In one embodiment, a method comprises: establishing a wireless DetNet track for an identified DetNet flow of DetNet packets, and the DetNet track comprising DetNet devices connected by allocated DetNet segments distinct from IP-based connections; causing, by the network device, a DetNet device(s) to execute distributed validating of any one or more DetNet operations by a DetNet forwarding hardware circuit in a DetNet device under test among the DetNet devices, the distributed validating including: generating a DetNet OAM (d-OAM) probe message comprising an ACH header specifying a DetNet validation identifier and a selected bitstring; validating the DetNet forwarding hardware circuit based on outputting the d-OAM probe message, the d-OAM probe message causing a CPU in the DetNet device(s) to selectively generate an IP-based probe response indicating whether a DetNet operation(s) was executed by the DetNet forwarding hardware circuit, independent of an execution speed of any DetNet forwarding hardware circuit.

This section describes approaches that could be employed, but are not necessarily approaches that have been previously conceived or employed. Hence, unless explicitly specified otherwise, any approaches described in this section are not prior art to the claims in this application, and any approaches described in this section are not admitted to be prior art by inclusion in this section.
Deterministic Networking (DetNet) is a relatively new architecture defined to carry real time application data traffic with extremely stringent Service Level Agreement (SLA) requirements, including very low data loss and controlled latency. DetNet uses "PREOP"—-Packet Replication, Elimination, Ordering functions—to establish redundancy across a DetNet track having DetNet-compliant path segments, where the Packet Replication (PR) function can replicate the data packets over different DetNet path segments, Packet Elimination (PE) can ensure and avoid duplication by eliminating redundant packets at a merge point of the DetNet path segments. Packet Ordering (PO) can ensure packets are delivered in order.
The stringent requirements of DetNet require swift execution of DetNet forwarding decisions in the "forwarding plane" (executed by dedicated forwarding hardware circuitry), as CPU-based execution (typically used for Internet Protocol (IP) based "control plane" decisions) is too slow for DetNet forwarding decisions. Hence, DetNet is particularly beneficial for responding to variations in wireless data links of a wireless data network.
A particular problem with DetNet is that the swift execution of DetNet forwarding decisions in the forwarding plane is that a local CPU executing a control plane, let alone a remote network controller is too slow and therefore incapable of monitoring or testing any DetNet forwarding decisions by a DetNet device. Moreover, the stringent SLA requirements in the DetNet forwarding plane prevent any possible packet processing or error evaluation that would otherwise delay forwarding of a DetNet packet.

Distributed DetNet validation using device/segment specific bitstrings in DetNet OAM ACH


A method, system and apparatus are provided for performing peer-to-peer (P2P) data sharing operations between user equipment (UE) devices in a wireless-enabled communications environment. A first client node comprises content data and operates in a server peer mode to provide content data. A second client node submits a request to a P2P application server (P2P AS) for the content data. In response, the P2P AS provides the address of the first client node to the second client node. The second client node then uses the provided address to submit a request to the first client node to provide the content data. The first client node accepts the request and then provides the content data to the second client node.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed in general to communications systems and methods for operating same. In one aspect, the present invention relates to a devices and methods for performing peer-to-peer (P2P) data sharing operations between peer nodes in a wireless-enabled communications environment.
2. Description of the Related Art
The technologies currently available for implementation in today's wireless communications environments make it feasible to support bandwidth-intensive content distribution services (CDS) such as video on demand (VoD). As an example, various IEEE 802.11 ("WiFi") variants, which have limited range, currently provide data rates of up to 100Mbps, while current IEEE 802.16 ("WiMAX") variants currently provide up to 40 Mbps. As another example, Long Term Evolution (LTE) technologies can typically support 5-10 Mbps downlink and 2-5 Mbps uplink data rates. The availability of these data rates, coupled with the widespread adoption of smart phones and other mobile devices, makes the mainstream use of resource-consuming multimedia applications in a mobile environment a reality.
However, the delivery of bandwidth-intensive content is not without attendant issues and challenges. As an example, a mobile subscriber typically establishes a wireless connection between a client node (e.g., a smart phone or other mobile device) and an access node (e.g., a cellular base station or a wireless broadband access point). Once the connection is established, the user typically searches for desired content at a web portal implemented on the Internet or other IP-based network. Once located, the desired content is retrieved from a content source, such as a content data source server that is likewise implemented on the Internet. Once retrieved, the content is then wirelessly transmitted to the requestor's client node.
As a result of this process, it is not uncommon to incur latency during delivery of the content, particularly if the transmission condition of the wireless link being used is not operating at optimum capacity. One approach to this issue is to implement cache servers at predetermined network locations. For example, a content provider may implement cache serves where wireless broadband access networks connect to the Internet. As another example, a wireless provider may implement multiple cache servers in their wireless environment(s) to reduce local network congestion, data transmission transit distances, and content delivery latencies. However, the cost of deploying such cache servers, and keeping the content they contain synchronized, can incur significant operational overhead and associated costs.

On the managed peer-to-peer sharing in cellular networks


In a heat-developable color photosensitive material comprising a photosensitive silver halide, a dye providing compound, and a binder on a support, the content of calcium is controlled to 500 ppm or more based on the total weight of the binder, allowing the use of inexpensive binders. The photosensitive material is cost effective and forms an image with a low fog density (Dmin) and a high image density (Dmax).

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a heat-developable color photosensitive material and more particularly, to a low-cost heat-developable color photosensitive material providing a color image having a high image density and clear white areas.
2. Prior Art
Heat developable photosensitive materials and their image forming processes are well known in the art and described in the literature, inter alia, "Fundamentals of Photographic Engineering--Non-Silver Salt Photography--", Corona Publishing K.K., Tokyo, Japan (1982), pages 242-255.
A number of proposals have been made foe forming color images through heat development. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,531,286, 3,761,270 and 4,021,240, Belgian Patent No. 802519, and Research Disclosure, September 1979, pages 31-32 propose processes for forming color images through coupling of developing agent oxidants with couplers.
These heat-developable color photosensitive materials for forming color images, however, suffer from the serious problem that white areas are gradually colored upon exposure to intense light or long-term storage since the materials are of the non-fixation type and have silver halide left even after image formation. Further the above-mentioned processes require a relatively long time for development to complete and result in less desirable images having substantial fog and a low image density.
To overcome these drawbacks, U.S. Pat. No. 4,500,626, 4,483,914, 4,503,137 and 4,559,920 and Japanese Patent Application Kokai (JP-A) No. 165054/1984 propose to form or release a diffusible dye imagewise by heating and to transfer the diffusible dye to a mordanted image-receiving material with the aid of water or other suitable solvents.
This process still required relatively high development temperatures and the photosensitive material was not satisfactory in aging stability. In this regard, it was proposed to carry out heat development in the presence of a base or base precursor and a minor amount of water, followed by dye transfer for development promotion, development temperature lowering and simpler processing purposes (see JP-A 218443/1984 and 238056/1986 and EP 210,660 A2).
A variety of proposals have been made in the art for producing positive color images through heat development. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,559,290 proposes a method for forming an image by converting a dye providing (DRR) compound into an oxidized form having no dye releasing ability, preparing a heat-developable material in which the oxidized DRR compound is co-present with a reducing agent, carrying out heat development to oxidize the reducing agent in an amount corresponding to the exposure of silver halide, and allowing the remainder of the reducing agent unoxidized to reduce the oxidized DRR compound into the DRR compound to release a diffusible dye. EP 220,746 A2 and Japan Invention Society's Kokai Giho (Technical Report) No. 87-6199 (Vol. 12, No. 22) describe a heat-developable color photosensitive material including a compound capable of releasing a diffusible dye through a similar mechanism, that is, a compound capable of releasing a diffusible dye through reductive cleavage of a N-X bond wherein X is an oxygen atom, nitrogen atom or sulfur atom.
In heat-developable color photosensitive materials as mentioned above, a variety of polymers can be used as a binder. However, many polymers provide images with a low image density (Dmax) or high fog density (Dmin). It is difficult to find a compromise polymer between cost and image quality.
One known preferred class of polymer is gelatin. However, heat-developable color photosensitive materials using delimed gelatin are unsatisfactory in both Dmin and Dmax.

Heat-developable color photosensitive material containing calcium in an amount of at least 2000 ppm based on total binder weight


Devices and techniques are generally described for generating and evaluating utterances. In some examples, an utterance generation and evaluation system can receive intent data and target data. The utterance generation and evaluation system can determine related target names and related intent names and, based on the related target names and related intent names, can generate an utterance phrase. The utterance generation and evaluation system can determine a confidence score associated with the utterance phrase and, based on the confidence score, determine the utterance phrase as a recommended utterance phrase.

Automatic speech recognition (ASR) combined with language processing techniques can enable a computing device to retrieve and process commands from a user based on spoken commands of the user. Natural language processing can be used to translate the spoken commands into computer-executable instructions. The executable instructions can be executed and a corresponding task can be performed. Such speech recognition and voice control can be used by personal computers, hand-held devices, telephone computer systems, and a wide variety of other computing devices to improve human-computer interactions.


The present invention provides systems and methods for supporting native TDM and native Packet switching simultaneously in a meshed switching architecture. Specifically with the present invention, the meshed links are common to both TDM and packet traffic, and both types terminate to a common system interface without the need to separate physical resources and infrastructure; the common termination function has access to both the TDM (Time Slot Interchange (TSI)) switching and packet switching elements. Native TDM switching and packet switching operate in concurrently in the mesh over common links, with the personality of the links derived by the card type (attached to the mesh). In this, a given card or slot in a system can communicate in the native format to both packet based cards (slots) or TDM based cards (slots) simultaneously with no preconceived restrictions or limitations on slot or link definition.

A transport and aggregation network includes network elements which offer transport and aggregation of services, such as SONET/SDH, Optical Transport Network (OTN), Ethernet, Storage Area Network (SAN), Video, and the like. Service providers and enterprises deploy such networks to provide connectivity. Typically, when TDM and packet (e.g., Ethernet) connections are co-resident on a given card or system, they physically use separate infrastructure on the card or system, such as a unique TDM fabric and a unique packet fabric each with physically separate interfaces. This is the case for a transport and aggregation network element with either a central fabric or meshed configuration. Additionally, systems originally designed for only one traffic type may not have planned for separate interfaces. For example, a transport and aggregation platform may have been deployed with wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) solely to transport and aggregate SONET/SDH traffic, and to add packet connections, a new system or switch fabric must be installed along with the existing platform. With separate infrastructure, comes an increase in cost (e.g., distinct TDM and packet switches). Note, this also assumes that the platform (new or legacy) has been designed with forethought to accommodate both sets of infrastructure.
In systems that do not accommodate distinct separate physical interfaces for TDM and packet, mixing native packet traffic (Open Systems Interconnect (OSI) layer two) and native TDM (OSI layer one) traffic over a common physical interface is difficult, since formats and requirements differ between the types of traffic. This is complicated further when both traffic types need access to a shared resource such as a packet processor which may not be able to dedicate separate interfaces to the traffic flows.
Existing TDM systems offer packet connections with TDM through protocols such as Packet-over-SONET (POS), Virtual Concatenation (VCAT), Generic Framing Procedure (GFP), High-Level Data Link Control (HDLC), Point-to-Point Protocol (PPP), and the like. However, these protocols either provide dedicated point-to-point connections or offer limited layer two switching capabilities.
Ethernet increasingly is being considered as a replacement to SONET/SDH for metropolitan and wide-area transport and aggregation networks. Where SONET/SDH traditionally was designed for efficient multiplexing and transport of TDM-oriented traffic, Ethernet is considered as the transport solution for packets. Thus systems and methods for combining TDM and packet connections in a single system simultaneously in a meshed switching architecture are needed.

Systems and methods for combining time division multiplexed and packet connection in a meshed switching architecture


A system and method for mapping the sensitivity of MR coils includes a neural network or other computer intelligence trained from sample MR data to determine coil sensitivity profiles or sensitivity normalizations. Once the network is trained, subsequent coil mapping determinations may include fewer mapping acquisitions per coil. The resulting sensitivity map can be used in compensating for B1 inhomogeneities, parallel imaging reconstruction, generating tailored excitation currents for each individual coil, RF shimming, or other processes.

The present invention relates generally to magnetic resonance imaging, and more specifically, to a system and method for mapping the sensitivity of radio frequency (RF) coils of a magnetic resonance (MR) system. The invention finds particular utility in parallel imaging applications by providing quickly determined coil sensitivity maps, requiring fewer flip angles/scans to determine.
When a substance such as human tissue is subjected to a uniform magnetic field (polarizing field B0), the individual magnetic moments of the spins in the tissue attempt to align with this polarizing field, but precess about it in random order at their characteristic Larmor frequency. If the substance, or tissue, is subjected to a magnetic field (excitation field B1) which is in the x-y plane and which is near the Larmor frequency, the net aligned moment, or "longitudinal magnetization", MZ, may be rotated, or "tipped", into the x-y plane to produce a net transverse magnetic moment Mt. A signal is emitted by the excited spins after the excitation signal B1 is terminated and this signal may be received and processed to form an image.
When utilizing these signals to produce images, magnetic field gradients (Gx, Gy, and Gz) are employed. Typically, the region to be imaged is scanned by a sequence of measurement cycles in which these gradients vary according to the particular localization method being used. The resulting set of received NMR signals are digitized and processed to reconstruct the image using one of many well known reconstruction techniques.
Often, it is desirable in MR imaging procedures to map the strength and variations in a B1 magnetic field across the desired field of view, to decrease the potential effects on image reconstruction, or to allow for tailored excitation profiles across the field of view by manipulating individual currents in surface coils. Normalization or compensation functions can be generated from B1 maps and applied to the received NMR signals to account for magnetic field in-homogeneities. The same B1 maps can be used to extract information for driving the currents in individual RF coils in the transmit mode to achieve tailored excitations across the field of view. These mappings are usually performed for each scan subject, as subject positioning within the coil and subject-specific local physical properties (such as dielectric constant) can influence the coil B1 homogeneity.
Methods for mapping the sensitivity of RF coils, or alternatively the uniformity of the B1 field, typically require that multiple data acquisitions take place for each coil of an RF coil assembly, where each data acquisition is taken at a different flip angle. This typically results in the use of 2-8 different flip angles or transmit powers for each coil of an N-channel coil array. Therefore, a total of 2N-8N different acquisitions are often used to generate one sensitivity mapping. The signals acquired in these acquisitions are proportional to the sine of the flip angle. Therefore, a pixel by pixel fit of the intensity of the signal versus the flip angle (from the known RF pulse height or width) can produce a map of the coil sensitivity. This method of coil sensitivity mapping is well known in the art. However, as the number of calibration or sensitivity-measuring scans required to produce this pixel by pixel fit is increased, overall scan time and patient throughput decrease.
One particular application where coil sensitivity mapping is particularly advantageous is parallel imaging. Usually the system of spins is excited using a homogeneous coil (such as a whole-body RF coil), and then an array of surface RF coils is used to receive the MR signals, in order to increase the step size between phase-encoding lines, or equivalently to reduce the size of the field of view and the amount of data collected. Scan time reduction is achieved by under-sampling k-space and recording images simultaneously from the multiple imaging or receive coils. Under-sampling generally reduces the data acquisition time by increasing the distance of sampling positions in k-space.
Parallel imaging techniques not only expedite data acquisition, but also reduce aliasing or wrapping that occurs in the phase-encoding direction when an imaging object extends outside a field-of-view (FOV). In particular, parallel imaging techniques remove or reduce the aliasing by using surface coil B1 fields (sensitivities), to define or determine an un-aliased spin distribution. Information regarding the surface coil B1 fields or sensitivities is typically acquired with an external calibration or a self-calibration technique. Generally, the coil sensitivity data is used to weight the imaging data such that coil sensitivity is reflected in the reconstructed image, and, as a result, the coil sensitivity data reduces aliasing in the reconstructed image that can occur as a result of under-sampling.
In a manner similar to that previously described, an array of RF coils can also be used to both transmit and receive the MR signals (as opposed to using a homogenous RF coil for transmitting and many surface coils for receiving the signal). Such an approach has been shown to be useful for RF shimming, pulse designs for small FOV imaging, or reducing specific absorption rate for certain other MR applications. For these applications, methods of pulse design typically rely on knowledge of the particular excitation and reception pattern of each of the small RF coils employed.
In all these applications, the time spent determining coil sensitivity should be as little as possible. It would therefore be desirable to have a system and method capable of quickly producing coil sensitivity maps while requiring a reduced number of mapping acquisitions.

System and method for fast MR coil sensitivity mapping


In an insert bearing part for combining with another insert bearing part structured the same or similar to form an elastomeric insert bearing there is provided a surrounding outer shell featuring a radial portion and an axial portion, an elastomeric body surrounded by the outer shell and a rigid core with an axial throughway for securing the insert bearing, said core protruding axially beyond the axial portion such that when locating the insert bearing part on the other insert bearing part structured the same or similar, the insert bearing parts contact each other substantially at the radial level of the core in forming an axial spacing between opposing axial portions of the insert bearing parts so that the elastomeric body is compressed by the insert bearing parts being brought together.

One such shock strut bearing assembly is known, for example, from German patent DE 43 26 197 C2 wherein at the end of a shock absorber stem an annular flange can be mounted which is surrounded by a rigid core. The rigid core in turn is surrounded by an elastomeric body which is precompressed by two shell parts to be connected together and separate from the elastomeric body before being fitted. The forces for applying precompression are achieved by bolt fasteners when fitting the shell parts to the vehicle body.
Mounting this shock absorber complicates fitting, however, because first the flange, the core as well as the elastomeric body need to be manufactured to form a module in a prefabrication step, after which the module has be secured to the flange of the shock absorber stem. Furthermore, mounting this known shock strut requires the outer shell parts to be precision dimensioned both axially and radially to ensure the module is precompressed as wanted.

Insert bearing part, elastomeric insert bearing and shock strut bearing assembly


The present invention provides a technique of accurately extracting areas of characters included in a captured image. A character extracting device of the present invention extracts each character in an image with compensated pixel values. In more detail, the character extracting device integrates pixel values at each coordinate position in the image along a character extracting direction. Then, the character extracting device predicts the background area in the image based on the integrated pixel value. The compensated pixel values are compensated based on integrated pixel values at the predicted background area from integrated pixel values at each coordinate position.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a technique for extracting a character area from a captured image.
2. Description of the Related Art
By capturing an image of characters printed on a commodity or product with an image acquisition device, for example, a two dimensional image acquisition device using a CCD, CMOS or the like, and performing a character recognizing process in an image processing apparatus, a process of recognizing the print can be automated.
To perform the character recognizing process with high precision, a character extracting process as a pre-process of the character recognizing process is important in the image processing apparatus.
The character extracting process is a process of determining a character area included in a captured image. In a case where a captured image includes a character string made of a plurality of characters, each of the character areas corresponding to each character in the character string has to be determined from the character string.
One of the methods of extracting a character string is a method utilizing projection data of an image. Specifically, waveform data obtained by integrating pixel values of a captured image in an extraction direction is generated and analyzed. A fact is utilized that a pixel integration value of a character part is larger than that in a background part (in a case where a character is black, it is sufficient to make the pixel integration value of the character part large by reversal), and an area in which the pixel integration value exceeds a predetermined threshold is recognized as a character area.
In general, at an image captured by an image acquisition device, a light amount, especially at the peripheral portion of the image, is relatively lower than the other portion of the image based on lens characteristics of the image acquisition device. Accordingly, it is possible that the peripheral portion has a lower light amount compared with the central portion of the image. Further, by effect of the lower light amount at the peripheral portion, it is possible that the image has the inconsistencies in the intensity of the image.
FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an image 90 of a medium on which characters "T258789" are printed and waveform data 91 generated from the image 90. The waveform data 91 is data obtained by integrating pixel values along a character extracting direction Y at a coordinate position in a character string direction X of the image 90. For easier explanation, the waveform data 91 and the image 90 including the characters "T258789" are shown so as to be aligned in the character string direction X. It is understood from the figure that the pixel integration values of the character portions are larger than pixel integration values of the background part.
Since a character is black in this case, it is sufficient to make the pixel integration value of the character part large by reversal. Then, FIG. 7 shows a case that the captured image 90 has a center portion darker than the other remaining portion by an effect of illumination. Therefore, the pixel integration values of both end portions are relatively lower than the other portions in the waveform data 91.
For example, in case where a threshold 92 is set at a level as shown in the figure and then a character area is determined whether the area is in excess of the threshold 92 or not; it is not possible to extract the characters from the image precisely. In more detail, since a central portion (a longitudinal portion) of a character "T" shown in FIG. 7 has larger integrated pixel values, the portion is recognized as a character area. However, since a lateral portion of the character "T" has smaller integrated pixel value as compared with the longitudinal portion's one and, at the lateral portion, the light amount provided from an illumination device (not shown) is lower than the other areas' one, the corresponding portion of the waveform data 91 for the lateral portion becomes below the threshold 92 and thus it is difficult to recognize the lateral portion as a character area.
To solve such a problem, in general, a shading correction is provided. In detail, it is carried out so that the intensity difference between the central portion of the image and the other portions of the image are compensated. However, such a shading compensation process requires a longer processing time, so total processing time for extracting character areas takes longer.
Further, as another problem, when a distance between the characters is narrow, it is difficult to recognize the character areas. In the case shown in FIG. 7, a character "8" and character "9" are close to each other so as to be partially overlapping. In this case, integrated pixel values become larger at a boundary area between the character "8" and the character "9". Therefore, when the threshold 92 is set at a position shown in the figure, the waveform data 91 (integrated pixel values) of the boundary area are above the threshold 92. As the result, it is recognized that the character "8" and the character "9" are combined as one character area.
To solve such a problem, especially to separate two characters from each other, Japanese Patent Publication No. 2,872,768 discloses a method of setting a search start point and a search end point in an image, integrating pixel values of the pixels passing a path connecting the start and end points, and finding a path in which the integration value is the minimum. The method allows the image processing device to extract each character area accurately even if the characters are closer to each other, however, the method has a problem that a process to choose the path takes a long time. Moreover, the method requires the following items to be preset: the search start point, the search end point, start point and the path connection between them. That is, the method requires knowing a boundary area of the characters roughly in advance.

Character extracting apparatus, method, and program


An optical module includes a circuit board, an optical element on the circuit board, a semiconductor circuit element thereon and electrically coupled with the optical element, an optical connection member formed on a back surface of the circuit board and including an optical fiber receiving groove, and a pressing plate disposed on a side opposite to the circuit board of the optical connection member so as to fix the optical fiber. The semiconductor circuit element is mounted nearer a tip side of the circuit board in relation to the optical element such that the circuit board, the optical connection member and a tip part of the optical fiber are sandwiched between the semiconductor circuit element and the pressing plate. The circuit board includes a plurality of electrodes to be electrically coupled with an equipment side circuit board formed on a tip part of a back surface of the circuit board.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an optical module, an optical communication equipment using the optical module, and an optical transmission device using the optical module.
2. Description of the Related Art
An optical module is known which converts an electrical signal input from an equipment etc. to an optical signal and outputs it to an optical fiber, or which converts the optical signal input from the optical fiber to the electrical signal and outputs it to the equipment etc.
As an example of the optical module, an optical module is known which comprises a lens block having a lens or a mirror, an optical fiber, and an optical element, and the lens block set facing a light emitting part or a light receiving part of the optical element, and the optical fiber is optically coupled with the optical element via the lens block.
Prior art documents related to the invention of this application may include JP-A-2011-095295.

Optical module, optical communication equipment, and optical transmission device


Lifetime of halogen containing VUV, UV, visible or IR light sources can be extended by passivating the quartz or glass gas containers with halogens prior to filling the quartz with the halogen and rare gas mixtures used to produce the light.

Dielectric barrier discharge light sources have been used to produce VUV, UV, visible and IR light for a great variety of purposes. For example, UV light from dielectric barrier discharge light sources has been used for photo-enhanced material deposition, photocuring of paint or lacquers, photocuring of polymers, photo-oxidation of solids, fluids or gases, or sterilization and ultraviolet oxidation of sewage, technical processing water, and drinking water.
Most dielectric barrier discharge light sources or plasma gas light sources have the plasma gas or gas from which the excimers are produced enclosed in a transparent vessel. The transparent vessel is usually glass or quartz, the purity and quality of which can vary considerably. In common arrangements, an electrode is separated by a dielectric barrier from plasma gases enclosed within a container or envelope of dielectric barrier material from a second electrode on the outer surface of the dielectric barrier containing the plasma gases. In some arrangements the electrical discharge light source is simply submersed in fluids to be treated; in other arrangements fluids to be treated with UV light have been circulated through an anulus surrounded by a dielectric barrier and an electrode.
Many light sources emitting in the VUV, UV, visible, and near IR spectral range contain halogens in the gas filling. In most cases halogens are added because the halogens either provide the desired wavelengths by molecular or atomic transitions of the halogen itself, or because the halogens provide precursers for the formation of certain species with another component of the remaining gas filling (e.g., excimers). In the latter case, the desired wavelength or wavelengths are then emitted by the energetical de-excitation of the halogen containing complex.
Because of the high chemical reactivity of halogens, in particular when the halogens are atomized in the gas discharge, the halogens interact with or adsorb onto the glass or quartz plasma gas container. This can reduce the light output, the light efficiency, and the lifetime of the light source because of loss of the halogens to chemical interactions with the container material. Also, the spectral transparency of the glass or quartz container may decrease because of changes in the chemical structure of the glass or quartz container.
Some dielectric barrier discharge light sources have been improved by varying the electrode configurations and materials used for electrodes in combination with use of relatively high gas pressures of halogens. However, the lifetime of halogen-containing dielectric barrier discharge light sources improved in this manner is relatively short at high electrical power of greater than about 1 Watt per cm.sup.2 (generally less than 10 hours) at least partly because of changes in the gases contained within the quartz tubes of the UV lamp.
Because of the often expensive, labor intensive, complicated nature of the task and interruptions of operations associated with change out of no longer functioning dielectric barrier discharge light sources, it is important that the dielectric barrier discharge light sources have as long a lifetime as possible.
Therefore there is a need for ways of increasing lifetimes of any dielectric barrier discharge light source which uses halogens in the plasma gas, and in particular for ways of increasing lifetimes of dielectric barrier discharge light sources which use high gas pressures of halogens.
It is an object of this invention to provide a method of lengthening the lifetime of dielectric barrier discharge light sources which can also be employed in other halogen-containing light sources.
It is also an object of this invention to provide a method of reducing loss of halogen gases from plasma gas mixes used in dielectric barrier discharge light sources and other halogen-containing light sources.
It is another object of this invention to provide dielectric barrier discharge light sources and other halogen-containing light sources with improved lifetimes.
Additional objects, advantages and novel features of the invention will be set forth in part in the description which follows, and in part will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon examination of the following or may be learned by practice of the invention. The objects and advantages of the invention may be realized and attained by means of the instrumentalities and combinations particularly pointed out in the appended claims. The claims appended hereto are intended to cover all changes and modifications within the spirit and scope thereof.

Passivation of quartz for halogen-containing light sources

The Regents of the University of California


A hydrostatic transmission circuit for a vehicle having at least two displacement members (12) driven by at least one hydraulic motor (10) having a feed main duct and a discharge main duct (16, 18). Skid control means for controlling skidding of at least one displacement member comprise a skid control valve (20) and an additional valve (22) that are disposed in parallel on a main duct (16). At least the skid control valve (20) has a constriction of variable section, while the additional valve has two end positions (22A, 22B), in which its through sections are respectively at their maximum and at their minimum. Control means (UC, 26, 28) make it possible to cause said valves to move as a function of a skid situation detected by detection means (24).

Document EP-A-0 505 254 shows a circuit of that type which, in the example given, has a reversible pump feeding four motors, each of which is coupled to a respective wheel. Speed sensors are associated with each of the wheels, and the measured speeds are transmitted to a processing device which controls constrictions disposed one per motor on one of the main ducts of each motor. When it is detected that one of the motors is racing, indicative of a skid situation, the through section of the constriction disposed on the main duct of that motor is reduced to cause head loss and to reduce the speed of the motor.
In general, the skid control system is useful under difficult driving conditions, in particular when the vehicle is traveling over difficult terrain and when skidding might occur on one or more wheels. Conversely, when the vehicle is traveling without any risk of skidding, e.g. on the road, the skid control system is deactivated. The constrictions are at their maximum section, so that the flow-rate of fluid in the main ducts is as high as possible in order to enable high speeds to be achieved.

Vehicle hydrostatic transmission circuit


An electrophotographic printing machine in which an electrostatic latent image is recorded on a photoconductive surface by charging the appropriate areas of the surface to predetermined polarities. The latent image is a developed with toners of a preselected color and predetermined polarity by a developer unit. The developer unit includes a bead removal device which magnetically attracts carrier beads off the photoconductive surface and deposits these beads in a sump or reservoir of developer. The bead removal device includes a magnet and magnetic field shapers to enhance the magnetic fields which attract the beads in the zone between the surface and the bead removal device and attenuates the magnetic fields in the zone between the bead removal device and the sump or reservoir to reduce the attraction between the beads and the bead removal device in this zone. The invention also provides magnetic brush rollers for the delivery of toner to the photoconductive surface which have magnetic field shapers which attenuate the magnetic fields to encourage bead release from the roller and reduce attraction of beads to the roller in reverse rotation of the roller.

The features of the present invention may be used in the printing arts and more particularly in electrophotographic printing. In the process of electrophotographic printing, a photoconductive surface is charged to a substantially uniform potential. The photoconductive surface is image wise exposed to record an electrostatic latent image corresponding to the informational areas of an original document being reproduced. This records an electrostatic latent image on the photoconductive surface corresponding to the informational areas contained within the original document. Thereafter, a developer material is transported into contact with the electrostatic latent image in a region known as the development zone. Toner particles are attracted from carrier granules or bead carriers of the developer material onto the latent image. The resultant toner powder image is then transferred from the photoconductive surface to a copy sheet and permanently affixed thereto. The foregoing generally describes a typical mono-color electrophotographic copying machine.
Recently, electrophotographic printing machines have been developed which produce highlight color copies. A typical highlight color printing machine records successive electrostatic latent images on the photoconductive surface. When combined, these electrostatic latent images form a total latent image corresponding to the entire original document being reproduced.
One latent image is usually developed with black toner particles. The other latent image is developed with color highlighting toner particles, e.g. red toner particles. These developed toner images are transferred sequentially to the copy sheet to form the color highlighted copy. A color highlight printing machine of this type is a two pass machine.
Single pass highlight color printing machines using tri-level printing have also been developed. Tri-level electrophotographic printing is described in detail in U.S. Pat. No. 4,078,929. As described in this patent, the latent image is developed with toner particles of first and second colors. The toner particles of one of the colors are positively charged and the toner particles of the other color are negatively charged. In one embodiment, the toner particles are supplied by a developer which comprises a mixture of triboelectrically relatively positive and relatively negative carrier beads. The carrier beads support, respectively, the relatively negative and relatively positive toner particles. Such a developer is generally supplied to the charge pattern by cascading it across the imaging surface supporting the charge pattern. In another embodiment, the toner particles are presented to the charge pattern by a pair of magnetic brushes. Each brush supplies a toner of one color and one charge. In yet another embodiment, the development system is biased to about the background voltage. Such biasing results in a developed image of improved color sharpness.
In tri-level electrophotographic printing, the charge on the photoconductive surface is divided in three, rather than two, ways as is the case in mono-color printing. The photoconductive surface is charged, typically to about 900 volts. It is exposed image wise, such that one image corresponding to charged image areas remains at the full potential of 900 volts. The other image, which corresponds to discharged image areas is exposed to discharge the photoconductive surface to its residual potential of typically about 100 volts. The background areas are exposed to reduce the photoconductive surface potential to about halfway between the charged and discharged potentials, (typically about 500 volts). The developer unit arranged to develop the charged image areas, is typically biased to about 600 volts, and the developer unit, arranged to develop the discharged image areas, is biased to about 400 volts.
The single pass nature of this system dictates that the electrostatic latent image pass through the developer units in a serial fashion. When the latent image, which has a high charged image potential region and a low charge image potential region, passes through the first developer unit, arranged to develop the discharged image areas, an extremely high cleaning field potential is established between the electrically biased developer unit and the highly charged image areas of the latent image. This high cleaning field potential attracts developer material from the developer unit onto the highly charged image areas. When this occurs, the highly charged image areas of the electrostatic latent image are locally discharged where developed, and as a result, white spots will be noticeable in the solid area images developed by the second developer unit, which at the present time is black, rendering the prints unacceptable.
This problem was overcome by the invention disclosed in the below-referenced co-pending U.S. application Ser. No. 07/604,269. However, electrostatic forces and adhesion forces within the developer units contribute to a condition where the bead carriers are carried out of the development unit. Bead removal devices (BRDs) are well known and commonly used to pick off any developer carriers which are carried out of the development zone of a development unit.
Generally BRDs operate by generating a strong magnetic field in the area between the photoconductive surface and the BRD to attract free bead carriers to the shell of the BRD. These captured beads are then deposited in a sump or developer receiver as the shell of the BRD is rotated. This arrangement, however, renders release of beads from the BRD more difficult, e.g. gravity and centripetal forces often are insufficient to achieve release of the beads from the magnetic field as the shell of the BRD rotates. That is the strong magnetic field necessary to attract bead carriers from the photoconductive surface to the BRD shell are sufficiently strong around the shell itself to retain some bead carriers as the shell rotates.
As disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,829,338, the magnetic field from the magnet positioned in the shell of the BRD can be directed by use of a ferromagnetic shunt to promote bead removal from the photoconductive surface while enhancing the field between the photoconductive surface and the BRD to attract free beads. Nevertheless, this solution has not overcome all problems associated with BRDs.
Specifically, some bead carriers remain attached to the shell as the shell rotates. These unreleased beads tend to attract additional beads to themselves to form bead chains. These bead chains can span the gap between the BRD and photoconductive surface causing degradation of the image being reproduced. For example, in highlight color electrographic printing machines, when bead chains occur in the first discharged developer unit, portions of the second latent image which are contacted by the chains are discharged thereby causing discharge line defects in the finished print.
Also, the arrangement disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,829,338 does not address carrier pickup and carry through in reverse rotation of a BRD. In highlight color electrographic printing machines using magnetic delivery means, monochromatic images are often achieved by disabling one of the developer units. One technique is to reverse the direction of the magnetic brush rollers as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,811,046 to May, which is incorporated by reference herein. The reversal of the direction of travel of the rollers in the developing units in this case effects a substantial reduction in developer available to effect the charged photoconductive surface. Such reversal of angular travel of the rollers can also be done during warm-up and shut down cycles to remove stray or extraneous developer materials from the developer zone. However, reversed rotation of the rollers is not entirely satisfactory, as some beads are not released and certain other beads are attracted to and attach to the roller. Failure to release the beads, as well as the attraction of additional beads, results, for example, in discharge of portions of the latent image on the photoconductive surface as it passes through a developer unit to a secondary developer unit.
During ordinary operation some beads fail to release from the roller. When this involves a substantial number of beads, a condition mimicking a low toner condition results. Essentially, empty beads are being transported through the development zone and insufficient toner is delivered to develop the latent image.
Optimally the magnetic field at the release point of development rollers must be minimized to reduce carry through of `empty` beads and to prevent carry back of beads in the "reversed" rotating rollers. Further, this must be accomplished without substantially affecting the magnetic field characteristics along the remainder of the rollers which are responsible for bead pickup, bead transport, bead timing, developing by toner, migration from bead to photoconductive surface and carry out of beads from development zone. Also, the magnetic fields around a BRD housing must be maximized along the interface between the BRD shell and the photoconductive surface and minimized at all other points to afford return of released beads to a sump or reservoir and to impede bead chain formation.
Various techniques have heretofore been used to develop electrostatic latent images as illustrated by the following disclosures, which may be relevant to certain aspects of the present invention:
U.S. Pat. No. 4,320,958 PA1 Patentee: Fantuzzo PA1 Issued: Mar. 23, 1982 PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 4,641,946 PA1 Patentee: Forbes II PA1 Issued: Feb. 10, 1987 PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 4,833,504 PA1 Patentee: Parker et al. PA1 Issued: May 23, 1989 PA1 Co-pending U.S. application Ser. No. 07/604,269 PA1 Applicant: Hogestyn PA1 Filed: Oct. 29, 1990
The relevant portions of the foregoing patents may be briefly summarized as follows:
U.S. Pat. No. 4,320,958 discloses a processing station for an electrophotographic printing which cleans the photoconductive surface and develops an electrostatic latent image recorded thereon. The processing unit uses an indexable magnet positioned interiorly of a rotating tubular sleeve. During development, the magnet is indexed so that a weak magnetic field is generated in the development zone during development. During cleaning, the magnet is indexed to generate a strong magnetic field in the cleaning zone.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,641,946 describes a developer roller having a rotating tubular sleeve with a magnet disposed interiorly thereof. A photoconductive belt is wrapped about a portion of the exterior surface of the sleeve. The magnet generates a radial magnetic field in the development zone which, at the center, may range from 0 gauss to 500 gauss. FIG. 4 shows a radial magnetic field, in the development zone, having a valley of about -185 gauss and twin peaks, each of about -385 gauss.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,833,504 discloses a single pass highlight color electrophotographic printing machine using two developer units. The first developer unit contains developer with black toner. The black toner is driven to the most highly charged areas of the latent image by the electrostatic field between the photoreceptor and developer rolls. The second developer unit contains developer with the highlight color toner. The highlight color toner is urged towards the parts of the latent image at the residual potential, i.e. the discharged region of the latent image, by the electrostatic field between the photoreceptor and the development rolls in the second housing. The magnetic rolls in the second developer unit are constructed such that the radial component of the magnetic force field produces a magnetically free development zone intermediate a charge retentive surface and the magnetic rolls. The developer is moved through the zone magnetically unconstrained and subjects the image developed by the first developer unit to minimal disturbance. In addition, the developer is transported from one magnetic roll to the next.
Co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 07/604,269 describes an electrophotographic printing machine in which an electrostatic latent image is recorded on a photoconductive surface. One portion of the latent image is a discharged area with the other portion of the latent image being a charged area. The discharged image area is developed with toner particles of a first color and polarity by a first developer unit. The first developer unit generates a weak magnetic field in the development zone and a strong magnetic field at the entrance and exit of the development zone. A second developer unit develops the charged image area with toner of a second color and polarity. The colors of the toners are different from one another.
In accordance with one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a developer unit for use in an electrographic printing device of the type having a latent image recorded on a moving charge retentive surface. The unit includes a developer roller for developing the latent image with toner of predetermined polarity. The developer roller includes a rotatable outer housing, fixed magnetic means disposed within said housing, and ferromagnetic field shaping means disposed within the housing to shape the magnetic fields induced by the magnetic means disposed within said housing. Specifically, the magnetic means and the field shaping means are arranged so bead carriers are attracted and adhere to the outer housing of developer shell for delivery of toner in a development zone and then are released from the shell. Also, the means are arranged so that upon reversal of the roller, the bead carriers do not adhere to the roller for passage through the development zone.
Pursuant to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a developer unit in an electrographic printing device of the type having an electrostatic latent image recorded on a moving charge retentive surface. The developer unit includes means for developing the latent image with toner of predetermined polarity. The developer unit also includes a bead removal device having a rotatable outer shell and fixed magnetic means positioned within the shell. A first magnetic shunt is disposed in the shell to shape the magnetic field to urge capture of any beads passing between the photoconductive surface and the bead removal device and to urge release of such captured carriers into a sump as the shell rotates. A second magnetic shunt is positioned in the shell to shape the magnetic field to minimize the magnetic fields on a portion of the shell to inhibit bead chain formation. Further, the second magnetic shunt is also positioned to shape the magnetic field to urge release of beads captured during reverse rotation of the BRD shell.
According to yet another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a developer unit in an electrographic printing device of the type having an electrostatic latent image recorded on a moving charge retentive surface. The developer unit includes means for developing the latent image with toner of predetermined polarity. The developer unit also includes a bead removal device having a rotatable outer shell and fixed magnetic means positioned within the shell. A first magnetic shunt is disposed in the shell to shape the magnetic field to urge capture of any beads passing between the photoconductive surface and the bead removal device and to urge release of such captured carriers into a sump as the shell rotates. A second magnetic shunt is positioned in the shell to shape the magnetic field to minimize the magnetic fields on a portion of the shell. The bead removal device may also be connected to an AC power source, and the shell of the magnetic means can be two magnets of substantially opposite polarity orientation.

Development apparatus employing magnetic field shapers


A memory circuit is provided, including: a plurality of sectors, where each sector includes at least two parallel rows of memory units; a first control line, a second control line and a word line corresponding to each row of memory units, where at least two of the first control lines which are in the same sector and neighboring with each other are connected, and at least two of the second control lines which are in the same sector and neighboring with each other are connected; and a plurality of bit lines perpendicular with the word lines. The number of the first and second control lines may be reduced, so decoding units which control the control lines may occupy less chip areas, thereby reducing chip areas occupied by the memory circuit.

Flash memory, attributing to its convenience, high memory density and ideal reliability, has been a research hotspot in non-violate storage devices. Currently, development of flash memory is promoted by motivation of chasing higher memory density. However, due to structure limitation, memory densities of conventional flash memories may no longer be increased by simply shrinking the device dimensions.
Generally, flash memory devices can be classified into two types: gate-split flash memories and stacked flash memories. Compared with stacked flash memories, gate-split flash memories, due to their specific structures, may have better performance in programming and erasing. For example, gate-split flash memories may have higher programming efficiency, and word line structures thereof can prevent "over erase". Therefore, gate-split flash memories are used broadly. However, compared with stacked flash memories, gate-split flash memories have one additional word line, which may increase the chip area. To increase memory density, normally there is a need to improve structures of gate-split flash memories.
Some existing flash memory units may have two silicon nitride layers functioning as float gates in each bit unit. Therefore, in each flash memory unit, there may be stored 4 bits of data, which may greatly increase the memory density. However, manufacturing processes of these flash memory units may be complicated.

Shanghai Huahong Grace Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation


A wood planing machine includes left and right mounting frames fixed uprightly on left and right mounting sides of a bed body. Left and right pairs of lifting rods are upright disposed rotatably on the bed body, and have lower ends extending into the bed body and connected to each other by a transmission belt. A working table is disposed on the bed body, and has four lugs connected operably with the working table such that rotation of the lifting rods results in movement of the working table relative to the bed body. Feed-in and take-out shaftd are journalled between the left and right mounting frames above the working table. A tool mounting shaft is disposed between the feed-in and take-out shafts and is journalled between the mounting frames. A motor for driving the tool mounting shaft is disposed movably in the bed body so as to permit tension adjustment of a transmissin belt trailed over an output shaft of the motor and the tool mounting shaft.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a planing machine, more particularly to a wood planing machine.
2. Description of the Related Art
Referring to FIGS. 1, 2 and 3, a conventional wood planing machine 10 is shown to comprise a bed 18 over which a wooden work piece (not shown) passes, and an upper housing 11 above the bed 18. A cutting roller 12 is mounted on the upper housing 11 and is rotatable about a horizontal axis. Front and rear feed rollers 13, 14 are mounted on front and rear portions of the upper housing 11 and are rotatable about axes parallel to the cutting roller 12. A motor 15 is mounted on the upper housing 11 and is coupled to one end of the cutting roller 12 so as to drive rotatably the same. The other end of the cutting roller 12 is coupled to the feed rollers 13, 14 such that the feed rollers 13, 14 rotate synchronously with the cutting roller 12.
The upper housing 11 has opposite end portions provided with a pair of upright screw sockets 111, 112. The machine 10 further includes a pair of upright threaded rods 16, 17, each of which has a lower end portion mounted rotatably on the bed 18, and an upper end portion that extends threadedly and respectively through the sockets 111, 112. Each of the threaded rods 16, 17 further has a bevel gear 161 mounted on the lower end portion thereof. A horizontal coupling rod 19 is mounted rotatably in the bed 18, and has opposite end portions provided with a respective bevel gear 191 for meshing with the bevel gear 161 on the adjacent one of the threaded rods 16,17. An adjusting handle 162 is mounted on the upper end portion of the threaded rod 16 so that, upon operation of the handle 162, rotation of the threaded rod 16 is transmitted to the other threaded rod 17 via the coupling rod 19. The machine 10 further includes four pillars 114 that extend upwardly from the bed 18 and slidably through corresponding bores 113 formed in the opposite end portions of the upper housing 11. As such, the upper housing 11 can be raised or lowered relative to the bed 18 when the threaded rods 16, 17 rotate due to operation of the handle 162, thereby adjusting the height of the cutting roller 12 in accordance with the desired thickness of the finished product.
The drawbacks of the aforementioned wood planing machine 10 are as follows:
(I) When the planing machine 10 is in use, the upper housing 11 is constantly subjected to upward forces due to contact between the feed rollers 13, 14 and the work piece. This can lead to undesired movement of the upper housing 11 during cutting, and in uneven thickness at the front and rear parts of the work piece. PA1 (II) Rotation of the threaded rods 16, 17 when raising or lowering the upper housing 11 results in a considerable amount of noise. PA1 (III) The structure of the upper housing 11 is complicated, and results in a high manufacturing cost. PA1 (IV) Because the upper housing 11 has to accommodate the motor 15 for driving the cutting roller 12, the housing 11 is bulky and occupies a large amount of space above the bed 18. This results in inconvenience when replacing the cutting roller 12.


A spectra shaping apparatus for chirped pulse amplification(CPA) comprises a CTSI spectral decomposition system and a CTSI spectral synthesizing system being symmetrical, and a spectral modulating system composed of a diaphragm (10) and a plane spectra modulating reflector (5), wherein the CTSI spectral decomposition system totally expands a laser chirped pulse to a spectra plane, the spectral modulating system performs a spectra modulation on the image plane, and the CTSI spectral synthesizing system reverts the modulated spectra into the chirped pulse without distortion, thereby realizing spectra shaping. The apparatus has the feature of manufacturing easy, compacting structure, requiring less space, and cheap in cost etc., which can be different types of configuration for different circumstance application, and which can be utilized in a general laser spectrum shaping and spectrum modulation, especially for a high energy and ultra-high peak-power laser system with a large caliber and a broadband of pulse.

In the field of the high-power ultra-short laser pulse amplification, the enhancement of the output of a laser system is hampered by a series of factors such as the gain narrowing effect and the gain saturation effect in the solid-state laser amplification medium. The gain narrowing effect is caused by the limited bandwidth of the atomic emission in the laser medium and the frequency pulling effect, which makes the spectrum of the output pulse narrowing that not only leads to the deformity of the pulse waveform but also conducts the chirped pulse hard to be compressed into the original width. The gain saturation effect is another main factor leading to the distortion of CPA. It is caused by the pulse head depletion more the population inversion in the amplification medium than the pulse tail, which leads to the intensity of the pulse head getting more amplification than the intensity of the pulse tail. Hence the output of amplified pulse becomes asymmetric in the pulse waveform, which leads to the lose of amplification efficiency of chirped pulse, which leads to the red shift effect in the spectrum of the laser pulse, and which leads to the distortion of CPA. In order to compensate the gain narrowing and gain saturation effects in CPA, and also to improve the signal to noise ratio (SNR) of the output high-power laser pulse, people needs a kind of spectrum modulation apparatus to shape the spectrum distribution of pre-amplification pulse making it depression in the vicinity of center wavelength in some shapes and in some depths practically. In the inertial confinement fusion (ICF) field, the physics experiments have harsh requirements on the pulse parameter of the output laser. And lots of attention have been paid to the spatial distribution, the temporal profile, as well as the spectrum shaping in the design of kilojoules peta-watt-class laser system, in order to compensate the gain narrowing and gain saturation effects of CPA, and also to improve the SNR of the output high-power laser pulse, such as in the literatures: [X L Chu, B Zhang, B W Cai, et. al., "Study of the Multipass Amplification of the Chirped Pulse and Its Inverse Problem", Acta Phys. Sin., 2005, 54(10), 4696-1701, B Zhang, B D Li, "An Inverse Problem of Multistage and Multipass Pulsed Laser Amplifiers", Chin. J. Lasers, 1997, 24(6), 495-500, T Wang, D Y Fan, "Pulse Shaping Design of High Power Laser Amplifier", High Power Laser and Particle Beams, 1999, 11(2), 139-142, and X J Huang, X F Wei, H S Peng et. al. "On Structure of a Hundred Terawatt Class Ultra-short Laser System", 2004, the conference of optoelectronics in Sichuan].
The above literatures also illustrate some defects in the traditional shaping apparatus, just as following: 1. Using the thin etalon in regenerative amplification to tune the spectrum of the laser pulse, but it is complexity of the apparatus regulation, in addition, a optical parametric chirped pulse amplifier (OPCPA) has substituted the regenerative amplifier in the front-end of kilojoules peta-watt-class laser system, so this method does not apply. 2. Using the center wavelength blue shift injection, that is, making the centre of the pulse wavelength blue shift relative to the centre wavelength of the medium spontaneous emission, making the long wavelength parts of the pulse with a large duration, and making the spectrum modulation directly, but it is not practical to a over terawatt (1012) system. 3. Using the long-wavelength injection method that utilizes narrowing effect to compensate saturation effect, but this will make the system unstable. 4. Using the acousto-optic programmable dispersive filter (AOPDF) to compensate the spectral gain narrowing, but it has lower sufferance of the high power laser damages. Although it is equipped with a strong capability of gain compensation and dispersion compensation, it gets success just on the structure of a hundred terawatt class ultra-short laser system but not for the Nd:glass system in literatures.
At the same time, all the transmitted elements such as the optical filter and the birefringent crystal, and all the organic selection elements such as the hinged organic polymer used for modulating the spectrum of the laser pulse, are unusable for the high-power and huge-energy laser, such as in the literatures [P F Zhu, J X Yang, S L Xue, M R Li, Z Q Lin, "Spectrum Shaping of the Ultrashort Pulse", CHINESE J. OF LASERS, 2003, 30(12), 1075-1078; Y X Leng, L H Lin, Z Z Xu, "Spectrum Shaping in a Ti:Sapphire Regenerative Amplifier", ACTA OPT. SINICA, 2002, 22(02), 170-174]; the CN patent ZL200410025678.1 and the CN patent ZL200410024684.5.
Furthermore, the above literatures also illustrate some defects in the transmission shaping methods, just as following: 1. Using the interference filter for selective transmission, but it exists difficult both in the principle of design and in the fabrication techniques, such as the principle of design can not avoid the Fabry-Perot (FP) side effect. When the modulation bandwidth is less than tens nanometers, the fabrication techniques can not control the bandwidth and the depth in the centre wavelength of the transmittance curve according to the limit of the coating techniques. At the same time, the incident angle of laser is required at high precision and less flexibility. 2. Using the combination lens of birefringent crystal for the selective transmission, here the interference between the ordinary light and the extraordinary light conducts the selective transmission, but it exists difficulty both in the principle of design and in the fabrication techniques. For example, the transmitted element can not avoid the side effect such as FP effect and the distortion of phase etc. Furthermore, the thickness of the birefringent crystal is determined by the spectrum bandwidth of the original pulse, which the law is: the less the bandwidth is, the more the thickness of the birefringent crystal required is. For instance, if the spectrum bandwidth of the ultra-short pulse is 13 nm, the thickness of the birefringent crystal must be 25 mm; however, the size of birefringent crystal can not be produced that large. 3. Using the hinged organic polymer waveguide or using the hinged organic polymer waveguide after a corona poling process for obtaining the characteristics of photoelectric effect for the selective reflection, but it has lower sufferance of the high power laser damages.

Spectra shaping device for chirped pulse amplification


Disclosed is a process for preparing an anhydrous magnesium halide solution, comprising a step of distilling water off from an oxygen-containing organic solvent solution of hydrous magnesium halide containing at least calcium as an impurity, to prepare an oxygen-containing organic solvent solution of anhydrous magnesium halide, wherein a potassium compound is added in said step to precipitate calcium and potassium, followed by removing the calcium and potassium. According to this process, an anhydrous magnesium halide solution scarcely containing calcium can be prepared from hydrous magnesium halide containing calcium as an impurity. Also disclosed is a process for preparing a solid titanium catalyst component for olefin polymerization, comprising contacting the anhydrous magnesium halide solution obtained by the above process with a liquid titanium compound to precipitate a solid titanium catalyst component. According to this process, a solid titanium catalyst component for olefin polymerization, which has high catalytic activity, can be prepared by the use of the anhydrous magnesium halide solution.

Catalysts in which titanium compounds are supported on magnesium halides have been hitherto known as those used for preparing homopolymers of ethylene or .alpha.-olefins or those used for preparing ethylene/.alpha.-olefin copolymers. One example of the olefin polymerization catalysts is a catalyst comprising a solid titanium catalyst component, which comprises magnesium, titanium, halogen and an electron donor, and an organometallic compound catalyst component.
For preparing the solid titanium catalyst component used as the olefin polymerization catalyst component, many proposals have been made so far. For example, it is known to contact a halogen-containing liquid magnesium compound with a liquid titanium compound to produce a solid product.
In the conventional processes for preparing solid titanium catalyst component, anhydrous magnesium chloride for industrial use and/or reagent use has been employed as the magnesium halide compound. However, the anhydrous magnesium chloride for industrial use and/or reagent use has problems in cost, stability of supply and the like. Hence, substitution of hydrous magnesium chloride available at low cost and stably, e.g., hydrous magnesium chloride produced from seawater, that is generally called "bittern", will be of great industrial value.
However, a solution of the anhydrous magnesium chloride obtained from the bittern contains calcium as impurity. When the solution of the anhydrous magnesium chloride containing calcium as impurity is used to prepare a solid titanium catalyst component, there is such a problem that the calcium as impurity decreases the polymerization activity of the resulting catalyst.
Under such circumstances as mentioned above, the present inventors have studied processes for preparing anhydrous magnesium halides containing no calcium as impurity from hydrous magnesium halides (e.g., hydrous magnesium chloride) containing at least calcium as impurity. As a result, they have found that an anhydrous magnesium halide solution containing no calcium as impurity can be obtained by a process comprising distilling water off from an oxygen-containing organic solvent solution of hydrous magnesium halide containing at least calcium as impurity to prepare an oxygen-containing organic solvent solution of anhydrous magnesium halide, wherein in any of stage of the step of preparing the oxygen-containing organic solvent solution of hydrous magnesium halide to the step of preparing the oxygen-containing organic solvent solution of anhydrous magnesium halide, a potassium compound is added to contact the calcium (calcium compound) with the potassium compound and thereby precipitate calcium (calcium compound) together with potassium (potassium compound), followed by removing them from the oxygen-containing organic solvent solution of anhydrous magnesium halide. The present inventors have further found that a solid titanium catalyst component of high activity can be prepared by the use of the anhydrous magnesium halide solution obtained by the above process.

Process for preparing anhydrous magnesium halide solution and process for preparing solid titanium catalyst component for olefin polymerization


A coupled FBAR filter 100 includes first and second input/output vibration portions 110 and 111 respectively including first and second lower electrodes 104 and 106, first and second upper electrodes 105 and 107, and a piezoelectric thin film 103 interposed therebetween; and a cavity 102 for commonly guaranteeing vibrations of the first and second input/output vibration portions 110 and 111 so as to couple the vibrations. The first and second input/output vibration portions 110 and 111 are located adjacently in contact with each other with a step therebetween, such that the first and second lower electrodes 104 and 106 are not electrically connected to each other and such that the first and second upper electrodes 105 and 107 are not electrically connected to each other. Insulators 108 and 109 are provided in the vicinity of the step.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a coupled FBAR filter usable for a radio frequency circuit of a wireless device or the like, and more particularly to an FBAR filter using a plurality of modes, and a duplexer and a communication device including the same.
2. Description of the Background Art
Conventionally, filters mounted on wireless communication devices such as cellar phones and the like include dielectric filters, laminated filters and acoustic filters. Known acoustic filters include a monolithic crystal filter (MCF) using a plurality of modes of a bulk wave and a surface acoustic wave filter (SAW filter). Recently, filters are required to have a smaller size, to provide a higher performance and to be usable at a higher frequency. As a device for fulfilling these requirements, a film bulk acoustic resonator filter (FBAR filter) using a bulk wave of a piezoelectric thin film has been developed.
A conventional MCF using a plurality of modes (Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 10-163804, FIG. 1) will be described. This type of MCF typically uses an AT cut crystal substrate. FIG. 26 shows a structure of the conventional MCF.
The MCF has the following structure. An AT cut crystal substrate 91 is photo-etched to integrally form a vibration portion 92 of a super thin plate and a thicker ring portion 93 for supporting the vibration portion 92. On a flat surface of the AT cut crystal substrate 91, electrodes 94a and 94b are provided with a gap g interposed therebetween. On the entirety of a surface of the AT cut crystal 91 having a recessed portion, an electrode 95 is applied by vapor deposition or the like. Owing to such a structure, a first-order mode and a second-order mode which are generated as a result of acoustic coupling between two electrode pairs, i.e., the electrode pair 94a/95 and the electrode pair 94b/95 can be used. The coupling degree of the two modes, i.e., the resonant frequency difference between the two modes depends on the elastic constant of the AT cut crystal substrate 91, the shapes of the electrodes, thicknesses of the electrodes, and the size of the gap g between the two electrode pairs. As the coupling degree is higher, a filter which has a smaller loss and is usable over a wider band can be realized.
Another MCF using a plurality of modes (Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 10-145181, FIG. 1) will be described. FIG. 27 shows a structure of the another conventional MCF.
The MCF includes three pairs of electrodes, i.e., an electrode pair 82/83, an electrode pair 84/85 and an electrode pair 86/87, each including the two electrodes facing each other with a crystal substrate 81 (piezoelectric substrate) interposed therebetween. The central electrode pair 84/85 is an input or an output. The two electrode pairs 82/83 and 86/87 located on the sides of the electrode pair 84/85 and having generally the same shape with each other are connected in parallel and act as an output or an input. The MCF excites a first-order mode thickness vibration and a third-order mode thickness vibration and thus realizes a high coupling degree of the plurality of modes. Thus, a filter usable over a wide band is realized.
A filter using an FBAR, which uses a piezoelectric thin film to be usable at a higher frequency, has been proposed. FIG. 28 shows a cross-sectional view of a conventional coupled FBAR filter using an FBAR and ideal vibration mode distributions thereof. The FBAR includes a lower electrode, a piezoelectric thin film, an upper electrode and the like stacked on a substrate by means of sputtering or the like, and thus has a different basic structure from that of an MCF.
As shown in FIG. 28, a coupled FBAR filter 70 includes two electrode pairs, i.e., an electrode pair 74/75 and an electrode pair 76/77, which are provided on a substrate 71 while interposing a piezoelectric thin film 73 therebetween. Owing to such a structure, two input/output vibration portions 78 and 79 are provided. The substrate 71 has a cavity 72 formed therein which is covered with the two input/output vibration portions 78 and 79. The cavity 72 is provided for guaranteeing vibrations of the two vibration portions 78 and 79. As means for guaranteeing the vibrations, an acoustic mirror layer may be used. Owing to this, the two input/output vibration portions 78 and 79 share the same cavity 72 or acoustic mirror layer, and function as a filter using the coupling of the first-order mode and the second-order mode. It is known that the coupling degree of the two modes is improved by reducing the sizes of the electrodes, the thicknesses of the electrodes, and the distance between the two input/output vibrations (two electrode pairs), so that the filter obtains smaller-loss and wider-band characteristics.
FIG. 29 shows a cross-sectional view of a conventional coupled FBAR filter for coupling a first-order mode and a third-order mode and ideal vibration mode distributions thereof. A coupled FBAR filter 60 shown in FIG. 29 includes three input/output vibration portions 61 through 63. Owing to this, a filter using the coupling of the first-order mode and the third-order mode is realized. It is known that the coupling degree of the two modes is improved by reducing the sizes of the electrodes, the thicknesses of the electrodes, and the distance between the three input/output vibrations (two electrode pairs), so that the filter obtains smaller-loss and wider-band characteristics.
An integral value of the vibration mode distributions curves shown in each of FIG. 28 and FIG. 29 is generally equivalent to the amount of charge generated in the piezoelectric thin film. By using the charge generated in the piezoelectric film for the vibration in the two or three vibration portions, the coupling coefficient of each vibration portion is increased and thus a coupled FBAR filter having smaller-loss and wider-band characteristics can be realized.
However, as shown in FIG. 28 and FIG. 29, the distance between the two or three input/output vibration portions (two or three electrode pairs) cannot reduced to less than a certain distance because the distance is restricted by the conditions for producing the electrodes. As a result, a part of the generated charge is consumed by a non-electrode portion as a loss, which deteriorates the filter characteristics.

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


The present invention relates to a device for specific inhalation challenges, especially bronchical provocation tests, including a compressed air supply, a particle generator an exposure room, an orofacial mask, a gas-aerosol photometer, a manometer, a valve and a suction pump. The invention also relates to a method of using the device and to an improved particle generator.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a device for specific inhalation challenges, especially bronchial provocation tests, and to its method of use. The invention also relates to an improved generator of aerosol particles for use within the field of this invention.
2. Brief Description of the Prior Art
Occupational asthma is a common respiratory ailment. The diagnosis involves a combination of tools. Questionnaires were once the only means of diagnosis available. They were used to obtain an original description of occupational asthma among grain handlers by Ramazzini in 1700 (Raffle PAB, Lee WR, McCallum R1, Murray R. Hunter's Diseases of Occupations. 1st ed. Boston: Little, Brown and Cie, 1987, p 34-8), and among isocyanate workers, isocyanates being currently the most common causal agent. The presence of asthma can be confirmed by assessing spirometry and/or non-specific bronchial responsiveness. Immunological tests (skin tests, specific antibody tests) can confirm that there is sensitization to some agents, although they do not prove that the sensitization results in asthma. More recently serial monitoring of peak expiratory flow rates and bronchial responsiveness have been proposed for the diagnosis of occupational asthma.
Specific inhalation challenges carried out in the laboratory are still regarded as the gold standard for confirming the relationship between exposure to the suspected agent and the onset of asthma. In this experimental approach subjects are first exposed to a control product and, subsequently, to the occupational agent, in a controlled way. This procedure was first proposed by Pepys (Pepys J., Hutchcroft BJ., Bronchial provocation tests in etiologic diagnosis and analysis of asthma. Am Rev Respir Dis 1975; 112:829-59) and many new causes of occupational asthma have been identified using this method. For suspected agents available in powder form, subjects are asked to tip the product from one tray to another in a challenge room. There are several pitfalls to this procedure:
1. Subjects may be exposed to high concentrations of particles, resulting in unduly severe episodes of bronchoconstriction (Cartier A, Malo JL, Dolovich J. Occupational asthma in nurses handling psyllium. Clin Allergy 1987; 17:1-6). The concentration of particles may be higher than the standard, TLV-STEL (threshold limit value-short term exposure level), the concentration to which workers can be exposed continuously for short periods of time without suffering toxic effects. This may result in non-specific irritant reactions.
2. Exposure is erratic; the subject is exposed to high concentrations at times and acceptable levels at other times.
3. It is difficult to draw a proper dose-response curve since the concentration of particles cannot be precisely determined.

Device for specific inhalation challenge, method of use and improved generator of particles

IRSST Institut de recherche en sante et en securite du travail du Quebec


A neutron generator includes a conductive substrate comprising a plurality of conductive nanostructures with free-standing tips and a source of an atomic species to introduce the atomic species in proximity to the free-standing tips. A target placed apart from the substrate is voltage biased relative to the substrate to ionize and accelerate the ionized atomic species toward the target. The target includes an element capable of a nuclear fusion reaction with the ionized atomic species to produce a one or more neutrons as a reaction by-product.

1. Field
The present disclosure relates to neutron generators, and more particularly, to nanostructure electrodes for producing ions to be accelerated for neutron generation.
2. Description of Related Art
Neutrons can be used to examine different parameters of geological formations in borehole logging. For oil wells it can report important properties such as the porosity of the soil. Currently many radioactive sources are used in the oil-well logging industry. These generate neutrons in a radioactive decay. A common material used is an americium-beryllium source. Radiological source replacement programs have the goal to reduce the amount of radioactive sources and replace them with, for example, neutron generators to lower the risk of proliferation and contamination of oil wells and the environment in general as well as reducing health risks for the workers using radioactive sources at the moment. To replace e.g. americium-beryllium sources, neutrons with a similar energy spectrum as the radioactive sources have to be produced. Deuterium and tritium fusion reactions can for example be used for this purpose. Here, deuterium and tritium gas is ionized, accelerated and then interacts with a target that is loaded with, for example, deuterium or tritium. For oil-well logging applications the ion source needs to be small and energy efficient. Current sources used, for example, are Penning sources. Here, a higher electron current is used to ionize gas.
Thus, a new approach of producing high-energy neutrons that is more efficient, smaller in size and has a longer lifetime than current sources is desired. Additionally, the production of neutron with energy greater than 2.5 MeV without the use of tritium would be advantageous.

The Regents of the University of California


Disclosed are methods for regenerating dental and oral tissues from viable cells using ex vivo culture on a structural matrix. The regenerated oral tissues and tissue-matrix preparations thus provided have both clinical applications in dentistry and oral medicine and are also useful in in vitro toxicity and biocompatibility testing.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the fields of dentistry and oral biology. More particularly, it concerns the generation of oral tissues from viable cells using ex vivo culture on a structural matrix. The regenerated oral tissues provided herein may be used in a variety of clinical applications and also in in vitro biocompatibility testing.
2. Description of Related Art
A major goal of dental research is the development of effective clinical approaches to promote the regeneration of oral tissues following various insults or diseases. While synthetic materials have been successfully utilized as restorative materials for dental tissues for a number of years (Craig, 1989), these materials do not replace the normal structure and function of the lost tissue and are incapable of remodeling/repairing in the face of ongoing insult or stimulation.
One such example is that of root canal therapy. Approximately 15 million patients in the U.S. require a root canal each year. Here, necrotic pulp tissue resulting from trauma or bacterial infection is removed and replaced with a non-viable synthetic material. The synthetic material is clearly unable to provide the biological functions of pulp tissue, and failure leads to tooth loss.
Engineering new tissues from cultured cells represents a new approach to treat patients suffering from the loss or malfunction of certain tissues (Langer and Vacanti, 1994). However, with the limited exception of oral mucosa, the techniques of cell and tissue culture have not been successfully applied in the engineering of oral tissues. Current cell culture techniques, such as those used in the regeneration of skin, and even oral mucosa, are not transferable to the regeneration of other oral tissues as the existing techniques produce epithelia which require an appropriate connective tissue bed in vivo for successful grafting. The art therefore lacks appropriate techniques for the production of tissues ex vivo that will repair and regenerate specific oral connective tissues in vivo.
Dental pulp is a loose connective tissue that provides dentinogenic, nutritive, sensory and defensive functions to the tooth (Chiego, 1994). Dentin is produced by specialized cells, odontoblasts, which reside in dental pulp. Tertiary dentinogenesis is often initiated following injury to or loss of dentin by the original odontoblasts, or if lost, by unidentified cells which differentiate into odontoblasts (Lesot et. al., 1993).
Dental pulp and other oral tissues may be capable of regenerating following injury, but the specific mechanisms underlying pulp regeneration and reparative dentinogenesis have not been identified. As there is little known about such processes, the ability to culture or regenerate dental pulp and other oral tissues has been severely hampered. The development of methodology by which to culture oral tissues would thus represent a significant breakthrough in this field.

The Regents of the University of Michigan


A skin-whitening composition that includes bearberry extract and a reducing agent. The composition can be topically applied to the human skin and can include one or more whitening agents in combination with bearberry extract and the reducing agent to achieve an enhanced whitening effect. A method of whitening human skin includes topically applying to the skin a composition containing bearberry extract and a reducing agent in an amount and for a period of time sufficient to visibly whiten the skin. The method includes incorporating bearberry extract and the reducing agent with known whitening agents and applying to the skin in an amount and for a period of time sufficient to visibly whiten the skin.

The present invention relates to a skin-whitening composition for external use containing bearberry extract and a reducing agent and to a method of whitening skin by topically applying a composition containing an effective amount of bearberry extract and a reducing agent.
Skin color is primarily determined by the amount of melanin present in the skin. Thus, in recent years, cosmetic compositions have been developed to reduce the amount of melanin in the skin and therefore, whiten the skin. These development efforts have focused on whitening agents that inhibit the function and activity of tyrosinase, which plays an important role in the biosynthesis of melanin. For example, it has been proposed to incorporate into cosmetic compositions tyrosinase activity inhibitors such as hydroquinone, vitamin C and its derivatives, kojic acid, arbutin, glutathione, cysteine, and mulberry extract, among others.
Despite the efficacy of the above compounds in producing whiter skin, alternatives that are more effective are continually being sought. It has now found that skin-whitening compositions that contain bearberry can be improved by adding a reducing agent such as a formaldehyde-donating compound to the composition. It is believed that the reducing agent reduces the tyrosinase, which surprisingly results in a dramatically increased efficacy in the whitening effect of the composition.
In addition, it is believed that the reducing agent may be able to alter the chemical composition of certain amino acids, of which several are key to the process of melanin production. As a result, increased skin whitening efficacy is obtained.

Skin whitening composition containing bearberry extract and a reducing agent


A system includes a capacitive transducer, an excitation circuit, and a measuring circuit. The excitation circuit is configured to excite the capacitive transducer and the measuring circuit measures an output signal from the capacitive transducer responsive to the excitation voltage. The excitation circuit includes a voltage source for providing a first voltage in response to receipt of a supply voltage, a voltage generator coupled to the voltage source for receiving the first voltage and generating a second voltage that is greater than the supply voltage, and a control circuit coupled to the voltage source and the voltage generator. The control circuit is configured to provide any of a system ground, the first voltage, and the second voltage to first and second terminals of the capacitive transducer, and particularly, being configured to apply the system ground and the second voltage in the form of two consecutive stimuli with opposite polarities.

Microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) technology has achieved wide popularity in recent years, as it provides a way to make very small mechanical structures and integrate these structures with electrical devices on a single substrate using conventional batch semiconductor processing techniques. One common application of MEMS is the design and manufacture of MEMS transducers. Microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) transducers, such as capacitive sensor devices, are used in consumer electronics in a wide range of applications, such as gaming, augmented reality, navigation, and the like. Since these consumer devices are often battery powered, a challenge for developers of such capacitive transducers is to find an optimal noise versus power trade-off for such devices.

Excitation circuit, system including excitation circuit and capacitive transducer, and method