A fabricating method for a system that includes a plurality of processing apparatuses connected to each other by an inter-apparatus transporter and a computer storing managing information of processing and transporting of semiconductor wafers. The processing apparatuses have an interface for loading and unloading a plurality of the semiconductor wafers that are contained in a carrier. The semiconductor waters are processed in processing chambers of the processing apparatuses and the result of processing is monitored. In the processing, a first carrier containing the plurality of the semiconductor wafers having been processed in the first processing apparatus is transported toward the second processing apparatus by the inter-apparatus transporter prior to unloading of a second carrier containing semiconductor wafers processed in the second processing apparatus, according to the managing information.

The present invention relates to a fabrication system and a fabrication method capable of fabricating various kinds of semiconductor devices for a short period of time.
In automated fabricating plants, various kinds of works are processed in a plurality of automated fabrication apparatuses. In such a fabricating plant, the scheduling of processing is determined in terms of the appointed data of works, working efficiency, and the minimized amount of semi-finished products between processing apparatuses. To smoothly perform the above processing in the automated fabricating plant, it is important to enhance the reliability of each processing apparatus and a system managing computer; and it is more important to enhance the function of managing the whole fabricating system. This is because, in the automated fabricating plant, the fabricating system is automatically operated, and it is managed by the unit having the function of managing the fabricating system.
In particular, in a fabricating plant for semiconductor devices, a plurality of semiconductor wafers of various kinds are processed using a plurality of processing apparatuses according to processing steps and processing conditions determined for every kinds of wafers. In some cases, the same apparatus is used for different processes, and thereby the repeating of the processing becomes very complicated. Accordingly, a high management function is required for the fabricating system for semiconductor devices. One example of the complicated processing in the fabricating system for semiconductor devices will be described. A circuit element used in assembly of a semiconductor device is formed of at least one semiconductor chip. In general, the chips are obtained by cutting circuit element areas arranged on a semiconductor wafer in the longitudinal and lateral directions, along the boundaries. Various processing steps are required to form circuit element areas on a semiconductor wafer. For example, processes of forming areas including the desired impurities atoms on a semiconductor wafer includes (1) a process of cleaning the wafer; (2) a heat treatment process of oxidizing the surface of the wafer; (3) a resist coating process of coating a photoresist on an oxide film and drying it; (4) an exposing process of exposing the desired area of a resist by an energy particle beam such as a light beam, electron beam or X-ray; (5) a developing process of selectively removing the exposed or non-exposed portion of the photoresist; (6) an etching process of removing the exposed oxide film using the resist partially remaining on the oxide film as a mask; (7) a resist removing process of removing the resist partially remaining on the oxide film; (8) an impurities introducing process of depositing impurities on the wafer or allowing them to permeate a surface layer portion by exposing the wafer in the impurity atmosphere using the oxide film as a mask, or using CVD, vapor-deposition or ion implantation; and diffusing the impurities up to the desired depth by heating; and (9) an etching process of removing the unnecessary oxide film or the like on the surface of the wafer. A sequence of processes from the resist removing process (3) to the developing process (5) or to a resist baking process applied after the developing process as needed are called photolithography processes, and which are repeatedly used for the formation of the circuit element. Namely, the photolithgraphy processes are used for the formation of a metal film and the formation of a passivation layer, other than the formation of the impurity introducing area. In this way, various processes are applied to the wafer, and further, some processes, for example included in the photolithography processes are repeatedly applied to the same semiconductor wafer by twice or more. In general, the number and order of various processes applied to the wafer are partially different for the kinds of products. In processing of semiconductor wafers, several hundreds of kinds of works are processed by one method selected from several tens of methods. Moreover, the number of semiconductor wafers processed simultaneously are extremely large. It is extremely difficult to process these semiconductor wafers under good management. As a result, there occur problems in that the appointed date is made longer, and the working ratio of each processing apparatus is reduced thereby lowering the number of products finished per unit time. Moreover, the cleanliness of a clean space in which semiconductor wafers are processed must be usually kept to be high. However, since many operators get around in a clean space in which processing apparatuses are disposed, dust adhering on the clothes of the operators and floors are scattered, which makes it difficult to keep the high cleanliness of the clean space. This causes a disadvantage that the dust adheres on semiconductor wafers thereby reducing the percent non-defective. To cope with this disadvantage, there has been known a method, exemplified in Japanese Patent Laid-open No. SHO 64-6540, wherein works are processed in an unmanned system for preventing the contamination of semiconductor wafers, and a sequence of processing steps are organically controlled to manage a plurality of semiconductor wafers of various kinds, thereby reducing the term of works, enhancing the percent non-defective, and lowering the number of operators.
The prior art managing system for automating the very complicated fabricating system for semiconductor devices described above has been described, for example in "Operation of LSI Production System to Reduce Development Investment and to Meet Diversified Needs" (Nikkei Microdevice, August, 1992, pp. 66-74). At the beginning of the automated fabrication, a centralized control system has been extensively performed, in which processing information in a plant is all inputted in a central computer and the work indications are performed by the computer. In this system, when the centralized control computer is normally operated, it usually grasps the whole state of the fabricating system, and thereby a high level control can be realized. However, this system is disadvantageous in that when the computer fails, the control of the fabricating system is stopped because of the absence of any means replaced with the computer. A software incorporated in the centralized control computer is of a model type including processing apparatuses and transporters, and many cases, algolizm depending on the features of processing apparatuses and transporters is incorporated therein. Accordingly, in renewal of a processing apparatus, the software incorporated in the computer must be exceedingly corrected, thus requiring a large amount of labor for the correction and expansion of the software. A distributed processing system is used to solve the above disadvantage of the centralized control system, in which the centralized computer is replaced by a plurality of computers. The management of the distributed processing system is described, for example in Japanese Patent Laid-open No. SHO 63-244730. However, even when either of the above-described managing systems is used to automate the fabricating system, the effect of shortening the term of works and the effect of increasing the number of products per unit time by enhancing the working ratio and the percent non-defective do not reach the sufficient level for achieving the suitable time/suitable amount production.
The first reason for this is that in the prior art, the transporting between a plurality of processing apparatuses is performed by a batch system, in which the so-called "lot" constituted of a plurality of semiconductor wafers is taken as a unit. The diameter of a semiconductor wafer has been enlarged for enhancing the productivity. For the purpose of performing a high accurate processing to such a semiconductor wafer, the processing in each processing apparatus has been changed from the conventional batch system to a single wafer processing. However, even in the single wafer processing apparatus, so long as semiconductor wafers are processed for each unit of lot, one processing takes a time required to process the number of semiconductor wafers constituting one lot, which makes longer the waiting time until the subsequent processing. Therefore, even if the management of products and processes is enhanced using computers, there is a limitation to the shortage of the term of works in principle. Moreover, the waiting time between specified two continued processes is greatly dependent on the lot, that is, on the semiconductor wafer, thus obstructing the improvement in percent non-defective.
The second reason for this is that, it is very difficult to optimize a plurality of complicated processes even by the control using computers in the lot processing environment, thus reducing the productivity. In a fabricating system, the number of processing apparatuses capable of performing the same process is determined on the basis of the throughput while examining the processing number for each wafer in each processing apparatus, and thus the processing ability (wafer/unit time) of each processing apparatus is equalized. However, in some cases, the fabricating system cannot actually achieve the processing ability thus calculated as a whole. Namely, it is impossible to optimize the complicated processes, the balance in the processing amount in each processing apparatus is not kept, thus reducing the productivity.
The third reason for this is that, in the fabricating system by batch transporting, a large amount of works in process (non-finished products) are required to ensure the productivity, thereby making longer the term of works. Moreover, when the term of works is made longer, the stay time of semiconductor wafers in a clean space where the fabricating system is contained is made longer, and thereby a high cleanliness of the clean space is required to prevent the reduction of percent non-defective. The fine pattern of a circuit element requires a high cleanliness, and it becomes difficult to realize a clean space with a high cleanliness, because the buildings having the clean space becomes very complicated and expensive, and a large energy is required to keep the clean space. One of the disadvantage of the prior art fabricating system by the batch transporting is to require a clean space with a high cleanliness.
To cope with the above disadvantage, in recent years, a fabricating system using a single wafer transporting has been proposed, for example in Japanese Patent Nos. HEI 4-130618 and HEI 4-199709, wherein a single wafer is transported between a plurality of processing apparatuses
The prior art fabricating system disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-open No. HEI 4-199709 has a disadvantage in increasing the number of processing apparatuses. Even when a plurality of processes can be performed using the same processing apparatus, a plurality of processing apparatuses must be prepared in the order of the processing steps. If not so, the flows of semiconductor wafers are crossed to each other, and two or more wafers cannot be simultaneously processed in the fabricating system. As described above, for example, the photolithography processes are repeatedly used for the formation of a circuit element. The resist coating and resist baking process included in the photolithography processes is repeatedly applied to the same semiconductor wafer by twice or more. To prevent an increase in the number of processing apparatuses, the processing apparatus required in some processes must be commonly used. To commonly use the resist coating and baking process, the resist coating and resist baking apparatus must be directly connected to all of processing apparatuses for performing processes before and after the resist coating and resist baking process by means of an inter-apparatus single wafer transporter not by way of other processing apparatuses. For example, it must be connected to all of the film deposition apparatuses. It is impossible to realize such a construction by the system shown in Japanese Patent Laid-open No. HEI 4-199709.
On the contrary, in the system shown in Japanese Patent Laid-open No. HEI 4-130618, all of processing apparatuses are connected to each other by means of an inter-apparatus single wafer transporter, so that the above-described disadvantages can be solved. This is because each semiconductor wafer can be transported between any two processing apparatuses. The disadvantage of this system lies in that a plurality of semiconductor wafers are crossed to each other in processing apparatuses and transporters. Only by connecting single wafer processing apparatuses to each other by means of a single wafer transporter, it cannot be achieved to obtain a high efficiency in simultaneously processing a plurality of semiconductor wafers.
First, it is required to determine the number of processing apparatuses on the basis of the throughput while examining the processing number for each semiconductor wafer in each processing apparatus, and to equalize the processing ability (wafers/unit time) of each process. In the system shown in Japanese Patent Laid-open No. HEI 4-130618, the number of processing apparatuses is determined on the basis of a failure frequency and a repairing time, and the first processing for one wafer is completed and then the next wafer is loaded in the first processing apparatus, with a result that wafers are stayed in the processing apparatus with a lowest processing ability. To avoid the above problem, the processed amount must be reduced on the basis of the ability of the processing apparatus, which causes a disadvantage that the term of works is shortened and the wafer output is reduced. It is necessary to examine the transporter and the transporting time. In the single wafer transporting, the transporting is performed for each unit of a single wafer, so that it becomes very complicated. In the system shown in Japanese Patent Laid-open No. HEI 4-130618, the crossing of semiconductor wafers in the transporting stage is not examined. The control and management for single wafer processing and single wager transporting are also complicated, and is very difficult to be satisfactorily realized.
In the prior art systems described in Japanese Patent Laid-open Nos. HEI 4-130618 and HEI 4-199709, all of processing apparatuses are of a single wafer processing type; however, by adopting the single wafer processing for all processes, the productivity is reduced in terms of the existing throughput. The above-described prior art systems fail to examine this point, which is one reason why these systems are not extensively used.
The prior art managing system has the following problems. In either of the centralized control system and the distributed processing system, the management of the prior art fabricating system is based on a unit of the so-called lot constituted of several to 25 pieces of wafers. In this case, wafers constituting a lot are contained in a cassette case, so that the management of information for each lot can be performed by the addition of an IC card to each cassette case. The reason why such an auxiliary means is required is as follows: namely, the information to be managed in the system is large; and further, in the case that the management of information is all dependent on a computer for managing the information of the whole system, when there occurs the malfunction and system-down of the information managing computer, all of the management information in the fabricating system is lost, resulting in a large damage. In the fabricating system of the distributed processing system described in the above document "Operation of LSI Production System to Reduce Development Investment and to Meet Versified Needs" (Nikkei Microdeviec, August, 1992), an IC card is attached to each lot. A method of utilizing an identification symbol of a cassette case is disclosed, for example in Japanese Patent No. SHO 61-128512. However, as described above, a processing apparatus of the batch type has been gradually changed into that of the single wafer processing type. Moreover, the transporting between processing apparatuses has been changed from the batch type to the single wafer type. To make efficient use of the advantage of the inter-apparatus single wafer transporting which is at least partially used in the fabricating system, the management of information for each semiconductor wafer is at least partially inevitable. In the inter-apparatus transporting where wafers are transported in a manner not to be contained in a cassette case, an auxiliary storing means such as the IC card moved together with wafers having wafer information to be managed cannot be used. Moreover, since the renewing number of processing information necessary for processing in each processing apparatus becomes extremely larger than in the batch transporting, which causes a problem in that the management of information by the auxiliary storing means such as the IC card is large in the renewal frequency and is cannot be used. To cope with this problem, a method in which information on the kind and process is held in a semiconductor wafer itself is described in Japanese Patent Laid-open Nos. SHO 57-157518, SHO 58-50728, SHO 63-288009, HEI 2-292810 and HEI 5-83520. A method in which information is written in a chip is described in Japanese Patent Laid-open No. SHO 60-10641. In either method, the technique is limited only to the writing or reading of information, and it does not examine the management of information contained in a fabricating system. Since the number of the transporting between processing apparatuses becomes extremely larger, the management of information in the inter-apparatus transporter is required to be managed. In view of the foregoing, there have been required a fabricating system for semiconductor devices which is suitable for single wafer management and is capable of solving the above-described problems; and a fabricating method using the system. Moreover, there have been required a fabricating system for semiconductor devices capable of optimizing a plurality of complicated processing steps controlled by computers, improving the productivity, and reducing the term of works, in the environment of the above-described management of information of a single wafer; and a fabricating method using the system.

Fabrication system and fabrication method


An image forming machine having an image carrier on which an electrostatic latent image is formed, a developing device that develops the latent image and a toner replenisher that replenish toner to the developing device. The toner replenisher has a cover attached to the upper opening portion thereof which can be opened or closed when a pivotable member having a rack, provided to the toner replenisher, is moved. A pinion is rotated by the rack, and the pinion rotates a shaft to move rotatable members, which in turn open or close the cover.

The present invention relates to a developer supply device to supply developer composed of powder to a developing unit provided in an image forming apparatus.
In an image forming apparatus such as a copier and printer by which an electrostatic latent image formed on a photoreceptor drum is developed by a developing device with dry and powdered developer (referred to as toner, hereinafter) so as to form a visual image, the toner provided in the developing unit is consumed each time the visual image is formed on the photoreceptor drum surface. As color copiers and printers have been developed recently, the dimensions of the apparatus have been reduced. Consequently, the developing devices of copiers and printers have been made compact. In accordance with the progress of the apparatus, the operation speed is increased and toner consumption is also increased. Therefore, it is necessary to supply toner to the developing device during image formation. In order to supply a large amount of toner as described above, a relatively large-sized toner supply device is provided separately from the developing device. In general, the toner supply device is attached above the developing device, and toner is supplied to the toner supply device before the toner in the device has been completely consumed. In this case, toner is supplied to the device from the outside when a cover of the toner supply device is slid along a groove. When new toner is supplied to the toner supply device, it is necessary to open the cover completely with respect to an opening through which toner is supplied. In order to open the cover, a large operating lever is generally provided because a long stroke is required to open the cover.
The present invention has been achieved to solve the aforementioned problems.
In order to completely open the opening of the toner supply device, a long stroke is required for the operating means. As a result, the dimensions of the device are increased, which is a problem.
In order to prevent the toner from scattering, the cover is tightly contacted with a sliding portion of the toner supply device. Therefore, strong force is required to slide the cover, so that it is very hard for an operator to slide the cover when toner is supplied.
In order to record color images, toner supply devices for 4 colors including yellow, magenta, cyan and black are required. Accordingly, when the large-sized cover sliding means is attached to each toner supply device of 4 colors, the dimensions of the entire apparatus are increased. In the case where the dimensions of the apparatus are substantially reduced, the cover can not be operated smoothly so that the operating property is lowered, which is a problem.

Image forming apparatus with toner replenisher


A user terminal apparatus is provided. The user terminal apparatus includes: a flexible display including: a main area; and a sub area comprising a curved portion and extending from the main area to a side portion of the user terminal apparatus; a housing configured to enclose the flexible display; a sound output hole provided between the flexible display and the housing and configured to output a sound from a call function; and a sound input hole configured to receive an input sound.

1. Field
Apparatuses consistent with exemplary embodiments relate to a user terminal apparatus, and more particularly, to a user terminal apparatus including a flexible display.
2. Description of the Related Art
With the development of an electronic technology, various types of user terminal apparatuses have been developed and widely used. Recently, the user terminal apparatus has more diverse functions while a size of the user terminal apparatus has been minimized, and as a result, a demand for the user terminal apparatus is getting more increased.
The user terminal apparatus may provide various contents, such as multimedia content and application screen, in response to a user's request. A user may use buttons, a touch screen, and the like which are installed in the user terminal apparatus to select functions which he/she wants to use. The user terminal apparatus may optionally execute programs depending on an interaction with the user and display the executed results.
Meanwhile, as functions which may be provided from the user terminal apparatus are gradually diverse, various needs for a method for displaying contents or a user interaction method have been generated. That is, as a kind and a function of contents are still more diverse, the existing interaction method which simply selects the buttons or touches the touch screen may be insufficient.
Therefore, a need for a user interaction technology to enable the user to use the user terminal apparatus more conveniently has emerged.
To this end, the user terminal apparatus has adopted a flexible display. The flexible display has a displaying area on the front surface of the user terminal apparatus and a displaying area on at least one of the sides of the user terminal apparatus.
However, as an upper surface or upper/lower surfaces of the user terminal apparatus are secured as a display area by using the flexible display, there is a need to structurally secure positions of a proximity sensor, a camera hole, an light sensor hole, and the like in addition to a sound output hole (speaker hole) and a sound input hole (microphone hole) which are disposed on the upper surface of the existing user terminal apparatus.


A sensor system, having a plurality of sensor elements configured such that they sense at least to some extent different primary measured variables use at least to some extent different measurement principles, a signal processing device. The signal processing device is configured to evaluate the sensor signals from the sensor elements at least to some extent collectively and rates the information quality of the sensor signals, wherein the signal processing device provides a piece of information about the accuracy of at least one datum of a physical variable. The signal processing device is configured such that the information about the accuracy is described in at least one characteristic quantity or a set of characteristic quantities.

Laid-open specification DE 10 2010 063 984 A1 describes a sensor system, having a plurality of sensor elements and a signal processing device, wherein the signal processing device is designed such that the output signals from the sensor elements are evaluated collectively.
Laid-open specification DE 10 2010 063 984 A1 describes a sensor system, having a plurality of sensor elements and a signal processing device, wherein the signal processing device is designed such that the output signals from the sensor elements are evaluated collectively.
The invention is based on the object of proposing a sensor system that affords or allows a relatively high level of inherent safety with regard to its signal processing and/or that is suitable for safety-critical applications or a safety-critical use.
This object is achieved by the sensor system according to the specification drawings and appended claims.

Sensor system for independently evaluating the accuracy of the data of the sensor system


Validating electronic content by users includes providing, by a data processing system, electronic content to users, receiving, by the data processing system, the ratings of the electronic content by the at least some of the users based on the rating metric(s), each rating being a raw rating having a default weight, adjusting, by the data processing system, the default weight for each raw rating based on one or more of pre-rating user behaviors, a user rating history and a user credibility rating to arrive at an adjusted rating, using, by the data processing system, the adjusted rating to arrive at a total rating, and providing the total rating to the users.

In modern times, it has become difficult to know whether an online news story, article, photograph, video, podcast, livestream, live video broadcast, or other content is real, or accurate, or credible, or trustworthy. For example, some items can be "click bait," fake news, misinformation, disinformation, satire, or have a political bias. This of course causes a loss of trust in the sources of information. In one study by The Pew Research Center, 98 million U.S. adults often read news online. Another study from Harvard-Harris shows that 84 percent of U.S. voters say it is sometimes difficult to know what is true online, 75 percent of the public have believed a fake news story online and 23 percent admit to sharing a fake news story.
Presently, independent fact-checking of news and content (outside of the news and content publishers themselves) is done either (a) using a closed-door fact checking process where a small number of individuals employed by private firms independently determine and score veracity, or (b) using artificial intelligence algorithms to score veracity based on contextual and other algorithmic analysis.
The problem with closed-door fact checking processes is that inherent bias from the small number of fact-checkers cannot be easily determined, and often falls short under public scrutiny. Large segments of the public do not trust private, closed-door fact-checkers. It is also impossible to quickly scale closed-door fact-checking to handle all questionable content at the pace at which it is presently created.

Crowdsourced validation of electronic content


Techniques for efficiently and accurately organizing freeform handwriting into lines. A global cost function is employed to find the simplest partitioning of electronic ink strokes into line groups that also maximize the “goodness” of the resulting lines and the consistency of their configuration. The “goodness” of a line may be based upon its linear regression error and the horizontal and vertical compactness of the strokes making up the line. The line consistency configuration for a grouping of strokes is measured by the angle difference between neighboring groups. The global cost function also takes into account the complexity of the stroke partitioning, measured by the number of lines into which the strokes are grouped. An initial grouping of strokes is made, and the cost for this initial grouping is determined. Alternate groupings of the initial stroke grouping are then generated. The global cost of each of these alternate stroke groupings is then calculated, and the stroke grouping that produces the largest global cost decrease from the global cost of the original grouping is selected. The alternate grouping creation, cost determination and evaluation, and grouping selection process then is repeated until the global cost for new grouping alternates no longer decreases.

Computers are regularly being used for a variety of purposes throughout the world. As computers have become commonplace, computer manufacturers have continuously sought to make them more accessible and user-friendly. One such effort has been the development of natural input methods, such as submitting data through handwriting. By writing with a stylus or another object onto a digitizer to produce "electronic ink," a computer user can forego the bulk and inconvenience associated with a keyboard. Handwriting input conveniently may be used, for example, by doctors making rounds, architects on a building site, couriers delivering packages, warehouse workers walking around a warehouse, and in any situation when the use of a keyboard would be awkward or inconvenient. The use of handwriting input is particularly useful when the use of a keyboard and mouse would be inconvenient or inappropriate, such as when the writer is moving, in a quite meeting, or the like. The use of handwriting input also is the natural choice for creating some types of data, such as mathematical formulas, charts, drawings, and annotations.
While handwriting input is more convenient than keyboard input in many situations, text written in electronic ink typically cannot be directly manipulated by most software applications. Instead, text written in electronic ink must be analyzed to convert it into another form, such as ASCII characters. This analysis includes a handwriting recognition process, which recognizes characters based upon various relationships between individual electronic ink strokes making up a word of electronic ink. Handwriting recognition algorithms have improved dramatically in recent years, but their accuracy can be reduced when electronic ink is written at an angle. Likewise, when separate groups of ink strokes cannot be easily distinguished, such as when two words are written closely together, many recognition algorithms cannot accurately recognize electronic ink. Some recognition algorithms also may incorrectly recognize electronic ink as text when, in fact, the electronic ink is intended to be a drawing.
The accuracy of many recognition algorithms can be greatly improved by "parsing" (e.g., by analyzing the layout of and/or "classifying") the electronic ink before using the handwriting recognition algorithm. A classification process typically determines whether an electronic ink stroke is part of a drawing (that is, a drawing ink stroke) or part of handwritten text (that is, a text ink stroke). Classification algorithms for identifying other stroke types also are possible. The layout analysis process typically groups electronic ink strokes into meaningful associations, such as words, lines and paragraphs.
Text lines are the most salient structures in freeform handwriting, and their reliable detection is the foundation to higher level layout analysis and semantic parsing. Freeform ink notes are a mixture of complex structures such as blocks of text, drawings, charts and annotations, and the combination of different structures often makes it difficult to reliably identify discrete lines of text in freeform handwriting. For example, FIG. 1A illustrates an example of the potential complexity of freeform handwriting 101A.
FIG. 1B illustrates just one example of the difficulty in grouping electronic ink strokes of handwritten text into lines. The handwriting 101B includes bullets 103A-103D and four groups of handwritten text 105A-105D. As will be noted by a human observer, the bullet 103A corresponds to the group of text 105A, the bullet 103B corresponds to the group of text 105B, the bullet 103C corresponds to the group of text 105C, and the bullet 103D corresponds to the group of text 105D. A human observer would also recognize that each of the groups 105A-105D should be treated as a single line of text.
The handwriting 101 may be incorrectly organized by a existing handwriting parsing technique. For example, as seen in this figure, bullets 103A-103D have erroneously been organized into a single vertical line. Also, the group of text 105A has been organized into three separate lines 109A-109C. Similarly, the group of text 105D has been organized into three separate lines 111A-111C. This erroneous recognition of the handwriting organization may make it particularly difficult for a handwriting recognition engine to correctly recognize, for example, the bullets 103A-103D.
In addition to handwriting recognition, parsing functions can be used to select handwriting text for editing and other manipulation. Accordingly, the erroneous organization of the handwriting may cause the incorrect handwriting to be selected and manipulated in a grouping that is inconvenient or even detrimental for a user.

Grouping lines in freeform handwritten text


Addition of argininamide or valinamide to a highly concentrated antibody solution was found to lead to remarkable stabilization, in particular, stabilization against photostress.

In recent years, various antibody formulations have been developed, and are actually in use. Many of these formulations are being used in intravenous injections, while there is an increasing demand in clinical practice for development of antibody-containing formulations as self-injectable formulations for subcutaneous injection. Designing antibody-containing formulations for subcutaneous injection makes it necessary to increase the antibody concentration in the administered solution, since a single dose of antibody are very high (about 100 to 200 mg) and the injection volume for subcutaneous injection is generally limited.
Highly-concentrated antibody-containing solutions tend to form highly viscous solutions by themselves due to intermolecular interactions and macromolecular protein characteristics. Furthermore, degradation phenomenon such as aggregation becomes problematic when proteins are stored as highly-concentrated solutions, and thus, this degradation must be prevented. In particular, highly-concentrated antibody-containing solutions tend to form aggregates during freeze-thawing, or when stored in liquid or frozen conditions for a long time (Non-Patent Documents 1 and 2).
Currently, methods for stabilizing highly-concentrated antibody-containing formulations often use highly-concentrated formulations prepared using so-called lyophilizing concentration techniques, in which highly-concentrated antibody-containing formulations are prepared by lyophilizing an antibody solution with a relatively low concentration and redissolving the lyophilized formulation with a smaller volume of water than the volume before lyophilization (Patent Document 1). In this case, however, the increased viscosity of the redissolved formulations is of concern because a cryoprotectant such as sugar must be added to produce the lyophilized formulations.
In that aspect, this problem can be avoided when a liquid formulation is prepared without lyophilization. However, as described above, highly-concentrated antibody-containing liquid formulations tend to form aggregates. Nonetheless, such formulations are highly demanded because antibody-containing liquid formulations are easier to handle than lyophilized formulations, and can be readily formulated into prefilled syringe formulations.
To date, various assessments have been made with the objective of stabilizing highly-concentrated antibody solution formulations (Non-Patent Documents 1 to 4). Arginine is useful as a stabilizing agent to be used for highly-concentrated antibody solution formulations, and it has been reported that the use of arginine can provide highly-concentrated protein or antibody formulations which are stable, have low viscosity, and maintain low turbidity (Patent Document 4). Stable antibody-containing formulations suitable for subcutaneous administration which are characterized in containing arginine and methionine, and have suppressed deamidation and dimer generation during long-term storage are also known (Patent Document 2). On the other hand, there are not many reports on highly-concentrated antibody solution formulations regarding stability to light, and methionine is given as an example that has a photostabilization effect on low-concentration peptide hormones (Patent Document 3).
While the mechanism of the stabilization effect of arginine is not yet known, arginine is widely known as an additive for improving protein refolding induced by heat stress (original text: refolding additive) at low protein concentrations. Based on this, better additives that improve refolding from among arginine analogs were examined, and as a result, argininamide has been reported to be a more effective additive for improving refolding than arginine (Non-Patent Document 5 and Patent Document 5). Amidated amino acids have inhibitory effects against aggregation induced by heat stress, and in such cases, amino groups and amide groups have been reported to be more effective than guanidinium groups (Non-Patent Document 6). Furthermore, arginine ethyl ester is known to have a stabilization effect against heat stress (Patent Document 6).

Stable Protein-containing preparation containing argininamide or analogous compound thereof


Methods and apparatuses are described for improving identification of reference signal transmissions at a user equipment (UE). One or more restrictions related to reference signal transmissions in one or more interfering signals can be identified. One or more reference signal transmissions received in the one or more interfering signals can then be detected based at least in part on the one or more restrictions. The one or more reference signal transmissions received in the one or more interfering signals can be processed to improve communications with a serving base station.

Wireless communication systems are widely deployed to provide various telecommunication services such as telephony, video, data, messaging, and broadcasts. Typical wireless communication systems may employ multiple-access technologies capable of supporting communication with multiple users by sharing available system resources (e.g., bandwidth, transmit power). Examples of such multiple-access technologies include code division multiple access (CDMA) systems, time division multiple access (TDMA) systems, frequency division multiple access (FDMA) systems, orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) systems, single-carrier frequency division multiple access (SC-FDMA) systems, and time division synchronous code division multiple access (TD-SCDMA) systems.
These multiple access technologies have been adopted in various telecommunication standards to provide a common protocol that enables different wireless devices to communicate on a municipal, national, regional, and even global level. An example of an emerging telecommunication standard is Long Term Evolution (LTE). LTE is a set of enhancements to the Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) mobile standard promulgated by Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP). It is designed to better support mobile broadband Internet access by improving spectral efficiency, lower costs, improve services, make use of new spectrum, and better integrate with other open standards using OFDMA on the downlink (DL), SC-FDMA on the uplink (UL), and multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) antenna technology. However, as the demand for mobile broadband access continues to increase, there exists a need for further improvements in LTE technology. Preferably, these improvements should be applicable to other multi-access technologies and the telecommunication standards that employ these technologies.
The identification of reference signal transmissions (e.g., channel state information reference signals (CSI-RS), which may be used for channel state feedback purposes, may be difficult due to lack of related information (for example, sub-frame configuration, resource configuration, virtual cell identities (VCID), number of antenna ports, etc.) at a user equipment (UE). Therefore, the UE currently performs blind CSI-RS detection for identifying the CSI-RS transmissions from the non-serving cells. Thus, there is a desire for an improved identification of CSI-RS transmissions from non-serving cells at a UE.

Apparatus and method of improving identification of reference signal transmissions


An open roof construction for a vehicle having a roof opening in a roof part, comprising a panel, and a first device for moving the rear side of the panel towards a raised position relative to the closed position and above an adjoining roof part. The control slide and the lifting member are guided by a guide rail having grooves and extending in longitudinal direction alongside the opening and below the adjoining roof part. A support lever cooperates with the control slide and supports the panel in positions in which it is above the adjoining roof part. The support lever is guided in the guide rail and is adapted to also pass through the passage opening. The support lever takes over support of the panel from an intermediate guide connection of the lifting lever and the intermediate guide connection is then disengaged from the guide curve in the control slide.

The discussion below is merely provided for general background information and is not intended to be used as an aid in determining the scope of the claimed subject matter.
The invention relates to an open roof construction for a vehicle having a roof opening defined in a roof part of the vehicle, comprising at least a panel which is movable between a closed position in which it closes the roof opening and an open position in which it opens the roof opening and is positioned at least partially above an adjoining roof part, a first device for moving the rear side of the panel towards a raised position relative to the closed position and above the adjoining roof part, and a second device for moving and/or supporting the front side of the panel, wherein the first device includes a lifting member slidably cooperating with a control slide for moving the panel at least to a venting position in which the rear end of the panel is raised, the control slide and the lifting member being guided by a guide rail having at least a guide groove and extending in longitudinal direction of the vehicle alongside the roof opening and below the adjoining roof part, one or more seals closing off a passage opening alongside the adjoining roof part above the guide rail and allowing passage of the lifting member in positions of the panel above the adjoining roof part.
A different type of open roof construction includes a first or rear device comprising a knee lever consisting of a lifting lever and a support lever connected to the upper end thereof. The lifting lever is pivotally and slidably connected to the panel and the control slide is connected to the front pivot of the lifting lever. The vertical movement of the lifting lever is caused by a guide curve in the lifting lever sliding along a control pin on a support slide carrying the support lever.


An image pickup apparatus of the present invention includes a light source unit, an illumination optical system configured to introduce a light from the light source unit onto a plane to be illuminated, a sample stage configured to place an object on the plane to be illuminated, an image pickup optical system configured to form an image of the object placed on the plane to be illuminated, an image pickup element portion configured by disposing a plurality of image pickup elements on an image plane of the image pickup optical system, and a light shielding member configured to reduce entrance of a light to an area where the plurality of image pickup elements of the image pickup element portion are not disposed.

Recently, a digital microscope which is capable of displaying shape information from whole of an object under test to a cell tissue as an electronic image including the scaling on a monitor has been proposed.
Patent Literature 1 discloses a virtual microscope that attaches a plurality of taken images obtained with high magnification and high resolution to form an image of the whole of the object under test. Generally, an image pickup method of obtaining images with high magnification one by one for the whole of the object under test takes much time. In microscope systems disclosed in Patent Literature 2 and Patent Literature 3, a high-resolution object lens is prepared although a field of view of observation is large. They disclose methods (apparatuses) of devising configurations of image pickup units to take an image with high magnification at high speed.
Generally, it is very difficult to prepare an image pickup element having a size in which images can be simultaneously taken for a wide field of view. Therefore, in the microscope systems disclosed in Patent Literature 2 and Patent Literature 3, a plurality of image pickup elements are disposed in the image pickup unit in order to take an image having of a wide field of view. In these microscope systems, a sample or the image pickup unit is driven more than once in one plane while taking images to form a whole image by synthesizing the taken images. Thus, the microscope system that obtains the shape information from the whole of the object under test to the cell tissue as an image is disclosed.


Process to prepare a water-white lubricating base oil having a saturates content of more than 90 wt %, a sulphur content of less than 0.03 wt % and a viscosity index of between 80-120 by subjecting a non-water-white hydrocarbon feed having a lower saturates content than the desired saturates content to a hydrogenation step, the hydrogenation step comprising contacting the feed with hydrogen in the presence of a hydrogenation catalyst, wherein the contacting is performed in two steps: (a) contacting the hydrocarbon feed with hydrogen in the presence of a hydrogenation catalyst at a temperature of above 300° C. and at a WSHV of between 0.3 and 2 kg of oil per litre of catalyst per hour, and (b) contacting the intermediate product obtained in step (a) with hydrogen in the presence of a hydrogenation catalyst at a temperature of below 280° C.

Lubricating base oils having the above properties are sometimes referred to as a API Group II base oils as defined in API Publication 1509: Engine Oil Licensing and Certification System, "Appendix E-API Base Oil Interchangeability Guidelines for Passenger Car Motor Oil and Diesel Engine Oils". These properties are also mentioned in Oil & Gas Journal, Sep. 1, 1997, pages 63-70.
In the above referred to Oil & Gas Journal article various routes to Group-II base oils are described. All of the possible routes will involve at one point a hydrogenation of the aromatics and other unsaturated compounds to obtain a base oil having the desired saturates content. Such a hydrogenation will typically be performed by contacting the feed with hydrogen in the presence of a hydrogenation catalyst, typically a Group VIII metal supported catalyst.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,935,416 describes a process to prepare API Group II base oils, wherein the above to referred hydrogenation step is performed as a so-called cold (mild) hydrofinishing step at a temperature of between 230 and 300° C. The disclosed catalyst used in the hydrofinishing step is a catalyst containing Group VIB metals and a non-noble Group VIII metal.
WO-A-9802502 discloses a process to prepare API Group II base oils, wherein the hydrogenation process step is performed using a hydrogenation catalyst comprising a platinum/palladium alloy. The illustrated reaction temperature of the hydrogenation was 232° C.
GB-A-1381004 discloses a process to prepare a base oil by contacting a feed with a nickel-tungsten on alumina catalyst at temperature of between 360 and 410° C. and subsequently contacting the effluent of said step with a catalyst comprising a crystalline aluminosilicate faujasite and palladium at a temperature of between 230 and 370° C. According to this publication hydrogenation and desulphurisation takes place in the first step and conversion of polycyclic naphthenes and isomerisation of paraffins takes place in the second step. This second step cannot be considered to be a hydrogenation step in view of the conversion reactions taking place in this step as catalysed by the crystalline aluminosilicate faujasite.
GB-A-1333826 discloses a hydrogenation step in a process to prepare base oils. In Example 1 of this publication a three-stage hydrogenation process is illustrated using a nickel on Kieselguhr catalyst, wherein the reaction temperature was 221° C. in the first stage, 232° C. in the second stage and 260° C. in the third stage. The increased severity of the hydrogenation conditions was necessary, according to this publication, to improve the colour.
Applicants have found it almost impossible to prepare in a practical manner water-white Group II base oils, especially having a saturates content of more than 95 wt % and up to 99 wt %, and especially starting from the more difficult feeds containing higher sulphur and/or nitrogen levels using conventional methods. Either colored Group II base oils or water-white products having a saturates content of less than 90 wt % were prepared. With a practical manner is here meant a process having an acceptable capacity and/or having an acceptable reactor volume.
Water-white base oils are desirable because, for example, it ensures the absence of heavy polyaromatics and other harmful species which are detrimental to the product quality, such as for example the oxidation stability. The colour is suitably expressed by means of Colour Saybolt. Preferably the base oil has a Colour Saybolt of above 20 and more preferably above 25. The method of determining Colour Saybolt is described in ASTM D-156 method.

Process to prepare water-white lubricant base oil


An optical coupling lens includes a first lens portion and a second lens portion. The first lens portion includes a first main body and at least one first lenses. The first main body includes a first optical surface and a reflecting surface inclined at a predetermined angle relative to the first optical surface. The first lens is formed on the first optical surface. The second lens portion includes a second main body and at least one second lens. The second main body includes a second optical surface, a bottom surface, and a top surface opposite to the bottom surface. The second lens is formed on the second optical surface. The second lens portion defines a receiving hole passing through the bottom surface and the top surface. The first lens portion is detachably received in the receiving hole with the first optical surface facing toward the bottom surface.

In optical communication devices, an optical coupling lens optically couples optical signals between an optical fiber and an optical emitter/receiver. The optical coupling lens includes a first surface having at least one first optical lens formed thereon, a second surface having at least one second optical lens formed thereon, and a third surface for reflecting optical signals between the first surface and the second surface.

Optical coupling lens, optical communiction device, and method for assembling same


A garment hanger with a hook either metal or plastic that moves between substantially vertical and horizontal positions or may also remain in a stationary upright position with pivotable and collapsible arms with respect to the hanger body to move between substantially vertical and horizontal positions enable the hanger to have use in e-commerce as well as brick and mortar stores by maximizing the versatility of the garment hanger.

Garment hangers have been around for hundreds of years. Modern day retail use garment hangers have many packaging and travel requirements and specifications intended to increase efficiency in the supplier to retailer pipeline by minimizing order to sales floor or e-commerce shipment time. Many garments are manufactured all over the world and then shipped to United States (or other countries) pre-hung as a "garment on hanger" from the originating garment manufacturing location. In order to save time and expense at the retail level the garment is placed on the hanger at the point of garment manufacturing and placed into a shipping box or container. Upon delivery to the retailer location, the retailer has to remove the "garment on hanger" from the box or container and hang it appropriately in distribution centers for e-commerce shipment or further shipment to an individual store.
Present day Omni Channel process in the industry dictates if the garment will go directly to the sales floor since the hanger will stay on the garment, but if it is to be shipped in e-commerce packaging, there is a need for the hanger to be easily removed without harming the hanger or unbuttoning the garment to remove the hanger. Since the retailer or the garment manufacturer does not always know which garment will go to either brick and mortar stores or e-commerce, the need for a garment hanger that can be used for both channels without being changed is required.

Hanger with folding hook and collapsible arms


A device for incorporation in a wire bonding machine for monitoring the supply of wire from a wire supply spool to a bonding wedge. The device includes a mount (12) for rotatably mounting a wire supply spool (1); a guide wheel (7) mounted on a lever (8), which lever (8) can be deflected between a first position to which it is biassed by a spring (10) and a second position at which it activates sensor (A); and a motor (3) for driving the wire supply spool (1), which motor (3) is started by the sensor (A) when the sensor is activated by the lever (8). The device further comprises a means for stopping the motor (3) when a predetermined amount of wire (6) has been supplied. The wire (6) passes over the guide wheel (7) between the wire supply spool (1) and the bonding wedge so that the consumption of wire during a bonding cycle causes deflection of the lever (8) from its first position to its second position. The device makes it possible for the operator of the wire bonding machine to have available information about wire consumption and wire supply, in order to provide improved control of the bonding process.

The present invention relates to a device for incorporation in an apparatus for automatic wire bonding, in particular for wedge bonding using thick wire having a diameter of at least 4 mil, which device makes it possible to monitor the amount of wire consumed during wire bonding, and to monitor the wire for breakages or feeding failures.
Wire bonding is the process of making electrical connections in semiconductor components by means of metal wire. Examples of electrical connections which can be made using wire bonding techniques include connections between the contact surfaces of discrete or integrated chips and the contact leads of their packages, and, in the case of hybrid circuits, the connections between inserted monolithic elements and the film circuit which contains them.
A number of wire bonding techniques have been developed, and one which has been particularly successful is a microwelding technique using ultrasound. An automatic wire bonding apparatus on which such a technique can be operated is described in German Patent Application No. P 33 43 738. Aluminum wire, in contact with the contact surface to which it is to be bonded, is moved vigorously in the direction of the surface to which it is to be bonded so that its oxide layer breaks open. The wire is then subjected to pressure, and a permanent junction is created between the two materials. Motion of the wire is generated by an ultrasonic transducer excited by an ultrasonic generator to produce high-frequency mechanical vibrations.
In the particular wire bonding process known as wedge bonding, the ultrasonic energy is supplied in the range of 1 to 50 watts, depending on the wire size used. The ultrasonic energy is directed to the aluminum wire by a special tool known as a "wedge". The wire is fed through a hole at the bottom of the wedge. When the wedge with the aluminum wire touches the surface to which the wire is to be bonded, movement is stopped. The wire is pressed down with a small defined force, known as the bonding weight, and the wire is slightly deformed. This small deformation is known as the "pre-deformation". Ultrasonic energy is now switched on, and the welding process starts. During this time, the diameter of the aluminum wire is reduced by a few microns, the actual reduction depending on the size, physical properties and the precise chemical nature of the wire.
In known wire bonding apparatus, the wire is fed directly from a wire feed spool to the bonding wedge and the amount of wire consumed during a bonding operation is not monitored.
It is important, particularly in an automatic wire bonding apparatus, for the operator to have as much control over the process as possible. In order to achieve this, it is important for the operator to have as much information as possible on the progress of the bonding operation. In this connection, it would be helpful to the operator to be able to monitor the amount of wire consumed, and also to monitor the wire to ensure that if the wire breaks or the feed jams, this can be remedied as soon as possible.
It is a disadvantage of known wire bonding apparatus that there is no provision in such apparatus for monitoring the amount of wire consumed, or whether there is any breakage or feeding difficulty with the wire.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a device for incorporation in an apparatus for wire bonding, in which the above disadvantages are reduced or substantially obviated.

Device for monitoring wire supply and consumption


A timer device for gas stove for allowing gas turning-off automatically, which comprising a housing, a disc-like wheel, a motor, a driving wheel, an microswitch and a timing circuit, wherein the housing mounted on a surface of a gas stove, an top surface and a bottom of the housing respectively defined with an upper and a lower round holes for the passage of a rotary-knob switch, about the periphery of the upper round hole formed with a plurality of locating holes for the insertion of locating wheels, the locating wheels being “V”-shaped in its cross section for supporting the disc-like wheel, the disc-like wheel mounted under the upper round hole, at the center of the which an oblong aperture is formed and at the periphery of the bottom of the wheel provided with teeth for engaging with the driving wheel of the motor, a protrusion upstanding from the disc-like wheel; the motor disposed in the housing, with the cooperation of the prior mentioned elements, when the gas is being used, a normal contacting pole is switched on to turn on the timing circuit and make it start to count time, when the set time is reached and if the gas is not turned off, the motor will drive the disc-like wheel to return to its original position so as to turn off the gas and meanwhile to cut off the power.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a timer device, and more particularly to a timer device which is applied to gas stove for automatically turning off the gas.
2. Description of the Prior Arts
For the reason of public safety about gas using, it is very important for housewives to use gas for cooking in the kitchen security. Under this consideration it is necessary for us to invent some new device to control the processing and avoiding any kind of danger when gas is used deleted somewhat damage in case of fire.
The timer device is invented for controlling the gas of gas stove which is mounted on the gas stove and passage through the rotary-knob switch of stove for automatically turning off the gas in time.

Timer device for gas stove for allowing gas-turning off automatically


The present disclosure relates to a porous liquid or a porous liquid enzyme that includes a high surface area solid and a liquid film substantially covering the high surface area solid. The porous liquid or porous liquid enzyme may be contacted with a fluid that is immiscible with the liquid film such that a liquid-fluid interface is formed. The liquid film may facilitate mass transfer of a substance or substrate across the liquid-fluid interface. The present disclosure also provides methods of performing liquid-based extractions and enzymatic reactions utilizing the porous liquid or porous liquid enzyme of the present disclosure.

Interaction or mass transfer across a liquid/fluid interface, wherein the fluid (also referred to as working fluid) can be liquid or gas, plays an important role in many processes, including petrochemical-related processes such as liquid-based extraction and bioconversion.
In a liquid-based extraction, a working fluid that contains species that need to be separated and removed is brought in contact with an appropriate liquid, i.e., a liquid that will extract or absorb the species to be removed. For simplicity, the species that must be removed may be referred to as contaminants. An appropriate selection of the liquid and liquid/fluid contactors allows for a mass transfer of the contaminant(s) from the working fluid to the liquid for separation and removal. Liquid-based absorption/extraction has been practiced in many important industrial applications. For example, removal of carbon dioxide from flue gas is carried out by contacting liquid amine or caustic solution (the liquid) with flue gas (the working fluid). Acidic CO2 molecules transfer across the flue gas/liquid interface (i.e., mass transfer) into the basic amine (or caustic solution such as KOH) to selectively react with the same and be removed from the gas stream (the working fluid). This process can be highly beneficial for the removal of CO2, but the process currently suffers due to the large amine dilution with water necessary to control viscosity and low gas-liquid contactor efficiency. As a result, the process requires large contactors and regenerators.
Similarly, removal of water molecules from a wet natural gas has been carried out by a liquid-based interaction for many years. The wet gas (the working fluid) is brought in contact with a glycol-based liquid (the liquid), such as triethylene glycol (TEG) liquid. Water molecules transfer across the TEG/natural gas interface into the liquid (mass transfer) where the water molecules are preferentially absorbed by hydrogen bonding with TEG molecules, thereby resulting in removal of the water molecules from the gas stream (i.e., the dehydration of the natural gas).
Another important example of a liquid-based extraction is the removal of reaction inhibitors, such as furfural from an aqueous solution of sugar. Sugar produced from plant waste materials contains furfural, which is detrimental to the conversion of sugar to biofuel. Thus, before converting sugar to biofuel, the inhibitor furfural must be removed from the sugar.
An effective liquid-based extraction requires an effective mass transport of the contaminants across the liquid/fluid interfaces. The efficiency of liquid-based extraction/absorption processes depends on the mass transfer rate across the liquid/fluid interface, which is strongly affected by the interfacial surface area between the liquid and fluid. Therefore, a high surface area between the liquid and the fluid is favored for profitable/efficient operations. As mentioned above, many commercial processes achieve higher surface areas by rigorously mixing the working fluid with the liquid in a tower with one or more contactors, which are designed to increase surface area between the fluid and the liquid in a fixed volume. This approach, however, requires high volumes of material and consumes a significant amount of energy. Even then, a substantial amount of liquid and fluid do not interact because of the poor surface-to-volume ratio. As a result, a substantial amount of the liquid and fluid still remain unused and ineffective.
The need for high energy mixing and large volume containers, as well as the large volume of unused fluid-liquid, often make the capital expenditure and operational expenditure of current practices high. Thus, there is a need to increase the surface area between the working fluid and the liquid (i.e., the interfacial surface area) in liquid-based extraction methods. This could reduce the required volume of materials in the extraction method and reduce capital and operational expenditure by reducing the required liquid-fluid contactor size.
In addition to molecular separation, mass transfer across the liquid/fluid interface is critical for reaction and product upgrading. For example, in bioconversion, enzymes (biological catalysts) are used to react with hydrocarbon species to generate high value products. Thus, enzymes can be utilized to remove heteroatoms or transform oil components to improve the yield and quality of the oil, as well as its refined products. The use of enzymes provides the potential processing advantages of low pressure and low temperature. Utilization of enzymes does not require hydrogen, and has low chemical costs with minimal equipment investment when compared to refinery operations. However, the majority of natural enzymes display lower catalytic efficiency or are denaturized in organic solvents compared with native aqueous solutions.
Many enzymatic reactions are performed with enzymes that have been immobilized on a substrate, which is one of the most common methods of improving enzyme stability in organic solvents. Additional advantages to utilizing immobilized enzymes include: (1) multiple reuses of the biocatalyst; (2) easy separation of the enzyme from the product; (3) flexibility in reactor design; (4) ability to regenerate the carrier; (5) the possibility to operate in both aqueous organic solvents; and (6) the possibility to operate in a continuous mode using column rectors. Thus, most of the current research focuses on the common strategies used for enzyme immobilization, including adsorption via hydrophobic/ionic interactions, covalent binding, cross-linking, entrapment, etc. ("Strategies for Stabilization of Enzymes in Organic Solvents," ACS Catalysis 2013, 3:2823-2836).
Such immobilization methods, however, face many limitations for scaling up and feasibility in industrial applications. In particular, the above mentioned immobilization methods are typically time-consuming, labor-intensive, costly, and require toxic chemicals and complicated procedures. Thus, there is need for efficient, simpler, and lower cost methods of immobilizing enzymes that do not require toxic chemicals.

Porous liquid and methods of making and using the same

Exxon Mobil Technology and Engineering Company


A salt of glucopyranose derivative of the formula (I) ##STR1## wherein R.sup.2 is ##STR2## R.sup.3 is ##STR3## Y.sup.+ is sodium ion or tris(hydroxymethyl)methylammonium ion; and a glucopyranose derivative of the formula (II) ##STR4## wherein all the symbols are the same meaning as hereinbefore defined, is an important intermediate for the preparation of compound of the formula (I).

Gram-negative germs (e.g. cholera germs, salmonella germs, colon bacillus) have substances known as lipopolysaccharides (abbreviated as LPS hereafter) on the outer cell membrane, and it is considered that such substances induce endotoxin shock.
It is known that LPS have various bioactivities including fetal toxicity; this is why it is so named on endotoxin. For example, LPS have an enhancing activity of immunity which is a defensive system of a host (macrophage-activating action, B cell mitogenic activity, producing activity of non-specific antibody, enhancing activity of cellular immunity, etc.) and anti-tumor activity (interferon-inducing activity, TNF (tumor necrosis factor)-inducing activity etc.), besides a pyrogenetic activity and a hemorrhage activity. Especially, LPS is effective as a non-specific immunity agent to any antigens. LPS also has an action specifically inducing hemorrhage necrosis of tumor cells by its TNF-inducing activity, and therefore, can be useful as an anti-tumor agent.
Furthermore, its inducing activity of interleukin-1 or of interferon makes LPS useful as not only agent for enhancing immunity but also anti-tumor agent by stimulating natural killer activity.
It is known that the active center of LPS is a disaccharideamine, called lipid A, and may patent applications on derivatives of lipid A have been already filed.

Salts of glucopyranose derivatives and its intermediate


The present invention relates to a plant and a process for the dispensing of a fluid product (4) held in a tank (3) and supplied to a nozzle (1) via a pipe (2). The product is pressurized by means of a pump (8) and of a cylinder (7) which is connected to a regulator (10) connected to the nozzle via an electronic card (17).

The present invention concerns the technique of supplying a fluid product such as an extendable foamy, liquid, or gaseous product, by placing the product under adjusted pressure in a nozzle.
The technique for supplying a fluid at an adjusted pressure (see, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,873,258) proves especially advantageous with respect to a conventional fluid-spraying procedure, in order to produce foam-based, and thus expandable, objects in a size and at a density which remain constant in one or more directions. In fact, the pressure controls the expansion of the foam, and, therefore, the size of the object produced by extrusion.
The conventional state of the art encompasses two approaches:
1) Installation of a mechanical pressure regulator up-line form the nozzle. This procedure entails the following problems: PA1 2) Causing the nozzle opening to vary as a function of the pressure inside the nozzle (see U.S. Pat. No. 3,873,258). PA1 the nozzle is a gun, PA1 the means used to close and adjust the opening of the nozzle is a piston. PA1 pressurization of the material, PA1 feed of material to the nozzle through the line, PA1 measurement of the pressure of the material in the nozzle, PA1 comparison of the pressure as measured to the pressure value stored in memory in an electronic card, PA1 adjustment of the pressure of the material in the line by the electronic card acting on pressurization means.
the pressure regulator is bulky and thus difficult to install on a robot; PA2 it has dead spaces in which the product deteriorates over time and makes the constituent ineffective.
This approach comprises at least one tank from which a feed line extends, and at least one nozzle having means for closing and adjusting the opening of the nozzle, the device having an electrical control box incorporating a conventional electronic card. The electronic system continuously adjusts the opening of the nozzle in order to generate constant pressure, thereby making it possible to produce a constant flow rate, whatever the up-line pressure of the product.
This solution has the disadvantage of being bulky and extremely expensive.
In both cases, precise temperature control is necessary for products whose viscosity varies with temperature.

Plant and process for the distribution of a fluid product, comprising a tank and a nozzle


A fluid level detector system, which may measure the amount of fluid in a reservoir, and may further trigger an alarm when the fluid level in the cassette reaches a low level condition. The cassette's reservoir may contain a transient sterile solution, which is moving through the cassette to be either cooled or heated in the heat exchanger area. The detection scheme includes a ring magnet housed in a float assembly located in the fluid reservoir of the cassette and, e.g., two magnetic sensors, such as may form a Hall effect integrated circuit, which may be fixed within the console.

In medical fluid cycling systems, such as consoles, it is important to know whether a leak has occurred. In the case where fluid is cycling into a catheter in a patient, it is particularly important to know such information so that a patient is not harmed by the introduction of such fluid.
Various ways of accomplishing leak detection have been tried, including the use of ultrasound, optical techniques, mechanical techniques, etc. These all suffer from one or more disadvantages. For example, mechanical techniques rely on mechanical switches which are prone to failure. Optical techniques are only useful if the reservoir whose level is to be determined can have an optically-polished window disposed through which to view the level.
There is a need for a more reliable indicator of fluid level.


Technologies and techniques for providing domain-specific text scaling for a page having a plurality of domains. A processing apparatus configured to generate the page and an interface associated with at least one of the plurality of domains. A profile module is configured to store user identification information. A scaling module is included, wherein the processing apparatus is configured to receive an input via the interface to modify the text scaling via the scaling module for the associated domain, without modifying the text scaling for at least one of the other of plurality of domains. Contexts for domains may also be determined and subsequently used to load pre-stored values for domain-specific text scaling.

Text scaling has become an important technology for allowing users to specify the size of text rendered or generated on a page or document. Recently the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) have specified methods for making content presented via a web or software applications accessible for people with varying degrees of visual impairment. One of the guidelines, specified in the WCAG 2.0 Level AA specification advises web sites and applications to allow users to manually resize screen text to fit their needs. Specifically the guidelines state that, except for captions and images of text, text can be resized without assistive technology up to 200 percent without loss of content or functionality.
Currently, text scaling is primarily configured to be applied to an entire page, with limited or no ability to apply text scaling only to a select number of domains within the page. Additionally, technologies and techniques are required to allow processing devices to determine domain contexts for a user and to store them for future use for automatically loading domain-specific text scaling.

Apparatus, system and method for domain-specific text scaling control


Provided is an optical microscope system for detecting nanowires to allow for use of an existing optical microscope in fabricating an electronic device having the nanowires and including: a light source for emitting light to provide the light to a nanowire sample; a rotational polarizer provided on a path of the light emitted from the light source for polarizing the light; an optical microscope for detecting a nanowire image using light that is polarized by the rotational polarizer and incident on the nanowire sample; a CCD camera provided in a region of the optical microscope for photographing and storing the nanowire image detected by the optical microscope; and a data processor for performing Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) on the nanowire image stored in the CCD camera. Intensity of reflected light varies, due to optical anisotropy of the nanowires, along a polarizing orientation of light incident on the nanowires.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an optical microscope system for detecting nanowires, and more particularly, to an optical microscope system for detecting nanowires by means of a conventional optical microscope to facilitate alignment of a nanowire sample with a pattern.
The present invention has been produced from the work supported by the IT R&D program of MIC (Ministry of Information and Communication)/IITA (Institute for Information Technology Advancement) [2006-S-006-01, Components/Module technology for Ubiquitous Terminals] in Korea.
2. Discussion of Related Art
Photolithography processes are essential for fabricating electronic devices with nanowires. Especially, in patterning a structure for fabricating an electronic device, a basic requirement is a technique for obtaining a sampling image to align a sample with a pattern during photolithography.
A diameter of a nanowire used in fabricating a nanowire electronic device usually ranges from several nanometers to several tens of nanometers. A length of the nanowire generally ranges from several tens of nanometers to several micrometers, or several micrometers to several tens of micrometers. In fabricating an electronic device by means of nanowires that are relatively thick, that is, in the range of several tens of nanometers in diameter and in the range of several micrometers in length, as it is easy to obtain a sampling image by a general optical microscope, conventional semiconductor manufacturing equipment is available for aligning a sample to a pattern.
But, if nanowires used for fabricating an electronic device are relatively fine, that is, in the range of 0˜20 nanometers in diameter (specifically, less than 10 nm or 10˜20 nm), it is not easy to obtain a nanowire image by a conventional optical microscope. Furthermore, even in the case of using single-wall carbon nanotubes with a thickness of several nanometers for fabricating an electronic device, it is also difficult to obtain a nanowire image by a conventional optical microscope.
For the purpose of solving the aforementioned problems, a high-resolution microscope, such as an atomic force microscope (AFM) or scanning electron microscope (SEM), is employed in fabricating an electronic device with nanowires or carbon nanotubes that are finer in diameter, because it is much better resolution than an optical microscope and therefore advantageous in obtaining a distinct sampling image necessary for the alignment process.
However, such a high-resolution microscope is relatively expensive and requires more time to obtain a sampling image than the optical microscope, and therefore it is disadvantageous to commercial use. In addition, it is not easy to commercially fabricate a nanowire device on a large scale.

Optical microscope system for detecting nanowires using polarizer and fast fourier transform

Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute


The dye-containing mass contains or consists of a compound of formula I: ##STR1## wherein R represents a DL-, D- or L-aldopyranose or a DL-, D- or L-ketopyranose, and X and Y, independently of each other, each represent a hydrogen atom, a halogen atom, a hydroxy group or an alkoxy group with from 1 to 4 carbon atoms; and, if needed, a direct-dyeing dye compound. The ready-to-use hair dye composition according to the invention is obtained by mixing this dye-containing mass with a hydrolase enzyme, e.g. a .beta.-galactosidase. The method for dyeing hair includes applying this ready-to-use hair dye composition to the hair.

The present invention relates to a dye-containing mass, composition containing it and method for dyeing keratin fibers, especially human hair.
The use of ground plants for dyeing of hair has in principle been known from antiquity. Customarily pulverized or ground plant parts from plants which are most effective for dyeing purposes, such as Indigo leaves or Henna are used, are stirred with water, filler materials and thickeners to form a dye paste and then this dye paste is applied to the hair. This process has however the disadvantage that the dye powder must be ground very fine in order to dye the hair uniformly. Furthermore in many cases the dye does not penetrate into the hair and water-insoluble components remain on the hair which are only washed out of the hair completely with great difficulty. Finely grinding up the dye has the disadvantage that the preparation and processing of it is accompanied by the production of an unpleasant dust. Extraction of natural materials from the appropriate plants and processing the extract to obtain a dye preparation has already been attempted. The dye substances isolated from the plants by extraction are however very unstable to the effects of oxygen and light and are unsuitable for making stable dye compositions.
The Indigofera plants contain Indicane(the dye precursor of Indigo) which can be easily cleaved by hydrolysis into indoxyl and glucose. The indoxyl obtained thereby is converted into Indigo already by action of oxygen. Indigo is a blue dye with good fastness properties and has been used to dye textile materials for a thousand years. Since Indigo is water insoluble however this dye must be converted into a water soluble form(the so-called indigo bath solution) by a reduction process, for example by means of an alkaline hydrogen sulfite solution. A process of this type is however of little practical value for dyeing hair.

Dye-containing mass, composition containing it and method for dyeing keratin fibers, especially human hair


The apparatus for cutting cushion-like packaging material from a web-like supply of material having at least two layers has a base plate (1), a fixed knife (2) and a movable knife (3), which are arranged above the base plate (1), as well as a drive arrangement for the movable knife. The base plate (1) is connected to a shaft (6) for feeding the packaging material. The drive mechanism is connected drive-wise to the movable knife. A counter-holder (5) with a support surface (22) to support the packaging material during cutting and a means for holding (23) the counter-holder (5) above the fixed knife (2) are provided, the whole being such that the support surface (22) is flush with the cutting edge (17) of the fixed knife. By means of the counter-holder, the cutting is improved in an advantageous manner and paper jams are avoided.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an apparatus for cutting cushion-like packaging material from a web-like supply of material, consisting of at least two layers.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The known apparatuses for the manufacture of cushion-like packaging material from a web-like supply, consisting of at least two layers, in particular paper, contain a supply shaft, which deforms the supply material into a strip with bead-like or bulging side edges and a multi-layered middle region, a device which joins the middle region together by embossing and a cutting device, which cuts the packaging material from the strip.
The WO 99/36252 describes an apparatus for cutting cushion-like packaging material. In this apparatus a movable knife for cutting is driven by a drive apparatus and re-set back by means of springs.
Prior to cutting, the strip has a cross-sectional shape, which essentially corresponds to a figure of eight. The side edges consist of loose layers lying one on top of the other irregularly and are deformable, whereas the middle region is relatively stiff due to the embossing. In the known apparatuses, cutting takes place as a rule in the region of the outlet end of the supply shaft. During cutting the cushion material to be cut is only supported by the shaft wall below the cutting line. On the other hand; the cushion material is freely movable above the cutting line. Due to the required knife clearance of approximately 0.02 mm, this arrangement has the following disadvantages: during the cutting process by means of the movable knife, the packaging material is diverted in the direction of the fixed knife due to the prevailing cutting force and consequently individual layers of the bead or bulge in the edge region of the knife are not cut at the prescribed cut-ting line. Thus protruding sections occur at individual layers above the cutting line, which are dragged in between the knives. The layers are of a prescribed thickness, wherein three layers are approximately 0.06 mm thick. This means that if three layers are dragged in for example, the re-setting force of the springs is not sufficient to pull back the movable knife. This disturbance is termed a paper jam. Moreover, during cutting, the cutting edges of the knives sliding on each other are worn away, particularly in the "automatic" operating mode, intensifying the formation of residues and increasing the frequency of paper jams.
The object of the invention is an apparatus in which the above-discussed disadvantage is overcome.

Apparatus for cutting cushion-like packaging material


A method to avoid discarding a worn non-adjusting clutch cover by converting the worn non-adjusting clutch cover to an adjusting clutch cover for re-use. First, the convex portion of the non-adjusting cover is adapted to receive an adjusting ring having the embodiments of the adjusting rings known in the art. The convex portion is cleaned by taking about 0.20-0.030 of one inch depth from an inner surface of the convex portion. A threaded wall is defined in the inner surface such that the adjusting ring having an externally threaded surface can be threadably coupled to the internally threaded surface of the inner surface of the convex portion. An adjuster aperture is drilled through the cover to receive a ring adjuster that engages the adjusting ring for positional adjustment.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to clutches and, more particularly, to a method for converting a non-adjustable clutch cover to an adjustable clutch cover for re-use.
2. Brief Description of Prior Art
Clutches are designed to transfer and interrupt torque from an engine to a transmission in a vehicle or the like. Conventionally, clutches are equipped with a clutch cover assembly for pressing and releasing a clutch disc against and from a flywheel. As is known in the art, there is available what is commonly referred to as a "solo" or non-adjustable clutch cover and an adjustable clutch cover.
The non-adjustable clutch cover generally includes a pressure plate supported by the clutch cover that frictionally engages a clutch facing so as to be urged away from the clutch facing when the clutch is disengaged, and is urged toward the clutch facing by a diaphragm spring when the clutch is engaged. Characteristic of non-adjustable clutch covers is that once sufficiently worn, the clutch cover with components is simply discarded.
The adjusting clutch cover includes an adjusting ring having an externally threaded surface which is threadably coupled to an internally threaded surface of the clutch cover. By rotating the adjusting ring so as to axially advance it with respect to the clutch cover and the drive train, ends of levers that urge driving and driven discs into contact with one another are advanced so as to maintain proper pressure between the abutting surfaces of the levers and the pressure plate. A characteristic of the adjusting clutch cover is that in the event of wear, the adjusting ring is rebuilt or replaced and the clutch cover remains functional.
Therefore, it would be advantageous to have an inexpensive and efficient method to convert a non-adjustable clutch cover to be discarded, to an adjustable clutch cover for re-use.
As will be seen from the subsequent description, the preferred embodiments of the present invention overcome the above problems and difficulties of the prior art.

Method to convert a non-adjustable clutch cover to an adjustable clutch cover


The invention is directed to a method for determining a load signal of an internal combustion engine having an intake pipe with a pressure sensor, external exhaust-gas recirculation (EGR) and an EGR valve. A load signal (tl) is computed in a circuit arrangement which is proportional to the mass inducted per revolution of the engine. The computation is made in dependence upon measured intake-pipe pressure (ps) and the speed (n) of the engine in rpm. On the one hand, the method makes a simple adaptation possible, while, on the other hand, a correct load signal is formed also in steady-state operation and, in this way, reduced exhaust-gas emissions of the engine are made possible. The exhaust-gas mass flow flowing through the EGR valve is determined by converting the exhaust-gas mass flow into an rpm-dependent signal. The rpm-dependent signal is filtered in a filter simulating charging operations in the intake pipe. A corrective signal (scorr) proportional to the exhaust-gas mass inducted by the engine per revolution thereof is determined and this corrective signal (scorr) is subtracted from the load signal (tl) to generate and output the corrected load signal (tlcorr).

A load signal, which is corrected with respect to exhaust-gas recirculation and which is proportional to the fresh air mass inducted per revolution, is needed especially for computing the fuel quantity to be injected. This is so because errors in the corrected load signal lead, inter alia, to errors in the mixture composition and therefore to increased toxic substance emissions.
Methods are known for considering the influence of an exhaust-gas recirculation in a load detection for engine controls of spark-injection engines wherein the load detection is based on intake pipe pressure. In these methods, a corrective factor from a rpm-dependent and load-dependent characteristic field is used to correct the injection time for external exhaust-gas recirculation. However, these methods only provide good results for steady-state conditions and have several disadvantages.
The corrective factor is always dependent upon the operating point of the internal combustion engine, that is, the corrective factor is dependent upon the rpm and the load of the engine with the load being detected, for example, from the angle of the throttle flap. This requires, for example, during an application, a new adaptation of the corrective characteristic field in a complex manner for each change of the exhaust-gas recirculation rate.
Furthermore, the correction of the injection time is only correct during steady-state operation. Dynamic residual errors in the mixture composition are unavoidable especially for changes in the operating point, that is, for changes of the rpm and the load caused by changes of the throttle flap angle. This causes a disadvantageous deterioration of the exhaust-gas values of the engine. Furthermore, such known methods operate only imprecisely when changes of the ambient pressure occur, such as when operating the engine at different elevations. Finally, it is disadvantageous that these methods do not make possible output signals which form the basis for other functions such as the ignition angle correction or a torque interface.
Furthermore, a method for detecting the load signal of an internal combustion engine is known from German published patent application 195 25 815. In this method, the load signal of the engine is corrected in dependence upon intake pipe pressure, exhaust-gas pressure, rpm and from the position of the EGR valve. However, it is disadvantageous in this method that it likewise only correctly operates for steady-state conditions and, furthermore also exhibits residual errors when changes of ambient pressure occur.

Method for determining the load signal of an internal combustion engine having external exhaust-gas recirculation


A driveshaft for an aircraft ram air turbine includes a substantially cylindrical elongate portion, a first end extending from the elongate portion, and a second end extending from the elongate portion opposite the first end. The first and second ends each include a substantially frusto-conical section having a curved generatrix, such that distal portions of each of the first and second ends have smaller outer diameters than an outer diameter of the elongate portion. The elongate portion provides relatively high lateral stiffness and the first and second ends provide relatively low torsional stiffness, such that the driveshaft has a lateral natural frequency higher than an operating range of the driveshaft and has a torsional natural frequency below the operating range of the driveshaft.

The present invention relates generally to driveshafts and their manufacture, and more particularly to driveshafts for use in struts of a ram air turbines (RATs) and their method of manufacture.
Modern aircraft often include a secondary or emergency power system that can provide power in the event that power is unavailable from a primary power system. RATs are commonly used for secondary or emergency power systems to provide electrical and/or hydraulic power. A typical RAT is deployable in flight by opening suitable doors or hatches in the aircraft's fuselage. The RAT presents a rotatable turbine to oncoming airflow, which rotates the turbine. Rotational energy (torque) from the turbine is then transmitted to a suitable power conversion device (e.g., generator, pump, etc.) that converts that rotational energy to a desired form for use by the aircraft. The RAT may include suitable gearing to adjust the rotational energy to a speed suitable for the power conversion device, as well as other drivetrain components that transmit rotational energy (torque) to desired locations.
Driveshafts used in RAT drivetrains are subject to many requirements. The RAT driveshaft must be reliable, it must be able to mate with necessary drivetrain components and it must be able handle the torque loads to which it will be subjected. Due to the fact that most RATs protrude outward from an aircraft's fuselage in a cantilevered manner, RATs and their subcomponents are subject to a significant amount of vibration and bending. Moreover, the rotational nature of RAT drivetrains can introduce torsional resonance issues. However, because positioning of the RAT in the aircraft must account for numerous other aircraft design factors, the location of the RAT and its subcomponents is highly constrained, which greatly limits design options for the geometry and dimensions of the RAT drivetrain and its driveshafts.