An optical transceiver including a submount, a Mach-Zehnder Modulator (MZM), bonding wires, and a low pass filter type matching network is provided. The MZM includes an input port and an output port and disposed on the submount. The bonding wires are coupled to the submount and the MZM. The low pass filter type matching network is coupled to the bonding wires and is configured to absorb inductance of the bonding wires at a high frequency.

Bonding wires comprise an internal part of integrated circuit (IC) packaging for making connections to other circuitry, such as active devices including optical modulators and for input and output connections. As such, bonding wires are used extensively in packaging technology for chips. However, the bonding wires introduce extra parasitic inductance in the form of inductance in series with resistance at high frequencies. Further, the number of bonding wires, their heights from the substrate, frequency and dimension may often play an important role in overall circuit performance.
In the design of an optical communication system, for example, a Mach-Zehnder Modulator (MZM) is often used in the optical communication system. For data modulators, a semiconductor MZM is a preferred modulator design because it may be integrated with a tunable laser, and because of optical data modulation characteristics, low electrical drive voltage requirements, compact size and programmable transmission characteristics. Integrated transmitters are fabricated by coupling light from the primary laser output mirror. In the case of the MZM, the modulator input is split up into two optical waveguide paths or modulator arms, and then combined into a common data modulated output waveguide and a secondary waveguide that can be used for optical monitoring. Data is modulated onto the tunable laser output by driving one or both of the MZM arms with an electronic data signal that affects the physical properties of the MZM waveguides via electrical electrodes or interconnects.
When the MZM is mounted on a submount, bonding wires are used to connect input and output ports of the MZM to the submount. The bonding wires have a typical length of several hundred micrometers and is characterized by an inductance, e.g., inductance of about 0.2-0.3 nH and may cause many disadvantageous effects such as signal degradation. For example, the inductance of the bonding wires causes radio frequency (RF) attenuation at high frequencies, specially when a bandwidth of the MZM exceeds 10 GHz. Another problem associated with the inductance of the bonding wires is that the impedance of the MZM is usually lower than 50 Ohm, and thus seriously affect a high speed MZM packaging.
Therefore, there is a need for new and improved techniques for mitigating or reducing the disadvantageous effects of the bonding wires causing signal degradation in the design of an optical communication system.

Method and apparatus for mitigating adverse effects of bonding wire of external optical modulators


The present disclosure provides a flat panel detector and a medical image detection device. The flat panel detector includes a base substrate, wherein the base substrate is divided into a plurality of detection units, each detection unit includes a first absorbing layer and a second absorbing layer, both of which are arranged on the base substrate in a laminating manner, the second absorbing layer is located on one side, away from the base substrate, of the first absorbing layer, and an energy level of rays absorbed by the second absorbing layer is smaller than that of rays absorbed by the first absorbing layer; a voltage supply electrode structure; and an output circuit, electrically connected to the voltage supply electrode structure and configured to output a first detection signal of the first absorbing layer and a second detection signal of the second absorbing layer.

At present, a semiconductor flat panel detector has been extensively used as an optical detection and sensing part in the field of digital medical imaging. The current flat panel detector mainly includes two types: The first one is an indirect detector, which is generally made using an amorphous silicon TFT backplane technology in combination with an amorphous silicon PIN diode technology (or amorphous silicon CMOS in combination with c-Si PPD diode technology); and the second one is a direct detector.

Flat panel detector and medical image detection device


Polymers comprising units derived from ethylene, said polymer having: a) a Melt Index of from 0.05 to 20 g/10 min. as determined by ASTM-1238 Condition E; b) at least 10 per 1000 C-atoms of short chain branches, containing five carbon atoms or less, as determined by C13 NMR, and less than 3.5 mol %, of units derived from a copolymerizable ethylenically unsaturated ester; c) a density of from 0.90 to 0.94 g/cm3, preferably 0.91 to 0.935 g/cm3, especially 0.92 to 0.93 g/cm3 as determined by ASTM D1505; and d) a relaxation time as described herein of at least 10 s. Such polymers can be obtained by free radical polymerization using a chain transfer agent that incorporates into the polymer chain such as an alpha-olefin, preferably propylene, as a chain transfer agent, preferably in a tubular reactor under circumstances to favor LCB formation in a down stream part of the tubular reactor.

The term stretch hood refers to one form of packaging system in which a film tube is used to form a hood to bundle and protect goods. The goods may be a single object such as white goods (a washing machine or refrigerator) or electronic goods. The goods may be a collection of objects such as bottles, bags of soil, cement, fertilizer, polymer pellets or concrete blocks, bricks, tiles, insulation materials. The object or objects are often supported on a pallet or other supporting platform, referred to herein as a palletized load, to permit handling by a forklift device. The film tube is conveniently produced by blown film extrusion, which may involve coextrusion, to produce a tube from an annular die. Using blown film extrusion, the extruded tube is flattened for later use without slitting it longitudinally. Stretch hood relies on elastic contraction of the film tube around the object or collection of objects to be packaged, after a stretching device has placed the tube in a stretched condition around the object or collection of objects to be packaged to form the hood. The hood protects, holds the palletized load together against spillage if necessary and shields the palletized load from damage and environmental factors (moisture) during transportation and storage. The hood may be sealed at one end to protect and cover the top of the palletized load. Alternatively, the hood may be open at the top where protection is a lower priority.
Stretch hood packaging systems may provide certain advantages over other forms of packaging of palletized loads such as shrink hood, where a film tube is shrunk by the application of heat, or stretch wrap where a flat film is wrapped around the object or collection of objects to be packaged. In shrink hood a film containing a highly oriented polymer (often LDPE with optionally some LLDPE) is melt oriented upon extrusion and shrinks and thickens when shrunk around and onto a palletized load. Heat has to be applied to shrink the film into the position where it provides the holding force that holds load together against spillage. The process consumes significant energy and the use of heat creates safety debits. The film is relatively thick and stiff and need not be designed to stretch easily prior to heat shrinking. In stretch wrap, a more linear polymer (often linear low-density polyethylene LLDPE with optionally some VLDPE (an ethylene copolymer of lower density than the LLDPE) is extruded to provide the required stretching characteristics. A tackifying polymer or other ingredients must be added to establish sufficient a cling force on the surface. The film can cling to itself strongly when rolled up (referred to as blocking) and excessive noise may result when unrolling the film at high speed. The film is relatively thin and designed to stretch easily to considerable levels of over 200% for its application around a load. The holding force is provided by the contracting force exerted by the stretched film. Stretch wrap is applied as a flat, non-tubular film and may give incomplete protection against environmental factors.
This invention concerns inter-polymers, and multi-layer films, which are described in terms of their utility for stretch hood applications. However these polymers and films may have performance features that provide utility elsewhere. Appropriate uses might be stretch sleeve to apply a label to a bottle or agricultural films for silage or greenhouse film or for collation shrink applications.
The application of a film tube to package the object or collection of objects on a stretch hood packaging machine involves the steps described by way of example in EP0461667 for the case where the top of the stretch hood is sealed.
In a first step (see FIGS. 1 and 2 of EP0461667) a flattened film tube is unrolled and opened up to fit around a stretcher, which may be in the form of a frame as shown or in the form of four corner devices as illustrated in FIG. 6. At this stage the top of the tube can be heat sealed before it is cut-off, creating an inverted bag. The stretcher device can enter the inverted bag from below. The film material is gathered around the stretcher by take down rollers at each corner (not shown in the Figures). The film is gripped in a nip between the stretcher and the rollers. The takedown rollers cause the film to be folded transversely and gathered on the stretcher. The film and rollers have to have enough friction for an efficient gathering and take down operation. The heat sealing at the top end of the tube requires high hot tack and seal strength to survive subsequent stretching. The gathered, transversely folded tube is then expanded by the stretcher in the transverse film direction beyond the external dimensions of the palletized load. This requires a pre-determined elasticity that permits stretching and a reversion of the stretch later upon relaxation (see FIG. 3 of EP0461667). The expanded stretcher with the transversely stretched film tube is then passed downwards over the palletized load unfolding and releasing the film (see FIG. 4 of EP0461667). This requires that the film tube, in its tensioned condition, has a moderate coefficient of friction with the stretcher to allow it to be released easily from the stretcher while at the same time submitting the film to a sufficient force in the machine direction to achieve a moderate degree of machine direction stretch. The stretcher remains in the expanded state after releasing the lower edge of the film hood and returns upwards to the starting positions past the hood, sealed at the top, now contracted around the palletized load.
Different film tube structures have been suggested for stretch hood. WO00/37543 discloses on a three-layer film using a blend of a metallocene produced plastomer (page 8, lines 10 to 16) and a predominant amount of ethylene (E) vinyl acetate (VA) with a high amount of VA in a core layer and surface layers of an EVA with low VA content containing SiO2 as anti-block friction modifier. The term plastomer is used to indicate a low density copolymer of ethylene and α-olefins. The EVA polymers used in WO00/37543 are produced in a high-pressure process, generally in an autoclave reactor as described by way of example in EP0099646. These polymers generally come in the two types referred to in WO00/37543: low VA and high VA.
The use of high EVA limits the contracting force of the film hood. The film tends to be soft, is easily stretched but only exerts a limited force to return to its pre-stretched state. The high EVA is vulnerable to ambient heat and the film holding force may be weakened. These drawbacks can only be partially compensated by the addition of the plastomer. The surface friction provided by the low EVA skin layers, generally having a broader molecular weight distribution, can only controlled imprecisely by high amounts of anti-block, which has a negative effect on the transparency and mechanical properties.
Overall the film of WO00/37543 provides a weak holding force upon contraction after it has been stretched to a considerable degree in stretch hood packaging. The film thickness may have to be increased to obtain a sufficient holding force. Once stretched and contracted around a load, the hood may have a low puncture resistance and, once punctured, a poor tear propagation resistance, which can easily provoke a spill of the palletized load. Full stretching can also lead to wash boarding where different parts of the film stretch differently, giving rise to thicker and thinner film portions. Furthermore, the holding force can weaken when the palletized load is exposed to more elevated temperatures. Adjustment of the coefficient of friction for a particular stretch hood packaging machine or packaging purpose may be unduly limited in range and/or difficult to achieve without detracting from other desired film properties. Many stretchable, elastomeric polymers are inherently sticky. If such a polymer is selected for the surface of stretch hood film, high levels of anti-block may be needed to allow the heat-sealed top of the hood to flatten and fit closely around the pelletized load. Such anti-block levels may make the film opaque and interfere with the mechanical and optical properties.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,291,038 described a heat shrinkable film with a medium VA EVA having from 9 to 20 wt % of VA, and a narrow molecular weight distribution and high degree of short chain branching.
As used herein, short chain branching refers to alkyl branches, detectable through 13C NMR techniques and excludes acetoxy branches from the incorporation of vinyl acetate comonomer. Short chain branching as so defined in polymers made in high-pressure free-radical polymerization, results mainly from the Roedel backbiting mechanisms that lead to ethyl and butyl type branches as well as some higher levels of branching. Other short chain branches result from the incorporation along the chain of α-olefins which have generally the effect or the intent of lowering the molecular weight and are referred to as telogens or transfer agents. The use of propylene transfer agent results in methyl-type short chain branches. The use of isobutylene would also result in methyl-type short chain branches. Using NMR techniques the number of carbon atoms in the short chain branch can be determined and also the number of the respective types of short chain branches. Where reference is made 1000 C atoms as the basis for expressing the amount of SCB or LCB, the reference to the 1000 C atoms refers to all carbon atoms, including carbon atoms in acetoxy groups, unless otherwise mentioned.
Atofina markets a grade of low VA content EVA polymer: EVATANE (Registered Trade Mark) 1005VN3, which has a VA content of 3.5 mol % (9.8 wt %) and a Melt Index of 0.33. The film has limited short chain branching and a low relaxation time.
Accordingly, known film structures for stretch hood packaging limit the performance and savings obtainable from stretch-hood packaging systems. The range of applications in which it would perform competitively against stretch film or shrink hood packaging maybe unduly restricted.
It is among the objects of the invention to improve the performance of stretch hood packaging films. In particular it is among the objects to achieve a better balance between stretchability and holding force. It is among the objects to permit a) a reduction in the weight of film needed to provide a given holding force in stretch hood packaging; b) better friction control and a more even stretching of the film for the stretch hood packaging operation and/or c) improved package integrity and transparency, resistance to puncture and tearing, and/or reduced stress relaxation at higher ambient temperatures after the stretch hood packaging operation has been completed.

Polymers of ethylene and, optionally, copolymerizable esters, films using such polymers and stretch hood packaging processes using such films


A material made by arranging layers of gallium-arsenide-antimonide (GaAsxSb1-x, 0.0≦x≦1.0) and/or indium-gallium-arsenic-nitride (InyGa1-yAszN1-z, 0.0≦y, z≦1.0) in a specific order is used to form the transistor base of a heterojunction bipolar transistor. By controlling the compositions of the materials indium-gallium-arsenic-nitride and gallium-arsenide-antimonide, and by changing the thickness and order of the layers, the new material would possess a specific energy gap, which in turn determines the base-emitter turn-on voltage of the heterojunction bipolar transistor.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the heterojunction bipolar transistors, and in particular to a structure of the heterojunction bipolar transistors allowing a better control of the base-emitter turn-on voltage.
2. The Prior Arts
The operation principle of the heterojunction bipolar transistor (HBT) lies in that the base-emitter turn-on voltage (Vbe) is correlated to the energy gap of the material forming the transistor base of the HBT. That is, the larger the energy gap is, the higher the base-emitter turn-on voltage gets. Therefore, prior arts generally achieve a specific base-emitter turn-on voltage by selecting a base material with a specific energy gap.
FIG. 1 shows a structure of a typical HBT according to a prior art. As shown in FIG. 1, the epitaxy structure 1 of the HBT contains a subcollector layer 11, a collector layer 12, a base layer 13, an emitter layer 14, and an emitter cap layer 15, sequentially stacked in this order on a gallium-arsenide substrate 10. The material composition of the base layer 13 is the key factor affecting the base-emitter turn-on voltage of the HBT. The base layer 13 is usually formed using materials such as gallium-arsenide (GaAs), indium-gallium-arsenic-nitride (InxGa1-xAsyN1-y), or gallium-arsenide-antimonide (GaAsxSb1-x). Under a specific doping concentration, altering the x and y values of the above molecular formulas can control the energy gap of the transistor base. A specific base-emitter turn-on voltage is thereby achieved.

Heterojunction bipolar transistor structure


Autonomous vehicles are an exciting prospect to the future of driving. However, concerns about the decision-making made by the AI controlling a vehicle has been of concern, particularly in light of high-profile accidents. We can alleviate some concern, introduce better decisions, and also train an AI to make better decisions by introducing a remote viewer's, e.g., a human's, reaction to a possibly complex environment surrounding a vehicle that includes a potential threat to the vehicle. One or more remote viewer may provide a recommended response to the threat that may be incorporated in whole or in part in how the vehicle reacts. Various ways to engage and utilize remote viewers are proposed to improve the likelihood of receiving useful recommendations, including modifying how the environment is presented to a remote viewer to best suit the remote viewer, e.g., perhaps present the threat in a game.

Over the past several years that has been a lot of research into automating vehicle operation, such as providing autonomous vehicles designed to automatically drive passengers around with little to no passenger assistance. It will be appreciated this is a developing technology area and many different organizations are seeking to standardize the operation of such vehicles. For example, the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE), a globally reaching organization has defined levels of driving automation in SAE International standard J3016. See, e.g., Internet Uniform Resource Locator (URL) www.sae.org/misc/pdfs/automated_driving.pdf. The SAE system is a good overview of some types of autonomous vehicles, where of the 5 automation levels the last three (levels 3-5) correspond to what one might think of as a vehicle doing the driving for the passengers. In response to developing technologies, various legislative entities seek to establish regulations concerning autonomous vehicle operation. See, for example, the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) Internet web site that seeks to track legislative responses to autonomous vehicles. The NCSL states "Autonomous vehicles seem poised to transform and disrupt many of the basic, longstanding fundamentals of the American transportation system. As the technology for autonomous vehicles continues to develop, state governments are beginning to debate and address the potential benefits and impacts of these vehicles." See Internet URL www.ncsl.org/research/transportation/autonomous-vehicles-legislative-database.aspx.
Self-driving vehicles today rely on radar, LIDAR (Light Detection and Ranging), cameras and other sensors installed in a car to detect its environment and possible dangerous situations. The sensors can often detect issues/danger more precisely and faster than human eyes. Digitized sensor details may be processed by on board computer(s) to establish a model of the car's surroundings. A processing environment, such as an Artificial Intelligence tasked with interpreting sensor details may be able to detect trouble in the environment and adjust the car's travel to select the best route forward, and operate the car accordingly.
It will be appreciated while being autonomous, autonomous vehicles may be expected to operate in conjunction with smart environments, such as a "smart city" traffic control to assist autonomous vehicles. An exemplary test environment is the University of Michigan's 32-acre Mobility Transformation Center (MCity). See for example Internet URL mcity.umich.edu/our-work/mcity-test-facility. Technologies such as these may provide a safe environment in which autonomous vehicles may operate. But, while much of the technical developments and legislative effort concerns creation of safe cars and regulatory environments to promote continued development, an interesting issue remains: how confident are we in the decisions made by autonomous vehicles, and how can we assist the decision-making?

Augmenting autonomous driving with remote viewer recommendation


A means of directing nucleation and crystal growth has been developed in which these stages of crystallization are influenced by surface energy modifications to amorphous substrates. The surface energy of a substrate can affect the contact angle, line tension, wettability and energetics of the interaction with a supersaturated solution, and these factors are important in crystallization. The use of amorphous substrates creates an opportunity to modify their surface to create useful ranges of surface energies that enhance or inhibit, as may be advantageous, the thermodynamic, kinetic, or a combination of both, factors in nucleation, crystal growth, or crystallization from a supersaturated solution.

The solid phase can exist in a variety of forms ranging from amorphous materials with no long range order to crystalline solids that exhibit a high degree of long range order with consistent interatomic spatial distribution throughout the crystal. The atoms, ions, or molecules in a crystal consistently occupy symmetry related locations throughout a crystalline lattice to give a highly pure solid phase that can be obtained consistently, conveniently, and cost effectively.
The process of crystallization is thermodynamically driven and kinetically controlled, and these observations have important implications. The process of crystallization is separated into two stepwise processes, namely crystal genesis, also referred to as nucleation, which is followed by crystal growth. Described herein are methods of directing nucleation and crystal growth using surface energy modifications to amorphous substrates.

Directed nucleation and crystal growth from solution using surface energy modified amorphous materials


The present disclosure provides a display substrate, a display panel and a display apparatus, belonging to the field of display technology. The display substrate includes a base, a plurality of common electrodes and a plurality of common electrode lines, the common electrodes are distributed on the base in an array, the common electrode lines extend along a row direction, and each common electrode line is connected to a corresponding row of common electrodes. The common electrode line is connected to the common electrode through a conductive connection portion, and the conductive connection portion includes conductive structures stacked on top of one another in a plurality of layers. The display substrate can reduce the resistance between the common electrode and the common electrode line, thereby reducing the voltage difference between the common electrodes in the display substrate and improving the uniformity of the common voltage therein.

A display apparatus includes a common electrode circuit, and the common electrode circuit includes a base, a plurality of common electrodes, and a plurality of common electrode lines. The plurality of common electrodes are distributed on the base in an array, the plurality of common electrode lines extend along a row direction, and each common electrode line is connected to a corresponding row of the common electrodes, and the common electrode line and the common electrode are bridged by a conductive connection portion.
In a conventional common electrode circuit, Indium Tin Oxide (ITO) is typically used as a material of the conductive connection portion to connect a common electrode to a corresponding common electrode line. However, the excessively high resistivity of Indium Tin Oxide (ITO) will result in a greater loss of electric signals and therefore a larger voltage difference between the common electrodes, thereby affecting the uniformity of the display panel and reducing the quality of the displayed picture.

Display substrate, display panel and display apparatus

Beijing BOE Display Technology Co., Ltd.


An apparatus for displaying ambient information in a vehicle is provided. The apparatus includes a dial including a first dial hand, an ambient light source with a variable light intensity and a variable light color, a first data source and a second data source, a mode selector for selecting between a first mode of operation and a second mode of operation, and a controller coupled to the mode selector, the ambient light source, and the first dial hand. The controller is configured to, in the first mode of operation, control the position of the first dial hand according to the first data source; and, in the second mode of operation, control at least one of the variable light intensity or the variable light color of the ambient light source according to the second data source.

At present, a driver is presented with various analog and digital gauges and readouts presenting specific, predetermined types of information. This information typically relates to the operational parameters of the vehicle, e.g., time, velocity, rotational velocity of the engine, voltage of the power system, various temperatures and pressures, and fill levels for one or more critical fluids. In addition, some vehicles may be equipped with displays providing information on, and interaction with, GPS-based navigation systems, climate control systems, and entertainment systems. These approaches are often either inflexible or overly rich with information.

Systems and methods for presenting information to an automobile driver


This invention relates to a crystal oscillation circuit that oscillates stably with a low power consumption. This crystal oscillation circuit comprises an inverting amplifier, a crystal oscillator, and a feedback circuit that inverts the phase of an output from this inverting amplifier and feeds it back as an input. The sum of the absolute value of the threshold voltage of a first semiconductor switching element and the absolute value of the threshold voltage of a second semiconductor switching element is set to be greater than or equal to the absolute value of the potential difference between first and second potentials, when said inverting amplifier includes the first and second semiconductor switching elements.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an oscillation circuit, an electronic circuit using that oscillation circuit, and a semiconductor device, electronic equipment, and timepiece using that oscillation circuit or electronic circuit.
2. Description of the Related Art
Oscillation circuits that use crystal oscillators are widely employed in the art in devices such as portable timepieces, portable telephones, and computer terminals. It is necessary to design such portable items of electronic equipment in such a manner that they are economical in their power consumption and have longer battery lives.
This crystal oscillation circuit comprises an inverting amplifier and a feedback circuit that is provided with a crystal oscillator. The inverting amplifier comprises a pair of transistors where the gate of each of these transistors is used as an input side and the drain thereof is used as an output side, by way of example. In this case, the drain sides of these two transistors are connected together and the source sides thereof are connected to ground and a power voltage side, respectively.
If the power voltage is applied to the inverting amplifier in the crystal oscillation circuit of this configuration, the phase of the output of the inverting amplifier is inverted through 180 degrees and the thus inverted signal is fed back to the gate of each transistor as an input. The transistors configuring the inverting amplifier are turned on and off alternately by the operation of this feedback, the oscillation output of the crystal oscillation circuit gradually increases, and thus the oscillator starts to oscillate stably.
However, the absolute value of a voltage Vreg applied to the inverting amplifier in this prior-art crystal oscillation circuit is set to be greater than the total of the absolute values of the threshold voltages VTP and VTN of the transistors in this circuit, as follows:|Vreg|>|VTP|+|VTN|  (1)
The current inventors have discovered that this is the cause of a short-circuiting current IS that flows from the high potential side of the low potential side within the inverting amplifier, which causes a problem when trying to reduce the power consumption of the entire circuit.

Oscillation circuit, electronic circuit using the same, and semiconductor device, electronic equipment, and timepiece using the same


An improved headrest with adjustable connecting tubes is disclosed. The improved headrest comprises a main body, two connecting tubes, a socket unit and several pairs of intermediate connecting tubes. A plurality of threaded insertion holes are provided on the lower side of the main body, and the two connecting tubes may be inserted into these holes. The threaded insertion holes are spaced apart. The rectangular holes allow the adjustment in the distance between the two connecting tubes. The intermediate connecting tubes have several different diameters so that the intermediate connecting tubes may be connected with the bolts provided on the backrests of a seat for different models of automobiles. Hence, by adjusting the distance between the connecting tubes and selecting intermediate connecting tubes with a suitable diameter, the main body may be connected to the backrest of a seat for different models and makes of automobiles.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention generally relates to an improved headrest with adjustable connecting tubes. More particularly, the invention relates to an improved headrest in which the distance between its two connecting tubes is adjustable and several pairs of intermediate connecting tubes with different diameters are provided so as to enable the headrest to be used for seats of different models and makes of automobiles.
2. Description of the Prior Art
With the progress of automobile technology, consumers regard comfort an important factor and automakers have tried to meet this need.
The seat of an automobile typically includes a sitting portion, a backrest and a headrest provided above the backrest. Such headrest allows a driver or a passenger to rest his head on it when the automobile is in motion or not in motion. Hence, if a suitable headrest can be provided, the level of comfort may be enhanced. However, because people have different heights and physiques, a single headrest can not meet the needs of people.
In addition, a small storage cabinet may be provided inside of the headrest so that personal items may be stored in such a cabinet. Furthermore, an electric device (such as a video device or an audio device) may be fitted in the headrest so that people sitting behind it may use such a device.
A better headrest would be the one that can be fitted on the seats of most models and makes of automobiles. In the prior art, a headrest that can be fitted on the seat of a model or a make of automobile often can not be fitted on the seat of another model or make due to the differences in the distance between the connecting bolts of a seat and in the diameter of the bolts. Hence, such differences result in an increase in the manufacturing cost of headrests.
To eliminate these disadvantages, the inventor put a lot of effort in the subject and has successfully come up with the improved headrest of the present invention that can be used for different models and makes of automobiles.

Headrest with adjustable connecting tubes


Pallet separator including a pedal located at a downstream end of a storage chute. The pedal is connected via a tie to a stop such that movement of the pedal by a load causes movement of the stop which retains and separates loads arranged upstream of the load acting upon the pedal. The pallet separator also includes a delay device in the form of a controlled leak jack whose rod stroke extends from a delay start position and a delay end position. The jack is capable of maintaining the stop in an active position for sufficient time to allow removal and handling of the downstream load before arrival of the next load at the end of the chute.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the general field of dynamic storage of pallet-type loads, for instance; it relates more particularly to a safety system for the load separation devices in dynamic storage chutes.
2. Discussion of Background
The dynamic storage facilities are made up of chutes fitted with rollers or cylinders mounted parallel to one another on beams forming a frame which is tilted from its upstream to its downstream section. These rollers and/or cylinders determine a raceway on which the loads, generally handling pallets, are placed.
In order to suppress the problems associated with the extraction of the loads located at the lower portion of the storage chute, and notably that of the pressure exerted onto the end load by the accumulation of the upstream loads, a load separation device is commonly used at the level of the downstream end of the chute. This device is suited to isolate at least the first load, located downstream on the facility, with respect to the other loads which are waiting, upstream, in order to allow smooth extraction of this first load, without causing any problems, using for instance a fork-lift.
These separation devices are constituted of a pedal and of a stop, interconnected by a pole- or a tie-shaped linking rod. The pedal has been accommodated at the end of the chute and is designed to be actuated by the downstream load; the stop is used to retain the upstream load(s) in order to separate them from the load located at the downstream end. This stop is brought into active retaining position by the pedal when the latter is actuated by the end downstream load and it is de-actuated when the said downstream load is removed, in order to let the following load take its place at the end of the chute and actuate, in turn, the pedal as well as the retaining stop for the other loads.
Moreover, to provide greater safety when handling the load removed downstream of the chute, it proves interesting to retain the upstream load(s), to give some time to the operator to remove the downstream load without being affected by the pressure of the other loads on the chute. In this view, the load separation devices are usually fitted with means enabling to prevent too soon a release of the stop when removing the downstream load.
The documents FR-2 639 331 and DE-GM 7 534 405 describe two separation devices. In both these facilities, the end pedal controls the retaining stop directly, via a tie rod or a pole. The retaining stop is rotatably mounted on an articulation axis and it is subject to balancing means round the said axis which tend, by themselves, to bring the pedal back into raised position and to put the said stop in inactive position. These balancing means enable handling the separation device with minimum encumbrance; the end pedal can be actuated by any type of load, even by very light loads.
The separator according to the document FR-2 639 33 1 follows a principle in which the control of the stop is delayed by a particular interconnection between the handling pedal and the pulling rod. In such a case, the beginning of the motion of the pedal, linked to the extraction of the end load, has little influence on the motion of the stop; when the pedal reaches the end of its stroke, its motion is transmitted integrally to the said stop, until the latter is de-actuated.
With this separation device, the retaining stop is automatically de-actuated as soon as there is no contact between the pedal and the end load any longer. In spite of the provisions adopted to delay this de-actuation, the construction features of these gearworks cause quite a rapid release of the stop.
In the document DE-GM 7 534 405, the arrival of a load at the end of the chute actuates the retaining stop located upstream, but also a system to lock the pedal in lower position. The end load can be removed and handled without modifying the position of the separation device and hence without de-actuating the retaining stop. This de-actuation is carried out by a positive manoeuvre, manually or otherwise, on the locking means mentioned previously, when the operator wishes to move a load forward.
Other types of installations, operating according to different principles, are also known.
The document GB-1 009 128 describes a dynamic storage chute for pallets, fitted with a load separation device, consisting of an end pedal controlling a retaining stop via a pulling rod. This rod comprises two spaced shoulders serving, the former, to actuate the retaining stop via a toggle joint which, moreover, locks the said stop in active position and the latter, to de-actuate the said retaining stop. The second shoulder is suited to control the retaining stop just when the end pedal comes away from the pedal. This feature enables to delay the release of the loads stored upstream; the operator has therefore slightly more time to handle the load being picked-up.
As for the purposes of the document FR-2 639 331, the retaining stop is automatically de-actuated as soon as contact is lost between the end load and the pedal, which causes quite a fast release of the stop. On the other hand, a toggle joint is interposed between the end pedal and the retaining stop; unlocking the said toggle joint calls for a sizeable energy, which is provided by a spring-loaded accumulator. The energy in question is derived by the accumulator from the loads in motion, which actuate the end pedal, which limits the multi-purpose nature of the installation in terms of load weights. Indeed, according to their speeds and to their weights, the smaller loads may not possess sufficient kinetic energy to lower the end pedal combined to an energy accumulator.
This safety device is not optimum whatever the load conveyed and hence, it is not universally applicable.
The document U.S. Pat. No. 5,213,189 presents a load separation device constituted, as in the patent GB-1 009 128, of a pedal connected to the retaining stop by a rod associated with a locking toggle joint. The pedal is located at the downstream end of the chute and it is interconnected to a delay member which controls the release of the stop.
The delay member is constituted of a leak controlled-type jack, whose rod is interconnected to the end pedal. When the pedal is actuated by a load, causing the retaining stop to adopt an active position and the toggle joint to be locked, the said pedal compresses a spring-loaded accumulator and brings the jack's plunger back into a position corresponding, emblematically depicted, to the resetting of a delay member.
When the operator removes the load at the downstream end of the chute, the pedal rises slowly, regardless of the manoeuvring of the downstream load, but in relation to the leak of the delay jack, i.e. in relation to the motion of the jack's plunger.
On reaching a time-out pre-set in relation to the jack's leak rate, the rod connecting the pedal to the stop releases the toggle joint, which causes the loads retained by the said stop to be released, enabling the former to move forward on the chute. The first of these loads will now stand on the pedal in order, again, to raise the retaining stop which normally confines the upstream loads. The loads moving on the chute are conveyed, in the lower section of the chute, at different speeds to allow this separation to take place. The speed-controlled load separation means are not part of this invention.
In this embodiment, the energy necessary to unlocking the toggle joint is derived from the kinetic energy of the mobile loads reaching the end of the chute. In the case of loads with smaller weights, the kinetic energy may prove insufficient to actuate the pedal, raise the retaining stop and switch the spring(s) forming the accumulator system on; there again, the separation device in question is not universally applicable.

Load separator for a dynamic storage lane


A brazing process, a braze assembly, and a brazed article are disclosed. The brazing process includes applying a braze material to an article within a vacuum chamber while the vacuum chamber is substantially evacuated. The braze assembly is capable of applying a braze material to an article within a vacuum chamber while the vacuum chamber is substantially evacuated. The brazed article is devoid of re-formed oxides.

Known brazing processes include a vacuum cleaning cycle in a vacuum chamber to remove surface oxides from a base material of an article. The cleaning cycle enables wetting of a surface of the base material that is to be brazed. Once cleaned, the article is removed from the vacuum chamber and a braze paste, pre-sintered preform, or other similar braze material is applied to the surface. The article is then placed back into the vacuum chamber.
These brazing processes suffer from several drawbacks. For example, once the article is removed from the vacuum chamber, oxides form or reform. These processes have long been unable to completely prevent oxides from forming or reforming. Such forming and reforming of oxides is especially prevalent in complex shapes, cavities, fissures, or other regions that are difficult to reach or view. In addition, such processes involve multiple cycles to complete a brazing process, thereby extending the overall duration of the brazing process.
Alternatively, multiple vacuum chambers are used. Multiple cycles, extended durations for brazing processes, and multiple chambers can result in undesirably high operational and/or capital costs.
Known processes attempt to reduce oxide formation and reformation. For example, mechanical cleaning, such as with carbide burr, can remove some oxides, especially surface oxides. However, mechanical cleaning is unable to remove all oxides, such as oxides that are not on the surface, can be inconsistent, and can form dust. Ultrasonic cleaning can remove dirt and grease. However, ultrasonic cleaning does not remove all surface oxides. Nickel plating can be used to improve wetting on material that quickly form or reform oxides, but adds substantial costs and cannot be applied in all circumstances.
A brazing process, a braze assembly, and a brazed article not suffering from one or more of the above drawbacks would be desirable in the art.

Brazing process, braze assembly, and brazed article


Embodiments for heating a vehicle driveline are provided. One example method for a vehicle comprises heating a fluid with kinetic vehicle energy in response to a vehicle braking request, and directing the fluid to a driveline component. In this way, kinetic vehicle energy during a vehicle braking event may be used to heat a driveline component.

Heating of engine and vehicle components increases engine efficiency by reducing the viscosity of various lubricating fluids, thus reducing the energy needed to pump the fluids among the vehicle components. Further, a heated engine converts fuel to shaft work more efficiently than does a cold engine because of lowered heat losses to the combustion chamber. While the engine may be heated relatively rapidly via the heat produced during combustion, transferring the heat to downstream driveline components may take a longer duration, thus delaying when the driveline components reach operating temperature and extending the period that the vehicle operates with reduced efficiency. Further, heating the driveline components via energy sourced from fuel or other stored potential energy reduces fuel economy.
The inventors have recognized the above issues and provide a method to at least partly address them. In one embodiment, a method for a vehicle comprises heating a fluid with kinetic vehicle energy in response to a vehicle braking request, and directing the fluid to a driveline component.
The kinetic vehicle energy produced in response to a vehicle braking request may be used to heat a fluid, and this heated fluid may in turn heat a driveline component. To heat a fluid via kinetic vehicle energy, a viscous brake may be engaged responsive to the vehicle braking request. The viscous brake may decelerate the vehicle as requested by the vehicle braking request, while simultaneously heating the fluid used to lubricate the viscous brake. The heated fluid is then used to heat the driveline components, via a heat exchanger for example. In this way, the driveline components may be heated without relying solely on combustion heat, improving engine efficiency and fuel economy.
The above advantages and other advantages, and features of the present description will be readily apparent from the following Detailed Description when taken alone or in connection with the accompanying drawings.
It should be understood that the summary above is provided to introduce in simplified form a selection of concepts that are further described in the detailed description. It is not meant to identify key or essential features of the claimed subject matter, the scope of which is defined uniquely by the claims that follow the detailed description. Furthermore, the claimed subject matter is not limited to implementations that solve any disadvantages noted above or in any part of this disclosure.


A method is provided for fabricating a display spacer assembly (100, 400, 500) useful in the fabrication of large-area field emission displays (200, 600). The method includes the steps of: forming slots (12, 22, 32, 33) in a substrate (10, 23, 30) thereby providing a jig; providing spacers (14, 24, 34) having lower rounded edges and upper edges; placing the lower rounded edges into the slots (12, 22, 32, 33) so that the spacers (14, 24, 34) are positioned in a predetermined layout pattern over the slotted jig surface; and placing the upper edges of the spacers (14, 24, 34) in abutting engagement with a display plate (18, 10) of a field emission display.

Field emission displays are known in the art. They include an envelope structure having an evacuated interspace region between two display plates. Electrons travel across the interspace region from a cathode plate (also known as a cathode), which includes electron-emitting devices, to an anode plate (also known as an anode), which includes deposits of light-emitting materials, or "phosphors". Typically, the pressure within the evacuated interspace region between the cathode and anode plates is on the order of 10.sup.-6 torr.
In order to provide a strong electric field (volts per unit distance between the plates) for acceleration of electrons toward the anode, while maintaining low power consumption, the distance between the cathode and anode plate is small, on the order of one millimeter. This proximity of the plates introduces the problem of potential electrical breakdown between the electron emitting surface and the inner surface of the anode plate. Such an electrical breakdown effectively ruins the display.
The cathode plate and anode plate are thin in order to provide low display weight and reduce package thickness. If the display area is small, such as in a 1" diagonal display, and a typical sheet of glass having a thickness of about 0.04" is utilized for the plates, the display will not collapse or bow significantly. However, as the display area increases the thin plates are not sufficient to withstand the pressure differential in order to prevent collapse or bowing upon evacuation of the interspace region. For example, a screen having a 30" diagonal will have several tons of atmospheric force exerted upon it. As a result of this tremendous pressure, spacers play an essential role in large area, light-weight displays. Spacers are structures being incorporated between the anode and the cathode plate, upon which electron-emitter structures, such as Spindt tips, are fabricated. The spacers, in conjunction with the thin, lightweight, plates, support the atmospheric pressure, allowing the display area to be increased with little or no increase in plate thickness.
Several schemes have been proposed to provide display spacers. These spacers and methods have several drawbacks. Methods for fabricating spacers which employ screen printing, stencil printing, or the use of glass balls suffer from the inability to provide a spacer having a sufficiently high aspect ratio (the ratio of spacer height to spacer thickness).
Other prior art methods for fabricating display spacers, such as reactive ion etching and plasma etching of deposited materials, suffer from slow throughput, slow etch rates, tapered spacer cross-sections, and etch mask degradation. Spacers comprised of lithographically defined photoactive organic compounds are not compatible with the high vacuum conditions within the display or with the elevated temperatures characteristic of the processes for manufacturing field emission flat panel displays.
Accordingly, there exists a need for a method for incorporating spacers into a field emission display which provides high throughput. There also exists a need for a spacer having a high aspect ratio which exhibits good perpendicularity with the anode and cathode plates, and which does not introduce off-gassing contaminants within the display.

Method for fabricating a display spacer assembly


A new and distinct cultivar of Calibrachoa plant named ‘Balchadap’, characterized by its medium orange-yellow colored flowers having a mottled red-purple colored overlay that becomes less pronounced with age, medium green-colored foliage, and vigorous, mounded-trailing growth habit, is disclosed.

The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Calibrachoa plant botanically known as Calibrachoa x hybrida and hereinafter referred to by the cultivar name 'Balchadap'.
The new cultivar originated in a controlled breeding program in Arroyo Grande, Calif. during June 2016. The objective of the breeding program was the development of Calibrachoa cultivars with attractive novelty flower coloration, and a vigorous, mounded-trailing growth habit.
The new Calibrachoa cultivar is the result of cross-pollination. The female (seed) parent of the proprietary Calibrachoa x hybrida breeding selection coded 13596-1, not patented, characterized by its medium yellow-colored flowers having a mottled apricot and pink colored overlay that becomes less pronounced with age, medium green-colored foliage, and vigorous, mounded growth habit. The male (pollen) parent of the new cultivar is the proprietary Calibrachoa x hybrida breeding selection coded 13631-1, not patented, characterized by its medium yellow-colored flowers having a mottled red-colored overlay that becomes less pronounced with age, medium green-colored foliage, and vigorous, mounded growth habit. The new cultivar was selected as a single flowering plant within the progeny of the above stated cross-pollination during August 2016 in a controlled environment in Arroyo Grande, Calif.
Asexual reproduction of the new cultivar by terminal stem cuttings since August 2016 in Arroyo Grande, Calif. and West Chicago, Ill. has demonstrated that the new cultivar reproduces true to type with all of the characteristics, as herein described, firmly fixed and retained through successive generations of such asexual propagation.


A screen for a vibratory shaker having a frame with multiple openings. Screen modules or plugs are disposed in each opening. Further disclosed is a mounting apparatus for securing the screen plugs in the openings and a support strip for supporting part of a screen having at least one upturned finger projecting above the top surface of the support body configured for contacting and supporting at least a part of a raised portion of the frame. A plug or module disposed in an opening of a positioning member of a screen assembly for a vibratory separator receives fluid with material therein for separation therefrom. Additionally disclosed is a method for making a plate mesh combination.

1. Field Of The Invention
The present invention is directed to screens for vibratory shakers, screens for classifying and/or filtering material, modular screens with individual screen modules or plugs, plugs for openings in screens, plugs with screening material thereon and holes therethrough, screen useful for both dewatering and classification, and methods of screen repair and assembly.
2. Description of Related Art
The related art section of each of the above-identified applications is incorporated here fully by reference.


This invention relates to an improved massage mattress and in particular to one including a body formed of foamed material and having a plurality of vertical through holes, and a plurality of emulsion members each solidified and formed integral with a corresponding one of the vertical through holes of the body, whereby the mattress may be easily cleaned and may provide natural and comfortable massage for the user standing or walking thereon.

It has been found that numerous massage mattresses have been provided in prior art that are either integrally formed of a single material (see FIG. 1A) or assembled by two members made of different materials (see FIG. 1B). Nevertheless, the former is difficult to be cleaned and the hardness thereof is uniform thereby rendering the massage monotonous, while the latter is also difficult to be cleaned and will be badly shaped after using in a short period of time.
Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a massage mattress which may obviate and mitigate the above-mentioned drawbacks.


A device for stabilizing dilute combustion for use in a cold-walls type combustion chamber comprises a burner. The burner comprises at least one oxidant inlet and at least one fuel inlet. The oxidant and fuel inlets opening separately into the chamber at a distance suitable for establishing combustion which is highly diluted by internal re-circulations of combustion products toward a burner zone. The device comprises a heating element configured to heat, during steady operating conditions, the combustion products to sustain self-ignition conditions. The heating element is positioned in a dilution zone and surrounds a set of oxidant and fuel jets.

Most combustion methods are confronted by unwanted emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOx) in the combustion fumes. Nitrogen oxides have adverse effects on human beings and on the environment. For example, they are responsible for acid rain and play a significant role in the formation of atmospheric ozone.
European regulations are moving towards a substantial reduction in nitrogen oxide emissions. Because of this, manufacturers of combustion equipment, in particular burners, are constantly striving to limit nitrogen oxide emissions as much as possible. In 2011, according to the European LCP Directive (no. 2001-80-EC), the nitrogen oxide emission limit values ("ELV") for large combustion plants were fixed at 200 mg/Nm3 at 3% O2 for existing industrial furnaces and 100 mg/Nm3 at 3% O2 for new furnaces. It is very likely that these ELVs will be reduced in the years to come.
There are many chemical pathways for the formation of nitrogen oxides. For natural gas combustion in furnaces, the two main contributors are thermal nitrogen oxides (Zeldovich mechanism) and prompt nitrogen oxides (Fenimore mechanism). The rate of thermal nitrogen oxide production is very dependent on the temperature. Formation increases significantly when the temperature in the reaction zone exceeds 1,500 K. As well as being dependent on the temperature, thermal nitrogen oxide formation is also dependent on the residence time in the hot zones.
Generally, given the relative contributions of the two types of nitrogen oxide formation, the initial focus is on reducing thermal nitrogen oxides, then the effect of the modifications on the prompt nitrogen oxides is observed.
Nitrogen oxide reductions can be achieved by means of two principles, referred to as "primary methods" and "secondary methods". The primary methods consist of preventing the formation of nitrogen oxides, while the secondary methods are aimed at destroying the nitrogen oxides formed. The secondary methods have the disadvantages of high implementation costs for the reduction method, high levels of ammonia releases and decreased robustness for the plant.
Thus, the primary methods seem preferable. Most low nitrogen oxide emission furnace burners are based on non-premixing of the air and/or fuel (e.g. as described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,485,289). In this architecture, two reaction zones are created: a first rich zone, supplying the energy required to stabilize a second, lean, zone, diluted by the internal circulation of combustion products. A technology to further improve the performance of low nitrogen oxide emission burners consists of using an external recirculation of the combustion products. The combustion air is then pre-diluted with fumes (approximately 30% of the flow of fumes in the flue). This makes it possible to reduce the oxygen content in the oxidant flow and thus reduce the temperature peak and the thermal nitrogen oxides. U.S. Pat. No. 6,869,277 can be cited. However, these systems are complex, expensive and require frequent maintenance. For these reasons they are not installed very often.
Flameless combustion, also called "dilute combustion", is a type of combustion making it possible to limit the temperature peaks, and thus to substantially reduce nitrogen oxide emissions. This combustion is based on an intense dilution of the oxidant and fuel jets by means of internal recirculations of products of combustion, generated by the jets of oxidant and fuel which are injected separately using high velocities. The dilution makes it possible to switch from an intense localized combustion to a more moderate combustion intensity. The high temperature of the products used as diluent allows the stability of this mode of combustion to be ensured. This type of combustion is characterized by a large-size heat emission zone, uniform temperature at the flame front, much lower temperature peaks and much smaller temperature fluctuations than in traditional combustion, reduced nitrogen oxide emissions and a much weaker link between acoustic waves and heat emission.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,154,599 describes an example of a flameless combustion burner. This document presents a regenerative burner architecture, i.e. the fumes are aspirated by the burner, their energy is stored in a heat reservoir and then transferred to the combustion air so as to heat it up to 1,200 K. Dilution of the reagents before combustion is ensured by having a considerable distance between the air and fuel injection points (at least twice the diameter of the central injector) and a high flow rate for fumes that recirculate (recirculation ratio greater than two for natural gas).
This technology is implemented industrially in methods known as "hot", i.e. methods where the average temperature of the chamber is much higher than the self-ignition temperature of the fuel in question. Flameless oxidation is self-sustained by means of the self-ignition of an oxidant/fuel/burnt gasses ternary mixture. For self-ignition to occur, the temperature in the mixing zone must be higher than the self-ignition temperature. There are two possible ways of fulfilling this condition. In the first, at least one of the reagents (typically the oxidant) is preheated by means of energy recovered from the fumes or by means of an external energy source. In the second, internal recirculations of the hot combustion products are used to exceed the self-ignition temperature in the reagents mixing zone. These two stabilization methods are widespread in high-temperature applications (chamber temperature higher than the self-ignition temperature). In effect, in this case the fumes have sufficient energy to enable the fuel and/or the oxidant to be preheated to a high temperature and thus the self-ignition temperature to be exceeded in the mixing zone.
The stability of the dilute combustion, and therefore its sustainability, is jeopardized in "cool-wall" type methods. As the combustion products cool on contact with the walls, they do not let the self-ignition temperature be exceeded in the recirculating oxidant/fuel/combustion products mixing zone. Flameless oxidation, as utilized in high-temperature applications, cannot therefore be extended to cold-wall type chambers.
However, several technologies have been developed, but not yet deployed on an industrial scale, for furnace-type applications, in order to remove this barrier. One can cite stabilizations by means of:                a pilot flame,        a catalytic element for lowering the self-ignition temperature, or        preheating the combustion air to a high temperature.
Each of these technologies has drawbacks, in terms of cost, performance, complexity and/or reliability.
The problem of flame stabilization in industrial environments is not specific to dilute combustion. For furnace types of chambers, the flame stabilization of "low nitrogen oxide" burners is often based on a primary intense rich combustion zone that helps to stabilize the lean combustion zone, whose characteristics are close (in terms of dilution of the air by combustion products) to those of a flameless combustion. U.S. Pat. No. 5,407,347 can be cited as a modern low nitrogen oxide burner technology. As a dilute combustion application, patent EP 1,850,067, which envisages stabilizing a highly dilute combustion by means of a pilot burner, can be cited. However, this type of stabilization has the inconvenience of creating hot zones that are potentially high nitrogen oxide emitters.
For internal combustion applications, "HCCi" (acronym for Homogeneous Charge Compression Ignition) combustion in gasoline engines, whose properties, in terms of mixing, are those of a dilute combustion, is performed by spark plugs. As an industrial burner operates continuously, spark ignition technology cannot be applied here.

Device for stabilizing dilute combustion in a cold-wall combustion chamber


An exemplary zoom lens includes a first lens and a lens assembly. The lens assembly includes a mounting plate and a plurality of second lenses formed on the mounting plate. The second lenses are integrally formed with the mounting plate. Each of the second lenses has a distinct focal length. The lens assembly is rotatable in such a manner that each of the second lenses is selectively in optical alignment with the first lens.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to the optical imaging field and, particularly, to a zoom lens module and a zoom camera module having the same.
2. Description of Related Art
With the development of the optical imaging technology, camera modules are widely used in a variety of electronic devices, such as mobile phones, and Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs).
Since the camera module is desirably to be mounted in small-sized mobile phones or PDAs, a fixed focus lens module is usually adopted due to its relatively small thickness. However, images captured by a camera module with a fixed focus lens module tend to be poor in quality. This is partly due to the fixed focus lens module, which is incapable of adjusting a focal length to make a good-quality image.
A conventional zoom camera module usually uses an actuator, such as a step motor to zoom. In order to zoom, the actuator drives a first lens group to move along an optical axis relative to a second lens group. Such a zoom camera module inevitably has a relatively large thickness in a direction of the optical axis. Accordingly, such a step motor is not suitable to be used in a mobile phone or PDA, which requires a small thickness.
Therefore, a new zoom lens module and a new zoom camera module are desired to overcome the above mentioned problems.


A clear fluorescence image is easily obtained irrespective of variation of scattering due to variation of the depth of a focus position in a specimen. A scanning optical device includes a laser light source for emitting laser light, a scanning unit for scanning the laser light emitted from the laser light source on the specimen, a focus depth adjusting unit for adjusting the depth of the focus position in the specimen of the laser light to be scanned, a fluorescence detector for detecting fluorescence generated from the focus position of the laser light in the specimen, a reference depth information storage unit for storing the absolute height of a predetermined reference depth of the focus position of the laser light in the specimen by the focus depth adjusting unit, and a hardware setting storage unit for storing the relative height to the absolute height of the reference depth at each focus position of the laser light and at least one set value of the laser light source, the scanning unit, and the fluorescence detector in association with each other.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a scanning optical device and an observation method.
This application is based on Japanese Patent Application No. 2007-105568, the content of which is incorporated herein by reference.
2. Description of Related Art
There has been hitherto known a scanning optical device for obtaining a bright fluorescence image having high resolution in the depth direction of a specimen by using a multiphoton excitation phenomenon. Fluorescence emitted from the inside of the specimen is scattered by the specimen, and thus there is a problem that a fluorescence image based on fluorescence generated at a deep position of the specimen is darker than a fluorescence image based on fluorescence generated at a shallow position of the specimen.
In order to solve this problem, for example, according to the invention disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, Publication No. 2000-275541, obtained image data are subjected to image processing to correct apparent variation in brightness on a screen.
However, when the correction is made by subjecting obtained image data to the image processing, it induces a problem that the amount of brightness information contained in the image data itself is reduced and thus the corrected fluorescence image is unclear. For example, when a light source, an optical scanning portion, or a photodetector is adjusted so that a fluorescence image based on fluorescence generated at a shallow position of a specimen is clear, a fluorescence image obtained by detecting fluorescence generated at a deep position of the specimen is dark as a whole and has a small amount of brightness information. Therefore, even when the brightness is corrected by the image processing, no clear image can be constructed.
Conversely, when the light source, the optical scanning portion or the photodetector is adjusted so that a fluorescence image based on fluorescence generated at a deep position of the specimen is clear, a fluorescence image obtained by detecting fluorescence generated at a shallow position of the specimen is saturated in brightness, and thus even when the brightness is corrected by the image processing, no clear image can be constructed likewise.
That is, in order to obtain a clear fluorescence image irrespective of the depth of the specimen, it is necessary to obtain a fluorescence image having the same brightness without conducting the image processing.
Furthermore, when an observation position is moved in a horizontal direction with respect to a specimen having an undulating surface, the depth of a focus position in the specimen varies in spite of no variation in the absolute height of the focus position of exciting light at the device side, so that the magnitude of scattering varies.

Scanning optical device which sets hardware in association with a depth of a focus position based on hardware set values stored in association with depths of focus positions


Each time a document or a program source is edited, version information including its version name and creation date is stored in a storage. Configuration information of a plurality of documents and program sources is stored in another storage. The version and configuration information is read from the storages such that information of constituent elements of a project such as documents and program sources is placed in a vertical direction and version information of the elements is placed by use of a creation date as a reference in a horizontal direction for a two-dimensional display thereof. With the configuration, there is provided a display method of clearly presenting to the user a display image in which version information is combined with configuration information.

The present invention relates to a document management system, and in particular, to a method of and an apparatus for displaying document management information as a set of elements including a plurality of documents and a plurality of programs, for example, version information of each element and configuration information of a set thereof and a computer-readable recording medium on which a program for displaying version and configuration information is recorded.
To manage a large volume of documents of a firm in a concentrated manner for efficient use thereof, there has been an increasing need of a document management system in which documents can be stored in a storage to be retrieved and read therefrom. Additionally, for example, to write documents for a large number of manuals and to develop programs, namely, for collaborative job which cannot be achieved by one person but by a plurality of people through a collaborative job, there has been a tendency of effectively utilizing the system above.
In such a collaborative job, in addition to management of versions of respective documents and programs, the persons concerned are required to collaboratively proceed the job while collaboratively managing the state and condition of writing documents. Consequently, in the document management system employed in the collaborative job, there are essentially required a version management function and a configuration management function.
In this connection, xe2x80x9cversion managementxe2x80x9d indicates management of information items such as a version number of a document or a program source and a creation date of each version such that when a user edits and updates documents and program sources, it is possible to store and to retrieve any version of documents and program sources.
Consequently, a list of version information can be displayed to restore a version of a document at an arbitrary point in the past or to obtain a process of editing operations in the past. Moreover, for an efficient editing operation, it is possible to extract and display differences between the versions.
In addition, xe2x80x9cconfiguration managementxe2x80x9d means that files or objects in which documents and/or program sources are stored are gathered into sets of related elements for the management thereof. The elements may be constituent elements of documents and programs.
A set of these elements is called a project in some cases. For example, when editing a manual of a product in a file for each chapter, if relationships between the files are managed in the form of configuration information of a project xe2x80x9cproduct manualxe2x80x9d, the related files can be gathered into a document when necessary.
Moreover, in a case of development of an application program, when relationships between the program sources and object files of respective modules are managed in the form of configuration information of a project xe2x80x9capplication programxe2x80x9d, it is possible, for example, to compile related files at a time.
In a document management system having the version and configuration management functions, when the user conducts operation to refer to version information for restoration of versions at an arbitrary point in the past, to know an editing process in the past, and to extract and display differences between versions, it is necessary for the system to present the version information to the user.
Additionally, when a user carries out operation to refer to configuration information to gather related document files into a document and to collect related program sources for compilation thereof, the system is required to present the configuration information to the user.
Furthermore, when the user desires to know information of the editing operation conducted in the past for documents and program sources of a project and information of relationships between versions of constituent elements, it is necessary to clearly present information in which version information is combined with configuration information. This is a function particularly required in a collaborative job such as a collaborative writing of documents and a collaborative development of programs.
In this situation, version information and configuration information are displayed by use of a tree structure in the conventional document management system or the like as shown in FIG. 5. For example, PVCS Version Manager (http://www.intersolv.co.jp/PVCS/main/Function/Vm.htm) of INTERSOLV discloses a technology in which program versions are managed to display source names of each program and versions thereof in a tree structure.
In a display of FIG. 5, there is presented a combination of version information shown in FIG. 6 and configuration information shown in FIG. 7. But, FIGS. 6 and 7 are not admitted as prior art.
In FIG. 7, 701 indicates a name of a project as an object of management and 702 denotes constituent elements of the project. Configuration information includes a file name 704 and the like corresponding to a constituent element name 703, and the example of FIG. 7 indicates that Project xe2x80x9cProduct XX Manualxe2x80x9d has constituent elements xe2x80x9cContentsxe2x80x9d, xe2x80x9cChapter 1xe2x80x9d, xe2x80x9cChapter 2xe2x80x9d, and xe2x80x9cFIG. 1.xe2x80x9d
In FIG. 6, 601 to 604 indicate version information items respectively corresponding to constituent elements of xe2x80x9cProduct XX Manualxe2x80x9d. Each version information includes a version name 605, a creator or writer of the version 606, a creation date thereof 607, etc., and FIG. 6 expresses, for example, that xe2x80x9cContentsxe2x80x9d include two versions of V1 and V2 (601).
FIG. 5 includes a root node of tree 501 indicating the displayed project. A sub-node 502 thereof denotes a constituent element of the project. Furthermore, a sub-node 503 of the element indicates a list of versions of respective constituent elements.
As above, information in which version information is combined with configuration information is displayed in a tree structure. Consequently, the user can recognize documents and program source names of the pertinent project as well as versions thereof.
However, the method of displaying version information and configuration information in accordance with the conventional document management system is attended with the following problems.
A first problem will be now described.
In the restoration of a document at a point of time in the past in FIG. 5, assume an example of a case in which xe2x80x9cChapter 1xe2x80x9d is restored for a point of time of Dec. 4, 1997.
In the conventional display method using the tree structure, there is provided a graphic user interface (GUI) as shown in FIG. 8 to obtain information of a creation date or the like of each version. That is, by pointing an arbitrary constituent element of a document, there is displayed a list of version information thereof.
In FIG. 8, version information 802 is displayed for xe2x80x9cChapter 1. Namely, it is only necessary to restore the document of V2 by referring to the information.
However, to restore xe2x80x9cContentsxe2x80x9d for Dec. 4, 1997 on which xe2x80x9cChapter 1xe2x80x9d was of V2, there is required a comparison of the creation date by referring to version information of xe2x80x9cContentsxe2x80x9d in this case. That is, when only the display method of FIG. 5 is used, it cannot be known that which one of the versions of xe2x80x9cContentsxe2x80x9d was used for each version of xe2x80x9cChapter 1xe2x80x9d.
As above, in the conventional display method, it is not possible to recognize a relationship in time between constituent elements, i.e., how these mutually related elements were edited. Therefore, it is difficult for the user to conduct operation for the restoration of the elements of a project into documents at a point of time in the past.
Description will now be given of a second problem.
Assume an example of a case in which as a constituent element of a project, there is specified not only a document or a source file but also a particular version name of the element.
This is effective, for example, in a case of management in which when a project has a version and a product manual includes several documents as its constituent elements, a first version of product manual includes the constituent elements of a version and a second version thereof includes the elements of another version.
FIG. 9 is an example in which there is specified, in addition to the configuration information of FIG. 7, a particular version name of the constituent element.
FIG. 9 shows configuration information 901 of xe2x80x9cfirst versionxe2x80x9d and configuration information 903 of xe2x80x9csecond versionxe2x80x9d of xe2x80x9cProduct XX Manualxe2x80x9d. Each information includes a version name (902, 904) for each element in addition to a constituent element name 703 and a file name 704 associated therewith. In short, 901 indicates that xe2x80x9cfirst versionxe2x80x9d of xe2x80x9cProduct XX Manualxe2x80x9d includes V1 of xe2x80x9cContentsxe2x80x9d, V1 of xe2x80x9cChapter 1xe2x80x9d, V2 of xe2x80x9cChapter 2xe2x80x9d, and V1 of xe2x80x9cFIG. 1xe2x80x9d and 903 indicates that xe2x80x9csecond versionxe2x80x9d of xe2x80x9cProduct XX Manualxe2x80x9d includes V2 of xe2x80x9cContentsxe2x80x9d, V4 of xe2x80x9cChapter 1xe2x80x9d, V2 of xe2x80x9cChapter 2xe2x80x9d, and V3 of xe2x80x9cFIG. 1xe2x80x9d.
Configuration information of FIG. 9 is displayed in a tree structure, for example, as shown in FIG. 10.
In FIG. 10, a root node of tree 1001 represents a project. A sub-node 1002 thereof indicates a constituent element of the project and a sub-node 1003 of the element denotes a version name corresponding to each element.
However, in the display method above, although it is possible to know a version corresponding to each constituent element, the user cannot obtain, for example, how the version is edited before and/or after a particular point of time.
For example, xe2x80x9cContentsxe2x80x9d of xe2x80x9cfirst versionxe2x80x9d of xe2x80x9cProduct XX Manualxe2x80x9d is of V1 in the example of FIG. 10. However, there cannot be attained information of whether or not the Contents are edited thereafter and hence the position or the like of the version of the project cannot be known. That is, there exists a problem that information about versions of constituent elements of a project and historical information of editing of each version from another version cannot be obtained.
It is therefore an object of the present invention, which copes with the problems above, to provide a method of displaying version information and configuration information in which information of combination of version information and configuration information is clearly presented to the user such that the user refers to version information of documents and program sources of a project to easily restore versions of all elements of the project at an arbitrary point of time in the past and to easily obtain an editing process of each version in the past.
To achieve the object above, in accordance with one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a version and configuration information display method for use with a document management system including a processor, a storage, and a terminal unit for managing version information of documents, program sources, etc. and configuration information including a plurality of documents, a plurality of program sources, etc., including the steps of storing, each time a document, a program source, and the like is edited, version information including a version name thereof, a creation date thereof, and the like in the storage; storing configuration information of a project in a set of a plurality of documents, a plurality of program sources, and the like in the storage; and reading the version information and the configuration information of the project from the storage, placing and displaying information of constituent elements of a project including documents, program sources, and the like on a screen of the terminal unit in a vertical direction, and placing and displaying version information of each of the constituent elements thereon by using the creation date as a reference in a horizontal direction.
Moreover, the display step uses, in place of the creation date, a version of a project as the reference.
Additionally, the display step includes, in place of the step of placing and displaying information of constituent elements of a project including documents, program sources, etc. in a vertical direction, the step of placing and displaying information of constituent elements of a project including documents, program sources, etc. in a tree structure in a vertical direction in accordance with a hierarchical relationship between the constituent elements.
The display includes the step of storing, in the storage, job management information for inspection of a state of writing an entire project and documents as its elements and a state of developing program sources. The display step reads the job management information from the storage and places and displays the job management information on the screen of the terminal unit.

Method of and an apparatus for displaying version information and configuration and a computer-readable recording medium on which a version and configuration information display program is recorded


A method and an apparatus for running an applet are provided. The method includes: reading, in response to issuing an applet to a host application, a configuration file to determine a dynamic library referenced by the applet; loading the dynamic library referenced by the applet from a sandbox directory and/or an applet platform; and running, in response to a running instruction of the applet, a script code of the applet to call the dynamic library referenced by the applet. When the applet is run, the dynamic library referenced by the applet is loaded from the sandbox directory and/or the applet platform, and the dynamic library is no longer integrated into the applet package.

With the continuous development of computer technology, a variety of applications emerge one after another. An applet, an application that can be used without download and installation, has received extensive attention from all walks of life.
A traditional applet requires developers to develop all service modules and logics totally by themselves, and the development workload of the applet is heavy. In order to reduce the burden on the applet developers and facilitate the development of the applet, some commonly used APIs (application programming interfaces), components, pages, and the like, may be encapsulated into plug-ins for a direct reference by other applets. If a certain applet is to reference a plug-in, in a configuration file, not only an identifier of the plug-in needs to be configured, but also a version of the plug-in needs to be configured. In addition, the plug-in also needs to be integrated into an applet package. When the applet is run, the plug-in integrated in the applet package is directly used. If some new features are added to the plug-in and a new version is issued, to use the new features in the applet, the version of the plug-in in the configuration file must be manually modified to a latest version, and at the same time, the plug-in of the latest version is integrated into the applet package, and then the new applet package is submitted for review. After the new applet package passes the review, a period of time is further needed for convergence, and only after the convergence, when the applet is run, the user sees the new features.

Baidu Online Network Technology (Beijing) Co., Ltd.


A method for searching a database to produce search results from queries likely to contain errors. The process begins by identifying database features likely to be useful in searching, and those features are employed to index the database. After receiving a query from a user, the system develops a rough score for the query, by extracting features from the query, assigning match scores to query features matching database features; and assigning approximation scores to query features amenable to approximation analysis with database features. The rough score is used to identify identifying a set of database records for further analysis. Those records are then subjected to a more detailed rescoring process, based on correspondence between individual query elements and individual record elements, and between the query and the database record content, taken as a whole. Based on the rescoring process, output is provided to the user.

The present invention relates generally to systems and methods for database searching, and in particular to database searches in which the user is highly likely to provide input containing errors.
Most database engines assume that the user will provide correct input. That assumption has a number of results, starting with the general tendency to demand input in a number of separate fields. Then, search engines most often look only for exact matches to the user input.
One can see this problem in operation at the popular consumer website operated by Amazon.com, at http://www.amazon.com. A person entering that site to purchase, for example, a recording of a Johann Sebastian Bach cantata must first locate an appropriate recording, which begins by selecting a category in which to search. A consumer who knows how the name is pronounced, but unfamiliar with German spelling conventions could easily enter the name as, say, "Johan Bock". The search engine, unfortunately, cannot cope with that sort of mistake—it returns zero hits. An American consumer could flail around for some time before coming up with "Bach" as the correct spelling, but the search engine will obstinately refuse to return hits until the entry is correct.
Simple typing errors have the same consequence. A user seeking Britney Spears recordings at Amazon.com, but entering "britny" in the search window, will see pages of listings for Britny Fox but not a single hit for Miss Spears. A slip with her last name, entering "spers" for example, returns no hits at all. Users can quickly become frustrated with such results.
Clearly, any consumer-oriented e-commerce website that could offer automatic help to a consumer in these situations will attract numbers of adherents. In a business context, where user frustration is measured in lost productivity, tools that speed searching would be highly sought after.

System and method for producing scored search results on a database using approximate search queries


A surgical nail (1), in particular, an intramedullary nail, has a central axis (2) and is formed of a material (M) having a modulus of elasticity (E). A plurality of transversal openings (5) run transversally to the central axis (2) and have a cross-sectional profile (F) and a transversal axis (6), the cross-sectional profile (F) having a maximum length (a) that runs in the direction of the central axis and a maximum width (b) that runs perpendicular to the length. A longitudinal bore (3) runs coaxially with the central axis (2) and defines a wall (4). A longitudinal insert (7) can be introduced into the region of the transversal opening (5) via the longitudinal bore (3). Said insert has a longitudinal axis (13) and consists of a material (m). The insert (7) comprises at least one longitudinal slot (25) so that said insert can be elastically compressed in a radial manner and includes a plurality of radial elevations (14) fitting inside the transversal openings (5).

The securing function of intramedullary nails is already known in the state of the art. The locking screws or locking pins (hereinafter only the term "locking screw" is used, but this is also intended to include the term other fasteners, such as locking pins) are inserted into the transverse bores in an intramedullary nail either with the help of an imaging method (x-ray monitoring) or a fairly complex targeting device. In both cases, a certain target inaccuracy is unavoidable, i.e., the tip of the screw cannot be aligned precisely coaxially with the central axis of the transverse bore but instead there is a certain deviation. In order for the locking screw to open into and pass through the transverse bore despite this target error, the outside diameter of the screw is undersized in relation to the diameter of the transverse bore. If the target inaccuracy remains within the scope of this undersizing, then the locking screw can be passed through the transverse bore with no problem despite this target error. However—because of the undersizing—the locking screw does have a certain amount of play in relation to the transverse bore.
This play defines the allowed amount of movement of the main bone fragments, which are to be secured in the corresponding locking hole by means of locking screws, in relation to the nail, and therefore, owing to the rigidity of the nail, also in relation to other main bone fragments attached with the same nail. This play is unavoidable in order to be sure that the surgeon will be able to use this locking means, but is nevertheless undesirable clinically for certain indications (e.g., in the case of metaphysical fragments).
Nails having a solid cross section, which may have an inside thread in the locking hole, are also not free of play. The inside thread only prevents the nail from being displaced axially on the locking screw.
US 2002/173792 (Hover et al.) describes a hollow intramedullary nail made of metal having one or two plastic inserts in the jacket openings in the transverse bore, which are positioned diametrically opposite one another and are referred to as windows, the locking screw being insertable through these plastic inserts. This known intramedullary nail has the disadvantage that the window-like plastic inserts are easily pushed in, causing the desired function to be lost. But even with very careful manipulation, the two plastic inserts could be forced out of their "windows" when the locking screw is passed through, which also causes a loss of function.
In a special embodiment of the Hover patent, an insert on the distal tip of the intramedullary nail that can be inserted into the central cavity thereof is provided in both windows in the transverse opening, but its material composition and function remain unclear.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


An internal wall of an air intake and a housing of a fan form a single tubular piece made from a fiber/resin composite material. A rear end has the single tubular component connected by a flange and bolts to an external cowl of the fan duct, such that the rear end of the tubular component is uniform and the flange is attached and fixed to the rear end.

In known turbine engines, the internal wall of the air intake and the fan casing are made of metal and the rear end of said internal wall of the air intake and the front end of said fan casing have collaborating projecting peripheral flanges so that they can be joined together using fasteners (screws, bolts, etc.) that pass through said flanges.
Given the mechanical, thermal and mass properties of resin/fiber composites, it would be advantageous to be able to produce said internal wall of the air intake and said fan casing entirely in the form of components made of such a composite. However, tests performed toward these ends have not proved beneficial because, in use, the fibers delaminate at the 90° elbow where said peripheral flanges meet the tubular remainder of said internal wall and of said casing, which delamination leads to a substantial reduction in the mechanical strength of said components and even causes them to break.


Disclosed herein are systems and methods for managing the distribution and synchronization of data across multiple locations. The invention uses a static, rule-based mechanism that results in fast, successful data updates in a consistent and controlled manner and without the requirement for manual reconciliation. In one embodiment the data relates to financial transactions.

In today's mobile environment, people often find themselves traveling for substantial periods of time. Businesses and their employees are often located in multiple geographic locations. People and businesses often have a need or desire to consummate a financial transaction, for example trading, at a particular time and from a particular location. However, the exact times and locations are not always readily predictable.
Further, a single person in a fixed location may desire to execute financial transactions in different geographical locations using an appropriate methodology, for example through an electronic network such as the Internet or by telephone. This ability to execute financial transactions in different geographies provides a user the ability to, for example, access financial services on an around-the-clock basis from a single geographic location.
However, the laws, rules and regulations of different jurisdictions often require that financial transactions be consummated only after meeting stringent compliance requirements. Meeting these compliance requirements often requires that detailed information relating to the business or party executing the transactions be collected, evaluated for compliance, and kept current. For example audit requirements in some instances mandate that at least part of a user profile be synchronized across all locations.
These compliance requirements often make it difficult for financial services institutions to provide customers with the flexibility to perform financial transactions anywhere other than their "home" jurisdiction, that is the jurisdiction where their financial account is established and maintained.
In addition, users are not sympathetic to the shortcomings of technology and desire to commit transactions such as trading even if communication between locations has broken down.

Systems and methods for managing location dependent transactions