A new and distinct cultivar of Aechmea plant named xe2x80x98Del Marxe2x80x99, characterized by its compact, upright and outwardly arching growth habit; solid green-colored foliage; inflorescences held upright and above foliage on strong red scapes; tightly branched inflorescences with purple and dark red flower bracts and blue purple and greenish white sepals; and long-lasting inflorescences that maintain flower bract and sepal coloration for about five to seven months.

Aechmea fendlerixc3x97Aechema dichlamydea trinitensis cultivar Del Mar.
The present Invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Aechmea plant, botanically known as Aechmea fendlerixc3x97Aechmea dichlamydea trinitensis and referred to by the name xe2x80x98Del Marxe2x80x99.
The new Aechmea is a product of a planned breeding program conducted by the Inventor in Princeton, Fla. The objective of the breeding program is to create new Aechmea cultivars with compact plant habit appropriate for container production, desirable inflorescence coloration and good postproduction longevity.
The new Aechmea originated from a cross made by the Inventor in Princeton, Fla. in May, 1994, of an unidentified selection of Aechmea fendleri, not patented, as the female, or seed, parent with an unidentified selection of Aechmea dichlamydea trinitensis, not patented as the male, or pollen, parent. The cultivar Del Mar was discovered and selected by the Inventor as a flowering plant within the progeny of the stated cross in a controlled environment in Princeton, Fla., in September, 1996.
Asexual reproduction of the new Aechmea by tissue culture in a controlled environment in Princeton, Fla., has shown that the unique features of this new Aechmea are stable and are reproduced true to type in successive generations.
The new Aechmea has not been observed under all possible environmental conditions. The phenotype may vary somewhat with variations in environment such as temperature, daylength, light intensity, fertilizer rate and type, and/or irrigation amount and frequency without, however, any variance in genotype.
The following characteristics have been repeatedly observed and are determined to be basic characteristics of xe2x80x98Del Marxe2x80x99 and distinguish xe2x80x98Del Marxe2x80x99 as a new and distinct cultivar:
1. Compact, upright and outwardly arching growth habit.
2. Solid green-colored foliage.
3. Inflorescences held upright and above foliage on strong red scapes.
4. Tightly branched inflorescences with purple and dark red flower bracts and blue purple and greenish white sepals.
5. Long-lasting inflorescences that maintain flower bract and sepal coloration for about five to seven months.
Compared to plants of the female parent, the unidentified selection of Aechmea fendleri, plants of the new Aechmea are more compact, have darker green leaves, and darker blue purple sepals. Compared to plants of the male parent, the unidentified selection of Aechmea dichlamydea trinitensis, plants of the new Aechmea are much more compact and have shorter scapes.
Plants of the new Aechmea can be compared to plants of the Aechmea dichlamydea trinitensisxc3x97Aechmea fendleri cultivar Blue Tango, disclosed in U.S. Plant Pat. No. 11,743. In side-by-side comparisons conducted by the Inventor in Princeton, Fla., plants of the new Aechmea differed from plants of the cultivar Blue Tango in the following characteristics:
1. Plants of the new Aechmea are more compact than plants of the cultivar Blue Tango.
2. Plants of the new Aechmea have smaller inflorescences than plants of the cultivar Blue Tango.
3. Plants of the new Aechmea have purple and dark red flower bracts whereas plants of the cultivar Blue Tango have mostly blue purple flower bracts.


A connection of a hose clamp and a hose has a rubber-elastic ring that surrounds the hose detachably and with elastic pretension. The ring is positioned underneath a clamp strap of the hose clamp. The ring has radial hook-shaped first projections for locking the clamp strap of the hose clamp between the first projections by engaging across edges of the clamp strap. The first projections are formed on edges of the ring. The thickness of the ring in an area located axially between the first projections is 5% to 9% of the wall thickness of the hose.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a connection of a hose clamp and a hose wherein the clamp strap of the hose clamp is locked between radial hook-shaped projections that are connected to the hose and engage the edges of the hose clamp strap. Such connections are provided for pre-assembly of the hose clamp on the end of a hose.
2. Description of the Related Art
In known connections of this kind (German patent application 195 01 615 A1), two hook-shaped projections are formed on circumferential beads of a hose and are positioned opposite one another. Because of the monolithic configuration of hose, beads, and projections, it is necessary for each hose diameter and each hose length to provide a separate molding tool. This is complex and expensive.
It is also known (U.S. Pat. No. 2,433,602) to produce a ring of rubber having a semi-circular cross-section and an outer circumferential groove in which a springy C-shaped ring is inserted for securing the rubber ring on the hose end. This rubber ring is significantly thicker than the wall thickness of the hose. The ring together with a hose can therefore be pushed onto a pipe socket only with significant force expenditure across the securing rib of the pipe socket in order to secure the hose by means of the spring ring on the pipe socket. Its behavior upon temperature changes as well as stress caused by the spring ring and inner pressure significantly influence moreover the behavior as whole of the hose, the rubber ring and the spring ring. The spring ring cannot compensate every thickness change of the rubber ring and of the hose caused by its pressure and by thermal loading.


The invention provides highly sensitive, specific and efficient quantitative real-time PCR compositions, methods and assay kits to detect at least one IFN subtype and/or IFN subtype allotypic variants. Primer/probe sets complementary to the coding sequence of an IFN subtype of interest avoid spurious detection of degraded mRNA and enhances the correlation between the IFN subtype that is measured by the assays of the invention and the protein that is actually expressed. The invention also provides methods for designing primers and methods of using the compositions and assay kits. The compositions, kits, and methods of the invention may be used, for example, to monitor vaccine efficacy, autoimmune disease, chronic infections, or tumor therapy.

This invention relates to primers, probes, assay kits and methods for identifying and discriminating between interferon (IFN) subtypes.
Interferons are secreted cellular proteins that are comprised of type I, type II and type III families based upon sequence similarities and receptor usage. IFN-γ, known also as immune interferon, is the only Type II interferon whereas the Type I human interferons consist of several classes: IFN-α, IFN-β, IFN-ε, IFN-ω, IFN-κ and IFN-τ. IFN-τ is only found in ungulates; there is no human IFN-τ. There is only one human IFN-β and one human IFN-ω, but a family of multiple IFN-α species exists, namely, thirteen highly homologous genes, two of which have an identical coding sequence. IFNs are up-regulated in response to varied native and pathologic stimuli. Pathogens such as viruses are recognized by components of the innate immune system including toll-like receptors (TLR) and retinoic acid-inducible gene-1-like (RIG-1) receptors. The rapid recognition of pathogen stimuli coordinated with the appropriate cytokine response are crucial for the control of many pathogenic organisms. To illustrate, rather than a single interferon responding to a specific infectious agent, the host interferon response comprises coordinated expression of many different interferon genes and proteins designed a) to limit pathogen replication in infected cells and b) to coordinate with the adaptive immune system to limit dissemination. This "interferon expression signature" varies over time, coordinating and responding to the expression of thousands of genes.
Importantly, it has been clearly established in the literature that each individual interferon protein possesses unique biological activities. Moreover, limited qualitative studies have shown that the expression patterns of the interferon alpha subtypes vary with stimuli and time. Consequently, assays are warranted that can detect and differentiate each of the individual interferons.
The IFNs exhibit anti-viral, immunoregulatory, and antiproliferative activity, and the clinical potential of interferons has been recognized. However, little is known about unique roles for any of the individual IFN-alpha subtypes because there is no sensitive and specific system to measure their individual expression.
Thus, one of the current research dilemmas within the interferon world is the role of the various IFN types and subtypes in various diseases. Currently, tools are not available to address these questions, although several pharmaceutical companies are investigating the modulation of individual IFN subtypes as potential therapies for a variety of human diseases, including systemic lupus erythematosis, multiple sclerosis, various cancers, hepatitis C, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and others. The availability of tools which address both the individual and combined expression profiles of interferons and/or other cytokines will greatly benefit not only current research, but will enable other areas of disease research where interferons have not even been implicated due to a lack of suitable tools.
The invention described herein provides nucleic acid amplification techniques for differentiating between highly related nucleic acid molecules. In current embodiments, polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and novel probe/primer pairs are used to differentiate between IFN subtypes. The invention described herein will be useful for elucidating fundamental roles of various closely related interferons and subtypes and, in the process, greatly advance what is known about immunological processes particularly in the context of the subtle genetic differences between humans. The invention is expected to be useful in relation to other biological molecules for which different, highly related subtypes occur in the body. The instant invention may be useful, for example, for identifying subtypes of IFN as a surrogate marker for vaccine efficacy in clinical trials, to monitor clinical progression or remission of chronic infections, autoimmune diseases or cancer, or to determine responses to therapy for those and other diseases. Moreover, the instant invention may be useful, inter alia, in molecular diagnostic methods and in enabling skilled professionals to individually design and tailor therapeutic treatment regimens for the individual patient and the particular medical condition presented. The ability to deliver personalized medicine may be especially important in treating individuals who are refractory to the standard regiment of care. Thus, there is a need for a rapid comprehensive test for determining the presence of IFN-subtypes.

Compositions for detecting human interferon-alpha subtypes and methods of use

UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES


In an elevator control apparatus, the presence/absence of an abnormality in an elevator is monitored by an abnormality monitoring portion. The abnormality monitoring portion makes a determination on the presence/absence of an abnormality in the elevator based on information from a sensor, and outputs a signal for stopping a car upon detecting an abnormality. The history of information on the result of determination by the abnormality monitoring portion is recorded in a history information recording portion.

In a conventional electronic overspeed governor for an elevator as disclosed in, for example, WO 00/39015, the detected speed of a car is compared against a threshold stored in a storage device, and when the detected speed exceeds the threshold, an actuating signal for bringing the car to a stop is output.
However, electronic components such as a CPU and a semiconductor memory are used in an electronic overspeed governor device, so an actuating signal may be erroneously output due to electrical noise or a failure of an electronic component. Accordingly, when the car is brought to a sudden stop upon the outputting of the actuating signal from the electronic speed governor device, it is hard to determine whether this is caused by the car speed exceeding the threshold or due to a failure on the governor device side, making it difficult to identify the cause of the actuation. When, in particular, the failure of the electronic component is a transient malfunction caused by noise, it is hard to reproduce the phenomenon, making it even more difficult to identify the cause of the actuation.


A fishing reel of the double bearing type is provided which enhances the ability of releasing a fishline. The fishing reel of the double bearing type includes a spool (5) rotatably supported on a reel body, and this spool includes a fishline-winding barrel portion (50), and a pair of flanges (51). D is not more than 50 mm, and (d/D) is 50.about.80% where D represents an outer diameter of the spool, and d represents a diameter of a bottom of the fishline-winding barrel portion of the spool.

This invention relates to a fishing reel of the double bearing type, and more particularly to a double bearing-type fishing reel designed to enhance the ability of letting out or releasing a fishline.
Typical reels of the double bearing type are disclosed, for instance, in Japanese Utility Model Examined Publication No. 2-36389 and Japanese Utility Model Unexamined Publication No. 3-79665, and each of these reels comprises a spool, which has a fishline wound thereon, and is rotatably mounted between opposite side plates of a reel body, and a clutch mechanism for switching the spool between a fishline-winding condition and a spool-free condition. By switching operation of this clutch mechanism, the fishline can be released from the spool, and the released fishline can be again wound up on the spool.
A fishline-winding barrel portion of the spool in these conventional double bearing-type reels is formed into a deep groove-configuration, so that the spool has a large line-winding capacity. That is, since the angler desires to use the fishline under a less curled condition, the spool is generally designated to have a relatively large winding capacity so that only a portion of the wound fishline occupying the large diameter winding area of the spool is used actually during fishing. For example, when the fishline to be used is 8.about.10 Lb line, a spool, having a line-winding capacity of 140.about.200 m is used.
However, the amount of the fishline, normally released, taking a safety margin into consideration, is usually 50.about.70 m although it may vary to be more or less depending on the fishing style. Therefore, more than a half of the fishline wound on the spool is not usually used, and hence always remains wound on the spool. Because of this remaining portion of the fishline, the overall weight of the spool is increased thereby increasing the moment of inertia. As a result, the fishline-releasing ability is adversely affected, and also a backlash phenomenon (in which the fishline becomes loosened because the speed of rotation of the spool becomes higher than the speed of release of the fishline) is liable to occur. And besides, since the amount of winding of the fishline is large, the turns of the wound fishline bite one another, so that the fishline can not be smoothly released from the spool. And further, when the spool is brought into a freely-rotatable condition by switching the clutch mechanism, the moment of inertia is further increased as a result of production of a rotation resistance, since an inner periphery of a pinion is disposed in contact with an outer periphery of a spool shaft, thus aggravating the above problems.
In the above-mentioned Japanese Utility Model Examined Publication No. 2-36389 and Japanese Utility Model Unexamined Publication No. 3-79665, in order to prevent the backlash phenomenon, a magnetic braking device or a centrifugal braking device is mounted on a spool rotation shaft. However, a strong braking action is necessary for preventing an excessive rotation of the spool, producing a large moment of inertia, and therefore magnets or centrifugal collars are increased in size and weight. This is not desirable.
Apart from the above prior art, Japanese Utility Model Unexamined Publication No. 60-81776 discloses a technique in which an economizer is fitted on a fishline-winding barrel portion of a spool so that the amount of winding of the fishline on the spool can be varied. However, since this separate member, i.e. the economizer, is mounted on the spool capable of rotating at high speed, a rotation balance is adversely affected during the release of the fishline, so that casting noises are liable to be produced. And besides, because of the provision of the separate member, the overall weight of the spool increases to produce a larger moment of inertia, which again reinforces the above-mentioned problems.

Fishing reel of double bearing type having improved fishline releasing characteristic


Memory management techniques that permit an executing process to store content in memory and later retrieve that content from the memory, but that also permit a memory manager to discard that content to address memory pressure. A process executing on a computing device may notify a memory manager of the computing device that first memory space allocated to the process contains first content that is available for discard. If the memory manager detects the computing device is experiencing memory pressure, the memory manager may address the memory pressure by selecting memory space available for discard and discarding the content of the memory space. Before a process reuses content made available for discard, the process may notify the memory manager of the intent to reuse and, in response, receive empty memory and an indication that the content was discarded or receive an indication that the content is still available for use.

When multiple processes are executing on a computing device, the processes share the hardware resources of the computing device. Successful execution of all processes requires that no process use so much of any resource that other processes are unable to obtain enough of that resource to execute effectively. Among the hardware resources that can impact effective execution is memory of the computing device.
A computing device may have two types of memory, which can be termed "fast memory" and "slow memory." Fast memory is termed "fast" because exchanging information between fast memory and a processor is relatively quick as compared to exchanging information between slow memory and a processor. Fast memory includes memory that is directly accessible by a processor (e.g., a central processing unit (CPU) or a graphics processing unit (GPU)). Fast memory of a device may include "internal memory" and can be implemented as random access memory (RAM). Slow memory includes memory that is not directly accessible by a processor, but is instead installed in a computing device remote from a processor. Slow memory of a device may include secondary storage and can be implemented as one or more storage drives. Examples of storage drives include hard disk drives and solid-state drives (SSDs).
Computing devices typically include a memory manager that determines how processes will use memory. A process may request from the memory manager one or more blocks of memory space and the memory manager may allocate to each executing process memory space consisting of a range of memory addresses for that process to use. Once the memory space is allocated, the process can write data to and read data from memory using addresses in its assigned range of addresses. When the process finishes using the memory, the process can again interact with the memory manager to request that the memory space be de-allocated or "freed" so that the memory space is available for use by another process.
Because of the speed advantage of fast memory, when processes are interacting with content stored in memory, the content is placed in fast memory. However, the total amount of memory requested by all processes executing on a computing device may be greater than the amount of fast memory available on the computing device. To counter this problem, it is known for memory managers to us a technique called "paging." Using paging, content that a process has requested be stored can be temporarily stored in slow memory.
In paging, the ranges of memory addresses assigned to processes may be divided into pages. When a process reads or writes content to memory, the "page" containing that content is loaded in the fast memory. Though, when the page is not actively being accessed by a process, the memory manager may keep the content from the page in a page file in slow memory. A memory manager, for example, may move a page used by a process out of fast memory and store the page in the page file in slow memory, to allow space in the fast memory to be made available for storing other content (and other pages) that are actively being accessed by other processes. When a process needs to use content that has been placed into slow memory, the memory manager can retrieve the page containing the content from the page file in the slow memory and place the page and the content back in fast memory.
As mentioned above, a memory manager will allocate memory space containing a range of addresses of memory to a process upon receiving from the process a request for memory. The range of addresses provided to the process are not hardware addresses of fast memory. This is because, when paging is used, the exact location at which content can be accessed in fast memory is not known at the time the memory space and the range of addresses is allocated. Instead, memory space in "virtual memory" is allocated to a process in response to a request for memory, and "virtual addresses" are provided to the process. The total amount of virtual memory available on a computing device is the sum of the size of fast memory and the maximum permitted size of the page file in slow memory.
Virtual memory addresses are known to the memory manager and can be used by the memory manager to identify the actual locations in memory at which content is stored. A virtual memory address may correspond to an address of fast memory or to a location in the page file in slow memory. When a request to access a particular virtual memory address is received by the memory manager, the memory manager may review records regarding the virtual memory to determine an actual storage location corresponding to the virtual memory address. When the virtual memory address corresponds to a location in the page file in slow memory, the memory manager may retrieve the page containing the virtual memory address from the slow memory and write the page to fast memory. This may include removing another page from the fast memory to make space in fast memory for the page to be written and placing that other page in the page file of slow memory, then updating the actual storage locations of both in records regarding the virtual memory addresses.
Accordingly, a process may interact with a memory manager to perform various functions regarding the memory. A process may first request an allocation of memory, in which case the memory manager may "allocate" to the process an amount of memory space in virtual memory. When the process is interacting with content stored in memory space, the memory manager may ensure that the content is stored in fast memory, and the memory manager may place the content in the page file in slow memory when the process is not interacting with the content. The process may also request that the memory manager "de-allocate" memory space in virtual memory that was previously allocated if the process will not use the contents of that memory space again. If the process later requires additional memory to store newly generated content, the process can request another allocation of memory space in virtual memory.
Interactions with the memory manager, particularly the memory manager's allocation and de-allocation operations, can take a relatively long time for a process and therefore can slow down execution of a process. Because of this, when software designers write the code that defines the processes, the developers may try to reduce the number of allocation and de-allocation operations that are performed by the processes. The software designers may instead use memory "reset" operations in their code when memory space allocated to that process contains content that is not to be further used by the process. Upon receiving an instruction to "reset" specified memory space, if pages for that memory space are stored in the fast memory, the memory manager stops preserving the content of the memory space in the fast memory, such as by not writing content of the memory space into the page file when a page in fast memory is to be replaced with another page. No de-allocation of memory space is performed in response to a "reset." Though there is no content (and possibly no pages) corresponding to the memory space following a reset of that memory, that memory space of virtual memory continues to be allocated to the process. By retaining the allocation, the memory space will already be available to the process when the process needs memory for some purpose in the future, without the need for a subsequent allocation operation. In this way, the process can avoid lengthy allocation and de-allocation operations. Also, because the content of the reset memory space is not occupying valuable space in the fast memory that can be used by other pages storing content for other memory space, the memory manager is not wasting time or resources managing that content using paging techniques.


A glass-ceramic substrate for an information storage medium made of a glass-ceramics having a crystal phase dispersed in a glass matrix has a ratio of crystal phase (the amount of crystal) in the glass-ceramics is within a range from 50 wt % to 70 wt % and crystal grains having an average crystal grain diameter within a range from 0.10 xcexcm to 0.50 xcexcm are exposed on the surface of the substrate. The glass-ceramics substrate has Young""s modulus within a range from 95 GPa to 160 GPa, specific gravity within a range from 2.40 to 2.80, and a ratio of Young""s modulus to specific gravity within a range from 39 GPa to 57 GPa. The glass-ceramic substrate has a surface microstructure in which respective crystal grains present in a surface portion of the substrate are fixed to the surface portion with half or more in volume of the respective crystal grains being exposed above the surface of the glass matrix.

This invention relates to a glass-ceramic substrate for an information storage medium, a method for manufacturing the same and an information storage disk. In this specification, the term xe2x80x9cinformation storage mediumxe2x80x9d includes stationary type hard disks, removable type hard disks and card type hard disks used respectively such as so-called hard disks for personal computers and other information storage medium in the form of a disk which can be used for storage of data and can be also used in digital video cameras and digital cameras.
Aluminum alloy has been widely used as a material of a magnetic disk substrate used in a stationary type magnetic information storage device such as a hard disk of a computer. In this case, a blank substrate made of an aluminum alloy having a surface roughness Ra of about 200 xc3x85 to 1000 xc3x85 is subjected to degreasing, etching, substitution of Zn or Sn and Pd, electroless Nixe2x80x94P plating, annealing, wrapping and polishing, cleaning and testing and forming of a Cr undercoat layer, a magnetic film and a protective layer to thereby form a magnetic information storage disk. Since, however, the aluminum alloy is a soft material, its Young""s modulus and surface hardness are low with the result that a significant degree of vibration takes place during rotation of the disk drive at a high speed rotation which leads to deformation of the disk and hence it is difficult to cope with the requirement for making the disk thinner. Thus, the aluminum alloy cannot cope sufficiently with requirement for high-speed driving with a high recording density.
As a material for overcoming the above problems of the aluminum alloy substrate, known in the art are glass-ceramics and chemically tempered glass such as alumino-silicate glasses. Currently used glass-ceramic substrates and chemically tempered glass substrates do not have Nixe2x80x94P plating on their surface as in the aluminum alloy substrates but the Cr undercoat layer and magnetic film are directly formed on the surface of the substrates. This is because Nixe2x80x94P plating having excellent adhesion cannot be achieved on the surface of the glass-ceramic substrates and the chemically tempered glass substrates.
However, in the case that the Cr undercoat layer and magnetic film are formed directly on the surface of a glass-ceramic substrate or a chemically tempered glass substrate without the Nixe2x80x94P plating, magnetic substance grains of the magnetic film tend to have an excessively large grain diameter as compared with a case where the Cr undercoat layer and magnetic film are formed on the Nixe2x80x94P plating and this will become an obstacle to the requirement for the high density recording in the future.
Examples in which the Nixe2x80x94P plating is applied to a glass-ceramic substrate or a chemically tempered glass substrate are disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open Publication No. Sho 62-230651, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open Publication No. Sho 63-225915, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open Publication No. Hei 6-87680, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open Publication No. Hei 7-272263. In these examples, chemical etching is made on the substrate in an attempt to roughen its surface and thereafter the Nixe2x80x94P plating is applied to the roughened surface. Despite these efforts, however, sufficient roughening of the surface of the substrate by etching could not be achieved in most of these glass-ceramic substrates and chemically tempered glass substrates which resulted in insufficient adhesion of the Nixe2x80x94P layer. In some glass-ceramic substrates, adhesion of the Nixe2x80x94P layer was improved at the sacrifice of flatness of the surface and these substrates are not proper as a high recording density information storage medium required today. Thus, there is no practicable technique today by which the Nixe2x80x94P plating can be sufficiently applied to glass-ceramic substrates and chemically tempered glass substrates.
As a type of a chemically tempered glass, known in the art are alumino-silicate glasses (SiO2xe2x80x94Al2O3xe2x80x94Na2O) disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open Publication No. Hei 8-48537 and Japanese Patent Application Laid-open Publication No. Hei 5-32431. This material, however, has the following disadvantages:
(1) Since polishing is made after the chemical tempering process, the chemically tempered layer is seriously instable in making the disk thinner. Further, the chemically tempered layer causes change with time after use for a long period of time with resulting deterioration in the magnetic property of the disk.
(2) Since the chemically tempered glass contains Na2O and K2O as its essential ingredients, the film forming property of the glass is adversely affected, and a barrier coating over the entire surface of the glass becomes necessary for preventing elution of Na2O and K2O ingredients and this prevents stable production of the product at a competitive cost.
(3) The chemical tempering is made for improving mechanical strength of the glass but this basically utilizes strengthening stress within the surface layer and the inside layer of the glass and hence its Young""s modulus is about 83 GPa or below which is about equivalent to ordinary amorphous glass. Therefore, use of the glass for a disk with a high speed rotation is limited.
(4) In applying Nixe2x80x94P plating, etching is made by using an HF type solution. Since etching is made uniformly over the surface of the substrate in a chemically tempered glass, a microstructure for securing adhesion of the Nixe2x80x94P plating cannot be obtained with the result that a sufficient substrate for the Nixe2x80x94P plating cannot be obtained. Therefore, characteristics of the glass for a high recording density information storage medium are not sufficient.
Aside from the aluminum alloy substrate and chemically tempered glass substrate, known in the art are some glass-ceramic substrates. For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. Hei 9-35234 and EP0781731A1 disclose glass-ceramic substrates for a magnetic disk made of a Li2Oxe2x80x94SiO2 system composition and has crystal phases of lithium disilicate and xcex2-spodumene, or crystal phases of lithium disilicate and xcex2-cristobalite. In these publications, however, the relation between Young""s modulus and specific gravity with respect to high speed rotation is not taken into consideration at all. Further, no suggestion is made about an HF etching technique suitable for Nixe2x80x94P plating and conditions of a microstructure suitable for Nixe2x80x94P plating.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. Hei 9-77531 discloses a glass-ceramic of a SiO2xe2x80x94Al2O3xe2x80x94MgOxe2x80x94ZnOxe2x80x94TiO2 system which has Young""s modulus of 93.4 GPa to 160.11 GPa and volume density of 2.83 to 3.24 and also a substrate for a high rigidity magnetic information storage disk made of this glass-ceramic. This glass-ceramic contains a large amount of Spinel crystal ((Mg or Zn) Al2O4) as its predominant crystal phase and MgTi2O5 or Zn2Ti2O5 and several other crystals as its subordinate crystal phases. The glass-ceramic contains a large amount of Al2O3 and has a high specific gravity and a high Young""s modulus.
Addition of such a large amount of Al2O3, however, is undesirable from the standpoint of production because it causes deterioration of melting property of the base glass and also deterioration of resistance to devitrification. Further, in this publication, the relation of Young""s modulus (GPa)/specific gravity and the value of specific gravity per se which are necessary for the high speed rotation are not taken into consideration at all. No suggestion is made either as to an HF technique suitable for Nixe2x80x94P plating and conditions of microstructure for Nixe2x80x94P plating. Particularly, the specific gravity in this publication is a high value of 2.83 or over. This publication therefore merely proposes a glass-ceramic substrate made of a rigid material. Moreover, the glass-ceramic of this system has the serious disadvantage that processability is poor and therefore is not suited for a large scale production since it is too hard and hence the improvement of this glass-ceramic as a high recording density information storage medium substrate is still not sufficient.
It is, therefore, an object of the invention to eliminate the above described disadvantages of the prior art materials and provide a glass-ceramic substrate for an information storage medium capable of coping with the tendency toward a high speed driving, high recording density recording, namely having excellent adhesion to Nixe2x80x94P plating.
It is another object of the invention to provide a method for manufacturing such glass-ceramic substrate.
It is another object of the invention to provide an information storage medium made by applying Nixe2x80x94P plating and forming a film of an information storage medium on this glass-ceramic substrate.
Accumulated studies and experiments made by the inventor of the present invention for achieving the above described objects of the invention have resulted in the finding, which has led to the present invention, that a glass-ceramic substrate made of a glass-ceramic having a specific microstructure in the surface portion thereof exhibits an excellent adhesion characteristic in Nixe2x80x94P plating.
For achieving the object of the invention, there is provided a glass-ceramic substrate for an information storage medium made of a glass-ceramic having a crystal phase dispersed in a glass matrix wherein a ratio of the crystal phase (the amount of crystal) in the glass-ceramic is within a range from 50 wt % to 70 wt % and crystal grains having an average crystal grain diameter within a range from 0.10 xcexcm to 0.50 xcexcm are exposed on the surface of the substrate.
In one aspect of the invention, there is provided a glass-ceramic substrate for an information storage medium made of a glass-ceramic having a crystal phase dispersed in a glass matrix wherein a ratio of Young""s modulus to specific gravity is 39 GPa or over and crystal grains having an average crystal grain diameter within a range from 0.10 xcexcm to 0.50 xcexcm are exposed on the surface of the substrate.
In another aspect of the invention, there is provided a glass-ceramic substrate for an information storage medium made of a glass-ceramic having a crystal phase dispersed in a glass matrix wherein crystal grains having an average crystal grain diameter within a range from 0.10 xcexcm to 0.50 xcexcm are present in a surface portion of the substrate and the substrate has a surface microstructure in which respective crystal grains present in the surface portion of the substrate are fixed to the surface portion with half or more in volume of the respective crystal grains being exposed above the surface of the glass matrix.
In another aspect of the invention, the glass-ceramic substrate has Young""s modulus within a range from 95 GPa to 160 GPa, specific gravity within a range from 2.40 to 2.80 and a ratio of Young""s modulus to specific gravity within a range from 39 GPa to 57 GPa.
In another aspect of the invention, the glass-ceramic substrate is made by applying etching to a glass-ceramic and has a surface roughness Ra (arithmetic average roughness) after polishing of 500 xc3x85 or below.
In another aspect of the invention, the glass-ceramic substrate is made by applying etching to the glass-ceramic soaked in a 4 wt % to 30 wt % HF type etching solution at an etching rate of 30 xc3x85/second or over.
In another aspect of the invention, the surface roughness (Ra) of the glass-ceramic substrate is within a range from 50 xc3x85 to 10000 xc3x85.
In another aspect of the invention, said glass-ceramic contains, as its predominant crystal phase or phases, at least one crystal selected from the group consisting of cordierite (Mg2Al4Si5O18), cordierite solid solution (Mg2Al4Si5O18 solid solution), Spinel ((Mg or Zn)(Al or Ti)2O4), Spinel solid solution ((Mg or Zn)(Al or Ti)2O4), enstatite (MgSiO3), enstatite solid solution (MgSiO3 solid solution), quartz (SiO2) and quartz solid solution (SiO2).
In another aspect of the invention, crystal grains of the predominant crystal phase or phases of the glass-ceramic have an average crystal grain diameter within a range from 0.05 xcexcm to 1.0 xcexcm.
In another aspect of the invention, the glass-ceramic contains a crystal phase of cordierite having an average crystal grain diameter within a range from 0.10 xcexcm to 1.0 xcexcm.
In another aspect of the invention, the glass-ceramic contains a crystal phase of enstatite having an average crystal grain diameter within a range from 0.10 xcexcm to 1.0 xcexcm.
In another aspect of the invention, the glass-ceramic contains acicular, granular or sheet-shaped crystal grains having an average crystal grain diameter within a range from 0.10 xcexcm to 1.0 xcexcm.
In another aspect of the invention, a coefficient of thermal expansion within a temperature range from xe2x88x9250xc2x0 C. to +70xc2x0 C. is within a range from 30xc3x9710xe2x88x927/xc2x0 C. to 50xc3x9710xe2x88x927/xc2x0 C.
In another aspect of the invention, the glass-ceramic has a composition which comprises, in weight percent:
In another aspect of the invention, the glass-ceramic contains, as its predominant crystal phases, lithium disilicate (Li2O.2SiO2) and further contains quartz (SiO2) or quarts solid solution (SiO2 solid solution), or cristobalite (SiO2) or cristobahte solid solution (SiO2 solid solution).
In another aspect of the invention, the respective predominant crystal phases have an average crystal grain diameter within a range from 0.05 xcexcm to 0.40 xcexcm.
In another aspect of the invention, the glass-ceramic contains crystal grains of quarts or quarts solid solution having an average crystal grain diameter within a range from 0.15 xcexcm to 0.4 xcexcm and the amount of crystal of said crystal phase is within a range from 10 wt % to 70 wt %.
In another aspect of the invention, the glass-ceramic contains crystal grains of lithium disilicate having an average crystal grain diameter within a range from 0.10 xcexcm to 0.4 xcexcm and the amount of crystal of said crystal phase is within a range from 40 wt % to 70 wt %.
In another aspect of the invention, crystal grains of the glass-ceramic are substantially of a spherical shape.
In another aspect of the invention, a coefficient of thermal expansion within a temperature range from xe2x88x9250xc2x0 C. to +70xc2x0 C. is within a range from 70xc3x9710xe2x88x927/xc2x0 C. to 130xc3x9710xe2x88x927/xc2x0 C.
In another aspect of the invention, the glass-ceramic has a composition which comprises, in weight percent:
In another aspect of the invention, the glass-ceramic substrate for an information storage medium is formed by applying etching on the above described glass-ceramic substrate.
In another aspect of the invention, there is provided an information storage disk having a film of an information storage medium formed on the above described glass-ceramic substrate for an information storage medium.
In another aspect of the invention, the film of an information storage medium is a magnetic metal film.
In another aspect of the invention, there is provided a method for manufacturing a glass-ceramic substrate for an information storage medium comprising steps of melting glass raw materials, forming a glass and annealing the formed glass and thereafter heat treating the formed glass for crystallization under nucleation temperature within a range from 450xc2x0 C. to 850xc2x0 C. and crystallization temperature within a range from 740xc2x0 C. to 1000xc2x0 C.
In still another aspect of the invention, there is provided a method for manufacturing a glass-ceramic substrate for an information storage medium as defined in any of claims 1 to 22 comprising steps of soaking the glass-ceramic in 4 wt % to 30 wt % HF type etching solution and applying a chemical etching at an etching rate of 30 xc3x85/second or over.

Glass-ceramic substrate for an information storage medium


A statistical ventilation control device for ventilated cigarettes, wherein an annular conveyor presents a number of seats, each receiving a respective ventilated cigarette arranged perpendicular to the traveling direction of the conveyor; one of the aforementioned seats being a movable seat supported on a slide fitted to the conveyor so as to move the movable seat axially in relation to the conveyor and to and from an operating position wherein a ventilated portion of the cigarette engages a ventilation control unit fitted to and moving with the conveyor.

The present invention relates to a statistical ventilation control device for ventilated cigarettes.
Ventilated cigarettes normally consist of a filter-tip cigarette, the cover band of the filter of which presents ventilation holes formed by means of perforating devices, for enabling the smoker to inhale, together with the smoke produced by combustion of the tobacco, a certain amount of air for reducing both the temperature and the amount of harmful substances contained in the smoke.
During manufacture, ventilated cigarettes are normally subjected to constant hundred percent control to determine "ventilation" performance and so enable rejection of any poorly ventilated cigarettes as well as continuous adjustment of the perforating devices.
In actual practice, however, hundred percent control has proved not only relatively expensive and, in view of the limited time available, invariably unreliable, but also substantially superfluous, by virtue of any change in ventilation performance occurring in the form of "tendencies" as opposed to random, sharp variations. As such, statistical ventilation control (e.g. one out of every thirty cigarettes) has been found to be no less effective than hundred percent control, and is decidedly cheaper and more reliable by virtue of the smaller number of cigarettes involved and, hence, the additional time available for control.

Statistical ventilation control device for ventilated cigarettes


A real estate appraisal method in which the buyer of a property assigns points to a subject property and each comparable property based upon an Ideal Point System (IPS). The points assigned, or IPS values, are based upon the desirability factors for each of five categories of criteria. The total possible IPS value for any property is 100, corresponding to 100 per cent desirability. Once the buyer's IPS values are determined, the property may be subsequently used as a comparable property. The appraiser need only select a subject property and obtain IPS values for the subject property. The sales price of each comparable property is then adjusted based upon the relative difference between the IPS values for the comparable properties and the IPS values of the subject property, by dividing the total IPS value for each comparable property with the IPS value for the subject property to obtain a composite adjustment ratio. The adjustment ratio for each comparable property is then multiplied by the sales price to obtain an adjusted sales price. Any greatly divergent adjusted sales prices are discarded, and the average adjusted sales price is determined. The average adjusted sales price is used as the appraised value for the subject property.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a manual or computer-implemented method for appraising real estate. More particularly, the present invention relates to a computer-implemented method for accurately appraising real estate based upon a uniform scale which measures the desirability of the real estate to buyers and sellers.
2. Description of the Related Art
Property owners, prospective property purchasers, investors, insurance companies and lending institutions heavily rely upon the current value of a property to enact normal business operations. For real estate, the assessment of value, or appraisal, is typically done by a real estate appraiser. Real estate appraisers commonly base their judgment on any number of factors, such as the condition of the property, neighborhood reputation, and other considerations.
One common approach used to appraise real estate is called the Market Data Approach (MDA). This approach is an appraisal technique in which the market value estimate is based upon prices paid in actual market transactions and current listings. The actual sales prices operate to fix the lower limit of value in a static or advancing market, or as an upper limit in a declining market. The current listings, in contrast, set an upper limit in both advancing and declining markets. The MDA involves the process of correlating similar properties recently sold to determine the value of a subject property.
Quite notably then, one of the most important considerations in appraising real estate is the price of real estate of like design and size that have recently been sold in the same or a similar neighborhood as the "subject" property. These properties are referred to as "comparable" properties and are heavily relied upon by appraisers. For clarity then, the term "subject property" refers to a property under investigation and for which an appraisal value is to be determined. The term "comparable property", on the other hand, refers to a property, other than the subject property, that is used to assist in appraising the subject property.
In the market or sales comparison approach, the appraiser arrives at an indication of value by comparing the subject property directly with each selected comparable competitive property recently sold. The appraiser compares each of the comparable property's important attributes with the corresponding ones of the property being appraised, under the general distinctions of time, location, and physical characteristics considering all dissimilarities in terms of their probable effect upon the sale price. If a significant item in the comparable property is superior to, or more favorable than, a subject property a minus (-) dollar adjustment is made, thus reducing the indicated value of the subject; if a significant item in the comparable property is inferior to, or less favorable than, the subject property, a plus (+) dollar adjustment is made, thus increasing the value of the subject.
The drawback in relying on recent sales of comparable properties, however, is that the market or sales price merely indicates the price paid for a property. Quite significantly, however, the market price alone does not reflect the conditions existing at the time of the sale, or the reasons a buyer had in purchasing the property.
Hence, the accuracy and reliability of appraisal techniques that rely on sales price, such as the MDA system, is highly dependent upon the degree of comparability of each property with the subject property, the time at which the sale was made, the accuracy of the sale data, and the absence of unusual conditions affecting the sale, as well as other potentially influencing factors. Appraisers try and select comparable properties that have the most similarity with the subject property.
However, it would be extremely time consuming and inefficient for the appraiser to inspect each comparable property and make an explicit determination as to just how similar a comparable property is to the particular subject property under investigation. This is especially true where multiple comparable properties are involved.
In addition, an appraiser would need to re-analyze the sale value of a comparable property for each subject property being investigated. Thus, if a comparable sale is used with 10 different subject properties, then 10 separate direct comparisons of the computer sale would have to be made. Consequently, appraisers do not normally investigate comparable properties in order to determine just how relevant the sale price is to the subject property.
Nonetheless, appraisers attempt to base an appraisal on the price a typical buyer and a typical seller would agree upon as a fair value for the property. Clearly then, one drawback of these prior appraisal systems is that the factors used to appraise the property are subjective in nature. Thus, there will necessarily be a disparity in appraisal values amongst appraisers having different skill levels and biases.
Recently, appraisers have been making use of computer-generated models to facilitate the valuation of a subject property. One common computer-implemented system is referred to as Artificial Intelligence or just AI. The AI system obtains sales data from a national database and generally provides an analysis of public records data, recent sales, and other proprietary information of real estate within the zip code of the subject property.
Though the AI system is efficient time-wise, the computer system in general does not take into consideration an inspection of the subject property, or the opinion of an appraiser. Rather, the generated appraisal value is based strictly upon property information such as number of rooms, year constructed, and square footage. In addition, without objective data gathered on-site, the AI system increasingly relies on past predictions to generate the next series of predictions, so that appraisals become progressively more inaccurate.
Consequently, the neighborhood, upgrades, view, condition, amenities, and other important factors, are not worked into the appraised real estate value. Hence, the current AI system is generally inconclusive and unreliable, especially absent an inspection of the subject or comparable properties. Accordingly, the AI system only has a limited value where the subject property is in a substantially homogeneous location. Hence, a subject property that is in very good condition will tend to be under-valued. Likewise, properties that are in need of work or have other difficulties, such as limited functional use, will tend to be over-valued.
A computer-implemented real estate appraisal system is also shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,361,201 to Jost, et al. (herein, Jost). In Jost, the computer is provided with property data describing the subject property and the area in which the subject property is located. Jost uses a neural-network approach to generate a report containing an appraised value for the subject property based upon the property data. Jost does not, however, use objective data gathered on-site or otherwise adjust the prices of comparable properties in appraising a subject property.
Accordingly, the prior appraisal systems and methods simply provide a prioritized rank or ordinal scale of various comparable properties in relation to the subject property. That is, the appraiser may indicate that one comparable property is more valuable than another comparable property or the subject property. However, this type of ranking does not indicate how much better one property is than another property. That is, there is no comparative valuation for the comparable properties with the subject property.
Another computer-implemented method for determining comparative values of comparable properties is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,414,621 to Hough. Hough determines values of comparable properties based on an assessment of percentages and sales of the comparable properties, and relying primarily on property tax rates of the respective properties. The derived comparable property values are then used to determine a value for a subject property.
As with other traditional appraisal methods, however, Hough does not consider the values of the buyers or sellers in appraising either the comparable properties or the subject property. This deficiency is significant, especially when one considers that the price of the property is highly dependent upon the demands of the prospective purchaser.

Real estate appraisal method and device for standardizing real property marketing analysis by using pre-adjusted appraised comparable sales


The present invention provides a method and a container for sterilizing a soft contact lens and for providing a sterilized storage package of the soft contact lens maintained in a packaging solution. By using the method and container of the invention, deformations of soft contact lenses during autoclave can be substantially reduced.

Hydrophilic contact lenses, which may be disposable after a single wear or short-term use, have become quite popular because of comfort and convenience. Generally, such hydrophilic contact lenses are manufactured from suitable hydrophilic polymeric materials. These materials may be, amongst others, copolymers of hydroxyethyl methacrylate containing from about 20% to 90% or more of water, depending upon the polymer composition. Generally, such hydrophilic contact lenses must be stored in a sterile aqueous solution, usually in isotonic saline solution in order to prevent dehydration and to maintain the lenses in a ready-to-wear condition. In order to maintain this high water content, hydrophilic lenses are typically immersed in a sterile, aqueous solution within a watertight package during storing, shipping, and handling processes.
The packaging of hydrophilic contact lenses in a sterile aqueous solution is well known in the contact lens manufacturing technology. There have been a variety of packages used to store hydrophilic contact lenses. In particular, so-called blister packages are widely used for the storage and dispensing of the hydrophilic contact lenses. Typically, the blister package for storing and dispensing a hydrophilic contact lens includes an injection-molded or thermoformed plastic base portion incorporating a molded cavity which is surrounded by an outstanding planar flange about the rim of the cavity. The plastic base portion is made of hydrophobic material. A flexible cover sheet is adhered to the surface of the flange so as to sealingly enclose the cavity in a generally liquid-tight mode. Within the cavity of the base portion, a hydrophilic contact lens is immersed in a sterile aqueous solution, such as an isotonic saline solution.
More recently, with the recent developments in new silicone hydrogels, soft contact lenses made of such silicon hydrogels and having hydrophilic coatings are increasing in popularity, since such lenses have high oxygen permeability, high water content, high ion permeability, all of which are required to maintain corneal health and wear comfort. Like hydrophilic contact lens, such silicone hydrogel lenses typically are already hydrated and packaged in a sterile aqueous solution and therefore can be immediately worn upon purchase, by merely removing the lens from the package, without any subsequent treatment of the lens or additional preparation by the consumer. In general, packages traditionally for hydrophilic contact lenses are used to store and dispense silicon hydrogel contact lenses. However, there are problems associated with use of traditional lens packages for storing and dispensing silicon hydrogel lenses.
Contact lenses, which are hydrated and packaged in solution, must be sterilized. Sterilization of the hydrated lenses during manufacturing and packaging is typically accomplished by autoclaving. The autoclaving process involves heating the packaging of a contact lens to a temperature of about 121° C. for approximately 20 minutes under pressure. It has been found that autoclaving of a silicone hydrogel lens packaged in a plastic package can cause deformations of a silicone hydrogel lens. Such deformations can affect the production yield of contact lenses and increase production cost.
Therefore, there is a need for a method of sterilizing silicon hydrogel contact lenses. There is also a need for improved packages for storing and dispensing silicon hydrogel contact lenses.

Method and kits for sterilizing and storing soft contact lenses


A volumetric feeder having a reversible motor, in which the feed screw is driven at a first speed when the motor rotates clockwise, and is driven at a second speed when the motor rotates counterclockwise. The feeder includes a first one-way clutch, having a driven inner race and an outer race which rotates freely counterclockwise relative to the inner race when the inner race is driven clockwise. The outer race of the first one-way clutch rotates with the inner race when the inner race is driven counterclockwise. A second one-way clutch has a driven outer race and an inner race which rotates freely clockwise relative to the outer race of the second one-way clutch when the outer race of the second one-way clutch is driven counterclockwise. The inner race of the second one-way clutch rotates with the outer race of the second one-way clutch when the outer race of the second one-way clutch is driven clockwise. The motor shaft is attached to the inner race of the first one-way clutch. A driven shaft is attached to the inner race of the second one-way clutch and is coupled to the feed screw. The outer race of the first clutch is coupled to the driven shaft to rotate the driven shaft at a first speed. The motor shaft is coupled to the outer race of the second clutch to rotate the second clutch and the driven shaft at a second speed which differs from the first speed.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to feeding systems and in particular to a drive system for a volumetric feeder.
2. The Related Art
Automated feeding systems for bulk solids are used for process control in a variety of industrial applications. Automated feed systems generally include a feed hopper for containing the material and a feeder for metering out a desired amount of the material per unit of time. Feeder systems generally are divided into two types: volumetric and loss-in-weight feeders.
In volumetric feeders, the volumetric flow rate is controlled. These feeders are advantageous because of their simple construction. An example is the volumetric screw feeder, in which the flow rate is varied as a function of the speed of at least one motorized horizontal screw. Under its own weight, material in the feed hopper is forced into the threads of the feed screw. As the screw turns, it pushes the material through a restrictive tube, to the downstream equipment. Many screw feeders have more than one feed screw to handle sticky materials.
Loss-in-weight (or gravimetric) feeders may be more appropriate where material density is not uniform, the consistency varies, or great accuracy is required. A loss-in-weight feeder may be formed by adding a scale and an appropriate process controller to a volumetric feeder. The control equipment compares the actual amount of material discharged with a preselected setpoint and adjusts the volumetric flow as appropriate. The control equipment typically makes loss-in-weight feeders more costly than volumetric feeders.
In order to most accurately control the material flow rate in a volumetric screw feeder, it is desirable to closely control the speed of the feed screw. One method of controlling the speed of the screw is to vary the motor speed. Relatively inexpensive motor controllers can accurately reduce the motor speed from its maximum value by a factor of 20:1 (referred to as the turndown ratio). While more accurate controllers can accurately reduce the motor speed to 1/100 of its maximum value, these controllers are more expensive. Furthermore, it may be desirable to accurately reduce the screw speed to less than 1/100 of the maximum motor speed.
More accurate speed control has typically been accomplished by the use of a gear box to vary the number of screw rotations per rotation of the motor shaft. Although the gears are accurate and reliable, they also have disadvantages. To prevent the gears from wearing when operated at high speeds, the gear box is sealed and filled with oil. In order to change the gear ratios, the gear box is mechanically removed and a different gear box is substituted. This gear-changing operation is labor intensive and makes the system more vulnerable to human error.


A security system for protecting a building which includes at least a first presence sensor, an alarm panel that includes a microprocessor and memory, an exit delay in the alarm panel providing an interval for a user to exit the building after arming the security system, a reset of the exit delay providing a still further interval for a user to exit the building after arming the security system, the reset being initiated by the first presence sensor. The invention also includes the method for protecting a building which includes providing at least a first presence sensor, providing an alarm panel that includes a microprocessor and memory, providing a reset in the alarm panel having an interval for a user to exit the building after arming the security system, and initiating the reset in the alarm panel to provide an interval for a user to exit the building after arming the security system. The reset is initiated by the first presence sensor. Or other type of interior protection!

Prior art security systems include a special zone type known as Entry/Exit type. This type of zone allows the end user sufficient time to exit the protected premises after arming the security system. This is known as the "exit delay" or "exit arming delay" period. Such a delay is ordinarily initiated when the arming process is initiated by a keypad, key switch or key fob. Some known systems include a predefined key on a keypad to allow the occupant to manually reset the entry delay. The "Entry Delay" period is the amount of time the user has to disarm the system once an entry door is opened when the system has been previously armed. The exit delay is programmed by the installer of the security system and is typically between 30 and 120 seconds in length, but may be longer. In addition, some security systems will automatically "reset" the exit delay back to the originally programmed maximum delay when an entry door has been reopened before the exit delay expires.
While the present invention has particular application to systems that include such an exit delay, and to resetting that delay under specific circumstances. However, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that the present invention also has application to a system that does not include the conventional exit delay. Thus, references herein to providing an arming delay include both an arming delay that is implemented by resetting a conventional exit delay upon the occurrence of specific events as well as an arming delay that is implemented in a manner that does not involve any reset of a circuit or system. For example, the systems of the present invention may condition actual arming of a system on a physical or software or gate that will not allow arming of the security system if either the conventional exit delay system or the system described in greater detail herein functions to prevent arming of the security system.

Exit arming delay security system and method


Vehicle seat belt apparatus includes: a belt reel; a motor for driving the belt reel to take up a belt; a rotation detection section for detecting rotation of the belt reel; and a failure determination section for determining, on the basis of a detection signal output from the rotation detection section, whether or not the rotation detection section is currently in a failed state. The rotation detection section includes Hall ICs for generating first and second pulse signals that have characteristics such that temporal relationship between the first and second pulse signals is reversed in accordance with the rotating direction of the belt reel.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2005-297781 (JP 2005-297781 A) discloses a seat belt apparatus, which includes a rotation amount detection section for detecting a rotation amount of a belt reel in order to accurately determine current pay-out and take-up amounts of a belt from and to a retractor. In this disclosed seat belt apparatus, the rotation amount detection section includes a rotation sensor attached directly to the rotation shaft of the belt reel of the retractor, and thus, even though the belt reel is not always connected to a reel driving motor, current pay-out and take-up amounts of the belt can always be detected with a sufficient resolution. More specifically, the rotation amount detection section comprises a rotatable magnetic disk coupled to the shaft of the belt reel, and a magnetic sensor having two Hall ICs. Two phase-shifted pulse waveform signals are output from the two Hall ICs. Rotating direction of the belt reel can be identified in accordance with a phase shift state between the two pulse waveform signals, and a rotation amount of the belt reel can be identified in accordance with the number of pulses in either one of the two pulse waveform signals.
However, with the disclosed seat belt apparatus, which does not have a function for determining whether or not the rotation amount detection section is currently out of order or in a failed state, it is not possible to determine whether the rotation amount detection section is operating normally. Thus, when the rotation amount detection section is not operating normally, there is the possibility that erroneous determinations will undesirably take place in control operations of the seat belt apparatus.
Further, there have been known seat belt apparatus provided with a gunpowder-type pretensioner mechanism. In the event there has occurred an emergency that causes activation of the gunpowder-type pretensioner mechanism and requires operations of the seat belt apparatus beyond the resolution of the rotation amount detection, it becomes important to compulsorily inhibit the above-mentioned function for detecting a failure of the rotation amount detection section.


A light-emitting module includes a light-emitting element, a first wavelength converter and a second wavelength converter. The first wavelength converter is located in an optical pathway of emitted light, and converts a portion of the emitted light to light in a first visible wavelength band. The second wavelength converter is located in the optical pathway on an opposite side of the first wavelength converter relative to the light-emitting element, and converts at least a portion of light passing unconverted through the first wavelength converter to light in a second visible wavelength band, differing from the first visible wavelength band. The light-emitting module also includes a light-absorbing substance, absorbing light in at least a wavelength band from 570 nm to 590 nm, which is present in the optical pathway between the light-emitting element and the second wavelength converter, the second wavelength converter not containing the light-absorbing substance.

A lighting source which emits white light is conventionally used in shops and other locations. For example, in a shop which displays products such as food, a lighting source which emits white light having a high saturation may be used to implement shop lighting in order that the food products have vivid colors when viewed.
As one example of a lighting source of the type described above, a lighting source has been proposed which includes a filter having a light-transmitting base material in which neodymium oxide is dispersed (refer to International Publication No. WO2011/108203).
The lighting source disclosed in WO2011/108203 includes a light-emitting unit which is covered by the filter. The filter absorbs light in a specific wavelength band (570 nm to 590 nm) from among white light emitted from the light-emitting unit. Through the above, the lighting source is able to emit white light having a high saturation. One example of an index which can be used to express saturation is a feeling of contrast index (FCI) (refer to Japanese Patent Application Publication No. H11-73923). Reduction in radiant intensity of white light in the specific wavelength band from 570 nm to 590 nm, results in an improved FCI value for the white light.

Light-emitting module with wavelength converters and light-absorbing substance

PANASONIC INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY MANAGEMENT CO., LTD.


An electrical connection box includes an upper casing which has a peripheral wall and a locking portion provided on the peripheral wall; a lower casing which has a peripheral wall and a mating locking portion provided on the peripheral wall; wherein the peripheral wall of one of the upper and lower casings is fitted into the peripheral wall of the other of the upper and lower casings such that the electrical connection box is assembled through engagement of the locking portion of the upper casing with the mating locking portion of the lower casing; a bracket engageable portion which is projected from the peripheral wall of the one of the upper and lower casings such that the electrical connection box is mounted on a vehicle body through engagement of the bracket engageable portion with a bracket secured to the vehicle body; and a rib which is provided on the peripheral wall of the other of the upper and lower casings and is inserted into a groove formed on the peripheral wall of the one of the upper and lower casings so as to be enclosed by the peripheral wall of the one of the upper and lower casings.

The present invention generally relates to electrical connection boxes and more particularly, to an electrical connection box in which a peripheral wall of one of upper and lower casings is fitted into a peripheral wall of the other of the upper and lower casings and an engageable portion projecting from the upper casing or the lower casing is brought into engagement with a bracket mounted on a panel of a vehicle body such that the electrical connection box is not detached from the bracket even if external force is applied to the bracket by vibrations of the vehicle body, etc.
As shown in FIG. 1 and 2, a known electrical connection box such as a junction box used for connecting wiring harnesses for a motor vehicle to various electric devices includes upper and lower casings 2 and 3 having peripheral walls 2a and 3a, respectively and a locking claw 2b and a groove 3b are, respectively, formed on the peripheral walls 2a and 3a of the upper and lower casings 2 and 3. In a state where an internal circuit such as bus bars 1 is accommodated in the upper casing 2, the peripheral wall 2a of the upper casing 2 is fitted into the peripheral wall 3a of the lower casing 3 so as to be assembled with the peripheral wall 3a of the lower casing 3 such that the upper and lower casings 2 and 3 are locked to each other through engagement of the locking claw 2b of the upper casing 2 with the groove 3b of the lower casing 3. Meanwhile, as shown in FIG. 2, an engageable portion 3c is usually projected from the peripheral wall of the outer casing, i.e., the peripheral wall 3a of the lower casing 3 and is brought into engagement with a bracket 5 mounted on a panel 4 of a vehicle body.
In the known electrical connection box of the above described arrangement, when the panel 4 of the vehicle body is vibrated during running of the motor vehicle, external force is applied to the bracket 5 mounted on the panel 4 of the vehicle body, so that an engageable plate portion 5b of the bracket 5 is tilted about a fulcrum defined by a fixing portion 5a of the bracket 5 as shown in FIG. 3. As a result, the peripheral wall 3a of the lower casing 3 is pulled in the direction of the arrow of FIG. 3 through the engageable portion 3c held in engagement with the engageable plate portion 5b of the bracket 5 and thus, there is such a risk that the locking claw 2b of the upper casing 2 is disengaged from the groove 3b of the lower casing 3 as shown in FIG. 4.
Meanwhile, since the engageable portion 3c is provided on an outer face of the outer casing, large space is required to be provided at a portion of the vehicle body, on which the electrical connection box is mounted, so that space for installing the electrical connection box is increased and thus, it may be difficult to dispose the electrical connection box at a narrow site. Furthermore, if a guide 3d for receiving opposite side edges of the engageable plate portion 5b of the bracket 5 is provided on the lower casing 3, such a problem arises that the electrical connection box becomes larger in size.


To conclude, in a preferred embodiment in accordance with the invention, the sound system comprises two loudspeakers (LA, LB) which mask their spectral signatures at the ear (C1) of the listener by positioning the two loudspeakers (LA, LB) such that their maxima of the polar radiation patterns have directions which at least differ 30 degrees, and which generate coherent sound in the direction of the listener. These two aspects together cause different gradients of the sound of the two loudspeakers (LA, LB) at the same ear (C1) of the listener, while the information which reaches the ear (C1) from the spatially shifted different loudspeakers (LA, LB) is still coherent and not blurred by diffusion. The loudspeakers LA, LB should be spaced apart to obtain sufficient different gradients of their sound at the same ear.

Prior art sound systems comprise one—or multi—channel transducer arrays to improve the quality of the transmission of target sound information. For example, transducer arrays such as the two loudspeaker boxes in a stereo set-up, may provide a listener with two similar sound signals. A binaural listener is able to localize a stereophonic sound source in-between the two loudspeakers if the ears receive the two signals more or less concurrently and with equal intensity as is disclosed in GB 394,325. The summing localization mechanism of the binaural ear-brain system then provides the listener with the impression that one or more virtual sources are present in-between the two adjacent physical speakers. This is disclosed in B. C. J. Moore, An Introduction to the Psychology of Hearing, 4th Ed., Academic, San Diego (1997) p. 232, 234. However, although especially with multi channel arrays, the transmitted sound is now perceived to have a better integrity of the target sound information than the sound of one speaker alone, such sound systems have the problem that the respective transducers of the array are localizable because the spatial-spectral character of the loudspeakers remains detectable, which affects the advantages of this technique negatively, as is disclosed in G. Theile, "Über die Lokalisation im Überlagerten Schallfeld". Dissertation, Techn. Universität Berlin (1980)
All sound transducers which are impedance matched to the air, most efficiently interact with those sound waves that have wavelengths corresponding to the physical dimensions of the transducer structure. This effect influences the frequency response to vary with direction and causes resonant characteristics. The resulting sound wave fronts are modified by the so called baffle step. More information on the baffle step is found in the article of Andy Unruh, "Understanding Cabinet Edge Diffraction", Unruh Acoustics, http://www.speakerdesign.net/understand.html. Reflection and diffraction of the waves according to the shape of the enclosure of the transducer element and by the shape of the transducer element itself, cause frequency dependent particle velocity gradients of the pressure differences which model the polar response pattern of the transducer structure. Relevant publications are Olson, H. F., "Direct Radiator Loudspeaker Enclosures", JAES Vol. 17, No. 1, 1969 October, pp. 22-29; Joerg Panzer, "Far-field radiation from a source in a flat rigid baffle of finite size", New Transducers Ltd, Huntingdon, U.K; and W. R. Woszcsyk, "The Increase of Transducer Directivity Using Diffractive Attachments", J. Acoust. Soc. Am., Supplement 1, Vol. 84, 1988.
This shape related transfer function, further referred to here as the spatial-spectral contour of the transducer, is apparent in the sound waveforms reaching the ear-drum of the before mentioned listener from the speaker array. This spatial-spectral contour, which is also referred to as the spectral signature when an observer is involved, causes the localizability and affects the perceptual qualities of any resulting virtual sources embedded in the input signal, as disclosed in the publication: G. von Bekesy (1960), E. G. Wever (Editor), "Experiments in Hearing", New York, N.Y., McGraw Hill. In the now following the spectral signature is used for both situations, it will be clear from the context what is actually meant.


Disclosed is a system and method for managing the comfort of building occupants. The system utilizes a model-based approach for targeting occupant comfort levels. The system allows for voting input from building occupants regarding their respective comfort. Additionally, the system provides a user interface to gather occupant input and use said input as a parameter in a comfort model.

Buildings comprise a varied and complex set of systems for managing and maintaining the building environment. Building automation systems, comprising centralized control of separate systems such as for heating, cooling, ventilation, lighting, climate, security, entertainment, etc., can be used to perform the complex operations required by the building and its occupants and equipment and to optimize those operations for efficiency, cost, energy, priority, and so on.
In some automation systems, one or more control systems apply to the Heating, Ventilating, and Air-Conditioning (HVAC) systems in a building.
HVAC control systems typically comprise four basic elements: at least one sensor, at least one controller, at least one controlled device, and at least one source of energy. 1) A sensor measures the value of at least one variable such as temperature, humidity, and/or flow and provides its value or values to at least one controller. 2) A controller may receive input from at least one sensor, processes the input, and produces an output signal for at least one controlled device. 3) A controlled device acts to modify at least one variable as directed by a controller. 4) A source of energy provides power to the control system.
An HVAC control system typically comprises one or more sensors that measure the building climate state (e.g., temperature). The measured building climate state is compared with some defined target state (e.g., the desired temperature). The compared difference between the measured state and the target state is used by the controller to determine what actions are to be taken to bring the measured state value closer to the target state value (e.g., start a fan).
Advanced controllers today are programmable, allowing one or more users to configure parameters such as set-points, timers, alarms, and/or control logic. These HVAC controllers can allow control of a wide range of environmental conditions beyond temperature, humidity, and air flow, taking into account, for example, changes in occupancy.
Fundamentally, building automation systems and HVAC control systems have a purpose of improving the comfort of building occupants. Building occupants are individuals or groups of individuals, living or non-living, present in, near, and/or around the building for any period of time.
Efforts to improve building automation systems and HVAC control systems have focused on improving areas such as ease and flexibility of installation, efficient resource consumption, and increased connectivity (Brought forth via U.S. patent Ser. Nos. 10/608,828, 12/710,845, 13/866,578, 14/353,953, 07/858,480, 13/828,133).
To date, all research targeted at building automation systems to improve comfort showed that the target state of an HVAC control system is determined by occupant input through a simple, though often inconvenient to use, interface device, such as by a thermostat.
The thermostat may include HVAC control circuitry capable of actuating one or more elements of the HVAC system, and one or more sensors for measuring characteristics of the smart home environment. The thermostat may also include a processor coupled to the HVAC control circuitry and the one or more sensors, which may be operable to cause the thermostat to perform a variety of operations, such as sensing a Demand Response (DR) event that defines a DR event period, and determining a control path of the HVAC control system.
A dependency on an a priori or arbitrary input element such as the thermostat has the undesirable effect of skewed comfort preferences of a typical occupant vis-à-vis other occupants who had last control over the input. This dependency leads to a sub-optimal building environment due to continual adjustments by one or more occupants struggling to ensure their respective comfort.
Typically, HVAC control systems are managed by centralized control of temperature set-points, whereby thermostats are accessible to a restricted set of occupants, or in some cases exclusively to facilities management personnel who may or may not be building occupants. In cases where occupants do not have access to set-points, HVAC control systems may involve standardized settings based on building type and use and/or assumptions about the occupants' comfort. These HVAC control systems have limited ability to respond to occupants' preferences, thus providing inadequate level of comfort. Thus, a basic purpose of a HVAC control system, that of providing comfort for building occupants, remains unaddressed.
In all cases previously discussed, HVAC control systems are model-free relating to building occupant comfort. Model-free control systems comprise no physical model for describing, assessing, and/or controlling the comfort of building occupants. Model-free control systems have been typically used because of the simplicity of implementation. However, when the systems and variables being controlled are knowable and/or measurable, a model-free control system is not as accurate and/or useful as a model-based control system. Additionally, model-free control systems may require a lot of feedback before accuracy or usefulness are achieved, which may take a long time to accumulate. In the context of HVAC control systems, a model-free control system means that building occupant comfort is in a sub-optimal state most of the time. And secondary learning systems applied on top of model free controls either do not have enough insight to adequately perform the task, or require very long learning periods to stabilize.

Methodology of occupant comfort management in buildings using occupant comfort models and user interfaces thereof


A non-laminated window shade having simultaneously formed and interconnected layers is provided. Pattern is produced by revealing portions of an intermediate layer. An intermediate layer comprises solution dyed yarns of a dark color. Pad dyeing and yarn selection produces contrast between a front layer and revealed portions of an intermediate layer.

Window treatments are used for controlling light and visibility as well as to provide aesthetic appeal. Many forms of window treatments are in use. These forms include curtains, roller shades, roman shades, and blinds. Typically, the dual roles of aesthetic appeal and light or visibility control requires fabrics composed of layers laminated together wherein one or more layers serves principally to limit light transmission while one or more layers serve principally to provide aesthetic appeal.
Lamination is a separate manufacturing step which must occur following forming the layers. Additional cost and time in manufacturing is required. Additionally, cutting alternatives allowable with laminated fabrics are limited and do not generally, for example, include laser cutting. Further, problems with de-lamination may limit the life span of laminated shade materials.
There is a need for a room darkening or dimming window treatment which overcomes the disadvantages of laminated fabrics.


A system (130) for providing enhancement to a voice-band signal in a telecommunications network (138) is provided. The present system (130) includes a power averager (18) for determining the average power of the voice-band signal. The present system (130) also includes an equalizer (132) for attenuating a predetermined portion of the voice-band signal and an output scaler (134) for scaling the equalized voice-band signal with a scaling factor. The system (130) of the present invention also includes an automatic gain enhancer (136) for applying an automatic gain factor to the scaled voice-band signal and wherein the automatic gain factor is dependent upon the average power of the input voice-band signal.

Modern telecommunications networks are comprised of input and output devices, e.g., telephone sets, local central offices, and one or more telephone switches that are used for processing voice signals in the network. Voice signals can be characterized as containing two regions, including the bass region and the treble region. The bass region is typically considered to be that part of the voice signal below 300 hertz (Hz), and the treble portion is that part of the signal above 300 Hz. Voice signals may be attenuated in the bass band region by one or more of the elements in a telecommunication network.
The Electronic Industry Association (EIA) standard RS-470, published January 1981, recommends that the input voice signal be attenuated below approximately 300 Hz by the codec in the input telephone station. This attenuation of the amplitude of the bass portion of the input voice signal is recommended because background noises in a telecommunication network lie in the bass region. By decreasing the amplitude of the bass portion of the input signal, the background noises of the network are also diminished.
Additionally, central offices of a telecommunication network may also attenuate the bass band region of a voice signal. Within a central office may be located a channel bank that converts the analog input voice signal to its digital equivalent. The digital voice signal is coupled to the receiving telephone set by a digital telephone switch or switches. Before the signal is provided to the receiving telephone set, it is converted back to analog format at another central office located between the last switch and the receiving telephone set. The channel banks may attenuate the bass portion of the input voice signal during the analog to digital conversion process.
Some networks, therefore, attenuate the bass region of the input voice signal twice; in the input telephone set and in the central office. Attenuation of the bass region of the input signal results in a voice signal at the receiving telephone set that is not a true representation of the speaker's voice. Techniques have thus been proposed to compensate for the loss of bass in a telephone speaker's voice.
One prior approach for providing an enhanced voice signal in a telecommunications network utilizes a fixed gain technique. In the fixed gain approach, the bass portion of the voice signal is amplified while the signal is in the telecommunications network and before it is supplied to the receiving telephone set. This approach compensates for attenuation of the input signal with a fixed gain at some point within the network. This approach also amplifies the previously noted network background noises within the bass band region.
Moreover, if the input voice signal is a loud signal, i.e., the speaker is speaking at a high decibel (dB) level, the fixed gain enhancement approach will further amplify the high decibel signal, thus resulting in a signal at the receiving telephone set that can be uncomfortable to listen to. Alternatively, applying a fixed gain to a high decibel input signal can result in over-driving/saturating different network elements, making the signal less clear than it would have been if the fixed gain had not been applied.
An additional problem associated with the fixed gain technique for voice enhancement occurs when data is transmitted over the telecommunications network in the voice-band. This is becoming a more frequent occurrence for telecommunications systems as the use of facsimile machines and modems coupling computers continues to grow. A modem or facsimile machine transmits voice-band data at a high amplitude and at a high-frequency, e.g., 2700 Hz. Therefore, should the fixed gain technique be applied to a voice-band data signal, it will be unnecessarily amplified, thus resulting in a voice-band data signal that is difficult to use on the receiving end.
Detectors for sensing the transmission of voice-band data have been employed to solve the problems associated with voice-band data transmissions. These detectors are remote to the fixed gain enhancement circuitry, requiring an external control link to the enhancement circuitry for disabling the circuitry. This ensures that the voice-band data is not amplified.
Another problem associated with previously developed voice enhancement systems occurs when an input voice signal traveling in a telecommunications network encounters or must pass through multiple network elements (tandem network) that include fixed gain voice enhancement circuitry. Current fixed gain voice enhancement systems cannot detect when a input voice signal has already been adjusted by the fixed gain technique. Therefore, a voice signal amplified in a first element of a tandem network may be subsequently again amplified by the second element in the network. This additional amplification can result in the saturation of the voice signal, or at a minimum, make the signal uncomfortable to listen to on the receiving telephone set. Also, multiple enhancements to a voice signal can result in oscillation of the voice signal in the tandem network.
One prior approach for detecting whether a signal has been previously enhanced (tandem detection) involves the generation and detection of a sub-audible tone, typically on the order of 20 Hz as an indication of whether the voice signal has been enhanced. Such a tone passes freely over the central digital network where normally there is no frequency selective filtering. When the voice signal with the sub-audible tone goes off the digital network, however, and is converted to analog before being delivered to the subscriber, the tone is stripped off by a codec and transformer filtering. It is then possible for the subscriber to create the tandemed situation by conferencing back onto the network without the sub-audible tone passing between the tandemed networks. Without the sub-audible tone, this previously enhanced signal may be enhanced an additional time in the network, which may result in an unsatisfactory signal as previously described.


An antenna apparatus includes a hollow column, a conductive cable, a first metal wire, a column structure, and a second metal wire. The conductive cable is received in the hollow column, and the conductive cable electrically contacts the hollow column via a second conductive wire layer thereof. One side of the first metal wire is electrically connected with a first conductive wire layer of the conductive cable. The column structure has a column body, a metal layer formed on the column body, at least one spiral groove formed on the metal layer for exposing a part of the column body, and two conductive covers respectively disposed on two sides of the column body. Moreover, one of the two conductive covers is electrically connected with the other side of the first metal wire. Furthermore, one side of the second metal wire is electrically connected with the other conductive cover.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an antenna apparatus, and particularly relates to a metal layer with at least one spiral groove that is formed on the column body of the antenna apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
Due to the development of communication technology, a lot of electronic products that use wireless communication technology have been developed, such as cell phones, wireless Internet devices and personal digital assistants (PDAs), etc. Consumers demand that such wireless communication devices have consistently better and better features and appearance, as well as smaller dimensions so that they are easy to carry around.
For cell phones, the number of receiving frequencies has increased from an original single frequency, to two, to three, and now a fourth. The receiving-signal effect of wireless communication devices is an important index for evaluating wireless communication devices. The antenna apparatus is a key factor to determine the receiving-signal effect of wireless communication devices. Therefore, it is important to develop an antenna apparatus that receives signals effectively and also has a fresh fashionable appearance and a small size.
Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, a known antenna apparatus A includes a hollow column 1a, a conductive cable 2a, a first copper wire 3a, a copper column 4a, a second copper wire 5a, and an external casing 6a.
The conductive cable 2a is received into the hollow column 1a, and the conductive cable 2a electrically contacts the hollow column 1a. Moreover, the first copper wire 3a electrically connects between the conductive cable 2a and the copper column 4a. In addition, the second copper wire 5a has a spring structure 50a, and the copper wire 5a is embedded on a top side of the copper column 4a. Furthermore, the external casing 6a entirely covers the hollow column 1a, the conductive cable 2a, the first copper wire 3a, the copper column 4a, and the second copper wire 5a. Finally, as shown in FIG. 2, the antenna apparatus A is installed on an AP (Access Point) P.
However, the spiral structure 50 of the second copper wire 5a often deforms during shipment. The deformation of the spiral coil affects the signal receiving ability and the quality of the antenna. Moreover, due to the structure of the antenna, the dimension of the antenna cannot be shrunk further. In addition, the known antenna apparatus has some defects such as its low frequency bandwidth is narrow.


When detecting fluorescence of a bead chip array, reflected light from a bead is detected at the same time, so as to recognize the bead position. The reflected light can be detected in a similar manner for all beads, regardless of the presence or absence of a fluorescent substance. If the positions of all beads are detected, accurate detection can be achieved by quantifying only the fluorescence at the detected positions. The fluorescence wavelength alone is detected by a first detector using a wavelength selection filter. Other wavelengths are detected by a second detector, thereby obtaining the reflected light. Data on the reflected light is processed into an image for obtaining the bead profile, the bead position is recognized by detecting the center position based on the profile, and the fluorescence is quantified based on the bead position.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to fluorescence image acquisition in the field of life science. In particular, it is suitable for the accurate detection of fluorescence from bead arrays.
2. Background Art
Conventionally, fluorescence image acquisition in the field of life science is performed using apparatuses for detecting fluorescent substances on a planar chip, typically a DNA chip. Such an apparatus reads spots that are two-dimensionally arranged and is configured with array form information in advance. Overall positions of the spots are determined based on the array form information and compared with fluorescence information, and a detection matrix is aligned with individual spots.
For example, JP Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 2004-226234 A below discloses a bead-reading method and apparatus in which a functional bead having a coating layer on the surface thereof in which nanoparticles exist is introduced into a flow passage. A voltage is applied to the functional bead in the flow passage so as to cause it to emit light having a wavelength specific to the nanoparticle. The functional bead is then identified based on light emission. In this case, a prerequisite is that the array form information of the beads is obtained in advance.

Apparatus and method for reading fluorescence from bead arrays