Organosilicon compounds each having in a molecule (A) a perfluoroalkyl group of at least 3 carbon atoms which may be separated by an etheric oxygen atom, (B) a monovalent hydrocarbon group containing a carboxylic acid anhydride structure, and (C) a hydrosilyl (SiH) group are novel and added to thermosetting elastomer compositions as adhesion aids whereby the compositions are improved in adhesion to various materials including metals, alloys, plastics, and ceramics.

1. Technical Field
This invention relates to novel organosilicon compounds which are added to various thermosetting elastomer compositions as adhesive aids.
2. Background Art
Known adhesive aids added to conventional thermosetting elastomer compositions include those having alkoxysilyl groups, acid anhydride groups and SiH groups. Although some adhesive aids achieve good adherence, there is a desire to have compounds more effective as adhesive aids.
It has been found that organosilicon compounds having in a molecule (A) a perfluoroalkyl group of at least 3 carbon atoms which may be separated by an etheric oxygen atom, (B) a monovalent hydrocarbon group containing a carboxylic acid anhydride structure, and (C) a hydrosilyl group are effective as adhesive aids, especially as adhesive aids in elastomer compositions containing fluorinated compounds for enhancing their adhesion to metals.
The organosilicon compound of the invention has in a molecule (A) a perfluoroalkyl group of at least 3 carbon atoms which may be separated by an etheric oxygen atom, (B) a monovalent hydrocarbon group containing a carboxylic acid anhydride structure, and (C) a hydrosilyl (SiH) group.
Specifically, the organosilicon compound has the average compositional formula (1) and preferably the general formula (2), (3) or (4).
xe2x80x83RfaR1bR2cHdSiO(4xe2x88x92axe2x88x92bxe2x88x92cxe2x88x92d)/2xe2x80x83xe2x80x83(1)
In formula (1), Rf is a monovalent organic group containing a perfluoroalkyl group of at least 3 carbon atoms which may be separated by an etheric oxygen atom,
R1 is a substituted or unsubstituted monovalent hydrocarbon group,
R2 is a monovalent hydrocarbon group containing a carboxylic acid anhydride structure,
a, b, c and d are numbers satisfying:
0.01xe2x89xa6axe2x89xa650.5, preferably 0.05xe2x89xa6axe2x89xa60.3,
0xe2x89xa6bxe2x89xa62, preferably 0.5xe2x89xa6bxe2x89xa61.5,
0.01xe2x89xa6cxe2x89xa60.5, preferably 0.05xe2x89xa6cxe2x89xa60.3,
0.01xe2x89xa6dxe2x89xa60.5, preferably 0.05xe2x89xa6dxe2x89xa60.3, and
2xe2x89xa6a+b+c+dxe2x89xa63.
In formula (2), R3 is a substituted or unsubstituted divalent hydrocarbon group,
R4 and R5 each are a substituted or unsubstituted monovalent hydrocarbon group,
R6 is independently hydrogen, Rf, R1 or R2, wherein Rf, R1 and R2 are as defined above, at least one hydrogen, at least one Rf and at least one R2 are contained in a molecule, and
e is an integer of 0 or 1.
In formula (3), R4 is a substituted or unsubstituted monovalent hydrocarbon group; R6 is independently hydrogen, Rf, R1 or R2, wherein Rf, R1 and R2 are as defined above; at least one hydrogen, at least one Rf and at least one R2 are contained in a molecule; and m is a positive integer of at least 3 and preferably 3 to 8.
In formula (4), R4 is a substituted or unsubstituted monovalent hydrocarbon group; R6 is independently hydrogen, Rf, R1 or R2, wherein Rf, R1 and R2 are as defined above; at least one hydrogen, at least one Rf and at least one R2 are contained in a molecule; n is a positive integer of at least 1, preferably 1 to 500 and more preferably 5 to 200; and R7 is R4 or a group of the following formula (5):
wherein R4 and R6 are as defined above.
More illustratively, the substituted or unsubstituted monovalent hydrocarbon groups represented by R1, R4 and R5 are preferably those of 1 to 12 carbon atoms, more preferably 1 to 8 carbon atoms, for example, alkyl groups such as methyl, ethyl and propyl, cycloalkyl groups such as cyclohexyl, aryl groups such as phenyl and tolyl, and the foregoing groups in which some hydrogen atoms are substituted with halogen atoms.
The monovalent hydrocarbon group containing a carboxylic acid anhydride structure, represented by R2, is not critical as long has it has a carboxylic acid anhydride structure. Groups of the following formula are preferred.
Herein R7 is a divalent hydrocarbon group having 1 to 15 carbon atoms, and especially 2 to 10 carbon atoms, for example, an alkylene or alkenylene group.
Illustrative examples are given below.
The substituted or unsubstituted divalent hydrocarbon groups represented by R3 are preferably those of 1 to 12 carbon atoms, more preferably 1 to 8 carbon atoms, for example, alkylene groups such as methylene, ethylene and propylene, cycloalkylene groups such as cyclohexylene, arylene groups such as phenylene, and the foregoing groups in which some hydrogen atoms are substituted with halogen atoms.
The monovalent organic groups containing a perfluoroalkyl group of at least 3 carbon atoms which may be separated by an etheric oxygen atom, represented by Rf, include
F(CxF2x)CH2CH2xe2x80x94,
F(CxF2x)CH2CH2CH2xe2x80x94, and
F(CyF2yO)pCzF2zxe2x80x94Axe2x80x94,
wherein x is 3 to 20, y is 1 to 4, z is 1 to 10, p is 1 to 100, y multiplied by p is at least 2, and A is a divalent organic group, for example, an alkylene group such as methylene, ethylene or propylene.
Illustrative, non-limiting examples of the organic groups represented by Rf are given below. Note that Me is methyl.
C4F9CH2CHxe2x80x94
C8F17CH2CH2CH2xe2x80x94
C3F7O(CF2CF2CF2O) hCF2CF2CH2CH2xe2x80x94(e.g., h=1 to 50)
Fxe2x80x94(CF2O)h(CF2CF2O) iCF2CH2CH2xe2x80x94(e.g., h=1 to 50, i=1 to 50)
Illustrative examples of the organosilicon compounds according to the invention are given below. They are typical examples, and the inventive compounds are not limited thereto. Note that Me is methyl.
The organosilicon compounds of the invention can be synthesized, for example, by the following method. The starting compound is an organosilicon compound having fluorine-modified groups, represented by the formula:
RfaR1bHdSiO(4xe2x88x92axe2x88x92bxe2x88x92d)/2
wherein Rf and R1 are as defined above, and 0.01xe2x89xa6axe2x89xa60.5, 0xe2x89xa6bxe2x89xa62, 0.01xe2x89xa6dxe2x89xa60.5, and 2xe2x89xa6a+b+dxe2x89xa63. By effecting addition or hydrosilylation reaction of an acid anhydride having an ethylenically unsaturated group to the organosilicon compound having fluorine-modified groups in the presence of a hydrosilylation catalyst such as a platinum complex compound, the end compound is obtainable.
The reaction temperature is usually about 50 to 150xc2x0 C., preferably about 70 to 120xc2x0 C. If necessary, the reactants are diluted with a solvent such as toluene, xylene or 1,3-bistrifluoromethylbenzene.
Most often, the organosilicon compounds of the invention are added to thermosetting elastomer compositions as adhesion aids whereby the compositions are improved in adhesion to various materials including metals and alloys such as aluminum, iron, stainless steel, nickel alloys, chromium alloys and copper alloys, plastics such as acrylic resins, nylon, PPS, PBT, PET, epoxy resins, polyimides and polyvinyl chloride, and ceramics such as alumina and silicon nitride.


A point-of-gaze detection device according to the present invention detects a point-of-gaze of a subject toward a surrounding environment. The device includes: an eyeball image obtaining means configured to obtain an eyeball image of the subject; a reflection point estimating means configured to estimate a first reflection point, at which incoming light in an optical axis direction of an eyeball of the subject is reflected, from the eyeball image; a corrected reflection point calculating means configured to calculate a corrected reflection point as a corrected first reflection point by correcting the first reflection point on the basis of a personal parameter indicative of a difference between a gaze direction of the subject and the optical axis direction of the eyeball; and a point-of-gaze detecting means configured to detect the point-of-gaze on the basis of light at the corrected reflection point and light in the surrounding environment.

Detection of a subject's point-of-gaze is a technique important for and essential to establishment of modern and next-generation information environments. Techniques relating to point-of-gaze detection have a wide range of applications, such as user interfaces, ubiquitous and ambient environments, human behavior recognition/understanding, communication analysis, etc., which use point-of-gaze information. Accordingly, various techniques have been reduced in practice in addition to implementation to commercially available products.
Non-patent Document 1 discloses a technique using an environment image reflected on the surface of an eyeball as a novel point-of-gaze detecting method. This technique achieves point-of-gaze detection by direct mapping between an environment image reflected on the surface of an eyeball and points of a scene captured by an environment camera. This technique has various advantages, such as: (1) system installation is easy; (2) the need of equipment fitting to a subject is eliminated; (3) a complicate depth-varying environment can be addressed; and the like.

Point-of-gaze detection device, point-of-gaze detecting method, personal parameter calculating device, personal parameter calculating method, program, and computer-readable storage medium


A method and system for non-invasive assessment and therapy planning for coronary artery disease from medical image data of a patient is disclosed. Geometric features representing at least a portion of a coronary artery tree of the patient are extracted from medical image data. Lesions are detected in coronary artery tree of the patient and a hemodynamic quantity of interest is computed at a plurality of points along the coronary artery tree including multiple points within the lesions based on the extracted geometric features using a machine learning model, resulting in an estimated pullback curve for the hemodynamic quantity of interest. Post-treatment values for the hemodynamic quantity of interest are predicted at the plurality of points along the coronary artery tree including the multiple points within the lesions for each of one or more candidate treatment options for the patient, resulting in a respective predicted post-treatment pullback curve for the hemodynamic quantity of interest for each of the one or more candidate treatment options. A visualization of a treatment prediction for at least one of the candidate treatment options is displayed.

The present invention relates to non-invasive assessment and therapy planning for coronary artery disease from medical images, and more particularly to non-invasive assessment of the hemodynamic significance of diffuse and/or tandem lesions in coronary arteries and guidance for optimal treatment of such coronary artery lesions.
Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of deaths worldwide. Among various CVDs, coronary artery disease (CAD) accounts for nearly fifty percent of those deaths. CAD is typically caused by lesions, such as local narrowing, or stenosis, in the coronary arteries. One treatment option for treating CAD is Percutaneous Coronary Intervention (PCI), which is a procedure that uses a catheter to place a metal or polymer stent in the coronary artery to open up the lumen. However, optimal treatment of diffuse and tandem lesions is difficult. Diffuse coronary artery lesions are lesions that reduce hemodynamic function of a whole coronary artery branch, but are not small localized stenoses. Tandem coronary artery lesions are two (or more) stenoses that are close together in series in a coronary artery branch. While full lesion coverage is generally recommended for diffuse or tandem lesions to reduce the occurrence of restenosis, longer stent length has been associated with adverse clinical outcomes through stent thrombosis and restenosis. "Spot" implantation of drug eluting stents has show promising results yielding favorable short-term and long-term clinical applications for long coronary artery lesions. However, stent gaps or incomplete lesion coverage could correlate with increased risk of future cardiovascular events.
Fractional flow reserve (FFR) is typically used to measure the hemodynamic significance of coronary artery stenoses. FFR is typically measured invasively by inserting a pressure wire into the stenosed vessel while using adenosine to induce a hyperemic state in the patient. FFR pullback curve analysis is a useful tool for stenosis severity assessment and intervention planning in complex scenarios including diffuse and tandem lesions. FFR pullback measures pressure/FFR variation along a vessel by acquiring pressure measurements with a pressure wire while pulling the pressure wire back through the vessel. By analyzing pressure variation along the vessel, a physician can identify the most sever flow limiting lesions and formulate a treatment plant. However, FFR pullback is challenging in that it requires a longer procedure with prolonged infusion of adenosine which can cause significant chest discomfort and dyspnea in the patient. These challenges have partial motivated the success of alternative indices that do not require hyperemic agents, such as instantaneous wave-free ratio (iFR), which has demonstrated good predictive power (via iFR pullback curve analysis) for the identification of significant stenoses in tandem/diffusely diseased vessels.
With or without the use of hyperemic agents, pullback curve analysis is still time consuming and invasive. It requires a first distal measurement for evaluations of significant coronary artery disease, then a controlled pull-back for identification of stenoses and assessment of the relative severity of the detected stenoses. PCI of the most severe stenosis is then performed followed by a distal measurement for evaluation of residual ischemia. If significant ischemia is indicated, the procedure is repeated until all significant lesions in the vessels have been identified and treated. The prolonged procedure time elevates the risks for the patients, as well as the cost. Furthermore, pullback curve analysis by itself does not provide an indication of risk of short-term or long-term clinical outcomes, since it ignores other effects determining vulnerability of the coronary lesion.
There is a need for fast and non-invasive techniques to assess the hemodynamic significance of different portions of long diffuse/tandem lesions, as well as guide the optimal treatment strategy based on characterization of the lesion stability before and after PCI.

Non-invasive assessment and therapy guidance for coronary artery disease in diffuse and tandem lesions


A light, portable golf riding apparatus that may be electric motor or pedal driven. The lightness of the apparatus is provided in part by using a tubular construction, with few, if any, panels, and portability is provided by having the apparatus formed from several sections or frameworks pivoting in relation to each other. In one embodiment, a first central section holds the power train and rear wheels, a front section holds the steering column, and a third a seat for the rider. The central and front sections pivot towards each other, the seat folds onto the central section and the steering collapses about the apparatus to form a compact body.

So far as known to the inventors, golf carts are typically cumbersome and entirely motor driven vehicles that are not easily transported and do not offer any form of exercise when ridden. Golf carts are usually fairly heavy and most golf courses keep a fleet of carts available for rental by patrons of the golf course, since they are simply not readily portable.
The inventors have proposed a light, portable golf riding apparatus that also in one embodiment offers optional human propulsion, in the case shown using foot driven pedals. The lightness of the apparatus is provided in part by using a tubular construction, with few, if any, panels, and portability is provided by having the apparatus formed from several sections or frameworks pivoting in relation to each other. In one embodiment, a first central section holds the power train and rear wheels, a front section holds the steering, and a third a seat for the rider. In one embodiment, the front section folds back upon the central section and the seat collapses onto the central section to make a compact and portable vehicle. Power is provided optionally by an electric motor or a free-wheeling pedal with chain attachment to the rear wheels.
Further elucidation of the invention may be found in the detailed description that follows and the claims forming a part of this patent document.


A polyethylene article comprises crystalline polyethylene in an orthorhombic unit cell. The b-axes of the crystalline polyethylene are substantially aligned with the machine direction of the article. In particular, the Herman's index of the b-axes in the machine direction is greater than zero and greater than the Herman's indices of the b-axes in both the transverse and normal directions. The unique physical attributes exhibited by a polyethylene article having this new morphology are also described.

Polyethylene polymers are, under normal conditions, semicrystalline polymers containing crystalline regions interspersed with amorphous regions. In particular, polyethylene polymers crystallize by folding of the polyethylene chain, which produces crystalline lamellae interspersed with an amorphous polyethylene phase. When polyethylene polymers are processed under conditions that subject the molten polymer to relatively little strain, the polymer chains in the polymer melt are relaxed in a random coil configuration. In the absence of heterogeneous nuclei (impurities or intentionally added agents), the polymer melt (e.g., polyethylene melt) cools until sufficient inter-chain interaction occurs to spontaneously initiate chain-folding and subsequent crystalline lamellar growth. This lamellar growth is typically spherulitic and exhibits very little, if any, preferred orientation of the polyethylene's crystallographic a, b, and c axes in three dimensions.
In extensional strain processes like blown film, however, and depending on the exact strain level, a greater or lesser degree of the melt chains may be extended in the flow direction. Alignment and attraction of some of these extended chains can lead to crystallization of fibrils which form at higher temperatures than the bulk of primary crystallization and are oriented in the flow direction. These fibrils can be very effective sites for further nucleation, with the subsequent direction of fastest growth (b axis of the polyethylene orthorhombic unit cell) normal to the fibril length. The b axis (or lamellar fast growth direction) is distributed more or less radially around these fibrils (and therefore the b-axis is normal to the flow direction). This morphology is referred to as a row nucleated, or "shish-kebab" morphology, with the fibrils forming the "shishes" and the chain-folded lamellae forming the "kebabs" growing normal to the "shishes." The degree of extensional strain and the potential degree of relaxation of the melt determine the exact final morphology. At intermediate strain and/or with moderate relaxation possible, i.e. with moderate trapped flow direction orientation approaching the crystallization temperature, fibril nucleation density is moderate. Based on widely accepted literature models, Keller/Machin 1 (KM 1) morphology results, wherein the b axis is primarily normal to the fibrils and distributed radially around fibrils (and therefore the b-axis is normal to the flow direction), and the a axis shows at least some net level of orientation parallel to fibril or flow direction. Under more extreme combinations of extensional strain and lack of melt relaxation, fibril nucleation density is relatively higher. Keller/Machin 2 (KM 2) morphology results, wherein b axis orientation shows strong net orientation normal to fibril length and distributed radially around the fibril (and therefore the b-axis is normal to the flow direction). Lamellar twisting is not possible due to very high fibril nucleation density, and the c axis shows a significant net orientation parallel to fibril or flow direction.
The KM1 and KM2 morphologies can lead to certain undesirable properties in an article. For example, polyethylene films exhibiting either the KM1 or KM2 morphology exhibit unbalanced tear strength between the machine direction and the transverse direction. While this lack of balance may not be problematic for certain articles and applications, it can prove troublesome for tearable films. Tearable films that exhibit a lack of balance in tear strength can have a tear that suddenly changes the direction in which it propagates through the film. This can be particularly problematic for tearable films used in food packaging, where a controlled tear is desired in order to avoid spilling the contents of the packaging.
While the addition of nucleating agents can change certain aspects of the crystallization, their addition has not yet been observed to produce polyethylene in which the b axis of the orthorhombic polyethylene unit cell is preferentially parallel to the machine direction of the polyethylene article. Applicants believe that such a morphology is desirable and will enable one to produce polyethylene articles having unique physical properties, such as more balanced tear strength in the machine and transverse directions, higher machine direction stiffness, better barrier, and higher heat distortion temperature (HDT) as well as other beneficial properties.


A loop-type heat pipe includes an evaporator configured to vaporize an operating fluid, a condenser configured to condense the operating fluid, a liquid pipe configured to connect the evaporator and the condenser, a vapor pipe configured to connect the evaporator and the condenser, a porous body provided in the liquid pipe, and a vapor moving path provided at a part in the liquid pipe separately from the porous body and extending from the evaporator along a longitudinal direction of the liquid pipe, the operating fluid vaporized in the evaporator moving in the vapor moving path. The vapor moving path has a flow path in which the operating fluid vaporized in the evaporator flows and a wall part surrounding the flow path.

In the related art, as a device configured to cool a heat generation component of a semiconductor device (for example, a CPU and the like) mounted on an electronic device, a heat pipe configured to transport heat by using a phase change of an operating fluid is suggested (for example, refer to PTL 1).
The loop-type heat pipe includes an evaporation unit configured to receive heat from a heat generation body and to evaporate a liquid-phase operating fluid and a condensation unit configured to condense the vapor-phase operating fluid by heat radiation. Also, the loop-type heat pipe includes a vapor pipe for causing the operating fluid vaporized in the evaporation unit to flow into the condensation unit, and a liquid pipe for causing the operating fluid condensed in the condensation unit to flow into the evaporation unit. The loop-type heat pipe has a loop structure in which the evaporation unit, the vapor pipe, the condensation unit and the liquid pipe are connected in series, and the operating fluid is enclosed therein.

Loop-type heat pipe with vapor moving path in liquid pipe


A method and system for differentiating types of data stored in a data collection. In one implementation, the method includes receiving a search request on a first type of data stored in the data collection; automatically differentiating data of the first type stored in the data collection from data of other types stored in the data collection; and completing the search request using data determined to be of the first type. Automatically differentiating data of the first type includes determining a type of each data entry in the data collection based only on tokens associated with the data entry.

A database is a structured collection of various types of records or data. For example, names in structured data collections are often mixed as to type—e.g., both business names and personal names may be included in the same data collection, with no indication of the type (e.g., "business" or "personal") associated with each entry. Name search strategies for record retrieval are generally more effective when the search strategies are specifically adapted to a specific type of name (e.g., a business-specific strategy for business names, or a personal name-specific strategy for personal names). However, automatically making a distinction between various types of names in structured databases is complicated by the lack of surrounding context—i.e., only the name itself is available as input to the decision process.

Method and apparatus for automatically differentiating between types of names stored in a data collection

International Business Machines Corporation


A method for facilitating secured data processing, the method includes generating, for each client out of at least two clients, a private key, and a public key; and storing at least the private keys at highly secured entity; whereas the highly secured entity is operable to utilize at least a the private key to perform public key infrastructure processing.

In computerized systems it is often desired to achieve authentication, secrecy and non-repudiation. Authentication provides a positive identification of an entity in the system. An entity can be a human user, a specific software component or a specific computer. Said entity is commonly defined in the art as a client or client component. Secrecy guarantees that data being stored or transmitted cannot be read by unauthorized entities. Non-repudiation guarantees that an entity cannot disown a previously issued message (also called a transaction).
These goals can be achieved using PKI (Public Key Infrastructure) technology. In PKI systems each entity is assigned a key-pair consisting of a private key and a corresponding public key. The keys are usually multi-digit numbers represented in an appropriate digital form. The keys satisfy certain mathematical properties according to the specific public-key algorithm used.
Some prior art public key algorithms are known as RSA, DH and DSA. RSA was introduced by Rivest, Shamir and Adleman and is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,405,829 which is incorporated herein by reference. DH was introduced by Diffie, Hellman and Merkle and is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,200,770 which is incorporated herein by reference. DSA (Digital Signature Algorithm) was introduced by the National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST) and is defined at Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) 186-2, which is also incorporated herein by reference.
It is computationally easy to calculate the public key from a given private key, but it is extremely hard to calculate the private key given a public key.
Some public-key algorithms provide a method for calculating a digital signature of a message using an entity's private key.
A digital signature is data that is a unique binding of the message and the signer's private key. The digital signature can be verified using the original message and the signer's public key, and thus proves the authenticity of the message and provides non-repudiation.
Some public-key algorithms provide a method for encrypting a message using an entity's public key. An encrypted message can only be decrypted using that entity's corresponding private key and thus providing secrecy.
In order to verify a digital signature, authenticate a transaction, or encrypt a message, entities in a PKI based system need access to other entities' public keys. This is usually achieved by means of a public-key database (commonly referred to as the directory).
Certificates are used to bind an entity's identity to their public keys. This binding is needed in order to allow storage and distribution of public keys without the risk that public keys will be replaced by rouge elements.
A certificate is a message that contains the identity of an entity (using its name, address, department etc.), the entity's public key, validity period and a digital signature of these items. This digital signature is calculated by a CA (Certificate Authority) using the CA's private key. The CA's public key is published in the directory or otherwise accessible to the entities that use the CA services.
A CA also publishes a CRL (Certificate Revocation List) periodically. The CRL is a message signed by the CA containing references to every certificate issued by the CA which has been revoked. Revocation can occur when the security of the private key of the entity for which the certificate was issued is reported to be compromised. By checking the CRL, entities can make sure that certificates are indeed valid.
In order to verify the authenticity of certificates and CRLs, an entity needs access to the CA's public key. This is usually provided as a self-signed CA certificate, which is assumed to be locally available to all entities in the system.
In existing PKI based systems, each entity will go through an enrollment process before it can enjoy the benefits of the system. The enrollment process usually includes generating a key pair, generating and sending the CA a certificate request and receiving the entity's certificate from the CA.
In the normal day-to-day operation of PKI based systems, entities access a directory, retrieve other entities' certificates, verify them against the latest CRL, and then use the public key contained in the certificate to encrypt a message or to verify a digital signature. Entities use their private keys to sign messages and to decrypt encrypted data.
Periodically, an entity will need to re-enroll either because a new private key needs to be generated (due to the loss and revocation of the previous key), or because its certificate has expired.
As mentioned earlier, each entity must have means for generating and storing the key-pair as well as the certificate. This medium is referred to as a private-key token.
Tokens are available in existing systems in one of two forms: a software implementation or a hardware implementation. A software implementation stores the private key and certificate on a general purpose computer system in a conventional non-volatile storage medium (such as a hard disk), and performs all the calculations that use the private key using the general purpose computer system CPU.
This kind of implementation usually stores the private key encrypted using a conventional symmetric encryption algorithm (such as DES) with the key derived out of a password or pass-phrase. Knowledge of the password allows access and usage of the stored private key.
Hardware implementation store the private key and certificate on a separate dedicated platform that contains non-volatile storage and a CPU, which is used to perform all the calculations that use the private key. The most common form of hardware implementations is a smartcard (as defined by ISO 7816). A smartcard will typically authenticate the entity wishing to use the stored private key using a password.
Some prior art PKI systems suffer from various disadvantages that slowed down the assimilation of PKI technology and prevented widespread deployment of PKI technology.
Software implementations are vulnerable to password guessing attacks (also known as dictionary attacks). Since the encrypted stored private key can be copied by rouge software running on the general purpose platform, and then the user's password can be searched for, and the key decrypted.
Software implementations are vulnerable to private-key theft. Rouge software running on the general purpose platform can be designed to copy the private key as its being used by the CPU during a signature or a decryption calculation.
Software implementations usually severely limit the mobility of the user. Since most software implementations store the private key and certificate in a special file or in the system's registry, a complex export-import procedure is required in order to allow copying of the private key from one machine to the other.
Software implementations may force the user to re-enroll following a system failure (such as a hard-disk crash), which limits their utility.
Software implementations may require a complex cleansing of the system when a machine is to be reused or serviced by another person in order not to expose the previous user's private key.
Since software and hardware implementations set and use the private key protection password locally, it is usually impossible to 'unlock' a private key once a password is forgotten or lost.
When a private key needs to be administratively revoked (for example when employment of the key-holder is terminated), the cooperation of the key-holder is needed in order to ensure that no use of the key is made until the next release of a CRL. Such cooperation may not be forthcoming.
Hardware implementations incur a high per-seat cost.
Hardware implementations need creation of a logistical support system for replacing stolen, lost or damaged tokens as well as for the initial distribution.
Management of potentially very large number of distributed tokens is problematic especially for removable devices. This relates to system wide updates, such as token format version changes, re-issuing of CA and user certificates, etc.
Since usage of the PKI system is usually mandated by the organizational security policy and does not provide immediate functional benefit to users, active user involvement (mainly during enrollment and re-enrollment) must be minimized if the system deployment is to succeed.
When tokens are distributed across multiple platforms, it is impossible to create a centralized audit log of all the sensitive operations (such as digital signatures) performed using those tokens.
The use of a separate password for accessing the user's private key adds to the burden of passwords to be remembered and periodically changed by the user. This might lead to poor (easily guessed) choice of passwords.
Most commercial PKI systems require administrators to maintain a separate user database for certificate issuing/enrolment purposes. This duplication translates to higher costs and the possibility of loss of synchronization between the PKI user database and the organizational user database.
Roaming servers attempt to address the user mobility issue by storing a software token on a centralized server and providing a method for downloading it to the required computer being used. This solution does not address the basic security problem of software tokens caused by local use of the private key in the clear by a potentially un-trusted platform and do not allow for centralized management of the tokens.
U.S. patent application 2002/0144109 of Benantar et al. describes a system and method that involves sending a client by email and requesting information and generating a pair of keys by a client browser type application.


An HDD mounting part includes component fixing sections that respectively extend along both sides of an HDD and have widths not more than the height of the HDD. The HDD mounting part further includes: a first HDD fixing section that extends from the component fixing sections up to a position apart from a front end of the HDD and is fixed to a notebook PC at the position apart from the front end; and a second apparatus fixing section that extends from the component fixing sections up to a position apart from a rear end of the HDD and is fixed to the notebook PC at the position apart from the rear end.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electronic component mounting part for mounting an electronic component and an electronic apparatus provided with an electronic component mounted with the electronic component mounting part.
2. Description of the Related Art
An electronic apparatus is provided with various electronic components. Some of those electronic components are mounted via electronic component mounting parts. For example, a notebook type personal computer (hereinafter to be abbreviated as "notebook PC"), which is one of electronic apparatuses, is provided with a hard-disk drive unit as an electronic component. The hard-disk drive unit is substantially shaped like a rectangular solid when viewed from above and is mounted to the main unit of the notebook PC with a frame body, which is an electronic component mounting part made of metal in a squared U-shape so as to cover the upper and side surfaces of the hard-disk drive unit.
Conventionally, some of techniques related to an electronic component mounting part are known. For example, there is a frame body made of metal and having a flexible top panel. In this case, even when vibration or impact is externally applied to a notebook PC, the top panel absorbs the vibration or impact and prevents the vibration or impact from being applied to the hard-disk drive unit of the notebook PC.
In addition, for example, as an electronic component mounting part for mounting an electronic component, Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 5-102677 proposes a technique of mounting electronic components of difference sizes by providing, inside an electronic apparatus, two locking sections of a first locking section for locking electronic components with small dimensions and a second locking section for locking electronic components with large dimensions without employing any extra part.
Moreover, Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2003-332765 proposes a technique for elaborating a structure for mounting a base plate serving as an electronic component in order to prevent the head of a screw for attaching the base plate from protruding through the surface of the base plate.
Further, Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 10-135661 proposes a technique for arranging a buffer member on the top and under surfaces of a floppy disk drive (FDD: registered trademark) unit serving as an electronic component. According to this technique, an L-shaped metal piece provided with a guide hole that allows the vertical movement of the FDD is arranged on the FDD-side surface and fixed within the enclosure of an electronic apparatus.
In recent years, because electronic apparatuses have become thinner, it has been an important issue to reduce the thickness of both an electronic component provided in an electronic apparatus and an electronic component mounting part for mounting the electronic component.
In the above-described technique that provides the top panel configuring the metal-made frame body with deflection to absorb vibration and impact to the hard-disk drive unit, there is such a problem that the thickness of the electronic apparatus cannot be reduced because the top panel is disposed on the top surface of the hard-disk drive unit.
In addition, the technique proposed in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 5-102677, that provides the electronic apparatus in its inside with the first locking section for locking an electronic component with small dimensions and the second locking section for locking an electronic component with large dimensions, fails to mention a reduction in the thickness of those first and second locking sections serving as electronic component mounting parts as well as a reduction in the thickness of the electronic apparatus provided with the electronic components mounted by those electronic component mounting parts.
Moreover, Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2003-332765 that proposes the technique for devising the base plate mounting structure also fails to mention a reduction in the thickness of the electronic component mounting parts and a reduction in the thickness of the electronic apparatus provided with the electronic components mounted by the electronic component mounting parts.
In addition, the technique proposed in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 10-135661 has such a problem that because the buffer member is provided on the top and under surfaces of the FDD, the thickness of the electronic apparatus cannot be reduced.

Electronic component mounting part and electronic apparatus


A parallel imaging (PI) method has been frequently used as a method for shortening an image acquisition time in the MRI field. The PI technique is a method for acquiring data using multi-channel coils, that is, several coils, when acquiring the data in MRI. According to this technique, data, the amount of which is smaller than that when the data is obtained using only one coil, is acquired, and then an image is obtained using coil information. According to an embodiment, a new image reconstruction method is proposed which adopts an expectation maximization (EM) technique that is different from the existing GRAPPA or SENSE technique when an image is obtained using PI data acquired through the radial trajectory.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a parallel MR imaging method for radial trajectory, and more particularly to a parallel MR imaging method for radial trajectory, which can reconstruct a high-resolution image using a new parallel imaging method that can be used when radially sampling data to acquire an MR image.
2. Related Art
A parallel imaging (PI) method has been frequently used as a method for shortening an image acquisition time in the magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) field. The PI technique is a method for acquiring data using multi-channel coils, that is, several coils, when acquiring the data in MRI. According to this technique, data, the amount of which is smaller than that when the data is obtained using only one coil, is acquired, and then an image is obtained using coil information.
As PI methods in the related art, a radial generalized autocalibrating partially parallel acquisition (GRAPPA) method and an iterative sensitivity encoding (SENSE) method are known.
First, the radial GRAPPA method includes the following processing steps: (a) acquiring, from an MR imaging device, data g to be used for reconstruction and data ACS line to be used to obtain reconstruction coefficients, (b) obtaining the reconstruction coefficients c from a part of g and ACS line obtained in the step (a), (c) predicting unknown data g′ for each coil using g and c obtained in (a, b), and (d) reconstructing g′ obtained in (c) as a final image.
The radial GRAPPA method has the advantages that image reconstruction becomes possible even without acquiring sensitivity information of the coils in advance. Further, the radial GRAPPA method has the advantages that it requires a small amount of computation and an iterative reconstruction method is not required to be used. However, this method has a problem that the quality of an image is degraded due to errors of assumption that is used in a process of extending and applying the GRAPPA technique that is the basis of the present method to radial coordinate system sampling. That is, due to inaccuracy of the reconstruction coefficients obtained in (b), errors occur in a resultant image that is finally reconstructed. Since a detailed algorithm for this is described in "M. A. Griswold at al., Direct Parallel Imaging Reconstruction of Radially Sampled Data Using GRAPPA with Relative Shifts ISMRM 2003", the detailed explanation thereof will be omitted.
Next, the iterative SENSE method includes the following processing the steps: (1) calculating sensitivity information S from data pre-acquired through an MR imaging device, (2) obtaining an initial image f using data g acquired through the MR imaging device and S calculated in the step (1), (3) correcting an image through a conjugate gradient technique using f obtained in the step (2), and (4) replacing an image f′ corrected through the step (3) by the initial image f in the step (2) and repeatedly performing the steps (2) and (3).
The above-described iterative SENSE method is a technique to repeatedly reconstruct an image, and reconstructs the image using the sensitivity information. The sensitivity information is information having brightness information of several coils that are used in MRI, and can be obtained with reference to the contents described in "Pruessmann K P, Weiger M, Scheidegger M B, Boesiger P. Coil sensitivity encoding for fast MRI. In: Proceedings of the ISMRM 6th Annual Meeting, Sydney, 1998. p 579."
Further, a detailed algorithm of the iterative SENSE is described in a paper "Klaas P. Pruessmann et al., Advances in Sensitivity Encoding With Arbitrary k-Space Trajectories Magn Reson Med 46:638-651 (2001)."
The iterative SENSE method has the advantage that it can reconstruct a relatively high-resolution image, but has the disadvantage that the error of the image diverges as the number of repetitions for reconstruction is increased in the case where noise occurs in the acquired data due to the characteristics of the conjugate gradient technique used in the above-mentioned step (3).
That is, the conjugate gradient technique used in the step (3) is a method that is frequently used when obtaining a desired solution using an inverse transform. According to this method, a direction in which it is repeatedly traced to reach an optimal solution, starting from a certain value. In this case, the conjugate is used to obtain the direction, and since the direction is unable to be appropriately obtained even if only a small amount of noise exists when the algorithm is actually applied, the resultant value gets far from the optimal solution as the number of repetitions is increased. Because of this, the iterative SENSE method that obtains the solution using the conjugate technique is also sensitive to the noise.

Parallel magnetic resonance imaging method for radial trajectory

KAIST (Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology)


Apparatus for applying a product to a plurality of workpieces having a variety of sizes and shapes. An imager captures an image of each workpiece and develops image signals which a systems controller and a processor use to regulate delivery of a product to each workpiece. The apparatus reduces overspray and waste while providing coverage of each workpiece by the product.

The present invention pertains to an apparatus which optimizes process performance, and more particularly, to a process apparatus which compensates for variations in size, shape and position of a material being processed while optimizing performance.
Treatments of various types are commonly applied to workpieces or solid objects for the purpose of removal or application of paint and other coatings, washing, cleaning, and surface texturing. Many of these processes use chemicals, paints, energy and other valuable resources whose consumption it is desirable to minimize. It is often desirable to minimize resource consumption to reduce ecological effects on wildlife, animals, plants and humans. In the application of paints to workpieces it is important to minimize waste caused by overspraying and yet to insure a minimum level of treatment while treating a large number of workpieces rapidly and efficiently.


A UV nanoimprint lithography process and its apparatus that are able to repeatedly fabricates nanostructures on a substrate (wafer, UV-transparent plate) by using a stamp that is as large as or smaller than the substrate in size are provided. The apparatus includes a substrate chuck for mounting the substrate; a stamp made of UV-transparent materials and having more than two element stamps, wherein nanostructures are formed on the surface of each element stamp; a stamp chuck for mounting the stamp; a UV lamp unit for providing UV light to cure resist applied between the element stamps and the substrate; a moving unit for moving the substrate chuck or the stamp chuck to press the resist with the element stamps and substrate; and a pressure supply unit for applying pressurized gas to some selected regions of the substrate to help complete some incompletely filled element stamps.

(a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a UV nanoimprint lithography process and its apparatus, and more specifically, to a UV nanoimprint lithography process and its apparatus capable of repeatedly fabricating nanostructures on a substrate (e.g. wafer, glass, quartz, etc.) with a stamp having the nanostructures engraved thereon.
(b) Description of Related Art
The UV nanoimprint lithography technology is an economical and effective method of fabricating nanostructures. It is multidisciplinary, so that it should be supported by various technologies from such fields as nano-scale materials science, stamp fabrication, anti-adhesion layer, etching and measurements. The nano-scale precision control technology is regarded as a basis.
The UV nanoimprint lithography technology is applicable to ultra high-speed metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors (MOSFETs), metal-semiconductor field-effect transistors (MESFETs), high-density magnetic storage devices, high-density compact disks (CD), nano-scale metal-semiconductor-metal photodetectors (MSM PDs), and high-speed single-electron transistor memory, etc.
In the nanoimprint process, developed by Prof. Chou et al. at Princeton Univ. in 1996, a stamp having embossed structures fabricated by the electron beam lithography process is pressed at high temperature on the wafer coated with a polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) resist, and is released when the resist is cooled. Thus, the resist is imprinted with the negative patterns of nanostructures of the stamp, and an anisotropic etching process is followed to open the etch window of the wafer. In 2001, a laser-assisted direct imprint (LADI) method, that uses a single 20-ns Excimer laser with a wavelength of 308-nm to instantaneously melt the surface of a silicon wafer or the resist coated on a silicon wafer. Similarly, in a nanosecond laser-assisted nanoimprint lithography (LA-NIL) applied to polymer, nanostructures with a line width of 100 nm and a depth of 90 nm are imprinted to polymer-based resist.
The aforementioned nanoimprint technologies are performed at high temperature. This makes them inapplicable to the implementation of semiconductor devices, a multi-layer process, because thermal deformation occurring in these technologies will hinder multi-layer alignment. Furthermore, high pressure (about 30 atmospheric pressures) required to imprint high-viscosity resist can break or damage previously fabricated nanostructures. Opaque stamps used in these processes are also an obstacle to the multi-layer alignment.
To address these problems, the step & flash imprint lithography (SFIL) process is suggested by Prof. Sreenivasan at the University of Texas at Austin in 1999. This process uses a UV-curable material to fabricate a nanostructure at low pressure and room temperature is characterized by the fact that UV-transparent materials such as quartz and Pyrex® glass are used for the stamp. In the SFIL process, a transfer layer is first spin-coated on a silicon wafer, and a low-viscosity UV-curable resin is filled into the nanostructures while maintaining a certain interval between the UV-transparent stamp and the transfer layer.
Subsequently, at the time of completion of the filling, the stamp is in contact with the transfer layer and the resin is cured by illuminating with UV light. Thereafter, the stamp is separated and the nanostructure is transferred on the wafer by the etching and the lift-off processes.
However, the gap distribution between the stamp and the wafer for use in the UV nanoimprint lithography process is not constant (e.g., Si wafer: 20˜30 μm), so that the resist may be insufficiently pressed by the stamp during imprinting. In the SFIL process using a small-area stamp, the distance between the stamp and the wafer is measured with distance sensors attached at the sides of the stamp before pressing the stamp is used, and, based on the measurements, the stamp is finely rotated to the stamp as parallel as possible to the wafer. In other words, in SFIL, imprinting is performed in such a way that the stamp with nanostructures is manipulated according to the waveness of the wafer surface.
The SFIL process is also characterized by the fact that the entire wafer is imprinted not at one time but repeatedly in several times because it uses a small-area stamp, smaller than the wafer in size. This is a sort of the step-and-repeat type imprinting. Since it uses a small-area stamp and the alignment and imprinting should be repeated, it will take a long time to finish imprinting of a large-area wafer.
Further, to imprint a large-area wafer in a short time, a large-area stamp on which nanostructures are fabricated can be used to press the resist deposited on the wafer. However, the larger the stamp and the wafer become, the more serious the error of flatness becomes. This means that some of the resist may be insufficiently pressed and some of the nano structures may be incompletely filled. In addition, the non-uniform residual layer thickness, which occurs because of the error of flatness, can make the etching process difficult or unsuccessful.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

UV nanoimprint lithography process and apparatus

Korea Institute of Machinery & Materials


A printing system and method includes at least two modules, at least one of which is a marking engine module. In the method, one or more sheets to be printed are submitted. Available paths are determined for one of the one or more sheets and a preferred available path is determined and submitted to one or more of the plurality of modules. A reservation matrix representative of the one of the one or more sheets being scheduled on the preferred available path is updated. The steps of determining the available paths, determining a preferred available path, submitted the preferred available path and updating the reservation matrix are repeated for each subsequent sheet of the one or more sheets of the print job.

The present exemplary embodiment relates generally to a printing system comprising at least two marking engines and, more particularly, to a scheduling system and method for use in conjunction with a printing system comprising at least two marking engines. It finds particular application in conjunction with scheduling sheets of print jobs in a multi-marking engine printing system for maximizing output of the printing system and will be described with particular reference thereto. However, it is to be appreciated that the present exemplary embodiment is also amenable to other like applications.
In a typical xerographic marking engine, such as a copier, printer, combination copier/printer, etc., a photoconductive insulating member is charged to a substantially uniform potential and thereafter exposed to a light image representative of a document to be produced. This exposure discharges the photoconductive insulating surface in exposed or background areas and creates an electrostatic latent image on the member, corresponding to image areas of the document to be produced. Subsequently, the electrostatic latent image on the photoconductive insulating surface is made visible by developing the image with developing powder referred to in the art as toner. This developed image may be subsequently transferred to a print medium, such as a sheet of copy paper, to which it may be permanently affixed by heating and/or by the application of pressure, i.e., fusing.
Electronic printing systems, including those that employ one or more xerographic marking engines as generally described above, can sometimes employ a scanner for scanning image-bearing documents, i.e., source documents, and conversion electronics for converting an image scanned from a source document to image signals or pixels. Alternatively, image signals or pixels representative of an image or document to be printed can be generated directly on a computer or like device, without the need for a source document. In either case, the signals are typically stored and read out successively to the printing system for formation of the images on photoconductive output media, such as a photoreceptor, and ultimately transfer to a support substrate, such as described above.
A common trend in the maintenance of office equipment, particularly copiers and printers, is to organize the printing system on a modular basis, wherein certain distinct subsystems of the printing system are bundled together into modules which can be readily removed and replaced with new modules, often of the same type. For example, the printing system could comprise two or more marking engine modules and a finisher module. Modular designed printing systems facilitate greater flexibility in terms of replacement and repair, and can even allow repairs of individual modules to take place at remote locations without necessitating disabling of the entire printing system.
Incorporated by reference, by way of background and where appropriate, are the following references relating to what have been variously called "tandem engine" printers, "cluster printing," "output merger" and the like: U.S. Pat. No. 4,579,446; U.S. Pat. No. 4,587,532; U.S. Pat. No. 5,272,511; U.S. Pat. No. 5,568,246; U.S. Pat. No. 5,570,172; U.S. Pat. No. 5,995,721; U.S. Pat. No. 5,596,416; U.S. Pat. No. 6,402,136; U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/785,211 by Lofthus, et al., filed Feb. 24, 2004 and entitled UNIVERSAL FLEXIBLE PLURAL PRINTER TO PLURAL FINISHER SHEET INTEGRATION SYSTEM; U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/860,915 by Lofthus, et al., filed Jun. 3, 2004 and entitled UNIVERSAL FLEXIBLE PLURAL PRINTER TO PLURAL FINISHER SHEET INTEGRATION SYSTEM; a 1991 "Xerox Disclosure Journal" publication of November-December 1991, Vol. 16, No. 6, pp. 381-383; and the Xerox Aug. 3, 2001 "TAX" publication product announcement entitled "Cluster Printing Solution Announced."
Printing systems employing multiple print engines often enable higher print speeds or print rates than heretofore realized by grouping a plurality of print engines together. These systems have been found to be very cost competitive and provide an additional advantage over single engine systems as a result of their inherent redundancy. For example, if one print engine fails or is unusable, the printing system is still able to function, possible at a reduced output rate, by using the remaining print engine or engines. One challenge in these systems is scheduling of print jobs and, more particularly, scheduling of individual sheets of print jobs through the various modules, including multiple modules each including a print engine, in an organized and efficient manner.
Various methods of scheduling print jobs and print media sheets of print jobs in a printing system employing multiple print engines are known. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,095,342 to Rarrell et al.; U.S. Pat. No 5,095,369 to Ortiz; U.S. Pat. No. 5,159,395 to Farrell; U.S. Pat. No. 5,557,367 to Yang et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 6,097,500 to Fromherz; U.S. Pat. No. 6,618,167 to Shah; 6,836,339 to Purvis et al.; and U.S. Pat. No. 6,850,336 to Purvis et al.; U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/924,458 to Lofthus et al.; and U.S. patent application Ser. Nos. 20/384,514; 10/248,560; 10/284,561; and 10/424,322, all to Fromherz, all of which are incorporated herein in their entireties by reference., disclose exemplary scheduling systems. In particular, the '339 patent and the '336 patent disclose a scheduler for a printing machine to schedule the processing of sheets through the several modules of the printing machine.


In an exhaust cleaning system including a DPF in exhaust passages, a pair of temperature sensors is disposed upstream and downstream the filter to detect upstream and downstream exhaust temperatures. An electronic control unit estimates a downstream exhaust temperature from the actual upstream exhaust temperature when an engine is in a predetermined condition such as a cold-start condition or a high speed and high load condition, in which no catalytic reaction heat is generated in the DPF. The control unit then compares the estimated downstream temperature with the actually detected downstream temperature, and determines an exhaust temperature senor malfunction if the difference between the compared temperatures are large.

Recent internal combustion engines have various exhaust cleaning devices such as an oxidizing catalyst, NOx catalyst or three-way (oxidizing and reducing) catalyst. Diesel engines have diesel particulate filters (DPF), as an exhaust cleaning device, for collecting particulates in the exhaust. The DPF is regenerated by burning the collected particulates. The DPF carries oxidizing catalyst thereon so that the particulates are burned stably under low regenerating temperatures.
For an efficient operation, the temperature of the exhaust cleaning device should preferably be maintained in a temperature range (200° C.-700° C.) in which the catalyst is maintained sufficiently activated and no catalyst damage due to excessive temperatures is caused. For regenerating the DPF, unburned HC is supplied by post injection to raise the DPF temperature to be above 600° C. The DPF may become excessively heated as a result of burning of the particulates, resulting in deterioration of the catalyst or damage to filter components.
Various catalyst monitoring devices are proposed. For instance, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,211,010 (JP-A-4-224221), an exhaust temperature sensor is provided downstream an NOx reducing catalyst and regulates catalyst temperatures by increasing or decreasing air excess ratio in the exhaust based on the detected exhaust temperature. Further, in JP-A-1-216009 (JP 2593506), exhaust temperature sensors are provided both upstream and downstream a catalyst and determines catalyst deterioration based on a comparison of the detected catalyst upstream and downstream temperatures. The catalyst or DPF monitoring will become impossible if the exhaust temperature sensors fail to operate normally.

Exhaust temperature sensor malfunction detection apparatus


A battery-powered ventilated litter box having a litter box assembly with a litter tray and a removable lid enclosure with a door opening that provides pet access to an inner space. A fan assembly includes a housing that is attached to the lid enclosure and which forms an air conduit through the lid enclosure. The housing has an air exhaust and an air intake and a fan assembly having a fan that draws air from the inner space into the air intake. A filter element is disposed within the fan assembly. The fan expels air from the air exhaust. The litter box assembly includes louvers, preferably on the sides of the litter box assembly and a downwardly extending lower rim that mates with the litter box. The fan includes a fan motor having a vertically orientated shaft. The filter element is preferably a HEPA filter.

Keeping pets is a seemingly never-ending task. One (1) must feed, groom, exercise, play with and clean-up after their animal friends. For those that raise, breed or board cats one (1) of their more unpleasant responsibilities includes maintaining litter boxes. While litter boxes have proven themselves to be highly valuable, even the best and most diligently maintained litter box can still produce objectionable odors.
Problems with litter boxes become exaggerated when the cat owner is gone for long periods of time such as working or traveling. Even if the litter box is immediately cleaned or changed objectionable odors can remain in the air. Such odors can linger for hours, much to the dismay of cat owner, other residents, or guests.
Accordingly, there exists a need for some device that controls and reduces odors emanating from litter boxes. Preferably such a device would be quick and easy to use to use and be effective at eliminating objectionable odors.


The present invention relates to a method for operating a wireless device in a cellular network, the wireless device operating with a base node of the cellular network, the method comprises upon noticing a barring indication received from the base node at the wireless device the step of suppressing access to the base node under the conditions: the wireless device is operating in an intensive use mode and the wireless device is operating in a non-privileged service.

As part of recent developments in wireless cellular communication a new category of wireless devices was introduced besides the existing mobile handsets. This new category encompasses machine type communication (MTC) devices. It is expected that the number of machine type communication devices operating in cellular networks will—at least in certain regions—clearly exceed the numbers of mobile handsets.
Consequently for the cellular networks methods were developed that allow to cope with this expected increased, in particular having in mind certain characteristics for traffic, e.g. machine type communication, notably stationary behavior or rarely but periodically data transmission mainly in one direction, data-only communication or delay tolerant communication scheme etc.
Part of these developments are in particular incorporated in developments of long term evolution (LTE) standard, in particular LTE-MTC, resp. LTE-category 0 or 1.
One part of this development is the so-called extended access barring (EAB) resp. access class barring (ACB), which allows cellular networks for certain base nodes resp. eNodeBs in overload situation to disallow devices based on their traffic class to access the base nodes or at least to allocate resources of the cellular network. Such traffic classes in particular relate to bandwidth reduced devices and/or such devices operating in enhanced coverage.
With EAB functionality the cellular networks have means to assure the stability of their networks, at least as ultima ratio.
The concept of access barring comprises that for all wireless devices the affected base node is not accessible. This all-or-nothing concept is adopted for access class barring to only affect those wireless devices of a certain access class, and thus that are envisaged to decode the M-SIBs, where the "cellBarred" flag is set.
However, such all-or-nothing concept is disadvantageous as it leads to barring all machine type communication devices from cellular network access. With that all machine type communication devices are handled equally irrespective of the usage intensity, the purpose of the wireless devices' communication or the type of wireless device.
It is therefore the goal of present invention to overcome the mentioned disadvantages and to propose a solution for an improved access barring concept which takes into account both the needs of the cellular network and the affected wireless devices.
Further alternative and advantageous solutions would, accordingly, be desirable in the art.

Method for operating a wireless device in a cellular network


In an accounting system, an user 1, by the use of a terminal 2, transmits a transmission packet P1 to a reception destination 3, that is a server of an information service provider, and receives a reception packet P2 therefrom by way of a packet communication network 4. The accounting apparatus 6 receives numbers of transmitted and received packets 51 from an exchange 5 and also receives the accounting amendment information 71 from the accounting amendment apparatus 7 at an adequate timing. The accounting apparatus 6 thereby decides the account fees for the user 1 of the terminal 2 and for the reception destination 3, respectively. In other words, the information service provider is charged with a part of the numbers of transmitted and received packets 51.

The present invention relates to a packet communication, in particular to an accounting method and an accounting system in a network in which information is distributed by packets between an information service provider and a plurality of portable terminals (or information terminals).
Portable terminals (or portable telephones) have rapidly come into wide use due to their convenience. Under the present conditions, the portable terminals (or the portable telephones) have exceeded fixed telephone terminals in number. Particularly, a portable terminal is used as communication means merely by voice communication between the portable terminals. In addition, a portable terminal is connected to a personal computer (PC), and. the like, so that the portable terminal is used as a data communication terminal with the other personal computers, and the like. Furthermore, a portable terminal (i-mode) having a function for being connected to an Internet is also used as an information terminal for carrying out an information search, or the like. Thus, it is a recent trend that the portable terminal (or portable information terminal) has high performance and multi-functions. Thereby, the portable terminals (or portable information terminals) have come into wide use, as mentioned above.
In a case of a general telephone terminal (telephone set), the general telephone terminal (telephone set) is fixed at a home or at an office. Therefore, a transmitting place and a receiving place are decided by the fixed telephone terminal (telephone set). In an accounting method for accounting a user with use fee, the use fee will be decided dependent on a region where a telephone terminal of a communication partner is existing (whether the telephone terminal of the communication partner is within the city, out of the city, or in a foreign country), on a time of talking with the communication partner, and so on. On the contrary, in a case of a portable terminal, a transmitting place moves as the owner of the portable terminal moves. It is therefore impossible to apply the portable terminal with an accounting method similar to that of the above-mentioned general telephone terminal. Particularly, in a case that a portable terminal, such as the i-mode, and the like is connected to an Internet (is subjected to an Internet access) by using a packet communication, a specific accounting method is generally used. Namely, in the specific accounting method, a user of the portable terminal pays the use fee responsive to numbers of transmitted and received packets from the portable telephone.
On the other hand, in Web review focusing on the use by a dial-up connection from a PC, a use of an Internet, such as transmission and reception of an electronic mail (e-mail), or the like, provision of various new services, such as distribution of graphic image, distribution of music by MP2 (multi-link protocol), program download by JAVA, and the like, have been started. In particular the amount of data downloaded to the portable terminal of the user side is greatly increased, as compared with conventional services focusing on transmission and reception of text data.
Conventional techniques in such a technical field or related fields are disclosed in, for example, unexamined Japanese patent publication 2000-78129, named "accounting method of information communication network", unexamined Japanese patent publication 2000-78196, named "IP network accounting system", unexamined Japanese patent publication Sho 63-290042, named "accounting system in a packet exchanging network", unexamined Japanese patent publication Hei 2-166942, named "count system of a packet communication fee", unexamined Japanese patent publication Hei 4-288746, named "communication right or wrong judging system in a communication between various kinds of packet exchanging systems", unexamined Japanese patent publication Hei 5-75649, named "accounted amount calculating apparatus of a packet communication network", unexamined Japanese patent publication Hei 6-164578, named "data terminal equipment", unexamined Japanese patent publication Hei 6-205050, named "multi-destination processing method of a connecting apparatus for connecting LAN with broad band ISDN", unexamined Japanese patent publication Hei 6-237316, named "ISDN communication processing apparatus", unexamined Japanese patent publication Hei 7-131557, named "accounting system in information communication", unexamined Japanese patent publication Hei 7-245627, named "packet measuring apparatus", unexamined Japanese patent publication Hei 9-107420, named "detailed account processing method in a communication processing system", unexamined Japanese patent publication Hei 11-27322, named "data receiving apparatus and data receiving method", unexamined Japanese patent publication Hei 11-355355, named "distribution information registering method in a mobile communication network", and the like.
FIG. 1 shows a typical example of an accounting system in a conventional packet communication network. In the conventional accounting system a user 1 of a terminal (for example, a portable terminal) 2 communicates with a reception destination 3, that is, a server apparatus of an information service provider, by way of a packet communication network 4. The packet communication network 4 has an exchange 5 to which an accounting apparatus 6 is connected. When the user 1 of the terminal 2 sends a transmission packet P1, the exchange 5 of the packet communication network 4 makes the transmission packet P1 be received by the reception destination 3. In addition, a packet that is an information from the reception destination 3 is sent to the terminal 2, as a reception packet P2, by way of the packet communication network 4. The exchange 5 of the packet communication network 4 then transmits numbers of packets 51 transmitted and received by the user 1 to the accounting apparatus 6 at an adequate timing. Consequently, the accounting apparatus 6 calculates the account for the user 1 based on the numbers of packets 51.
However, the conventional accounting system in the packet communication network has the following problems. Namely, if the specific accounting method for the use of an Internet by the dial-up connection from PC is applied, as it stands, to the Internet by using packets, an amount of accounts to be paid by the user accessing the Internet using packets becomes at least ten times as large as that in the use of an Internet by the dial-up connection from PC. This is too heavy a burden for the user. This is also a problem with regard to applying new techniques, such as distribution of graphic images to the Internet that is accessed by using the packet communication from the portable terminal, such as the i-mode, and the like, similarly to the use of the Internet by the dial-up connection from PC.
Further, for contents providers (information service providers) who use the Internet and wish to put advertisements widely by Web or e-mails, their free actions are inevitably restricted under the system that the user of the portable terminal bears all of the communication fees.

Accounting method and system in a packet communication network


A toner having a BET specific surface area of from 1.5 to 3.5 m2/g, obtainable by a process including the steps of; step (1): pulverizing a toner composition containing at least a resin binder and a colorant in the presence of fine inorganic particles having an average primary particle size of from 6 to 20 nm to obtain mother toner particles having a volume-median particle size of from 3 to 8 μm; and step (2): externally adding silica having an average primary particle size of from 25 to 60 nm to the mother toner particles obtained in the above step (1). The toner of the present invention is suitably used for, for example, developing a latent image formed in electrophotography, electrostatic recording method, electrostatic printing method, or the like.

In the formation of full-color fixed images, since four colors of toners are usually used, the influence of an external additive freed from the toner on an organic photoconductor (OPC) or the like is big, and background fog is likely to be generated under high-temperature and high-humidity, so that degradation of the fixed images is likely to be caused, as compared to the development using only one color of a toner. Therefore, it has been proposed that the external additive is solidly adhered to a toner surface. For example, JP2004-126005 A proposes a method of carrying out the surface treatment with the external additive on a toner of which a BET specific surface area or the like is specified, and JP2003-215838 A proposes a method of fixing the external additive under compressed shearing stress conditions.


A printing method for selectively depositing braze powders on a surface comprises extruding a filament from a nozzle moving relative to a surface, where the filament comprises a flowable carrier mixed with a braze powder. As the nozzle moves, the filament is deposited on the surface in a predetermined pattern defined by the motion of the nozzle relative to the surface; thus, the braze powders are deposited at one or more predetermined locations on the surface.

Gas turbine engines include a compressor, combustor and turbine in flow series along a common shaft. Compressed air from the compressor is mixed with fuel in the combustor to generate hot combustion gases that rotate the turbine blades and drive the compressor. In a conventional turbine compressor, turbine blades may be fabricated separately from the rotor disk and then mechanically assembled such the turbine blades extend from machined slots on the disk; however, this configuration has the disadvantage of discontinuities between the blades and the disk. To eliminate such discontinuities, diffusion bonding techniques have been developed to bond the turbine blades to the disk to form a mechanically robust, monolithic component (a "turbine blisk"). Diffusion bonding is a solid-state bonding method, where elevated temperatures and typically high pressures are employed to obtain diffusion of atoms between mating components, allowing for formation of a thermally-stable metallurgical bond. Various gas turbine engine components may benefit from diffusion bonding.
Diffusion bonding may be facilitated or improved by utilizing diffusion agents or braze materials, such as braze foils or powders, between the components to be joined. However, the bonding of components having complex surface geometries can present challenges with the use of such diffusion agents. For example, the use of braze foils may not be effective for irregular or discontinuous surfaces, and it may be difficult if not impossible to deposit consistent levels of braze powder on such surfaces using methods known in the art. In addition, conventional methods of braze powder application, which typically provide blanket surface coverage of costly braze alloys, may lead to waste and/or bonding problems when applied to complex or discontinuous surfaces.

Printing method to selectively deposit braze powders at one or more predetermined locations on a surface

Rolls-Royce North American Technologies Inc.


A high-frequency bipolar transistor includes an emitter contact adjoining an emitter connection region, a base contact adjoining a base connection region, and a collector contact adjoining a collector connection region. A first insulation layer is disposed on the base connection region. The collector connection region contains a buried layer, which connects the collector contact to a collector zone. A silicide or salicide region is provided on the buried layer and connects the collector contact to the collector zone in a low-impedance manner. A second insulation layer is disposed on the collector connection region but not on the silicide region.

Bipolar transistors are transistors used in high-frequency applications. The frequency response of a bipolar transistor is given by (1):
                              1                      2                        π                                                                                f              T                                      =                              τ            f                    +                                    (                                                R                  C                                +                                  R                  E                                            )                                                  C              BC                                +                                                                      C                  BE                                +                                  C                  BC                                                            I                C                                                                U              T                                                          (        1        )            where fT is the transition frequency, τf is the transit time across the base, RC is the collector resistance, RE is the emitter resistance, CBC is the base-collector capacitance, CBE is the base-emitter capacitance, IC is the collector current and UT is the thermal voltage.
As the collector current IC increases, the term proportional to 1/IC becomes smaller and smaller. The principal proportion of the transition frequency fT is therefore given, besides the transit time τf, in particular by the collector resistance RC and the emitter resistance RE. In present transistors, the collector resistance RC is typically an order of magnitude greater than the emitter resistance RE. Therefore, the collector resistance is minimized to increase the frequency response of the transistors.
In order to obtain a low-impedance collector connection, a highly doped buried layer is used. This layer is produced at the beginning of the transistor fabrication steps. After this layer is fabricated, a semiconductor layer in which the emitter, base and collector zones are produced is grown epitaxially on the low-impedance layer. The highly doped buried layer is connected by means of a metallic collector contact and led to the surface of the bipolar transistor. This is described for example in U.S. Pat. No. 5,773,350 and DE 19958062.
In general, a collector contact is provided on only one side of the transistor. If the buried layer is connected not just on one side but also on the opposite side or even annularly around the entire transistor zone, lower collector resistances may be obtained. Such transistor configurations have a resistance with a magnitude about a half or a quarter that of a configuration having only a single collector contact, since the collector current can flow not just toward one side, but toward two or four sides.
FIG. 1 shows a schematic cross-sectional view of a known bipolar transistor 1 in which a buried layer 7 bounded by two insulation zones 11 is arranged in the semiconductor substrate 12. The insulation zones 11 are configured as deep trenches. The buried layer 7 is connected externally via a collector contact 6, which is led out electrically to the surface of the bipolar transistor 1. This enables the bipolar transistor 1 to be integrated into an integrated circuit.
The bipolar transistor 1 also contains a base contact 4 and an emitter contact 2 adjoining an emitter connection region 3. In order to reduce the base resistance, as illustrated in FIG. 1, a silicided base connection region 13 is provided on a base connection region 5. The base connection region 13 connects the base contact 4 to the base connection region 5. Such a bipolar transistor 1 is described in DE 199 58 062 by way of example.
The base zone 15 beneath the emitter connection region 3 may be silicon-germanium SiGe with a thickness of between 1 nm and 200 nm, typically 30 nm. The collector zone 14 is arranged beneath the base zone 15 and adjoins the buried layer 7. The buried layer 7 is provided with a collector contact 6 only on one side of the bipolar transistor 1 as shown in FIG. 1.
FIG. 2 schematically shows a plan view of a bipolar transistor in which the buried layer 7 is provided with a collector contact 6 on a single side. The base connection region 5 is connected by a base contact 4, and the emitter connection region 3 is connected by an emitter contact 2. In such a configuration, although the bipolar transistor 1 has a small area determined by the extent of the buried layer 7, the collector region (not illustrated here), on account of the relatively large sheet resistance of the buried layer 7, is connected by the collector contact 6 only on one side.
Smaller collector resistances can be obtained by the buried layer 7 being connected not just on one side, as in FIG. 2, but also on the opposite side, as shown schematically in a plan view in FIG. 3. The bipolar transistor 1 from FIG. 3 has a resistance with a magnitude about half that of the bipolar transistor 1 from FIG. 2.
However, it becomes clear that the area occupied by the buried layer 7 in FIG. 3 is larger than the buried layer 7 of the bipolar transistor from FIG. 2. The additionally required area of the buried layer 7 results from the width X1 of the collector contact 6, the distance X2 between the collector contact 6 and the base connection region 5, and an overhang X4 of the buried layer 7. The overhang X4 in FIG. 3 represents the distance between the collector contact 6 and the closest edge of the buried layer 7.
This additionally required area is given by the available photolithography and alignment tolerances. Typical contact hole widths in photolithography are presently 0.5 μm, for example, with alignment tolerances of 0.25 μm, so that overall the buried layer 7 is widened by about 1 μm if an additional collector contact 6 is provided.
Even lower sheet resistances of the buried layer 7 are obtained if, as shown schematically in FIG. 4, the collector contact 6 and the buried layer 7 are provided annularly around the base connection region 5. In this case, the collector current can flow on four sides, as a result of which the collector connection resistance is quartered. However, these enlarged collector contacts 6 lead to significantly enlarged dimensions of the bipolar transistor 1. In addition to increased production costs on account of the larger area required in the semiconductor substrate, the collector-substrate capacitance of the bipolar transistor 1 is also increased proportionally to the increasing area of the buried layer 7. This leads to a longer gate delay time of the transistor or an increased power consumption of integrated circuits.
Therefore, what transistor configuration has been used heretofore has depended on whether the transistor is designed for maximum transition frequency, as described with reference to FIG. 4, least space requirement, as described with reference to FIG. 2, or a compromise between the two, as described with reference to FIG. 3.
In summary, such transistors entail significant disadvantages. Firstly, the transistor dimensions are enlarged by the additional collector contact zones. This leads to higher production costs on account of the larger substrate area required. Secondly, the collector-substrate capacitance of the bipolar transistor is also increased proportionally to the increasing area of the buried layer. This in turn leads to adverse effects, such as a higher gate delay time or increased power consumption of integrated circuits.


A fuse box having a housing formed with a first, second, and third openings therein. A screw-fastened type fuse having two terminals is inserted into the housing through the second opening. Conductors connected to the fuse are directed to external circuits through the first opening. The third openings oppose the terminals of the fuse inserted and have guide grooves. Each of the terminals is connected together with the conductors to the housing by means of a bolt inserted through the third opening. A cover is attached to the second opening after the terminals of fuse are securely connected to the housing together with the conductors. The cover is formed with a lid continuously integral with the cover and the lid is accepted and guided by the guide grooves to close the third opening when the cover is assembled to the housing.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a fuse box having a housing body and an undercover, and more particularly to a fuse box in which the connections of screw-fastened type fuses installed in the housing are enclosed simultaneously with the assembly of the undercover to the housing as well as the detection of a screw left loosely tightened while assembling the undercover to the housing.
2. Prior Art
FIG. 6 shows one such conventional fuse box. In the figure, a housing 23 made of synthetic resin is formed with a chamber therein having an opening 25 on the top of the housing 23. Through the opening 25 is inserted a screw-fastened type fuse 24. The fuse 24 has a pair of terminals 26, each of which opposes openings 28 formed in two opposing walls 27 of the housing 23 when the fuse is inserted. Each of the openings 28 is adapted to be closed by an insulating door 30 which is integrally continuous with the housing 23 via a thin hinge 29. The door 30 is firmly closed to the housing by means of a claw 31. The respective terminal 26 of the fuse 24 is formed with a hole 26a therein through which a bolt 34 is inserted. The fuse 24 is inserted through the opening 25 and firmly fixed by screwing the bolt 34 into a nut(not shown) embedded in the housing 23 through the hole 26a in the terminals 26 and a hole in a terminal crimped with a wire 32. With the two wires 32 extending downwards from the housing 23, the door 30 is first closed and then an undercover 36 is assembled to a bottom opening 35. The undercover 36 has resilient clamping-straps 37 that engage projections 38 on the lower portion of the housing 23 for firm attachment.
However, with the aforementioned conventional fuse box, when assembling the fuse 24 and terminals 33 on the wire to the housing 23, the opening and closing of the door 30 and the assembly of the undercover 36 are involved. It is time consuming and difficult to align the projections 37 of the undercover 36 with the projections 38 on the housing 23. Sometimes the hinges of the doors 30 are damaged because of frequent and rough opening and closing operation during replacement of the fuse. Additionally, high molding technique is required to form a thin hinge 29 and therefore the mold used is of a large size. This makes the manufacture cost of the housing 23 high. The conventional fuse box also suffers from the drawback that a workman cannot become aware when he inadvertently closes the door 30 with the bolt 34 left loosely tightened.


An object of the present invention is to provide a production method for an R—Fe—B based sintered magnet having a plating film excellent in adhesiveness on the surface thereof, by conducting a series of processes of acid cleaning and smut removal as pretreatments of an R—Fe—B based sintered magnet, and the subsequent plating treatment effectively without causing trouble. The production method of the present invention includes a series of processes of acid cleaning and smut removal of a magnet as pretreatments, and the subsequent plating treatment is conducted consistently with a state, in which the magnet is placed in a barrel made of synthetic resin. The smut removal is conducted by ultrasonic cleaning of the magnet with rotating the barrel in water in which the dissolved oxygen amount is set to 0.1 ppm to 6 ppm by degassing.

An R—Fe—B based sintered magnet, as represented by an Nd—Fe—B based sintered magnet, has high magnetic characteristics, and thus is used today in various fields. However, because an R—Fe—B based sintered magnet contains a highly reactive rare earth element, R, it is easily oxidized and corroded in the atmosphere. When it is used without any surface treatment, the corrosion progresses from the surface by the existence of small amounts of an acid, an alkali, moisture, or the like, whereby rusting occurs causing deterioration or fluctuation in the magnetic characteristics. Further, there is a risk that rust is dispersed and contaminates peripheral parts when such a rusted magnet is incorporated into a device such as a magnetic circuit. Thus, with the purpose of giving the corrosion resistance to an R—Fe—B based sintered magnet, a method to form a plating film on the surface of a magnet is widely employed, as it is well known.
As the plating film formed on the surface of an R—Fe—B based sintered magnet, for example, a copper plating film, a nickel plating film, and the like are mentioned. These plating films can be formed by an electrolytic plating treatment or a non-electrolytic plating treatment, but, in the case when any of the plating films is formed, cleaning (acid cleaning) using an inorganic acid or an organic acid to remove processed deformed layer and sintered deformed layer existing on the surface of the magnet is conducted as a pretreatment before the plating treatment. After this, the removal of infusible residues, which are attached to the surface of the magnet by the acid cleaning and are called smuts, is conducted because a plating film excellent in adhesiveness cannot be formed when the plating treatment is conducted to the magnet, to which smuts remain attached.
As the method for removing smuts attached to the surface of the R—Fe—B based sintered magnet after the acid cleaning, and forming a plating film excellent in adhesiveness, for example, Patent Document 1 proposes a method: in which the magnet is placed in a barrel for plating; an electrolytic treatment is conducted with rotating the barrel in an alkaline electrolytic solution; and then a plating treatment is conducted without taking the magnet out of the barrel. In this method, smut removal is conducted using the force associated with the desorption of oxygen gas or hydrogen gas, which generates from the surface of the magnet by the electrolytic treatment from the surface of the magnet. The method can be appreciated in that the plating treatment can be conducted without the necessity of transferring the magnet after smuts are removed. However, by the analysis of the present inventors, it was found that, in this method, an oxide film or a hydroxide film is thought to be formed on the surface of the magnet with the generation of oxygen gas; thus, it is difficult to form a plating film excellent in adhesiveness on the surface of the magnet. This tendency is remarkable, especially when a plating treatment using a highly alkaline plating bath is conducted. Further, Patent Document 1 describes a method to remove smuts by conducting acid cleaning of the magnet placed in a mesh basket and then subsequently conducting ultrasonic cleaning, as prior art. This method however, does not have a sufficient effect of removing smuts and causes trouble because it is necessary to transfer the magnet from the mesh basket to a barrel for plating for the plating treatment, as described in Patent Document 1.

Production method for R—Fe—B based sintered magnet having plating film on surface thereof