In a horizontal rotary compressor the gas passes from the discharge chamber and enters the eccentric shaft bore by passing through an annular space defined between the inlet of the eccentric shaft bore and the discharge end of the oil pickup tube. As a result, a jet pump is created delivering oil from the sump to the axial bore of eccentric shaft bore. Because the eccentric shaft is rotating, oil tends to collect on the walls of the bore and feeds radial lubrication passages which act as centrifugal pumps with the shaft rotating. The discharge flow passing through the eccentric shaft bore impinges upon the shell cover thereby diverting 180.degree. and passes through the annular space between the rotor and stator before being discharged from the compressor.

Hermetic compressors are most commonly operated in a vertical orientation so that lubrication for the shaft, bearings, running gear, etc., is, typically, supplied by a passive centrifugal pump incorporated into the drive shaft. Oil is drawn from a sump which is located at the bottom of the compressor shell and enters the pump through an orifice in the bottom of the shaft. The parts requiring lubrication are, normally, no more than a foot or so above the oil level of the sump so that a small increase in the oil pressure due to its radial acceleration is sufficient to supply the oil to the required locations. This relatively simple, passive lubrication system is a primary reason why most hermetic compressors are designed to operate in a vertical position.
For many applications, the height of the compressor is a primary factor because of packaging considerations. Very often, the height of an air conditioning, refrigeration or heat pump unit is more important than its width or depth. Accordingly, a distinct advantage could be realized if the compressor could be designed to operate in a horizontal orientation. However, in changing the orientation of a hermetic compressor from a vertical to a horizontal orientation, there are significant changes in the lubrication system and gas flow paths. The motor, cylinder, and running gear will extend below the level of the oil in the sump although it is not necessary that all of the members be exposed to the oil sump. The parts to be lubricated are located no more than a few inches above the sump as opposed to a foot, or more, in a vertical unit, but the drainage paths are shorter and over different parts. The oil sump blocks some normally used gas paths which are used in cooling the motor and in removing entrained oil and some of the drainage paths can contribute to oil entrainment.


The present invention relates to a method for screening of polycondensation catalysts, wherein at least two polycondensation catalysis reactions are performed simultaneously under substantially equivalent conditions in at least two reaction cells which are present in one and the same room, using a sample comprising material to be polycondensated and a catalyst to be screened, and wherein the performances of the catalysts are analyzed.

The present invention relates to a method for screening of polycondensation catalysts, wherein at least two polycondensation catalysis reactions are performed simultaneously under substantially equivalent conditions in at least two reaction cells, using a sample comprising material to be polycondensated and a catalyst to be screened, and wherein the performances of the catalysts are analyzed.
Polycondensation catalysts vary in their ability to speed up the reactions for polymerizing e.g. polyesters, particularly for those prepared from diols and diacids (or diesters). Polycondensation reactions and catalysts are known in the field. Examples of polycondensation catalysts are e.g. Ti(OBu)4, Ti(O-iPr)4, Sb(OBu)3, Al(O-sBu)3, Ge(OEt)4, etc.
In practice polycondensation catalyst are screened using classical laboratory equipment, e.g. glass or metal reaction vessel, stirrer, etc.
A problem of the known methods for screening polycondensation catalysts is that laboratory screening takes about a day per polymerization. Furthermore polycondensation catalysis reactions have to be carried out on a scale of at least 10 g to 1000 g, commonly about 100 g to 500 g. Also, results obtained using conventional screening methods are not predictable for catalyst activities on a large, i.e. industrial scale.
The above problems are particularly pertinent when a large amount of catalysts have to be screened, especially when only a small amount of starting material, e.g. less than 10 g, is available.
It is an object of the present invention to avoid the above problems and to provide a more efficient method for screening polycondensation catalysts.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a new method for screening of polycondensation catalysts, that can also be used for small amounts of sample.

Method and apparatus for screening of polycondensation catalysts

Abstract: The present invention further relates to an apparatus suitable for performing the method.


A solenoid-powered gate valve that provides a reliable, high quality seal with a reduced operating force requirement. The valve includes a solenoid coil and armature connected to a valve mechanism, with the valve mechanism including a conduit having a connection opening, an oppositely-disposed pocket, and a sprung gate assembly linearly movable between the connection opening and the pocket. The sprung gate assembly includes a first gate member with an opening, a second gate member with an opening, and an endless elastic band retained between the first and second gate members, with the openings and endless elastic band collectively defining a passage through the sprung gate assembly, with the first and second gate members being mechanically coupled to the armature for reciprocating linear movement between the connection opening and the pocket. The endless elastic band allows an interference fit within the pocket with reduced frictional opposition to gate movement.

In automotive engines, vacuum developed within the intake manifold or produced by a vacuum generator (e.g., a vacuum pump or aspirator) is routinely used to power pneumatic accessories such as power brake boosters. On/off operation of the generator and/or accessory is frequently controlled by a gate valve in which a rigid gate is deployed across a conduit to stop the flow of a fluid (in this exemplary application, air) through the valve. Within automated or "commanded" valves, the gate is typically actuated by a solenoid actuator and opened or closed in response to an electrical current applied to the solenoid coil. These solenoid-powered gate valves also tend to include a coil spring, diaphragm, or other biasing element which biases the gate towards an unpowered, 'normally open' or 'normally closed' position. Since the biasing force must overcome frictional forces resisting movement of the gate in order to return the gate to its normal position, and since the solenoid mechanism must overcome both these same fictional forces and any biasing force in order to move the gate to its actively-powered position, frictional forces tend to dictate much of the required solenoid operating force.
A good seal typically requires some degree of interference between the gate and the walls of the conduit. Thus, increasing the design's interference to obtain a reliable, high quality seal (especially when accounting for component variation within reasonable tolerances) tends to increase both the frictional forces resisting movement of the gate and the required solenoid operating force. However, if seal reliability and quality could be maintained with lower frictional resistance, reductions in solenoid operating force would beneficially allow for a reduction in the size, weight, and power demand of the solenoid mechanism, and thus for a reduction in the size, weight, and heat-dissipating capacity of the gate valve as a whole.


When there is no post-processing performed in a post-processing device, a print job of original PDL data of a general-purpose data structure is output from a computer to a PDL control unit of an image forming device. While, when there is post-processing performed in the post-processing device, a print job of PDL data of an extended data structure generated by adding attribute data of the post-processing is output from the computer to an extended PDL control unit of the post-processing device. Then, the extended PDL control unit extracts the original PDL data of the general-purpose data structure and the attribute data of the post-processing, from the received print job. The attribute data of the post-processing is used for the post-processing control unit to control a post-processing unit. The original PDL data of the general-purpose data structure is output to the PDL control unit of the image forming device.

An image forming device that forms an image on a print sheet by a print job may be used as an image forming system while being connected to a post-processing device. As the post-processing device, there are conventionally known ones that mainly perform processing, such as sorting, stapling, and/or punching, in printing multiple sheets.
However, in recent years, the application range of the image forming system tends to expand because the image forming device has been achieving high-speed processing and the like, and accordingly there are increasingly more chances to newly provide a post-processing device that achieves high-speed processing, multi-functions, or coping with a new application. However, in an image forming device attempting to constitute an image forming system together with a post-processing device, cooperative use with such a subsequent post-processing device may not be taken into consideration.
There is already proposed an image forming device as follows (e.g., Patent Literature 1). Here, if functional information of a post-processing device desired to be cooperatively used is additionally registered, then based on this information, a printed sheet after image formation is discharged in a format suitable for processing performed by the post-processing device that is a cooperative partner, and a job ticket that is the source of a work procedure manual of the post-processing device is generated and transmitted to the post-processing device.

Post-processing apparatus for extracting received print data and forwarding the received print data to an image forming apparatus for processing


A teleconferencing system comprises a conference bridge having a multichannel connection to each customer equipment. The customer equipment has a unit to separately process each channel to provide one output representing each of the other participants. These outputs can be combined in a spatializer to provide a spatialized output in which each participant is represented by a virtual sound source. The conference bridge comprises a concentrator, having a unit to identify the currently active input channels and to transmit only those active channels over the multichannel connection, together with control information identifying the transmitted channels.

This invention relates to audio teleconferencing systems. These are systems in which three or more participants, each having a telephone connection, can participate in a multi-way discussion. The essential part of a teleconference system is called the conference "bridge", and is where the audio signals from all the participants are combined. Conference bridges presently function by receiving audio from each of the participants, appropriately mixing the audio signals, and then distributing the mixed signal to each of the participants. All signal processing is concentrated in the bridge, and the result is monaural (that is, there is a single sound channel). This arrangement is shown in FIG. 1, which will be described in detail later. The principal drawback with such systems is that the audio quality is monophonic, generally poor, and it is very difficult to determine which participants are speaking at any one time, especially when the number of participants is large.
An example is given in European Patent Specification 0291470. This discloses an arrangement in which some of the input symbols are inverted in phase before combining them in the return channel thus allowing the cancellation, for each user, of his own voice.

British Telecommunications public limited company


Embodiments of the invention provide a method for fabricating a magnetoresistive device. The method comprises: releasing a multi-layer magnetoresistive structure for forming the magnetoresistive device from a first substrate to relax an intrinsic stress in the multi-layer magnetoresistive structure such that the magnetic and/or magnetoresistive properties of the magnetoresistive device can be improved. The magnetic and/or magnetoresistive properties include, but are not limited to coercivity, squareness or abruptness of switching, magnetoresistance (MR) and resistance of the magnetoresistive device.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention generally relates to magnetoresistive devices, and more particularly, a method for fabricating a magnetoresistive device to improve magnetic and/or magnetoresistive properties of the magnetoresistive device.
2. Background Information
As well known, more desirable magnetic properties of a magnetoresistive device, e.g. coercivity, squareness or abruptness of switching, and magnetoresistance (MR), may be obtained through applying a strain on a magnetoresistive structure in the magnetoresistive device.
One of the existing methods for applying a strain to the magnetoresistive structure requires a stressor layer deposited on the magnetoresistive structure. This will increase the fabrication cost and complexity. In another existing method, the magnetoresistive structure is directly grown on a flexible polymeric substrate, and then a strain can be applied to the magnetoresistive structure by deforming the flexible polymeric substrate. However, this method has a limited application scope because only flexible polymeric substrates can be used in this method, and also because of the physical properties of the flexible polymeric substrates, e.g. a high surface roughness and poor high temperature resistance, i.e. the flexible polymeric substrates cannot suffer high temperature treatments.

Method for fabricating a magnetoresistive device


The present invention relates to detergent compositions containing low molecular weight organic diamines. More particularly, the invention is directed to detergent compositions for hand dishwashing which has improved grease removal performance and benefits in sudsing. The detergents of this invention also have improved low temperature stability properties and dissolution properties.

Typical commercial hand dishwashing compositions incorporate divalent ions (Mg, Ca) to ensure adequate grease performance in soft water. However, the presence of divalent ions in formulas containing anionic, nonionic, or additional surfactants (e.g., alkyl dimethyl amine oxide, alkyl ethoxylate, alkanoyl glucose amide, alkyl betaines) leads to slower rates of product mixing with water (and hence poor flash foam), poor rinsing, and poor low temperature stability properties. Moreover, preparation of stable dishwashing detergents containing Ca/Mg is very difficult due to the precipitation issues associated with Ca and Mg as pH increases.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,556,509 teaches diacid salts of diamines. Under these conditions, we have found that these materials have limitations. Moreover, the benefits are confined to hardness <70 ppm. U.S. Pat. No. 4,556,509 also teaches the use of C2 spacer, e.g., ethylene diamine diacid salt and ethoxylated diamines, both of which severely limit performance in the current development.
It has now been determined that the use of certain organic diamines, as outlined in detail below, with surfactants in dishcare compositions with pH's .about.8.0-12 (measured at 10% solution) leads to improved cleaning of tough food stains and removal of grease/oil when compared to the use of Mg or Ca ions in conventional detergent compositions. Unexpectedly, these organic diamines also improve suds stability in the presence of soils, esp. soils containing fatty acids and proteins.
Further, the strong grease removal performance of the diamines discussed herein allows reduction/elimination of Mg/Ca ions from the formulation while maintaining benefits in grease performance. The removal of Mg/Ca additionally leads to improved benefits in dissolution, rinsing and low temperature product stability.
The diamines of this invention in combination with surfactants also provides sensory benefits. It has been found that the presence of this composition produces a "silky" feel to wash liquor and a feeling of "mildness" to the skin. The diamines are also found to produce antibacterial benefits to the wash liquor. However, the specific compositions presented herein are especially designed for dishwashing having relatively high pH's, detersive surfactants, and optional enzymes, all of which would be undesirable in contact lens cleaners.
It has now been found thse benefits are achieved through the use of low molecular weight organic diamines in higher pH formulations (.about.8.0-12) across a broad range of hardness (8 to >1,000 ppm).

Dishwashing detergent compositions containing organic diamines for improved grease cleaning, sudsing, low temperature stability and dissolution


A field emission cathode device includes a cathode electrode. An electron emitter is electrically connected to the cathode electrode, wherein the electron emitter includes a number of sub-electron emitters. An electron extracting electrode is spaced from the cathode electrode by a dielectric layer, wherein the electron extracting electrode defines a through-hole. The distances between an end of each of the sub-electron emitters away from the cathode electrode and a sidewall of the through-hole are substantially equal.

1. Technical Field
The present application relates to a field emission cathode device and field emission equipment using the field emission cathode device.
2. Discussion of Related Art
Conventional field emission cathode device includes an insulating substrate, a cathode electrode fixed on the insulating substrate, a plurality of electron emitters fixed on the cathode electrode, a dielectric layer fixed on the insulating substrate, and a gate electrode fixed on the dielectric layer. The gate electrode provides an electrical potential to extract electrons from the plurality of electron emitters. When a field emission display using the field emission cathode device is operated, an anode electrode provides an electrical potential to accelerate the extracted electrons to bombard the anode electrode for luminance.
However, the electron emitters such as carbon nanotubes, carbon nanofibres, or silicon nanowires have equal length. The electron emitters close to the gate electrode have large field strength, and the electron emitters away from the gate electrode have very small field strength. Therefore, the electron emitters close to the gate electrode can emit more electrons, the electron emitters away from the gate electrode can emit very few electron, which affects the emission current of the electron emitters.
What is needed, therefore, is to provide a field emission cathode device and field emission equipment using the field emission cathode device to overcome the afore mentioned shortcomings.

Field emission cathode device and field emission equipment using the same


Systems and methods for super-resolution ultrasound imaging of microvessels in a subject are described. Ultrasound data are acquired from a region-of-interest in a subject who has been administered a microbubble contrast agent. The ultrasound data are acquired while the microbubbles are moving through, or otherwise present in, the region-of-interest. The region-of-interest may include, for instance, microvessels or other microvascuiature in the subject. By isolating, localizing, tracking, and accumulating the microbubbles in the ultrasound data, super-resolution images of the microvessels can be generated.

Ultrasound contrast microbubbles are routinely used in clinic for ultrasound imaging enhancement. The typical size of a microbubble ranges between 1-5 μm, which is much smaller than the wavelength of ultrasound, which is typically on the order of 100-800 μm. As a result, single microbubbles appear as blurred point sources with a similar size as the ultrasound wavelength. Also, microbubbles that are less than half an ultrasound wavelength apart cannot be resolved individually, a consequence that is referred to as the diffraction limit of ultrasound.
A common scheme to break the diffraction limit of an imaging system is to create isolated point sources that are at least half of an ultrasound wavelength apart from each other, and to use the center location of these blurred point sources (e.g., the location where the maximum intensity value of the blurred point source is) to form images. There is a significant challenge, however, in achieving this localization-based super-resolution imaging to obtain isolated point sources.
In ultrasound imaging, two methods have been recently proposed to address this challenge. The first method facilitates microbubble isolation by diluting the microbubble solutions. The second method uses high frame-rate ultrasound to monitor the "blinking" events of microbubbles, which can isolate individual microbubble signals from a crowd of microbubbles. To achieve super-resolution imaging and obtain hemodynamics measurements, both of these methods rely on robust microbubble tracking and accumulation techniques to form microvessel images. However, microbubble tracking and accumulation can be susceptible to noise and tissue motion.
Thus, there remains a need for super-resolution processing methods that can significantly improve microbubble tracking and accumulation.

Methods for super-resolution ultrasound imaging of microvessels

Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research


A method for controlling operation of a computer software application running on a plurality of computing entities, which are members of a group of mutually-linked computing entities running the application within a distributed computing system. The method includes receiving an indication of a change in membership of the group together with a reason for the change. A membership change message is delivered to the members, so as to inform the members of the change and of the reason for the change.

The present invention relates generally to distributed computing systems, and specifically to treatment of configuration changes in clusters used in distributed computing applications.
Computer clusters are widely used to enable high availability of computing resources, coupled with the possibility of horizontal growth, at reduced cost by comparison with collections of independent systems. Clustering is also useful in disaster recovery. A wide range of clustering solutions are currently available, including 390 Sysplex, RS/6000 SP, HACMP, PC Netfinity and AS/400 Cluster, all offered by IBM Corporation, as well as Tandem Himalaya, Hewlett-Packard Mission Critical Server, Compaq TruCluster, Microsoft MSCS, NCR LifeKeeper and Sun Microsystems Project Cascade. An AS/400 Cluster, for example, supports up to 128 computing nodes, connected via any Internet Protocol (IP) network. A developer of a software application can define and use groups of physical computing entities (such as computing nodes or other devices) or logical computing entities (such as files or processes) to run the application within the cluster environment. In the context of the present patent application and in the claims, such entities are also referred to as group members, and the term xe2x80x9centityxe2x80x9d is used to refer interchangeably to physical and logical computing entities.
Distributed group communication systems (GCSS) enable applications to exchange messages within groups of cluster entities in a reliable, ordered manner. For example, the OS/400 operating system kernel for the above-mentioned AS/400 Cluster includes a GCS in the form of middleware for use by cluster applications. This GCS is described in an article by Goft et al., entitled xe2x80x9cThe AS/400 Cluster Engine: A Case Study,xe2x80x9d presented at the International Group Communications Conference IGCC 99 (Aizu, Japan, 1999), which is incorporated herein by reference. The GCS ensures that if a message addressed to the entire group is delivered to one of the group members, the message will also be delivered to all other live and connected members of the group, so that group members can act upon received messages and remain consistent with one another. A group member is considered to be xe2x80x9calivexe2x80x9d if it is functioning and able to perform a part in a distributed software application. Typically, xe2x80x9clivenessxe2x80x9d testing procedures are defined and applied by the GCS to determine which members are alive and which are not.
Another well-known GCS is xe2x80x9cEnsemble,xe2x80x9d which was developed at Cornell University, as were its predecessors, xe2x80x9cISISxe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9cHorus.xe2x80x9d Ensemble is described in the xe2x80x9cEnsemble Reference Manual,xe2x80x9d by Hayden (Cornell University, 1997), which is incorporated herein by reference.
A key function of the GCS is to inform software applications running on the computing group of the identities of the connected set of members in the group. Whenever the group configuration changes, due to one or more members leaving the group or new members joining, the GCS sends out a membership change message with a current, updated membership list. For example, the Ensemble system uses a class called Maestro_GroupMember, described at www.cs.cornell.edu/Info/Projects/Ensemble/Maestro/groud.htm to manage and distribute membership change messages. In this Ensemble class and in other systems known in the art, the form of the membership change message is the same whether the departing members have left the group voluntarily or due to a fault, such as a node crash or network failure. Similarly, such membership change messages contain no information as to the state of new group members and whether or not the new members have been members of this group in the past.
It is an object of some aspects of the present invention to provide improved methods and systems for enabling computer applications running on a cluster of participating entities to deal with membership changes in the cluster.
In preferred embodiments of the present invention, a group communication system (GCS), for use within a group of clustered computing entities, provides membership change messages to software applications running in the group. These messages not only identify which members have joined or left the group, but also indicate the reasons for the membership change. The reasons are typically gleaned by the GCS from various sources, such as network communication and topology layers, information provided by the members who join or leave the group, and diagnostics and control components of the GCS itself. Knowing the reasons for membership changes can be of crucial importance to many distributed applications, and particularly to cluster applications, such as database and cluster management applications, which must maintain a common state or require consistency among the group members.
Although preferred embodiments described herein are based on a GCS, it will be appreciated that the principles of the present invention may similarly be implemented in substantially any distributed computing environment in which there is a mechanism for keeping track of membership of entities in a computing group or cluster. As noted above, such entities may comprise either physical or logical entities.
There is therefore provided, in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention, a method for controlling operation of a computer software application running on a plurality of computing entities, which are members of a group of mutually-linked computing entities running the application within a distributed computing system, the method including:
receiving an indication of a change in membership of the group together with a reason for the change; and
delivering a membership change message to the members, so as to inform the members of the change and of the reason for the change.
Preferably, the indication is received by group communication system middleware, which delivers the membership change message to the members. Further preferably, receiving the indication of the change includes detecting a failure of the group communication system at a node in the distributed computing system.
Additionally or alternatively, receiving the indication of the change includes discovering a topology change in the distributed computing system, wherein discovering the topology change includes detecting a node in the system that has become available to run the application in the group. Preferably, detecting the node that has become available includes determining whether or not the node was previously separated from the group, and delivering the message includes informing the members as to whether or not the node previously belonged to the group.
Further additionally or alternatively, receiving the indication includes receiving notice of a communication failure in a network linking the computing entities or receiving notice of a failure of a node in the distributed computing system. Preferably, receiving the notice of the failure of the node includes receiving a report of a failure in a liveness check of the node.
Still further additionally or alternatively, receiving the indication includes receiving notice that a new member has joined the group or that one of the members has left the group voluntarily. Preferably, delivering the membership change message includes notifying the other members that the one of the members has left the group voluntarily.
Yet further additionally or alternatively, delivering the membership change message includes notifying the members that one or more members have left the group due to a specified failure in the system or that one or more members, previously separated from the group, have re-merged with the group.
Preferably, delivering the membership change message includes delivering substantially the same message to all of the members of the group, wherein substantially all of the members respond to the message in a mutually-consistent fashion.
There is also provided, in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention, distributed computing apparatus, including:
a computer network; and
a group of computer nodes, mutually-linked by the network so as to run a computer software application, and adapted so that responsive to an indication received at one of the nodes of a change in membership of the group, a membership change message is delivered to the members via the network, informing the members of the change and of a reason for the change.
There is further provided, in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention, a computer software product for controlling operation of an application running on a plurality of computing entities, which are members of a group of mutually-linked computing entities running the application within a distributed computing system, the product including a computer-readable medium in which computer program instructions are stored, which instructions, when read by the computing entities, cause at least one of the entities to receive an indication of a change in membership of the group together with a reason for the change, and to deliver a membership change message to the members, so as to inform the members of the change and of the reason for the change.

Delivery of configuration change in a group

International Business Machines Corporation


A hexagonal ferrite magnetic powder having an average tabular diameter of from 15 to 30 nm, a coercive force (Hc) of from 2,000 to 5,000 Oe (from 160 to 400 kA/m) and a saturated magnetization (σs) of equal to or more than the average tabular diameter (nm)×0.37+45 A·m2/kg. This magnetic powder is obtained by melting a starting material containing a material which has a composition within the hatched region (1) in the triangular phase diagram shown in FIG. 1 and quenching the molten product to obtain an amorphous product, subjecting the amorphous product to a thermal treatment, acid treatment, and washing. Also, a magnetic recording medium is obtained by adding this magnetic powder to the magnetic layer and coating it on the support.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a hexagonal ferrite magnetic powder, a method for producing the same and a magnetic recording medium. More particularly, it relates to a hexagonal ferrite magnetic powder which enables one to reduce noise without reducing as and which is adapted for a magnetic recording medium for high-density recording reproducible by a highly sensitive head such as an MR head or a GMR head. Also, the invention relates to a magnetic recording medium containing the hexagonal ferrite magnetic powder in the magnetic layer.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the field of magnetic recording, a magnetic head based on the principle of electromagnetic induction (induction type magnetic head) has been used and spread. However, the induction type magnetic head is becoming insufficient for use in the presently required reproduction of high-density records. That is, when the number of coil turns of a reproduction head is increased in order to obtain a larger reproduction output, there results an increased inductance and an increase in resistance in high frequency region, leading to a problem of reduction in reproduction output. Thus, in recent years, a reproduction head based on the principle of MR (magnetic reluctance) has been proposed and used for a hard disc or the like. The MR head yields a reproduction output several times as much as that of the induction type magnetic head and, since no induction coils are used, device noises such as impedance noise are markedly reduced. Therefore, a large SN ratio can be obtained.
On the other hand, the improvement of high-density recording characteristics can also be made by reducing magnetic recording medium noise having conventionally been hidden behind the device noises.
In order to attain such object, there has been proposed, for example, a magnetic recording medium comprising a non-magnetic support having provided thereon a magnetic layer containing a hexagonal ferrite magnetic powder dispersed in a binder (see, for example, JP-A-10-312525).
Also, improvement of the hexagonal ferrite magnetic powder is disclosed in JP-A-56-169128, JP-A-58-169902 and JP-A-10-92620.
However, the above-mentioned related art fails to achieve noise reduction without reducing as and fails to provide a magnetic recording medium for high-density recording currently required.
It can be considered to reduce particle size of the magnetic powder for the purpose of reducing noise of the magnetic recording medium. In general, however, reduction of the particle size of the magnetic powder leads to reduction of σs. With hexagonal ferrite, too, reduction of the particle size of the magnetic powder causes reduction of σs. Also, in order to obtain a high SN ratio, low noise and high output are necessary. However, reduction of σs of the magnetic powder causes reduction of output on the other hand, with a magnetic recording medium for use in high-density recording, it is necessary to reduce the thickness of the magnetic layer in order to reduce thickness loss and reduce. PW50.
However, since the thickness of the magnetic layer is rendered small and σs of the magnetic powder is reduced, the output becomes smaller, thus sufficient performance not being obtained. In addition, low noise and high output are required for a magnetic recording medium upon conducting high-density recording.

Hexagonal ferrite magnetic powder, method for producing the same and magnetic recording medium


The present disclosure provides an organic light emitting diode display panel and a method for fabricating the same to solve the technical problem where available organic light emitting diode devices of a display panel are damaged by water and oxygen intrusion. The organic light emitting diode display panel includes a substrate, a flat layer, and an anode layer. The substrate includes an active area and a frame area. The flat layer is disposed on the substrate. The flat layer includes a plurality of spaced apart spacers in the frame area, and the spacers define trenches therebetween. The anode layer is disposed on the flat layer in the active area and on bottom surfaces of the trenches and top surfaces of the spacers in the frame area. The anode layer is discontinuous in the frame area.

Compared with traditional liquid crystal display devices, organic light emitting diode (OLED) display devices have advantages of lightness, thin profile, active illumination, fast response times, wide viewing angles, wide color gamut, high brightness, high contrast ratio, high resolution and low power consumption. Therefore, OLED display devices have received attention in recent years.
Each OLED display panel is mainly composed of a thin film transistor (TFT) array, an OLED device, and an encapsulation structure. The TFT array is composed of a plurality of layers such as an inorganic layer, an organic layer, and a metal layer stacked on one another. The OLED device comprises an anode layer, an organic light emitting layer, and a cathode layer. The encapsulation structure is usually a three-layer stacked structure of inorganic layer/organic layer/inorganic layer.
Due to various ways of stacking the layers, interfacial adhesion among the layers becomes an important research topic for manufacturers in the field of OLEDs. Under conditions of high temperature and high humidity, the adhesion among the layers deteriorates, resulting in peeling among the layers. Adhesion between the metal layer and the inorganic film is more easily attenuated under conditions of high temperature and high humidity.
Specifically, after a pixel defining layer is formed on the anode layer, a pattern of the pixel defining layer in the frame area (i.e. a non-display area) is used as a dam structure and does not completely cover the anode layer so that portions of the anode layer in the frame area are exposed. After encapsulation, the exposed portions of the anode layer in the frame area directly contact the bottommost inorganic layer of the encapsulation structure. Due to a difference in stress between the bottommost inorganic layer and the metal anode layer in the frame area, the interface between the two layers is prone to peeling off, especially under conditions of high temperature and high humidity. The peeling causes water and oxygen to invade the OLED device, affecting the OELD device, shortening service life of the OLED device, and causing pixels to fail to display properly.
Therefore, it is necessary to provide an organic light emitting diode display panel and a method for fabricating the same to solve the aforementioned technical problem of the prior art.

Organic light emitting diode display panel and method for fabricating same

WUHAN CHINA STAR OPTOELECTRONICS SEMICONDUCTOR DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD.


A traveling stop control device for a transport vehicle includes: a torque command value setting module that sets a torque command value for the transport vehicle based on a target speed and an actual speed of the transport vehicle; a threshold value setting module that sets an upper limit threshold value for the torque command value based on information regarding the state of the transport vehicle; and a traveling stop determination module that determines the traveling stop of the transport vehicle. The traveling stop determination module determines the traveling stop of the transfer vehicle on condition that the torque command value exceeds the upper limit threshold value and that the actual speed of the transport vehicle is zero or close to zero.

Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a traveling stop control device for a transport vehicle and further, to a transport vehicle with the device.
Description of the Related Art
In open pit mines or the like, a transport vehicle such as a dump truck travels for transporting evacuated ore or earth and sand. The transport vehicle loads the transport object on its vessel (body) at a loading site and transports the loaded transport object to an earth dumping site to perform earth discharging. A bund for restraining the transport vehicle from traveling outside a traveling area is disposed at the earth dumping site. Further, also at an apron, a bund for a transport vehicle is provided for safety purpose. It is important to stop the transport vehicle safely when the same is brought into contact with the bund. The importance is high particularly in mine fields or the like in which unmanned transport vehicles travel.
A technology for stopping a vehicle at a bund is known from Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2006-96191. This application describes the contents "A stop control module is connected to force detection sensors for detecting forces acting on four wheels in a front-rear direction, and when the variation in increase of the forces in the direction to effect a stop against the forces acting in the forward-rearward direction of the wheels on a moving-direction side exceeds a predetermined threshold value and when the magnitude in the direction to effect a stop of the forces acting in the forward-rearward direction of the wheels on the moving-direction side exceeds a predetermined value, it is judged that the wheels on the moving-direction side have come to collision with a bund member. Further, when the magnitude in the direction to effect a stop of the forces acting in the forward-rearward direction of the wheels on the moving-direction side exceeds a predetermined value and when the forces acting in the forward-rearward direction of the wheels on the moving-direction side and the forces acting in the forward-rearward direction of the wheels on the opposite side to the moving-direction side are opposite in direction, it is judged that the wheels on the moving-direction side are about to go over the bund member." (refer to Abstract).
However, in the technology of the aforementioned Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2006-96191, the contact of the vehicle with the bund is detected by a sensor that is used for contact judgment such as a force detection sensor, and thus, in the case of the force detection sensor falling in failure, there is a possibility that the contact with an obstacle cannot be detected correctly thereby making it unable to stop the vehicle.

Traveling stop control device for transport vehicle and transport vehicle with the same

Hitachi Construction Machinery Co., Ltd.


Aspects of the invention may be used to allocate tasks among computing machines in large scale computing systems. In one aspect, the method includes executing a first task in the plurality of tasks on a first computing machine and determining a performance degradation threshold for the first task. The method further includes calculating a predicted performance degradation of the first task when a second task is executed on the first computing machine, wherein the predicted performance degradation is determined by comparing a performance interference score of the second task with a performance sensitivity curve of the first task. The method further includes executing the second task on the first computing machine when the predicted performance degradation of the first task is below the performance degradation threshold.

Large scale computing systems, sometimes called warehouse scale computers, are computing environments that are designed to host large scale services like cloud storage, web searching, and other data or computationally intensive applications. Large scale computing systems include multiple clusters of computing machines, each having a cluster manager. The cluster manager receives tasks from the large scale computing system and allocates the tasks among the computing machines in its cluster. Each computing machine houses a number of processors, or cores, in a number of central processing units (CPUs). For example, a computing machine may have 2-4 CPUs, and each CPU may have 4-8 processors.
Each task in a large scale computing system is a particular instance of an application, or executable binary code, in the large scale computing system. The task also includes a configuration file that specifies the machine level resources required by the application. The resources may include the number of processors, amount of memory, and disk space that is allocated to the application. Some applications may be latency sensitive, meaning that they have high quality of service standards and cannot tolerate substantial performance degradation. Examples of latency sensitive applications include Internet searches, online map functions, and e-mail services. Other applications are not latency sensitive and can tolerate greater interruptions in the quality of service. These applications are called batch applications, and some examples of batch applications include file backup, offline image processing, and video compression.
The cluster manager is responsible for allocating tasks among computing machines. Several tasks may be executed on one computing machine. However, as the number of tasks on a computing machine increases, each task may suffer performance degradation because the tasks share certain resources like memory and bus bandwidth. This may be problematic with latency sensitive tasks because the quality of service should be maintained within a certain threshold. Cluster managers tend to dedicate one computing machine to a latency sensitive task to ensure there is no performance degradation. However, such an allocation strategy ignores the possibility that other tasks may be executed on the same computing machine as the latency sensitive task without substantially disrupting its performance. The result is an under-utilization of resources because the cluster of computing machines is not operating at full capacity.

Allocation of tasks in large scale computing systems


A substrate processing method is performed to improve surface roughness of a pattern mask formed on a substrate by being exposed and developed. The method includes supplying a first solvent in a gaseous state to a surface of the substrate to dissolve the pattern mask, and supplying a second solvent to the surface of the substrate, which is supplied with the first solvent, to dissolve the pattern mask, wherein a permeability of the second solvent is lower than a permeability of the first solvent.

In a process of manufacturing a semiconductor device, an LCD substrate, or the like, a resist liquid is applied to a surface of a substrate, e.g., a semiconductor wafer (hereinafter, referred to as "wafer"), exposed, and then, developed, so as to form a resist pattern as a pattern mask on the wafer surface. In the related art, it has been well known that a surface of the resist pattern has fine unevenness, which may unfavorably influence a pattern line width when an etching process is performed as a subsequent process. Accordingly, a smoothing process for improving a roughness of the pattern line width (LWR: Line Width Roughness) of the resist pattern has been proposed.
The smoothing process is performed, for example, by forming a solvent vapor atmosphere for dissolving the resist in a processing chamber, exposing the resist pattern to such an atmosphere, and dissolving a surface layer of the resist pattern. Accordingly, the surface layer is dissolved by the solvent and planarized, and the pattern surface roughness is improved to correct a pattern shape.
However, in the smoothing process, the resist pattern may be excessively dissolved by the solvent, and thereby breaking the resist pattern, when a try to increase an improvement rate of the LWR is made with respect to, e.g., a resist pattern containing a frail portion. To address this, the related art discloses a method in which the roughness is uniformly improved in a wafer surface by independently using both a process of evacuating surroundings of a wafer and a process of forming a temperature gradient having a higher temperature at a central portion of the wafer surface. In this case, however, throughput may be adversely affected due to repetition of the dissolving and the drying the resist pattern surface. In addition, a more enhanced method which can suppress the breakdown of the resist pattern has been required.

Substrate processing method, substrate processing apparatus, and storage medium


To obtain proper output results regardless of the type of recording sheets and obtain the user's desired output results without having the user perform cumbersome operations, the user operates an operating section to select a sheet feeding stage, gives an instruction to start copying, and then a controller section 15 of an image forming apparatus determines whether or not a 180° rotation mode for rotating image data through 180° is set and/or whether or not preprint sheets are used for recording. If the answer is negative, the image data are output based on normal settings. On the other hand, if the answer is affirmative, the image data are output after being rotated through 180°.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus for forming images on sheets, a control method therefor, an image data output control method, and storage media storing programs for executing these methods.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventional image forming apparatuses such as digital copiers output image data read by a scanner or the like, without changing the direction of the image data so that the output results are rotated through 180° as viewed from a user. This allows fast image processing but necessitates controlling of process positions in performing a punching process, a stapling process, and the like associated with the image processing.
FIGS. 14A to 14D are views showing how an image is processed starting with scanning of the original on an original table and ending with outputting of the image onto a recording sheet.
If an original with a character "" depicted thereon is placed on the original table in such a manner that the lower part of the original as viewed in FIG. 14A is closer to the user, while the upper part is closer to the original table, then the image data are read by scanning the original in the main scanning direction indicated by an arrow m and then in the subscanning direction indicated by an arrow s, as shown in FIG. 14B. Then, as shown in FIG. 14C, the read image data are written in a main direction indicated by an arrow m′ and in a sub direction indicated by an arrow s′, as shown in FIG. 14C and recorded in an image memory. Further, as regards the subscanning direction for the original, the direction in which a recording sheet is conveyed is normally opposite to the direction in which data are written onto the recording sheet. Accordingly, if the image data are read out from the image memory in the direction in which the data were written as shown in FIG. 14C, then the data are output onto the recording sheet with the main scanning direction indicated by an arrow m″ and the subscanning direction indicated by an arrow s″, as shown in FIG. 14D. As a result, the output image obtained is rotated through 180° with respect to the input original image as viewed from the user.
In this manner, the conventional image forming apparatuses can quickly output image data by aligning the direction in which the data are written onto the image memory with the direction in which the data are read out from the image memory.
Further, the image forming apparatuses of this kind have come to be able to handle not only plain paper, OHP sheets, and the like but also various types of recording sheets such as ones having image data previously printed thereon and ones already subjected to a punching process.
With the above described conventional image forming apparatuses, however, if recording sheets are directional or orientation, for example, if they have different image data previously printed thereon or have already been subjected to a punching process, and if an input image is output onto these recording sheets, then the output image obtained may have a direction or orientation different from that of the image data previously formed on the recording sheets or the punch holes obtained by the punching process are formed at a location different from a desired one. Consequently, the user's intended output results may not be obtained.
To avoid such a situation, if, for example, output sheets have any image previously printed thereon, the user himself must perform operations such as setting the recording sheets in the sheet feeding section in a predetermined direction taking the construction of the apparatus into consideration, or must intentionally rotate the output image before outputting it.
The above-mentioned operations, however, are very cumbersome to the user, and when the user himself must perform such cumbersome operations, he is likely to make a mistake in setting the sheets or operating the apparatus, thus failing to obtain desired output images.
For example, with an image forming apparatus having a punching process function, if an image is output onto a recording sheet with punch holes 51 already formed therein as shown in FIG. 15A, further punch holes 52 may be formed in the recording sheet with the punch holes 51 already formed therein, as shown in FIG. 15B, or the direction of the output image may not align with the direction of the punch holes, thus disadvantageously hindering an intended filing operation.

Image forming apparatus and control method for rotating image data based on sheet type and orientation


A subject is imaged while an imaging lens is moved along the optic axis in incremental distances, and a graph of focus evaluations representing degree of focus of the subject image is obtained. Processing for detecting a face is executed at positions of the imaging lens where the focus evaluation value is equal to or greater than a threshold value. If a face is detected from the image of the subject obtained at positions of the imaging lens, then this range of positions is set as a focusing range and the subject is imaged while the imaging lens is moved within this focusing range. A graph of face-area focus evaluations representing degree of focus of the face detected from among the obtained images of the subject is obtained and the position at which this graph is maximum is decided upon as the in-focus position of the imaging lens.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a method and apparatus for deciding the in-focus position of an imaging lens.
2. Description of the Related Art
In an example of the prior art (see the specification of Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 11-146405), a skin-tone area contained in the image of a subject is detected and the skin-tone area detected is adopted as a focusing area.
Even in a case where a skin-tone area is detected, however, it is difficult to detect the skin-tone area accurately when the very subject image in which the skin tone is to be detected is extremely out of focus. Consequently, there are occasions where focusing cannot be achieved accurately even when a skin-tone area is adopted as a focusing area. Similarly, even in a case where a target is detected solely from contrast (density) information without using color information, it is difficult to detect the target accurately in an extremely out-of-focus state.

Apparatus and method for deciding in-focus position of imaging lens


A puncture repair liquid holding container is formed from: a container main body provided with a holding portion and an opening portion; and a cap attached to the opening portion, including a second flow channel for the cap to discharge the puncture repair liquid inside the container, wherein a tube extending toward an inner side of the container main body is attached to the second flow channel, the tube is provided with a sealing film that blocks inflow of the puncture repair liquid to the second flow channel, and a closed condition where the sealing film blocks the second flow channel can be switched to an opened condition where the sealing film is broken by container internal pressure such that the second flow channel is opened.

In recent years, when a tire mounted to a vehicle is punctured, a puncture repair liquid is injected into the tire through a tire valve to temporarily repair the puncture. An example of a device capable of temporary repair includes a puncture repair kit. When the puncture repair kit is used, the need to provide a vehicle with a spare tire is eliminated, and thus resource saving and vehicle weight reduction are possible. Furthermore, there is an advantage where a spare tire mounting space in a vehicle can be utilized for another purpose.
An example of a known puncture repair kit includes a so-called pump-type puncture repair kit that injects a puncture repair liquid held in a puncture repair liquid holding container into a tire by compressed air supplied from an air compressor or the like. The puncture repair liquid holding container used in the pump-type puncture repair kit is configured from: a container main body provided with an opening portion and a holding portion where puncture repair liquid is held; and a cap attached to the opening portion of the container main body. Furthermore, the cap is provided with a first flow channel for introducing compressed air from outside the container, and a second flow channel for discharging the puncture repair liquid inside the container. Furthermore, a tube extending toward in an inner portion of the container main body is attached to the second flow channel. At this time, in order to prevent puncture repair liquid from leaking from a flow channel during storage, U.S. Pat. No. 7,854,242 proposes attaching a closing member to (a tube attached to) a second flow channel for example. The closing member proposed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,854,242 is attached to a tip end of the tube, and is primarily provided with a closing plug that opens a flow channel by the pressure of air fed into the container during puncture repair, an outer frame where the closing plug fits in a closed condition, and a mechanism for preventing a closing plug that has become separated from the frame from entering a flow channel.
Indeed, with the closing member, the second flow channel can be opened using compressed air fed into the container during puncture repair work while preventing the puncture repair liquid from leaking from the second flow channel during storage, but there is a problem in that the structure is complicated. In particular, with this structure, the dimensions of the closing plug and outer frame must be strictly controlled. In other words, there are problems where if the closing plug is too loose with regard to the outer frame, leaking cannot be sufficiently prevented, and if the closing plug is too tight with regard to the outer frame, opening the plug by pressure is difficult. Therefore, a closing mechanism of a flow channel with a simple structure and that can reliably and easily open during puncture repair work is required.

Puncture repair liquid holding container


A light-emitting device includes a light-emitting element, a light-transmissive member having an upper surface in a rectangular shape and a lower surface to be bonded to the light-emitting element, and a covering member disposed to cover lateral surfaces of the light-transmissive member and lateral surfaces of the light-emitting element such that the upper surface of the light-transmissive member is exposed. The light-transmissive member includes a main portion that constitutes the upper surface in the rectangular shape and a peripheral portion that is positioned around the main portion and has a smaller thickness than the main portion. In lateral surfaces of the peripheral portion, recesses are formed each of which is positioned at a location of a corresponding one of corners of the rectangular shape, and is depressed toward the main portion.

The present disclosure relates to a light-emitting device and a method of manufacturing a light-emitting device.
A light-emitting device that includes a semiconductor light-emitting element, a phosphor plate having different thicknesses between the central region and outer peripheries, and a light-reflective member have been known (see Japanese Patent Publication No. 2010-272847).

Light-emitting device having a higher luminance


An assembly mating first and second tubular bodies is disclosed. The mating assembly includes at least a sleeve structure forming a part of the first tubular body and defining an inner receptacle surface region, a compression loading assembly integrally formed with, constituted by, or otherwise securable to the second tubular body and at least partially received in the sleeve structure, and a cured adhesive bond positioned between an exterior surface region of the compression loading assembly and the inner receptacle surface region to couple the sleeve structure to the compression loading assembly. The compression loading assembly is laterally expandable at at least the exterior surface region thereof and constructed and arranged relative to the cured adhesive bond so that expansion of the exterior surface region compressively loads the cured adhesive bond in a substantially lateral direction. The strength of the adhesive bond is thereby increased against shear stresses acting on said mating assembly due to longitudinal and/or torsional loading.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to assemblies having two or more bodies mated with an adhesive material reinforced by lateral compression loading, and in particular to such assemblies in which the adhesive bond strength is augmented by reducing stresses lateral to the adhesive bond due to longitudinal and/or torsional loading. This invention is especially suitable for use in strut tube assemblies and rocket assemblies.
2. Description of Related Art
Vessels and other containers capable of handling extreme axial loads and/or high internal operation pressures can be found in various technical fields and have been employed in connection with wide and diverse applications. Such vessels have been used, for example, as tubular struts and rocket motor casings.
Many of these applications require one or both ends of the vessels to be equipped with appropriate end fittings. One example of a pressurized vessel equipped with end fittings is a case assembly of a small tactical rocket assembly, which is illustrated in exploded view in FIG. 9 and generally designated by reference numeral 900. The illustrated embodiment of the case assembly 900 includes a case sleeve 902, in which a forward receptacle end 904 accommodates a mating portion 910 of a forward end fitting 908 and an aft receptacle end 906 accommodates a mating portion 914 of an aft end fitting 912. Although not shown in FIG. 9, the aft end fitting 912 can constitute, be formed integrally with, or otherwise be firmly secured to a nozzle assembly, whereas the forward end fitting 908 can likewise be connected to an aerodynamic conical member, warhead, other structural components and combinations thereof. Mechanisms useful for securing the end fittings 908 and 912 to nozzle assemblies, conical members and the like include, among others, welds, bolts, adhesive joints, screw threads, a lock wire, the like, or combinations thereof.
The end fittings 908 and 912 are connected to the case sleeve 902 via adhesive bonds. The adhesive bonds are formed by applying a polymeric or functionally comparable adhesive to and in-situ curing the adhesive at opposing bonding surfaces defined between the receptacle ends 904 and 906 of the rocket motor casing 902 and the associated mating portions 910 and 914 of the forward and aft end fittings 908 and 912, respectively.
During normal operation, shear stresses develop within the adhesive as the result of axial load differentiations (applied in the direction designated by arrow L.sub.a in FIG. 9) between the case sleeve 902 and end fittings 908 and 912 caused by, among other things, internal pressure, acceleration of the rocket assembly 900 and sudden deceleration. In addition, lap shear joints have an inherent moment because the load path is not linear. The moment causes the development of lateral (or normal) stresses in the adhesive bond system. For some applications, the adhesive bond does not possess sufficient strength to withstand the shear and normal stresses encountered in these operating conditions. In order to compensate for inherent weaknesses in the adhesive bond connecting the end fittings 908 and 912 to the forward and aft receptacle ends 904 and 906 of the case sleeve 902, it is often necessary to provide supplemental mechanical fasteners (not shown) to reinforce the adhesive bonds. Conventional supplemental fasteners include blind fasteners such as pop rivets, standard nuts and bolts, or bolts that extend through the tubular piece and thread into the end fitting. Without the provision of the supplemental mechanical fasteners, extreme shear and normal stresses acting on the adhesive bond may lead to failure at the opposing bonded surfaces with catastrophic results.
Despite the beneficial contribution of conventional supplemental mechanical fasteners as reinforcements, the use of such fasteners is often discouraged due to their expense and weight penalty. The reality of marketplace demands on minimizing costs has, to a large extent, made the use of supplemental mechanical fasteners cost prohibitive for some applications. Also, for design purposes, the exclusion of mechanical fasteners is desirable, since their presence can lower the linear design allowable because of bearing stresses in the composite case.
A need therefore exists for an assembly including a vessel connected to at least one end fitting via an adhesive bond, which adhesive bond is designed to tolerate large shear stress encountered during operation without the need for supplemental mechanical fasteners.

Assembly including tubular bodies and mated with a compression loaded adhesive bond


A wire forming apparatus comprises a first rack moveable relative to a second rack in a first direction, a plurality of first forming structures provided on the first rack, and a plurality of second forming structures provided on the second rack. Each of the plurality of first forming structures is configured to move in the first direction, is separated from an adjacent first forming structure, and is configured to move in a second direction closer to the adjacent first forming structure when the first rack moves relative to the second rack. Each of the plurality of second forming structures is configured to move in the first direction, is separated from an adjacent second forming structure, and is configured to move in the second direction closer to the adjacent second forming structure when the first rack moves relative to the second rack. The second direction is different from the first direction.

The arrangement of copper wire in the slots of a stator core of a dynamoelectric machine often involves forming or shaping of the wire before the wire is inserted into stator slots. Typically, the wire is formed to include a plurality of coil segments. These coil segments are commonly formed in the wire via a rotating, barrel-type device, onto which unformed wire is fed. The rotating device generally includes a plurality of forming protrusions that contact the wire to form the coil segments. The coil segments are formed one-at-a-time over the protrusions, as the wire is rotated/fed onto the rotating device.
One drawback to forming coil segments one-at-a-time is the amount of time the process takes compared to a process wherein a plurality of coil segments are formed simultaneously. Accordingly, various apparatus and methods have been utilized in the past for simultaneously forming a plurality of coil segments. One example of a prior art apparatus for simultaneously forming a plurality of coil segments is found in U.S. Pat. No. 7,624,768, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.
According to the disclosure of U.S. Pat. No. 7,624,768, an apparatus is configured to simultaneously form a plurality of coil segments in a copper wire. The apparatus includes a plurality of forming structures coupled to an on-axis actuator. Activation of the on-axis actuator draws the forming structures toward one another in the on-axis direction. At the same time, alternating forming structures are moved away from one another in the off-axis direction. As a result, a wire is bent into a desired shape (e.g., upper and lower coil segments, each coil segment having an end-loop shape).
While the arrangement of U.S. Pat. No. 7,624,768 allows for the simultaneous formation of a plurality of coil segments there are a few issues. For example, it may be relatively difficult for a human or a machine to remove the formed wire from the apparatus. This is due, in part, to the limitations in separate movement of the forming structures in the on-axis and off-axis directions following formation of the wire segments. Another exemplary issue with the arrangement of U.S. Pat. No. 7,624,768 is that the apparatus includes numerous components with multiple parts, including clamping actuators with springs, and failure of any one of these components will result in the need for machine down-time to allow for repairs.
In view of the foregoing, it would be advantageous to provide a wire forming apparatus wherein the formed wire segments may be more quickly and easily removed from the apparatus. It would also be advantageous if such an apparatus was comprised of relatively few parts and was reliable in operation. Moreover, it would be advantageous if such a wire forming apparatus could be more easily and economically constructed than various wire forming apparatus found in the prior art.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Wire forming apparatus for electric machine winding


A method of polishing one side of a wafer, which makes it possible to accurately realize the desired wafer edge shape without dependence on the period of use of a polishing cloth, is provided. In the method according to the present invention, a wafer fixed to a head is brought into contact with a polishing cloth provided on a surface of a surface plate, and the head and the surface plate are rotated, thereby polishing one side of the wafer, the method including the steps of measuring a contact angle of the polishing cloth (S1); determining a rotation speed of the head and the surface plate, based on the measured contact angle of the polishing cloth (S4); and polishing the one side of the wafer by rotating the head and the surface plate at the determined rotation speed (S5, S6).

CMP (chemical mechanical polishing) is employed for polishing surfaces of wafers required to be highly flat, such as semiconductor wafers. CMP is a technique in which a polishing agent having an etching effect on the work is used to etch the work while mechanically polishing the work with abrasive grains contained in the polishing agent.
Conventionally, single side polishing apparatuses such as a single side polishing apparatus 500 shown in FIG. 8 have been used for CMP. The single side polishing apparatus 500 of FIG. 8 is only an example of wafer single side polishing apparatuses, and includes a head 502 for retaining a wafer and a surface plate 510 having a polishing cloth 512. In the single side polishing apparatus 500, the head 502 retains a wafer and meanwhile presses a polishing target surface of the wafer against the polishing cloth 512 provided on the top surface of the rotating surface plate 510. The head 502 and the surface plate 510 are relatively moved by rotating the head 502 and the surface plate 510 together, thereby polishing the polishing target surface of the wafer while supplying a polishing agent 528 from a polishing agent supply means 526.
As an example of such a single side polishing apparatus, JP 2000-077369 A (PTL 1) discloses a single side polishing apparatus which measures the thicknesses of a center portion and a peripheral portion of a wafer, and controls the rotation speed of a head and a surface plate based on the measurement result, thereby leveling the amount of polishing on the wafer surface.

Method of polishing one side of wafer and single side polishing apparatus for wafer


A mooring chain connector assembly for a floating device), such as for example a FPSO vessel or a floating offshore structure, is described, the connector assembly comprising a chain connector having a first pivot axis and a coupler for coupling a mooring chain to the chain connector. The assembly further comprises a channel assembly attached to the floating device. The channel assembly have an upper end and a lower end, wherein mooring chain locking device is provided at the upper end of the channel assembly. The channel assembly extends in the floating device from its bottom side to a higher level in the floating device which can be located above sea surface. A bearing location for the first pivot axis of the chain connector is provided at the lower end of the channel assembly. The chain connector is movable in the channel assembly and a hoist is provided to move the chain connector between a first position, in which the first pivot axis is located in the bearing location of the channel assembly and a second position above the channel assembly, in which the coupler of the chain connector is accessible.

The discussion below is merely provided for general background information and is not intended to be used as an aid in determining the scope of the claimed subject matter.
Aspects of the invention relate to a mooring chain connector assembly for a floating device, such as for example a FPSO (Floating Production Storage and Offloading) vessel or a floating offshore structure, comprising a chain connector having a first pivot axis, and a coupler for coupling a mooring chain to the chain connector, the assembly further comprising a channel assembly attached to the floating device, the channel assembly having an upper end and a lower end, wherein a mooring chain locking device is provided at the upper end of the channel assembly.
As is known generally, floating devices such as vessels or floating offshore structure, for example in the oil and gas industry, are moored to the seabed with one or more mooring lines. The floating device is kept on location because of the catenary effect of the mooring chains. A shift of the floating device leads to a lifting or lowering of the mooring chains, which leads to a counter effect striving to re-establish the original position of the floating device. The floating device is provided with a mooring chain connector assembly for each mooring chain, wherein the first pivot axis allows motions of the mooring chain in its catenary plane (so-called "in-plane motions"). It is also known to provide a second pivot axis, typically perpendicular to the first pivot axis, which second axis allows motions of the mooring chains in a transverse direction (so-called "out-of-plane motions"). In this manner fatigue problems in the mooring chain related to any motions of the mooring chain are minimized.
Mooring chain connector assemblies of this type are described for example in GB-A-2 351 058, GB-A-2 443 618 and US-A-2006/0213418. In the known mooring chain connector assemblies the connection of a mooring chain is a complicated operation taking place below sea surface. This operation requires either the presence of divers or a remote operated vehicle below sea surface near the bottom side of the floating device.

Mooring chain connector assembly for a floating device


A computer input device, such as a mouse, and a method of operating the same. Initially, the location of the cursor at various times on the screen is detected. From these various positions a path of travel and a rate of travel of the cursor are computed. Display objects, such as buttons, which exist along or near the path of travel are identified and designated as potential targets. The rate of change in the rate of travel is also computed. This information is used to decide if a user is slowing down in approach of a specific screen display object. If certain deceleration criteria are met, then that target which the user is approaching is designated as the intended target and the cursor is translated smoothly to that target. After the pointer has been moved to the intended display object, the pointer is maintained at that object and small mouse movements are ignored, thereby allowing the user to maintain the cursor on the desired target despite small, possibly inadvertent, mouse movements. If the movement or acceleration of the mouse exceed a predetermined threshold, then this hold is released.

Computer pointing devices, such as mice, are among the most popular devices for interfacing with a digital computer. This is especially true in a graphic user interface (GUI) environment. Generally, in a GUI environment the position of the cursor on the computer screen (which defines the user's point of interface with a particular software package) is directly controlled by the user by moving the mouse in two dimensions on a flat surface. Movements of the mouse correspond to the two-dimensional motion of the cursor on the screen. One problem with the use of a mouse in a GUI interface is the relative difficulty of selecting a specific screen object easily and quickly. In the past, several approaches have been tried to solve this problem. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,298,890 of Kanamarv. et al. teaches the technique of evaluating the direction of motion of the cursor by looking at two successive positions separated by a short time interval. From this information a direction vector is established and the cursor is automatically placed at the next possible target along that linear direction. Several problems exist with this method primarily because more than one button may exist along a given linear direction, giving the resulting cursor movement a "jumpy" feel. In addition, a user may not always desire to or actually go in a straight line direction to reach the intended target.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,508,717 of Miller discloses another approach wherein different speed factors are used for certain predetermined screen locations, so that for a given mouse speed the cursor moves more quickly when remote from certain screen objects and moves more slowly in areas near the screen objects. This, however, causes the user to experience inconsistent cursor speeds even when merely crossing a button with no intention of engaging it. This not only wastes the user's time but can be very frustrating, especially in screen areas crowded with numerous potential targets.
Accordingly, a need still exists for an input device and a method of cursor control which allows a user to engage the intended screen target quickly, easily, and smoothly, without having to temporarily engage and subsequently release unwanted targets. It is to the provision of such a device and method that the present invention is primarily directed.

Computer input device and controller therefor


A beam writing apparatus includes a unit to obtain a specific value by calculating an integer by dividing a total irradiation time by a multiplied value of a region number and a repeating times number, and by multiplying the integer by the repeating times number, to add the repeating times number to the specific value when a region is in the multiple writing unit regions and is not a specific region and when a region number of the multiple writing unit region, defined excluding the specific region, is below or equal to a value obtained by dividing the total irradiation time by the multiplied value of the region number and the repeating times number, to obtain a first remainder, and dividing the first remainder by the repeating times number, and to treat an added value of the repeating times number and the specific value, as a total irradiation time.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a charged particle beam writing apparatus, and an apportionment method of irradiation time of charged particle beams for multiple writing, and for example, to an apparatus and method for calculating the irradiation time of each beam in multiple writing.
2. Description of Related Art
The lithography technique that advances microminiaturization of semiconductor devices is extremely important as being a unique process whereby patterns are formed in the semiconductor manufacturing. In recent years, with high integration of LSI, the line width (critical dimension) required for semiconductor device circuits is decreasing year by year. For forming a desired circuit pattern on such semiconductor devices, a master or "original" pattern (also called a mask or a reticle) of high accuracy is needed. Thus, the electron beam (EB) writing technique, which intrinsically has excellent resolution, is used for producing such a highly precise master pattern.
FIG. 16 is a schematic diagram explaining operations of a variable shaped electron beam writing or "drawing" apparatus. As shown in the figure, the variable shaped electron beam writing apparatus operates as described below. A first aperture plate 410 has a quadrangular opening 411 for shaping an electron beam 330. A second aperture plate 420 has a variable-shape opening 421 for shaping the electron beam 330 having passed through the opening 411 of the first aperture plate 410 into a desired quadrangular shape. The electron beam 330 emitted from a charged particle source 430 and having passed through the opening 411 is deflected by a deflector to pass through a part of the variable-shape opening 421 of the second aperture plate 420, and thereby to irradiate a target object or "sample" 340 placed on a stage which continuously moves in one predetermined direction (e.g., the x direction) during the writing. In other words, a quadrangular shape that can pass through both the opening 411 and the variable-shape opening 421 is used for pattern writing in a writing region of the target object 340 on the stage continuously moving in the x direction. This method of forming a given shape by letting beams pass through both the opening 411 of the first aperture plate 410 and the variable-shape opening 421 of the second aperture plate 420 is referred to as a variable shaped beam (VSB) method.
In the electron beam writing apparatus, when performing multiple writing, a shot time (irradiation time) per shot is calculated by dividing a total beam irradiation time (total writing time) of a plurality of times of shooting the same position by the multiplicity. Conventionally, the method of adding an entire remainder (fraction) obtained by dividing the total beam irradiation time (the total writing time) by the multiplicity to one shot has been employed. On the other hand, as the generation of the writing apparatus advances, the multiplicity tends to increase, which causes a problem in that there is a divergence (imbalanced nature) between the irradiation time of a shot to which the remainder was added and the irradiation time of each of other shots.
As other technique relevant to the shot time of each shot, the following is disclosed: Specifically, when a basis dose based on which a pattern is formed is defined to be Ds, the first time writing and the second time writing are performed each using a dose Ds/4 without correcting the dose, and the third time writing and the fourth time writing are performed in corrected state based on a correction dose Dc, using a dose (Dc−Ds)/2+Ds/4 (refer to, e.g., Japanese Patent Application Laid-open (JP-A) No. 10-261557).
As described above, a problem exists in that there is a divergence (imbalanced nature) between the irradiation time of a shot to which the remainder was added and the irradiation time of each of other shots. For example, when the irradiation time is defined according to a gray level value, the irradiation time of the shot to which the remainder described above was added is longer than the irradiation time of each of other shots by up to (multiplicity−1 gray level). For example, when the multiplicity can be set up to 1024, a remainder of up to 1023 gray levels may be generated. For example, when a pattern whose total irradiation time is 2047 gray levels is written by the multiplicity of 1024, there is a possibility of a case in which a specific number-th writing is performed by an irradiation time of 1024 gray levels, and writing of each of other 1023 times is performed by the irradiation time of 1 gray level. This causes a problem of degradation of writing precision due to heat, for example. Even if the same irradiation dose is used, the formed dimension is thicker when irradiation is performed at a time compared with the case of irradiation performed separately. Therefore, a problem occurs in that if a large dose difference is generated between each time of multiple writing, impermissible influence is given to the formed dimension. Moreover, for example, in the case of simultaneous radiation of a plurality of beams (for example, a case of multiple beam writing), since a following shot cannot be executed until a shot of the longest irradiation time has been completed, a problem of lowering the writing processing speed is generated. Furthermore, in the case of multiple writing, since writing is performed while shifting the position of a writing unit region, such as a stripe region and a sub field region, and further, since, in each writing unit region, multiple writing is repeatedly performed without shifting the position, it is desirable not to make a divergence of total irradiation time between writing unit regions as much as possible for suppressing the imbalanced nature of irradiation time between shots.

Charged particle beam writing apparatus and irradiation time apportionment method of charged particle beams for multiple writing


The present application provides a clocked combustor can array for coherence reduction in a gas turbine engine. The clocked combustor can array may include a number of combustor cans positioned in a circumferential array. A first set of the combustor cans may have a first orientation and a second set of the combustor cans may have a second orientation.

Combustor cans in a multiple can array may communicate acoustically with each other. Large pressure oscillations, also known as combustion dynamics, may result when heat release fluctuations couple with combustor can acoustic tones. Some of these combustor can acoustic tones may be in-phase with the tones of an adjacent can while other tones may be out-of-phase. The in-phase tones may excite the turbine blades in the hot gas path if the tones coincide with the natural frequency of the blades. The in-phase tones may be particularly of concern when the instabilities in different combustor cans are coherent, i.e., a strong relationship in the frequency and the amplitude of the instability in one can to the next can. Such coherent in-phase tones may excite the turbine buckets so as to lead to durability issues and thereby limit the operability of the gas turbine engine.
Current solutions to these potentially damaging in-phase coherent tones focus on combustor tuning. Such tuning may provide cans of different volume and length so as to limit the amplitude of the in-phase coherent tones near the bucket natural frequencies as compared to typical design practice limits. These tuning techniques thus may mean that the overall operability space may be limited by the in-phase coherent tones. Moreover, a significant amount of time and resources may be required to achieve frequency avoidance between the combustor and the turbine components. Further, frequency avoidance may only as accurate as the predictive capability used to achieve such.
There is thus a desire for improved systems and methods for coherence reduction between combustor components and turbine components without requiring combustor tuning and other types of conventional frequency avoidance techniques. Preferably, such systems and methods may reduce overall coherence so as to improve component lifetime without compromising system efficiency and output and without requiring extensive modifications.


An apparatus includes a first component that has a first coefficient of thermal expansion, a fastener that extends at least partially through the first component. The fastener has a second coefficient of thermal expansion that is different than the first coefficient of thermal expansion. The apparatus also includes a nano-tube mesh coupled to outer surfaces of the first component and fastener. Further, the apparatus includes a second component applied to the nano-tube mesh and outer surface of the first component. The nano-tube mesh may include carbon nano-tubes and/or nitrogen-doped carbon nano-tubes.

Many industries utilize advanced materials in the implementation of products and services. For example, the aerospace and automotive industries commonly use advanced materials made from composite fibers in view of its beneficial properties (e.g., high strength-to-weight ratio) over traditional materials.
However, notwithstanding the benefits, often such advanced materials are less conducive to certain applications where more traditional materials might be better suited. Accordingly, for many applications, traditional materials may be used in conjunction with advanced materials. For example, an aircraft may have a body made from composite fibers that is fastened to a frame using fasteners made from a more traditional material, such as steel.
Generally, components made from traditional materials are compatible for use with components made from advanced materials. However, in certain applications, the difference between the properties of traditional and advanced materials may introduce undesirable or unintended consequences. For example, some advanced materials, such as composite materials, have a much lower coefficient of thermal expansion than traditional materials, such as steel. When used together, the variance between the coefficients of thermal expansion of the component made from an advanced material and the component made from a traditional material may result in relative movement between the components as the components heat up and cool down.
Relative movement between components may be problematic when a component susceptible to cracks is coupled to both the moving components, particularly when the difference between the coefficients of thermal expansion is significant. As the components move relative to each other, the portion of the susceptible component coupled to one moving component tends to move with that component, while the portion of the susceptible component coupled to the other moving component tends to move with the other component. The relative movement of separate portions of the same component, when the component is susceptible to cracking, tends to result in the formation of cracks on or within the susceptible component at the boundary between moving portions. For example, in aircraft applications, cracks may form in the paint around a metal fastener that secures the composite body of an aircraft to a frame. Not only is cracking unsightly, but it can lead to more serious problems, such as structural degradation, aerodynamic flaws, and even catastrophic failure.


Methods and systems for effecting responses on surfaces utilizing microlens arrays including microoptical components embedded or supported by a support element and positioned from the surface at a distance essentially equal to the image distance of the microoptical component with spacer elements are disclosed. Microlens arrays can be used to manipulate incident energy or radiation having a distribution in characteristic property(s) defining an object pattern to form a corresponding image pattern on a substrate surface. The energy can be light having a pattern or a specific wavelength, intensity or polarization or coherence alignment. The image pattern can have features of order 100 nm in size or less produced from corresponding object patterns having features in the order millimeters. The size of the object pattern can be reduced by the microlens arrays described by a factor of 100 or more using a single step process to form the image patterns.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to patterning electromagnetic radiation and, more particularly, to microlens lithography and methods thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
Lithography may be used to generate a pattern on a surface, such as a semiconductor wafer. A repeating pattern-may be generated by projecting an image through an array of microlenses. For example, ultraviolet photolithography can include any of the following: contact photolithography, proximity photolithography and projection lithography; each typically uses chromium masks. Other techniques that can be used in microlithography include, for example, electron-beam writing, ion-beam lithography and laser pattern writing.
Microlens arrays, photolithography and methods of fabrication and uses have been described by, for example, Popovic et al., in U.S. Pat. No. 4,689,291, Tsumori in U.S. Pat. No. 5,324,623, Hamada in U.S. Pat. No. 5,453,876, Robello et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 5,723,264, Goto et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 5,774,240, Burger in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,973,844 and 6,124,974, Cullman et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 6,016,185, Johnson in U.S. Pat. No. 6,133,986, Kock et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 6,195,201 B1, and Nuytkens et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 6,200,709 B1.
Microlens lithography has been described by Völkel et al. in "Microlens Lithography: A new approach for large display fabrication," Microelectronic Engineering, v. 30, pp. 107-110 (1996), in "Microlens array imaging systems for photolithography," Opt. Eng., v. 35(11), pp. 3323-3330 (November 1996), and in "Microlens Lithography and Smart Masks," v. 30, pp. 513-516 (1997). They have also been described by Nussbaum et al. in "Design, fabrication and testing of microlens arrays for sensors and Microsystems," Pure Appl. Opt., v. 6, pp. 617-636 (1997) and by Dändliker et al. in "Non-conventional techniques for optical lithography," Microelectronic Eng., v. 27, pp. 205-211(1995).
Microlens lithography-related techniques have been described by Ida et al. in "LETI's FED patterning technique," European Semiconductor, pp. 97-99 (April 1997) and in "12.3: New Microlithography Technique for Large Size Field Emission Displays," Euro Display, pp. 177-180 (1996), by H. Smith in "A proposal for maskless, zone-plate-array lithography," J. Vac. Sci. Technol. B14(6), pp. 4318-4322 (November/December 1996), and by Djomehri et al. in "Zone-plate-array lithography in the deep ultraviolet," J. Vac. Sci. Technol., B 16(6), pp. 3426-3429 (November/December 1998).

Microlens for projection lithography and method of preparation thereof