An opening is provided through the front of a truck cab assembly during the manufacture process for allowing access to the interior of the truck cab for installing components therein. The opening most preferably substantially extends from sidewall to sidewall in the horizontal direction, and substantially from the roof structure to the floor structure in the vertical direction. On an assembly line, the front opening is preferably oriented perpendicularly to the direction of travel of truck cabs along the assembly line during a major portion of the vehicle truck cab assembly process. A firewall-dashboard assembly which facilitates easier installation and assembly of certain components is also disclosed. Specifically, the firewall is pre-assembled and combined with a dashboard sub-assembly prior to mounting these components to the truck cab. The firewall-dashboard assembly preferably contains at least the instrument panel, and the brake, clutch, and accelerator mechanisms. The firewall-dashboard assembly is mounted in part to rails along the floor of the truck cab structure. The firewall-dashboard assembly and door frames of the truck sidewalls include brackets which position the firewall to define the lower boundary of a windshield window opening.

The process of assembling a vehicle involves numerous components and assembly sequences. For instance, in typical truck assembly processes, it is often cumbersome to install interior components and equipment due to difficult access to the interior and the small confines once inside. For example, the individual components or sub-assemblies are carried into the interior of the truck cab through the door openings and installed in place.
In addition, with a multitude of components to be installed, numerous entries by various installers into the interior of the truck cab during the assembly process is obviously required. This often results in increasing the overall time typically required to manufacture the vehicle or truck cab.
Further, the truck cab assembly is often oriented in an awkward position on the assembly line, thereby making it difficult for workers to install particular components.
Therefore, a need exists for a process and truck cab assembly that overcomes the above-described and other problems typically associated with assembling a truck cab.

Truck cab front opening and firewall assembly


A database optimizer collects statistics regarding which types of applications are accessing the database, and makes one or more changes to the database schema to optimize performance according to the collected statistics. In a first embodiment, the optimizer detects when a certain type of application accesses the database a percentage of time that exceeds a predefined threshold level, and if the data in the database is stored in a less-than-optimal format for the application, the data type of one or more columns in the database is changed to a more optimal format for the application. This means that the database optimizer must recognize when a different type of application requests data from any changed column, and must potentially perform a conversion from the new data type to the old data type before returning the requested data. In a second embodiment, the optimizer detects when one type of application accesses a column a percentage of time that exceeds a first predefined threshold level and that accesses the column a percentage of time that is less than a second predefined threshold level. In this case, a new column is created in the database so the data is present in both formats, thereby optimizing the performance of both old and new applications that access the data. The database optimizer looks at what type of application requested data, and returns the data in the format optimized for that type of application.

1. Technical Field
This invention generally relates to computer systems, and more specifically relates to apparatus and methods for accessing data in a computer database.
2. Background Art
Since the dawn of the computer age, computers have evolved and become more and more powerful. In our present day, computers have become indispensable in many fields of human endeavor including engineering design, machine and process control, information storage and retrieval, and office computing. One of the primary uses of computers is for information storage and retrieval.
Database systems have been developed that allow a computer to store a large amount of information in a way that allows a user to search for and retrieve specific information in the database. For example, an insurance company may have a database that includes all of its policy holders and their current account information, including payment history, premium amount, policy number, policy type, exclusions to coverage, etc. A database system allows the insurance company to retrieve the account information for a single policy holder among the thousands and perhaps millions of policy holders in its database.
Many databases include data that has existed for decades, often outliving the software applications that originally created the data. New applications are often developed that need to access the data. The way that data is stored in a database affects the performance of applications that access the data. If the data is stored as a particular data type, but an application requires a different data type, the data must typically be read, then converted to the desired data type. This problem arises, for example, when data that was originally created by legacy applications in one data type now needs to be accessed by new languages and APIs that expect a different data type.
Legacy applications often store integer data in fields that are in a format known as PACKED DECIMAL, which is one way to represent numeric data. Like the PACKED DECIMAL data type, the data types SMALLINT, INTEGER, and BIGINT are other alternative ways to represent numeric data. In a Java and JDBC programming paradigm, it is widely recognized that retrieval of data from database columns that have a type of SMALLINT, INTEGER, or BIGINT will perform significantly better than retrieval of data from a column that has a type PACKED DECIMAL. The format of the data stored in the database results in performance penalties for any application that needs to access the data, but could run faster if the data were of a different type. Changing the data type to accommodate the new applications is generally not an acceptable option, because changing the data type would require significant manual rework. This problem is especially apparent as companies with existing applications and databases become internet-enabled, which is commonly done using Java to access data in existing databases. Using Java to access data in less-than-optimal data types in older databases results in performance penalties that are significant. Without an apparatus and method that allows a database to dynamically evolve according to the applications accessing its data, the computer industry will continue to suffer from excessive overhead in porting existing data to new applications, such as web-enabled applications.

Database optimization apparatus and method

International Business Machines Corporation


A liquid adhesive for nail polish is a topical composition that is used to facilitate the application and removal of nail polish as well as the creation of intricate nail polish designs. The composition features a quantity of rubber latex, a quantity of water, an antiseptic composition of a quantity of ammonium hydroxide and a quantity of thiram, a preserving composition of a quantity of zinc oxide, an aromatic agent, a coloring agent, and a moisturizing agent. The quantity of rubber latex forms a liquid-impermeable coating on the surface of the user's skin or nail once applied. This allows a dried coating of the present invention to be peeled from the skin or nail along with any nail polish applied over the coating. The composition additionally exhibits antimicrobial and antifungal properties as well as a resistance to decomposition and other unwanted chemical and physical changes.

The cost of a professional manicure or pedicure can often be exorbitant. As such, the best alternative for those who do not wish to spend the time and money required for a professional manicure or pedicure is to apply the nail polish themselves. Because most people do not possess the skills or dexterity required to create intricate nail polish designs, these attempts often result in messy designs with nail polish mistakenly applied to the cuticle rather than solely on the nail. Additionally, the lack of skills and dexterity required generally results in mediocre nail polish designs when compared to professional manicures or pedicures.
The present invention is a liquid adhesive for nail polish that facilitates the process of applying nail polish as well as preparation prior to applying nail polish and the removal of nail polish. The present invention may be applied to the cuticle around a nail in order to form a barrier and prevent nail polish from accidentally being applied to the skin. The present invention may be easily removed by peeling the present invention off of the skin. Additionally, the present invention may be applied on top of a nail, allowing the use of multiple layers of nail polish in the creation of intricate nail polish designs.


A focus adjustment unit of the present invention comprises a phase difference detection section for detecting extreme values, based on the image data, a periodicity-containing subject determination section for determining a periodicity-containing subject in the case where the phase difference detection section detects many extreme values having a high degree of correlation, and a control section for, when a periodicity-containing subject has been determined, determining whether or not a difference between a position of the focus lens shown by an extreme value corresponding to a position that is closest to a current focus lens position, and the current focus lens position, is outside a specified range, and if it is determined that the difference is outside the specified range, carrying out a focus adjustment operation based on the extreme value corresponding to the position that is closest to the current position of the focus lens.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a focus adjustment unit and a focus adjustment method, and in more detail relates to a focus adjustment unit, having a photographing lens including a focus lens, with image data being formed by receiving light of a pupil divided subject image by means of this photographing lens, for carrying out focus adjustment based on this image data, and to a focus adjustment method.
2. Description of the Related Art
A phase difference AF focus adjustment unit that carries out correlation calculation using image data that has been created by receiving light of a pupil divided subject image by means of a photographing lens, obtains a phase difference and drives to a focus, is known. With this phase difference AF method, in a case where there is a periodic pattern in the subject image a plurality of focus candidate points will be calculated, and as a result it is difficult to obtain a true focus target position.
To such an end, in Japanese Patent laid-open No. 2011-150179 (hereafter referred to as Patent literature 1), contrast evaluation values for a current position and close to that position are acquired, a focus direction is determined from a relationship between these contrast evaluation values, a contrast evaluation value for a current lens position and a contrast evaluation value for a nearby position after defocus drive by a specified amount from that position, are acquired, and focus direction is determined from these contrast evaluation values.

Focus adjustment unit and focus adjustment method


An information kiosk including a display, such as, for example, a touch screen, and having access to situational information is integrated with a radio frequency identification (RFID) sensor. The RFID sensor reads the RFID tag of a user, accesses user information corresponding to the RFID tag, and customizes an interface to the user based on the user information and the situational information. The interface is then output to the user using the display of the information kiosk. The information kiosk may communicate with a private branch exchange (PBX) switch to permit use of a contact information center (CIC) or a voice portal. The user information may be stored as a user profile in a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system, accessed by the information kiosk. By combining the user information with event or location information stored in the information kiosk, the information kiosk presents customized information to each user, including maps, directions, and recommended sites or events.

Information kiosks have been used to assist in orienting people to new places or to provide information regarding scheduled events. Kiosks may be found in tourist locations (e.g., airports, highway rest areas, hotels), university campuses, and conference facilities. These kiosks typically allow a user to view information such as, for example, maps, tourist attractions, and nearby restaurants.
Kiosks assist in orienting users by providing location and schedule information. For example, at a conference, a conference attendee may approach a kiosk and select to view the schedule of the day's events. At a large conference, many events may be scheduled simultaneously. The attendee views the list to determine the desired events to attend, as well as their locations and times. Some conferences assist attendees by categorizing events into tracks of events that appeal to a particular category of people to make it easier for an attendee to determine how best to use his or her time.
Large conferences have begun to rely on computer-readable badges to identify attendees. The badge may include a barcode or a magnetic strip to allow badge readers to determine whom the attendee is and what privileges they have purchased. The badges are used at entrances to the conference to ensure each person has paid to participate, as well as, at various booths throughout the conference so that vendors may collect information electronically about attendees interested in their products.


A combination switch is provided with a movable knob and a contact assembly. The movable knob is rotatable with respect to a lever base and has a movable contact. The contact assembly includes a holder, a volume plate and a rivet. The holder has a bottom portion opposite to the movable contact, a cylinder portion projecting from the bottom portion and fixed to the lever base, and a terminal plate fixed within the bottom portion. The volume plate is disposed on the bottom portion of the holder, and has a fixed contact slidably in contact with the movable contact. The rivet fixes the volume plate on the bottom portion, and electrically connects the fixed contact with the terminal plate. As mentioned above, a reliability and an assembling characteristic are improved by assembling between the volume plate and the holder, and between the volume plate and the rivet.

The present invention relates to a combination switch having a fixed contact close to a lever base and a movable contact close to a movable knob.
Conventionally, a combination switch of this type is provided with a movable knob which is movable with respect to a cylindrical lever base and has a movable contact, and a ring-like volume plate having a fixed contact.
A fixing shaft is mounted to a steering column and the like of a vehicle, and extends through the lever base. The lever base is fixed to the fixing shaft. The movable knob is rotatably mounted to a front end portion of the fixing shaft projecting from the lever base, the movable contact is disposed in such a manner as to oppose to an end surface of the lever base.
The front end portion of the fixing shaft has a surface adjacent to the end surface of the lever base. The volume plate is mounted in such a manner as to stride over the end surface of the lever base and the adjacent surface of the fixing shaft. The fixed contact which is in contact with the movable contact in a sliding manner is disposed on the volume plate. The fixed contact is connected to a combination meter or the like of the vehicle through an electric wire.


The two DC/DC converters perform DC/DC conversion of the power source voltage of the driving battery for supplying power to the motor of the vehicle and supply to an automatic operation load and a general load as an electrical component mounted on the vehicle. A switch is connected between the outputs of the two DC/DC converters. The two DC/DC converters and the switch are accommodated in one accommodating case.

In recent years, in hybrid vehicles and electric vehicles, it has been proposed to provide a high-voltage battery (driving power source) for a drive motor, and a DC/DC converter for converting an output from the high-voltage battery into a voltage corresponding to various electrical components other than the drive motor.
In addition, in order to prevent power supply to the electrical components from being lost due to a failure of the DC/DC converter or the like during the operation of the vehicle, a technique of providing two DC/DC converters has been proposed (Patent Literature 1). In particular, it is an effective technique when the electrical components are related to automatic operation.
However, since the DC/DC converter generates a large amount of heat, if two DC/DC converters are provided, two cooling systems are required, which is a cost problem.


The invention provides a chemical entity of Formula (I)

Field
The present invention relates to certain substituted pyridine and pyrazine compounds and derivatives of such compounds; pharmaceutical compositions containing them methods of making them; and their use in various methods, including the inhibition of PDE4 enzymes; detection and imaging techniques; enhancing neuronal plasticity; treating neurological disorders, including psychiatric, neurodegenerative, cerebrovascular, and cognitive disorders; providing neuroprotection; enhancing the efficiency of cognitive and motor training; facilitating neurorecovery and neurorehabilitation; and treating peripheral disorders, including inflammatory and renal disorders.
Description of the Related Technology
The mammalian phosphodiesterases (PDEs) are a group of closely related enzymes divided into 11 families (PDE1-11) based on substrate specificity, inhibitor sensitivity and more recently, on sequence homology. The 11 families are coded by 21 genes, providing several of the families with multiple members. All mammalian PDEs share a conserved catalytic domain located in the COOH-terminal portion of the protein. In GAF-containing PDEs, one or both GAFs can provide dimerization contacts. In addition, one of the GAFs in each of these proteins provides for allosteric cGMP binding (PDE2, PDE5, PDE6, PDE11), allosteric cAMP binding (PDE10), and regulation of catalytic site functions (PDE2, PDE5, PDE6). The other families of PDEs have unique complements of various subdomains (UCR, NHR, PAS, membrane association) that contribute to regulation of activity. PDEs 1, 2, 3, and 4 are expressed in many tissues, whereas others are more restricted. In most cells, PDE3 and PDE4 provide the major portion of cAMP-hydrolyzing activity (Francis, Physiological Reviews, 2011, 91, 651-690).
The PDE4 family includes four isoforms (PDE4A, B, C and D) with more than 20 splice variants, making it one of the largest PDE subfamilies (Bender and Beavo, Pharmacol. Rev., 2006, 58 (3), 488-520). PDE4 enzymes hydrolyze cAMP with a substrate apparent Km of 1-5 uM for cAMP. The PDE4 enzyme is reported to be regulated by two upstream conserved region (UCR) domains. Depending on differential RNA splicing, PDE4 variants can be distinguished into two major subgroups: long and short forms (Conti et al., J Biol Chem., 2003, 278, 5493-5496). Nine splice variants have been reported. PDE4D1, 4D2 and 4D6 all are shorter forms lacking UCRs. PDE4D3, 4D4, 4D5, 4D7, 4D8 and 4D9 are longer forms that contain both UCRs and N terminal domains important for their subcellular localization (Bender and Beavo, 2006). Long form PDE4D3 activity is increased by PKA phosphorylation via Ser54 in the N-terminal UCR1 (Alvarez et al., Mol Pharmacol., 1995, 48, 616-622; Sette et al., J Biol Chem., 1996, 271, 16526-16534). Conversely, Erk2 phosphorylation of Ser597 in the C-terminus of PDE4D3 causes a reduction in catalytic activity. One or several PDE4D isoforms are expressed throughout most tissues tested, including cortex, hippocampus, cerebellum, heart, liver, kidney, lung and testis (Richter et al., Biochem. J., 2005, 388, 803-811). The localization and regulation of PDE4D isoforms is thought to allow for tight and local regulation of cAMP levels, possibly limiting signal propagation in specific subcellular compartments.
Numerous studies have highlighted a role for PDEs generally, and PDE4 in particular, in modulating intracellular signaling pathways that regulate many physiological processes, including those underling neural plasticity, cognition, and memory. In particular, PDEs play an important role in intracellular signal transduction pathways involving the second messengers. cAMP and cGMP. These cyclic nucleotides function as ubiquitous intracellular signaling molecules in all mammalian cells. PDE enzymes hydrolyze cAMP and cGMP by breaking phosphodiester bonds to form the corresponding monophosphates (Bender and Beavo, Pharmacol. Rev., 2006, 58 (3), 488-520). PDE activities are modulated in coordination with adenylyl cyclase (AC) and guanylyl cyclase (GC) activities through direct effectors and feedback pathways, thereby maintaining cAMP and cGMP levels within optimum ranges for responsiveness to signals. The ability of extracellular signals to modulate the intracellular concentration of cyclic nucleotides allows cells to respond to external stimuli across the boundary of the cell membrane.
The cyclic nucleotide signaling cascades have been adapted to respond to a host of transduction systems including G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs) and voltage and ligand gated ion channels. Cyclic nucleotides transmit their signal in the cell through a variant of tertiary elements. The best described of these are cAMP dependent protein kinase (PKA) and cGMP dependent protein kinase (PKG). The binding of the cyclic nucleotide to each enzyme enables the phosphorylation of downstream enzymes and proteins functioning as effectors or additional elements in the signaling cascade. Of particular importance to memory formation is cAMP activation of PKA, which phosphorylates cAMP response element-binding protein (CREB). pCREB is an activated transcription factor, which binds to specific DNA loci and initiates transcription of multiple genes involved in neuronal plasticity. Both in vitro and in vivo studies have associated alterations in cyclic nucleotide concentrations with biochemical and physiological process linked to cognitive function (Kelly and Brandon, Progress in Brain Research, 2009, 179, 67-73; Schmidt, Current Topics in Medicinal Chemistry, 2010, 10, 222-230). Signal intensity and the levels of coincident activity at a synapse are established variables that can result in potentiation of transmission at a particular synapse. Long term potentiation (LTP) is the best described of these processes and is known to be modulated by both the cAMP and cGMP signaling cascades.
Focus on the role of PDE4 in memory stems from the discovery of the PDE4-like Drosophila learning mutant dunce (dnc gene), a cyclic nucleotide phosphodiesterase of the PDE4 subtype (Yun and Davis, Nucleic Acids Research, 1989, 17(20), 8313-8326). The dnc mutant flies are defective in acquisition and/or short-term memory when tested in several different olfactory associative learning situations, with negative (Dudai et al., Proc Natl Acad Sci., 1976, 73(5), 1684-1688; Dudai Y., Proc Natl Acad Sci., 1983, 80(17), 5445-5448; Tully and Quinn, Journal of Comparative Physiology, 1985, 157(2), 263-77) or positive reinforcement (Tempel et al., Proc Natl Acad Sci., 1983, 80(5), 1482-1486). In mammals, PDE4D knockout animals display decreased immobility in the antidepressant tail-suspension and forced swim test models (Zhang et al., Neuropsychopharmacology, 2002, 27(4), 587-595), enhanced in vitro LTP in hippocampal CA1 slices (Rutten et al., Eur. J. Neurosci., 2008, 28(3), 625-632), and enhanced memory in radial maze, object recognition, and Morris water maze tasks (Li et al., J. Neurosci., 2011, 31, 172-183).
Such observations highlight the interest in PDE-inhibition, including PDE4-inhibition, as a therapeutic target for numerous disorders and in cognitive enhancement. For example, by increasing cAMP levels, such inhibitors may be useful in treating cognitive deterioration in neurodegenerative disorders such Parkinson's Disease and Alzheimer's Disease, as well as generally improving cognition in normal, diseased, and aging subjects. Various small-molecule PDE4 enzyme inhibitors have been reported e.g., Aza-bridged bicycles (DeCODE Genetics; Intl. Pat. Appl. Publ. WO 2010/059836, May 27, 2010); N-substituted anilines (Memory Pharmaceuticals Corporation; Intl. Pat. Appl. Publ. WO 2010/003084, Jan. 7, 2010); Biaryls (DeCODE Genetics; Intl. Pat. Appl. Publ. WO 2009/067600, May 28, 2009, WO 2009/067621, May 28, 2009); Benzothiazoles and benzoxazoles (DeCODE Genetics; U.S. Pat. Appl. Publ. US 2009/0130076, May 21, 2009); Catechols (DeCODE Genetics; U.S. Pat. Appl. Publ. US 2009/0131530, May 21, 2009), Pteridines (Boehringer Ingelheim International G.m.b.H.; U.S. Pat. No. 7,674,788, Nov. 29, 2007); Heteroaryl pyrazoles (Memory Pharmaceuticals Corporation; Intl. Pat. Appl. Publ. WO 2007/123953, Nov. 1, 2007); Naphthyridines (Glaxo Group Limited; Intl. Pat. Appl. Publ. WO 2006/053784, May 26, 2006); Piperazinyldihydrothienopyrimidines (Boehringer Ingelheim International G.m.b.H.; EP Pat. 1,874,781, Jun. 24, 2009); Nicotinamide derivatives (Pfizer; U.S. Pat. Appl. Publ. US 2005/0020587, Jan. 27, 2005); Heteroarylmethyl phenyl amines (Memory Pharmaceuticals Corporation; U.S. Pat. No. 7,087,625, Aug. 8, 2006); Naphthyridines (Novartis AG; EP Pat. 1,443,925, Dec. 26, 2007; U.S. Pat. No. 7,468,370, Dec. 23, 2008).
However, PDE4 inhibitors have generally been associated with numerous side effects—most notably emesis—that have typically limited their usefulness and tolerability (e.g., Giembycz, Curr. Opin. Pharm. 2005, 5, 238-244). It is therefore desirable to develop improved PDE4 inhibitors showing higher potency, greater specificity, and better side effect profiles. The present invention meets these and other needs in the art by disclosing substituted pyridine and pyrazine compounds as potent and well-tolerated PDE4 inhibitors.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Substituted pyridine and pyrazine compounds as PDE4 inhibitors

Abstract: whereinR1, R2, R3, R4, Y and Z have any of the values described herein, and compositions comprising such chemical entities; methods of making them; and their use in a wide range of methods, including metabolic and reaction kinetic studies, detection and imaging techniques, and radioactive treatments; and therapies, including inhibiting PDE4, enhancing neuronal plasticity, treating neurological disorders, providing neuroprotection, treating a cognitive impairment associated with a CNS disorder, enhancing the efficiency of cognitive and motor training, providing neurorecovery and neurorehabilitation, enhancing the efficiency of non-human animal training protocols, and treating peripheral disorders, including inflammatory and renal disorders.


A cylinder-shaped flow passage in which a first fluid flows includes an internal cylinder which is smaller in diameter than the flow passage. A swirl-generating stator having four vanes is radially fixed in the internal cylinder. A header space for supplying a second fluid is provided to the outer circumference of a wall surface of the internal cylinder in contact with flow separation areas which are formed along downstream surfaces of the swirl-generating stator as the first fluid runs into the swirl-generating stator. The wall surface of the internal cylinder is formed with openings through which the flow separation areas communicate with the header space. The second fluid supplied into the header space flows through the openings into the flow separation areas, and is diffused along the vanes of the swirl-generating stator to be swirled and mixed into the first fluid applied with swirling force by the swirl-generating stator.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus for mixing two fluids, and more particularly to a fluid mixing apparatus for mixing two fluids while passing the two fluids therethrough.
2. Description of the Related Arts
In such devices as a NOx reduction device which reduces NOx contained in an exhaust gas in an internal combustion engine by dosing a reductive gas to the exhaust gas, an EGR device which controls the combustion characteristic of the internal combustion engine by mixing a recirculated exhaust gas into intake air of the internal combustion engine, and a combustor which mixes a gas-turbine fuel and air, a plurality of gases need to be mixed while they pass through the devices. In a diesel engine, for example, NOx is inevitably generated in a thermally efficient, high-temperature combustion. Thus, an aftertreatment is performed in which a reductant is dosed into the exhaust gas to decompose NOx through a reduction reaction. A method of reducing NOx in the exhaust gas by using ammonia, as a reductant, which is generated through a hydrolysis reaction of urea water dosed to the exhaust gas, is called urea-SCR (Selective Catalytic Reduction). The exhaust gas mixed with ammonia is passed through a denitration catalyst so that a denitration reaction (i.e., a reduction reaction of NOx) through ammonia is promoted even at a low temperature. In the denitration reaction of this case, 1 mol of NOx is reacted with 1 mol of ammonia to generate nitrogen and water. It is preferable to perform the mixing such that a molar ratio of NOx to ammonia is 1:1. If the ratio of ammonia is smaller than this ratio, a part of NOx fails to be decomposed due to the shortage of ammonia. As a result, a NOx reduction ratio is decreased. Conversely, if the ratio of ammonia is excessive, ammonia is not used for the denitration. As a result, an excessive portion of the urea water is wasted, and an extra treatment needs to be performed to prevent ammonia from being discharged outside.
Therefore, it is important in the urea-SCR to dose the urea water in appropriate proportion to NOx contained in the exhaust gas such that the ratio of the generated ammonia to NOx is 1:1, and to maintain this ratio even in a local density. That is, the mixing needs to be performed such that a generated ammonia gas is diffused in the exhaust gas at a uniform density.
As another technique of reducing NOx in the diesel engine, there is a technique called EGR (Exhaust Gas Recirculation). According to the EGR, a part of the exhaust gas is mixed with the intake air to increase a ratio of an inactive gas in combustion, and a combustion speed is reduced to suppress local elevation of a combustion temperature. Thereby, the amount of NOx to be generated is reduced. In the EGR, when the exhaust gas is mixed into the intake gas, it is required to suction the exhaust gas while making the pressure of the intake air at a negative value so that the exhaust gas flows toward the intake air even when the pressure of the exhaust gas is low, and to make a mixing ratio of the exhaust gas equal between cylinders so that the mixed exhaust gas has an even density.
As a technique of mixing plural types of gases while conveying the gases, a technique using a swirl flow is commonly known. JP, A 2002-174425 (page 3, FIG. 1) describes a technique of mixing air with a fuel in a gas turbine combustor by swirling the air with a swirl-generating stator and supplying the fuel through a fuel nozzle which has an opening at a downstream side of the swirl-generating stator.


Provided is a method for manufacturing a sulfide-based solid electrolyte including preparing a precursor comprising lithium sulfide, germanium sulfide, aluminum sulfide, phosphorus sulfide, and sulfur, conducting a mixing process of the precursor to prepare a mixture, and crystallizing the mixture to form a compound represented by Li9.7Al0.3Ge0.7P2S12. The sulfide-based solid electrolyte may have high ionic conductivity.

The present disclosure herein relates to a lithium battery, and more particularly, to a method for manufacturing a sulfide-based solid electrolyte.
As the significance of energy storage and transformation technique increases, interest in a lithium battery is largely increasing. The lithium battery may include an anode, a separator, a cathode and an electrolyte. The electrolyte plays the role of a medium for the movement of ions between the cathode and the anode. Since the lithium battery has high energy density when compared to other batteries, researches on the lithium battery are actively conducted. Recently, the lithium battery is applied in an electric vehicle as well as a portable electronic equipment such as a smart phone or a laptop computer. For a medium and large size lithium battery, the accomplishment of stable and good performance under a severe operating environment is required.
The electrolyte of a lithium battery may include an organic liquid electrolyte and an inorganic solid electrolyte. The organic liquid electrolyte includes a lithium salt dissolved therein, and is widely used because of the high ionic conductivity and the stable electrochemical properties thereof. However, the organic liquid electrolyte includes many defects concerning stability due to flammability, volatility, and leakage thereof. Among the inorganic solid electrolyte, a complex solid electrolyte receives attention on the bases of its high conductivity, low processing cost, and stability.

Method for manufacturing sulfide-based solid electrolyte

ELECTRONICS AND TELECOMMUNICATIONS RESEARCH INSTITUTE


A head suspension for supporting a read/write head adjacent a data storage device has a monocoque construction produced by overlapping laminae having mutually opposed surfaces, with at least one of the surfaces having a cavity etched therein. The monocoque construction of the head suspension constructed according to a method of the invention results in reduced mass of the head suspension and increased rigidity and stiffness.

(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains to a head suspension for supporting a read/write head adjacent a rotating data storage device, and in particular to a monocoque head suspension and its method of construction.
(2) Description of the Related Art
Most personal computer systems today employ direct access storage devices (DASD) or rigid disk drives for data storage. A conventional disk drive contains a spindle that is rotated by an electric motor at several thousand revolutions per minute (RPM) while the disk drive is turned on. A plurality of magnetically coated recording disks are mounted on the spindle for rotation therewith at axially spaced positions along the spindle. The number of the disks and the composition of their magnetic material coating determines the data storage capacity of the disk drive.
Positioned adjacent the peripheries of the rotating disk is a head actuator column. The head actuator column has a plurality of actuator arms thereon, and each actuator arm supports one or more head suspensions that extend in cantilever fashion from the actuator arm to distal ends of the head suspensions. Dynamic storage devices, for example optical or magnetic read/write heads are supported on sliders at the distal ends of each of the head suspensions. The plurality of actuator arms and their associated head suspension support the read/write heads adjacent the top and bottom surfaces of each of the plurality of disks supported by the spindle.
There are basically two types of head actuators, rotary and linear actuators. The rotary actuator moves its head suspensions and their supported read/write heads across the surfaces of the rotating disks in an arc, where the linear actuator moves the head suspensions and their associated read/write heads across the surfaces of the rotating disks linearly. In both types of actuators, the read/write heads supported on the sliders at the distal ends of each of the head suspensions slide in unison on a cushion of flowing air (or flowing liquid in some systems) across the surfaces of the drivers rotating disks. The read/write heads store data received from the disk drive's controller on a selected track of a disk by aligning magnetic particles on the disk surface. The read/write heads retrieve data from a particular track of the disk by detecting the polarities of the magnetic particles that have already been aligned on the disk track.
Continuous improvements made to disk drives have resulted in an increase in the storage capacity of the disk and an increase in the speed of the drive in storing and retrieving data from the disk. As one example, the storage capacity of the disk has been increased by increasing the number of concentric tracks on the surfaces of the disk. Where the size of the disk is limited, increasing the storage capacity of a disk results in increasing the density of the tracks on the surface of the disk as well as increasing the density of information stored on each track. The increased data density on the disk permits increased data storage while maintaining and possibly reducing the size of the disk. However, the increased density of tracks on the disk requires that the read/write head be more closely controlled to prevent lateral off-track error. The increased density of data on each track requires that the read/write head fly closer to the disk. As the transducer head is moved closer to the surface of the rotating disk, it creates an increased danger of the transducer head contacting the surface of the disk, resulting in the friction created by the rotating disk contacting the head damaging the surface of the disk, and potentially effecting the data stored on the disk as well as potentially damaging the head itself.
It is a complicated problem to design a head suspension that can cantilever a transducer head from an actuator arm at a substantially constant position relative to a rotating disk surface with there being an extremely small clearance between the head and the rotating disk surface, with the clearance sometimes being only 0.1 micrometers (a human hair is 100 micrometers thick). The surface of a data storage disk is not perfectly flat. When rotating in the disk drive, the contours of the disk surface create disruptions in the air stream created above the rotating disk surface on which the transducer head glides or flies. When the head is flying over a single track of the disk to access information on that track, it must glide at its predetermined slider attitude relative to the disk's contours. With the disk rotating at a constant speed, the surface velocity of the disk and the velocity of the air stream created by its rotation increases as the transducer head supported by the head suspension is moved from the center of the disk toward the disk periphery. As the head suspension moves the transducer head between the center and periphery of the rotating disk, it must have sufficient rigidity to resist changes in the lift forces created by the changes in the velocity of the rotating disk air stream and by the differences in the surface contours of the disk to hold the head at a desired clearance over the surface of the rotating disk.
In addition to the varying lift forces exerted on the head suspension, the head suspension is also subjected to extreme stresses as the actuator arm moves the head suspension and its supported transducer head quickly from one concentric track of data to another. The head suspension must be sufficiently rigid to withstand the stresses caused by this rapid movement without deflecting appreciably. The head suspension must also resist vibration after its rapid movement which could cause the transducer head to miss or overshoot the intended track of data among the densely arranged concentric tracks. Also, while being moved, the head suspension must not twist due to torque exerted on the suspension. This can cause one edge of the slider to be positioned closer to the rotating disk surface than an opposite edge of the slider resulting in off-track error or the head missing the desired track of data to be accessed among the densely arranged tracks. Also, an increased number of tracks on the disk increases the potential for lateral off-track error if torsional twisting of the head suspension reaches its torsional resonance frequency In operation, forces exerted on a head suspension will cause it to twist in torsion about the center longitudinal axis of the load beam. The twisting causes the slider and read/write head supported by the load beam to swing or pivot through a curve laterally from side to side. Depending on how far the read/write head is spaced from the center axis of the load beam, the swinging motion of the slider is more pronounced and the gain of the torsional frequency is increased. This side to side motion can cause the read/write head attached to the slider to swing or pivot off the disk track it is desired to access, resulting in a lateral off-tracking error. To combat this problem requires increasing the torsional stiffness of the head suspension without appreciably increasing the mass of the head suspension, thereby increasing the head suspension's torsional resonance frequency.
Competing with the need for rigidity in the head suspension is the need to give the head suspension as low a mass as possible to reduce inertial momentum of the assembly created by its rapid positioning movements. A large mass can detrimentally affect the quick movement of the head suspension and can create overshoot of a head suspension.
It is also a practical consideration that the head suspension construction facilitate the placement of electrical conductors carrying the electrical signals to and from the transducer head. It is desirable that the head suspension permit these conductors to be attached to the assembly in a manner that reduces their movement and vibration as the head suspension is moved, which can cause fluctuating input and output impedances.
Applying a known principle that the stiffness of a head suspension increases in proportion to the third power of its thickness, common methods for increasing the rigidity of a head suspension have included bonding additional layers of stiffening materials to areas of the load beam of the head suspension where rigidity is required, or forming bent sidewalls or rails that extend longitudinally along the opposite lateral edges of the head suspension load beam where additional rigidity is needed. The drawback of each of these prior art methods is that they result in adding significantly to the overall mass of the head suspension.
The desire to increase the rigidity of head suspensions without appreciably increasing their mass has resulted in the box beam design of head suspensions such as that disclosed in copending application Ser. No. 08/723,510, filed Sep. 30, 1996, which is a continuation of application Ser. No. 08/216,494, filed Mar. 22, 1994, now abandoned, the former of which is assigned to the assignee of record and incorporated herein by reference. In this type of box beam design the load beam is layered with a stiffener where the stiffener has an interior area between opposite lateral flanges of the stiffener, the interior area having been stamped to displace the area relative to the opposite lateral flanges or to give the interior area a concave shape. When the stiffener is attached to the load beam along its opposite lateral flanges, a box section or interior chamber is interposed between the load beam and stiffener. In a variation of this construction, the load beam itself is stamped forming it with an interior area that is displaced from opposite lateral flanges of the load beam. Connecting a flexure to the load beam along its opposite lateral flanges forms the box section or interior chamber. However, these methods of manufacturing head suspensions are disadvantaged in that they require welding the load beam to a stiffener or flexure along the opposite lateral edges outside the stamped areas of the load beam or stiffener. This requires extra material to provide the flanges for the welds (and its associated mass) to be added to the head suspension and located at a large distance from the longitudinal axis of the load beam. This extra material and its mass adds very little additional torsional stiffness to the head suspension because it is flat, but contributes significantly to the longitudinal polar moment of inertia. These effects combine to lower the torsional resonance frequency of a head suspension manufactured in this manner.
It is therefore desirable to design a head suspension constructed in a manner that increases its torsional stiffness without appreciably increasing its mass, thereby increasing the torsional resonance frequency of the head suspension.

Monocoque head suspension and its method of construction


A mechanism for providing messages for Java message service (JMS). A method includes receiving, by a Java message service (JMS) server executed by a processing device, key-value data pair. The key-value data pair is sent by a client. The method also includes extracting, by the processing device, destination information of a JMS message from the value data of the key-value data pair. The destination information is either a JMS queue or a JMS topic. The method further includes storing, by the processing device, the key-value data pair in a column family of not only structured query language (NoSQL) database when one of the JMS queue or the JMS topic associated with the received key-value data pair exists in the column family of the NoSQL database. The column family includes a plurality of stored key-value data pairs.

Messaging is a method of communication between software components or applications. A messaging system provides for the communication such that a messaging client can send messages to, and receive messages from, any other client. Each client connects to a messaging agent that provides facilities for creating, sending, receiving, and reading messages.
Many messaging systems exist as part of a set of published enterprise-wide standards known as Enterprise Messaging System (EMS). EMS systems are a set of published enterprise-wide standards that allows organizations to send messages between computer systems. An example of a specific application programming interface (API) that implements an EMS system is the Java message service (JMS). JMS allows applications to create, send, receive, and read messages.
The messaging systems that are created in the EMS system are very complex as the developers not only have to cope with the Enterprise standards but also create a stable, scalable and low maintenance messaging system. Although JMS is an API, it encounters many similar issues as those involved in setting up a full EMS.


Apparatuses and methods are provide thermally processing of the central portion of a substrate surface using a scanned photonic beam. Such thermal processing is carried out using a shield to block the beam from illuminating the side wall or peripheral portion of the substrate. The shield has characteristics, e.g., diffractive characteristics, effective to maintain the intensity of any unblocked portion of beam suitable for processing the central portion of the substrate surface.

1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates generally to methods and apparatuses for processing a surface of a substrate using a photonic beam. More specifically, the invention relates to methods and apparatuses that carry out such processing in a manner that shields sidewalls and periphery of substrates from the beam without producing detrimental diffraction effects.
2. Description of Related Art
Coherent and incoherent laser technologies may be used to carry out thermal processing semiconductor-based microelectronic devices such as processors, memories and other integrated circuits (ICs) that require thermal processes. For example, the source/drain parts of transistors may be formed by exposing regions of a silicon wafer substrate to electrostatically accelerated dopants containing boron, phosphorous or arsenic atoms. After implantation, the interstitial dopants are electrically inactive and require activation. Activation may be achieved by using a laser to heat the entirety or a portion of the substrate to a particular processing temperature for a period of time sufficient for the crystal lattice to incorporate the impurity atoms into its structure.
Lasers and laser diodes may be used to rapidly heat the wafer to temperatures near the semiconductor melting point to incorporate dopants at substitutional lattice sites, and then rapidly cooling the wafer to "freeze" the dopants in place. This rapid thermal cycle "activates" the dopant atoms in the junction areas without appreciably changing the dopant atom distribution. As a result, an ideal box-like activated dopant profile, as substantially defined by the implant process rather than by the subsequent heating, is created. Exemplary terminology used to describe laser-based thermal processing techniques include laser thermal processing (LTP), laser thermal annealing (LTA), and laser spike annealing (LSA). In some instances, these terms can be used interchangeably.
Laser processing techniques typically involve forming a laser beam into a long, thin image, which in turn is quickly scanned across a surface to be heated, e.g., an upper surface of a semiconductor wafer. In the time that it takes for the beam to pass over a particular location on the surface of the wafer, that location is raised to an annealing temperature. Almost as quickly, that location is cooled to the bulk temperature of the wafer. Additional information regarding laser-based processing apparatuses and methods can be found in U.S. Pat. No. 6,747,245 and U.S. Patent Application Publication Nos. 2004/0188396, 2004/0173585, 2005/0067384, and 2005/0103998 each to Talwar et al.
LTP may employ either pulsed or continuous radiation from any of a number of sources. For example, conventional LTP may use a continuous high-power CO2 laser beam, which is coherent in nature. The CO2 laser beam is raster scanned over the wafer surface such that all regions of the surface are exposed to at least one pass of the heating beam. Similarly, a laser diode bar may be used to produce an incoherent beam for scanning over the wafer surface.
In general, illumination uniformity (both macro- and micro-uniformity) over the useable portion of the laser beam image is a highly desirable trait. This ensures that the corresponding heating of the substrate is correspondingly uniform. Similarly, the energy delivered from the laser should be generally stable over time, e.g., energy per pulse for pulse radiation applications and laser beam power for continuous radiation applications, so that all exposed regions are successively heated to a uniform temperature. In short, illumination uniformity and stability is generally a desirable characteristic for any laser used for semiconductor annealing applications.
To ensure uniform heating, it is desirable to employ a beam whose intensity profile has a useful flat-top useful portion so that the intensity does not deviate more than 1% of the beam's peak intensity. Ideally the maximum temperature seen by any point on the wafer should be kept within 10° C. For example, a continuous coherent CO2 laser beam having a Gaussian intensity profile may be manipulated to form a useful flat-top portion of about 0.1 mm wide and about 7 mm long. Raster scanning the beam across a wafer surface at a constant velocity of 100 mm/s results in a 1-millisecond dwell time for the heating cycle. A typical maximum temperature during this heating cycle might be about 1350° C. for silicon wafers. Within the dwell time needed to bring the wafer surface up to the maximum temperature, a layer of only about 100 to about 200 micrometers below the surface region is heated. The bulk of the millimeter thick wafer serves to cool the surface almost as quickly, as it was heated once the laser beam is past.
Uniform wafer surfaces (e.g., bare or unpatterned) exhibit uniform light absorption behavior. Consequently, it is a fairly straightforward matter to use a scanned laser beam of an appropriate intensity profile to heat substantially the entirety of a uniform substrate surface to a uniform peak temperature simply by selecting an appropriate scan path and rate.
The incidence angle for laser processing uniform wafer surfaces may vary. For certain processes, the laser beam may be directed from a laser beam source at a zero incidence angle toward the wafer surface (zero incidence angle means the beam is normal to the surface). More commonly, however, the beam may be directed toward the surface at a nonzero incidence angle. In such instances, the beam may be directed to the wafer surface at or near the Brewster's angle for the surface to ensure maximum beam energy absorption. For bare silicon wafer surfaces, the Brewster's angle is approximately 75°.
It has been discovered that surfaces of commercially available silicon wafers may be advantageously processed using a coherent laser beam at a high incidence angle, e.g., about 75°. However, as side walls of silicon wafers are typically perpendicular to the wafer surface, the high angle of incidence on the surface of the wafer leads to a nearly normal (about 15° from normal) incident beam on the wafer sidewall directly facing the beam. If a beam that strikes the wafer surface at an incidence angle of about 75° simultaneously strikes the side wall of the wafer, the side wall will experience a nearly 4-fold increase in the incident beam intensity. Such a phenomenon is discussed in detail below. In any case, as set forth in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/447,623, entitled "Apparatuses and Methods for Irradiating a Substrate to Avoid Substrate Edge Damage", inventors Markle and Grek, this can result in serious wafer damage and even fracture of the entire wafer.
Also at risk are the edges of the wafer which are typically ground down and have many microfractures. As peripheral regions of the wafer surface adjacent to the edges may also contain microfractures, semiconductor-device manufacturers typically do not form microelectronic components in the peripheral regions. Illuminating these edges with a high intensity laser beam can cause the wafer to crack or shatter due to the propagation of the microfractures. Therefore, it is necessary to shield both the edge (or sidewall) of the wafer as well as the peripheral region of the wafer.
Consequently, one possible way to avoid the problem of overexposing the side wall and peripheral region of the wafer is to shield that portion of the wafer that faces incident direction of the beam. Conceptually, this could be done by placing a physical shield to either absorb or reflect the light that would normally strike the edge (or sidewall) or the peripheral region of the wafer. Nevertheless, blocking a sidewall of a wafer from a beam intended to process the surface of the same wafer is not a trivial matter due to diffractive interference from the physical shield. Such diffractive interference may render any unblocked portion of beam unsuitable for processing the substrate surface. In particular, it has been discovered that when a coherent beam is used, diffractive interference may create localized beam intensity fluctuations of about 60%.
Thus, it is evident that opportunities exist in the art to improve laser thermal processes and to overcome the problems associated with laser shielding and diffractive interference.


A multilayer, wear- and corrosion-resistant coating on a metal substrate comprising a first metal coating layer comprising a composite carbide material; a second metal coating layer over the first metal coating layer comprising at least about 50 wt % of a metal selected from the group consisting of Co, Ni, and Fe; and a surface metal coating layer comprising a cemented carbide material having a third-layer carbide material and a third-layer Co-based or Ni-based binder material.

Hard chrome plating has been traditionally used on in many applications requiring resistance to wear and corrosion. The chrome plating process, however, has been asserted to present health risks to workers due to the presence of hexavalent chromium fumes from the plating bath. Recent OSHA mandate requires exposure to be kept to below 5 mg/cc.
Cemented carbide materials consisting generally of WC, WC/W2C or variations thereof in a Co-based or Ni-based matrix provide good wear resistance, and provide good corrosion resistance especially when including Cr or the like in the matrix material. However, these materials exhibit cracking and spalling when applied to hardened steel substrates.

Spallation-resistant multilayer thermal spray metal coatings


In one embodiment, a system is provided for performing at least one service operation in association with at least one inspected item. The system includes a service data device configured for displaying at least one data screen including at least one checklist configured for operative use in connection with performance of the service operation on the inspected item, the data device being portable and being configured for processing at least one communication; a service administrator having at least one data storage medium configured for storing at least one of the checklists displayed on the data device, the service administrator further having at least one server for enabling at least one communication between the service administrator and the data device; at least a portion of at least one of the checklists being customizable by at least the service administrator; and, at least a portion of at least one of the checklists being electronically interactive in association with performance of the service operation on the inspected item.

In many conventional situations, various non-electronic versions of documents are often used to record, store, track, analyze and/or process data derived from service operations performed on a variety of inspected items. In the context of service operations performed on a machine, for example, such non-electronic documents may be used during periodic machine inspections and maintenance, fluid change procedures, fluid sampling procedures, load bank tests, repair assessments and cost estimates, and other like service operations. Machines and components can lose useful operational life in connection with a number of factors including, for example, failure or inability to plan, prepare, and/or adhere to prescribed maintenance schedules; failure to perform proper tests of fluids employed in machines; ineffectiveness or absence of means for collecting, storing, analyzing and/or processing data associated with equipment operation; poor communication between/among service technicians, distributors, customers and other service providers regarding issues with machine operation; as well as other factors related to inefficient and/or ineffective service operations performed on machines and their components. The inefficiencies attendant upon non-electronic methods, systems and documents often contribute or aggravate the effect of these factors.
Examples of other contexts in which there is prevalent use of non-electronic documents and processes include the healthcare industry and the financial industry, among others. Manual data entry errors reflect one example of a source of error and potential harm arising from use of non-electronic documents and processes in these industries. In addition, many electronic documentation systems and procedures lack connectivity, and thus do not address lack of communication between/among the various entities associated with service operations performed on inspected items. Furthermore, non-electronic documents are often inflexible in their design, development, and/or application to performance of service operations on inspected items.
Thus, conventional products and services may benefit from improved methods, systems and products for collecting, storing, analyzing and/or processing data in association with service operations performed on inspected items. Improved communications between/among service administrators, service technicians, distributors, customers and/or other service providers are also needed to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of service operations performed on inspected items.

Service operation data processing using checklist functionality in association with inspected items


The present disclosure provides a display panel and a mask. The display panel does not dispose a common electrode layer in a transparent area and an aisle area, and by this way, after the transparent area of the display panel is cut to form a through-hole, the common electrode layer can still be protected by other film layers and not be directly exposed to air, thereby preventing intrusion of water and oxygen.

With development of full screen technology, a technique of disposing electronic components, such as a camera, under a display screen is a development trend. To ensure lighting effects of the electronic components (such as a camera), a display panel above the electronic components needs to be hollowed out in current technology.
In OLED display panels, some film layers of light-emitting functional layers, such as a common electrode layer, form a whole layer by evaporation, and these film layers would be directly exposed to air after being hollowed out, which causes water and oxygen to intrude a display area along the light-emitting functional layers.
Therefore, current full screen technology has a problem that water and oxygen would intrude a display area along a common electrode layer, which needs to be resolved.
Technical problem: the present disclosure provides a display panel and a mask to improve the technical problem that water and oxygen would intrude a display area along a common electrode layer in current full screen technology.

WUHAN CHINA STAR OPTOELECTRONICS SEMICONDUCTOR DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD.


An electron emission device is provided which has sufficient on/off characteristics and is capable of efficiently emitting electrons with a low voltage. An electron emission device includes a substrate, a cathode electrode, a gate electrode, which are arranged on the substrate, an insulation layer covering the surface of the cathode electrode, and a dipole layer formed by terminating the surface of the insulation layer with hydrogen.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a field emission type electron emission device using an electron emission film, an electron source having a number of the electron emission devices, and an image display constructed using the electron source.
2. Description of the Related Art
The electron emission device includes a field emission type (referred to as an FE type below) and a surface conduction type electron emission device.
The FE type electron emission device is a device for extracting electrons into a vacuum from a cathode electrode (or the electron emission film) by applying a voltage (electric field) between the cathode electrode (and the electron emission film disposed thereon) and a gate electrode. Therefore, the operating electric field is largely affected by the work function and the shape of the cathode electrode (the electron emission film), and in general, the cathode electrode (the electron emission film) with a small work function may be necessary to be selected.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 9-199001 discloses an electron emission device having a metal as the cathode electrode and a semiconductor (diamond, AlN, BN, etc.) bonded to the metal. In that Japanese Patent, a method is disclosed in which the semiconductor film surface of diamond with a thickness of about 10 nm or less is terminated with hydrogen so as to make negative on electron affinity of the semiconductor film. FIG. 14 is a band diagram showing the electron emission principle of the electron emission device disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 9-199001. In the drawing, reference numeral 1 denotes the cathode electrode, numeral 141 the semiconductor film, numeral 3 an extraction electrode, numeral 4 a vacuum barrier, and numeral 6 an electron.
Diamond having a surface terminated with hydrogen is typical as a material having a negative electron affinity. An electron emission device using a diamond surface as an electron emission surface is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,283,501, U.S. Pat. No. 5,180,951, Zhinov. J. Liu et al, "Environmental Effect On the electron emission from diamond surfaces", and J. Vac. Sci. Technol, B16(3), May/June, 1998, PP. 1188-1193.

Electron emission device, electron source, and image display having dipole layer


Oil based paint containing lead compounds is removed from a substrate on which it is deposited by application of an aqueous solution thereto. The solution comprises a solvent that does not dissolve the paint and is compatible with water; a film former for retarding evaporation; a viscosity builder to fortify the solution and prevent slumping thereof during application to vertical and overhead horizontal surfaces; an alkaline compound for reacting with the pigment portion of the paint. Advantageously, the solution penetrates the deposited paint, which coagulates and separates from the substrate. Stripping procedures are facilitated, and neutralization of the substrate prior to repainting is avoided. A safe and effective treatment of materials covered with lead-containing paint is carried out in an economical, cost efficient manner.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the treatment of materials that have been painted with lead-based paint to effect the removal of the paint in a safe and economical manner.
2. Description of the Prior Art
It has been established that paint containing lead compounds presents a health hazard, and its use in the United States has been banned since about 1978. Nevertheless much untreated lead paint is still in place; its removal is highly advisable and, in many installations, mandated by law. The reason for requiring removal of paint containing lead is that continued aging thereof causes it to flake and dust, increasing the potential for lead poisoning from inhalation.
There are presently available two methods for removing or stripping paint. One is physical and the other chemical. The physical method involves either sand-blasting or destruction of the paint using heat from a blow-torch or hot air blower having an output temperature up to 1200.degree. F. This method is expected to be banned by the EPA shortly.
The chemical method involves two distinct classes of products and procedures. The most common products are those that contain an assortment of organic solvents, such as methylene chloride, toluene, acetone and various alcohols, that soften and/or dissolve whatever paint vehicle is encountered. Such products have been marketed for years. A number of these solvents are believed to be hazardous, having exhibited toxic and carcinogenic effects. Many of them have technical and economical disadvantages. The high volatility of these solvents severely restricts the time period allotted for removal of softened or dissolved paint, which rehardens shortly after application of the remover. Costs involved in removal and disposal of the tacky material produced by the solvents is relatively high. Solvent-type removers are restricted by seasonal and geographical conditions. Application of such removers outdoors in hot weather (above about 85.degree. F.), or in direct sunlight has been unsuccessful. Even though these products are said to include a film-former, the temperature of the painted substrate cannot exceed 100.degree. F. Above that temperature, the majority of solvent volatilizes prior to film formation, rendering the product ineffective.
A recently introduced line of products for chemically removing paint contain no organic solvents. These products are comprised principally of a combination of caustic compounds, such as calcium hydroxide, magnesium hydroxide, and sodium hydroxide. Such compounds are in a water base and generally form a paste. These products are applied to the painted material, and then allowed to dry for time periods as high as 48 hours. It is recommended by products of this type that the applied coating be covered with a polyethylene sheeting to retard drying and increase activity time. After drying is completed, a crusty residue, formed during drying, is scraped off laboriously. Thereafter, the substrate must be neutralized with an acid using precautionary procedures to prevent run-off from entering ground waters.


A technique for correcting wavefront aberrations introduced by large primary optical elements in portions of the electromagnetic spectrum. The aberrations of the primary element are first transferred to a beacon beam and this aberrated beam is interfered with a reference beam in a holographic medium. These beams are then turned off and a beam from a distant object, containing the same aberrations, is allowed to diffract from the hologram. The diffracted beam from the hologram contains the image of the distant object with aberrations removed. Use of this technique permits the construction of large optical elements inexpensively, since surface tolerances of the elements can be substantially relaxed.

This invention relates generally to high resolution imaging telescopes and, more particularly, to techniques for reducing the size and cost of such telescopes. An imaging telescope has a primary optical element, usually a mirror in large telescopes, and an optical train of other elements, all of which cooperate to produce an image of a distant object at a focal plane. Present day high resolution imaging telescopes are constrained in size because of the costs of fabricating high precision mirror surfaces. It has been observed that the cost of fabricating large optical mirrors goes up in proportion to the third power of the mirror diameter. Telescopes of over two to three meters in diameter are prohibitively expensive. Furthermore, the weight of a telescope primary mirror is also a limiting factor if the telescope is to be used in space, since the cost of placing any load into orbit around the earth is dependent on its weight and volume.
Apart from mechanical innovations in the form of lightweight honeycomb structures, prior activity directed to reducing the cost of large telescopes has been centered on the field of adaptive optics. An adaptive primary mirror can be constructed using piezoelectric actuators to change the shape of the mirror surface to compensate for aberrations introduced either in optical elements or in a medium through which light is received at the telescope. This approach is used to correct atmospheric aberrations and requires a wavefront sensor to sample the phase front of an incoming reference wave, and a relatively complex control system to apply distortions to the primary mirror, to remove the effect of the aberrations. Theoretically, the same technique could be used to dynamically measure distortions introduced by a mirror, and to correct any such distortions, but there are a number of problems with this approach.
First, the adaptive mirror, which is sometimes referred to as a "rubber mirror," is itself an expensive item, and the requirement for multiple actuators, a control system, and a wavefront sensor all contribute significantly to the weight and cost of the telescope. Also, conventional adaptive optics telescopes use reference waves that are as distant as objects to be imaged, so that the reference phase is flat. This places signal-to-noise constraints on the wavefront sensor, which receives only a limited number of photons from an object to be imaged.
It is also been suggested to use a phase conjugation process to correct for aberrations introduced in optical components or in the transmission medium. In this approach, an incident probe beam is reflected from or passed through an optical element, and becomes distorted by the inherent deformities of the optical element. If the incident beam is then phase conjugated and reflected from or passed through the distorting element again, the aberrations introduced in the first pass are effectively canceled or removed during the second pass. This approach is better suited for telescopes that produce a high-power beam than it is for imaging a relatively weak image beam from a distant object.
Ideally, what is needed is a technique for correcting structural aberrations, introduced in the primary of the telescope, farther "downstream" in the train of optical elements, closer to the focal plane at which the image is produced. Then the structural requirements could be relaxed and cheaper, lightweight materials could be used in the construction of the telescope primary.
It will be appreciated from the foregoing that there is still a significant need for improvement in the field of large imaging telescopes, especially those intended for use in space. The present invention fulfills this need.

Large optics compensated imaging systems


A junction member (1), has an external form (2) that is polygonal in cross section and has external faces (4) of a polygon; adjacent corners (3) of the polygon defining respective external adjacent corners of each external face, each of those corners constituting a respective tunnel (5) so that each corner is a respective corner box section; and an internal form (6) that is polygonal in cross section and constitutes an internal box section, each corner box section intersecting a respective corner (7) of the internal box section. The external face has one slot (8) between respective external adjacent corners, the base of the slot being comprised by a respective face (9) of the internal form, said slot being a subtantially T-shape so that a suitable tenon may be inserted into the said slot, optionally thereby permanently or releasably to interlock with the junction member.

Structures may be assembled from structural members in various ways. For example, a first structural member comprising a mortise (i.e. a suitable socket) may receive a tenon (i.e. a projection) comprised by a second structural member, the tenon being inserted at an end transverse of the socket so as to be received by the socket and interlock together the first and second structural members. The first and second structural members may be of different kinds or the same kinds of structural members. For example, the first structural member may be a junction member (e.g. a fence post), and the second structural member may be a barrier member constituting at least a portion of a fence bay.


There is explained a plasma display panel that is adaptive for improving brightness uniformity of an entire panel. A plasma display panel according to an embodiment of the present invention has a width, a thickness and a gap of a driving electrode, barrier ribs, a black matrix and a dielectric layer etc. in a central area set differently from those in a peripheral area of the plasma display panel.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a method and an apparatus of driving a plasma display panel, and more particularly to a plasma display panel that is adaptive for improving brightness uniformity of an entire panel.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, a plasma display panel (PDP) radiates a fluorescent body using an ultraviolet with a wavelength of 147 nm generated upon discharge of an inactive mixture gas such as He+Xe, Ne+Xe or He+Ne+Xe, to thereby display a picture including characters and graphics. Such a PDP is easy to be made into a thin-film and large-dimension type. Moreover, the PDP provides a very improved picture quality owing to a recent technical development. Particularly, since a three-electrode, alternating current (AC) surface-discharge PDP has wall charges accumulated in the surface thereof upon discharge and protects electrodes from a sputtering generated by the discharge, it has advantages of a low-voltage driving and a long life.
Referring to FIG. 1, a discharge cell of the conventional three-electrode, AC surface-discharge PDP includes transparent electrodes 12Y and 12Z formed on an upper substrate 11 acting as a scan electrode and a sustaining electrode respectively, and an address electrode 17X formed on a lower substrate 16.
The transparent electrodes 12Y and 12Z are usually formed from indium-tin-oxide (ITO). There is metal bus electrodes 13 formed in each of the transparent electrodes 12Y and 12Z for reducing resistance. There are an upper dielectric layer 14 and a protective film 15 deposited on the upper substrate 11, where the transparent electrodes 12Y and 12Z are formed.
The address electrode 17X intersects the transparent electrodes 12Y and 12Z. there are a lower dielectric layer 18 and a barrier rib 19 formed on the lower substrate on which the address electrode 17X is formed, and a fluorescent layer 20 is spread on the surface of the lower dielectric layer 18 and the barrier rib 19.
An inactive mixture gas such as He+Xe or Ne+Xe is injected into a discharge space defined between the upper and lower substrate 11 and 16 and the barrier rib 19 for a discharge.
Such a PDP drives one frame, which is divided into various sub-fields having a different discharge frequency, so as to express gray levels of a picture. Each sub-field is again divided into a reset period for having discharge generated uniformly, an address period for selecting a discharge cell and a sustain period for realizing the gray levels depending on the discharge frequency. For instance, when it is intended to display a picture of 256 gray levels, a frame interval equal to 1/60 second (i.e. 16.67 msec) is divided into 8 sub-fields. Each of the 8 sub-fields is divided into a reset period, an address period and a sustain period as mentioned above. Herein, the reset period and the address period of each sub-field are equal every sub-field, whereas the sustain period and its discharge frequency are increased at a ratio of 2n (wherein n=0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7) at each sub-field. In this way, since the sustain period becomes different in each sub-fiend, it is possible to realize the gray level of the picture.
PDP has its size large-dimentionalized like 40″, 50″, 60″ as compared with other flat panel displays FPD. Accordingly, because each of the electrodes 12Y, 12Z, 13, 17 of the PDP is long, a voltage drop due to the electrode length, which occurs in the central area, is relatively much more different from the voltage drop in the peripheral area. Further, because the PDP has discharge gas interposed into it with a lower pressure than atmospheric pressure, the strength applied to the substrates 11 and 16 in the central area where the upper/lower substrates 11 and 16 are only supported by the barrier ribs is different from the strength applied to the substrates 11 and 16 in the peripheral area where the upper/lower substrates 11 and 16 are joined by a sealant (not shown). As a result, a conventional PDP, as in FIG. 2, has the brightness of the central area 20% lower than that of the peripheral area, in both horizontal and vertical directions respectively though there is difference depending on the panel size.


A semiconductor optical element has an active layer including quantum dots. The density of quantum dots in the resonator direction in a portion of the active layer in which the density of photons is relatively high is increased relative to the density of quantum dots in a portion of the active layer in which the density of photons is relatively low.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor optical element used as a light source for optical fiber communication or optical disk recording and a method of manufacturing the same.
2. Background Art
A semiconductor laser having quantum dots formed in its active layer (see, for example, IEEE JOURNAL SELECTED TOPICS IN QUANTUM ELECTRONICS, VOL. 11, N. 5, SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2005, pp. 1027-1034) and a waveguide-type light receiving element having quantum dots formed in its absorption layer (see, for example, IEEE JOURNAL OF QUANTUM ELECTRONICS, VOL. 35, No. 6, JUNE 1999, pp. 936-943) has been proposed. A semiconductor laser in which the density of quantum dots in its active layer is varied in a plane perpendicular to the resonator direction (light travel direction) has also been proposed (see, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-307860).


A circuit for dispensing fluid products, in particular coloring agents, paints and the like, comprises a pump (12) for delivering a fluid product, which pump can be activated selectively to send the fluid product to a dispensing duct (16) and a valve (18) which is disposed on the dispensing duct (16) and which can be opened to dispense the fluid product. A control system (28) is able to control the activation of the pump (12) in order to dispense a predetermined quantity of the fluid product. A sensor (24) is provided to detect the opening of the valve (18) and thus the effective start of the dispensing operation to be signalled to the control system (28).

A dispensing circuit of the type indicated above is known from U.S. Pat. No. 6,457,607 which describes a pumping unit comprising a stepper motor which operates a bellows pumping chamber for sending a fluid product to a dispensing duct along which a non-return valve is positioned. In order to dispense a desired quantity of fluid product, the stepper motor is operated for a determined number of steps which bring about a corresponding reduction in volume of the pumping chamber and therefore the delivery of a specific volume of fluid product.
The applicant has found that, under particular conditions of operation or for particular fluid products, the volume of fluid product delivered by the dispensing circuit may not correspond to the actual volume of fluid product desired. The applicant has found that sometimes the fluid product to be delivered, which is substantially incompressible per se, may incorporate a quantity of highly compressible air. During the operation of the above-mentioned circuit, therefore, the reduction in the volume of the pumping chamber caused by the operation of the motor is in part wasted in compressing the air inside the bellows and the dispensing duct, without a corresponding effective delivery of the fluid product. Consequently, the volume of fluid product actually delivered by the above-mentioned dispensing circuit may be smaller than that expected and desired on the basis of the operation of the motor.
The traditional solution to the problem indicated above is to calibrate the dispensing circuit in such a manner as to determine correcting values for the activation period or activation stroke of the motor, which are such as to compensate for the effect caused by the presence of air in the circuit and inside the incompressible fluid product to be delivered. It should, however, be noted that the quantity of air incorporated inside the incompressible fluid to be delivered is not constant over time and may vary within rather wide limits, to such an extent as to influence the precision and repeatability performance in the delivery operations of the above-mentioned known circuit. In particular, the applicant has found that often the quantity of air incorporated inside the colouring agent is at a maximum immediately after the reservoir of fluid product has been filled or topped up and tends to decrease with the passage of time. Unless the delivery circuit is calibrated continuously and repeatedly, it is extremely difficult, if not impossible, to obtain good precision and repeatability of delivery over time of the delivery circuit of the prior art.
Another solution, adopted in circuits of a more traditional design for dispensing colouring agents, consists in providing a controlled delivery valve, that is to say, a valve disposed on the dispensing duct, preferably disposed in the vicinity of the delivery nozzle for the fluid product, which opens on command for the time necessary to deliver the desired quantity thereof. Apart from the fact that the controlled or actuated valves of the above-mentioned type are expensive, require constant maintenance and normally have to provide a bypass with the possibility of re-circulating the fluid product to the reservoir when the valve is in the closed position, with a consequent complication of the dispensing circuit and the control thereof, it should be noted that the actual quantity of fluid product delivered is a function both of the opening time of the actuated valve and of the flow of fluid in the delivery duct. The value of this last parameter, unless suitable sensors are provided or special circuit configurations comprising pressure-limiting valves or the like are produced, is difficult to determine owing, again, to the presence of a non-specific quantity of air which is variable over time and which is incorporated in the incompressible fluid inside the dispensing circuit and, in particular, in the pumping unit and in the dispensing duct upstream of the controlled valve.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,578,752 discloses a process and device for determining the flow rate of a substance conveyed by means of a thick matter piston pump through a delivery pipe. The feeding pressure in the delivery pipe is measured at predetermined time intervals by means of a pressure sensor. The interval between successive pressure strokes, used to determined the number of frequency of strokes, as well as the filling level of the delivery cylinder, used to determine the actual delivery volume per pressure stroke, are both derived from the time-dependent amplitude characteristic of the measured delivery pressure.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,808,092 discloses a precision dosing pump intended especially for use in High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) technology, wherein the pump-head housing, the pump-head bush and the cartridge-like valve units are made of a transparent material. The movement of the balls in the valve units can be detected by means of an optical sensor system in order to obtain a control signal for a control circuit for compensating the effect of the specific compressibility of the delivery medium.
International patent application WO-A-91/08445 discloses a flowmetering apparatus wherein the flow of a multi-phase fluid and of the gas and liquid fractions it contains is measured in a piston pump by sensing the position of a fluid compressive piston as by a pressure transducer or by sensing opening of a discharge valve opening at a known pressure.

Circuit for dispensing fluid products, in particular colouring agents, paints or similar fluid products


A coupling for interconnecting two fluid flow lines includes a first coupling member (1) having a male end (4) and a second coupling member (2) having a female end (17) within which a rotatable collar (3) is held captive. The male end (4) includes four equally circumferentially spaced lobes (16) and the collar (3) has a cylindrical portion (3) that is shaped at its inner end to provide a square cross-section (35) to allow passage of the lobes (16) therethrough. The end rim (33) of collar (3) is recessed (37, 38) whereby upon insertion of male end (4) through collar (3) and rotation of the collar, the lobes (16) can seat within the recesses (37, 38), thereby releasably interconnecting the first and second coupling members (1, 2). Each recess in the end (33) of collar (3) has a first portion (37) and a second, deeper, portion (38) such that when the first member (1) is axially moved in a separating direction, the lobes (16) can seat within the deeper recess portions (38) to prevent relative rotation between collar (3) and male end (4) thereby locking the first member (1) to the second member (2). This prevents accidental release of the coupling, particularly in high pressure applications. The interengagement of lobes (16) and recesses (37-38) provides four pressure bearing contact surfaces allowing design of a coupling to withstand pressure of about 3445 N/cm.sup.2 (5000 psi).

Couplings for interconnecting fluid flow lines and holding them together under high pressures, as are used for example for supplying high pressure fluids to underground mining equipment, are known wherein a male and a female coupling member are locked together by a staple or pins. An example of such a staple-lock coupling is disclosed in Australian Patent No. 559081 (14879/83). These known staple-lock couplings are not readily able to be uncoupled in that generally separate tools have to be used to remove the staple. Furthermore, as the staple usually protrudes from the coupling, it can catch on to other pieces of equipment if the flow lines and coupling are dragged around. This can create a dangerous situation in that if sufficient force is applied to the staple it could be pulled out of the coupling causing the male and female coupling members to come apart. Should this occur while the fluid line is pressurised, a dangerous ejection of the pressurised fluid could occur, particularly if the supply side coupling member is not restrained. It is generally desirable that a coupling for use in high pressure applications and which is likely to be moved around, as in mining applications, not have any protrusions. Pin or staple-lock couplings also contain transverse holes for accommodating the pins or staple and this is undesirable because such holes provide possible entry points for water, dust etc. which may adversely affect the coupling.


Dental appliances and systems and methods for distributing dental appliances are provided. The dental appliances may be worn within a mouth of a patient to treat a dental condition. The dental appliances may be distributed to the patient through various venues. The venues range from those in which the patient has direct contact with a care provider to those in which the patient is able to independently determine an appropriate dental appliance to treat the dental condition. As a result, the amount of interaction between the patient and a care provider is significantly reduced, as well as an overall cost of treatment. The time necessary for appointments, if any, is also reduced and/or eliminated.

The present invention relates to dental appliances and systems and methods for distributing dental appliances. More specifically, the present invention relates to dental appliances which may be pre-formed and/or customized for an individual. The dental appliances may be distributed in various venues, such as, for example, care provider offices, department stores, pharmacies, or other venues.
It is generally known to provide dental care to a patient. Typically, the patient may visit, for example, a dentist or other type of care provider at the office of the care provider. The dentist, for example, may then examine the patient using various techniques, including x-raying the area to be treated and/or other impression-taking techniques, such as study models. The dentist may then provide the patient with a dental appliance to treat the condition of the patient. For example, a patient may have an overbite which may require a dental appliance to be placed within the mouth of the patient for an amount of time. The dentist treating the patient may take an impression of an interior of the mouth of the patient. The models may be used to determine a size or a shape of a dental appliance which may be worn by the patient to treat the overbite.
In some cases, a patient may require a number of subsequent visits to the office of a dentist to treat a dental condition. The subsequent visits may include adjustments or alterations of the appliance or other follow-up services that may be performed on the patient. The subsequent visits may also include additional dental appliances provided to the patient to address, for example, different stages of treatment of a dental condition. As a result, an overall cost of the dental care provided to the patient may increase substantially. Further, potential patients may be adverse to seeking dental care because of the substantial costs associated with dental services and/or dental appliances, as well as the time commitment necessary for the dental visits including, examination, diagnosis and follow-up care.
A need, therefore, exists for dental appliances and systems and methods of distributing dental appliances wherein an amount of interaction between the care provider and the patient is reduced or eliminated.


A signaling method reduces bandwidth requirements and signaling delays normally associated with sending text-based signaling messages over a wireless links. An application at a transmitting endpoint generates and sends a binary-encoded signaling message, along with a binary interpreter that enables the receiving endpoint or SIP server to construct a text-based message from the binary encoded message. The binary-encoded signaling message may include references to a saved state, or to a dictionary to enable compression of the message. The signaling method can be used with any text-based signaling protocol, such as the Session Initiation Protocol, the Session Description Protocol, and the Real Time Streaming Protocol.

The present invention relates generally to signaling protocols for wireless communication systems, and more particularly, to a method of reducing the size of signaling messages transmitted over a wireless communication link.
The Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) and the Session Description Protocol (SDP) are becoming the de facto standards for IP telephony. SIP is a text-based protocol used for setting-up, modifying, and tearing down media sessions. SIP has also been extended for instant messaging and presence services. SDP is a text-based signaling protocol for describing multimedia sessions. SDP is used for purposes such as session announcement, session invitation, and other forms of multimedia session initiation.
SIP and SDP were originally designed for rich bandwidth connections, so message sizes are not optimized and tend to be rather large. The relatively large message size of SIP messages causes some difficulties when SIP signaling must traverse a narrow bandwidth connection, such as a radio interface in wireless networks or a low-speed serial connection. The large message size of SIP messages consumes valuable bandwidth in wireless networks and substantially increases call set-up time.
The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) has developed a signal compression protocol known as SIGCOMP to reduce the size of SIP messages for transmission over limited bandwidth connections. The SIGCOMP protocol is described in IETF documents RFC 3320 and RFC 3321, which are incorporated herein by reference. The SIGCOMP protocol makes use of compression/decompression engines at the sending and receiving nodes. The sending node compresses SIP messages and sends the compressed messages to the receiving node along with decompression code needed to decompress the message. Because decompression code is passed from the sender to the receiver, software SIP clients can implement virtually any known compression algorithm and remain compatible with other SIP clients.

Method for generating and sending signaling messages