Novel dispenser means are provided for mixing and dispensing two-part curable compositions wherein the mixer elements are isolated from the curable components.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to dispensers of two-part compositions having incorporated therein mixing means wherein the flow path of the combined two-part composition within and through the mixing means is readily removable and replaceable.
2. Description of Related Art
Reactive two-part compositions have many applications ranging from general molding compositions to specialized applications such as adhesives, sealants, coatings and potting compounds. Their uses vary from high and low tech industrial production and assembly operations to relatively low-tech consumer applications. They find particular use in OEM manufacture as well in the service sector for general maintenance and repair.
Reactive two-part compositions are of many different formulations and chemistries and include true thermosetting polymers and other curable or settable compositions as well as reactive compositions that show marked increase in viscosity, but do not necessarily solidify. They are most generally characterized as curing/reacting, i.e., undergoing a chemical reaction of components, upon intimate contact of one component of the curable composition with another. Exemplary reactive two-part compositions include those based on polyester, epoxy, acrylic or urethane chemistry. Besides the physical properties and performance characteristics of the cured materials, one of the critical aspects of reactive two-part compositions is their cure speed. All of these aspects play a key role in where and how these materials are used. While physical properties and performance characteristics are, to a large extent, dictated by the chemistry of the polymer or polymerizable component, other additives, if present, such as catalysts, accelerators, and initiators, and their level of incorporation, also affect cure speed, which, in turn, can affect physical properties and performance characteristics. Another important, and oftentimes critical, factor regarding the use of two- or more-part systems is the proper apportionment of the parts as they are being combined. Generally, while these systems offer excellent engineering properties and performance characteristics, their very nature, notably their viscosity and especially their cure speed, can lead to difficulties in mixing, uniformity of cure and properties, and application processes.
For a reactive two-part system of a given chemistry and formulation, optimal performance and cure speed are oftentimes contingent upon careful and intimate mixing of the two parts. Even though polymerization and/or cross-linking of certain two-part curable systems may be self-propagating, i.e., once kicked off the polymerization or cure will continue through the volume of the curable composition, intimate mixing of the component will provide optimal cure speed and avoid stress problems that may arise as a result of too fast a cure in one section of the volume as opposed to another. More importantly, though, those compositions that rely upon the co-polymerization and/or cross-linking of two or more monomers require a substantially homogeneous mixture of the co-monomers in order to ensure good overall cure and performance. The failure to provide such an intimate distribution of the copolymerizable components will result in areas of uncured monomer or co-monomer or of areas having lower than expected, or needed, cross-linking. Similarly, in those curable systems reliant upon curatives including catalysts, cure accelerators, cure initiators and the like, especially those wherein propagation of cure is limited, non-existent or too slow, an even distribution of such curatives in the monomer(s) is important for uniform cure, good cure speed and good performance properties of the cured material. Otherwise one may find areas of poorly cured or uncured materials as well as stresses within the cured materials, especially at the interface of the two regions.
Since cure, and hence viscosity buildup, begins once the necessary reactive components are brought into contact with one another, cure speed then becomes of key concern. At some point in time the viscosity of the formulated composition increases to such an extent and/or the degree of cure that has been attained is so high that the material is no longer capable of being applied or used for its intended purpose. The period from when the materials are first mixed to that point where they are essentially no longer suitable for use is typically defined as its pot life. The slower the cure speed of the system, the longer the pot life and the more time one has to ensure good intimate mixing as well as to apply the activated system to its intended end use. However, a slow reacting system will also take longer to reach the desired cured properties. This may be acceptable for some applications, but for many industrial applications, especially automated bonding, sealing, winding (e.g., filament winding) or potting applications, rapid cure is desirable to speed assembly and improve productivity. Conversely, too fast of a cure speed and little time is available to ensure good mixing, let alone a sufficiently manageable pot life to allow for adequate working of the treated substrates. In some cases, the pot life of these systems may be a minute or two, perhaps even fractions of a minute. While manual mixing and application of these materials may be suitable for a consumer or commercial repair service, it is totally impractical in a production situation—there just isn't enough time.
Thus, industrial and commercial use of reactive two-part compositions requires a delicate balancing of a number of parameters, not just formulation-wise, but also methodology and equipment-wise. The latter, e.g., two-part dispensers and/or mixers, has played a key role in the advancement of the use of such compositions in industrial and commercial applications. Similarly, the importance and versatility of use of these reactive two-part compositions for industrial manufacture and repair/servicing applications has led to many developments in suitable dispensing and mixing equipment. For example, the effective use of these materials has required the development of so called "meter-mix-dispense" systems that automate and control the measuring of the two components, their mixing and application to the part. The entire process can be accomplished within a few seconds.
While these systems have proven effective, some difficulties remain. Although the concern with pot life limitation is greatly diminished by the overall quickness of the mixing and dispensing of the newer apparatus, it doesn't fully go away. Specifically, even though these devices successfully expel most of the curable composition, a thin layer tends to cling to the internal components of the mixer or reside in areas of low or no flow. Because the material is reactive, it will cure in place. As time passes, the layer of cured material builds up and begins to thicken and restrict the flow of uncured material through the dispenser and mixer apparatus. This problem is made worse by the periodic stoppage of the operation of the dispenser and mixer during the daily production cycle, for example, as may occur during breaks, line alterations, line disruptions, line maintenance, etc. Here, since newly mixed material is not there to essentially sweep the wetted surface of the older material, buildup appears to increase even faster. Eventually, the adverse impact on the flow and throughput of the dispenser will necessitate a complete shutdown of the production line while the dispenser is disassembled and cleaned before the line is restarted. In extreme circumstances, the mixture may cure through the volume in the dispenser rendering it useless: thereby necessitating a more difficult cleaning or, worse, outright disposal of the dispenser.
Although most dispensers can be cleaned for re-use, cleaning is labor intensive and usually requires solvents: the latter raising a number of environmental, health and safety concerns. Thus, it may be expedient to simply discard the used mixers on a regular basis and start over with a new one. In this light, single use packaging having distinct compartments containing pre-metered amounts of the components wherein a manipulation of the packaging allows for an intimate mixing of the two components as well as the dispensing thereof helps overcome some of these difficulties while rendering their use nearly fool-proof. However, such single use packaging is all but impractical for high volume, high speed assembly or manufacturing operations, especially automated operations.
One type of mixer often used with two-part compositions is referred to a "static mixer tube" or "Kenics" mixer—after their original manufacturer Kenics Corporation (McCray, U.S. Pat. No. 2,125,245). The tube contains a series of helical elements that divide the stream of material in two and reorient it by 90 degrees before it enters the next element. With each additional element, the number of times the stream is divided and remixed goes up by a power of two. Studies have shown good mixing for this design provided that a large enough number of elements are used. The original static mixers were fabricated from metal and designed for use in the chemical processing industry. However, the design lends itself to low cost fabrication by plastic injection molding where the molded plastic mixers are used once and then discarded.
While popular for many applications, static mixer tubes have a number of limitations. One limitation is that while higher numbers of elements provide superior mixing performance, they also increase the cost of the mixer and increase the flow resistance within the dispenser/mixer apparatus. The many small elements in the tube also make the static mixer tube prone to clogging once any of the material inside begins to thicken. Although plastic molded static mixer tubes are low in purchased cost, the additional costs of labor and lost production time in constantly changing them out must be considered as these costs have a significant impact on the overall process cost.
A second type of mixer suitable for use in a meter-mix-dispense process is the dynamic mixer. These devices are characterized by the use of a mechanically driven element, such as a rotor or impeller blade, an auger, etc., to directly and actively mix the components. There are a number of designs available for use with a wide range of two-part compositions. Specific selection is dependent upon the materials, the application or dispensing process as well as the product viscosities to be encountered by the apparatus.
While extremely effective in mixing performance, the surfaces of the moving elements of the dynamic mixer in contact with the reactive components become covered with hardened material and eventually the device must be disassembled for cleaning. Unlike static mixer tubes, dynamic mixers are costly to manufacture and cannot be economically discarded after use. Furthermore, they are more suited for batch-type processing applications as opposed to continuous processing, especially as may be desired or needed for industrial manufacturing applications, particularly automated operations.
Thus, there remains a need for an apparatus for mixing and dispensing reactive two-part curable compositions which operates in a continuous fashion and in which concern of cure on the surface of the reaction chamber and associated components of the dispenser and mixer device is minimized.
Further, there remains a need for an apparatus for mixing and dispensing reactive two-part curable compositions wherein deposits or buildup of cured material within the apparatus can be removed and/or cleaned with minimal disruption on the operation of the dispenser apparatus.

Dispenser with dynamic mixer for two-part compositions


A maintenance and recovery device of a liquid droplet discharge apparatus improves a performance of discharging droplets of a liquid having a high-viscosity. A liquid droplet discharge head (34) discharges droplets of a recording liquid from a nozzle. A suction cap member (92a) caps a nozzle plane of the liquid droplet discharge head (34). An inclined surface (191) provides a slope toward an evacuation port (194) on a bottom of the suction cap member (92a). The inclined surface (191) forms an inclination angle with respect to a horizontal plane. The inclined surface is formed of a material having a contact angle with respect to the recording liquid. A sum of the inclination angle and the contact angle is equal to or larger than 70 degrees.

There is a liquid discharge apparatus equipped with a recording head having a liquid droplet discharge head which discharges droplets of a recording liquid, which is used in various image forming apparatuses such as a printer, a facsimile machine, a copy machine, a combination machine, etc.
In such an image forming apparatus, it is very important to maintain and recover a performance of a recording head that discharges a recording liquid. A maintenance and recovery device performs such a maintenance and recovery of a recording head. Generally, such a maintenance and recovery device comprises a moisture retention cap, a suction cap, a wiper blade and a blank discharge receiver for receiving liquid droplets of a blank or blank discharge that does not contribute to image formation.
As a cap member in such a maintenance and recovery device, there is known, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 3106783, a cap that has a first inclined surface, which inclines toward an ink discharge port with a gentle slope, and a second inclined surface, which inclines toward the ink discharge port with a steep slope so as to eliminate ink remaining in the vicinity of the ink discharge port.
Additionally, there is known, as disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 2001-71514, a cap that has a space part of a tapered shape, which continuously narrows toward an ink discharge port and provided with an ink retaining means in a passage that connects an ink suction port to a negative pressure generating means so as to discharge ink inside the space part to maintain moisture retention by ink in the passage.
Further, there is known, as disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 6-23891, a cap that facilitates suction of ink by improving water repellency of an inner surface of the cap.
Additionally, there is known, as disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 2003-1839, a cap that improves airtightness by being provided with a resilient seal member covering a nozzle plane and a rigid member forming a sealing part, these members being formed by materials having water repellency of a contact angle equal to or greater than 90° with respect to ink.
As a colorant of ink used for an inkjet recording apparatus as an image forming apparatus, dye ink was a main stream at the beginning in viewpoint of a merit of its coloring nature and reliability. However, in recent years, pigment ink using a pigment such as a carbon black tends to be used so as to provide light resistance and water resistance to a recorded image. Moreover, there is a tendency to set a high viscosity to ink for the purpose of increasing a degree of freedom of ink prescription and preventing blur of ink after an ink droplet landed a regular paper.
Such a high viscosity pigment ink changes in its viscosity due to a change in temperature. For example, ink having a viscosity of 8 cps at an ambient temperature of 22° C. may have a viscosity of more than 15 cps at 10° C. and a viscosity of about 5 cps at 32° C. It was found according to experiments by the inventors that, when such ink is suctioned by a conventional cap member, it is difficult to discharge the ink stably.
That is, it was found that the cap member, which is disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 3106783, having a first inclined surface, which inclines toward an ink discharge port with a gentle slope, and a second inclined surface, which inclines toward the ink discharge port with a steep slope, can reduce a residual amount of ink, but, discharge of the ink is not sufficient when pigment ink, especially ink having a viscosity of equal to or higher than 5 cps, is used.
It was also found that the cap member disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 2001-71514 cannot sufficiently discharge ink when pigment ink, especially ink having a viscosity of equal to or higher than 5 cps, is used.
Moreover, it was found that the cap member disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 6-23891 can facilitate suction of ink by improving water repellency of an inner surface of the cap, but discharge of ink is not sufficient when ink containing pigment, especially ink having a viscosity of 5 cps and a surface tension equal to or smaller than 40 dyne/cm is used since wetability of the ink is extremely high even the water repellent treatment is applied.
Moreover, it was found that the cap member disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 2003-1839, which is provided with a resilient seal member covering a nozzle plane and a rigid member forming a sealing part that are formed by materials having water repellency of a contact angle equal to or greater than 90°, cannot be used practically when ink having a viscosity of 5 cps and a surface tension equal to or smaller than 40 dyne/cm is used since it is difficult to apply a water repellent treatment to set a contact angle with respect to the ink to be equal to or grater than 60 degrees.

Maintenance and recovery device of a liquid discharge apparatus and an image forming apparatus


A heat-dissipating mobile terminal includes a main body, a heat dissipating member positioned in the main body, and a back cover detachably connected to the main body. The main body includes a heat-producing element and the heat dissipating member includes a heat radiator arranged above the heat-producing element. The back cover defines a perforated portion above the heat dissipating member. The heat radiator is integrated with the main body. The heat radiator is exposed to external cooler air by the perforated portion in the back cover. The mobile terminal of the present disclosure effectively improves heat radiating efficiency and reduces cost.

A mobile terminal may include a main body and a speaker unit for providing audible information. An upper cover may have a display for displaying a text and other information. A lower cover may be coupled to the upper cover to cooperatively form a space in which various components can be mounted. A printed circuit board (PCB) may be installed in the space. In receiving/transmitting information or using its various functions (such as games or the like), a user may press the display with a finger to input information.
The components of the printed circuit board inevitably generate heat due to collisions of electrons caused by operation of the component.
The heat generally cannot evenly spread through out but concentrates on a specific portion thereby forming a hot area. The upper cover is usually the hottest part. Thus, when a user touches the mobile terminal, the user may feel the heat. Furthermore, life span and performance of components of the printed circuit board may deteriorate due to the heating over an extended period.


A branch pipe liner bag is provided for reliably lining a branch pipe even having a curved portion. The branch pipe liner bag has a tubular resin-absorbent material having a flange formed at one end thereof, the outer surface of which is covered with a highly air-tight film. The tubular resin-absorbent material is impregnated with an unhardened hardenable resin, and a separable tube is attached to the flange. According to this invention, since the separable tube is attached to the previously hardened flange of the branch pipe liner bag, the separable tube will never be torn or cut even if the branch pipe liner bag is everted and inserted into a branch pipe having a curved portion with a high fluid pressure, or even if the film covering the branch pipe liner bag is heated and therefore softened by a heat medium or heat generated by the hardening of the thermosetting resin. It is therefore possible to reliably line a branch pipe even having a curved portion, using the branch pipe liner bag, and repair the branch pipe.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to branch pipe lining techniques, and more particularly, to a branch pipe liner bag for lining an inner wall of a branch pipe which joins a main pipe. This invention is also relates to a branch pipe lining method which uses the branch pipe liner bag.
2. Description of the Related Art
When an underground pipe, such as pipelines and passageways, becomes defective or too old to perform properly, the pipe is repaired and rehabilitated without digging the earth to the pipe and disassembling the sections of the pipe. This non-digging method of repairing an underground pipe has been known and practiced commonly in the field of civil engineering. The pipe lining method utilizes a tubular pipe liner bag made of a resin-absorbent material impregnated with a hardenable resin, and having the outer surface covered with a highly air-tight plastic film. The tubular pipe liner bag is inserted into a pipe to be repaired by means of a pressurized fluid such that the pipe liner bag is turned inside out as it proceeds deeper in the pipe. Hereinafter, this manner of insertion shall be called "everting". When the entire length of the tubular liner bag is everted (i.e., turned inside out) into the pipe, the everted tubular liner is pressed against the inner wall of the pipe by a pressurized air, and the tubular flexible liner is hardened as the hardenable resin impregnated in the liner is heated, which is effected by heating the fluid filling the tubular liner bag. It is thus possible to line the inner wall of the defective or old pipe with a rigid liner without digging the ground and disassembling the pipe sections. The foregoing pipe lining method can be similarly applied to the lining of a main pipe of sewerage pipes or the like and a branch pipe branched off the main pipe.
A specific example of the conventional branch pipe lining method will be described with reference to FIGS. 16 and 17.
FIGS. 16 and 17 are cross-sectional views illustrating steps of a conventional branch pipe lining method. A branch pipe 131, a main pipe 130 in which a robot 122, a pressure bag 123 and other necessary tools and materials have been introduced. A branch pipe liner bag 101 has been inserted in the pressure bag 123.
The branch pipe liner bag 101 has a tubular resin-absorbent material having a flange 101A formed at one end, and impregnated with unhardened liquid hardenable resin. Near the flange 101A of the tubular resin-absorbent material, one end of a separable tube 140 is temporarily adhered such that the separable tube 140 can be torn off. The branch pipe liner bag 101 has the flange 101A carried on a collar 124 supported by the above-mentioned robot 122, and an uneverted portion of the resin-absorbent material except for the flange 101A has been inserted in the pressure bag 123.
An open end of the separable tube 140 attached to the branch pipe liner bag 101 is coupled to the pressure-bag 123 through a socket 128, and the collar 124 and the socket 128 are coupled by an elbow bag 129.
In operation, the robot 122 is driven to move the collar 124 upward to bring the flange 101A of the branch pipe liner bag 101 into close contact with the periphery of a branch pipe opening of the main pipe 130 (a portion of the main pipe 130 open to the branch pipe 131). Then pressurized air is supplied into a closed space S formed within the pressure bag 123 by the branch pipe liner bag 101 and the separable tube 140, causing the branch pipe liner bag 101 to be everted and inserted into the branch pipe 131 from the main pipe 130 toward the ground by the pressure of the air, as illustrated in FIG. 16. In this event, the separable tube 140 serves as a seal for air-tight sealing the branch pipe liner bag 101 and the pressure bag 123 to prevent the pressurized air within the closed space S from leaking.
Once the branch pipe liner bag 101 has been everted and inserted into the branch pipe 131 as described above, the hardenable resin impregnated in the branch pipe liner bag 101 is hardened with the branch pipe liner bag 101 remaining pressed onto the inner wall of the branch pipe 131, thus lining the branch pipe 131 with the hardened branch pipe liner bag 101. In this way, the branch pipe 131 is repaired.
Afterwards, the collar 124 is moved downward, and the flange 101A of the branch pipe liner bag 101 is removed from the collar 124, as illustrated in FIG. 17. Then, the pressure bag 123 and the robot 122 are pulled, for example, in a direction indicated by the arrow, causing the separable tube 140, which has been temporarily adhered to the tubular resin-absorbent material of the branch pipe liner bag 101, to be torn off the temporarily adhered portion of the tubular resin absorbent material. Then, the separable tube 140 is removed from the main pipe 130 together with the pressure bag 123 and the robot 122, thus completing a sequence of lining operations for the branch pipe 131.
Actually, however, branch pipes often have bent or curved portions. For passing a branch pipe liner bag through such a curved portion of a branch pipe, this requires a large everting pressure approximately five to ten times higher than that required for passing the branch pipe liner bag through a straight portion of a branch pipe. When the branch pipe liner bag is everted by applying a high everting pressure thereto for passing the branch pipe liner bag through a curved portion, a separable tube temporarily adhered thereto also receives large pressure and is possibly torn off the temporarily adhered portion.
To solve this problem, it is contemplated that a larger temporarily adhering force is provided for the separable tube. However, a larger temporarily adhering force, if provided for the separable tube, would result in a problem that the separable tube is not torn off the temporarily adhered portion, but instead the separable tube itself is broken in the middle.
As an alternative, when the separable tube is made stronger so as to prevent the same from breaking in the middle, a softened plastic-film, heated by a heat medium used for heating the thermosetting resin and heat generated by the hardening of the thermosetting resin, is peeled off the surface of the hardened tubular resin-absorbent material.

Branch pipe liner bag and branch pipe lining method


The invention relates to the field of material handling or logistic equipment in particular, relates to turntables, which can be used especially for automation of production line, assembly assistance, linefeeading and synchronous manufacturing. A high precision positioning powered turntable and its controlling method are disclosed herewithin, based on slewing ring bearing having an integral gear on the inner ring, and positively driven by a gear motor. A plurality of sensors and sensor flags are installed for monitoring position of the turntable top structure for controlling acceleration, deceleration and stopping. A controller, such as a programmable logic controller, is used for monitoring the position of the turntable top structure tlirough the plurality of sensors, and decides how it operates a motor drive, such as variable frequency drive, of the gearmotor for controlling the acceleration, deceleration and stopping of the turntable.

Material handling equipment is used in many different industries, especially in manufacturing fields, including, without limitation, ship building, aerospace or plane building, automotive, heavy equipment, appliances, construction material, furniture, etc. As variety and volume of goods and materials that the equipment handles have been grown drastically in past few decades, needs for automating material handling processes in various industries span out even more demanding requirements on the machineries and equipments, including speed, precision, gentler handling of materials, etc.
Turntables alone have evolved significantly over the past few decades. In most of cases, pneumatic motor driven turntables are most commonly used equipment. This type of turntables is generally supported by air bearings or caster wheels and rotate around a centre hub. Usually, a friction wheel, driven by an air motor, is used to provide power to turn the table. The friction wheel is pressed against the side of the turntable, contacting with a ring, which is welded on the perimeter of the wheel for providing the friction surface. As the air motor is engaged to rotate the friction wheel, the friction wheel, in turn, rotates the turntable. Once the turntable reached to a designated position, a shot pin will be fired to stop and hold the turntable in the desired position.
There are a number of shortcomings with the current pneumatic motor driven turntables. First, they often create sudden movements, i.e. sudden start and sudden stop due to a shot pin fired to stop and hold the position. These sudden movements could cause problems if a material or materials placed on the turntable are sensitive to the shock. These sudden movements also create many constraints of where and how to place or stack materials on the turntable to avoid damages from sudden movements, load shifts, etc. Quite often, some supporting structures on this type of turntables are required to avoid the aforementioned problems; however, this will also add another constraint related to operable and available space. The sudden movement also causes faster pace of wear and tear, mechanical stresses and damages to the shot pins and friction wheel. As the friction wheel wears, it will worsen the driving efficiency of the turntable. Ultimately, it will cause the maintenance cost to rise.
Second, pneumatic motor driven turntables lack positioning accuracy due to the lack of precision in pneumatic motor friction wheel drive. Most of the pneumatic motor driven turntables with friction wheels have a position accuracy of about +/−1 inch or larger. Accuracy is a very crucial factor for automation application, especially for robot loading and picking applications. However, mainly, due to the inefficiency of friction wheel (error from wear and tear of a ring to provide friction surface, slippage, etc) and difficulty to control speed, acceleration and deceleration with the air motor, it is almost impossible to improve the positioning accuracy.
Third, pneumatic turntables are difficult to integrate and interface with an electric control system, since most of the moving parts are pneumatically driven. Solenoid valve may be used to control pressured air for starting and stopping the turntable by an electric control system. However, there is no cost effective solution to control speed for avoiding sudden movements and for improving positioning accuracy.
Forth, due to the physical packaging limitation, pneumatic drive motors are usually placed outside of the turntable frame structure, being exposed to the environment, especially, to dust, dirt or physical damages; therefore, it causes a high maintenance cost due to the exposure. It also becomes a constraint when considering for laying out floor plan, i.e. for a production line.
Fifth, due to the mechanical structure of pneumatically driven turntables and how it is driven through friction wheel, the shape of the turntables are generally limited to round and circle. This limits where and how the table is to be applied. Due to its circular construction, it is expensive to build as well.
Sixth, due to the complexity of and stresses to the mechanical structure and components of the pneumatically driven turntables, maintenance costs are quite high, plus cost for repairing air bearings and drive chain cannot be ignored, since various parts requires air tightness, and any loose parts, cracks, wear and tear would worsen the efficiency and, thus, productivity after all.
Lastly, due to the usage of highly pressured air for driving pneumatic motor, it often produces hazardous noise. It would become a health concern for the operators, and would indirectly cause productivity to be deteriorated.
The objective of the present invention is to address all these shortcomings from the aforementioned commonly used solution, and to provide better position accuracy, more suitable for automation, mechanically simpler, but yet, inexpensive to build and maintain.

High precision positioning powered turntable and control method thereof


A multiple access record/playback device, such as a digital disk recorder, is used for video effects, such as simultaneously providing a preview video signal and a time offset production video signal of the same video image or simultaneously providing multiple views of the same video image. An input video signal is selected from a plurality of input video signals for storing on the multiple access record/playback device. The input video signal is read out for display from the multiple access record/playback device from an identified start point at two times to provide simultaneously a preview video signal and a time offset production video signal for the same video image. Alternatively the plurality of input video signals of the same video image are stored simultaneously on the multiple access record/playback device, and one of the plurality of input video signals is selected for reading out for display from an identified start point at two times to provide simultaneously the preview video signal and the time offset production video signal. For analysis the plurality of input video signals stored on the multiple access record/playback device may be read out for display synchronously and simultaneously for analysis of the video image from different views.

The present relates to applications for a video record/playback device, and more particularly to video effects using a multiple access video record/playback device for providing time separated and multiple time synchronous images.
In a television broadcast environment often a commentator has a display presented that represents a subject about which the commentator is speaking, such as a replay for a sporting event. Currently using linear video tape recorders the commentator sees the display at the same time that it is being broadcast to viewers. Alternatively multiple views of an image may be made synchronously. Generally these views are recorded on separate video tracks of a video tape recorder. However only one view may be played back at a time. It would be advantageous for the commentator to be able to see the subject about which he/she is speaking prior to the subject being broadcast to viewers. Also it would be advantageous to be able to view multiple views of the same image from the record/playback device simultaneously for analysis in real time.

Video effects using a video record/playback device


A computerized method for diagnosing a damper condition in a flow control unit includes providing a control signal to a damper. The control signal instructs the damper to move into a target position or to achieve a target flow rate through the flow control unit. The method further includes receiving pressure information including one or more pressure measurements from a differential pressure sensor of the flow control unit and using the pressure information and the control signal to conduct a damper performance diagnostic. The damper performance diagnostic includes at least one of: a stuck damper diagnostic, a predictive damper failure diagnostic, an improperly-sized damper diagnostic, and a damper leakage diagnostic.

The present disclosure relates generally to the field of variable air volume (VAV) controllers for heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems. The present disclosure relates more particularly to systems and methods for conducting damper performance diagnostics in a flow control unit.
Differential pressure (sometimes called dynamic pressure or velocity pressure) is defined as the difference between total pressure (e.g., stagnation pressure) and static pressure in a moving gas or fluid. Differential pressure may be thought of as a kinetic energy of the moving gas or fluid per unit volume. Differential pressure is related to gas or fluid velocity according to the equation Pd=0.5ρv2, where ρ is the density of the gas or fluid and v is the gas or fluid velocity. Differential pressure may be determined by subtracting a measured static pressure from a measured stagnation pressure.
In a HVAC system, a flow control unit such as a variable air volume box or air handling unit may include a damper for regulating the rate of gas or fluid flow. The damper may variably open and close to adjust the flow rate of a controlled gas or fluid (e.g., air) through the flow control unit. Typical methods for assessing damper performance are conducted at a supervisory level within the HVAC system and often rely on data from multiple sensors in conducting the assessment. For example, a sensor measuring the air temperature in a building zone may supply temperature data used in the assessment. It is often difficult to determine whether a damper is operating properly based on such assessments.

Systems and methods for damper performance diagnostics


An apparatus includes a software parser to generate a plurality of abstract syntax trees based on a plurality of software files, the ASTs including subtrees corresponding to a plurality of functions of the software files, a subtree encoder to generate a plurality of code vectors representative of one or more semantic properties of the subtrees, a function identifier to determine a plurality of clusters for the subtrees and assign a cluster identifier and a function label to the subtrees, a tree database to store the subtrees and map the plurality of subtrees to respective ones of cluster identifiers and function names, and a processor to: train a model based on a feature vector and the plurality of clusters stored in the tree database and predict the cluster identifier for the subtrees, based on the trained model, to identify a name of the function.

Artificial intelligence (AI), including machine learning (ML), deep learning (DL), and/or other artificial machine-driven logic, enables machines (e.g., computers, logic circuits, etc.) to use a model to process input data to generate an output based on patterns and/or associations previously learned by the model via a training process. For instance, the model may be trained with data to recognize patterns and/or associations and follow such patterns and/or associations when processing input data such that other input(s) result in output(s) consistent with the recognized patterns and/or associations.
The figures are not to scale. In general, the same reference numbers will be used throughout the drawing(s) and accompanying written description to refer to the same or like parts. Connection references (e.g., attached, coupled, connected, and joined) are to be construed broadly and may include intermediate members between a collection of elements and relative movement between elements unless otherwise indicated. As such, connection references do not necessarily infer that two elements are directly connected and in fixed relation to each other.
Descriptors "first," "second," "third," etc. are used herein when identifying multiple elements or components which may be referred to separately. Unless otherwise specified or understood based on their context of use, such descriptors are not intended to impute any meaning of priority, physical order or arrangement in a list, or ordering in time but are merely used as labels for referring to multiple elements or components separately for ease of understanding the disclosed examples. In some examples, the descriptor "first" may be used to refer to an element in the detailed description, while the same element may be referred to in a claim with a different descriptor such as "second" or "third." In such instances, it should be understood that such descriptors are used merely for ease of referencing multiple elements or components.

Methods and apparatus for recommending computer program updates utilizing a trained model


A process for preparing an (S,S) or (R,R) diastereoisomer of the formula: ##STR1## or salts, esters or amides thereof, wherein R.sup.3 and R.sup.4 independently represent hydrogen, alkyl, aryl or aryl substituted with halogen, alkyl, nitro or alkoxy, and n and m independently represent integers from one to six, comprising combining a cyanide compound of the formula: EQU M.sup.1 C.tbd.N (III). wherein M.sup.1 is hydrogen, trimethylsilyl or a metal, with an optional proton source, a solvent and a Lewis acid of the formula: EQU M.sup.2 X.sub.4, AlCl.sub.3 or BF.sub.3 (IV). wherein M.sup.2 is Sn or Ti and X represents chloro, bromo, fluoro or iodo, with an .alpha.-amino acid compound or salts or esters thereof, followed by addition of an acyl or acetal compound to give the diastereoisomer of formula (X).

Diastereoisomeric amino acids and derivatives are useful intermediates for preparing various pharmaceutical compounds such as enkephalinase inhibitors which are useful for treating pain or as inhibitors of the angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) which are useful for treating hypertension or reducing elevated intraocular pressure associated with glaucoma. U.S. Pat. No. 4,652,668 discloses a process for preparing a class of pharmaceuticals useful in inhibiting angiotensin converting enzyme in humans such as N-(1-(S)-ethoxycarbonyl-3-phenylpropyl)-L-proline maleate salt is representative. German Offenlegungsschrift DE 3624376 A1 discloses a process for preparing 0-Acyl-glycosyl amines derivatives useful for preparing amino acids and derivatives by first treating an aldehyde compound with 0-acyl glycosyl amine under acidic conditions, followed by treatment with trimethylsilyl or sodium cyanide and tin or zinc (tetra)-chloride in tetrahydrofuran, isopropanol or chloroform. P. K. Subramanian and R. W. Woodward, Synth. Commun. 16 (3), pp. 337-342 (1986) disclose a four-step asymmetric Strecker synthesis for preparing (R)-(+)-2-methyl-3-phenylalanine by utilizing (S) phenylalanine as the chiral auxiliary reagent. K. Weinges, G. Graab, D. Nagel and B. Stemmle, Chem. Ber. Vol. 104 , pp. 3594-3606 (1971) disclose an external asymmetric Strecker synthesis of .alpha.-methyl-amino acids. K. Weinges, K. Gries, B. Stemmle, W. Schrank, Chem. Ber. Vol. 110, pp. 2098-2105 (1977) disclose an asymmetric Strecker synthesis with (S)-(-)-1-phenylethylamine as a chiral handle to afford stereochemically homogeneous .alpha.-methyl-.alpha.-aminonitriles. K. Weinges and B. Stemmle, Chem. Ber. Vol. 106, pp. 2291-2297 (1973) disclose an asymmetric Strecker synthesis of aliphatic .alpha.-methyl-.alpha.-amino acids. S. Inoue et al. J. Chem. Soc. Chem. Comm. 1981, pp. 229. Japan Kokai Tokkyo Koho, JP 01047754 A2 Feb. 22, 1989 Heisei, JP 87-204860 Aug. 18, 1987, CA111(13):114878h discloses a process for preparing .gamma.-1-carboxyethylamino-.gamma.-phenylbutyronitrile and .gamma.-phenylbutyric acid derivatives as intermediates for anti-hypertensive compounds. The article of K. Kawashiro, S. Morimoto and H. Yoshida, Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry of trimethylsilylated imino derivatives of alanine, Bull. Chem. Soc. Jpn., 58(7), pp. 1903-12 discloses trimethylsilylation of seven imino derivatives of alanine with N,O-bis(trimethylsilyl)trifluoracetamide in acetonitrile. It would be desirable to provide a process for preparing either (S,S) or (R,R) diastereoisomers in high optical yields which is relatively inexpensive and which does not require a protecting group for the amine starting material.

Diastereoselective process for preparing n-substituted amino acids and derivatives


An array of electrically isolated electrode pairs in combination with a specially configured processor, e.g., a personal computer, is employed to obtain a continuous real-time acquisition, processing, mapping and visualization of fluid washover. In a specific application, washover data are collected on salient electrical characteristics of seawater accumulating between electrodes of an electrode pair, one of which may be a common ground plane. For example, the resistance of seawater is measured dynamically at each electrode pair. These data are then processed using specialized software to yield representation of the dynamics of selected washover events on a surface of interest. Described systems specifically provide real-time spatial and temporal representations of interaction, including two and three-dimensional visualization of the washover, as well as recording selected data for future use. Methods of employment of the system are also described.

It is important to know the three-dimensional (3D) spatial and temporal parameters of seawater washover of low-profile towed bodies, buoys, and other maritime towed, tethered and free-floating objects. Among other advantages, this knowledge assists in understanding and improving hydrostatic and hydrodynamic performance of a towed body in a wide variety of sea states.
Washover is defined as the condition of occasional (not "frequent," continuous or permanent) partial or complete inundation and exposure of a top surface of a floating object to a fluid. Typically, at sea washover is caused by wave action, wind action, the dynamics of towing the floating object (body) or a combination of the interaction of these factors. Washover may adversely affect performance of floating objects equipped with electronic devices such as antennas, photovoltaic arrays, instrumentation, radio, and auditory or visual beacons. For a low-profile towed body, washover depth is usually within the range of less than a centimeter (0.4″) to 30 cm (12″). Typically, an inundation has a duration of less than one second.
The ability to capture key parameters of washover as data as well as to visualize washover events in real-time enables designers to improve hydrostatic and hydrodynamic profiles of these objects. Currently, there are no purpose-built devices, systems, or methods that provide this information. Thus, there exists a need for a Washover Electronic Measurement System (WEMS) for real-time acquisition, three-dimensional mapping, and visualization of seawater washover dynamics. The real-time data acquired with WEMS may be used to analyze hydrodynamics, electromagnetic interaction with seawater, and, in conjunction with computer simulations and modeling, to optimize hardware design.
A preferred embodiment of the present invention uses electronic techniques to provide a method and apparatus that facilitates real-time acquisition of pertinent parameters to enable two or three-dimensional mapping and visualization of washover. In a specific application, it provides an empirically based benchmarking process for computational fluid dynamic assessments of turbulent flow around arbitrarily shaped surface towed bodies.

Method and instrument for electronically recording and imaging fluid washover via measuring characteristics of the fluid at multiple locations simultaneously

The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Army


A display including a base, a panel and a regulating device is disclosed. The regulating device disposed between the base and the panel comprises a first element and a second element. The first element comprises a first positioning region. The second element connected to the panel and disposed on the first element to be movably switched between a first position and a second position, comprises a second positioning region detachably disposed in the first positioning region of the first element. When the second element is positioned in the first position, the second positioning region of the second element is positioned in the first positioning region of the first element; when the second element is moved to the second position from the first position, the second positioning region of the second element is positioned in the first positioning region of the first element, wherein a distance is formed between the first and second positions.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a display, and in more particularly to an adjustable display, the height of which is changed by a regulating device.
2. Description of the Related Art
A liquid crystal display (LCD) typically comprises a panel and a seat for supporting the panel. A rail or an engaging slot, connected to a spring, is disposed in the seat for adjusting the panel to a desired height.
When the panel is adjusted, however, an additional locking mechanism such as a screw or bolt must be used to secure the rail or engaging slot, thus, height adjustment operations may be inconvenient.


An electric motor (1) or drive motor has a cylindrical, possibly, however, even conical or disk-shaped rotor (2) and a cavity or interior space (4) surrounded by the rotor (2) and/or its stator (3), into which protrudes in the installed position an epicyclic gear system (5) or planetary gear system which is driven by the electric motor (1). The electric motor (1) has a toothed power output element, for example, a cantilevered gear shaft (6), with which meshes an opposing-teeth-exhibiting power input element, for example, the planetary gears (7) of the epicyclic gear system (5). The power input element of the epicyclic gear drive (5) having the opposing teeth is preassembled with additional drive parts, for example, the carrier (8) for the planetary gears (7) and the planetary ring gear (17) as well as an output shaft (10) and a housing (13) into a unit (9) or subassembly which, during final assembly, can be combined together with the electric motor (1) and its toothed power output element so that the electric motor (1) and the epicyclic gear system (5) can each be separately preassembled (FIG. 1).

The present invention concerns an electric motor with an essentially cylindrical or conical or possibly disk-shaped rotor and with an interior space surrounded by this rotor and/or its stator, into which protrudes at least partially an epicyclic gear system, in particular a planetary gear system) driven by the electric motor. The electric motor includes a toothed power output element which meshes in the installed position with opposing teeth of a power input element of the epicyclic gear system.
An electric motor of this type with an epicyclic gear system designed as a planetary gear drive is known from DE-GM 85 13 219.5. Here, the sun gear shaft of this arrangement is joined with the rotor of the electric motor and thus forms the toothed output element of the motor. Meshing with this sun gear shaft in the installed position are planetary gears combined, for their part, in a carrier, which makes possible a gearing down. In addition, the planetary gears can also run inside a ring gear.
In manufacturing such an electric motor with epicyclic gear drive, i.e., such a drive motor, the motor manufacturer must usually assemble the individual drive parts, which means a significant logistical and assembly effort. During subsequent inspection, occurring defects normally require the disassembly of at least the drive parts and subsequent reassembly, with a corresponding additional expense.
From EP 0 111 350 A1, an electric motor is known with a conical or almost disk-shaped rotor whose stator magnets surround an inner space called a torus, which serves, however, in accommodating a brake rather than an epicyclic gear drive.
The object of the present invention is to provide an electric motor or drive motor of the type mentioned above in which assembly by the motor manufacturer and any search for defects are simplified.
In solving this problem, it is provided that the power input element of the epicyclic gear system which includes the opposing teeth is preassembled with additional drive parts into a unit and that the power input element of this unit can be engaged around the toothed power output element of the electric motor and preassembled therewith.
As a result, it is possible to preassemble practically the entire epicyclic gear system and also, if necessary, to preexamine it for defects so that a drive manufacturer can also be enlisted for this purpose. The motor manufacturer then only needs to push this assembled unit into the interior space of the motor in line with the amount that the epicyclic gear drive is supposed to extend into this interior space in the installed position, through which interlocking with the power output element previously assembled or already present there occurs. The motor and drive can then be additionally joined to each other. Above all, disassembly in the case of occurring defects is also correspondingly simple. The motor manufacturer thus has considerably reduced the expense related to the assembly of the epicyclic gear system which protrudes at least partially into the electric motor which he has manufactured.
It is appropriate here if the entire epicyclic gear drive is preassembled and is engageable with its power input element having the opposing teeth with the toothed power output element of the electric motor and can be especially releasably joined to the electric motor. This means that the motor manufacturer can order a practically complete epicyclic gear system and can join it to his electric motor without having to install individual drive parts in the interior of the electric motor. Prior to this final assembly, the epicyclic gear system and the electric motor can also be individually examined for defects, which means a further advantage since any defects can be found more quickly and directly assigned to the individual units.
The electric motor and the epicyclic gear system can be joined together, for example, via screws or the like, especially via screws running through the drive and/or the motor housing, or by gluing the housing parts contacting each other in the installed position. Thus, the motor manufacturer only needs to join the epicyclic gear system to the electric motor and then install the screws or carry out a gluing process during the joining together, which means considerable simplification and a corresponding saving of time compared to individual assembly of the individual drive parts to the motor.
An especially advantageous embodiment of the electric drive motor according to the present invention can be based on the toothed power output element of the electric motor being a sun gear shaft, which forms the output shaft of the electric motor and on which the opposing-teeth-exhibiting power input element or elements of the epicyclic gear system, especially the planetary gears of a planetary gear system, can be mounted in the axial direction. As a result, the planetary gears also automatically assume their installed position, namely, meshing with the sun gear shaft.
A modified embodiment can be based on the electric drive motor having an interiorly cylindrical rotor provided with inner teeth as the toothed power output element forming the ring gear of an epicyclic or planetary gear system and into which can be inserted the carrier-held planetary gears or similar opposing gears together with the other drive parts. Thus, if a planetary ring gear is used as the power output element of the electric motor, the basic idea of the present invention can still be realized and a preassembled gear drive unit can be used in which the final positive coupling between electric motor and epicyclic gear system is produced through the fact that the planetary gears with their teeth are inserted or pushed into engagement with the interior teeth of the ring gear and brought into their installed position.
A refinement of the arrangement in which the toothed power output element of the electric motor is the sun gear shaft of an epicyclic gear system can be based on the cantilevered sun gear shaft being joined in rotationally fixed fashion with the rotor of the electric motor, for example, through gluing, and carrying a bearing either directly or on a surrounding sleeve section rotationally fixed to or joined as one piece with the rotor. An axial continuation of the planetary ring gear of the epicyclic or planetary gear system fits on said bearing and is simultaneously mountable upon slipping the planetary gears over the teeth of the sun gear shaft. In this way, one has as the xe2x80x9cintersection pointxe2x80x9d between the electric motor and the epicyclic gear system, on the one hand, the teeth on the sun gear shaft and, on the other hand, the bearing preassembled with this shaft, at least two points thus coming into contact during pushing or plugging together, namely, the toothed elements, on the one hand, and the support point, on the other. It should be mentioned that the bearing, however, could be initially preassembled within the planetary ring gear and, upon joining together the epicyclic gear system and the electric motor, could arrive at the opposing support point in the area of the sun gear shaft.
In the assembled position, a sealing ring, especially an O-ring, can be provided between the bearing-surrounding continuation of the planetary ring gear and this bearing. As a result, one can keep lubricant from the gear system from getting into the motor. This sealing or O-ring can also be provided here already preassembled especially on the continuation of the planetary ring gear that comes into contact with the outside of the motor-side bearing upon shoving together the gear drive and motor.
A further advantageous refinement of the present invention which is especially advantageous and favorable for the precision involved in the cooperation of the electric motor with the epicyclic gear system can be based on the planetary ring gear belonging to the assembled unit of the epicyclic gear system having a centering element effective with respect to the interior space or a continuation of the interior space of the electric motor, especially a centering element effective with respect to the stator, which centering element arrives at its installed position upon joining or plugging together. A frustoconical or cylindrical centering element or centering surface positioned concentric to the middle of the motor and the gear drive can thus be provided appropriately on the outside of the planetary ring gear or a continuation of this planetary ring gear, which centering element utilizes the shape of the stator, arrives at its installed position upon joining or plugging together, and ensures the required accuracy and precision of the coaxial arrangement of the sun gear shaft and the planetary gears.
The centering element can be situated here in the installed position against the axially extreme gear-drive-facing edge of the inside of the stator. Located on the outside of the planetary ring gear, this centering element can be offset, viewed in the direction of insertion, with respect to the point of support and the end walls of the planetary gears facing the electric motor, which has the advantage that the joining or insertion process has progressed already relatively far before the relatively narrow-tolerance centering element needs to be fitted in place. In this way, at least the first part of the joining process can proceed with ease of motion.
Especially upon combination of a few or several of the above-described features and measures, it becomes possible to preassemble the electric motor and the epicyclic or planetary gear system each at a different location, whereupon these components forming the electric drive motor only need to be plugged together and attached to each other. The point of intersection can be composed here of a rotor-side bearing and a centering element so that the insertion or joining process is very simple. Defects can be detected and eliminated and later repairs carried out in correspondingly simple fashion before final assembly or even after this assembly.

Electric motor with epicyclic gear system


A single-poly non-volatile memory device invented to integrate into logic process is disclosed. This non-volatile memory device includes a memory cell unit comprising a PMOS access transistor that is serially connected to a PMOS storage transistor formed in a cell array area, and, in a peripheral circuit area, a high-voltage MOS transistor having a high-voltage gate insulation layer is provided. The PMOS access transistor has an access gate oxide layer that has a thickness equal to the thickness of the high-voltage gate insulation layer in a peripheral circuit area.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of semiconductor non-volatile memory devices and, more particularly, to a single-poly non-volatile memory device.
2. Description of the Prior Art
With increasing integration of electrical circuit elements, the trend of manufacturing semiconductor integrated circuits is to integrate memory array region and high-speed logic circuit elements into a single chip to form an embedded memory. The embedded memory not only significantly reduces the circuit area but also greatly increases the signal processing speed.
SONOS technology has been considered as a replacement for floating gate nonvolatile memory due to the simplicity of the bitcell structure and process, high scalability, low voltage operation, and its immunity to extrinsic charge loss and tail bits. SONOS type flash memory cells are constructed having a charge trapping non-conducting dielectric layer, typically a silicon nitride layer, sandwiched between two silicon dioxide layers (insulating layers). The nonconducting dielectric layer functions as an electrical charge trapping medium. A conducting gate layer is placed over the upper silicon dioxide layer.
It is desirable to provide a semiconductor non-volatile memory device that is capable of withstanding higher operation voltages in its peripheral circuit.


The disclosed process for rejuvenation treatment of a photoresist development waste mainly containing a photoresist and tetraalkylammonium (TAA) ions comprises at least the step of concentration of TAA ions by electrodialysis and/or electrolysis, and the step of removal of impurities (residual) photoresist, other anionic components, cationic components such as Na.sup.+, etc.! by adsorption thereof on an ion exchange resin (preferably an anion exchange resin and/or a cation exchange resin in at least one of the hydrogen ion form and the TAA ion form) through contact therebetween, whereby a high-purity solution of a tetraalkylammonium hydroxide reutilizable as a photoresist developer can be simply and efficiently regenerated and recovered from the photoresist development waste. The step of concentration by evaporation and/or reverse osmosis membrane treatment may desirably be taken at least before electrodialysis and/or electrolysis from the standpoint of treatment cost reduction.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a process for rejuvenation treatment of a photoresist development waste containing a photoresist and tetraalkylammonium ions and resulting from the process of producing electronic parts such as semiconductor devices, liquid crystal displays (LCD) and printed boards, and the like.
2. Related Art
In production of electronic parts such as semiconductor devices, liquid crystal displays and printed boards, and the like, a film of a negative or positive photoresist is formed on a substrate such as a wafer, then irradiated with a light or the like through a pattern mask, subsequently developed with a developer through dissolution therein of unnecessary part of the photoresist, and further subjected to etching or the like treatment, followed by removal of the insoluble photoresist film remaining on the substrate. Photoresists include positive photoresists which turn soluble where exposed to a light, and negative photoresists which turn insoluble where exposed to a light. The mainstream developer for the positive photoresists is an alkali developer. Although the mainstream developer for the negative photoresists is an organic solvent developer, an alkali developer is used for some negative photoresists.
An aqueous solution of a tetraalkylammonium hydroxide is usually used as an alkali developer as mentioned above. Thus, the dissolved photoresist and tetraalkylammonium ions are usually contained in a waste discharged from the process of development (called "photoresist development waste" or "photoresist alkali development waste"). Herein, although the counter ions of tetraalkylammonium ions are usually hydroxide ions (OH.sup.-) as is apparent from the foregoing, other ions may be some of the counter ions to form a salt(s) because such a waste (waste water), which differs from factory to factory, may be mixed with any foreign matter or may possibly be mixed with other waste water in some cases. Accordingly, the counter ions are not specified and the expression is instead made under the idea of "ions" in the generic description of the instant specification. Since tetraalkylammonium ions in the waste usually exist in the form of a tetraalkylammonium hydroxide as described above, however, the present invention will be described with priority given thereto.
Conventional methods of treating a photoresist development waste containing a photoresist and tetraalkylammonium ions include a method wherein all the waste is entrusted to a contractor for off-site disposal thereof, a method wherein the waste is concentrated by evaporation or reverse osmosis, followed by disposal (incineration or off-site disposal by contractor), and a method wherein the waste is subjected to a biodegradation treatment with activated sludge, and then discharged. Besides, in the case of a waste concentrated in the above-mentioned manner or a thick waste having a high tetraalkylammonium ion concentration from the beginning, there have been made attempts to concentrate, recover and reutilize tetraalkylammonium ions preferably in the hydroxide form by electrodialysis or electrolysis (naturally recovered in the hydroxide form by electrolysis).
The method comprising evaporation or reverse osmosis for concentration involves concentration of the alkali-soluble photoresist as well as tetraalkylammonium ions, with the result that the resulting liquid waste must inevitably be disposed of. The method comprising a biodegradation treatment with activated sludge is only capable of treating a low-concentration waste while requiring large-scale treatment facilities because the biodegradability of tetraalkylammonium ions is poor and proliferation of microorganisms capable of degrading other organic components, if mixed in the waste, becomes rather active while inactivating proliferation of microorganisms capable of degrading tetraalkylammonium ions to further deteriorate the biodegradability thereof. On the other hand, the method of recovering tetraalkylammonium ions preferably in the hydroxide form through concentration thereof by electrodialysis or electrolysis (naturally recovered in the hydroxide form by electrolysis), though best in aspects of a countermeasure against pollution, efficient utilization of resources, etc., involves a problem that a slight amount of impurities such as the photoresist and cations including Na.sup.+, K.sup.+ and Ca.sup.2+ (Na.sup.+ in particular) remains in the resulting recovered solution though a high purity of the solution is required for reutilization thereof as a photoresist alkali developer for use in production of, for example, electronic parts such as semiconductor devices, liquid crystal displays and printed boards.
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a simple and effective process for rejuvenation treatment of a photoresist development waste with elimination of the forgoing drawbacks of the conventional methods of treating a photoresist development waste containing a photoresist and tetraalkylammonium ions.

Process for rejuvenation treatment of photoresist development waste


According to one embodiment, a memory device includes a first diffusion layer region on, a second diffusion layer region, a third diffusion layer region, a first gate electrode and a second gate electrode. The memory device also includes a first via contact group, a second via contact group and a variable resistance element. At least one of the plurality of first via contacts is electrically connected to the first diffusion layer region with one end and at least one of the plurality of second via contacts is electrically connected to the third diffusion layer region with one end. The variable resistance element being electrically a first interconnect layer.

As a variable resistance memory, various memories such as a super-lattice phase change memory, a phase change memory, and an ion memory have been proposed and developed. The memories respectively adopt different operational principles such as a phase change of a super-lattice, a change of a crystalline state, and filament forming performed through ionic conduction. However, all the memories are in common with one another in that resistance of a memory element thereof is transitional between a high-resistance state and a low-resistance state by being applied with a voltage or a current. In such memory devices, reduction of manufacturing cost is also required.

Memory device and method of manufacturing the same


A method of predicting in a subject horse the presence or absence of a predisposition for osteochondritis dissecans, including performing a glucose tolerance test on the subject horse, and comparing the glucose tolerance test results of the subject horse and the glucose tolerance test results of an osteochondritis dissecans-free horse population.

Osteochondritis dissecans, or OCD, is the most clinically important manifestation of osteochondrosis, and is a major problem in the equine industry. Grondahl, A. M., The incidence of osteochondrosis in the tibiotarsal joint of Norwegian Standardbred trotters; Eq. Vet. Sci. 11:273-274 (1991); and Jeffcott, L. B., Osteochondrosis in the horse--searching for the key to pathogenesis, Eq. Vet. J. 23:331-338 (1991). Radiographic evidence of osteochondrotic lesions reduces the perceived potential for optimal performance, and therefore, the value of young horses. Gaustad G., et al., Lameness in three-year-old Standardbred trotters--influence of parameters determined during the first year of life; J. Eq. Vet. Sci. 15:233-239 (1995); Laws, E. G., et al., Racing performance of Standardbreds after conservative and surgical treatment for tarsocrural osteochondrosis; Eq. Vet. J. 25:199-202 (1993); and McIllwraith, C. W., et al., Osteochondritis dissecans of the tarsocrural joint: results of treatment with arthroscopic surgery; Eq. Vet. J. 23:155-162 (1991); and McIllwraith, C. W., What is developmental orthopedic disease, osteochondrosis, osteochondritis, metabolic bone disease?; Proc. 39th Am. Assoc. Eq. Practitioners, pp. 35-44 (1993). Osteochondritis dissecans has been identified as a contributing factor in catastrophic breakdowns in racehorses, which are detrimental to public perception and acceptance of racing sports. Krook, K., et al., Fractures in Thoroughbred racehorses; Cornell Vet. 78, (Suppl.) 11:5-133 (1988).
Osteochondritis dissecans is very common in Standardbred horses and primarily affects the hock. Hoppe, F., Radiological investigations of osteochondrosis dissecans in Standardbred trotters and Swedish Warmblood horses; Eq. Vet. J. 16:425-429 (1984); and McIllwraith, C. W., et al., Osteochondritis dissecans of the tarsocrural joint: results of treatment with arthroscopic surgery; Eq. Vet. J. 23:155-162 (1991). Lesions usually develop in horses between three to twelve months of age, with new lesions rarely appearing in horses over a year old, although clinical signs of lameness may not appear until the horse is put into work. Jeffcott, L. B., Osteochondrosis in the horse--searching for the key to pathogenesis; Eq. Vet. J. 23:331-338 (1991). Multiple causes have been proposed for osteochondritis dissecans, including genetics, trauma, endocrine/metabolism, and nutrition. Williams, M. A., et al., Developmental orthopedic disease: minimizing the incidence of a poorly understood disorder; The Compendium 15:859-872 (1993).
A genetic predisposition to osteochondritis dissecans has been well documented in the Standardbred horse. Gaustad G., et al., Lameness in three-year-old Standardbred trotters--influence of parameters determined during the first year of life; J. Eq. Vet. Sci. 15:233-239 (1995); and Schougaard, et al., A radiological survey of tibiotarsal osteochondrosis in a selected population of trotting horses in Denmark and its possible genetic significance; Eq. Vet. J. 22:288-289 (1990); Grondahl, et al., Heritability estimations of osteochondrosis in the tibiotarsal joint and bony fragments in the palmar/plantar portion of the metacarpo- and metatarsophalangeal joints of horses; J. Am. Vet. Med. Assoc. 203:101-104 (1993); and Philipson, J., et al., Osteochondrosis in the tarsocrural joint and osteochondral fragments in the fetlock joints in Standardbred Trotters II: Heritability; Eq. Vet. J. (Suppl.) 16:38-41 (1993). However, because the nature of the hereditary defect which increases the risk of osteochondritis dissecans in horses has not been identified, a suitable genetic screen is unavailable.
Another proposed factor in the development of osteochondritis dissecans is the type of ration fed to young (<1 year old) horses. Jeffcott, L. B., Osteochondrosis in the horse--searching for the key to pathogenesis; Eq. Vet. J. 23:331-338 (1991). For example, high grain rations are thought to be a potential cause of osteochondritis dissecans. However, not all young horses fed large amounts of grain develop osteochondritis dissecans. Glade, M. J., et al., A dietary etiology for osteochondrotic cartilage; J. Eq. Vet. Sci. 6:151-155 (1986); and Lewis, L. D., Equine Clinical Nutrition; Williams and Wilkins, Philadelphia, Pa., pp. 50-51, 429-433 (1995).
Ingestion of grain concentrate results in significant elevations in blood glucose and insulin concentration. Ralston, S. L., et al., Plasma glucose and insulin concentrations and feeding behavior in ponies; J. Animal Sci. 54:1132-1137 (1982). It has been postulated that such elevations in plasma insulin concentration may alter cartilage growth by influencing growth hormone and somatomedin release. Glade, M. J., The control of cartilage growth in osteochondrosis: a review; J. Eq. Vet. Sci. 65:175-187 (1986). It also has been hypothesized that osteochondritis dissecans may be associated with postprandial hyperglycemia and hyperinsulinemia and the resultant changes in thyroxine and growth hormone release. However, a definitive link between glucose intolerance and osteochondritis dissecans development has not previously been established. Glade, M. J., The control of cartilage growth in osteochondrosis: a review; J. Eq. Vet. Sci. 6:175-187 (1986); Glade, M. J., et al., A dietary etiology for osteochondrotic cartilage; Eq. Vet. Sci. 6:151-155 (1986).
Postprandial acidemia also may be influenced by insulin release. Glade, M. J., et al., A dietary etiology for osteochondrotic cartilage; Eq. Vet. Sci. 6:151-155 (1986). Postprandial acidemia is associated with enhanced urinary excretion of calcium, and possibly results from increased rates of bone resorption. Ralston, S. L., Dietary carbohydrates, acid base status and urinary calcium and phosphorus excretion in horses; Proc. 13th Equine Nutrition and Physiology Symposium, Gainesville, Fla., p. 42 (1993); and Wall, D. L., Dietary cation-anion balance, Eq. Vet. Data 12:17 (1991). Ingestion of grain concentrates by yearling horses reduces (p<0.01) venous pH (i.e., venous base excess and bicarbonate concentrations) in proportion to the amount ingested. Ralston, S. L., Comparison of digestion and growth in yearlings fed high versus low grain rations; J. Animal Sci. 72, Suppl. 1:262 (1994). Moreover, both an excess and a deficiency of zinc have been associated with the development of osteochondritis dissecans in young horses. Lewis, L. D., Equine Clinical Nutrition, Williams and Wilkins, Philadelphia, Pa., pp. 50-51, 429-433 (1995). Zinc can potentiate the synthesis and hypoglycemic action of insulin. Anderson, L., et al., Nutrition in health and disease, 17th Ed. J. B. Lippincott Company, Philadelphia, Pa., pp. 88-90 (1992).
Thus, numerous studies have investigated the possible causes of osteochondritis dissecans with a number of hypotheses resulting. In spite of this research and the deleterious impact of the disease on horses and horse racing, a test for diagnosing a predisposition for equine osteochondritis dissecans has not previously been developed.

Diagnosing a predisposition for equine osteochondritis dissecans

Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey


An apparatus for continuously applying a liquid to a web has a nozzle having an elongated opening and directed at the web, a strip slidable steplessly along the opening of the nozzle to vary the length thereof, and a foraminous transfer screen displaceable transversely between the web and the nozzle opening and having a back face turned toward the nozzle and a front face turned toward the web. Back and front troughs engage the respective faces of the screen and define therewith back and front chambers while respective back and front steplessly displaceable pistons in each of the troughs engage the respective screen faces and each define an end wall for the respective chamber. The chambers are filled with a treatment liquid so that the liquid will wet the respective face of the screen over an area determined by the position of the pistons and a gas is supplied to the nozzle to blow the gas through the nozzle opening and through the screen and thereby transfer liquid carried by the screen to the web. A controller connected to the pistons and to the strip generally synchronously varies the lengths of the chambers and nozzle opening.

It is known to apply a liquid to a web by first passing a foraminous screen through a bath of the liquid and then blowing the liquid with air or steam from the screen onto the web by means of a slot nozzle whose opening is arranged transverse to the displacement direction of the web past the nozzle. In this manner one can obtain a very even coating in a high-speed process without having to worry about the nozzle clogging. The screen can be formed as a foraminous drum (see Austrian patent document 175,956) or a loop (see German patent document 3,146,828) that dips into a bath of the liquid.
In order to be able in a production operation to vary the width of the strip of liquid, typically an adhesive, that is applied to the web, it has been suggested in German patent document 4,001,452 to set up the bath so that it is subdivided into individual compartments that can be selectively filled or emptied. Thus only a portion of the web need be wetted. Such an arrangement does allow the system to be adapted somewhat in a stepwise manner to different web widths, but still must almost always be set somewhat wider than the workpiece width so areas of the screen extending past the workpiece edges will become clogged.

Apparatus for continuously applying a liquid to a web


A method for handling of messages between a terminal and a data network, in which messages of a specific protocol are handled using correspondingly defined specific contexts for messages of the protocol. Messages based on the same specific protocol relate to different service categories. A message is received at the network, and an analysis of the message is performed to determine a service category of the received message. A different specific context is assigned to each received message dependent on the analyzed service category.

Recently, communication technology and data networks have experienced a large progress. Data networks for transmitting data either via fixed lines or for wireless transmission find increasing attention. Also, data and/or communication networks combining wireless and wirebound communication are under development. An example for such a network is the UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunication Standard) network currently under development and being standardized by 3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership Project). The 3GPP Release 5 UMTS network enables, among various other services, telephony using the Internet Protocol (IP) (VoIP, Voice over IP), or data transmission using the Internet Protocol.
The reference to the UMTS network, however, is not intended to be limiting the present invention and the present invention as described hereinafter may equally be used in other similar networks. However, in order to clearly describe the principles underlying the present invention, the UMTS network architecture is referred to as an example.
Generally, data (voice or other data) are transmitted in units of packets in the UMTS network. A terminal and/or user equipment UE communicates with an access node of the network, identified by an APN (Access Point Name), which node may for example be a GGSN node (Gateway GPRS Support Node, GPRS: General Packet Radio Service). Access node here means an entry node to the network part providing services and being independent of the actual connection technology, i.e. an entry point to the core network. Between the access node and the terminal there is arranged an access network, which in case of a mobile/wireless access comprises a radio access network consisting of radio network controllers RNC and Node_B's (corresponding to GSM base station controllers and base stations, respectively). Since, however, the access network is not concerned in the present invention, the detailed description thereof is omitted.
The access point node, i.e. GGSN, is adapted to communicate with a call state control functional entity CSCF. Generally, in the network part currently serving the terminal this is a so-called proxy CSCF, i.e. P-CSCF. Each terminal has allocated thereto a serving CSCF, S-CSCF located in the "home" network of the subscriber using the terminal. The CSCF in turn is connected to a HSS entity, Home Subscriber Server, largely corresponding in functionality to a HLR in GSM (Home Location Register).
With the progress in data network technology, more and more different services can be provided by the (core) network to the terminal registered thereto. A terminal UE is identified/addressed by an address to which the services are provided. Such an address is referred to as PDP address (Packet Data Protocol). For one such address several contexts, i.e. PDP contexts can be defined. Each context may be active or inactive. A context such as a PDP context has as features/parameters a PDP type identifying the type of protocol used, the PDP address itself as the address of the protocol, a Quality of Service (QoS) profile defining a default QoS for this PDP context, and a GGSN address/APN (Access Point Name) defining the access point of the terminal to the network, i.e. a logical address of the node and/or server that is serving this PDP context.
Note that the present invention is not limited to PDP contexts but any similar concept may likewise be applicable in connection with the present invention as long as a "protocol environment" and/or context is concerned.
Thus, for a terminal communicating via a specific APN/GGSN using a specific protocol, a specific QoS is defined. An example of such a protocol is the Session Initiation Protocol SIP. (Another example would be WAP, Wireless Application Protocol.) To keep the explanation simple, however, the subsequent description focuses on SIP, while this is to be noted as not limiting the present invention.
SIP is a multi-purpose protocol. On one hand it is used for setting up telephone calls (note that SIP does not carry the voice itself), where fast and reliable delivery of signaling messages is vital (QoS=real time (RT)). On the other hand it can be used to carry objects and initiate services which do not have hard real-time delivery requirements, such as instant messaging, presence updates (e.g. location area updates) or push services. ("Push service" is intended to mean any service which asynchronously sends some contents without being requested by the receiving side.)
In 3GPP Release 5, a signaling PDP context may be used to carry SIP signaling between a UE and P-CSCF. The signaling PDP context may require enhanced QoS, like e.g. higher priority than other PDP contexts. Enhanced QoS is important for SIP session setup messages, but not for all SIP messages. For example, SIP messages used for push services do not have to be carried using the enhanced QoS provided by the signaling PDP context.
This causes SIP traffic volume to be quite large, and makes ,signaling PDP provisioning difficult, since all SIP messages have to be treated similarly regardless of their real requirements. The problem will become significant especially when GERAN (GSM/EDGE RAN, EDGE=Enhanced Data Rates for GSM Evolution, RAN=Radio Access Network, GSM=Global Standard of Mobile Communication) access technology is used.

Method for handling of messages between a terminal and a data network


A genset enclosure includes a frame system, a plurality of side panels, a plurality of roof panels, a first connector, and a second connector. The frame system includes a plurality of interconnected frame members. The plurality of side panels are coupled to opposing sides of the frame system. The plurality of roof panels are coupled to a roof of the frame system and extend between the opposing sides of the frame system. The plurality of roof panels are oriented perpendicular to the plurality of side panels. The frame system, the plurality of side panels, and the plurality of roof panels together define an enclosure portion having a first open end and a second open end. The first connector and second connector are engageable with one another and are coupled to the frame system along a perimeter of the first open end and the second open end, respectively.

Generator sets (also known as "gensets") may be employed for physical power production in a variety of applications (e.g., standby/backup power applications, etc.). A genset typically includes an engine and an electric power generator coupled to the engine. The engine is structured to mechanically drive the generator which, in turn, can produce electricity. The engine and the generator may be housed within an enclosure that allows the genset to operate outdoors, and to tolerate environmental extremes of temperature, humidity, precipitation (e.g., rain, snow, ice, etc.), and other factors. In some instances, the enclosures are made from intermodal containers (e.g., ISO containers, cargo containers, shipping containers, etc.) that are sized to contain the entire genset and any auxiliary equipment that is needed to operate the genset (e.g., cooling equipment, etc.). Because of the limited availability of different container sizes, the footprint of the entire genset system is typically larger than required. Additionally, the intermodal containers cannot be easily modified to accommodate different cooling systems or auxiliary equipment that may be used with the genset.

Enclosure segments for forming an enclosure for an engine generator set


In a baseband video transmission system for transmission of a video signal at a baseband based on the DVI standard, a transmitting device multiplexes a data signal representing data other than video during at least one blanking period of component video signals of the video signal to generate a DVI signal. A receiving device receives the DVI signal, and extracts the data signal from the received DVI signal.

FIG. 11 illustrates the configuration of a conventional signal transmission system based on the DVI standard. In FIG. 11, reference numerals 2601, 2602, and 2603 denote transition minimized differential signaling (hereinafter abbreviated as "TMDS") encoders/serializers provided at a transmitting side. Also, reference numerals 2604, 2605, and 2606 denote TMDS decoders/recovery units provided at a receiving side.
As illustrated in FIG. 11, in a conventional signal transmission system STSc, red, green, and blue component signals SR, SG, and SB are supplied to the TMDS encoders/serializers 2601, 2602, and 2603, respectively. The TMDS encoders/serializers 2601, 2602, and 2603 respectively TMDS-encode and then serialize the supplied component signals SR, SG, and SB, and send the resultant serial signals to a transmission path TP. Then, at the receiving side, the received serialized signals are TMDS-decoded by the TMDS decoders/recovery units 2604, 2605, and 2606 for recovering the component signals SR, SG, and SB.
A data enable signal DE is a signal that is indicative of a period during which any of the component signals SR, SG, and SB exists and becomes HIGH when active. For example, the period during which the data enable signal DE is LOW coincides with a horizontal synchronizing signal period or a vertical synchronizing signal period. Also, four types of control signals CTL0, CTL1, CTL2, and CTL3 are reserved, but are not used in the present DVI standard. Specifically, the levels of the control signals CTL0, CTL1, CTL2, and CTL3 are always 0.
At the transmitting side, the TMDS encoders/serializers 2601, 2602, and 2603 each convert the video signal (SR, SG, and SB) supplied by 8 bits into a signal of 10 bits, and then serialize the resultant signal for output to the transmission path TP. An object of 8-bit/10-bit conversion is to make data in an appropriate form that is suitable for high-speed transmission by reducing the number of changing points in the data. Also, the TMDS encoders/serializers 2601, 2602, and 2603 respectively convert the 2-bit control signals CTL0, CTL1, CTL2, and CTL3 into a 10-bit signal for output to the transmission path TP.
The TMDS encoders/serializers 2601, 2602, and 2603 each encode and serialize the data enable signal DE for output as serial data to the transmission path TP.
The TMDS decoders/recovery units 2604, 2605 and 2606 at the receiving side decode the 10-bit serial data received from the transmission path TP into the 8-bit red, green, and blue component signals SR, SG, and SB, the data enable signal DE, and the 2-bit control signals CTL0, CTL1, CTL2, and CTL3 for expansion.
However, the DVI standard is directed only to video signal transmission. Therefore, the conventional signal transmission system is not intended to provide a comfortable user interface that enables transmission of information, such as closed-captions or teletext, caption broadcasting, host control information and connection information, etc.
Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a signal transmission system that complies with the DVI standard and enables the transmission of closed-captions or teletext together with a video signal, and also transmits a control signal for controlling a host.

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


Provided is a method for manufacturing a photovoltaic device which is capable of easily forming a texture having an aspect ratio larger than 0.5. The method for manufacturing a photovoltaic device include the steps of: forming an etching-resistant film on a silicon substrate; forming a plurality of fine holes in the etching-resistant film with an irradiated laser beam which has a focal depth adjusted to 10 μm or more to expose a surface of the silicon substrate which is a base layer; and etching the exposed surface of the silicon substrate, in which the step of exposing the surface of the silicon substrate includes forming a fine recess at a concentric position to each of the fine holes in the surface of the silicon substrate which lies under the etching-resistant film.

In order to improve the performance of a photovoltaic device such as a solar battery, it is important to efficiently introduce sunlight into an inner portion of a substrate of the solar battery. Therefore, a light incident side surface of the substrate is subjected to texture processing, and hence light reflected on the surface is made incident on the surface again. Thus, more sunlight is introduced into the inner portion of the substrate to improve photoelectric conversion efficiency. The texture processing refers to processing for forming intentional fine unevenness having a size in a range of several tens nm to several tens μm in the surface of the substrate.
Anisotropic etching is widely employed as a method of forming a texture in a solar battery substrate in a case where the substrate is a single-crystalline substrate. The anisotropic etching depends on the crystal orientation and uses an alkali aqueous solution which contains sodium hydroxide or potassium hydroxide and has the dependence of etching rate on a crystal orientation. For example, when a surface of the substrate which is a (100) plane is anisotropically etched, a pyramid texture in which the (111) plane is exposed is formed.
However, when a polycrystalline substrate is employed as the substrate in the anisotropic etching method using the alkali aqueous solution, only a partial texture structure may be formed because the etching rate is significantly changed according to crystal planes and crystal plane orientations are not aligned. Therefore, there is a limit on reducing a reflectance, which leads to a problem. For example, a reflectance at a wavelength of 628 nm is approximately 36% in a case of silicon having a mirror-polished surface. When a single-crystalline silicon substrate with a (100) plane is wet-etched, the reflectance is approximately 15%. When a polycrystalline silicon substrate is wet-etched, the reflectance is approximately 27% to 30%.
Therefore, mixed acid etching using an etching-resistant mask has been proposed as a method of forming a texture structure in the entire surface without depending on crystal plane orientations. A lithography method used for a semiconductor process may be employed as an etching mask producing method, but the method is not suitable to manufacture a solar battery because a manufacturing cost is high. Thus, there has been proposed a method of mixing a fine particle having a low etching resistance into a solution containing an etching-resistant material and coating a substrate surface with the resultant mixture to produce the etching-resistant mask. Then, a texture is formed using fluoronitric acid capable of isotropic etching in different crystal plane orientations (see, for example, Patent Document 1).
Alternatively, there has also been proposed a method of directly forming a texture in a silicon substrate by laser processing (see, for example, Patent Document 2).
Patent Document 1: JP 2003-309276 A
Patent Document 2: JP 03-89518 A

Method for manufacturing photovoltaic device