A conductive via and method of forming a conductive via in a multilayer printed circuit board are disclosed. A hole is drilled into a printed circuit board that is reinforced with glass fibers, wherein the hole extends between two conductive elements on different layers of the printed circuit board and cuts through a portion of the glass fibers. A tungsten nitride layer is then deposited on the walls of the hole, wherein the tungsten nitride layer has a thickness between 1.5 nanometers and 20 nanometers. A copper layer is deposited over the tungsten nitride layer, wherein the copper and tungsten nitride form a conductive via that provides an electrically conductive pathway between the two conductive elements, and wherein the tungsten nitride layer isolates the copper layer from the glass fibers.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to printed circuit board structures that include internal copper structures.
2. Background of the Related Art
A typical printed circuit board includes insulating layers and conducting layers that are laminated together using an epoxy resin prepreg. The insulating layers are made with dielectric materials such as polytetrafluoroethylene, composite epoxy materials, or fiberglass-reinforced epoxy laminate. The conducting layers are made of conductive metals, such as a thin copper foil. A prepreg is a material having pre-impregnated composite fibers, such as a woven or unidirectional glass fiber mat that is already impregnated with an epoxy resin.
The printed circuit board provides mechanical support for electronic components and provides electrically conductive pathways between those electronic components. These pathways may include traces formed on the surface of the printed circuit board or in any of the conducting layers. Some of the conducting layers may form other structures, such as a power plane or ground plane that supports the supply of electrical power to the electronic components on the board. Still further, the printed circuit board may include plated through holes that carry power or signals between the layers or surfaces of the board. A plated through hole (PTH) is formed by drilling a hole in the printed circuit board and then plating the walls of the hole with copper.
The glass fibers that extend through the printed circuit board provide strength and dimensional stability to the board. For example, it may be important to prevent thermal expansion of a printed circuit board as its temperature increases so that the electrical connections between electronic components are not affected.

Preventing the formation of conductive anodic filaments in a printed circuit board

Lenovo Enterprise Solutions (Singapore) Pte. Ltd.


A facsimile machine has an enable or disable mode of security receiving selected and a password inputted if its memory is full in order to print additionally inputted data on paper. After this processing, a waiting time of printing output is inputted and the number of retrying input of a password is counted. Memory data received and stored is printed according to counting of retrying input of a password, and inputting a password or no password is designated. After output of memory data which has been received and stored, a receiving mode and a range of automatic switching of the receiving mode are selected. Without installing any additional hardware devices, secure and convenient receiving of data through a facsimile machine can be obtained.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention concerns a technique for controlling the output of a facsimile machine, and more particularly a technique for enabling selective output of data received by a facsimile machine at a particular time for security purposes.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally in a facsimile machine, data sent by a sender is outputted as is if there is enough paper and the system is set in an automatic receiving mode. If there is no paper or the machine is not capable of receiving data due to jamming or other faults, data is stored in a memory and is automatically printed once paper is supplied. This method does not create any problems if data is received directly by a receiver; however, if the data was confidential and there was no one near the receiving facsimile machine, data would be exposed without being secured, thus imposing a security problem.
The Chou et al. patent, U.S. Pat. No. 5,353,124, entitled Method Of Providing Confidential Treatment For Facsimile Transmissions, discloses a method of providing confidential treatment for facsimile transmissions which places a received message in storage rather than printing it out upon a determination that a key is present in the message. The message may be printed out using a password.
The Mandelbaum et al. patent U.S. Pat. No. 5,552,897, entitled Secure Communication Apparatus And Method, discloses a facsimile machine in which a password followed by the insertion of a user's smart card must be enetered into the receiving apparatus prior to displaying or printing out a restricted facsimile message.
The Kawamura et al., patent U.S. Pat. No. 5,587,799, entitled Copying Machine With Reserved Copying At A Predetermined Time Period, discloses a copying machine in which a scanned document is printed at a predetermined selected time.
The following patents each disclose features in common with the present invention but do not disclose the specifically recited method of controlling the output of a facsimile machine for enabling selective output of printed data received through a facsimile machine at a particular time for security purposes of the present invention.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,452,099 to Von Meister, entitled Method And System For Storage And/Or Transmission Of Confidential Facsimile Documents, U.S. Pat. No. 5,406,387 to Yamamoto, entitled Facsimile Apparatus Capable Of Preventing Receipt Of Unauthorized Facsimile Transmissions, U.S. Pat. No. 5,392,336 to Chang et al., entitled Data Message Storage And Pick Up Service, U.S. Pat. No. 5,351,136 to Wu et al., entitled Facsimile Apparatus And Method For Sending And Receiving Private Infornation, U.S. Pat. No. 5,339,174 to Harris, entitled Facsimile Machine Time Shifting And Converting Apparatus, U.S. Pat. No. 5,224,156 to Fuller et al., entitled Method And Apparatus For Facsimile Enhancement, U.S. Pat. No. 5,163,088 to LoCascio, entitled Facsimile Security System, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,912,761 to Tan et al., entitled Security Facsimile Systems.

Technique for controlling the output of a facsimile machine


A device for automatically adjusting the staking pressure in staking machines with beating plates, wherein the machine includes at least one fixed plate (5) and at least one moving plate (4) which face each other and are provided with complementarily shaped tools; the fixed plate (5) is installed on threaded posts (11) which can be screwed in complementarily threaded bushes (12) which are rigidly coupled to a bed (3); there are locking devices (13) which act selectively on the fixed plate (5). The device includes at least one servomechanism (16) which is rigidly coupled to the fixed plate (5) and is connected to the threaded posts (11) for their automatic rotation; sensor devices (23) for detecting the value of the maximum penetration of the tools and for generating a first electrical signal; electronic control devices (24) for comparing the first electrical signal with a second presettable electrical signal which corresponds to the intended staking pressure and for continuously adjusting the power supply of the servomechanism. The servomechanism (16) consists of a gearmotor which is connected to the threaded posts (11) by virtue of a toothed belt and a chain.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is used in the field of tannery and relates in particular to a device for automatically adjusting the working pressure which can be installed in staking machines with beating plates for stretching and softening industrial hides and similar products.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A conventional staking machine is essentially constituted by one or more pairs of facing plates which can move with respect to each other and have tools which interact alternately with the hides to be treated whilst they are moved substantially at right angles to the reciprocating motion of the plates by virtue of two adjacent conveyor belts.
At least one of the plates is connected, by virtue of a system of the cam-and-linkage type, to a flywheel mass which is rotated by an electric motor so as to promote a periodic motion toward and away from the other plate.
An example of these conventional machines is disclosed in IT-1,247,078, to which reference is made for a detailed description of the various parts, and by the staking machine model PAL-3200 with multiple heads, manufactured by Officine di Cartigliano, S.p.A., assignee of the present application.
In these conventional machines, the tools of one of the mutually opposite plates are generally constituted by projections or pins, whilst those of the other plate are constituted by hollows or similar cavities. The depth of the penetration of the pins in the hollows determines the staking or working "pressure" of the hides.
In order to vary the staking pressure, for example to adapt it to a different kind of hide or treatment, it is necessary to vary the relative position of the plates by making one adjustable in terms of height and angle with respect to the other. For this purpose, the fixed upper plate is peripherally supported by four threaded posts or worm screws which screw into respective complementarily threaded bushes anchored to the frame, so as to move the upper plate toward or away from the bed and therefore toward and away from each other. In order to stably lock the plate once it has been adjusted, there are locking devices constituted by two lateral hydraulic jacks, which act parallel to the axis of the worm screws so as to prevent their rotation within the bushes.
Normally, the worm screws are rotated manually and discontinuously in steps which correspond to translatory motions of approximately 1 mm, using a vernier scale formed on the upper end of the worm screws.
In practice, in order to perform the adjustment it is necessary to perform the following operations: a) stop the conveyor belts of the hides and the motor that drives the flywheel mass until the machine comes to a complete stop; b) depressurize the jacks in order to release the worm screws; c) rotate the worm screws stepwise so as to adjust the height of the fixed plate; d) pressurize the jacks in order to lock the worm screws in the intended position; e) restart the machine and bring it to its normal operating condition. All this entails a considerable waste of time and most of all entails halting work on the machine for a few minutes. If one considers that these operations must sometimes be repeated several times before achieving optimum adjustment, it is evident that they have a considerable negative effect during a day's work and on the entire production cycle, especially for subcontractors and small tanneries.
The disadvantage of being able to perform adjustment discontinuously but not continuously is furthermore evident.
Staking machines are known which have systems for automatically adjusting the staking pressure which however are considerably complicated and require the machine to be designed for this purpose. In other words, with current solutions it is not possible to modify an existing manually-adjusted machine in order to equip it with a continuous and automatic adjustment and avoid stopping it.
An aim of the present invention is to overcome the above drawbacks by providing a device which allows one to automatically adjust, during treatment, the staking pressure in staking machines with beating plates without having to stop the machine.
An object of the present invention is to provide a device which allows a drastic reduction in adjustment times.
A further object is to allow practically continuous staking pressure adjustment or in any case an adjustment which has a very fine resolution.
Still a further object is to provide a device which can be installed on any existing machine of the manually-adjusted type.

Device for continuously adjusting the working pressure for staking machines with beating plates


A mite propagation inhibiting sheet has a sheet layer, an adhesive layer, and an unwoven fabric layer wherein mites are allowed to invade from a surface of the unwoven fabric layer to which an adhesive is not adhered, thereby forming a colony and the mites are trapped by an adhesive of the adhesive layer when the mites invade deep in the unwoven fabric layer by instinct, and further, a method of manufacturing a mite propagation inhibiting sheet, and a method of inhibiting the propagation of mites.

There increases a case of generation of allodermanyssus (name: dermanyssus gallinae) in a chicken house. The number of laying eggs is decreased when a chicken is subject to blood-sucking by allodermanyssus (name: dermanyssus gallinae), and it sometimes happens that the chicken dies from stress in the worst cases.
Further, since people are also subject to blood-sucking by allodermanyssus, the labor turnover rate of workers working in chicken houses is increased. At a first stage, allodermanyssus is treated with insecticides, but allodermanyssus having a chemical resistance appears and hence it is a current state which leaves workers at a loss over how to cope with this problem.
It turns out that allodermanyssus are nocturnal in habit and live with chicken because they suck the blood of the chicken at night, and form colonies at joints of pipes and in small gaps in the daytime.
Patent document 1 discloses, as shown in FIG. 1, a trapping device 1 comprises an observation part 4 which is provided so as to confirm mites etc. attracted by an attraction sheet 2 for attracting mites etc., and attract the mites to the attraction sheet 2, wherein the attraction sheet 2 or an adhesive sheet to which an adhesive is adhered for killing the attracted mites etc. is attached to the trapping device 1 by insertion for killing the mites upon confirmation of the attraction of the mites by the observation part 4. A base sheet 5 such as a cloth material or an unwoven fabric 5 in which the mites etc. easily invade is overlaid on the upper surface side of the attraction sheet 2 which is coated or impregnated with attractants for attracting the mites etc., and wherein an observation part formed of a transparent film for confirming mites, etc. is provided on a part of a sheet cover 3, while the base sheet 5 is overlaid on the lower side surface of the attraction sheet 2, and a slit 6, pocket mouth 6a, etc. are provided on the base sheet 5 through which an insecticide sheet or the adhesive sheet is attached to the trapping device 1 by insertion. However, it is inevitable to form the trapping device 1 provided with a transparent observation part for confirming insects such as mites etc. attracted to an attraction sheet and also provided with a sheet for killing insects or sheet for adhering the insects to which an insecticide is adhered for killing the attracting mites, etc., which is however complex in structure and needs an attractant and insecticide, and hence there is a high possibility of the occurrence of harm to poultry such as chicken etc. to be protected from mites etc.
Patent document 2 discloses an adhesive composition for trapping mites mainly comprising a natural rubber and/or synthetic rubber, and a rubber adhesive containing at least one of a tackifier resin selected from a rosin-based resin, terpene-based resin, synthetic petroleum resin, phenol-based resin, xylene-based resin, alicyclic-based petroleum resin, coumarone-indene resin, styrene-based resin, dicyclopentadiene resin, and also discloses the preparation of mite-trapping adhesive sheets, by use of the adhesive composition, which are stacked in layers on a support member. Although there is exemplified in Patent document 2 that an unwoven fabric is used for a sheet, there is no example of the unwoven fabric being adapted for trapping mites.    Prior Art Documents    Patent Document    Patent Document 1: JP 2004-215577 A    Patent Document 2: JP 2001-128607 A


An electrical power generation system and method for generating electrical power are provided. The electrical power generation system utilizes a master controller for controlling operation of devices coupled to an AC electrical grid and DC electrical grid based on parameter values associated with a renewable power generator.

Power generation systems connected as an electrical mini-grid have utilized conventional power generators, such as fossil fuel power generators, and renewable power generators to supply electrical power to a load. A problem commonly associated with this type of power generation system is that the amount of power consumed by loads coupled to the electrical mini-grid as well as the power generated by the renewable sources connected to the mini-grid cannot be centrally controlled during operation. Accordingly, the power generation system is required to have connected (running or in stand-by) conventional power generators that have at least a capacity to produce 100% of the electrical power consumed by loads electrically coupled to the mini-grid, irrespective of whether the renewable power generators can supply a portion of the electrical power. Thus, the power generation system utilizes more conventional power generators than actually needed which increases a cost of operating the power generation system and makes the mini-grid operation not rentable and further impedes its utilization on a large scale.

Electrical power generation system and method for generating electrical power


A photonic component is provided including at least one linear optical waveguide, of which an active portion is surrounded over all or part of its periphery by a grouping of one or more essentially semiconducting nanotubes. These nanotubes interact with their exterior environment in an active zone extending on either side of the optical waveguide, to thus induce an optical coupling between an electrical or optical signal applied to the nanotubes and on the other hand an optical signal in the active portion of the waveguide. Such a component can carry out bipolar electro-optical functions as light source, or modulator or detector, inside the optical guide, for example with an electro-optical coupling between on the one hand an electrical signal applied between the electrodes, and on the other hand an optical signal emitted or modified in the active portion of the optical waveguide towards the remainder of the optical guide.

The present invention relates to a photonic component comprising at least one linear optical waveguide, a so-called active portion of which is surrounded over all or part of its periphery by a group of one or more essentially semiconducting nanotubes. These nanotubes interact with their external environment in an active zone extending on either side of the optical waveguide, so as to thus induce an optical coupling between an electrical or optical signal applied to the nanotubes and on the other hand an optical signal in the active portion of the waveguide. Such a component can carry out in particular bipolar electro-optical functions as light source, or modulator or detector, inside the optical guide, for example with an electro-optical coupling between on the one hand an electrical signal applied between the electrodes, and on the other hand an optical signal emitted or modified in the active portion of the optical waveguide towards the remainder of said optical guide.
It also relates to an electronic and optical hybrid integrated circuit the optical and electronic circuits of which interact with each other through at least one such electro-optical component; as well as to a method for the production of such a component or integrated circuit.
The invention relates to the field of nanophotonics and optoelectronics for various applications: for example optical interconnections in future integrated circuits, optical telecommunications, biophotonics, labs-on-a-chip, etc.
Components
Numerous systems use optical circuits in order to process or transmit digital data, for example for telecommunications or in computer equipment. So-called electro-optical or optronic components are used to generate information in these optical circuits and allow them to interact with electronic circuits.
These components include different types and in particular light sources, detectors, and modulators.
Such a light source uses electrical energy to produce a light, coherent (laser) or not, which can be injected into an optical waveguide to supply an optical circuit. Nowadays such light sources are often made of type III-V semiconductor materials.
An electro-optical modulator receives an electrical signal and acts on a light flux in order to modulate it as a function of the electrical signal and thus provide a light signal, for example in order to convert an electrical telecommunication signal into an optical signal which is injected into a long-distance or even transoceanic optical telecommunication fibre. Nowadays such modulators are often made of III-V semiconductor.
Such a detector receives a light flux or signal, and produces an electrical signal as a function of the light signal received, for example in order to decode an optical signal received from an optical fibre and convert it into an electrical signal which can be processed by a computer. Nowadays such detectors are often produced based on germanium or InGaAs.
A greater compactness of the circuits and components is useful for increasing the density of the circuits and therefore the miniaturization and/or the performance of the equipment that they make it possible to produce.
It is useful to be able to integrate together as many components and/or sub-assemblies as possible. This makes it possible for example to reduce the costs, but also to increase the density and the miniaturization of the circuits, and to reduce the interfaces between blocks and reduce consumption and heating of the circuits obtained.
Optical and Electronic Hybrid Integrated Circuits
Optical or optoelectronic integrated circuits are increasingly used in numerous fields.
For example, they are a possible solution to the limitations increasingly affecting the development of purely electronic components which exhibit constraints proving increasingly problematic and sometimes insurmountable.
In fact, as the density of integration of the components increases as the size of the transistors decreases, the interconnections are increasingly complex, and existing circuits possess more than 12 metal/dielectric levels used to produce communication channels between different sets of transistors within the same integrated circuit.
In a few years from now, it can be foreseen that the performances of the integrated circuits will be limited due to the growing complexity of these connection circuits. This limitation will in particular affect metal interconnections, for example due to the time constant associated with the resistive and capacitive values of these connections, or due to the skin effect in the conductors which will accentuate these limitations at high frequency causing increasing distortion of the signals and an increase in the propagation delays. The overall links within an integrated circuit, such as the connections between blocks and the distribution of the clock signal, are among the first affected by these limitations.
Solutions are sought for pushing back these limits in existing technologies by the introduction of conductors having less resistivity and materials having a lower dielectric constant, or by introducing repeaters placed regularly along the connection lines. These solutions are however term-limited, and can moreover increase the space requirement of the circuits as well as their electricity consumption and therefore their heating.
One type of solution proposed consists of using optical interconnections, which provides a certain number of advantages:                Performances are virtually independent of the length of the interconnections;        Propagation is not very dependent on the signal frequency;        The repeaters are not necessary which results in a saving in space and in dissipated power;        Distribution does not generate noise towards the remainder of the chip;        It is possible to use several wavelengths on the same channel: wavelength multiplexing.
The utilization of such optical interconnections involves the integration of electro-optical components within electronic integrated circuits, such as sources, modulators and light-signal detectors. The solution currently envisaged in order to be compatible with CMOS circuits technology is to guide the light in the silicon film of a silicon-on-insulator (SOI) substrate, to modulate the light using silicon- or SiGe-based modulators, to detect it using germanium and to emit the light using mainly III-V semiconductors.
The internal high frequency optical link in an integrated circuit on silicon currently considered in the profession is thus mainly made up of three materials: silicon, germanium and III-V.
However, such an optical link structure requires very heterogeneous integration as regards the materials and manufacturing processes used as well as in terms of design and internal organization of the integrated circuit. This heterogeneity has numerous drawbacks for example and in particular as regards design flexibility and manufacturing simplicity with a limiting factor as regards the source based on III-V semiconductor which does not use the same substrate dimensions.
Moreover, these current architectures of electro-optical components limit their miniaturization, for example due to the necessary interaction lengths within optical guides which are sometimes several millimeters.
These architectures and the stringent accuracy requirements that they involve, as well as the differences in materials that they use, make the integration of these components within integrated circuits complex and expensive. This limits in particular the possibilities of hybrid integration combining optical integrated circuits and electronic integrated circuits together within the same "chip" or integrated circuit.
Use of Nanotubes
Studies of nanotubes have shown that these materials can have certain semiconductor-type properties due to their nanometric scale, and their one-dimensional nature.
Thus, the publication "Electroluminescence from Single-Wall Carbon Nanotube Network Transistors" by Adam et al. in NanoLetters 2008, 8 (8) 2351-2355, presents a multidirectional electroluminescent effect obtained in a field-effect transistor produced by applying an electric field between several successive parallel electrodes arranged across a track constituted either by a single nanotube (CNFET), or by a unorganized network of several nanotubes (NNFET).
In the publications "Carbon Nanotubes and Optical Confinement—Controlling Light Emission in Nanophotonic Devices" by Steiner et al. in SPIE 2008 Vol. 703713 703713, and "A microcavity-controlled, current-driven, on-chip nanotube emitter at infrared wavelengths" by Fengnian et al. in Nature Nanotechnology Vol. 3 Oct. 2008, it has been proposed to capture such an electroluminescent effect using an optical "amplification" microcavity.
As illustrated below in FIG. 1, this microcavity is formed by two mirrors surrounding an assembly constituted by a layer of SiO2 supporting a layer of PMMA between two side electrodes which are linked to each other by a single nanotube embedded in the PMMA. This cavity is mounted on a layer of P+ doped silicon in order to form a field-effect transistor (FET) producing a light which is captured and amplified by the cavity and re-exits from it perpendicularly to the different superimposed layers.
Similarly, according to the publication "Efficient narrow-band light emission from a single carbon nanotube p-n diode" by Müller et al. in Nature Nanotechnology Letters of November 2009 (DOI: 10.1038/nnano.2009.319), the emission is produced by an individual nanotube mounted in a diode between two zones of electrodes and subjected to an electric field above an optical microcavity.
This prior art describes only light production elements which also have certain drawbacks. Thus, the intensity emitted by these elements is rather low, and is not directional. The microcavity can make it possible to obtain a directional source, but at the price of additional complexity which is likely to impose problematic constraints, in particular for integration. Moreover, the injection of this light into an optical waveguide requires additional adjustments not yet addressed which are themselves also sources of additional complexities, perhaps also of losses in yield or light intensity. These complexities, as well as the direction of emission perpendicular to the layers of the cavity, make any attempt at integration of such components within an optical circuit more complex and difficult, and even more so within a hybrid integrated circuit.
Similarly, a coupling described in the document US 2005/249249 consists of injecting a light produced by a nanotube mounted in an FET transistor into the end of an optical fibre, through a lens arranged on the optical axis of this fibre; or enclosing this nanotube within this optical fibre. Such an assembly however yields little light and is difficult and cumbersome to produce and to adjust, and is ill-suited for use in an integrated circuit.
Generally, a tendency in the state of the art is to use nanotubes for their semiconductor properties. Thus, everything is done to seek to obtain isolated nanotubes, for example a sonic separation in order to avoid bundles of nanotubes, followed by a technique of individual coating with a surfactant product. Such an individual nanotube can then be arranged on a substrate which makes it possible to ensure an electric contact at both its ends by covering the latter with conducting layers forming electrodes.

Nanotube electro-optical component, optronic or optical link-based hybrid integrated circuit integrating this component, and method of fabrication

CENTRE NATIONAL DE LA RECHERCHE SCIENTIFIQUE


Collaborative virtual business object (VBO) social sharing that may include generating a VBO responsive to an avatar performing a transaction, and providing access to the VBO to other avatars desiring access. Access to the VBO may be provided by registering information regarding accessing the VBO in an inventory of the avatar, registering information regarding accessing the VBO in a centralized registry, allowing some portions of the VBO to be searchable, or uploading a modified copy of the VBO to a centralized VBO data upload facility. Portions of the VBO may be identified as private or public and access provided to only the public portions. An apparatus for collaborative virtual business object (VBO) social sharing may include an interface configured to access virtual world and a processor configured to generate a VBO responsive to a transaction in the virtual world and provide access to the VBO.

The present invention is related to virtual worlds, and more specifically to collaborative virtual business objects social sharing in a virtual world.
A virtual world is a computer based simulated environment intended for its residents to traverse, inhabit and interact through the use of avatars. Virtual worlds are typically represented using three-dimensional (3D) graphics and landscapes and are may be populated by many thousands of users, known as "residents". Often, a virtual world resembles the real world in terms of physics, houses, landscapes, businesses, etc.
Currently, sharing information with friends or groups of people about items (both in the real and virtual world) that an avatar (or user associated with the avatar) has recently purchased is a very daunting and difficult task. Typically, one desiring to share information regarding a purchase would have utilized the phone, email, share a link to a product from a particular website etc. All known solutions require a manual process or a face to face conversation. Further, it is challenging for merchants to effectively advertise both real world and virtual world products and services within a virtual universe. Avatars in a virtual world are often busy in business or social interactions and do not want the interruptions of advertisements. Avatars also do not want unattractive advertisements and signs all over the virtual world landscape.

Collaborative virtual business objects social sharing in a virtual world

International Business Machines Corporation


The present disclosure is directed to an energy storage system using a combination of battery and ultra-capacitor storage components and having passive voltage control. An inductor is placed inline between the batteries and ultra-capacitors of the hybrid module. In another embodiment, the inductor/ultra-capacitor module is configured to be connected to a battery. The disclosed device is suitable for use in high-power applications where high-currents can have adverse effects on impedance-matching components.

Batteries are energy storage devices that are well-known for use as an autonomous supply of energy for a desired application through a chemical reaction. Batteries are an energy dense technology (kWh/kg). Ultra-capacitors are increasingly used for supplying energy. Ultra-capacitors are designed to be very power dense (kW/kg) and are capable of delivering very high instantaneous current. Ultra-capacitors have a very simple construction when compared to batteries which leads to lower cost per unit of energy. Ultra-capacitors have an order of magnitude reduced internal resistance compared to batteries.
Hybrid energy storage systems using, for example, batteries and ultra-capacitors have been developed in order to take advantage of the strengths of each technology to provide high power density solutions. Such hybrids can be better optimized when compared to a single energy storage technology, like adding batteries in parallel to achieve peak power points of particular applications. The outcome of the combined design is that the total weight, volume and cost can be reduced over battery-only designs. In such previous hybrid energy storage systems, voltage control between the battery and ultra-capacitor sub-systems has been by active circuits (see FIG. 9A). Such previous designs commonly use a bi-directional DC/DC converter or an active current management control strategy.
The active controllers used in such hybrid energy storage systems add to the weight and complexity of the overall system. Additionally, the controllers are susceptible to electrical design risks common in space/aerospace applications.


The invention provides a system for respiratory pharmacology test and a chamber device that enables respiratory pharmacology test on particular large animals under unanesthetized, unrestrained state, with easy acclimatization and reduced effect of stress, and a method for conducting safety pharmacology studies on the same large animal individual. The chamber device of the invention includes animal cage 10 and transparent chamber 20, which includes first and second compartments 21 and 22 separated by partition plate 23. The compartment 21 has a door and ventilation connection port 26, and the compartments 21 and 22 are provided with communication pipe 29 having opening 29a for introducing ambient air. The device of the invention has ventilation connection port 26 in a side face of the chamber 20, and communication pipe 29 for introducing air on the top face of the chamber 20, so that, with the cage 10 placed in the compartment 21, air flow through the compartment 21 is maintained constantly and allowed to communicate through the cage 10.

In drug development, physiological effects of a test substance have conventionally been assessed using anesthetized, restrained animals. Tests under such conditions, however, are under severe impact of stress and anesthesia, and hard to allow precise evaluation of the effects of a test substance.
Recent safety pharmacology studies for drug development are conducted mostly on unanesthetized, unrestrained test animals under the conditions as stress-free as possible, so as to precisely evaluate the effects of a test substance. The objectives of the safety pharmacology studies are to identify undesirable pharmacodynamic properties of a substance that may have relevance to its human safety; to evaluate adverse pharmacodynamic and/or pathophysiological effects of a substance observed in toxicology and/or clinical studies; and to investigate the mechanism of adverse pharmacodynamic effects observed and/or suspected. Currently, tests on the respiratory, central nervous, and cardiovascular systems are mandatory.
In the respiratory test, parameters such as respiratory rate and respiratory function after administration of a test substance are evaluated for properly assessing the effects of the test substance on the respiratory system. In the central nervous test, motor activity, behavioral changes, coordination, sensory/motor reflex responses, body temperature, and the like after administration of a test substance, are monitored for assessing the effects of the test substance on the respiratory system. In the cardiovascular test, blood pressure, heart rate, electrocardiogram, and the like after administration of a test substance, are evaluated for assessing the effects of the test substance on the cardiovascular system.
Before conducting the respiratory, central nervous, and cardiovascular tests, test animals are often acclimatized to the environment for mitigating stress and other purposes.
However, animals having a higher level of intelligence, such as monkeys, dogs, and pigs, sometimes experience difficulties in acclimatization, depending on the test contents. In particular, the respiratory test has to be conducted with the test animal being housed in a closed transparent chamber that substantially prevents contact with ambient air, such as the one disclosed in Patent Publication 1. In that case, the intelligent animals cannot be acclimatized practically, so that small animals that may easily be acclimatized, have to be used, such as mice, rats, and guinea pigs.
For collecting results as closely simulating the assessment for human as possible, it is ideal to conduct all the safety pharmacology studies of a test substance on the same species, in particular on the same individual of animals that are more closely related to human, such as monkeys, dogs, and pigs. However, under the present circumstances, at least the respiratory test has to be conducted on small animals, and is not conducted on a large animal of the same individual as used in the other tests.
In the test and evaluation using small animals, the difference in physiological functions between the small animals and human may sometimes result in production of metabolites that are different from those produced in human. In that case, it is necessary to freshly conduct a test for human metabolites, which delays drug development. Further, various assessment instrument has been developed for the respiratory, central nervous, and cardiovascular tests, but no chamber device has ever been proposed that allows the respiratory test to be conducted on a large animal, such as monkeys, dogs, or pigs, in particular the same individual as used in the other tests, under unanesthetized, unrestrained state, and that allows acclimatization of such animal therein.
Patent Publication 1: U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2004/254489.

Chamber device, respiratory pharmacological test system and pharmacological safety test method


A first position of a media is determined with respect to a surface. The surface is advanced and a second position of the media is determined with respect to the surface. The relative speed between the surface and a linear speed feed of the media is altered based on the first and second positions.

In some printing systems, a sheet feeder transfers print media to a moving surface, such as a drum. The drum carries the print media to a print station, where ink, toner, or another suitable colorant is transferred to the print media.
During the life of a printer, rollers, belts, or other mechanical assemblies may wear creating a speed mismatch between the drum and the sheet feeder. Changes in media type or environmental conditions that affect drive roller to media friction may also cause a speed mismatch between the drum and the sheet feeder. This speed mismatch may affect print quality, paper jam rates, or a margin between printed material and an edge of the media.

Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.


A blade cutting device includes a material accommodation section having a plurality of accommodation chambers for accommodating the band-shaped materials used to form blades, in such a manner as to be sorted by type; a band-shaped material machining section having a feed unit for feeding a band-shaped material pulled out from a predetermined accommodation chamber and a cutting unit for cutting the band-shaped material into a predetermined length for forming blades; and a control section for causing the material accommodation section to move so as to locate the predetermined accommodation chamber at a position facing the band-shaped material machining section.

Conventionally, a container formed of a sheet material such as paperboard, corrugated cardboard, or the like is formed as follows: a blank having a shape corresponding to the structure of the container is stamped from a sheet material by a stamping machine, and the blank is bent into a predetermined shape.
The stamping machine includes an upper platen and a lower platen; a stamping die is attached to the upper platen, and a cutting plate is attached to the lower platen; a sheet material is placed on the cutting plate; and the upper platen is lowered and pressed against the lower platen, thereby forming a blank from the sheet material and forming ruled lines for bending on the blank.
Thus, the stamping die has grooves in a predetermined pattern; various stamping blades for cutting a sheet material into a blank, and various ruling blades for forming ruled lines for bending are embedded in the grooves; and the stamping blades have sharp edges formed at their lower ends, and the ruling blades have round edges formed at their lower ends.
Meanwhile, a blade cutting device is provided for forming the stamping blades and the ruling blades. In the blade cutting device, graphic data indicative of the shapes and dimensions of the stamping blades and the ruling blades are extracted from CAD data designed for stamping by a stamping machine, and, on the basis of the graphic data, band-shaped materials of metal are cut into the stamping blades and the ruling blades (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

Blade cutting device and blade cutting method


A system is provided that reports audit data. The system defines metadata that defines security conditions for a business object. The system further receives a request from a user to retrieve audit data contained within a database table, where the audit data includes a history of modifications to an attribute of the business object. The system further retrieves the audit data from the first database table. The system further applies the security conditions to the audit data based on the metadata. The system further displays the audit data within a user interface when the security conditions are satisfied.

A software application (or "application") is generally used for automating transactions related to processes of operations, such as business operations. Typically, processes include one or more transactions which may insert, update, or delete operations data (i.e., data related to the operations). The integrity and consistency of the operations data is generally very important, especially with regards to the creditability of records, service provisions, and maintenance of records. An application can be executed on a computer system in order to perform the operation processes.
In order to ensure integrity and consistency of the operations data, data auditing (or "auditing") of the operations data can be performed. Auditing is a process of tracking modifications to data, such as what data has been modified, who has made the modifications to the data, and when the modifications to the data were made. Further, auditing can maintain a history of modifications in chronological order so that operations data can be restored in case of any loss of data or data corruption. Auditing can be performed on the operations data for various reasons, such as system security, fault investigation, maintenance of history, or compliance with organizational policies or regulatory requirements. Moreover, auditing can help in analyzing a pattern of modifications in the operations data.

Metadata-driven audit reporting system that applies data security to audit data


A method for communicating information for pre-defined metrics management of business metrics uses a system including a server and at least one user accessible device communicative with the server. The server has a database and a web interface. The method comprises providing a user with a web interface configurable to a template accommodating business metrics data by the user, and providing visual indications of the status of the business metrics.

This invention relates generally to methods and systems for communicating key business metrics within a business organization and more particularly to intranet-based systems and methods for monitoring business metrics, automatically updating such metrics, and generating alert notifications in the event certain metrics are above or below predefined criteria.
As used herein, the term "business metrics" means measurements of business-related activities and results. The metrics used by each business typically varies depending upon the nature and focus of the business. For example, a particular business may emphasize new product introductions and therefore define metrics related to product introduction processes. Other businesses may emphasize cost reduction activities on existing products and therefore define metrics related to cost reduction processes. Example business metrics include customer-centric metrics such as customer savings, on-time deliveries, and quality, core business metrics such as total revenue, variable costs, base costs, cash flow, and net income, and functional metrics such as metrics for sales, marketing, manufacturing, engineering, finance, environmental health and safety, and legal.
Such business metrics typically are reviewed by business leaders and others within a business organization on an hourly, daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, and annual basis. Simply generating quantified values for each defined metric can be a time consuming and tedious task, especially for a large business organization with businesses located throughout the world. In addition, business reports typically are reported in paper form, and are delivered to designated business team members by manual internal mail or electronic mail. Consequently, the business team members typically do not have access to current information anytime and anywhere. That is, the team members typically must wait until a report has been generated and has been delivered in order to access such information.


Methods and apparatuses are disclosed for removably deploying a floor assembly from a compacted state to a deployed state by varying tensioning forces to removably interconnected individual floor segments.

In the construction of large structures, temporary supports are often placed to allow workers and materials to be brought in close proximity with work being done on the structure. In many construction scenarios, the work to be done is located in elevated areas. As a result temporary support structures or scaffolds are often built to assist workers and otherwise create temporary platforms on which to stand or hold building materials, tools, etc. Many large structures being built or requiring repair, etc. also require the placement of temporary exposed beams that span or be suspended over otherwise "open" areas. During construction or repair of the structure workers may traverse the exposed beams to assemble structure parts, install fixtures, etc. To prevent falls and injury, workers may be harnessed to a secure part of the structure, or to the scaffolding. Alternatively the scaffolding could be built up around the large structure so the worker would not need to walk across the exposed beams over the open areas. However, scaffolding may be cost or size prohibitive.
To prevent workers from walking on exposed beams in a dangerous fashion, temporary floor panels may be positioned across the exposed beams. However, such floor panels may be unwieldy and/or difficult to deploy and position, and then remove when the construction is complete. For example, each floor panel may weigh in excess of 45 pounds (e.g. a plywood sheet), which must then be raised to the beams and positioned on the beams and then removed and lowered from the beams.
Automated machinery has been proposed to position the flooring and reduce the risk of injury to workers. However, the acquisition and use of such machinery is costly, and the machinery otherwise takes up significant space. Further, it may not be possible to orient such machinery depending on the structure being fabricated. Improved methods and apparatuses for deploying and removing temporary flooring would be advantageous.

Methods and apparatuses for temporary floor assembly


Extremely thin chips laminated to a non-ultraviolet ray curing type adhesive tape are peeled from the tape without giving rise to cracks and chippings. In a center portion of a suction block used for peeling off a chip laminated to a dicing tape, three blocks which push the dicing tape upwardly are incorporated. With respect to these blocks, inside the first block having a largest diameter, there is a second block having a diameter smaller than the diameter of the first block. Further, inside the second block, there is a third block having the smallest diameter. To peel off a chip by pushing a back surface of the dicing tape with the blocks, first of all, the three blocks are simultaneously pushed upwardly by a certain amount and, thereafter, the intermediate block and the inner block are further pushed upward, and, finally, the inner block is further pushed upward.

The present invention relates to a technique for use in the manufacture of a semiconductor device, and, more particularly, to a technique which is effective when applied to steps in which a semiconductor wafer adhered to an adhesive tape is divided into a plurality of semiconductor chips by dicing, and, thereafter, the respective semiconductor chips are peeled off from the adhesive tape.
Recently, with a view toward enhancement of high-density packaging of a semiconductor device, a stacked package which three-dimensionally mounts plural sheets of semiconductor chips on a printed circuit wiring board has been put into practice. However, in assembling such a stacked package, semiconductor chips (hereinafter, simply referred to as "chips"), which are processed such that the thickness of the semiconductor chip is reduced to approximately several tens of μm, are used.
In mounting such thin chips on a printed circuit wiring board, first of all, on a main surface of a semiconductor wafer (hereinafter, simply referred to as "wafer") which forms a desired integrated circuit, a tape which protects the integrated circuit is laminated. In such a state, by polishing or etching a rear surface of the wafer, the thickness of the wafer is decreased to approximately several tens of μm. Then, dicing is performed, while the adhesive tape remains laminated to the rear surface of the thin wafer, so as to divide the wafer into a plurality of chips. Thereafter, the rear surface of the adhesive tape is pushed up by the pusher pins or the like to peel off the chips one after another from the adhesive tape. The peeled chips are picked up by a collet and are transported to the printed circuit wiring board, where pellet bonding is performed.
Here, in the above-mentioned package assembling steps, which involve the use of extremely thin chips, when the chips which are divided by dicing are peeled or are picked up from the adhesive tape, cracks or chippings are liable to easily occur on the chips, and, hence, it is necessary to provide measures to prevent the occurrence of these cracks or chippings.
The Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication 2000-353710 (patent literature 1) discloses a technique to peel off extremely thin chips (pellets), which cannot be picked up by a push-up operation using a pusher pin, from a dicing tape. The pellet pickup device which is disclosed in this patent literature 1 has a profile of a size larger than the chip which becomes an object to be picked up at the center of an upper portion of a backup holder, and a groove portion on which the outer peripheral end of the chip is arranged when the chip is mounted on the backup holder is formed along the outer periphery of the chip, wherein by evacuating air inside the groove portion, it is possible to peel off the chip from the peripheral end portion thereof.
Patent Literature 1
Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication 2000-353710

Method of manufacturing semiconductor device

Renesas Eastern Japan Semiconductor, INC


Object detection and tracking operations on images that may be performed independently are presented. A detection module receives images, extracts edges in horizontal and vertical directions, and generates an edge map where object-regions are ranked by their immediacy. Filters remove attached edges and ensure regions have proper proportions/size. The regions are tested using a geometric constraint to ensure proper shape, and are fit with best-fit rectangles, which are merged or deleted depending on their relationships. Remaining rectangles are objects. A tracking module receives images in which objects are detected and uses Euclidean distance/edge density criterion to match objects. If objects are matched, clustering determines whether the object is new; if not, a sum-of-squared-difference in intensity test locates matching objects. If this succeeds, clustering is performed and rectangles are applied to regions and merged or deleted depending on their relationships and are considered objects; if not the regions are rejected.

(1) Technical Field
The present invention relates to techniques for the surveillance of objects in images, and more specifically to systems that automatically detect and track vehicles for use in automotive safety.
(2) Discussion
Current computer vision techniques for vehicle detection and tracking require explicit parameter assumptions (such as lane locations, road curvature, lane widths, road color, etc.) and/or use computationally expensive approaches such as optical flow and feature-based clustering to identify and track vehicles. Systems that use explicit parameter assumptions suffer from excessive rigidity, as changes in scenery can severely degrade system performance. On the other hand, computationally expensive approaches are typically difficult to implement and expensive to deploy.
To overcome these limitations, a need exists in the art for a system that does not make any explicit assumptions regarding lane and/or road models and that does not need expensive computation.
The following references are provided as additional general information regarding the field of the invention.
1. Zielke, T., Brauckmann, M., and von Seelen, W., "Intensity and edge-based symmetry detection with an application to car-following," CVGIP: Image Understanding, vol. 58, pp. 177-190, 1993.
2. Thomanek, F., Dickmanns, E. D., and Dickmanns, D., "Multiple object recognition and scene interpretation for autonomous road vehicle guidance," Intelligent Vehicles, pp. 231-236, 1994.
3. Rojas, J. C., and Crisman, J. D., "Vehicle detection in color images," in Proc. of IEEE Intelligent Transportationm Systems, Boston, Mass., 1995.
4. Betke, M., and Nguyen, H., "Highway scene analysis from a moving vehicle under reduced visibility conditions," in Proc. of IEEE International Conference on Intelligent Vehicles, pp. 131-13, 1998.
5. Kaminiski, L., Allen, J., Masaki, I., and Lemus, G., "A sub-pixel stereo vision system for cost-effective intelligent vehicle applications," Intelligent Vehicles, pp. 7-12, 1995.
6. Luong, Q., Weber, J., Koller, D., and Malik, J., "An integrated stereo-based approach to automatic vehicle guidance," in International Conference on Computer Vision, pp. 52-57, 1995.
7. Willersinn, D., and Enkelmann, W., "Robust Obstacle Detection and Tracking by Motion Analysis," in Proc. of IEEE International Conference on Intelligent Vehicles, 1998.
8. Smith, S. M., and Brady, J. M., "A Scene Segmenter: Visual Tracking of Moving Vehicles," Engineering Applications of Artificial Intelligence, vol. 7, no. 2, pp. 191-204, 1994.
9. Smith, S. M., and Brady, J. M., "ASSET-2: Real Time Motion Segmentation and Shape Tracking," IEEE Transactions on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence, vol. 17, no. 8, August 1995.
10. Kalinke, T., Tzomakas, C., and Seelen, v. W., "A Texture-based object detection and an adaptive model-based classification," Proc. of IEEE International Conference on Intelligent Vehicles, 1998.
11. Gavrila, D. M., and Philomin, P., "Real-Time Object Detection Using Distance Transform," in Proc. of IEEE International Conference on Intelligent Vehicles, pp. 274-279, 1998.
12. Barron, J. L., Fleet, D. J., and Beauchemin, S. S., "Performance of Optic Flow Techniques," International Journal of Computer Vision, vol. 12, no. 1, pp. 43-77, 1994.
14. Jain, R., Kasturi, R., and Schunck, B. G., Machine Vision, pp. 140-180, co-published by MIT Press and McGraw-Hill Inc, 1995.
15. Kolodzy, P. "Multidimensional machine vision using neural networks," Proc. of IEEE International Conference on Neural Networks, pp. 747-758, 1987.
16. Grossberg, S., and Mingolla, E., "Neural Dynamics of surface perception:
boundary webs, illuminants and shape from shading," Computer Vision, Graphics and Image Processing, vol. 37, pp. 116-165, 1987.
17. Ballard, D. H., "Generalizing Hough Transform to Detect Arbitrary Shapes," Pattern Recognition, vol. 13, no. 2, pp. 111-122, 1981.
18. Daugmann, J., "Complete discrete 2D Gabor Transforms by Neural Networks for Image Analysis and Compression," IEEE Trans. On Acoustics, Speech and Signal Processing, vol. 36, pp. 1169-1179, 1988.
19. Hashimoto, M., and Sklansky, J., "Multiple-Order Derivatives for Detecting Local Image Characteristics," Computer Vision, Graphics and Image Processing, vol. 39, pp. 28-55, 1987.
20. Freeman, W. T., and Adelson, E. H., "The Design and Use of Steerable Filters," IEEE Trans. On Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence, vol. 13, no. 9. September 1991.
21. Yao, Y., and Chellapa, R., "Tracking a Dynamic Set of Feature Points," IEEE Transactions on Image Processing, vol. 4, no. 10, pp. 1382-1395, October 1995.
22. Lucas, B., and Kanade, T., "An iterative image registration technique with an application to stereo vision," DARPA Image Understanding Workshop, pp. 121-130, 1981.
23. Wang, Y. A., and Adelson, E. H., "Saptio-Temporal Segmentation of Video Data," M.I.T. Media Laboratory Vision and Modeling Group, Technical Report, no. 262, Febraury, 1994.

Method and apparatus for the surveillance of objects in images


A multichannel wireless digital audio distribution system provides for the synchronization of the output of audio data by different receiving units set to output audio data for receiver unit assigned channels. The transmitter includes parallel data respectively representing a plurality of audio data channels in each data packet. The data packets are broadcast wirelessly with known, predetermined packets including a timing marker. Each receiver unit receives the broadcast data packets and selects the parallel data respectively representing the receiver unit assigned audio data channel. The receiver unit outputs the selected data synchronized to the receipt of the timing marker by the receiving unit.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is generally related to the wireless distribution of high-quality audio signals and, in particular to a system and methods of distributing high-bitrate, multichannel, audio wirelessly while maintaining a constant, low, playback to source latency and channel to channel phase coherency.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the audio space there are many places that latency, high quality, and more than two channels are critical to the quality of the experience. It is also difficult to retrofit standard spaces with cables to the support multiple channels of audio. Today's definition of high end audio in the Home Theater space is 7 channels of audio samples at 48,000 samples per second with 24 bits of data per sample. Further, the marketplace is rapidly maturing from 5.1 (6 channel) to 11.1 (12 channel) sound system requirements.
Conventional wireless solutions rely on simple, low-cost radio technologies, such as frequency modulation (FM) and basic spread spectrum modulation schemes. The consequence of this is a reduction in the number of bits used for each audio sample, with a corresponding reduction in dynamic range and audio quality.
A critical requirement exists in both spaces to minimize and establish a constant or fixed latency in the system and to keep all channels aligned in time. Latency refers to time delays measured from audio source-to-output and from channel-to-channel. Source-to-output delays are a problem for all sound venues including, in particular, Home Theater and other video/audio systems, where the audio program material is synchronized to a video screen ("lip-sync"). Acoustics engineers generally consider source-to-output delays greater than 10 milliseconds to be noticeable. As for latency from channel-to-channel, the human ear is extremely sensitive to these phase delays and experts describe audio delivered with channel-to-channel delays greater than 1 millisecond as sounding "disjointed" or "blurry".
The same data and sampling rate are in use in recording and sound reinforcement, only the desired number of channels is generally between 8 and 32. In conferencing use, the latency and wireless requirement are compounded by a need for accurate routing of audio paths with intelligent addition of signals and echo cancellation.
Consequently, there is a clear need to solve all of these problems in a wireless audio distribution system.

High quality, controlled latency multi-channel wireless digital audio distribution system and methods


An excellent oil-thickening or -gelling agent is provided. The agent is compatible with various oils and can freely control the form or viscosity of oily raw materials or cosmetics by changing the quantity thereof added. The agent contains a novel co-modified organopolysiloxane that contains both a group having a siloxane dendron structure and a hydrophilic group and that preferably has a degree of polymerization of 200 or more. A gel composition containing the co-modified organopolysiloxane is also provided. The gel composition is useful as a base that permits stable and easy preparation of cosmetics having various viscoelasticities and forms. An oil is kept in the form of a gel that has a viscoelasticity falling within the intermediate range between the viscoelasticity of liquid and that of solid. Cosmetics containing the thickening or gelling agent are also provided.

Looking at the conventional technology from the perspective of thickening or gelling oils, oil agent systems used in cosmetic compositions often contained silicone oils, but in such cases, the effect achieved by organic thickening/gelling agents was poor. Techniques for thickening or gelling oils can provide cosmetic composition manufacturers with a degree of freedom by which it is possible to arbitrarily control the form of a cosmetic composition from liquid to cream-form, paste-form, gel, solid, and the like, and are extremely important techniques. As a result, there has been an increase in the development of modified silicone-based thickening agents and gelling agents that are also advantageous in terms of feeling to touch and also an increase in research into using these thickening agents and gelling agents in cosmetic compositions.
The technique of solidifying oil agents by means of wax-form alkyl-modified silicones was known from the past, but this technique generally caused problems such as an increase in oiliness and a deterioration in spreadability and feeling to touch, the degree of freedom in controlling the form, viscosity and the like of a cosmetic composition being relatively low, and solidification readily occurring regardless of the added amount of the wax-form alkyl-modified silicone.
In addition, a gel silicone composition obtained by gelling a silicone oil using a polyether-modified silicone and water has been developed (see Patent Document 7), but this technique had the problem of the thickening/gelling effect being insufficient when an organic oil was contained in an oil agent system. In addition, this technique had problems in terms of feeling to touch, such as greasiness.
Meanwhile, there have been reports of techniques for gelling oils by means of amino acid derivative-modified silicones, straight chain polyamide-modified silicones, and the like, and the use of such techniques in cosmetic compositions. (Patent Documents 8 to 11 and so on) These gelling agents were excellent in terms of feeling to touch, but had a tendency to readily cause solidification regardless of the added amount of the gelling agent and involved the problem of difficulty in freely controlling the form, viscosity, and the like of a cosmetic composition. In addition, because of the gel being overly hard and solid, if the surface of the gel was scratched, the scratch remained on the surface and the appearance of the gel was impaired because it was not possible to restore the surface of the gel to a smooth state.
That is, silicone-based oil gelling agents of most conventional technology were of a type that solidified oils, and excellent oil thickening agents by which it was possible to freely control the form, viscosity, and the like of an oil or cosmetic composition according to the added amount of the thickening agent were not known. Furthermore, materials and techniques able to stably thicken a variety of oil agent systems containing combinations of silicone oils and organic oils were also not known.
Next, as an explanation of the conventional technology in terms of the relationship between a (poly)glycerin-modified silicone and oil thickening/gelling techniques, cosmetic compositions obtained by combining a silicone branched polyhydric alcohol-modified silicone (for example, an alkyl/linear siloxane branch/polyglycerin co-modified silicone) with an organo-modified clay mineral or a fructooligosaccharide fatty acid ester, which are known as oil thickening/gelling agents (see Patent Documents 12 and 13), a makeup cosmetic composition material that contains specific proportions of an alkyl glyceryl ether-modified silicone having a specific structure and silicic anhydride, which is known as an oil thickening/gelling agent (see Patent Document 14), and the like have been proposed.
The (poly)glycerin-modified silicones used in these techniques have poor oil thickening/gelling capacity, and must therefore be used in combination with another material capable of effectively thickening or gelling an oil agent, and had the problem of the effect of controlling the viscosity or form required for a cosmetic composition being unsatisfactory. In addition, organo-modified clay minerals and silicic anhydride can cause aggregation depending on the type of oil agent or the water content, and the proposed cosmetic compositions had problems in terms of stability. Fructooligosaccharide fatty acid esters exhibited insufficient capacity for thickening/gelling silicone oils other than cyclic siloxanes, and had the problem of reduced freedom when formulating cosmetic compositions.
Recently, Patent Document 15 has proposed a novel alternating copolymer of organopolysiloxane with polyglycerin derivative, and suggests that a high molecular weight polyglycerin-modified silicone can be obtained without the problem of white turbidness and the like, caused by the unreacted raw material occurring. However, it is clear from the chemical structure that this compound has a hydrophilic group portion incorporated on its backbone. As a result, this copolymer has properties completely different from those of conventional general-use hydrophilic silicones such as polyether-modified silicones and the like and, therefore a high level of technical skill is necessary to stably compound this copolymer in delicate formulations such as cosmetic products and the like, leading to the problem of the field of use being limited. Furthermore, this copolymer has good compatibility with oil agents comprising only silicone-based oils, but readily undergoes phase separation in mixed oil agent systems comprising silicone-based oils and organic oils, and had the problem of being unable to achieve a satisfactory effect.
The cause of such problems is closely related to problems in production techniques of conventional polyhydric alcohol-modified silicone. That is, silicones modified by polyhydric alcohols such as (poly)glycerin had a low degree of freedom in terms of structural design and were difficult to produce with stable product quality. Such polyhydric alcohol-modified silicones are ordinarily produced by adding a polyhydric alcohol derivative having a reactive unsaturated group to an organohydrogensiloxane. However, in many cases, compatibility between the remaining polyhydric alcohol derivative and the copolymer that is a reaction product is low, and such silicones separate into two phases within a short period of time following production, meaning that there were significant constraints when mass producing such silicones.
Additionally, compatibility between organohydrogensiloxanes and such polyhydric alcohol derivatives is fundamentally low and, therefore, when the design is such that molecular weight of the copolymer exceeds about 5,000, the addition reaction does not complete even if a solvent is added, thus, in many cases, leading to difficulties in producing the target product. Even when the molecular weight is about 3,000, the unreacted product gradually separates or precipitates. This necessitates a task of removing the separated or precipitated material and is a large obstruction from the perspective of production efficiency as well. (Patent Documents 16 to 18)
Even when a compound is used in which a form of the hydroxyl group is protected as the polyhydric alcohol derivative, deprotection is required following completion of the reaction and, therefore, the problem of separation into two phases cannot be avoided. In addition, heavy acidizing conditions must be introduced in order to achieve deprotection in this method, and the desired product, such as one having a low molecular weight, cannot be obtained in an easily reproducible manner as a result of disconnections of the silicone backbone occurring. (Patent Document 19)
Patent Document 20 proposes a method for producing a branched polyglycerol-modified silicone obtained by adding/graft polymerizing a silicone having at least one functional group selected from the group consisting of hydroxy groups, carboxy groups, amino groups, imino groups, mercapto groups, and epoxy groups, with 2,3-epoxy-1-propanol in the presence of an acidic or basic catalyst. However, with this method, the siloxane backbone disconnects during the graft polymerization, which results in two or more components having different properties being prone to be produced as the copolymer. This led to a multitude of problems related to product quality, refining processes, and the like.
For these reasons, because few conventional polyhydric alcohol-modified silicone are of practical use and are limited in terms of production techniques, most applied research has related to low molecular weight polyhydric alcohol-modified silicones. Examples of research into the use of high molecular weight polyglycerin-modified silicones, such as those having molecular weights in excess of 15,000, in cosmetic compositions cannot be found, except for Patent Document 15, which relates to a block copolymer, and in particular, there are no examples of reports into the use in cosmetic compositions of high molecular weight silicones in which a side chain and/or terminal of the polysiloxane backbone is modified by a polyglycerin derivative.
On the other hand, white pigments such as titanium oxide and zinc oxide, coloring pigments such as red iron oxide, and powders such as mica, sericite, and the like are widely used as basic cosmetic products, rouges, sunscreens, nail colors, nail coatings, foundations, mascaras, eye liners, and similar cosmetic compositions. Reasons for compounding these powders in cosmetic compositions include adjusting the hue, covering properties and feeling to touch of a cosmetic composition, and examples in which these powders have been combined with conventional polyhydric alcohol-modified silicones and used in oil-based cosmetic compositions have been reported. (Patent Documents 1 to 6 and 12 to 14)
However, aggregation or sedimentation of the powder readily occurred in these techniques, and it was not possible to give the user sufficient satisfaction for reasons such as coating unevenness or insufficient covering properties when applied to the skin or unnatural hues. In addition, the polyhydric alcohol-modified silicone used has a low molecular weight and poor oil thickening properties, and is therefore unsatisfactory in terms of cosmetic retainability.
Among powders, silicone-based powders such as organopolysiloxane elastomer spherical powders, poly(methyl silsesquioxane) powders, silicone resin powders, and silicone rubber powders and organic resin powders such as silk powders, nylon powders, poly(methyl methacrylate) powders, and polyethylene powders are excellent in terms of oil absorption capacity, and therefore mitigate the strong oiliness inherent in oil-based cosmetic compositions and the like and achieve the effect of making the skin sensation/feeling more natural following application. However, such powders were difficult to disperse uniformly in formulations and caused problems such as formulations feeling powdery as the compounded amount of the powder increased.
Therefore, there was a need for a material and/or cosmetic composition which can uniformly and stably disperse/solidify a powder or colorant in an oil-based cosmetic composition and which can maintain an excellent cosmetic effect and a natural feeling on the skin with no discomfort for approximately 1 day after the oil-based cosmetic composition is applied to the skin.
Finally, an explanation will be given of the conventional technology that relates to silicone-containing gel compositions. Interest has been shown in gel cosmetic compositions in terms of characteristics and effects based on the physical structures thereof, and a variety of investigations have been carried out. Although linked to oil thickening/gelling techniques, cosmetic compositions often have the problem of being difficult to use when in a form that is completely solid or a liquid having a low viscosity, meaning that the scope of application is limited. As a result, gel cosmetic compositions having an intermediate viscosity or elasticity between a liquid and a solid and development of materials and techniques able to control cosmetic compositions in these forms are needed.
Therefore, among numerous techniques for thickening/gelling oils, the technique disclosed in Patent Document 7 of a gel silicone composition can greatly thicken or gel a silicone oil that is an oil agent having a high compounding content in a cosmetic composition and exhibits good compositional stability compared to cases in which a powdery gelling agent is used, and is widely used as a base for a gel cosmetic composition or a base for an emulsion composition or emulsion cosmetic composition. (Patent Documents 21 to 26)
However, the polyether-modified silicone used as a thickening/gelling agent in Patent Document 7 must contain water in order for gelling to be possible, and therefore had the problem of the range of formulations being limited and had concerns regarding stickiness and greasiness depending on the compounded amount of the polyether-modified silicone. Furthermore, in cases where an oil agent system contains an organic oil, the thickening/gelling effect was poor.
In addition to silicone oils, a variety of oil agents such as hydrocarbon oils and ester oils are used in cosmetic compositions, and these oil agents are often additionally used in cosmetic composition formulations in order to make use of each oil agent's advantages and make up for each oil agent's drawbacks in terms of feeling to touch and the like. Therefore, there is a need for a gel cosmetic composition in which a variety of oil agent systems comprising a combination of a silicone oil and an organic oil can be maintained in a gel form having an intermediate viscoelasticity between a liquid and a solid. In addition, there is a need for a gel cosmetic composition in which the form, viscosity and the like of the gel cosmetic composition can be freely controlled by adjusting the added amount of the thickening/gelling agent.    Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent No. 3389271 (Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. H-06-157236)    Patent Document 2: Japanese Patent No. 3513682 (Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. H-09-71504)    Patent Document 3: Japanese Patent No. 3625471 (WO2003-075864)    Patent Document 4: Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. H-06-305933 (Japanese Patent No. 3477222)    Patent Document 5: Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. H-07-25728 (Japanese Patent No. 3160427)    Patent Document 6: Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. H-07-33622 (Japanese Patent No. 3200247)    Patent Document 7: Japanese Patent No. 3333782 (Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. H-05-311076)    Patent Document 8: Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2004-182680    Patent Document 9: U.S. Pat. No. 5,874,069    Patent Document 10: U.S. Pat. No. 5,919,441    Patent Document 11: U.S. Pat. No. 6,534,072    Patent Document 12: Japanese Patent No. 3678420 (WO2003-041664)    Patent Document 13: Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2004-231608    Patent Document 14: Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2005-194523    Patent Document 15: Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2005-42097    Patent Document 16: Japanese Patent Publication No. S-62-34039    Patent Document 17: Japanese Patent No. 3976226 (Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2002-179798)    Patent Document 18: Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2005-089494    Patent Document 19: Japanese Patent Publication No. H-06-089147 (Japanese Patent No. 1956013)    Patent Document 20: Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2004-339244    Patent Document 21: Japanese Patent No. 3639315 (Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. H-07-100358)    Patent Document 22: Japanese Patent No. 3407770 (Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. H-08-217626)    Patent Document 23: Japanese Patent No. 3719540 (Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. H-09-194323)    Patent Document 24: Japanese Patent No. 3580384 (Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. H-08-268831)    Patent Document 25: Japanese Patent No. 3580385 (Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. H-08-268832)    Patent Document 26: Japanese Patent No. 3313043 (Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. H-10-245317)

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Thickening or gelling agent for oily raw materials


The present invention is to provide a case comprising a frame having at least one bending section each provided at its rear proximate its bottom, the bending section being formed by bending an extension of the bottom of the case upward so as to form a distance between the bending section and the rear of the frame, the bending section including at least one first fastening member; and a fan secured to the frame by fastening at the first fastening member of the bending section. In response to activating the fan, fresh air is drawn into the frame or hot air inside the frame is driven out. By utilizing the present invention, ventilation is realized with heat generated by the electronic and electrical components in the case being sufficiently dissipated.

We have entered a new era of high technology. More and more advanced electronic products (e.g., personal computers or servers such as blade servers) are being widely used in our daily life. A number of data storage devices (e.g., CD-ROMs, floppy disk drives, etc.) and electronic components (e.g., CPU (central processing unit), image processing chips, etc.) are installed in a computer or server. It is understood that heat will be generated by parts (e.g., resistors, capacitors, inductors, semiconductor chips, etc.) of the electronic components and the data storage devices due to current flow when they are operating. However, the computer or the server including its data storage devices and electronic components may not operate normally if its internal temperature is higher than the operating temperature due to poor ventilation. Thus, it is important to maintain temperature of the data storage devices and the electronic components below the operating temperature so as to ensure a normal operation of the computer or the server. In view of the above, it is critical to sufficiently dissipate heat when an electronic device is operating. Otherwise, both stability and durability of the device may be deteriorated. Accordingly, many companies and institutions have developed a variety of devices for solving the serious problem of heat accumulation in an operating computer or server.
Conventionally, a fan is installed in a computer or server for dissipating heat when it is operating. In brief, the fan is adapted to set up a current of air for either drawing fresh air into the computer or the server or driving out hot air caused by the operating electronic components. As an end, the computer or the server may operate normally due to decreased internal temperature.
Frame 10 of a receiving slot in a conventional computer or server is shown in FIG. 1. Within the parallelepiped frame 10 there are provided a space 11 for installing at least one of data storage devices (e.g., hard disk drive) 101, at least one of electrical components (e.g., transformer) 102, and a printed circuit board (e.g., motherboard) 103. The frame 10 is adapted to absorb electromagnetic noise generated by the operating data storage devices 101 and electrical components 102. Otherwise, electromagnetic noise may transmit beyond the frame 10 to adversely affect external electrical or mechanical devices, animals, etc. Also, electromagnetic noise is prohibited from entering the frame 10. Otherwise, operation of the above data storage devices 101, the electrical components 102, and other parts may be interfered undesirably. In brief, the frame 10 is adapted to prevent EMI (electromagnetic interference) from occurring.
Moreover, the frame 10 is constructed to prevent foreign objects (e.g., dust, insects, or the like) from entering to stay attached to the internal parts. As a result, interior of the frame 10 can be maintained clean. In addition, short-circuit is prevented from occurring in the printed circuit board 103 since humid foreign objects are prohibited from entering the frame 10.
Additionally, heat will be generated by the data storage devices 101 and electrical components 102 when they are operating. Internal temperature of the frame 10 will increase quickly due to heat accumulation therein. For decreasing temperature, a plurality of fans (two are shown) 12 are provided in the space 11. The fans 12 are adapted to operate after power has been fed from a power supply (not shown) in the frame 10. As stated above, the fans 12 are adapted to set up a current of air for either driving out hot air, caused by the accumulated heat, from the data storage devices 101 and the electrical components 102. As a result, internal temperature of the frame 10 can be decreased quickly to a value below the predetermined operating temperature.
Referring to FIG. 1 again, there is provided a rectangular mounting plate 13 in the frame 10. Two ends of the mounting plate 13 are coupled to opposite sides of the space 11. As a result, the mounting plate 13 is fastened in the frame 10. Four threaded holes 131 arranged in the form of rectangle are provided in the mounting plate 13 proximate the electrical components 102. Four apertures 121 are provided in four corners of the fan 12 in which each aperture 121 corresponds to the threaded hole 131. A plurality of (e.g., four) screws 122 are adapted to drive through the apertures 121 into the threaded holes 131 for securing the fan 12 to the mounting plate 13. In operation, each of the activated fans 12 is adapted to set up a current of air toward the data storage devices 101 or the electrical components 102. As a result, heat generated by the data storage devices 101 or the electrical components 102 can be quickly driven out.
However, the prior art suffered from several disadvantages. For example, in the installation four screws 122 are driven through the apertures 121 into the threaded holes 131 for securing the fan 12 to the mounting plate 13. Also, the mounting plate 13 is then secured to the space 11. Such installation may require an excessive number of screws 122, resulting in an increase in the manufacturing cost. Further, the provision of the mounting plate 13 can complicate the assembly and thus contradicts the trend of easy assembly/disassembly, cost effective, and easy and quick replacement of malfunctioned components of information products. Thus, it is desirable to provide a computer or server case having an improved receiving slot frame structure for mounting a fan thereon.


Stabilized thrombin compositions, processes for preparing them, and kits comprising them are disclosed. The compositions comprise thrombin, a bacteriostatically effective amount of benzyl alcohol or chlorobutanol, and 0.10%-5.0% (w/v) sucrose in aqueous solution. The compositions are stable when stored at 2° C.-8° C. for four weeks or more.

Formulation of pharmaceutical proteins presents significant challenges. Proteins possess multiple functional groups in addition to three-dimensional structure; degradation therefore proceeds via both chemical (modifications involving bond formation or cleavage) and physical (denaturation, aggregation, adsorption, precipitation) pathways. Since each protein embodies a unique combination of amino acid sequence, isoelectric point, and other determinants, its response to changes in solution conditions is unpredictable, and must be determined on a case-by-case basis. Attempts to prevent one form of degradation often increase the rate of another.
Degradation of proteins can be greatly reduced or avoided by lyophilization. However, lyophilization is time consuming and costly, and can cause protein denaturation and aggregation if appropriate excipients are not included. As with solution formulation, stabilization of lyophilized proteins must be dealt with on an individual basis. Sodium chloride can be used to maintain stability during purification and storage by reducing aggregation and precipitation. However, sodium chloride is a problematic excipient in lyophilized formulations because it lowers glass transition temperature, thereby necessitating low primary temperatures and long cycle times. Jiang et al, US 20060002918 A1 disclose methods for stabilizing lyophilized thrombin preparations by formulating the thrombin with sucrose, mannitol, sodium chloride, and a surfactant or high molecular weight polyethylene glycol. However, stabilization of a protein in the lyophilized state does not ensure stability upon reconstitution, and protein solutions must often be discarded if not used promptly after reconstitution. In addition, the in-use handling of a lyophilized drug product is often limited by sterility considerations because the container-closure integrity is compromised during reconstitution. As such, the in-use handling time could be extended if a drug product formulation was stable in the presence of a preservative.
In view of the often high cost of protein therapeutics, means of enhancing the stability of these proteins in solution are needed. In the case of thrombin, various excipients have been proposed for stabilizing the protein. For example, Silbering et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,696,812 disclose the use of low levels of saline and glycerol to reduce denaturation of thrombin in solution. Nishimaki et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,130,244 disclose an aqueous thrombin solution containing a sugar and an amino acid as stabilizers.
Despite these advances, there remains a need in the art for preparations of thrombin that can be stored for extended periods of time in liquid form.


A method of forming a superhydrophobic material (66) includes mixing a hydrophobic material (24) with soluble particles (26) to form a mixture (32). The mixture (32) is cured. A portion of the soluble particles (26) is etched away from the mixture (32) to form the superhydrophobic material (66). A superhydrophobic material forming system (10) includes a mixer (30) that mixes a hydrophobic binder (24) with soluble particles (26) to form the mixture (32). A curing station (16) cures the mixture (32). An applicator (69) applies a solvent (68) to the mixture (32) to etch away a portion of the soluble particles (26) from the mixture (32) to form the superhydrophobic material (66).

The surfaces of many structures, such as many aircraft exterior and interior surfaces, are susceptible to the buildup of ice, water, and other contaminants that can interfere with the uses of such surfaces. For example, the buildup of ice, water, and/or other contaminants on aircraft wings, propellers, rotors, and other functional surfaces can interfere with or degrade the operating performance of the aircraft. When such buildups occur, much time and cost can be expended in the removal thereof. As another example, contaminants, such as dust, dirt, and food residue, can buildup on vehicle interior components and provide an unclean or non-sanitary environment within a passenger cabin.
To prevent or mitigate the stated buildup, hydrophobic surfaces, which tend to repel water, are utilized. The surface tension of the hydrophobic surface is directly related to its ability to repel water. As surface tension decreases water droplets have increased preference to cling to themselves as opposed to the surface. When the self-clinging preference becomes large enough such that the water droplets bead up into nearly perfect spheres, the surface is considered a superhydrophobic surface.
A superhydrophobic surface is formed by creating a microscopically rough surface containing sharp edges and air pockets in a material of poor wetability (that is, a material that is not easily wetable and sheds water well). On a superhydrophobic surface, a drop of water will form a nearly spherical bead that will roll when the surface is tilted slightly. Thus, superhydrophobic surfaces shed water and snow easily. Furthermore, superhydrophobic surfaces resist soiling by water-borne and other contaminants, and are easily cleaned and useful in directing flow in microfluidic devices.
Superhydrophobic surfaces can be formed through embossing, molding, or machining rough surfaces in a hydrophobic material. However, over time as the surfaces become worn away by abrasion, the smoothness of the surfaces increases, and consequently the water-shedding behavior thereof is reduced or nonexistent. When the water-shedding behavior is lost, the water undesirably tends to stick in place and/or be absorbed by the surface.
Thus, there exists a need for an improved technique of forming superhydrophobic surfaces that increases the water-shedding life span thereof and/or allows for the restoration of the superhydrophobic material properties of the surfaces.


A head support mechanism includes a suspension for supporting a magnetic head slider with a thin-film magnetic head, having a slider mounting section on which the magnetic head slider is fixed, and a heating unit formed on the slider mounting section of the suspension. The heating unit is capable of producing heat.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a head support mechanism for supporting a magnetic head slider that includes a thin-film magnetic head, to a magnetic head assembly with the head support mechanism, and to a magnetic disk drive apparatus with the magnetic head assembly.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a hard disk drive (HDD) apparatus, thin-film magnetic head elements for writing or recording magnetic information into and/or reading or reproducing magnetic information from magnetic disks are in general formed on magnetic head sliders flying in operation above the rotating magnetic disks. The sliders are supported at top end sections of head support mechanisms configured by suspensions or support arms, respectively.
Recently, such HDD apparatus is assembled not only in a personal computer but also in a mobile equipment such as for example a portable digital audio player, a digital video camera, a mobile phone, a car navigation apparatus and other mobile gear. In order to assemble in the mobile equipment, required is increased recording and reproducing density to satisfy further miniaturization and higher data storage capacities of the HDD apparatus. This requirement in the increased recording and reproducing density accelerates miniaturization in the magnetic head element and lower flying height of the magnetic head slider.
On the other hand, for assembling in the mobile equipment, the HDD apparatus is required to endure a hostile environment in temperature, particularly in low temperature. More concretely, the HDD apparatus to be mounted in the mobile equipment is required to operate in environment conditions of low temperature of about to −30° C. or −40° C. that is extremely lower than the environment conditions of −10° C. for a general HDD apparatus.
A head suspension assembly of the HDD apparatus is in general assembled by adhering using a resin adhesive a magnetic head slider to a suspension having a thermal expansion coefficient different from that of the magnetic head slider. Therefore, a crown amount of the magnetic head slider changes depending upon change in its temperature environment due to the thermal expansion coefficient difference. Particularly, under the low temperature environment, because the thermal expansion coefficient of the suspension is larger than that of the magnetic head slider, a compression force will be applied to the magnetic head slider from the suspension to produce crown deformation of the slider.
FIGS. 1a and 1b provide an explanation of crown deformation of a magnetic head slider under a low temperature environment according to the conventional art. FIG. 1a illustrates the state of a head suspension assembly under an ordinary temperature environment, and FIG. 1b illustrates the state of the head suspension assembly under an extremely low temperature environment.
As shown in FIG. 1a, under the ordinary temperature environment, no thermal effect on a tongue portion 10 of a flexure and on a magnetic head slider 12 fixed to the flexure by a resin adhesive 11 occurs, and therefore no compression force is applied from the flexure to the slider 12. However, under the extremely low temperature environment, as shown in FIG. 1b, because the tongue portion 10 of the flexure deforms or compressed larger than the magnetic head slider 12, occurred is a crown deformation of the slider, that is, a deformation for moving the trailing edge and the leading edge of the slider away from the surface of a magnetic disk 13 to which the slider faced. If such crown deformation occurs, a spacing between a write and read magnetic head element 14 and the surface of the magnetic disk 13 increases to greatly decrease the write and read characteristics of the magnetic head elements.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,950,266 discloses a flying height control method for a magnetic head slider in which a piezoelectric actuator is inserted between a tongue portion of a flexure and the magnetic head slider so as to compensate the crown deformation of the slider.
However, according to this known method described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,950,266, the structure of a magnetic head assembly becomes complicate and, due to insertion of the piezoelectric actuator having a significant thickness between the tongue portion and the slider, the design and fabrication of the magnetic head assembly become difficult to increase the manufacturing cost. Further, the control method of the piezoelectric actuator for compensating the crown deformation of the slider also becomes complicate.

Head support mechanism, magnetic head assembly, and magnetic disk drive apparatus