Measures for use in generating path configuration data for an optical network. A least cost path calculation process is performed on a network graph representation of the optical network to generate path configuration data for the optical network. Performing the least cost path calculation process comprises performing a network graph expansion process on the network graph representation of the optical network to obtain an expanded network graph representation of the optical network. Performing the network graph expansion process comprises determining data identifying the possible expansion paths to each optical node, the cost of each path and the available wavelengths for each path, grouping together wavelength and path data for paths of equal cost, and at one or more nodes, identifying a subset of one or more wavelengths and performing a wavelength pruning operation.

1. Field of the Invention
The present disclosure relates to optical networks. In particular, but not exclusively, the present disclosure relates to generating path configuration data for optical networks.
2. Description of the Related Technology
Core optical networks for large Internet service providers may consist of very large numbers of network elements (optical routers, switches, etc.) with complex inter-connectivity. Managing these networks to set up dedicated Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) routes between two nodes is a complex task. As the network size increases, the complexity of calculating these routes becomes a Non-deterministic Polynomial-time hard (NP-hard) problem and finding an exact solution computationally becomes unfeasible. Quite often, a network engineer will plan routes by pen-and-paper.
Simplifications in the network representation may be used to calculate computationally near-optimal routes in these complex networks. New ways to simplify the calculation allow computational path calculations that can yield better results than pen-and-paper optimization.
The well-known Dijsktra algorithm can be used to solve least cost paths through simple networks consisting of a set of nodes and weighted links joining the nodes. Optical networks, whilst consisting of a set of nodes (optical switches, amplifiers, etc.) and links (optical links) there-between, are more difficult to handle because they have added degrees of freedom, for example the use of different wavelengths to transmit data along the same link and the ability of the node to either pass-through the wavelength, retransmit the data over a different wavelength or re-pack the data into a new or existing wavelength.
In one scenario, a wavelength is either passed through an optical node directly, i.e. the ingress wavelength is the same as the egress wavelength. In another scenario, an ingress wavelength is converted to a different wavelength at the egress (which may or may not require repacking/reframing of the data). The former scenario is referred to herein as wavelength pass-through and the latter scenario is referred to herein as wavelength conversion.
One known mechanism for generating path configuration data with least cost routing is to represent the network as a graph, where the network graph is expanded to have separate edges for each available wavelength between two nodes. With a large number of available wavelengths on a single fiber, such an expanded graph representation may become excessively large increasing dramatically the network complexity. In some cases, the added complexity may render least cost routing incalculable within a reasonable timeframe.


A developing device includes a developer carrier, a developing case and a toner cartridge. The toner cartridge includes a toner case including a first opening and a first blocking member. The developing case includes a second opening, a second blocking member and an opening/closing member. The opening/closing member is swingable among a first position where the toner cartridge is detached from the developing case and the second opening is closed, a second position where the toner cartridge is attached to the developing case and the first opening and the second opening are communicate with each other, and a third position between the first position and the second position where the toner cartridge is attached to the developing case and the first opening and the second opening are closed. The opening/closing member swings from the first position to the third position when the toner cartridge is attached to the developing case.

There has been proposed a developing device of a laser printer in which a toner cartridge is detachably attached to a developing case, and opening/closing operations of a first blocking member that closes a first opening of the toner cartridge are interlocked with those of a second blocking member that closes a second opening of the developing case in order to prevent a toner from unnecessarily leaking.
JP-A-7-225514 discloses a developing device in which a case has a pair of right and left blankets, a second shutter is attached to an arm which is swingably disposed on boss portions of outer peripheries of support grooves of the blankets, and a first shutter is disposed on a lever which is swung about a support shaft of the toner cartridge. The support shaft of the toner cartridge is fitted into support grooves of the developing case. When the lever of the toner cartridge is swung in this state, an engaging projection disposed on the lever of the toner cartridge swings the arm of the developing case, thereby openingly/closingly swing the first shutter and the second shutter in an overlapping state.
In such a configuration, when the lever is accidentally swung in a state where the toner cartridge is detached from the developing case, the first shutter is swung to open a toner discharging port, thereby causing the possibility that a toner in the toner cartridge may leak. Also in the developing case which is in a state where the toner cartridge is detached, when the arm is accidentally swung, the second shutter is swung to open a toner introducing port. Thus, a toner may be leaked from a stirring chamber.
Thus, in the toner cartridge disclosed by JP-A-7-225514, when the toner cartridge is detached from the developing device, the first shutter is maintained to close the toner discharging port by a first locking mechanism. In the developing device, the second shutter is maintained to close the toner introducing port by a second locking mechanism. Therefore, if the toner cartridge is detached from the developing device, the first locking mechanism and the second locking mechanism prevent the first shutter and the second shutter from being accidentally swung to cause the toner to leak from the interior of the toner cartridge and the stirring chamber of the developing device.
However, each of the first locking mechanism and the second locking mechanism disclosed in JP-A-7-225514 is configured by a locking member and a screw. Further, the first locking mechanism and the second locking mechanism are configured separately from the first or second shutter. In order to respectively attach the locking mechanisms to the first shutter and the second shutter, a push pin and an engaging hole must be formed in each of the first shutter and the second shutter. Thus, structure of the toner cartridge and the developing case may be complicated.


A throttle valve of a diving respirator, wherein an orifice valve is inserted slidably in a hole of a cylindrical valve body, an orifice is formed in said valve body so as to communicate a gas outlet and a gas inlet formed on the valve body, and a gas passage is formed between the gas outlet and the gas inlet, which is opened only when a gas pressure in the gas inlet is elevated to a predetermined valve so that the orifice valve is moved relative to the valve body.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an improvement in a throttle valve of a diving respirator.
2. Description of the Prior Art
FIG. 1 is a view explaining a respirable gas supply passage of a conventional diving respirator. Reference numeral 1 denotes a gas passage through which a respirable gas, such as oxygen reduced in pressure to a predetermined value is supplied, 2 is a first gas pressure detecting gauge for detecting a gas pressure in said gas passage 1, 3 is a first throttle valve having an orifice, 4 is a second gas pressure detecting gauge for detecting a gas pressure reduced by said first throttle valve 3, 5 is a second throttle valve having an orifice, and 6 is a mouth piece unit to which the respirable gas reduced in pressure by said second throttle valve 5 is supplied.
In such diving respirator, the degree of reduction in pressure of gas reduced by said first throttle valve 3 is indicated as a pressure difference between the first and second gas pressure detecting gauges 2 and 4 in the normal state. In case that the orifice of the first throttle valve 3 is clogged up, the second gas pressure detecting gauge 4 shows zero pressure. In case that the orifice of the second throttle valve 5 is clogged up, the first and second gas pressure detecting gauges 2 and 4 show the same pressure. Accordingly, a diver can recognize the fact from the indications of said two gauges 2 and 4.
FIG. 2 is a sectional view of the throttle valve 3 or 5 of the conventional diving respirator, wherein reference numeral 7 is a cylindrical valve body having a center hole, 8 is a gas outlet communicated to said center hole and opened at opposite portions of an outer peripheral surface of the valve body 7, 9 is a gas inlet communicated to said center hole and opened at one end surface of the valve body 7, 10 is a lid mounted to the other end surface of the valve body 7, 11 is an orifice valve inserted into said center hole of the valve body 7, 12 is an orifice passing through the center portion of said orifice valve 11 and communicated to said gas outlet 8 at one end thereof and gas inlet 9 at the other end thereof, 13 is a compression spring inserted between said lid 10 and orifice valve 11, 14 is an elastic film made of a rubber or the like fitted to the outer peripheral surface of said valve body 7 so as to close both ends of said gas outlet 8 of the valve body 7, and 15 and 16 are O rings for hermetically seal. Said elastic cover serves as a non-return valve.
In such conventional throttle valve 3 or 5, when gas is supplied to the gas inlet 9 of the valve body 7 from the gas passage 1, the gas is passed through said orifice 12 of the orifice valve 11 and reduced in pressure and exhausted to the outside through the gas outlet 8 and a gap formed between the outer peripheral surface of the valve body 7 and the elastic film 14 against the resilient force of the elastic film 14.
As stated above, in order to detect the clog of the throttle valve 3 or 5, it is necessary to watch always indications of said two gas pressure detecting gauges 2 and 4 of the conventional diving respirator. However, such watching is very difficult for the general diver and it is very dangerous if the diver continues the diving without knowing the clog of the throttle valve.


One aspect of the disclosure provides an optical wavelength conversion member including a polycrystalline ceramic sintered body containing, as main components, Al2O3 crystal grains and crystal grains represented by formula (Y,A)3B5O12:Ce. In the optical wavelength conversion member, a (Y,A)3B5O12:Ce crystal grain has a region wherein the A concentration of a peripheral portion of the (Y,A)3B5O12:Ce crystal grain is higher than that of an interior portion of the (Y,A)3B5O12:Ce crystal grain. Thus, the optical wavelength conversion member exhibits high fluorescence intensity (i.e., high emission intensity) and high heat resistance (i.e., low likelihood of temperature quenching). The optical wavelength conversion member has a structure wherein the element A concentration of a peripheral portion of a (Y,A)3B5O12:Ce crystal grain differs from that in an interior portion of the crystal grain. This structure can achieve a ceramic fluorescent body exhibiting superior fluorescent characteristics and superior thermal characteristics with varied colors of emitted light.

A head lamp, a projector, a lighting apparatus, or a similar apparatus generally includes a device for achieving white light through wavelength conversion, by means of a fluorescent body (i.e., a light wavelength conversion member), of blue light emitted from a light-emitting diode (LED) or a laser diode (LD).
Hitherto, the matrix or material of the fluorescent body (or a phosphor) has been, for example, a resin material or a glass material. In accordance with a trend for using a high-output light source in recent years, the phosphor is required to have higher durability. Thus, ceramic phosphors have received attention.
Known ceramic phosphors are formed of a Ce-activated garnet (A3B5O12) component, such as Y3Al5O12:Ce (YAG:Ce).
For example, Patent Documents 1 and 2 disclose a technique for forming an Al2O3-YAG:Ce composite material exhibiting improved heat resistance and thermal conductivity.

Optical wavelength conversion member and light-emitting device


The invention relates to vectors comprising nucleic acid sequences encoding transcriptional repressor silencing element binding factor referred as “SEBF”, transformed vegetal host and plants comprising said vectors. The invention also relates to methods of altering resistance of a plant to pathogens with SEBF encoding nucleic acids.

A) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a plant gene regulatory element and its uses, and more particularly to a silencing element for modulating plant responses to pathogens, auxin and ethylene. The invention also relates to transcriptional repressors which specifically binds onto the silencing element of the invention, including a protein referred herein after as "SEBF".
B) Brief Description of the Prior Art
A variety of defense specific events are induced in plants in response to pathogen infection. Although key components of the signaling cascades are being discovered, few transcription factors that integrate these signals at the transcriptional level have been identified up to date.
PR genes are plant genes that are induced by pathogen invasion. These genes are subdivided into 11 classes. Since PR genes are well characterized, they provide excellent models to study transcriptional regulation of defense genes.
The PR-10 gene family is one of the classes of PR genes. Expression studies have identified cis-acting elements involved in PR-10a gene regulation, a member of the PR-10 gene family. An elicitor response element (ERE) located between nucleotides −135 and −105 is essential and sufficient for elicitor induced expression of PR-10a. PBF-2, a single-stranded DNA binding factor, appears to play a role in activation of PR-10a from the ERE. It has been shown that the presence of the ERE is sufficient for PR-10a activation, removal of the silencing element (SE), located between −52 and −27, leads to further activation, suggesting that SE participates, with the ERE, in the regulation of PR-10a (Matton et al, 1993; Després et al., 1995). However, the exact nucleic acid sequence required for full SE activity has never been given. Furthermore, the identity of the transcriptional repressor specifically binding to the silencing element (SE) of PR-10a is also unknown.
Accordingly, there is a need for an isolated or purified nucleic acid comprising a sequence coding for full of SE activity and to the use thereof for modulating activity of genes, and more particularly genes involved in plant responses to pathogen such as PR-10a gene. There is also a need for methods and genetically modified plants wherein the nucleic acid of the invention has been introduced or wherein the sequence coding for full SE activity has been mutated, deleted, or silenced, thereby modulating the plant defense mechanisms and resistance to pathogens.
There is also a long felt need for a transcriptional repressor that is capable of modulating plant defense mechanisms and resistance to pathogens and more particularly for a transcriptional repressor capable to specifically bind the isolated or purified nucleic acid of the invention. There is also a need for methods and genetically modified plants wherein levels of the transcriptional repressor of the invention have been modulated.
There is a further need for effective methods and compositions to modulate plant resistance or tolerance to pathogens, and/or to modulate plant response to auxin and/or to ethylene.
The present invention fulfills these needs and also other needs which will be apparent to those skilled in the art upon reading the following specification.

Expression vectors comprising nucleic acids encoding SEBF proteins and uses thereof


A light load air delivery system for an internal combustion engine having a cylinder head defining at least one intake port selectively opened by a poppet valve which is biased against a valve seat area of the cylinder head. The light load air delivery system includes an intake duct and a controllable valve. A light load air intake passage operates to communicate intake air from the intake duct to the controllable valve. Additionally, a light load air intake manifold is configured to selectively receive intake air from the controllable valve. A feed passage receives the intake air from the light load air intake manifold and communicates the intake air to the respective one of the at least one intake ports at a point substantially adjacent to the valve seat area. In a preferred embodiment, the light load air intake manifold is integral to said intake manifold.

Typical automotive internal combustion engines utilize an idle air control system for the control or stabilization of engine speed during idle operation. Such a system may have an electrically operated valve assembly, which modulates the air passing through a conduit, which bridges the throttle plate, contained within a throttle body, of the air intake to the engine. Internal combustion engine idle air control systems typically meter inlet air to the intake manifold of the engine in response to a difference between actual engine speed and a relatively low target engine speed. Change in engine torque load, for example resulting from change in engine driven accessory load, can force engine speed away from the target speed.
Certain engine torque load changes can occur very rapidly. For example, a step change in torque load can occur during certain transient maneuvers. To reject such rapid torque load changes, the idle air control system must be very responsive. To compensate for an engine load change, a corresponding change in engine torque is administered by changing an amount of fuel and air admitted to engine cylinders. The idle air control system provides for a desired time rate of change in intake air. The fuel control system reacts to the time rate of change in intake air to provide a corresponding time rate of change in injected fuel.

Light load air delivery system for an internal combustion engine


A cryocooler is provided that includes: a regenerator piston; a drive coupler; and a link flexure having a proximal end coupled by a first pin to the drive coupler and having a distal end coupled by a second pin to the regenerator piston, where the link flexure forms a vane having flattened opposing faces that are orthogonal to a longitudinal axis for the first and second pin.

Cryocoolers systems are used, for example, to cool infrared sensors during operation. A cryocooler system typically includes a reciprocating compression piston and a reciprocating regenerator/displacer piston. In some cryocooler systems a single rotary motor is used to drive both pistons. Such systems include a first drive coupling disposed between a shaft of the rotary motor and the compression piston and a second drive coupling disposed between the shaft of the rotary motor and the regenerator piston. Rotation of the motor shaft is coupled to each piston thereby reciprocally driving each piston within a drive cylinder. The reciprocating motion of the pistons are out of phase with each other.
It is a conventional problem that the piston drive couplings induce vibrations in the cryocooler system. These vibrations are coupled to the infrared sensor and can degrade image quality. It is particularly problematic when the piston drive couplings excite elements of the cryocooler system at their natural frequency. It is a further problem that the piston drive couplings generate undesirable audible noise. Undesirable vibrations and audible noise are partially caused by excess looseness and also by misalignment of the coupling elements.
To reduce excess play and improve audible noise, it is conventional to tighten coupling element mechanical joint fit tolerances. For example, the drive coupling drives the regenerator piston through a regenerator link that attaches to the drive coupling through a connecting pin. The drive coupling, the regenerator link, and the regenerator piston thus each have corresponding bearings to receive the connecting pins. The clearance between the connecting pin bearings and the connecting pins represents a common type of mechanical joint fit tolerance that is tightened to reduce excess play and noise. However, as this clearance is reduced towards zero, the ever tighter mechanical coupling leads to regenerator link failure due to high stresses induced by misalignment leading to bending stresses. Such a close tolerance may cause the cooler to operate at maximum input power and maximum rpm, leading to accelerated failure of other moving parts such as ball bearing, linkages and related components. In particular, small misalignments between the motor drive shaft longitudinal axis and the regenerator piston longitudinal axis (ideally, the alignment is perfectly orthogonal) forces the regenerator link to bend in a cyclical fashion as the drive coupling actuates. The regenerator link is thus subject to cyclical stress in a misaligned cryocooler, which leads to material fatigue or catastrophic failure of the connecting rod. But due to real-world manufacturing tolerance issues, it is unfeasible to guarantee that the motor shaft longitudinal axis is perfectly orthogonal to the regenerator piston longitudinal axis. The resulting cyclical bending of the linkage results in rubbing of the expander displacer against the inner cylinder walls, which leads to frictional build-up of heat at the cold end and thus reduced cooling capacity. In addition, the cylinder wall rubbing increases noise significantly.
Accordingly there is a need in the art for improved mechanical cryocooler linkages that enable tightened mechanical tolerances without inducing excessive bending stresses. In addition, there is a need in the art for improved mechanical cryocooler linkages that enable tightened mechanical tolerances while providing increased cooling capacity and noise reduction.


An ink jet printer is provided with an ink jet head and a controller. The ink jet head comprises a nozzle, an ink chamber communicating with the nozzle, a pressure chamber located between the nozzle and the ink chamber, and an actuator that changes volume of the pressure chamber. The controller controls the actuator to perform a first performance. The first performance includes a first change in which the volume of the pressure chamber increases and a second change in which the volume of the pressure chamber decreases. A period from the first change to the second change is 2/3×AL or below, or within a range between (2s−1/2)×AL and (2s+2/3)×AL, s is a positive integer. Discharging speed of ink discharged from the nozzle is substantially maximum if the period from the first change to the second change is set to AL.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an ink jet printer. The present invention further relates to a method for controlling the ink jet printer, and to a computer program product for executing that method.
The ink jet printer of the present invention includes an devices for printing words, images, etc. by discharging ink towards a print medium. For example, the ink jet printer of the present invention includes copying machines, fax machines, multifunctional products, etc.
2. Description of the Related Art
An ink jet printer has an ink jet head. Usually, the ink jet head has a nozzle, an ink chamber, a pressure chamber, and an actuator. The nozzle discharges ink toward a print medium. The ink chamber houses ink. The nozzle communicates with the ink chamber. The pressure chamber is disposed between the nozzle and the ink chamber. The actuator faces the pressure chamber. Usually, a piezoelectric element is used as the actuator.
Pulse signals that have at least two levels (high voltage and low voltage) are applied to the piezoelectric element. For example, a pulse signal having a high voltage, this being a base voltage, is applied. The piezoelectric element to which the pulse signal is applied changes voltage in the sequence: high voltage, low voltage, high voltage. When the piezoelectric element changes from high voltage to low voltage, the piezoelectric element deforms away from the pressure chamber. The volume of the pressure chamber thus increases, and pressure within the pressure chamber is decreased. Ink is drawn from the ink chamber into the pressure chamber. When the piezoelectric element changes from low voltage to high voltage, the piezoelectric element deforms towards the pressure chamber. The volume of the pressure chamber thus decreases, and pressure within the pressure chamber is increased. The pressurized ink is discharged from the nozzle. Usually, one ink droplet is discharged from the nozzle when one pulse signal is applied to the piezoelectric element.
An ink jet printer having the above configuration is taught in U.S. Pat. No. 6,808,254.
If ink dries out within an ink passage between the ink chamber and the nozzle, the ink may not be discharged correctly from the nozzle. The present invention uses a new technique to prevent the ink from drying out within an ink passage.

Ink jet printer, controlling method for an ink jet printer, and computer program product therefor


A piezoelectric composition comprises a plurality of crystal particles, wherein the piezoelectric composition includes bismuth, iron, barium, titanium, and oxygen; the crystal particle include a core and a shell having a contents of bismuth higher than that in the core and covering the core; and the total area of the cross sections of the cores exposed to the cross section of the piezoelectric composition is expressed as SCORE, the total area of the cross sections of the shells exposed to the cross section of the piezoelectric composition is expressed as SSHELL, and 100·SCORE/(SCORE+SSHELL) is 50 to 90.

A perovskite-type metal oxide is known as a common piezoelectric composition. The composition of a perovskite-type metal oxide is represented by ABO3. A perovskite-type piezoelectric composition is, for example, lead zirconate titanate (Pb(Zr,Ti)O3). The Curie temperature (Tc) of lead zirconate titanate (PZT) is high, and the piezoelectric constant (d33) of PZT is high. However, PZT is harmful to the environment or the human body because it includes lead as an element in the A site. The piezoelectric composition not including lead is required in view of influence on the environment or the human body.
A specific example of a piezoelectric composition not using lead is bismuth ferrite (BiFeO3) described in the following Non Patent Literature 1. The Tc of bismuth ferrite (BFO) is high, and BFO exhibits large spontaneous polarization. However, with BFO alone, the anisotropy is high and the leakage current is large, so sufficient piezoelectric performance (for example, piezoelectric constant d33) is not obtained.
Therefore, a piezoelectric composition where the Tc is high and the d33 is high is required. A binary compound composed of barium titanate and bismuth ferrite is disclosed in the following Non Patent Literature 2. A ternary compound composed of barium titanate, bismuth ferrite and bismuth magnesate titanate is disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2013-191751. A method for producing a piezoelectric body having the piezoelectricity improved from aggregates of ceramic particles in which the crystal orientation is aligned by a magnetic field is disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2013-95627.    [Non Patent Literature 1] Tadej Rojac et al., "Strong ferroelectric domain-wall pinning in BiFeO3 ceramics", JOURNAL OF APPLIED PHYSICS, 108, 074107, 2010.    [Non Patent Literature 2] Zhenyong Cen et al., "Effect of sintering temperature on microstructure and piezoelectric properties of Pb-free BiFeO3—BaTiO3 ceramics in the composition range of large BiFeO3 concentrations", J Electroceram, 31, p. 15-20, 2013.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Piezoelectric composition and piezoelectric device


A plurality of programmable logic devices are connected in parallel to a programming command generator. A device selector connects individual devices with the programming command generator, thereby permitting the individual devices to be programmed without routing the programming data through other devices. In an alternative embodiment, an identification code is used to place the individual device in a condition to receive programming data. Using the teachings of this invention, programming data may initially be entered into a plurality of devices, and then the data entered in all the devices may be used to program the devices simultaneously. This procedure requires less time than entering data and giving each device the execute command in sequence.

In-system programmable (ISP) logic devices offer the advantage that they may be programmed in place, without removing them from the system in which they are connected. This saves time and makes them particularly suitable for systems that are dynamically reconfigurable.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,870,302 illustrates (FIGS. 8A and 8B) two systems for programming a group of ISP devices. In each system, the ISP are connected in series, so that the programming data must be transferred through each device in the series before arriving at the intended destination device. Similarly, U.S. application Ser. No. 07/695,356, commonly owned and incorporated by reference herein, describes an arrangement for programming a group of ISP devices that are connected in series. These arrangements suffer from the disadvantage that the devices can only be programmed one at a time and that the data must often be routed through several devices before it reaches its destination.

Arrangement for parallel programming of in-system programmable IC logical devices


An apparatus includes a housing defining a chamber in which an electric field is generated, and an internal member provided in the chamber. At least one part of the internal member is formed of a dielectric material. A process is executed in the chamber so that a dielectric deposit is formed on the at least one part of the internal member. An m1(d∈1/dm1) value of the dielectric material and an m2(d∈2/dm2) value of the dielectric deposit are set so that production of particles from the deposit is properly controlled. The term m1 is a mass density of the dielectric material, ∈1 is a permittivity of the dielectric material, m2 is a mass density of the dielectric deposit, and ∈2 is a permittivity of the dielectric deposit.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus which involves generation of an electric field or a magnetic filed, and more particularly relates to such an apparatus in which manufacture, measurement or examination is carried out in the electric field or the magnetic field so that all object to be manufactured, measured or examined can be protected from being contaminated with particles produced in the apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
As a representative apparatus which involves generation of an electric field or a magnetic field, there are a plasma etching apparatus, a chemical vapor deposition (CVD) apparatus, a plasma sputtering apparatus, a focused ion beam (FIB) apparatus, an electron beam (EB) exposure apparatus, an electron microscopic apparatus and so on.
For example, the plasma etching apparatus is used to process an object to manufacture electronic devices. When the electronic devices are semiconductor devices, the object may be a semiconductor wafer. Also, when the electronic devices are liquid crystal display (LCD) panels, the object may be a glass substrate.
The plasma etching apparatus includes a housing having a bottom wall section, a side wall section and a top wall section which define a processing chamber. The plasma etching apparatus also includes an object stage provided in the processing chamber, a lower electrode incorporated in the object stage, and an upper electrode provided in the processing chamber so as to oppose the lower electrode. Note that the lower and upper electrodes are usually coated with a suitable dielectric material so that dielectric layers are formed thereon.
In operation, the object to be processed is mounted on the object stage, and a suitable etching gas is introduced into the processing chamber while applying a radio frequency (RF) voltage between the lower and upper electrodes to generate a plasma in the processing chamber, whereby the object is subjected to a plasma etching process.
Generally, during the etching process, reaction products, which are derived from the etching gas and the materials of the object, are produced and deposited on various internal members such as the object stage, the lower and upper electrodes, the wall sections of the housing and so on, so that reaction product deposits are formed as dielectric deposits on the internal members.
When the dielectric deposits are peeled from the internal members, many particles are produced in the processing chamber so that the object may be contaminated with the particles, resulting in occurrence of defects in the manufactured electronic devices.
As disclosed in, for example, JP-2003-068708 A and JP-2005-101539 A, the peeling of the dielectric deposits may be caused due to the fact that the dielectric deposits exist in an electric field defined between the lower and upper electrodes.
In particular, as disclosed in JP-2003-068708 A and JP-2005-101539 A, when reaction product deposits or dielectric deposits formed on an internal member exist in the electric field, they are subjected to a force which is defined by the following equation:F=ρE−(½)E2∇∈+(½)∇[E2m(d∈/dm)]wherein F is a force exerted on the dielectric deposits per unit volume, ρ is a density of true electric charge of the dielectric deposits, E is an electric field generated between the lower and upper electrodes, m is a mass density of the dielectric deposits, and ∈ is a permittivity of the dielectric deposits.
In the aforesaid equation, the first term "ρE", represents a Coulomb force per unit volume, but the Coulomb force per unit volume can be ignored because the true electric charge density essentially does not exist in the dielectric deposits.
Also, the second term "(½)E2∇∈" represents a Maxwell stress, and the third term "(½)∇[E2m(d∈/dm)]" represents a Helmholtz stress.
JP-2003-068708 A discloses that the production of the particles in the processing chamber can be suppressed by controlling the Maxwell stress and the Helmholtz stress.
On the other hand, JP-2005-101539 A is directed to a cleaning method for the processing chamber by utilizing the Maxwell stress. Namely, it is disclosed that the Maxwell stress can be utilized to effectively remove the dielectric deposits from the internal members.

Object-processing apparatus controlling production of particles in electric field or magnetic field


The present disclosure relates to a packaging material comprising a core material layer having an area radially extending from an edge of a hole in said core material layer, wherein said area has a linearly or non-linearly decreasing core material layer thickness towards the edge of the hole. The disclosure further relates to a method for production of such a packaging material, and uses thereof.

Product containers with caps or closures are well known. Upon production of packaging materials which later are folded into product containers, sensitive areas may arise where different components and/or layers of the packaging material interact.
Packaging materials may comprise different layers. As an example, a packaging material may comprise a paperboard with at least one decorative layer applied on one side thereof making up the outer surface of the packaging, and comprising a polymeric composition or layer on its other side, optionally a protective film e.g. being aluminium, and an inner layer being in contact with the product intended to be contained in the product container. If the product container is to be adapted for a cap or a closure, adjustments to the packaging material needs to be made. It is known that before application of any additional layers to the paperboard, the paperboard is adapted to the later application of a cap by incorporation of a hole for that purpose. Such cap and closure holes often display weaknesses or sensitive areas when applying subsequent layers e.g. due to adhesion problems between the additional layers at and around the location of the hole,
Also, air entrapment in the form of air pockets may be generated during lamination of the packaging materials resulting in less than ideal adhesion between the material layers covering the hole. If a hole is made in the core material, air may be trapped upon application of film materials, such as lamination products, at the edges of the hole as the laminated material may not always follow the edges of the holes fully. A hole is normally punched in the core material by an orthogonal pusher at a right angle to the packaging material surface.
Poor layer adhesion is the root cause of many packaging defects but also limits productions speeds and may enforce use of excessive amounts of metal foils and polymer coatings.
It would be desirable to find new ways and products to allow for better interaction between the components of a packaging container in order to reduce defects stemming from their interaction.
There is a demand for new packaging materials and methods which are able to reduce the adhesion problem formed between different packaging material layers and components.

Packaging material, and process of manufacturing the same


This invention provides a method and apparatus for calculating a hemodialysis parameter, especially blood access flow rate, using multiple dialysance values. The dialysance values may be calculated based upon either sodium or urea concentrations. One dialysance value can be determined for conditions in which a patient's arterial line withdraws blood from an upstream location in a patient's fistula and treated blood is returned by a venous line to a downstream location in a patient's fistula. The second dialysance value can be determined when the lines have been reconfigured so that the arterial line withdraws blood from a downstream portion of a patient's fistula and the venous line returns treated blood to an upstream portion of a patient's fistula. Since it is possible to determine the dialysance values solely from concentration measurements made on the dialysate side of the dialysis apparatus, the present method and apparatus provide a non-invasive means for determining hemodialysis parameters such as blood access flow rate and recirculation.

Hemodialysis (or simply dialysis) is a process which employs an artificial kidney to aid patients whose renal function has deteriorated to the point where their body cannot adequately rid itself of toxins. In hemodialysis a dialyzer is used which contains a semi-permeable membrane, the membrane serving to divide the dialyzer into two chambers. Blood is pumped through one chamber and a dialysis solution through the second. As the blood flows by the dialysis fluid, impurities, such as urea and creatinine, diffuse through the semi-permeable membrane into the dialysis solution. The electrolyte concentration of the dialysis fluid is set so as to maintain electrolytic balance within the patient.
Further purification in an artificial kidney is possible through ultrafiltration. Ultrafiltration results from the normal situation wherein there is a positive pressure differential between the blood and the dialysis fluid chambers. This pressure differential causes water in the blood to pass through the membrane into the dialysis solution. This provides the benefit of reducing a dialysis patient's excess water load which normally would be eliminated through proper kidney functioning.
Typically, an arterio-venous shunt, frequently termed a "fistula," is surgically inserted between a patient's artery and vein to facilitate transfer of blood from the patient to the dialyzer. During a normal dialysis treatment, one end of an arterial line or tube is inserted into the upstream end of the fistula (i.e., at a point near the patient's artery) and transports blood withdrawn from the upstream portion of the fistula to the inlet of the dialyzer; a venous line or tube connected to the output of the blood side of the dialyzer returns treated blood to the fistula at an insertion point downstream of the arterial line (i.e., at a point nearer the patient's vein).
Successful dialysis treatment requires knowledge of several hemodialysis parameters in order to optimize the overall efficacy of the dialysis procedure, to assess the condition of the fistula and to determine the actual purification achieved. One key measure of dialysis efficiency is described by the ratio Kt/V, where K is the clearance or dialysance (both terms representing the purification efficiency of the dialyzer), t is treatment time and V is the patient's total water volume. Studies have demonstrated that patient survival increases when the Kt/V ratio has a value of 0.8 or greater (Gotch, F. A. & Sargent, S. A. "A Mechanistic Analysis of the National Cooperative Dialysis Study." Kidney International., Vol. 28, pp. 526–34 (1985)). The water volume of the patient, V, can be estimated from a patient's weight, age, sex and percentage of body fat. Hence, with knowledge of clearance, K, it is possible to determine the time, t, for optimal dialysis treatment according to the above relationship.
Dialysance or clearance, as noted above, is a measure of the purification efficiency of the dialyzer. More specifically, dialysance is a measure of the volume of blood cleared of urea or some other solute within a certain time period. Hence, one way to determine dialysance is to make in-vivo urea concentration measurements. This is a time-consuming approach, since it requires that samples be withdrawn and analyzed in a laboratory. Alternatively, sodium chloride dialysance or clearance can be measured, since it is known that the clearance of sodium chloride is equivalent to urea clearance. Because sodium and chloride ions comprise essentially all the electrolytes giving rise to the conductivity of both blood and the dialysis solution, dialysance or clearance can simply be determined by making conductivity measurements.
As shown by Sargent, J. A. and Gotch, F. A. ("Principles and Biophysics of Dialysis," in: Replacement of Renal Function by Dialysis, (W. Drukker, et al., Eds.), Nijoff The Hague (1983) incorporated herein by reference), it is possible to define dialysance in terms of concentrations at the inlet and outlet to the blood side of the dialyzer, the inlet to the dialysis solution side of the dialyzer and the blood flow rate according to the following equation:
                    D        =                  Qb                                              Cbi              -              Cbo                                      Cbi              -              Cdi                                                          (        1        )
where:                Cbi=blood inlet concentration        Cbo=blood outlet concentration        Qb=blood flow rate        D=dialysance        Cdi=dialysis fluid inlet concentration        Cdo=dialysis fluid outlet concentration
As demonstrated in U.S. Pat. No. 5,100,554 to Polaschegg, this equation can be rewritten strictly in terms of dialysis solution concentrations. In particular, from mass balance based upon flow across the dialysis membrane, the following relationship can be established:Qb(Cbi−Cbo)=Qd(Cdi−Cdo)  (2)
Thus, it is possible from equations (1) and (2) to rewrite equation (1) without a Cbo term as follows:

where:                Qd=dialysis flow rate; the rest of the terms are as defined for equation (1).
In equation (3), the terms Qd and Cdi are known and a value for Cdo can be easily determined by placing a detector at the dialysis solution outlet of the dialyzer. This leaves D and Cbi as the only unknown values. Using two dialysis solutions having different initial concentrations of a substance, it is possible to write two equations with two unknowns and solve for dialysance, as shown in the following equation:
                    D        =                  Qd                                                              (                                  Cdi1                  -                  Cdo1                                )                            -                              (                                  Cdi2                  -                  Cdo2                                )                                                    Cbi1              -              Cdi2                                                          (        4        )
where:                D=dialysance        Qd=dialysis flow rate        Cdi1=concentration of substance upstream of dialyzer, first dialysis solution        Cdi1=concentration of substance downstream of dialyzer, first dialysis solution        Cdi2=concentration of substance upstream of dialyzer, second dialysis solution        Cdo2=concentration of substance downstream of dialyzer, second dialysis solution
Other methods and apparatus for determining dialysance are described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,024,756 to Sternby, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,567,320 to Goux, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,668,400 to Veech, as well as European Patents EP 330,892B1 and EP 547,025B1 to Sternby and European Patent Application 547,025A1 by Sternby.
Blood access flow rate is another hemodialysis parameter which is of critical importance in optimizing dialysis procedures and in monitoring the general condition of the fistula. Blood access flow rate is defined as the blood flow rate at the entrance to the fistula as the blood flows in from a patient's artery. Blood access flow rate is important for at least two reasons. First, with time it is possible for the fistula to become clotted or stenose. Hence, flow rate can serve as an indicator of changes in the integrity of the fistula: Secondly, the rate of access flow relative to dialyzer flow rate affects recirculation, the phenomenon whereby treated blood from the venous line commingles with untreated blood in the fistula and is drawn into the arterial line and then carried back to the dialyzer. It can readily be appreciated that as recirculation increases the efficiency of the dialysis procedure decreases, since recirculation results in treated blood being retreated. Recirculation increases when the blood flow rate through the fistula is insufficient relative to the blood flow rate through the dialyzer. Thus, a knowledge of access flow rate is also important in assessing the degree to which recirculation occurs and in selecting flow rates for pumping blood through the dialyzer.
Several methods are known for determining access flow rates. However, these methods all suffer from a critical limitation, namely that the determination depends upon blood concentrations of some solute or added solution. As a consequence, the methods are invasive, tending to require the withdrawal of blood samples or the injection of solutions into the patient's blood stream.
One such method, the color-coded duplex sonography method has found utility in identifying patients at risk for access failure (Sands, J. et al., "The Effect of Doppler Flow Screening Studies and Elective Revisions on Dialysis Failure." ASAIO Journal, Vol. 38, pp. 524–527 (1992)). The method, however, is only rarely used because of its expense, the requirement for trained personnel and the fact that results vary depending upon operating conditions (see for example, Wittenberg, G. et al. "Interobserver Variability of Dialysis Shunt Flow Measurements using Color Coated Duplex Sonography." Rofo Fortschr Geb Rontgenstr Neuen Bildgeb Verfahr, Vol. 154, pp. 375–378 (1993) and Oates, C. P., et al. "The use of Diasonics DRF400 Duplex Sound Scanner to Measure Blood Flow in ArteriovenouslFistulae in Patients Undergoing Hemodialysis: An Analysis of Measurement Uncertainties." Ultrasound Med. Biol., Vol. 16, pp.571–579, (1990)).
Other approaches are based upon dilution methods and require the injection of a volume of a solution having a characteristic distinct from blood (often called a "bolus") into either the arterial or venous line which is connected to the patient's fistula. A general method for determining flow rates in tubes is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,644,240 by Brugger. This method involves the injection of a saline bolus and the subsequent monitoring of changes in electrical conductivity in a patient's blood line.
A related method requires the reversal of the arterial and venous lines so that the venous line is upstream of the arterial line, the injection of a saline bolus into one of the blood lines and then detection of the alteration of the sound velocity characteristics of the blood by ultrasound methods. This method is described in: U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,685,989, 5,595,182 and 5,453,576 to Krivitski; PCT application WO 96/083 05 A1 by Krivitski; and in a publication by Nikolai Krivitski ("Theory and Validation of Access Flow Measurement by Dilution Technique during Hemodialysis." Kidney International, Vol. 48, pp. 244–250 (1995)). These methods suffer from their invasive nature, namely the requirement that a foreign mixture be injected into the patient's bloodstream and, in some cases, the insertion of sensors into a patient's vascular system (U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,595,182 and 5,453,576 to Krivitski). Furthermore, the injection requirement for these methods makes these approaches relatively cumbersome; such methods also do not lend themselves to automation.
There are similar shortcomings to current methods for calculating recirculation. Like methods for determining blood access flow rates, present procedures require measurements on the blood side of the dialyzer and thus are invasive in nature. Often the methods require injection of a foreign solution into the blood stream (U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,570,026, 5,510,717 and 5,510,716 to Buffaloe, IV, et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,644,240 to Brugger; U.S. Pat. No. 5,685,989 to Krivitski, et al., U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,595,182 and 5,453,576 to Krivitski; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,312,550 to Hester).
In contrast to these invasive techniques, a method using dialysis solution concentration measurements only has been developed to determine a patient's blood sodium level (U.S. Pat. No. 4,923,613 to Chevallet). Related methods have been developed in which the effect of variations in solute concentration in dialysis solutions are determined. Results are used to develop a profile to optimize dialysis conditions to the patient's needs (U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,662,806 and 5,518,623 to Keshaviah, et al. and U.S. Pat. No. 5,507,723 to Keshaviah).
Several dialysis apparatus have been developed to monitor changes in dialysis solution composition, including U.S. Pat. No. 4,508,622 to Polaschegg and U.S. Pat. No. 5,024,756 to Sternby and European Patents 097,366 A2 to Polaschegg; 330,892 B1 and 547,025 B1 to Sternby; as well as European Patent Application 272,414 A2 to Polaschegg.
However, there remains a need for a method and apparatus for determining hemodialysis parameters such as blood access flow rates and recirculation by non-invasive methods that do not require that measurements be made on the blood side of the dialyzer. The methods and apparatus of the present invention satisfy such a need by providing for the first time an approach for determining hemodialysis parameters such as blood access flow rate and recirculation solely from concentration measurements taken on the dialysate side of the dialyzer, thereby providing a non-invasive means for determining such parameters.

Method and apparatus for determining hemodialysis parameters


Provided are a micro electric liquid device and an apparatus including the device. The micro electric liquid device includes a first fluid that is opaque, a second fluid that is transparent a first channel configured to have the first and second fluid flow therein without mixing, a second channel overlapped and spaced apart from the first channel, wherein the second channel is configured to have the first and second fluids flow therein, and a connection part connecting the first and second channels, wherein an aperture is adjusted by a positional change of an interface between the first and second fluids in the first and second channels, and wherein the second channel includes a first sub channel configured to have the first and second fluids flow therein and having a non-uniform height and a second sub channel configured to have the second fluid to flow therein and having a uniform height.

1. Technical Field
Systems, methods, and apparatuses consistent with exemplary embodiments relate to a micro electric liquid device and an apparatus including the micro electric liquid device.
2. Description of the Related Art
Techniques for adjusting or controlling light transmittance are widely used in conjunction with aperture stops, shutters of image obtaining apparatuses being operated, or pixels of image display apparatuses being operated.
Most variable aperture stops generally used in optical systems of the related art are operated by handling a plurality of metal blades, and thus are limited to reducing the sizes thereof using mechanical motions, frictions, and movable mechanical elements.
Electric-heating or static-electricity type micro electro mechanical systems (MEMSs) have been introduced for controlling light transmittance. However, such MEMSs have a non-circular aperture, gaps between blades, and a low aperture ratio of about 1% or less as compared to a total device area.
In addition, with the development of optofluidic technology combining micro-optics and microfluidics, variable aperture stops in which the aperture ratio is adjusted by deforming a polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) membrane by air pressure have been proposed. The resolutions of variable aperture stops have been improved using three-dimensional structures and capillary force. Such aperture stops have a higher aperture ratio than MEMS aperture stops of the related art, but injection pumps are used for operating such aperture stops.
In addition, an aperture stop including a liquid lens operated by dielectric force has recently been introduced, and the aperture ratio of the aperture stop may be adjusted using electric wires disposed on the bottom of the aperture stop without using an external driving pump.

Micro electric liquid device and apparatus including the same


There is provided a dynamic microphone in which the output impedance does not increase and also the failure rate does not increase though using a microphone unit and a vibration detecting unit to reduce handling noise. In the dynamic microphone including a microphone unit 20 that includes a first diaphragm 24 and a first magnetic circuit 26 and delivers sound signals and a vibration detecting unit 30 that includes a second diaphragm 32 and a second magnetic circuit 33 and detects vibrations applied to a microphone case, whereby the output signal of the vibration detecting unit 30 being delivered as an opposite phase with respect to the output signal of the microphone unit 20, a field coil 41 excited by the output signal of the vibration detecting unit 30 is provided on the first magnetic circuit 26 side of the microphone unit 20.

A microphone unit includes a vibrating part having a diaphragm capable of vibrating with respect to a microphone case and a fixed part including a magnetism generating circuit or a backplate supported directly on the microphone case.
Of various types of microphones, a hand-held microphone frequently presents a problem of vibration noise generated, for example, when the microphone case is rubbed with a finger. The vibration noise of this kind is generated by an inertial force such that the effective mass of the vibrating part of microphone unit tends to stay in the original state when vibrations are applied to the microphone case.
Generally, for a microphone provided with a diaphragm having the same area density, vibration noise of a low frequency component increases in the order of non-directional, unidirectional, and bidirectional. Also, comparing with a condenser microphone and a ribbon microphone, a dynamic (electrodynamic) microphone is liable to generate vibration noise because its diaphragm is heavy.
Therefore, for a hand-held unidirectional dynamic microphone especially used for vocals, conventionally, handling noise generated by the rubbing of microphone case with a finger has caused a problem.
As one method for reducing such handling noise, there is available a so-called shock mount method in which vibrations are insulated by using an elastic body such as rubber when the microphone unit is supported on the microphone case (for example, Japanese Patent Application Publication No. H01-197000).
However, the shock mount method has problems described below. The vibration insulating effect of the shock mount method depends on the resonance frequency and resonance sharpness of a vibration system. Therefore, the vibration noise reducing effect can be anticipated only on a frequency band on which frequencies are higher than or equal to the frequency correlated with the resonance frequency. Also, when solid-borne noise is loud, the vibration insulating effect cannot be achieved for the high frequency component thereof.
Accordingly, the applicant of the present invention has proposed a method for canceling handling noise by providing a vibration detecting unit having almost the same configuration as that of the microphone unit in the microphone case and by adding an output signal from the vibration detecting unit to an output signal from the microphone unit as a negative phase (Japanese Patent Application Publication No. H11-196489).
With this method, if vibrations are applied to a microphone case, not shown, whereas, for example, an output signal of positive phase is delivered from a microphone unit 1, an output signal of negative phase is delivered from a vibration detecting unit 2. Therefore, after, for example, the magnetization direction of a permanent magnet has been reversed or the winding method of a voice coil has been reversed, the microphone unit 1 and the vibration detecting unit 2 are connected to each other in series as shown in FIG. 3. Thereby, handling noise can be reduced satisfactorily over a relatively wide frequency range.
However, since the microphone unit and the vibration detecting unit are connected to each other in series, if the impedance of each unit is the same, the output impedance of microphone doubles.
As the output impedance of microphone decreases, the noise caused by electrostatic coupling or magnetic coupling from the outside is more difficult to be brought in. Therefore, the rise in output impedance of microphone is unfavorable in this respect.
Also, a main cause for failure of dynamic microphone is wire breaking. Wire breaking takes place mainly at a soldering location in the end part of voice coil. In the case where the voice coils of the microphone unit and the vibration detecting unit are connected to each other in series, if the wire breaks even at only one place, no sound is produced, so that the failure rate doubles as compared with the ordinary dynamic microphone having no vibration detecting unit.
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a dynamic microphone in which the output impedance does not increase and also the failure rate does not increase while handling noise is reduced by using a microphone unit and a vibration detecting unit.


A container (11) is disclosed for holding a sharp instrument during surgical procedures, the sharp instrument having a handle portion and a cutting portion, the container having an instrument recess (15) adapted to receive at least the cutting portion of the sharp instrument, and guide means (20, 21) for guiding a sharp instrument placed in the container to the instrument recess; the arrangement being such that a sharp instrument received within the instrument recess is positioned therein such that the cutting portion thereof is not directed towards the opening of the instrument recess whereby a user's fingers are substantially prevented from contacting the cutting portion.

During an operation, a scalpel is transferred between surgeon and scrub nurse or other assistant either directly from hand to hand, or more frequently by one person placing it in a tray for the other to pick up. The tray currently used for this purpose is an open topped kidney shaped dish which provides users with no protection against accidental injury from the scalpel blade. Many other instruments such as suture needles and Veress needles are passed directly between the surgeon and scrub nurse or other assistant.
The present invention aims to provide an alternative to known containers, systems and methods for the handling of sharp instruments during surgical procedures.


A process for preparing a film consisting of at least about 90 weight percent of cubic cadmium sulfide is disclosed.. In one step of this process, a cadmium sulfide target with a density of at least about 3.8 grams per cubic centimeter is provided. In a separate step, there is provided a heated substrate which is at a temperature of from about 50 to about 300 degrees Centigrade. The heated substrate is disposed at a distance of from about 2 to about 10 centimeters from the target.. Both the heated substrate and the target are subjected to a pressure of from about 10.sup.-4 to about 10.sup.-9 Torr. Thereafter, the cadmium sulfide target is contacted with a laser beam with a wavelength of from about 100 nanometers to about 30 microns, an energy of at least about 1.0 watt, and a beam width of less than about 5 millimeters.

Cadmium sulfide (CdS) is a well known semiconductor with a band gap in the visible region of the spectrum. Films consisting essentially of cadmium sulfide are of use as photoconductors, piezoelectric transducers, and laser materials; and cadmium sulfide has been considered for use in nonlinear optical processing. See, e.g., an article by H. S. Kwok et al. entitled "Growth of highly oriented CdS thin films by laser evaporation deposition," appearing in Applied Physics Letters, Volume 52, No. 13, 28 March 1988.
In the Kwok et al. article, a process is disclosed in which epitaxial growth of a cadmium sulfide film upon a substrate was caused to occur by bombarding a cadmium sulfide target an argon fluoride laser. The process was conducted in a vacuum chamber with a base pressure of 10.sup.-5 Torr. An argon fluoride laser with a wavelength of 193 nanometers operating at 10 pulses per second was focused onto the cadmium sulfide target at a 45 degree angle of incidence, and the cadmium sulfide target was rotated slowly. The substrate was heated to a temperature of either 350 or 400 degrees Centigrade, and it was located about 3 centimeters above the target.
The process of the Kwok et al. article was successful in producing a structure coated with a hexagonal (greenockite) cadmium sulfide film. However, when an attempt was made to produce a structure coated with a cubic (hawleyite, zinc blende) cadmium sulfide film, such attempt was unsuccessful; see, e.g., page 1096 of the article.
There is evidence that the energy band gap for cubic cadmium sulfide is lower than the energy band gap for hexagonal cadmium sulfide. Thus, e.g., in an article by M. Huang et al., appearing in the Journal of Physical Chemistry Solids (Volume 46, No. 8, pages 977-995, 1985), it is disclosed that the energy band gap for the cubic cadmium sulfide is 2.51 electron volts, whereas the energy band gap for the hexagonal cadmium sulfide is 2.56 volts. Reference also may be had to an article by E. L. Lind et al. entitled "Photoconductivity in Cubic Cadmium Sulfide," appearing in the Journal of Chemical Physics, Volume 37, pages 2449-2450 (1962).
As is known to those skilled in the art, the energy band gap is the amount of energy required to cause an electron in a semiconductive material to jump from the valence band to the conductive band; see, e.g., pages 1112-1120 of R. G. Lerner et al.'s "Encyclopedia of Physics," Second Edition (VCH Publishers, Inc., New York, 1991). Thus, for example, substantially less energy is required to activate a cubic cadmium sulfide material than a hexagonal cadmium sulfide material; and this property is advantageous for optoelectronic devices.
It is an object of this invention to provide an economical process for producing a film containing a major amount of cubic cadmium sulfide.
It is yet another object of this invention to provide a process for producing a cubic cadmium sulfide film with excellent optical quality and homogeneity.
It is another object of this invention to provide a process for preparing a single crystal cubic cadmium sulfide thin film material.
It is yet another object of this invention to provide an optical device comprised of a single crystal cubic cadmium sulfide thin film material.

Laser deposition of cubic cadmium sulfide films


An insulated glazing unit is provided. The unit includes a spacer frame separating a pair of substrates. The spacer frame has a length and a width transverse to the length. The unit further includes a conductive element passing through the width of the spacer frame. The unit further includes a first conductive component within the spacer frame. The first conductive component is in electrical communication with the conductive element. The conductive element is adapted for electrical communication with a second conductive component on a side of the width of the spacer frame opposite the first conductive component.

Insulated glazing units ("IGU"), as that term is used herein, means two or more layers of glass, which are sometimes called glass lite panels, separated by a spacer frame along the edge and sealed to create a dead air (or other gas, e.g., argon, nitrogen, krypton) space between the layers. The spacer frame includes spacers, which are conventionally hollow tubes, also called spacer tubes, of a conductive material, such as but not limited to aluminum or steel, but which may not be hollow in some instances and which may be made of polymeric materials. The spacer frame, in some instances, may include a spacer key, which is sometimes called a spacer connector, that is inserted into ends of spacers to bridge the ends together. The spacer keys conventionally have the same outer profile as the ends of the spacers and may be hollow or solid like the corresponding spacers with which they interface. Active glazings, which form a part of the IGU and which include electrochromic glazings, may be applied or deposited to one of the glass lite panels. An electrochromic glazing, may have a laminate structure (see copending U.S. Patent Application Publication Nos. 2011/0261429 A1 and 2011/0267672 A1 and copending U.S. patent application Ser. Nos. 13/906,456 and 13/906,487, the disclosures of which are hereby incorporated by reference herein in their entireties). For example, the electrochromic glazings may include a series of thin films that are applied or deposited to one of the glass lite panels. Electrochromic glazings or coatings include electrochromic materials that are known to change their optical properties in response to the application of an electric potential which can create coloration or tinting within the electrochromic glazings. Common uses for these glazings include architectural windows, as well as windshields and mirrors of automobiles. Further details regarding the formation of IGUs can be found in, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,372,610 and 7,593,154, the entire disclosures of which are hereby incorporated by reference herein in their entireties.
As known to those of ordinary skill in the art, electrically conductive busbars are typically applied along the surface of one of the glass lite panels such that upon assembly of an IGU, the busbars are either outside an IGU spacer/polyisobutylene ("PIB") seal, or "spacer seal" as that term is used herein, forming an IGU thermal break cavity or mainly inside the spacer seal. For example, as shown in FIG. 1, an IGU 1 may have a glass panel 2 on which a busbar 3 is applied such that the busbar 3 is mainly within a perimeter defined by sides of a spacer 5 and a spacer seal 4 placed between the spacer 5 and the glass panel 2 having approximately the same perimeter as the spacer 5. As shown, in such a configuration, the busbar 3 must be applied to extend under the spacer seal 4 to a region outside the perimeters of the spacer seal 4 and the spacer 5 to allow for the formation of a busbar solder tab 7 on an end of the busbar 3 that provides a contact area to which a wire 9 can be soldered to provide a sufficient solder joint 8 for a consistent electrical connection. The busbar solder tab 7 must be placed such that there is sufficient clearance between the solder joint 8 and the spacer 5 to prevent electrical shorting due to undesired contact between the spacer 5 and the solder joint 8 during the assembly process or during slight movements that may occur over the useful life of the IGU. In addition, sufficient clearance is needed to provide space for a solder gun tip to land and create a solder joint and, in some instances, to permit the addition of a sealant onto the busbar and busbar solder tab after soldering to either or both prevent solder tab corrosion and prevent argon or other inert gases from exiting a cavity of the IGU defined by the spacer 5 and the spacer seal 4 as well as the spacer seal 14 opposing the spacing seal 4.
To provide sufficient clearance, the spacer 5 has been dimensioned to have a smaller perimeter than IGUs that do not require electrical connectivity. However, in certain architectural frame configurations, one or both of the smaller perimeter spacer and corresponding spacer seal is visible within the viewable area of the frame unless an obscuration mask is applied, such as described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/797,610, the entire disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference herein, which may be used to improve the aesthetic look of such an architectural glazing frame system but which may add cost while still causing a reduction in the viewable area of the frame as compared to IGUs not requiring electrical connectivity.
Thus, there exists a need for an electrical interconnection to busbars in an IGU cavity without requiring a reduction in the perimeter of a spacer to accommodate for such a connection.

Electrical feed-through spacer and connectivity


An applicator for coating materials, such as shoe polish, is made with a relatively rigid open cell foam coating pad. The foam has an average of from 12 to 25 pores per linear centimeter with an average pore size being from 0.4 to 2 microns. The pad rigidity can be provided by a hard material per se or by having a flexible porous foam material compressed from its original volume to from 1/10th to 1/20th its original volume. The coating pad has less than a 20% compression when subjected to a 400 gm/cm.sup.2 pressure. The coating pad can be used with a pigmented coating material or polish with an average particle size of from 0.4 to 1 micron.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to coating applicators, such as for the application of polish to shoes. The applicator has a shape retentive open pore wicking pad for controllably transferring fluid coating material to the surface of an object to be coated. Because of the relative stability of the pad, small or narrow areas can be coated even though they are adjacent areas that are not to be coated or that are of different colors.
2. Description of Related Art
Present coating applicators, such as shoe polish applicators, are designed for the care of shoes that are of one color. They are designed to yield so that curved surfaces and hard to reach areas can be contacted by the readily deformable wicking pad. The applicator of the patent issued 15 Sep. 1964 to J. R. Gilchrist et al., U.S. Pat. No. 3,148,401, is representative of the type that have a soft, readily deformable foam or fabric pad for wicking the liquid polish from a supply container and spreading the polish onto a surface such as a shoe. The pads are generally made of a polyurethane or other sponge with a large open cell configuration or of a felt material. When pressed against a shoe to release the polish, the pad surface engages the shoe and deforms so that its shape and dimensions are significantly altered to conform to the shape of the surface area being coated.
A problem with liquid applicators using soft foam wicking application pads is that the compacted foam often becomes so thin that its wicking characteristics are significantly altered; the compressed foam often becomes permanently compacted; and as the liquid of the polish dries and solidifies in the pad, the pad becomes a hardened mass that is incapable of conforming to the contours of the shoe. Frequently, on hardening, the pad clogs and will no longer permit the passage of the coating material or polish. Another problem is that soft foam is prone to being worn or scraped off during use. This usually results in an uneven application or puddling of the coating on the surface. When multi-color shoes or other surfaces with irregular patterns are coated, adjacent surface areas are routinely inadvertently coated also.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,925,327, issued 15 May 1990 to D. Wirt, teaches a liquid applicator with a supply and open cell elastomer foam sponge. The foam is given a permanent compression set with a reduction in its original volume of from 1.5 to 10. A reduction in volume of 1/2 to 1/4 its original volume is preferred. The sponge has from 10 to 100 pores per linear inch with 90 pores per inch preferred. A layer of porous unfoamed material is used to meter the liquid from the supply to the sponge applicator. The combination is designed or selected so that the liquid will wet but not drip, the storage capacity (density) of the sponge will be regulated to hold the amount of liquid to be dispensed, and to control or adjust the viscosity and the surface tension of the liquid to be dispensed.
The standard open cell pad, such as used by KIWI.sub..TM. and Gilchrist et al (U.S. Pat. No. 3,248,401), have a coating surface area of essentially 5 cm.sup.2 and a thickness of essentially 3/4 cm. A pressure of 2,000 gms applied uniformly over the 5 cm.sup.2 surface area will compress this standard foam pad to about 1/2 its original thickness. Using the common type foam applicator, a pressure of up to 19 grams on a corner of the pad produces a line of 3 mm, and 23 to 25 grams produces a line of 5 mm, and 140 to 155 gms produces a line of 15 mm in width. The slit valve is normally opened with a force of between 2,500 to 3,200 gms on the applicator.
There has been a general assumption that large pores were necessary to conduct the coating, and in particular a pigment containing coating material, through a porous applicator pad. Even with the use of large pores, there has been a problem with the pads hardening and preventing the free flow of the coating material through the pad.


A method of dimensioning a data packets handler apparatus in a mobile communications network includes a plurality of cells, each one providing mobile communications coverage in a respective geographic area, the mobile communications network supporting packet-switched traffic and circuit-switched traffic, wherein the data packets handler apparatus to be dimensioned is associated with at least one cell of the mobile communications network. The method includes: obtaining an indication of radio communications resources of the at least one cell; obtaining an indication of an offered packet-switched traffic with respect to the at least one cell; and determining an amount of resources of the data packets handler apparatus potentially needed by the at least one cell for handling the packet-switched traffic based on the radio communications resources and on the offered packet-switched traffic.

Mobile telephony networks (PLMNs) were initially conceived for enabling voice communications, similarly to the wired, Public Switched Telephone Networks (PSTNs), but between mobile users, or between a mobile user and a fixed (wired) user. Wireless communications networks have experienced an enormous spread, especially after the introduction of second-generation mobile cellular networks, and particularly digital mobile cellular networks such as those complying with the Global System for Mobile communications (GSM) standard (and its United States and Japanese counterparts).
The services offered by these cellular networks in addition to plain voice communications have rapidly increased in number and quality; just to cite a few examples, services like the Short Message Service (SMS) and the Multimedia Message Service (MMS) services, and Internet connectivity services have been made available in the last few years.
However, these second-generation cellular networks, albeit satisfactory for voice communication, offer very poor data exchange capabilities.
Similarly to the PSTNs, second-generation cellular networks are in fact Circuit-Switched (CS) networks; this greatly limits the bandwidth that can be allocated for a given user. On the contrary, data communications networks such as computer networks and, among them, the Internet, adopt Packet Switching (PS) schemes, which allow for extremely higher data transfer rates.
Some solutions have been proposed to overcome the limitations of conventional, CS cellular networks such as the GSM networks, so as to enable users of mobile terminals efficiently exploiting services offered through the Internet. One of the solutions that have acquired a significant popularity is the General Packet Radio Service (shortly, GPRS). The GPRS is a digital mobile phone technology compatible with GSM networks (actually, built on the existing GSM network architecture) that enables data transfer at a speed higher than that allowed by pure GSM.
Essentially, the GPRS (and its evolution called Enhanced Data rates for Global Evolution; shortly, EDGE) is a GSM add-up that supports and enables packet-based (i.e., PS) data communication. The GPRS, being an almost ready-at-hand solution for enhancing the data exchange capabilities of already existing GSM networks, is gaining certain popularity.
Quite concisely, a GPRS network includes at least one Gateway GPRS Support Node (GGSN) acting as an interface between the mobile telephony network and one or more external packet data network, such as the Internet. The GGSN exchanges data packets, through a GPRS backbone network, with one or more Serving GPRS Support Nodes (SGSN); the generic SGSN routes the data packets received, through the GGSN and the GPRS backbone network, from the external packet data network, to the proper destination user's mobile communication terminal (commonly referred to as a mobile station).
In order to provide packet-based data communications services, the Base Station Controllers (BSCs) of the mobile telephony network (the network entities that control the network's radio stations, the so-called Base Transceiver Stations—BTSs) are associated with respective packet handling apparatuses known as the Packet Control Units (PCUs). The generic PCU is thus usually associated with a plurality of respective network's cells, and behaves as an interface of the respective BSC to a respective SGSN: it converts the data packets, received from the SGSN and directed to the destination mobile terminals located in the network cells of the associated plurality, into data streams adapted to being transmitted "over the air", by the proper network BTS, exploiting the radio resources of the network, and, dually, the PCU converts data streams transmitted by the mobile terminals "over the air" and received by the BTS into properly formatted data packets, for the transmission to the SGSN and GGSN.
The GPRS system's physical level is based on the GSM one, superimposing thereto a different logic structure. Control and data traffic "logic" channels are multiplexed in time and frequency division on a single GPRS physical channel, called Packet Date CHannel (PDCH). A PDCH corresponds to a physical GSM channel, and it is defined, in the frequency domain, by one of the GSM radio carriers, and, in the time domain, by one of the GSM time slots. Over a generic PDCH, one or more GPRS/EDGE connections may be established.
The generic PCU has resources for managing the interface (so-called Gb interface) with the SGSN, and resources for managing the interface with the radio front-end of the network, i.e. the BSCs and the BTSs.
The resources provided in the generic PCU for managing the interface towards the radio front-end can be described as composed of a collection of elementary resource units; for the purposes of the present invention, by resource unit there is intended the elementary, minimum set of resources of the PCU that are treated as an unique entity and that can be allotted as a whole for the management of a PDCH.
Within the generic PCU, one or more resource units may be univocally assigned to a single PDCH. The association between the one or more PCU's resource units and the PDCH is in general released when the GPRS data connection(s) that required the assignment of PCU resources are terminated, and the PDCH is released.
It appears that there is a strong correlation between the PCU's overall capability to handle data packet connections, and the variability in time (in terms of both offered traffic and length of the single call) of the data connections on the radio interface.
The dimensioning of the PCUs' resources, particularly the number of elementary resources for managing the interface towards the radio front-end of the network, is thus a critical aspect of the design of a GPRS network, especially in consideration of the foreseeable increase in time of the GPRS and EDGE users, also due to the increase in number and quality of the PS services offered.
Manufacturers of network apparatuses usually carry out the dimensioning of a PCU from the viewpoint of the number of elementary resources to be provided based on empirical approaches, which are essentially based on the knowledge of the number of installed radio resources (i.e., the number of installed FDMA/TDMA radio carriers) of the radio front end of each network cell coupled to the PCU being dimensioned.

Method for dimensioning a data packets handler apparatus in a packet-switched mobile communications network


A cooling fan with oil-impregnated bearing includes a base portion, a bearing, a fan hub, and a coil assembly. The base portion has a forward extended bearing housing, into which the bearing is tightly fitted with a colloidal material applied between them. The fan hub is mounted on and around the bearing housing, and has a rearward extended rotary shaft extended through a centered shaft hole of the bearing. An oil receiving space is formed on a wall of the shaft hole at a predetermined position. The coil assembly is externally tightly fitted around the bearing housing with a colloidal material applied between them. With the colloidal material, the bearing and the coil assembly can be associated with the bearing housing without detriment to the effective porosity of the bearing and the dimensional precision of the bearing housing. The oil receiving space also prevents the lubricating oil from leaking out.

Recently, various electronic information products, such as computers, have become highly popular among consumers and are widely applied to various fields. The demands for electronic information products lead to rapid development in electronic information techniques. It is a trend to develop electronic information products with increased operating speed and expanded access capacity. When operating at high speed, the components of the electronic information products would also produce a large amount of heat.
For example, among others, the central processing unit (CPU) of a computer produces the largest part of heat in the computer. The CPU would become slow in running when the heat produced and accumulated in the computer gradually increases. When the heat accumulated in the computer exceeds an allowable limit, the computer is subject to the danger of shutdown or even becoming seriously damaged. Moreover, to solve the problem of electromagnetic radiation, a case is used to enclose all the important computer components and elements therein. Therefore, it is very important to quickly dissipate the heat produced by the CPU and other heat-producing elements in the computer case.
Conventionally, a heat sink and a cooling fan are mounted atop the CPU to help in dissipating the heat produced by the CPU. A first side of the heat sink is formed of a plurality of radiating fins, while an opposite second side of the heat sink without radiating fin is in direct contact with the CPU to conduct the heat produced by the CPU to the radiating fins, from where the heat, is radiated into ambient air. Meanwhile, the cooling fan produces airflows to carry away the hot air surrounding the CPU and the heat sink, enabling quick dissipation of heat from the CPU.
Please refer to FIG. 1, which is an assembled sectional view of a conventional cooling fan 1. As shown, the cooling fan 1 includes a main body 11 having a centered locating seat 12 formed on an inner side thereof. The locating seat 12 has a hollow bearing housing 121 protruded therefrom. A bearing 13 is mounted in the bearing housing 121 and a coil 14 is fitted around the bearing housing 121. The cooling fan 1 further includes a fan hub 15, and a plurality of blades 151 spaced along an outer circumferential surface of the fan hub 15. A magnetic ring 152 is mounted to an inner circumferential surface of the fan hub 15 to magnetically interact with the coil 14. A rotary shaft 153 is provided on an inner side of the fan hub 15 to rearward extend through the bearing 13 and thereby hold the bearing in place.
The above-described cooling fan has some disadvantages in practical use thereof. For example, the coil 14 is forcedly pushed to locate around the bearing housing 121 in a tight-fit relation. Also, the bearing 13 is forcedly pushed into the bearing housing 121 to tightly fit therein. When forcedly pushing the coil 14 to locate it around the bearing housing 121, it is likely to cause detriment to the verticality of the bearing housing 121. And, when forcedly pushing the bearing 13 into the bearing housing 121, stress is concentrated at an end face of the bearing 13 to adversely affect the effective porosity of the bearing 13. As a result, noise will be produced while the cooling fan 1 operates and the usable life of the cooling fan 1 will be shortened. Moreover, when the rotary shaft 153 is first assembled to the bearing 13, an amount of lubricating oil is added to a rear end of the bearing 13. When the cooling fan 1 operates continuously to rotate the blades 151, the lubricating oil would move forward along the rotary shaft 153 and flow out of the bearing housing 121. As a result, the amount of the lubricating oil in the bearing 13 will reduce gradually to cause dry friction between the bearing 13 and the rotary shaft 153.
According to the aforesaid, the conventional cooling fan 1 has the following disadvantages: (1) The bearing housing tends to lose its verticality; (2) The bearing tends to lose its effective porosity; (3) The lubricating oil is likely to leak out; and (4) Noises are produced when the cooling fan operates and the usable life of the cooling fan is shortened.

Cooling fan with oil-impregnated bearing


A rubber-modified styrene resin composition having excellent impact resistance, high tensile strength, and good moldability is provided. The present invention is accomplished by a rubber-modified styrene resin composition containing 99.9 to 97 percent by weight of a rubber-modified styrene resin (E) and 0.1 to 3 percent by weight of a polyorganosiloxane-containing graft copolymer (D), the polyorganosiloxane-containing graft copolymer (D) being a specific copolymer prepared with a polyorganosiloxane (A) produced by polymerizing 99.9 to 99.6 percent by weight of a organosiloxane with 0.1 to 0.4 percent by weight of a graft-linking agent.

Rubber-modified styrene resins, in particular, acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) resins have excellent impact resistance, high heat resistance, high stiffness, good moldability, and the like. Hence, the ABS resins have been widely used for sundries, automotive interior and exterior components, housings and components for household electrical appliances such as electric rice cookers and microwave ovens, and housings and components for office automation (OA) equipment such as telephones and facsimiles.
In recent years, to improve weather resistance, a shortcoming, of ABS resins, acrylonitrile acrylic styrene (AAS) resins have been developed by substituting acrylic rubbers having few double bonds for butadiene rubbers having double bonds that are unstable to light and heat, in the rubber components of the ABS resins. Unfortunately, acrylic rubbers exhibit lower impact resistance than butadiene rubbers.
A method for adding an organic silicone oil to improve the impact resistance of the AAS resin or the ABS resin is disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2001-31830. However, in the conventional method for adding the organic silicone oil, an addition of a large amount of the silicone oil causes a problem in which a molded product has an undesired surface.
A method for adding a polyorganosiloxane-containing graft copolymer in order to improve secondary processability of the rubber-modified styrene resin is disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 7-331025. However, when the polyorganosiloxane content in the polyorganosiloxane-containing graft copolymer is high, it is difficult to process the graft copolymer into a powder form. Furthermore, when the polyorganosiloxane-containing graft copolymer is added to the rubber-modified styrene resin, a problem arises in that the resulting resin has an undesired appearance and low impact resistance.

Rubber-modified styrene resin composition


An information processing apparatus has a pointing device for designating a position of an arbitrary point with respect to a reference point O, and a processor of the information processing apparatus detects a position of the point designated by the pointing device with respect to the reference point O at every unit of time, and calculates an operation vector AB respectively regarding a point A and a point B detected before and after as a starting point and an ending point. The calculated operation vector AB is orthogonally-projected onto a strait line vertical to a vector OA respectively regarding the reference point O and the point A as a starting point and an ending point. Information processing is performed on the basis of a component vector thus obtained from the operation vector AB.

1. Field
Example embodiments of the presently described technology relate to information processing programs and information processing apparatuses. More specifically, present example embodiments relate to an information processing program and an information processing apparatus which detect a rotating operation on the basis of the changes of the positions (vector) designated by pointing devices, such as a touch panel, a tablet, a mouse, etc., obtains a controlled variable (signed scalar) from the detected rotating operation, and performs information processing on the basis of the obtained controlled variable.
2. Description of the Related Art
As conventional programs or apparatuses of such kind, one disclosed in Patent Laying-open No. 4-48318 (Patent Document 1) has been known. In the related art, a rotating operation respectively taking a first point (A) and a second point (B) as a starting point and an ending point is detected. Then, an angle between a direction from the reference point (O) to the first point and a direction from the reference point to the second point (rotation angle AOB) is obtained to scroll a screen by page by the amount corresponding to the obtained rotation angle.
Furthermore, one disclosed in Japanese Patent Laying-open No. 2002-222034 (Patent Document 2) has also been known. In the related art, a first point (A), a second point (B), a third point (C) . . . are sequentially detected. A displacement angle which a line segment BC forms with a line segment AB is first evaluated. Similarly, displacement angles between two adjacent line segments are sequentially obtained onward so as to be accumulated. Then, if the accumulated displacement angle is equal to or more than a threshold value, it is recognized that a rotating operation is performed to scroll the screen by the accumulated displacement angle.
However, as the related art in Patent Document 1, if the rotation angle AOB with respect to the reference point O is a controlled variable, even the same travel distance (operation amount) from the point A to the point B results in difference in the controlled variable depending on the distances from the reference point O to each of the points A and B. Thus, an operator has to adjust an operation amount by taking the distances from the reference point into consideration whenever he or she wants to perform a desired information processing.
On the other hand, as the related art in Patent Document 2, if the accumulated displacement angle is a controlled variable, until at least three points are detected, and the accumulated displacement angle above the threshold value is obtained, it is not recognized that a rotating operation is performed, and information processing is also not started. That is, a low response to the rotating operation occurs.

Information processing program and information processing apparatus


A system and method for launching parallel processes on a server configured to process a number of parallel processes. A request is received from a parallel application to start a number of parallel processes. In response to this request a launcher creates a surrogate. The surrogate inherits communications channels from the launcher. The surrogate then executes activities related to the launch of the parallel processes, and then launches the parallel processes. The parallel processes are launched and the surrogate is terminated.

The present disclosure relates to launching parallel processes for a parallel application, and more specifically launching parallel processes using a surrogate.
Current process for launching parallel processes is to launch the processes in a serial manner. This approach creates significant overhead in the system and impacts the overall performance of the underlying system. As the launch mechanism for launching the parallel processes has many responsibilities the resulting increase in the memory footprint causes even more overhead to be placed on the system during process creation.

Surrogate process creation technique for high process-per-server scenarios

International Business Machines Corporation


The invention relates to a hinge comprising a first part (11) that can be pivoted relative to a second part (12) about a pivot axis (a), wherein the first part (11) comprises at least one bore (13) and the second part (12) at least one recess (15a, 15b), wherein, in a final assembly position, at least pin one (17a, 17b) that is coaxial to the pivot axis (a), has a first longitudinal portion in the bore (13) and with a second longitudinal portion in the recess (15a, 15b), and the pin (17a, 17b) can be moved between a pre-assembly position, in which the pin (17a, 17b) is in the bore (13) or in the recess (15a, 15b) with a larger overlap with respect to the final assembly position, and the final assembly position.

A hinge is known from obvious prior use in which a first part is provided with a bore. Two pins are in the bore coaxially to the pivot axis and are axially movable. A spring is between the pins. In a second part, two recesses are aligned with one another and so as to be spaced apart from one another in such a way that the first part can be positioned relative to the second part such that the bore of the first part is aligned with the recesses of the second part and is positioned between the recesses.
The assembly occurs in that the two pins are compressed against the spring force, so that the first part can be in the assembly position. When the first part is in the assembly position, the pins are released, wherein the spring force in each case pushes a partial area of the longitudinal extension of each pin into the respective recess of the second part. The spring biases the pins against a stop of the bore. This stop is positioned, for example in such a way that the pins each extend approximately halfway into the bore of the first part and halfway into the recess of the second part.
The hinge needed to be improved insofar as the assembler was not able to check, whether the spring had in fact pushed the pin all the way to the stop into the recess of the second part. This is so, because there was the risk that the pin jammed or was not pushed all the way to the stop due to inaccurate fit. A secure connection of the first part with the second part was then not ensured.

Abstract: The special feature is that at least one holding element (18) can extend through a passage (31) in a seat (28) in such a way that the pin (17a, 17b) can be moved by the holding element (18) from the pre-assembly position into the final assembly position and that, in the final assembly position, the holding element (18) is positioned in such a way that it prevents a return movement of the pin (17a, 17b) from the final assembly position into the pre-assembly position.