Disclosed are methods, systems and apparatus for manufacturing complex three dimensional open structures by cold forming the component from unhardened metal stock and then selectively heating and quenching the metal to provide the desired strength profile across the component. The metal is initially formed of unheated and unhardened metal through a combination of rolling, stamping and/or milling operations to produce a component having a complex three dimensional open structure. The formed component is then hardened in strategically predetermined areas by sequentially heating and quenching the predetermined areas of the component. The heating and cooling elements are, in turn, provided on at least one robotic apparatus configured for moving the elements across the surface of the component in a manner sufficient to achieve the desired pattern of hardened and unhardened regions across the component.

This invention relates to methods and apparatus for strategically strengthening steel members that can exhibit complex 3D geometries including, for example, vehicular components such as impact door beams, roof and pillar support components and suspension components.
Automotive vehicles employ crash energy management impact beams for protection of passengers, many of which utilize a closed structure type, e.g., square or cylindrical tubing. Such closed beams typically have both a generally uniform wall thickness and lack exposed edges or flanges, the absence of which renders them better suited for conventional induction heat treatment. In such heat treatment processes, the beam is surrounded by a corresponding heat treatment induction coil that, when energized, heats the beam to a target temperature range after which the heated beam is quenched to fix the desired structural properties.
Alternatives to the tubular beam structures may be prepared by taking flat steel sheets and then forming an open beam structure by cold stamping, rolling and/or milling. The hardness and strength of such open beam structures, however, can be limited by the requirement that the metal hardness must be low enough so as to allow for the degree of deformation that will be induced by the stamping and/or rolling operations. As another alternative, harder steel may be hot formed into the desired configuration, but the added complexity of such processing results in higher costs per piece and in the initial capital investment.
Previous efforts to form open section type impact structures from low strength steel, and then heat treat the structures using conventional post-forming techniques have several limitations that tend to produce unacceptable results. For example, using standard induction heating with encircling coils, the free or exposed edges of the structures tend to become overheated and/or burned, while the remainder of the structure may fail to reach the target temperature range. As a result, the heat treated structure will not tend to 1) exhibit the target strength characteristics and/or 2) exhibit sufficiently uniform characteristics. Similarly, the heated open section type impact structures are more prone to distortion during subsequent quenching operations. Accordingly, it has been difficult to meet the required quality standards for cost-effective production of open section type impact structures for assembly in an automobile or other vehicle.
As used herein, "rolling" refers to a metal forming process in which metal stock is passed through at least one pair of rollers and is classified according to the temperature of the metal being rolled. If the temperature of the metal is above its recrystallization temperature while it is being worked, e.g., rolled, drawn or stamped, then the process is considered to be "hot" working, but if the temperature of the metal is below its recrystallization temperature, the process is considered to be "cold" working.
Steel hardening processes include thermal processes during which the steel is heated to a sufficiently high temperature (by, for example, direct application of a flame, contact heating or induction heating) then cooled rapidly, i.e., quenched, to fix the desired microstructure. In a "case" hardening process the necessary temperatures are generally confined to a surface portion of a steel element to form a "case" of hardened material, e.g., martensite, over a core of softer steel. Steel hardened in such a fashion tends to exhibit a combination of toughness and durability to provide a long service life while resisting catastrophic failure.
Other processes may be utilized for case hardening steel including, for example, carburization in which the steel is exposed to a carbon rich environment while being maintained at elevated temperatures and then quenched to provide a carbon-enriched surface layer. Depending on the configuration and intended use of the steel element, carburization can be applied only to selected regions to provide, for example, increased durability for load bearing surfaces.
Nitriding is another hardening technique in which the surface of the steel is exposed to a nitrogen rich environment while being maintained at elevated temperatures and then quenched to provide a nitride-enriched surface layer. The nitrogen reacts with one or more nitride forming elements including, for example, chromium, molybdenum and/or aluminum, present in the steel alloy. Nitriding can provide certain advantages as a hardening technique including, for example, reduced distortion that makes it suitable for hardening structural elements after they have been quenched, tempered and machined into substantially final form. Other case hardening techniques well known to those skilled in the art include, for example, cyaniding, carbonitriding and ferritic nitrocarburizing.
Differential hardening is a method used for providing a local increase in the hardness, e.g., the cutting edge of a tool, without rendering the bulk of the tool unacceptably brittle. In order to achieve this effect, the tool may be subjected to differential cooling in which the cutting edge is cooled more rapidly than the bulk of the tool by insulating or otherwise protecting the bulk of the tool from the quenching operation. A related process, differential tempering relies on quenching the tool or piece uniformly, then differentially tempering one or more portions with a targeted heat source to reduce the hardness in the heated portions.


A device for the unambiguous measurement of the angle of roll of a projectile, comprises at least a radar equipped with means of processing and sending a signal to the casing of the projectile in at least one direction of incident polarization; a set of parallel grooves made on the casing, the depth of which is modulated dissymmetrically with respect to the axis of symmetry of the projectile; the axis of symmetry of the projectile not passing through the point of the antenna of the radar where the antenna beam is generated, the processing means analyzing, in reception, a signal back-scattered by the casing of the projectile, the signal being modulated as a function of the angle of roll of the projectile, the modulation having two maximum local values corresponding to two angular roll positions of the projectile such that the polarization {overscore (E)} is parallel to the grooves, the processing means removing the 180xc2x0 ambiguity by comparing the levels of the local maximum values. The device can be applied especially to the correction of the paths of projectiles fired by a gun and when the correction requires knowledge of the roll position of the projectiles.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a device for the unambiguous measurement of the roll of a projectile and its application to the correction of he path of the projectile. It can be applied especially to the correction of the paths of projectiles fired by a gun and when the correction requires knowledge of the roll position of the projectiles.
To guide a projectile or a missile in flight, it is necessary to act judiciously on its driving devices such as the rudders, impellers or gas jets. If we consider for example the action of a side impeller incorporated into the projectile and designed to correct its path, it will be necessary to control the impellers at the right time, namely when the situation of the impeller is such that its action will guide the projectile in the right direction. Since the position of the impeller is perfectly defined with respect to the projectile, it is enough to know the roll position of this projectile. In other words, it is enough to know the orientation of the projectile with respect to the plane passing through a horizontal or vertical axis of the projectile and its longitudinal axis, namely the roll angle of this projectile.
2. Description of the Prior Art
There are prior art approaches used to find out the roll of a projectile either at the time of blast-off or during the flight phase. A first approach for measuring the roll of a projectile consists especially in acquiring this information when the projectile leaves the mouth of the gun. The projectile contains a magnetic component whose magnetic field vector is known. At the exit from the gun, two windings are positioned in such a way that a voltage is induced when the projectile leaves the gun. A computation unit uses this induced voltage to know the roll at the starting point of the flight phase. This approach is described especially in the patent application EP 0451122. The use of such a device nevertheless assumes precise knowledge of the law of variation of the rotational speed in roll during the flight phase. It is not generally possible to have this knowledge.
Another approach, described for example in the U.S. Pat. No. 5,039,029 consists in observing the characteristics of one or more signals sent out by the projectile. By transmitting a linearly polarized signal to the ground, the plane of transmission with respect to the geometry of the missile can be identified. This is possible at the ground by comparing the levels received in two orthogonal polarizations. However, a 180-degree ambiguity remains. To resolve this ambiguity, the projectile has an antenna array that may be driven in phase so as to generate a roll modulation. Signals of different levels are obtained for two directions spaced out by 180xc2x0 in the previously identified plane. This approach however has the drawback of requiring active components on board the projectile. The result thereof is a problem of cost as well as a problem of reliability because these components are not generally in a position to withstand the levels of acceleration imposed on the projectile without suffering damage.
The above approaches either do not measure the roll during the flight phase or require the incorporation of electronic components into the projectile. For reasons of reliability and cost in particular, it is preferable to implement an approach that does not bring active elements into play in the projectile and at the same time enables the measurement of the roll of the projectile. A passive approach of this kind can be devised on the basis of a simple radar observation.
Conventionally, a radar illuminates the projectile according to a given polarization, the signal back-scattered by the projectile being analyzed according to the same polarization as that used at transmission. Thus used, the radar gives only the position of the projectile. When the projectile is in rotation, no information about its roll position can be accessed since it substantially has a symmetry of revolution. Furthermore, this geometry of revolution generates no depolarization which it might be sought to exploit in order to acquire information relating for example to the sighting line pertaining to the axis of the projectile. For the projectile to have a signature dependent on its roll, it is necessary to modify the geometry thereof in such a way that, when illuminated by a radar wave, the amplitude of the back-scattered field depends on its roll. A geometrical solution may consist in incorporating appropriately sized grooves embedded in the rear casing of the projectile. These grooves constitute elements for which the back-scattered field depends highly on the incident polarization, the polarization of the radar being fixed. The dependence on the incident polarization results from the orientation of the grooves which are themselves in rotation because they form part of the projectile. This approach has the advantage of not requiring any active components on the projectile. However, it has a drawback of giving a measurement of the roll angle only to nearest value of xcfx80. There is therefore an 180xc2x0 ambiguity of measurement. Indeed, a groove is parallel to the direction of polarization of the electromagnetic field sent by the radar for an angle of roll of the projectile to the nearest value of xcfx80.
One aim of the invention especially is to overcome this drawback and therefore obtain an unambiguous measurement of the angle of roll of a projectile without having active components integrated into this projectile.
To this end, an object of the invention is a device for the measurement of the angle of roll of a projectile, comprising at least:
a radar equipped with means of processing and sending a signal to the casing of the projectile in at least one direction of incident polarization {overscore (E)};
a set of parallel grooves made on the casing, the depth of which is modulated dissymmetrically with respect to the axis of symmetry of the projectile;
the axis of symmetry of the projectile not passing through the point of the antenna of the radar where the antenna beam is generated, the processing means analyzing, in reception, a signal back-scattered by the casing of the projectile, the signal being modulated as a function of the angle of roll of the projectile, the modulation having two maximum local values corresponding to two angular roll positions of the projectile such that the polarization {overscore (E)} is parallel to the grooves, the processing means removing the 180xc2x0 ambiguity by comparing the levels of the local maximum values.
In a particular embodiment, the depth of the grooves goes on increasing.
The main advantages of the invention are that it increases the reliability of measurement of the roll and is simple to implement and economical.

Device for the unambiguous measurement of the roll of a projectile and application to the correction of the path of a projectile


A new and distinct Coreopsis plant named ‘Pink Lady’ characterized by medium sized, clear pink, daisy like flowers, very free flowering, a mounding habit, and excellent vigor.

The present invention relates to a new and distinct plant of Coreopsis and given the cultivar name 'Pink Lady'. Coreopsis is in the family Asteraceae. This new cultivar originated as a seedling found in the nursery from unknown propriety plants in Canby, Oreg. and reproduced in tissue culture where further selections were made. This selection was made for its clear pink flowers.


The present invention relates to a sensor for and a method of detecting carbon monoxide in gas streams containing hydrogen. The sensor acts as a fuel cell and is comprised of a centrally placed membrane electrode assembly upon each side of which is positioned a current collector which has gas inlets that allow gas to flow to the membrane electrode assembly. Plates are positioned on each of the exterior surfaces of the current collectors such that when assembled, one side of the CO sensor forms an anode and the other side forms a cathode. At a constant voltage, a sample gas passes through the sensor such that low levels of Platinum on the sensor facilitate the detection of carbon monoxide. A reader attached to the sensor interprets the concentration of carbon monoxide and air is passed through the sensor for recalibration as needed.

(1) Technical Field
The present invention relates to techniques detecting concentrations of carbon monoxide. More specifically, the present invention relates to detecting and removing carbon monoxide in a hydrogen-based gas stream.
(2) Discussion
There are many examples where detection and quantification of carbon monoxide (CO) in hydrogen streams is necessary. Perhaps the most urgent application, however, is for the emerging fuel cell vehicle. The current strategy by automobile manufacturers developing fuel cell cars is to produce hydrogen gas onboard the vehicle via the reformation of either methanol or gasoline. In both cases, the reformation process produces a fuel cell feed stream containing hydrogen, but also carbon dioxide (CO2), water and small amounts of CO. The CO constituent has the effect of positioning the fuel cell at levels as low as 25 ppm. Therefore a method that allows for the monitoring and detection of CO at levels of greater than or equal to 25 ppm is desired.
Presently, the only reliable technique for sensing CO in hydrogen-based gas streams is by infrared absorption spectroscopy. However, to resolve species at very low levels, the intrinsic drift of the instrument and the interference from other species present in large concentrations, such as CO2 (at 18% by volume) and water (at 99% relative humidity) must be eliminated or compensated for during the measurement. While the infrared approach is viable, it does not represent a low-cost solution compatible with today's vehicle sensors or other commercial applications where such sensors would be useful.
Other sensors based on electrochemical approaches, while lower in cost, demonstrate similar interference problems with both hydrogen and water in the process gas stream. Since the hydrogen content in the target process stream is near 50% by value, with a relative humidity of 90-99%, detection of low levels of CO is not possible. At present, most fuel cells have attempted to address the problems associated with CO presence in the cell by designing the anode of the cell to avoid the effects of CO. Strategies include using high concentration of Platinum (≧1.0 mg/cm2) or CO insensitive alloys of Platinum (e.g., Pt/Ru) in a membrane electron assembly forming part of the fuel cell.
Many other sensors that measure CO in air have been developed based on biomimetic, electrochemical, and resistive-based elements. They represent a low-cost approach for home or laboratory monitoring where the hydrogen concentration in the target gas is minimal. Each of these approaches, however, has a strong interference from hydrogen and is incapable of making accurate CO determinations when this interfering species is present in abundance.
Accordingly, there exists a need in the art for a reliable, reusable and low-cost system for detecting CO in desired gas streams. There is also a need for a system that can meet the aforementioned requirements while having the relatively low response time and freedom from interference when performing CO measurements.

Detection of carbon monoxide in hydrogen-based gas streams


A primer composition is provided. The primer composition includes at least one bi- or multi-functional benzoxazine compound; and at least one compound including a functional group having affinity for a metallic surface, and a cross-linkable group. A method of forming a primer layer on a semiconductor device, and a method of encapsulating a semiconductor device are also provided.

Small electronic devices based on lead frames carrying microelectronic components, such as an integrated circuit (IC) chip, typically have exposed metal portions that are subject to oxidation and eventual corrosion. For example, lead frames may be constructed of copper, aluminum, nickel, a noble metal, or various ferrous alloys that are oxidizable to varying extent.
Typically, after manufacture, lead frames are treated with an anti-corrosion coating to inhibit corrosion prior to attachment of components to the lead frame. The anti-corrosion coatings, however, may present problems due to undesirable adhesion bonding of the microelectronic components to the lead frame. In cases where thermal bonding is used to manufacture the small electronic devices, the anti-corrosion coatings may delaminate from the coated surface, and/or chemically decompose, resulting in contamination of the microelectronic components. This affects processing efficiency due to extra time and efforts required for contaminants removal. Where contaminants cannot be removed, the products are scrapped, leading to lower product yields.

Primer composition, method of forming a primer layer on a semiconductor device, and method of encapsulating a semiconductor device


The present invention provides a process for producing a 2-acylthiophene compound which has a low content of the 3-isomer generated as a by-product, the process comprising reacting a thiophene compound represented by formula (1):

In the synthesis of pharmaceuticals, reductions in the amount of impurities are strongly required in view of enhancing safety of the pharmaceuticals that are final products. In particular, isomers that are by-products in the reaction steps conducted in preparing a pharmaceutical usually resemble each other in physical properties, so that the separation for purification is not easy. Therefore, isomers in the starting materials and intermediates produced by preceding steps may cause various side reactions in the subsequent reactions conducted in preparing the pharmaceutical, which results in a final product containing high contents of various side reaction products as impurities. Therefore, the isomer content of starting materials used for preparing a pharmaceutical is often strictly controlled in units of 0.1 wt. %.
Likewise for the production of 2-acylthiophene compounds that are useful as starting materials and intermediates for preparing pharmaceuticals and the like, a process of production with a low isomer content is similarly desired. Further, a process of production thereof without using solvent, in particular, organic solvent, is strongly desired from the viewpoint of environmental concerns and production costs.
Conventionally, various processes for producing 2-acylthiophene compounds in the absence of solvent are known. Examples of such known processes include a process comprising reacting thiophene and an acid anhydride using activated clay under reflux (J. Am. Chem. Soc., 69, 1014, (1947)) and a process comprising reacting thiophene and acetic anhydride using an ion exchange resin at 75° C. to 125° C. (U.S. Pat. No. 2,711,414).
However, products obtained by conventional processes for producing 2-acylthiophene compounds contain comparatively large amounts of by-product 3-isomers, i.e., have an isomer content of about 1 wt. % and furthermore, separation thereof is not easy. Therefore, when the compound is to be used as a starting material or an intermediate for preparing a pharmaceutical or the like, it has been necessary to perform purification using a multiple-plate distillation column, etc.
For example, in the production of 2-acetylthiophene, when distillation is performed during the post-production process to separate the 3-isomer to thereby purify the product, simple distillation is virtually ineffective and it is necessary to use a multiple-plate distillation column, etc. For example, even when a 50 theoretical plate distillation column is used in a distillation process for purification to obtain 2-acetylthiophene with a 3-isomer content of 0.5 wt. % from 2-acetylthiophene with a 3-isomer content of 0.9 wt. %, the purification yield was only about 70%. Therefore, also because it is not easy to separate the 3-isomer produced, a process of production with a low by-product 3-isomer content is desired.

Process for producing 2-acylthiophene compound

Abstract: wherein R1is a hydrogen atom, a C1-6 alkyl group, a phenyl group, or a halogen atom, with at least one member selected from the group consisting of acid anhydrides represented by formula (2):

Abstract: wherein R2 is a C1-6 alkyl group or a phenyl group, and acid halides represented by formula (3):

Abstract: wherein R2 is as defined above and X is a halogen atom, in the presence of a solid acid catalyst at a temperature less than 75° C. in the absence of solvent, thus producing a 2-acylthiophene compound represented by formula (4):

Abstract: wherein R1 and R2 are as defined above.


The profile of an integrated circuit structure is determined by obtaining a measured metrology signal and a first simulated metrology signal, which has an associated profile model of the structure defined by a set of profile parameters. When the two signals match within a first termination criterion, at least one profile parameter is selected from the set of profile parameters. A value for the selected profile parameter is determined. A second simulated metrology signal having an associated profile model of the structure defined by a set of profile parameters with at least one profile parameter equal or close to the determined value for the selected profile parameter is obtained. When the measured and the second simulated metrology signals match within a second termination criterion, values for one or more remaining profile parameters are determined from the set of profile parameters associated with the second simulated metrology signal.

1. Field of Invention
The present application relates to integrated circuit (IC) metrology and more particularly to the use of metrology systems and profile modeling to determine the profiles of IC structures.
2. Related Art
With the current drive towards smaller geometries of IC features, feature measurement is increasingly difficult as the size of the features become smaller. However, knowledge of the dimensions of gratings or structures is essential in order to determine if the dimensions of the features are within the acceptable ranges and if, for example, a particular fabrication process causes the sidewalls of the features to be tapered, vertical, T-topped, undercut, or have footings.
Traditionally, a sample was cleaved and examined with a scanning electron microscope (SEM) or similar device. The cross-section SEM method is typically slow, expensive, and destructive, whereas the critical dimension (CD) SEM method only provides one measurement number seen from the top of the feature.
Additionally, scatterometry, such as spectroscopic reflectometry and ellipsometry, is used to beam light on the structure and measure the reflected/diffracted beam. A commonly encountered problem in scatterometry is profile parameter correlation. For example, two or more of the profile parameters in the set of profile parameters that define a profile model may be correlated such that variation in one profile parameter produces a variation in the other correlated profile parameter. When determining the profile of an integrated circuit using scatterometry, this correlation between profile parameters can produce inaccurate results, meaning that the determined profile for the integrated circuit differs from the actual profile of the integrated circuit.

Parametric optimization of optical metrology model


A high-precision manufacturing machine used in precision manufacturing processes, such as a 3-D printer, is described. The machine has a frame, a movable platform supported by and movable relative to the frame, on which are mounted one or more platform tool holders for holding one or more tools such as an extruder, a base station that may include one or more bays, each of the bays having a number of base station tool holders, for storing tools that are not in use, and a supporting base, which may be movable relative to the frame, for holding one or more work items to be processed by the tool or tools selected and held by the movable platform.

In a high precision processing machine, many different tools may be required to process/manufacture a work item. For example, to manufacture a work item through an additive manufacturing process (or three-dimensional printing process), multi-color and multi-material extruder assembly is often required. There have been proposals to combine more than two or three colors or materials in a single extruder assembly. However, combining multiple extruders into one unit tends to increase printer size. It may require additional cooling to overcome the excessive heat generated by the crowded extruders, too. Combining many extruders into one single unit also can increase maintenance cost, as failure of one extruder may require replacement of the entire extruder assembly. It is also difficult to combine different tools, e.g., an extruder and a laser engraving tool, into a single multi-function machine.
The forgoing creates challenges and constraints in providing a high-precision manufacturing machine, such as a 3-D printer or a high-precision multi-function machine. There is therefore a need for an improved high-precision manufacturing machine as compared to the existing art. It is an object of the present invention to mitigate or obviate at least one of the above mentioned disadvantages.


A photoelectric conversion module (10) comprises a photoelectric conversion cell (12) and a grid electrode (31) provided in the photoelectric conversion cell (12) on a substrate. The photoelectric conversion cell (12) includes a first electrode layer (22), a second electrode layer (24), a photoelectric conversion layer (26) between the first electrode layer (22) and the second electrode layer (24). The second electrode layer (24) is formed of a transparent electrode layer located on opposite side of the photoelectric conversion layer (26) to the substrate (20). The grid electrode (31) is provided between the photoelectric conversion layer (26) and the transparent electrode layer.

A photoelectric conversion module such as a solar battery module including a plurality of photoelectric conversion cells is known (following Patent Literature 1). In an integrated thin-film photoelectric conversion module as described in Patent Literature 1, a photoelectric conversion cell includes a transparent electrode layer located on a light receiving surface, a rear surface electrode layer located on a surface opposite to the light receiving surface, and a photoelectric conversion layer between the transparent electrode layer and the rear surface electrode layer.
An electric resistance value of the transparent electrode layer is generally higher than an electric resistance value of an opaque electrode layer made of metal. Therefore, when a current generated by the photoelectric conversion flows through the transparent electrode layer, a power loss occurs due to the electric resistance value of the transparent electrode layer. In order to reduce the power loss in the transparent electrode layer, a grid electrode (collecting electrode) made of a thin line metal is provided on the transparent electrode layer in some cases.
In the photoelectric conversion module described in Patent Literature 1, the path of the current flowing through the transparent electrode layer is shortened by collecting the current flowing through the transparent electrode layer into the grid electrode. Therefore, power loss due to the electric resistance value of the transparent electrode layer can be reduced. However, connection failure may occur between the grid electrode and the transparent electrode layer, or flux at the time of forming the grid electrode may remain as a residue under the grid electrode, which increases the contact resistance between the grid electrode and the transparent electrode layer in some cases. In this case, the current collecting ability of the grid electrode is reduced, which may cause a decrease in the conversion efficiency of the photoelectric conversion module.
Therefore, a photoelectric conversion module that can suppress a decrease in the current collecting ability of the grid electrode is desired.

Photoelectric conversion module and method for manufacturing photoelectric conversion module


A cutlery dispenser comprises a storage chamber adapted to retain a plurality of cutlery therein; an ejector for sequentially ejecting the plurality of cutlery from the storage chamber; an actuator for driving the ejector; and a sensor for triggering the actuator in response to an event.

Disposable cutlery, for example, plastic spoons, forks, knives and "sporks," (e.g., a combination of a spoon and a fork), are frequently used in informal restaurant settings and are provided for use with "take out" restaurant food. To ensure that this cutlery is provided in a hygienic form, it is often purchased by a restaurant or other facility pre-sealed in a pouch. A napkin and condiments i.e., salt and pepper, may be included in the pouch. Such pouches are generally more expensive than the individual utensils due to the processing and materials necessary to form the pouches. Also, these pouches may provide more cutlery or condiments than the user needs and, as such, may be wasteful.
An alternative to such prepared pouches is the presentation of cutlery for use in an unwrapped form, for example, in a bin or cup. As would be recognized, this allows the customer to select only the utensils desired. However, this form of dispensing can be considered by customers to be unsanitary and can indeed be unsanitary if a previous customer does not take a utensil she touched. This method of providing cutlery for use by a consumer can also be unsanitary if a restaurant worker does not conform to the recommended hygiene standards of using gloves when contacting utensils for use by a consumer. The unregulated dispensing of the cutlery in this form also permits the user to take more utensils than intended, thus resulting in less profit for the establishment.
A variety of dispensers have been proposed as an alternative to loose or pouch-packaged cutlery. Previously known dispensers, however, suffer at least the perception of sanitary and hygienic concerns by many users. For example, when cutlery is dispensed into a collection tray, the tray of the dispenser may become soiled as users repeatedly touch the tray while collecting dispensed cutlery. Also, the handles, knobs or other actuators of manually operated dispensers are touched by user after user, causing concern among some individuals. Previously known dispensers also often lack the degree of convenience and economy in operation that would be desirable.
Accordingly, a continual need exists for improved cutlery dispensers that are particularly useful in dispensing disposable cutlery in a hygienic, convenient, economical and non-wasteful manner.

Cutlery dispenser and method of dispensing cutlery


A parking brake actuator for applying and releasing a cable-operated vehicle parking brake includes an operating lever pivotally mounted on a mounting bracket for movement between brake-released and a plurality of brake-applied positions. The operating lever is a unitary molding made of a glass-filled thermoplastic and has an integral footpad. A metal insert which mounts the cable end, includes a sector gear, that is secured to the operating lever by rivets and engages a pinion which is pivoted to the mounting bracket. The operating lever has a raised drive lug that is received in a mating drive aperture in the insert and transfers brake-apply forces from the operating lever to the sector. A one-way clutch normally permits the pinion to rotate freely when the operating lever is operated to apply the parking brake, but prevents reverse rotation of the pinion to maintain the parking brake applied. A clutch release is operable to disable the one-way clutch and permit reverse rotation of the pinion to release the parking brake and allow the operating lever to return to released position. The plastic operating lever only experiences the high brake-apply forces during brake-apply motion. When the parking brake is set, the operating lever is isolated from the cable load path.

This invention relates generally to vehicle parking brake actuators and, more particularly, to an improved operating lever for operating the parking brake actuator.
Several types of hand- and foot-operated parking brake actuators are in use. One popular foot-operated parking brake actuator uses an operating lever which mounts a sector gear that is in constant mesh with a pinion. A torsion spring has one fixed and one free end and grips the pinion hub as a one-way clutch. This allows the pinion to rotate as the operating lever is moved to a brake-apply position, but prevents reverse rotation to latch the lever in the brake-apply position.
The torsion spring free end is engaged by a brake release member to spread the spring and release the pinion hub to unlatch the pinion, which releases the lever for movement to brake-released position. One such parking brake actuator is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,236,120 to Fender in which the torsion spring is releasable by a vacuum actuator. In many current vehicles, this type of parking brake actuator has been modified to replace the vacuum actuator with an electric actuator, as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,029,681 to Swiatek.
Contemporary parking brake actuators utilize a stamped or cast steel operating lever. Hand-operated levers are fitted with a plastic or leather handgrip. In foot-operated parking brake actuators, the steel lever is fitted with a rubber footpad. Because of their construction, these operating levers are heavy and relatively expensive. Also, the rubber footpads wear rapidly, causing increased warranty expense for the vehicle manufacturer.
There is a need for an improved operating lever for a parking brake actuator that is lighter and cheaper than contemporary operating levers and which is constructed to reduce warranty expenses.

Parking brake actuator with plastic operating lever


The present invention relates to an automatic sheet cutting apparatus which cuts off a sheet like a knit or a woven fabric into a predetermined shape and more particularly to a vacuum air leakage preventive device combined with an automatic sheet cutting apparatus so that a vacuum air can be prevented from leaking through a clearance between a bottom surface of one of those brush-mounting bases aligned in parallel with a pair of endless chains and a top surface of the main body of the automatic sheet cutting apparatus. The vacuum leakage preventive device includes a shielding member on a movable arm which is movable into place relative to the main body and the brush-mounting bases to prevent a break in a vacuum which pulls the material to be cut onto the main body relative to a cutter.

The present invention relates to an automatic sheet cutting apparatus which cuts off a sheet like a knit or a woven fabric into a predetermined shape. More particularly, the invention relates to a vacuum air leakage preventive device combined with an automatic sheet cutting apparatus so that evacuated air can be prevented from leaking through a clearance between a bottom surface of one of any brush-mounting bases aligned in parallel with a pair of endless chains and a top surface of the main body of the automatic sheet cutting apparatus.
Any of those conventional chain-driven automatic sheet cutting apparatuses is provided with a number of brush-mounting bases which are aligned on a top surface of a sheet cutting table in parallel with a pair of endless chains installed on both sides of the main body of the automatic sheet cutting apparatus by way of being suspended on them. These brush-mounting bases sequentially move themselves relative to the rotation of a pair of endless chains. In the same way, a number of brushes secured on respective bases move themselves in conjunction with a cuttable sheet. Next, a control system stops the rotation of these endless chains at a predetermined position, and then activates a suction unit below the main body of the automatic sheet cutting apparatus to position the objective sheet on those brushes via a number brushes and those brush-mounting bases before permitting a cutting unit to cut the sheet on a cutting table surface into a predetermined shape by moving the cutting unit to the cutting position.
On the other hand, since there is substantial space between a pair of endless chains on both sides of the automatic sheet cutting apparatus, a supporting member is disposed on the main body of the automatic sheet cutting apparatus so that a number of brush-mounting bases aligned in parallel with and being suspended on these endless chains can slide themselves on the supporting member. This in turn results in an increased resistance against the sliding movement of those brush-mounting bases, and therefore, the apparatus needs to provide such a drive motor having substantial drive capacity.
Therefore, in order to solve this problem, any conventional automatic sheet cutting apparatus is provided with sliding members or rollers below respective brush-mounting bases to shift those brush-mounting bases by causing those sliding members or rollers to slide or roll themselves on the supporting member.
Nevertheless, when these sliding members or rollers installed below those brush-mounting bases on the supporting member of the automatic sheet cutting apparatus slide or roll themselves on the supporting member, a narrow clearance is generated between the bottom surface of those brush-mounting bases and the supporting member. In consequence, when operating a suction unit to pneumatically evacuate a cuttable sheet on those brushes via those brush-mounting bases and brushes, evacuated air leaks out of this clearance, thus resulting in a lowered efficiency.
Therefore, an object of the invention is to fully solve those technical problems inherent in any of those conventional automatic sheet cutting apparatuses by providing a novel system for preventing evacuated air from leaking out of a clearance between the bottom surface of each brush-mounting base aligned on a pair of endless chains and the top surface of the main body of the automatic sheet cutting apparatus.

Leakage preventive device combined with automatic sheet cutting apparatus


Embodiments of techniques and systems for protected access to virtual memory are described. In embodiments, a protected memory management architecture (“PMMA”) may be configured to control accesses to protected physical memory. The PMMA may provide a protected virtual memory window for dynamic allocation of protected memory regions. During forward translation of virtual memory addresses, the PMMA may check a region ID of a process before allowing access. During reverse translation of a physical memory address, the PMMA may prevent accesses to protected physical memory addresses. The PMMA may also dynamically allocate physical memory to protected memory regions in virtual memory and may authenticate the physical memory as available before allocation. Other embodiments may be described and claimed.

Many computing devices interact with one or more media devices, often using one or more streaming media drivers ("SMDs"). Oftentimes, these SMDs utilize memory buffers for actions such as media capture, decoding, processing, and display. In some systems, for security purposes, SMD buffers may be aware of and able to directly access physical memory. However, SMDs may need large blocks of contiguous addresses for easier streaming and security purposes. In some such systems, this physical memory may end up being allocated prior to OS boot as a single large block, from which individual SMDs buffers can be cut out as needed during operation of the device. Use of this technique may result, however, in large pieces of memory being wasted, since it may not be known at boot time how much memory will or will not be used.


In some embodiments, a first location server, in response to a request from a client to access an object, determines whether a first location information stored at the first location server indicates locations of instance(s) of the object. The first location server, in response to a determination that the first location information indicates the locations of the instances of the object, determines a first location of a first instance of the object at a first payload server and a second location of a second instance of the object at a second payload server from the first location information. The first location server determines priority values of the first and second locations. The first location server generates a reply to the request, the reply indicating the first and second locations of the first and second instances of the object, and the priority values of the first and second locations.

In a well-known client-server relationship between two or more computers, a server computer ("server") executes a server program and provides a service to one or more client computers (each a "client"), each of which executes a client program. Generally the communication between the client and server computers occurs over a conventional public access computer communication network, for example the Internet, or over a conventional private-access computer communication network, for example a local area network, or over combinations of both public and private networks. In such a client-server relationship, one computer could be a client for some services and a server for other services. Typical services provided in a client server relationship include file services, database services, and Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) services.
In many circumstances, multiple servers are available to supply the services to clients. Multiple servers may be employed to accommodate the volume of requests for services from clients and to improve the quality and performance of the service to the clients. There are many well-known ways to configure multiple servers to provide a service. Often a single server is designated as a principal or main server from which the other secondary servers obtain substantially-equivalent copies of the data and information needed to provide the service to clients.
One type of secondary server is a cache server. A cache server stores a substantially identical copy or copies of the data and programs resident on the principal server. A cache server may periodically communicate with the principal server to update the copy of the data stored on the cache server. A cache server responds to a service request from a client without necessarily communicating with a principal server to supply the stored data or other service that the client has requested. Another type of secondary server is a proxy server. Proxy servers forward service requests from the client to the principal server, but many proxy servers may also have a caching capability to store some data received from the principal server. Secondary servers typically utilize well-known techniques for eliminating expired or outdated data when the data stored on the principal server changes.
There are many reasons to set up a secondary server. Often, some penalty is avoided or reduced by having clients access the secondary server instead of the principal server. For example, the penalty may be unacceptably high network latency between the clients and the principal server due to a large physical distance and/or large number of network hops and/or traffic between the clients and the principal server. The penalty may also be security-related, such as a greater risk of unintended information exposure if the communication between clients and the principal server traverses unprotected networks.
It is often desirable in a client-server relationship to avoid storing on each client the address or location information of a particular server that each client accesses, since the location information of a server may change. The location of a server may be changed to improve the performance of the client-server relationship by reducing the number of separate network communications or hops between the client and server, for example. The location of a server may be changed by moving the service associated with the server to a different server, or the network address of a physical server may be changed, as other examples. The main disadvantage to storing the location of a server on a client is that location information on each of the multiple clients must be changed when the location of the server or service is changed.
Storing location information on clients can be avoided through the use of a location server. Location servers respond to queries from clients by supplying the location information of a primary or secondary server. If the location information for a particular resource changes, only the location information on the location server need be changed to enable the new location information to be supplied to multiple clients. The necessity to change the location information on each of many clients is avoided by the use of a location server. To distinguish location servers from the other servers, the other non-location servers which deliver the service are referred herein as payload servers. Location servers, like payload servers, can also be set up in a principal-secondary relationship.
The typical location information supplied is the address or location of an object. An object is a particular resource which resides on a payload server and which the client wishes to access and use. Some example objects are a database, a filesystem, or a service. Objects which are duplicated in a principal-secondary relationship are often each referred to as "instances" of the object. The object location typically contains the arbitrary name which identifies the particular resource and the network address of a payload server hosting or supplying the object. In a conventional Transport Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) network, the IP address or the hostname of the payload server hosting the object at a particular point in time is part of the object location information. The hostname is a variant of a network address. Each computer has a network address, and the use of network addresses makes it possible to establish direct communications between individual clients and servers in a network.
For a client to access an object on a payload server whose location is stored on a location server, the client must have previously obtained information of the object name and the network address of the location server. The client queries the location server using its network address to obtain the location of the object. The object location supplied by the location server makes it possible for the client to thereafter directly access the payload server hosting the object and to obtain the requested services. The use of a location server also allows resources to be moved or distributed efficiently and periodically among multiple payload servers without changing the published location information associated with the resource.
Oftentimes it is desirable to have a group of clients obtain services from a secondary payload server instead of from a principal payload server that the clients have previously obtained services from. A difficulty arises in the case where the clients have been directed to the principal payload server by a location server that is managed by an uncooperative or unknown administrative entity. The difficulty is that the clients cannot be easily redirected to use the secondary payload server instead of the principal payload server if the location information sent from the location server cannot be changed. In this circumstance, each of the clients must be programmed to access the secondary payload server directly. Updating numerous clients with location information to refer them to the secondary payload server incurs some type of penalty, and in some circumstances may be infeasible or prohibitively costly.
Programming clients to access different payload servers from ones they have been previously programmed to access can present a significant penalty in the form of administrative difficulty, particularly when there are a relatively large number of local clients, which is typically the case in a large organization which makes intensive use of computers. When a remote location server is involved it may be an almost impossible task to change the object location information for requests only from local clients, because the remote location server will also be responding to requests from other non-local clients which should not be redirected.
Local and remote computers are typically located at physically or geographically different sites, but under some circumstances there may be no significant physical or geographical separation. However in each case, the local computers are administered and controlled locally by one administrative entity, and the remote computers are administered and controlled remotely by a different administrative entity. Communication between the local and remote computers usually entails a penalty, such as additional cost and network latency, compared to communications between computers only at the local site.
Responses to service requests from non-local clients must continue to be directed only to a remote principal payload server, and not to a local secondary payload server, because the local secondary payload server is often intended for the exclusive use and benefit of local clients. Furthermore, the remote location server is under the control of an administrative entity different from that which controls the local secondary payload server, thereby making it very unlikely that the remote location server will be programmed to respond to requests from local clients in a manner different from the manner that it responds to requests from non-local computers, especially where there is no relationship between the administrative entities.

Transparent redirection of clients to a surrogate payload server through the use of a proxy location server


An anti-reflection film is arranged by alternately stacking a plurality of high-refractive index layers containing Al.sub.2 O.sub.3 and a plurality of low-refractive index layers containing SiO.sub.2 on a transparent substrate in turn from the substrate side to the air side, and satisfies:. 1.45.ltoreq.ns.ltoreq.1.65 PA1 1.60.ltoreq.na.ltoreq.1.85 PA1 0.31.lambda.0.ltoreq.d1.ltoreq.0.42.lambda.0 PA1 0.38.lambda.0.ltoreq.d2.ltoreq.0.45.lambda.0 PA1 0.20.lambda.0.ltoreq.d3.ltoreq.0.31.lambda.0 PA1 0.18.lambda.0.ltoreq.d4.ltoreq.0.28.lambda.0 PA1 0.20.lambda.0.ltoreq.d5.ltoreq.0.30.lambda.0 PA1 0.20.lambda.0.ltoreq.d6.ltoreq.0.30.lambda.0. where ns and na are the refractive indices of the low-refractive index layer and the high-refractive index layer for light components falling with the wavelength range from 190 nm to 250 nm, di (unit: nm) is the optical film thickness of the i-th layer when the high- and low-refractive index layers are counted from the substrate side to the air side, and .lambda.0 (nm) is the reference wavelength within the wavelength range from 190 nm to 250 nm.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an anti-reflection film and an optical system using the same and, more particularly, to an anti-reflection film, which attains anti-reflection characteristics for the ultraviolet range having a wavelength of 250 nm or less by stacking a plurality of predetermined refractive index layers on the surface of an optical element substrate such as a fluorite substrate, synthetic silica glass substrate, or the like, and is effectively applied to, e.g., various types of optical systems used in the manufacture of semiconductor devices.
2. Related Background Art
As a conventional anti-reflection film for ultraviolet rays, an anti-reflection film formed by alternately stacking a plurality of high-refractive index films including an Al.sub.2 O.sub.3 film and a plurality of low-refractive index films including an SiO.sub.2 film on the surface of a transparent substrate has been proposed by, e.g., Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 7-218701.
Also, an anti-reflection film using a fluoride film has been proposed by, e.g., Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application Nos. 7-244205 and 7-244217.
The anti-reflection film using the Al.sub.2 O.sub.3 and SiO.sub.2 films and proposed by Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 7-218701 as the anti-reflection film for ultraviolet rays having a wavelength of 250 nm or less tends to have a relatively narrow anti-reflection bandwidth (wavelength width).
In general, when the anti-reflection bandwidth is narrow, the obtained wavelength width may often vary due to errors in film thickness control during fabrication. When the anti-reflection film is formed on the curved surface of, e.g., a lens, the optical characteristics such as reflectivity, transmittance, and the like often vary considerably depending on different angles of incidence of light.
The anti-reflection film using the fluoride film and proposed by Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application Nos. 7-244205 and 7-244217 can hardly attain reflectivity as low as 0.2% or less in the assumed wavelength range, and the environmental resistance of the fluoride film is inferior to that of oxides (Al.sub.2 O.sub.3, SiO.sub.2).

Anti-reflection film and optical system using the same


A radial piston machine includes a piston having a base which is provided with a roller. The roller is held secure by a bearing shell that is inserted in the piston base.

The disclosure relates to a radial piston machine as per the description below and to a piston suitable for a radial piston machine.
A radial piston machine of said type and a piston of said type are known for example from DE 39 19 456 C2. Said document discloses a radial piston machine having a stroke ring which is fixed with respect to a housing and which may for example be arranged with a cam path or eccentrically with respect to a rotatably mounted cylinder star. In the cylinder star, a multiplicity of pistons is guided so as to be displaceable in the radial direction, said pistons being supported on the stroke ring in each case by means of a roller. In the known solutions, said roller is rotatably mounted on the piston foot via a bearing shell, wherein captive retention of the piston is realized by virtue of the fact that the piston foot extends around the roller over more than 180°, such that the roller is secured in the radial direction. A problem of said solution is that considerable outlay is required for the machining of the piston foot, because the embracing configuration of the piston foot cannot be realized by means of simple grinding, but rather must be formed by means of transverse milling or stamping. Such production methods are relatively imprecise, such that a precise bearing shell fit in the piston foot cannot be ensured. In the worst case, bearing shell fracture may occur.
A similar embodiment of a piston foot is also disclosed in DE 39 26 185 C2. In said variant, too, the roller 1 is secured by an embracing form of the piston foot.
US 2009/0183629 A1 presents a piston in which the embracing form is realized not by means of a cutting-type machining process but rather by means of a crimping process. In one variant, in said known piston arrangement, the bearing shell also extends around the roller over more than 180°—all of said solutions however require that the piston foot be of crimpable configuration. As a result of the required crimping, the production outlay is likewise considerable, wherein a crimped securing arrangement necessitates the provision of a suitable piston material, such that there are certain restrictions with regard to material selection.
By contrast, it is the object of the disclosure to provide a radial piston machine and a piston which is suitable for such a radial piston machine, in which a roller is captively retained in a simple manner.
Said object is achieved, with regard to the radial piston machine, by means of the features described below, and with regard to the piston, by means of the features of the coordinate description below.
The description below relates to advantageous refinements of the disclosure.

Radial piston machine and piston for a radial piston machine of this type


The invention relates to a gasket unit (1) for a journal bearing (2), sealing an annular gap (6) between the bearing bushing (3) and the journal (4). The gasket unit (1) comprises a main seal (8) provided with a front seal (9) arranged in front if it, and a spring washer (10) is inserted between the rollers (5) and the primary seal (8).

The invention relates to a gasket unit for a rolling bearing supported journal bearing in a bearing bushing. In particular, the gasket unit is provided for bearing bushings used, for example, in the universal joint of a drive shaft. The components provided here are a reinforced main seal, inserted in a fixed manner in a bore of the bearing bushing, and a front seal positioned axially in front of the main seal and connected to the journal in a torque proof manner, and a spring washer arranged between the main seal and the face of the rollers. For this purpose, the main seal is inserted into the bore of the bearing bushing in a friction-locked manner via a cylindrical section of a reinforcement. In the mounting position at least one sealing lip is linked to a blade of the reinforcement, directed radially inward and supported at the journal in a sealing manner. The front seal covers an annular gap formed between the bearing bushing and the journal in the mounting position. The spring washer, also provided in the gasket unit, is supported on the outside at the reinforcement of the main seal and on the inside at the face of the rolls.
A gasket unit is known from DE 44 08 831 A1, which, in addition to the above-mentioned individual components, such as main seal, front seal, and spring washer, also comprises an intermediate seal. Said seal is provided with a reinforcement, which is supported at its face on the bearing bushing and with its interior cylindrical blade being extrusion-coated by the insulating material of the intermediate seal. The exterior cylindrical blade of the reinforcement has a tolerance and engages an annular gap of the front seal. A disadvantage in this known gasket unit is that it enlarges the axial construction space and requires a more complex mounting expense.


Methods and apparatus for controlling power to a load device. The apparatus include a standby loss prevention module or a transformer system including the module. The module and system are directed to sensing load requirements and controlling a transformer accordingly to reduce power consumption when the load is in a stand by mode. One method includes interposing a control switch between an electrical supply and a load device, determining when the load device requires full-level operational power, activating the control switch to interpose a step-up transformer between the electrical supply and the load device, providing full-level operational power to the load device, and deactivating the step-up transformer when the load device is not in use.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates in general to electronic control devices and, in particular, to electronic control devices for regulating supply power to electrical apparatus. More specifically, but without restriction to the particular embodiments hereinafter described in accordance with the best mode of practice, this invention relates to a standby loss prevention module and transformer system that may be employed in conjunction with a wide variety of electrical apparatus including industrial motors, large-volume air compressors, tanning equipment used in tanning salons, and other electrical apparatus requiring a transformer action in electrical power as provided by the mains or grid connection.
2. General Discussions and Related Art
As the demand for electrical power grows along with economic growth and population increases, there is a need for providing energy savings devices and methods in the employment of electrical-power consuming devices so that the existing grid is not over-loaded. Such a need exists currently because the time for building and bringing on-line additional power plants is long-term compared to the short run seasonal spikes in demand for electrical power, and the current general trend of a steady increase in industrial and consumer demand for electrical power.
Recent events in different geographical regions of the United States have witnessed both sky-rocketing electrical power energy cost increases and massive black-outs due to the age of the grid and over demand by consumers for electrical power. Undesirable and disruptive brown-outs and rolling black-outs have also become more common and necessary in recent times due the ever increasing demands for electrical power.
The increased demand for electrical power simply cannot be met by building new power plants because the lag time associated with bringing new power plants on-line or up-grading existing power plants is relatively long compared to the fluctuating but steadily increasing demands for electrical power. Thus there is a current need for providing lost cost electrical control devices for conserving the use of electrical power.
More specifically, there is a great number of equipment and devices designed to work with 220 vac or 240 vac. U.S. power generators provide either 208 vac or 240 vac. Therefore a booster transformer is required to increase (boost) voltage or a decrease (buck) voltage to supply correct power to a piece of equipment.
There are 500,000 tanning beds, a few million industrial air compressors, and millions of other industrial devices such as flow-solder machines, conveyor belts, motors, and other industrial electrical devices that employ transformers to boost power supply. The problem with these transformers is that they are wired in the ON state at all times. They thus draw electricity 24 hours a day even though the devices are only needed a few hours each day. A great amount of energy is wasted during those idle hours.
The present invention is designed to solve this problem. The device of the present invention enables the transformer when the load device is ON and disconnects it when load device goes OFF.

Standby loss prevention module, transformer system including same, and methods relating thereto


Recombinant or isolated nucleic acid sequences which:. (a) encode enzymes or other proteins involved in plant abscission or dehiscence; PA1 (b) contain a promoter or other regulatory sequence which naturally controls expression of a gene involved in plant abscission or dehiscence; PA1 (c) when introduced into a plant, prevent or otherwise interfere with normal plant abscission or dehiscence; or PA1 (d) hybridise under stringent conditions to nucleic acid satisfying criterion (a), (b) or (c) or would do so but for the degeneracy of the genetic code. are useful in regulating abscission and dehiscence, particularly in reducing pod shatter in Brassica napus.

Abscission is the process that causes the shedding of a range of plant parts, including leaves, flowers and fruit. The process occurs at precise sites and involves coordinated cell wall breakdown. Associated with cell separation is an increase in the activity of several hydrolytic enzymes including, .beta.-1,4-glucanase (cellulase, EC 188.8.131.52) and polygalacturonase (PG EC 184.108.40.206).
The process of pod dehiscence, or shatter as it is commonly termed, in oilseed rape (Brassica napus) and other crops shares a number of features with abscission. Degradation and separation of cell walls occurs along a discrete layer of cells, termed the dehiscence zone, and a localised increase in the activity of cellulase has been reported prior to the onset of dehiscence (Meakin and Roberts J. Exp. Bot. 41(229) 995-1002 (1990) and J. Exp. Bot. 41(229) 1003-1011 (1990)). This process is agronomically important because it may result in the premature shedding of seed before the crop can be harvested. Adverse weather conditions can exacerbate the process resulting in a greater than 50% loss of seed. This loss of seed not only has a dramatic effect on yield but also results in the emergence of the crop as a weed in the subsequent growing season.
Attempts to solve this problem over the last 20 years have focused on the breeding of shatter-resistant varieties. The most commonly used method is by trying to introduce germplasm from related species by interspecific hybridisation. Related species such as B. nigra, B. juncea and B. campestris have been used for this purpose but resulting plants from these crosses are frequently sterile and lose favourable characteristics which have to be regained by back crossing. This is both time consuming and laborious. The interspecific hybridisation strategy also has to cope with transferring two or more genes which are recessive in action into each of the breeding lines. Indeed, even within B. campestris, different genetic backgrounds have revealed different numbers of genes to be important in shatter resistance. This has necessitated breeders performing test crosses at each generation during the attempt to produce elite material. These difficulties have been compounded by the fact that shattering is a difficult and time-consuming trait to assess in the field. All these factors may account for the fact that the conventional breeding approach has made no progress over the last twenty years.
Other methods employed to try and alleviate the problem include chemicals, in the form of desiccants and pod sealants. The most widely used method to try and prevent seed loss is the mechanical technique of swathing in order to get uniform desiccation of the crop and reduce shattering by wind which occurs in the upright crop.

Control of plant abscission and pod dehiscence


A high efficiency smart steering drilling system includes a smart push force application tool and a centralizer. The centralizer is at an end close to a drill bit. The smart push force application tool is at an end away from the drill bit and includes a push force application wing rib having a telescoping function. The smart push force application tool is capable of automatically measuring an inclination angle and an azimuth angle and comparing the inclination angle and the azimuth angle with design values so as to control the push force application wing rib to output a push force in a telescopic manner based on a difference between the measured values and the design values and applying a push force to the drill bit. The drilling system achieves combined deflection under double action of drill bit push and pointing, greatly improving the deflection capability.

How to enable a borehole to extend quickly and accurately along a designed track in a deep drilling process has become an important research topic in the drilling engineering field. A steering drilling system provides a guarantee for a borehole to extend quickly and accurately along a designed track. At present, there are two types of steering drilling systems and methods: (1) slide steering drilling system; and (2) rotary steering drilling system, where the rotary steering drilling system performs rotary drilling in the full process of trajectory control, lowering the difficulty of trajectory control and increasing the drilling speed. Thus, engineering personnel and on-site persons prefer it. However, there are still several problems with the rotary steering drilling technology to be studied and solved. The main problems are as follows: (1) the deflection capability of the steering drilling system is to be further improved; (2) the drilling life of the steering drilling system in a complex formation is still relatively short; (3) the drilling speed of the rotary steering drilling system has not have acceleration space; (4) the use effect of the steering drilling system is contradictory to near-bit measurement. Therefore, development of a steering drilling system with strong deflection capability, long working life and high rock-breaking speed is of great value for advancement of drilling technology as well as of great significance for high efficiency development of oil and gas resources. For this purpose, the present invention provides a high efficiency smart steering drilling system and a drilling method thereof. The drilling system has a strong deflection capability, long working life and high rock-breaking speed and thus can effectively solve the above technical problems of the existing drilling systems.

Efficient and intelligent steering drilling system and drilling method

CHINA UNIVERSITY OF PETROLEUM (EAST CHINA)


A driving method of a plasma display panel which has a plurality of row electrode pairs and a plurality of column electrode pairs arranged so as to intersect the row electrode pairs and form pixels at the respective intersecting sections, and which performs a display by using an address period in which a scanning pulse is applied to one of the pair of row electrodes and a pixel data pulse is applied to the column electrodes and a light-on/light-off pixel is selected in accordance with pixel data and a maintaining discharge period in which discharge maintaining pulses are alternately applied to the row electrode pair and the light-on/light-off pixel is maintained, wherein an electric potential of the column electrode is changed every pixel or every pixel group consisting of a plurality of pixels in the maintaining discharge period.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a method for driving a plasma display panel (PDP) of a surface discharge type of a matrix display system.
2. Related Background Art
In recent years, a practical use of a plasma display panel (PDP) is expected as a color display device of a large size and a thin type.
In the PDP, as is well known, electrode groups which mutually intersect are provided on the inside of a pair of substrates arranged so as to face each other through a discharge space and discharge cells are constructed at intersecting portions of the electrodes, and are selectively allowed to emit the light.
In a surface discharge type AC-PDP, for example, a plurality of maintaining electrode groups extending mutually in parallel are formed on the inner surface of the substrate on the display surface side and a dielectric layer and an MgO (magnesium oxide) layer are sequentially formed on the maintaining electrodes. Address electrodes are formed in parallel on the substrate on the back side so as to intersect the maintaining electrode pairs, a fluorescent material is formed on the address electrodes, and ribs are formed between the address electrodes. A mixture rare gas is filled in the discharge space.
The PDP operation is performed in a manner such that, for example, a predetermined voltage is first applied across the pair of maintaining electrodes, a discharge is started, a selection erasing pulse is subsequently applied to the address electrodes corresponding to discharge cells that are unnecessary for display, and wall charges in the dielectric layer are erased, thereby stopping the discharge.
Subsequently, a maintaining pulse lower than a discharge start voltage is applied to the maintaining electrode pair and the discharge is maintained with respect to the discharge cell corresponding to a display pixel. The fluorescent layer is excited by ultraviolet rays generated by the above operation and emits light. The MgO layer has functions for raising a secondary electron emission ratio and decreasing the discharge start voltage. By properly selecting a period of the maintaining pulse to maintain the discharge, a luminance of the display is adjusted.
In the surface discharge type AC-PDP, a scanning line is constructed by a set of (two) electrode lines and an alternating voltage is applied between the electrode lines, thereby forming a discharge. In this instance, the voltage is applied across the adjacent scanning lines so that polarities of the closest electrode lines are opposite because of a selectivity of the pixel.
In the AC-PDP of the surface discharge type, since transparent electrodes are used as maintaining electrodes, a resistivity is large. Hitherto, therefore, bus electrodes made of metal electrodes are further laminated in order to compensate a conductivity of the maintaining electrodes, thereby reducing a wiring resistance.
When the PDP is increases in size, however, since a wiring length of the metal electrode is long, the wiring resistance of the bus electrode itself cannot be also ignored.
In order to reduce the wiring resistance, it is considered that a width of the metal electrode is widened or a film thickness thereof is thickened. In the former case, since a ratio of shutting off the light emission in a unit light emitting region (discharge cell) increases, the luminance decreases. As the discharge cell size further decreases, its influence is conspicuous. In the latter case, since a film forming time becomes long, processing costs increase and, further, there is a limitation when the film is thickened by forming the film by an evaporation deposition.
In the AC-PDP, a current flowing in each discharge cell is not constant with respect to the time and is maximum in, for example, about hundreds of nanoseconds after the voltage pulse has been applied. After that, the current hardly flows in about hundreds of nanoseconds. In the maintaining discharge for the display (sustain discharge), since a pulse interval is equal to about a few microseconds, all of the discharge cells on one maintaining electrode pair (sustain line) are almost simultaneously discharged and currents almost simultaneously flow in all of the discharge cells.
The maximum value of the current of one maintaining electrode pair, therefore, is equal to a value added with the maximum value of the current flowing in each cell. A large current instantaneously flows in one maintaining electrode pair. The large instantaneous current causes a large voltage drop by a wiring resistance of the maintaining electrode, thereby deteriorating display characteristics.
As mentioned above, as a peak value of the discharge current is large, loads of a driving circuit and a power source of the AC-PDP increase and it is difficult to realize the large size of the PDP.

Method for driving a plasma display panel


A moving object detection device including a spatiotemporal data generation unit 120 generating time series data, which arranges data indicating a moving object along a temporal axis, based on an output from a camera 100, an inter-leg information unit 140 extracting based on the generated time series data, inter-leg information, which is information regarding a temporal change in an inter-leg area arising from movement of a moving object that has two or more legs, and a periodicity analysis unit 150 analyzing a periodicity within the extracted inter-leg information. Further, the moving object detection devices includes a moving object detection unit 160 generating, from the analyzed periodicity, movement information that includes the presence or lack thereof of a moving object.

The disclosure of Japanese Patent Application No. 2003-390557 filed on Nov. 20, 2003 including specification, drawings and claims, the disclosure of Japanese Patent Application No. 2004-232989 filed on Aug. 10, 2004, and the disclosure of PCT Application Number PCT/JP2004/015750 filed on Oct. 18, 2004 including specification, drawings and claims, are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Moving object detection device and moving object detection method


The present subject matter relates to a method which includes positioning a bottom and top polymeric separator sheet on a working surface, with a substantially planar battery anode disposed therebetween; applying a pressure and an electrical current to a cutting and welding tool such that top and bottom polymeric separator sheets are welded into a bag and such that the bag is excised from the top and bottom separator sheets, with the battery anode disposed in the bag; stacking the battery anode and at least one cathode into a battery stack; and disposing the battery stack into a battery case having at least one feedthrough, with a first terminal connected to the battery stack through the at least one feedthrough, and with the battery case filled with an electrolyte, wherein the protrusion is defined by laser cutting the cutting and welding tool, machining the cutting and welding tool, or photochemical etching the cutting and welding tool.

Energy storage components, such as batteries and capacitors, are used in a variety of electronic devices. As technology evolves, devices using these components consistently demand smaller component sizes. However, in meeting the demands of technology, these components cannot sacrifice performance. As such, the art requires energy storage components which are smaller, but which meet or exceed energy requirements.
In meeting these requirements, manufacturing improvements are needed. New manufacturing processes must manage new components efficiently, and reliably, enabling new configurations. To improve space efficiency, new manufacturing processes are needed to tailor components to their respective application. Hand tailoring of components, such as flexible sheets, can be labor intensive and time consuming. Thus a new automated system is needed which can efficiently tailor components for use. Further, what is needed is a tailoring system which is more reliable than hand tailoring.

Method and apparatus for concurrent welding and excise of battery separator


A stamp unit has a transparent film which protects a stamp surface of the stamp material at the time of transportation of the stamp unit, during storage until a user starts to produce a stamp after purchasing the stamp unit, and during production of the stamp plate. The transparent film is thermally adhered on the lower edge of the holder member and is capable of protecting the surface of the stamp material until the start of the stamp printing. The transparent film is capable of easily and economically adhering to the stamp material without adhering to a thermal adhesion jig.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a stamp unit having a holder member which is slidably disposed, in an axial, or up and down, direction within a skirt member and holds a stamp surface forming material at a lower end portion. A grip member is disposed on an upper portion of the holder member and moves the holder member downwardly. More specifically, this invention is a stamp unit having a transparent film which protects a stamp surface during transportation of the stamp unit, a period until a user starts to produce an original stamp plate using the stamp surface forming material after purchasing the stamp unit, and during production of the stamp plate. The transparent film is thermally adhered to a lower edge of the holder member, and is capable of protecting the stamp surface of the stamp material until the starting of stamp printing.
2. Description of the Related Art
Heretofore, several types of stamp units have been proposed. To focus on the method for producing a stamp plate used on such a stamp unit, stamp units will be classified into the following two groups. A type of stamp unit, for example, is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,483,880. Such a type of stamp unit has a grip portion, a stamp portion and a skirt member, the grip portion and the stamp portion are connected so that the stamp portion can be moved in an axial direction within the skirt member. A stamp material is installed covering the lower surface of an ink impregnated body. The stamp material comprises a thermal porous sheet having a porous substrate adhered to a thermoplastic film.
To produce a stamp plate capable of printing characters and images from the stamp material using such a stamp unit, the stamp unit is mounted on a stamp producing apparatus having a thermal head. The thermal porous sheet of the stamp material is perforated according to the desired characters by controlled heating of the thermal head, whereby the stamp plate is produced. After that, when printing characters and/or the image, if the grip portion is pressed downward under the condition that the stamp unit is disposed on a desired position of the printing sheet, ink impregnated by the ink impregnated body attaches to the printing sheet through the holes formed on the thermal porous sheet. Thereby, characters and/or the image can be printed.
A second type of stamp unit is described in European unexamined Patent-Application Publication No. EP 0 798 114, having a grip portion and a holder member. The holder member is connected to the grip portion. A stamp surface forming material is provided on the lower surface of the holder member.
The stamp surface forming material of the stamp unit comprises a porous resin layer. The porous resin layer is melted and solidified by being heated.
To produce this stamp surface forming material, a roll-shaped transparent film is transported within a stamp producing apparatus. As the film is transported, character and image data are printed thereon using a thermal head and an ink transfer ribbon to produce a positive copy of the desired stamp image. Then, the positive copy and the stamp surface forming material are set so as to oppose each other with a transparent acrylic plate provided therebetween. As the acrylic plate has higher melting point than that of the stamp surface forming material, when a light emitting member, such as a xenon tube or a laser light source, emits light under this condition, the lower portion of the stamp surface forming material is illuminated through the positive copy. Only the part of the lower portion of the stamp surface forming material, which is illuminated through the transparent portion of the positive copy, is melted and, as a result, solidified and sealed. The lower portion of the stamp surface forming material, which is neither melted nor solidified, remains as it is and is in the form of characters and the like of the desired image. Thereby, the stamp plate is produced on the stamp surface forming material. When the stamp unit is properly positioned, and the grip portion is pressed downward, the ink impregnated in the stamp surface forming material is exuded from the non melted-solidified portion and adheres to the printing sheet. Thus, the desired characters and/or image are printed.
In the second type of stamp unit, the stamp plate is directly produced on the stamp surface of the stamp surface forming material. Therefore, it is desirable to protect the stamp surface at the time of transportation of the stamp unit, during storage until a user starts to produce the stamp plate, and during production of the stamp plate. One way to protect the stamp surface of the stamp surface forming material would be to fix a protection film on the holder member. As one method to fix the protection film thereon, it is possible to provide an adhesive layer on the holder member and to adhere the film on the holder member. However, in such the case, there is a possibility that the adhesive layer has an adverse affect on the stamp surface of the stamp surface forming material. As a result, there is a problem that one cannot obtain an accurate stamp plate according to the positive copy. Therefore, up to the current time, the protection film is closely contacted with the stamp surface of the stamp surface forming material. However, the protection film is easily peeled off, because it is only closely contacted and it is not enough to protect the stamp surface of the stamp surface forming material.
Further, as a method to fit the stamp surface forming material with the holder member, it is common that the outer periphery of the stamp surface forming material is thermally adhered to the holder member using a thermal adhesion jig. However, the stamp surface forming material and the holder member include resin materials, so there is a problem that the resin materials adhere to the thermal adhesion jig at the time of thermal adhesion. In order to prevent adhesion to the thermal adhesion jig, measures are taken to specially treat the thermal adhesion jig, or to conduct the thermal adhesion with the intervening heat-resistant film between the stamp surface forming material and the holding member. However, to specially treat the thermal adhesion jig causes a jump in the stamp unit price, and to conduct the thermal adhesion with the intervening heat-resistant film between the stamp surface forming material and the holding member is complicated work, and prevents a smooth thermal adhesion.


A hydraulic drive system comprises a hydraulic actuator comprising a piston reciprocable between two cylinder heads for actuating a machine. A flow switching device reverses the direction of hydraulic fluid flow to and from chambers on opposite sides of the piston. The piston stops at the end of each piston stroke when a shuttle valve associated with the piston opens to allow hydraulic fluid to flow between the chambers cancelling the differential pressure that acts on the piston to cause reciprocal movement. A controller is programmed to determine when the piston reaches the end of each stroke based upon at least one of hydraulic pump speed, hydraulic fluid pressure, or elapsed time, with each of these measured during each stroke. The controller then sends an electronic signal to command the flow switching device to reverse the direction of hydraulic fluid flow.

Hydraulic drive systems that employ a reciprocating piston can be employed to provide reciprocating actuation for a wide variety of applications. With such drive systems, the hydraulic piston travels within a cylinder between two opposite cylinder heads. To move the hydraulic piston in one direction hydraulic fluid is delivered from a hydraulic pump to a first chamber that is associated with one side of the hydraulic piston while hydraulic fluid is drained from a second chamber that is associated with the other side of the hydraulic piston. To reverse the direction that the hydraulic piston is traveling, the hydraulic fluid flow direction is reversed so that hydraulic fluid is drained from the first chamber and hydraulic fluid from the hydraulic pump is delivered to the second chamber. A piston rod is attached to the hydraulic piston at one end and to the machine to be driven at the other end, and in this way, the hydraulic drive system can provide reciprocating movement to the machine to which it is operatively connected. For many applications, the efficiency and performance of the machine depends upon the hydraulic piston traveling a consistent distance in each actuation stroke. An example of a machine with such a requirement is a reciprocating piston pump because the hydraulic drive system drives a reciprocating pump piston and the efficiency and performance of such a pump relies upon a consistent pump piston stroke that reduces dead volume at the end of each power stroke. Accordingly, there is a need for hydraulic drive systems with hydraulic piston actuators that can provide piston strokes of consistent length.
Hydraulic cylinders can be designed with a piston stop that provides a physical limit for stopping the piston at the cylinder head or at a shoulder near the cylinder head. However, to reduce noise, wear and/or to prevent more severe damage to the piston stop, a means of detecting when the piston has reached the piston stop is needed so that the hydraulic fluid flow can be reversed to switch the direction of piston movement.
Conventional hydraulic actuators are known to employ position sensors, such as magnetic switches, for detecting when the actuator piston has reached the piston stop that defines the end of a piston stroke. When the position sensor detects the hydraulic piston the sensor sends a signal to a controller and the controller commands a flow-switching valve to reverse the hydraulic fluid flow so that the hydraulic piston reverses direction. A disadvantage of such conventional arrangements is that it requires at least one position sensor that adds to the cost of the system. With conventional arrangements such as this it can also be difficult to adjust the timing for reversing hydraulic fluid flow responsive to changes in hydraulic fluid flow rate, which affects piston velocity. In addition, conventional systems like this often require a pressure relief valve to prevent over-pressurization of the hydraulic system, for example, if there is a malfunction of the position sensor.
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. US2003/0079603 A1 (application Ser. No. 10/317,311), entitled "System For Controlling Hydraulic Actuator" discloses a method whereby a fluid flow sensor is employed to measure the hydraulic fluid flow traveling into and out of the hydraulic actuator cylinder. With the known dimensions of the hydraulic actuator cylinder it is possible to measure the hydraulic fluid flow rate and calculate the position of the piston. With this information it is also possible to calculate the velocity of the piston and the direction of movement. However, fluid flow sensors are relatively expensive, and in a hydraulic system that employs a plurality of actuators, a fluid flow sensor is needed for each actuator. Also, the precision of such a system is dependent very much upon the accuracy of the fluid flow sensor.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,213,298 (the '298 patent) discloses a self-reversing hydraulic control system that uses only mechanical devices for reversing hydraulic fluid flow. A special flow-sensing valve senses changes in hydraulic fluid pressure that are indicative of when the hydraulic piston has come against a physical limit. The flow-sensing valve diverts hydraulic fluid to flow to valves that hydraulically actuate a hydraulic fluid flow-switching device that reverses hydraulic fluid flow to reverse the direction of movement of the hydraulic piston. In the '298 patent, the inventors claim that their invention is particularly advantageous for marine applications where electrical components can be adversely affected by long term exposure to salt air and salt water. Another feature noted by the '298 patent is that the flow-sensing valve also operates to change the hydraulic piston direction when the hydraulic piston is blocked by an obstacle before completing a piston stroke. However, a disadvantage of this solution is that it requires more mechanical components, which require more space, add more weight to the system, and add to manufacturing and maintenance costs.
Canadian Patent No. 1,247,984 discloses a valve for use with hydraulic ram assemblies. The valve operates to inhibit fluid by-pass through the piston when the piston changes direction as a result of either shock loading or intentionally high operational loading. According to the '984 patent, the sudden or abrupt change in direction of the piston can be responsible for reverse flow or by-pass of fluid from the non-pressure side of the piston to the pressure side, before and/or after impact or contact with the pushrod and cylinder end. An objective of the valve disclosed by the '984 patent is to alleviate fluid leakage or by-pass through the piston by providing a valve that comprise a chamber that is held closed to the low pressure side and that can open to the pressure side responsive to a pressure pulse caused by shock loading. The disclosed valve comprises two valve members that are each biased in respected closed positions by a spring. By allowing hydraulic fluid to flow into the valve chamber, the valve acts as a means for relieving hydraulic pressure and reducing the magnitude of the pressure pulses in the high-pressure side. Hydraulic fluid can flow through the valve when the piston is at the end of a piston stroke. A disadvantage of the valve disclosed by the '984 patent is the number of parts. In addition, the '984 patent does disclose a method of controlling the timing for switching piston direction.
Accordingly, there is a need for a simpler, less expensive hydraulic system and method of effectively controlling the reversal of piston movement at the end of each piston stroke, without the use of position sensors, flow rate sensors, or special flow-sensing valves.

Hydraulic drive system and method of operating a hydraulic drive system