A lens unit includes a moveable section and an elastic element. The moveable section includes a lens barrel, a lens received in the lens barrel and a magnet fixedly mounted around the lens barrel. The moveable section is configured to telescopically move along an optical axis direction of the lens. The elastic element includes an attachment portion connecting with the moveable section, a holding portion for holding the movable section, and a plurality of elastic ribs capable of being elastically deformed during the telescopic movement of the moveable section. The elastic ribs of the elastic element are configured to restrain a movement of the moveable section, whereby the moveable section can stop at a focal position when an elastic force generated by the deformation of the at least one elastic rib is equal to a force for causing the moveable section to have the telescopic movement.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to lens units, and particularly to a camera module with the lens unit for use in a digital camera or a portable electronic apparatus such as a mobile telephone, a personal digital assistant, etc.
2. Description of Related Art
A lens unit, which is constructed by disposing an optical system such as a lens in a lens barrel, is included in various types of camera modules for use in a video camera, a still camera, a mobile phone, a personal digital assistant, a notebook computer, etc. An example of such a camera module is one that is equipped with a movable section having a movable lens for zooming or focusing, in which the movable section can be moved by a linear actuator in an optical axis direction of the lens. The movable section is supported by a pair of guide shafts, to be movable in the optical axis direction. The movable section is guided by the pair of guide shafts and moves in the optical axis direction by a drive of the linear actuator.
However, the above-mentioned camera module which has the guiding shafts for guiding the movable section has some technical issues: it requires a space for accommodating the guiding shafts; such a space deviates from a compact requirement for the camera module. Furthermore, it requires a clearance of several microns between the movable section and the guiding shafts for enabling the movable section to move smoothly on the guiding shafts. However, such a clearance may cause the movable section to have a lateral movement and/or an inclination with respect to the optical axis during the movement of the movable section on the guiding shafts. Such a lateral movement and inclination of the movable section may cause deterioration in quality of a captured image because an image focal point may deviate or a so-called image-shake phenomenon may be generated.
Accordingly, it is desirable to realize reduction of size in a lens unit including a movable section and/or an camera module having such a lens unit. Furthermore, it is desirable to improve reliability of operation of a movable section included in a lens unit and/or a camera module including such a lens unit. The present invention is conceived in view of the above-described technical issues.

Fu Zhun Precision Industry (Shen Zhen) Co., Ltd.


A disengagement-preventing mechanism for a vibration isolator is interposed between an attachment sleeve portion of prime mover and an operating rod in a bush cutter. The disengagement-preventing mechanism includes an attachment sleeve portion, an attachment member which is to be inserted in and engaged with the attachment sleeve portion, and a C-shaped disengagement-preventing clip. The attachment sleeve portion is provided, at a peripheral wall thereof, with a clip-introducing slit extending in a circumferential direction of the attachment sleeve portion and with a clip-holding slit located so as to face the clip-introducing slit. The disengagement-preventing clip is adapted to be introduced from outside into the clip-introducing slit and brought into contact with an external end face of the attachment member. The clip is also adapted to be engaged, by way of the distal end portion thereof, with the clip-holding slit.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a disengagement-preventing mechanism and, in particular, to a disengagement-preventing mechanism for a vibration isolator which is interposed between an attachment sleeve portion of prime mover and an operating rod in a bush cutter.
2. Description of Related Art
A bush cutter of this kind is generally constructed such that a cutting device equipped with a knife or blade rotor is attached at one end (a distal end portion) of an operating rod. A prime mover, such as a small air-cooled two-cycle gasoline engine, is mounted at the other end (a rear end portion) of the operating rod. The motive power from the prime mover is transmitted to the knife rotor via a transmission shaft coaxially disposed in the operating rod. A bush-cutting operation using this bush cutter can be performed by manipulation of the operating rod handled by an operator.
Assembling the operating rod and the prime mover together is performed by inserting the rear end portion of the operating rod into the attachment sleeve portion of a fan cover for the prime mover. In this way, the operating rod is detachably engaged with the attachment sleeve portion. A pipe-like retainer, equipped with a vibration isolator, is provided at the coupling between the attachment sleeve portion of the fan cover and the distal end portion of the operating rod so as to prevent the vibration of the prime mover from being transmitted to the operating rod.
FIGS. 6 and 7 illustrate one example of the structure of the coupling between the attachment sleeve portion of a fan cover of the prime mover and the rear end portion of the operating rod in a conventional bush cutter (Japanese Utility Model Publication Hei/7-10039). In FIGS. 6 and 7, a fan cover 52 covering a prime mover 51 is formed integral with an attachment sleeve portion 53 in which, or at the innermost side of which, a driving shaft 54 constituting an output power member of a centrifugal clutch (not shown) is rotatably held by a bearing 55. A tubular rubber vibration isolator 56 is fitted in the attachment sleeve portion 53 in such a manner that it contacts the inner peripheral wall of the attachment sleeve portion 53. This vibration isolator 56 is secured in a suitable way to a pipe-like retainer 57 which is coaxially disposed in contact with the inner peripheral wall of the vibration isolator 56.
A transmission shaft 59 is rotatably received within an operating rod 58. The rear end portion of the operating rod 58 is fittingly inserted into the pipe-like retainer 57 so as to be fastened by the pipe-like retainer 57. In this case, the rear end portion 59a of the transmission shaft 59 is also fittingly inserted into the driving shaft 54 supported by the bearing 55 within the fan cover 52 so that the transmission shaft 59 can be rotated in accordance with the rotation of the driving shaft 54.
As mentioned above, since the vibration isolator 56 is interposed between the attachment sleeve portion 53 of the fan cover 52 and the operating rod 58, the transmission of vibration from the prime mover 51 to the operating rod 58 can be suppressed, thereby preventing unpleasant vibration of the prime mover 51 from reaching an operator handling the operating rod 58 while carrying out bush cutting.
The pipe-like retainer 57 fixedly provided with the vibration isolator 56 is adapted to be detachable from the attachment sleeve portion 53 by inserting the pipe-like retainer 57 in the same direction as the insertion direction of the operating rod 58 to the attachment sleeve portion 53. Structural measures to prevent movement in an axial direction between the inner peripheral wall of the attachment sleeve portion 53 and the outer peripheral wall of the vibration isolator 56 during a bush cutting operation, i.e. a disengagement of the vibration isolator 56 from the attachment sleeve portion 53 during a bush cutting operation, must be taken.
Because of this, a disengagement-preventing clip 60 is disposed so as to contact the face of an external end 56a (the left side in FIG. 6) of the vibration isolator 56 so as to prevent the pipe-like retainer 57 (including the vibration isolator 56) and the operating rod 58 from being disengaged from the attachment sleeve portion 53. As shown in FIG. 7, the disengagement-preventing clip 60 is formed of a C-shaped fine steel wire having a suitable degree of elasticity and adapted to be entirely received in the opening section of the attachment sleeve portion 53. This disengagement-preventing clip 60 is provided with a couple of angled portions 60a diametrically facing one another. The angled portions 60a are adapted to be elastically fitted in a couple of slits 61 which are formed along the periphery of the attachment sleeve portion 53 and spaced apart by an angle of 180 degrees so as to diametrically face each other. Fitting the angled portions 60a in these slits 61 permits the disengagement-preventing clip 60 to be locked within the attachment sleeve portion 53. At the same time, the external end face 56a of the vibration isolator 56 is brought into contact with the disengagement-preventing clip 60 thereby preventing the vibration isolator 56 from being disengaged from the attachment sleeve portion 53.
The disengagement-preventing clip 60 is designed to be set in the attachment sleeve portion 53 in such a manner that the clip 60 is entirely disposed within the attachment sleeve portion 53 and the elastic fitting thereof in the aforementioned couple of slits 61 is effected by directing the clip 60 from the inside to the outside of the attachment sleeve portion 53. Consequently, the clip 60 must be introduced into the attachment sleeve portion 53 by directing it in the same direction as the direction in which the pipe-like retainer 57 carrying the vibration isolator 56 is inserted into the attachment sleeve portion 53. In this case, the outer diameter of the clip 60 must be contracted against the elastic force of the clip 60 so as to allow the clip 60 to be introduced from the open end portion of the attachment sleeve portion 53 into the interior of the attachment sleeve portion 53. Both the operation of setting the clip 60 in the attachment sleeve portion 53 and the operation of detaching the clip 60 from the attachment sleeve portion 53 are very troublesome.

Disengagement-preventing mechanism and bush cutter provided with disengagement-preventing mechanism


Disclosed herein, among other things, is a stator winding temperature sensor. According to an embodiment, the sensor includes at least one sensing wire coil adapted to be connected to a stator. The sensor also includes a body, including a core material surrounding at least a portion of the sensing wire coil, and a laminate material over the core material. The body has a thickness adapted to protect the sensing wire coil. The sensor includes a lead wire adapted to connect to an external monitoring device. The sensing wire coil is electrically connected to the lead wire at a lead step portion of the sensor. In addition, the sensor includes a tab extending from the lead wire and encompassing the lead step. The tab protects the lead step and the sensing wire coil in a region where the sensor extends over an end of the stator.

A resistance-based temperature sensor, or resistance temperature detection element (RTD), can be used in a number of applications to measure operating temperature based on a sensed change in resistance in one or more wires incorporated into the sensor. When connected to a stator, an RTD can be used to detect temperatures in the windings, airstreams, and gas streams of motors, generators, and auxiliary equipment.
To connect an RTD to a stator, the RTD is installed between coils or windings inside the stator. The RTD may be installed completely inside a slot with only insulated wires protruding past the edge of the stator core. This type of RTD combines a thin fiberglass body material with relatively large leads that do not fit inside the fiberglass body, requiring a "lead step" of fiberglass material be manufactured on the lead wire end. The resulting combination of this fiberglass with a lead step makes the RTD's installation process and positioning inside a motor or generator different than other applications and susceptible to damage during motor or generator manufacturing. What is needed is a robust stator winding temperature sensor.

Robust stator winding temperature sensor


A method for manufacturing a semiconductor integrated circuit includes steps of forming a semiconductor element on a semiconductor substrate and separating only a function layer including the semiconductor element, which is a surface layer of the semiconductor substrate, from the semiconductor substrate. The semiconductor element is preferably a compound semiconductor device including at least one of a light emitting diode, a vertical cavity surface emitting laserdiode, a photodiode, a high electron mobility transistor, an inductor, a capacitor, a resistor, and a heterojunction bipolar transistor.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to semiconductor integrated circuits, methods for manufacturing semiconductor integrated circuits, semiconductor element members, electrooptic devices, and electronic devices. More specifically, the present invention relates to a method for transferring a semiconductor element onto an object having material properties different from those of the semiconductor element, such as a substrate.
2. Description of Related Art
Techniques relating to the formation of a semiconductor element on a substrate, which has material properties different from those of the semiconductor element, have been proposed in the field. Such techniques include, for instance, formation of a vertical cavity surface emitting laserdiode (VCSEL), a photodiode (PD), or a high electron mobility transistor (HEMT) on a silicon semiconductor substrate, and attachment of a micro-silicon transistor, instead of a thin film transistor (TFT) of each pixel of a liquid crystal display (LCD), onto a glass substrate.
Examples of the integrated circuits including such a semiconductor having different material properties include an optoelectronic integrated circuit (OEIC). The optoelectronic integrated circuit is an integrated circuit having an optical input/output means. Signal processing in the OEIC is electrically performed whereas light is used for input and output processes of the OEIC.
On the other hand, CPU internal operation speed (internal clocks) in computers has been improved each year due to progress in fine pitch connection in the internal structure of an integrated circuit. However, the improvements in signal transmittance rate in a bus has nearly reached its limit, and this has become a bottle neck in improving the processing rate of a computer. If the signal transmission can be performed using an optical signal in the bus, it becomes possible to significantly improve the limit on the processing rate of a computer. In order to realize this, it is necessary to integrate minute light emitting/detecting diodes into an integrated circuit made of silicon.
However, since silicon is an indirect transition semiconductor, it cannot emit light by itself. Accordingly, it is necessary to form an integrated circuit by combining silicon with another semiconductor light emitting diode.
The VCSEL made from a GaAs compound semiconductor, etc., may be favorably used as a semiconductor light emitting diode. However, it is extremely difficult to directly form the VCSEL on a silicon integrated circuit using a semiconductor process, such as epitaxy, since the VCSEL does not match the lattice structure of silicon.
In general, the VCSEL is formed on a GaAs substrate. Thus, a method has been considered in which an electric signal transmission circuit is merged with an optical signal transmission circuit by making the VCSEL on the GaAs substrate into a chip and mechanically mounting the chip on a silicon integrated circuit substrate.
On the other hand, it is preferable that the size of the VCSEL chip on an integrated circuit be as small as possible from the viewpoint of effectively using the surface of the semiconductor substrate on which the integrated circuit is formed, and of readiness in handling the chip after merging. It is ideal for the size of the chip to be about the same size as a monolithic integrated circuit, i.e., dimensions of a few μm in thickness× a few tens of μm2 in surface area. However, according to convention semiconductor mounting techniques, the size of a chip that can be handled is greater than a few tens of μm in thickness× a few hundreds of μm2 in surface area.
In relation to the above, there are techniques described in "Electronics", pp. 37–40, (October 2000) and in "Denshi Joho Tsushin Gakkai Ronbunn-shi (The Institute of Electronics, Information and Communication Engineers Journal), 2001/9, Vol. J84-C No. 9. In the techniques described in the above publications, a substrate is removed by abrasion, and only a functional layer (a few μm thick) of an extreme surface layer, which becomes a semiconductor element, is transferred onto another supporting substrate. Then, the functional layer is formed into a desired size using handling and photolithography techniques, and is joined to a final substrate. In this manner, a semiconductor layer (a functional layer) a few μm thick, which becomes a target semiconductor element, is formed on a desired position of the final substrate. This is processed using a normal semiconductor process, and is made into a product by attaching electrodes, etc.
Problems associated with the conventional techniques described in the above publications include that a supporting substrate of a rigid body becomes necessary since the semiconductor substrate is removed by abrasion. For this reason, it becomes necessary to carry out the joining process to the final substrate at one time for the whole surface. That is, semiconductor membranes at all portions other than the portions that become finally necessary must be removed prior to the joining process. Accordingly, a number of steps become necessary and the process becomes complicated. Also, since the portion that is joined is mere a functional layer, it is necessary to perform a semiconductor process after the joining process. Therefore, a number of steps become necessary for treating the final substrate one by one, especially when the arrangement of target semiconductor elements is not very dense.

Method for manufacturing semiconductor integrated circuit


A heating structure and its temperature control method having therein a heat generating line and a controller. The heat generating line includes a PTC element and a short circuit line serially connected having an insulating fusible layer separating them. When a user sets a heating temperature, electric current is conducted to heat the PTC element, alternative string wave signals input into an AC phase shaping circuit and an AC phase delay shaping circuit are converted into square wave signals; and by measuring with a microprocessor at a given time the phase shift between the two phase shaping circuits to control the switch of a trigger circuit, the PTC element can keep on heating or reduce its temperature to therefore keep the heat generating line at a predetermined working temperature. The structure is applicable to heat generating devices such as electric ovens and heating blankets etc.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a heating structure and its temperature control method, and more particularly to performing heating with a PTC element, by the feature of the PTC element for direct current square wave signals respectively converted by an AC phase shaping circuit and an AC phase delay shaping circuit to generate phase shifting to immediately control turning on/off of a trigger circuit, thereby the PTC element is heated or reduced in temperature and therefore a heat generating line can keep at a predetermined working temperature. The present invention is applicable to heat generating devices such as electric ovens, and heating blankets etc.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Heating structures have been widely used in the markets now; such as shown in FIG. 7 which depicts a quite normal heating pad structure, it is provided mainly on a bag with a set of electric conductive plates a1 stacking one on the other, the two electric conductive plates a1 are sandwiched therebetween a plurality of ceramic electric resistances a2, and a soft heat durable insulating member a3 envelops the two electric conductive plates a1 to form the heating pad "a". The ceramic electric resistances a2 is a positive temperature coefficient (PTC) element; when the two electric conductive plates a1 are electrically turned on, the resistance of the PTC element will have a hasty change in pursuance of rising of temperature; when the value of the resistance is increased to render the electric current unable to be conducted, a circuit breaking is formed, and a fixed temperature can be obtained under control.
And as shown in FIG. 8 which shows a structure disclosed in a U.S. Pat. No. 5,081,341 to directly make short circuit of a heat-generating electric resistant line b1 in a fabric "b" and to make two contact portions b2 protrude outwards, and also to control conduction of electric current by switching a switch b3 for heating. This technique does not disclose timely measuring as the former conventional technique does, and is unable to make multistage temperature control.
Therefore, the heating mode using a PTC element as a measuring structure in cooperation with a heat generating line to adjust and control temperature is widely used. As shown in FIG. 9 which shows a U.S. Pat. No. 5,861,610, a core member "c" is wound and enveloped thereover with a heating conductive line c1, a second insulating layer c2, a measuring line c3 and a first insulating layer c4 sequentially, the measuring line c3 is made of PTC material (nickel alloy). When the temperature of the measuring line c3 is raised following rising of the temperature of the heating conductive line c1, or the resistance of the measuring line c3 is changed by a high temperature, a comparing circuit in a controller compares and adjusts the amount of current input to the heating conductive line c1 with the result of comparing to control the heat-generating temperature to be within the range set by a user.
The abovementioned techniques were also disclosed in a U.S. Pat. No. 6,300,597, a U.S. Pat. No. 6,310,322 and a U.S. Pat. No. 6,768,086. Moreover, as shown in FIG. 10 which shows a circuit control diagram of a U.S. Pat. No. 6,222,162, the patent disclosed another example of application of a PTC element, the big difference of which from the above conventional structures is that, it uses a single PTC alloy; it controls turning on or breaking of a circuit by measuring its resistance and voltage changed after heating, thus an objective of heating with a constant temperature can be achieved.
We can see from the above granted patent cases that, direct generating heat with a heat-generating electric resistant line or using a PTC element on a temperature controlling and measuring technique is quite known and used presently, however, the above various modes have rooms for improvement:                1. Most of the conventional techniques shall each have simultaneously two loops including a heating and a measuring loop provided in a heating pad or a heat generating structure, and shall each have four contacting portions extended outwards (to respectively connect with two loops), and shall respectively connect with a heating and a comparing circuit, allocation of their electronic elements appears complicate, this will increase the cost of production and the rate of fault.        2. No matter two functions of heating and measuring are simultaneously obtained by using a single PTC alloy, or the two functions are obtained by using two different loops, when a temperature controlling device of a heat generating structure is damaged, its heating conductor will continue to heat, thereby a danger of conflagration can be induced. The above conventional techniques did not provide a guarantee of safety by making good uses of the features of the PTC elements.
In view of this, and in order to get rid of the above defects to render a heat generating structure and its temperature control method not only able to control temperature by the feature of the PTC element to simplify the composition of the element and save the cost of material as well as lower the rate of fault, but also able to automatically turn off in case of overcurrent to obtain an effect of safety and protection, the inventor developed the present invention based on his experience of years and nonstop study as well as improvement.

Heating structure and its temperature control method


A material processing apparatus includes a casing having a top and bottom and a plurality of sides defining a pyrolysis chamber for receiving and pyrolyzing feed materials therein into fluid materials and a mass of refractory material disposed upon the bottom of the casing and spaced below the top thereof and extending between its sides. The refractory mass includes an upper surface defining a bottom of the pyrolysis chamber and having an end spaced from a first one of the casing sides to define an ash residue collection cavity therebetween. The apparatus also includes a system of tunnels defined within the refractory mass being spaced below the upper surface thereof. The system of tunnels includes an inlet defined in the refractory mass at the end thereof and below the upper surface thereof and in communication with the cavity for receiving a flow of materials from the pyrolysis chamber into the system of tunnels and an outlet defined in a second one of the sides of the casing for discharging the flow of materials from the system of tunnels. The apparatus also includes elongated heater units mounted to sides of the casing and extending into and axially along selected ones of the tunnels in the system thereof.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to material processing and, more particularly, is concerned with an apparatus for controlled processing of materials, such as the disposal of medical and other diverse waste material, particularly on-site where the waste material is produced.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The problem of disposal of waste matter involves a material processing challenge that is becoming increasingly acute. The primary material processing methods of waste disposal have been burning in incinerators and burial in landfills. These two material processing methods have severe disadvantages. Burning of waste liberates particulate matter and fumes which contribute to pollution of the air. Burial of wastes contributes to the contamination of ground water. A third material processing method is recycling of waste. Although increasing amounts of waste are being recycled, which alleviates the problems of the two primary material processing methods, presently available recycling methods do not provide a complete solution to the waste disposal problem.
The problem of disposal of biomedical waste materials is even more acute. The term "biomedical waste materials" is used herein in a generic sense to encompass all waste generated by medical hospitals, laboratories and clinics which may contain hazardous, toxic or infectious matter whose disposal is governed by more stringent regulations than those covering other waste. It was reported in The Wall Street Journal in 1989 that about 13,000 tons a day of biomedical waste, as much as 20% of it infectious, is generated by around 6,800 U.S. hospitals.
Hospitals and other generators of biomedical waste materials have employed three main material processing methods of waste handling and disposal: (1) on-site incineration with only the residue transferred to landfills; (2) on-site steam autoclaving and followed by later transfer of the waste to landfills; and (3) transfer of the waste by licensed hazardous waste haulers to off-site incinerators and landfills. Of these three main material processing methods, theoretically at least, on-site disposal is the preferred one.
However, many hospital incinerators, being predominantly located in urban areas, emit pollutants at a relatively high rate which adversely affect large populations of people. In the emissions of hospital incinerators, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has identified harmful substances, including metals such as arsenic, cadmium and lead; dioxins and furans; organic compounds like ethylene, acid gases and carbon monoxide; and soot, viruses, and pathogens. Emissions of these incinerators may pose a public health threat as large as that from landfills.
Nonetheless, on-site disposal of biomedical waste materials still remains the most promising solution. One recent on-site waste disposal unit which addresses this problem is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,934,283 to Kydd. This unit employs a lower pyrolyzing chamber and an upper oxidizing chamber separated by a movable plate. The waste material is deposited in the lower chamber where it is pyrolyzed in the absence of air and gives off a combustible vapor that, in turn, is oxidized in the upper chamber. While this unit represents a step in the right direction, it does not appear to approach an optimum solution to the problem of biomedical waste material disposal.
One problem with the approach of the aforementioned patent is that it proposes the use of an on-site waste disposal unit which is dedicated to the disposal of biomedical waste material. This approach requires that more than one incineration system be installed and maintained at hospitals, namely, one for biomedical waste and another for all other hospital waste. Resistance has been encountered to the adoption of this approach by hospitals due to added cost of installation, operation and maintenance. An urgent need has developed for an all-purpose material processing apparatus which can handle disposal of all types of hospital waste materials, both biomedical waste and general waste, such as metal needles and glass and plastic bottles.

Heater and tunnel arrangement in a material processing apparatus


A component comprising an anodized aluminum surface comprising a diamond-like carbon sealant. In a preferred embodiment, the diamond-like carbon sealant substantially fills pores in the anodized aluminum surface, and the pores are substantially free of gas. The anodized aluminum surface and sealant form an interface which preferably is substantially free of imperfections attributable to water molecules remaining adsorbed to the surface during application of said sealant.

Aluminum is commonly used to manufacture many different articles. When compared to steel, aluminum owes its versatility as an engineering material to its easy workability, its somewhat low specific gravity, and its relative resistance to corrosion by the ambient environment.
The resistance to corrosion exhibited by aluminum is due to the formation of a substantially transparent "natural" oxide layer upon exposure to air. The oxide layer prevents direct contact between the underlying aluminum and corrosive materials in the surrounding environment. Unfortunately, this "natural oxide" layer does not always have a uniform thickness. Because of this, natural oxides generally are removed from aluminum products, and the product thereafter is "anodized", or controllably oxidized, to provide a protective oxide layer with better quality and substantially greater thickness.
Anodizing processes generally involve the use of a bath containing an electrolyte, such as sulfuric acid, oxalic acid, chromic acid, phosphoric acid, or combinations thereof, with or without certain addition agents. The aluminum workpiece generally is used as an anode and a component made of steel or other suitable material is used as a cathode. The anode and cathode are immersed in the electrolyte solution, and a direct or alternating current is passed through the electrolyte.
Although anodizing, itself, imparts satisfactory corrosion resistance to aluminum components, anodizing also suffers from several disadvantages. One disadvantage is the porosity of the oxide formed at the surface of the aluminum component. A typical anodizing treatment results in a porous polygonal cellular microstructure superimposed on a thin (less than 100 nm) "barrier" layer. The diameter of the pores in the microstructure can be as small as 10 nm. The cell dimension can be as small as about 30 nm.
The pores formed at the surface of anodized aluminum are undesirable because they tend to serve as corrosion sites, which give rise to deep pits. Deep pits in the anodized surface often result in "blooms" or white spots on the surface of the aluminum. In order to protect anodized aluminum from corrosion, especially in halide or salt-containing environments, the pores of the aluminum oxide customarily are sealed by immersion in a hot solution containing hexavalent chromium. A complex chemical reaction occurs, forming a solid compound of chromium, aluminum, oxygen, and some hydrogen within the pores of the anodized surface. This solid compound seals the pores against penetration by corrosive agents.
Unfortunately, hexavalent chromium solutions are toxic. The use and disposal of hexavalent chromium solutions therefore creates environmental concerns. Environmental concerns, and their associated costs, have created an urgent need for alternative sealing processes that are free from such hazards. The need for alternative sealing processes is intensified because the process used to form a chromate sealant does not purge the pores of the aluminum before or while the chromate sealant is formed. As a result, at least some gas remains in many of the pores, serving as corrosion sites.
Some have attempted to develop alternative sealing processes using other chemical solutions. To date, these alternative chemical solutions have not been entirely successful. A non-toxic, effective method for sealing anodized aluminum surfaces is urgently needed.
One obstacle to the development of alternative methods for sealing anodized aluminum surfaces is the fact that most anodizing treatments require that the aluminum component be immersed in an aqueous electrolyte solution. Even after drying, a film of water molecules (about two monolayers thick) tends to remain strongly adsorbed to the anodized surface. Where the anodized surface will be treated with a relatively hydrophilic sealant, the presence of adsorbed water molecules should not interfere with the sealing process. However, if the anodized surface will be treated with a hydrophobic sealant, the adsorbed water molecules could interfere with the sealing process, e.g., creating gaps or other imperfections which could serve as corrosion sites.
The removal of water molecules from an anodized aluminum surface is not a simple matter. Water molecules are polar, and thus have a charge distribution within the molecules, themselves. The attraction between the anodized surface and the polarized water molecules creates a weak bond which holds the water molecules to the anodized surface. In order to break this weak bond, the water molecules must be provided with enough energy to break free from the anodized aluminum surface.
A number of methods exist for freeing adsorbed water molecules from various surfaces. These methods include exposing the anodized surface to: sonar energy; heat; a flow of inert gas; a beam of de-focused electrons; and, UV light.
The use of sonar energy to free adsorbed water molecules has proven to be time consuming and not entirely successful. Heating of the surface is more successful in actually desorbing the water molecules from the surface; however, not all of the adsorbed water molecules are removed by heat, and the application of heat can be cumbersome and time consuming. A flow of inert gas, such as nitrogen, removes some adsorbed water molecules; however, the movement of the gas molecules is random, and it is unlikely to remove all of the adsorbed water molecules. Whether de-focused electrons accelerated in a vacuum can successfully remove adsorbed water molecules from an anodized surface is not known; however, the technique has not been used commercially.
Water molecules absorb certain wavelengths of UV light. The absorbed energy should excite the water molecules into a vibrational mode, freeing the water molecules from the surface to which they are adsorbed. However, the UV light that has been used in the past to desorb water molecules from various surfaces has been relatively high intensity, or short wavelength UV light. The conventional source of UV light is a mercury vapor lamp. In most mercury vapor lamps, essentially all radiation having a wavelength shorter than 200 nm is shut off by a silica envelope. Water has a low coefficient of absorption in the wavelength ranges produced by mercury vapor UV lamps. As a result, a relatively long period of time has been required to desorb water molecules from a surface using relatively long wavelength UV light.
The development of effective alternative sealing methods for anodized aluminum surfaces will be advanced if more efficient and effective methods are developed to remove adsorbed water molecules from such surfaces.

Porous anodized aluminum surfaces sealed with diamond-like carbon coatings


An augmented reality system including: a physical anatomic model; a display unit via which a user is adapted to receive first and second optic feedbacks, the first optic feedback emanating from the physical anatomic model and passing through the display unit, and the second optic feedback emanating from the display unit and including a virtual anatomic model; a tracking system adapted to track a position and orientation of the display unit; and a computing device adapted to: receive a first signal from the tracking system relating to the position and orientation of the display unit, and send a second signal to cause the display unit to overlay the second optic feedback on the first optic feedback, the second signal being based on the first signal. In some embodiments, the second optic feedback further includes ancillary virtual graphics such as medical data, instructional steps, expert demonstrations, didactic content, and exigent circumstances.

As medical science has progressed, it has become increasingly important to provide non-human interactive formats for teaching patient care. While it is desirable to train medical personnel in patient care protocols before allowing contact with real patients, textbooks and flash cards lack the important benefits to students that can be attained from hands-on practice. On the other hand, allowing inexperienced students to perform medical procedures on actual patients that would allow for the hands-on practice cannot be considered a viable alternative because of the inherent risk to the patient. Non-human interactive devices and systems can be used to teach the skills needed to successfully identify and treat various patient conditions without putting actual patients at risk.
For example, patient care education has often been taught using medical instruments to perform patient care activity on a physical simulator, such as a manikin. Such training devices and systems can be used by medical personnel and medical students to teach and assess competencies such as patient care, medical knowledge, practice based learning and improvement, systems based practice, professionalism, and communication. The training devices and systems can also be used by patients to learn the proper way to perform self-examinations. "In situ" simulation in healthcare is popular because it uses a real patient simulator in a real hospital environment. As a result, students are allowed to practice and make mistakes in the same area where they may later treat real life patients in a professional manner. However, one issue with this approach is that such facilities may be jammed with real patients and caregivers thus simulation time becomes limited.
The internal structure, functions, and processes of existing physical simulators are not visible by the user. In addition, at least some desirable external features are not present on the physical simulator or are poorly simulated by existing simulators. To address these issues, some physical simulators incorporate physically simulated fluids and physical disposables for a variety of treatment scenarios. However, physically simulated fluids have the potential of causing the physical simulator's electronics to short-circuit. Furthermore, physical disposables have a limited life-span, and are not amenable to anatomic variability on a large scale. Thus, while existing physical simulators have been adequate in many respects, they have not been adequate in all respects. Therefore, what is needed is an augmented reality system for use in conducting patient care training sessions that is even more realistic and/or includes additional simulated features.

Augmented reality system for teaching patient care


The lettering tape produced by the print cassette is composed of an application tape and an adhesive tape. The adhesive tape has a release sheet with which an adhesive layer is coated. A printing surface of the application tape to which the ink is thermally transferred and the adhesive layer are overlapped to be stuck to each other to compose the lettering tape retransferring the ink.

Conventionally, a tape printer for producing a simple lettering tape disclosed in Japanese patent application laid-open No. S63(1988)-125340, for instance, has been used to produce the lettering tape to which desired characters and the like are transferred. With regard to the produced lettering tape, the transferred surface thereof is pressed against an object and rubbed thereover, and thus the characters can be retransferred to the object.
However, it is necessary to hard rub the lettering tape with a tool such as a stylus (transferring pen) to retransfer the characters and the like on the transferred surface of the lettering tape to the object.


An auxiliary bearing system may include an auxiliary bearing receiver housing and an inertia ring. The auxiliary bearing receiver housing may include an axial inner surface, a first radially extending surface, and a first arcuate surface extending therebetween. The inertia ring may include an axial outer surface, a second radially extending surface, and a second arcuate surface extending therebetween. The second arcuate surface may have a radial outer end adjacent the second radially extending surface and a radial inner end adjacent the axial outer surface. The inertia ring may define a first angle between the axis of rotation of the shaft and a first tangent at a first point on the second arcuate surface adjacent the radial outer end, and a second angle between the axis of rotation of the shaft and a second tangent at a second point on the second arcuate surface adjacent the radial inner end.

Active magnetic bearings (AMBs) have recently emerged as an attractive technology for controlling the position of a wide range of rotating machinery shafts, particularly turbomachine rotors.
Turbomachines such as compact compressors combine a pressurized, high-speed motor and magnetic bearing system with the compressor in a single, hermetically sealed motor-compressor module. FIG. 1 illustrates a cross-sectional view of a conventional compact compressor 100. The conventional compact compressor 100 has a compressor end 102 and motor end 104. A pressure casing 106 hermetically seals the compressor and the motor. As illustrated in FIG. 1, a primary bearing system including, for example, active magnetic bearings (AMBs) 108 may be employed at various locations along the shaft of the conventional compact compressor 100. AMBs may typically be located at the ends of the shaft and, depending upon the length of the shaft, at one or more locations between the ends of the shaft. In addition to the primary bearing system, current designs may require an auxiliary bearing system to allow the rotor system to run non-destructively for some period if a failure of the primary bearing system occurs.
FIG. 2 illustrates a cross-sectional view of a portion of a rotating machine utilizing a conventional auxiliary bearing system. FIG. 2 also illustrates a primary bearing system used in conjunction with the conventional auxiliary bearing system. In FIG. 2, a shaft 202 of the rotating machine is supported by the primary bearing system including at least a pair of radial active magnetic bearings 204 (only one shown) and a thrust active magnetic bearing 206 during normal operation of the rotating machine. When the primary bearing system fails, the shaft 202 is supported by the conventional auxiliary bearing system including at least a pair of auxiliary bearings 208.
During operation, auxiliary bearings control the radial position and the axial position of the rotor system (for example, the shaft and/or other rotating components) while static and dynamic radial and thrust forces act on the rotor system. The auxiliary bearings are typically inactive while the rotor system of the rotating machine is supported by the primary bearing system during normal operating conditions. This is achieved by providing some clearance (both axial and radial) between the interfacing surfaces of the auxiliary bearings and the rotor system. When the primary bearing system fails, the shaft de-levitates and the rotor "drops" radially (for a horizontal axis rotor system) onto the auxiliary bearing system. Appropriate portions of the auxiliary bearing system accelerate to rotor rotational speed and take over the bearing function from the failed primary bearing system. A significant problem of such a system is controlling the shaft position when the rotor "drops" on the auxiliary bearing system. Some conventional auxiliary bearing systems can become unstable during the transient event, resulting in damage to the rotating machine.
There is a need, therefore, for an auxiliary bearing system that stably supports the rotating shaft when the primary bearing system fails and further minimizes damage to the rotating machine.


Provided is a near-field light generating element in which as much amount as possible of waveguide light can be coupled with a plasmon antenna. The element comprises a light waveguide and a plasmon antenna comprising a surface or edge for propagating surface plasmon excited by waveguide light, extending to a near-field light generating end. A groove is formed in a waveguide side surface. And at least a portion of the surface or edge is embedded in the groove or located directly above the groove, being opposed to a wall or bottom surface of the groove with a predetermined distance, so as for waveguide light to be coupled with the plasmon antenna in surface plasmon mode. This configuration enables the surface or edge to be located at the position in which the surface or edge can be coupled with more amount of light, thereby to improve the light use efficiency.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a plasmon antenna for generating near-field light by being irradiated with light. And the present invention relates to a head used for thermally-assisted magnetic recording in which a magnetic recording medium is irradiated with near-field light, thereby anisotropic magnetic field of the medium is lowered, thus data can be written. Further, the present invention relates to a magnetic recording apparatus provided with the head.
2. Description of the Related Art
As the recording density of a magnetic disk apparatus becomes higher, further improvement has been required in the performance of a thin-film magnetic head and a magnetic recording medium. As the thin-film magnetic head, a composite-type thin-film magnetic head is widely used, which has a stacked structure of a magnetoresistive (MR) element for reading data and an electromagnetic transducer for writing data.
Whereas, the magnetic recording medium is generally a kind of discontinuous body of magnetic microparticles gathered together, and each of the magnetic microparticles has a single magnetic domain structure. Here, one record bit consists of a plurality of the magnetic microparticles. Therefore, in order to improve the recording density, it is necessary to decrease the size of the magnetic microparticles and reduce irregularity in the boundary of the record bit. However, the decrease in size of the magnetic microparticles raises a problem of degradation in thermal stability of the magnetization due to the decrease in volume. Recently, as a method for solving this problem of thermal stability, so-called a thermally-assisted magnetic recording technique is proposed, in which the magnetic recording medium is formed of a magnetic material with a large magnetic anisotropy energy KU, and writing is performed by reducing the anisotropic magnetic field with heat supplied to the magnetic recording medium just before applying write field.
As a thermally-assisted magnetic recording technique, a method has been generally known, in which a near-field light probe formed of a metal piece, so-called a plasmon antenna, is used for generating near-field light from plasmon that is excited by irradiated laser light. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,768,556 B1 discloses a plasmon antenna that includes a metal scatterer with a strobilus shape formed on a substrate and a dielectric material film formed around the metal scatterer. And US Patent Publication No. 2004/081031 A1 discloses a configuration in which a plasmon antenna is formed in contact with the main magnetic pole of a magnetic head for perpendicular magnetic recording in such a way that the irradiated surface of the plasmon antenna is perpendicular to the surface of a magnetic recording medium. Further, US Patent Publication No. 2003/066944 A1 discloses a technique in which the tip of a plasmon antenna is made closer to a magnetic recording medium to attempt to irradiate the medium with stronger near-field light.
As described above, various thermally-assisted magnetic recording techniques have been proposed, which uses plasmon antennas. The present inventors have devised a near-field light generating element in which laser light propagating through a waveguide (waveguide light) is coupled with a plasmon antenna in a surface plasmon mode to cause the excited surface plasmon to propagate to the opposed-to-medium surface, thereby providing near-field light, rather than directly applying the waveguide light to a plasmon antenna. The plasmon antenna in the element will be hereinafter referred to as a surface plasmon antenna. In the near-field light generating element, the temperature of the surface plasmon antenna does not excessively rise because waveguide light is not directly applied to the surface plasmon antenna. As a result, there can be avoided such a situation in which the end, which reaches the opposed-to-medium surface, of a read head element for reading data signal or servo signal from the magnetic recording medium becomes relatively far apart from the magnetic recording medium due to the thermal expansion of the plasmon antenna, which makes it difficult to properly read the servo signal. In addition, there can also be avoided such a situation in which the light use efficiency of the near-field light generating element is degraded because thermal disturbance of free electrons increases in the plasmon antenna. Here, the light use efficiency of a near-field light generating element is given by IOUT/IIN(×100), where IIN is the intensity of laser light incident to the waveguide, and IOUT is the intensity of near-field light emitted from a near-field light generating end of the plasmon antenna after converting the laser light into surface plasmon in the plasmon antenna.
The above-described near-field light generating element is required to have more improved light use efficiency. Actually, it is known that the light use efficiency of at least 10% (percent) or more is needed in order to achieve favorable thermally-assisted magnetic recording. To meet the requirement in the above-described near-field light generating element, especially, it is significantly important to couple as much amount as possible of the waveguide light with the plasmon antenna in a surface plasmon mode.

Near-field light generating element comprising surface plasmon antenna and waveguide with groove


‘CF-MKR-GR1’ is a distinctive Geogenanthus plant which is characterized by the combination of a compact growth habit with large, near-orbicular, glossy foliage borne terminally on very dark purple aerial shoots, juvenile and mature foliage with multicolored variegation on both the adaxial and abaxial foliar surfaces, and the uniformity and stability of these characteristics from generation to generation.

Parentage: 'CF-MKR-GR1' is a spontaneous whole-plant mutation which was discovered growing amongst a cultivated population of unnamed Geogenanthus sp. plants (not patented) which was discovered by the inventor in August of 2019 at a commercial greenhouse near Miami, Fla. The mutation was first noted for its unique multicolored foliage variegation. At that time, the claimed plant was asexually propagated, and the resulting plants were grown to maturity in order to confirm the distinguishing characteristics first observed and the stability thereof.
Asexual Reproduction: Asexual reproduction of the new cultivar 'CF-MKR-GR1', by way of rooting leaf cuttings, was first performed in September of 2019 at a commercial greenhouse near Miami, Fla. Through five subsequent generations, the unique features of this cultivar have proven to be stable and true to type.


Method and apparatus for effecting an interference fit of two parts, wherein the two parts are held by a holding device such that the two parts are movable toward each other, and at least one of the two parts is accelerated by an accelerating device toward the other or each other in a direction that permits the interference fit, to give the at least one part a kinetic energy, for thereby achieving the interference fit of the two parts.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for effecting an interference fit of two parts, and more particularly to techniques for minimizing the amount of unnecessary deformation of the parts during an operation to effect the interference fit.
2. Discussion of the Prior Art
JP-U-63-144136 (laid-open publication of Japanese Utility Model Application NO. 62-35891) discloses conventional method and apparatus for effecting an interference fit of two mating parts of an assembly. In this conventional interference-fit method, at least one of the mating parts is forced onto the other part by a rigid pressure head, to thereby effect an interference fit for assembling the two parts. The conventional apparatus disclosed in the above publication includes (a) a first holder device for holding a first part which is one of the two parts to be assembled, (b) a second holder device for holding a second part which is the other of the two parts, such that the second part is movable toward the first part held by the first holder device, in the direction of the interference fit with the second part; and (c) a pushing device including a pressure head (equipped with a chuck if necessary) which is adapted to engage with the second part held by the second holder device and force the second part onto the first part held by the first holder device. Thus, the conventional technique for effecting an interference fit of the first and second parts uses a pressure head which directly forces the second part into the first part to achieve the interference fit of these two parts.
However, the conventional technique for effecting an interference fit suffers from the following problem.
In the case where the second part in the form of a shaft is axially forced or press-fitted into a hole axially formed through the first part, for example, this press fitting operation is possible provided only a mating portion of the second part which engages with the first part is forced in the direction of the interference fit, namely, in the axial direction of the second part. In the conventional technique indicated above, however, a mechanical force F produced by the pressure head during an press-fitting operation of the two parts is received by the second part at one of its opposite axial ends remote from the first part, as indicated in the upper part of FIG. 3. As a result, the axial force acting on the second part is evenly distributed over the entire axial length of the second part, as indicated in the lower part of FIG. 3. Consequently, the conventional technique causes a considerably large axial compressive stress acting on the portion of the second part other than the mating portion at which the interference fit is achieved.
The above phenomenon results in the following problem, where the mating portion of the second part is made of a hard material such as a steel. Usually, the axial compressive force acting on the second part during the press-fitting operation is not evenly distributed on the opposite sides of the axis of the second part, and tends to generate a moment that causes the second part to be bent with respect to its axis. Where the moment generated is large, the portion of the second part other than the mating portion press-fitted in the first part is likely to suffer from undesirable permanent deformation. If the portion of the second part other than the mating portion includes a region that can be easily bent due to a cutout or local reduction in the modulus of section, plastic deformation may take place due to stress concentration in that region, leading to permanent deformation of the second part.
The large axial compressive force acting on the portion of the second part other than the mating portion will cause the following problem, where the mating portion is made of an elastic material such as rubber. That is, the axial compressive force produced during the press-fitting operation will cause elastic deformation of the elastic portion of the second part in the direction perpendicular to the direction of the press fitting of the two parts. This elastic deformation results in an increase in the amount of interference between the elastic portion of the second part and the corresponding mating portion of the first part, whereby the press fitting is difficult to achieve, or likely to cause surface damaging or breakage of the elastic portion of the second part.
In the conventional technique for effecting an interference fit of two parts, a considerably large axial compressive force produced during the press-fitting operation unnecessarily acts on a portion of one of the two mating parts which is displaced relative to the other, so that the displaced part undesirably suffers from deformation at that portion.
Where the mating portion of the second part is made of an elastic material, that surface of this elastic portion is generally coated with a lubricant. However, when the amount of interference between the mating portions of the first and second parts is relatively large, the lubricant is wiped off by the first part, leading to an insufficient lubricating effect of the lubricant. In view of this drawback, the conventional method is adapted such that the second part is first forced into the hole of the first part by a distance larger than the nominal length of the interference fit of the two parts so as to ensure fitting of the mating portions of the two parts, and then the second part is displaced in the reverse direction so as to release the undesirable compressive stress in the elastic mating portion of the second part. Thus, the conventional method requires an extra step where the mating portion of the second part is made of an elastic material.

Method and apparatus for effecting interference fit of two parts by accelerating the part or parts


A method and system for transferring a firmware file between a host system and a device driver, wherein the host system includes an operating system segmented into a user space and a kernel space is disclosed. Aspects of the exemplary embodiment include using a first type of process file system command in the user space to initiate a transfer of the firmware file between the host system and the device driver, wherein the firmware file exists in the user space and the device driver exists in the kernel space; and using a second type of process file system command in the user space to transfer the firmware file between the user space and the device driver in kernel space.

In computing, firmware is software that is embedded in a hardware device. It is often provided on flash ROMs or as a binary image file that can be downloaded into existing hardware. In some systems, a host computer transfers the firmware to the hardware device. This transfer of the firmware is handled by a device driver.
For example, firmware downloading from a host system to a device driver in a wireless area local network (WLAN) card is required in some systems. Downloading the firmware file to the card typically requires the driver to access the firmware file. Due to a license or other restriction typically associated with the firmware, however, the firmware file either cannot be installed in the driver, or cannot be accessed by the driver directly from kernel space. For example, the file has to be released under a GPL (General Public License), which is undesirable. In this case, a special application or other method is needed to download the firmware file from user space (file system) of the host system to the device driver in kernel space if the kernel does not support firmware downloading. However, it is typically not desirable to provide a WLAN card with an application that is capable of accessing files from kernel space. Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide an improved method and system for downloading firmware from a host system to a hardware device.

Method and apparatus for transferring firmware between an operating system device in a host


A reinforcement cap for use with pedicle screws and rod receptacles (“tulips”) in spinal support systems. The unitary reinforcement cap engages both the internal and the external surfaces of the wall segments of the rod receptacle. In some embodiments, both the internal and the external surfaces are threadably engaged. By doubling the number of threads that are engaged, additional strength and structural integrity are realized over conventional set screw arrangements. Also, because of the unitary construction, wherein an internal set screw portion and an external skirt portion are integral to the reinforcement cap, lateral movement between the set screw portion and the skirt portion is limited. In some embodiments, the threads are of a canted cantilever construction, wherein the interfaces of threadably engaged components are tailored to generate reaction force vectors that mitigate slippage at the threaded interfaces.

Spinal support systems utilizing pedicle screws and spinal rods disposed in rod receptacles or "tulips" have been used to support spinal vertebrae. The purpose of such systems vary. In some applications, the spinal support system is used in spinal fusion therapy to hold adjacent vertebrae stationary with respect to each other, enabling bone growth tissue to form. In some applications, the rods are placed in tension to correct spinal maladies (e.g., scoliosis).
The rod receptacles typically define diametrically oppose slots, with the spinal rod extending through the slots. The formation of the slots further define opposed wall segments that extend proximally on lateral sides of the spinal rod. The spinal rod is typically held within the slots with a set screw that threadably engages the wall segments.
Over time, creep stresses may cause the wall segments to deflect radially outward and away from the set screw, with an accompanying decrease the clamping force of the set screw against the spinal rod. This can cause loosening of the assembly and slippage of the resident spinal rod within the spinal rod receptacle. In some instances, torque requirements, particularly where the spinal rods are subject to high tension forces, can cause the set screw to slip within the spinal rod receptacle during implantation. A system that remedies these shortcomings of conventional spinal support systems would be welcomed.

Reinforcement caps for spinal support systems


Noise suppression information is used to optimize or improve automatic speech recognition performed for a signal. Noise suppression can be performed on a noisy speech signal using a gain value. The gain to apply to the noisy speech signal is selected to optimize speech recognition analysis of the resulting signal. The gain may be selected based on one or more features for a current sub band and time frame, as well as one or more features for other sub bands and/or time frames. Noise suppression information can be provided to a speech recognition module to improve the robustness of the speech recognition analysis. Noise suppression information can also be used to encode and identify speech.

Speech recognition systems have been used to convert spoken words into text. In medium and high noise environments, however, the accuracy of automatic speech recognition systems tends to degrade significantly. As a result, most speech recognition systems are used with audio captured in a noise-free environment.
Unlike speech recognition systems, a standard noise reduction strategy consists of strongly attenuating portions of the acoustic spectrum which are dominated by noise. Spectrum portions dominated by speech are preserved.
Strong attenuation of undesired spectrum portions is a valid strategy from the point of view of noise reduction and perceived output signal quality, it is not necessarily a good strategy for an automatic speech recognition system. In particular, the spectral regions strongly attenuated by noise suppression may have been necessary to extract features for speech recognition. As a result, the attenuation resulting from noise suppression corrupts the features of the speech signal more than the original noise signal. This corruption by the noise suppression of the speech signal, which is greater than the corruption caused by the added noise signal, causes the noise reduction algorithm to make automatic speech recognition results unusable.

Noise suppression assisted automatic speech recognition


A bootstrap logic driver circuit operable from a low voltage power supply includes first and second bipolar transistors coupled between positive and negative voltage supplies and having a collector load comprising a first diode structure. A further transistor coupled between the voltage supplies has a collector load comprising a second diode structure. A bootstrap capacitor coupled between the diode structures stores charge when the circuit is in a first condition and is discharged when the circuit is in a second condition to provide an enhanced drive voltage for an output transistor.

Although introduced over thirty years ago, the TTL (transistor-transistor logic) integrated logic standard fabricated in an npn bipolar process is still widely used as an interface in current CMOS digital systems. Bipolar circuits have the particular advantage of being able to operate at the high speeds that are required in current telecommunications transmission systems. These TTL circuits have a standard `totem pole` output stage comprising a series connected pair of transistors providing a respective pull-up and pull-down stage. Although low voltage excursion is achievable from the pull-down stage, the high voltage excursion of the pull-up stage is limited by the supply voltage that is applied to the circuit. At best, the high voltage output is limited to a value equal to the positive supply voltage less the sum of the base-emitter voltages (Vbe.sub.ON) of the two output transistors in their conductive state. The magnitude of the voltage Vbe.sub.ON is determined by current density and temperature, but is generally between 0-6 and 1.0 volts. In the past, the effect of the value of Vbe.sub.ON on the output voltage has not been a significant problem as it is relatively small in comparison with the standard circuit supply voltages of 12 volts and 5 volts. However newer CMOS designs having a supply voltage of only 3.3 volts are now being introduced. With such a low supply voltage, the output of a conventional TTL output stage falls below the 2-4 volts that is required for adequate circuit performance.
A possible solution to this problem is the provision of an additional power supply for the TTL circuitry. This however is generally inconvenient both in terms of added complexity and increased cost.


A power conversion system has a control circuit constituted by a dual system. The control circuit of each system is equipped with a current control circuit. The current control circuit has a selection circuit that, after determining the magnitude of the output of an integrating amplifier of its own system and the output of an integrating amplifier of the other system, selects one of the outputs of the two integrating amplifiers. The selection circuit applies a signal responsive to a difference between the output of the integrating amplifier of its own system and the output of the selection circuit of its own system as correction signal to the input of the integrating amplifier of its own system. Accordingly, when the power conversion system is utilizes a dual control system, even when the current control circuit includes an integration algorithm, control can be performed by the two systems without saturation due to the integration algorithm.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a power conversion control apparatus for controlling a converter which converts AC power to DC power or DC power to AC power. More specifically, the power conversion control apparatus is constituted by a dual system.
2. Description of the Related Art
FIG. 1 shows a block diagram of a power conversion control apparatus for a DC power supply system.
Referring to FIG. 1, the DC sides of converters 1A and 1B are connected to DC power supply line 3 by means of respective DC reactors 2A and 2B. The AC sides of converters 1A and lB are connected to AC systems 6A and 6B respectively through transformers 4A and 4B and circuit breakers 5A and 5B.
The control sections of converters 1A and 1B comprise constant-voltage control circuits 11A and 11B, constant margin angle control circuits 12A and 12B and constant-current control circuits 13A and 13B. The constant margin angle control circuits 12A and 12B operate such that the margin angle of converters 1A and lB tracks a margin angle reference value which is output from margin angle selectors 18A and 18B. DC voltage selectors 14A and 14B set respective voltage reference values. Each DC voltage across supply line 3 is detected by DC voltage detectors 15A and 15B. The detected DC voltage is provided to voltage/voltage conversion circuits 16A and 16B. The voltage/voltage conversion circuits 16A and 16B convert the detected DC voltage to a voltage level appropriate for the power conversion control apparatus. First comparators 17A and 17B receive the converted voltage from the voltage/voltage conversion circuits 16A and 16B and the voltage reference value from the DC voltage selectors 14A and 14B and calculate the difference between the converted value and the voltage reference value. The difference is provided to the constant-voltage circuits 11A and 11B. The voltage difference signal is generated so that the DC voltage of DC power supply line 3 follows the voltage reference value.
Further, transmission control circuits 26A and 26B output current reference values to second comparators 23A and 23B respectively. The second comparators 23A and 23B receive detected DC current and a current reference value. The DC current is detected by current detectors 21A and 21B and the detected DC current is converted by current/voltage conversion circuits 22A and 22B to an appropriate level for use by the power conversion control apparatus. The second comparators 23A and 23B calculate a difference between the DC current from current/voltage conversion circuits 22A and 22B and the current reference value from the transmission control circuits 26A and 26B, and provide the calculated difference to the constant-current control circuits 13A and 13B. The current reference value is provided from a current reference output circuit 27 to the transmission control circuit 26A, and is transmitted to the transmission control circuit 26B through a transmission line 19.
When the converters 1A and lB perform an inverse power conversion operation (DC to AC), switches 24A and 24B are closed. Thus, when the converter 1A performs the inverse power conversion operation, the switch 24A is closed and when the converter lB performs the inverse power conversion operation, the switch 24B is closed. When the switches 24A and 24B are closed, current margins which are output from current margin selectors 25A and 25B are provided to the second comparators 23A and 23B respectively. This operation is called "a current margin operation."
Control advance angle priority circuits 28A and 28B receive the outputs of constant-voltage circuits 11A and 11B, constant margin angle control circuits 12A and 12B and constant-current control circuits 13A and 13B, and output the largest one of the three inputs (with the most advanced control angle). The output from the control advance angle priority circuits 28A and 28B is provided to phase control circuits 29A and 29B, respectively. The phase control circuits 29A and 29B convert the output from the control advance angle priority circuits 28A and 28B to pulse signals which determine firing timing of the converters 1A and lB. The pulse signals from the phase control circuits 29A and 29B are provided to the converters 1A and lB as gate pulse signals through pulse amplification circuits 30A and 30B.
Next, a power conversion control apparatus for controlling the converter 1A which is constructed as a dual system will be described.
FIG. 2 shows a block diagram of the power conversion control apparatus which is constructed as the dual system. Those elements of FIG. 2 which correspond to those in FIG. 1 have been given like reference numerals.
In FIG. 2, the power conversion control apparatus is comprised of two systems 101 and 102 and pulse amplification circuit 30A. The controlled variables are harmonized in a stage preceding phase control circuits 29C and 29D in order to avoid variation of the output of the respective systems. Typically, the harmonization for the controlled variables is done by providing the output value of the control advance angle priority circuit 28C of system 101 and the output value of control advance angle priority circuit 28D of system 102 to a selection circuit 50C, which selects the controlled variables to be output to the phase control circuit 29C. A selection circuit 50D performs the same operation for system 102. When one of the systems 101 or 102 of the power conversion control apparatus operates abnormally, the outputting of the controlled variables of the abnormal system is halted and the abnormal system is isolated. Further, the selection circuit 50C or 50D of the normal system operates so as to not select the controlled variables of the abnormal system.
However, when the constant-current control circuits 13C and 13D utilize an algorithm which includes integration, the following problems can occur.
When forward power conversion operation is performed by the two systems 101 and 102, the selection by the selection circuits 50C and 50D is done based on a phase lag priority. There can exist a discrepancy in the current detection such that the detection is performed for the system 102 at a somewhat lower level than for the system 101.
Accordingly, the current detection value IdA of system 101 is more than the current detection value IdB of system 102. Further, when the current reference value IdpA of system 101 is equal to the current reference value IdpB of system 102, the difference .DELTA.IdA between the current reference value IdpA and the current detection value IdA of system 101 is less than the difference .DELTA. IdB between the current reference value IdpB and the current detection value IdB of system 102. EQU .DELTA.IdA=IdpA-IdA EQU .DELTA.IdB=IdpB-IdB EQU .DELTA.IdA<.DELTA.IdB
Moreover, the output EcA of difference amplifier (not shown) which utilizes the integration algorithm in the constant-current control circuit 13C is less than the output EcB of difference amplifier (not shown) utilizing the integration algorithm in the constant-current control circuit 13D. EQU EcA<EcB
Since the selection by the selection circuits 50C and 50D is done by phase lag priority because of the forward power conversion operation, the value used for control is the output EcA of the difference amplifier (not shown) 5 utilized in the constant-current control circuit 13C.
When the current reference value IdpA is equal to the current detection value IdA, the difference .DELTA.IdA of system 101 becomes zero and the difference .DELTA.IdB of system 102 becomes more than zero.
Accordingly, in the system 102, since the controlled variables of its own system are not selected, the controlled variables are integrated to a phase-advanced value by the integration algorithm utilized in the constant-current control circuit 13D and each of the controlled variables will approximate the limit value. To state this in another way, the system 101 does not require correction since the reference value equals the measured value (IdpA =IDA). However, system 102 does require negative feedback since IdpB is not equal to IdB but utilizes control parameters from 101, thus leading the integration circuit to saturation.
Additionally, when a problem occurs in system 101 and the system 101 is isolated, the phase of system 101 is advanced to the phase for operating the controlled variables of system 102 immediately upon the isolation of the system 101. In this situation, when the controlled variables of system 102 are very advanced, this can lead to saturation upon changeover. The controlled variables of system 102 would approximate the limit level as described above.
Accordingly, the control of the DC system is disturbed. Furthermore the instantaneous change of operating condition of the converter may have an adverse effect on the system and/or equipment. This situation occurs in the same way even if the selection circuits 50C and 50D are operated by phase-advance priority. Some discrepancy in the detection systems of dual control systems is inevitable, and even this expected level of discrepancy can result in the integration system becoming saturated.


A switch knob 1 having an operation portion 2, a cam system 3, a driving system 4, a steel ball 5, and a spring 6. The cam system 3, which is made of a molded, light transmissive material, is insertion molded into the operation portion 2, which is made of an opaque material. The cam system 3 includes an integral indicator 31 having a projected portion 32. A designated symbol is formed by the projected portion 32, which is exposed through the operation portion 2. Since the cam system 3 attached on the back side of the operation portion is light transmissive, the cam system 3 does not cause any inconsistency in the light at the indication portion. In addition, the number of parts comprising the switch knob 1 are minimized, and it is possible to maintain the quality of the symbols for extended periods.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a switch knob having an indicator portion which is illuminated with light from a light source on the main body portion of the switch and, in particular, to an improved switch knob in which a light transmissive cam system is insertion molded into an operation portion of the switch knob.
2. Description of the Related Art
A conventional switch knob with a light is disclosed in Japanese Laid Open Patent Publication No. Sho 61-161843. The conventional switch knob has an illuminated portion lit by a light source such that the light from the light source is directed to the illuminated portion of the operation knob by guiding material so that the illuminated portion is continuously and brightly lit. There are symbols consisting of letters or numbers to indicate the functions controlled by the operation of the switch on the operation portion of the switch knob. In order to indicate the symbols, for example, an opaque plate in the shape of the symbol is insertion molded into the operation portion, or a transparent lens is insertion molded into the operation portion and the symbol is printed thereon.
However, in order to indicate the symbol on the operation portion of the switch knob, when an opaque plate is insertion molded into the shape of the symbol into the operation portion, as in the first method, there was a problem that the number of the parts that comprised the switch knob increased. In the latter method, when the symbol is printed on the operation portion, and the operation portion is operated by a finger over a long period of time, there is a problem that the printed symbol is abraded or peeled and eliminated. In addition, for the structure in which a cam system is located on the back side of the operation portion, the light on the indicator becomes inconsistent because the cam system becomes an obstacle.

Switch knob having illuminated indicator


Systems and methods for monitoring event through the use of occurrence records in order to take one or more actions are described herein. An occurrence record is received and processed. The occurrence record includes one or more parameters and are indicative of an event of a given type. The received occurrence record is compared to one or more trigger-based rules. When a trigger condition of a trigger-based rule is met, the trigger-based rule is executed. When one or more other conditions of the executed trigger-based rule is met, a command for an action is generated.

To improve safety within a city or other jurisdiction, information about events relating to criminal activity may be gathered and stored by a relevant authority. For instance, security cameras and licence plate readers may be used to collect information about traffic violations. Another example is collecting information about the nature and timing of 911 calls, recorded gunshot sounds, or the like, in a database or via a computer-aided dispatch system. Still another example involves compiling information about the location and identity of known or suspected criminals. The information may be gathered from disparate sources, in differing formats, and may also be stored in separate repositories.
It may be desirable to analyze the information to identify patterns of activity, to link events together, or to develop improved responses to different events. However, it may be difficult for operators to fully synthesize the breadth of information gathered to draw appropriate conclusions. For instance, similar types of events may occur at disparate times, at disparate locations, or with different precursor events, leading to a difficulty in grasping any potential link therebetween. Additionally, given the quantity of data to analyze, identifying patterns of activity within the noise of all gathered information may result in certain patterns being overlooked, and thus with a failure to implement certain established procedures responsive to the patterns, had they been appropriately identified.
Therefore, approaches for addressing the above shortcomings may be desirable.

Occurrence-record driven monitoring system and method of use thereof


The invention relates to a disc brake arrangement for an individual wheel drive with rear-mounted planetary gear (3) for motor vehicles. A brake (7) is designed as pneumatically or hydraulically actuated disc brake and acts as a service, parking, emergency and auxiliary brake. The brake caliper (8) is situated below the horizontal center line of the wheel. The brake actuating device (9) is a combined diaphragm and spring accumulator cylinder situated in the axial direction and when the wheel head is assembled lies protected in a hollow axle body (10). An emergency release device (11) of the parking brake, which in case of failure of the vehicles own pressurized air system, allows towing, and is accessible from below through a hole (12) of the axle body (10).

Such individual wheel drives with rear-mounted planetary gear can be used, for example, in local traffic buses. Since in this drive, the otherwise usual axle bridge housing for axle drive and differential are omitted and replaced by an axle body without interior shafts or an individual wheel suspension, it is possible to build buses having very low floor height. In the former driving arrangements for low floor buses with individual wheel drives, the arrangement of the actuating device for disc brakes proves disadvantageous, since it reduces the passage in the floor of the bus to the height of the wheels.

Disc brake arrangement for an individual wheel drive


Inventive aspects include a high-precision log 1p( ) compute logic section of a computing machine to approximate a function F(x)=log 1p(x)=ln(x+1), using an estimation function E(x), and to at least: (i) receive an input x, (ii) compute (x+1) using only native precision, (iii) compute an integer N such that: 4/32N−1≤(x+1)≤ 4/32N, (iv) compute ƒN(x)=Sx+(S−1) where S=2−N, (v) compute E(ƒN(x)), and (vi) return a value v=E(ƒN(x))+N ln(2) as an approximation of F(x)=log 1p(x).

The present disclosure relates to high-precision computation, and more particularly, to an apparatus and method for high-precision compute of log 1p( ).
Today's computing machines are more powerful and efficient than ever before. Graphics processing units (GPUs) can execute billions of calculations per second, for example. Processing speeds of embedded memory and processors included in other devices such as smart phones, tablets, laptop computers, and personal computers continue to improve. Nevertheless, some kinds of computations are so resource-intensive that approximations are used instead, or look-up tables are otherwise relied upon, which take up area on silicon chips, increase access latency, increase memory bandwidth, and lead to an overall increase in the memory footprint of a device.
One way of implementing a transcendental function, such as a logarithm, is to implement a different non-transcendental mathematical function, which approximates the desired function to sufficient accuracy over a limited domain, but is simpler to compute. Such approximation functions are typically simple polynomials, ratios of polynomials, Taylor series, splines (i.e., a piecewise set of simpler approximation over subdomains), Chebyshez polynomials, or some combination of those. When the input value is outside the limited domain of the approximation, implementations take advantage of mathematical identities to derive another value which is in the domain of the approximation, and derive the correct result using the identity formula. This is known in the industry as "range reduction," although "domain reduction" would really be more accurate.
For a simple log function such as ln(x), the range reduction identity is ln(x)=ln(S*x)−ln(S), where S is some scale factor, usually a power of two, and the domain of the approximation function is usually a power of two including x=1.0. For example: sqrt(0.5)<=x<=sqrt(2).
For log 1p(x)=ln(1+x), the range reduction identity is log 1p(x)=log 1p(S*(1+x)−1)−ln(S), where S is some scale factor, usually a power of two, and the domain of the approximation function is some range including x=0. A difficulty arises when the input x is of small magnitude (i.e., absolute value). Combining terms "x+1" with native precision arithmetic would unacceptably loose precision. For example, if x is O(2−10), this operation would lose 10 bits of precision. Therefore, it is current practice to perform the computation of "S*(1+x)−1" using extended-precision arithmetic, which is generally expensive in terms of compute resources (e.g., time, space, energy).

Apparatus and method for high-precision compute of log1p( )


A light branching and coupling device excellent both in transmitting performance and in distributing performance in which the intermediate portion of an optical fiber 10a (10b) is thermally drawn to form light transmission fiber portions 11a and 15a (11b and 15b) and a light branching and coupling fiber portion 13a (13b) having a diameter smaller than that of the light transmission fiber portions and, at the same time, form tapering fiber portions 12a and 14a (12b and 14b) between the light transmission fiber portions and the light branching and coupling fiber portion so that the tapering fiber portions are tapered off gradually toward the light branching and coupling fiber portion 13a (13b) side. The light branching and coupling fiber portions 13a and 13b thus formed are fused with each other.

The present invention relates to a light branching and coupling device for performing light distribution or coupling in optical fiber communication, or the like.
Conventionally, a light branching and coupling device as shown in FIG. 16 is used for distributing light advancing in an optical fiber.
The light branching and coupling device is formed by thermally fusing light branching and coupling fiber portions 152a of a pair of optical fibers 152, 152 each of which has a core 150 coated with a clad 151.
In such a light branching and coupling device, as shown in FIG. 17, the critical angle .theta. of light 160 advancing in the optical fiber 152 with respect to the fiber optical axis becomes small if the numerical aperture (NA) of the optical fiber 152 is set to be small. As a result, the light 160 becomes difficult to go into and out of the boundary surface between the light branching and coupling fiber portions 152a, 152a. There arises a problem that the distributing performance of the light branching and coupling device becomes poor.
Therefore, as shown in FIG. 16, when the numerical aperture (NA) of the optical fiber 152 is set to be large to thereby increase the critical angle .theta. of light 160 so that the light 160 can easily go into and out of the boundary surface between the light branching and coupling fiber portions 152a, 152a, the distributing performance of the light branching and coupling device is improved.
On the other hand, from the point of view of transmitting performance of light 160 in the light transmission fiber portion 152b as a region other than the light branching and coupling fiber portion 152a of the optical fiber 152, the critical angle .theta. of light 160 increases if the numerical aperture of the optical fiber 152 is set to be large. Accordingly, the path of the light 160 also increases if the number of times of reflection of light 160 in the optical fiber 152 increases. There arises a problem that the loss of light 160 and the distortion of waveform increase.
Therefore, to prevent the loss of the light 160 and the distortion of waveform and attain widening the range of light from the point of view of the light transmitting performance, the numerical aperture is preferably set to be small to thereby reduce the critical reflection angle .theta. of the light 160.
As described above, it is necessary that the numerical aperture of the optical fiber is set to be large in order to improve the distributing performance of the light branching and coupling device whereas it is necessary to set the numerical aperture of the optical fiber to be small in order to improve the light transmitting performance of the optical fiber per se.
It is however extremely difficult to obtain a light branching and coupling device which satisfies such antinomical requirements.


The present invention relates to a system for detection and identification of airborne biological, chemical and/or nuclear threats such as toxins, spores, bacteria, and viruses in real time at distances from a few meters to several kilometers. Compact femtosecond terawatt laser technology is combined with spectroscopic and mathematical methods for spectral sensing of airborne warfare agents such as bio-aerosols. Trigger sensors and standoff devices based on mobile terawatt femtosecond laser systems are provided that may be placed at strategic monitoring locations. Furthermore, the invention relates to the propagation of airborne ultra-short, ultra-intense laser pulses giving rise to plasma channels (filamentation) producing white light supercontinuum ranging from the ultraviolet (UV), visible (VIS), near infra-red (NE) and middle infra-red (MIR). According to this invention, the supercontinuum can be directly produced in a particle cloud and hence is uniquely suitable for multi-spectral long-range atmospheric agent and radioactive isotope detection.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,175,664 to Diels et al. describes a method and arrangement for discharge of lightning using ultra-short laser pulses. This proposed method enables discharges of electricity transmitted via conductive ionized channels produced by one or more first laser pulses of wavelengths essentially within the ultraviolet (UV) range. The preferred wavelength of operation is about 248 nm and the pulse duration of the laser is of the order of 100 fs. In accordance with this invention, lightning is triggered by creating an ionized channel by one or more femtosecond UV pulses and simultaneously sending one or more laser pulses of longer wavelength and duration through the same path. In this way the conductivity of the laser induced channel can be maintained long enough for discharges and lightning to occur. However, this patent does not address applications associated with atmospheric spectral sensing of atmospheric gases, pollutants and biological agents using femtosecond terawatt laser generated filaments as light sources.
One other related reference is U.S. Pat. No. 5,726,855 to Mourou et al., entitled "Apparatus and Method for Enabling the Creation of Multiple Extended Conduction Paths in the Atmosphere" which claims an apparatus and method for the creation of multiple extended conduction paths in the atmosphere using high peak-power ultra-short laser pulses. Furthermore, the same group published addressing long range self-channeling of intense femtosecond pulses in air in 1994 by Mourou and co-workers. The focus of their patent is centered on an apparatus for controlling the discharge of lightning strikes and grounding means using a grounding tower. Also no claims are made regarding spectroscopic optical sensing and identification of bio-agents using multiple extended conduction paths in the atmosphere.
It will therefore be appreciated that there remains a need for an improved system and technique for determining whether certain molecules, such as bioaerosols and chemical agents, may be found within a sample.

Mobile terawatt femtosecond laser system (MTFLS) for long range spectral sensing and identification of bioaerosols and chemical agents in the atmosphere


A tool for handling an elongated, tubular drill pipe has an elongated body between a first and second end for engaging and holding a first and second end of the drill pipe. The engagement ends of the tool are spaced apart a distance slightly less than the length of the drill pipe. The engagement ends are capable of being elastically spread apart when the drill pipe is being engaged, and thereafter the elastic spreading is released to cause the tool to remain in engagement with the drill pipe during the handling thereof.

This invention relates generally to the handling of elongated tubular drill pipe, and more particularly to tools for handling elongated drill pipe for insertion into a drill rig during the drilling operation.
Many versions of tools and/or devices currently exist to lift and maneuver drill pipe from a stowed position, to a working position on a drill rig. The stowed position usually is horizontal, or nearly so, in a rack, on the ground, or on a transport such as a separate truck or trailer type vehicle. The working position is normally in a vertical attitude inside a drilling derrick. A major shortcoming of these devices is that they are susceptible to accidental dropping of the drill pipe as it gets dislodged from the handling/lifting tool in its transition from the horizontal stowed position to the vertical working position, above ground level in a drill rig.
This problem is so common because the devices are designed to be easily applied on and removed from the drill pipe, so not to take time and effort away from the drilling functions. During the lifting and maneuvering of the heavy drill pipe in close proximity to the drill rig and its many components, the devices tend to become inadvertently either slid out of position, unlatched, or released, to a point where the drill pipe becomes unstable or ultimately is dropped.
The foregoing illustrates limitations known to exist in present tools for handling elongated tubular drill pipe. Thus, it is apparent that it would be advantageous to provide an alternative directed to overcoming one or more of the limitations set forth above. Accordingly, a suitable alternative is provided including features more fully disclosed hereinafter.


A mechanical filter includes a pouch with a double-walled envelope housing a shock-absorbing material in the form of a gel displaceable under pressure. The envelope, of selected geometry, is mainly formed of a thin film of synthetic thermoplastic material, whose physical properties are selected to prevent breakage during displacement of the gel.

The invention relates to the protection of objects against impacts or other mechanical effects.
There is currently a very wide variety of protections of the "mechanical filter" type, among which are "cushion" structures comprising an envelope housing a shock-absorbing material.
Problems arise when the mechanical effect to be combated becomes very large, in terms of energy and/or strength, compared to the mechanical resistance of the object to be protected.
These problems are solvable when enough space is available to house a volume of shock-absorbing material proportional to the mechanical effect to be combated.
On the other hand, very tricky problems are posed when the available space is limited and the mechanical effect is large, as will be seen below. These problems are even more tricky if it is desired that the protective structure be reusable.

Device and method for the protection of objects against impacts or other mechanical effects