An auction method for specifying catalog contents for packaging and pushing to an electronic auction. The auction method is implemented in an electronic commerce exchange. The auction method includes the steps of specifying catalog contents for packaging for an auction operation hosted on the electronic exchange. Initial terms for the sale of the contents are then specified. The auction is then automatically initiated using the previously specified contents and the previously specified terms. The auction proceeds with the receiving of bids for the contents from remote bidders. The bids are received via a distributed computing network into which the electronic commerce exchange is communicatively coupled. A winning bid is selected by determining a most competitive bid out of the bids received for the contents. A sale of the contents is then completed based upon the terms of the most competitive bid.

Buyers and sellers use a variety of techniques to ensure goods and services meet their mutual expectations. However, traditional procurement systems have been proven to be error prone, labor intensive, and costly operations. For example, often times, when a buyer is looking to purchase a batch of articles, a buyer might negotiate terms for the purchase prior to making the purchasing decision. The negotiation allows the buyer and seller to ensure the articles and terms (e.g., price, quantity, delivery conditions, etc.) will meet any specific requirements. As is generally known, it is advantageous to consider many alternative buyers/sellers when negotiating terms. A larger number of buyers and sellers available, for example, to bid on articles of manufacture, usually leads to a more efficient matching of requirements between buyers and sellers (e.g., getting the best deal). Traditional buying and selling mediums, such as auctions, catalog based purchasing, and selling, and the like, do not always facilitate the most efficient matching of requirements. Alternatively, when prior inspection of an article is not possible or practical, the seller may provide the buyer with specifications describing the properties of the articles. The recent ascendancy of electronic commerce provides a means of avoiding, or at least reducing, the problems presented by the use of traditional buying and selling mediums.
In many respects, the Internet and the World Wide Web based network technologies have largely eliminated the most labor intensive and costly portions of the buying and selling type commerce operations (e.g., the use of mass mailings, printed specifications, catalogs, updating preprinted product information, etc.). However, many of the old problems still remain. For example, the fact that a buyer may find a seller from whom to purchase a batch of articles "on-line", does not change the fact that the buyer might not be aware of a more favorable purchase opportunity from a different seller prior to making the purchasing decision. Even when negotiation and/or inspection of all articles from all possible sellers is not practical, the buyer would find very helpful a comprehensive system for gathering offers from a large, widely distributed number of sellers.
To avoid these problems, a variety of electronic commerce facilitating schemes were developed. One such scheme involved the use of business-to-business buying and selling exchanges implemented on the Internet. The term "electronic commerce" or "e-commerce" originally evolved from remote forms of electronic shopping to mean all aspects of business and market processes enabled by wide area communications networks, namely, the Internet and the World Wide Web based network technologies. E-commerce is a rapidly growing field, and is generally understood to mean doing business on-line or selling and buying products and services through Web (e.g., Internet based) storefronts or through other similar distributed computer networks. In general, electronic commerce is substantially similar to the more traditional catalog based commerce schemes. The business-to-business e-commerce exchanges, or simply "B2B exchanges" have evolved to focus on the specific needs and requirements of buying and selling between businesses.
As the use of B2B exchanges has proliferated, the implementation of electronic commerce auctions has become increasingly common. The use of electronic commerce catalog based buying and selling, or simply electronic catalogs, has become a preferred method of efficiently making available in large number of goods and services to a large number of potential buyers. Electronic catalogs provide a convenient means for aggregating large number of potential items for sale and efficiently disseminating information about these items to a large number of potential buyers.
Auctions are different from traditional catalog based commerce schemes. Auctions generally aggregate buyers or sellers to purchase or sell items/services through the respective submission of competitive bids. Generally, the most competitive bid is designated the winner of the auction. For example, in an auction amongst multiple competing buyers, the most competitive bid is usually the bid offering the most money for the specified item or service. In an auction amongst multiple competing sellers, the most competitive bid is usually the bid offering the specified item or service for the lowest price. Buyers and sellers participating in an auction compete with one another on the basis of the terms of their bids. Auctioneers have an interest in making the bidding process as competitive as possible to effect the most efficient matching of requirements between sellers and buyers (e.g., getting the best deal). Large numbers of buyers or sellers competitively trying to outbid one another usually leads to the most favorable terms.
However, auctions are usually inefficient with regard to disseminating large amounts of information about many different types of goods and services available for purchase. Auctions tend to be directed towards a limited number or type of goods per each auction operation. Where a manufacture has a large product line available for purchase, electronic catalogs, having the manufacturer's entire product line available for selection and purchase on-line, are more favored.
There is a problem however, in the fact that the terms of sale for electronic catalogs tend to be fixed. For example, the seller makes available the product line by specifying any specific characteristics of the individual products and the prices of individual products. Buyers make their purchasing decisions based upon this information. Products showing greater than predicted demand tend to be sold out. Any products showing less than predicted demand tend to remain unsold.
Hence, sellers face a large degree of uncertainty with regard to pricing items in their product catalog or otherwise setting terms. Some items have a pricing history which leads to less uncertainty with regard to supply and price/terms. However, new items have no such history and are thus much more prone to mismatches with regard to supply and or price/terms. These errors pose a significant financial penalty to the seller.
Thus, what is required is a solution for efficiently providing the price competitiveness of auction based selling with the efficiency aspects of catalog based selling. The required solution should be readily configurable by a user to reduce risks inherent with setting pricing/terms of new items for electronic catalogs. Additionally, the required solution should be compatible with widely used electronic commerce enabling technology. The present invention provides a novel solution to the above requirements.

Method and system for implementing catalog inventory auctions in an electronic exchange


A cabin for a work vehicle, comprising: a ceiling portion; an air conditioner provided to the work vehicle; an air distribution duct provided to the ceiling portion for communicating conditioned air from the air conditioner to the cabin; an air guide projecting into the air distribution duct at an intermediate portion of the duct and forming an inlet opening in a lateral face of a projecting portion of the air guide; and an outlet portion extending to outside the duct and having an opening for introducing the conditioned air from the inlet opening into the cabin. The air guide is pivotable between a use condition and a non-use condition where the inlet opening is oriented differently from an orientation of the inlet opening when the air guide is in the use condition. The air guide is pivotable about an axis such that the inlet opening of the air guide assumes an upstream orientation with respect to a direction of air flow within the air distribution duct when the air guide is in the use condition whereas the inlet opening of the air guide assumes a downstream orientation with respect to the direction of air flow within the air distribution duct when the air guide is in the non-use condition.

The present invention relates to a cabin for a work vehicle having an air outlet for feeding conditioned air from an air distribution duct into the cabin.
Conventionally, for use in a vehicle, as shown in the Japanese Patent Application "Kokai" No. 2001-280683 (paragraphs [0002], [0027] and FIGS. 2-8), there is known an air conditioning technique wherein a shutter damper or a wind deflector is provided at an outlet of conditioned air, such that by opening/closing or changing orientation of the shutter damper or wind deflector, conditioned air may be supplied in a controlled manner to a desired area or not supplied at all when desired.
When e.g. fogging occurs on a glass sheet in the driver's cabin, this can sometimes impair the visibility of a sideview mirror located outside the cabin. In such case, by feeding conditioned air to the surface of fogged glass sheet, the air can eliminate the fogging or provide anti-fogging effect to the glass sheet, thus improving the visibility of the sideview mirror.
When the above-described conventional technique designed to allow controlled feeding of conditioned air to a desired portion or stopping the feeding of air thereto at all is to be employed, this would tend to invite increased complexity of the construction due to the requirement of such component as the shutter damper or the wind deflector as well as the requirement for allowing the pivotal operation of the dumper or deflector. Further, in order to allow the conditioned air to be supplied to the desired portion with high precision, correspondingly high precision would be required in the guiding performance of the wind deflector or the like, which would invite further complexity in the construction.


An antenna, which is operable in a digital video broadcasting for handhelds (DVB-H) frequency range, includes first and second monopole radiating elements and a feeding element. The first and second monopole radiating elements are symmetrical about an axis of symmetry and have a meandering shape. The feeding element interconnects the first and second monopole radiating elements.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an antenna, more particularly to an antenna operable in a digital video broadcasting-handheld (DVB-H) frequency range.
2. Description of the Related Art
In U.S. Patent Application Publication No. US20060214857, there is disclosed an antenna that conforms to a digital video broadcasting for handhelds (DVB-H) specification. The conventional antenna includes a radiating element, a feeding line, a matching circuit, and a radio frequency (RF) circuit. The radiating element is L-shaped. The feeding line is coupled to the radiating element and is formed on a dielectric substrate. The matching circuit is coupled to the feeding line and is formed on the dielectric substrate. The RF circuit is coupled to the matching circuit and is formed on the dielectric substrate.
The conventional antenna is disadvantageous in that the conventional antenna has a relatively low gain. Furthermore, adjustment of a coupling distance between the matching circuit and the RF circuit so as to permit operation of the conventional antenna at a desired frequency is difficult to perform.

Antenna with symmetrical first and second monopole radiating elements


The present invention provides a method for predicting channel power fading in a wireless communications system. This prediction method estimates the channel power fading via oversampling of the received and transmitted powers. The prediction method is then combined with several proposed structures for closed loop power control. The resulting structures result in improved performance in wireless communications systems.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to wireless communications systems, and more particularly, to closed loop power control techniques for use in wireless communications systems.
2. Description of the Related Art
(Note: This application references a number of different publications as indicated throughout the specification by reference numbers enclosed in brackets, e.g., [x]. A list of these different publications ordered according to these reference numbers can be found below in Section X of the specification. Each of these publications is incorporated by reference herein.)
Power control is often necessary in wireless communications systems. For example, a DS-CDMA (direct sequence—code division multiple access) wireless communications systems must implement power control, because all users share the same bandwidth to transmit data and interference among users often occurs. Generally, the signal received by a base station (BS) from a nearby mobile station (MS) will dominate that received from a far MS.
The objective of power control is to control the transmission power of the MS such that the average received power from each MS is constant. Power control reduces inter-user interference by overcoming the near-far effect and results in capacity increase of the overall CDMA system. Power control also combats the Rayleigh fading channel effect on the transmitted signal by compensating for the fast fading of the wireless channel. Finally, power control minimizes the power consumption of the MS.
Power control can be classified into two main categories, namely, open loop and closed loop power control. In Open Loop Power Control (OLPC), the MS measures the quality of the signal received from the BS and adjusts its transmission power accordingly. In Closed Loop Power Control (CLPC), the BS measures the fading effects in the signal received from each MS, and then commands each MS to increase or decrease its power accordingly.
Notwithstanding these accomplishments, there remains a need in the art for improved methods of power control.

Reducing power control errors in wireless communication system

The Regents of the University of California


A data storage method and apparatus are provided. First information of to-be-stored data is first obtained. The first information includes at least one piece of information: a type of the to-be-stored data, a name of the to-be-stored data, and a user identifier corresponding to the to-be-stored data; An expected storage location of the to-be-stored data is determined based on whether the first information of the to-be-stored data meets a condition. At least one data packet in a plurality of data packets of the to-be-stored data is stored in the expected storage location.

With rapid increase of internet users and diversified development of services, more data (for example, user data and service configuration data) needs to be stored by using a storage system, for service analysis and service guidance. A tiered storage technology is introduced to improve storage performance of the storage system. A main idea of the tiered storage technology is to separately store different data in storage media with different performance based on indicators such as data importance and data access frequency. For example, data with relatively low access frequency is stored onto a hard disk drive (HDD) with a relatively low read/write speed in the storage system, and data with relatively high access frequency is stored onto a solid state drive (SSD) with a relatively high read/write speed in the storage system. This can improve a read/write speed of the storage system.
In the conventional technology, the storage system using the tiered storage technology usually scans, at a regular interval (for example, every other week), data stored in the entire storage system, to determine whether the data stored in the storage system meets a preset tiered storage policy (for example, storing data with relatively low access frequency onto the HDD or storing data with relatively high access frequency onto the SSD). If a part of data in the storage system does not meet the tiered storage policy, for example, a data block 1 is data with relatively low access frequency but is stored on the SSD, the part of data needs to be migrated to an expected storage medium, that is, the data block 1 is migrated to the HDD.
After scanning the data stored in the entire storage system, if it is determined that a large amount of data needs to be migrated, the storage system needs to consume a large quantity of resources (for example, input/output (I/O) resources) to migrate, to the expected storage medium, the data that needs to be migrated. Consequently, storage performance of the storage system deteriorates.


An NTC thermistor element has a pair of outer electrodes formed on opposite outer end surfaces of a thermistor body made of an NTC thermistor material. A plurality of inner electrodes are formed inside this thermistor body in layers, each connected to either of this pair of outer electrodes. At least one of these layers contains a longer inner electrode and a shorter inner electrode disposed mutually opposite to each other, separated by a gap, and connected to different ones of this pair of outer electrodes. At least a portion of this longer electrode in this layer overlaps, in the perpendicular direction to the layers, another of the inner electrodes connected to the different outer electrode from the one to which this longer electrode is connected, with a thermistor layer in between.

This invention relates to a thermistor element having resistance with negative temperature coefficient (hereinafter referred to as an NTC thermistor element) and more particularly to an improvement in the kinds of NTC thermistor element having a plurality of inner electrodes inside its thermistor body.
NTC thermistor elements are widely in use for detecting the temperature of the atmosphere, solid and liquid materials, as well as for compensating for changes in the characteristics of a circuit or its component due to temperature variations. As disclosed in Japanese Patent Publications 4-130702 and 62-137804, for example, prior art NTC thermistor element chips may be of a face-to-face type having electrodes disposed opposite each other in a coplanar relationship or a layered type having a plurality of inner electrodes disposed one above another inside the thermistor body in a layered formation.
FIG. 11 shows a prior art NTC thermistor element 61 of a face-to-face type having a thermistor body 62 obtained by sintering a plurality of transition metal oxides such as nickel oxide and cobalt oxide, containing therein inner electrodes 63 and 64 opposite each other at a certain height with a specified gap therebetween. An outer electrode 65 is formed over one end surface (on the left-hand side) of the thermistor body 62 and connected to one of the inner electrodes 63, and another outer electrode 66 is formed over the other end surface (on the right-hand side) of the thermistor body 26 and connected to the other inner electrode 64. The resistance value of this NTC thermistor element 61 is determined by the gap between the mutually opposite inner electrodes 63 and 64. Since the two inner electrodes 63 and 64 are in a coplanar relationship, the resistance value of the NTC thermistor element 61 can be controlled to a high degree of accuracy by accurately forming these inner electrodes 63 and 64 on a so-called green sheet which is used for obtaining the thermistor body 62.
FIG. 12 shows another example of prior art NTC thermistor element 67 of the face-to-face type characterized as having other pairs of inner electrodes 68a, 68b, 69a, 69b, 70a and 70b in addition to the electrodes 63 and 64 as shown in FIG. 11, that is, four pairs of mutually opposite electrodes at four different heights inside the thermistor body.
FIG. 13 shows an NTC thermistor element 71 of a layered type having a plurality of inner electrodes 73, 74 and 75 disposed overlappingly one above another through thermistor layers inside a thermistor body 72. Inner electrodes 73 and 75 are connected to an outer electrode 76 formed over one end surface of the thermistor body 72, and inner electrode 74 is connected to another outer electrode 77 formed over the other end surface of the thermistor body 72. With this NTC thermistor element 71, the resistance value is determined by the separations between the upper and lower inner electrodes 73 and 75 and the middle inner electrode 74. Thus, a thermistor element with a small resistance value can be more easily obtained by this type.
In summary, prior art NTC thermistor elements of the face-to-face type, as shown at 61 and 67, are advantageous wherein their resistance values can be accurately controlled but it is difficult to reduce their resistance values. The resistance value can be reduced by reducing the gap between the mutually opposite pair of inner electrodes (such as between electrodes 63 and 64) but the possibility of occurrence of a short circuit increases if the gap is reduced excessively. In other words, there is a limit beyond which the resistance value of an NTC thermistor element cannot be reduced. Another problem is that edge portions of the outer electrodes 65 and 66 extending in the direction of a line connecting the two end surfaces serve as parallel resistors with the inner electrodes, and their effect on the total resistance value is not negligible.
With an NTC thermistor element of the layered type, such as shown at 71, the resistance value can be reduced by increasing the number of layers of the inner electrodes, but there are fluctuations in the thickness of green sheets which are used for the production, and the resistance value may vary significantly, caused by such fluctuations as well as the accuracy in overlapping the green sheets. In other words, although NTC thermistor elements with low resistance values can be obtained, the more the resistance value is reduced, the greater becomes the variation in the resistance value.


The methods and systems of the present invention are particularly adaptable as additions in the form of displaying means, such as monitors, that can works in conjunction with any type of motor vehicle including cars, box trucks, boats, ships, yachts, trains, recreational vehicles, motorcycles, tractor trailer trucks, or motor scooters. The methods of the present invention can be combined as an addition to any part of the motor vehicle in order to turn the motor vehicle into a mobile displaying platform for displaying advertisements or other information.

A variety advertising methods are available, for example on television and internet or in various printed publications, or different types of displays such as billboards or other types of displays on buses or buildings.
Many of the available methods of advertising are not as effective as they were once. For example, television is still by far the most effective and dynamic medium and is the most heavily purchased medium for all of the top advertisers. However, the problem with television is fragmentation. Television would have been considered a captive medium in the 1950's, but today, with satellite and cable TV delivery to nearly 80% of all TV homes, and the penetration of VCR, DVD, and remote control, television has become hit or miss medium for advertising at best. Most of these TV households are receiving 50 to 150 different channel viewing choices at one time. Advertising in this cluttered environment is getting lost, becoming less effective, and in some cases not available at all, for example HBO, The Disney Channel, Pay-per-view, etc. Advertising agencies have over used many forms of advertising in order to get peoples attention by using commercials, billboards, magazine ads, and the internet. Now people are bored with all of that and are ready for something new.
While there has been a trend to provide more effective and targeted advertising, further improvements in the effectiveness in getting information to potential consumer are desirable, and the present invention addresses the existing problems and provides related benefits.

Methods and systems of displaying advertisement or other information and content via mobile platforms


A stethoscope shield device for protecting a chestpiece of a stethoscope is provided. The chestpiece has a diaphragm side and a bell side. The stethoscope shield device comprises a support member for covering at least a portion of one of the sides of the chestpiece with the support member having a perimeter edge and constructed for retaining and maintaining a desired shape. A securing body is secured to the perimeter of the support member with the securing body having an aperture positionable about the chestpiece between the diaphragm side and the bell side. An elastic band encircles the aperture formed in the securing body wherein the elastic band releasably secures the stethoscope shield device to the stethoscope and maintains a snug, tight fit around the chestpiece of the stethoscope.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to a stethoscope shield device and, more particularly, the invention relates to a stethoscope shield device for alleviating contamination on the heads of stethoscopes.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Perhaps one of the most important diagnostic tools used by those in the heath care industry is the simple stethoscope. Designed to enable the professional to easily listen to sounds emitted by various parts of the patient's body, a stethoscope is used by everyone from doctors and nurses, to paramedics and emergency technicians. The modern stethoscope is designed with much more knowledge about the transmission of sound. Stethoscopes are fitted with two ear pieces and tubing of a special length between patient and doctor. Special heads pick up both high and low pitched sounds. An experienced doctor can listen to all the body's sounds and interpret their meaning. Thanks to the stethoscope, he or she can hear all the body's special messages and use this audio information as a very effective diagnostic tool. As such, a stethoscope is the first item many purchase when completing their medical training and most medical personnel utilize their own stethoscope when treating patients. Not surprisingly, because these devices are utilized repeatedly throughout the day on dozens of patients, it stands to reason that the equipment can possibly become contaminated. A lingering germs or bacteria from one patient could possibly be transferred to the next patient upon which the stethoscope is placed.


Systems, methods, and computer-readable media are disclosed for implementing a load balance update. A system may be configured to receive a plurality performance reports for a plurality of service nodes running on the plurality of host entities, wherein each performance report comprises performance indicators for a service node in the plurality of service nodes running on a host entity in the plurality of host entities, generate a load balance update based on the performance reports, and implement the load balance update at a load balancer.

Load balancing is the distribution of workloads across multiple computing resources in order to improve the functioning of a system. For example, effective load balancing implementations may optimize resource usage, maximize throughput, minimize response time, and/or overload resources in a system. Load balancing is often achieved by a load balancer that divides workloads/traffic between network resources. Some implementations may use a round-robin method of distributing workloads or other randomized methods of load balancing.
Load balancing is especially important in distributed systems such as cloud-based environments. Many industries are transitioning towards running their applications or other computing resources on cloud-based virtual machines or servers, which are billed per unit time (e.g., hourly) and can be costly. When an application is running on a virtual machine, but the application is not being used, or is experiencing latency issues, the costs associated with the application use may go up.


A system and method for dynamically re-allocating a user to an alternative virtual desktop pool. A virtual application may monitor relevant parameters related to resource utilization and end-user experience. Certain information, for example, information provided by an administrator, related to capabilities and capacity of one or more virtual desktop pool capabilities may be stored. The virtual appliance may re-allocate or migrate the user to an alternative virtual desktop pool based, at least in part, on the monitored parameters and the stored capabilities and capacity information. Any changes in the user's activities may be reflected in further re-allocation of the user to another alternative virtual desktop pools to ensure a suitable end-user experience.

As the value and use of information continues to increase, individuals and businesses seek additional ways to process and store information. One option is an information handling system. An information handling system generally processes, compiles, stores, and/or communicates information or data for business, personal, or other purposes. Because technology and information handling needs and requirements may vary between different applications, information handling systems may also vary regarding what information is handled, how the information is handled, how much information is processed, stored, or communicated, and how quickly and efficiently the information may be processed, stored, or communicated. The variations in information handling systems allow for information handling systems to be general or configured for a specific user or specific use such as financial transaction processing, reservations, enterprise data storage, or global communications. In addition, information handling systems may include a variety of hardware and software resources that may be configured to process, store, and communicate information and may include one or more computer systems, data storage systems, and networking systems. A virtual environment, such as a virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI), separates a desktop environment and its associated software in a data center, from the information handling system that is used to access the desktop environment.
Virtual desktop environments have become prevalent in the enterprise information technology domain. These environments are presented as offering many advantages over the conventional physical personal computer (PC) paradigm, such as enhanced security, compatibility with a wider range of user endpoint devices and reduced total cost of ownership (TCO) for enterprises. A "virtual desktop" may refer to any number of methodologies including server-based computing (SBC) where a number of users share the desktop of a server-based operating system, VDI where each user gets their own virtual machine which typically runs a client operating system, and application virtualization technologies that concentrate more closely on making specific applications available to users with these applications, for example, being hosted on a remote system or streamed to the user's local system. With respect to the virtual desktop technologies described, SBC is often regarded as being appropriate for task/call-center type environments, while VDI is more commonly deployed for knowledge workers who require a higher level of user personalization, and application virtualization technologies may be commonly deployed across SBC, VDI and physical desktop environments to solve business challenges such as legacy application OS compatibility.
Pooled resources or virtual desktop pools are a commonly used approach for providing users with access to VDI and SBC environments. For example, allocation of a user to a virtual desktop pool may be based on a largely crude analysis of a particular user's requirements based on such factors as organizational alignment such as membership in the accounting department or the human resource department. Users may be presented with a poor end-user experience and organizations may see poor utilization of computer resources due to the lack of an optimal re-allocation of the users to virtual desktop pools as the re-allocation of users to these virtual desktop pools may rely on ad-hoc methods such as help desk calls and resource utilization alarms.

System and method for dynamic user assignment in a virtual desktop environment


A digital to analog converter including a first capacitor, a second capacitor, an operational amplifier, and a switch is disclosed. During a first period, the first capacitor stores a first voltage and the second capacitor stores a second voltage. The operational amplifier comprises an input and an output. The switch parallels the first and the second capacitors with the operational amplifier at the input and output according to a digital signal during a second period.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a converter, and more particularly to a digital to analog converter.
2. Description of the Related Art
DACs are an essential interface circuit for converting signals from the digital domain into the analog domain and, particularly, the analog signal processing domain. DACs are also a key to many analog to digital converter techniques. DACs accept N-bit digital words or data and convert them into an analog voltage signal. The analog voltage signal ranges from zero to a maximum voltage corresponding to a reference voltage provided to the digital to analog converter.
With regard to DAC performance for audio, there is a frequently used delta sigma modulation capable of realizing desired total harmonic distortion (ratio of harmonic component to signal), S/N (signal to noise ratio) or the like. According to the delta sigma modulation, by noise shaping technology, there is achieved an advantage in conversion.

Digital to analog converter and conversion method


A metal line of semiconductor device and a method of forming the same are provided. An interlayer dielectric (ILD) layer is formed on a semiconductor substrate including a lower line. A via hole is formed in the ILD layer, and a diffusion barrier layer is formed on the ILD layer where the via hole is formed. A copper seed layer and a copper plating layer are repeatedly formed and etched until the hole is completely filled.

As high-speed performance and high integration of semiconductor devices becomes more important, research regarding the use of copper metal lines is becoming more common. Copper has higher electromigration resistance and lower bulk resistivity than the aluminum or aluminum alloy that is often used as a material for metallization in a related art semiconductor device.
When used in a semiconductor device, copper lines are typically formed using a damascene process.
The damascene process generally includes forming a trench, filling copper into the trench by electrochemical plating (ECP), and removing overfilled copper by chemical mechanical polishing (CMP).
Since ECP typically provides better bottom-up gapfill capability than a physical vapor deposition (PVD) or a chemical vapor deposition (CVD), ECP is often used to form copper lines.
As the technology of semiconductor devices continues to advance, the desired width of gates becomes smaller and finer patterns are required.
Accordingly, copper lines in semiconductor devices are also becoming smaller, leading to voids or seams in via holes and trenches for small-sized copper lines. Thus, a need exists in the art for a metal line of a semiconductor device and fabricating method thereof which includes copper lines formed without voids or seams.

Metal line of semiconductor device and method of forming the same


A method for producing an amorphous oxide thin film includes: a pre-treatment process of selectively changing a binding state of an organic component, at a temperature lower than a pyrolysis temperature of the organic component, in a first oxide precursor film containing the organic component and In, to obtain a second oxide precursor film in which, when an infrared wave number range of from 1380 cm−1 to 1520 cm−1 in an infrared absorption spectrum obtained by performing a measurement by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy is divided into an infrared wave number range of from 1380 cm−1 to 1450 cm−1 and an infrared wave number range of from more than 1450 cm−1 to 1520 cm−1, a peak positioned within the infrared wave number range of from 1380 cm−1 to 1450 cm−1 exhibits the maximum value in the infrared absorption spectrum within an infrared wave number range of from 1350 cm−1 to 1750 cm−1; and a post-treatment process of removing the organic component remaining in the second oxide precursor film, to transform the second oxide precursor film into an amorphous oxide thin film containing In.

Amorphous oxide thin films, particularly, transparent amorphous oxide semiconductors, such as In—Ga—Zn—O based (hereinafter, referred to as "IGZO") semiconductors, are called "TAOSs (Transparent Amorphous Oxide Semiconductors)" and have been studied and developed by various research institutions and makers, and significant technological progress has been made. In particular, with panel makers in Japan, Korea, and Taiwan playing a central role, trial manufacture of large-size displays is actively being carried out, discussions about reliability and stability, and moreover, technical studies toward mass production are also progressing, and production by a vacuum film forming method has almost reached a practical level.
Meanwhile, among the trends toward realizing a larger size, with an aim to reduce production costs, research and development concerning the production of TAOS-TFTs (Thin Film Transistors) by a liquid phase process (hereinafter, referred to as a "liquid phase method") are also popular. For example, in recent years, a TAOS-TFT-driven liquid crystal display produced by a liquid phase method has been reported, and thus, expectations around the world for the production of TFTs by a liquid phase method have become increasingly higher. However, regarding the liquid phase method, there are problems in that the process temperature is still higher compared to the vacuum film forming method and in that it is difficult to obtain a thin film with good quality, which should be overcome in the future.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (JP-A) No. 2010-258058 discloses a method for producing an amorphous oxide thin film, the method including subjecting a semiconductor precursor film formed on a substrate to a heating treatment together with irradiation with electromagnetic waves, to transform the semiconductor precursor film into an amorphous metal oxide semiconductor film. Further, JP-A No. 2010-258058 also discloses that it is preferable to remove organic components other than metal components by performing washing by a dry washing process such as oxygen plasma or UV ozone washing, after the formation of the semiconductor precursor film but before semiconductor conversion/transform treatment (before heating treatment) to decompose and wash organic substances which exist in the thin film or at the surface of the thin film and cause generation of impurities.

Method for producing amorphous oxide thin film and thin film transistor


An example embodiment of a turbine engine assembly includes a low spool including a low spool accessory drive gear driven by a low rotor shaft, a high spool including a high spool accessory drive gear driven by a high rotor shaft concentric around a portion of the low rotor shaft, and a differential gear assembly adapted to offtake power from rotation of one or both of the low spool and the high spool to drive one or more accessory loads. The differential gear assembly includes a differential bullgear and one or more idler gears each including a plurality of teeth meshed with the low spool accessory drive gear and the high spool accessory drive gear, and a bearing surface. The differential bull gear includes a plurality of teeth and a corresponding at least one bearing surface engaging with the bearing surface of each of the one or more idler gears. The plurality of teeth are adapted to mesh with an accessory drive system to transfer the power offtake and drive the one or more accessory loads.

The disclosure relates generally to turbine engines and more specifically to driving accessories of a turbine engine.
Additional demands on large military and commercial engines solely utilize the high spool rotor to extract horsepower and power accessories including fuel/oil pumps, PMAG, and aircraft accessory pumps. With increasing demand for horsepower extraction to power additional accessories and provide more electrical power, extraction limits of the high rotor are being reached and there is a need for additional horsepower. At the very least, it would be useful to better balance the extraction demands between more than one spool.
However, the "penalties" for current modes of extracting power from more than one spool at a time, add complexity, weight, cost, and maintainability that present challenges to utilizing a second lower spool.

High and low spool differential gear assembly


A wear-resistant copper alloy which consists essentially of 56 to 65 wt. % of Cu, 28 to 32 wt. % of Zn, 3.5 to 5.5 wt. % of Al, 0.5 to 2.0 wt. % of Fe, 1.0 to 3.0 wt. % of Ni, 0.1 to 1.0 wt. % of Nb, and 0.4 to 1.5 wt. % of Ti, provided that Ti+Nb is equal to or greater than 0.7 wt. %. The alloy includes two discrete intermetallic compounds comprising Ti-Ni-Fe-Al and Nb-Fe-Al uniformly dispersed in a microstructure preferably including at least 50 volume % beta phase and limited alpha and gamma phases. A synchronizer ring made of the copper alloy is also provided.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to copper alloys and, more particularly, to brass alloys which are useful in various fields requiring good wear resistance. The invention also relates to synchronizer rings for automobiles which comprise the brass alloys of the type mentioned above.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Wear-resistant brass alloys which have been conventionally employed under high speed and high load conditions are those wherein intermetallic compounds, such as Mn.sub.5 Si.sub.3, precipitate. However, when used under more severe sliding conditions such as operations at high speed and high load with low viscosity oils, the known brass alloys are not satisfactory in practical applications with respect to strength, ductility, and wear resistance. Accordingly, there is a strong demand for brass alloys having better properties.

Wear-resistant copper alloys and synchronizer rings for automobiles comprising the same


A single step pretreatment of wastewater or recreational water is provided comprising treatment with nanocomposites consisting of an anchoring particle such as a clay mineral and one or more polymers.

There is an urgent need to process specific industrial or agricultural effluents (such as olive mills, wineries, piggeries, soy or coffee bean industries) that are unsuitable for discharge into standard sewage treatment plants due to the large amounts of organic and suspended matter. The disposal of such effluents without any treatment is known to cause serious environmental problems. Wineries are major producers of organically laden wastewater, yielding about 1000-3000 L per ton of grapes characterized by high contents of organic material and nutrients, high acidity, and large variations in seasonal flow production. The very high values of organic matter, suspended solids, and sodium adsorption ratio (SAR) make such water inadequate for disposal in common sewage systems.
Colloidal particles that tend to clog filtering devices are one of the problems with such effluents, in most cases, colloidal stability the colloids' tendency to remain dispersed) of the effluents is due to the fact that the particles are very small and in most effluents are negatively charged, thus, the mutual repulsion threes keep the particles in suspension. In several cases pretreatment processes in wastewater involve use of chemicals for the neutralization, flocculation, and precipitation of those colloids. In most cases such treatments are based on two separate stages: (a) neutralization of the charges (a step industrially known as "coagulation") and (b) bridging between several relatively small particles to form larger aggregates that, due to their size and density, sink at the bottom of the vessel, leaving a clarified effluent (step known as "flocculation").
Such destabilization of the colloidal suspension, inducing flocculation of large amount of suspended matter, lowers values of total suspended solids (TSS), turbidity, and even the chemical oxygen demand (COD). This, in turn, improves the efficiency of following water treatments, thereby reducing environmental hazard.
Clays and organoclays (clay minerals treated with organocations) have been widely used for the pretreatment of effluents (Amuda and Amoo, 2007; Beall, 2003). Combination of clay minerals and organic compounds efficiently removed colloidal solids in paper mill wastewater. Several studies used cationic or anionic polyelectrolytes, combinations of coagulants and polyelectrolytes, or even combination of clay minerals and organic quaternary ammonium ions (Mousavi et al., 2006) for the removal of organic contaminants from olive mill wastewater. In all cases, considerable changes in the colloidal properties of the effluent, including reduction in turbidity, TSS, COD and other quality parameters was achieved.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,447,686 discloses a high speed coagulant-flocculant and sedimentation method for treating waste water. The method is based on an arrangement of tanks comprising a mixing tank, an agitating tank, a polymer aggregation tank and a sedimentation tank successively connected, wherein the mixing tank comprises an aggregating agent which is based on clay minerals.
The term "nanoparticle" is usually used for a combined material which has at least on one dimension a size of 100 nm or less. Thus, most clay minerals are considered nanoparticles. The use of clays as building-blocks for assembling organic species at the nanometer range yields useful hybrid nanostructured materials. Nanocomposite materials consisting of polymer molecules and natural or layered minerals like clays can be prepared and designed by the combination of clay minerals with organic polymers interacting at the molecular level (Ruiz-Hitzky, 2001).
In previous studies, we demonstrated the ability of suitable nanoparticles for very efficient removal of phenolic compounds similar to components of olive mill or winery wastewater (Rytwo et al., 2007). Other studies (Rytwo et al., 2011) presented a very effective pretreatment based on combination of organoclay nanoparticles and crude clay, which changed the colloidal stability of winery and pickle industry effluents, reducing TSS and turbidity for several cycles by means of a two-step process: a first step performed with organoclay, and a second step performed by adding raw clay. In general, Rytwo et al (2011) process was similar to that used nowadays in the industry: (a) a coagulation step, performed in industry with cationic polymers, or with aluminium sulphate or other inorganic polycations Rytwo et al (2011), the coagulant was based on an organoclay), and (b) a flocculation step performed in the industry with flocculants in several cases based on cationic or anionic polyacrylamide derivatives (in Rytwo et al (2011), the flocculant was a raw clay mineral),

Method for pretreatment of wastewater and recreational water with nanocomposites


A suspension system having an upper link, a lower wishbone, a vertical hub carrier and an interlinking wishbone. The upper link is coupled, via a first spherical joint, to a vehicle sub-frame and, via a second spherical joint, to the hub carrier, the lower link is coupled, via bushings, to the sub-frame and, via a third spherical joint, to the hub carrier. The interlinking wishbone is coupled, via a hinge joint, to the lower wishbone and, via a fourth spherical joint, to the upper link. The hinge joint and the fourth spherical joint are substantially equidistant between the respective joints of the upper link and lower wishbone coupling the sub-frame and the hub carrier. The fourth spherical joint is offset from a line joining the first and the second spherical joints. The distance between the first and the second spherical joints is substantially equal to the distance between the bushings and the third spherical joint.

Conventional double wishbone front suspensions, in which both wishbones are located within the diameter of the wheel, exhibit behavior that is well suited to front suspension application in terms of roll center control, camber control, and toe control. They offer advantages over other concepts by virtue of their compactness and the close proximity of their structural attachments to the body or subframe, which allows for an efficient lightweight understructure. Impending pedestrian impact legislation will also tend to favor such systems against the widely used MacPherson strut suspensions which typically have mounting points high in the structure, close to the surface of the bonnet, which is undesirable from the point of view of protecting a pedestrian's head which might impact in that region. If double wishbones are spaced widely apart, so that the upper wishbone is located above the tire, the resulting disparate body/subframe mountings and a high profile will, like the MacPherson strut, not be conducive to good pedestrian head impact performance.
However, conventional double wishbone front suspension systems require the mounting of the wishbones to be stiff in order to minimize loss of castor angle and trail under braking, which would have the effect of degrading vehicle stability and predictability. However, stiff mounting of wishbones tends to make the vehicle ride harsh due to the consequent lack of longitudinal compliance. Suspension compliance has become a sine qua non in recent times due to increased expectations regarding passenger comfort, particularly as more cars are being specified for use with run flat tires which are significantly stiffer than conventional tires and require suspensions to be more compliant to compensate to some degree.
The objective of establishing a side elevation rotation point for the suspension under longitudinal forces is also desirable for a rear axle, especially a driven rear axle, but for different reasons then the front. A rear driven axle is required to provide "toe in" under reverse traction loading to counter the tendency of the vehicle to oversteer when the throttle is lifted mid corner. In particular the outside rear wheel is required to "toe in" under these circumstances, whilst the inside wheel is required to either "toe in" to a lesser degree or even to "toe out". Moreover longitudinal force changes at the rear axle generate fairly low loads in comparison with braking loads, typically of the order of one quarter. A further issue to be dealt with is the requirement to generate adequate "toe" change under throttle lift off, without generating excessive "toe" change under braking.
With a conventional double wishbone suspension, which would have a hub rotation point in the side elevation somewhere near the wheel center, an undesirable oversteer component developed from the inside wheel generating more "toe in" than the outside wheel, will result.
FIGS. 1 and 2 represent a conventional double wishbone front suspension viewed from the side. The front of the vehicle is towards the left hand side of the figures.
An upper wishbone 10 and a lower wishbone 12 are each attached at their inner ends to a vehicle body or subframe, by means of compliant bushings 14.
The wishbones 10 and 12 are connected at their outer ends to the upper and lower ends respectively, of a swivel hub 16, by means of spherical joints 18.
A steering mechanism (not shown) is connected by track rods (not shown) to steering arms 40 on the swivel hubs 16, by means of spherical joints, in conventional manner.
WC represents the wheel center and CP represents the contact patch of the wheel upon the ground. For the purposes of simplicity, the moments about the steering axis have been ignored i.e. the forces have been resolved as if the outer spherical joints of the upper and lower wishbones lie in the wheel plane.
Referring to FIG. 1, if a braking force FB is applied at the contact patch CP, the reaction forces FU and FL are experienced by the swivel hub 16 at the connections 18 to the upper and lower wishbone 10,12 respectively, then;FL=FBB/A; andFU=FB(B/A−1).
Referring to FIG. 2, if a force FC is applied to the wheel center WC, as would be the case if the vehicle hit a pothole or discontinuity in the road surface, the reaction forces FU and FL are experienced by the swivel hub 16 at the connections 18 to the upper and lower wishbones 10,12 respectively, thenFL=FCC/D; andFU=FC(1−C/D).
If the upper wishbone 10 has a longitudinal stiffness at the upper spherical joint 18 of KU, resulting mostly from the elastomeric elements that join the wishbone to the body structure; and the lower wishbone 12 has a corresponding longitudinal stiffness of KL at the lower ball joint 18;
The longitudinal stiffness of the suspension at the contact patch KCP is, ignoring influences on stiffness from out of wheel plane effects;KCP=1/(1/(KL(A/B)2)+1/(KU(A/(A−B))2))
Taking the simplistic case where A=B/2 and KL=KU=K; then KCP=K/5
If the suspension hits a bump, load is transmitted to the hub via the bearing at the wheel center. The longitudinal stiffness of the suspension at the wheel center KWC isKWC=1/(1/(KL(D/C)2)+1/(KU(D/(D−C))2))
Taking the simplistic case where C=D/2 and KL=KU=K; then KWC=2K therefore KWC/KCP=2K/(K/5)=10
Thus it is seen that in the simplistic case described, the stiffness at the wheel center WC is 10 times the stiffness at the contact patch CP. The stiffness at the wheel center WC relates to the level of isolation of the sprung mass from road induced shock inputs. The stiffness at the contact patch CP is indicative of the change in castor experienced as a result of braking. Thus it is seen that the conventional double wishbone concept is not ideal if both good levels of isolation and good castor control are to be realized.
The following prior art aims to address this dilemma by using various mechanisms to increase contact patch stiffness and castor control and/or wheel center compliance.
Honda NSX front axle—interlinked double wishbone (GB 2192597 A) and Toyota (Japanese Patent 05085116 A)
Lotus Elan 'raft' front axle.
McLaren F1 ground level elastic center front suspension.
ACC rear suspension by Steven Randle.
Toyota (Japanese Patent 06072116 A) has an interlinking piece but is substantially different in its mode of operation and doesn't address the issues discussed in this document.
The above concepts all have been directed at solving the fundamental deficiency of the conventional double wishbone suspension, in different ways.
The Honda front axle listed above both use an interlinking piece between the inboard ends of the upper and lower wishbones. The deployment of this system is best if the wishbones conform to an 'L' shape such that they offer a stiff straight transverse section between the joint to the swivel hub at the outer end and the subframe or body structure at the inboard end. This is to provide high lateral stiffness and consequently good camber control and side force steer control. This, however, tends to lead to package issues because the 'L' arms have to be long enough for the longitudinal spar of the 'L' to clear the tire envelope. This is a significant drawback since the upper wishbone would ideally be significantly shorter than the lower for optimal camber and roll center control. In addition to this, the interlinking part needs to be packaged at the point at which there is most pressure for space across the width of the car, that is just inside the back lock part of the tire envelope.
The Lotus and McLaren systems both introduce an additional 'floating' half subframe on either side of the car, to which the wishbones are attached. Longitudinal suspension compliance is provided by four bushings between the subframes and the body structure. One of the issues with this system is that the compliance at the wheel center is limited by the amount of strain permissible in these bushings, much more than 10 mm (0.394 in.) would be hard to achieve. Furthermore, the effectiveness of this compliance is decreased by the fact that longitudinal modal mass is greater, i.e. the normal unsprung mass plus the mass of the subframes. These concepts will work best when the spacing of the compliance bushings is maximized, otherwise the yaw stiffness and roll stiffness of the suspension assembly relative to body structure will be insufficient to provide good camber and toe control and will tend to dilute the advantages that the concepts set out to introduce. The subframes need to be stiff enough to provide adequate support for the wishbones and compliance bushings to which end significant structural members will be required, tending to exacerbate the weight issue.
The ACC concept is applicable to rear suspensions only. As a variant of the five link suspension system, its inboard attachment points to the body/subframe structure tend to be more disparate, requiring a larger support structure to mount it.
The present invention aims to overcome the deficiencies of conventional double wishbone suspensions by permitting excellent levels of compliance without introducing poor castor control.
The present invention is directed at solving the same issues as the prior art described above, but in a new way, thereby offering certain critical advantages over the previous concepts.
According to one aspect of the present invention, a suspension system is characterized by an upper link, the upper link being mounted at an inner end to a vehicle body or subframe by an inner spherical joint and connected at an outer end to an upper end of a vertically extending hub carrier by an outer spherical joint; a lower wishbone, the lower wishbone being mounted at an inner end to a vehicle body or subframe for pivotal movement about a horizontal, longitudinally extending axis, by means of a pair of spaced compliant bushings and connected at an outer end to a lower end of the hub carrier by a lower spherical joint; and an interlinking wishbone, the interlinking wishbone being connected at a lower end to the lower wishbone, intermediate of the inner and outer ends thereof, for pivotal movement, by a hinge or revolute joint, the interlinking wishbone being connected at an upper end to the upper link by an intermediate spherical joint, the center of rotation of the intermediate spherical joint being offset from a line joining the centers of rotation of the inner and outer spherical joints, the intermediate spherical joint being located intermediate of the inner and outer ends of the upper link, such that the ratio of the distances between the inner spherical joint and the intermediate spherical joint, and between the intermediate spherical joint and outer spherical joint; is substantially the same as the ratio of the distances between the inner end of the lower wishbone and the connection between the lower and interlinking wishbones and between the connection between the lower and interlinking wishbones and the outer end of the lower wishbone.
The function of the interlinking wishbone is to constrain the hub to rotate about a point near the contact patch when the suspension is subjected to a longitudinal load, either at the contact patch i.e. a braking load or at the wheel center. The closer the rotation point is to the point of load application, the stiffer will be the suspension in the longitudinal direction. Therefore, in order to maximize wheel center compliance and contact patch stiffness, the rotation point clearly needs to be at or near the contact patch.
In contrast to the Honda system, the present invention works best if the lower wishbone has an 'A' shape which fits nicely in the tire envelope and would therefore be significantly more compact than either of these systems. Moreover the present invention is not limited by permissible bushing strain and the additional parts required to provide the improved functionality would be significantly smaller and lighter than for the Lotus and McLaren systems. The present invention will also be more compact than the ACC system.
According to a preferred aspect of the present invention, the suspension system is applicable to the steered axle of the vehicle, the hub carrier being a swivel hub having a steering arm to which a steering mechanism, for example the track rods of a rack and pinion mechanism, may be connected, in conventional manner. The steering, the steering rack and track rods may be located either in front of or behind the axle center-line.
Alternatively, the suspension system may advantageously applied to a rear axle of the vehicle, particularly a driven rear axle.
The spring/damper units, or separate spring and damper units may be attached to either the swivel hub, upper link, intermediate wishbone or lower wishbone.
The same reference numerals are used in the accompanying drawings, to indicate similar components.
FIGS. 3 to 6 illustrate a suspension system in accordance with the present invention, for the front steered axle of a motor vehicle. The suspension system has an upper link 20, which is mounted at its inner end to a vehicle body or subframe by an inner spherical joint 22 and connected at its outer end to an upper end of a vertically extending swivel hub 16 by an outer spherical joint 24.
A lower wishbone 12 is mounted at its inner ends to a vehicle body or subframe for pivotal movement about a horizontal, longitudinally extending axis, by means of a pair of spaced compliant bushings 14 and is connected at its outer end to the lower end of the swivel hub 16 by a lower spherical joint 26.
An interlinking wishbone 30 is connected at its lower end to the lower wishbone 12, intermediate of the inner and outer ends thereof. The interlinking wishbone 30 is mounted to the lower wishbone 12, for pivotal movement about an axis, by means of a hinge or revolute joint 32. The interlinking wishbone 30 is connected at its upper end to the upper link 20 by an intermediate spherical joint 34. The center of rotation of the intermediate spherical joint 34 is offset by a small amount, from a line joining the centers of rotation of the inner and outer spherical joints 22,24. The intermediate spherical joint 34 is located intermediate of the inner and outer ends of the upper link 20, such that the ratio of the distances between the inner spherical joint 22 and the intermediate spherical joint 34, and between the intermediate spherical joint 34 and outer spherical joint 24; is substantially the same as the ratio of the distances between the inner end of the lower wishbone 12 and the hinge or revolute joint 32 and between the hinge or revolute joint 32 and the outer end of the lower wishbone 12, the ratio being, for example 1:1.
The small offset of the intermediate spherical joint 34 from the line connecting the spherical joints 22,24 allows a small amount of rotation of the upper link 20 about the axis between spherical joints 22,24 accommodating geometrical variations in the system and effectively preventing the system from becoming over-constrained.
A steering mechanism (not shown) is connected by track rods (not shown) to steering arms 40 on the swivel hubs 16, by means of spherical joints. Spring/damper units or separate springs and dampers (not shown) are connected between the vehicle body or subframe and the swivel hubs, upper link 20 and/or lower wishbone 12.
The hub rotation effect of the suspension system described above, due to the compliance of the lower wishbone 12, will be the sum of deflections in three modes:
a) Mode 1, axial deflection of the lower wishbone to body or subframe bushings 14 resulting mostly from longitudinal forces at the lower ball joint 26. Upon axial deflection, which should be the dominant direction if conventional bushings 14 are used, then;
                                             longitudinal                                                                          deflection                                                                                at                                                                                the                                                                                bushings                                                                                14                        =                                                  the                                                                                deflection                                                                                at                                                                                the                                                                                hinge                                                                                or                                                                                revolute                                                                                joint                                                                                32                        ;                                                                    =                                                  the                                                                                deflection                                                                                at                                                                                the                                                                                lower                                                                                spherical                                                                          joint                                                                          26                                                        =                                          the                                                                          deflection                                                                          at                                                                          the                                                                          intermediate                                                                                spherical                                                                          joint                                                                          34                                                        =                              x                    (lower wishbone translates bodily rearwards).
the corresponding deflection at the outer spherical joint 24=2x.
If the outer spherical joint 24 moves 2x and the lower spherical joint 26 moves x then the rotation point of the swivel hub 16 should be somewhere near the contact patch CP, as illustrated in FIG. 4.
b) Mode 2, radial deflection of the lower wishbone to body or subframe bushings 14, in the plane of the lower wishbone 12, resulting mostly from longitudinal forces at the lower spherical joint 26. Upon radial deflection in the plane of the lower wishbone 12, the lower wishbone 12 rotates about a vertical line passing through a point half way between the compliant bushings 14, then:
If the deflection at the lower spherical joint 26=x
Then the deflection at the intermediate spherical joint=x/2; and
The deflection at the outer spherical joint 24=x
As the lower spherical joint 26 and the outer spherical joint 24 both move x then the rotation point is at infinity, that is there will be no rotation, just pure translational movement of the swivel hub 16, as illustrated in FIG. 5.
c) Mode 3, radial deflection of the lower wishbone to body or subframe bushings 14 at right angle to the plane of the lower wishbone 12, resulting mostly from loads transmitted through the upper link 20 and the interlinking wishbone 30. Upon radial out of plane deflection, lower wishbone 12 pitches about an axis through the inner spherical bushing 22 passing half way between the compliant bushings 14, then:
deflection at the lower spherical bushing 26=0
If the outer spherical joint 24 moves x and the lower spherical joint does not move then the swivel hub 16 will rotate about the lower spherical joint 26, as illustrated in FIG. 6.
The use of conventional compliant bushings 14, which will typically have a high radial to axial stiffness ratio, at the inner end of lower wishbone 12, will tend to mean that mode 1 will dominate which is, for reasons previously described, the desirable characteristic. Modes 2 and 3 tend to have influences on contact patch motion in opposite directions and so, with careful tuning, these two modes can be used to counter each other. Consequently the resultant of all three modes will tend to look like mode 1.
With the center of rotation of the swivel hub at or near the contact patch, the suspension will tend to resist braking forces most strongly. Consequently the castor angle and trail will tend to resist change under braking thereby ensuring good stability. The suspension will however be far more compliant when forces are applied at wheel center height resulting in excellent isolation from road induced shock inputs.
The anti-squat and anti brake lift/dive for a particular suspension system, may be adjusted by suitable angular alignment of the pivot axis of the interlinking wishbone 30 to lower wishbone 12, with respect to the axis of the compliant bushings 14. Moreover, the position of the center of rotation of the swivel hub 16 for a given suspension system may be adjusted by suitable selection of the ratio of the distances between the inner spherical joint 22 and the intermediate spherical joint 34, and between the intermediate spherical joint 34 and outer spherical joint 24.
As illustrated in FIG. 7, when used as a rear suspension, the arm 40 is connected to the vehicle body or subframe, by a "toe" control tie rod 42. The tie rod 42 being attached to the vehicle body or subframe by a compliant bushing 44 and to the arm 40 by a spherical joint 46.
By restraining the hub rotation point in the side elevation to be near the contact patch, in the manner described above, the level of "toe" change per unit load of throttle lift off, reacted at the wheel center, is much greater than the level of "toe" change per unit load of braking.
Moreover, in end elevation, the angle of the toe control links 42 tends to be downwards/outwards as the suspension tends towards rebound and upwards/outwards as the suspension tends towards full bump. If the hub rotation point in the side elevation is near the contact patch CP, the "toe" control link 42 on an inside wheel moving towards rebound, moves from downwards/outwards to less downwards/outwards, the lateral component of which causes the wheel to "toe out". At the same time, the outside wheel moving towards bump, will generate "toe in" for the same hub rotation in the side elevation. The "toe in" changes which result from throttle lift off will consequently always be greater on the outside wheel than on the inside wheel.
For a conventional double wishbone system which would have a hub rotation point in the side elevation, somewhere near the wheel center, the opposite is true. As a consequence an undesirable oversteer component developed from the inside wheel generating more "toe in" than the outside wheel will result.
In an alternative embodiment, a second "toe" control rod 42 may be attached to the hub carrier 16, to the front thereof. This second "toe" control rod 42 will compliment the action of the "toe" control rod mounted to the rear of the hub carrier 16.
The suitability of the suspension according to the present invention for both front and rear suspensions has the additional advantage that common components may be used for the front and rear axles of a vehicle. Moreover as adjustments to anti-brake dive or anti-lift may be contained within the suspension components themselves, not requiring any body or subframe hardpoint changes, it is furthermore possible to conventional the structure to which the front and rear suspensions are attached.
As either a front or a rear axle, the concept is exceptionally compact, more compact and lighter than other concepts which have been devised to address similar issues.
The spherical joints used in accordance with the present invention should have minimal compliance. However spherical or ball joints with stiff elastomeric elements may be used in order to improve vibration isolation.
In this specification;
"Castor angle" shall be taken to mean the angle to the vertical in the side view that the steering axis makes with the ground; and
"Castor trail" shall be taken to mean the horizontal distance from the wheel center to the point where the steering axis intersects with the ground in the side view.


A system, method, and computer program product for enabling a programmer to create an application program with an object-oriented notebook control is described. Platform independent, object-oriented notebook and notebookPage classes comprised of a plurality of methods and variables are detailed from which a notebook control object is constructed and manipulated to represent the paradigm of a notebook. The notebook control object receives data from mouse and keyboard events and organizes it into a dual dimensional vector including folders and pages. An improved method of mouse selection of components is depicted. An improved method of drawing involving offscreen graphic images is summarized.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to object-oriented programming. More particularly, this invention relates to an object-oriented notebook control object. Even more particularly, this invention relates to a platform independent object for enabling faster application development in a Java environment.
2. Related Art
Most modern computer application programs and operating system programs (hereafter collectively referred to as "Programs") employ graphical user interfaces (hereafter "GUIs") in order to simplify end user interaction. GUIs add "user-friendly" features to Programs. GUIs often use graphical symbols familiar to the end user. Some popular GUI features are icons, windows, dialogue boxes and buttons. GUI features increase end user productivity by decreasing end user learning curves and training requirements.
Modern Programs with GUIs are functionally limited in at least the following ways. Modern Programs do not provide for distributed access to centralized Programs from remote locations without using complex networking hardware and software. Also, modern Programs are not platform independent. Modern Programs do not support a client/server environment for real-time updates to applications without using platform dependent command scripts. Furthermore, modern Programs do not provide a consistent look and feel across multiple platforms. Modern Programs do not support simple centralized automatic software distribution of Program updates.
The Internet promises to facilitate improved end user interaction with distributed applications in a client-server environment. Modern World Wide Web (WWW) Internet browsers permit graphical access to remote internet homepages written in Hyper Text Markup Language (HTML). HTML homepages may invoke Java applications and embedded applets.
Java is an objected oriented programming (OOP) language. Java "classes" are typically embedded in the HTML code of an Internet homepage. Java programming language compatibility has been incorporated into many WWW browsers. Several operating systems allow native execution of Java applications when not connected to the Internet. Java compatibility enables a Java "Applet" to be embedded in a homepage. Java compatibility also allows a Java "Application" to execute as a separate application on a client computer. Java compatible browsers and native run-time environments are well known in the industry.
The fundamental mechanisms that enforce the Java OOP model are known as encapsulation, inheritance and polymorphism.
Encapsulation may be thought of as placing a wrapper around the code and data of a program. In Java the basis of encapsulation is a class. An object is a single instance of a class. A class describes general attributes of that object. A class includes a set of data attributes plus a set of allowable operations (that is, methods). The individual structure or data representation of a class is defined by a set of instance variables.
Inheritance is another feature of Java. A class (called a subclass) may be derived from another class (called a superclass) wherein the subclass inherits the data attributes and methods of the super class. The subclass may specialize the super class by adding code which overrides the data and/or methods of the super class, or which adds new data attributes and methods. Thus, inheritance represents a mechanism by which subclasses are more precisely specified. A new subclass includes all the behavior and specification of all of its ancestors. Inheritance is a major contributor to the increased programmer efficiency provided by OOP and Java. Inheritance makes it possible for developers to minimize the amount of new code they have to write to create applications. By providing a significant portion of the functionality needed for a particular task, classes in the inheritance hierarchy give the programmer a head start to program design and creation.
Polymorphism, meaning one object, many shapes, allows a method to have multiple implementations selected based on which type of object is passed into the method invocation. Methods are passed information as parameters to the method invocation. Parameters represent the input values to a function that the method must perform. The parameters are a list of "typed" values which comprise the input data to a particular message. Java requires that the types of the values be exactly matched in order for the message to be understood.
Application development classes available to the Java application developer today are functionally limited in at least the following ways. No provision is made in modern Java application development kits for a notebook control GUI object. Modern Java development kits are limited in functionality and require the Java programmer to independently write extensive program flow coordination code in order to write a program. This reduces programmer productivity by requiring burdensome duplicative effort.
Thus, what is needed is a platform independent object oriented notebook control program.

System, method, and computer program product for creating a platform independent notebook control


The present invention provides a variable valve lift apparatus for vehicle engines. A low-speed arm is installed in a high-speed arm to overlap the high-speed arm. A compression pin, a center pin, and a return spring are installed in a roller shaft of the low-speed arm and both cylinders of the high-speed arm. Further, an oil passage extends through a rocker arm shaft boss and a side body of the high-speed arm to the cylinder having the compression pin. Such a construction reduces the overall width of the apparatus, allows respective valves to be independently controlled, reduces design limitations due to the interference with a cam journal, and easily ensures an oil path. Further, a latching pin (the compression pin and the center pin) is supported at two places, thus enhancing the reliability and stability of a latching operation.

An engine produces a high output, when the inflow of external air into a combustion chamber and the discharge of combustion gas from the combustion chamber are completely and rapidly executed.
However, if the operation of an intake/exhaust valve has a fixed pattern, it is impossible to optimally control the suction of external air and the discharge of combustion gas, according to the engine load.
Thus, recently, the use of a variable valve lift (VVL) has been gradually popularized.
Currently, rocker arm-type apparatuses, which are representative variable valve lift apparatuses, have been proposed. The rocker arm-type apparatuses include one produced by Honda and one produced by Toyota. The Honda's apparatus is constructed so that a rocker arm for a high-speed cam is mounted between two rocker arms, and the connection to the high-speed cam is controlled via a pin, thus converting a lift. The Toyota's apparatus is constructed so that a pin is inserted into a follower of a high-speed cam, which reciprocates while slidably contacting the high-speed cam.
However, since both of the apparatuses are simultaneously connected to two valves (pair of intake valves, pair of exhaust valves), it is impossible to individually control each of the valves. To this end, an additional device is required. Further, the conventional apparatuses are problematic in that they limit the design of a head, due to the interference with a cam journal or the like.
In addition to the above-mentioned type of apparatus, swing arm-type apparatuses which independently control respective valves have been used. However, the swing arm-type apparatus has a problem in that it is difficult to supply hydraulic pressure to a latching system, so that latching reliability is poor. The swing arm-type apparatus has another problem in that it is difficult to ensure sufficient strength, in comparison with the rocker arm-type apparatus.

Variable valve lift apparatus for vehicle engines


A heat pump apparatus that having a refrigerating cycle including a compressor, a gas cooler, a pressure reducing device and an evaporator and is designed so that water can be heated by the gas cooler. A refrigerant such as CO2 or the like working in a supercritical area is filled and used at a high-pressure side in the refrigerating cycle and a radiator is equipped between the exit of the gas cooler and the pressure reducing device. The refrigerant temperature at the exit of the radiator is kept at a substantially fixed temperature irrespective of the temperature of hot water to the gas cooler.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a heat pump apparatus, and more particularly to a heat pump apparatus which can enhance the defrosting efficiency of an evaporator and suppress variation of the optimum refrigerant filing amount when the temperature of water being supplied is varied in a heat pump type hot water supply apparatus designed so as to supply hot water heated by a gas cooler.
2. Description of the Related Art
There is known a heat pump type hot water supply apparatus that generally has a refrigerating cycle including a compressor, a gas cooler, a pressure reducing device and an evaporator and is designed to supply hot water heated by the gas cooler.
For example, when CO2 refrigerant is used as a refrigerant in a refrigerating cycle in this type of apparatus, it is expected that a high coefficient of performance (COP) can be achieved in a heating process having a large water-temperature rise-up range because there is established a transcritical cycle in which the high pressure side is set to a supercritical state in the refrigerating cycle.
In this type of heat pump type hot water supply apparatus, when the temperature of water supplied to the gas cooler is low, for example, about 5° C., CO2 refrigerant discharged from the compressor is heat-exchanged with low-temperature water of about 5° C. in the gas cooler and cooled to a low temperature until it has the same level density as liquid (hereinafter referred to as a liquid state). Thereafter, the CO2 refrigerant is expanded, fed to the evaporator, completely evaporated to a gaseous state in the evaporator and then circulated to the compressor.
On the other hand, when the temperature of water being supplied to the gas cooler is high, for example, about 50° C., CO2 refrigerant is heat-exchanged with high temperature water of about 50° C., and thus the CO2 refrigerant is not so cooled. Therefore, it is fed to the exit of the gas cooler while being kept under a high-temperature gas state, expanded and then circulated to the evaporator and further to the compressor.
There is a problem in that when the temperature of water being supplied is varied and the temperature at the exit of the gas cooler is varied, the density of the refrigerant is varied.
When the refrigerant density is greatly varied, there occurs a difference in the optimum amount of refrigerant being circulated between the case where the supply water temperature is high and the case where the supply water temperature is low because the volume of the refrigerating cycle is constant. When some difference occurs in the optimum refrigerant amount, if refrigerant is filled so as to support a driving operation which requires a large optimum refrigerant amount, there would occur various problems such as surplus refrigerant occurring in a driving operation requiring a small optimum refrigerant amount and, thus, a receiver tank or the like for temporarily stocking the surplus refrigerant is needed, that the control for achieving the optimum refrigerant amount is complicated, etc.
Furthermore, in this type of heat pump hot water supply apparatus, parts constituting the refrigerating cycle are disposed as a heat pump unit outdoors in many cases, and it is frequently required to carry out a defrosting operation on the evaporator. In this case, the defrosting operation has generally used a so-called "hot gas" defrosting operation in which the refrigerant discharged from the compressor is directly supplied to the evaporator while bypassing the gas cooler and the pressure-reducing device to heat the evaporator with the heat of the refrigerant, thereby defrosting the evaporator.
However, for example, when the hot gas defrosting operation is carried out under a condition such that the outside air temperature is extremely low and extremely fine powdery snow is falling, there may be a case where the amount of powder snow attached to the evaporator is excessively large and, thus, the evaporator cannot be sufficiently defrosted.
Furthermore, it is common that the gap between the bottom plate (drain pan) of the heat pump unit and the lower portion of the evaporator is extremely narrow. There may be a case where drain remaining in the gap is frozen and ice is grown up from the lower side with the frozen drain as a shell. In such a region in which some days on which the temperature drops below 0 degree centigrade are continued, it is difficult to efficiently remove ice thus grown up.
It may be considered that an electric heater or the like is disposed to perform defrosting, however, this increases the contract demand of electric power and thus increases the operating cost.
Therefore, an object of the present invention is to solve the problem of the prior art described above and provide a heat pump apparatus that can suppress a variation of an optimum refrigerant amount to be circulated when the temperature of supply water is increased with a simple construction and also efficiently defrost an evaporator.


A method of cutting a wood block for production of veneer by a rotary veneer lathe. The veneer lathe includes a veneer knife, a number of rotatable peripheral drive wheels placed parallel to the veneer knife and each having a number of tooth-like projections pierceable into a wood block for driving the wood block for rotation about its axis, and a guide member for guiding veneer peeled from the wood block. The cutting of the wood block is done at a first position of the peripheral drive wheels where the veneer peeled from the wood block is pierced by the projections to such an extent that substantial splits are formed in the veneer along wood grain thereof, and also at a second position where the projections provide no force to the veneer moving past the guide member that causes the substantial splits in the veneer.

The present invention relates to a rotary veneer lathe for cutting a wood block to peel therefrom veneer for use in manufacturing glued laminated wood such as plywood, laminated veneer lumber (LVL), etc. The invention relates also to a method of cutting a wood block by such veneer lathe.
A conventional rotary veneer lathe, part of which is shown in FIGS. 18 and 19, is disclosed in, e.g., KOKAI publication or unexamined Japanese patent application publication No. 2002-46109. The veneer lathe shown in the drawings has an elongated veneer knife 101 mounted in a movable carriage (not shown) for peeling veneer V from a rotating wood block 115. Reference numeral 108 designates a peripheral drive system which is also mounted in the knife carriage and includes a shaft 107 extending in parallel to the knife 101 and driven to rotate by a motor (not shown). A number of spiked peripheral drive wheels 105 (only one wheel being shown in the drawings), each having on the circumferential periphery thereof a number of spikes or tooth-like projections 103, is fixedly mounted on the shaft 107 at a predetermined spaced interval in the axial direction of the shaft 107. The shaft 107 is driven by the motor to rotate the peripheral drive wheels 105 in arrow direction as shown in FIGS. 18 and 19 for driving the wood block 115 from its periphery.
The veneer lathe further has a number of pressure members 109 which is mounted in the knife carriage, each disposed between any two adjacent peripheral drive wheels 105. The pressure member 109 has at the distal end thereof a replaceable insert 109a for pressing against the peripheral surface of wood block 115 immediately upstream of the cutting edge of the knife 101 as seen in the direction in which the wood block 115 is rotated as indicated by arrow. A guide member 1111 is also mounted in the knife carriage between any two adjacent drive wheels 105 for guiding peeled veneer V along the periphery of the spiked drive wheels 105. Immediately downstream of the guide member 111 is disposed a separating member 113 having a contact surface 113a extending so as to intersect an imaginary circle which passes the tip ends of the respective projections 103 of the peripheral drive wheel 105 for separating or disengaging veneer V from the projections 103 of the drive wheels 105.
Referring to FIG. 18, the spiked peripheral drive wheels 105 of the conventional rotary veneer lathe are set in the knife carriage with respect to the knife 101 such that the tip ends of those projections 103 which pierce deepest into the wood block 3 are spaced at a distance of, e.g., about 1.5 mm from an imaginary line X—X (FIG. 18) which is drawn vertically upward from the cutting edge of the knife 101 and is assumed as an approximate line along which the knife 101 would cut into the wood block 115 when the latter is rotated in arrow direction.
In operation of the veneer lathe, with the wood block 115 supported at the opposite axial ends thereof by spindles (not shown) being driven to rotate in arrow direction by the spindles or the spiked peripheral drive wheels 105, the knife carriage is moved to feed the knife 101 into the wood block 115 at a controlled feedrate thereby to peel by the veneer knife 101 a veneer strip or sheet V with a predetermined thickness from the rotating wood block 115.
It is well known to those skilled in the art that a veneer lathe having the peripheral drive system 108 as shown in FIG. 18 is advantageous in that an excessive force will not be applied to wood block, so that a block having a weak core portion can be cut smoothly down to a small core diameter. To be more specific, the above veneer lathe is so designed and arranged that the power for driving the spindles thereby to rotate wood block 115 for peeling veneer therefrom is only of such a magnitude that veneer with a small thickness of about 1.5 mm is peelable, but it is insufficient for peeling veneer whose thickness is larger than 1.5 mm and, therefore, the power which is necessary for cutting wood block 115 for peeling veneer therefrom is supplied to the block primarily by the spiked drive wheels 105 which are disposed on the periphery of wood block 115 as shown in FIG. 18.
In cutting a wood block for producing veneer with a thickness of, e.g., about 3 mm, the peripheral drive wheels 105 in rotation is engaged at the tooth-like projections 103 thereof with the peripheral surface of the wood block 115, as shown in FIG. 18, thus power for cutting veneer from the block 115 being supplied to the block 115 from the peripheral drive wheels 105. Therefore, a wood block which is supported at its weak core portion by spindles can be cut successfully down to a small core diameter without being broken in the middle of peeling.
It is noted that, when the peripheral drive wheels 105 rotate in arrow direction, the wood block 115 is not rotated instantly with the rotation of the drive wheels 105 because of the cutting resistance exerted by the veneer knife 101 cut into the wood block 115. The force of the peripheral drive wheels 105 acting at the projections 103 thereof on the wood block 115 for rotation is increased while elastically deforming the wood of the block 115 at the projections 103 of the drive wheels 105, and the wood block 115 begins to be rotated for veneer peeling when the above force is increased to exceed the cutting resistance. Thus, the periphery of the wood block 115 is moved slower than the projections 103 of the peripheral drive wheels 105 for the above elastic deformation of the wood block 115. Consequently, the peripheral speed of the spiked drive wheels 105 at the projections 103 thereof is higher than the traveling speed of veneer V peeled from wood block 115 at the location adjacent to the guide members 111, so that the veneer V is subjected to tensile force by the projections 103 and, therefore, the veneer V just peeled from the wood block 115 is formed with a number of splits extending in the direction of wood grain of the veneer V, or in the direction that is perpendicular to the direction in which the veneer V is moved along the periphery of the spiked drive wheels 105. The veneer sheet V moving past the guide members 111 is then brought into contact with the surfaces 113a of the separating members 113 and bent downward as shown in FIG. 18, where further splits are formed in the veneer V.
During initial period of veneer peeling operation before the wood block becomes substantially cylindrical, veneer strips of various narrow widths are produced which are curled or coiled into spiral shape. Such curled veneer strips are troublesome to handle in the subsequent processes, but formation of splits along the wood grain of such veneer strips is effective to minimize curling of veneer strips.
Once the wood block 115 has been rounded up or become substantially cylindrical, a continuous veneer sheet V is peeled from the block 115. When a veneer sheet with a continuous width and free from pierced markings made by the projections 103 of the peripheral drive wheels 105 is needed for use as face veneer of plywood, the peripheral drive wheels 105 are moved for retraction by any suitable actuator as indicated by oblique arrow in FIG. 18 to a position shown in FIG. 19 where the projections 103 engage neither with the wood block 115 nor the veneer sheet V.
In veneer peeling with the peripheral drive wheels 105 positioned as shown in FIG. 18, splits formed in the veneer V by the tensile force from the projections 103 when the veneer V moves past the guide members 111 may be extended or lengthened along the wood grain depending on the species of wood veneer. Such veneer is weak to tensile force and hence tend to be broken easily along the extended splits, thus seriously affecting the overall veneer yield.
If veneer peeling is done with the peripheral drive wheels 105 retracted as shown in FIG. 19, splits will not be formed, but no driving force is transmitted from the peripheral drive wheels 105 to the wood block 115. Therefore, the veneer lathe then becomes incapable of peeling veneer sheet with a thickness of, e.g., about 3 mm.
When a knotty coniferous wood block is cut for veneer production, the resulting veneer has in it many knots. If a knot in the veneer may move between any two adjacent guide members 111, the knot is pressed from above by the projections 103 of a peripheral drive wheel 105 and broken to be removed from the veneer, with the result that a veneer sheet is produced which has a defective void portion and, therefore, is unusable as face veneer of plywood or similar panel product.
Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a veneer lathe and a method of cutting wood block by such veneer lathe which can solve the aforementioned problems.

Veneer lathe and method of cutting wood block by the veneer lathe