A printer includes a feeding portion configured to feed a printing medium, a printing portion including a plurality of heating elements configured to perform printing of one line at a time on the printing medium, and a processor configured to specify numbers of ON dots for at least a first specified block and a second specified block, specify first speeds that respectively correspond to at least the first specified block and the second specified block based on the numbers of ON dots, set a second speed for the second specified block based on the first speeds that respectively correspond to the first specified block and the second specified block, such that the printing medium is fed at the first speed for the first specified block when the printing of the first specified block is performed, and control the feeding portion and the printing portion.

The present disclosure relates to a printer that is configured to perform printing on a printing medium by using heat and to a non-transitory computer-readable medium.
A printer is known that performs printing on a printing medium using a thermal line head that includes a plurality of heating elements. The heating elements for a single line of an image that will be formed are arrayed in a main scanning direction on the thermal line head. The printer may operate the thermal line head by applying an electric current to the heating elements, causing the heating elements to generate heat.
A method has been proposed for limiting the electric power that is consumed when the thermal line head is operated. For example, a method is disclosed for detecting a number of ON dots in printing data for one line and controlling the number of the heating elements that are heated based on the number of the detected ON dots. An outline of the method will be explained. The plurality of the heating elements that are provided in the thermal line head are divided into a plurality of blocks. In a case where the number of the detected ON dots is low, the printer heats the heating elements in all of the blocks at the same time. In this case, the printing of the entire line will be performed all at once, so the time that will be required in order to print the line may be short. Therefore, the printer can feed the printing medium at high speed, so can perform high-speed printing.
On the other hand, in a case where the number of the detected ON dots is large, the printer heats the heating elements at a different time for each block. In this case, the printing of the line will be performed by being divided into a plurality of rounds, so the time that will be required in order to print the line will become longer than in the case described above, where the printing of the entire line is performed all at once. Therefore, the printer cannot feed the printing medium at high speed. Accordingly, the printing medium is fed at low speed. As described above, the printer performs printing on the printing medium while switching the feed speed of the printing medium in accordance with the number of the detected ON dots.

Printer and non-transitory computer-readable medium


The present invention relates to an inexpensive adhesive resin composition which is applicable even to a base material having a poor bonding property. The adhesive resin composition comprises (A) a polymer having no radical-polymerizable double bond and (B) a radical generating agent in which the radical generating agent (B) is present in an amount of 0.1 to 10 parts by weight on the basis of 100 parts by weight of the polymer (A). In the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the adhesive resin composition further comprises (C) a radical-polymerizable monomer wherein the monomer (C) is present in an amount of 0.1 to 10 parts by weight on the basis of 100 parts by weight of the polymer (A). The radical-polymerizable monomer (C) is a glycidyl group-containing monomer, and the glycidyl group-containing monomer is 4-hydroxybutyl acrylate glycidyl ether.

Conventionally, various materials such as metals, glass, wood and plastics have been used as a base material in industrial applications, etc. Also, there have been provided various adhesives for bonding these base materials to other materials. In addition, in order to impart various properties such as a rust-proof property, an impact resistance, a water resistance and a weather resistance to these base materials, there have been provided various paints, resin films and coating agents, etc.
However, polyolefin-based plastic materials such as, for example, typically polypropylene, have such a problem that the materials tend to be deteriorated by themselves in bonding property and coatability owing to non-polarity and crystallizability thereof, although they are excellent in properties required as the base material. Therefore, these base materials are generally subjected to bonding and coating only after being previously subjected to surface treatments such as chemical treatment, corona discharge treatment and flame treatment. However, the effects of these surface treatments tend to be hardly stabilized owing to adverse influence by shapes of the base materials. In addition, the surface treatments tend to require use of special facilities, resulting in complicated process.
In addition to the above surface treatments, there is also known a method of directly modifying the base materials themselves to improve their bonding property and coatability by previously subjecting these materials to chlorination, grafting, etc. However, this method has such a drawback that it is not effective to improve a bonding property, a coatability, etc., of the existing base materials. In consequence, at present, any suitable method which is capable of effectively improving a bonding property or a coatability of the base materials without subjecting the materials to pretreatments, has not still been established.
On the other hand, as special adhesive materials, there have been proposed a resin composition comprising a specific polyolefin obtained by oxidative degradation (Patent Document 1) and a block copolymer obtained by bonding an isotactic polypropylene having a (mmmm) pentad content of 10 to 60% based on whole pentads therein to a polar group-containing polyolefin (Patent Document 2). However, these adhesive materials are very expensive.
Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (KOKAI) No. 6-192617
Patent Document 2: Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (KOKAI) No. 2005-48172

Adhesive resin composition and bonding method


A closure-assembly includes a molded plastic closure cap, and a disc-shaped insert liner positionable adjacent a top wall portion of the closure cap. An annular shoulder of the closure cap cooperates with the insert liner to form a top/side seal with an associated container. The annular shoulder includes at least one annular liner-engaging rib, which cooperates with the insert liner to enhance sealing performance of the closure assembly, retain the liner in position with the closure cap, and facilitate high-speed closure formation.

Various constructions are known for molded plastic closures for use with bottles and like containers. While one-piece constructions are known, optimum sealing is ordinarily achieved through the use of two-component or composite constructions, including an outer, relatively hard closure cap or shell, and an inner, relatively soft and pliable sealing liner. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,378,893, to Wilde et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,407,442, to Wilde et al., and U.S. Pat. No. 4,497,765, to Wilde et al., hereby incorporated by reference, illustrate a composite closure construction including an outer closure cap, and a sealing liner formed in situ within said closure cap, wherein the sealing liner forms a top/side seal with an associated container (i.e., the closure includes both generally downwardly facing and generally inwardly facing sealing surfaces).
U.S. Pat. No. 4,658,976, to Pohlenz, hereby incorporated by reference, illustrates another form of closure including a relatively pliable sealing liner, with this closure including a so-called insert liner. In this construction, a preformed, disc-shaped liner is inserted into a molded closure shell, with the liner being urged into sealing engagement with an associated container when the closure assembly is placed thereon. Notably, the closure of this patent includes an annular shoulder at the juncture of the top wall and skirt portions of the closure cap, which shoulder cooperates with the sealing liner to form a top/side seal with an associated container.
While closures including an insert liner can be desirably economically manufactured, previous constructions have nevertheless suffered from certain design deficiencies. Because the inwardly facing side seal of this type of closure is formed generally along the vertical extent of the annular shoulder at the juncture of the top wall and skirt portions, the sealing contact with a container is not always sufficiently localized and concentrated for optimum sealing in all applications. Additionally, the relative cross-sectional mass of this annular shoulder can detract from efficient closure formation, since this mass of plastic material is relatively slow to cool during molding. Heretofore, closures of this type having insert liners have not been configured to abate undesired inadvertent dislodgement of the liner attendant to removal of the closure from a container. Dislodgement can occur because the diameter of the disc, after removal from a container, is sometimes significantly less than the diameter of the disc when it is initially inserted. Naturally, dislodgement of the liner can impair the sealing integrity of the closure.
The present invention is directed to a closure assembly, including a sealing insert liner, which is configured to provide enhanced sealing performance and improved liner retention, and which promotes high-speed manufacture.


A system, computer program product and method for defragmenting a storage media, wherein the storage media has a limited number of direct overwrites. The method comprises determining an amount of fragmentation of the medium, calculating an ideal transfer time by dividing a size of selected data with a maximum data transfer rate of a device that uses the storage medium, determining a data transfer time associated with the selected data, dividing the data transfer time by the ideal transfer time to form an amount of fragmentation, and initiating defragmentation operations for the selected data when the amount of fragmentation exceeds a predetermined threshold.

This application relates in general to optical disc storage media and in particular to a mechanism for detecting fragmentation on rewritable optical disc media.
The files on randomly accessible data storage devices, such as hard drives and rewritable compact discs (CD-RW) become fragmented with use. As files are edited, deleted or added, portions of a file become separated from the remainder of the file. This causes or forms bole locations in the media that are not useand This will slow down system performance because of increased seek times for the system.
Note that normal compact disc (CD) write operations accelerate fragmentation. The CD disc is large when compared to the user data stored thereon, and the CD media have direct overwrite (DOW) limitations. Thus, the CD device will stagger the placement of data onto the disc. In other words when a file is edited, the older file or portion of the file is not overwritten, but rather the edited portion is written elsewhere on the disc, typically further downstream on the disc. Typical CD write and erase operations move data in a continuous loop from the front of the disc to the back of the disc to write data evenly across the disc. This reduces the wearout of the disc, but increases fragmentation as portions of the file are scatted across the disc.
In the prior art, programs are available to defragment hard drives or hard disks. A user would install and execute a program which would examine the disk and determine how the files are scattered across it. By copying files from their current location to other portions of the disk, and then filling in holes in the disks, the program is able to compact the files to the front end of the disk. Having all the files compactly located in the front of the disk, rather than scattered throughout the whole disk, decreases access time, and thus increases performance.
However, the hard drive defragmentation programs are not optimized for optical discs, such as CD-RW or digital versatile discs (DVD) rewrittable discs. Unlike hard drives, optical disc media, such as CD-RW media have very limited number of direct overwrites (DOW). CD-RW media can currently be overwritten about 1000 times before the disc wears out, whereas hard drives can be overwritten millions of times. The hard drive defragmentation programs that write and rewrite data several times to perform one defragmentation of the hard disk if applied to the CD technology would quickly wear out CD-RW discs. Also note that the file structure of a hard drive is different from that of a CD, a CD-RW, a DVD disc, or a DVD rewrittable disc. Furthermore, hard drive programs concentrate the data that is stored in the hard disk to one particular location, namely towards the inner diameter of the disk. Thus, hard drive programs would wear out the inner diameter of a CD disc before the rest of the disc.
If defragmentation is not performed on a disc, then performance will be degraded. Note that access time is even more critical for CDs than for hard drives. The access time for a typical hard disk is about 5 milliseconds, which is the time required for the head to swing halfway across the disk. The typical access time on CD-RW media is on the order of 150 milliseconds. The slower the device, the greater impact fragmentation has on performance, i.e. a 10% increase in access time on a CD is more pronounced than a 10% increase for a hard disk. Thus, defragmenting the CD disc would greatly improve system performance.
Another problem is that users do not know when to run the defragmentation programs on the hard disk. Users may not even be aware of defragmentation programs. Thus, users either run the program too frequently or too infrequently. If the user runs the program too frequently on hard drives, then this will have little effect on the hard drive because of the extremely high DOW. On the other hand, if this technology is applied to CDs, then a user rig the program too frequently will quickly wear out the CD disc. If the users run the program too infrequently on hard drives, then this will have a small effect on the performance of the hard drive because of the fast access times. On the other hand, if this technology is applied to CDs, then a user running the program too infrequently will suffer a large performance degradation because of the slow access time. The prior art does not automatically inform users of when to run defragmentation programs.
Thus, the prior art hard drive defragmentation programs are insufficient for use with optical disc technology, such as CD technology. Therefore, there is a need in the art for a defragmentation program that will automatically perform defragmentation when appropriate, which balances the DOW limitations with the performance gains yielded from defragmentation.
These and other objects, features and technical advantages are achieved by a system and method which implements a defragmentation utility on an optical disc, such as a CD-RW disc, a DVD rewrittable disc, or the like. Processing according to embodiments of the present invention is automatically invoked, and begins to examine the CD disc upon its insertion. This is preferably done in the background when no other user requested actions are pending. In the preferred embodiment, the examination will be interrupted if a user action is requested and then continue when the user action is complete, so the user will not experience any performance degradation. Processing according to embodiments of the present invention then determines the amount of fragmentation that the CD-RW disc has incurred through its use. This is determined by comparing an ideal data transfer time with a calculated amount of data transfer time. Transfer time depends on the amount of fragmentation (which effects access time) and the size of the file. If the amount of fragmentation exceeds a predetermined limit, then the disc is defragmented. In the preferred embodiment, the predetermined limit is a performance increase of greater than 25%, after defragmentation, for data retrieval times of greater than or equal to 10 seconds; a performance increase of greater than 10%, after defragmentation, for data retrieval times of greater than 1 second and less than 10 seconds. For data retrieval times of 1 second or less, preferably no defragmentation is performed.
The threshold limit represents a balance between CD performance and DOW requirements. During defragmentation, data from the CD disc is collected and stored on another storage medium, e.g. a hard disk. By using a storage medium separate from the CD disc for temporary storage, additional writes to the disc ate avoided. The data is then reorganized and written back to the CD disc.
Therefore, it is a technical advantage of the present invention to defragment optical discs, which improves performance of systems using optical discs.
It is another technical advantage of the present invention that the determination to defragment an optical disc, such as a CD-RW disc, balances the performance gains and DOW limitations.
It is a further technical advantage of the present invention that another storage media is used for temporary storage of data during defragmentation, which reduces the number of writes to the CD-RW disc.
It is a further technical advantage of the present invention that processing according to embodiments of the present invention operates in the background and is transparent to a user, thereby not interfering with the normal use of the CD-RW device.
It is a further technical advantage of the present invention that processing according to embodiments of the present invention automatically determines and performs defragmentation, thereby balancing performance and DOW.
The foregoing has outlined rather broadly the features and technical advantages of the present invention in order that the detailed description of the invention that follows may be better understood. Additional features and advantages of the invention will be described hereinafter which form the subject of the claims of the invention. It should be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the conception and the specific embodiment disclosed may be readily utilized as a basis for modifying or designing other structures for carrying out the same purposes of the present invention. It should also be realized by those skilled in the art that such equivalent constructions do not depart from the spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the appended claims.

System and method for detecting and correcting fragmentation on optical storage media


A new miniature rose plant which has abundant flowers and attractive foliage. The variety successfully propagates from softwood cuttings and is suitable for year round production in commercial glasshouses. This new and distinct variety has shown to be uniform and stable in the resulting generations from asexual propagation.

The present invention constitutes a new and distinct variety of miniature rose plant which originated from a controlled crossing between an unnamed seedling and an unnamed seedling. The two parents were crossed and the resulting seeds were planted in a controlled environment. The new variety is named xe2x80x98POULushxe2x80x99.
The objective of the hybridization of this rose variety for commercial culture was to create a new and distinct variety with unique qualities, such as:
1. Uniform and abundant flowers;
2. Vigorous and compact growth;
3. Year-round flowering under glasshouse conditions;
4. Suitability for production from softwood cuttings in pots;
5. Durable flowers and foliage which made a variety suitable for distribution in the floral industry.
This combination of qualities is not present in previously available commercial cultivars of this type and distinguish xe2x80x98POULushxe2x80x99 from all other varieties of which we are aware.
As part of their rose development program, L. Pernille Olesen and Mogens N. Olesen germinated the seeds from the aforementioned hybridization and conducted evaluations on the resulting seedlings in a controlled environment in Fredensborg, Denmark.
xe2x80x98POULushxe2x80x99 was selected by the inventors as a single plant from the progeny of the hybridization in Fredensborg, Denmark.
Asexual reproduction of xe2x80x98POULushxe2x80x99 by cuttings and traditional budding onto Rosa multiflora understock was first done by L. Pernille and Mogens N. Olesen in Fredensborg, Denmark. This initial and other subsequent propagations conducted in controlled environments have demonstrated that the characteristics of xe2x80x98POULushxe2x80x99 are true to type and are transmitted from one generation to the next.

Miniature rose plant named xe2x80x98POULushxe2x80x99


A lamp adapter apparatus includes a socket mount, a first mechanical connector, and an alternating current/direct current (AC/DC) adapter. The socket mount has a mount housing that carries a socket connector. The socket connector is configured to be releasably secured to a bulb receptacle of a lamp and receive AC electrical power from the lamp. The AC/DC adapter is connected between the socket connector and the first mechanical connector and converts the AC electrical power supplied from the lamp into the DC electrical power. A powered toy building block is connectable to the first mechanical connector of the lamp adapter apparatus and thereby receives electrical power from the lamp.

The present inventor has previously developed powered toy building blocks, including connectable blocks with low-voltage, direct-current (DC) powered light-emitting diodes (LEDs) therein. Examples of such building blocks can be seen in the present inventor's U.S. Pat. No. 7,731,558, and pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/547,183, Ser. No. 13/534,088, and No. 61/662,557, the contents of all of the foregoing being incorporated by reference herein in their entirety.
While many alternative power sources have been advanced to support and/or power these building blocks, further improvements are possible.

Lamp adapter apparatus for use with powered toy building blocks


Methods for reducing stress in silicon to enhance the formation of nickel mono-silicide films formed thereon include a strain compensation source/drain implant process, a silicide formation process on an amorphous silicon layer, a strain compensating buried layer process, a strain compensating dielectric capping layer process during silicide formation, a two cycle anneal process during silicide formation, an excess nickel process to transform NiSi2 to NiSi.

Self-aligned silicide (salicide) technology is required in modern integrated circuit and semiconductor device fabrication to lower the resistance of polysilicon gates, sources and drains to reduce RC delay, i.e., the gate speed performance index wherein less delay produces increased gate speed performance. An example of a well known silicide technology is cobalt silicide (CoSi2). CoSi2 technology is commonly used for sub quarter micron and beyond technology. However, the agglomeration effect of CoSi2 on very narrow line polysilicon gates that are less than ˜42 nanometers, often limits its extendibility to the fabrication of shorter gates.
Nickel mono-silicide (NiSi) technology appears to be emerging as a dominant solution to very narrow line polysilicon gates because it provides superior sheet resistance (Rs) for narrow line polysilicon gates, less junction leakage, less silicon (Si) consumption, and can even improve the drive current (Idsat) of an NFET or PFET.
There are, however, some concerns about NiSi because it may not form completely or at all when the single crystal Si or Si containing substrate is under tensile stress and instead, undesirable nickel di-silicide (NiSi2) forms. NiSi2 is undesirable because it increases the resistance of the silicide. Moreover, faceted NiSi2 may form deeply in the Si substrate thereby producing junction leakage. In addition, NiSi2 can easily form over a wide temperature range. For example, Ni will form epitaxial NiSi2 on a p-type Si crystal substrate as low as 225° C., which decreases the process window.
The tensile stress in the single crystal Si or Si containing substrate may be due to the p-type dopant atoms in the substrate. For example, boron is commonly used as a p-type dopant atom in Si. Boron has a smaller atomic radius than Si, which causes strain in the Si crystal lattice. Tensile stress in Si may also be due to geometry and thermal effects.
Accordingly, methods are needed which allow NiSi to be implemented successfully in modern integrated circuit and semiconductor device fabrication.

Methods for enhancing the formation of nickel mono-silicide by reducing the formation of nickel di-silicide

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company


A bearing component has a first structural component and a second structural component and supports a transverse leaf spring. The first structural component and the second structural component are connected with each other in a hinge-like fashion for rotation and surrounded by a sleeve. The first structural component has a hinge head which is positively held in a hinge head receptacle of the second structural component. The sleeve has a bellow section and protects the structural components of the bearing component from contamination.

The present invention relates to a transverse leaf spring bearing unit with a bearing component supporting a transverse leaf spring in a motor vehicle and a transverse leaf spring arrangement for a motor vehicle with a bearing component.
The following discussion of related art is provided to assist the reader in understanding the advantages of the invention, and is not to be construed as an admission that this related art is prior art to this invention.
Springs in the form of leaf springs are used for guiding and suspending vehicle wheels. A leaf spring is made of a resilient material such as metal and/or plastic and/or composite materials and has an elongated shape, typically a beam-shape, with a central region and at least two ends.
Wheel suspensions are employed as part of a chassis for connecting the wheels to the vehicle. Here, the wheel suspensions can be connected directly to the mostly self-supporting body. Depending on the embodiment, the wheel suspensions can also be arranged on a subframe connected to the body or on a chassis.
Light-weight and compact embodiments increasingly tend to employ a leaf spring, in particular for the rear vehicle wheel suspension. As so-called transverse leaf spring, the leaf spring is arranged horizontally and transversely to the longitudinal axis of the vehicle. In the central region, the transverse leaf spring is customarily connected to or held on the vehicle body by way of two bearing units. In this way, the two ends can perform a substantially vertical spring movement. The transverse leaf spring is operatively connected to wheel carriers or to a further component of the wheel suspension by way of end-side bearings disposed on the ends of the transverse leaf spring. The transverse leaf spring performs wheel-guiding functions, linkage functions as well as damping and load-bearing tasks and may also replace coil springs and/or stabilizers in the conventional wheel suspension.
The bearing units are designed so that the transverse leaf spring is rigidly affixed in the direction of the vertical vehicle axis, but is translationally movable in the direction of the transverse axis of the vehicle for rotation about an axis extending parallel to the longitudinal axis of the vehicle. In this way, the transverse leaf spring can be supported on the vehicle body, such that the ratio of the roll spring rate to the stroke spring rate can be adjusted, making insertion of a transverse stabilizer for stabilizing the vehicle unnecessary.
The use of transverse leaf springs becomes even more important with the increasingly light-weight construction of modern vehicles. The transverse leaf spring is installed so as to perform the functions of the body springs or coil spring as well as of the stabilizers. To take over the functions of body springs (stroke) and stabilizer (roll), the transverse leaf spring must ensure simultaneously a certain roll stiffness (resistance to opposing vertical movement of the wheels) and a certain stroke stiffness (resistance against vertical movement of the wheels in the same direction). As a result, the functions stroke spring rate and roll spring rate can be combined in a single component, a so-called integral spring. An important characteristic value is here the ratio of the roll rate to the stroke rate. This ratio must be greater than 1 so as to be able to integrate the stabilizer functions; ideally, the ratio is even 2 or greater. A large ratio between the roll stiffness and stroke stiffness ensures that the wheel suspension exhibits a high resistance to body roll of the vehicle body. At the same time, a sufficient flexibility in the vertical direction of movement is attained to provide a comfortable ride.
Fundamentally, the spring properties and the stiffnesses can be adjusted via the central bearing points, by which the transverse leaf spring is connected to the sprung mass of the vehicle. The relevant parameter is here the mutual spacing between the bearing units in the longitudinal direction of the transverse leaf spring. The roll rate can be set by way of the spacing. However, depending on the design of the chassis, only a limited ratio of roll rate to stroke rate of less than 2 is possible by varying the spacing between the bearing units. However, this is insufficient for the optimal integration of the stabilizer functions. It is therefore necessary to design the bearing technology so that the bearing units are constructed very stiff in the z-direction, but are easily movable in the direction of rotation. This objective cannot be implemented, at least not sufficiently, with conventional rubber bearings, possibly resulting in bearing rupture.
It would therefore be desirable and advantageous to obviate prior art shortcomings and to provide a transverse leaf spring bearing unit with a functionally improved bearing component for supporting a transverse leaf spring, with which a sufficiently large ratio of roll rate to stroke rate can be implemented, as well as a transverse leaf spring arrangement for a motor vehicle with such a transverse leaf spring bearing unit.

Transverse leaf spring bearing unit and transverse leaf spring arrangement for a motor vehicle


A biodegradable water-in-synthetic oil base emulsion, effective in the removal of filter cakes, consists of an external phase of a surfactant emulsified in a paraffinic base oil. The emulsion is particularly effective in breaking-down the interfacial rheological properties of oil base mud and synthetic oil base mud filter cakes and acts as a demulsifier to break the water-in-oil emulsions present in such oil base and synthetic oil base muds.

The increased production flow area provided by a horizontal, as compared to a vertical, wellbore has driven an increase in the drilling and completion of horizontal wells. Such wells have long open-hole sections which remain in contact with the drilling fluid for long periods of time in overbalanced conditions, forming a filter cake on the formation and also thereby initiating solids invasion that may induce formation damage. As a result, the selection of drilling fluid has a major effect on minimizing skin development and maximizing oil production.
Performance advantages of oil-based muds (OBM) and synthetic-based muds (SBM), such as higher penetration rates, improved lubricity, shale stability, decreased fluid loss, and thinner filter-cake characteristics, give these systems advantages in reservoir-drilling applications over water-based mud systems. Furthermore, fluid losses to formation from oil based muds are less damaging since the base is composed of oil rather than water.
Most OBMs and SBMs are invert emulsions composed of droplets of aqueous fluid surrounded by a continuous oil phase. OBM and SBM filter cakes are composed of colloid particles and water droplets dispersed in an oil phase. Such filter cakes are hydrophobic and exhibit a permeability which is lower than the permeability of the rock.
After drilling is complete, a cleanup treatment to remove the OB/SB filter cake from the formation face is needed in order to minimize skin and formation damage, increase production flow and restore the productive zone to a near-natural state. Such cleanup treatments are needed in order to break down the interfacial rheological properties of the filter cake, wash the damaged zone of the wellbore and restore the formation's fluid transfer properties.
Historically, solvent- or aqueous-based systems have been used to remove oil based and synthetic oil based filter cakes. Typically, aqueous surfactant based systems are selected over solvent treatments as mud filter cake cleanup treatments for breaking the emulsion inside the cake and complete phase separation. However, such aqueous surfactant based treatment often creates additional damage by forming an emulsion block in the wellbore due to water saturation. Such emulsion blocks have the potential to block oil production. Further, such systems are either not biodegradable or are less efficacious than desired.
In order to meet more challenging, drilling applications such as for use in deepwater and high-temperature, high-pressure (HTHP) applications, and further to meet stricter health, safety, and environmental standards, new systems to remove OB and SBM filter cakes have been sought. In particular, there is a need for new systems that do not cause the problems associated with the aqueous systems of the prior art and which further are biodegradable.

Method of treating oil or gas well with biodegradable emulsion


An apparatus for measuring at least one parameter associated with a fluid flowing within a pipe comprises an optical measurement device and a signal processor. The optical measurement device provides output signals indicative of unsteady pressures within the fluid at two or more axial locations along the pipe in response to light reflected from an outer surface of the pipe. The signal processor provides an output signal indicative of at least one parameter associated with the fluid in response to the output signals. The optical measurement device may include, for example, an electronic speckle pattern interferometer, a Fabry-Perot device, and/or a laser vibrometer. The at least one parameter may include at least one of: density of the fluid, volumetric flow rate of the fluid, mass flow rate of the fluid, composition of the fluid, entrained air in the fluid, consistency of the fluid, size of particles in the fluid, and health of a device causing the unsteady pressures to be generated in the pipe.

A fluid flow process (flow process) includes any process that involves the flow of fluid through pipes, ducts, or other conduits, as well as through fluid control devices such as pumps, valves, orifices, heat exchangers, and the like. Flow processes are found in many different industries such as the oil and gas industry, refining, food and beverage industry, chemical and petrochemical industry, pulp and paper industry, power generation, pharmaceutical industry, and water and wastewater treatment industry. The fluid within the flow process may be a single phase fluid (e.g., gas, liquid or liquid/liquid mixture) and/or a multi-phase mixture (e.g. paper and pulp slurries or other solid/liquid mixtures). The multi-phase mixture may be a two-phase liquid/gas mixture, a solid/gas mixture or a solid/liquid mixture, gas entrained liquid or a three-phase mixture.
Various sensing technologies exist for measuring various physical parameters of single and/or multiphase fluids in an industrial flow process. Such physical parameters include, for example, volumetric flow rate, composition, consistency, density, and mass flow rate.
In certain sensing applications, such as in industrial flow processes, it may be desirable to sense these parameters at different times and at different locations throughout the industrial flow process. For example, it may be desirable to periodically and temporarily sense volumetric flow at various locations to check the health and performance of the flow process. It may also be desirable to periodically validate the output of various meters throughout the flow process. Such requirements give rise to the need for a sensing device that is easily attached to the pipe and is portable from one location to another. Problematically, many sensors must be placed in contact with the fluid and, as a result, cannot be installed without shutting down a portion of the flow process to install the sensors.
Various non-intrusive sensors have been developed, which are attached to the surface of the pipe. Such sensors include, for example, the ultrasonic transmitter and receiver found in ultrasonic flow meters. While ultrasonic flow meters perform well for certain applications, they are generally limited to use with certain fluid types and/or temperatures. Moreover, precise alignment of the ultrasonic transmitter and receiver pair is required, which may not lend itself to instrument portability and adaptability to different pipe sizes.
Thus, there remains a need for a non-invasive sensor for measuring various parameters of single and/or multiphase fluids in an industrial flow process that can be used with high-temperature applications and which may be portable from one location to another.

Characterizing unsteady pressures in pipes using optical measurement devices


A drive signal generating unit generates a drive signal sequence COM containing a first pulse, a fourth pulse, and a seventh pulse as a plurality of ejection pulse signals, a second pulse as a fine expansion waveform, and a sixth pulse as a fine contraction waveform. In the drive signal COM, the fourth pulse is placed between the second pulse and the sixth pulse. To finely vibrate a meniscus, the second pulse and the sixth pulse are selectively applied to a piezoelectric vibrator.

This invention relates to a liquid jetting apparatus for jetting liquid of ink, glue, manicure, etc., through nozzle orifices and in particular to an apparatus intended for preventing liquid in nozzle orifices from being increased in viscosity.
Related arts will be discussed by taking an ink jet recording apparatus as one example of a liquid jetting apparatus. To record an image or a character on recording paper with an ink jet recording apparatus such as a printer or plotter, a recording head is moved in a main scanning direction and recording paper is moved in a subscanning direction and ink drops are jetted through nozzle orifices in association with their move. The ink drops are jetted, for example, by causing pressure variation to occur in liquid in pressure chambers communicating with the nozzle orifices.
In the nozzle orifices of the recording head, a meniscus, namely, a free surface of ink exposed on the nozzle orifices is exposed to air, thus an ink solvent (for example, water) evaporates gradually. If the ink viscosity in the nozzle orifices rises as the ink solvent evaporates, a problem of flying an ink drop in a direction deviated from the normal direction, etc., occurs. Thus, in the ink jet recording apparatus, countermeasures to prevent ink drops in the nozzle orifices from being increased in viscosity are taken. One of the countermeasures against an increase in viscosity of the ink drops is agitation of slight vibration of meniscuses.
In agitation, a vibration pulse signal is applied to a pressure generating element for causing pressure variation to occur in liquid in a pressure chamber and a meniscus is slightly moved (vibrated) in a jetting direction and an opposite direction thereof. As the meniscus is finely vibrated, ink in the nozzle orifice is mixed with any other ink in the pressure chamber for preventing ink from being increased in viscosity. Such agitation of ink is executed in association with the record operation. For example, it is executed during acceleration period just after main scanning of a carriage on which the recording head is mounted is started or during the one-line recording period. In agitation in the recording period (in-print vibration), a vibration pulse signal contained in a drive signal is selected and is supplied to the recording head.
By the way, for this kind of ink jet recording apparatus, improvements in the image quality and the recording speed are demanded. To attain high image quality, gradation representation with small dots is effective, and to speed up recording, record with large dots is effective. That is, to provide compatibility between high quality of a record image and speeding up of recording, it is useful to jet an ink drop capable of forming a small dot and an ink drop capable of forming a large dot through the same nozzle orifice.
Then, the following is considered: More than one ejection pulse signal capable of jetting a small amount of ink drop is contained in one recording period to make up a drive signal sequence and the ejection pulse signals are selectively applied to the recording head, whereby the volume of each ink drop jetted is changed. For example, three ejection pulse signals each for jetting a small ink drop of 13.3 pL (picoliters) are contained in one recording period (7.2 kHz) to make up a drive signal. The small ink drops are selectively jetted, whereby gradation representation is provided. On the other hand, to record at high speed, the three small ink drops are all jetted for recording a large dot on recording paper.
By the way, this kind of ink jet recording apparatus involves demand for furthermore speeding up record. To meet this demand, one recording period needs to be shortened as much as possible. However, it is difficult to shorten one recording period in a case where a plurality of ejection pulse signals and vibration pulse signals are simply connected. To use ink with relatively fast viscosity increase speed, such as pigment-family ink in contrast to dye-family ink, to jet minute ink drops, vibration of agitating ink in the vicinity of each nozzle orifice becomes indispensable for preventing an ink jet failure caused by an increase in ink viscosity.
It is therefore an object of the invention to provide a liquid jetting apparatus capable of shortening the repetition cycle of a drive signal while preventing liquid in the vicinity of a nozzle orifice from being increased in viscosity.
In order to achieve the above object, according to the present invention, a vibration pulse signal is separated into a pressure reducing element for reducing pressure of liquid in the pressure chamber to such an extent that a liquid drop is not ejected and a pressure increasing element for increasing pressure of liquid in the pressure chamber to such an extent that a liquid drop is not ejected. A drive signal sequence comprises at least one ejection element placed between the pressure reducing element and the pressure increasing element. The pressure reducing element and the pressure increasing element are selectively applied to the pressure generating element, thereby finely vibrating a meniscus. Thus, the time required for the pressure reducing element and the pressure increasing element mainly depend on the time of the gradient portion thereof.
Thus, if a plurality of ejection pulse signals and vibration pulse signals are mixed to make up a drive signal sequence, one unit printing period can be placed within a short time. Therefore, the repetition cycle of a drive signal can be shortened while liquid in the vicinity of a nozzle orifice is prevented from being increased in viscosity.
A sufficient time can be provided from application termination of the pressure reducing element to application start of the pressure increasing element. Thus, vibration caused by the waveform of one of the pressure reducing element and the pressure increasing element is settled to some extent before vibration caused by the waveform of the other can be started. Therefore, vibration of a meniscus can be carried out reliably without jetting any liquid drop.
The drive signal generated by the drive signal generator is a signal comprising at least the waveform of one of the pressure reducing element and the pressure increasing element placed between adjacent ejection pulse signals, so that the time between the ejection pulse signals which must be set to a relatively long time can be used effectively and if the jet drive and vibration pulse signals are mixed in the drive signal, one unit printing period can be placed within a short time.
The drive signal generated by the drive signal generator is a signal wherein at least either different potential levels between the pressure reducing element and the ejection pulse signal or different potential levels between the pressure increasing element and the ejection pulse signal are jointed by a connection element not applied to the pressure generating element, so that the time required for the connection element can be shortened as much as possible and the jet drive and vibration pulse signals can be mixed efficiently within one short unit printing period.
The invention can be embodied in various forms of a printing method, a printer, a computer program for providing the function of the printing method or the printer, a data signal containing the computer program which is provided in a carrier wave, and the like.

Liquid jetting apparatus, method of driving the same, and computer-readable record medium storing the method


The present invention provides a process for preparing; a high water-containing elastomer medical catheter and a urinary catheter prepared by the process. The process comprises a) heating a mixture consisting of polyvinyl alcohol, water, sulfoxide and linear alkane, in a sealed vessel with agitating; b) pouring the resulting homogeneous fluid into a mould; c) solidifying the fluid by cooling; d) releasing the solidified fluid from the mould; and e) heat-treating the resulting medical catheter and washing with a polar organic solvent. The medical catheter and the urinary catheter of the present invention have excellent lubricity.

The present invention relates to a high water-containing elastomer medical catheter, especially urinary catheter and to a process for preparing the same.
It has long been a clinical practice that medical catheter, especially urinary catheter, is made of hydrophobic polymeric materials such as rubber and plastics. The poor surface lubricity of the catheter often causes pains and sufferings due to contact and friction upon insertion into the body cavity. In addition to its high tendency of damaging the mucosal tissue, it may also bring about cross infection which may jeopardize the life of the patient. In order to improve its surface lubricity, the surface is usually overcoated with lubricant, which may not only lead to inconvenience to catheterization but also remain some of lubricants inside the body. This is detrimental to the health of the people, too.
In recent years, a wide variety of methods has been put forward and tried in order to reduce surface friction and provide excellent lubricity to the catheter, which is generally formed of a layer onto the surface of the conventional material with a hydrophilic polymer. For example, the method disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,642,267, uses a simple blend of thermoplastic polyurethane and polyvinyl pyrrolidone (PVP) depositing onto the surface of the catheters. This coated layer does not adhere firmly to the plastic substrate, and it is easy to be stripped off when contacting water, physiological saline, urine or other body fluid worsening its surface lubricity. U.S. Pat. No. 5,160,790 proposes a new method in order to overcome the defects. The catheter made of polyurethane is dripped into a mixture of isocyanate, polyethylene glycol, PVP and halogenated hydrocarbon. After removing the solvent by evaporation and applying some other post-treatments, a catheter having hydrogel-coated surface is obtained, which has lasting lubricity when wetted with water. However, a major defect of the method is that in order to meet the needs of fluidity (low viscosity) during the coating process, a large amount of solvents which can dissolve all the components but do not react with any of them is needed. At present stage, the proper solvent to meet the needs can only be a low-boiling halogenated hydrocarbon, such as chloromethane, dibromomethane, chloroform, and dichloroethane. All these solvents are inflammable and poisonous, which must be recovered under strict conditions. This will add to the burden of safety and environment and also increase the production cost.
It is taught in other prior art that onto the surface of the catheter is graft-polymerized hydrophilic monomers by using low temperature plasma or irradiation. Even though these methods have overcome the problems of stripping of the hydrophilic coating, the technological process is generally long and the work is rather complicated, which is not helpful for lowering the production cost and construction investment. In addition, in a wide variety of literatures, high water-containing elastomer and high strength polyvinyl alcohol hydrogel and the production technique of the shaped articles have been described, such as the technique of vacuum dehydration (Japanese Kokai Patent SHOWA 57-13053, SHOWA 58-36630), the technique of repeated freezing [M. Nambu, Polymer Applications (Japan), 32, 523 (1983)], the technique of slow-thawing [S. H. Hyon, Y. Ikada, Report of the Poval Committee, No. 8391 (1983)] and the technique of gel spinning (Japanese Kokai Patent SHOWA 59-130314). However, up to the present day, no other prior art similar or close to the present invention in terms of the purpose of invention, technology, and use of product has been found.
Therefore, what is thirstily desired for is a medical catheter, especially urinary catheter, having excellent lubricity and readily available at a lower price.

High-water-containing elastomer medical catheter


A broad bandwidth detector to measure intensity information of terahertz (THz) frequency pulses. The detector includes: coupling optics coupled to a coherent optical source; a GaSe substrate aligned such that the probe beam path intersects a first surface at a phase-matching angle; a polarization detector aligned in the probe beam path; and calculation means coupled to the polarization detector. The coupling optics direct the probe optical beam along a beam path that is substantially collinear with the pulse beam path of the THz frequency pulses. The polarization of the probe optical beam is varied based on interactions between the probe optical beam and the THz frequency pulses within the GaSe substrate. The polarization detector detects the varied polarization of the probe optical beam. The calculation means determine the intensity information of the THz frequency pulses based on the detected probe polarization of the probe optical beam.

One method reported for the generation and detection of broadband THz radiation utilizes nonlinear optical effects, such as second order nonlinearity, optical rectification (K. H. Yang, P. L. Richards, and Y. R. Shen, Appl. Phys. Lett. 19, 320 (1971)), and electro-optical sampling (Q. Wu and X.-C. Zhang, Appl. Phys. Lett. 67, 3523 (1995), A. Nahata, A. S. Weling, and T. F. Heinz, Appl. Phys. Lett. 69, 2321 (1996), and P. U. Jepsen, C. Winnewisser, M. Schall, V. Schyia, S. R. Keiding, H. Helm, Phys. Rev. E, 53, 3052 (1996)).
Multiple broadband coherent generation and detection techniques have been demonstrated which use inorganic crystals, such as GaP (Q. Wu and X.-C. Zhang, Appl. Phys. Lett. 70, 1784 (1997)) and ZnTe crystals (Q. Wu and X.-C. Zhang, Appl. Phys. Lett. 71, 1285 (1997) and P. Y. Han, and X.-C. Zhang, Appl. Phys. Lett. 73, 3049 (1998)), the organic material DAST (P. Y. Han, M. Tani, F. Pan, and X.-C. Zhang, Opt. Lett. 25, 675 (2000)), or electro-optic polymers (A. Nahata, D. H. Auston, T. F. Heinz, and C. Wu, Appl. Phys. Lett. 68, 150 (1995) and A. M. Sinyukov, and L. M. Hayden, Opt. Lett. 27, 55 (2002)).
One alternative method uses a photoconductive antenna. The detection of broadband THz waves up to 60 THz was reported using a low-temperature-grown GaSa photoconductive antenna (S. Kono, M. Tani, and K. Sakai, IEEE Proc-Optele. 149, 105 (2002)).
The Handbook of Nonlinear Optical Crystals, (V. G. Dmitriev, G. G. Gurzadyhan, and D. N. Nikogosyan, Springer, 166-169 (1999)) describes GaSe as a nonlinear optical (NLO) crystal with layered hexagonal structure in a 62m point group. This crystal has a large electro-optic coefficient, high damage threshold, suitable transparent range, and a low absorption coefficient. GaSe is also a negative uniaxial crystal, with type-I phase matching in electro-optical sampling. Due to the large nonlinear optical coefficient (d22=54 pm/V) and birefringence properties, GaSe is used in the generation of broadband mid-infrared electromagnetic waves. Recently, collinear difference-frequency generation with a nanosecond pulse laser (W. Shi, Y. J. Ding, N. Fernelius, and K. Vodopyanov, Opt. Lett. 27, 1454 (2002)), phase-matched optical rectification with a Ti:Sapphire laser (R. Huber, A. Brodschelm, F. Tauser, and A. Leitenstorfer, Appl. Phys. Lett. 76, 3191 (2000)), and field amplitudes greater than MV/cm in GaSe were reported (K. Reimann, R. P. Smith, A. M. Weiner, T. Elsaesser, and M. Woerner, Opt. Lett. 28, 471 (2003)). However, this crystal has not been explored in the context of broadband detection.

GaSe crystals for broadband terahertz wave detection


A sound pickup device, which is arranged in proximity to a percussion instrument (e.g., a bass drum), comprises a diaphragm stretched under tension over an opening of a shell having a cylindrical shape, and an electroacoustic transducer arranged inside of the shell. The electroacoustic transducer comprises a magnetic transducer or a speaker unit. Herein, the percussion instrument is played to produce the low-pitch sound, which is transmitted to the diaphragm to vibrate so that the electroacoustic transducer is activated to convert the low-pitch sound into an electric signal, based on which the low-pitch sound is reproduced by a sound system with a high fidelity to the original sound.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to sound pickup devices for picking up low-pitch sounds produced by striking percussion instruments, in particular, bass drums, with drumsticks or beaters.
This application claims priority on Japanese Patent Application No. 2003-122107, the content of which is incorporated herein by reference.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, a drum set (or a drum kit) comprises various percussion instruments such as a bass drum, a snare drum, a tom-tom, and/or cymbals, all of which are arranged around a player who gives a rhythm performance using these percussion instruments. Specifically, high-pitch sounds in a high register are produced using 'metal' percussion instruments such as cymbals; intermediate-pitch sounds in an intermediate register are produced using the snare drum and tom-tom; and low-pitch sounds in a low register are produce exclusively using the bass drum, which plays an important role for imparting grand impressions to a musical tune being played. In particular, low-pitch sounds (or low-register sounds) are very important in various types of musical tunes because they form the basis for the melody and rhythm in the musical performance. For this reason, various attempts have been made to improve sound quality and to increase volume with respect to low-pitch sounds. In the case of the bass drum, a drumhead is stretched under tension over an opening of a large-diameter shell so as to decrease resonance frequencies and to increase volume. However, in consideration of the musical performance being performed on a stage, the exterior size and shape of the bass drum should be adequately adjusted in dimensions to coordinate with other instruments.
Generally speaking, human listeners have a keen sense of hearing with respect to intermediate-pitch sounds, whereas they have a relatively low sense of hearing with respect to high-pitch sounds and low-pitch sounds compared with intermediate-pitch sounds; in particular, they may have difficulties in hearing low-pitch sounds. For this reason, various methods have been developed to intentionally enhance the production of the sound of the bass drum. The most classical method provides so-called dual performance in which double bass drums of the same specification and standard are arranged opposite to each other, wherein a primary bass drum is played to produce sound, with which a secondary bass drum resonates. However, such dual performance is disadvantageous in that it requires a relatively large space for installation of double bass drums and it therefore degrades appearance, and it does not always demonstrate superior effects in spite of a relatively large sum invested therein.
A generally known method that is currently a leading technique and is designed as shown in FIG. 4 in which a microphone P is arranged in proximity to a drumhead of a bass drum B, which is disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Application Publication No. Sho 59-11579, for example. That is, the microphone P picks up the sound produced by the bass drum B so as to convert it into electric signals, which are amplified by an amplifier A to activate a speaker system S to reproduce the sound.
In the aforementioned system of FIG. 4, the vibration of the drumhead of the bass drum B is transmitted to a diaphragm of the microphone P having a very small diameter, by which the sound of the bass drum B is converted into electric signals. Hence, it is very difficult to accurately pick up low-pitch sounds having specific characteristics of the bass drum B. Normally, the bass drum B instantaneously produces low-pitch sound which is a massive displacement accompanied wind pressure, whereas the microphone P merely picks up basic components of sound, and it is therefore very difficult to pick up the low-pitch sounds having massive displacement and force. When the low-pitch sound picked up by the microphone is reproduced using an electric circuit, an unnatural sound differing from the original sound may be emphasized so that the reproduced sound may greatly differ from the original sound of the bass drum.

Sound pickup device for percussion instrument


Rather than transmitting a large full Broadcast-Multicast Services (BCMC) Parameters Message (BSPM) containing a full set of BSPM parameters pertaining to all active BCMC flows within a sector on an infrequent basis, smaller-sized differential or partial BSPMs are instead transmitted. Differential BSPMs contain updated information for existing flows or information for new flows, and because of their smaller size, can be transmitted more frequently than full BSPMs. A mobile terminal receiving a differential BSPM updates the flows with the information contained within the differential BSPM or adds the information contained within the differential BSPM for a new flow. Partial BSPMs divide the flow information contained in a large full BSPM over a plurality of smaller-sized partial BSPMs, which are separately and sequentially transmitted at different times. A mobile terminal receiving these partial BSPMs then reconstructs the full BSPM from a collection of received partial BSPMs.

Current second generation and third generation wireless systems are primarily designed to support unicast voice and data services. The support of these unicast services to the end user has been achieved through various advances in wireless and networking technologies. A current emphasis in international standardization bodies such as 3GPP and 3GPP2 is on the design of protocols and procedures that allow the support of Broadcast-Multicast Services over evolving networks. BCMCS is a bandwidth-conserving technology that reduces traffic by simultaneously delivering a single stream of information to a large number of recipients. Examples of these services include voice dispatch or Press-To-Talk (PTT) type services, broadcast/multicast streaming, etc.
There has been recent industry interest in the Public Safety Wireless Network (PSWN) context, where support of BCMCS may be especially important in terms of radio resource management. Radio resource management procedures may be needed to achieve low delay in establishment and delivery of BCMC content, to provide scalability in terms of the number of multicast groups and/or number of users per multicast group, to provide advanced service capabilities (e.g., ability to monitor/extract content from multiple BCMC streams), and to reduce unnecessary traffic on one or both of the forward link (base station to mobile terminal) or reverse link (mobile terminal to base station).
In an effort to reduce traffic on the forward and/or reverse link, the above-described radio resource management procedures may include the transmission of a BCMC Services Parameters Message (BSPM) that indicates currently available services and specifies how to access these services (e.g. frequency, channel, demultiplexing indicators, etc.) on the forward link. Transmission of the BSPM can mitigate the need for mobile terminals to transmit registration messages on the reverse link. For example, if the service is available and parameters specifying how to access the service are included, the mobile terminal can skip registration and immediately access the service. Furthermore, if the BSPM can be transmitted in an efficient manner in the forward link, then the goal to reduce traffic on both the forward and reverse links can be achieved.
The BSPM may be exceedingly long as it may be comprised of many parameters required for the reception of BCMC content, including BCMC flow identifiers, Logical to Physical Mappings (LPM), and neighbor information for each BCMC flow. As a result, there may be several issues regarding BSPM transmission. First, it may be difficult to transmit the full set of BSPM parameters pertaining to all active BCMC flows within a sector (henceforth referred to as a "full BSPM") in a single transmission given system requirements (e.g. latency requirements to transmit other overhead messages, pages, multi-slot messages, and so forth). In addition, it may be difficult to transmit the full BSPM frequently on a signaling channel with limited capacity. Infrequent transmissions of BSPMs introduce delays that affect the quality of service and in some cases may preclude the ability to support some services due to intolerable delays.

Method of transmitting broadcast-multicast services parameters messages in a wireless communications system


An image recording apparatus including a photosensitive medium. A voltage is applied between the photosensitive medium and a developing sleeve of a developing unit, and a current flowing between the photosensitive medium and the developing sleeve is measured to be converted into a pulse waveform which is then compared by a predetermined reference value. On the basis of the result of the comparison, a gap is determined between the photosensitive medium and the developing unit, which is then advanced or retracted toward or from the photosensitive medium in accordance with the determined gap. Owing to the recording method carried out by the image recording apparatus, the gap can be selectively determined by observing the current waveform pattern of the current flowing between the photosensitive medium and the developing sleeve while decreasing gradually the gap therebetween, whereby a relation between the gap and height of a magnetic brush can definitely be established. Since the gap can be set within a range from a value representing an initial contact state in which the magnetic brush starts to contact with the photosensitive medium to a value representing a wholly contact state in which the whole magnetic brush contacts with the photosensitive medium with the aid of a current curve of the current flowing between the photosensitive medium and the developing sleeve, a contacting force of the magnetic brush bearing on the photosensitive medium can be weakened.

The present invention relates to an image recording method and an image recording apparatus in which a clearance or gap between a photosensitive medium and a developing roller of a developing unit can selectively be determined in a convenient manner.
There are proposed a variety of color image recording methods and color image recording apparatuses which are based on the electrophotographic principle. Among them, such type of color image recording apparatus in which a color image is formed on a surface of a photosensitive medium constituted by a rotating drum, belt or the like and transferred to a recording paper or sheet is excellent over the others in view of high speed operation and continuous paper or sheet recording specifications.
In the recording apparatus in which a color image is once formed on a surface of a photosensitive medium and then transferred to a recording sheet and in which a photosensitive medium of a drum-like structure is employed, a plurality of electrostatic latent image forming units and developing units for developing the latent images in different colors, respectively, are disposed along the rotating direction of the drum-like photosensitive medium in opposition to the outer peripheral surface thereof, wherein a toner image of a first color is formed on an image forming region of the photosensitive drum, which is then followed by formation of a toner image in a second color. In this way, the image developing process is repeated a number of times.
Thus, in the case of the recording apparatus of the type described above, the development of a color toner of a second latent image is performed on the surface of the drum-like photosensitive medium on which the toner image of the first color has been formed. Consequently, when the developer (i.e. developer or agent) is brought into contact completely with the surface of the photosensitive medium, the toner image of the first color will possibly be scraped off by the developing device upon forming the second color image, as a result of which image density of the first color is deteriorated, presenting thus a problem that the color mixing is brought about upon image development of the second color because of mixing of the toner of the first color with that of the second color. Same problem may similarly arise in association with the developing devices or units for the third and other subsequent colors.
As approaches proposed heretofore for solving the above problem, there may be mentioned techniques disclosed in Japanese Examined Publication No. JP-B-63-43748 and Japanese Unexamined Publication No. JP-A-56-144452. According to the technique described in the first mentioned publication, it is taught in conjunction with the contact of a magnetic brush formed on a developing roller of a developing unit with the photosensitive medium that a sliding contact force of the magnetic brush of a second developing unit which is exerted to the photosensitive medium surface is selected smaller than that of the magnetic brush of the first developing unit, so that upon development of the image in a second color, the toner image of the first color is protected from being scraped off by the magnetic brush of the second developing unit.
On the other hand, in the case of the recording apparatus described in the second mentioned publication, a developer or toner of the second developing unit is held contactless relative to the photosensitive medium, wherein an agitator device is provided for imparting agitation to the developer for thereby allowing the developer to form a magnetic brush on an outer peripheral surface of a developing roll for developing a toner image on the drum-like photosensitive medium.
In either of the recording apparatuses disclosed in both publications mentioned above, a clearance or gap is provided between any one of the developing rollers and the photosensitive medium, wherein the magnetic brushes are formed on an outer peripheral surfaces of the developing rollers, respectively. However, in order to realize a color image of satisfactory quality, there arises necessity for determining definitely a relation between the gap and a height of the magnetic brush. Additionally, it is required to secure the density of the toner image of a first color as well as that of the second color toner image. In other words, an attempt to secure the toner image density of the first color is usually accompanied with lowering and/or nonuniformity in the toner image density of the second color. On the other hand, attempt for securing the toner image density of the second color tends to result in appearance of a fog which lowers the toner image density of the first color. Besides, consideration will have to be paid to the degree of contact between the developing roller and the magnetic brush in the developing area as well as the image quality.

Image recording method including determining a gap between a photosensitive medium and a developing roller and apparatus therefor


A programmable logic circuit, including programmable memory element, suitable for microprocessor applications, and a method of using the circuit are disclosed. The programmable circuit includes at least one logic cell, columns and rows of wires coupled to the logic cell, and a programmable memory element located at the intersection of two wires. The programmable element acts as a switch and as memory for the logic circuit.

Microprocessors have long been used in a wide variety of applications, such as computers, automobiles, appliances, and hand-help devices such as cameras, personal digital assistants (PDAs) and cell phones. Often times, the same microprocessor type is used for several such applications by using software that is specific for the application. Because the microprocessors are typically designed to be used for a variety of applications, the architecture of the microprocessor cannot generally be optimized for any one application. Thus, the typical microprocessor is relatively inefficient for a specific application, compared to a microprocessor designed for that specific application.
Microprocessors or logic devices can be designed for specific or semi-specific applications. In this case, custom or semi-custom logic functions can be implemented in the hardware itself, rather than in corresponding software, making these devices more efficient. Such circuits also typically require fewer transistors to perform their intended function, compared to traditional microprocessors, and thus power consumption of these processors is typically less compared to typical microprocessors. Reduced power consumption is particularly desirable in hand-held or portable devices, where stored energy or power is at a premium.
Although custom or semi-custom processors can perform their intended functions faster and with less power, compared to traditional microprocessors, the custom processors are generally expensive to design and manufacture and require additional design time. Thus, these processors are typically only used where large volumes of the same processor are required, such that the increased cost of the microprocessor can be recouped.
Furthermore, because the custom processors are designed for a particular application, various appliances, such as PDAs, cell phones, cameras, and the like would require multiple application-specific processors to perform their multiple functions. Use of multiple processors in a single appliance results in reduced power efficiency. Thus, many of the benefits associated with custom microprocessors may be lost in applications where more than one microprocessor is required.
Recently, programmable logic devices (PLDs) have been developed to overcome the shortcomings of both traditional and application-specific microprocessors. PLDs are designed to reconfigure themselves, as needed, for specific applications.
PLDs generally include a configurable logic portion and a personalization memory portion. Information is stored in the memory portion and is used to set the configuration of the logic portion.
One form of PLD is a field programmable gate array (FPGA) device.
Suppliers of PLDs often provide libraries of pre-defined logic functions for the PLD, such that a customer can configure the PLD for a specific application by loading the configuration data into the memory of the microprocessor. Thus the set-up time and manufacturing time for these PLD devices are shorter that for application-specific microprocessors. However, the use of the memory-controlled connecting components for the circuit routing makes FPGAs considerably slower than application-specific circuits, for the same applications. Furthermore, most of the circuit area of a FPGA is devoted to the control gates compared to the logic circuitry. In addition, typical FPGAs are essentially one-time programmable, so multiple chips are required to perform multiple functions. Accordingly, microprocessors with reprogrammable personalization memory are desired.
FIG. 1 illustrates a reconfigurable logic circuit 100, which uses electrochemical nanobridge technology to reconfigure PLD devices. Circuit 100 includes a plurality of logic cells 102 coupled together by rows 104 and columns 106 of wiring in a two-dimensional, crossbar matrix 106. Transistors are located at the intersection of the lines and columns, and each transistor is controlled by a static random access memory (SRAM) device 108. The area at each intersection is therefore defined by the area of the SRAM device, which is relatively large-typically 120F2, where F is the minimum feature size in the SRAM device.
Accordingly, improved programmable logic devices, with reduced area devoted to control gates, and which are relatively fast, are desired.

Programmable logic circuit and method of using same


Disclosed herein are quinoline-based compounds and method for inhibiting CDK8 or CDK19 for the intervention in diseases, disorders, and conditions. The quinoline-based composition comprise substituents at quinoline ring positions 4 and 6, wherein the substituent at position 4 is selected from a substituted or unsubstituted arylalkylamine or a substituted or unsubstituted arylhetrocyclylamine. Pharmaceutical compositions comprising the substituted quinoline compositions, methods of inhibiting CDK8 or CDK19, and methods of treating CDK8/19-associated diseases, disorders, or conditions are also disclosed.

CDK8 and CDK19, two closely related transcription-regulating kinases, have become a burgeoning novel cancer drug target (Philip, S. et al., J Med Chem 2018, 61, 5073-5092). Aside from cancer, CDK8/19 inhibitors show promise in inflammation-associated diseases (US Patent Pub. No. 2014/0309224 to Porter, D. C.; Johnannessen, L., et al., Nat Chem Biol 2017, 13, 1102-1108); cardiovascular diseases (Hall, D., et al., JCI Insight 2017, 2; International Patent Pub. No. WO 2016/100782 to Roninson, I. B.); ribosomopathies; conditions characterized by reduced number of hematopoietic stem cells and/or progenitor cells; and bone anabolic disorders (International Patent Pub. No. WO 2017/076968 to Flygare, A.).
Compounds can be readily identified as CDK8/19 inhibitors through a variety of cell-free and cell-based assays (Philip 2018). A number of CDK8/19 inhibitors have been reported (Philip 2018). These include certain quinazoline-based compounds developed by some of the instant inventors that are highly selective for CDK8/19, such as SNX2-1-53 (a.k.a. Senexin A) (Porter, D. C., et al., Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 2012, 109, 13799-804; U.S. Pat. No. 8,598,344 to Porter, D. C.) and SNX2-1-165 (a.k.a. Senexin B) (U.S. Pat. No. 9,321,737 to Roninson, I. B.). Other CDK8/19 inhibitors have been reported more recently (Hatcher, J. M. et al., ACS Med Chem Lett 2018, 9, 540-545; Nakamura, A. et al., Oncotarget 2018, 9, 13474-13487; Han, X., et al., Bioorg Med Chem Lett 2017, 27, 4488-4492). Notably, at least some of a series of thienopyridine derivatives described as bone anabolic agents (Saito, K. et al., Bioorg Med Chem 2013, 21, 1628-42) were found to be CDK8/19 inhibitors (WO 2017/076968). None of the CDK8/19 inhibitors have yet been approved for clinical use and there is a need for novel CDK8/19 inhibitors that would be improved in regard to potency, target selectivity, and pharmacokinetic properties.

Quinoline-based compounds and methods of inhibiting CDK8/19


In order to test whether a given signal of a complex circuit has the correct behavior, a method is provided which makes it possible to obtain in a computer memory a profile of states of other signals. In order to minimize the processing time and the memory space required to obtain this profile, the method uses two binary decision diagrams starting with a binary variable of said one signal, each with two binary decision subdiagrams. The method combines the binary decision subdiagrams so that the given signal is in a first state when the binary variable is at a first value and is not in this first logical state when the binary variable is at a second value.

The field of application of the invention is that of a method for indicating a combination of signals to be applied to a physical element in order to obtain a change in the state of a given signal following a change in the state of another signal on which the given signal depends.
2. Description of the Related Art
In complex physical elements, such as all or part of high-density integrated circuits, signals generated by these physical elements can depend on many other signals. It is therefore difficult to know if the physical element is behaving correctly.
Before etching into the silicon of electric circuits, the bad circuits must be detected in order to avoid using them. The technique used to sort the good circuits from the bad circuits is one that consists of applying stimuli to the circuit and comparing their responses to precalculated values.
In the case of a purely combinational circuit with two hundred inputs, it would be necessary to apply two to the power two hundred combinations of binary states in the inputs in order to test all the possible cases. A testing device operating at 50 MHz would take a thousand years to test a single circuit. These figures increase exponentially when there are stored states in the circuit.
It is therefore necessary to minimize the number of combinations of binary states to be applied to signals of the circuit in order to find the possible faults in the circuit.
For a first signal, normally generated by a physical element as a function of other signals applied to this physical element it is known from U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,434,794 and 5,737,242 to use binary decision diagrams to determine possible binary states of the first signal resulting from combinations of binary states of a second signal with binary states of third signals of the circuit.
The advantage of binary decision diagrams is that it is possible to represent in a computer memory, in a particularly compact way, the combinations of binary states of signals that lead to a given binary state of the first signal.
However, the binary decision diagrams of the prior art provide a static image of possible combinations of binary states of a second signal with third signals that produce a given binary state of the first signal. It is therefore possible for a combination of a first binary state of the second signal with binary states of third signals to produce the same given binary state of the first signal as a combination of a second binary state of the second signal with other binary states of third signals. Furthermore, it is possible to observe in the physical element either the given binary state of the first signal for the first binary state or the second binary state of the second signal, whereas the latter results not from binary combinations for which the physical element is designed, but from faults, such as a signal sticking in the physical element. Signal sticking means that a signal is in a state not intended by design, for example a state that results from a short circuit or from damage.
In order to ensure that the state of a first signal actually results from the state of a second signal, it is important to observe whether a state transition of the second signal induces a state transition of the first signal, the states of the other signals remaining unchanged. If, moreover, the transition of the first signal is does not match the transition expected, this may be interpreted as an error.

Method for demonstrating the dependence of a signal based on another signal


A printing method for performing a halftone process on image data representing input tone values of pixels constituting an original image to determine dot formation on each print pixel of a print image to be formed on a print medium, generating dot data representing the determined dot formation, and forming a dot on each of the print pixels for generating the print image according to the dot data. The step of generating the print image includes mutually combining dots formed on print pixels belonging to each of a plurality of pixel groups in a common print area, the plurality of pixel groups having a physical difference at dot formation, the dot formation being performed with respect to each of the pixel groups. A plurality of pixel groups having a physical commonality for the dot formation among the plurality of pixel groups constitute a pixel group family. The halftone process is configured to give specified characteristics with a first dot pattern being formed on print pixels of the print image, a second dot pattern being formed on print pixels belonging to each of the plurality of pixel groups, and a third dot pattern being formed on print pixels belonging to the pixel group family.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to technology for printing an image by forming dots on a print medium.
2. Description of the Related Art
As output devices for images created using a computer or images shot using a digital camera or the like, printing devices that print images by forming dots on a printing medium are widely used. These printing devices perform gradation expression using a halftone process because there are few dot tone values that can be formed for the input tone values. As one halftone process, an ordered dither method using a dither matrix is widely used. The ordered dither method has a big effect on the image quality according to the dither matrix contents, so for example as disclosed in JP-A-7-177351, JP-A-7-81190, and JP-A-10-329381, an attempt was made to optimize the dither matrix using an analysis method of simulated annealing or genetic algorithm using an evaluation function taking into consideration the human visual sense.
However, with this kind of dither matrix optimization process, ink dots are formed by doing a plurality of scans of a common area on the printing medium, and there was no consideration of the degradation of the image quality due to printing of the images in this way. Furthermore, this kind of image quality degradation is not limited to halftone processing using the dither matrix, but also generally occurred with printing using halftone processing with the error diffusion method or other methods.

Halftone process giving specified characteristics to particular dot patterns, and generating and evaluating a dither matrix therefor


A filling element includes a channel that forms a delivery opening for delivering filling into a container, a valve arranged in the channel for opening and closing the filling element, the valve being connected by a control valve device to sources for a main and additional component of the filling, and a filling-material section common to the components and forming a space. The element also includes flow meters for measuring volumetric flow of the filling and generating corresponding electrical measurement signals.

It is known to determine the liquid volume of products that are filled in containers by measuring volumetric flow rate using flow meters. These known flow meters include magnetically inductive flow meters (MID's) that have no moving functional elements. Such measurements are known for their accuracy and robustness.
In the case of products containing solids or solid constituents however, measurements of the liquid volume or volumetric flow rate of filling material that is being delivered to the container are apt to be incorrect. These measurement errors can occur because, during the measurement, solids settle on the inner surfaces of the magnetically-inductive flow meters that are often used for this purpose. As a result of these solids, the product flowing through these flow meters will appear to have a highly variable conductivity. This contributes to incorrect measurements.
These inaccuracies occur even when products containing such solids or solid constituents are delivered to the container that is to be filled as separate first and second components, one of which is substantially solid-free and the other of which is a proportionally metered additional component that contains the solids or solid constituents in greater concentration, but not so great a concentration as to render it incapable of flowing.

Method and filling system for filling containers in a volume and/or quantity controlled manner


An opencast coal mine underground water reservoir comprising an impermeable layer and, provided below the impermeable layer, a water storage space and a purification layer. The water storage space comprises a first water storage space and a second water storage space. The purification layer comprises a first purification layer and a second purification layer. The first purification layer is provided horizontally in the water storage space and divides the water storage space into the first water storage space and the second water storage space. The first water storage space is provided below the impermeable layer and between same and the first purification layer. The second water storage space is provided below the first water storage space and the bottom of the second water storage space is provided at the bottom of the opencast coal mine underground water reservoir. The second purification layer is provided vertically within the second water storage space. The present invention, by constructing the opencast coal mine underground water reservoir, prevents wastage of water resource produced during a coal mining process, and by providing the purification layer in the opencast coal mining underground water reservoir, implements repeated purification of water, prevents environmental pollution, and implements a water conservation mining policy during the coal mining process.

During opencast coal mining, it is necessary to pump and discharge a great plenty of water to ensure a smooth production. Currently, coal mine water pumping and discharge are mainly carried out by water discharge, thus seriously wasting water resource. In addition, the underground water reservoir for storing opencast coal mine water as pumped and discharged is different from the traditional ones. It not only needs an underground space constructed for water storage, but also needs a function of filtering and purification, thus enabling filtering and purification of a polluted water source produced during coal mining.
However, a prior underground water reservoir can not meet a requirement for filtering and purification of the polluted water source, so a water source polluted during coal mining is directly discharged or stored without purification processing, thus seriously polluting the environment.

Opencast coal mine underground water reservoir


A method of adjusting a forming die unit held by a die holding member, comprising steps of discharging a pressure transmitting medium from at least one of the forming die unit and the die holding member to the other one so as to apply a power in a direction that the forming die unit is spaced away from the die holding member; and displacing the forming die unit relatively to the die holding member.

The present invention relates to a forming die unit adjusting method and a forming apparatus, and in particular, to an adjusting method for a forming die unit which can adjust accurately a forming die unit for forming, for example, an optical element, and to a forming apparatus.
In an forming apparatus that generates a forming such as, for example, a highly accurate optical element through forming, it is extremely important to construct a forming cavity, concerning plural forming dies which mold materials, by combining them accurately without eccentricity. As a method to lower the extent of eccentricity of this forming die, an improvement of accuracy of machining for parts of a die which constitute the forming cavity has been made conventionally, and this method has been attempted to realize highly precise forming for the forming.
However, when improving machining accuracy, it is normally a limit to put a machining error for parts of a forming die within a few microns, and it was a limit to attain parts machining accuracy of about 1 micron even when consuming labor of manual fitting and offering specific technical skill. The reason for this is as follows; when a forming cavity is constructed by incorporating parts of a forming die, a shift (deviation of the direction perpendicular to an optical axis) and a tilt (inclination of an axial line) both corresponding to dispersion of machining accuracy are generated in accuracy of eccentricity of mutual forming dies. In particular, in the case of shift eccentricity, it is possible to improve accuracy up to about 1 micron by consuming time and labor as stated above, but in the case of tilt eccentricity, it was extremely difficult to secure incorporating accuracy of 1 minute angle or less.
In contrast to this, in the following patent document 1, there is disclosed a structure wherein a mount of the upper die is made to be spherical, and a receiving surface of a base is made to be a spherical surface so that the mount may be enchased therein and fixed by bolts through a clamp member. In this technology, the mount can be rotated on the receiving surface, and a tilt of the upper die for the lower die can be adjusted accordingly.
(Document 1)
Tokkaihei No. 8-259245
However, in the conventional technology stated above, when the clamp member that holds the mount is tightened by bolts after adjusting the tilt, the mount is moved by uneven forces of the plural bolts, causing a fear that the tilt angle adjusted with great efforts may be changed.

Forming die unit adjusting method and forming apparatus


A media player monitors user playback control actions, such as skip commands, during a playback experience associated with a playlist. Based on these actions, the media player sets one or more media files to an inactive state. The media player defines a subgroup, or modified playlist excluding the inactive media files for further processing.

Due to recent advances in technology, computer users are now able to enjoy many features that provide an improved user experience. For example, users can play media and multimedia content on various computing devices, such as personal, laptop, or handheld computers, as well as mobile phones and other portable media devices. In some media environments, a computing device has access to a computer-readable medium storing media files such as Moving Picture Experts Group audio layer-3 (MP3) files and Windows® Media technologies audio (WMA) and video (WMV) files. Many computers are also able to play compact discs (CDs) and digital versatile discs (DVDs) and have an internet connection capable of streaming and downloading audio and video.
In the realm of personal digital media, there may be several interesting "scopes" of media. For example, at one end of the spectrum, a user may store a personal media collection locally on one or more machines or devices. A typical user's local or personal media collection includes perhaps a few hundred to a few thousand media items. At the other end of the spectrum, online retailers (e.g., FYE.com), online media sources (e.g., Microsoft Corporation's MSN® Music service), and online subscription services (e.g., Napster® and RealNetwork's Rhapsody® digital music services) often have libraries of more than a million media items available to the user remotely (e.g., via the internet). A general interaction model between these two scopes is to extract media from one and insert the items into the other by purchasing and/or downloading media content. Another general interaction model is to enjoy media from the larger scope (e.g., an online media service) without the user having to explicitly download media items locally.
A media player application typically organizes several media items (e.g., video files, music files, photos, etc.) into one or more playlists when compressed media files are rendered on a computing device. Unfortunately, a user often expends considerable time and energy to individually select and add items to the playlist. In addition to the effort required, the user may also have difficulty identifying each of the media items for inclusion in the playlist. For example, remembering the name of each particular media item (or artist, genre, creator, creation date, style, likes or dislikes, mood, sentimental value, etc.) to include in a playlist is often difficult. This inability to recall each desirable media item can lead to a user-created playlist that includes only a few common media items familiar to the user. Such a playlist may be shorter than it need be, mundane, repetitive, and generally not pleasing, even to the user who created it.
The issue of recalling media items of interest is exacerbated with the era of online media libraries, such as for music and other audio, movies and other video, among others. For example, a single user can subscribe to a media service (e.g., a subscription service) having over a million available media items. Such a subscription simply provides too many choices for a single user to review and consider for a playlist.
Because media discovery can be very tedious and time-consuming, many users wish to take a more passive or "bulk" approach to the experience by using randomly generated or pre-composed playlists. Online music services, for example, make such playlists available to users. In the music example, the user can retrieve lists of content, not just individual songs (e.g., "Hot new songs", "U2's favorite songs"; "Music to skate board by Tony Hawk", and so forth). But a particular user's personal preferences are not likely to match exactly with those used to generate the playlist. Thus, randomly generated or pre-composed playlists will usually include at least one item that does not appeal to the user. During the playback experience, the user may skip over one or more of these items in the playlist. Unfortunately, conventional media players do not retain this information for future purposes (e.g., subsequent playback, etc.).

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Media discovery and curation of playlists


In one embodiment of the invention, heel changer apparatus includes: a shoe including a shoe hole; a locking mechanism configured to removably couple a first heel to the shoe, wherein the locking mechanism includes a connector bolt; wherein the first heel includes a first connector slot; wherein the connector bolt is configured to be removably inserted into the shoe hole and into the first connector slot; and wherein the connector bolt, the shoe hole, and the first connector slot are configured to be the locking mechanism that removably couples the first heel to the shoe.

The heels of each pair of shoes are commonly fixed at a given permanent height. For example, the heels in a given pair of shoes are each fixed at a given permanent height such as 1 inch. The heels of another pair of shoes are fixed at another given permanent height such as 2 inches. Other permanent heights for shoe heels are 3 inches, 4 inches, 5 inches, or another height. Other shoes are flat and have no heels.
High-heeled shoes are fashionable and attractive, and are often worn by users in important occasions such as weddings, parties, or other events. However, some users disadvantageously suffer from discomfort if they were high-heeled shoes for an extended period of time. In order to eliminate this discomfort from their feet, users may change from the high-heeled shoes to a lower-heeled shoe or a flat shoe. However, it is inconvenient or not practical for a user to bring along a second pair of shoes as the user is attending an important occasion or other event.
In order to eliminate the discomfort from the feet of users who are wearing high-heeled shoes, the users may alternatively remove theirs shoes and walk around bare footed. However, walking around bare footed is not preferable to most individuals.
Accordingly, current approaches do not provide a solution to help users eliminate the discomfort of wearing a high-heeled shoe for an extended period.
Based on the above discussion, the current technology is limited in its capabilities and suffers from at least the above constraints and deficiencies.