developer is transversely transferred into the agitation and conveyance path 10c through the opening of the second partition 405.
Surplus developer conveyed to a downstream end in the supply and conveyance path 9c without being used for development falls through one of the openings located at the downstream end therein into the agitation and conveyance path 10c.
The agitation and conveyance auger 11c agitates and conveys the surplus and collected developer in a direction opposite to the conveyance direction of the supply and conveyance auger 8c. The conveyed developer is jammed into a downstream end in the agitation and conveyance path 10c, and rises therein by conveyance force of the agitation and conveyance auger 11c. As a result, the developer is supplied through the other opening located in the downstream end therein into the supply and conveyance path 9c.
In the development device 4c, the developer having been used for development is collected into the collection and conveyance path 7c, and is not mixed into the supply and conveyance path 9c. Therefore, the developer in the supply and conveyance path 9c maintains a toner concentration at a constant level, and as a result, the development roller 5c is supplied with the developer having a constant toner concentration.
As shown in FIG. 4, the development device 4d includes a development roller 5d, a collection and conveyance auger 6d, a collection and conveyance path 7d, a supply auger 440, a conveyance auger 450, a supply and conveyance path 9d, an agitation and conveyance path 10d, an agitation and conveyance auger 11d, first and second partitions 404d and 405d serving as partition members.
The collection and conveyance path 7d includes the collection and conveyance auger 6d arranged above the conveyance auger 450. The supply and conveyance path 9d includes the supply and conveyance augers 440 and 450 arranged next to each other. The agitation and conveyance path 10d includes the agitation and conveyance auger 11d. The supply and conveyance augers 440 and 450, and the agitation and conveyance auger 11d are arranged in a substantially horizontal direction.
The supply and conveyance path 9d and the agitation and conveyance path 10d are arranged side by side, and partitioned by the first partition 404d. The first partition 404d includes an opening at each end in a longitudinal direction thereof, connecting the supply and conveyance path 9d and the agitation and conveyance path 10d.
The collection and conveyance path 7d arranged above the supply and conveyance path 9d, and the supply and conveyance path 9d are partitioned by the second partition 405d. The second partition 405d includes an opening at a downstream end in a conveyance direction of the collection and conveyance auger 6d, connecting the collection and conveyance path 7d and the supply and conveyance path 9d.
The supply auger 440 supplies developer to the development roller 5d while conveying the developer. The conveyance auger 450 conveys the developer in the same conveyance direction as the supply auger 440. The developer is collected from the development roller 5d at a higher position than a position in which the supply auger 440 faces the development roller 5d. The collection and conveyance auger 6d conveys the collected developer to the downstream end in the same conveyance direction as the supply and conveyance augers 440 and 450. The collected developer falls through the opening of the second partition 405d into the supply and conveyance path 9d.
Surplus developer conveyed to a downstream end in the supply and conveyance path 9d by the supply and conveyance augers 440 and 450 without being used for development is, together with the collected developer, transversely transferred through one of the openings of the first partition 404d located at the downstream end therein into the agitation and conveyance path 10d.
The agitation and conveyance auger 11d conveys the surplus and collected developer to a downstream end in a direction opposite to the conveyance direction of the supply and conveyance augers 440 and 450. The surplus and collected developer is transversely transferred through the other opening of the first partition 404d located at the downstream end therein into an upstream side of the supply and conveyance path 9d.
In the development device 4d, the developer having been used for development is collected into the collection and conveyance path 7d, and is less likely to be mixed into the supply and conveyance path 9d. Therefore, compared with the development device 4a, the developer to be supplied to the development roller 5d has smaller fluctuations in toner concentration. Further, as the developer is substantially horizontally circulated in the development device 4d, shortening of life of developer attributed to forced upward transferring of developer can be prevented.

Development device and method capable of maintaining toner concentration at constant level without shortening life of developer, process cartridge, and imaging forming apparatus


In order to enhance the seizure resistance of a swash plate, which is the sliding part of a swash-plate type compressor, copper alloy is flame-sprayed on the swash plate. Depending upon the necessity, the following control of structure/composition: (a) a mixed structure is provided such that atomized bronze powder, which is melted during flame spraying, and an unmelted atomized structure are mixed; (b) Pb is not contained or contained slightly in the melted structure: (c) Sn, P, Al, Ag, Si, Mn, Cr, Ni, Zn, Pb and/or Bi is added to the copper; (d) hard matters are added to copper alloy; and, (e) an intermediate layer of Ni or the like is formed between the flame-sprayed layer and the substrate, is carried out.

In the swash-plate type compressor, a swash-plate is rigidly secured obliquely to a rotary shaft or is secured obliquely to a rotary shaft in such a manner that its slanting angle is variable. The compression and expansion are carried out by means of the swash-plate which increases or decreases the volume of a partition space within a compressor, depending upon the rotation of the rotary shaft. Such swash plate is caused to slide on a sliding member referred to as a shoe. Air-tight mutual sealing is attained between parts, so that the cooling medium can be compressed and expanded in the stated space.
A noticeable point in the sliding conditions of a swash-plate is that, during the initial operational period of a compressor, the cooling medium reaches the sliding part prior to the lubricating oil reaching the sliding part between the swash plate and the shoe; thus the cooling medium has a rinsing effect on the lubricating oil which remains on the sliding part, with the result that the sliding condition is in a dry condition free of lubricating oil. The sliding condition requirements of the swash plate are therefore very severe.
The sliding properties, which are required for a swash-plate used under the condition described above, are seizure resistance, wear resistance, and the like. Proposals have thus been made to add hard matters into the aluminum material for enhancing the wear resistance, to improve the material of the swash plate, and to subject an iron-based swash-plate to heat treatment for enhancing the hardness and hence wear-resistance.
In addition, the following surface treating methods are also proposed.
One of the present applicants proposed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. Sho 51-36611 to bond sintered Cu material on the shoe in the case of an iron-based swash plate. That is, an iron-based swash plate was heretofore subjected to hardening treatment. However, when the material of the opposed member, i.e., the shoe, is an iron-based material, the sliding takes place between identical kinds of materials thereby involving a problem that a seizure is liable to occur. Sintered copper alloy is used for the opposing material (shoe) opposed to an iron-base swash plate, so as to avoid the above mentioned problem.
In addition, it was also proposed to apply tin plating on the iron-based swash-plate so as to avoid the sliding between identical kinds of materials and hence to enhance the seizure resistance.
Since the tin plating applied on an iron-based swash-plate is soft, a problem that arises is insufficient wear-resistance. Furthermore, although a hard element added to an aluminum alloy enhances wear resistance, a problem that arises is insufficient seizure resistance.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to enhance the performance and reliability of a swash-plate type compressor by means of providing on the surface of an iron-based or aluminum-based swash plate a surface layer which exhibits improved both seizure resistance and wear resistance.

Swash plate of a swash-plate type compressor

Kabushiki Kaisha Toyoda Jidoshokki Seisakusho


A device or ornament to be mounted on a bottom on a cap by means of a bottom on the device or ornament having a slot or slit running from one side of the bottom with a centrally positioned opening in the bottom adapted to snap around the button attachment at the apogee of a cap and to hold the device on the cap.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a device, which may be mounted on a cap or other headgear having a button located near the apex.
2. Related Art
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,881,654 and 5,070,546 disclose a system for mounting useful containers and decorative, novelty or distinguishing items may be attached to headgear to be conspicuously obvious without interference with other activities.


A seesaw control shower has a switch unit and a fixed unit with several outlet functions. The fixed unit has a groove to assemble with the switch unit and connect to the water source. The switch unit has an elastic pushing rod, a seesaw and a driving element. The first end of the pushing rod is connected to the groove. The driving element is and connected to the pushing rod. The seesaw is rotatably disposed inside the groove with one end as the axis. The other end of the seesaw has a W shaped inclined surface forming two apex angles. The second end of the pushing rod can withstand one of the two apex angles rotate the seesaw. The second end of the pushing rod can withstand one of the apex angles to rotate the seesaw.

Chinese patent application number CN200820102385.2 is provided with an outlet switch shower, which is disposed with a push switch to realize the switch of the waterway. But the structure is complicated with many components. It requires high precision of the components. The control principle is complicated as well. The manufactory cost increases. So that it requires a shower with simple structure and control principle.

XIAMEN SOLEX HIGH-TECH INDUSTRIES CO., LTD.


A roll wrap for wrapping a paper roll is provided. The roll wrap includes an outer wrapper and a header. The outer wrapper is constructed for circumscribing the periphery of the paper roll long a length of the paper roll from a first end of the paper roll to a second end of the paper roll. The outer wrapper includes a peripheral wrapper portion, a first edge region for forming a first crimp, a second edge region for forming a second crimp, an interior surface for contacting the paper roll, and an exterior surface. At least one of the exterior surface first edge region and the exterior surface second edge region or the interior surface first edge region and the interior surface second edge region includes a self seal adhesive. The header includes a first surface and a second surface. At least one of the first header first surface and the header second surface includes a self seal adhesive. A wrapped paper roll and a method for wrapping a paper roll are provided.

Paper rolls which are produced by the paper making industry are usually stored and shipped standing on end. The paper rolls may be about 1 foot to about 11 feet in width and may have diameters of about 2 feet to about 6 feet. In order to protect the paper rolls during storage and shipment, the paper rolls are commonly packaged using roll wrap. In general, roll wrap includes a wrapper that circumscribes the paper roll, and is crimped about the outer peripheral edge portions of the paper roll. Headers can be applied to the ends of the paper roll to protect the paper roll from moisture and mechanical impacts, and to facilitate automated handling without risk of damaging the paper roll.
Paper roll wraps are commonly available having hot melt adhesive provided along the portion of the roll wrap where it is desirable to provide adhesive bonding. Hot melt adhesive is commonly provided on the header to help seal the roll wrap to protect the paper roll from moisture and mechanical impacts. The header commonly includes an inside header and an outside header. The inside header can be provided abutting the end of the paper roll with the wrapper crimped thereover. The outside header can include the hot melt adhesive for sealing to the inside header and to the crimped wrapper end. Accordingly, the inside header helps protect the roll of paper from the hot melt adhesive on the outside header. Heated platens are often used to apply the outside header. An exemplary patent that describes the use of a hot melt adhesive for applying an outside header includes U.S. Pat. No. 6,505,459 to Ruohio et al.
The roll wrap can rely upon the presence of a thermoplastic polymer coating for providing a heat seal. Exemplary thermoplastics that can be used to provide a heat seal include polyethylene, polypropylene, and polyvinyl. Exemplary patents describing the use of thermoplastics for heat seal include U.S. Pat. No. 5,090,566 to Yount and U.S. Pat. No. 4,820,374 to Lamb.
Various equipment designs are available for wrapping paper rolls. See U.S. Pat. No. 6,505,459 to Ruohio et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,642,600 to Hooper et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,303,462 to Karr, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,960,608 to Ohtonen.

Paper roll wrap, wrapped paper roll, and method for wrapping a paper roll


A pump intended to be mounted on a bottle, so as to allow the dispensing of a liquid contained in the bottle, includes a needle for closing an ejection orifice that is separate from a dosing sleeve. The needle is mounted on the sleeve by a device for the reversible movement of the needle between a closure position and an ejection position, the device being actuated by interference between the sleeve and a piston when a push button is moved on a hoop.

In a particular application, the liquid is of the gel or cream type, for example for use in cosmetics or for pharmaceutical treatments.
Pumps having the following properties are known:                sealed closure of the ejection orifice in order to limit contact between the external air and the liquid stationary in the pump, in particular to prevent drying and/or degradation of said liquid over time;        absence of contact between the liquid and metallic parts in order to prevent any physical and chemical degradation of the liquid;        absence of passage for taking up air in the bottle in compensation for the product rendered.

Pump for dispensing a liquid contained in a bottle


A method and apparatus for providing multiple queues that share a single memory buffer. A memory buffer is divided into a plurality of fixed length memory segments. Queues are created by chaining one or more memory segments together. Memory segments are allocated on a dynamic basis when needed by a queue. Multiple queues are created wherein each queue consists of a set of one or more memory segments. A list is used to track the memory segments making up a queue. The pointers to the memory segments are stored in a pointer table or a linked list termed a next segment pointer table. Multiple queues are handled by creating multiple linked lists, one for each queue. Each memory segment has associated with it a corresponding next segment pointer. A segment pointer is assigned to each memory segment and is adapted to contain the address of the next segment in the queue. A segment status table comprises bits corresponding to different memory segments that indicate whether a segment is currently available or is occupied as part of a queue. The next segment pointers and status bits are updated dynamically in accordance with read, write, flush and status commands.

Almost all communications systems utilize some form of queuing in the transmission and reception of information over the channel. In fact, many communications systems use multiple queues having different Quality of Service (QoS) parameters. In some of these prior art systems, a separate dedicated buffer is maintained for each queue. Buffers of fixed size are allocated and assigned to each queue. This, however, results in inefficient utilization of memory since the empty buffer space in underutilized queues cannot be used for queues that have high utilization and may be nearly full.
In other prior art systems, a dedicated file system management entity is realized for creating and managing the queues. Such a management entity is typically constructed in software thus requiring both hardware and software resources. This complicates the process of creating and managing multiple queues.
Therefore, there is a need for a queuing system that provides multiple independent queues each having individual QoS characteristics that does not suffer from the problems of wasted memory space and complex software execution as in the prior art queuing schemes described above.

Transmit buffer with dynamic size queues


The present invention is directed to provide a diaper having a pocket structure which includes a breakage-resistant hydrophobic topsheet and an apertured portion of proper size which is surrounded by a strengthened inner periphery and provides an improved leakage protection effect. The present invention is further directed to a method of manufacturing such diaper which enables economical and simplified process operation. A diaper is,provided wherein an absorbent body is interposed between a liquid impermeable backsheet and an apertured hydrophobic topsheet to form side, front and rear end portions of the diaper. The hydrophobic topsheet includes two separate sheets each having alternating concave portion and convex portions defined by a wavy side edge. The two sheets are arranged to face to each,other so that the convex portions thereof partially overlay each other at front and rear end portions of the diaper to form pocket portions. The concave portions each have a flap portion which is folded over a predetermined width to enclose an elastic member and the flap portions face each other to bound an apertured portion therebetween.

The present invention relates to improvements in baby or adult disposable diapers.
Recent proposals for developing disposable diapers have been centered on improved urine or bowel movement leakage protection in a crotch area, front and rear waist ends.
Improved diapers have leg gathers of dual structure which comprise an inner gather and an outer gather. A topsheet accordingly comprises two different functional areas. For example, FIG. 6 illustrates such construction. A liquid-permeable topsheet 11 is positioned in a central portion of a diaper and a hydrophobic topsheet 12 is positioned in each of the opposite side portions of the diaper. Each side portion includes a leg gather.
In an effort to improve leakage protection around front and rear ends, a leakage resistant material 13, 14, such as a film, a non-woven fabric and the like, is provided in those ends as shown in FIG. 7, in association with waist gathers. This however requires a more complicated manufacturing process, and does not provide a satisfactory solution.
A new approach has been proposed that attempts to simultaneously solve leakage problems at side, front and rear ends. See, for example, Kokai Patent Sho 61-41304 and Kokai Patent Hei 3-2057.
Such approach is directed to providing side barriers and end cap barrier structures by cutting out a central portion 15 of a hydrophobic topsheet 16, as shown in FIG. 8, to connect side portions and opposite end portions.
These proposals typically make reference to a diaper having a pocket structure.
Such diapers having a pocket structure are illustrated in FIGS. 9 through 11. A liquid-permeable topsheet 18 is interposed between a liquid-impermeable backsheet 17 and a hidrophobic hydrophobic topsheet 16 having an apertured central portion 15. An absorbent body 19 backsheet 17 and the liquid-permeable topsheet 18. A space indicated by a numeral 20 is a pocket portion.
Various problems still need to be solved in order to fully enjoy the unique features of such diaper having a pocket structure.
A first problem resides in its function. Since the hydrophobic topsheet is spaced from the absorbent body 19 to form the pocket space 20, any movement and weight of a wearer is directly applied to the hydrophobic topsheet having the apertured central portion while a diaper is worn by the wearer. This causes deformation in the hydrophobic topsheet. A conventional non-woven material however generally has a relatively lower strength in a cross-direction, CD, than in a machine direction, MD, so that it is unable to sustain such influences, with the result that material breakage, tearing, or a planar displacement of the apertured central portion 15 may occur. As such planar displacement increases, the apertured central portion 15 moves outside a target zone to which urine is discharged. This causes significant problems. In order to solve these problems, it has been recommended that a material having higher strength and dimensional stability- be employed. This however adds to material cost. In order to prevent the planar displacement of the apertured portion from the target zone, the apertured portion may be made larger to accommodate such displacement. Alternatively, a stretchable material may be employed to provide the hydrophobic topsheet with freedom to conform to the movement of the wearer. However as the aperture in the apertured portion is increased, the pocket structure becomes less advantageous. The use of an elastic material for the hydrophobic topsheet increases the material cost.
A second problem resides in the manufacturing process for the diaper. In order to form the pocket structure, it is required that the size of the hydrophobic topsheet be formed to correspond with the size of the wearer, prior to cutout of the aperture 15. Incomplete cutting undesirably leaves the hydrophobic nonwoven material at the central portion of the diaper. Such a defective diaper has no commercial value. Therefore, not only is a highly precise cutting operation required, an investment for installing such cutting equipment renders the process very expensive. Further, cutout nonwoven portions are not reusable and treated as waste so that an increased amount of material is disadvantageously required.
The present invention is directed to reduce the material waste of the hydrophobic topsheet material and further to enlarge the size of the apertured portion. The present invention is further directed to improve leakage protection and to increase strength around the periphery of the apertured portion by placing an elastic material around the apertured portion.
In accordance with the present invention, there is provided a diaper having a pocket structure wherein an absorbent body is interposed between a liquid-impermeable backsheet and an apertured hydrophobic topsheet to form front and rear waist end portions and side crotch portions of a diaper. The hydrophobic topsheet comprises two separate sheets each having a concave portion and convex portions. The two sheets are arranged to face each other so that respective convex portions thereof partially overlay each other at front and rear end portions of the diaper to form pocket portions. A concave edge portion of each sheet is folded over by a predetermined width to enclose an elastic member so that the folded-over portions that face each other define an apertured portion therebetween.

Disposable diaper having pocket containments and a method for manufacturing the same


Described methods are useful for depositing a silicon carbide film including Alpha-SiC at low temperatures (e.g., below about 1400° C.), and resulting multi-layer structures and devices. A method includes introducing a chlorinated hydrocarbon gas and a chlorosilicon gas into a reaction chamber, and reacting the chlorinated hydrocarbon gas with the chlorosilicon gas at a temperature of less than about 1400° C. to grow the silicon carbide film. The silicon carbide film so-formed includes Alpha-SiC.

Silicon carbide thin films are promising for use in a variety of different electronic, mechanical, chemical, and acoustic applications. Silicon carbide exists in hexagonal, rhombohedral, and cubic crystal structures. Generally, numerous polytypes of the hexagonal and rhombohedral forms are collectively referred to as "Alpha-SiC," while the cubic, zinc blende form of silicon carbide is referred to as "Beta-SiC."
Silicon carbide is considered a superior material for high power, high temperature, and high frequency electronic devices due to its relatively large energy bandgap, high melting point, high saturated electron drift velocity, high breakdown field, high thermal conductivity, and high chemical resistance. Silicon carbide's relatively large energy bandgap also makes this material an excellent choice for fabrication of blue light-emitting diodes and electronic devices for use in radiation intensive environments.
Silicon carbide is also a promising candidate for other applications due to its superior chemical and mechanical properties. For example, silicon carbide's strong chemical resistance make it well suited for exposure to harsh chemical environments, such as in chemical sensing applications. As another example, silicon carbide's relatively high acoustic velocity and low material damping also make it promising for acoustic resonator applications.
Despite silicon carbide's exceptional chemical, electronic, mechanical, and acoustic properties, successful fabrication of silicon carbide thin films continues to pose a challenge. Therefore, there is still a need for improved fabrication techniques for manufacturing silicon carbide thin films so that its exceptional electronic, mechanical, chemical, and acoustic characteristics can be exploited.

Methods of depositing an alpha-silicon-carbide-containing film at low temperature


A server in a cloud-based environment interfaces with storage devices that store shared content. A user retrieves a web-based application from the server. The web-based application comprises a set of native operating system application code, a web content viewer, and a native operating system interface, which are configured to facilitate a transfer of one or more objects between the native operating system application code and the web content viewer. In response to a user upload request, the server generates an object placeholder in an editable document. Using the native operating system application code, objects can be selected for incorporation into the editable document. Shared access to the editable document and shared access to uploaded objects are provided by the server by posting links to locations in the storage devices. The web-based application replaces the object placeholder with a link to the object as stored by the server.

The proliferation of cloud based services and systems continues to increase. Specifically, cloud-based content management services and platforms have impacted the way personal and corporate information objects (e.g., files, images, videos, etc.) are stored, and has also impacted the way such personal and corporate content is shared and managed. One benefit of using such cloud-based platforms is the ability to securely share content among trusted collaborators on a variety of user devices, such as mobile phones, tablets, laptop computers, desktop computers, and/or other devices. Certain cloud-based shared content management platforms might further provide document creation and editing applications (apps) for such user devices so the collaborators can create and/or edit documents within the cloud-based system for real-time, multi-environment sharing.
Unfortunately, some applications (e.g., web applications) can be limited at least in their ability to access the native resources availed by the user device operating system to create content that can be shared among collaborators in real time. For example, a collaborator might want to use the native camera functionality to insert a picture in a document being edited in a web-based content editor, and to have the picture and document available in real time for viewing and/or editing by another authorized collaborator using a different device and/or accessing from a different environment.
On some platforms, a browser may have limited access to the native resources availed by the user device operating system to create content, however the user experience (e.g., availability of screen devices, consistency with platform-native user interfaces, availability of pickers, selectors, etc.) offered by browsers is deficient, and native operating system access is needed so as to provide a suitable (e.g., familiar or expeditious) user experience.
What is needed is a technique or techniques to improve over legacy approaches.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Creating shared content in a device—independent content editor using a native operating system interface


The present invention provides an apparatus for the production of Graphene and similar atomic scale laminar materials by the delamination of a bulk laminar material, such as graphite; the apparatus comprising a pump (112) for pumping a fluid, the fluid being a suspension of solid particles of the bulk laminar material, at a pressure of greater than 1 MPa, along a fluid conduit (12) and against an impact head (16) having an impact face perpendicular or substantially perpendicular to the trajectory of the incoming fluid, being the principal axis relative to the proximal end of the conduit (24) so as to form a narrow and variable gap (20) and where in the impact head is symmetric about a longitudinal axis which is in line with the principal axis and such that the symmetry allows rotation of the head. This apparatus provides prolonged head life and avoids catastrophic head wear in an isolated region. Overall product quality over time is better maintained. Also, the benefit of a self-unblocking delamination apparatus can be achieved whilst maintaining high product quality and consistency. Relatively small variation in gap size being sufficient to avoid blockage, such as occurs by the aggregation of large particles or groups of particles in the high shear gap used for delamination.

Graphene is a two-dimensional allotrope of carbon, consisting of sheets of a few atoms thickness in a hexagonal structure. Analogues of this material can include other chemistries which include boron nitride and molybdenum disulphide.
Graphite, the widely used mineral is effectively a crystalline form of graphene, in which layers of graphene are bound together by van der Waals forces. Graphene has attracted considerable interest since its discovery as an isolatable material in 2004. The novel mechanical, thermal and electrical properties of the material suggest a number of uses. Graphene can be produced on a laboratory scale sufficient for experimental analysis, but production in commercial quantities is still a developing area. Other single layered structures such as boron nitride are expected to exhibit similarly interesting properties in the nanotechnology field.
A review of this technology has been compiled by Min Yi and Zhigang Shen and their titled 'A review on mechanical exfoliation for the scalable production of graphene', Journal of Materials Chemistry, A, 2015, 3, 11700 provides an overview of the state of the art regarding graphene production.
Bottom-up techniques, such as chemical vapour deposition and epitaxial growth, can yield high-quality graphene with a small number of defects. The resultant graphene is a good candidate for electronic devices. However, these thin-film growth techniques suffer from a limited scale and complex and hence expensive production, and cannot meet the requirements of producing industrially relevant quantities of graphene.
Large-scale production of graphene at a low cost has been demonstrated using top-down techniques, whereby graphene is produced through the direct exfoliation of graphite, sometimes suspended in a liquid phase. The starting material for this is three-dimensional graphite, which is separated by mechanical and/or chemical means to reveal graphene sheets a few atoms thick.
The original technique used by the discoverers of graphene, the "Scotch Tape" method can be used to prepare high-quality and large-area graphene flakes is limited to laboratory research and seems unfeasible to scale up for industrial production.
The three-roll mill technique is a method to scale up the Scotch Tape method, using polyvinyl chloride (PVC) dissolved in dioctylphthalate (DOP) as the adhesive on moving rolls which can provide continuous exfoliation. Though the three-roll mill machine is a known industrial technique, the complete removal of residual PVC and DOP to obtain graphene is not easy and brings about additional complexity.
Trinity College Dublin have developed a high-yield production of graphene by the sonication assisted liquid-phase exfoliation of graphite in 2008. Starting with graphite powder dispersed in specific organic solvents, followed by sonication and centrifugation, they obtained a graphene dispersion. This method of producing graphene is capable of scaling up but one shortcoming is the extremely low graphene concentration (around 0.01 mg/mL) of the suspension produced, which is not necessarily suitable for bulk production.
Additionally, ultrasonic processors can only achieve the high-power density required in small volumes, so it is difficult to scale up this process to achieve any economy of scale. A relevant disclosure can be found in WO2013/010211A1.
Shear Force Techniques.
As is well known, graphite layers have a low resistance to shear force which makes graphite a useful lubricant. This has been exploited in a number of techniques which apply shear force to exfoliate graphene from graphite.
Ball milling, a common technique in the powder industry, is a method of generating shear force. A secondary effect is the collisions or vertical impacts by the balls during rolling actions which can fragment graphene flakes into smaller ones, and sometimes even destroy the crystalline nature of structures.
Several improvements to the ball milling technique have been attempted, such as wet ball milling with the addition of solvents, but these techniques still require a very long processing time (around 30 hours) and produce a high number of defects even if suitable for industrial scale, bulk, production. A relevant disclosure can be found in WO 2012117251 A1.
Some shear force production techniques have used an ion intercalation step prior to applying the shear force to weaken the inter-layer bonds. This reduces the energy required to exfoliate the graphite into graphene, but the resulting graphene may be contaminated with residual ions contaminating the finished product, and the process requires additional time and cost which reduces the industrial application of this technique.
More recently fluid dynamics based methods have emerged for graphite exfoliation. These are based on mixing graphite in a powder or flake form with a fluid to form a suspension, the fluid can then be subjected to turbulent or viscous forces which apply shear stress to the suspended particles. Usually the fluid is either a liquid of the type often used as a solvent and may include a surfactant mixture tailored to the removable from the finished product.
One method of generating the shear forces is with a high shear, for example rotary mixer. Graphene exfoliation has been demonstrated using a kitchen blender to create shear forces on graphite particles in suspension. This process has been scaled up using commercial high shear mixers comprising rotating blades passing in close proximity to an aperture screen to produce high shear. The graphite particles experience a shear force applied by the fluid due to the difference in velocity of the mixing blades and the static shear screen. A relevant disclosure can be found in WO2012/028724A1 and WO 2014/140324 A1.
A further method is the use of a high-pressure homogeniser with a micro fluidiser. The micro fluidiser in this case consist of a channel with a microscale dimensions, meaning of around 75 μm. Fluid is forced through the channel from an inlet to an outlet using high pressure. This technology is derivate of fluids processing used in milk production, such as disclosed in EP 0 034 675, U.S. Pat. No. 8,585,277B2 and WO2016174528A1 but this apparatus is unsuitable for use with suspended solids as this gives rise to blockage and high wear rates as milk production equipment for fluids homogenisation is a different technical problem in engineering terms. Because of the narrow dimension of the channel, there is a high shear force generated by viscous friction between the walls and the book flow which leads to delamination of the graphite. This method requires very high pressures and the starting graphite must already have been comminuted into the micron size range. A relevant disclosure can be found in WO2015/099457.
A further variation can be found in Nacken, RSC Advances, 2015, 5, 57328. Here a fluid is expelled through a nozzle into a void against a valve giving back-pressure to avoid cavitation in the expansion chamber. Here a material such as graphene is delamination as the fluid exits the nozzle into the expansion chamber.
For completeness a superficially similar technology is described in WO 2004/052567. Here a suspension of solid is impinged against a rotating disc which, revolving at high rpm accelerates the suspension outward to impinge at high force against a collision ring spaced apart from the rim of the disc. The high rotational speed and grooves in the driven disc mean that relatively large gaps (mm rather than μm) are present at both inlet and outlet of the disc to allow for vibration of the disc, particularly as resonant frequencies can be passed on speed up and slow down (between 0 and 40,000 rpm). Further the shear stress created is insufficient, or possibly the lack of cavitation means that this equipment is not suitable for to delaminating laminar materials.
There exists a need for a graphene production process that can produce graphene using less energy, that can be scaled up to high rates of production without loss of quality of the finished product. Such an apparatus is disclosed in copending patent applications GB15181.5 and PCT/GB2016/053177. That apparatus provides a fluid conduit for impacting a suspension of particles to be de-laminated against an impact head having an impact face and an annular gap. In practice it is been found that the apparatus has a limited lifespan before maintenance is required as the annular gap can either become clogged with particulate material and/or become worn so as to provide an uneven gap through which suspension preferentially flows and which in turn makes the gap even larger. Whilst these two problems tend to be mutually exclusive they are not necessarily so. Clogging tends to occur when fresh suspension is introduced, i.e. larger particles and an unworn head. Wear of the type mentioned tends to occur after prolonged use and can generate a path of least resistance through which larger particles can escape but with poor de-lamination. There is a need to provide an improved apparatus is the purpose of the apparatus is for the industrial scale delamination of suspensions of laminar material, such as for the production of graphene from graphite and industrial production requires operation over a prolonged period of time, such as hours if not days of operation. This application predominantly addresses the question of wear.
The present invention seeks to overcome the problems in previous techniques to provide a production method for graphene that is rapid, scalable to industrial quantities and energy efficient.

Apparatus and method for bulk production of atomically thin 2-dimensional materials including graphene


A method for analyzing a structural affinity relationship between plural kinds of proteins and a compound, comprising the steps of (a) using a compound-immobilized carrier to purify plural kinds of proteins bound to the compound on the carrier, from a group of isotope-labeled proteins; (b) using a compound-immobilized carrier to purify plural kinds of proteins bound to the compound on the carrier, from a group of proteins brought into contact with a compound beforehand; (c) mixing the proteins obtained in step (a) and step (b); (d) analyzing the mixture obtained in step (c) with mass spectrometry; (e) identifying each of plural kinds of proteins based on information obtained by the mass spectrometry; and (f) obtaining an intensity ratio between a labeled peak and a non-labeled peak of each protein, thereby quantitating an affinity ratio of the compound to each protein.

Genome sequences of human and many other organism have been analyzed, and efficient and logical genome-based drug discovery based on the obtained genomic information now draw attention. Most of the targets of the drugs are proteins. The number of proteins synthesized from human genes is estimated to be about 32,000 in total. Considering the post-translational modifications, the number of such proteins is several times more than the number simply calculated based on the number of human genes. Also considering there are drugs which do not directly act on the humans such as antibiotics, a huge number of proteins are to be analyzed for drug discovery. However, only a limited number of proteins can be actual targets of drugs.
Recently, once a specific target protein is determined for drug discovery, it has become possible to screen an optimum compound for the target among many compounds by a technique such as HTS (High Throughput Screening) or the like. This is now a main style for drug discovery studies. However, specificity (binding, interaction, etc.) of the selected compound has been merely confirmed with respect to several kinds of proteins. No comprehensive review on the specificity has been performed.
Identification of true target molecules of the drug candidates and information transmission paths involving the target molecules clarifies mechanism of drug efficacy and side effects, and thus plays an important role in clinical tests for differentiating the drug of interest from other drugs in efficacy, side effects or the like. There are several techniques for searching for target molecules of drugs, but biochemical experiments are required at a final stage anyway to directly prove the interaction between the drugs and target proteins.
Proteomics has advantages over genetics in that proteins binding to drugs can be directly analyzed with a mass spectrometer (MS) and that the protein samples may be derived from cultured cell or organs.
As a technique for isolating a specific proteins, affinity chromatography is widely used. As a representative example of using affinity chromatography for the purpose of isolating proteins bound to compounds, identification of cis-trans peptidyl-prolyl isomerase (FKBP) as a target protein of immunosuppressant drug FK506, was cited1,2). Harding et al. immobilized FK506 to an affinity matrix with the activity being retained, and flowed lysate prepared from spleen. They competitively eluted proteins bound to a ligand with a non-immobilized FK506 solution, and thus obtained FKBP as a specific binding protein. Some physiologically active natural substances strengthen activity thereof by covalently binding to the target3-5). A tag such as biotin is introduced into such a substance, and the resultant substance is added to a cell and incubated for a certain time period to prepare lysate. From the obtained lysate, a compound labeled with a biotin tag is collected using a column having avidin immobilized thereon. In this way, the protein bound to the compound can be identified. Sin et al. synthesized a biotinated derivative of fumagillin having an angiogenesis suppressive activity, and reacted the biotinated derivative with the bovine brain extract. After performing several stages of chromatography, they collected the biotinated derivative using an avidin column, and identified type II methionine aminopeptidase (MetAP-2) as a specifically binding protein. Unlike the affinity chromatography with the compound immobilized thereon, this system enable the reaction of a cultured cell, as well as in a cell extract, and a probe under physiological conditions. This is effective for isolating binding proteins which are easily denatured during cell fractionation or lysate preparation5).
Affinity chromatography may occasionally identify proteins not originally expected6-9). Knockaert et al.7) evaluated various cycline-dependent kinase (CDK) inhibitors, first with an in vitro kinase panel measurement system. The enzymes used were quite limited, mainly several types of CDK and glycogen synthase kinase-3α/β (GSK-3α/β). This assay demonstrated that paullone is an inhibitor against CDK and GSK-3α/β. When paullone immobilized to an affinity matrix was used as a probe for purifying binding proteins, an unexpected result was obtained. It was found that mitochondrial malate dehydrogenase (mMDH) specifically binds to this probe as well as these types of kinase. In an in vitro enzymatic activity measurement performed thereafter, it was confirmed that paullone inhibits mMDH activity with certainty. A technique using affinity chromatography clarified an unexpected novel intracellular target (mMDH) regarding paullone for the first time in history. This experimental result is considered to provide some suggestions to the studies on targets and action mechanisms of compounds. One of the suggestions is that the action of the compound may possibly be expressed as a total of a plurality of mechanisms, not only as the expected mechanism via the target protein.
Affinity chromatography is based on non-covalent interaction between compounds and proteins except for some physiologically active natural substances. However, when the affinity is weak, a true target may be dissociated from the compound during the operation. For example, a compound may be saturated with a protein having a stronger affinity or a protein having an equal strength of affinity but contained in a larger amount. Namely, proteins obtained by affinity chromatography include a certain amount of proteins bound by non-specific interaction. Especially, a drug having a high protein binding ratio can possibly be bound to a great number of proteins in serum or the like. Such a drug often has 200 to 300 kinds of proteins binding thereto even after, for example, being thoroughly washed with 1 M sodium chloride in an affinity column or the like. Therefore, even though the proteome technology has been developed to make it relatively easy to identify many proteins, how to find specific proteins from these identified proteins is important. Shimizu et al. coated a matrix surface with a highly hydrophilic polymer having a high molecular weight and thus reduced the non-specific adsorption of the matrix as compared to generally used matrices2).
Another attempt to reduce the non-specific interaction is to narrow a range of a group of proteins which may be specifically bound to the compounds before affinity chromatography is performed10). In order to examine proteins bound to chloroquine, which is an anti-malaria drug having a quinoline backbone, a group of ATP-binding proteins are first purified by a column having ATP (adenosine triphosphate) immobilized thereon to obtain a group of binding protein candidates. Quinoline, which has a structure similar to that of purine, is considered to have affinity to proteins bound to purine nucleotides such as ATP and DNA. Therefore, by narrowing a range of targets as target candidates using an ATP column in advance, the non-specific interaction was reduced and thus target proteins of chloroquine were identified. This clarified that chloroquine acts on humans, not on malaria, and thus the action mechanism and the side effect mechanism were estimated.
Another attempt to increase the specificity is to competitively elute binding proteins from a compound-immobilized column, using non-immobilized compounds, molecules which are considered to compete for binding sites (e.g., ATP or NADH (nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide)) or the like. An analysis of proteins bound to p38 inhibitor SB203580 successfully increased the p38 recovery ratio by eluting compounds together with ATP11). By this method, a great number of new types of kinase bound to SB203580, which had been considered to p38-specific. Such competitive elution of compounds requires that sufficient amount of the compounds should be dissolved in an aqueous solution, and it is difficult to apply this method to a poorly soluble drug. However, by mixing a non-immobilized, free compound to a protein mixture solution before applied to the affinity column, the target can be masked. A sample containing the masked protein is applied to the affinity column, and column-binding proteins are separated by SDS-PAGE. The bands on the SDS-PAGE are compared based on whether or not the protein is masked or not. The band which disappeared by being masked is considered to be the target2). Even a compound having a poor water solubility is expected to be dissolved to a certain degree in a protein mixture solution.
However, compounds having a low molecular weight are mostly bound to serum proteins to some extent. Therefore, target proteins specific to compounds having a low molecular weight need to be found from binding proteins.
This is realized by preparing a compound having a similar structure to that of, but a different activity from that of, the intended compound and performing differential display of binding proteins. SDS-PAGE may be performed to find different bands, but it is not easy to separate all the bands where there are many binding proteins. Under the circumstances, the present inventor reviewed a target protein identification technique for a novel anti-cancer drug E7070 by performing MS analysis12) using two-dimensional electophoresis or stable isotope labeling, and reported the results13). E7070 is a compound screened, using an indication that a cell cycle of a mouse derived cancer cell P388 is inhibited by G1 phase14). The binding proteins to E7070 had been unknown. The present inventor attempted to identify the binding proteins using E7070 as an affinity probe. With a technique using a probe, the quality of the probe is a key factor. It is ideal that the probe has about the same degree of activity as that of the original compound. A compound has a structure indispensable to express the activity thereof. The indispensable structure is clarified based on the structural activity relationship while a chemist converts the structure of the compound and improves the activity. A linker is extended from a part which is not the indispensable structural part to introduce the probe to the matrix. With E7070, a probe was synthesized by converting a sulfamoyl group based on the structural activity relationship. Binding proteins were identified by affinity chromatography having E7070 immobilized thereon. However, a huge number of proteins were bound to the probe, and it was difficult to narrow the range of the target proteins. In general, synthetic compounds having a low molecular weight have a low specificity and tend to bind to various proteins. Synthetic compounds having a low molecular weight such as E7070 are often poorly water-soluble, and therefore it is often difficult to specifically elute such compounds by flowing non-immobilized drugs to the affinity column in a huge amount. E7070 was also poor in water solubility, and had to be eluted using a solution such as a surfactant or a denaturing agent increasing the elution capability of the solution step by step. Various purification conditions were reviewed. With E7070, most of the eluted proteins were bound to the compound, and there was no non-specific adsorption to beads or linker. The present inventor newly prepared probes using compounds having a similar structure to, but a different anti-tumor activity from, E7070. The proteins eluted from each of the probes were analyzed using a quantitative proteome technique of ICAT15, 16) and 2D-DIGE17) to construct a strategy for identifying proteins strongly adsorbing to E707013). As a result, the present inventor successfully identified proteins highly specifically adsorbing to an E7070 type probe among a great number of proteins adsorbing to the two matrices. Unlike the conventional qualitative determination based on the presence/absence of the band by SDS-PAGE, such a quantitation can provide a highly reliable result.
However, the above-described method still has some problems as exemplified below. (1) Although the compounds need to be immobilized on the carrier (encompassing a carrier filling the column; hereinafter, occasionally referred to simply as "column"), most of the compounds synthesized for screening occasionally cannot be immobilized on the carrier (column). Therefore, there is a need to separately synthesize compounds, which requires a huge amount of time and labor. The type of binding proteins often vary in accordance with the site of the compound immobilized on the carrier (column). (2) When changing the structure of a compound such that the compound can be immobilized on the carrier (column), the activity should not be changed. However, the specificity or affinity is occasionally changed by changing the structure. (3) When performing differential display by changing the compound to be immobilized on the affinity column, it is difficult to select negative compounds (compounds having a relatively weak activity) rather than positive compounds (compounds having a relatively strong activity). Ideally, all the negative compounds are immobilized on the affinity column, but it is not easy in actuality for reason (1). (4) In general, the amount of compounds immobilized on the affinity column is often 0.1 mg to several milligrams with respect to 1 ml of gel, which corresponds to about 1 mM. However, a drug inducing some phenotype of a cell (having activity) shows activity by the order of several micromoles to several nanomoles, sometimes by the order of picomoles. The concentration of the drug exhibiting activity is significantly different from the concentration of the drug immobilized on the column. In general, when a drug is used at a significantly higher concentration than the dose of efficacy, non-specific toxicity is often exhibited. Namely, it is considered that when a high concentration drug is immobilized on the column, an area exhibiting such toxicity may be involved. It is possible to reduce the amount of the compounds immobilized on the column from several micromoles to several nanomoles. However, it is not necessarily easy to control such a tiny amount of immobilization, because if the amount of binding proteins, i.e., the load of the affinity column, is significantly reduced, there is a possibility that the intended proteins may become undetectable with MS. In order to avoid this, the column size may be increased 100 to 1000 times, but such a large size of column is difficult to handle for practical use.

Method of analyzing protein structural affinity relationship