Provided is an optical fiber for amplification and an optical fiber amplifier for use in L-band, in which optical fiber the increase of transmission loss and the degradation of hydrogen-resistant characteristic can be restrained. The optical fiber is basically made of silica glass and comprises: a core region doped with erbium and P element of 2 wt % to 5 wt % concentration, Ge not being added thereto; and a cladding region enclosing the core region and doped with F element, wherein the optical fiber has a gain at least in a wavelength range of 1570 to 1620 nm. The optical fiber amplifier comprises: the optical fiber; a pump light source for outputting the pump light capable of exciting a rare-earth element added to the core region of the optical fiber; and an optical coupler for introducing into the optical fiber the pump light having been output from the pump light source.

An optical communication system can transmit and receive large-volume information at high speed by transmitting signal light through an optical fiber transmission line. In the optical communication system, there is a case where signal light of L-band (1565 nm to 1625 nm) is used, as well as a case where signal light of C-band (1530 nm to 1565 nm) is used. Also, the optical communication system is equipped with optical fiber amplifiers arranged along the signal light transmission path so that signal light can be transmitted over a long distance by optically amplifying the signal light.
The optical fiber amplifier is equipped with an optical fiber for amplification and a light source for outputting pump light to be supplied to the optical fiber, where the optical fiber is basically made of silica glass in which the core region is doped with a rare-earth element. In the optical fiber amplifier, the rare-earth element added to the core region of the optical fiber for amplification is excited by the pump light, and accordingly signal light is optically amplified in the optical fiber for amplification.
Optical fiber amplifiers or optical fibers for amplification for optically amplifying L-band signal light are disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 3690110, Japanese translation of PCT Application Publication No. 2004-513056, Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2003-124547, and Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2003-086870. In these L-band optical fibers for amplification, their core regions are doped with P-elements in addition to rare-earth elements. Also, in these optical fibers for amplification, Ge elements are added as a refractive index raising agent to the core regions in order to increase the refractive index of the core regions higher than the refractive index of the cladding regions.
In Japanese Patent No. 3690110, it is stated that preferably the concentration of P-element in the optical fiber for amplification is 5 wt % or more, or 8 wt % or more. In Japanese translation of PCT Application Publication No. 2004-513056, it is stated that the P2O5 concentration in the optical fiber for amplification is equal to or more than 5 wt % and preferably 8 wt % or more. According to Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2003-124547, the P-element concentration of the optical fiber for amplification is from 1 wt % to 10 wt %. Also, according to Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2003-086870, the preferable P-element concentration of the optical fiber for amplification is 0.01 mol % or more and 10 mol % or less.
However, according to the finding of the present inventor, these L-band optical fibers for amplification have the following problems. That is, when the concentration of P element is high, the structural defect in the silica glass increases, and consequently the transmission loss increases, resulting in degradation of long-range reliability (particularly hydrogen-resistant characteristic). Furthermore, if Ge element is added, in addition to the P element, to the core region, the transmission loss increases due to the added Ge element, and the hydrogen-resistant characteristic is degraded.    [Patent document 1] Japanese Patent No. 3690110    [Patent document 2] Japanese translation of PCT Application Publication No. 2004-513056    [Patent document 3] Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2003-124547    [Patent document 4] Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2003-086870

Optical fiber for amplification and optical fiber amplifier


A weight assembly for a faucet contains: a counterweight including a channel, the channel having an elongated first opening and a longitudinal height, and the longitudinal height being larger than a diameter of the hose; the counterweight also including a non-circular orifice, a first accommodating cavity, and a second accommodating cavity; a retainer inserted into the second accommodating cavity, the non-circular orifice, and the first accommodating cavity and including a notch for defining a second opening facing to the first opening; the notch having an arc-shaped contacting fringe; a longitudinal height of the second opening along the Z-axis direction being larger than the diameter of the hose; a pressing member mounted on a top end of the retainer; a resilient element defined between the first accommodating cavity of the counterweight and the pressing member. Thereby, the counterweight is removed and replaced easily by pressing and releasing the pressing member.

A conventional spray hose assembly includes a hose and a spray head, and one end of the hose is connected to a water supply source, and another end thereof is coupled to the spray head. In a normal state, the hose is fixed under a tank, and the spray head is positioned in a receiving seat of the tank so that when a user pulls the spray head, the hose extends outward from an opening of the receiving seat. Moreover, a weight assembly is installed on the hose so that the spray head returns back to the receiving seat when in no use by using the weight assembly's weight.
A conventional weight assembly is integrally made and formed in an oval shape, includes a hole to insert and retain a hose, however when the weight assembly is assembled, it has to be fitted from one end of the hose and then moved toward a suitable position along the hose, thus having an inconvenient assembly. For example, when two ends of the hose are connected, the weight assembly is not easy to be removed, and because a size of the hole is fixed, as the hole is in a small size, the weight assembly cannot be moved along the hose easily. Even though the weight assembly is capable of being moved along the hose, the hose is deformable and broken easily. While the hole is in a large size, the weight assembly cannot be fixed on the hose securely.
Another conventional weight assembly includes two part pieces, each including a groove extending thereon vertically, and the part pieces are connected together by ways of a retaining member with screws, such as a screw bolt, so as to retain a hose between the grooves. Nevertheless, the part pieces have to be aligned with the hose, and then one of the part pieces is inserted by the retaining member to be further screwed in a screwing bore of another part piece, thus connecting the part pieces together. But after the part pieces are connected together, they cannot be fixed on the hose directly. In other words, the retaining member has to be removed from the part pieces first so that the part pieces are disassembled from each other, and then the grooves of the part pieces are used to receive the hose so as to have further installing process. While the weight assembly is removed from the hose, the retaining member is removed so that the part pieces are disassembled from each other and removed from the hose further, having time consuming installation.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,460,570 discloses a weight assembly including a body having a plane extending vertically, and including an open groove, a depth of which is more than a half of a diameter of a hose so as to receive the hose, and including a retaining member with inner screws to pass through the groove and to screw with outer screws of the plane of the body so that the weight assembly is fixed on the hose tightly.
However, before fixing or removing the retaining member, it has to be removed from the body or the hose. For example, after the body is fixed on the hose, it has to be screwed with the retaining member further, thus removing and screwing the retaining member repeatedly to cause an inconvenient assembly.
To overcome above-mentioned problem, a weight assembly is disclosed in US Publication No. 2012/0042972 A1 and contains: a counterweight, and the counterweight has a channel horizontally extending along an X axis to define a first opening for inserting a hose into the channel from the first opening, the counterweight also has an orifice defined on a central position thereof and passing through the channel along a Z axis, a first accommodating cavity and a second accommodating cavity arranged on two ends of the orifice; a retainer accommodated in the orifice, the first accommodating cavity and the second accommodating, and the retainer including a notch defined on a middle section thereof to define a second opening for inserting the hose into the notch; a fixing element screwed with the first accommodating cavity and a top end of the retainer, such that the retainer is forced to move upwardly, and the hose is retained between the notch and the top end of the channel.
Nevertheless, the weight assembly is fixed and removed by rotating the fixing element tightly or loosely, thus fixing the weight assembly troublesomely. Furthermore, the fixing element will be loose after a period of using time, and the hose will deform easily as screwing the fixing element extra-tightly.
The present invention has arisen to mitigate and/or obviate the afore-described disadvantages.


A vacuum dust extraction system includes a snorkel coupled to the implement end of an air tool, a dust bellows surrounding the air tool's implement and fastened to the outboard end of the snorkel, a pneumatically powered water filtration industrial vacuum, and a suction hose coupling the snorkel to the vacuum. The apparatus features an improved coupling arrangement for attaching the snorkel to the barrel of the tool driver that permits the apparatus to work with a wide assortment of air tools.

Pneumatically operated percussive air tools such as pick or chisel hammers, rivet busters, and so forth are frequently used in industrial applications, and various expedients have been employed to minimize or contain airborne dust produced by the impacting action of the tool. As disclosed, for example, in the U.S. Pat. No. 7,740,086 to Bleicher et al. and U.S. Pat. No. 9,022,702 to Kasuya et al., this can be achieved with a dust containment hood attached to the implement end of the air tool's housing and an industrial vacuum that draws dust out of the dust containment hood and captures it for later disposal.
While this approach is effective, it is not particularly practical because industrial vacuums typically rely on mechanical filtration in the form of paper cartridges or other filter elements that either fail to filter out or become quickly clogged by small dust particles of the sort generated by the operation of a percussive air tool. Additionally, air tools can vary considerably depending on their rating and type, so that a dust containment hood designed to work with one type of air tool will not necessarily work with other air tools. Accordingly, what is needed is an improved vacuum dust extraction apparatus including an industrial vacuum uniquely suited to industrial worksites and extraction of percussive air tool dust, and a more universal coupling arrangement for attaching the dust containment portion of the apparatus to the air tool.

Vacuum dust extraction apparatus for a percussive air tool


An improved rear bow sight used in archery. The present invention is a bowstring mounted rear peep sight formed of clear, preferably acrylic, material. The transparent characteristic of the present invention allows the archer to align the rear bow sight with the forward sight pin, while remaining focused on the position on the target at which the archer is aiming. A second embodiment of the present invention includes an ambient light collecting fiber which acts as a rear transparent sight pin within a sight window. The light collecting fiber is wrapped about the sight in order to collect ambient light, while the second end of the fiber acts as the sight pin and is centrally positioned within the sight window. The sight pin provides an illumination point for alignment with a forward sight in order to set proper aim at a target. A third embodiment of the present invention uses a surface to help contrast the illumination point of the sight pin against the surrounding environment in order to better view the sight pin. Another embodiment uses two fibers as pin sights along with an enlarged contrasting member to enhance visibility of the pin sight.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a rear bow sight for archery. More specifically, the invention is a bowstring mounted rear peep sight formed of clear, preferably acrylic, material.
2. Description of Related Art
Many devices have been developed to help archers and hunters to improve their accuracy. Conventional bowstring mounted peep sights have a small hole therethrough which when lined up with a forward sight pin mounted on the bow may substantially increase the accuracy of the archer. One problem with the conventional peep sight is that the peep sight only allows the archer to see a small spot on the target, and therefore does not allow the archer to easily see where on the target he is aiming. A second problem with the conventional peep sight is that at dusk, or other low light situations, it is extremely difficult to align the peep sight with the forward sight. In the sport of deer hunting, a lot of shots occur at dusk, therefore a conventional peep sight may not be an effective method for improving the accuracy of deer or other game hunters.
Consequently a rear bow sight is needed that allows the archer to align the rear bow sight with the forward pin sight, while remaining focused on the position on the target at which the archer is aiming. The rear bow sight should include an ambient light collecting fiber which acts as a rear transparent sight pin within a sight window. The rear bow sight should have a sight pin that provides an illumination point for alignment with a forward sight in order to set proper aim at a target. The rear bow sight should also include a surface to help contrast the illumination point of the sight pin against the surrounding environment in order to better view the sight pin.
The following are examples of inventions that attempt to achieve some or all of the above goals, yet fail to achieve them as fully and effectively as the present invention.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,137,007, issued on Aug. 11, 1992, to Robert C. Shoemake et al. describes a peep sight with interchangeable inserts, each with a different size hole through it so that different field conditions can be covered without having to change and recalibrate the sight. The invention further provides a nocking arrangement that serves to locate the arrow longitudinally on the bowstring while at the same time serving to rotationally orient the peep sight.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,325,598, issued on Jul. 5, 1994, to David D. Hall et al. describes a variable aperture peep sight for bows which includes a peep housing defining a fixed diameter peep hole and a disc receiving slot. The invention also includes one or more aperture reducing discs, formed to fit within the receiving slot, having a peep hole located axially therein to cause the aperture of the peep hole to vary when the discs are inserted into the receiving slot.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,347,976, issued on Sep. 20, 1994, to Charles A. Saunders describes a bowstring mounted peep sight having a relatively large open sight window for ensuring good vision over a substantial field to be surveyed, and a small peep hole for enhanced target accuracy that is fixed in the center of the sight window by several axial ribs.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,379,747, issued on Jan. 10, 1995, to Eddy D. Morris et al. describes a rear peep sight with a large sight window and a device for preventing the sight from twisting during use.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,388,336, issued on Feb. 14, 1995, to Louis F. Pomaville describes a sight system including a forward pendulum sight and a rear peep sight.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,442,861, issued on Aug. 22, 1995, to Paul M. Lorocco describes a sight unit including a pin and holder adaptable for mounting onto the sight assembly of an archery bow and including an elongated length of a light gathering fluorescent fiber defining a lens at its distal end to which gathered ambient light becomes focused to serve as an aiming indicia.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,450,673, issued on Sep. 19, 1995, to Don Denton describes a rotating disk peep sight system including a round disk with a hole punched in the center and sized to receive a bowstring. The disk has one or more holes punched near the rim used as sighting openings.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,495,675, issued on Mar. 5, 1996, to Chaochi Huang describes a laser sight that may be attached to the bow and a view hole attached to the bowstring.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,542,186, issued on Aug. 6, 1996, to Charles A. Saunders describes a bowstring mounted peep sight having a skeletal ring and an interiorly mounted transversely extending frame which defines a peep sight. The areas within the skeletal ring but outside of the peep sight are used for viewing general target areas and the peep sight is used for viewing the specific target area.
French Patent Application Number 1,239,593, published on Jul. 18, 1960, shows a peep sight attached to a sleeve which has the bowstring running therethrough.
The advertisement, `NO SERVE` PEEP, published in Bow & Arrow, in August of 1986, on page 19, shows a peep sight capable of self-locking onto to a bowstring without the need for tying or serving the peep sight into the bowstring.
The brochure, FLUORESCENT PLASTIC OPTICAL FIBERS, published in Optectron, in September of 1991, on pages 1 and 2 shows an example of the ambient light gathering fiber used is weaponry sights.
None of the above inventions, patents or publications describes a transparent rear bow sight with benefits of increased accuracy. Nor do the above describe the benefits of using an ambient light collecting fiber as a rear transparent sight pin in combination with a forward ambient light collecting fiber as a forward sight pin. Furthermore, none of the above describe the use of a surface to help contrast the illumination point of the sight pin against the surrounding environment in order to better view the sight pin. In short, none of the above inventions, patents or publications, taken either singly or in combination, is seen to describe the instant invention as claimed.


A system and method for intrusion detection and prevention processing are described. One or more states of a finite state automaton (FSA) stored in a memory may be compressed to form compressed state information. The FSA may include a set of states and defined state transitions for input characters. The compressed state information may include individual entries for the characters having a corresponding state transition to a next state, and a single entry for the values having a corresponding state transition to a common state. Context data may be searched using the compressed state information.

Networked computing resources encounter potentially compromising attacks conveyed by network traffic. To combat such attacks, purpose-built hardware and software have been developed to implement intrusion detection and prevention (IDP) systems. IDP processing includes signature-based methods designed to inspect network activity and implement attack signature detection techniques which identify data patterns of known attacks. Attack signature detection uses signature analysis which involves the interpretation of a series of data packets using character strings that are previously determined to represent a known attack pattern.
Signature analysis may be accomplished by searching selected packet payloads using finite state machines or finite state automata (FSA) for signatures corresponding to specific known attacks. FSA state tables are typically stored in external memory such as dynamic random access memory (DRAM). Accessing and fetching the FSA state tables from the DRAM during IDP processing can be a primary factor in determining IDP processing throughput, which affects overall IDP system performance, particularly when large signature files or databases are involved and/or high-load monitoring (e.g., high date transfer rates and traffic volumes) is required.
Existing techniques for improving IDP memory read performance have been limited to using more powerful hardware, such as faster central processing units (CPUs). It would be desirable to more efficiently improve IDP memory read performance.


An air filter arrangement for an internal combustion engine, especially for a two-cycle engine in a manually guided implement such as a power saw, a cut-off machine, etc., and including an air filter element that delimits a first clean chamber. The air filter arrangement has an inlet opening for an air channel and an inlet opening for a mixture channel. A shield is provided for shielding the air filter element relative to the mixture channel. The inlet opening of the air channel and the inlet opening of the mixture channel are interconnected via the shield.

The present invention relates to an air filter arrangement for an internal combustion engine, in particular for the two cycle engine of a manually guided implement such as a power saw, a cut-off machine, or the like.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,328,288 B1 discloses a carburetor having an air filter, with a mixture channel and an air channel opening out at the base of the air filter. U.S. Pat. No. 5,503,649 A furthermore discloses disposing shield elements between the inlet opening of the mixture channel and the filter element for retaining fuel that pulses back out of the mixture channel, thus preventing contamination of the air filter.
With air filter arrangements where an air channel and a mixture channel communicate with the clean chamber of the air filter, the channels are customarily disposed on the air filter in such a way that no fuel can pass into the air channel from the mixture channel.
It has been shown that at low speeds, a considerable portion of the fuel passes back into the air filter from the mixture channel due to the pulsations in the mixture channel. This fuel is not available for the combustion, and thereby results in a leaner mixture in the combustion chamber of the internal combustion engine. This impairs the operating behavior of the internal combustion engine.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an air filter arrangement for an internal combustion engine that also at low speeds enables a good operating behavior.

Air filter arrangement for an internal combustion engine


A method and a device for tracking eye movements that ensure a reliable tracking of eye movements with simple operation. To this end, irradiation ensues through the pupil from outside the eye. Light emitted from the pupil is used to determine the position of the eye.

The present invention relates to a method and a device for tracking eye movements.
Refractive laser surgery of the cornea, in particular with ablative excimer lasers (ArF—wavelength 193 nm) as OP laser, has become an established method of treating refractive sight defects. The treatment is carried out with so-called spot scanning systems on the patient's freely-moving eye. These systems also allow patient-specific corrections, so-called customized ablations.
A patient's eye movement makes it necessary to guide the beam of the OP laser in line with the movement. To this end the patient's eye movement and thus the current eye position is recorded with a so-called eye-tracking system and used as adjustment value to steer the OP laser. Customary eye-tracking systems work on the basis of image-processing systems in which these can for example measure the pupil of the eye using a digital camera and determine the eye position with image-processing algorithms by comparing image sequences. As eye movements take place very rapidly and as even the smallest angle errors have to be recognized, high-speed video cameras are normally used for this purpose.
The pupil is preferably used as tracking object for the high-speed video camera, as an automatic video-supported pupil centering can thereby be carried out at the start and the same object can also be tracked during the treatment. This procedure is problem-free on an untreated eye. However, already during preparatory operations such as the removal of the epithelium during PRK (photorefractive keratectomy) or lifting up the flap during LASIK (laser-assisted in-situ keratomileusis), the contrast ratios are changed. During the laser treatment this problem is further aggravated, as a strongly dispersive surface beyond the diameter of the pupil is created.
To avoid this problem different optimization approaches have been worked out. There is a switch to other tracking objects on the eye such as e.g. limbus or iris after initial pupil centering or additional tracking rings are placed on the eye in order to ensure a stable functioning of the eye tracking during the treatment. However, this entails unwelcome additional treatment costs.
In another optimization approach the eye is illuminated from the side with infrared LEDs. A lower failure rate of the system is thereby also achieved during the laser treatment.
However, the illumination necessitates additional work for the doctor and a limitation of working freedom in the OP field.

Method and device for tracking eye movements


Techniques are provided for wireless transmission of data packets based on client associations. A data packet may be received at a wireless access point. It may be determined if at least one client associated with the wireless access point should receive the data packet. The data packet may be wirelessly transmitted if it is determined that there is a client that is associated with the wireless access point that should receive the data packet.

A Virtual Local Area Network (VLAN) may be used to segment a physical Local Area Network (LAN) into what appears to be several different local area networks. For example, in a wired switch, each port may be assigned to a VLAN. A data packet may be intended for broadcast to all clients on a given VLAN. The switch may receive the data packet and transmit the data packet on all ports that have been assigned to the given VLAN. The data packet may not be transmitted on ports that are not assigned to the VLAN. Thus, the data packet may only be received by clients that are physically connected to ports of the switch that have been assigned to the VLAN.

Wireless transmission of data packets based on client associations

Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.


An electron energy analyzer integrated with a low-pass energy filter. The electron energy analyzer includes a separation region disposed inside a coil creating a magnetic field parallel to an axis of the separation region. The magnetic field is terminated at both ends of the separation region and shunted by a magnetic yoke around the outside of the coil. Electrons entering the separation region at a polar angle with respect to the axis accumulate an azimuthal angle dependent on the energy of the electron. Thereby, the direction the electron is traveling when it exits the separation angle depends upon its energy. According to the invention, a low-pass reflector is positioned at the input side of the analyzer, for example, a grounded grid in back of which is positioned a negatively biased absorption electrode. Electrons having energy exceeding the electrode bias are absorbed. Electrons having energy less than the electrode bias are reflected and exit the reflector with the same energy as before. The reflector may be curved to focus the electrons. A curved reflector may be used to introduced chromatic dispersion in the electron beam so that electrons of different energies enter the analyzer at different polar angles. A second reflector may be positioned on the other end of the analyzer so that the energy-analyzed electrons are extracted on the input side of the analyzer.

The invention relates generally to generally to devices for separating electrons or other charged particles according to their energies. Specifically, the present invention relates to real-time analysis of the low-energy portion of the energy distribution of such particles.
Kelly in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,583,336 and 5,969,354 describes an electron analyzer for the real-time detection of the entire energy distribution of a beam of electrons. Both these patents are incorporated herein by reference in the their entireties. The analyzer of the ""336 patent is illustrated in FIG. 1. Its central part is an energy separator 10 that uses a solenoid 12 powered by an unillustrated DC current supply to create a substantially uniform magnetic field B in a separation region 14. The magnetic field is terminated by magnetic meshes 16, 18 linked by cylindrical magnetic yoke 20. The ""354 patent generalizes this configuration to non-uniform magnetic fields and magnetic meshes acting as lenses.
A collimated electron source beam 24 is offset by a polar angle xcex8 from a longitudinal axis 26 of the energy separator 12. It is assumed that the azimuthal angle xcfx86 lies within the plane of the illustration, which corresponds to a value of zero. The source beam 24 originates from an electron source 28 and is collimated by a set of beam optics 30.
It is well known that a charged particle entering a magnetic field region at an oblique angle to the magnetic field, here parallel to the central axis 26, will gyrate about the local magnetic field line B in a helical path 32 so as to maintain its polar angle xcex8 but to have its azimuthal angle xcfx86 with respect to the local magnetic field line B increasing linearly with time or distance with the proportionality constant dependent upon magnetic field and the particle""s kinetic energy and charge. These two angles xcex8 and xcfx86 determine the instant velocity of the charged particle with respect to the central axis 26. Assuming the same initial polar and azimuthal angles xcex80 and xcfx860 for all energies, the total angular rotation xcex94xcfx86 will depend upon the particle""s energy. As a result, electrons of differing energies and all entering the separator 10 with the same polar angle xcex80 and the same azimuthal angle xcfx860 will exit the separator on a path at an angle dependent upon the electron energy. In fact, the polar angles will all be the same xcex8 but the azimuthal angles xcfx86 will be energy dependent. If only a limited energy range is being analyzed, a distribution of the electrons as a function of the exit azimuthal angle xcfx86 will give the energy distribution. However, for larger energy ranges it is necessary to resolve the uncertainty in multiples of 2xcfx80 in the azimuthal angle. This is accomplished with electrostatic biasing between the exit magnetic grid 18 and an electrical grid 34 which provides an energy dependent change of the polar angle xcex8.
Beam optics 36 focus the electrons on an imaging screen 38 or other radiation detector arranged in two dimensions, for example, a 2-dimensional CCD imaging array. As illustrated in FIG. 2, the electrons will fall along a spiral locus 40 with its two ends 42, 44 defining the two limits of the detected energy range and the portions in between having a one-to-one correspondence to intermediate energies. The distribution of intensities along the spiral locus 40 corresponds to the energy distribution of the electrons.
One intended use of the energy analyzer of FIG. 1 is as the analyzer for an Auger electron spectrometer. Auger spectrometers are commercially available from several sources, including Physical Electronics (PHI), a division of Perkin-Elmer of Eden Prairie, Minnesota, Vacuum Generators of the United Kingdom, and Omicron of Delaware.
In the typical practice of Auger spectroscopy, the solid is probed with a beam of primary electrons in the low keV range of energies and produces a secondary electron through an Auger transition process having a well defined Auger energy EAUGER. In Auger spectroscopy, the probing radiation ejects an inner-shell electron from an atom. Then in the Auger transition, a first outer-shell electron falls into the inner-shell vacancy and a second outer-shell electron is ejected carrying the difference in energy. The spectrometer analyzes the energy of the ejected electron as the Auger energy EAUGER. Auger energies are generally in the range of a few hundred eV to a few keV for the typical practice of Auger electron spectroscopy. The Auger energy EAUGER is for the most part unique for each atom, primarily dependent upon the atomic number Z but also depends on the bonding with neighboring atoms. Thus, the measured electron energy can be used to determine the composition of the material, at least near its surface. Auger electron spectroscopy allows the very quick and highly accurate measurement of film thicknesses up to about 20 nm.
Auger energies are typically in the range of a few hundreds to a few thousands of electron volts (eV). Because of the multiple electron transitions, the Auger energy is typically less than half of the primary energy Ep. Further, to enhance the Auger signal, the primary energy Ep is increased even more, often to five times the Auger energy.
Auger signals are generally relatively weak compared to the primary beam. Also, other processes can occur as the primary beam propagates into the material. As a result, the Auger signal is often difficult to extract from a greater number of electrons at the same energy. In addition, electrons of higher energy leave the surface, and these electrons can degrade the, analysis system. Nonetheless, the electron analyzer of FIGS. 1 and 2 must be designed to accurately treat all energies of electrons incident upon it even though when used in an Auger spectrometer only the lower energies are of interest.
Accordingly, it is desired to provide an electron spectrometer that can more effectively and accurately determine the energies of the lower-energy portion of an energy distribution. It is further desired to integrate such means with the energy analyzer of FIG. 1 with the addition of only a few elements.
The invention includes a low-pass energy filter on the input to an energy analyzer for charged particles.
The invention includes an electron energy analyzer including a reflector positioned at the input acting as a low-pass filter. The reflector includes a grid held at a predetermined potential, preferably grounded, and an electrode disposed in back of it held at a more positive potential and configured to reflect electrons with a lower potential energy than the negative electrode potential. These electrons with less energy are reflected and accelerated back through the front grid electrode.
The plane of the reflector is inclined to the analyzer axis so that low-energy electrons reflected from the low-pass filter enter the analyzer at an oblique angle. The analyzer is preferably composed of a drift region having an axial magnetic field around which the energies gyrate in a spiral pattern. The amount of rotation accumulates along the drift region and depends upon the electron energy.
In one embodiment, the reflector is planar. A collimated beam striking the reflector is collimated upon entering the drift region.
In a second embodiment, the reflector is also planar but receives a beam from a light source having its energy components being angularly dispersed so that the components enter the drift region with an energy-dependent oblique angle.
In a third embodiment, the reflector is curved, preferably parabolically or as a paraboloid so as to both energy filter and collimate the beam entering the drift region.
In a fourth embodiment, a second electron reflector is positioned at the end of the drift region opposite the input end, and the electrons are extracted from the input side of the drift region.

Electron analyzer having an integrated low pass filter


A fabrication process for a device such as a backplane for a flat panel display includes depositing thin film layers on a substrate, forming a 3D template overlying the thin film layers, and etching the 3D template and the thin film layers to form gate lines and transistors from the thin film layers. An insulating or passivation layer can then be deposited on the gate lines and the transistors, so that column or data lines can be formed on the insulating layer.

Current flat panel displays such as LCD, LED, and electrophoretic displays generally include backplane circuitry for operation of picture elements or pixels that are arranged in rows and columns in the display. The backplane may, for example, implement an active matrix that is able to refresh an entire row of pixels at once. Such backplanes generally include an array of thin film transistors (TFTs), where one or more TFTs have their source or drain coupled to respective electrodes in a corresponding pixel. The TFTs for a row of pixels have gates coupled to a gate or row line corresponding to the row, and the TFTs corresponding to a column of pixels generally have their drains or sources coupled to a data or column line corresponding to the column.
Conventional integrated circuit processing techniques such as precision photolithography can be difficult to employ for fabrication of a backplane for a large display because of the large area covered and because materials commonly employed in the displays are flexible and difficult to keep flat over the large area. In general, fabricating a TFT requires at least three masking levels, and more masking levels may be needed to form the backplane of a display. Accurately aligning mask patterns against each level is difficult for flexible substrates which have poor dimension stability.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,202,179, entitled "Method of forming at least one Thin Film Device" describes fabrication processes using three-dimensional (3D) templates that can be imprinted on a large area such as the area of a flat panel display. Using these techniques, a 3D template is imprinted on top of a multilayer stack to be patterned. The 3D template generally has multiple levels, with each level corresponding to different thicknesses of the 3D template and a different underlying layer to be patterned. An anisotropic etching process can then thin the 3D template and etch through portions of the underlying layers that become exposed. The process etches deeper into the underlying layers where the 3D template was thinner. For example, the etch process may etch down through the bottom layer of a multi-layer stack where the 3D template was thinnest, but the other levels of the 3D template are thick enough that the portions of the bottom layer under other levels of the 3D template remain. After the process is complete, each layer of the multilayer stack is left with a pattern corresponding to the areas where the 3D template and overlying layers of the multilayer stack were thick enough to protect the layer.
An advantage of using a 3D template in manufacture of a backplane for a display is that the multiple layers of the stack that are patterned with a single 3D template are automatically aligned with each other. Further, roll-to-roll imprinting techniques can cover the large area of a display. Etching multiple layers with a 3D template does have difficulty when producing signal lines or other structures that cross in different layers. For example, the row lines and data lines of a conventional backplane cross each other, so that a conventional fabrication process using 3D templates requires an undercut process (e.g., a wet etch process) to remove portions of the row or data line that are under portions of the data or row lines.
In order to realize high yield manufacturing processes, methods for fabricating a backplane for a display that efficiently align overlying layers and that provide low defect rates are desired.

Thin film device fabrication process using 3D template


A method and system dampens vibrations associated with a device installed in a system by supporting the device with one or more support members having a rigid support portion and a dampening support portion made from an elastic material. In one embodiment, an information handling system fan assembly is made with two shot injection molding to form a support member with an integrated dampener that holds a fan mount disposed in a cooling air channel defined by a fan housing. The fan housing, mount and rigid portion of the support member are formed with one shot from a substantially rigid material and the dampening portion is formed with another shot from a substantially elastic material. A fan couples to the fan mount for installation in the information handling system.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to the field of dampening vibrations, and more particularly to a method and system for information handling system cooling fan vibration dampening.
2. Description of the Related Art
As the value and use of information continues to increase, individuals and businesses seek additional ways to process and store information. One option available to users is information handling systems. An information handling system generally processes, compiles, stores, and/or communicates information or data for business, personal, or other purposes thereby allowing users to take advantage of the value of the information. Because technology and information handling needs and requirements vary between different users or applications, information handling systems may also vary regarding what information is handled, how the information is handled, how much information is processed, stored, or communicated, and how quickly and efficiently the information may be processed, stored, or communicated. The variations in information handling systems allow for information handling systems to be general or configured for a specific user or specific use such as financial transaction processing, airline reservations, enterprise data storage, or global communications. In addition, information handling systems may include a variety of hardware and software components that may be configured to process, store, and communicate information and may include one or more computer systems, data storage systems, and networking systems.
Information handling systems having played an important role in improving worker and individual productivity by automating tasks and performing complex computations. For instance, information handling systems commonly perform day-to-day operations in banks, libraries, research facilities, homes and other locations where workers and individuals spend significant amounts of time in quiet thought to accomplish complex tasks. Information handling systems assist by quietly tracking financial transactions and inventory, by acting as word processors that record research results or by connecting to networks to transfer valuable information on a timely basis. Under a number of circumstances in which information handling systems operate, quiet operation is an important consideration for users.
One difficulty with keeping information handling system operations as quiet as possible is that the electronic components that perform or support information handling tend to generate heat that typically must be removed by cooling fans in order to ensure proper operation. Cooling fans often represent the greatest noise producing component of an information handling system. As information handling systems have grown more powerful with greater power consumption and faster operating speeds, the need for cooling has increased, leading to the use of more powerful cooling fans that operate at higher speeds and for greater time periods. To reduce the vibration and related noise of cooling fans, cooling fans are typically installed into information handling systems with vibration dampers, such as elastic washers or grommets that absorb vibrations, such as rubber inserts. However, these vibration dampening pieces increase the complexity of manufacturing information handling systems since they are often small pieces that are manually installed with cooling fans.

Method and system for vibration dampening


Provided are a semiconductor integrated circuit (IC) including a pad for a wafer test and a method of testing a wafer including a semiconductor IC. The semiconductor IC includes a first address generator, a second address generator, and an address output unit. The first address generator generates a normal address having (M+N) bits or a first test address having M bits corresponding to voltages applied to a plurality of address pads. The second address generator generates a second test address having N bits corresponding to a voltage applied to an additional pad. Therefore, according to the semiconductor IC and the wafer test method, an additional pad is provided to generate an N-bit test address in wafer test mode such that the number of pads needed to test a device can be reduced. As a result, more semiconductor ICs can be tested simultaneously.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor device, and more particularly, to a semiconductor integrated circuit (IC) including an additional pad for reducing the number of pads receiving a test address and thereby increasing the number of semiconductor ICs that can be tested simultaneously during a wafer test process, and a method of testing a wafer including a semiconductor IC.
2. Description of the Related Art
Semiconductor IC chips are formed on wafers during a semiconductor manufacturing process. Wafer-level testing is generally performed to eliminate defective IC chips before they are packaged, thereby reducing the cost of packaging and package-level testing of chips that are already known to be defective. In a wafer test process, only certain properties of the semiconductor IC chips are tested rather than testing all properties of the chips. For example, activation of memory cells on a semiconductor IC chip may be the only property that is tested at the wafer level.
Wafer testing is performed using test addresses generated by applying voltages to pads of a semiconductor IC chip. The voltages are generated by a driver on an external test device connected to a probe card. The test voltages may be used during a wafer testing process to determine, for example, whether a memory cell corresponding to a test address is activated.
Generally, multiple semiconductor IC chips are tested simultaneously, and the number of semiconductor IC chips that can be tested simultaneously is determined by the number of pins on the probe card and the number of drivers on the external test device. In other words, the number of semiconductor IC chips that can be tested simultaneously is determined by the number of test channels that can electrically connect chip pads to the test device.
However, as the integration level of semiconductor IC chips increases, the number of address bits (the number of pads) also increases. As a result, the number of semiconductor IC chips that can be tested simultaneously decreases since the number of test channels is limited even though the required number of address bits increases. Therefore, the productivity of the semiconductor IC chip manufacturing process decreases.

Semiconductor IC including pad for wafer test and method of testing wafer including semiconductor IC


A hair relaxer and post-relaxer hair brightener system and method is disclosed which overcomes the undesirable alteration of the natural tone of hair, especially of naturally gray hair, by highly-alkaline hair-relaxing systems. The natural tone of such alkali-relaxed hair is desirably brightened, enhanced and restored in a hair brightening step by certain disclosed post-relaxer aqueous hair brightener compositions which contain an active hair brightening agent. In a particularly preferred embodiment, the hair brightening agent comprises a relatively low active concentration of hydrogen peroxide.

Highly-alkaline hair-relaxing or hair-straightening compositions are well known in the art and are commonly used in salons and in the home. These compositions usually have a highly-alkaline pH of above about 12 to about 14 due to the presence of an effective hair-relaxing or hair-straightening amount of water-soluble strongly alkaline material. Because of their causticity, highly-alkaline compositions, in some instances, alter the natural tone of human hair undesirably as discussed below. There is a desire and long-standing need to overcome this disadvantage during or before completing the hair-relaxing or hair-straightening process.
For convenience, the terms "hair-relaxing," "hair-texturizing," "hair-straightening" and grammatical variations thereof are used interchangeably herein to denote the chemical loosening or removal of some or substantially all of the naturally tight curl pattern from naturally curly or wavy hair at a pH above about 12. Generally, the term "permanent hair-straightening" denotes the removal of substantially all curliness to achieve a visibly straight configuration, whereas the terms "hair-relaxing" and "texturizing hair-straightening" each denotes varying degrees of loosened wave patterns. Most modern commercial products are commonly called hair relaxers, so this term will be used hereafter to encompass all of the foregoing products for ease and simplicity and not by way of limitation.
The term "tone" as used herein includes the natural color of the hair and those visually desirable characteristics normally associated therewith, such as highlights, brightness and shine or luster. For example, at high alkalinity the natural tone of dark brown hair is reddened, and the naturally "white" fibers of gray hair are undesirably and visibly yellowed and their normal highlighting brightness is correspondingly visibly dulled. Thus, the natural shine or luster of such alkali-treated hair, especially gray hair, is delustered and drabbed of its desirable highlights. The term "gray hair" denotes "head hair" which, en masse, is visibly subjectively classifiable as containing from about 1 percent to about 100 percent naturally "white" fibers; i.e., unpigmented. Thus, the term "gray hair," as used herein, encompasses albino hair, as well as hair commonly described as "salt and pepper" which has lost some or all of its natural pigmentation through normal aging.
Depending on the coarseness, degree of curliness, and resistance of the hair being relaxed, the user typically selects either a mild-strength, regular-strength or super-strength relaxer composition and varies the timing of the relaxing procedure by leaving the hair-relaxing composition in contact with the hair only long enough to remove the desired amount of curl. Consequently, the altered natural tone of alkali-relaxed hair becomes more noticeable and objectionable either as the alkaline strength of the composition increases, as the length of time increases in which the hair is in contact with the highly-alkaline relaxer composition, or when both conditions occur.
Naturally gray hair, in particular, when it is relaxed at high-alkalinity, develops, in some cases, an undesirable noticeable greenish yellow to yellowish brown tinge. This post-relaxer effect is commonly called "yellowing" or "discoloration." For convenience, the term "yellowing" and its grammatical variations will be used hereafter to denote any visibly altered tone of natural gray hair generally associated with the undesirable unnatural yellowish tinge caused by alkali-type hair relaxing. This type of yellowing is distinct from alterations in the tone of hair caused by environmental pollution, smoking, sun fading, and the like.
The mechanism of why the natural tone of the hair is altered by highly-alkaline hair-relaxing compositions is not understood but is generally attributed to the action of certain strong bases normally required for effective alkali-type hair-relaxing. The term "alkali-type hair-relaxing" as used herein refers to chemically relaxing hair at a highly-alkaline pH of above about 12, in which the sole hair-relaxing agent is a water-soluble strong chemical base. Naturally curly hair which has been subjected to alkali-type hair relaxing is generally referred to herein as "alkali-relaxed" hair. The term "naturally curly hair" denotes virgin hair having a tight curl or wave pattern and will be referred to herein generally as "hair", for convenience. At high alkalinity, strong chemical bases are known to convert the disulfide bonds of cystine in hair to stable, irreversible crosslinks of primarily lanthionine and some lysinoalanine. Thus, unlike thiol or bisulfite relaxers, a chemical oxidative or alkaline re-linking step is unnecessary.
Hence, the only step required following an alkali-type relaxing process is to promptly remove the hair relaxing composition by rinsing the hair with water, and substantially neutralize all excess alkaline material remaining to avoid and minimize damage to the hair protein or skin. For this purpose, a non-alkaline base-neutralizing shampoo is commonly used to neutralize and remove excess residual alkaline material from the hair and scalp. The terms "neutralizer" and "neutralizer shampoo," therefore, are used herein to generally denote a post-relaxer composition capable of accomplishing the foregoing neutralization of residual alkalinity when it is applied substantially immediately following the removal of hair-relaxing composition from the hair.
The term "strong base" as used herein denotes cosmetically useful water-soluble, non-volatile inorganic caustic bases and relatively strong organic bases capable of relaxing the hair. For example, alkali metal hydroxide, such as sodium hydroxide (lye), potassium hydroxide, or lithium hydroxide; alkali earth metal hydroxide, such as calcium hydroxide, barium hydroxide and strontium hydroxide or oxides thereof capable of forming hydroxides in water; or a relatively strong organic base, such as guanidine, guanidine hydroxide or quaternary ammonium hydroxide is usually used.
Modern highly-alkaline hair relaxers are commonly called "no-base" hair relaxers and are referred to as "lye," "non-lye" and "no-lye" hair relaxers as discussed below. The term "no-base" in referring to hair relaxers means that the scalp need not be coated with a skin-protective oleaginous base, such as petrolatum, mineral oil and lanolin, before applying a highly-alkaline hair relaxer. The term "no-base hair relaxer," therefore, as used herein generally encompasses a highly-alkaline hair-relaxing product in which some of the skin protective oleaginous material is emulsified in an aqueous composition, preferably in the form of a viscous cream, and does not require the use of a skin-protective base. No-base hair relaxers are commercially supplied as either a "single product" kit or a "two-part product" kit.
In commercial practice, a single product relaxer kit generally denotes a no-base hair relaxer formulation which usually contains, as the sole active hair-relaxing agent, an alkali metal hydroxide. When the alkali metal hydroxide is a caustic base such as sodium hydroxide or potassium hydroxide, the composition is generally referred to as a "lye-type" hair relaxer. When the active hair-relaxing agent is lithium hydroxide or a salt of a strong base, such as sodium carbonate, the composition is referred to herein as a "non-lye" hair relaxer. The product is generally applied in the form of a viscous emulsion cream directly from its container to the hair for use.
A particularly popular type of no-base formulation is commonly called a "no-lye" hair relaxer. The term "no-lye" means that the active hair-relaxing agent is an organic chemical base instead of inorganic caustic base (lye). In commercial practice, the relatively strong organic chemical base, guanidine is usually present in the form of guanidine hydroxide in a no-lye hair relaxer. Guanidine hydroxide, however, is not generally stable for long periods in aqueous solutions, so it must be prepared fresh just before using.
Consequently, no-base, no-lye type hair relaxers are usually supplied commercially as a two-part product relaxer kit in which the guanidine hydroxide is generally prepared in situ from guanidine carbonate and calcium hydroxide. Hence, one part of the product contains the guanidine carbonate packaged in substantially liquid aqueous form, commonly called the "activator." The other part of the product is a package containing relatively high amounts of about 4 percent to about 7 percent calcium hydroxide emulsified in the form of a viscous cream. Prior to using, the consumer or beautician mixes the cream and activator portions of the kit together. The resulting no-base, no-lye hair relaxer cream is then applied to the hair relatively promptly (preferably within several hours and less than 24 hours). For convenience, the term no-lye hair relaxer, therefore, refers to the foregoing admixture.
The yellowing of the tone of naturally gray relaxed hair is more pronounced after a no-base, no-lye hair relaxer is used than when a lye-type hair relaxer is used. A yellow tinge on gray hair is particularly undesirable, because the white fibers in gray hair normally have a desirable natural bright tone which gives the hair highlights, whereas when yellowed, the hair looks dull, drab and lackluster.
Even though some or most of the visible yellowing caused by alkali-type hair relaxing sometimes gradually fades over a period of days, most persons generally find this yellowing highly objectionable. Consequently, the majority of consumers resort to some remedial masking of any persistent post-relaxer yellowish tinge by applying a temporary or semipermanent hair coloring, usually a violet or silver rinse. However, such colorant rinses can produce further unnatural or unsatisfactory tones, such as greens and blues.
Some success in removing visible yellowish tinges which persist in the interim between relaxer treatments has been achieved with an oily color corrective product known in the professional salon arts when it is mixed with a relatively high concentration of hydrogen peroxide of above about 5 percent. However, this practice is unsatisfactory, because at concentrations above about 3 percent, hydrogen peroxide can irritate or burn the scalp or skin, bleach the natural underlying color of the hair and increase the risk of chemical damage to the virgin outgrowth portion of the hair on later receiving a hair relaxer treatment.
Some strides have been made in formulating lye-type hair relaxer compositions that are substantially non-yellowing to gray hair during the hair relaxing step by including hair keratin-disulfide reducing agents having functional sulfhydydrol groups, such as dimercaptoadipic acid or cysteine, as ingredients of the alkaline relaxer cream. See U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,898,726 and 4,992,267, respectively, which issued to the present assignee and the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference. However, the vast majority of popular hair relaxers otherwise formulated and presently sold do not contain the foregoing beneficial ingredients.
Therefore, the need to overcome tonal alteration problems before the alkali relaxing process is completed when conventional no-base hair relaxer systems are used still exists, particularly during the use of no-base, no-lye hair relaxer systems.
An ideal solution is to provide a relatively simple hair relaxer system and method for enhancing and restoring a natural tone to alkali-relaxed hair, especially to alkali-relaxed gray hair, in a post-relaxing step performed prior to completing a hair relaxing treatment. The hair relaxer and post-relaxer hair brightener system and method of this invention provides such a solution to this long-standing need.

Hair relaxer and post-relaxer hair brightener system


An armor system useful, for example, as a shroud, comprising a first pliable, cut resistant fibrous layer and a second pliable fibrous layer is disclosed. The first layer is arranged to receive an impact from a large projectile prior to the second layer and engages the projectile to slow its velocity. The second layer is substantially coextensive with the first and dissipates the incoming energy of the impact to resist complete penetration of the second layer by the projectile, preferably by deforming in response to the impact. Both layers comprise fibers having a tensile modulus of at least about 200 g/d, and an energy-to-break of at least about 8 J/g and a tenacity equal to or greater than about 10 g/d. In another embodiment, the layers are reversed relative to the impact face of the system so that the second layer becomes the first layer and is resistant to projectiles impacting the system, while the first layer becomes the second layer and resists deformation of the system by projectile impacts. Any projectile which completely penetrates the first layer is engaged by the second layer to slow its velocity and prevent complete penetration of the second layer. This armor system provides excellent ballistic resistance with enhanced deformation control.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to armor systems. More particularly, the present invention relates to a first multi-layer armor system which can be a shroud for the containment of large, high velocity cutting projectiles, and to a second multi-layer armor system which is high velocity impact/ballistic resistant and minimizes deformation and penetrations from such an impact.
2. Prior Art
In the summer of 1989, a blade/blade fragment broke away from the turbine engine of an airborne aircraft and severed the aircraft's hydraulic system. The aircraft crash-landed soon after. Shrouds to contain flying blade fragments (projectiles) from a failed turbine engine to protect vital equipment in close proximity are known--these shrouds are formed from multiple layers of loosely woven aramid, such as Kevlar.RTM., fabric. Similarly, shields to protect aircraft engines from damage by flying fragments from a source external to the engine are known; these can be soft armor shields formed from layers of woven aramid fabric, metal shields, or a combination of the two (see U.S. Pat. No. 4,057,359, hereby incorporated by reference).
In either event, with the number of woven fabric layers heretofore utilized, these prior art shrouds/shields are not as effective with respect to high velocity cutting impacts of a rapidly rotating engine blade which fractures and is hurled away from the higher power, larger engines of today. An obvious solution would be to increase the number of fabric layers. However, this solution suffers the same disadvantage of some of the metallic shields available, excessive weight and expense. Therefore, a lightweight armor system which could function as a projectile containing shroud is desirable. Such an armor system would have utility in many areas, i.e., wherever there is a potential for failure of equipment with high speed moving parts that could break into large fragments and become high velocity projectiles that cut and tear their way through adjacent parts/machinery.
Applicants have discovered such an armor system, and in the course of such discovery have also discovered a ballistic resistant armor system which minimizes armor deformation after a high velocity impact or ballistic impact. An armor system can stop an impacting object from completely penetrating the system and yet deform (or bulge) so badly on its non-impact side that damage occurs to the equipment or person being protected by the armor system.
Ballistic resistant articles such as vests, helmets, hard and soft armor, structural members of helicopters and other military equipment, vehicle panels, briefcases, raincoats and umbrellas containing high strength fibers are known. Fibers conventionally used in these articles include aramid fibers such as poly(p-phenylene terephthalamide), graphite fibers, nylon fibers, ceramic fibers, high strength polyethylene fibers, e.g., SPECTRA.RTM., glass fibers and the like. For many applications, such as vests or parts of vests, the fibers are used in a woven or knitted fabric.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,623,574 discloses the formation of prepreg sheets comprised of elastomer coated high strength fibers which are substantially parallel and aligned along a common fiber direction. The patent teaches that the prepreg sheets can be plied together, with successive sheets being rotated relative to the first sheet, to form simple composite materials.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,181,768 teaches lightweight, rigid armor formed by press laminating alternating layers of 6,6 nylon film and aramid fabric. The fabric can be a nonwoven such as a needle punched felt.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,574,105 teaches a flexible, penetration resistant panel comprised of face plies of woven poly(p-phenylene terephthalamide) and backing plies of nonwoven polyamide, preferably needled polyamide felt. This patent teaches that the reverse configuration (face plies of polyamide felt backed with woven Kevlar fiber plies) decreases the ballistic limit velocity by 200 ft/sec. U.S. Pat. No. 4,608,717 teaches a flexible, protective armor comprising layers of aramid fiber fabric which sandwich a trauma attenuation layer of feathers, foam or felt. The layers are drawn together, preferably by stitching. There is no teaching of a felt comprising fiber with high tensile properties.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,623,574, commonly assigned, teaches a ballistic resistant composite comprising a network of high strength fibers which are substantially coated with an elastomeric matrix material. U.S. Pat. No. 4,737,401, also commonly assigned, teaches a ballistic resistant article which comprises at least one network of high strength extended chain polyethylene, polypropylene, polyvinyl alcohol or polyacrylonitrile fiber having a denier of not more than 500 and a tensile modulus of at least about 200 g/denier. In both of these patents, the network can be a felt.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,660,223 teaches body armor comprising an assemblage of panels, each panel consisting of an inner face ply of titanium metal bonded to a strike face ply of aramid fiber woven cloth. The assemblage of panels is held in a predetermined relationship by first and second layers of felt material, preferably of aramid fibers, which are bonded with adhesive plies to the inner and strike faces of the panels. The felt plies permit the panels to move relative to one another and thus avoid inhibiting body movement of the wearer.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,681,792, commonly assigned, teaches a flexible ballistic resistant article having first and second portions each comprising a plurality of fibrous layers where the resistance to displacement of fibers in layers where the resistance to displacement of fibers in each layer of the second portion is greater than that of each layer in the first portion. The layers of the first portion consist essentially of uncoated fibers comprising fiber selected from the group of polyolefin fibers, polyvinyl alcohol fibers and polyacrylonitrile fibers having a tensile modulus of at least 300 g/d and a tenacity of at least about 15 g/d, and the layers of the second portion consist essentially of uncoated fibers. According to the patent, woven fibrous layers exhibit a higher resistance to fiber displacement than nonwoven layers.
The present invention, was developed in an attempt to overcome the deficiencies of the prior art.


An approach for connection of an antenna employs an antenna including at least one antenna contact; an antenna collar slidably coupleable with the antenna and including at least one antenna feedpoint; and an antenna coupler/connector insertable into the antenna collar. The approach may also be characterized as involving moving an antenna by sliding the antenna within an antenna collar, moving an antenna contact at an end of the antenna away from an antenna feedpoint in the antenna collar; and inserting an antenna coupler/connector into the antenna collar including contacting the antenna feedpoint with a contact pad on the antenna coupler/connector. As an alternative the approach of the present invention may have an antenna including at least one antenna contact; an antenna collar slidably coupleable with the antenna and including at least one antenna feedpoint; a cavity enveloping the antenna when the at least one antenna contact is displaced away from the at least one antenna feedpoint; and a spring interposed between the basal end of the antenna and a basal end of the cavity for moving the antenna when the at least one antenna contact is not displaced away from the at least one antenna feedpoint.

The present invention relates to low insertion loss connection of an antenna to a mobile radio, and more particularly to low insertion loss connection of an antenna to a satellite telephone.
In non-satellite transceivers, such as conventional cellular telephones, a connection to an external vehicular antenna can be made through a radio frequency connector normally located on the bottom of the telephone. In order to prevent both the phone antenna and the external vehicular antenna from radiating radio frequency energy at the same time, which can cause phasing and other problems, a radio frequency switch in the conventional cellular telephone switches internal connections from the telephone antenna to the external vehicular antenna connected to the frequency connector, when a connection is detected.
In satellite transceiver applications, such as in satellite telephones, the use of a radio frequency switch for the purpose of switching internal connections from the phone antenna to the external vehicular antenna is not desirable due to the high insertion loss of the radio frequency switch. This high insertion loss is particularly problematic in satellite telephones because of the limited loss budget due to the greater distance between the satellite telephone and an earth orbit satellite with which it communicates. In order to make up this loss on the satellite side, by building a more sophisticated satellite, extremely high costs would be involved, such as on the order of 40 million dollars.
One way in which to eliminate the radio frequency switch is to simply use a detachable connector to connect the phones antenna to the satellite telephones, and when use of the external vehicular antenna is desired to remove the telephone antenna and to connect vehicular antenna to the site on the satellite telephone from which the phone antenna was removed. This approach is, however, awkward and time consuming, and therefore not highly desirable.
Another approach is to employ an inductive coupler that, when the satellite telephone is inserted into a docking adaptor in the vehicle, surrounds the telephone antenna (or a portion thereof) providing an inductive link between the external antenna and the satellite telephone. This approach, however, fails to achieve direct contact or close capacitive coupling between the vehicular external antenna and the satellite telephone, and thus also suffers from high insertion loss.
The present invention advantageously addresses the above and other needs.

Low insertion loss connection of an antenna to a mobile radio


A method to recycle aqueous acidic liquor used to form depolymerized cellulose and hemicellulose accompanying cellulose, contained in biomass, by hydrolysis in the aqueous acidic liquor. Cellulose is dissolved in the aqueous acidic liquor and then remains in place to hydrolyze cellulose to form depolymerized cellulose in the aqueous acidic liquor. The depolymerized cellulose, including dextrins, oligosaccharides, and glucose is substantially separated from the aqueous acidic liquor. The separated aqueous acidic liquor is then recycled to dissolve and hydrolyze additional cellulose to form additional depolymerized cellulose.

Throughout the world there is increasing interest in converting renewable biomass to usable products such as ethanol. Conversion of wood to ethanol has been practiced during wartime due to a shortage of liquid fuels. Reported in Ind. & Eng. Chem. Vol. 38 No. 9, P. 890 (1946). Because of poor yields and consumption of chemicals the conversion was found not to be economical for peacetime use. Present day interest in hydrolysis of biomass is to provide an alternative fuel source to avoid dependence on unreliable imported petroleum crude oil for liquid fuels. Biomass often contains hemicellulose and lignins accompanying the cellulose contained in the biomass. The hemicellulose and amorphous cellulose of the biomass is easily hydrolyzed, in a process termed pre-hydrolysis, leaving a residue containing lignins and un-hydrolyzed crystalline cellulose. Pre-hydrolysis consists of reacting water with biomass materials in the presence of a catalyst, usually an acid. Control of temperature of the hydrolysis and concentration of the acid is adjusted to control the kinetic rate of hydrolysis. Conventional processes center around acidic hydrolysis of biomass to produce glucose and pentoses. Pentoses, by continued hydrolysis conditions, may be reacted to form furfural. Biomass is a term used to describe material containing cellulose including: paper, pulp, wood waste, sawdust, municipal solid waste (MSW), agricultural wastes, fabrics, and cotton.
A state of the art hydrolysis process, described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,411,594, uses two stages to hydrolyze biomass materials The first stage is operated at low temperature and low pressure where both hemicelulose and amorphous cellulose are readily hydrolyzed. Residue from the first stage, containing lignins and difficult to hydrolyze cellulose, is removed and sent to a second stage operating at high pressure and high temperature for hydrolysis of crystalline cellulose. The hydrolyzate from the high pressure and high temperature stage contains acid and glucose and glucose degradradation products, 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF). HMF is formed rapidly from glucose at high temperatures thus limiting the yield of glucose. Kinetic reaction rate of HMF is dependent on concentration of glucose and temperature.
Another process for converting biomass to glucose, described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,237,226, uses two stages. The first stage operating at low temperature and dilute acid will pre-hydrolyze hemicellulose and amorphous cellulose contained in biomass. Residue, containing crystalline cellulose and acid, from the first stage is neutralized then added to a second stage to hydrolyze the cellulose with added enzymes. This slow-acting hydrolysis process requires use of sterilized biomass residue in sterilized reactors. The cost of the enzymes is much more than that for acids.
A state of the art process being developed at TVA, reported in FY 1997 BIOCHEMICAL conversion/ALCOHOL FUELS PROGRAM: Annual Report PA.-65. Upon pre-hydrolysis of corn stover, with dilute acid in a first stage, residue from the first stage is treated with additional acid and then the residue is dried at low temperature to concentrate the acid contained in the residue. The resulting residue contains concentrated acid and crystalline cellulose which is rapidly hydrolyzed in a second stage reactor operating at low temperature. Un-hydrolyzed crystalline cellulose is contained in a residue with lignins.
Also, a state of the art process being developed by workers at the University of Arkansas, is reported in FY 1997 BIOCHEMICAL conversion/ALCOHOL FUELS PROGRAM: Annual Report PA.-85. It employs high concentration of sulfuric acid to convert corn stover to sugars. They describe a process scheme to separate sugars contained in the concentrated sulfuric acid using a heavy boiling solvent to dissolve the sulfuric acid and a low boiling solvent to dissolve the heavy boiling solvent. They also report that this method has a loss of solvents and a loss of sulfuric acid which is neutralized with lime.
Reported in the above named report, on page A-15, is a plan by TVA to develop a high concentration of sulfuric acid process. The current focus of TVA is to develop an inexpensive process for recovering the high concentration of sulfuric acid. Thus the problem of recovering sulfuric acid has not yet been solved.
It is well known that a high concentration of sulfuric acid will hydrolyze cellulose and hemicellulose at low temperatures to form water soluble depolymerized products which can be altered by enzymes to produce sugars for fermentation. The problem with this method is the failure to cost effectively recover the sulfuric acid. Recovery of the sulfuric acid is reported as an unsolved problem. Thus it is believed that no satisfactory recovery method has yet been developed.
The present concern is about recovering aqueous acidic liquor used to produce depolymerized cellulose and hemicellulose. This invention relates to a method of recycling aqueous acidic liquor used to produce depolymerized cellulose and hemicellulose contained in a biomass.
Therefore an object of this invention is to obviate many of the limitations and disadvantages of the prior art to hydrolyze cellulose and to ultimately produce glucose.
Depolymerized cellulose formed from aqueous acidic liquor may be hydrolyzed at low temperature to form glucose rapidly and therefore will not have time to form significant quantities of HMFs so as to reduce the lost yield of glucose.
Another object of this invention is to avoid use of costly and slow acting enzymes for hydrolysis of cellulose.
Still another object of this invention is to produce a yield of hydrolysis of cellulose and hemicellulose nearing 100%.
Yet another object of this invention is to operate and accomplish low energy consumption.
An additional object of this invention is to provide recycling of aqueous acidic liquor used to produce depolymerized cellulose and hemicellulose contained in a biomass.
With the above and other objects in view, this invention relates to the novel features and alternatives and combinations presently described in the brief description of the invention.

Method to recycle an aqueous acidic liquor used for depolymerization of cellulose


A high efficiency, low solidity, low weight, axial flow fan (100, 200, 300) includes a hub (102, 202, 302), fan blades (104, 204, 304) and a circular band (106, 206, 306). The hub (102, 202, 302) rotates about a rotational axis (110, 210, 310) when torque is applied from a shaft (not shown) rotatably driven by a power source (not shown). The circular band (106, 206, 306) is concentric with the hub (102, 202, 302) and is spaced radially outward from the hub. The blades (104, 204, 304) are distributed circumferentially around the hub (102, 202, 302) and extend radially from the hub to the circular band (106, 206, 306). The blades (104, 204, 304) are configured to produce an airflow when rotated about the rotational axis (110, 210, 310). Each blade (104, 204, 304) has a chord length distribution which varies along the length of the blade, such that the chord length has a local minimum value at a predetermined location between the ends of the blade. The chord length of the blades (104, 204, 304) as a function of blade radius from the rotational axis (110, 210, 310) has an inflection point at a predetermined distance from the hub less than the length of the blade.

An axial flow fan may be used to produce a flow of cooling air through the engine compartment of a vehicle. For example, an airflow generator used in an automotive cooling application may include an axial flow fan for moving cooling air through an air-to-liquid heat exchanger such as an engine radiator, condenser, intercooler, or combination thereof. The required flow rate of air through the fan and change in pressure across the fan vary depending upon the particular cooling application. For example, different vehicle types or engine models may have different airflow requirements, and an engine radiator may have different requirements than an air conditioner.
To provide adequate cooling, a fan should have performance characteristics which meet the flow rate and pressure rise requirements of the particular automotive application. For example, some applications impose low flow rate and high pressure rise requirements while other applications impose high flow rate and low pressure rise requirements. The fan must also meet the dimensional constraints imposed by the automotive engine environment, which is typically non-ducted. Known fans which meet such aerodynamic requirements and dimensional constraints typically have relatively high solidity values and weight.
Critical performance characteristics of a fan can be represented by two curves, a static pressure curve and an efficiency curve. A static pressure curve is obtained by plotting the static pressure across the fan as a function of the volume flow rate through the fan. Generally, the static pressure curve of known fans can be approximated by a second or third order equation with a predominantly negative slope. The maximum pressure rise occurs at a low flow rate and the minimum pressure at a high flow rate.
The efficiency curve plots the static fan efficiency as a function of the volume flow rate through the fan. Generally, the curve of known fans can be approximated by a second order equation with a local maximum. Typically the local maximum forms a relatively sharp peak at an intermediate flow rate. The narrow range of volume flow rate over which peak efficiency is maintained limits the range of automotive applications that can be served compared to a fan with a similar peak value of efficiency but having a broad and flat efficiency curve.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide an improved fan for moving air with high efficiency, low solidity and low weight. It would also be desirable to provide an axial flow fan having low solidity and low weight which has performance characteristics meeting the requirements imposed by various automotive applications. Further, it would be desirable to provide an axial flow fan having a relatively broad and flat efficiency curve. In addition, it would be desirable to provide a fan capable of covering a broad range of automotive applications.

High efficiency, low solidity, low weight, axial flow fan


An image fluctuation correcting apparatus for correcting image fluctuations without using a field memory by providing an image fluctuation predicting circuit for predicting image fluctuation in a succeeding field from the image fluctuation determined in a preceding field and moving signal read addresses of a solid state image pickup device in accordance with the predicted value. In another image fluctuation correcting apparatus, movements of an image pickup apparatus are detected by using an acceleration detecting circuit to thereby predict image fluctuation in a succeeding field by a predicting apparatus on the basis of the detected movement of the image pickup apparatus for correcting the image fluctuation.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image fluctuation correcting apparatus used for correcting movements, drifts or fluctuation (hereinafter collectively referred to as fluctuations) of pictures or images generated by an image pickup apparatus such as a video camera or the like due to swing, shaking or like movements of the image pickup apparatus which may accompany manipulation thereof.
Recently, in the field of image pickup apparatuses such as video cameras and the like, remarkable progress has been made in implementation of such apparatus having a small size and light weight with a zoom function of high magnification. Besides, the image pickup apparatuses tend to be increasingly used by people of all ages and both sexes. Besides, automatic correcting functions such as auto-focussing function, automatic whitebalance control and automatic luminance control of improved performance have been developed and adopted in many of the commercially available products. On the other hand, there has arisen a problem that image fluctuations occur due to movements of the apparatus, as a result of which the quality of pictures as generated is degraded to great disadvantage. Under the circumstances, there exists a great demand for automatic correction of the image fluctuation.
2. Description of the Prior Art
As a typical method of correcting the image fluctuation, there may be mentioned a method according to which fluctuation of image or picture is detected from picture signals after having taken pictures, wherein positional correction of images or pictures is performed on the basis of the fluctuation information as detected. (Reference may be made to "Technical Reports, Vol. 11, No. 3" published by The Institute of Television Engineers of Japan in May 1987.) More specifically, the picture signal suffering from the image fluctuation undergoes first an analogue-to-digital (A/D) conversion to be subsequently separated into two series, one of which is supplied to a Y/C separation circuit to extract only the Y-signal which is then supplied to a vector detecting circuit. The vector detecting circuit in turn serves for a function to generate an optimum correction vector while being controlled with regard to the area from which the movement vector is to be detected.
As another method of correcting the image fluctuation, it has also been proposed to detect the movements of the image pickup apparatus by means of an angular acceleration sensor to thereby control the position of an imaging unit including an optical system so as to compensate for the movement of the image pickup apparatus. (Reference may be made to "Technical Reports, Vol. 11, No. 2" published by the Institute of Television Engineers of Japan in Nov. 1987.)
Finally, there may be mentioned an image fluctuation correcting method according to which image fluctuation is detected from the picture signal during the image pickup operation for effecting positional correction of the image on the basis of the fluctuation information thus detected, to thereby eliminate the fluctuation. (Reference may be made to IEEE Transactions on Consumer Electronics, Vol. 36, No. 3, August 1990.)
With the methods and systems mentioned above, a field memory or a frame memory is indispensably required when the image fluctuation is to be detected through electronic processing. On the other hand, detection of movements of the image pickup apparatus with the aid of the angular acceleration sensor requires indispensably a position control unit for controlling the imaging unit so as to cancel out or compensate for the movement of the associated image pickup apparatus.

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


Polyhydroxy fatty acid amide nonionic surfactants are converted in high yields to their sulfated analog surfactants using an SO.sub.3 /pyridine complex as a sulfating agent. Thus, C.sub.12 -C.sub.18 N-methyl glucamide is sulfated in methylene chloride or pyridine solvent to form the corresponding sulfated glucamide in yields of 80% or higher.

Most conventional detergent compositions contain mixtures of various detersive surfactants in order to remove a wide variety of soils and stains from surfaces. In particular, various anionic surfactants, especially the alkylbenzene sulfonates, have been employed to remove particulate soils, and various nonionic surfactants, especially the alkyl ethoxylates, have been used for removing greasy soils and stains. Mixtures of such anionic and nonionic surfactants are used in many modern detergent compositions. Unfortunately, many such surfactants are prepared mainly from petrochemical feedstocks.
Considerable attention has lately been directed to nonionic surfactants which can be prepared using mainly renewable resources, such as fatty acid esters and sugars. One such class of surfactants includes the polyhydroxy fatty acid amides. A combination of such amide surfactants with conventional anionic surfactants has also been studied.
It will be appreciated by the skilled chemist that the polyhydroxy fatty acid amides contain multiple hydroxyl groups which are susceptible to conversion into other substituent groups. If such substituent groups were to be anionic in character, the resulting materials would be anionic surfactants. Thus, using a single fatty acid ester/sugar/amine feedstock, it would be possible to prepare not only a polyhydroxy fatty acid amide class of nonionic surfactants, but also anionic surfactant analogs thereof. Thus, the desirable mixtures of nonionic/anionic surfactants would become available from mainly renewable, nonpetrochemical feedstocks.
Sulfated derivatives of polyhydroxy fatty acid amides have been reported in the literature. These materials have been prepared by reacting chlorosulfonic acid or sulfuric acid plus urea with the hydroxyl constituents present in the polyhydroxy fatty acid raw material. However, it has now been determined that the preparation of such sulfated materials with polyhydroxy fatty acid amides using chlorosulfonic acid is non-routine. More particularly, yields of polyhydroxy fatty acid amide sulfate can be as low as 16% using chlorosulfonic. The reason for the low yields is not readily apparent. While not intending to be limited by theory, it may be that the hydrogen chloride which results from the reaction of the hydroxyl substituents with the chlorosulfonic acid can somehow attack the sugar substituent in the polyhydroxy fatty acid amide, thereby reducing overall yields. In any event, while such low yields may be tolerable under situations where a high priced ingredient is being prepared and wherein extensive purification procedures are justified, such is not the case when preparing low cost bulk items such as detersive surfactants.
By the present invention, an improved method for sulfating polyhydroxy fatty acid amides has been devised which uses sulfur trioxide in the form of a pyridine complex. Overall conversion of the polyhydroxy fatty acid amide into the sulfated polyhydroxy fatty acid amide is substantially increased.

Synthesis of sulfated polyhydroxy fatty acid amide surfactants


A window assembly that includes a motorized window shade mechanism. The window assembly includes two reversible motors that are disposed in, and at the top of, the window assembly. The window assembly further includes an opaque shade and a translucent shade. Each shade is independently raised and lowered with the motors by a separate gear and belt system positioned at the sidewalls of the window assembly, which are coupled to each other by rotatable shafts journalled into the bottom of the window. Each gear and belt system is driven by one of the reversible motors.

Various window shade mechanisms specifically adapted for aircraft windows have been previously presented. One such shade mechanism utilizes cables and pulleys. See U.S. Pat. No. 5,082,043. A slidable actuator must be manually moved to operate the window shade. Manual operation is inconvenient. Also, during flight it is advantageous to have the capability of operating all the window shades on an aircraft simultaneously by one person. However, this is not possible with manually-operated window shades. Further, various parts of the shade mechanism are particularly vulnerable to malfunction. Moreover, many components are required, which reduces reliability and increases the cost of producing the shade mechanism.
Another shade mechanism involves a motor that is fixed inside the window and operates the shade with cables and pulleys. See U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,515,898 and 4,998,576. This mechanism also requires numerous components, which can only be manufactured, assembled, and installed at considerable cost. Further, because of the numerous parts, the reliability of the design is questionable.
Still another shade mechanism involves a motor attached to a lower bar or rail of a shade. The motor moves along with the shade as the shade is extended and retracted. See U.S. Pat. No. 4,807,686. However, this shade mechanism also utilizes numerous components, which increases the cost of production and reduces the reliability of operation.
A further shortcoming of at least some of the above-mentioned designs is too much bulk and weight. The space available in an aircraft window within which the entire window shade assembly must fit is quite restricted. Also, reduction of weight is of particularly high importance in an aircraft environment.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,186,211 discloses a motorized window shade assembly for operating a window shade having a rail attached to one end of the shade to extend and compress the shade with movement of the rail. The motorized window shade assembly includes a shell having two sidewalls, and a rail extending between the two sidewalls of the shell. The sidewalls have respective opposed inner surfaces with a channel therein, shoulders adjacent and perpendicular to the inner surfaces, respectively, and a traction surface on each of the shoulders. An axle is rotatingly coupled to the rail and has a traction wheel coupled to each end thereof. Opposite tips of the axle ride within the channels in the sidewalls, and the traction wheels engage the traction surface. A motor is attached to the rail and is drivingly coupled to the axle. Although this is a useful and effective arrangement, its size does not readily fit within the space limitations available in windows used on many commercial airliners. Thus, it became necessary to devise a motorized window shade assembly with the advantages of this configuration, but with smaller stack height (the extent to which the shade is compressed when fully retracted), width and thickness.