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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of suppressing galloping of multiconductor transmission lines.
2. Description of the Related Art
If ice forms in a wing-shaped manner on the upwind side of an overhead transmission line, a wind from substantially horizontal direction will create a lift, which will cause the line to vibrate vertically and induce "galloping" of a self-oscillation of about 0.1 Hz to 1 Hz. When the wind is strong, this galloping causes the line to vibrate with mainly a large vertical motion with some horizontal motion. The maximum vertical amplitude of this vertical motion becomes as large as 10 meters. This large vertical motion of the lines sometimes causes lines above and below each other to come into contact and therefore causes short-circuits between them.
This galloping will be explained with reference to FIG. 1, which is a vertical sectional view of a transmission line in the line direction (longitudinal direction). In FIG. 1, if ice 4 forms in a wing-shaped manner on the upwind side of a conductor 2 of an overhead transmission line at the position .alpha. and this is struck by a horizontal wind, the wind causes a lift at the wing of ice 4 and the conductor 2 rises to the position .beta.. When rising, the conductor 2 is twisted in the clockwise direction and the ice 4 turns upward as shown at the position .beta.. At the position .beta., a further lift is caused by the wind at the upward turning ice 4 formed on the conductor 2 and so the conductor 2 rises to the position .gamma.. After rising to the position .gamma. in the figure, the conductor 2 descends to the position .delta. due to the elasticity of the conductor. At this time, the conductor is twisted in the counterclockwise direction, the ice 4 turns downward as shown at the position .delta., the conductor 4 with the downward turning ice 4 descends to the lowest limit position .epsilon. due to the wind, then once again rises. As a result, the conductor 2 engages in repeated torsion and vertical motion. As mentioned above, the line engages in a torsional vibration wherein a further upward force acts on the line when rising and a further downward force acts on it when descending. Accordingly, the vertical motion of the conductor 2 develops into large galloping.
This galloping occurs more easily in a multiconductor transmission line than a single conductor transmission line. In the case of four conductors, for example, spacers 6 are attached between the four conductors 2a to 2d as shown in FIG. 2, which is a vertical sectional view in the direction of the transmission line. At the position a in FIG. 2, when ice 4 forms in a wing-shaped manner on the upwind sides of the conductors 2a, 2b, 2c, and 2d of the four-conductor transmission line 2A and these are struck by a horizontal wind, the wind causes a lift which causes the transmission line 2A to rise and twist in the clockwise direction. Accordingly, the wings of ice 4 turn upward, the lift caused by the wind increases, and the transmission line 2A rises from the position a to the position .beta.. Next, the four-conductor transmission line 2A descends, the conductors 2a to 2d are twisted in the counterclockwise direction, and the wings of ice 4 turn downward, whereupon the wind causes a downward force and the line descends from the position .beta. to the positions .gamma. and .delta.. Next, the line rises from the position .delta. to the positions .alpha. and .beta.. That is, the four-conductor transmission line 2A engages in repeated torsion and vertical vibration. As mentioned earlier, the line engages in torsional vibration wherein a further upward force acts on the line when rising and a further downward force acts on it when descending. Accordingly, the vertical motion of the transmission line 2A develops into a large galloping.
FIG. 3 shows the results of measurement of the vertical displacement, horizontal displacement, and torsional displacement of conductors caused by such galloping in the case of a four-conductor transmission line with a sectional area of conductors of 810 mm.sup.2. The torsional vibration and the vertical vibration match in vibration periods, but are slightly deviated in phase.
To prevent this galloping, it is possible to attach anti-vibration dampers to the line, but dampers are not sufficient by themselves to prevent large galloping of a multiconductor transmission line. Therefore, to prevent short-circuits between a top phase line and bottom phase line due to galloping, interphase spacers made of insulating materials, such as ceramic insulators, are attached between the top phase line and bottom phase line. For example, as shown in FIG. 4, in the case of a double-conductor transmission line, an interphase spacer 10 made of an insulating material is attached between the spacer 8a of the top two conductors 2B, 2B and the spacer 8b of the bottom two conductors 2C, 2C.
As the insulating material forming such a conventional interphase spacer 10, in general use is made of a ceramic insulator. Since an interphase spacer 10 is long in length, it is necessary that the ceramic insulator spacer 10 not break when subjected to the compressive load from the two lines at the two ends of the spacer 10. Therefore, the spacer 10 has to be made thick in diameter. If thick interphase spacers 10 are attached, however, the weight of the ceramic insulator interphase spacers 10 attached to the transmission lines as a whole becomes greater, which invites an increase in the tension on the lines and an increase in the strain of the lines at the point of attachment of the interphase spacers. The steel towers therefore become insufficient in strength and require reinforcement and therefore extra trouble is entailed. Accordingly, use has been made of plastic interphase spacers with small weights rather than ceramic insulator spacers 10, but the weight of the interphase spacers as a whole has still not sufficiently been reduced.
The galloping causes the lines to twist and adds to the vertical motion. If the torsional vibration and the vertical vibration match in frequency, they develop into galloping of a large amplitude. Accordingly, it was not possible in the past to effectively prevent the occurrence of large amplitude galloping even if dampers were provided to prevent twisting of the lines. That is, in the related art, it was not possible to effectively prevent torsional vibration causing large galloping aggravating the vertical vibration of the lines.
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The present invention relates to shower pans or bases for use in bathrooms and the like and, more particularly, to shower pans or bases that are barrier-free, i.e., do have some type of threshold barrier.
Shower pans or bases are used as part of a installation in homes as well as in commercial installations including hotels. In general, the shower pan has a square or rectangular planform and includes a central drain through which water is removed. Typically, a short upstanding wall is provided on the entry side of the shower pan to prevent water from leaking onto the floor of the bathroom and to often provide a structure for guiding or accommodating a sliding shower door; that wall structure can also function as a “trip” point for someone entering or leaving the shower stall and also impedes mobility-impaired persons from using assistive devices (i.e., a “walker” or a wheeled chair) to enter and exit the shower.
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The present invention relates to the manufacture of substrates. More particularly, the invention provides a technique including a method and device for bonding a first substrate to a second substrate for the manufacture of semiconductor integrated circuits, for example. But it will be recognized that the invention has a wider range of applicability; it can also be applied to other substrates for multi-layered integrated circuit devices, three-dimensional packaging of integrated semiconductor devices, photonic devices, piezoelectronic devices, microelectromechanical systems (xe2x80x9cMEMSxe2x80x9d), sensors, actuators, solar cells, flat panel displays (e.g., LCD, AMLCD), biological and biomedical devices, and the like.
Integrated circuits are fabricated on chips of semiconductor material. These integrated circuits often contain thousands, or even millions, of transistors and other devices. In particular, it is desirable to put as many transistors as possible within a given area of semiconductor because more transistors typically provide greater functionality, and a smaller chip means more chips per wafer and lower costs.
Some integrated circuits are fabricated on a slice or wafer, of single-crystal (i.e., monocrystalline) silicon, commonly termed a xe2x80x9cbulkxe2x80x9d silicon wafer. Devices on such a xe2x80x9cbulkxe2x80x9d silicon wafer typically are isolated from each other. A variety of techniques have been proposed or used to isolate these devices from each other on the bulk silicon wafer, such as a local oxidation of silicon (xe2x80x9cLOCOSxe2x80x9d) process, trench isolation, and others. These techniques, however, are not free from limitations. For example, conventional isolation techniques consume a considerable amount of valuable wafer surface area on the chip, and often generate a non-planar surface as an artifact of the isolation process. Either or both of these considerations generally limit the degree of integration achievable in a given chip. Additionally, trench isolation often requires a process of reactive ion etching, which is extremely time consuming and can be difficult to achieve accurately. Bulk silicon wafers, which are greater than 200 millimeters, are not free from defects and can reduce overall devices yields and the like.
An approach to achieving very-large scale integration (xe2x80x9cVLSIxe2x80x9d) or ultra-large scale integration (xe2x80x9cULSIxe2x80x9d) uses epitaxial silicon wafers, which are commonly known as xe2x80x9cepi-wafers.xe2x80x9d Epi-wafers often have a layer of high quality single crystalline silicon material defined overlying a face of a bulk substrate. The high quality silicon layer provides a good site for fabricating devices, often with higher yields, than conventional bulk silicon wafer materials. The high quality silicon material is often deposited by way of epitaxial silicon process reactors made by companies called Applied Materials, Inc. of Santa Clara, Calif. or ASM of Phoenix, Ariz.
Epitaxial wafers offer other advantages over bulk silicon technologies as well. For example, epitaxial wafers have almost perfect crystalline characteristics, which enhance device speed, functionality, and reliability. Additionally, the epitaxial wafers often provide higher device yields, than conventional bulk wafers. Many problems, however, than have already been solved regarding fabricating devices on bulk silicon wafers remain to be solved for fabricating devices on epitaxial silicon wafers. Epitaxial silicon wafers are made by way of epitaxial reactors, which are often expensive to purchase and difficult to maintain. The process of forming epitaxial silicon is also slow and time consuming. Accordingly, resulting epitaxial silicon wafers can often be expensive and cannot be used for the manufacture of many commercial or commodity devices such as dynamic random access memory devices (i.e., DRAMs), for example.
From the above, it is seen that an improved technique for manufacturing a multi-layered wafer is highly desirable.
According to the present invention, a technique including a method and device for fabricating substrates is provided. In a specific embodiment, the present invention provides a method for bonding a first substrate to a second substrate with a compliant layer sandwiched in between. In an exemplary embodiment using silicon substrates, the present technique can occur at a low temperature, which ranges from about 200 degrees Celsius and less.
In a specific embodiment, the present invention provides a method for fabricating a substrate such as an epi-like substrate and others. Here, the term epi-like substrate generally means a multi-layered substrate such as a silicon-on-silicon structure that has a high quality single crystal silicon material overlying bulk silicon made by a layer transfer process, rather than conventional epitaxial silicon deposition processes. The method includes providing a first substrate having a substantially planar surface. The first substrate can be of a first substrate type, e.g., silicon, polysilicon, and compound semiconductor. The method includes implanting a plurality of particles into and through the substantially planar surface to a selected depth to define a volume of implanted material within the substrate. The implanted material has an amorphous characteristic from the selected depth to the substantially planar surface. To bond substrates together, the method contacts a face of a second substrate against the substantially planar implanted surface. The amorphous characteristic of the substantially planar surface provides a compliant layer for embedding one or more surface non-uniformities (e.g., particles, hillocks) into the compliant layer to bring a greater portion of the substrate surfaces together.
In an alternative embodiment, the present invention provides a partially completed semiconductor substrate, which is desirable for bonding purposes. The substrate has a substantially planar surface. A volume of substrate material comprising particles implanted through the substantially planar surface to a selected depth also is included. The volume of substrate material has a compliant characteristic from an amorphous material from the selected depth to the substantially planar surface. The implanted substantially planar surface is activated to be bonded to a second surface. Additionally, the compliant characteristic allows a surface imperfection on one or more surfaces to be embedded into the volume of the substrate material, which tends to bring more of the substantially planar surface to be contacted to the second surface.
Numerous benefits are achieved using the present invention over the pre-existing techniques. For example, the present invention provides an efficient technique for forming multi-layered substrates using a lower temperature bonding process. The lower temperature bonding process allows the present invention to be used for the manufacture of substrates using a layer transfer process such as the Controlled Cleavage Process of Silicon Genesis Corporation or Smart Cut(trademark) of a company called Soitec. In some embodiments, the present invention can be implemented using conventional tools such as ion implantation equipment and the like. Additionally, the present invention can be used to form a high quality xe2x80x9cepi-likexe2x80x9d wafer, which has a high quality layer of silicon material overlying a bulk substrate, to form a silicon-on-silicon multi-layered substrate structure. The epi-like wafer is made by way of a layer transfer process. The epi-like wafer also electrically contacts the high quality silicon layer to the bulk silicon substrate in an epi-like manner. Depending upon the embodiment, one or more of these benefits may be achieved. A further discussion of these and other benefits are described throughout the present specification and more particularly below.
These and other embodiments of the present invention are described in more detail in conjunction with the text below and attached Figs.
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1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to optical coherence tomography, specifically to the use of a cross-dispersed, echelle configuration, spectrometer in a spectral domain optical coherence tomography system.
2. Description of Related Art
Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) is a technology for performing high-resolution cross sectional imaging that can provide images of tissue structure on the micron scale in situ and in real time. In recent years, it has been demonstrated that spectral domain OCT has significant advantages in speed as compared to time domain OCT. In spectral domain OCT (SD-OCT) the optical path length difference between the sample and reference arm is not mechanically scanned but rather the interferometrically combined beam is sent to a spectrometer in which different wavelength components are dispersed onto different photodetectors to form a spatially oscillating interference fringe (Smith, L. M. and C. C. Dobson (1989). “Absolute displacement measurements using modulation of the spectrum of white light in a Michelson interferometer.” Applied Optics 28(15): 3339-3342). A Fourier transform of the spatially oscillating intensity distribution can provide the information of the reflectance distribution along the depth within the sample. As there is no mechanical depth scanning, acquisition of light reflection along a full depth range within the sample can be achieved simultaneously, and consequently, the speed of obtaining a full depth reflection image is substantially increased as compared to time domain OCT (Wojtkowski, M., et al. (2003). “Real-time in vivo imaging by high-speed spectral optical coherence tomography.” Optics Letters 28(19): 1745-1747; Leitgeb, R. A., et al. (2003). “Phase-shifting algorithm to achieve high-speed long-depth-range probing by frequency-domain optical coherence tomography.” Optics Letters 28(22): 2201-2203). In addition, as the light reflected from the full depth range within the sample is fully dispersed over many photodetectors, the shot noise for each photodetector is substantially reduced as compared to the time domain OCT case, and hence the signal to noise ratio can also be substantially increased (Leitgeb, R. A., et al. (2003). “Performance of Fourier domain vs. time domain optical coherence tomography.” Optics Express 11(8): 889-894; De-Boer, J. F., et al. (2003). “Improved signal-to-noise ratio in spectral-domain compared with time-domain optical coherence tomography.” Optics Letters 28(21): 2067-2069; Choma, M. A., M. V. Sarunic, et al. (2003). “Sensitivity advantage of swept source and Fourier domain optical coherence tomography.” Optics Express 11(18): 2183-2189).
SD-OCT systems seek to achieve high axial resolution at moderate scan depths or moderate axial resolution at large scan depth. For example, in current applications to retinal diagnosis, retinal images with approximately 2 microns resolution over a depth of approximately 2 mm are desired (Ko, T. H., J. G. Fujimoto, et al. (2005). “Comparison of Ultrahigh- and Standard-Resolution Optical Coherence Tomography for Imaging Macular Pathology.” Ophthalmology 112(11): 1922-1935). In current applications to prescription of intraocular lenses (Hitzenberger, C. (1991). “Optical measurement of the axial eye length by laser Doppler interferometry.” Invest. Ophthalmol. Vis. Sci. 32(3): 616-624), all optical interfaces within the eye (up to 30 mm long) need to be located with a resolution of around 30 microns. For these two applications the desired ratio of scan depth in tissue to axial resolution is about the same (30 mm/30 microns vs. 2 mm/2 microns) and higher values of the ratio give further improvements to the images. In straightforward SD-OCT techniques the information in one axial scan is encoded in the spectrum (Leitgeb, R. A., et al. Optics Express 11(8): 889-894). A large ratio of scan depth to axial resolution implies large information content within one axial scan, which in turn requires a large number of pixels along a linear detector array; the examples above require at least 4000 pixels. Given the typical 10-micon spatial optical resolution of a spectrometer operating at wavelengths near 1 micron (typical for biological applications) resolving the information content in the spectrum requires a spectrum length of approximately 40 mm. Such arrays are not commonly available and even if such an array would be made available, the optics layout would necessarily be very large even in a Littrow arrangement, causing thermal problems for example.
A solution to this problem would be the use of a cross-dispersed echelle spectrometer. In such a configuration, the light emerging the fiber or pinhole is collimated before it hits the echelle grating. An echelle is a coarsely ruled grating (for example of the order of 50 grooves per millimeter) that is designed to be used in high orders of diffraction, denoted by m, typically m=30 or higher in order to achieve the desired spectral resolution. In such a configuration, the spectral width of the source (Δλ>130 nm for high resolution OCT) is diffracted into several orders, and these orders will overlap. That is, at a given angle of diffraction, several discrete wavelengths within the bandwidth of the source will be diffracted at that angle, each wavelength being diffracted in a different order of diffraction. Thus if the dispersed spectra would fall onto a linear detector array, each detector in the array would receive several wavelengths, each wavelength from a different order of diffraction. To separate the light from these different orders of diffraction, an optical element providing relatively low dispersion can be placed after the echelle with its dispersion direction perpendicular to the echelle grating's dispersion direction. A low-dispersive element used in this way is called cross-disperser. The different diffraction orders are now spatially separated, and can now be imaged with a 2-dimensional area detector array or with a stack of linear detector arrays. Such spectrometers can be built up in the classical way; that is, collimating the light emerging the fiber before it falls onto the echelle grating, re-imaging the dispersed light with a lens system onto a two-dimensional detector array after it has been cross-dispersed.
Cross-dispersed echelle spectrographs have been used mostly in the field of astronomy, where extreme wavelength resolutions are required, for example R>100,000 and where the recent availability of 2D infrared detector arrays allows the imaging of multiple, cross-dispersed echelle orders (see e.g. McLean et al., 1998, SPIE Proceedings Vol. 3354, pp 566). There, the echelle grating is also used in a Littrow arrangement in order to save space, because it needs to be cryogenically cooled. However, these prior art echelle spectrographs are typically geared towards the highest possible spectral resolutions, whereas spectral-domain OCT typically requires resolutions in the range of 2,000<R<10,000.
This cross-dispersed spectrometer can achieve the benefits of compactness and stability of alignment described in co-pending application Ser. No. 11/196,043, filed on Aug. 3, 2005 (incorporated herein by reference) by using the echelle grating in the Littrow configuration. In order to separate the diffracted beams from the input beam, the echelle grating can be tipped to produce conical diffraction. The conical diffraction creates certain distortions and non-linearities in the focused beam. These problems are described in greater detail below with respect to FIG. 3. One aspect of the subject invention is to provide optical correction for such distortions.
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Diabetes mellitus is a metabolic disease characterized by persistent hyperglycemia (high blood sugar levels). Complications induced by diabetes, such as heart disease, stroke, hypertension, blindness, kidney failure, and amputation deprive the lives of 231,404 people in America as recently as 2007, making diabetes the seventh leading cause of death.
Glucose monitoring can reduce the occurrence rate and severity of complications caused by hyperglycemia or hypoglycemia. Thus, it is important to closely monitor abnormal blood sugar levels in diabetes patients so timely treatments (e.g., insulin injection, exercise, and diabetic diet, intake of carbohydrate) can be administered. This can be achieved by continuous glucose monitoring, which involves either non-invasive or minimally invasive detection of glucose. Noninvasive methods can extract interstitial fluid (ISF) glucose from the skin in minimally destructive approaches or measure blood glucose in contactless manners. Although noninvasive methods can be used for CGM, interferences, such as the complexity of skin structures, sweating, temperature, and exercise can impact the accuracy and reliability of the system, limiting their practical applications in CGM. Certain minimally invasive methods can use subcutaneous sensor implantation to monitor the glucose levels in ISF. In the steady state, ISF glucose concentration is identical to that in blood. However, when the blood glucose levels undergo rapid changes, time lags between the blood and the ISF glucose concentrations can occur.
Electrochemical glucose sensors, which use O2 and H2O2 as the mediators, can also be subject to errors induced by fluctuations of oxygen levels. In addition, redox-active species, such as ascorbic and uric acids, can compromise the selectivity and the accuracy of the glucose sensors. Other devices utilize artificial mediators (e.g., ferro/ferricyanide, hydroquinone, and ferrocene) as alternatives to oxygen for electron transfer. However, competition of oxygen with the artificial mediators and potential leaching and toxicity of these artificial mediators can hinder the in-vivo applications of these devices.
MEMS devices offer miniature sizes and rapid time responses, and are suited for implantable or noninvasive glucose sensors. MEMS technology can be used in developing electrochemical CGM sensors. MEMS affinity glucose sensors can use Con A, boronic-acid based monomers and polymers, and GBP as the glucose receptors and measure the glucose-induced changes in the properties of these receptors. For example, viscosity changes due to the binding of Con A or boronic acid-based polymers with glucose can be exploited by optical or electrical detection of microcantilever vibration, piezoelectric detection of flow resistance, and hall effect detection of microrotors.
There is a need to develop implantable glucose monitoring systems that offer improved long term accuracy and stability, low drift, resistance to environmental parameter fluctuations, easier calibration, as well as the capability of providing real-time report of a subject's glucose level via wireless telemetry.
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The present invention relates to a driving operation assisting technique for providing an assistance in a vehicle driving operation.
A common driving operation assisting system in the prior art uses a steering sensor for detecting the rudder angle of the steering wheel so as to estimate the vehicle tire (movement) trace according to the rudder angle of the steering wheel when moving the vehicle backward (see Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 1-14700). In this system, when moving the vehicle backward, the rear view or the rear-side view is imaged by a camera and displayed, while the vehicle tire trace which is estimated according to the rudder angle of the steering wheel being operated is superimposed on the image.
When using this system, the driving operation is as follows. That is, first, the vehicle is moved to a position where it is likely to be possible to move the vehicle into a parking space with the steering wheel being fixed. Then, in this position, the user operates the steering wheel while viewing the estimated vehicle tire trace so as to find a rudder angle at which it is likely to be possible to move the vehicle into the parking space without having to further operate the steering wheel. Then, the vehicle is moved backward while keeping the rudder angle so as to move the vehicle into the parking space. In principle, the parking operation is completed through such a driving operation.
-Problems to be Solved-
When parking a vehicle by using the system as described above, it is necessary to find a position from which the vehicle can be moved into the parking space, and then to determine the rudder angle at which to fix the steering wheel. However, it takes the user a considerable amount of practice to be skilled in such operations. Moreover, when the size, etc., of the vehicle to be driven changes, the sense of the size of the vehicle also changes, whereby the user cannot make good use of the driving know-how the user has built up while getting skilled in the operations with the previous vehicle.
Now, in the case of a parking operation, it is generally difficult to complete the driving operation while keeping the rudder angle of the steering wheel at a constant angle from the beginning of the operation, except for cases where there is no obstacle at all around the vehicle. For example, when performing parallel parking, the driver moves the vehicle from the start position to the parking position as follows. The driver first turns the steering wheel in an appropriate direction and moves the vehicle backward, and after the vehicle is moved backward to an appropriate position, the driver turns the steering wheel in the opposite direction to move the vehicle to the target position. In other words, in the case of parallel parking, it is difficult to park the vehicle while keeping the steering rudder angle at a constant angle.
Moreover, with the conventional system, if the driver moves the steering wheel even by a slight angle, a vehicle movement path is re-estimated in response to the slight change in the rudder angle, and the re-estimated path is displayed, which may confuse the driver.
Furthermore, since an actual vehicle body has some parts overhanging from the tires, the body may possibly contact an obstacle even if the tire trace does not interfere with the obstacle. Thus, in the prior art, it is difficult to precisely determine whether the vehicle parts extending beyond the tires will contact an obstacle.
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1. Field of the Invention
The invention described in this patent pertains to the polishing and planarization of integrated circuit surfaces, particularly those comprising a metal, a barrier layer, and an insulating layer.
2. Discussion of Related Art
Chemical/Mechanical Planarization (or polishing), or CMP, is an enabling technology used in the semiconductor industry to remove/planarize various thin films from the surface of semiconductor substrates during the production of integrated circuits. While initial applications of this technology focused on the polishing of dielectric films (such as SiO2), polishing of metal films used for circuit interconnects is undergoing rapid growth. Currently, tungsten and aluminum are the most common metals used for interconnect structures. However, copper interconnects, coupled with low-k dielectrics, have the potential (when compared to Al/SiO2) to increase chip speed, reduce the number of metal layers required, minimize power dissipation, and reduce manufacturing costs.
However, the challenges associated with the successful integration of copper interconnects are not trivial. A typical copper interconnect structure contains a trench formed in silicon dioxide (typically 10,000 angstroms deep and 1-100 microns wide) formed above the silicon substrate. A barrier layer of material (used to improve adhesion of the copper as well as inhibit the diffusion of copper into the dielectric structure) is typically deposited after the trench is formed, and is usually composed of either tantalum, tantalum nitride, titanium, or titanium nitride. This barrier material is also deposited on the horizontal dielectric surface above the trench. The barrier layer is typically less than 1000 angstroms thick. Copper is then deposited by chemical vapor deposition or electroplating on top of this structure in order to fill the trench structure. To insure complete filling of the trench, an overlayer of copper of 10,000-15,000 angstroms is usually required. CMP is then used to remove the overburden of copper above the trench and the horizontal barrier material above the trench. In order to do this successfully and economically, the copper removal should be as fast as possible, typically above 3000 angstroms/minute. Also, to avoid removal of the copper within the trench (typically referred to as xe2x80x9cdishingxe2x80x9d), removal of the barrier layer at rates comparable to that of the copper film are necessary. Additionally, to avoid degradation of the SiO2 film beneath the barrier layer (typically referred to as xe2x80x9cerosionxe2x80x9d), and to improve global planarization, the removal rate of the underlying dielectric film should be as low as possible. In summary, the selectivity for the removal rate of the barrier film (tantalum, tantalum nitride, titanium, or titanium nitride) should be high with respect to the copper film, while the selectivity for the removal rate of the dielectric film (SiO2) should be low (preferably less than 100:1).
To accomplish these requirements, a two-step polishing process using two different slurries has been proposed. In U.S. Pat. No. 5,676,587, Selective Polish Process for Titanium, Titanium Nitride, Tantalum, and Tantalum Nitride, a two-step process using first (1) a slurry to remove the majority of the metal film (such as tungsten or copper) and second (2) a slurry to remove the barrier film is proposed.
To suppress the removal rate of silicon dioxide during CMP processes, various additives have been previously suggested that passivate the silicon dioxide surface. In U.S. Pat. No. 5,614,444, Method of using Additives with Silica-Based slurries to Enhance Selectivity in Metal CMP, an additive comprising at least one polar component and one apolar component is suggested to suppress oxide removal. This patent lists a number of compounds containing both polar and non-polar groups, which are either anionic (potassium butylsulphate), cationic (tetrabutyl ammonium hydroxide), or non-ionic (butanol). However, this patent claims as a necessity both a polar and apolar component (group) to be present.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,876,490 polyelectrolytes are used to coat the abrasive particles in a slurry. The polyelectrolytes impart normal stress effects to the slurries. In solution, the polyelectrolytes exhibit normal stress effects and their adsorption on the abrasive particles impart the same behavior to the particles.
According to U.S. Pat. No. 5,876,490, in order to achieve planarization, the quantity of polyelectrolyte in the abrasive suspension is such that a fraction of the particles will be coated with the polyelectrolyte, while another fraction of the abrasive particles will remain uncoated. In order to achieve this, the weight percent of the polyelectrolyte should be about 5 to about 50 percent, preferably about 15 to about 30 percent by, weight, and most preferably about 20 percent by weight of the abrasive particles in the slurry. These ratios depend somewhat on the relative size of the abrasive particles and the polyelectrolyte.
The slurry compositions of U.S. Pat. No. 5,876,490 that contain the polyelectrolyte are preferably prepared by adding the polyelectrolyte to the slurry already containing the abrasive particles, thereby coating a fraction of the abrasive particles xe2x80x9cin situ.xe2x80x9d In an alternative procedure, a fraction of the abrasive particles can be precoated and then admixed with the slurry containing the remaining abrasive particles which will be uncoated. In addition, it may be desirable to pretreat a portion of the abrasive particles to render them more susceptible to adsorption of the polyelectrolyte from the slurry.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,391,258; 5,476,606; 5,738,800; 5,770,103 describe compounds which in CMP slurries provide attenuation of silicon dioxide removal. These patents are hereby incorporated by reference and made a part of this specification.
The present invention is directed to one or more organic polymers which have surprisingly been found to attenuate the removal of the oxide film during metal CMP and offers an improvement over earlier slurries. This organic polymer is a high molecular weight organic polymer containing a carbon backbone with functional moieties extending from the backbone. The functional moieties interact strongly with the silicon dioxide surface so as to provide a protective layer that inhibits the removal of the silicon dioxide film at appreciable levels. The mechanism of interaction between the functional moieties and the hydroxyl surface is, though not limited to, that observed in the hydrogen bonding of polar species (such as the interaction of hydroxyl groups). The organic polymer is further defined as a high molecular weight organic material, having a degree of polymerization of at least 3 (i.e., 3 monomeric units polymerized into a molecule), more preferably more than 10, and most preferably greater than 50. The organic polymer comprises a plurality of moieties having affinity to surface groups (i.e., silanol and siloxane) contained on silicon dioxide surfaces. These moieties are commonly polar moieties, such as, but not limited to, hydroxy, carboxy, carbonyl, alkoxy, sulphonyl, and phosphonyl. Examples of this type of organic polymer molecule includes polyvinyl alcohol, polyvinylpyrrolidone, polymethylmethacrylate, polyformaldehyde, polyethylene oxide, polyethylene glycol, and polymethacrylic acid.
Many of these same compounds are mentioned as being useful for coating abrasive particles in U.S. Pat. No. 5,876,490 as discussed above. Their use as a silicon dioxide rate suppressant is not mentioned in ""490. Moreover, the polyelectrolytes of the present invention have been found to be effective as a silicon dioxide rate suppressant at concentrations below about 5 percent by weight of the abrasive particles in a slurry. They have also been found to be effective when having a molecular weight of greater than about 10,000.
Another aspect of the present invention is a method of polishing a substrate comprising a metal and an insulator wherein the substrate is pressed against a polishing pad, the substrate and the pad are moved relative to each other, and a polishing composition is applied to said pad during the polishing operation. The polishing compositions of the present invention are useful for such methods.
The slurries used in this invention were prepared with the following general protocol. In every case, the chemical additives are first dissolved in deionized water. After all the chemical additives are dissolved in the deionized water, the pH is adjusted to the desired level. In a separate vessel, the abrasive package which is comprised of the inorganic oxide abrasive particles in deionized water is mixed. The pH of the abrasive package is also adjusted to the desired level. The final step in the slurry formulation preparation is the combining of the aqueous chemical package with the aqueous abrasive package. Contrary to prior art, a polyelectrolyte additive can be added into this aqueous solution without any special abrasive adsorption requirements.
Typically, the list of chemical additives includes an oxidizing agent, the organic polymer removal rate suppressant of this invention, and optionally a complexing agent and/or a dispersant. The order of mixing of this chemical package need only be chosen such that there is complete solubilization of all the additives.
A complex as defined in xe2x80x9cAdvanced Inorganic Chemistryxe2x80x9d, F. A. Cotton and G. Wilkinson, 3rd ed., Wiley Interscience is: xe2x80x9cThe terms xe2x80x98coordination compoundxe2x80x99 and xe2x80x98complexxe2x80x99 may be broadly defined to embrace all species, charged or uncharged, in which a central atom is surrounded by a set of outer or ligand atoms, whereby the energy of the system is lowered. (i.e. E greater than 0 and/or G less than 0). An example of a neutral complex is SF6, where the central S atom is surrounded by 6 F atoms in an octahedral arrangement. An example of a positive complex ion is [Cu(NH3)4]2+, where the central Cu atom is surrounded by 4 NH3 molecules in a tetrahedral arrangement. An example of a negative complex ion is [Cu(Cl)5]3xe2x88x92, where the central Cu atom is surrounded by 5 Cl atoms in a pentagonal bipyramid arrangement.xe2x80x9d Examples of common ligands, which in the slurries of this invention are called complexing agents, are acetic acid, citric acid, ethyl acetoacetate, glycolic acid, glyoxylic acid, lactic acid, malic acid, oxalic acid, salicylic acid, sodium diethyldithiocarbamate, succinic acid, tartaric acid, thioglycolic acid, glycine, alanine, aspartic acid, ethylene diamine, trimethylene diamine, 1,2 ethanedithiol, 1,4 dithiothreitol, bis(methylthio)methane, dimethyldithiocarbamate, 5-methyl 3,4 thiadiazole-2-thiol, malonic acid, gluteric acid, 3-hydroxybutyric acid, proprionic acid, pthallic acid, isopthallic acid, 3-hydroxy salicylic acid, 3,5-dihydroxy salicylic acid, and galic acid.
The slurries of this invention may optionally comprise a dispersant. Aqueous CMP slurries contain submicron abrasive particles. The size of these particles is important to the performance of the slurry as well as to the resultant surface quality. If the abrasive particles agglomerate, the polishing removal rates may change and the surface quality may deteriorate. Dispersants can be included in the slurry formulation to prevent this agglomeration of abrasive particles. Dispersants can be anionic, cationic, or nonionic. The selection of the proper dispersant depends on many factors including the surface characteristics of the abrasive particles and the ionic nature of the slurry formulation. Some examples of ionic surfactants include sodium lauryl sulfate, cetyl-trimethyl ammonium bromide.
The oxidizing agent in the compositions of the present invention may be comprised of any of the common oxidizing agents such as nitrates, iodates, chlorates, perchlorates, chlorites, sulphates, persulphates, peroxides, ozonated water, and oxygenated water. Oxidizing agents can be used in slurries for CMP at concentrations of about 0.01% to about 7% by weight. Generally they are used at concentrations of about 1% to about 7% by weight. An iodate is a preferred oxidizing agent. Most preferred is potassium iodate at about 2% to about 4% by weight.
In the examples presented below, silica and titania were predominantly used as the abrasive component in the slurries tested. However, any metal oxide or polishing abrasive (such as alumina, ceria, zirconia, barium carbonate, or diamond) could also be used.
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Traditional cellular networks comprise multiple cellular base stations in diverse locations to serve cellular telephone users. As a user of a cellular telephone changes his/her location, handover of the cellular telephone from a first cellular base station to a second cellular base station may be performed. The handover may be performed when a signal strength of the first cellular base station diminishes below a threshold of optimum performance, and a signal strength of the second cellular base station is stronger than that of the first cellular base station.
A window of opportunity to successfully perform a handover in a cellular network may be on the order of a few seconds or more. Within this window, the handover is performed within a time interval. The time interval may be more than 10 milliseconds, and may be more than a few hundred milliseconds for a cellular network.
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In an internal combustion engine, it is known for a fuel pump to supply fuel at high-pressure for delivery to each cylinder of the engine by means of a dedicated fuel injector. Typically, the fuel injector is received within a bore provided in a cylinder head of the cylinder, and a connector (or fuel lance) is used to provide a fluid connection between the fuel injector and a fuel supply line (or pipe) from a fuel pump or accumulator volume/common rail.
Such an arrangement is known from EP 0569727, as shown in FIG. 1. A connector 1 is disposed within a transverse bore 3 in a cylinder head 5 that intersects with a bore 7, in which the injection nozzle 9 is housed. The connector 1 has a spherical taper 11 on its outlet end to form a fluid tight seal against a lateral seating face 13 on the injection nozzle 9 when it is clamped in place by means of a retaining screw 15. To firmly seal the connector 1 against the injection nozzle 9, the retaining screw 15 has an external screw thread that cooperates with an internal screw thread provided in the transverse bore 3 of the cylinder head 5. A spherical shoulder 17 is also provided on the connector 1, against which the retaining screw 15 presses when tightened. As clearly indicated, the inlet end section 19 of connector 1 projects beyond the retaining screw 15 and the cylinder head 5 in order that the fuel pipe 21 may be clamped in place. The inlet end section 19 is provided with an external thread 23 onto which a female pipe nut 25 is screwed to clamp the fuel pipe 21 to the end of the connector 1. The inlet end section 19 of the connector 1 is further provided with a female conical seating surface 27 about the fuel passage 29 that passes through the connector 1, against which a male conical seating surface 31 of the fuel pipe 21 seals when the pipe nut 25 is tightened.
However, the prior art fuel supply line arrangements for connecting a fuel pipe to an injection nozzle have a number of disadvantages. By way of example, the shoulder (or flange) on the connector that is required to transfer the load from the retaining screw to the conical (or spherical) sealing face at the injector end of the connector adds to the complexity of manufacture and prohibits the use of a smaller diameter connector, which would reduce the cost of manufacture. Furthermore, the prior art connectors are typically considerably longer than the length of the bore of the cylinder head, in which they are located. Therefore, the connector extends beyond the cylinder head and takes up a significant amount of space within the engine, which can cause packing conflicts with other components fixed in the region of the cylinders. The length of such prior art connectors also adds to the cost of manufacturing this component. Thus, there is a need for a fuel connector/lance that provides design and manufacturing cost benefits and/or which achieves installation benefits over the prior art.
A further issue with some prior art fuel supply line arrangements, such as that already described, is that a tight seal between the connector and the injection nozzle requires the tightening of a retaining screw into the cylinder head and the transfer of the load from the screw through the connector. This mechanism thus requires the rotation of tightly fitting parts and the friction between the rotating components can lead to the generation of undesirable particles (debris), which could lead to the contamination of fuel and/or the wearing of the components. In addition, an anti-rotation device may be necessary on the connector to prevent it rotating within the cylinder head, further adding to design complexity and manufacturing costs. It would be further desirable to provide a fuel supply line arrangement that reduces or eliminates the requirement for the rotation of components within the cylinder head during assembly and/or disassembly.
The invention relates to a fuel connector or lance that overcomes or at least alleviates at least one of the above-mentioned problems and disadvantages in the prior art, and also to fuel supply line arrangements comprising such a fuel connector or lance.
In broad terms, the invention provides a fuel lance, a fuel lance assembly, and a fuel supply line arrangement that provides all necessary functionality and which provides desirable advantages over the prior art, such as greater simplicity and, therefore, a lower cost of manufacture. It may also avoid prior art design limitations on the size of various parts, such that it takes up less space within the increasingly complex and crowded engine space. In some embodiments, the apparatus of the invention provides functional benefits in terms of reducing component wear and avoiding potential fuel contamination from worn engine components.
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Distributed ledger technology includes a peer-to-peer network which timestamps records by hashing them into an ongoing chain of hash-based proof-of-work, forming a record that cannot be changed without redoing the proof-of-work. While such technologies are effective at creating immutable records, the surrounding ecosystems have proven vulnerable to network-based attack, including ecosystems for most of the large cryptocurrency exchanges (including ICO's). In the past, stolen private keys have been transmitted to a remote location and used to author digital signatures on illicit transactions, causing transfer of ownership of billions of dollars' worth of cryptocurrency assets to anonymous third parties. Once private account keys are exfiltrated, current distributed ledger technology may be powerless to prevent nefarious transactions. In fact, due to immutability, as a practical matter it may be difficult or impossible to undo transactions.
Ecosystem participants must also be concerned about risks created by third party software that builds on distributed ledger technology designed to provide added functionality (e.g., payment processors, wallets, fintech applications, smart contract platforms). Malware may exploit code defects in these application, for example to exfiltrate private account keys or spoof legitimate processes.
Distributed ledgers could also be subject to denial of service-like attacks in which bad actors flood the ecosystem with a large number of transactions containing bogus data, particularly in a distributed ledger configured to accept large quantities of data from a low-trust or trustless ecosystem (i.e., an ecosystem where users require little or no authorization to contribute data to the database), or in an ecosystem with compromised private keys. Depending on the algorithm used to validate blocks, communication among peers could be significantly slowed and the functionally hobbled.
Perhaps most significantly, hackers in control of ecosystem nodes and/or private keys can potentially inject malware into a distributed ledger ecosystem via smart contracts. Smart contracts are computer code uploaded to digitally facilitate, verify, or enforce the negotiation or performance of a contract. Bogus smart contracts could be used to force users to malware functions, for example involuntarily committing parties to transfer assets, exfiltrating or corrupting data, or ransoming user's access to their assets or data (a ransomware smart contract). Recently, for example, someone injected malicious code into a cryptocurrency trading platform via a smart contract, enabling the attacker to read private keys belonging to users' wallets.
The foregoing examples map out the vulnerabilities in distributed ledger technology and highlight the fact that as this technology continues to be widely adopted an extensive attack surface is presented. This surface exists because distributed ledger technology, to date, lacks intrinsic network security. Though designed to be deployed across networks (including the public Internet), distributed ledger security features are focused on protecting its logical functionality, specifically (1) guaranteeing that pre-existing records in a distributed ledger have not been altered; and (2) requiring that all additions to the distributed ledger are digitally signed using private keys created by owners or authorized users of the added information. Moreover, despite meticulously and immutably recording the relationships between records, distributed ledger protocols do not require encoding of an audit trail to determine the source of records—ideally they would accurately and consistently identify which device, software, or user/owner posted a transaction for addition to a distributed ledger. This gap further limits the ability to detect and mitigate network-based attacks.
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Image sensing modules are commonly applied to portable mobile devices such as digital still cameras, cellular phones and PDAs (Personal Digital Assistants). Due to the mechanical limitations of those portable mobile devices, when the image sensing modules are applied to the portable mobile devices, custom-made modules are required to fit in the limitations. However, customization contradicts to the demanding requests, such as low cost, quick development and mass production.
Conventionally, an image sensing module is packaged by the following steps: forming a substrate having a cavity with a ceramic or organic material, gluing an image sensing component on the substrate, connecting the above component with electrically conductive pads inside the cavity by means of wire bonding, and covering and gluing the cavity by a window made of a transparent material like glass to obtain a structure which isolates the whole module from its surroundings and allows the light to transmit through the window, as shown in FIG. 1.
For example, Taiwanese Utility Model Patent No. 542,493, “Image Sensor Structure”, discloses an image sensor including a substrate, a flange layer, an image sensing chip and a window. The image sensing chip is provided in a recess formed between the flange layer and the substrate. One face of the flange layer is formed with signal inputs which are electrically connected with a plurality of wires, and the image sensing chip is electrically connected with the substrate by way of sides of the flange layer. The surface of the flange layer is partly coated with an adhesive layer for adhesion to the window. The flange layer is fixed to the substrate to form a recess during the process for packaging the image sensor.
Thereafter, the image sensor is soldered to a printed circuit board, and then a lens is installed to form an image sensing module. The processes for assembling such an image sensing module are classified into two fashions. First, the lens holder is glued to or fixed to the printed circuit board with screws, as shown in FIG. 2. Secondly, the lens holder is directly fixed to the image sensor, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4.
However, some drawbacks accompany both processes. The first process is simpler to make an image sensing module, yet the area required by the module is larger. Further, surface mounting technology (referred to SMT hereinafter) and a printed circuit board (referred to PCB hereinafter) are utilized to conduct positioning between the lens and the image sensor, and therefore the error is relatively large. In the second process, the characteristics of the image sensing module vary subject to different positioning references, either on the glass or along the edge of the substrate. Furthermore, in this process, a larger transporting error occurs since the shape of the glass or the substrate is generally square and thus larger clearance between the lens and the edges of the glass/substrate is required. Additionally, since the lens holder is directly mounted on the glass, the tilting error of the whole image sensing module increases due to the error between the lens and the glass.
The present invention is proposed to eliminate the drawbacks of the prior art, and makes the following possible: smaller modules, smaller transporting and tilting errors, higher yields, better aligning precisions, lower costs, and implementation of a modulized design and a process without any precise positioning equipment.
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The invention is suitable for a wide range of applications including, but not limited to:
wallpaper;
billboard panels;
architectural plans;
advertising and promotional posters; and
banners and signage.
However, in the interests of brevity, it will be described with particular reference to wallpaper and an associated method of production. It will be appreciated that the on-demand wallpaper printing system described herein is purely illustrative and the invention has much broader application.
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The present invention relates, in general, to equipment for feeding bulk materials in metered amounts and, in particular, to the control of dosing of such equipment and to a method for the operation of such equipment.
In the conveying of bulk materials using an extraction helix, the volumetric dosing principle or the more precise gravimetric principle can be used. In the latter, the mass m(t) of an extraction equipment, a supply container and the bulk material present in it are weighed together, whereby the difference of mass per unit of time, namely the mass flow {dot over (m)}(t) dependent on the time t, is continuously detected electronically. The actual value is compared to a desired target value and regulated by a known dosing controller to the desired value.
In practice, the mass flow {dot over (m)}(t), dependent on the time t, is, however, not constant, but fluctuates periodically at a frequency which equals the speed of revolution of the extraction helix or is a whole harmonic of it. The dosing controller is generally not arranged to even out these periodic deviations from the desired constant value.
In addition, the difficulty exists that different extraction helices, and also different bulk materials, or the same bulk materials with slightly different or changing flow parameters, lead to completely other fluctuations of the mass flow {dot over (m)}(t).
The objective which is addressed by the present invention, is to provide a device for dosing control of helical dosing equipment as well as a method for the operation of such devices, which are immediately and always ready, and with which the above mentioned periodic fluctuations arising in the mass flow {dot over (m)}(t) of such devices can be essentially eliminated, independent of the characteristics of the extraction helix used and independent of the characteristics of different bulk materials.
In accordance with the present invention, bulk material, stored in a container, is received by a feeder, driven by a motor, and delivered, in metered amounts, to utilization equipment by the feeder. The actual mass flow rate of the bulk material delivered by the feeder to the utilization equipment is measured and the difference between the actual flow rate of the bulk material delivered to the utilization equipment and a desired flow rate of the bulk material delivered to the utilization equipment is determined. Periodic deviations of the actual mass flow rate of the bulk material delivered to the utilization equipment from the desired flow rate of the bulk material delivered to the utilization equipment are quantitatively analyzed and a modulation signal, representative of the quantitative analysis, is generated. The modulation signal is processed into a modulated position signal that controls the motor that drives the feeder to modulate the speed of the motor with the modulated position signal.
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Electronic components (e.g., resistors, capacitors, microprocessors; fans, etc.) are commonly mounted to a printed circuit board (PCB) by solder to both electrically and mechanically attached the components to the PCB. Typical; PCB and flexible printed circuits (FPC) use copper traces that are not as flexible as compared to conductive ink. Conductive ink can be used to make circuitry more flexible than traditional FPC, even stretchable. Typically; anisotropic conductive film (ACF), anisotropic conductive paste (ACP), or electrically conductive adhesive (ECA) is applied to bond an electronic component to printed conductive ink. These bonding processes are not compatible with soldered interconnects that are more robust and reliable, particularly the traditional soldering reflow process. Also, conductive ink is not typically solderable, and solderable conductive ink is less flexible than non-solderable conductive ink. Soldered interconnects may also have higher bonding strength, higher throughput, lower cost, and scalable for high volume production.
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Gas turbine engines generally include a turbine section downstream of a combustion section that is rotatable with a compressor section to rotate and operate the gas turbine engine to generate power, such as propulsive thrust. General gas turbine engine design criteria often include conflicting criteria that must be balanced or compromised, including increasing fuel efficiency, operational efficiency, and/or power output while maintaining or reducing weight, part count, and/or packaging (i.e. axial and/or radial dimensions of the engine).
Interdigitated turbine sections are known to take advantage of relatively high fluid velocities between sequential stages of rotating airfoils without vanes therebetween. However, known interdigitated turbine sections are limited to interdigitated a low pressure turbine rotor and an intermediate pressure turbine rotor. Still further, known interdigitated turbine sections are limited by axial, radial, thermal, and/or mechanical loads from the inner radii of the interdigitated turbine sections, which may limit a quantity of stages that may be included in an interdigitated first turbine rotor.
Therefore, there exists a need for a structure that may reduce or remove limits to interdigitated first turbine rotor size and structural life due to axial, radial, thermal, and/or mechanical loads.
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I. Technical Field
The present invention relates to sealing devices for rotary fluid machines and to rotary fluid machines.
II. Description of the Related Art
In general, rotary machines that compress or expand fluid, such as centrifugal compressors or expanders, use a seal such as a labyrinth seal in order to prevent a fluid leak from a high-pressure portion to a low-pressure portion.
The labyrinth seal is disposed between a fixed part such as a housing and a rotating part such as a rotary shaft, and a seal gap is provided between the labyrinth seal and the rotating part or between the labyrinth seal and the fixed part, in order to ensure the rotation of the rotating part.
A small amount of fluid leaking from the high-pressure portion to the low-pressure portion flows through the seal gap, and the leakage flow includes velocity components in the circumferential direction of the rotary shaft under the influence of the rotation of the rotary shaft. Hereinafter, the leakage flow that includes velocity components in the circumferential direction is referred to as swirling flow.
If a swirling flow exists in the seal gap, it is known that an exciting force that disturbs the behavior of the rotary shaft, that is, a destabilizing force, may occur. It is known that the destabilizing force increases when the difference in pressure between the high-pressure portion and the low-pressure portion in the rotary machine increases.
In order to solve such a problem, technologies of providing guide grooves or guide blades for canceling or eliminating the velocity components in the circumferential direction of the rotary shaft included in the swirling flow have been proposed (for example, see Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, Publication No. S58-022444 and Publication of Japanese Patent No. 2756118).
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Field of Art
This application relates generally to the field of information retrieval and, in particular, to multi-prefix, multi-tier, dynamic menu and related interactive search techniques that facilitate the retrieval of information within a mobile communications environment, including the leveraging of collaborative “cloud” services that enable the maintenance and sharing of such information.
Description of Related Art
In the last few years, web-enabled mobile telephones have become enormously popular. More web-enabled mobile phones ship each year than do desktop and notebook computers combined. Such mobile phones are similar to desktop and mobile computers in that they offer display screens, a keyboard, and, sometimes, a pointing device. However, because of portability requirements, the capabilities of the displays, keyboards, and pointers on mobile phones are significantly reduced. Displays are relatively small with little area to display content as well as menus, toolbars, and other navigation and status information. The keyboards are often telephone keypads or thumb keyboards. The pointer, when provided, is often a scroll wheel or joystick that can be used to indicate a direction of movement or pressed to indicate a click. Sometimes, the pointer is simply a set of arrow keys on the keyboard. Furthermore, because of speed and latency issues, navigation among web pages is typically much slower on mobile phones than on desktop and notebook computers.
The human interface limitations of mobile phones, combined with slower navigation, significantly constrain a user's ability to interact with web pages. Additionally, Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) forms are difficult to use on mobile phones due to data input and related limitations. These difficulties arise in many ways. For example, the mobile keyboard and pointer are less effective than their counterparts on desktop and personal computers.
Keyboards are less effective because their small form factor makes it more difficult to type characters. In some case, the keyboard is smaller and has fewer keys. The smaller keyboards usually require thumbing: typing with one's thumbs rather than using ten fingers. The reduction in keys makes it more difficult to key in digits and special characters. Some keyboards are telephone dial pads with multiple letters on each key. Various technologies, including triple tap (pressing the same key until the desired letter appears) and predictive text, help to improve the effectiveness of such keyboards, but the effectiveness is still far below that of a full-size keyboard.
The pointer is also less effective. HTML forms often contain multiple input fields and the pointer is used to navigate among them. Pointers on mobile phones, when available, are less effective than pointers or mice used with desktop computers for navigating among input fields, as well as hyperlinks and other screen objects. For example, tabbing between fields using a full-size keyboard enables the field for typing when it has received focus. On a mobile phone, the tabbing is typically done via a directional pad and the field often has to subsequently be selected to be enabled for typing. Additionally, on desktop computers, mice can be used to move from one field to another without having to move through the fields in between. On mobile phones, moving from one field to another is typically done sequentially from one field to the next, without the ability to skip any fields along the way.
However, some web-enabled mobile phones have touchscreens that provide for direct interaction with objects on the display screen. For example, users can touch a screen object directly with their fingertip or a stylus, rather than indirectly navigate to that object via a pointing device. Yet, even this “improved” user interface technique raises usability issues, as the distinction between “selecting” and “activating” an object becomes blurred. Potential solutions for distinguishing the two include providing an icon or other visible identifier on a portion of the object, or discerning the number of times a user clicks or taps it, or the amount of time a user “presses down” on the object.
In any event, the ability to select an object without also activating it becomes particularly important in systems that provide alternative functionality specific to a particular object. For example, when a user activates an HTML hyperlink in a web browser, the program typically navigates to a new web page corresponding to the URL embedded within that hyperlink object. The user, however, might want to examine the URL before making the decision to activate the hyperlink.
A common mechanism for offering a user alternative functionality specific to a selected object is a “context menu.” Context menus provide a user with one or more alternative functions available within a particular “context” or state of a program or device, such as the selection of a particular object. Context menu items can change dynamically as the context changes, as different objects are selected and as a program enters a different state.
In a mobile communications environment, however, providing context menus with which users can quickly interact is easier said than done. The state of an information retrieval system can change frequently, for example, as new search results are received from remote servers (or as information becomes known to the system, such as the time of day or a user's location as indicated by a mobile phone's GPS equipment). In addition to the problem noted above of distinguishing the selection from the activation of an object, other constraints include processing speed and memory limitations on mobile devices, as well as bandwidth and latency limitations inherent in mobile communications networks. These constraints, coupled with the many different types of information that can be retrieved from remote web sites, for example, make it even more difficult to provide context menu items that are customized to particular objects or categories of objects.
In contrast to the “random” full-text searches users often perform on desktop computers in home and office environments (in which multiple iterative searches and analyses of resulting web pages can be completed relatively quickly due to greater bandwidth and local computing resources), users in a mobile communications environment often perform more “targeted” searches for lists, schedules and other information the existence and perhaps even the location of which is often known in advance. Such information must nevertheless be retrieved relatively quickly in order to be useful. For example, common mobile searches include requests for stock quotes, sports scores, movie times and nearby restaurants or coffee shops, to name a few.
Targeted searches are less amenable to the random keyword search techniques commonly employed on existing desktop and mobile devices, in which users enter complete keywords and navigate through results and web pages across a large domain of web sites. Mobile devices, in particular, are in need of solutions in which targeted information can be found relatively quickly with minimal user interaction. Such solutions ideally would still afford users access to both the breadth of a large domain of information (such as the web with its diverse collection of web sites, or a large enterprise database) and the depth of any particular “channel” or information category (which may lend itself to unique functionality, whether within or across one or more web sites or databases).
Some mobile devices support applications that have been customized for highly targeted information retrieval, such as the “Pocket Express” application from Handmark Inc. (http://express.handmark.com/) which provides discrete modules for retrieving news, stock quotes, sports scores and various other specific types of information. Though useful for rapid retrieval of certain specific data, the domain of available information is inherently very limited, in part because each desired category of information requires its own custom module. Such an approach is not very scalable, given the vast array of information channels available via the web. Moreover, without a generic mechanism to locate information by searching within a particular module, users typically are limited to browsing or selecting items from within each module's predefined data structure. For example, users can browse news headlines and select one to retrieve the full story, but they cannot search for particular news stories, much less headlines.
Other products have attempted to reduce user interaction to perform targeted searches by enabling users to enter only word prefixes or word fragments, and providing results interactively as a user types characters. See, for example, a presentation at Google (http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7012265262667474421&q=type%3Agoogle+engEDU) in this area, or the “vTap” program from Veveo, Inc. (http://www.vtap.com), as well as Veveo's various published patent applications, including both PCT publications (WO/2007/062035) and US publications (2008011473, 20080086704, 20070255693, 20070130128, 20070088681, 200701754, 20070050337, 20070005563 and 20060101499). While providing an information retrieval mechanism that is more suitable to targeted searches, such approaches nevertheless lack a generic search mechanism that can be utilized to narrow a search request within a broad domain of information channels (to provide a more focused or targeted search), as well as provide additional functionality specific to particular channels.
Google, in a recent talk (http://ihtc.org/meeting.php?meeting=march08), discussed a “multi-tier” search technique in which a user first searches for a web site (for example, “Wikipedia”), the result of which contains not only a link to that site, but also a search box in which a “second-tier” search can be typed (thus saving the step of clicking on the link and then typing in the second-tier search). Other similar solutions include special search keywords that identify the second-tier site within the search query itself. Such solutions rely, however, on the differing search engines available across various second-tier sites, which not only force users to adapt to different search query formats, but also may provide inferior results when compared to more powerful search engines such as the one provided by Google. A more integrated multi-tier approach could avoid such anomalies by providing a consistent search mechanism among various tiers (within as well as across particular information channels), particularly one which also offered additional context-specific functionality.
As alluded to above, another search technique that has been employed to minimize user interaction (whether relating to single or multiple prefix queries, or full keywords) involves the display of “predictive text” while the user is entering a query. For example, a system might display multiple suggested phrases or keywords matching the keywords (or letters) typed thus far by the user, enabling the user to select from among these desired phrases or keywords without having to complete the full query. It should be noted, however, that such systems could reduce user interaction even further by displaying suggested query results (based upon implicit or explicit suggested query phrases or keywords), rather than merely displaying suggested queries.
Such an approach of providing “predictive results” could prove even more useful in the context of specific information domains or channels, not to mention the burgeoning field of interactive advertising in which targeted search results become opportunities (“ad inventory”) for displaying targeted ads (which can be further targeted via additional contextual information, such as a user's demographics, geographic location, viewing history, etc). Here too, a more integrated multi-tier approach could provide not only a consistent search mechanism among various tiers (within as well as across particular information channels), but also an improved targeted ad mechanism with increased ad inventory.
Apart from the need for a more integrated and consistent search mechanism, there is also a need for applications to obtain access to content in a usable form, as well as to enable users to share and retrieve such content. Whether hosted on the desktop, or in web-based or mobile environments, applications often need to provide mechanisms for users to enter or import content in a format that will facilitate the functionality provided by such applications. Typically, applications (or “apps”) maintain such content in their own proprietary internal format, perhaps allowing for the importing or exporting of data in one or more standard data formats.
If users need to update their content over time, apps must then provide a mechanism for users to access and update their content. Moreover, if designated groups of users require shared access to their content, apps must further provide a sharing mechanism, typically including user authentication and access control for particular activities (e.g., viewing and modifying all or certain portions of the content).
This need for shared content that users can update and access (preferably from multiple different devices, e.g., via a web browser or mobile app) has become quite common, and has spawned a trend frequently referred to as “cloud computing,” The content might be stored on a networked storage device or server computer (typically connected to the Internet), or on users' individual devices (networked hard disk, desktop or laptop computer, mobile phone, etc.) that are accessible to a remote app (or local “distributed” app) that synchronizes such content.
While many such collaborative “cloud” apps exist (e.g., “TeamSnap” at www.teamsnap.com for sharing team rosters, schedules, statistics and other related content among members of a sports team), each such app still must “reinvent the wheel” by implementing its own set of “cloud services”—e.g., collaborative features and user interfaces for maintaining and sharing content, including data acquisition, formatting, updating and presentation. As a result, there is a need for a mechanism to enable app developers to leverage existing cloud services, allowing them to focus their efforts on the “vertical” features specific to their particular content domain (e.g., team sports, trade shows, libraries, etc.), as opposed to the collaborative cloud services common across virtually all domains.
While some existing cloud apps have been designed as “platforms” that provide app developers with access (e.g., via a published API) to their cloud services and to user content, such platforms typically are designed to enable app developers to enhance the core capabilities of the cloud apps, rather than to repurpose user content to a particular “vertical” content domain.
For example, “social networks” such as Facebook were designed to facilitate the creation of user communities and the selective sharing of personal information among those communities. Because Facebook emphasizes the sharing of personal information, its focus is not on the creation and acquisition of structured content, much less “group content” compiled by one or more users. It is thus not surprising that most Facebook Apps developed on the Facebook platform leverage this core “sharing” functionality by providing shared access to external content (e.g., from other websites) and activities (e.g., games), rather than repurposing existing Facebook content.
While some Facebook Apps manipulate existing Facebook user content (e.g., to compile birthdays of a group of friends), they do not repurpose such content to a new content domain. It would be difficult, for example, for members of a sports team to maintain “team content” on Facebook, and for a Facebook App to access and repurpose such content to enable team members to share team rosters, statistics, etc.
Instead of providing all such functionality in a dedicated app, such as TeamSnap, it would be desirable to leverage existing cloud services to facilitate the maintenance and sharing of such “team content.” In this regard, various collaborative tools have implemented cloud services with respect to the acquisition and maintenance of general-purpose documents. Examples include “Google Docs” and “Google “Spreadsheets” (and various other apps from Google, Inc.), “Microsoft Office Live” from Microsoft Corp. and “Zoho Docs” from Zoho Corp. Other cloud apps are targeted at different types of documents, such as photo-sharing sites (e.g., “Flickr”), wikis (e.g., “Wikipedia”), etc.
The cloud services provided for a collaborative app such as “Google Docs” enable groups of users to maintain and share general-purpose documents. Users can create and edit such documents using many of the features found in standard word processors. Moreover, the Google Docs platform (via “Google APIs”) enables app developers to access user documents and leverage its cloud services.
Yet, as noted generally above, the primary purpose of this platform is to enhance the core capabilities provided by apps such as Google Docs (e.g., to provide additional functionality with respect to these general-purpose documents), rather than to repurpose user content to a particular “vertical” content domain. For example, an app might add a word-processing or other feature not found in Google Docs.
Perhaps due to the general-purpose nature of Google Docs documents, apps created for its platform tend to treat a user's Google Docs documents as “atomic” objects (independent of their content). For example, some apps generate filtered lists of documents, while others provide for remote storage or backup of documents.
Yet, because Google Docs allows for the maintenance of general-purpose documents that are not restricted to particular vertical applications, its appeal is universal, justifying the resources necessary to develop features and user interfaces that greatly simplify the collaborative process of creating, maintaining, presenting and sharing documents (much as social networks have done for the creation of user communities and the sharing of personal information generally).
A sports team could easily utilize Google Docs to facilitate the maintenance and sharing of its “team content,” as could groups of users across a vast array of content domains (such as trade show participants, a corporate sales force, users of a public library, etc.). Yet, the content maintained by Google Docs is only a set of general-purpose documents that users can view and edit. An external app would be necessary to provide additional “vertical” features that interpret and manipulate this content so as to enable users to interact with the content in a meaningful way in the context of a particular content domain. For example, an app could provide sports-related features akin to those found in TeamSnap (rosters, statistics, schedules, etc.), while leveraging Google Docs to provide the cloud services relating to the acquisition, maintenance and sharing of the content.
If one were to separate the acquisition, maintenance and sharing of the content (performed in a cloud app) from the interpretation and repurposing of the content to a particular content domain (performed in an external “vertical” app), then the tasks performed by users and app developers would be greatly simplified.
Existing technologies have not adequately addressed the problems intrinsic to targeted searching and the development of cloud apps, particularly given the unique demands of a mobile communications environment. Information must be retrieved more quickly, but with less user interaction, in light of the hardware, user interface, network bandwidth and latency limitations inherent in such an environment. In addition, a more integrated and scalable search mechanism is needed to allow users to request information from a broad domain of information channels and quickly locate desired information within one or more of those channels (including targeted ads), preferably with the availability of additional functionality that is tailored to those channels within the context of user requests and other available state information. Finally, mechanisms are needed for developing cloud applications, without sacrificing the consistency and simplicity offered by existing cloud services.
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The present invention relates to digital signal processing, and more particularly to video devices and processing methods.
Image stabilization (IS) refers to the task of eliminating jitter from video sequences captured by handheld cameras. Jitter is typically due to the undesired shake of the camera user's hand during video recording, and becomes a more severe problem when high zoom ratios are used. Eliminating jitter from video sequences has been an increasingly important problem for consumer digital cameras and camera phones. There are a few different approaches to the solution of the image stabilization problem. One particular approach is to use digital image processing techniques to eliminate jitter. This approach is generally called digital image stabilization (DIS).
A typical digital image stabilization method can be summarized as follows:
Step 1: Motion vector computation: Compute a number of candidate motion vectors between two frames by finding the correlations between blocks of pixels.
Step 2: Global motion vector determination: Process these candidate motion vectors using a number of heuristics to find the global motion between the two frames that is due to jitter.
Step 3: Motion compensation: Compensate for the estimated jitter motion by digitally shifting the output image in the reverse direction of the motion.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,563,652 divides a image into four detection areas; within each detection area compares pixels of the current image with representative pixels of the prior image to find the best offset correlation; analyzes the best correlation to the average plus analyzes gradients to check whether the detection area is a valid detection area for jitter detection; and for invalid areas uses prior image(s) average motion vector(s) to compute a whole image motion vector. U.S. Pat. No. 5,748,231 matches binary edge patterns in motion estimation areas of successive fields to find local motion vectors; combines the local motion vectors with weights from correlation statistics to find field motion vectors; and accumulates the field motion vectors. U.S. Pat. No. 6,628,711 compares motion vector histograms for successive images to estimate jitter.
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(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a liquid crystal display device and its manufacturing method, particularly to an art to be effectively applied to an in-plane field type active-matrix liquid crystal display device.
(2) Description of the Prior Art
An active-matrix liquid crystal display device using an active element such as thin film transistor (TFT) has been widely spread as a display terminal of OA equipment because it is thin and lightweighted and has a high image quality equal to that of a cathode-ray tube.
The display system of the active-matrix liquid crystal display device is roughly divided into the following types.
One of them is a type, in which a liquid crystal layer is enclosed between a pair of substrates with two transparent electrodes formed on the substrates, a driving voltage is applied to the transparent electrodes, thereby driving the liquid crystal layer by an electric field almost perpendicular to the surfaces of the substrates, and the light passing the transparent electrodes and entering the liquid crystal layer is modulated (hereafter referred to as a vertical field type). Every product spread at present uses this type.
However, an active-matrix liquid crystal display device using the vertical field type has the problems on practical use that a contrast of an image extremely varies when changing viewing angles and particularly, a gradation level is inverted depending on a viewing angle when displaying half tone images.
The other of them is a type, in which a liquid crystal layer is enclosed between a pair of substrates, a driving voltage is applied to two stripe-like or line-like electrodes formed on either or both of the substrates, thereby driving a liquid crystal layer by an electric field almost parallel with the surfaces of the liquid crystal layer, and the light entering the liquid crystal layer from the gap between the two electrodes is modulated (hereafter referred to as an in-plane field type).
An active-matrix liquid crystal display device using the in-plane field type can realize wide viewing-angle characteristics. However, any active-matrix liquid crystal display device using the in-plane field type is not practically used yet.
Features of an active-matrix liquid crystal display device using the in-plane field type are shown in the official gazettes of Japanese Patent Application No. 505247/1993, Japanese Patent Publication No. 21907/1988, and Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 160878/1994.
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1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a rubber composition having improved rubber properties. More particularly, it relates to a rubber composition which is excellent in resistance to reversion in the vulcanization step and is excellent in such rubber properties as resistance to thermal degradation and resistance to deterioration due to flex cracking.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In recent years, increasingly higher levels of mechanical properties and heat resistance than before have come to be required for rubber goods such as tires and belts.
It has been known for a long time for improving the mechanical properties of rubber to use a large amount of sulfur as a cross-linking agent to increase the cross-linking density. However, the use of a large amount of sulfur has a serious defect in that is gives rise to a severe reversion in the vulcanization step and a marked decrease in resistance to heat and resistance to flex cracking in vulcanized rubbers, although it improves such mechanical properties of vulcanized rubber as hardness and tensile strength.
To obviate such a defect of sulfur cross-linking, there has been also proposed a method of adding a bismaleimide compound to a sulfur vulcanization system containing dibenzothiazyl disulfide (MBTS) or tetramethylthiuram disulfide (TMTD). However, though the use of this method can correct the above-mentioned defect to some extent, the improvement is not yet fully satisfactory. Moreover, the method have difficulties in that since it requires a large amount of costly bismaleimide compounds it leads to a marked increase in cost of rubber compounds and further that when a vulcanization accelerator of sulfenamide type, which is used chiefly for tires and the like in rubber industry, is used in place of MBTS or TMTD the effect of addition of bismaleimide compound is hardly observed, so that vulcanization accelerators which can be used in combination with bismaleimide compounds are limited to those giving a short scorch time such as MBTS and TMTD, and consequently it can be used only in a limited field such as the manufacture of footwears.
Thus, prior art rubber compositions are not simultaneously satisfactory in such properties as scorching stability, resistance to reversion, resistance to thermal degradation, and resistance to deterioration due to flex cracking.
In view of these circumstances, the present inventors have made an extensive study to obtain rubber compositions which, in all the sulfur vulcanization systems including those containing sulfenamide type accelerators, show an excellent resistance to reversion in vulcanization step and exhibit excellent rubber properties including resistance to thermal degradation and resistance to flex cracking. As a result, it has been found that a rubber composition comprising natural rubber and/or synthetic rubber compounded with a bismaleimide compound represented by the general formula (I), a sulfenamide compound represented by the general formula (II), a dithiophosphoric acid compound represented by the general formula (III), which are mentioned later, and sulfur, or a rubber composition comprising natural rubber and/or synthetic rubber compounded with a bismaleimide compound represented by the general formula (I) mentioned later, an aromatic carboxylic acid anhydride, sulfur and/or a sulfur donor and vulcanization accelerators can, for the first time in all the sulfur vulcanization systems including those containing sulfenamide type accelerators, give mechanical properties which are in no way inferior to those obtainable by using a large amount of sulfur and further show markedly improved properties including resistance to reversion, resistance to heat aging, and resistance to flex cracking, the insufficiency of which properties has been the defect of sulfur vulcanization. This invention has been achieved on the basis of above findings.
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A conventional zipper consists of two rows of teeth and a slide or catch that joins or separates the two rows of teeth. Conventional zippers frequently jam when fastening or unfastening. Jamming occurs when extraneous material is drawn into and becomes entangled with the teeth of the zipper as the slide moves past the two rows of teeth. This is particularly troublesome for very soft material or material that hangs loosely around the slide.
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Hollow workpieces are commonly used in industry and consumer goods. Hollow workpieces with an undercut include preforms for injection stretch blow molding into containers. The containers are usable for aerosol containers, which in turn are usable to dispense air fresheners, shave gel, shave foam, shampoo, body washes, antiperspirants/deodorants, perfumes, hard surface cleaners, etc. Other containers include water bottles, milk jugs, bottles for containing other consumer products, large water jugs, etc. The undercut in the workpiece may comprise threads, a bayonet fitting, etc.
Apparatus for molding hollow workpieces are well known in the art. Such apparatus typically have two mold halves which translate together and apart with relative motion to alternatingly open and close in an axial direction. When closed, the mold halves define a cavity which defines the shape of the workpiece to be formed. If the workpiece has a cavity or void, a core pin may be used. A core pin prevents material to be molded from being in the space occupied by the core pin, allowing a hollow part to be formed.
When the mold halves are opened, the workpiece typically rides with one of the halves. The workpiece is later stripped from the respective mold half. If the mold half has a core pin, the workpiece typically rides with the core pin and is later stripped off while the mold halves are apart.
However, if a workpiece has an undercut the process is not as simple. The workpiece cannot be stripped from the core pin because the core pin material in workpiece undercut prevents the workpiece from axially stripping off the core pin. Such a workpiece may be commonly used as a preform for injection stretch blow molding.
Yet undercuts remain an important design feature of many molded workpieces used for consumer products. Undercuts may occur, for example, in external threads, internal threads, bayonet fittings, snap fittings, grooves, etc.
Various attempts in the art have been tried to make workpieces having an undercut. For example U.S. Pat. No. 3,266,100 uses a complex assembly of collapsible segments. And this attempt makes no provision for a core pin.
One crude attempt to accommodate a core pin for workpieces having an undercut is to simply deflect the workpiece material across the portion of the core pin forming the undercut. But this approach may cause dimensional inconsistency among, and even breakage of, the workpieces. Another approach attempt to accommodate a core pin is to utilize a radially collapsible core. But this approach does not allow for molding of workpieces having a sealing face as the proximal end of the core pin. Even if a sealing face is not required for the desired workpiece, the collapsible core pin requires complex moving workpieces to accommodate the radial motion. Yet another approach utilizes a rotary core pin, so the workpiece is simply unscrewed therefrom. But this approach may require complex rotary indexing if a bayonet fitting is desired and also requires complex moving workpieces to accommodate the additional rotary motion.
The core pin may have an axial counterflow cooling line therein. The core pin may also have one or more hydraulic lines, which may make the core pin a complex assembly. An assembly of a moving core pin and various liquid lines may be susceptible to leaks and entanglement. Thus a core pin which has only axial motion is desirable.
One attempt to utilize a non-rotating and non-collapsible core pin is found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,383,780 and 5,798,074. This attempt utilizes a rack and pinion system. In this system, typically a single pinion gear drives plural, typically four, stripper rings. The stripper rings unscrew the respective workpieces. But this system requires a large amount of space and cannot be readily retrofitted to a mold having a conventional axial workpiece ejection system. If a different workpiece is desired, component change-out is difficult. U.S. Pat. No. 6,390,800 claims to unthread a closure for a container as the mold plates are separated. But this attempt also uses a rack gear, which can be costly and complex to operate. U.S. Pat. No. 6,238,202 uses an elongate helically splined spindle, which may have the same disadvantages as an elongate rack.
Thus, there is a need for an apparatus and process which can be retro-fitted to existing core pin molds. The present invention unexpectedly uses existing translation of a stripper plate during the molding process to both open and close one of the mold halves and to release a workpiece with an undercut, eliminating the need for a separate release drive system. The present invention also surprisingly eliminates the need for a large and cumbersome rack to drive the pinion gears. An apparatus according to the present invention having N cavities for molding may have from 1-N different workpieces made thereon, surprisingly providing flexibility not found in the art. Thus the apparatus of the present invention advantageously decouples the number of workpieces which can be made on the apparatus from the number of drive systems necessary to operate the apparatus. The invention is directed to the problem of stripping a workpiece having an undercut without requiring non-axial core pin motion.
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In known fuel filler assemblies fitted to currently marketed vehicles, the fuel filler and cap are housed inside a compartment which is recessed in the vehicle body and closed by a lid kept in the closed position by a spring or a snap-on device; and the cap is normally separable from the filler body pipe, or tube, and is normally screwed manually onto the filler tube or pipe and/or locked by means of a key-operated locking device.
When refueling, the cap is removed from the filler body or tube and set aside on any convenient supporting surface; and, at times, once the vehicle is refueled, the lid may inadvertently be closed with the cap fitted improperly to the filler tube or pipe, or even with no cap at all, thus resulting in extremely dangerous diffusion of fuel vapors and fuel leakage.
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a light illumination device for illuminating an object with light rays uniform in intensity, and more particularly to a light illumination system suitable for use in an exposure device for fabricating semiconductor devices such as ICs.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Exposure devices for transferring integrated-circuit patterns on reticles or photomasks onto substrates need a light illumination device for providing an illumination by light rays having a flat or uniform intensity distribution in order to project an image of fine circuit patterns onto a substrate with a higher resolution.
One such light illumination device is known from U.S. Pat. No. 3,296,923 issued on Jan. 10, 1967 to J. R. Miles.
The light illumination device as described in the above-mentioned U.S. Patent has a collimating lens for collimating a luminous flux or light beam from an elliptical reflector mirror, first and second lenticular lenses for forming a plurality of secondary light sources from the luminous flux from the collimating lens, and a large aperture condenser lens disposed between the lenticular lenses and a substrate. This prior art light illumination device is capable of correcting luminous flux having an annular intensity distribution pattern weaker in the vicinity of the optical axis and stronger at the peripheral edge in the opening of the elliptical mirror, into luminous flux having a substantially flat intensity distribution on an object surface disposed behind the condenser lens. With the conventional device, however, the luminous flux of flat intensity distribution is available only on a plane corresponding to the object surface, and the annular intensity distribution pattern is left unremoved anywhere behind the condenser lens except for the object surface. This is because the luminous flux per se emitted from the first and second lenticular lenses have such an intensity distribution pattern.
For providing an illumination of the object with luminous flux from the known device, it is necessary to position the object extremely critically along the optical axis so as to attain a desired flat intensity distribution pattern on the object. Where the conventional system is employed, for example, as a light projection system for projecting an image of the object onto a projection surface with a projection lens, there is provided a flat intensity distribution pattern on focal points of the projection lens, that is, the object surface and the projection surface. However, an annular intensity pattern is produced at other planes, in particular, the pupil plane of the projection lens. As a result, the light projection system suffers from various difficulties such as a reduction in the resolving power of the projection lens, a reduction in the depth of focus thereof, and the like.
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U.S. Pat. No. 5,223,117 relates to self-assembly microelectrodes used in electrochemical sensors. The microelectrodes (which are the working electrode in the sensors) are modified with monolayer coverages of reference and indicator molecules, with both chemically sensitive redox materials and chemically insensitive redox materials being present on the same electrode. It is necessary for the microelectrodes to be significantly smaller than the counterelectrodes, for example the counter electrode area must be at least 102 to 103 times the working electrode area. An advantage of such a small working electrode with an internal reference is that the sensor is minimally invasive, and can therefore be used in biomedical sensing.
UK Patent Application No. 2 391 314 describes electrochemical sensors for measuring the amount of hydrogen sulphide or thiols in a fluid. The sensor comprises a precursor and reaction solution which, together with the hydrogen sulphide or thiols, create a redox reaction. The current produced by this redox reaction is dependent upon the concentration of hydrogen sulphide or thiols. The sensors described in this document are for use in downhole applications, i.e. to extend down boreholes during a drilling operation. Given the size restrictions on apparatus which must extend into a borehole, the sensors must be relatively small.
Carbon-based electrode materials have been in use for many decades. The main forms of carbon in common use are glassy carbon, carbon fibres, carbon black, graphite, carbon paste and carbon epoxy electrode. Carbon is an attractive electrode material as it is relatively chemically inert yet it has a high surface activity and a wide operational potential window (ca. −1.0 V to +1.0 V vs. the saturated calomel electrode in aqueous solution).
However, there remains a need for more robust, reagentless sensors that can provide accurate results in hostile environments or “dirty” media such as effluents or sewage. Furthermore, there is a requirement for sensors to be used under various conditions, such as at temperatures above room temperature. There is renewed interest in developing sensors capable of measuring pH accurately at elevated temperatures. The present invention aims to address these issues.
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Botanical classification/cultivar designation: Anigozanthos flavidus cultivar Bush Inferno.
The present Invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Anigozanthos plant, commonly referred to as Kangaroo-Paw, botanically known as Anigozanthos flavidus, and hereinafter referred to by the cultivar name Bush Inferno.
The new Anigozanthos is a product of a planned breeding program conducted by the Inventor in Tuggerah, New South Wales, Australia. The objective of the program is to create new compact Anigozanthos cultivars that have a long flowering period, branched flowering stems, bright flower coloration and improved disease resistance.
The new Anigozanthos originated from a cross-pollination made by the Inventor of the Anigozanthos flavidus cultivar Joey Calypso, not patented, as the female, or seed, parent with an unidentified selection of Anigozanthos flavidus, not patented, as the male, or pollen, parent. The new Anigozanthos was discovered and selected by the Inventor in a controlled environment in Tuggerah, New South Wales, Australia, on Aug. 10, 1998 from the resultant progeny of the above-mentioned cross-pollination.
Asexual reproduction of the new cultivar by in vitro propagation of micro-plants since February, 1999 in Tuggerah, New South Wales, Australia, has shown that the unique features of this new Anigozanthos are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations.
Plants of the cultivar Bush Inferno have not been observed under all possible environmental conditions. The phenotype may vary somewhat with variations in environment such as temperature and light intensity, without, however, any variance in genotype.
The following traits have been repeatedly observed and are determined to be the unique characteristics of xe2x80x98Bush Infernoxe2x80x99. These characteristics in combination distinguish xe2x80x98Bush Infernoxe2x80x99 as a new and distinct cultivar of Anigozanthos:
1. Compact and upright plant habit.
2. Moderately vigorous growth habit.
3. Freely and continuous flowering habit.
4. Freely branched flowering stems.
5. Bright orange-colored flowers.
Plants of the cultivar Bush Inferno can be compared to plants of the female parent, the cultivar Joey Calypso. In side-by-side comparisons conducted by the Inventor in Tuggerah, New South Wales, Australia, plants of the new Anigozanthos and the cultivar Joey Calypso differed in the following characteristics:
1. Plants of the new Anigozanthos had dark green-colored foliage whereas plants of the cultivar Joey Calypso had greyed green-colored foliage.
2. Plants of the new Anigozanthos had branched flowering stems whereas plants of the cultivar Joey Calypso did not have branched flowering stems.
3. Plants of the new Anigozanthos had bright orange-colored flowers whereas plants of the cultivar Joey Calypso had yellow orange-colored flowers.
Plants of the cultivar Bush Inferno can be compared to plants of the male parent, the unidentified selection of Anigozanthos flavidus. In side-by-side comparisons conducted by the Inventor in Tuggerah, New South Wales, Australia, plants of the new Anigozanthos and the male parent selection differed in the following characteristics:
1. Plants of the new Anigozanthos had curved leaves whereas plants of the male parent selection had straight leaves.
2. Plants of the new Anigozanthos had shorter leaves than plants of the male parent selection.
3. Plants of the new Anigozanthos had shorter flowering stems than plants of the male parent selection.
Plants of the new Anigozanthos can be compared to plants of the cultivar Bush Spark, disclosed in a U.S. Plant patent application Ser. No. 10/747,787 filed concurrently. In side-by-side comparisons conducted in Lompoc, Calif., plants of the new Anigozanthos differed from plants of the cultivar Bush Spark in the following characteristics:
1. Flowering stems of plants of the new Anigozanthos were not as freely branching as flowering stems of plants of the cultivar Bush Spark.
2. Plants of the new Anigozanthos had larger flowers and inflorescences than plants of the cultivar Bush Spark.
3. Plants of the new Anigozanthos had bright orange-colored flowers whereas plants of the cultivar Bush Spark had bright red to red purple-colored flowers.
Plants of the cultivar Bush Inferno can also be compared to plants of the cultivar Bush Ranger, disclosed in U.S. Plant Pat. No. 6,478. In side-by-side comparisons conducted by the Inventor in Tuggerah, New South Wales, Australia, plants of the new Anigozanthos and the cultivar Bush Ranger differed in the following characteristics:
1. Plants of the new Anigozanthos had curved leaves whereas plants of the cultivar Bush Ranger had straight leaves.
2. Plants of the new Anigozanthos had bright orange-colored flowers whereas plants of the cultivar Bush Ranger had red-colored flowers.
Plants of the cultivar Bush Inferno can also be compared to plants of the cultivar Bush Garnet, not patented. In side-by-side comparisons conducted by the Inventor in Tuggerah, New South Wales, Australia, plants of the new Anigozanthos and the cultivar Bush Garnet differed in the following characteristics:
1. Plants of the new Anigozanthos had curved leaves whereas plants of the cultivar Bush Garnet had slightly curved leaves.
2. Plants of the new Anigozanthos flowered earlier than plants of the cultivar Bush Garnet.
3. Plants of the new Anigozanthos had bright orange-colored flowers whereas plants of the cultivar Bush Garnet had dark red-colored flowers.
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1. Field
The disclosure relates generally to an improved data processing system and more specifically to a method and apparatus for managing a calendaring system. Still more particularly, the illustrative embodiments provide a method, apparatus, and computer program for managing follow-up appointments in an improved calendaring system.
2. Description of the Related Art
A calendaring system maintains information associated with one or more events. An event in the calendaring system may be in the past, the present, or the future. A calendaring system may be implemented on one or more data processing systems in hardware, software, or a combination of hardware and software. An example of how a calendaring system may be implemented is through one or more calendaring servers and one or more calendaring clients. One example of such an implementation is a calendaring server that stores the information associated with the events of one or more users. In the example of a calendaring server, one or more users may employ one or more calendaring clients. The calendaring clients, which may be implemented in a Web browser or one or more executables in an operating system, may process interaction with the user and may send and receive communications to the calendaring server. The calendaring server that may receive the requests may be implemented using one or more executables in an operating system or a Web server. Examples of requests that may be received by the calendaring server are a request to create an appointment, a request to modify an appointment, and a request for the information associated with one or more events the user has requested.
People frequently make use of a calendaring system in managing their schedules, such as appointments. Calendaring systems store the appointments of a particular user and display the appointments in such a way that the user can manage the user's time. Calendaring systems also allow the user to manage the scheduling of an appointment involving multiple users using appointment requests. The user who wishes to schedule the appointment creates an appointment request in the calendaring system and provides a listing of other users to be invited to the appointment.
Items discussed at an appointment may not be resolved during the appointment. As a result, additional appointments may be needed to resolve those items. Examples of such items include items that require further decisions based on the passage of time and items that could not be resolved due to time constraints at the first appointment. One more specific example is a budget appointment. Three topics may be on the appointment agenda for discussion. When the budget appointment is held by the attendees, the allotted time for the appointment may expire before one of the three scheduled items are discussed. In that example, a second budget appointment may be needed to address the remaining scheduled item. Additionally, status updates on the two scheduled items discussed at the first budget appointment may require additional discussion, such as a progress update.
With the need to hold additional appointments, a user in the calendaring system may create a new appointment request and re-invite the other users for each of the additional appointments.
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The disclosed embodiments relate generally to document job management capability and, at least in one embodiment, to a system for managing “disturbance” in a plurality of print jobs.
Conventional print shops typically are organized in a fashion so that related equipment is grouped together. For example, printing equipment may be grouped and located together, while finishing equipment may be grouped and located in another location. Thus, the print shop may be set up to have a printing department, a finishing department, and other departments corresponding to the type of process or operation that is performed within that department. The organization of a print shop is typically often independent of print job complexity, print job mix and total volume of print jobs.
When a new print job arrives, the print job sequentially passes through each department until the print job is completed. The conventional approach leads to significant time delays and increased work-in-progress and inventory costs.
Various improvements for print shop operation have been proposed, several of which have been published as:
U.S. Patent Publication 20020071134 to Jackson et al.
Published on Jun. 13, 2002
Entitled, System and Method for Converting Print Jobs Stored in Print shop Job Description Language Files into Print shop Workflow
U.S. Patent Publication 20020129081 to Rai et al.
Published on Sep. 12, 2002
Entitled, Production Server Architecture and Methods for Automated Control of Production Document Management
U.S. Patent Publication 20050065830 to Rai et al.
Published on Mar. 24, 2005
Entitled, A System and Method for The Acquisition and Analysis of Data for Print Shop Performance Evaluation and Adjustment
U.S. Pat. No. 6,805,502, to Rai et al. discloses an approach for dividing a print job into sub-jobs or “batches.” The batches are separately processed so as to improve the total turnaround time that is required to complete the processing of the print job. The patent describes methods for selecting a batch size for batches so as to reduce the total turnaround time for the print job.
The respective pertinent portions of all of the above-cited publications are incorporated herein by reference.
In document production (as well as a significant number of other types of production), it is common to receive job orders with small size but relatively large due slack (=due time (for job completion)−arrival time). Although these jobs (hereinafter referred to as “disturbance jobs”) have relatively small initial takt-rates (Takt-rate=job size/due slack), and tend to only increase the total job workload a small amount, the demand disturbance caused by these jobs can result in a drastic change in the number of late jobs. It would be desirable to provide a technique for managing demand disturbance so as to improve on-time percentage for the total job workload.
In accordance with one aspect of the disclosed embodiments, there is provided a system for managing a scheduling of a plurality of print jobs in a print shop. The system includes a memory for buffering the plurality of print jobs. A scheduling subsystem communicates with the memory, the scheduling subsystem (a) scheduling each of the plurality of print jobs for processing unless at least one of the plurality of print jobs is determined to be a disturbance job, the at least one disturbance job causing delays in processing of other print jobs in the plurality of jobs that would not occur but for the existence of the at least one disturbance job among the plurality of print jobs, and assigning a print job processing related value to the at least one disturbance job, the print job processing related value decreasing over time. Additionally a filter is provided for causing the scheduling of the at least one disturbance job to be delayed until the print job processing related value is less than a selected threshold value.
In accordance with another aspect of the disclosed embodiments, there is provided a system for managing a scheduling of a plurality of document jobs in a document production environment. The system includes a memory for buffering the plurality of document jobs; and a scheduling subsystem, said scheduling subsystem: (a) scheduling each of the plurality of jobs for processing unless at least one of the plurality of jobs is determined to be a disturbance job, the at least one disturbance job causing delays in processing of other jobs in the plurality of jobs that would not occur but for the existence of the at least one disturbance job in the job input stream, (b) assigning a processing related value to the at least one disturbance job, the job processing related value decreasing over time, and (c) delaying scheduling of the at least one disturbance job until the processing related value is less than a selected threshold value.
In accordance with yet another aspect of the disclosed embodiments, there is provided a method for managing the scheduling of a plurality of jobs. The method includes: obtaining a job input stream including the plurality of jobs; scheduling each of the plurality of jobs for processing unless at least one of the plurality of jobs is determined to be a disturbance job, the at least one disturbance job causing delays in processing of other jobs in the plurality of jobs that would not occur but for the existence of the at least one disturbance job in the job input stream; assigning a processing related value to the at least one disturbance job, the processing related value decreasing over time; and delaying scheduling of the at least one disturbance job until the processing related value is less than a selected threshold value.
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This invention relates generally to a panel used for attenuating sound frequencies and more particularly, but not by way of limitation, to a cellular honeycomb sandwich construction for installation in an engine nacelle or other applications requiring sound absorption.
Heretofore, advanced technology sound attenuating panels in an engine nacelle have been constructed primarily using a double layer of honeycomb core with a septum bonded between the two layers. Facing material is then bonded on both sides of the double layer forming a core sandwich. This type of construction requires four bond lines which degrades the strength of the sandwich structure. Also, it is impossible to align the individual cells of the adjacent layers. Further, heat transfer is less efficient and varies due to the septum bond lines and the misalignment of the individual cells.
In the fabrication of a core sandwich where a septum is provided having various depths within the individual cells, complex machining and assembly techniques are required. This is not only expensive, but time consuming.
A prior art acoustical structure is used wherein a single layer of honeycomb core is provided with an intermittent zone in the core which is crushed to form a second barrier therein. Also, there is a single layer honeycomb core structure wherein the individual cells are filled with foam plugs to a single cell depth. This structure does not provide for varying depth cells. An additional sound absorption honeycomb core structure provides a cellular array cut obliquely so that the effective lengths of the cells vary along the plane of the cut. None of the prior art core structures provide the advantages of the subject invention in retarding jet engine noise.
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a device for adjusting/closing a gas bottle valve.
2. Description of the Relevant Art
Gas bottles or gas cylinders, used in industry in conjunction with welding as containers of combustible gas and/or shielding gas, are provided with a rotatable shut-off valve, placed in the top part of the gas bottle. The shut-off valve is provided with a regulating wheel. The valve is closed by turning the valve manually by the regulating wheel in the clockwise or anti-clockwise direction, depending on the valve type, and opened by turning in the opposite direction.
The state of the valve, i.e. whether the valve is open or closed, is difficult to determine by merely looking. Therefore, in practice, the state of the valve is checked manually by turning the regulating wheel. Sometimes it happens that a gas bottle valve is left open for a long time, e.g. over a weekend, which may lead to dangerous situations and also economic losses.
Gas bottle shut-off valves used at present are provided with a protective cap, which is open on two sides and has a handle-like neck at its top. This protective cap makes it still more difficult to open/close the valve. Further problems in the handling of the bottle result from the pressure reduction valve and associated indicators that the bottles are usually provided with.
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Isotropic etching is non-directional removal of material from a substrate via a chemical process using an etchant. Etchants can include liquids and plasmas. Liquid chemical etchants are typically corrosive, containing acids or bases and other agents to enhance the etchants ability to remove material from a work piece. Such etchants are used, for example, to efficiently remove unwanted material from a work piece. Isotropic etching is particularly useful for removing unwanted metal, for example copper, from semiconductor wafers.
Isotropic etching metal from a work piece typically produces large volumes of waste, on the order of tens of liters per hour, for example, to process semiconductor wafers through a single etch apparatus. This waste, although moderately dilute, can contain many environmental poisons including metal ions, for example copper. Also, feed stocks for creating the liquid etchant are expensive. Handling large volumes of caustic and toxic waste presents a major challenge, for example, in semiconductor processing where large numbers of work pieces are processed daily.
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Hydrocarbons, such as oil and gas, may be recovered from various types of subsurface geological formations. The formations typically consist of a porous layer, such as limestone and sands, overlaid by a nonporous layer. Hydrocarbons cannot rise through the nonporous layer. Thus, the porous layer forms a reservoir, that is, a volume in which hydrocarbons accumulate. A well is drilled through the earth until the hydrocarbon bearing formation is reached. Hydrocarbons then are able to flow from the porous formation into the well.
In what is perhaps the most basic form of rotary drilling methods, a drill bit is attached to a series of pipe sections or “joints” referred to as a drill string. The drill string is suspended from a derrick and rotated by a motor in the derrick. A drilling fluid or “mud” is pumped down the drill string, through the bit, and into the bore of the well. This fluid serves to lubricate the bit. The drilling mud also carries cuttings from the drilling process back to the surface as it travels up the wellbore. As the drilling progresses downward, the drill string is extended by adding more joints of pipe.
When the drill bit has reached the desired depth, larger diameter pipes, or casing, are placed in the well and cemented in place to prevent the sides of the borehole from caving in. The well may be extended by drilling additional sections and installing large, but somewhat smaller pipes, or liners. The liners also are typically cemented in the bore. The liner may include valves, or it may then be perforated. In either event, openings in the liner are created through which oil can enter the cased well. Production tubing, valves, and other equipment are installed in the well so that the hydrocarbons may flow in a controlled manner from the formation, into the lined well bore, and through the production tubing up to the surface for storage or transport.
Hydrocarbons, however, are not always able to flow easily from a formation to a well. Some subsurface formations, such as sandstone, are very porous. Hydrocarbons can flow easily from the formation into a well. Other formations, however, such as shale rock, limestone, and coal beds, are only minimally porous. The formation may contain large quantities of hydrocarbons, but production through a conventional well may not be commercially practical because hydrocarbons flow though the formation and collect in the well at very low rates. The industry, therefore, relies on various techniques for improving the well and stimulating production from formations. In particular, various techniques are available for increasing production from formations which are relatively nonporous.
Perhaps the most important stimulation technique is the combination of horizontal wellbores and hydraulic fracturing. A well will be drilled vertically until it approaches a formation. It then will be diverted, and drilled in a more or less horizontal direction, so that the borehole extends along the formation instead of passing through it. More of the formation is exposed to the borehole, and the average distance hydrocarbons must flow to reach the well is decreased. Fractures then are created in the formation which will allow hydrocarbons to flow more easily from the formation.
Fracturing a formation is accomplished by pumping fluid, most commonly water, into the well at high pressure and flow rates. Proppants, such as grains of sand, ceramic or other particulates, usually are added to the fluid along with gelling agents to create a slurry. The slurry is forced into the formation at rates faster than can be accepted by the existing pores, fractures, faults, vugs, caverns, or other spaces within the formation. Pressure builds rapidly to the point where the formation fails and begins to fracture. Continued pumping of fluid into the formation will tend to cause the initial fractures to widen and extend further away from the wellbore, creating flow paths to the well. The proppant serves to prevent fractures from closing when pumping is stopped.
A formation rarely will be fractured all at once. It typically will be fractured in many different locations or zones and in many different stages. Fluids will be pumped into the well to fracture the formation in a first zone. Typically, the first zone will be at the bottom or “toe” of the well. After the initial zone is fractured, pumping is stopped, and a plug is installed or otherwise established in the liner at a point above the fractured zone. Pumping is resumed, and fluids are pumped into the well to fracture the formation in a second zone located above the plug. That process is repeated for zones further up the formation until the formation has been completely fractured.
Once the well is fractured, large quantities of water and sand that were injected into the formation eventually must be allowed to flow out of the well. The water and sand will be separated from hydrocarbons produced by the well to protect downstream equipment from damage and corrosion. The production stream also may require additional processing to neutralize corrosive agents in the stream.
Systems for successfully completing a fracturing operation, therefore, are extensive and complex, as may be appreciated from FIG. 1. FIG. 1 illustrates schematically a common, conventional frac system. Water from tanks 1 and gelling agents dispensed by a chemical unit 2 are mixed in a hydration unit 3. The discharge from hydration unit 3, along with sand carried on conveyors 4 from sand tanks 5 is fed into a blending unit 6. Blender 6 mixes the gelled water and sand into a slurry. The slurry is discharged through low-pressure hoses 7 which convey it into two or more low-pressure lines 8 in a frac manifold 9. The low-pressure lines 8 in frac manifold 9 feed the slurry to an array of pumps 10, perhaps as many as a dozen or more, through low-pressure “suction” hoses 11.
Pumps 10 take the slurry and discharge it at high pressure through individual high-pressure “discharge” lines 12 into two or more high-pressure lines or “missiles” 13 on frac manifold 9. Missiles 13 flow together, i.e., they are manifolded on frac manifold 9. Several high-pressure flow lines 14 run from the manifolded missiles 13 to a “goat head” 15. Goat head 15 delivers the slurry into a “zipper” manifold 16 (also referred to by some as a “frac manifold”). Zipper manifold 16 allows the slurry to be selectively diverted to, for example, one of two well heads 17 which control flow into and out of the well. Once fracturing is complete, flow back from the fracturing operation discharges into a flowback manifold 18 which leads into flowback tanks 19.
Frac systems are viewed as having “low-pressure” and “high-pressure” sides or, more simply, as having low sides and high sides. The low side includes the components upstream of the inlet of pumps 10, e.g., water tanks 1, hydration unit 3, blending unit 6, and the low-pressure lines 8 of frac manifold 9, which operate under relatively low pressures. The high side includes all the components downstream of the discharge outlets of pumps 10, e.g., the high-pressure missiles 13 of frac manifold 9 and flow lines 14 running to goat head 15, which operate under relatively high pressures.
The larger units of a frac system are transported to a well site on skids, trailers, or trucks and then connected by one kind of conduit or another. The conduits on the low-pressure side typically will be flexible hoses, such as blender hoses 7 and suction hoses 11. On the other hand, flow lines 14 running to goat head 15 and other high-pressure side conduits will be subject to extremely high pressures. They must be more rugged. They also typically will be assembled on site.
Flow lines 14 and other portions of the high-side that are assembled on site are made up from a variety of components often referred to as “frac iron,” “flow iron,” or “ground iron.” Such components include sections of straight steel pipe, such as pup joints. They also include various fittings, such as tees, crosses, laterals, and wyes, which provide junctions at which flow is split or combined. In addition to junction fittings, flowline components include fittings which are used to alter the course of a flow line. Such directional fittings include elbows and swivel joints. High-pressure flow lines also incorporate gauges and other monitoring equipment, as well as control devices such as shut off, plug, check, throttle, pressure release, butterfly, and choke valves.
Because frac systems are required at a site for a relatively short period of time, frac iron components often are joined by unions. Unions allow the components to be connected (“made up”) and disconnected (“broken down”) relatively quickly. The three types of unions commonly used in frac systems are hammer (or “Weco®”) unions, clamp (or “Greyloc®”) unions, and flange unions. Though spoken of in terms that may imply they are discreet components, unions are actually interconnected subassemblies of the components joined by the union. A male sub will be on one component, and a mating female sub will be on the other. The subs then will be connected to each other to provide the union.
Flange unions may be made up and broken down with relative ease. Their basic design is robust and reliable, and like other flowline components, they are manufactured from heavy, high tensile steel. Thus, they have been adapted for low pressure (1,000 to 2,000 psi), medium pressure (2,000 to 4,000 psi), and high pressure service (6,000 to 20,000 psi). Moreover, unlike hammer and clamp unions, flange unions do not rely on seals that are exposed to fluids passing through the union.
Flange unions, as their name implies, typically provide a connection between two flanged components, such as spooled pipe or simply “spools.” Spooled pipe is provided with annular flanges extending radially outward from each end, thus giving the pipe the appearance of a spool. The flanges provide flat surfaces or faces which allow two spools to mate at their flanges. The flanges also are provided with a number of bolt holes. The holes are arranged angularly around the flange. Thus, spooled pipes may be connected by bolting mating flanges together. Each flange will have an annular groove running concentrically around the pipe opening. An annular metal seal is carried in the grooves to provide a seal between the flanges.
Though not entirely apparent from the schematic representation of FIG. 1, it will be appreciated that conventional frac systems are assembled from a very large number of individual components. Assembly of so many units on site can be time consuming, expensive, and hazardous. Thus, some components of a frac system are assembled off site on skids or trailers and transported as a unit to the well site.
Commonly skidded units include not only process units, such as blender 6 and pumps 10, but also flow units. Frac manifold 9, for example, is an assembly of pipes, junctions, valves, and other flowline components that typically are assembled off-site. Collectively, they provide a flow unit that manifolds, distributes, and controls discharge from pumps 10. Zipper manifold 16 is another flow unit that at times is assembled off-site from separate flowline components. Zipper manifold 16 receives flow from flow lines 14 and selectively distributes it to multiple well heads 17. Such units may have been assembled on site in the past. By skidding them, or mounting them on a trailer, assembly time at the well site is greatly reduced. Moreover, the components typically may be assembled more efficiently and reliably, and may be tested more easily in an off-site facility.
At the same time, because they are transported as a unit, trailered and skidded units are subject to spatial constraints that typically are not so severe as on site. Frac trailers, for example, have multiple flow lines incorporating a large number of flowline components, both on the high-pressure side and the low-pressure side. Multiple flow lines are manifolded. Providing all of those flow lines and manifolds on a trailer which meets highway regulatory requirements often results in a complex, cluttered design which may be difficult or impossible to service on site.
A well head also is fixed. Trailered and skidded units can be quite large, heavy, and moveable only with difficulty and limited precision. Flow lines, therefore, necessarily incorporate directional fittings, such as elbows and swivel joints, which allow its course to be altered to accommodate two unaligned units.
Elbow joints are simply curved sections of pipe which provide, for example, a 90° turn in a line. Swivel joints most commonly are an assembly of elbow conduits, usually three, with rotatable joints. The joints are packed with bearings, typically ball bearings, which allow the elbow conduits to rotate relative to each other. Swivel joints, therefore, can accommodate varying degrees of misalignment between the components which they connect and can provide considerable flexibility in assembling a flow line between essentially immovable points.
Though much less common, swivel flanges also are used to provide similar flexibility. Swivel flanges have a flange mounted on a hub. The hub is formed, for example, at one end of a length of pipe. Bearings, usually roller bearings, are packed around the hub, and the flange can rotate around the hub on the bearings. When joined together, a pair of swivel-flanged pipes and a pair of elbow joints, like swivel joints, can accommodate varying alignments between components to be joined. Consequently, it is rare, if ever, that the high-side of a frac system does not incorporate at least one or, more likely, multiple swivel joints or swivel flanges.
The large number of individual components in a frac system is compounded by the fact that most conventional frac systems incorporate a large number of relatively small flow lines, typically 3″ and 4″ flow lines. In part that is unavoidable. The pumps cannot be deployed in series and the flow lines carrying their individual discharges must be manifolded. Likewise, if multiple wells are to be serviced by the same array of pumps without assembling and disassembling flow lines, at some point their collective discharge must be split or directed into different flowline segments.
On the other hand, multiple flow lines in many instances represent a design choice. That is, certain flow rates and pressures will be required to fracture a particular well. Those flow rates and pressures will determine the number and capacities of the pumps. The high-pressure side then is designed to deliver the required flow rate without exceeding a maximum or “erosional” flow velocity, typically about 40′/sec, through the system. Additional flow lines often are added to provide higher flow rates into a well. The net result is that a fracking system often is so complicated that it resembles to the uninitiated a tangled mass of spaghetti.
Efforts have been made to simplify the flow line by incorporating fewer segments. For example, the conventional frac system illustrated in FIG. 1 includes four flow lines 14 running from the high-pressure lines 13 of frac manifold 9 to goat head 15. Some frac systems now employ a single, larger flowline segment running in place of four smaller lines. A single larger flow line will incorporate fewer parts and, therefore, fewer potential leak points. Both in terms of direct material and labor costs, a single larger flow line often will be less expensive than multiple smaller lines.
Frac jobs also have become more extensive, both in terms of the pressures required to fracture a formation and the time required to complete all stages of an operation. Prior to horizontal drilling, a typical vertical well might require fracturing in only one, two or three zones at pressures usually well below 10,000 psi. Fracturing a horizontal well, however, may require fracturing in 20 or more zones. Horizontal wells in shale formations such as the Eagle Ford shale in South Texas typically require fracturing pressures of at least 9,000 psi and 6 to 8 hours or more of pumping. Horizontal wells in the Haynesville shale in northeast Texas and northwest Louisiana require pressures around 13,500 psi. Pumping may continue near continuously—at flow rates of 2 to 3 thousand gallons per minute (gpm)—for several days before fracturing is complete.
Moreover, at least in the early stages of production, the flow back after fracturing also will be at high pressure and flow rates. The initial production stream from a fractured well flows at pressures in the range of from 3,000 to 5,000 psi, and more and more commonly up to 10,000 psi. The flow rates can approach a million cubic feet per hour or more.
Given the high number of components, leaking at unions is always a concern in frac systems. The unions may not always be assembled properly. Even when assembled to specification, however, such issues are exacerbated by the extremely high pressures and flow rates through the system. Many unions also incorporate elastomeric seals which are exposed to flow through the conduit and are particularly susceptible to leaking.
Moreover, the abrasive and corrosive nature of the slurry flowing through a frac system not only will accelerate deterioration of exposed elastomeric seals, it can rapidly erode and weaken conduit walls. Flow through relatively long straight sections of pipe is relatively laminar. Flow through other areas, however, such as unions where exposed seals often are present, may be quite turbulent. Erosion also is a more significant issue where a flow line changes direction. Flow will more directly impact conduit walls, causing more abrasion than that caused simply by fluid passing over the walls. The flowlines in conventional frac manifolds, in particular, typically have numerous, relatively sharp turns which are susceptible to damage.
The high pressures and flow rates of fluid flowing through the system also typically will create vibration throughout the system. The vibration can be profound. It tends to create bending stress through the system which can exacerbate leakage, especially at unions. The effects of accumulated stress over periods of time also can accelerate corrosion and erosion of flowline components.
Flowline components also are quite expensive. Swivel joints in particular are expensive and often comprise the single largest part expense of a high-side flow line. At the same time, the general issues discussed above seem to be more focused in respect to swivel joints. Swivel joints often incorporate exposed elastomeric seals. Flow through swivel joints is relatively turbulent. Because they incorporate rotatable joints and connect unaligned components, swivel joints are particularly susceptible to bending stress caused by vibration in the flow line. They also may be disassembled on site for service and may not always be reassembled to specification.
Any failure of flowline components on site may interrupt fracturing, potentially reducing its effectiveness and inevitably increasing the amount of time required to complete the operation. Catastrophic failure may endanger service personnel. Thus, flowline components must be certified and periodically recertified as complying with rated specifications. The harsh operating conditions to which they are exposed, however, may cause damage or weakening of the components which is difficult to detect, such as fatigue stress and microscopic fracturing. Thus, flow iron typically must be disassembled and inspected off-site.
In any event, the cost of repeatedly recertifying or replacing components can add significantly to operating costs of the system. Thus, high-pressure flowline components are required to endure extremely abrasive fluids flowing at extremely high pressures and rates and, hopefully, to do so over an extended service life.
Finally, even frac iron components which may be viewed as relatively small, such as a flanged spool or a junction fitting, are extremely heavy. They must be handled by mechanical lifts, either in the shop or on a site. Positioning the components to allow their unions to be made up or broken down can be difficult and can create a risk of injury to workers.
The statements in this section are intended to provide background information related to the invention disclosed and claimed herein. Such information may or may not constitute prior art. It will be appreciated from the foregoing, however, that there remains a need for new and improved frac manifolds and high-pressure flow lines and flowline components. Likewise, there is a need for new and improved methods of assembling flow lines and fluid transportation systems. Such disadvantages and others inherent in the prior art are addressed by various aspects and embodiments of the subject invention.
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1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a printing controlling method for controlling an image processing apparatus, e.g., a PC (Personal Computer) and an image forming apparatus, e.g., a printer apparatus, and to information recording media for storing a control program of the printing controlling method.
2. Description of Related Art
A printer driver incorporated in an image processing apparatus converts texts generated with the image processing apparatus, e.g., a PC into printing data. The printing data are transmitted to an image forming apparatus through a line, e.g., a LAN (Local Area Network) or the like. The printing data transmitted to the image forming apparatus are edited and developed to be outputted as printed images.
Texts generated with the image processing apparatus are ordinarily previewed before converted into the printing data on a display by an application software incorporated in the image processing apparatus, and converted into the printing data after confirmation of a printed form thereof, thereby being transmitted to a printing apparatus. With this conventional art, the contents of the generated texts are converted into the printing data after confirmed with the preview and transmitted to the printing apparatus. Therefore, problems remain unsolved in which text confirming time required for the preview leads to some delay in printing processing time.
As a measure for solving the aforementioned problem, for example, Japanese Patent Application Publication No. JA-2000-141822 (abstract) discloses a printer driver directing the image forming apparatus to operate preparation for record upon starting the conversion process. The preparation for the record is therefore completed when the image forming apparatus receives the printing data. The total printing time is thus shortened. No measure, however, is taken for the delay in the printing processing time caused by the text confirming time required for the preview.
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1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to lipid dispersible color compositions for food products and to lipid-based edible compositions, including artificial chocolate, incorporating said color compositions.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Cocoa, coffee, maple, cinnamon, walnut, pecan and other natural products are frequently used to impart their characteristic flavor and aroma to lipid-based food coating or filling compositions. Their normal brown or tan coloration is associated with the characteristic flavor and aroma of the products wherein they are incorporated. By "lipid-based" is meant any lipid-containing food compositions which contain a significant or substantial amount of a fat or oil base and in which no water has been added during the normal or conventional food processing or manufacture sequence.
"Compound coatings", as that term is used in the art, are lipid-based food compositions which serve as coatings for candies, cookies or frozen confection bars. These compound coatings may be derived from a variety of natural foods, such as cocoa. They also include coatings associated with well known flavors, such as maple, coffee, etc. However, in compound coatings certain processed fats are employed as the principal lipid fraction. The lipid of a chocolate coating is cocoa butter, while in other coatings other cocoa butter-like fats or shortenings are employed. The characteristics of the broad varieties of available processed fats are varied, making it possible to exercise control of the physical, organoleptic and rheological characteristics of the coatings, such as sheen, mouth feel, viscosity, melting and setting temperatures, and resistance to rancidity.
"Creme" fillings are confectionary-type food compositions containing the characteristic imparting flavorant such as cocoa, coffee or maple flavor, powdered sugars, and lipids such as shortening, and optionally containing other food adjuncts which impart desired texture, additional flavor, bulk or color. Creme fillings are typically used as the fillers for sandwich cookies and wafers.
Shortages in natural products, such as cocoa and coffee, have resulted in wide fluctuations in the price of these commodities. It is therefore desirable and economically attractive to employ edible substitutes for these natural products in foods which contain and are associated with these natural products and closely simulate their color and flavor. Likewise, some people are allergic to certain nonessential components found in natural food products and nonallergenic substitutes for these natural products would be and are desirable.
The use of United States Certified Food Colors, i.e., FD&C Colors (Food Drug & Cosmetic Colors) as such, or in the form of insoluble precipitated "lakes", as colorants for food compositions, including compositions that are lipid-based, is known.
it has also been determined that brown hues may be obtained by blending certain blue, yellow and red FD&C colors or color lakes thereof. The red color is required in such compositions to introduce the reddish tint characteristic of chocolate, cocoa, coffee, maple, cinnamon, ginger and other colors.
However, due to governmental regulation, the permissible uses of certain red colors or lakes made therefrom in food compositions are limited. Some red food colors and lakes are permitted in the United States, but not in Canada, while others are permitted in Canada, but not in the United States. Thus, restrictions are placed on the FD&C colors that can be blended to attempt to produce brown hues which are, at the same time, compatible with the food additive regulations of both countries. In particular, FD&C Red No. 40 (Allura Red) is permitted in the United States but not in Canada; FD&C Red No. 2 (Amaranth) is permitted in Canada, but not in the United States.
The only red color acceptable in both Canada and the United States, therefore, is FD&C Red No. 3 (Erythrosine). This colorant, however, is not suitable for use in many food compositions because it demonstrates poor stability on exposure to light and/or acid environments. For example, when FD&C Red No. 3 is mixed with the other colors (blue and yellow) to produce a brownish color blend, it has been observed to fade on exposure to light, leaving the residual color blend (green) as the dominant hue.
The use of caramel to impart brown hues to aqueous based foodstuffs is known. Caramel, which is carefully controlled burnt carbohydrate, usually dextrose or sucrose, is a water soluble, but lipid insoluble color additive, regulated and permitted in both the United States and Canada. As an article of commerce, it is available as a viscous, dense liquid, or as a drum-dried or spray-dried solid in powder or particulate form.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,651,576 teaches the use of powdered caramel coloring dissolved in water base systems, such as cola-type and other brown-hued beverages, artificial maple syrups, artificial vanilla flavors, sugar-based confections, bread and beer. Another use for caramel color in the dried form is found in U.S. Pat. No. 2,841,499, where dry caramel is added to a powdered mix, which powder is subsequently dissolved in water to make the final product. However, there is no teaching of the use of caramel for the coloring of lipid-based food compositions.
Finally, while the industry uses insoluble pigments, particularly color lakes, in lipid systems, there is no teaching of the use of the lipid insoluble caramel color as a pigment in a lipid system.
The prior art also discloses the use of water soluble-oil insoluble dyes in non-aqueous food compositions, but only when special provision is made to disperse those dyes. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,677,691 requires a three-step process to convert a water soluble colorant into an oil soluble colorant. Included in this process is the dissolution of the colorant in a polyhydric alcohol, followed by admixture and heating at 150.degree. C. with a solution of glycerol fatty acid ester converting agent to make a dye "complex".
U.S. Pat. No. 1,919,025 discloses the use of lanolin to effect an even distribution of water soluble food colors in fatty foodstuffs. Similarly, U.S. Pat. No. 3,489,573 indicates that, in order to use water soluble coloring materials in fatty compositions, the dye may be emulsified in a fatty acid ester of polyglycerol. U.S. Pat. No. 2,524,291 also describes dispersion of an aqueous solution of the dye in an emulsifier such as lecithin.
Yet another method of utilizing oil insoluble dyes in fatty compositions is described in U.S. Pat. No. 2,686,722. There, the dyes, being partially alcohol soluble, are first dissolved in alcohol, and then combined with the food composition. The temperature is raised to volatilize the alcohol, but the dyes remain in the composition.
Finally, U.S. Pat. No. 1,371,450 discloses a method of incorporating fat-incompatible (but otherwise unidentified) colors in confectionary coatings and fillings which use fat as the liquefying ingredient. The procedure taught involves adding the color to sugar (or similar component miscible with the color) and then milling the colored sweetener with the fat liquefying component to obtain a uniformly colored product.
Each of the above-cited prior art patents have in common the feature of requiring a special step, typically emulsification or "complexing" by which the oil insoluble colorant can be introduced into the fatty food composition. None of these references teach the use of caramel as a pigment to provide a brown color for lipid-based foods.
The food color industry, therefore, remains without a satisfactory method for imparting stable brown or chocolate or similar color hues to lipid-based food compositions, other than by the use of the natural products, and particularly lacks a method of coloration of lipid-based food compositions which is relatively simple, inexpensive, produces a stable food colorant, is not detrimental to health and can be marketed without contravening governmental restrictions.
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The design of engines that travel at supersonic speeds (e.g. possibly in the range of Mach 2 to Mach 3 at cruise, or possibly higher), involves a number of problems similar to those encountered in the design of sub-sonic jet engines. Thus, there are with both supersonic and sub-sonic engines the general concerns of weight, size, complexity, reliability, cost, etc., and also concerns relative to performance (e.g. thrust, specific fuel consumption, etc.). However, supersonic jet engines pose some special problems. For example, present day optimized designs for supersonic turbojet type engines are characterized in that these have relatively high jet velocities, and also create a high level of noise. Noise suppression in this type of engine is one of the most critical technical problems to be solved in making an environmentally acceptable commercial supersonic jet transport. Another consideration is that a supersonic jet engine must be designed to function adequately through a broad range of operating modes (i.e. take off and climb, acceleration up to supersonic cruise Mach number, as well as being able to cruise at both subsonic and supersonic speeds). Further, the general concerns relating to both subsonic and supersonic engine are exacerbated by the more stringent performance requirements imposed on supersonic jet engines.
With regard to noise suppression, over the last several decades, there have been many different systems proposed and/or used for suppressing noise. One general approach has been to mix the higher velocity jet exhaust with lower velocity air, and there are innumerable patents and other technical disclosures relating to variations on this basic concept. However, quite often these mixing type noise suppressors will degrade performance. This has been particularly true with supersonic engines. One approach to solve this problem has been to deploy the sound suppressing apparatus in its sound suppressing functioning mode during takeoff and climb and other situations where sound suppression apparatus is needed, and then to provide means by which the noise suppressing apparatus could be "stowed" for other operating modes (e.g. supersonic cruise). However, this takes extra space and adds complexities.
The jet engine noise suppressing nozzle disclosed by U.S. Pat. No. 4,501,393, granted Feb. 26, 1985, to Garry W. Klees and Charles P. Wright, and assigned to The Boeing Company, has proven to be an effective noise reducing nozzle for SST type aircraft. This type of nozzle suppresses noise by inducing a secondary flow of ambient air to mix with the engine exhaust gases. This nozzle effectively reduces low frequency noise but does not effectively reduce high frequency noise, i.e., noise above 2 khz. Others have proposed combining with the nozzle a thermal acoustic shield in an effort to reduce the high frequency noise. This approach, however, would add weight to the nozzle and significantly increase its complexity. One principal object of the present invention is to provide a relatively simple noise suppressing nozzle which is lighter and which effectively reduces high frequency noise.
Further, while the trend in subsonic turbo-fan engines has been to build engines with relatively large by-pass ratios so that most of the energy developed by the core engine is actually transmitted into the fan, in supersonic turbojet engines, when a fan is incorporated in the design, the by-pass ratio is generally quite small (e.g. 0.03 to 0.1), and the fan air is often able to provide not too much more than a cooling function. In some instances, it has been proposed to mix the fan air in a supersonic jet engine with the jet exhaust, and this is in some designs incorporated with an after burner. To the best knowledge of the applicant, this mixing would normally occur while both the fan air and the jet exhaust are both subsonic.
In recent years, there have been discussions in the technical literature on ejectors where there is supersonic mixing. For example, in Volume 21, Number 10 of the AIA Journal, there is an article "Thrust Augmenting Ejectors, Part I", written by Morton Elperin and Jiunn-Jeng Wu. A second article appeared in Volume 21, Number 12 of the AIA Journal, bearing the title "Thrust Augmenting Ejectors, Part II", by these same authors. There is an analysis of compressible fluids through a thrust augmenting ejector, and these articles deal with two distinct flows after substantially complete mixing has been accomplished. There is the "first solution", where there is subsonic mixed flow and the "second solution", where there is a supersonic mixed flow. Also there is a later publication which is "NASA Contractor Report 177419", which is authored by Dr. Wu, this being prepared for the Ames Research Center in July, 1986, and both first and second solution ejectors and the tests conducted on these are discussed. Also, there is a publication "Compound-Compressible Nozzle Flow", authored by Arthur Bernstein, William Heiser and Charles Havenor, presented at the AIAA 2nd Propulsion Joint Specialist Conference at Colorado Springs, Colo., Jun. 13-17, 1966, and this deals with the behavior of two or more gas streams flowing through a single nozzle.
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Microcomputers are also referred to as microprocessors. As the throughput capacity is enhanced, microprocessors of multi-core configuration (referred to as “multi-core processor”) high in processing performance per power consumption have received attention in the field of embedded devices as well.
Microprocessors of multi-core configuration are classified into those of symmetric multi processor (SMP: Symmetric Multi Processor) configuration and asymmetric multi processor (AMP: Asymmetric Multi Processor) configuration. The symmetric multi processor (SMP) is so constructed that the multiple CPUs incorporated in the processor completely evenly operate and the same operation and processing can be carried out in every CPU. That is, the symmetric multi processor is a system in which there is no CPU to which master operation is solely assigned and all the CPUs take partial charge of operating system (OP) functions and the like. In the symmetric multi processor SMP, processes are divided by dividing a task into threads and can be distributedly carried out by any processor. Therefore, the symmetric multi processor lacks certainty with respect to task execution time and sequence and real-time performance.
A system including a symmetric multi processor is capable of simultaneously executing threads in proportion to the number of CPUs by assigning the individual threads to the CPUs and this makes it possible to enhance the processing performance of the entire system. In asymmetric multi processors (AMPs), meanwhile, the use of each CPU is predetermined and each CPU is not used for uses other than the predetermined use.
One of examples of documents in which a parallel distributed processing system is described is Patent Document 1. In the parallel distributed processing system in Patent Document 1, the address spaces of each processor are divided into spaces shared among multiple threads and spaces such as stacks not shared among threads. Each processor is provided with a CPU address-logical address translation circuit. When the latter space, or the non-shared space, is accessed, the value of a base register is added to the access request address and address translation is carried out. The address spaces such as stacks are thereby relativized so that parallel translation can be arbitrarily carried out.
[Patent Document 1] Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. Hei 9(1997)-146904
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Additional space is required in the container for mixing the powder or concentrate with the liquid beverage stored in the container.
The structures intended to mix other materials in these containers have been invented through the U.S. Pat. No. 6,962,254, U.S. Pat. No. 6,230,884 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,854,595.
However, this structure has not been popularized because it shows some problems in terms of function, mixing efficiency, adaptability to production line and use convenience.
The technology (PCT/EP2002/004523: Jan. 174, 2002) invented or developed by a joint venture organized among an American company, German company and Austrian company and another technology invented or developed by a Japanese company are highlighted in the global market. However, the technology invented or developed by a Japanese company is commercialized for the first time in the world.
However, the technology (JP-P-2001-00185428: Jun. 19, 2001) invented or developed by a Japanese company shows a problem. In other words, the part forming a part of opening section drops in the container and children may swallow this dropped part, so the container neck of new form focused on preventing the separation of exhaust device is developed. However, this neck is inapplicable to the existing container, so this new container neck has some problem as well.
Also, the invention, recorded via an U.S. Patent No. 2003-72850, shows some problems in terms of airtight, operating efficiency, or when manufacturing the mold and filling the content.
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The present invention relates to fishing reels, and in particular, to reels having a drag brake and a ratchet mechanism for allowing unidirectional rotation of a spool.
When a fish strikes a fly, a lure, or other bait, line tension may become excessive and threaten to break the fishing line. Conventional fly casting reels often have a drag brake for this reason. The drag brake will respond to excessive line tension by allowing the spool in the reel to slip on its supporting axis. The slippage will occur without regard to the position or motion of any crank that may normally be used to retrieve the line.
Known reels often include a one way clutch to allow winding but not unwinding of the spool. Unwinding slack line will only tangle it. An angler can unwind line by overcoming the drag brake and pulling a large slack segment from the reel. This excess line is normally held to the side and released during the casting motion.
A disadvantage with known fishing reels is the rather complicated mechanisms employed to provide drag and one way rotation. The mechanism of U.S. Pat. No. 2,686,016 provides a drag brake as well as a clutch and a ratchet wheel. The large number of moving parts makes the reel relatively large, heavy and inconvenient for fly casting. For example, a gear train is employed so that the hand crank is at a different axial position than the spool. In particular, the amount of space occupied by the mechanism on a side of the spool is almost as large as the axial space provided for the fishing line itself.
Other fishing reels have attempted to reduce the amount of space occupied by the reel mechanism by mounting a clutch inside the core of the spool. See for example U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,130,671 and 3,432,114. In reels of this type, the clutch can be a pair of opposing rings with rows of ratchet teeth axially facing each other. Winding torque can be applied to a spool because the clutch slips as opposing teeth slide over each other and ratchet. Reverse rotation causes the teeth to lock and prevents unwinding. A disadvantage with these types of reels is that the clutch mechanism must be relatively small to fit within the core of the spool. Consequently the teeth are packed within a small diameter and must sustain a relatively high load. Thus the clutch is noisy, tends to wear quickly, and has a rough feel. See also U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,269,808 and 4,570,878.
Accordingly, there is a need for a smoothly and quietly operating fishing reel with a drag and clutch mechanism that is compact and not prone to high wear.
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Traditional methods of applying a tone scale function to a digital image modify the apparent sharpness of the image because the tone scale modifies the amplitudes of high frequency detail information. This phenomenon occurs when the tone scale function is applied to each of the color channels independently, or when the tone scale function is applied to the luminance channel of a luminance-chrominance transformed digital image.
For systems in which the spatial filtering step must precede the application of a tone scale function, the resultant image detail will also be adversely modified with respect to the original image. The tonal characteristics of an output device, such as a display monitor and a digital printer, can have the same affect on image detail as an applied tone scale function. For these applications, any spatial filtering operations designed to compensate for the device characteristics must be applied before the image is passed to the device.
The prior art contains several examples which address the problem of detail distortion by tone scale application. Many of these examples utilize frequency decomposition methods in the application of the tone scale function.
For example, to apply a tone scale function to a digital image without distorting the detail information, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,012,333, Lee et al. proposed separating the image into a high frequency and a low frequency image by using FIR filters. The tone scale function is then applied to only the low frequency image, and the high frequency image is added back to the tone scaled low frequency image. Also, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,454,044, Nakajima suggests modifying the image contrast by the formula EQU Sproc=Sorg+f(Sus).
The low frequency image (Sus) is passed through function f() which is a monotonically decreasing function. This signal is added to the original (Sorg) to create the processed image Sproc. Both of these methods apply a tone scale function while attempting to preserve the image detail.
In addition, methods exist in the prior art to improve the detail of a digital image. These methods often utilize unsharp masking, which is well known in the art. Examples exist in the prior art that modify parameters of the unsharp masking adaptively while processing the digital image. For example, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,081,692, Kwon et al describes a method of modifying the gain of an unsharp mask based upon a local center weighted variance. However, none of the prior art methods of sharpening a digital image compensate specifically for the degradation to the image detail that is induced by an applied tone scale function.
In addition, it is well know in the art that various sharpening algorithms may be used to compensate for the loss of spatial detail due to blurring when printing or displaying an image on an output device. This method includes tailoring the sharpening to the spatial characteristics of the output device. However, it would also be beneficial to tailor the level of sharpening to the tonal response of the device as well.
All methods described in the prior art designed to modify the spatial detail in relation to a tone scale function are methods of tone scale function application. As such, the detail of the original image input to the tone scale function application algorithm has not yet been undesirably altered. The goal of these methods is the application of a tone scale function without damaging image detail. For applications in which a tone scale function has already been applied to an image the image detail has likewise already been modified. Thus the methods described in the prior art are not applicable to overcoming this shortcoming.
Consequently, a need exists for overcoming the above-described drawbacks. More specifically, a need exists for a method of restoring image spatial detail in an image processing step occurring after the application of a tone scale function. Also, a need exists for a method of modifying the image spatial detail in preparation for the anticipated application of a tone scale function.
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The present invention relates to the field of microelectronic device manufacture, and more particularly relates to methods and apparatus suitable for encapsulating microelectronic subassemblies such as semiconductor chip subassemblies.
For example, as described in commonly assigned U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,148,266; 5,148,265; 5,258,330 and 5,398,863, certain microelectronic subassemblies may incorporate a microelectronic element such as a semiconductor chip, a dielectric layer such as a flexible, sheet-like dielectric with terminals thereon connected to the microelectronic element or semiconductor chip and a layer of a compliant material disposed between the dielectric layer and the semiconductor or microelectronic element. Such compliant layer can be formed, in whole or in part, by injecting a curable liquid material between the dielectric and the chip or microelectronic element. The curable liquid encapsulant may also serve to encapsulate the flexible leads. Specific methods for introducing encapsulant are disclosed in co-pending, commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 08/123,882, filed Sep. 20, 1993; 08/246,113, filed May 19, 1994 and 08/366,236 filed Dec. 28, 1994. As further described in co-pending, commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 08/271,768, filed Jul. 7, 1994, the microelectronic assembly may be fabricated by connecting leads between the terminals on the dielectric element and the microelectronic element and then moving the dielectric element and microelectronic element relative to one another to thereby deform the leads. Assemblies of this type may also be provided with a compliant layer by injection of a liquid encapsulant between the dielectric layer and the microelectronic element.
A further process for encapsulation of microelectronic elements is taught in U.S. Pat. No. 4,374,080. In this process, the devices to be encapsulated are disposed in mold cavities which are filled with a fine, powder filler through a filling orifice initially disposed at the top of the cavity. After addition of the filler, the cavities are inverted to drain off excess powder filler while still leaving some powder filler in the mold cavities surrounding the device. Following this, the liquid encapsulant is added and a vacuum is drawn so that gases trapped in the molding cavity, between the particles of filler, bubble up through the encapsulant. After degassing, the encapsulant is cured.
Other methods of encapsulation include transfer molding and injection molding. In these methods, the subassembly is positioned within a mold cavity and the encapsulating material is forced into the cavity around the subassembly. If the encapsulant is an elastomer which requires substantial curing time, each subassembly must remain in the mold for a prolonged period. Consequently, productivity of these methods is limited. In a "glob-top" encapsulation process, the encapsulant is applied over the chip and the surrounding region of the substrate without a mold. The glob-top process cannot be used with certain types of assemblies.
Despite these and other efforts in the art, there has been need for further development of encapsulation fixtures and methods. In particular, further improvement in encapsulation fixtures and methods capable of processing numerous semiconductor devices would be desirable. There are particular needs for fixtures and methods which are usable with encapsulants such as elastomers having long cure times.
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Field of the Invention
The invention relates to the field of digital computers, and in particular to an integrated circuit forming a central processing unit for a digital computer system.
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In various fields such as buildings, bridges, ships, offshore structures, construction machinery, tanks, and penstocks, steel materials are welded in accordance with shapes of steel structures to form desired shapes. In recent years there has been remarkable development in the production of larger scale steel structures, and thus there has been significant progress toward higher strength and thicker steel materials used to produce such steel structures.
However, when attempting to produce a steel plate having a thickness of 100 mm or greater and also having excellent strength and toughness in a mid-thickness part thereof, the large thickness of the steel plate causes the thickness central part to experience a lower cooling rate, which facilitates formation of a microstructure such as ferrite that has relatively low strength. Consequently, it is necessary to add large amounts of alloying elements to inhibit formation of such a microstructure.
It is particularly important to form a bainite microstructure or a mixed microstructure of bainite and martensite in the mid-thickness part during quenching to improve strength and toughness of a mid-thickness part of a steel plate. Accordingly, it is necessary to add large amounts of alloying elements such as Mn, Ni, Cr, and Mo.
Publications related to such steel plates include Nippon Steel Technical Report No. 348 (1993), p. 10-16 and NKK Corporation Technical Review No. 107 (1985), p. 21-30. Nippon Steel Technical Report No. 348 (1993), p. 10-16 describes a steel plate having a plate thickness of 210 mm and NKK Corporation Technical Review No. 107 (1985), p. 21-30 describes a steel plate having a plate thickness of 180 mm.
However, when large amounts of alloying elements such as Mn, Ni, Cr, and Mo are added to improve the microstructure of a mid-thickness part as described above, there is a problem that even if heat treatment is carried out with an objective of refining and homogenizing prior γ grain size, the desired refinement of prior γ grain size may not occur and, as a result, it may not be possible to obtain adequate toughness in the mid-thickness part.
We believe that the phenomenon described above occurs due to a shear-type reverse transformation. Specifically, nucleation and growth of γ grains normally occur from prior γ grain boundaries during heating of a steel material, and refinement and homogenization of prior γ grain size occur in association therewith. However, in a situation in which large amounts of alloying elements are contained in the steel material, nucleation and growth of γ grains are less likely to occur as described above and a shear-type reverse transformation may occur in which the prior γ grains themselves undergo a sudden reverse transformation to austenite. Consequently, γ grains remain coarse in a part of the steel material in which this reverse transformation occurs. Moreover, bainite and martensite obtained by cooling from this state are also coarse.
However, Nippon Steel Technical Report No. 348 (1993), p. 10-16 and NKK Corporation Technical Review No. 107 (1985), p. 21-30 do not describe a technique that resolves the difficulty of refining prior γ grain size during heat treatment. Therefore, a need remains to reliably produce steel plates having excellent strength and toughness in a mid-thickness part thereof.
It could therefore be helpful to provide a steel plate having excellent strength and toughness in a mid-thickness part thereof, despite having a plate thickness of 100 mm or greater, and to provide a method of producing such a steel plate.
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1. Field
This invention relates generally to trailer hitches and more specifically to a novel apparatus for mounting on the frame of a pick-up truck whereby a trailer having a standard gooseneck attachment is facilely connected to a ball hitch which is attached thereto in the bed of the pick-up truck.
2. Prior Art Trailer hitch assemblies are widely used to temporarily connect, in rotatable fashion, a trailer to a lead vehicle which supplies directional and driving capabilities. Trailers are known to provide a variety of advantages, perhaps most noteworthy of which is a marked increase in storage capacity of the lead vehicle.
While a number of different devices and related methods are known whereby a hitch ball or other hitch coupling is connected to the lead vehicle, many larger trailers are equipped with what has become known in the industry as a gooseneck assembly. A gooseneck assembly typically comprises an extended, crooked neck which extends into the bed of the pick-up truck, the free end of the neck including a ball receiving locking mechanism. In the bed of the truck, near the center thereof, a ball hitch assembly is mounted. Generally, this ball hitch is mounted only by means of a mounting plate, or similar, which is securely attached, usually by bolting to the bed of the truck.
While in many cases this assembly is suitable, the weight of a large, heavy trailer tends to place undue stress on the mounting plate, often resulting in a failure of the ball attachment to the bed of the truck. Of course, such a risk of failure is dangerous and therefore unacceptable.
An advantage is provided when the mounting plate to which the ball hitch is secured is secured to the frame of the truck. This has shown to be a more effective and safe way to attach the ball hitch to the truck bed. However, problems still arise from this arrangement. For example, it is often desirable to remove the ball hitch from its mounted position in the bed of the truck to otherwise use the bed of the truck such as for cargo storage. When the ball hitch is removed on a regular basis for such purposes the securing parts become worn and as a result fail to function as required.
Furthermore, jostling and jarring in the normal course of traveling with a gooseneck trailer similarly tends to wear on the ball hitch assembly, thus causing a decrease in effectiveness. As a result, ball hitch assemblies often must be replaced after a relatively short period of time or after a relatively few number of miles, which can be unduly expensive.
Therefore, it would serve a legitimate interest in the art to create a ball hitch assembly which can easily be removed from the mounting plate which secures it firmly to the frame of the truck and similarly replaced. Also, it would be advantageous to provide such a ball hitch assembly which may be secured to the mounting plate without the standard locking mechanism, usually a lock washer, so as to prevent the wearing of parts.
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The invention relates to face mill cutter head assemblies of the continuous indexing type adapted for use in gear cutting machines. The cutter head is designed to receive tools characterized by their front face portions requiring no resharpening. More particularly, the invention relates to improvements in cutter head assemblies of the aforesaid type whereby the front face portions of the cutting tools mounted therein may be preserved during resharpening. In addition, the invention provides for a method for designing such cutter head assemblies.
The use of cutting blades where sharpening stock is removed from the shank portion in a fashion that preserves the front face portion of these tools is well known in the art of metal cutting (for example see U.S. Pat. No. 1,648,380). Practical advantages of using such blades are also well known in the art of gear cutting as discussed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,961,403; 4,060,881; and East German Pat. No. 112923 (1975). Recent application of blade coating processes has resulted in improved tool performance and tool life. Cutter head designs which permit the use of blades of the above-mentiond type possess the further advantage of benefiting from such coating processes despite repeated sharpenings. Appreciable savings in productivity and tool costs can be realized as the original coating is preserved on the tool face for the entire service life of the tool.
It is also known to use bar-stock type blades of generally quadralateral cross-section in face hobbing type cutter heads. The use of such blades where sharpening stock is taken from the shank portion obviates the need for corrective radial adjustment subsequent to resharpening as is common in face mill hobbing cutters using conventional blades. A head design of this type is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,760,476. While this design permits the use of blades with sharpening stock in the blade shank portion, special requirements of cutting edge alignment inherent to the hobbing process have hitherto precluded the use of sharpening processes which preserve the face portion of the tool.
It is common practice in the manufacture of bevel and hypoid gear sets according to the face hobbing process to generate mating members on the basis of a theoretical crown gears. When edges of cutting blades for both members coincide with respect to a plane normal to the longitudinal tooth curve of the imaginary common crown gear, the members can then be generated conjugate to each other. Failure of the cutting edges for both members to coincide may result in undesirable mismatch of mating gear teeth. Heretofore, it has been common practice to maintain the correct disposition of cutting edges in the face hobbing process by grinding the front faces of cutting blades.
It is an object of this invention to disclose a novel cutter assembly of the face hobbing type for the production of conjugate bevel and hypoid gears when utilizing bar-stock type blades having front faces preserved during resharpening.
Another object of this invention is to disclose a cutter assembly of the above mentioned type wherein a given range of job requirements may be accomodated and deleterious tooth mismatch avoided without necessitating corrective adjustment of cutting blade faces.
Other objects and features of this invention will become apparent in the detailed discussion which follows. In that discussion reference will be made to the accompanying drawings as briefly described below:
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For example, JP 2003-049849 A discloses a work spindle of a machine tool in which the spindle shaft is supported via ball bearings in an outside housing. In this connection, in the outside housing there is a grease reservoir for lubricating the ball bearings, the grease reservoir being closed on one side with a movable piston which is moved by compressed air or another pressurized gas for delivery of grease in the direction of the ball bearings.
The object of the invention is to devise an improved device of the initially mentioned type so that among others extremely small amounts of grease can be delivered in an exactly controllable manner from the grease reservoir to the antifriction bearing.
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Technical Field
The present invention relates to the copy and transfer of data by remote direct memory access (RDMA), particularly to the copy and transfer of data that has non-contiguous data regions that include garbage data.
Description of the Related Art
In the X10 programming language (hereinafter “X10”), an X10 “place” is a repository for data and activities, corresponding loosely to a process or a processor. A place may be local and a place may be remote. The activities running in a place may access data items located at a local place with the efficiency of on-chip access. On the other hand, accessing data stored in other places may take orders of magnitude longer.
In X10, objects cannot be referred to directly if they are found at other places, e.g., remote places. Instead, when a remote place needs to use an object, the object is copied from where it is stored, e.g., a local place, for use in the remote place.
In computing, remote direct memory access (RDMA) is a direct memory access from the memory of one computer into that of another computer without involving the operating system of either computer. Memory access via RDMA attains high throughput and networking with low latency. These features are especially useful in very large parallel computer clusters. With RDMA, the cost of data transfer can be reduced.
Vectored input/output (I/O), also known as scatter/gather I/O, is a method of input and output by which a single procedure-call sequentially writes data from multiple buffers to a single data stream or reads data from a data stream to multiple buffers. The buffers are given in a vector of buffers. Scatter/gather I/O refers to the process of gathering data from, or scattering data into, the given set of buffers. Scatter/gather I/O can operate synchronously or asynchronously. Using scatter/gather I/O with RDMA could be efficient and convenient; however, when scatter/gather I/O is frequently used, the computer system may experience significant degradation due to the creation of additional data copies during scatter/gather operations.
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The present invention relates to an information storage medium represented by a large-capacity optical disc and a digital information recording/playback system using the medium.
In particular, the present invention relates to a DVD (digital versatile disc) recording/playback system that considers real-time recording of a moving picture.
The present invention also relates to a recording/playback system which can guarantee continuous playback (or continuous recording) upon continuously playing back (or continuously recording) information using playback devices (disc drives) having various access performances.
Furthermore, the present invention relates to a recording/playback system which can prevent any playback timing errors of video information and audio information recorded on the medium.
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The present invention relates to a ring and, more particularly, to a ring having a plurality of hidden internal compartments for concealing small articles.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,357,697 and 4,427,130 disclose rings having compartments which are at all times accessible from the outer surface of the ring. Such rings are not suitable for the secret storage of valuables, such as small diamonds or other small articles, first, because an inspection of the ring easily reveals the presence of the hidden compartment, and, second, the hidden compartment can easily be opened even while the ring is being worn. U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,048,878 and 1,830,929 disclose rings formed of concentric members which ar pivotally mounted together and have one of the members tiltable relative to the other. The purpose of the rings is to protect from wear engraving or like writing on the outer surface of the inner member or the inner surface of the outer member, with the engraving or like writing being capable of exhibition on special occasions. These rings do not, however, provide a compartment in which valuables can be concealed. Thus the need remains for a ring which can concealed small articles within its hidden internal compartments with a high degree of security.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a ring having a plurality of hidden internal compartments for concealing small articles.
Another object is to provide such a ring in which the compartments cannot be accessed while the ring is being worn.
A further object is to provide such a ring which has the appearance of a normal ring, such as a wedding band.
It is also an object to provide such a ring formed of two concentric members, relative rotation of the two members in one direction enabling access to the compartments, and relative rotation of the members in the other direction being blocked.
It is another object of the present invention to provide such a ring which is of rugged and economical construction.
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(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a control panel support mechanism mounted on an image forming apparatus to support a control panel, to a control panel assembly in which a control panel is supported by such a control panel support mechanism, and to an image forming apparatus provided with such a control panel assembly.
(2) Description of the Related Art
Image forming apparatuses such as copiers or printers, as well as image reading apparatuses such as scanners, are sometimes provided with a large control panel that integrates an input control unit and a display unit. The input control unit is for inputting a variety of information, and the display unit displays the input information, the operational status of the device, etc. Patent Literature 1 (Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2008-134363) discloses a large control panel that is separate from an image forming apparatus or the like. The control panel is mounted on the image forming apparatus so as to be supported by a control panel support mechanism.
In Patent Literature 1, the input control unit of the control panel is attached to the control panel support mechanism, and the display screen of the display unit is inclined with respect to the input unit at an obtuse angle of less than 180°. The control panel support mechanism is configured so that when the control panel is swung vertically with respect to the image forming apparatus or the like, the input control unit of the control panel can be locked in either a nearly horizontal state or in an inclined state at a predetermined angle.
A user in a wheelchair, for example, can swing the control panel with this structure downwards and lock the input control unit in the inclined state. This enables the user to operate the input control unit while seated in a wheelchair. Moreover, this structure also enables the user to see the display screen of the display unit clearly.
In the panel mechanism disclosed in Patent Literature 1, the control panel support mechanism is provided with a first support member on which a plurality of locking holes are vertically formed, a second support member having a locking lug configured to move vertically with respect to the first support member and to be inserted in each locking hole, and an operation member configured to slide the locking lug in a direction to extract the locking lug from the locking hole.
The locking lug of the second support member is in the shape of a pin and is biased so as to be inserted into the lock holes. When the locking lug is inserted into a locking hole, the control panel is locked so as not to be vertically swingable. By operation of the operation member, the locking lug slides in a direction to be extracted from the locking hole. The control panel is thus unlocked and becomes capable of being swung vertically.
In the structure in Patent Literature 1, an appropriate amount of space is required between the pin-shaped locking lug and vertical edges of the locking holes in order for the locking lug to be smoothly inserted into each locking hole by the bias of a biasing unit. In such a structure, the locking lug may vibrate vertically in the locking holes. To address this problem, Patent Literature 1 recites applying a bias to the locking lug so that the locking lug comes into contact with the upper edge of each locking hole. This prevents the locking lug from vibrating once inserted into the locking holes.
However, even this structure has the problem that if an unreasonable force is applied to the input control unit in the control panel so as to swing the control panel downwards, the locking lug will swing downwards in the locking hole, causing the control panel to swing downwards.
Furthermore, when the locking lug is inserted into or extracted from the locking holes, the locking lug may slide against the upper or lower edges of the locking holes. Accordingly, the locking lug, as well as either or both of the vertical edges of the locking holes, will become worn over time if the locking lug is repeatedly inserted into and extracted from the locking holes. This will increase the space between the locking lug and the locking holes, resulting in the control panel being swung downwards upon application of a large force.
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In recent years, display devices have been used in various apparatus as information display means for viewers. A new display panel (a major part of a display device, excluding an external circuit, a casing, and the like) that utilizes liquid crystal, plasma, electro-luminescence, field emission, or the like, becomes the mainstream of typical display devices now, in place of a Braun tube that was popularly utilized for display devices before. The new display panel generally has a flat display area in which a plurality of pixels, each being a basic unit for image formation in the display area, is arranged in a matrix, and is a type of display panel that enables the display device to be small in thickness. Hence, the new display device is also called “flat panel display” as a generic term.
Taking as an example an active-matrix liquid-crystal display device, which is a most typical display device now, a plurality of display areas are formed on a mother substrate made of an insulative material such as transparent glass or plastic. In each display area, pluralities of scan wirings and signal wirings are arranged in matrix patterns, and at their intersection points, thin film transistors, i.e., switching elements and pixels having pixel electrodes are arranged in a matrix. Through steps of forming them, the mother substrate is fabricated into an array substrate with the scan wirings, the signal wirings, the pixel electrodes, and various other wirings, terminals, and the likes formed thereon. The array substrate and its opposite substrate are bonded together with a gap of several μm, and cut and separated on a display area basis, thereby to obtain a plurality of liquid crystal panels (display panels). The gap is filled with a liquid crystal material. In addition, there are two methods of filling a liquid crystal: one is a one-drop fill method that is applied before an opposite substrate is bonded; and the other is a vacuum injection method that is applied after bonded.
In manufacturing steps prior to those of cutting and separating the array substrate and mounting a driver circuit and an external circuit, there has been a discharge breakdown problem that a short circuit or a break occurs in a scan wiring or a signal wiring formed on the array substrate owing to an external static electricity, or there has been a discharge breakdown problem of a gate insulation film that causes a change in characteristic such as a threshold level of the thin film transistor.
As a way to solve the above-mentioned problem, a configuration has been disclosed in, for example, JP Unexamined Patent Publication No. H11-119246A, in which an anti-static short wiring (short ring) that is commonly connected with plural scan-wiring leads and signal-wiring leads is provided in the vicinity of a cutting line along which the array substrate is to be cut into individual liquid crystal panels. The common connection with the scan wirings and the signal wirings, even if static electricity happens to occur therein, discharges its charge to diminish the potential difference between the wirings, which brings about an effect that a discharge breakdown is less likely to occur between the wirings.
As a rule, the short-wiring-formed area is disposed off, when the mother substrate is cut and separated into the plurality of display panels.
However, from the viewpoint of cost reduction of the display device, it is desirable to obtain the display panels as many as possible from one mother substrate. The short-wiring formed area to be disposed off are, as a matter of course, unusable for the display panel, which has caused a problem of reducing the number of display panels obtained from one mother substrate.
Moreover, if connection wirings that connect scan-wiring leads or signal-wiring leads to a short wiring are formed from the same layer for the scan wirings or the signal wirings by being directly extended from external-connection terminals for the scan wirings or the signal wirings, the connection wirings are usually located to intersect the cutting line along which the display panels are to be cut and separated from their mother substrate. As a result, the layer of the scan wirings or the signal wirings, i.e., the connection wiring layer is exposed on the cut end.
While scan wirings or signal wirings are generally formed of a metal film of low ohmic resistance, the low resistance metal film is likely to corrode under high temperature and high humidity environment. For this reason, if the connection wirings are formed of such a low resistance metal film, corrosion occurs, depending upon a use environment of the display device, beginning from the connection wirings exposed on the cut end, and gradually progresses to the external-connection terminals of the array substrate and further to the leads, resulting in a reliability problem such as a malfunction due to a break in a wiring during operation of the display device.
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Due to problems with waste water treatment, acidic liquid cleaners for aluminum are currently being converted from the fluorine-based cleaners used heretofore to fluorine-free, chromium-free cleaners.
The acidic liquid aluminum cleaners disclosed in, for example, (a) Japanese Patent Application Laid Open [Kokai] Number 61-106783 [106,783/86], (b) Japanese Patent Application Laid Open Number 61-231188 [231,188/86], and (c) Japanese Patent Application Laid Open Number HEI 2-73983 [73,983] are examples of prior art fluorine-free, chromium-free cleaners. The liquid cleaners disclosed in (a) and (b) are sulfuric acid-based acidic liquid cleaners for aluminum. In addition to sulfuric acid, nitric acid, and surfactant, these also contain ferric ion (etching accelerator) and an oxidant (stabilizer for the ferric ion). These compositions are heated to 50.degree. to 80.degree. C. for use in cleaning. The liquid cleaner in (c) is a phosphoric acid-based acidic liquid cleaner for aluminum. In addition to phosphoric acid, sulfuric acid, and surfactant, it contains small amounts of ferric ion (in order to inhibit corrosion of the cleaning equipment) and an oxidant which acts as a stabilizer for the ferric ion. It is heated to 50.degree. to 80.degree. C. for use in cleaning.
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This invention relates to color display devices, for use in television displays, computer monitors, and the like.
Conventional displays, using cathode ray tube (CRT) display devices, operate with a series of horizontal lines written continuously on the display in a vertical progression. The lines may be written continuously from top to the bottom (progressive, continuous or non-interlaced scan) or, more traditionally in broadcast receivers the odd numbered lines may be written first on one field and the even numbered lines then written on the next field (interlaced scan). For present purposes there is no material difference between progressive and interlaced scan; they both scan line-by-line and are supplied with an essentially continuous video signal which represents what may be regarded as picture elements or pixels along successive lines. Although referred to as pixels or picture elements, in the received analog video signal the pixels are not discrete, but rather the signal is completely continuous during each line. The lines are sufficient in number to be invisible to the normal user at the normal viewing distance.
To provide color on the display a cathode ray tube has three guns which receive analog red, green and blue (RGB) color-component signals respectively, and which are arranged to place red, green and blue spots closely together on the display screen. The three elemental color areas are not superposed, but are placed side-by-side. In a traditional shadow mask tube, illustrated in FIGS. 1A, 1B and 1C of the drawings, they are in a triangular arrangement of dots. In another type of tube known as the striped tube, illustrated in FIGS. 2A, 2B and 2C, the color regions are in narrow vertical stripes down the screen. In either event, the three color components of such a triplet are derived from the same instant of the video signal, but are positioned on the display at very slightly different locations. The video signal can be said to be sampled in this process. The three points of color can be referred to as sub-pixels. The sub-pixels are sufficiently close to render the sampling invisible.
A new type of display, which may be termed a discrete color display or matrix display, is now being developed, which consists of a two-dimensional array of separate display elements. An example of such a display is a plasma display. In this case also, the sub-pixels are not coincident on the display but appear at difference places on the overall display. They may be arranged in stripes as in the striped display. In this case the separate display elements are separately addressed, each with a separate pixel value, with successive samples, which have been taken from an appropriate continuous video signal.
We have appreciated that the spatial separation of the dots or stripes on the screen means that the information is not being displayed at precisely the correct point. Putting it another way, the information that should be displayed at the red sub-pixel should differ as regards the precise instant in the red video signal from which it is taken such as to reflect the spatial difference in the location of the red sub-pixel from the green and blue sub-pixels.
We have appreciated that with existing analog CRT displays this effect is obtained by adjusting the relative timing between the instants that the red, green and blue beams excite the phosphors as they sweep across the sub-pixels. This adjustment takes place during the convergence operation, which is part of the CRT setting-up procedure and can be explained as follows. A visual convergence adjustment takes place in which the scans are laterally adjusted so as to produce the optimum image as judged by a visual observer. FIG. 3 shows the relative disposition of the sub-pixels, guns and shadow-mask apertures with superposed beam positions corresponding to three adjacent sets of sub-pixels. It will be appreciated that,for the purposes of illustration the distance from the guns to the shadow-mask has been considerably reduced compared to the distance from the shadow-mask to the pixels. FIGS. 4A, 4B and 4C show the beam positions at three successive instants of time as the beams sweep from left to right. It can be seen that the spacing;of the beams is such that two of the beams are blocked when the third is exciting the appropriate phosphor. This has the effect of three-fold interleaving the times in the red, green and blue signals when the appropriate phosphors are excited.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,604,513 describes video display apparatus using a matrix display. Analog color component signals are received and serially sampled for application sequentially to the matrix display. The inventor specifically wishes the three horizontally-spaced color components to represent the same point in time, and therefore includes a one-third pixel delay in one component signal path and a two-thirds pixel delay in another of the component paths. This in fact introduces a problem similar to that noted above.
The present invention is defined in the independent claims below, to which reference should now be made. Advantageous features are set forth in the appendant claims.
In accordance with this invention we have appreciated that a discrete digitally-driven display can, however, be improved by modifying the signal samples to take account of the sub-pixel shift.
Where the sample rate of the RGB signals is the same as that of the display, this modification preferably takes the form of an interpolation of the R and B samples to new samples which are offset by the R and B sub-pixel shift from the G samples. Where the sample rate (samples/line) of the RGB signals is different from that of the display, all three sets of samples need to be interpolated, again allowing for the shift offset.
The improvement is, in principle, applicable to both one-dimensional and two-dimensional sampling situations. One-dimensional sampling arises with a display where the colors are arranged in stripes where the sub-pixels of a color are vertically aligned, whereas two-dimensional sampling arises in particular where the sub-pixels are arranged in a group of dots. For ease of explanation the following description by way of example will be made in relation to a one-dimensional arrangement. Those skilled in the art will be able to expand the treatment to the two-dimensional situation.
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Many modern network adapters are configured to include multiple transmit queues. Typically, multiple transmit queues are made available in order to provide enhanced quality of service (“QoS”), the preferential treatment of some packets over others, by providing queues of varying priority levels (e.g., one queue per priority level), into which packets may be deposited while awaiting transmission on a network. Many network communication protocols, such as Internet Protocol, version 6 (“IPv6”) (IETF draft standard RFC 2460, December 1998, “Internet Protocol, Version 6 (IPv6) Specification”) provide a capability to specify a priority for the packet as a part of an IP header. Providing queues of varying priority levels enables the network adapter to transmit higher priority packets before lower priority packets, even though the higher priority packets may have been queued subsequent to the lower priority packets.
Because packets within the same flow (a single communication may comprise one or multiple packets depending on the size of the communication) will be designated with the same priority, providing one queue per priority level ensures that packets will be sent in the same order in which they were processed by a protocol stack, thereby eliminating, to the extent possible, the potential that the packets will be received out-of-order at the destination node on the network. While not an issue in regard to all communication protocols, the order in which packets are transmitted and received can represent a problem for some communication protocols and particularly one widely used communication protocol, Transmission Control Protocol (“TCP”) (IETF standard RFC 793, Sep. 1, 1981, “Transmission Control Protocol”). In one implementation of TCP for example, if a packet is received out-of-order (i.e., the order in which it was processed by the protocol stack) by more than a small margin (e.g., a swap with an adjacent packet), it will be considered lost, and will have to be retransmitted. Providing one queue per one or more priority levels helps to alleviate this problem because all packets of equal priority will be deposited in the same queue. However, in network environments in which a protocol that does not include a priority indicating feature is in use, or the protocol in use supports fewer levels of priority than there are queues available with a network adapter, at least a portion of the multiple transmit queues associated with the network adapter remain unused.
The reader will appreciate that a packet comprises a package of information transmitted as a single unit from a source node on a network to a destination node on the network, and typically includes data, as well as addressing, routability, and reliability information in the form of headers and/or footers to enable the network's communication protocols to deliver the data within the packet to the intended recipient, and to ensure that the data arrives intact and without corruption. As transmit requests are generated from applications in response to user input or otherwise, the transmit requests are transferred to a protocol stack, such as a Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (“TCP/IP”) protocol stack for encapsulation into the packet. After incorporating the data and other information into the packet, the packet is transferred to a device driver associated with a network adapter to be placed in a queue, awaiting transmission on the network. The device driver generally comprises a software component that permits a computer system to communicate with a device (e.g., a network adapter), and manipulates data in order to transmit data to the device (e.g., depositing packets in a queue and informing the network adapter that packets are waiting to be transmitted).
In a multiprocessor system, it is possible to have multiple transmit requests arrive at a “send packet” function of the device driver simultaneously on different processors. As mentioned previously, if the packets of the transmit requests are of equal priority, different priorities that are sharing a queue, or a priority-indicating protocol is not being used, then the packets will be deposited in the same queue via current queuing mechanisms to await transmission on the network. In order to provide access to the “send packet” function resources associated with a particular queue, the device driver may use semaphores to indicate to potential users that the “send packet” function resources associated with the particular queue are in use, thereby preventing access by more than one thread.
In a Windows® operating system environment for example, the semaphores are referred to as “spinlocks.” Spinlocks guarantee that only one process at a time will be given access to a particular resource, thereby ensuring data integrity within the resource. As a consequence of the foregoing, when a second processor, for example, attempts to acquire a resource (e.g., a queue specific element of the “send packet” function) that is already being used by a first processor, for example, the second processor “spins,” and waits for the spinlock to be released. While waiting for the spinlock to be released, the second processor remains in a “busy wait,” and is not free to perform other tasks. Often, in network environments designed for high throughput levels (e.g., gigabit or 10 gigabit connections), the throughput level of the network connection itself may be limited by processor bandwidth, particularly, cycles spent preparing and processing network transmit requests.
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The invention relates to a spinning or twisting spindle having a vertical spindle shaft which is disposed in a spindle bearing housing by means of a bolster and a step bearing. The spindle bearing housing can be fastened to a spindle rail below the step bearing, by means of a holding device which is essentially radially spring-elastically flexible.
In the case of a spindle of the initially mentioned type (German Patent Document DE-AS 11 83 415, FIG. 6), the spindle bearing housing is arranged in an outer housing which surrounds it. The outer housing is extended beyond the area of the step bearing and is provided with transverse slots which are disposed in several planes and form a row of springy ring segments which are connected with one another by means of short webs. As a result, a type of swivel point is to be created around which the housing receiving the spindle bearing housing can be swivelled. In addition, the spindle bearing housing is held in the outer housing in an elastic manner such that it can carry out swivelling or tumbling motions inside the housing.
It is an object of the invention to provide a spinning or twisting spindle of the initially mentioned type by means of which it becomes possible to reduce the running noises.
This object is achieved according to preferred embodiments of the invention in that the holding device contains a pin made of springy materials as an extension of the spindle bearing housing, the cross-section of this pin being smaller than the cross-section of the spindle bearing housing and the pin forming a point of discontinuity.
In this case, the invention is based on the recognition that an essential cause of the running noises rests with the construction of the bolster which normally contains roller bodies. Even if this bolster is manufactured with high precision with respect to its shape and only a small play is permitted, smaller deviations still cannot be avoided. These deviations have the result that the roller bodies and thus also the spindle bearing housing are set to perform vibrations which have the effect of a sound wave. These vibrations are then transmitted by means of a so-called flow of structure-borne sound, to other machine elements which have larger surfaces capable of vibrating and thus result in an increase in the generating of noise. According to the invention, the pin forms a point of discontinuity which must be considered as a throttling point for the flow of the structure-borne sound. Vibrations of the spindle bearing housing are therefore only to a clearly reduced extent transmitted to other machine elements and particularly to the spindle rail. As a result the generating of noise is essentially reduced to the spindle bearing housing.
In a further development of the invention, it is provided that the holding device comprises devices for adjusting the angular position of the spindle. Spindles of this type are normally driven by means of a tangential belt or another belt drive which exercises a load on the spindle in the radial direction. This will result in a deformation in the area of the pin which can be compensated by the devices for the adjusting in such a manner that the spindle loaded by means of the driving belt is largely aligned perpendicularly and, in the case of a ring spindle, particularly in the center with respect to the center of the ring.
In a further development of the invention, it is provided that the pin is manufactured in one piece with the spindle bearing housing. The mounting of the pin will then not result in significantly increased manufacturing expenses because the manufacturing may take place as a machining by means of turning. In an expedient further development, it is provided that a fastening flange and a thread bolt connect to the pin serving as the point of discontinuity. These elements may also be manufactured in a simple manner in one operation in one piece with the spindle bearing housing and the pin.
In a further development of the invention, it is provided that the spindle bearing housing is surrounded by a ring made of a rubber elastic material in the area of the bolster. This ring, which may be mounted either to the spindle bearing housing or to a recess of a spindle rail, is essentially used as a safety device for preventing excessive deviations or deflections of the spindle. Stronger deflections of this type may occur, for example, during the starting of a machine and in the case of the loads occurring during the starting.
In a further development of the invention, it is provided that the spindle bearing housing is surrounded by a shell of sound-absorbing material. As a result, it is also possible to provide a further protection from the sound waves radiating from the spindle bearing housing so that a further noise reduction is obtained. It is advantageous in this case for the shell to be held at the spindle bearing housing in the area of the bolster and to surround the remaining area of the spindle bearing housing at a distance. A shell of this type may be mounted at any time later.
Other objects, advantages and novel features of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of the invention when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
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1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to igniters for gaseous fuel, and more particularly to igniters that include igniter elements and shields for protecting the igniter elements.
2. Background
Ceramic materials have enjoyed great success as igniters in e.g. gas-fired furnaces, stoves and clothes dryers. Ceramic igniter production includes constructing an electrical circuit through a ceramic component a portion of which is highly resistive and rises in temperature when electrified by a wire lead. See, for instance, U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,582,629; 6,278,087; 6,028,292; 5,801,361; 5,786,565; 5,405,237; and 5,191,508. See also U.S. Patent Publication 2003/0080193.
Typical igniters have been generally rectangular-shaped elements with a highly resistive “hot zone” at the igniter tip with one or more conductive “cold zones” providing to the hot zone from the opposing igniter end. One currently available igniter, the Mini-Igniter™, available from Norton Igniter Products of Milford, N.H., is designed for 12 volt through 120 volt applications and has a composition comprising aluminum nitride (“AlN”), molybdenum disilicide (“MoSi2”), and silicon carbide (“SiC”).
Certain shield elements have been employed for ceramic igniters to provide enhanced mechanical integrity to the igniter system. See U.S. Pat. No. 6,777,650 to Hamel et al., which discloses highly useful igniter/shield systems.
Nevertheless, end-user demands require continued efforts to produce more robust igniter systems with greater manufacturing efficiencies.
It would therefore be desirable to have an igniter including an igniter element and a shield for protecting the igniter element from accidental or other unintended damage or breakage. It would be further desirable to have such an igniter system that is relatively inexpensive to manufactured use.
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During laparoscopic surgery, one or more small incisions are formed in the abdomen and a trocar is inserted through the incision to form a pathway that provides access to the abdominal cavity. The trocar is used to introduce various instruments and tools into the abdominal cavity, as well as to provide insufflation to elevate the abdominal wall above the organs. During such procedures, a scoping device, such as an endoscope or laparoscope, is inserted through one of the trocars to allow a surgeon to view the operative field on an external monitor coupled to the scoping device.
Scoping devices are often inserted and removed through a trocar multiple times during a single surgical procedure, and during each insertion and each removal they can encounter fluid that can adhere to the scopes lens and fully or partially impede visibility through the lens. Furthermore, a scope can draw fluid from inside or outside a patients body into the trocar, where the fluid can be deposited within the trocar until the scope or other instrument is reinserted through the trocar. Upon reinsertion, fluid can adhere to the scopes lens. The scopes lens thus needs to be cleaned to restore visibility, often multiple times during a single surgical procedure. With limited access to a scope in a body, each lens cleaning can require removing the scope from the body, cleaning the scope lens of fluid, and reintroducing the scope into the body. Such lens cleaning is a time-consuming procedure that also increases the chances of complications and contamination through repeated scope insertion and removal.
Accordingly, there is a need for methods and devices for maintaining clear visibility through a lens of a scoping device during a surgical procedure.
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A concrete structure such as a road bridge has so far been considered as a semi-permanent structure. There is however posed a problem in strength because factors such as a long time use, increase in the volume of traffic, and increase in the live load on automobiles have caused considerable deterioration of concrete surface and cracks. A counter-measure against this problem is to reinforce a concrete structure, and it is a common practice for this purpose to reinforce the same with carbon fibers impregnated with a resin.
This reinforcing method comprises sticking reinforcing fibers such as carbon fibers impregnated with a resin onto the concrete surface, and hardening the reinforcing fibers by causing setting of the resin, thereby forming a reinforcing material enhanced with fibers, i.e., forming a fibre-reinforced composite material (FRP). According to this practice, it is possible to reinforce the concrete structure with a high reinforcing effect since the reinforcing fibers in the reinforcing material firmly adhering to the concrete surface serve as a tension material through a high tensile strength thereof.
The reinforcing fibers used for such reinforcing purposes are applicable in the form of a reinforcing fiber sheet impregnated, upon use, with a resin, in which the reinforcing fibers are arranged in a single direction or in two directions through an adhesive layer on a support sheet, or in the form of a prepreg of a flexible sheet semi-hardened by previously impregnating the reinforcing fibers arranged in a single direction or in two directions with a resin.
When reinforcing a concrete structure such as, for example, a concrete slab of a road bridge, with reinforcing fibers serving as a tension material, the center portion is reinforced by sticking the reinforcing fibers impregnated with a resin onto the lower surface, since there occurs a moment tending to produce a downward convexity at the center portion thereof. In a protruding portion of the slab, on the other hand, a moment in a direction counter to that at the center portion is produced. It is therefore necessary to reinforce the slab from the upper surface.
Reinforcing from the upper surface is accomplished by removing asphalt placed on the concrete slab to expose the upper surface, sticking the reinforcing fibers impregnated with a resin to the upper surface, hardening the same, and then, placing asphalt onto the thus formed reinforcing material.
This practice is however defective in that it is impossible to ensure a high adhesivity between the reinforcing material and the placed asphalt, resulting in displacement of asphalt upon passage of an automobile.
A concrete slab other than a road bridge slab, i.e., a parking lot slab or a warehouse slab, is used in some cases by placing asphalt on the slab concrete surface. When reinforcing the upper surface of such a slab having asphalt placed thereon with reinforcing fibers, a problem is again that a sufficient adhesivity is unavailable between the reinforcing material based on the reinforcing fibers and asphalt. In a concrete floor surface having asphalt placed thereon for the purpose of achieving simplified waterproofing on a roof of a building as well, there is posed the problem of unavailability of a satisfactory adhesivity between the reinforcing material using reinforcing fibers and asphalt.
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a system for controling the moisture content in the subsurface soil to depths of 20 feet surrounding the foundation of a house or other building structure.
2. Prior Art
The prior art teaches the desirability of attempting to control the moisture content in the surface soil primarily for the purpose of irrigating plant life. However, none of the prior art teaches how to control the moisture content in the earth at subsoil depths up to 20 feet deep surrounding a house or other building structure in order to prevent damage to the foundation as described in the manner herein.
A preliminary patent search was conducted related to the present invention and the following patents were uncovered in the search:
______________________________________ Inventor U.S. Pat. No Date ______________________________________ Babin 2,798,768 July 9, 1957 Thomas 3,552,654 January 5, 1971 Cobb et al. 3,744,256 July 10, 1973 Fitzhugh 3,797,738 March 19, 1974 Chevreliere 3,905,551 September 16, 1975 Green 3,946,762 March 30, 1976 Maclay 3,991,939 November 16, 1976 Neal 4,197,866 April 15, 1980 ______________________________________
Babin U.S. Pat. No. 2,798,768 shows a pipe construction through which liquids can be pumped or flow freely while at the same time allowing small quantities of liquid to be discharged along the length of the pipe. The pipe construction of Babin may be positioned above ground, on the ground, or beneath the ground. This patent is directed to the irrigation of plant life.
Thomas U.S. Pat. No. 3,552,654 shows irrigation or soaking conduits composed of an outer skin which is substantially impervious to water and which is prepared with score lines thereby destroying the water-impervious nature and thus permitting water to seep from the conduit and irrigate or soak plant life in the soil.
Cobb et al. U.S. Pat. No. 3,744,256 shows an irrigation system which provides a continuous supply of fluid from a supply reservoir through a ring system or by gravity flow with varying degrees of porosity in a sealed-end system. This system is not pressurized or monitored with any type of metering device thereby providing unbalanced, continuous irrigation at all times with no shut-off controls.
Fitzhugh U.S. Pat. No. 3,797,738 shows a method for sub-surface drip soil irrigation of arid areas of land of varying sizes by providing wick manifolds which would randomly distribute water on a continuous basis regardless of the terrain or land leveling procedures.
Ayme de la Chevreliere U.S. Pat. No. 3,905,551 shows an automatic, above-ground sprinkling control mechanism which provides water to the earth after being signaled to do so by upper and lower placed, in-ground, soil electrodes.
Green U.S. Pat. No. 3,946,762 shows an irrigation or drainage system comprising one or more conduits having a mesh fabric sheath covering radially spaced apertures which, due to capillary action, permit uniform fluid distribution throughout the length of the sheath and the peripheral surrounding area
Maclay U.S. Pat. No. 3,991,939 shows an automated above-ground misting and cooling sprinkler system for use with ornamental and food-producing plants, shrubs, and crops not only to irrigate leaves and roots, but also to provide protection against damage to leaves by insects and heat.
Neal U.S. Pat. No. 4,197,866 shows a soil moisture sampler and control mechanism which automatically activates in-ground probes which measure moisture and, when less than a pre-set value, signal an irrigation timer to activate thus irrigating the soil for a preselected time interval. This system discloses a somewhat complicated electronic control circuit which is employed principally in the irrigation of fields and orchards.
The present invention relates to a system for a controlled distribution of water for the purpose of moistening the soil surrounding the foundation of a house or other building structure down to twenty feet and is directed to solving the problem of water distribution in such soil. The shrinking or swelling of subsurface soil has inflicted billions of dollars in damage to houses and buildings each year and has presented a monumental problem to owners who are directly affected. Because of these problems much work has gone into the development of a moisture distribution system which will specifically irrigate the earth surrounding a house or other building structure.
The present invention has been developed to specifically control the behavior and degree of moisture below ground. Subsurface water can be divided into two general classifications: the aeration zone and the saturation zone. The latter, more commonly termed the "water table," is the deepest level. The aeration zone includes a capillary fringe area which obtains moisture from the water table, an intermediate belt which contains moisture in dead storage such as one might find after a good rainstorm, and at the surface, the soil water belt which provides moisture for vegetable and plant roots.
Unless the soil water belt can replace capillary water usually provided by surface watering or rain showers, the soil will eventually dessicate through the effects of gravity, transpiration, and evaporation. In so doing, capillary water is lost--a critical factor which influences building foundations and their stability. Since the water content of the surface soil tends to remain relatively stable below very shallow depths, and since the availability of soil water derived from a water table ceases when the boundary lies at a depth exceeding the limit of capillary rise for a particular type soil, (from six inches to depths approaching twenty feet), it is the soil water belt and the uppermost portion of the intermediate belt which receive benefits from this invention.
Factors influencing foundation stability include: (1) soil content, (2) the moisture zone, and (3) vegetation present. Soil content can be coarse, i.e. gravels and sands, or fine, i.e. silts and clays. However, what accounts for more economic damage to structures than any other thing is the problem arising from the moisture content in partially saturated soils regardless of composition because only partially saturated soils can swell or shrink. Therefore, only water which penetrates these soils is of particular concern with respect to foundation stability. Variations in moisture within these expansive soils cause most foundation failures. These soils swell when wet causing upheaval and shrink when dry causing settlement. Any volumetric changes in the soil bearing the weight of the foundation causes differential foundation movement.
All types of soils can cause problems, but one type seems to be the most common offender--clay. Clay soils, which have a greater tendency for runoff as opposed to infiltration than do sandy soils, can be expansive when three conditions are met: (1) the soil contains the type of clay mineral subject to high volume change with increased moisture change; (2) the soil has been in a dessicated condition for at least part of the seasonal cycle; and (3) the strata containing the expansive clay mineral must be sufficiently thick to create significant movement.
The invention herein described would provide moisture to the soil water belt, the zone which affects foundation behavior the most and the intermediate belt which supports the aforementioned. The system would make available constant moisture which is necessary for foundation safety. The water table would have little, if any significant influence on soil moisture since all soils have an equilibrium moisture content dictated by gravity acting against forces holding water in the soil. This equilibrium would change in the upper or aeration zone because water is removed by one or a combination of three processes: transpiration (removal by vegetation), evaporation (removal into the air), and gravity (removal by a downward pull).
Loss of soil moisture beneath a foundation caused by evaporation would show the greatest effects closer to the surface. In exposed soil, evaporation forces are everpresent as long as atmospheric humidity is less than 100 percent. Clay soil under the confines of a slab foundation can be readily saturated by water injections; however, a natural tendency persists for moisture to migrate laterally as well as distally thereby escaping at the periphery. The installation of a vertical water barrier around a foundation perimeter would retard this natural water loss although it must be realized that the loss cannot be completely stopped. However, in the upper strata, a fluctuating condition can arise due to seasonal effects and to the forces of gravity whether the soil is covered or exposed. Therefore, construction design, i.e. slab versus crawl space, is not a critical factor because moisture content below a slab foundation tends to be higher than in surrounding exposed areas.
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The present invention relates generally to antimicrobial agents and, in particular, to metalbased antimicrobial agents suitable for coating medical devices.
Many medical procedures involve the placement of devices, such as catheters, endotracheal tubes, protheses, grafts, sutures, dressings and implants, in the human body. Infection is a common complication associated with the use of such devices. Various techniques for alleviating infection in this regard are commonly employed, including topical and systemic applications of antibiotics. Nonetheless, such techniques have not been particularly effective in preventing infection associated with devices intended to remain within the body, or in contact with bodily fluids, for an extended period of time.
Antimicrobial agents are chemical compositions that inhibit microbial growth or kill bacteria, fungi and other microorganisms. Different inorganic and organic substances display antimicrobial activity. Among the simple organic substances that possess antimicrobial activity are carboxylic acids, alcohols and aldehydes, most of which appear to act by protein precipitation or by disruption of microbial cell membrane.
The antimicrobial activity of inorganic substances is generally related to the ions, toxic to other microorganisms, into which they dissociate. The antimicrobial activity of various metal ions, for example, is often attributed to their affinity for protein material and the insolubility of the metal proteinate formed. Metal-containing salts are thus among the inorganic substances that act as antimicrobial agents.
Metal inorganic salts, including simple salts of metal cations and inorganic anions like silver nitrate, are often soluble and dissociable and, hence, offer ready availability of potentially toxic ions. But such salts may be quickly rendered ineffective as antimicrobial agents by the combining of the metal ion with extraneous organic matter or with anions from tissue or bodily fluid. As a consequence, prolonged or controlled bacteriostatic and bacteriocidal activity is lost.
Metal salts or complexes of organic moieties such as organic acids, on the other hand, are often less soluble and, therefore, are less dissociable than the soluble metal inorganic salts. Metal organic salts or complexes generally have a greater stability with respect to extraneous organic matter, and anions present in the environment of the living cell than metal inorganic salts, but have less toxic potential by virtue of their greater stability. The use of heavy metal ions with polyfunctional organic ligands as antimicrobial agents has been disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,055,655.
The silver (I) ion is an example of a metal ion known to possess antimicrobial activity. The use of silver salts, including both inorganic and organic ligands, as antimicrobial agents has long been known in the prior art. The dissociation of the silver salt provides silver ions which provide the antimicrobial activity. Silver ions react with a variety of anions as well as with chemical moieties of proteins. Precipitation of proteins, causing disruption of the microbial cell membrane and complexation with DNA, is likely the basis of the antimicrobial activity. Silver ions in high concentration will form insoluble silver chloride and thereby deplete chloride ions in vivo.
Silver sulfadiazine is an organo-silver salt which is currently widely used as a topical antimicrobial agent, as discussed by Fox, "Silver Sulfadiazine - A New Topical Therapy for Pseudomonas in Burns," Archs. Surg. 96: 184-88 (1968). The antimicrobial activity of silver complexes with fatty acids has also been disclosed, for example, in U.S. patents No. 3,255,222 and No. 3,385,654.
But silver salts, like a number of other metal salts, are also light sensitive, in that exposing them to light causes a discoloration or black staining associated with the deposition of reduced silver. Silver salts are usually most sensitive to blue light or higher energy electromagnetic radiation such as ultraviolet rays.
Both the antimicrobial activity and the light stability of a silver salt are dependent upon its stability and solubility. In general, a large dissociation constant generally leads to discoloration, while a small dissociation value leads to minimal growth inhibition or toxic potential due to the low concentration of available silver ions.
High solubility also promotes discoloration or black staining. Low solubility, on the other hand, results in a low availability of silver ions. Thus, it appears likely that a silver salt with a low solubility and a medium-range dissociation constant will be light stable.
In general, prior attempts at the use of antimicrobial metallic compositions, including silver salts, appear to have encountered problems of two types. On the one hand, there are metal compounds that have a high degree of dissociation such that toxic metal ions are rapidly and copiously made available, due to rapid dissociation and consequent formation of ionized species. These species saturate all available ligands and are thereby inactivated in a very narrow time frame. This obviates residual killing power, rendering such compositions relatively ineffective as antimicrobial agents over prolonged periods of time. On the other hand, metal compounds which are relatively stable provide only minimal amounts of ionized species over the normal physiological pH range. They provide, therefore, minimal growth inhibition or toxic potential, due to their low degree of dissociation.
The use of metal-based antimicrobial compositions applied as coatings on medical devices poses further problems. The matrix in which the antimicrobial agent is held to form the coating must be permeable to allow diffusion of the antimicrobial metal ions out of the matrix in to the environment. The solubility of the antimicrobial agent in a suitable solvent must be sufficient so that the resulting coating has a concentration of agent which will yield antimicrobial activity.
If the solubility is very low, a coating with a large surface area may be required to obtain an active amount of antimicrobial agent. A thicker antimicrobial coating, for example, of greater than 1 mm in thickness, may be required to obtain an active amount of antimicrobial agent. The dissociation of the metallic and the diffusion rate of the metal ions out of the matrix, i.e., the release of ions, must correspond to the medical use of the device. For devices that will be in contact with the body for extended times, a slow, steady release of metal ions would be appropriate. For devices with a short lifetime, quicker release may be most appropriate.
If a silver-based compound is to be used, it must not undergo chemical reaction upon exposure to light or, at least, the rate of such a photoreaction must be slow compared to the duration of contact between the medical device and body tissue or fluid. Also, the available silver ion concentration should not be so high as to deplete chloride from the environment.
The use of silver sulfadiazine in this context is of particular interest since both the silver ion and the sulfadiazine one of the sulfonamides or "sulfa" drugs, have antimicrobial properties. Silver sulfadiazine is a polymer wherein each silver ion is tetracoordinated and surrounded by three different deprotonated sulfa molecules; each sulfa molecule, in turn, binds three different silver ions. See Bult, "Silver Sulfadiazine and Related Antibacterial Metal Sulfanilamides; Facts and Fancy," Pharmacy Intl. December, 1982, at pages 400-04.
Silver sulfadiazine is formed by combining equal molar amounts of silver nitrate and sodium sulfadiazine solutions. Its dissociation constant (pK) is 3.57 at a pH of 7.4, an ionic strength of 0.1 and a temperature of 25.degree. C. The compound is almost insoluble in water and in organic solvents, a feature attributable to its polymeric character. It does not darken upon exposure to light and does not deplete chloride from tissue fluid. It is likely that its insolubility and medium-range stability constant are responsible for photostability and lack of chloride depletion.
But low solubility can result in minimal toxic potential to microbes. The very low solubility of silver sulfadiazine also limits its incorporation into synthetic or natural polymeric materials. Multiple layers of coatings are generally required to achieve a sufficient amount of the silver sulfadiazine for antimicrobial activity.
Despite many prior attempts at imparting antimicrobial properties to medical devices, a coating composition has yet to be demonstrated that provides for variation in the release of antimicrobial agent, according to the particular use of the medical device, and for sufficient solubility to allow the use of thin coatings.
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1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to a fan mounting assembly that prevents incorrect installation of a fan.
2. Description of Related Art
Computers usually include a chassis and one or more fans installed in the chassis for dissipating heat in the chassis. The fan includes a housing attached to the chassis and a blade pivotably mounted in a circular opening of the housing. The blade draws and pushes air through the circular opening in an axial direction. The fan should be installed in the chassis and blows air to a desired direction. However, the fan is symmetrical and lends itself to being installed backwards.
Therefore, there is room for improvement within the art.
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Automatic dishwashers for use in a typical household include a tub defining a treating chamber and a spraying system for recirculating liquid throughout the tub to remove soils from the dishes and utensils. Two common configurations are a door-type, where a pivoting door provides access to a treating chamber where dishes are washed or a drawer-type where a drawer provides access to the as well as defining a major portion of the treating chamber. In either configuration, a rack for holding dishes to be cleaned is typically provided within the treating chamber.
A problem with some conventional door assemblies arises with fit and finish. For example, it is difficult to align a crown of the door assembly flush with side panels of the door, as shown schematically in FIG. 1. There exists a need to improve the fit and finish of appliances.
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The present invention relates to methods and apparatus for providing touch sensitive displays, such as liquid crystal displays, organic light emitting diode displays, etc.
The display market is eager for displays that offer touch sensing capability—and the market size for displays with touch functionality is expected to grow tremendously in the coming years. As a result, many companies have researched a variety of sensing techniques, including resistive, projected capacitive, infrared, etc. While many of these techniques result in reasonable touch capability, each technique carries some performance disadvantage for specific applications, and nearly all result in significant added cost to the manufacture of each display.
In terms of performance, the basic metrics for touch sensitive displays are the accurate sensing of a touch event and the determination of the precise location of the touch event on the touch/display window. Many secondary attributes are becoming important for added functionality, including flexibility in sensing various touching implements beyond the human finger, such as a pen, stylus, etc., the ability to sense multiple, simultaneous touch events, location resolution, and the ability to distinguish false touches (hovering, or environmental disturbances).
As touch sensitive displays are gaining wider use in mobile device applications, the overall thickness and weight of the touch sensitive display are becoming more important metrics for commercial viability. When such additional criteria are taken into consideration, very few sensor technologies stand out.
Accordingly, there are needs in the art for new methods and apparatus for providing thinner and lighter touch sensitive displays, with low cost, tight manufacturing tolerances, and ease of manufacture being related goals.
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The present invention relates to a communication circuit and to a semiconductor device. More specifically, the present invention relates to a communication circuit and a semiconductor device that can be suitably used for differential communication between a plurality of voltage measurement devices capable of measuring a battery cell voltage.
Electric vehicles (EVs) and hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs), which use an electric motor as a driving source for running a vehicle, are developed not only by automobile manufacturers but also by various other companies and organizations. A vehicle-mounted power supply having a voltage as high as several hundred volts is necessary for driving such an electric motor. This type of vehicle-mounted power supply is implemented by an assembled battery that is obtained by series-coupling a plurality of unit cells (also called “battery cells”) generating a voltage of several bolts.
For the electric vehicles and the like, the voltage of each battery cell VCL needs to be accurately measured in order to determine the status of a battery (e.g., an overcharged or overdischarged condition or the amount of remaining charge) in all operating environments such as vehicle running or charging. A high-precision battery voltage detection technology is essential to the effective use of battery energy. It is an important technology for vehicle safety assurance and mileage increase especially when it is applied to a vehicle power supply.
To fulfill the demand for such high precision and achieve cost reduction, voltage measurement devices commercialized for vehicle-mounted power supplies are mostly configured so that an analog-to-digital converter (hereinafter may be referred to as the ADC) is provided for each block of several to more than a dozen battery cells instead of being provided for each battery cell VCL. The voltage measurement devices incorporate a multiplexer circuit (hereinafter may be referred to as the MUX) in order to implement the above-mentioned configuration. The MUX makes voltage measurements by selecting battery voltages based on a plurality of different voltage references in a temporally sequential manner and using each selected battery voltage as a signal input to the ADC, which is designed with reference to the lowest potential (ground level (GND level)).
When the above-mentioned configuration is employed so that one ADC is provided for each bock of several to more than a dozen battery cells, a plurality of voltage measurement devices are provided for blocks of battery cells. Each of the voltage measurement devices includes a communication function section for exchanging control commands concerning battery monitoring, results of voltage measurements, and other information with another voltage measurement device. As a power supply voltage for operating each voltage measurement device is supplied from the associated block of battery cells, the communication between the voltage measurement devices is the communication between different potentials. It is preferred that electric-current communication be used as the communication between different potentials. Further, differential communication is used as the electric-current communication. The differential electric-current communication is superior to single-ended electric-current communication in that the former can reduce signal amplitude to achieve a high data transmission rate.
A low common mode gain, high input impedance, balanced input/output differential amplifier circuit is described in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2000-332548. This differential amplifier circuit receives, amplifies, and outputs a differential signal (paragraph 0013). Further, if an input common mode potential changes so that the non-inverted input potential of a differential input is higher or lower than the inverted input of the differential input, the potential of an input common mode control output increases or decreases as needed to eliminate a potential difference, thereby making adjustments to prevent a differential input section circuit from becoming saturated (paragraph 0015).
A technology for eliminating the influence of common mode noise on an input signal for a differential amplifier is described in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2003-133862. This differential amplifier receives and amplifies a differential signal (paragraphs 0013, 0026, and 0027). The voltage at each input terminal of the differential amplifier is pulled down or pulled up in accordance with the potential of common mode noise Vn (paragraphs 0044 to 0048).
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Recent electronic devices are being developed to come with various functionalities related to applications. For example, an electronic device (e.g., a smartphone) may receive a notification message related to an application. Such electronic devices are under development to be capable of using various functions. Such an electronic device has a display for effective use of the functions. For example, a smartphone has a display (e.g., a touchscreen) responsive to a touch on its front part. Such electronic device may allow various applications (“Apps”) installed and run thereon. A diversity of input means, e.g., touchscreen, buttons, mouse, keyboard, or sensors, may be used to run and control the applications on the electronic device.
As the type of applications is diversified, various types of notification messages received in association with the applications come in availability. A user may control the settings of each application to not receive a notification message for the application. The user needs to identify the settings for receiving message in the settings of each application and control the reception of messages in order to control the reception of notification messages, and this may be bothering.
The above information is presented as background information only to assist with an understanding of the present disclosure. No determination has been made, and no assertion is made, as to whether any of the above might be applicable as prior art with regard to the present disclosure.
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In existing hydro systems, whether low or high head, the runner (or blade) converts rotational energy to torque energy in a shaft. U.S. Pat. No. 98,552 is a common type shaft driven turbine. Patent Ser. No. 09/231,063 is a more recent open center, peripherally driven turbine. The embodiment eliminates the shaft. It converts flow energy directly to electricity by the use of magnets imbedded in the periphery of its blade and cores imbedded in its housing. As the blade is rotated by the flow, electricity is produced in the windings of the core.
The embodiment is a combination of what is old (the open center turbine) and what is new (a free floating turbine blade which is a rotor).
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The permanent alteration of the colour of keratinous fibres, in particular human hair, by the application of hair dyes is well known. In order to provide the consumer with the hair colour and the intensity of colour desired, a very complex chemical process is utilized. Permanent hair dyeing formulations typically comprise oxidative hair dye precursors, which can diffuse into the hair through the cuticle and into the cortex where they can then react with each other and suitable oxidising agents to form the end dye molecules. Due to the larger size of these resultant molecules they are unable to readily diffuse out of the hair during subsequent washing with water and/or detergents; hence delivering a consumer-desired permanency of colour. This reaction typically takes place in an aggressive environment at approximately pH 10 in the presence of an alkalizing agent and in the presence of an oxidizing agent. Moreover, the consumer repeats this process regularly in order to maintain the desired hair colour and shade and the intensity of colour and to ensure continual, even coverage of the hair including coverage of new hair growth.
The manufacturer of such products is also required to work within a large number of constraints. Since these products are being placed in direct contact with the consumers' skin, the potential exists for accidental contact with the eye or for ingestion (for example), which can occur during the dyeing process. Therefore, the formulation must meet rigorous safety requirements and not induce any allergic reactions. In addition to meeting these requirements, the products must also be optically and olfactory pleasing to the consumer. In particular, the products also need to meet certain physical parameters in order to ensure that the product can be easily applied to the hair by the consumer to provide the desired effect, without unintentional staining of the consumers' clothes, skin, particularly along the hair line, or other objects.
The manufacturer is also required to provide the hair colouring consumer a large range of different resulting colours. Some consumers may just wish to enhance the natural colour of the hair, whilst others may wish to cover grey or completely alter the hair colour to a different natural appearing hair colour or a ‘synthetic’ appearing hair colour. Consequently, the manufacturer may provide over twenty different formulations, of varying colours and shades, to address the range of consumer specific needs. These formulations have to be individually formulated and are typically complex formulae containing a mixture of different dye compounds. As a result the manufacture of such product ranges can be costly and complex.
However, despite the fact that commercial hair dyeing products have been available for many years, the products still exhibit a number of consumer-related deficiencies.
Typically permanent hair dye products will contain an alkali, typically a source of ammonia. This serves the purpose of swelling the hair allowing the entry of the dye precursor molecules into the hair and also improves the lightening effect of the oxidising agent, which is typically hydrogen peroxide. However, ammonia is also volatile and its associated odour is extremely unpleasant to the consumers' of such products, particularly as these hair dye products are used in close proximity to the nasal region. Hence, it would be highly desirable to provide an oxidative hair colouring and/or bleaching composition, which delivers the consumer required lightening level and colour, but which has reduced or eliminated the detectable ammonia odour.
In fact another deficiency area in current hair colouring products is the provision of hair colouring products which deliver the required hair lightening effect. Delivering the required level of lightening is particularly important in order to provide the full range of colour shades demanded by the consumer, especially for blonde shades and grey coverage. Such products pose particular difficulties to the manufacturer, as they usually require the use of high levels of oxidising agent and ammonia in order to deliver the required lightening effect. However, in additional to the problems associated with the presence of high levels of ammonia in these products, as discussed herein above, the presence of these high levels of ammonia and/or oxidizing agent also affect the condition of the hair and may in some cases induce mild skin irritation on the scalp. In particular, the hydrophilicity of the hair surface is increased during the colouring process, which alters the sensory perception of the hair and its overall manageability during and, immediately after colouring, and during the subsequent wash and styling cycles until the next colourant application. Hence, it would also be highly desirable to provide an oxidative hair colouring and/or bleaching composition which delivers the required lightening and/or colour without unnecessary hair damage.
A number of attempts have been described in the literature to address at least some of the above identified improvement areas. For example the use of carbonate has been described in the following hair colouring art. EP 435 012 describes hair-dyeing compositions, which require a short dyeing time, create little damage to hair, and no irritating odour after dyeing comprising a carbonate source, a non odour generating alkali hydrogen peroxide and a buffer solution. Similarly EP 1 106 166 describes hair dye compositions comprising ammonia, carbonate (other than ammonia salt), transition metal salt and chelating agent which do not give off an irritating odour, have low skin irritation and can change the hair colour into a lighter tone in a short time. WO01/28508 describes hair colouring formulations comprising oxidising agents and ammonia carbonate or carbamate which deliver improved bleaching and colouring with reduced odour and hair damage without the need for buffering agents, pH modifiers or hair swelling agents. JP01206825 describes a low pungent hair colouring composition comprising ammonia, ammonium salt and carbonate. US2004/0083557 describes hair colouring compositions comprising an oxidative hair dye precursor, a metal cyanate, an alkalizing agent and an oxidizing agent and preferably a metal bicarbonate salt in order to provide good colour lift and low odour.
WO04/014328 describes one step hair colouring compositions comprising peroxide oxidizing agents, specific oxidizing agents and at least one water soluble carbonate releasing salts which more effectively deliver colour wherein the composition is applied for a period of from 2 to 60 minutes. US2004/0098814 describes a method of permanently colouring hair whereby the hair is subjected to a number of consecutive short treatments whereby the treatment comprises a dye intermediate in a shampoo or conditioner base, a water soluble carbonate releasing salt and a water soluble ammonium salt. US2004/0098816 also describes a method for the gradual permanent colouring of hair which includes subjecting the hair to a number of treatments having a set time interval between them, wherein the treatment compositions comprise ammonium carbonate in combination with a chelant.
However it has now been found that the use of hydrogen peroxide and carbonate hair colourant systems, results in difficulties in manufacturing. This problem is particularly manifest for compositions which have high levels of peroxide and carbonate which are desirable to provide high levels of lift. Moreover in order to provide a product which the consumer can easily apply to the hair without dripping onto the skin, clothes or bathroom surfaces, hair colourant products are designed such that the composition has a certain required viscosity. This is either achieved by providing the dye composition and the oxidizing composition as so called thin-thin type liquid formulations which are thickened upon mixing or where at least one of the components, either the dye composition or the oxidizing composition, preferably the dye composition, is provided as a thickened formulation which thickens the total composition upon mixing.
Carbonate systems in the art herein above describe numerous materials suitable for thickening. However these materials have been found not to sufficiently thicken compositions comprising high levels of carbonate resulting in product instability or unsatisfactory viscosity. Hence it would be desirable to provide a hair colorant composition which incorporates high levels of carbonate without compromising the product stability or ease of manufacture.
Another particularly critical performance area for the consumer is the provision of the desired resultant colour and also the effective coverage of grey hair. Indeed, whilst the amount of grey hair to be coloured varies considerably from consumer to consumer, the resultant overall appearance of the coloured hair demanded by the consumer should be nearly identical for the naturally pigmented hair and the grey hair on head, with the added requirement that the initial uniform and even colour coverage is maintained during the post dyeing washing and drying cycle.
Hence, it would be further desirable to provide the consumer with a hair colourant, providing improved lift and lightening and improved colour delivery, uptake and durability and which is easy to manufacture, delivering the required viscosity and is shelf life stable.
It has now been surprisingly found that oxidative hair colouring compositions comprising an oxidising agent, a source of carbonate ions, a specific polymeric thickener as defined herein at pH 9.3 and below can be formulated as stable thickened systems. Moreover the compositions exhibit low odour and deliver a high level of lift and lightening equal to the currently utilised ammonia/peroxide systems, whilst reducing the concentration of peroxide and reducing the hair fibre damage. Moreover, the compositions of the present invention are compatible with current dyes and dye precursor systems and result in improved lift and lightening for blond shades, excellent dye deposition and colour and improved grey coverage.
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This invention relates to the field of integrated circuit fabrication. More particularly, this invention relates to improving the reliability of packaged integrated devices, such as by reducing delamination of packaged integrated circuits.
An integrated circuit may be subjected to many different environments during its anticipated life expectancy. Therefore, a variety of design goals have been established to help ensure that the integrated circuit will not prematurely fail because of the effects of a reasonably anticipated environment in which the integrated circuit may be used.
For example, an integrated circuit may be subjected to a relatively warm and humid environment. One mode of premature failure in such an environment is called delamination. When an integrated circuit is subjected to a high humidity for an extended period of time, the water vapor from the air tends to permeate the integrated circuit package to some extent through the interfaces of the different materials and parts that comprise the integrated circuit package.
For example, water vapor may permeate a molded integrated circuit package at the interface between a metal pin, which by necessity must exit the package so that electrical connections can be made with the packaged integrated circuit, and the molding compound that is used to encapsulate the integrated circuit. The water vapor that enters the integrated circuit package tends to preferentially travel along the interfaces between the molded packaging and other materials, causing them to lose adhesion and come apart, one from the other. In process of time, this general delamination of the integrated circuit package can lead to a premature failure of the integrated circuit.
As a more specific example, the interfaces between metallic materials and organic materials tend to delaminate more easily than the interfaces between some other types of materials. For example, organic molding compounds tend to delaminate relatively easily from gold surfaces. Unfortunately, as the size of integrated circuits has decreased, the use of gold has generally increased because of its high electrical conductivity. Further, gold is relatively easy to make electrical connections to, such as wire bonding. Therefore, it is a preferred material for structures such as the bonding rings of an integrated circuit package.
What is needed, therefore, is a system for reducing the degree of delamination between a metallic structure, such as a gold bonding ring, and an organic compound, such as an integrated circuit molding compound.
The above and other needs are met by an improvement to an integrated circuit package substrate of the type that has a bonding ring with an exposed upper surface, where a first portion of the exposed upper surface is for receiving a molding compound and a second portion of the exposed upper surface is for receiving an electrical connection. A solder mask is formed on the first portion of the exposed upper surface of the bonding ring.
In this manner, the molding compound, which has a relatively low degree of adhesion to the bonding ring, does not directly contact the bonding ring. Instead, the solder mask, which has a relatively high degree of adhesion to the bonding ring, is in contact with the bonding ring. In addition, the solder mask also has a relatively high degree of adhesion to the molding compound. Thus, the adhesion in the interfaces so created tends to be greater than the adhesion between the bonding ring and the molding compound. As prior art designs tend to have a large amount of space in the bonding ring that is not used for electrical bonding, and by which the molding compound is received, this embodiment of the present invention tends to dramatically reduce the degree of delamination at the interface between the bonding ring and the molding compound.
In various preferred embodiments of the invention, the bonding ring is formed of gold. The bonding ring is preferably either a VDD ring or a VSS ring, or most preferably the bonding ring is two rings, being both a VDD ring and a VSS ring. According to another aspect of the invention there is provided a packaged integrated circuit including the improved integrated circuit package substrate. According to yet another aspect of the invention there is provided an integrated circuit package including the improved integrated circuit package substrate.
According to a further embodiment of the invention there is provided an improvement to a method of forming an integrated circuit package substrate of the type that has a bonding ring with an upper surface, where a first portion of the upper surface is for receiving a molding compound and a second portion of the exposed upper surface is for receiving an electrical connection. A solder mask is disposed on the first portion of the upper surface of the bonding ring as an interface between the first portion of the upper surface of the bonding ring and the molding compound.
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Conventionally, there has been disclosed an autonomous-running-type vehicle including a vibration isolation device for isolating vibrations during running (see, for example, PTL 1).
PTL 1 discloses an automated guided vehicle configured such that an automated guided vehicle body is installed on a truck of the automated guided vehicle via vibration isolation dampers, that locking members are provided in correspondence with fixing plates provided on the automated guided vehicle body, and that the fixing plates are locked by the locking members when transfer is made, whereby vibrations of an article conveyed by the automatic guided vehicle are efficiently isolated.
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Various types of hats and assorted head gear have heretofore been used by countless numbers of individuals to protect themselves from the sun. Typically such devices are quite large and cumbersome and have limited flexibility. To adjust the hat to a change in the orientation of the person with respect to the sun's rays, the hat must be tilted on the wearer's head and this can only be done to a limited extent. Some devices such as that taught in U.S. Pat. No. 3,585,643, do include means for adjusting the orientation of the hat on the wearer's head, however, the means used therein is still somewhat limited due to the necessity of the hat being anchored to the wearer's hair and, as with conventional sun hats, it is quite cumbersome. Additionally, a sun hat should not only be highly flexible so that it can be readily adjusted to block the sun regardless of the relative positioning of the sun with respect to the wearer, but it should be attractive as well. Accordingly, the present invention provides a sun hat which is highly flexible with respect to its angular orientation on the wearer's head, is readily collapsible for carrying and also quite attractive.
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The present invention relates to an optically active binaphthol derivative and an optically active phosphate derivative, as well as their uses. The optically active binaphthol derivative and the optically active phosphate derivative of the present invention are expected to be useful, for example, as intermediates for the preparation of catalysts for various asymmetric syntheses, and the optically active phosphate derivative of the present invention is, by itself, a useful compound having a high asymmetry-identifying ability.
The optically active binaphthol derivative of the present invention and the optically active phosphate derivative derived therefrom, have not heretofore been known, and they are novel compounds.
As an asymmetry-identifying agent, a complex having europium as the center metal, such as Eu-DPM, Eu-PTA, Eu(hfc) or Eu(Tfc), or (R)-(+)-2-methoxy-2-(trifluoromethyl) phenyl acetic acid, is, for example, commercially available.
Further, it is known that 1,1xe2x80x2-binaphthyl-2,2xe2x80x2-diol which is useful as a catalyst element for asymmetric syntheses is useful also as an optical resolution agent (Toda, F., et, al., Chem. Lett., 131(1988), etc.). Further, as an asymmetry-identifying element, 3,3xe2x80x2-(3,5-diphenylphenyl)-1,1xe2x80x2-binaphthyl-2,2xe2x80x2-diyl phosphoric acid is known (76th annual spring meeting of Chemical Society of Japan, 1999, 3C1 05).
The conventional agents employing metal complexes of e.g. europium, which are commercially available, may react depending upon the compounds subjected to asymmetry-identification, and their application range is limited. Further, (R)-(+)-2-methoxy-2-(trifluoromethyl) phenyl acetic acid or the like has hydrogen bonded to sp3 carbon in the nuclear magnetic resonance spectrum analysis (hereinafter referred to simply as NMR), whereby depending upon the type of the compound subjected to asymmetry-identification, the chemical shift is likely to be overlapped so that the determination can not be made.
On the other hand, 1,1xe2x80x2-binaphthyl-2,2xe2x80x2-diol is an excellent agent having a relatively low reactivity with a compound subjected to asymmetry-identification, but its interaction with the compound subjected to asymmetry-identification is low, whereby it is required to be used in a large amount, and its asymmetry-identifying ability is not fully satisfactory.
Further, 3,3,xe2x80x2-(3,5-diphenylphenyl)-1,1xe2x80x2-binaphthyl-2,2xe2x80x2-diyl phosphoric acid shows good performance as an asymmetry-identifying agent, but its ability is incomplete, and it has been desired to develop an agent having a still higher performance.
In order to solve the above problems, the present inventors have conducted an extensive study with an aim to develop a compound having a higher asymmetry-identifying ability and as a result, have found a novel binaphthol derivative as an intermediate and a novel optically active phosphate derivative as an asymmetry-identifying agent. The present invention has been accomplished on the basis of this discovery.
Namely, the present invention provides:
an optically active binaphthol derivative of the following formula (1) or (2):
a process for producing the optically active binaphthol derivative, which comprises reacting 9-anthryl boric acid with (R) or (S)-3,3xe2x80x2-diiodo-1,1xe2x80x2-binaphthyl-2,2xe2x80x2-diyl bis(methoxy methyl ether), followed by hydrolysis;
an optically active phosphate derivative of the following formula (3) or (4):
a process for producing the phosphate derivative, which comprises reacting an optically active binaphthol derivative of the above formula (1) or (2) with phosphorus oxychloride, followed by hydrolysis; and
an asymmetry-identifying agent comprising a phosphate derivative of the above formula (3) or (4).
Now, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the preferred embodiments.
The binaphthol derivative of the above formula (1) or (2) of the present invention can be prepared by reacting 9-anthryl boric acid obtainable by a method known in literature, with 3,3xe2x80x2-diiodo-1,1xe2x80x2-binaphthyl-2,2xe2x80x2-diyl bis(methoxymethyl)ether obtainable likewise by a method known in literature using commercially available optically active (R) or (S) 1,1xe2x80x2-binaphthyl-2,2xe2x80x2-diol as the starting material, followed by hydrolysis to remove any protecting group. The obtained binaphthol derivative of the above formula (1) or (2) can be converted to the optically active phosphate derivative of the above formula (3) or (4) by reacting it with phosphorus oxychloride, followed by hydrolysis.
The conditions for producing the compound of the above formula (1) or (2) of the present invention are not particularly limited. For example, in a 1,2-dimethoxyethane solvent, in the presence of tetrakis(triphenylphosphine) palladium(O) as a catalyst and barium hydroxide as a base, (R) or (S) 3,3xe2x80x2-diiodo-1,1xe2x80x2-binaphthyl-2,2xe2x80x2-diyl bis(methoxymethyl)ether and 9-anthryl boric acid may be reacted for about 24 hours under a heating condition to obtain 3,3xe2x80x2-bis(9-anthryl)-1,1xe2x80x2-binaphthyl-2,2xe2x80x2-diyl bis(methoxymethyl)ether, which is then reacted for about one day under a heated condition in a toluene/methanol/hydrochloric acid aqueous solution, to obtain the desired product.
The conditions for producing the phosphate derivative of the above formula (3) or (4) of the present invention are not particularly limited. For example, the binaphthol derivative of the above formula (1) or (2) and phosphorus oxychloride may be reacted in a dichloromethane solvent in the presence of triethylamine at room temperature for about 12 hours, and then reacted for about 12 hours in the presence of sodium carbonate in a tetrahydrofuran (hereinafter referred to as THF)/water solvent under a heated condition, and further heated for about 12 hours in an aqueous hydrochloric acid solution, to obtain the desired product.
In the processes of the present invention, there is no particular restriction as to the proportions of the reagents, the amount of the solvent, the temperature, the time, etc.
With respect to their applications, the compounds of the above formulae (1) to (4) of the present invention can be used as asymmetric elements for catalysts for asymmetric syntheses, optical resolution agents, packing materials for optically active columns and asymmetry-identifying agents in NMR measurements.
Now, an application as an asymmetry-identifying agent in NMR measurement will be described.
The optically active phosphate derivative of the present invention has no sp3 carbon, whereby its chemical shift will not overlap with a compound subjected to asymmetry-identification in the NMR measurement.
As a specific method of use of the phosphate derivative of the present invention as an asymmetry-identifying agent in NMR measurement, predetermined amounts of the phosphate derivative of the present invention and the compound to be subjected to asymmetry-identification, are mixed and dissolved in a solvent for NMR measurement, such as heavy chloroform or heavy benzene, whereupon the chemical shift is measured by proton NMR or carbon NMR.
Compounds to which the phosphate derivative of the present invention is applicable as an asymmetry-identifying agent, are not particularly limited. However, the phosphate derivative of the present invention shows an asymmetry-identifying ability against alcohols, amines, carboxylic acids and sulfoxides, which have asymmetry.
The amount of the phosphate derivative of the present invention to be used as an asymmetry-identifying agent should theoretically adequately be an equimolar amount to an optical isomer to form coordination, and a high identification ability can in fact be thereby obtainable. However, there may be a case where the identification ability will be further increased by using it in an amount of about 2 mols, as the case requires. Specifically, in a case where asymmetry-identification of a racemic alcohol is carried out, an adequate asymmetry-identifying ability will be obtained by an addition of only 0.5 mol of the phosphate derivative of the present invention. Usually, when a racemic alcohol is subjected to asymmetry-identification employing (R)-3,3xe2x80x2-bis(9-anthryl)-1,1xe2x80x2-binaphthyl-2,2xe2x80x2-diyl phosphoric acid of the above formula (3), the chemical shift of hydrogen bonded on the carbon atom bonded to the hydroxyl group or on the carbon atom adjacent to the carbon atom bonded to a hydroxyl group, is shifted more towards the high magnetic field side in the S-isomer than in the R-isomer.
The novel optically active binaphthol and optically active phosphate derivative of the present invention are compounds useful as pharmaceuticals or intermediates for their preparation, agricultural chemicals or intermediates for their preparation, functional materials such as electronic materials or intermediates for their preparation, catalysts for asymmetric syntheses, asymmetric elements for the catalysts for asymmetric syntheses, optical resolution agents, optical active column packing materials, and asymmetry-identifying agents in NMR measurements.
Further, when the phosphate derivative of the present invention is used as an asymmetry-identifying agent in NMR measurement, it provides a high asymmetry-identifying ability, whereby a simple and convenient method for measuring the optical purity can be presented.
Now, the present invention will be described in further detail with reference to Examples. However, it should be understood that the present invention is by no means restricted to such specific Examples.
Measurement of Optical Rotation SEPA-300, manufactured by HORIBA, was used.
Measurement of Melting Point MP-500D, manufactured by Yanako K.K., was used.
Measurements of 1H-NMR and 13C-NMR JNM-EX400, manufactured by JEOL, was used (400 MHz).
Measurement of HRFABMASS JMS-HX100A, manufactured by JEOL, was used.
Measurement of IR JIR-WINSPEC50, manufactured by JEOL, was used.
Elemental Analysis
Carried out by Central Analysis Center of Kyusyu University.
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The present invention relates to a pneumatic radial tire for a passenger car having a tread-belt structure with two belt layers comprising steel cords, which is improved in driving stability with a reduction in the weight of the tire.
Environmental pollution spreading on an earth scale in recent years has brought about a strong demand for a further lowering in the fuel consumption of vehicles, and, as a part of it, a reduction in the weight of tire has become brought to the fore as a large technical task.
In a pneumatic radial tire for a passenger car, it is known that a high driving stability can be attained when the two belt layers comprise steel cords because the steel cords are far superior in the strength and the modulus of elasticity to other fiber cords. The steel cords, however, unfavorably increase the weight of the tire and the fuel consumption due to their high specific gravity, so that it is difficult for them to cope with the above-described technical task.
It has been believed that, in the pneumatic radial tire having a steel cord belt layer, the total sectioanl area of steel wires per 50 mm width of the steel belt layer must be at least 9.5 mm.sup.2 in order to ensure the driving stability. Reduction in the weight of such a penumatic radial tire may be achievable by decreasing the quantity of wire in the steel cord of belt layer. However, by such a means, the bending rigidity of belt layer decreases, the cornering power drops, and driving stability is deteriorated. Accordingly, it has hitherto been thought practically impossible to reduce the weight of tire while maintaining or improving the excellent driving stability of a tire having a steel cord belt structure.
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The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Curcuma plant, botanically known as Curcuma alismatifolia and hereinafter referred to by the name ‘Curalidimp’.
The new Curcuma plant is a product of a controlled breeding program conducted by the Inventor in Naaldwijk, The Netherlands. The objective of the breeding program is to create new Curcuma plants that have uniform plant habit, good container performance and attractive inflorescence coloration.
The new Curcuma is a naturally-occurring whole plant mutation of Curcuma alismatifolia ‘Curalidopa’, not patented. The new Curcuma plant was discovered and selected by the Inventor as a single flowering plant within a population of plants of ‘Curalidopa’ in a controlled greenhouse environment in Naaldwijk, The Netherlands in June, 2016.
Asexual reproduction of the new Curcuma plant by axillary bud meristem culture in a controlled environment in Naaldwijk, The Netherlands since August, 2016 has shown that the unique features of this new Curcuma plant are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations of asexual reproduction.
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A transformer is also called a voltage converter or an Xformer, and it serves as a component for transferring electric energy flowing in a primary coil to a secondary coil through electromagnetic induction. The transformer is widely used in not only electric products and electronic products, but also in electric power systems, etc. Such a transformer generally includes a primary coil, a secondary coil, and a core. The primary coil and the secondary coil are each constituted by winding, e.g., a soft copper wire, which has an insulating coating and has a round or rectangular sectional shape, around the core. The core is constituted, for example, by stacking a plurality of thin electrical steel sheets, e.g., silicon steel sheets. The core functions as a magnetic circuit for coupling the primary coil and the secondary coil to each other with mutual inductance. As other related-art transformers, there are, e.g., a transformer including a plurality of secondary coils to be adapted for plural transformation ratios, and a transformer including a tertiary coil for a specific purpose.
One of those transformers is disclosed in, e.g., Patent Literature (PTL) 1. In the transformer disclosed in PTL 1, a strip-like electrical steel sheet is wound and the wound electrical steel sheet is cut in a widthwise direction. After inserting two windings through the cut, cut ends of the wound electrical steel sheet at the cut are abutted and joined to each other, thus closing the cut, while the windings are fixedly held. In the transformer disclosed in PTL 1, the wound electrical steel sheet corresponds to the core, and the windings correspond to the coils.
In the related-art transformers described above, the core is of an annular structure having a circular or square shape, for example, to form a magnetic circuit, which can eliminate a leakage of magnetic flux to the exterior, and which can realize efficient magnetic coupling from the primary coil to the secondary coil. Therefore, when the primary coil and the secondary coil are each fabricated by winding a wire around the core that remains in the annular structure, an operation of winding the wire is complicated because the core has the annular structure, thus causing a limit in increasing productivity. On the other hand, from the viewpoint of facilitating the winding operation, when the winding operation is separately performed on each of plural separated members of the core and the plural members are then joined to each other to form the core of the annular structure, or when the wound electrical steel sheet (core) is cut in the widthwise direction and, after inserting the windings through the cut, the cut ends are jointed to each other to close the cut as described in PTL 1, the joining operation requires to be performed in a manner minimizing the magnetic kiss. In PTL 1, particularly, because the cut ends have to be processed so as to incline at an angle of 50° to 70° with respect to the winding direction, substantial time and labor are needed.
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The present invention relates to an ice maker system for refrigerators and more particularly to such a system wherein a harvest rake is driven at a variable speed.
Ice maker systems have been used in refrigerators for many years. In such systems, a timing mechanism and a harvest rake are driven by a motor. The timing mechanism controls the on-off time of the system, heat to the system and other related functions while the harvest rake is rotated to remove ice from the ice maker.
In accordance with the present invention, a variable speed is imparted to the harvest rake such that a slower speed is applied during ice removal and higher speed during liquid filling of the ice maker. This provides a higher torque to the rake during ice removal and a faster more accurate timing during filling.
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Probiotic bacteria such as Bacillus subtilis and Bacillus licheniformis are used in the animal feed industry as supplement to the diet. Their usage is related to the ability of bacillus to replace or reduce the use of antibiotics, which are used as growth promoters in the animal feed industry.
Christian Hansen A/S, Denmark commercializes an example of such a probiotic growth-promoting product under the trade name GalliPro® (deposited as DSM 17231). GalliPro® is a Bacillus subtilis spore cell composition.
Besides the suggested mode of actions (e.g. immune modulation, gut flora modifier) probiotic bacillus are able to produce many beneficial components, such as enzymes, which are excreted in the gastro intestinal tract (GIT) when used as animal feed supplement. Enzymes such as phytase are excreted and improve the digestion and better uptake of animal feed (higher digestibility). The diet (feed) is mostly composed of plant origin such as grains, corn, soybean, soy oil and amino acids. Overall these effects contribute to the production of cost effective animal products.
Probiotic bacillus are also able to produce other beneficial components such as essential amino acids.
Bacillus spores can pass the acidic gastric barrier and germinate and outgrow within the gastrointestinal (GIT) of the animals. This has great advantages, since when ingested they can excrete numerous types of beneficial components, e.g. bacteriocins and also excrete useful essential amino acids. Moreover, the bacillus spores are thermostabile during a feed pelletizing process and are thereby an excellent delivery system to get both bacteriocins and e.g. essential amino acids into the GIT.
In the survival and proliferation process of bacillus in GIT, the role of bile is important. Bile is produced in the liver and stored in the gallbladder. Bile contains water, lecithin, bilirubin and biliverdin and bile salts.
It is known from the literature that bile has some negative influences on the survival and germination and outgrowth of bacillus spore cells to vegetative cells in the GIT of animals. Therefore research is ongoing to find probiotic bile resistant Bacillus strains.
The article (Antonie Van Leeuwenhoek. August 2006; 90(2): 139-46. Epub Jul. 4, 2006) describes isolation of a number of Bacillus samples/cell directly from the intestine of chickens. The isolated bacillus cells were tested for probiotic activity. The six bacilli with highest probiotic activity were testes for bile salt resistance and it was found that a specific highly probiotic bacillus has a relatively high level of bile salt resistance.
In this article there is no special focus on any time periods for the testing of bile resistance. In the experimental part the bacillus spore cells are simply tested for resistance after 5 days of presence in bile salt (see paragraph “Simulated small intestinal fluid tolerance test” on page 141).
US2003/0124104A describes that probiotic conventional bacillus endospores are sensitive to low concentration of bile salts, i.e. spore germination and/or rehydration is inhibited by the presence of even low concentrations of bile salts. This is contrary to other bacteria such as enteric pathogens, such as E. coli or S. aureus (see section [0014] to [0015]). In view of this it is suggested to screen/select for bacillus spores that are resistant to the inhibitory activity of bile salts, and as a result, germinate into vegetative cells, which then colonize the colon (see [0019]).
The working examples are all in presence and no real experimental data of actually screened specific Bacillus cell are provided in the description.
Further the bile salt screening conditions are relatively generically described. In particular there are no indications of any time periods for the selections of bile resistance. Said in other words, based on the only broad/generic teaching of this document one may select Bacillus cells that only can outgrow (germinate) slowly, i.e. are capable of germinating from spores to vegetative cells after e.g. 20 hours in presence of relevant amount of bile salt.
In this document there is no description or suggestion to select for bacillus cells that can outgrow (germinate) rapidly, i.e. capable of germinating and outgrowing from spores to vegetative cells reaching a defined growth point within a certain time interval in presence of a relevant amount of bile salt.
In summary, the prior art references relating to selection/screening of bile resistant bacillus cells are not focusing on rapid outgrowth/germination from spore cells to vegetative bacillus cells.
International PCT application with application number PCT/EP2008/057296 was filed Nov. 6, 2008. Applicant is Chr. Hansen A/S and it was NOT PUBLISHED at the filing date of this present application.
PCT/EP2008/057296 describes novel bacillus spores characterized by having an improved/rapid speed of germination and outgrowth from spore to vegetative cell in presence of a bile salt medium.
The bacillus spores as described herein have the same improved/rapid speed of germination and outgrowth from spore to vegetative cell as described in PCT/EP2008/057296.
PCT/EP2008/057296 only describes bacillus vegetative cells that are producing phytase in an increased amount as compared to the reference bacillus cell DSM 19467. There is NOT described not suggested to screen for a bacillus vegetative cell that produces essential amino acids with an increased amount as compared to the reference bacillus cell DSM 19467.
When there below is referred to prior art this shall be understood as prior art made available to the public (e.g. published articles/patents) at the filing date of this present application.
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The invention relates generally to a film handling system particularly useful for enabling the daylight handling of X-ray film sheets of the type primarily used in the dental, medical and industrial fields.
In the conventional use of X-ray films, as by dental and medical technicians, an X-ray film sheet is normally loaded into a cassette in a darkroom, exposed with the patient, and then again taken into the darkroom for removal from the cassette for processing. The necessity of darkroom handling of the X-ray film is inconvenient, time-consuming, and costly.
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In the drive for higher integration and operating speeds in LSI devices, the pattern rule is made drastically finer. Under the miniaturizing trend, the lithography has achieved formation of finer patterns by using a light source with a shorter wavelength and by a choice of a proper resist composition for the shorter wavelength. Predominant among others are positive resist compositions which are used as a single layer. These single layer positive resist compositions are based on resins possessing a structure having resistance to etching with chlorine or fluorine gas plasma and provided with a resist mechanism that exposed areas become dissolvable. Typically, the resist composition is coated on a patternable substrate and exposed to a pattern of light, after which the exposed areas of the resist coating are dissolved to form a pattern. Then, the patternable substrate can be processed by etching with the remaining resist pattern serving as an etching mask.
In an attempt to achieve a finer feature size, i.e., to reduce the pattern width with the thickness of a resist film kept unchanged, the resist film becomes low in resolution performance, and if the resist film is developed with a liquid developer to form a pattern, the so-called “aspect ratio” (depth/width) of the resist pattern becomes too high, resulting in pattern collapse. For this reason, the miniaturization is accompanied by a thickness reduction of the resist film (thinner film). On the other hand, with the progress of the exposure wavelength toward a shorter wavelength, the resin in resist compositions is required to have less light absorption at the exposure wavelength. In response to changes from i-line to KrF and to ArF, the resin has made a transition from novolac resins to polyhydroxystyrene and to acrylic resins. Actually, the etching rate under the above-indicated etching conditions has been accelerated. This suggests the inevitableness that a patternable substrate is etched through a thinner resist film having weaker etching resistance. It is urgently required to endow the resist film with etching resistance.
Meanwhile, a process known as multilayer resist process was developed in the art for processing a patternable substrate by etching. The process uses a resist film which has weak etching resistance under the etching conditions for the substrate, but is capable of forming a finer pattern, and an intermediate film which has resistance to etching for processing the substrate and can be patterned under the conditions to which the resist film is resistant. Once the resist pattern is transferred to the intermediate film, the substrate is processed by etching through the pattern-transferred intermediate film as an etching mask. A typical process uses a silicon-containing resin as the resist composition and an aromatic resin as the intermediate film. In this process, after a pattern is formed in the silicon-containing resin, oxygen-reactive ion etching is carried out. Then the silicon-containing resin is converted to silicon oxide having high resistance to oxygen plasma etching, and at the same time, the aromatic resin is readily etched away where the etching mask of silicon oxide is absent, whereby the pattern of the silicon-containing resin is transferred to the aromatic resin layer. Unlike the single layer resist film, the aromatic resin need not have light transmittance at all, allowing for use of a wide variety of aromatic resins having high resistance to etching with fluorine or chlorine gas plasma. Using the aromatic resin as the etching mask, the patternable substrate can be etched with fluorine or chlorine gas plasma.
Typical resins used in the bilayer resist process are polysilsesquioxanes. In chemically amplified resist compositions of negative type, polysilsesquioxane having side chains exhibiting solubility in alkaline developer is typically used in combination with crosslinkers and photoacid generators. In chemically amplified resist compositions of positive type, polysilsesquioxane having acidic side chains protected with acid labile groups is typically used in combination with photoacid generators. In general, the polysilsesquioxanes are prepared through condensation reaction of trifunctional silane monomers. Since an ordinary synthesis method yields a polysilsesquioxane product with a noticeable amount of silanol groups left therein, compositions containing the same suffer from shelf instability.
Cage silsesquioxanes are typical of silsesquioxanes (SSQ) which are substantially free of silanol groups, that is, have a degree of condensation of substantially 100%. In general, polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxanes of 6 to 12 monomer units are known and abbreviated as POSS, of which an oligomer of 8 monomer units (referred to as octet) is relatively readily available. Patternable material using POSS compound is described in US Patent Application 2004-0137241 A1 (JP-A 2004-212983). A resist composition is synthesized by starting with a POSS compound having hydrogen as substituent groups and introducing side chains therein.
For SSQ compounds having a degree of condensation of 100%, exemplary frameworks include those of 6 to 12 monomer units shown below.
Herein, each apex denotes a silicon atom having one substituent group, and each side denotes a Si—O—Si linkage.
Meanwhile, condensates (SSQ) of alkyl-bearing trifunctional silicon compounds are attractive as organic-inorganic composites and have found a wide range of actual application, for example, as base polymer in the bilayer resist process. Regrettably, they lack shelf stability because hydrolyzable silanol or alkoxy groups are left behind as described above. An improvement in shelf stability is desired. With respect to the octet (POSS compound) having a degree of condensation of 100% having the ultimate structure, shown below, which is expected as the material capable of solving shelf instability, several reports were already published and their preparation methods are known. In most of these methods, equilibration reaction is carried out in the presence of a base catalyst over a long time. For utilizing the high crystallinity of the octet having a degree of condensation of 100%, an appropriate solvent is selected as the reaction medium so that the octet may be crystallized and isolated from the system. In this case, although a shift of equilibrium occurs as a result of the product or octet having a degree of condensation of 100% being crystallized and removed out of the reaction system, condensation generally proceeds to a full extent even under the condition that water is co-present in the reaction system. Then a starting substance having a relatively small substituent group enough to form an octet must be selected. Since isolation and purification depends on a level of crystallization, the substituent group that can be introduced is restricted. Complex steps are necessary to introduce substituent groups of different type.
In the other reported method, once a SSQ polymer which is in an incompletely condensed state, but has a higher molecular weight as prepared by a prior art technique is taken out, it is converted into a cage structure using a large amount of base catalyst (see JP-A 2003-510337). It is unknown to apply this method to those monomers having less condensable bulky side chains which cannot be once taken out as a polymer.
On the other hand, it is known in the art that SSQ materials are prepared by carrying out base catalyzed condensation reaction at a high temperature above 100° C. for a prolonged time. The inventors discovered in JP-A 2004-354417 that polymeric compounds having a relatively high degree of condensation are obtained by carrying out the condensation reaction in two stages, that is, a first stage of hydrolysis to form a partial hydrolyzate of silicon, followed by concentration and isolation for removing the alcohol by-product and extra water, and a second stage wherein the base catalyst is used in a large amount of at least 10% based on the monomer units.
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During the course of a study on surface coatings, the Applicant was concerned with polymer compositions. Following this work, compositions of particular interest for surface coatings were developed, these compositions containing at least one thermoplastic polymer which is usually amorphous or of low crystallinity, and at least one epoxy resin modified by at least one aromatic polyamine.
The present invention concerns the use of these compositions to coat metal or other surfaces, for example for receptacles or conduits. These compositions are particular suitable for protecting surfaces, in particular metal surfaces. These compositions are used to coat conduits and pipelines in particular, especially metal conduits and steel pipelines.
Pipelines are metal tubes, often formed from steel, essentially used in wells to transport crude oil and natural gas, but any type of fluid could be transported by such pipelines. The internal surface of the pipeline is corroded by the transported fluid. When the transported fluid is oil, the sulphur-containing compounds contained in the oil are the main causes of the corrosion. When drilling offshore, the external surface of the pipeline is also corroded by sea water.
The principal problem with depositing a polymer on a metal surface, for example the external and/or internal surface of a pipeline, for example of steel, is the behaviour of the polymer when it is subjected to heat stress. Even if the oil is cooled before transporting it, the pipeline is often heated to a temperature of about 50xc2x0 C. to 200xc2x0 C. by contact with hot oil. Certain polymers, for example polypropylene, tend to distort and no longer adhere to the metal once the temperature exceeds 130xc2x0 C. Other polymers, such as polyetherimides or polysulphones, adhere at high temperatures but their application temperature (at which it is deposited on the metal) is higher, about 360xc2x0 C. Further, metals, in particular steelxe2x80x94frequently used in the production of pipelinesxe2x80x94, may undergo phase distortions from a temperature of about 250xc2x0 C., and certain of their mechanical and physical properties can be altered.
In addition, good adhesion of the polymer at a higher temperature enables the oil to be transported without the need to cool it, or at least it only needs to be cooled to a lesser extent. At a relatively high temperature, oil is less viscous and therefore easier to transport.
The use of the polymer compositions of the present invention overcomes the above disadvantages; in particular, such use produces pipelines with a coating with good adhesion, good stiffness, and good resistance to sea water. Further, the properties of the polymer compositions used are only slightly altered when these compositions are aged.
The polymer compositions used contain at least one thermoplastic polymer, usually having a high glass transition temperature and preferably being amorphous or of low crystallinity, usually selected from the group formed by polysulphones, polyetherimides and polyphenylene ethers and at least one epoxy resin modified by at least one aromatic polyamine containing at least two primary amine groups in its molecule; preferably, sterically hindered polyamines are selected, i.e., they contain at least one alkyl substituent containing 1 to 12 carbon atoms located alpha to one of the amine groups. In the remainder of the description, the polyamines described above are termed xe2x80x9caromatic polyaminesxe2x80x9d.
Preferably, the polymer compositions used contain at least one thermoplastic polymer in an amount of about 15% to 98% by weight, more preferably 30% to 70% by weight, with respect to the total composition weight, and at least one epoxy resin modified by at least one aromatic polyamine in an amount of about 2% to 85% by weight, preferably about 30% to 70% by weight, with respect to the total composition weight.
The term xe2x80x9cpolysulphonexe2x80x9d may be the source of an ambiguity. The first polymer of commercial importance with a base unit containing a sulphone group xe2x80x94SO2xe2x80x94 was, the polymer sold by AMOCO under the trade name UDEL. Because of this, this particular polysulphone is often designated by the generic term polysulphone. In the present description, the term xe2x80x9cpolysulphonexe2x80x9d is used in its generic sense, and not just the limiting sense of a UDEL type polysulphone.
The polysulphones used in the polymer compositions of the invention are preferably aromatic polysulphones, more preferably UDEL type polysulphones, RADEL A polysulphone type polyether-sulphones sold by AMOCO, and RADEL R polysulphone type polyphenylene sulphones also sold by AMOCO.
The polyetherimides used in the polymer compositions are preferably ULTEM type polyetherimides sold by General Electric Plastics.
The polyphenylene ethers used in the polymer compositions are preferably PPE 800 type polyphenylene ethers sold by General Electric Plastics.
As used in the present invention, the thermoplastic polymers can be used alone, mixed with each other or mixed with other polymers such as aromatic polyetherketones or polyphenylene sulphides. Polymer compositions comprising aromatic polyetherketones contain about 1% to 50% by weight thereof with respect to the total weight of thermoplastic polymers. Polymer compositions comprising polyphenylene sulphides contain about 1% to 50% by weight thereof with respect to the total weight of thermoplastic polymers.
The epoxy resins modified by at least one aromatic polyamine, preferably sterically hindered, used in the polymer compositions are epoxy resins formed from at least one polyepoxide containing at least two epoxy groups in its molecule and at least one aromatic polyamine containing at least two primary amine groups in its molecule, and at least one alkyl substituent containing 1 to 12 carbon atoms located alpha to one of the amine groups, the mole ratio of the amine to the epoxy being such that each amine group corresponds to 1.6 to 2.6 epoxy groups.
The aromatic polyamines are selected for their low reactivity and for their non toxic nature.
The epoxy resin can be selected from the group formed by the following commercially available resins: the diglycidylether of bis-phenol-A or bis-phenol F, bis-phenol formol resin, phenol-novolac resin, cycloaliphatic resins, tri- or tetrafunctional resins, resins formed from triglycidylether-isocyanurate and/or triglycidylether-cyanurate and/or triglycidyl-cyanurate and/or triglycidyl-isocyanurate or mixtures of at least two of these resins.
The epoxy resins obtained from the epoxy resins cited in U.S. Pat. No. 4,921,047 can also be used in the present invention.
The aromatic polyamines used in the polymer compositions include a first series of aromatic amines comprising a single aromatic ring such as 3,5-diethyl-2,4-dinitrotoluene, 3,5-diethyl-2,6-diaminotoluene and mixtures of these two isomers. Usually, a mixture of these two isomers generally known as DETDA is used.
In a second series of amines used, amines containing at least two aromatic rings can be considered, these two aromatic rings generally being connected to each other by a bivalent linear or branched hydrocarbon residue containing 1 to 18 carbon atoms. These two aromatic rings are either connected via a bivalent alkyl group or are connected one to the other via a bivalent linear or branched hydrocarbon residue containing 6 to 18 carbon atoms and containing an aromatic ring.
The amine can also contain at least one substituent selected from the group formed be fluorine, iodine, bromine and chlorine. It preferably contains at least two alkyl substituents, each being alpha either side of an amino group.
When the two aromatic rings are connected via a bivalent alkyl residue, this residue is preferably a methylidene group which is non substituted or substituted by at least one radical selected from alkyl radicals and halogenoalkyl radicals containing 1 to 3 carbon atoms. As an example, this alkyl residue is selected from the group formed by the methylidene group, the isopropylidene group, the halogenoisopropylidene groups, and the hexafluoroisopropylidene group. In this case, the amine is preferably selected from the group formed by:
4,4xe2x80x2-methylene-bis(2,6-dimethylaniline) or M-DMA;
4,4xe2x80x2-methylene-bis(2-isopropyl-6-methyl-aniline) or M-MIPA;
4,4xe2x80x2-methylene-bis(2,6-diethylaniline) or M-DEA;
4,4xe2x80x2-methylene-bis(2,6-diisopropylaniline) or M-DIPA; and
4,4xe2x80x2-methylene-bis(3-chloro-2,6-diethylaniline) or M-CDEA.
Of these amines, 4,4xe2x80x2-methylene-bis(2,6-diethylaniline) and 4,4xe2x80x2-methylene-bis(3-chloro-2,6-diethylaniline) are of particular interest.
When the amine contains two aromatic rings which are connected to each other via a bivalent hydrocarbon residue which may or may not be substituted, containing 6 to 18 carbon atoms and containing an aromatic ring, it is preferably selected from the group formed by:
4,4xe2x80x2-(phenylene-diisopropyl)-bis(2,6-dimethyl-aniline);
4,4xe2x80x2-(phenylene-diisopropyl)-bis(2,6-diethyl-aniline);
4,4xe2x80x2-(phenylene-diisopropyl)-bis(2,6-dipropyl-aniline);
4,4xe2x80x2-(phenylene-diisopropyl)-bis(2,6-diisopropyl-aniline);
4,4xe2x80x2-(phenylene-diisopropyl)-bis(2,6-dimethyl-3-chloro-aniline);
4,4xe2x80x2-(phenylene-diisopropyl)-bis(2,6-diethyl-3-chloro-aniline);
4,4xe2x80x2-(phenylene-diisopropyl)-bis(2,6-dipropyl-3-chloro-aniline);
4,4xe2x80x2-(phenylene-diisopropyl)-bis(2,6-diisopropyl-3-chloro-aniline);
3,3xe2x80x2-(phenylene-diisopropyl)-bis(2,6-dimethyl-aniline);
3,3xe2x80x2-(phenylene-diisopropyl)-bis(2,6-diethyl-aniline);
3,3xe2x80x2-(phenylene-diisopropyl)-bis(2,6-dipropyl-aniline);
3,3xe2x80x2-(phenylene-diisopropyl)-bis(2,6-dimethyl-3-chloro-aniline);
3,3xe2x80x2-(phenylene-diisopropyl)-bis(2,6-diethyl-3-chloro-aniline);
3,3xe2x80x2-(phenylene-diisopropyl)-bis(2,6-dipropyl-3-chloro-aniline);
3,3xe2x80x2-(phenylene-diisopropyl)-bis(2,6-diisopropyl-aniline); and
3,3xe2x80x2-(phenylene-diisopropyl)-bis(2,6-diisopropyl-3-chloro-aniline).
The polymer compositions of the present invention can also contain catalysts which are active for the reaction between the epoxy resins and the sterically hindered aromatic polyamines. The most frequently used active catalysts are imidazoles, tertiary amines and boron trifluoride based complexes. Additives selected from the group formed by antioxidants, pigments, adhesion promoters, heat stabilisers and organic, mineral or metallic fillers can also be added.
These polymer compositions are preferably prepared without a solvent in the molten state at a temperature of about 100xc2x0 C. to 250xc2x0 C., preferably about 150xc2x0 C. to 200xc2x0 C. This preparation is preferably carried out using a mixer such as a twin screw extruder. In this preferred mode of preparation, the epoxy resins, aromatic polyamines and any additives are introduced into the mixer in the form of a premix to which the thermoplastic polymer is added; each reactant can also be separately introduced into the mixer via different inlet zones or via a single inlet zone. It is also possible to mix the thermoplastic polymers and epoxy resins first, then to acid the aromatic polyamine. It is also possible to introduce the aromatic polyamine into the mixer into a zone close to the zone for recovering the polymer composition.
Once the mixture has been produced, the polymer composition is formed then preferably cured. Curing generally consists of heating the composition to a temperature of about 200xc2x0 C. to 250xc2x0 C., for example, for a period of about 10 minutes to 12 hours. It is preferably carried out in an oven.
Layers of polymer compositions can thus be deposited on different types of conduits, in particular on pipelines produced from metal, more particularly from steel. Internal and external coatings can be formed. Different application methods have been studied. Of the possible application methods, dusting and extrusion deposition methods are preferred. The thickness of the polymer composition layers formed is generally about 10xc3x9710xe2x88x926 m (10 micrometers) to 1xc3x9710xe2x88x922 m (1 centimeter), preferably about 50xc3x9710xe2x88x926 m (50 micrometers) to 5xc3x9710xe2x88x923 m (5 millimeters).
Uses for polymer compositions for coating surfaces with multi-layers have also been tested. Up to 5 superimposed layers have been produced. Preferably, 2 to 4 layers were superimposed in the tests.
Thus one polymer composition layer containing at least one thermoplastic polymer and at least one epoxy resin modified by at least one polyamine was deposited on the metal, in particular on steel or on steel coated with an anti-corrosion primer and/or an adhesion promoter. Deposits on other materials, in particular on other polymers, were also studied.
Uses for polymer compositions for coating surfaces with multi-layers were also tested. Thus one (or more) layers of polymer composition containing at least one thermoplastic polymer and at least one epoxy resin modified by at least one polyamine had deposited on it a layer of a polymer composition containing at least one thermoplastic polymer and at least one epoxy resin modified by at least one aromatic polyamine, the layers containing identical or different thermoplastic polymers in identical or different proportions.
A layer of a polymer composition containing at least one thermoplastic polymer and at least one epoxy resin modified by at least one aromatic polyamine has also had deposited on it reactive polymers with good adhesion to the layers onto which they are deposited, such as polymers with one or more reactive functions for example epoxy, alcohol, amine, acid, anhydride, thiol or polyolefins with functions which react with epoxy or polar functions, or a modified polyolefin P1 containing at least one succimide ring substituted on the nitrogen by a reactive group, said ring being supported either by the main chain or by the side chain. It is also possible to use the product resulting from the reaction of this modified polyolefin with at least one polyepoxide containing at least two epoxy groups in its molecule.
This polyolefin P1 can be defined as being the product resulting from the reaction of at least one polyolefin with at least one compound containing a maleimide ring substituted on the nitrogen by a reactive group with formula xe2x80x94Rxe2x80x94 (X)n where X represents a reactive group, n represents a number equal to 1 or more and R is a residue containing at least one carbon atom. Usually, n equals 1 and in this case the compound containing a maleimide ring used in the present invention is represented by the formula (I) below:
The reactive group xe2x80x94X is normally selected from a hydroxyl group, a carboxyl group, a carboxamide group, a carboxylic acid halide group, a thiol group, a thio-carboxyl group, an amine group, a halogen, an epoxy group and an esterified carboxyl group where the ester portion comprises a reactive group. When a plurality of groups xe2x80x94X are present, they can be identical or different.
The reactive group xe2x80x94X is usually selected from groups which can react with epoxy functions by oxirane ring opening. Usually, compounds containing a reactive group selected from the carboxyl group, the carboxamide group, an acid halide group, for example a carboxylic acid halide group, are used. The carboxyl group is preferred.
The group xe2x80x94Rxe2x80x94 is normally selected from saturated or unsaturated, substituted or non substituted aliphatic hydrocarbon groups, and substituted or non substituted aromatic groups. Generally, non substituted groups are preferred and usually the groups contain at least one aromatic ring. An example of a group which is often used is a benzene group ortho, meta or para to the nitrogen atom and to a reactive group xe2x80x94X. Usually, the para or meta form is used.
The polyolefins used to form this layer can be any polyolefin which is well known to the skilled person. Preferably, polyolefins obtained from at least one unsaturated monomer containing one or more unsaturated bonds is used, usually selected from the group formed by ethylene, propene, butenes and norbornenes. Thus these polyolefins can be formed by homopolymerisation or copolymerisation of at least two monomers.
These layers of polymer compositions with one or more reactive functions as defined( above are generally about 1xc3x9710xe2x88x926 m (1 micrometer) to 500xc3x9710xe2x88x926 m (500 micrometers) thick, preferably about 100xc3x9710xe2x88x926 m (100 micrometers) to 400xc3x9710xe2x88x926 m (400 micrometers) thick.
A preferred use for the polymer compositions containing at least one thermoplastic polymer and at least one epoxy resin modified by at least one aromatic polyamine for coating the external surfaces of conduits consists of forming the following multi-layer. At least one first layer containing at least one thermoplastic polymer and at least one epoxy resin modified by at least one aromatic polyamine is directly deposited on the conduitxe2x80x94or onto the conduit after depositing, an anti-corrosion primer and/or an adhesion promoter. On this layer, a second layer of the polymer defined above is deposited, having one or more reactive functions and with good adhesion to the first layer. Finally, this system has deposited on it a layer of commercially available polymer selected from the group formed by polyolefins, such as polyethylenes and polypropylenes, and with good compatibility with the second layer: as an example, a layer of commercially available polyethylene will be deposited on a layer of modified polyethylenexe2x80x94with at least one reactive function.
This last layer can be in the form of a solid or it can be cellular. Further, it is generally about 10xe2x88x923 m (1 millimeter) to about 10xc3x9710xe2x88x922 m (10 centimeters) thick.
More generally, at least one polymer composition containing at least one thermoplastic polymer and at least one epoxy resin modified by at least one aromatic polyamine can be used as an intermediate layer between a surface and a layer of a thermoplastic polymer composition containing at least two distinct polymers at least one of which is a polymer comprising at least one reactive function, and at least one modified polyolefin containing at least one succimide ring substituted on the nitrogen by a reactive group, said ring being supported either by the main chain or by the side chain.
Of the methods for depositing these multi-layer coatings, one preferred method consists of depositing a layer of a polymer composition containing at least one thermoplastic polymer and at least one epoxy resin modified by at least one aromatic polyamine on a support at the application temperature for said polymer composition, then depositing on this layer a further layer of a polymer composition selected from those defined above at its application temperature. After depositing each layer it can be cured at about 200xc2x0 C. to 250xc2x0 C., for a period of about 10 minutes to 12 hours. Curing can also be carried out after depositing all of the layers onto the coating. Preferably, curing is carried out after depositing all of the layers, this implementation thus achieving good cross linking of the layers between each other.
The present invention also concerns surface coatings comprising at least one thermoplastic polymer preferably selected from the group formed by polyetherimides, polysulphones and polyphenylene ethers and at least one epoxy resin modified by at least one aromatic polyamine containing at least two primary amine groups in its molecule, the epoxy resin being formed from at least one polyepoxide containing at least two epoxy groups in its molecule and the molar ratio of the aromatic polyamine to the epoxy resin being such that each amine group corresponds to 1.6 to 2.6 epoxy groups.
The invention also concerns multi-layer surface coatings comprising at least two identical or different layers in which at least one first layer contains at least one thermoplastic polymer preferably selected from the group formed by polyetherimides, polysulphones and polyphenylene ethers and at least one epoxy resin modified by at least one aromatic polyamine as defined above, and at least one second layer which is identical or different to said first layer, preferably selected from the group formed by the reactive polymers described above and the modified polyolefins described above, or a mixture of these two product types. In the present description, in the case of coatings comprising at least two layers, the term xe2x80x9cfirst layerxe2x80x9d does not imply that this layer is that which is in direct contact with the surface to be coated.
The following examples illustrate the invention without limiting its scope.
The polymer compositions in the following examples were prepared using a twin screw extruder from CLEXTRAL; this extruder comprised a plurality of positions for introducing the reactants to be mixed. For these examples, the epoxy resin and aromatic polyamine were first mixed; this mixture will hereinafter be termed the xe2x80x9cpremixxe2x80x9d. The thermoplastic polymers were introduced via an inlet zone and the premix was introduced via a further inlet zone. The rate for the premix was constant, and was introduced using a gear pump. In contrast, the thermoplastic polymers were introduced using a gravimetric metering hopper which enabled the rate of the thermoplastic polymers to be varied, and thus polymer compositions with different modified resin/thermoplastic polymer ratios could be produced.
The thermoplastic polymers were introduced into the extruder""s inlet zone at the end opposite to the zone for recovering the polymer composition. The temperature in this inlet zone was 100xc2x0 C. They were then entrained in a second zone where the temperature was 150xc2x0 C. and into which the premix was introduced. These reactants were then entrained by the twin screw extruder, with the temperature inside the extruder slowly increasing to attain 185xc2x0 C. and the extruder outlet.
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The development of methods for detecting and sequencing nucleic acids is critical to the diagnosis of genetic, bacterial, and viral diseases. See Mansfield, E. S. et al. Molecular and Cellular Probes, 9, 145–156 (1995). At present, there are a variety of methods used for detecting specific nucleic acid sequences. Id. However, these methods are complicated, time-consuming and/or require the use of specialized and expensive equipment. A simple, fast method of detecting nucleic acids which does not require the use of such equipment would clearly be desirable.
A variety of methods have been developed for assembling metal and semiconductor colloids into nanomaterials. These methods have focused on the use of covalent linker molecules that possess functionalities at opposing ends with chemical affinities for the colloids of interest. One of the most successful approaches to date, Brust et al., Adv. Mater., 7, 795–797 (1995), involves the use of gold colloids and well-established thiol adsorption chemistry, Bain & Whitesides, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. Engl., 28, 506–512 (1989) and Dubois & Nuzzo, Annu. Rev. Phys. Chem., 43, 437–464 (1992). In this approach, linear alkanedithiols are used as the particle linker molecules. The thiol groups at each end of the linker molecule covalently attach themselves to the colloidal particles to form aggregate structures. The drawbacks of this method are that the process is difficult to control and the assemblies are formed irreversibly. Methods for systematically controlling the assembly process are needed if the materials properties of these structures are to be exploited fully.
The potential utility of DNA for the preparation of biomaterials and in nanofabrication methods has been recognized. In this work, researchers have focused on using the sequence-specific molecular recognition properties of oligonucleotides to design impressive structures with well-defined geometric shapes and sizes. Shekhtman et al., New J. Chem., 17, 757–763 (1993); Shaw & Wang, Science, 260, 533–536 (1993); Chen et al., J. Am Chem. Soc., 111, 6402–6407 (1989); Chen & Seeman, Nature, 350, 631–633 (1991); Smith and Feigon, Nature, 356, 164–168 (1992); Wang et al., Biochem., 32, 1899–1904 (1993); Chen et al., Biochem., 33, 13540–13546 (1994); Marsh et al., Nucleic Acids Res., 23, 696–700 (1995); Mirkin, Annu. Review Biophys. Biomol. Struct., 23,541–576 (1994); Wells, J. Biol. Chem., 263, 1095–1098 (1988); Wang et al., Biochem., 30, 5667–5674 (1991). However, the theory of producing DNA structures is well ahead of experimental confirmation. Seeman et al., New J. Chem., 17, 739–755 (1993).
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{
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for controlling an array of light-emitting elements to create an intensity-graded image on a photosensitive medium.
Such arrays are employed, for example, in printers, copiers, and similar devices in which the photosensitive medium is a revolving photosensitive drum and the array is a linear array of light-emitting diodes (hereinafter, LEDs). The image formed on the drum is an invisible image consisting of electrical charges, which is typically developed by applying toner particles, then transferred to paper.
To print color images or halftone monochrome images, the light-emitting elements must produce an intensity-graded image. This is conventionally done by controlling the voltage at which the light-emitting elements are driven, thereby controlling the intensity with which they illuminate the photosensitive medium. A drawback of this method is that the intensity data are normally provided in digital form, from a computer, for example, so it is necessary to convert the digital data to a graded range of analog voltages. A separate digital-to-analog converter for this purpose must be provided for each light-emitting element. These digital-to-analog converters require complex circuitry, typically employing a precision resistor ladder that is difficult and hence costly to fabricate. Further, the digital-to-analog converters take up considerable space in an integrated circuit.
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Of carbostyril derivatives, many of them have hitherto been known to have useful pharmacological activities. For example, those carbostyril derivatives having a side chain similar to the side chain of the carbostyril derivative of the present application, represented by the formula ##STR2## and having a platelet aggregation inhibitory activity as the pharmacological activity, are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,070,470, U.S. Pat. No. 4,216,220, U.S. Pat. No. 4,313,947, U.S. Pat. No. 4,298,739, U.S. Pat. No. 4,435,404; British Patent No. 1,505,305, British Patent No. 2,002,745, British Patent No. 2,070,588; German Patent No. 2,527,937, German Patent No. 2,825,048, German Patent Laid-Open No. 3049959.3; Japanese Patent Kokai (Laid-Open) No. 51-23271 (1976), Japanese Patent Kokai (Laid-Open) No. 51-23272 (1976), Japanese Patent Kokai (Laid-Open) No. 51-136676 (1976), Japanese Patent Kokai (Laid-Open) No. 54-5981 (1979), Japanese Patent Kokai (Laid-Open) No. 54-12385 (1979), Japanese Patent Kokai (Laid-Open) No. 54-115383 (1979), Japanese Patent Kokai (Laid-Open) No. 58-23622 (1983), Japanese Patent Kokai (Laid-Open) No. 54-163825 (1979), Japanese Patent Kokai (Laid-Open) No. 55-35018 (1980), Japanese Patent Kokai (Laid-Open) No. 55-76864 (1980), Japanese Patent Kokai (Laid-Open) No. 55-79370 (1980), Japanese Patent Kokai (Laid-Open) No. 55-79371 (1980), Japanese Patent Kokai (Laid-Open) No. 55-79372 (1980), Japanese Patent Kokai (Laid-Open) No. 56-122356 (1981), Japanese Patent Kokai (Laid-Open) No. 57-2274 (1982 ), Japanese Patent Kokai (Laid-Open) No. 57-93962 (1982), Japanese Patent Kokai (Laid-Open) No. 57-175168 (1982), Japanese Patent Kokai (Laid-Open) No. 57-183761 (1982), Japanese Patent Kokai (Laid-Open) No. 59-46202 (1984), etc.
Also, those compounds which have a side chain similar to the side chain of the carbostyril derivative of the present application, represented by the formula ##STR3## and have a platelet aggregation inhibitory activity as the pharmacological activity but are not carbostyril derivatives, are disclosed in Japanese Patent Kokai (Laid-Open) No. 55-2655 (1980) (quinoline type compounds), Japanese Patent Kokai (Laid-Open) No. 54-115370 (1979) (oxyindole type compounds), Japanese Patent Kokai (Laid-Open) No. 57-14578 (1982) (benzimidazole-2-one type compounds), Japanese Patent Kokai (Laid-Open) No. 57-209281 (1982) (benzoxazine type compounds), Japanese Patent Kokai (Laid-Open) No. 55-36444 (1980) (thiocarbostyril type compounds), etc.
Further, those carbostyril derivatives having no side chain similar to the side chain of the carbostyril derivative of the present application, represented by the formula ##STR4## but having a platelet aggregation inhibitory activity as the pharmacological activity, for example, tetrazole-substituted alkoxycarbostyril derivatives are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,277,479, British Patent No. 2,033,893 and German Patent No. 2934747, and heterocycle-substituted alkoxycarbostyril derivatives are disclosed in European Patent Publication No. 0240015. Besides, those carbostyril derivatives having a side chain represented by the formula ##STR5## and having a platelet aggregation inhibitory activity, are disclosed in Japanese Patent Kokai (Laid-Open) No. 57-14574 (1982).
Further, U.S. Pat. No. 3,682,920 discloses 3,4-dihdyrocarbostyril derivatives having a substituent at the 1-position which are useful as an analgesic.
However, the known carbostyril derivatives having a side chain represented by the formula ##STR6## have had a drawback in that they increase circulation activities such as heart rate increasing activity and the like.
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There are at present several commercially available inhalation preparations useful for the treatment of asthma, bronchial spasm, and reversible bronchoconstriction. These preparations are either certain catacholamines in powder form or solution, or a solution of the adrenal cortical steroid, dexamethasone. For administration, the powder is sprayed or the solution is first atomized and then sprayed directly into the nasal or oral opening. In addition, there is an inhalable powder comprising a bis-chromone derivative; however, this medicament has no intrinsic bronchodilator, or anti-histamine activity, and is useful only prophylactically. It is not indicated for treating an acute asthmatic attack. The literature also describes the use of certain prostaglandins by the oral inhalation route for the relief of bronchial spasm. Thus, for example, Belgian Pat. No. 792,216 describes this use for prostaglandin F.sub.2.beta.. The use of certain quaternary salts of atropine as inhalable anticholinergic bronchodilators has been reported; Arzneium.-Forsch. (Drug Res.) 26, 959-1020 (1976). The use of certain quaternized phenothiazines [e.g. 1-(10-phenothiazinylmethyl)ethyl-2-hydroxyethyldimethylammonium chloride, Acta. Pharmacol. et Toxicol., 18, 105 (1961)] as antihistiminics (i.m. administration) has also been studied.
The existing inhalable medicaments useful for the control of asthma, bronchial spasm and similar disorders each, unfortunately, possess deleterious side effects, and a generally useful medicament, indicated for use by all patients requiring inhalation therapy, does not exist.
The catacholamines most often utilized are epinephrine, isoproterenol, and metaproterenol. These adrenergic agents are most powerful and useful drugs in the relief of severe asthmatic spasm (status asthmaticus); however, as with other dilators they have untoward side effects. Some of the more undesirable of these are stimulation of the cardiovascular and central nervous system, hyperglycemia, and tolerance (tachyphylaxis), which greatly reduces the effectiveness of these drugs.
Many cases of asthma and status asthmaticus refractory to usual treatment methods may now be controlled by the use of inhalable dexamethasone. However, long term treatment of asthma with steroids involves the risk of sodium retention, hypertension, ulcers, calcium loss from osseous structures, and other well-known side effects.
Thus, the agents presently available to the physician have a number of problems associated with their use, including toxicity, adverse effect on the cardiovascular system (especially in the sympathomimetics), and fluid retention or edema (with the corticosteroids). Thus, a definite need exists for means employing effective and well-tolerated bronchodilating agents.
The difficulty in finding such agents is well-known to those skilled in the art. It is a matter of common knowledge and experience, for example, that many compounds that relax smooth muscles are not bronchodilators by all common routes of administration (and especially by the aerosol route of administration). For example, for some obscure reason, ephedrine is a smooth muscle relaxant and is an orally active bronchodilator, but not by aerosol; epinephrine, also a smooth muscle relaxant, is used by aerosol but not orally. And aminophylline, a drug which can relax bronchial smooth muscle in vitro or by injection in vivo is inactive as a bronchodilator aerosol. In view of this it is suprising to find new means which, even though characterized by smooth muscle relaxing activity, provide bronchodilation by administration via the aerosol route, possess high levels of activity, and are non-toxic.
The present invention provides new, potent, bronchodilator compositions comprising quaternary salts of the well-known medicament, promethazine, which compositions are useful upon administration by the aerosol route.
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a light-emitting device using an organic compound, and more particularly, relates to an organic light-emitting device which emits light by applying an electric field to a thin film comprising the organic compound.
2. Related Background Art
An organic light-emitting device is a device which forms excitons of a fluorescent organic compound by interposing a thin film comprising the fluorescent compound between an anode and a cathode and injecting electrons and holes (positive holes) from the electrodes, and utilizes light emitted when the excitons return to a ground state.
In a study according to Eastman Kodak Corporation in 1987 (Appl. Phys. Lett. 51, 913 (1987)), it has been reported that a device having a function-separated two-layer structure, which uses ITO for an anode, an alloy of magnesium and silver for a cathode, an aluminum quinolinol complex for an electron-transporting material and a light-emitting material and a triphenylamine derivative for a hole-transporting material, emits light of about 1,000 cd/m2 at an applied voltage of about 10 V (U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,539,507, 4,720,432 and 4,885,211).
Further, emission of light from ultraviolet to infrared region can be performed by changing the kind of a fluorescent organic compound. In these days, research has been actively made on various compounds (U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,151,629, 5,409,783, 5,382,477, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Nos. H02-247278, H03-255190, H05-202356, H09-202878, and H09-227576).
In addition to organic light-emitting devices using such low-molecular materials as those described above, a group of the University of Cambridge has reported organic light-emitting devices using conjugate polymers (Nature, 347, 539 (1990)). This report has confirmed that light emission can be obtained by a single layer by forming polyphenylene vinylene (PPV) in a film shape by use of an application system. Related patents on the organic light-emitting device using the conjugate polymers include U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,247,190, 5,514,878, 5,672,678, and Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Nos. H04-145192 and H05-247460.
As described above, recent progress of an organic light-emitting device is remarkable, and is characterized in that a highly responsive, thin, and lightweight light-emitting device that can be driven at a low applied voltage and provides a high luminance and a variety of emission wavelengths can be made, which suggests the applicability to a wide variety of uses.
However, there still remain a large number of problems in terms of durability such as a change over time due to long-term use and deterioration due to an atmospheric gas containing oxygen or to moisture. Furthermore, when application to a full-color display or the like is attempted, an optical output of a higher luminance or light emission of a higher conversion efficiency is still required at present, so that various proposals have been made hitherto.
As for an example of a material and an organic light-emitting device containing an anthracene ring, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H08-12600 discloses use of a phenyl anthracene derivative compound. The publication describes that such compound can form a good organic film because of its low crystallinity particularly when used for a blue-light-emitting material or an electron-injecting/transporting material, but the emission efficiency and durability life have not practically been sufficient.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Nos. H09-157643 and H10-72579 disclose use of an aminoanthracene derivative and a diaminoanthracene derivative, respectively. The publications describe that those anthracene derivatives provide green light emission when used as a light-emitting material, but when used to make a device, the emission efficiency of the device has been low and the durability life of the device has not practically been sufficient.
Japanese Patent No. 3,008,897 discloses that a device using a particular bianthryl compound for a light-emitting material shows light emission of a high luminance, but has no description about its emission efficiency and durability life.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H11-8068 discloses that a device using a particular anthracene compound containing an olefin moiety for a light-emitting material shows light emission of yellow to red color range, but the emission efficiency has not been practically sufficient.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2001-284050 discloses a device using a light-emitting medium layer containing an anthracene derivative of a particular structure, an electron-transporting compound and a fluorescent compound. The patent describes that a red-light-emitting device with improved reliability is obtained, but the emission efficiency is not practically sufficient and it is difficult to emit blue light because of its device structure.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2002-324678 discloses that an organic light-emitting device using a material which has a pyrene-substituted benzene ring has good emission characteristics and durability, but the external quantum efficiency of the device is low, and the patent has no specific description about the durability life.
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(a) Technical Field
The present invention relates to a thin film transistor array panel and a method of manufacturing the same.
(b) Description of the Related Art
In general, flat panel displays such as liquid crystal displays or organic light emitting displays include a plurality of pairs of field generating electrodes and an electro-optical active layer interposed therebetween. In the case of liquid crystal displays, a liquid crystal layer is included as the electro-optical active layer, and in the case of organic light emitting displays, an organic emission layer is included as the electro-optical active layer.
One of the field generating electrodes of the pair is generally connected to a switching element and receives an electric signal, and an image is displayed by converting the electric signal to an optical signal by the electro-optical active layer.
In flat panel displays, a thin film transistor (TFT) that is a three terminal element is used as a switching element, and signal lines, such as a gate line transmitting a scanning signal for controlling the thin film transistor and a data line transmitting a signal to be applied to a pixel electrode, are used.
As the area displaying the image in display devices is increased, oxide semiconductor technology has been studied as a method that allows high-speed driving. Additionally, a method of reducing resistance in the signal lines has also been studied. Particularly, a main wiring layer may be formed of copper, a copper alloy, molybdenum, a molybdenum alloy, or the like in order to reduce the resistance of the signal lines. There is a problem, however, in that the characteristics of the thin film transistor that uses such wiring can deteriorate due to a reaction between the main wiring layer formed of metal and other layers in a process, and the like. For example, when a passivation layer including silicon oxide is formed after the main wiring layer is formed, charge mobility may be reduced due to oxidation of the main wiring layer material.
In order to prevent such problems, a capping layer including metal oxide may be formed between the main wiring layer and the passivation layer. But it is difficult to control an etching profile when a capping layer is used due to a difference between the etching speeds of the main wiring layer and the capping layer, and thus the resulting quality of the product may be poor due to problems that may occur during subsequent processing.
The above information disclosed in this Background section is only for enhancement of understanding of the background of the disclosure and therefore it may contain information that does not form the prior art that is already known to a person of ordinary skill in the art.
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1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to drawer slides and more particularly to a locking device for a two-way travel drawer with improved characteristics.
2. Description of Related Art
A drawer is a box shaped container that fits into a piece of furniture (e.g., desk, cabinet, or the like) in such a way that it can be drawn out horizontally to access its contents.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,651,591 B1 entitled “lock device for two way travel drawer” is invented by the present inventors. The '591 patent discloses that a lock device for two-way travel drawers of a support body is provided with in combination a peg on a central portion of one side of the drawer; two two-way travel slides each on an outer surface of either side of the drawer; and a lock assembly including a groove member, a sliding member, a lock, and snapping members. The groove member has a rectangular section and includes front and rear flanges to be secured to a wall of the support body. The sliding member has a rectangular section, is slidably disposed in the groove member, and includes openings. The lock is disposed on an upper portion of the wall of the support body and capable of actuating to activate the sliding member. The snapping members are retained in the openings and capable of locking or unlocking the peg when the sliding member moves.
However, the '591 patent is complicated in terms of structure. Thus, the need for improvement still exists.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,770,680 B1 entitled “lock device for two way travel drawer” is invented by the present inventors. The '680 patent discloses that a lock device for two-way travel drawers of a support body, including in combination pegs each on one side of the drawer; a plurality of two slides each on either side of the drawer; and a lock assembly longitudinally mounted on one side of the support body and including a groove member, a sliding member, a biasing member, a lock, and snapping members. The groove member includes front and rear flanges, and an upward bend on an upper portion. The sliding member is slidably disposed in the groove member and includes longitudinal sets of two flush openings, and an upper hook. The biasing member interconnects the bend and the hook. The lock is on an upper portion of the support body for stopping the sliding member. The snapping member includes a central bottom trough and two inclined surfaces each extending from the trough to either end latch.
However, the '680 patent has the following drawbacks: The positioning of the sliding member in the groove member is not reliable if a pushing force of the drawer is excessive. Further, the piece of furniture (e.g., cabinet) may fall when opening or closing due to imbalance of articles (e.g., hand tools, electric powered tools, etc.) stored in different drawers. Furthermore, the articles fallen out of the cabinet may hurt people besides. Thus, the need for improvement still exists.
Notwithstanding the prior art, the invention is neither taught nor rendered obvious thereby.
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Field of the Art
The present invention relates to system and methods for managing the information using a network-connected electronic device. More specifically it relates to managing the shared information using context based network communication in mobile electronic devices.
Discussion of the State of the Art
Mobile electronic devices, for example, smartphones, Personal Digital Assistants (PDA's), music players, tablets and smartwatches are becoming more sophisticated and technologically advanced with each passing day. The various other features of the mobile electronic device include, but are not limited to, GPS (Global Positioning System), Camera, Audio/Video player, FM radio, Music player, heart-rate monitor, and short range wireless communication. Mobile devices can also connect to a network and can be uniquely identified using, for example, MAC (Media Access Control) address, IMEI (International Mobile Equipment Station Identity) number and/or operating system specific identifiers for a given mobile device. With an increase in on-device computational and storage capabilities, new electronic devices are capable of executing complex tasks. Nowadays, the mobile electronic devices are enabled typically with a plurality of applications. For example, smartphones along with enabling wireless communication also provide various other applications.
Hence, the use of mobile devices has increased significantly in day-to-day life because of the presence of the plurality of new applications, sometimes referred to as “apps”. Today, the mobile devices are also enabled with enhanced applications. For example, the mobile phones enable users to edit and modify audio/video data and multimedia data present in the mobile phones using audio/video applications. The users of electronic mobile devices today have multiple types of electronic communication addresses such as email address for email exchange, wireless phone number for SMS (Short Messaging Service) and MMS (Multimedia Messaging Service), social media accounts all accessible on the mobile electronic device. The users can also create an event using existing calendar application and send that event invitation to other users.
However, one limitation of existing information sharing applications is that the sharing of information is limited to one electronic communication contact address type. So email application is required to contact a user using email address contact type, a messaging application is required to contact a user with phone number contact type et cetera. These limitations are apparent even more in existing calendar applications that allow users to send and share information related to a calendar event. Existing calendar applications have a limitation that the event invitation can be sent to other users using only their email address as the contact type. Whereas, electronic device users today have multiple contact types, for example, email address, phone number and user accounts for social media websites such as Facebook™ and Twitter™. Existing calendar applications do not allow users to send invitations simultaneously to multiple users from the contact list using heterogeneous contact types, for example, email address, phone number and Facebook™ account. Furthermore, existing calendar applications do not intelligently customize the invitation message and the method of communication based on the contact type. For example, invitation message cannot automatically be delivered using email for the invitees with contact type of an email address, using SMS (Short Message Service) for the invitees with a contact type of phone number and using instant message service for the invitees with a Facebook™ account contact type et cetera.
Another limitation of exiting calendar applications is that they do not provide any mechanism to establish a secure and private communication link among the users associated with an event, for example, sending and receiving event invitations and event responses, updating event information and sharing instant messages within the context of a given event. Any replies and updates sent by event host and invitees are sent as email or in some limited cases as SMS messages to other parties of the event. Where the receiving party has to manually open the email or SMS to check for the updates. This process creates the possibility of some invitees and/or host ignoring some important updates related to the calendar event.
Still another limitation of existing calendar applications is that they require the event host to know the contact information of the invitees beforehand to send an invitation for the event. Therefore, users of existing calendar applications on mobile device cannot create an open event or appointment where another user can join the calendar event without the host knowing the contact information of such user beforehand. Further, existing calendar applications do not provide a mechanism to set and verify the conditions for credentials or attributes of other users allowed to join an open event, for example, only users belonging to a specific graduation year from an educational institute, only users residing in a community et cetera.
Another limitation of existing calendar applications is that they rely on sending email messages with attachments if the user wants to share a file such as a document, video, voice, picture and/or other types of data with other guests of the event. However, if the host later wants to share an updated version of the file or another type of data itself, then another event update email is sent to the guests. So guests receive two emails with two different attachments for the same event. This method of information sharing is not optimal in mobile device environment where data transfer over the network is expensive and limited in bandwidth. So for example, if a host user sent an invitation with a video message attached in the invitation email then the host user cannot directly modify that video message at a later time. If the user wants invitees to see a newer video message for the event invitation, then the user will have to send another invitation email with the new video message to all the invitees. So, in this case invitees will receive two emails from the user with two different video messages. Thus invitee users have to manually decide as to which video message should be treated as the most up to date video message from the host user. And invitees' manual decision-making process might dependent on the order in which they received email updates from the calendar user. The order of email delivery may not always be guaranteed to be the same for all invitees due to varying network speeds and latency of email service itself.
Still another limitation of existing calendar applications is that they do not provide any mechanism for the users to directly control how much and what information related to a calendar event is displayed to the other user associated with an event. For example, if a user wants only some guests to see the video message and other guests to not see the video message then current calendar applications do not provide any such control mechanism for the files attached to a calendar event.
Still another limitation of the existing calendar applications in mobile devices is that they require user to know the exact address of the event location. Existing calendar applications do not provide any functionality to the user to search for event address based on a text search criterion, for example, searching for “Restaurant”, “Pub”, “Bar”, “Coffee shop” et cetera. So a user has to first search for such places using a mapping application on the mobile device or through another mechanism, find the address and then enter that address in the event location field of the calendar application of the mobile device.
Still another limitation of the existing calendar applications in mobile devices is that there is no provision for a user to update the event information remotely for other users in such manner as to minimize the network traffic. So for example, if the host user changes the location of the event then event information at the guest should update only the event location. However, existing calendar applications require the host to send a new email message to all guests with the updated event information that requires guests to download all the information related to the event again.
Hence there exists a need in the art for a method and system that efficiently and effectively manages the sharing, synchronization and control of shared information within a context among mobile device users who may have multiple contact addresses capable of electronic communication. Furthermore, there exists a need in the art for a method and system that manages sharing, synchronization and control of shared information specifically within the context of planning a calendar event; automatically keeps event information synchronized for all participants and allows event participants to have a direct communication link to exchange data in the context of the calendar event on a mobile communication device.
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1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the speed control of D.C. motors, and more particularly to such speed control using a feedback signal representative of the D.C. motor armature voltage for generating an error signal indicative of the error in the motor speed wherein the motor armature voltage is accurately measured during a time interval in which the motor excitation is delayed or alternatively sampled at an optimum time.
2. Prior Art
U.S. Pat. No. 3,553,551, Digital Speed Control Apparatus issued to Arnold discloses the application of pulses, the frequency of which are representative of the motor velocity, to both a variable time delay circuit and to a switching circuit. A predetermined time delay is used, the length of which corresponds to the time between the pulses of a pulse train representative of the correct motor speed. The delayed feedback pulse train is compared with that of the measured pulse train. The motor is then caused to either speed up or slow down in dependence upon which of the pulses is first sensed. U.S. Pat. No. 3,950,682, Digital DC Motor Velocity Control System, issued to Dohanich, Jr. utilizes a delay to ensure that a counter has had time to respond to a feedback signal, the period of which represents velocity. The motor pulse drive width is adjusted to maintain a constant motor speed.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,288,729, Control System for DC Electric Motor, issued to Anazi et al, discloses a time delay for opening a switching circuit controlling the energization of the motor to eliminate noise components in the power input to the motor. The time delay is preferably approximately one-fourth of the natural oscillation period of the system.
FIG. 1 shows a known typical feedback control loop for controlling the speed of a DC motor. In such a typical feedback control loop the motor armature voltage is compared to a reference voltage representing the desired speed of motor 10 in summator or comparator 12. The error signal E is amplified by amplifier 14 and power amplifier 16, the latter including an SCR controlled power circuit and the necessary firing circuits therefor. Typical waveforms of the SCR drive circuit representing rotation of the DC motor and a stalled DC motor are respectively illustrated in FIGS. 2a and 2b. The complex waveform shown in FIG. 2a is the armature voltage signal that is fed back to the summator 12 of FIG. 1. The only region in the FIG. 2a that shows the actual motor speed is region f. However, it is readily apparent that the average voltage is somewhat higher than the actual voltage produced by the motor armature. Even in FIG. 2b, where the DC motor is stalled, it is apparent that the armature voltage is not zero due to the presence of the SCR pulse excitation signals. The aforementioned voltage errors cause errors in the speed of the DC motor from the desired speed as represented by the reference voltage at summator 12.
One known method of overcoming the foregoing problem is to use a separate tachometer/generator 18 shown in phantom lines in FIG. 1. However, such a tachometer/generator adds cost along with the benefits it provides in DC motor speed regulation.
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This invention relates to the repair of stone chips and related cracks in automotive windshields. More particularly this invention relates to a repair resin head which consecutively injects resins having different viscosities.
Automotive windshields frequently chip when they deflect small stones thrown off or up by moving vehicles immediately ahead on a roadway. Road vibration and temperature changes cause cracks first to diverge from these chips, and then spread across the windshield. After a crack has grown excessively, the windshield must be replaced.
Because the substantial replacement and labor cost of installing a new windshield can be saved by repairing the stone chip and small crack extending therefrom, many tools have been devised to inject resin into a stone chip and the crack extending therefrom. Most all of these tools have a resin injection head on one end portion, a suction hold down cup on a central portion, and a head pressure adjusting screw on the opposite end portion; so the tool, spaced from the windshield by the suction cup, and the injection head seated above the crack or chip, may be dragged along the crack injecting resin therein.
Many repair procedures comprise injecting resins of different viscosities into a chip and crack. It is difficult to fill a deep and wide chip with a relatively thin resin having a low viscosity. The resin runs out of the chip. Similarly it is difficult to penetrate a deep tight crack with a relatively thick resin having a high viscosity. Intermediate open portions of the crack can be filled first with thick resin and then finished with thin resin to ensure optimal bonding between the thick resin and the top edges of the crack. Secondary use of a thin resin also fills in voids and bubble openings in the thicker resin resulting in a stronger bond and smoother finish. Alternatively, bonding may be improved when the crack is first wetted with thinner resin, and then filled with thicker resin.
In all of these procedures which utilize resins of different viscosities it is necessary to set up, drag along, and remove the repair tool from the windshield more than once. In addition to being time consuming, it is particularly disadvantageous to flex the windshield along the crack any more than necessary because this flexing frequently causes cracks to grow.
It is an object of this invention to disclose a multi-injection head which facilitates injection of resins having differing viscosities into a chip and related crack. It is an object of this invention to disclose a multi-injection head which allows a chip and extending crack to be repaired with a single set up and pass of a repair tool thereby minimizing windshield flexing. It is yet a further object of this invention to disclose a multi-injection head which can be utilized in almost any existing windshield repair tool to better repair chips and related cracks. Cracks typically have variable width and stress therealong. For example, a crack may be closed, partially open, then open and closed again where it turns. The multi-injection head accommodates varying widths in cracks. The viscosity of the resin can be varied as the head is dragged along a crack having a variable width. Additionally, the head can be twisted to vary the order of injection of the thicker and thinner resins, as well as to more closely follow a turning crack.
One aspect of this invention provides for a multiple injection head for injection of resins having different viscosities into a chip/crack on an automotive windshield. The multiple injection head comprises: a) a plunger housing having a top side portion, a bottom side portion, and two cylindrical openings each extending from the top side portion through to the bottom side portion thereof, said openings each having an upper internally threaded portion and a lower chamber portion; and, b) two generally cylindrical plungers each having an upper portion adapted to be hand turned, an intermediate portion matingly threaded with respect to the housing, and a lower portion. When the resins having different viscosities respectively fill the chamber portions, the plungers can be turned into the threaded portions of the openings controllably and selectively forcing the resins through the openings out of the bottom side portion of the housing into a chip/crack therebelow on the windshield. As the head is dragged along the chip/crack first one viscosity resin is injected, and then the other different viscosity resin is immediately injected into the crack/chip producing an unusually smooth and strongly bonded crack in a single pass.
Within this specification chip/crack is defined to mean a chip and a related crack extending from the chip, or a crack alone, or a chip alone.
In a preferred aspect of the multi-injection head is adapted for use with a repair tool having an internally threaded head opening therein. Then the housing is generally cylindrical and a lower portion of the housing has a mating external thread therearound so that the head can screw into the repair tool; and subsequently, the head can be rotated for height adjustment, and be minimally rotated in the tool to facilitate following a curved crack in the windshield.
Various other objects, advantages and features of this invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from the following description in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an endoscopic apparatus for thermal distribution monitoring, and more particularly, to an endoscopic apparatus for thermal distribution monitoring that is capable of providing a functional image in which various images such as a real image and a thermal image, are matched to one another.
2. Discussion of Related Art
A thermal distribution monitoring is a technology, whereby a photon in a band of infrared (IR) rays emitted from a surface of an object is collected by using an infrared image sensor and then is analyzed to acquire information about thermal distribution. The thermal distribution monitoring technology is used not only to do early diagnosis for quickly detecting carrier suspects when an acute infectious disease (ex. Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS-CoV), etc.) occurs, but also to do a screening test on local part lesion (ex. rheumatoid arthritis, Raynaud syndrome, breast cancer, etc.) in a medical field. Also, the thermal distribution monitoring technology is widely used in structure safety diagnosis or a non-destructive quality test, etc. in an industrial field.
However, because a conventional thermal image apparatus uses large-area information acquired from the surface of the object, accuracy of diagnosis is lowered, and a thermal image system probe structure is bulky such that a diagnosis part is limited. Also, there are limitations in acquiring thermal distribution information inside a human body, such as the inside of an ear, the inside of noise, the inside of the abdominal cavity, etc.
Meanwhile, because edema, bleeding, etc. are diagnosed by the naked eye by using a laryngoscope (throat), an otoscope (ear), and an ophthalmoscope (eye), etc. in an ear-nose-throat (ENT) clinic and an ophthalmic clinic, etc., the result of diagnosis may vary according to an inspector's subjective opinion. A thermal image monitoring function is added to an apparatus having an endoscopic shape that is capable of acquiring information about a cavity (ex. the inside of an ear, the inside of noise, the larynx, the abdominal cavity, etc.) inside the human body such that a real image and a thermal image can be simultaneously observed and thus more objective and precise diagnosis can be carried out.
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OBIRCH (Optical Beam Induced Resistance Change) method has been known as a prior art non-destructive testing method for electronic components (objects to be tested) such as semiconductor chips. In the OBIRCH method, wirings are heated when laser light is scanned over a semiconductor chip and changes in wiring resistance which is caused by heating with irradiation of laser light, are imaged. In accordance with this method, the wirings through which currents flow can be visualized. Since the level of temperature elevation is different between a position where there is a defect such as void and a position where there is no defect, the defect can be identified on the image (refer to non-Paten Reference 1). FIG. 13 is a basic principle view showing a related art non-destructive testing apparatus using the OBIRCH method. Wiring 4 is formed on a semiconductor chip which is an object 1 to be tested. The wiring 5 is connected at one end thereof with a voltage supply source 5 and is connected at the other end thereof with a current change detecting unit 6, so that a change in resistance of the wiring 4 is detected. In the OBIRCH method, an optical spot 3 which is formed by condensing a laser beam 2 to be scanned on and along the object 1 to be tested, so that a change in resistance of the wiring when it is heated is imaged. In accordance with the OBIRCH method, the wiring through which current flows can be visualized and the temperature elevation is different between a position where there is a defect such as void in the wiring and a position where there is no defect. Therefore, the defect can be identified on the image. FIG. 14 shows a two-dimensional image which is obtained by the foregoing method. An image of wiring 4 and an image of a defect 8 are visualized at an observation area 7.
RIL (Resistive Interconnection Localization) method or SDL (Soft Defect Localization) method which is a denomination more common than the RIL method has been known as prior art non-destructive testing method for electronic components such as semiconductor chips. If this method is used, a dynamic defect or fault analysis of defective component which is marginal with respect to temperature, power source voltage and operation frequency can be conducted. Semiconductor chips are sequentially heated by slowly scanning laser light on the chips to conduct testing of functions with a LSI tester for pass/fail testing. Dynamic determination of abnormal position is made possible by displaying a result of pass/fail testing in the LSI tester in monochrome on a pixel-by-pixel basis relative to the position where irradiation with laser light is conducted (refer to non-patent reference 1).
OBIC (Optical Beam Induced Current) method has also been known as prior art non-destructive method for electronic component (object to be tested) such as LSI chip. The OBIC method exploits a phenomenon in which pairs of electrons and holes which are excited by light are separated and are observed as currents. A source of an internal electrostatic field for separating pairs of electrons and holes may include a p-n junction and an impurity concentration gradient. An electrostatic field which is induced by an external application of a voltage may be used. Since a way of applications of internal and external electrostatic fields is different in the presence of short circuit and broken wire, fault position can be identified (refer to non-patent reference 1).
Furthermore, SCOBIC (Single Contact OBIC) method and scanned laser SQUID (Superconducting Quantum Interference Devices) microscope (L-SQ) method have been known as a failure analyzing technique which belongs to the OBIC system. In the OBIC method, an observation between two terminals is conducted, which restricts an OBIC generation path. If connection to only one terminal and observation is conducted, restriction of the OBIC generation path is mitigated, so that more positions can be observed. This method is referred to as “SCOBIC”.
A method in which observation of current is not conducted from an external terminal, but a magnetic field which is generated by an OBIC current is observed by means of SQUID which is a magnetic field detector having a ultra-high sensitivity has been proposed. This method is referred to as “L-SQ” method. This method enables completely non-contact analysis which does not require even electrical connection. A sample which can be observed may include various forms such as wafers in the course of previous to step, in the course of wiring step, after completion of wafer step, after packaging and after mounting (refer to Non-Patent Document 1).
LTEM (Laser Terahertz Emission Microscope) method has been known as a prior art non-destructive testing method for electronic components (objects to be tested) such as semiconductor chips. In the LTEM method, Terahertz electromagnetic waves are detected which are radiated by transient optical current generated when a portion in which an electrostatic field exists such as p-n junction is irradiated with femto second laser. Data which suggest the possibility of observation of the operation of high speed device by the LTEM method is reported. It also reports the possibility of non-bias LTEM method which is a non-contact analysis which does not require even electrical connection as is similar to L-SQ method (refer to non-patent reference 1).
[Non-Patent Document 1]
Kiyoshi NIKAWA, “Optical Tools and Techniques for Failure Analysis of LSIs”, Journal of JAPAN society of Reliability “Reliability” (REAJ), Vol. 26, No. 1, pp 28 to 36 (2004).
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A denial of service (DoS) or distributed denial of service (DDOS) attack is an explicit attempt by an attacker or attackers to prevent or impair the legitimate use of a host computer, a router, a server, a network or the like. While such attacks can be launched from within a target network itself, the overwhelming majority of such attacks are launched from external systems and networks connected to the target via the Internet.
Traditional methods for detecting DoS attacks are typically based on monitoring incoming traffic and detecting the DoS attack based on an observation of a large increase in traffic, especially when a large portion of the traffic originates from a single IP address. In this case, mitigating the DoS attack includes filtering out the traffic associated with any IP addresses identified as malicious. However, the aforementioned technique for mitigating a DOS attack may not be very effective in mitigating a Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack. In case of a DDoS attack, incoming traffic may originate from a large number of attacking machines, each having a distinct IP address.
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a dual-bearing reel, and particularly to a dual-bearing reel configured to forwardly reel out a fishing line.
2. Background Art
A dual-bearing reel generally includes a reel unit attachable to a fishing rod, a spool disposed inside the reel unit, and a handle mounted to one side of the reel unit. The reel unit includes a frame and a pair of a first side cover and a second side cover for covering the both lateral sides of the frame. The flame further includes a pair of a first side plate and a second side plate and a coupling member for coupling the first side plate and the second side plate. The first side cover is attached to the outside of the first side plate, while the second side cover is attached to the outside of the second side plate. The handle and a star drag are mounted laterally outwards of the second side cover. The first side cover, disposed on the opposite side of a handle attachment side, is attached to the first side plate while being allowed to be opened and closed for attaching-detaching the spool and a brake mechanism to-from the reel unit (e.g., see Japan Registered Utility Model No. 2,570,769 and Japan Examined Utility Model Application No. S63-263033).
In Japan Registered Utility Model No. 2,570,769, the first side cover includes a ring-shaped cam body and an operating tool for operating the cam body. When the cam body is rotated through a pivot operation of the operating tool, the cam body is engaged with or disengaged from engaging pieces protruding from the first side plate. Accordingly, the first side cover is configured to be attached to or detached from the first side plate.
In Japan Examined Utility Model Application No. S63-263033, the first side cover, which serves also as the operating tool is engaged with or disengaged from the first side plate. When rotated, the first side cover is configured to be attached to or detached from the first side plate.
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There is an ever-increasing awareness in the medical and hospital industry of the need to safely containerize, transport and dispose of infectious medical waste. The fear of contamination from contact with infectious bodily fluids has become a great concern to all.
Infectious medical waste may be considered as comprising two primary categories related to its physical characteristics. The soft waste category may be characterized by such things as masks, gloves, bandages, pillows, cotton products, in general, anything which is not "sharp." The sharp waste category is characterized by such things as needles, syringes, scalpel blades, glass or broken glass, in general, things which present edges which can puncture or cut.
The most common current practices for collection and disposal of infectious medical waste are rather crude and require the separate disposal of sharp waste and soft waste. It is believed that over 90% of the hospitals and doctor offices that currently generate infectious medical waste dispose of the soft waste in a fiberboard box lined with a red trash bag which serves to contain some of the liquids that are disposed of. Waste is thrown into the box/bag until the box is full. The flaps at the top of the box are folded over and taped shut. The box is then transported for incineration at another location. One major disadvantage with the use of the box and bag is that the system allows liquids to soak through the box, contaminating the work area. Although the plastic bag is a barrier if it remains intact, all plastic bags can leak with only the smallest of punctures. This can easily occur due to the presence of improperly disposed of sharp waste that gets mixed in with the soft waste. This can easily puncture the sides of the cardboard box and injure workers. In addition, the waste is exposed to the air until the box is closed and hauled away, which can be days or weeks. Another big disadvantage is the expense of using the box and bag only once. They are usually incinerated, together with the contents.
Sharp waste is currently disposed of in puncture-proof, disposable plastic containers which are sized anywhere from one quart to five gallons. While these containers do an adequate job of containerizing the sharp waste, they are also designed to be disposable and, therefore, expensive. It is estimated that an average hospital will spend almost $200 per bed per year on these sharp waste containers.
Some hospitals have experimented with reusable medical waste disposal containers, which are nothing more than large plastic trash cans with lids. These containers are meant to transport waste through the hospital to an incinerator or other point of disposal. Once the containers have arrived at their destination, the contents must be dumped out, which increases the chance of workers coming into contact with infectious waste. After these containers have been used, they must be cleaned and disinfected in some manner.
It must be recognized that the soft waste and sharp waste are frequently generated at the same location. Bandages are removed and injections given at the same location. It would be desirable to have a unit to contain and receive both types of waste. Such a unit should facilitate the separation of the two types of waste without interfering one with the other. It should be designed to accept bulky soft waste in a large compartment and sharp waste in a smaller compartment, while keeping the two kinds of waste separate. Cost considerations dictate that the unit used for collection, containment and transport should be safely reusable. The unit should be transportable without danger of losing the contents if overturned during normal operations, and should be treatable in some manner for reuse without reintroducing infectious agents into the patient areas. The contained waste and the containment unit are preferably sterilizable by application of heat energy and/or steam. The unit should be nestable and stackable to conserve valuable medical storage space. The invention described herein meets these criteria and more.
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Modern tungsten incandescent lamps are developed at the turn of the twentieth century. The light emitting body therein is a tungsten filament. This material features a high melting point, which maintains its solid state in high temperatures. Thereby, the bulbs can have longer lifetime; the filaments will not burn down in a short time. Practically, a temperature of the filament of a lighted incandescent bulb is as high as 3000° C.; it is the light radiation produced by the incandescent filament to make the bulb emit bright rays of light. Thereafter, nights no longer hold back people's lives. With the light brought by incandescent bulbs, night activities, no matter in work or living, can go on with great convenience and enabling many possibilities. The invention of incandescent bulbs significantly changes people's lifestyle; the time slots for activities are extended in many aspects, and thus facilitating developments of various kinds.
With the progress of lighting technologies, various lighting bulbs are developed. Among all electrical lighting bulbs, incandescent bulbs are the least efficient. They have a very bad energy conversion rate of only 12˜18%; the rest energy is dissipated and wasted in the thermal form. Thanks to the advancement and maturity of the LED, peripheral integrate-circuit control device, and heat dissipating technologies, the applications of LEDs are diversified from low-power power indicators and light sources for mobile phones to LED backlight modules and general lighting products. Thereby, LEDs are replacing traditional light sources gradually. In comparison with the short lifetime and heat of incandescent bulbs, LEDs have the advantages of low power consumption, no mercury, no halides, and low carbon-dioxide emission. Considering the environmental protection issues, many countries have set a time limit to prohibit incandescent bulbs for saving energy, reducing carbon, and reducing usage of mercury and halides, and turn to promote LEDs completely.
Besides, because LEDs are point light sources, they have more design flexibility. A bulb can be made with distributed light sources and hence not offending to the eye. Alternatively, the light of a bulb can be made to concentrate at a point or over a specific region. The produced colors can be more vivid and bright. Presently, the light emitting efficiency of a white-light LED has reached 70 lm/W, which exceeds 15 lm/W of an incandescent bulb. Nonetheless, currently, only 35% of the input power to an LED is converted to light with the rest 65% s converted to heat, which is the main cause deteriorating the light emitting efficiency of the LED. In addition, if the heat dissipating mechanism of the overall device is not good, the generated heat by the LED will accumulate therein and cannot be dissipated immediately, which will shorten the lifetime of the LED. Generally, the lifetime of an LED bulb is above 100,000 hours. However, if the operating temperature is greater than 85° C., its lifetime will be greatly reduced.
Accordingly, while bulbs, including LED bulbs, are being used, increase in heat is an inevitable result. Heat dissipation is the scheme for solving this problem. The focus of related technologies will be put on how to enhance the heat dissipating efficiency of various parts for accelerating heat dissipation and thus improving the lifetime. In an LED bulb, there are two heat sources, including the light sources and the power driver. The heat dissipation for both should be performed. If the heat dissipating mechanism is not good, the heat generated by the light sources will be transferred to the central part through heat conduction. Then the co-heating effect between the heat generated by the light sources and the heat generated by the power driver will occur. Owing to the effect, the internal temperature will be excessively high, damaging the electronic components in the power driver. In addition to affecting the lifetime of the power driver severely, the light emitting efficiency will be reduced because the co-heating effect keeps the temperature of the light sources high. This is usually caused by damages inside the power driver but not by the problem in the light emitting efficiency of the light sources. Moreover, in addition to reducing the lifetime of the bulb, the co-heating-effect-induced temperature rise also raises the room temperature and hence making users uncomfortable. Thereby, heat dissipating mechanism is a very important subject is this field.
While various bulbs are being used, if the heat dissipating mechanism is not designed in the lamp stand, the heat generated by the light sources and the power driver is hard to be removed and producing bad influences. Accordingly, the present invention provides an LED bulb, which is mainly applied to the heat dissipation of the bulb. The lamp cup of the LED bulb according to the present invention is a hollow two-piece structure. It is divided into a lamp-cup part and a light receiving part. After assembling with the power connecting part, an integral and smooth appearance is formed. The heat generated by the substrate placed in the lamp-cup part and by the power driver in the power connecting part of the lamp cup is dissipated through the lamp cup or outwards directly. Thereby, the co-heating effect induced by the substrate and the power driver can be solved effectively. For better heat dissipating effect, the bulb can be manufactured using materials with superior heat dissipating capability; for even better effect, the corresponding heat dissipating members can be used, too. Besides, it should be assembled by wedging for easier and more convenient fabrication. Accordingly, in addition to improving the lifetime of the bulb, the structure is safer more users; various problems caused by high temperature can be avoided.
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1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to the field of plasmonic sensors and optical sensors, in particular to integrated spectroscopic plasmonic sensor devices, integrated plasmonic biosensor devices for oligonucleotide and protein analysis, and integrated plasmonic sensors, in particular, integrated plasmonic micro-array devices for nucleic acid and protein analysis.
2. Description of the Related Art
Spectrometers are devices used to measure properties of light over a portion of the electromagnetic spectrum. The properties of light measured include the intensity of the light and the polarization state of the light. The independent variable is often the wavelength of light or a measure of the photon energy of the light. Spectrometers usually employ a source of electromagnetic energy, various optical devices such as mirrors and gratings as optical interference filters for dispersing the light to the detector, and a detector to detect the light intensity or photon energy as a function of wavelength. Existing devices for detecting the light properties include electronic photodetectors such as charge-coupled devices (CCD), CMOS active pixel sensor arrays, or focal plane arrays. Existing spectrometers find use in many areas, including analyzing compositions of unknown material.
Micro-array technology for expression profiling is well known and is currently widely used in genomic research. Recently much interest has centered on the development of DNA chips based on high density oligonucleotide arrays and fluorescence analysis such as described by Hacia et al. (G. Hacia, L. C. Brody, M. S. Chee. S. P. A. Fodor F. S. Collins in Nature Genetics 14, December 1996). One of the examples of commercialization of this technology has been Affymetrix's “GeneChip”, which was developed to process large amounts of genetic information. Affymetrix technology relies on photolithographic processing to produce thousands of detection regions on a single chip. Alternative techniques include robotic spotting and ink-jet printing although they achieve somewhat smaller detection region density within the micro-array.
For the micro-arrays in common use, one typically starts by taking a specific biological substance or system of interest, extracting its mRNA, and making a fluorescence tagged cDNA copy of this mRNA. This tagged cDNA copy, typically called the target, is then hybridized to a slide containing a grid or array of single stranded DNA (ssDNA) called probes which have been built or placed (i.e. immobilized) in specific detection regions on this grid. Similar to the general hybridization principle, a target will only hybridize with its complementary probe i.e., nucleic acid strands tend to be paired to their complements in double-stranded structures. Thus, a single-stranded cDNA target molecule will seek out its complement in a complex mixture of ssDNA containing large numbers of other nucleic acid molecules. Hence, nucleic acid probe (e.g., gene probe) detection methods are very specific to DNA sequences. Factors affecting the hybridization or re-association of two complementary DNA strands include temperature, contact time, salt concentration, the degree of mismatch between the base pair sequences, and the length and concentration of the target and probe sequences. In perhaps the simplest procedure, hybridization is performed on an immobilized probe molecule attached on a solid surface such as a nitrocellulose or nylon membrane or a glass plate.
Fluorescent markers are typically added to the target in one of two ways: (i) fluorescent nucleotide bases are used when making the cDNA copy of the mRNA or (ii) biotinylated nucleotides are first incorporated, followed by an application of fluorescent marker-labeled streptavidin, which will bind to biotin (S. Kohane “Microarrays for integrated genomics” MIT Press, 2002).
Depending on manufacturer specific protocols, the target-probe hybridization process on a microarray typically occurs over several hours. All unhybridized targets are then washed off and the microarray is illuminated with laser light and scanned using laser confocal microscopy. A digital image scanner records the brightness level at each grid location on the micro-array corresponding to particular probe species. The brightness level is correlated with the absolute amount of mRNA in the original sample, and by extension, the expression level of the gene associated with this mRNA.
DNA and protein micro-array technology has yet to be successfully developed into monolithically integrated single chip devices that conveniently and inexpensively capture, deliver and interpret information. What is currently understood by the term “biochip” is typically a glass slide with an array of detection regions, each region containing specific probe molecules, which requires complex and bulky equipment for external laser excitation, scanning and imaging of the optical signals. In addition to the cost associated with this equipment, there is also a requirement for it to be operated by highly trained and skilled personnel in order to ensure error free interpretation of the gathered data and troubleshooting. These limitations of cost and space associated with the present status of biochip technology currently prevent DNA and protein analysis from finding a wider use in hospital, point-of-care, and limited resource settings.
Over the past few years there has been some effort deployed to reduce the cost and size of biochips by integrating them with the associated laser excitation and image scanning apparatus (Vo-Dinh et al., “Integrated circuit biochip microsystem” U.S. Pat. No. 6,448,064, September 2002; Duvenecket et al., “Optical detection device based on semiconductor laser array” U.S. Pat. No. 6,469,785, October 2002; Bruno-Raimondi et al “Sensing unit provided with separated detection light guiding” U.S. Pat. No. 6,437,345, August 2002; Neuschafer et al “Sensor platform and method for the parallel detection of a plurality of analytes using evanescently excited luminescence” U.S. Pat. No. 6,078,705, June 2000). These documents proposed an integrated circuit biochip micro system, which combines lasers, detectors, focusing optics and biological sensing elements within a single micro-assembly. In microelectronics this type of integration is typically defined as hybrid integration, i.e., when individual elements are produced separately by processing a number of separate substrates/wafers and then diced out and microassembled together. Although advantageous over the bulky, bench-top devices, such hybrid integrated biochips still lack the cost and performance advantage of true monolithic integration. In addition, these devices require the use of fluorescent markers which unnecessarily complicates the analysis procedure and which ideally should be avoided in a simple point-of-care device.
An optoelectronic biochip sensor has previously been proposed using light sources for determining a molecular recognition event on the basis of monolithically integrated dielectric waveguide components (Bazylenko et al., “Integrated circuit biochip microsystem” U.S. Pat. No. 7,768,650 issued Aug. 3, 2010). While such sensors will typically meet sensitivity requirements for useful sensors, their dimensions are limited by diffraction effects in the dielectric waveguide components used. Such sensors can therefore be less attractive for integration with silicon based electronic components, such as complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) circuits, which are many times smaller.
Excitations which do not exhibit the disadvantages associated with using light sources to determine a specific binding event are so-called surface plasmons polaritons or plasmonic mode excitations, i.e., electromagnetic excitations at a metal-dielectric interface. These excitations may be guided using structures that are much smaller than the wavelength of photons of the same frequency. Discrete devices for generating such plasmons are known for example from the article by Walters et al., “A silicon-based electrical source of surface plasmon polaritons”, Nature Materials, 6 Dec. 2009. Such plasmonic mode excitations provide an opportunity to develop methods and devices configured to utilize plasmonic sources to determine molecular recognition events.
Surface plasmon resonance (SPR) measurement systems can be used to detect shifts in refractive indices of samples associated with SPR sensors that are included in the systems. A conventional SPR measurement system includes an external light source that illuminates an SPR sensor through an input optical path that typically includes a prism. Light reflected by the SPR sensor propagates through an output optical path and is intercepted by a detector. The optical paths typically include telescopes, polarizers, acousto-optic deflectors, and other optical components that add complexity to the SPR measurement systems, especially when the SPR sensor includes an array of sensing elements. To accommodate an array of sensing elements, the output optical path includes an imaging system that maps each sensing element in the array to a corresponding detection element within the detector. The imaging system can increase the manufacturing cost of the SPR measurement system and can limit the physical density of the sensing elements in the array due to the limited registration that can be achieved by a typical imaging system. An opto-electric SPR biosensor that is illuminating from below through a supporting substrate wafer is known from Bahl et al., “Integrated Opto-electric SPR Sensor”, US 2007/0052049 A1, Mar. 8, 2007. The biosensor of Bahl et al. suffers from fragility due to the prismatic coupling structures that are etched into the substrate and limited integration density due to the ray optics principles that guide the design.
A further known limitation of the conventional SPR technique is its relatively low sensitivity, which is typically between 10−3 and 10−5 refractive index units (RIU) although the sensitivity can, in some circumstances, be improved up to 10−6 RIU. However, for modern demanding bio-chemical applications, a sensitivity of about 10−9 RIU or better is essential. Thus, a more advanced SPR technique has been applied in bio-chemical sensors. This more advanced SPR technique is based on the application of the Goos-Hanchen (GH) effect. In some sensors, the GH effect is small and not useful for sensing measurements. In other sensors, the GH effect is more substantial and is used to improve evanescent-wave propagation. Advanced biosensors exploiting GH effect phenomena associated with plasmonic mode excitations are known for example from Potyrailo et al., “Methods and systems for detecting biological and chemical materials on a submicron structured substrate”, US 2008/0280374 A1, Nov. 13, 2008. However these proposed biosensors are not monolithically integrated and thus require bulky and expensive external equipment for the scanning and imaging of optical signals generated by the fluorescent markers.
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a metal-oxide semiconductor field-effect transistor structure, and particualy to the drain structure of such semiconductor device. Also, the present invention relates to a method of making metal-oxide semiconductor field-effect transistors.
2. Description of the Prior Art
As is well known, the lightly doped drain structure of a metal-oxide semiconductor field effect transistor (abbreviated MOSFET) comprises a lightly doped section starting from a location under one edge of the gate and extending a relatively short distance apart from said location, and a heavily doped section following said lightly doped section and extending a relatively long distance apart from the gate. The presence of such lightly doped section ahead of the heavily doped section will cause the strength of the electric field appearing in the vicinity of the drain of the device to be reduced so as to suppress appearance of hot carriers. Such hot carriers are liable to invade the gate through the underlying metal oxide and to remain in the gate, and as a result the performance of the device will change with age. Adoption of the lightly doped drain structure in a MOSFET improves substantially the reliability of the device.
The lightly doped section, however, functions as a parasitic resistor, and disadvantageously it will lower the current driving capability of the device. In an attempt to solve this problem a profiled lightly doped drain structure (abbreviated PLDD) was proposed (See the paper "Profiled Lightly Doped Drain (PLDD) Structure for High Reliable NMOSFETs", Y. Toyoshima et al, Digest of Techical Papers, Symposium on VLSI Technology, pp.118-119, 1985). FIG. 1 shows, in section, a PLDD structure. It comprises a P-type silicon substrate 100, a gate insulating layer 101 formed on the top surface of the substrate 100, a gate 103 built on the gate insulating layer 101, an N-type source diffusion layer 108a, and an N-type drain diffusion layer 108b. The gate 103 has a surrounding wall 105, and the source and drain diffusion layers 108a and 108b have electrodes 109 and 110 respectively. These electrodes 109 and 110 are embedded in an overlying insulating layer 111. It is noted that: the drain diffusion layer is composed of an upper short projection 107 of least concentration of impurity such as arsenic, a surrounding section 104 of less concentration of impurity such as phosphorus, and an elongated section 108b of relatively high concentration of impurity such as arsenic, lying contiguous to the upper projection 107 and surrounding section 104, which end at a location under one edge of the gate 103.
The coexistence of less doped core 107 and least doped enclosure 104 prevents effectively the lowering of the current driving capability of the device.
In the PLDD structure, however, carriers are liable to come together toward the upper surface of the substrate 100, and as the device size is decreased, hot carriers will be most likely to appear in the vicinity of the upper surface of the substrate 100, invading the gate 103 through the underlying insulating layer 101 to lower the characteristics of the devive. Also, further miniaturization of MOSFETs having a PLDD incorporated therein will cause the least doped enclosure 104 to function as a parasitic resistor, thereby lowering the current driving capability of the device.
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This invention relates to a solid electrolyte capacitor having a metallic cathode collector layer in direct contact with a manganese dioxide electrolyte layer and a method of producing the same.
A solid electrolyte capacitor of a well known type employs a valve metal typified by aluminum and tantalum as the material of the anode and manganese dioxide as the solid electrolyte. The anode takes the form of a porous mass or body obtained by pressing and sintering a valve metal powder. A dielectric layer is formed on the surface of the anode body by a well known anodic oxidation technique using an acid solution as an electrolyte. A solid electrolyte layer is formed on the dielectric oxide layer by immersing the anode body in an aqueous solution of manganese nitrate and heating the wet anode body to cause pyrolytic decomposition of manganese nitrate to manganese dioxide. The immersion and heating are repeated several times until a satisfactorily dense and stable manganese dioxide layer is formed. Then a contact layer is formed on the solid electrolyte layer by the application of, for example, colloidal graphite in the form of an aqueous dispersion, followed by drying. A metallic cathode collector layer is formed on the contact layer by the application of conductive paste containing dispersed therein fine particles of, for example, silver.
The manganese dioxide layer formed by the pyrolysis of a manganese nitrate solution is a spongy one and, when microscopically observed, has an uneven and irregularly rugged surface. Accordingly it is practically impossible to form a cathode collector layer directly on the manganese dioxide layer with a sufficiently low electrical resistance. The provision of the graphite contact layer between the manganese dioxide layer and the cathode collector layer is for the purpose of solving this problem. However, the contact layer itself is not easy to form satisfactorily. To realize a full impregnation of the irregularly rugged surface region of the manganese dioxide layer with graphite, it is necessary to use a uniform dispersion of extremely fine, for example smaller than 1 .mu.m, graphite particles such as "AQUADAG" (trademark of Acheson Colloid Co.) which is an ammoniacal aqueous dispersion of colloidal graphite. Such a graphite dispersion is diluted to a suitable concentration to immerse the anode body therein. The contact graphite layer is completed by drying the graphite-impregnated anode body at 80.degree. - 100.degree. C.
Thus the production of a conventional solid electrolyte capacitor of the described type needs a large number of steps for providing a cathode collector layer. Besides, the inherent surface ruggedness of the manganese dioxide layer necessitates the application of a costly silver paint in a considerably large quantity. Apart from the troubles at the formation of the contact and collector layers, the insufficient denseness and the rugged surface of the manganese dioxide layer cause that the capacitor suffers from a considerably large loss factor and unsatisfactory frequency and/or impedance characteristics.
As to the physical structure of the manganese dioxide layer formed by the pyrolysis of a manganese nitrate solution in the production of solid electrolyte capacitor, a remarkably improved method has recently been developed by A. Nishino et al of Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. and is disclosed in U.S. Patent application Ser. No. 632,079 filed Nov. 14, 1975, now U.S. Pat. No. 4,038,159. Among the coinventors of the present invention, A. Nishino and H. Hayakawa are included in the coinventors in the above referred prior application.
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Semicarbazide-sensitive amine oxidase (SSAO), also known as primary amine oxidase, plasma amine oxidase and benzylamine oxidase, is identical in structure to vascular adhesion protein-1 (VAP-1). In the following discussion, SSAO/VAP-1 is used to describe this protein. The role of this protein in inflammatory diseases has been reviewed (see, for example, Smith D. J. and Vaino P. J., Targeting Vascular Adhesion Protein-1 to Treat Autoimmune and Inflammatory Diseases. Ann. N.Y. Acad. Sci. 2007, 1110, 382-388; and McDonald I. A. et al., Semicarbazide Sensitive Amine Oxidase and ascular Adhesion Protein-1: One Protein Being Validated as a Therapeutic Target for Inflammatory Diseases. Annual Reports in Medicinal Chemistry, 2008, 43, 229-241).
In most organisms, including humans, two families of mammalian amine oxidases metabolize various mono-, di-, and polyamines produced endogenously or absorbed from exogenous sources. These include the monoamine oxidases (MAO-A and MAO-B) which are present in the mitochondria of most cell types and use covalently bound flavin adenine dinucleotide (FAD) as the cofactor. Polyamine oxidase is another FAD-dependent amine oxidase which oxidatively deaminates spermine and spermidine. SSAO/VAP-1 belongs to the second family which is dependent on copper and uses other co-factors apart from FAD, such as an oxidized tyrosine residue (abbreviated as TPQ or LTQ). MAO and SSAO/VAP-1 oxidatively deaminate some common substrates which includes the monoamines such dopamine, tyramine and benzylamine. SSAO/VAP-1 also oxidizes endogenous methylamine and aminoacetone.
Some of these enzymes were originally defined by the ability of certain compounds to inhibit the enzymatic activity thereof. For example MAO-A is selectively inhibited by clorgyline, MAO-B by L-deprenyl, while neither clorgyline nor L-deprenyl can inhibit the amine oxidase activity of SSAO/VAP-1. SSAO/VAP-1 can be inhibited by semicarbazide, hence the name semicarbazide sensitive amine oxidase.
SSAO/VAP-1 is an ectoenzyme containing a very short cytoplasmic tail, a single transmembrane domain, and a large, highly glycosylated extracellular domain which contains the active center for the amine oxidase activity. SSAO/VAP-1 is also present in a soluble form circulating in the plasma of some animals. It has been shown that this form is a cleaved product of membrane-bound SSAO/VAP-1.
SSAO/VAP-1 appears to have two physiological functions: the first is the amine oxidase activity mentioned above and the second is cell adhesion activity. Both activities are associated with inflammatory processes. SSAO/VAP-1 was shown to play an important role in extravasation of inflammatory cells from the circulation to sites of inflammation (Salmi. M. and Jalkanen S., VAP-1: an adhesin and an enzyme. Trends Immunol. 2001, 22, 211-216). VAP-1 antibodies have been demonstrated to attenuate inflammatory processes by blocking the adhesion site of the SSAO/VAP-1 protein and, together with a substantial body of evidence of in vitro and in vivo knockouts, it is now clear that SSAO/VAP-1 is an important cellular mediator of inflammation. Transgenic mice lacking SSAO/VAP-1 show reduced adhesion of leukocytes to endothelial cells, reduced lymphocyte homing to the lymph nodes and a concomitant attenuated inflammatory response in a peritonitis model. These animals were otherwise healthy, grew normally, were fertile, and examination of various organs and tissues showed the normal phenotype. Furthermore, inhibitors of the amine oxidase activity of SSAO/VAP-1 have been found to interfere with leukocyte rolling, adhesion and extravasation and, similar to SSAO/VAP-1 antibodies, exhibit anti-inflammatory properties.
Inflammation is the first response of the immune system to infection or irritation. The migration of leukocytes from the circulation into tissues is essential for this process. Inappropriate inflammatory responses can result in local inflammation of otherwise healthy tissue which can lead to disorders such as rheumatoid arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease, multiple sclerosis and respiratory diseases. Leukocytes first adhere to the endothelium via binding to adhesion molecules before they can start the process of passing through the walls of the blood vessels. Membrane bound SSAO/VAP-1 is abundantly expressed in vascular endothelial cells such as high venule endothelial cells (HVE) of lymphatic organs and is also expressed in hepatic sinusoidal endothelial cells (HSEC), smooth muscle cells and adipocytes. The expression of SSAO/VAP-1 on the cell surface of endothelial cells is tightly regulated and is increased during inflammation. In the presence of an SSAO/VAP-1 substrate (benzylamine), NFκB was activated in HSECs together with up-regulation of other adhesion molecules, E-selectin and chemokine CXCL8 (IL-8) in vitro. A recent study confirms this result by showing (by mutagenesis) that the transcription and translation of E-selectin and P-selectin is induced by the enzyme activity of SSAO/VAP-1. These results suggest an important role of the amine oxidase activity of SSAO/VAP-1 in the inflammatory response. It has been reported that the oxidase activity of SSAO/VAP-1 induces endothelial E- and P-selectins and leukocyte binding (Jalkanen, S. et al., The oxidase activity of vascular adhesion protein-1 (VAP-1) induces endothelial E- and P-selectins and leukocyte binding. Blood 2007, 110, 1864-1870).
Excessive and chronic inflammatory responses have been associated with the symptoms of many chronic diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Patients suffering from either atopic eczema or psoriasis (both chronic inflammatory skin disorders) have higher levels of SSAO/VAP-1 positive cells in their skin compared to skin from healthy controls.
Asthma can be considered a disease resulting from chronic inflammation of the airways which results in bronchoconstriction and excessive build-up of mucus. Many patients can be adequately treated with bronchodilators (eg, β2 agonists, leukotriene antagonists and with inhaled steroids). However, up to about 20% of patients suffer from severe asthma and don't respond well to these treatments. A subset of these patients are resistant to inhaled steroids and present with high neutrophil counts in their lung fluids. SSAO/VAP-1 is expressed in the lungs and plays a role in the trafficking of neutrophils.
Another subset of asthma patients is acutely sensitive to viral infections of the airways; such infections exacerbate the underlying inflammation and can lead to severe asthma attacks.
It has been recently recognized that patients suffering from cystic fibrosis frequently suffer from persistent lung inflammation which can be independent from chronic lung infection. It has been argued that tissue damage in cystic fibrosis patients is due to mediators released by neutrophils. While standard antibiotic treatment to clear bacterial infection would be expected to resolve the underlying inflammation if the inflammation were solely due to the infection, data from recent studies demonstrate that this is not the case and that the airways are in a neutrophil-driven pro-inflammatory state primed for excessive and prolonged inflammatory response to bacterial infection. See Rao S. and Grigg J., New insights into pulmonary inflammation in cystic fibrosis. Arch Dis Child 2006, 91:786-788.
SSAO/VAP-1 is also highly expressed in adipocytes where it plays a role in glucose transport independent of the presence of insulin. It has been observed that levels of plasma SSAO/VAP-1 are increased in patients suffering from diabetes. Elevated levels of plasma SSAO/VAP-1 have been found in patients suffering from other illnesses, such as congestive heart failure and liver cirrhosis. It has been suggested that SSAO/VAP-1 is associated with most, if not all, inflammatory diseases whether the inflammation is in response to an immune response or subsequent to other events such as occlusion and reperfusion of blood vessels.
It has been recognized in recent years that SSAO/VAP-1 is expressed in sinusoidal endothelial cells in the liver and that this protein is believed to be associated with hepatic disease, in particular liver fibrosis (Weston C. J. and Adams D. H., Hepatic consequences of vascular adhesion protein-1 expression, J Neural Transm 2011; 118:1055-1064). Furthermore, a VAP-1 antibody and a small molecule inhibitor were found to attenuate carbon tetrachloride induced fibrosis in mice. Thus, SSAO/VAP-1 inhibitors have the potential to treat fibrotic disease (WO 2011/029996). It has been recently reported that oxidation of methylamine by SSAO/VAP-1 in the presence of tumor necrosis factor α induces the expression of MAdCAM-1 in hepatic vessels, and that this is associated with the hepatic complications of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) (Liaskou W. et al., Regulation of Mucosal Addressin Cell. Adhesion Molecule 1 Expression in Human and Mice by Vascular Adhesion Protein 1 Amine Oxidase Activity, Hepatology 2011; 53, 661-672).
It has been reported that SSAO/VAP-1 inhibitors can attenuate angiogenesis and lymphangiogenesis, and that these inhibitors offer potential to treat ocular diseases such as macular degeneration, corneal angiogenesis, cataracts, and inflammatory conditions such as uveitis (US 2009/0170770; WO 2009/051223; Noda K., et al., Inhibition of vascular adhesion protein-1 suppresses endotoxin-induced uveitis, FASEB J. 2008, 22, 1094-1103).
Increased levels of SSAO/VAP-1 were observed in the serum of patients suffering from hepatocellular carcinoma. In a murine melanoma model, small molecule SSAO/VAP-1 inhibitors were shown to retard tumor growth, in contrast to VAP-1 antibodies which had no activity (Weston C. J. and Adams D. H., Hepatic consequences of vascular adhesion protein-1 expression, J Neural Transm 2011, 118, 1055-1064).
It was reported that SSAO/VAP-1 plays an important role in cancer biology (Marttila-lchihara F. et al. Small-Molecule Inhibitors of Vascular Adhesion Protein-1 Reduce the Accumulation of Myeloid Cells into Tumors and Attenuate Tumor Growth in Mice. The Journal of Immunology, 2010, 184, 3164-3173). SSAO/VAP-1 small molecule inhibitors reduced the number of proangiogenic Gr-1+CD11b+ myeloid cells in melanomas and lymphomas.
During the SSAO/VAP-1 amine oxidase catalytic cycle the covalently bound cofactor, TPQ, is first reduced, and then re-oxidized by oxygen in the presence of copper with the generation of hydrogen peroxide as a by-product. It has been speculated that excessive hydrogen peroxide concentrations can be deleterious and may contribute to the pathology of various inflammatory and neurodegenerative processes (Götz M. E., et al., Oxidative stress: Free radical production in neural degeneration. Pharmacol Ther 1994, 63, 37-122).
Inflammation is believed to be an important feature of neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease and multiple sclerosis, and similarly is a feature of the pathophysiology that occurs after a cerebral occlusion/reperfusion event (Aktas, O. et al., Neuronal damage in brain inflammation. Arch Neurol 2007, 64, 185-9). Excessive activity SSAO/VAP-1 has been independently implicated in these processes (Xu, H-L., et al., Vascular Adhesion Protein-1 plays an important role in postischemic inflammation and neuropathology in diabetic, estrogen-treated ovariectomized female rats subjected to transient forebrain ischemia. Journal Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics, 2006, 317, 19-26).
Some known MAO inhibitors also inhibit SSAO/VAP-1 (e.g., the MAO-B inhibitor Mofegiline illustrated below). Mofegiline has been reported to inhibit experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (US 2006/0025438 A1). This inhibitor is a member of the haloallylamine family of MAO inhibitors; the halogen in Mofegiline is fluorine. Fluoroallylamine inhibitors are described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,454,158. There have been reports of a chloroallylamine, MDL72274 (illustrated below), selectively inhibiting rat SSAO/VAP-1 compared to MAO-A and MAO-B:
Additional fluoroallylamine inhibitors are described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,699,928; the two compounds illustrated below were described as selective inhibitors of MAO-B:
Other examples structurally related to Mofegiline can be found in WO 2007/120528.
Haloallylamine compounds that differ from Mofegiline in core structure have been synthesized and were shown to inhibit the amine oxidase activity from copper-dependent amine oxidases from a number of species (see Kim J., et al., Inactivation of bovine plasma amine oxidase by haloallylamines. Bioorg Med Chem 2006, 14, 1444-1453). These compounds have been included in a patent application (WO 2007/005737):
WO 2009/066152 describes a family of 3-substituted 3-haloallylamines that are inhibitors of SSAO/VAP-1 and are claimed as treatment for a variety of indications, including inflammatory disease. The following compounds are specifically described:
References to the effects of SSAO/VAP-1 inhibitors in various animal models of disease can be found in the review publication by McDonald I. A. et al., Semicarbazide Sensitive Amine Oxidase and Vascular Adhesion Protein-1: One Protein Being Validated as a Therapeutic Target for Inflammatory Diseases. Annual Reports in Medicinal Chemistry, 2008, 43, 229-241 and in the following publications, O'Rourke A. M. et al., Anti-inflammatory effects of UP 1586 [Z-3-fluoro-2-(4-methoxybenzyl)allylamine hydrochloride], an amine-based inhibitor of semicarbazide-sensitive amine oxidase activity. J. Pharmacol. Exp. Ther., 2008, 324, 867-875; and O'Rourke A. M. et al., Benefit of inhibiting SSAO in relapsing experimental encephalomyelitis. J. Neural. Transm., 2007, 114, 845-849.
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1. Technical Field
Embodiments of the invention generally relate to breath freshening products. More particularly, embodiments relate to an apparatus that applies a mist of mouthwash to the bristles of a toothbrush in order to facilitate breath freshening.
2. Discussion
The desirability of fresh breath is well understood throughout modem society. Indeed, breath freshening products have been in existence for quite some time. Although many of these products have proven to be effective under certain circumstances, a number of difficulties remain.
One such difficulty relates to mobility. For example, the trend toward mobile phones, wireless networking and untethered computing typifies the need for a breath freshening technique that provides the maximum of freedom of movement. Unfortunately, traditional products such as mouthwash and toothbrushes typically require the user to spit (e.g., into a sink) the liquid remnants of the breath freshening products. Indeed, most toothbrushes require running water to wet the toothpaste and bristles before and after use. While more complex toothbrushing systems, such as the system described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,331,088 to Owens have internal pumping mechanisms to wet the bristles of the toothbrush, the user still needs a place to dispel the toothpaste, mouthwash and antibacterial rinse from his or her mouth. Such systems are therefore clearly designed for bathroom use. If a sink or other adequate receptacle is not available, the user may be forced to swallow the remnants, which can be harmful.
Other products such as mints require the user to swallow some or all of the dissolved mint, which may result in undesirable calorie intake and/or other dietary drawbacks. Even chewing gum has practical limitations due to the general societal disapproval of chewing in public. Mints and gum can also take a certain amount of time to take effect, where instantaneous results may be desired. In addition, conventional mints and gum simply cover up bad breath instead of eliminating the bacteria that causes the odor. As a result, these products are typically effective for only a short period of time. There is therefore a need for an instantaneously effective and long lasting breath freshening product that does not require running water or spitting, and eliminates the need to chew or swallow.
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In the related art, work cells are used to produce welds or welded parts. There are at least two broad categories of work cells, including robotic work cells and semi-automatic work cells.
In robotic work cells, the scheduling and performing of welding operations is largely automated, with little operator involvement. Thus, these cells generally have a relatively low labor cost and a relatively high productivity. However, their repeating operations cannot easily adapt to varying welding conditions and/or sequences.
In contrast, semi-automatic work cells (i.e., work cells involving at least some operator welding) generally provide less automation vis-à-vis robotic work cells, and accordingly have a relatively higher labor cost and a relatively lower productivity. Nevertheless, there are many instances where using a semi-automatic welding work cell can actually be advantageous over robotic work cells. For example, a semi-automatic welding work cell can more easily adapt to varying welding conditions and/or sequences.
Unfortunately, when welding more complex assemblies in related art semi-automatic work cells, multiple different welding schedules are often required for different types of welds on different parts of an assembly. In many systems, when a different welding schedule must be utilized, the operator is required to stop welding operations and manually adjust the output of the semi-automatic equipment according to the new schedule. In some other systems, this manual adjustment is eliminated by storing particular schedules in the work cell. Nevertheless, even in such systems, the operator still needs to cease welding operations and push a button to select the new welding schedule before he may continue welding.
Neither of these practices for setting a different welding schedule is particularly efficient. Thus, in practice, the number of welding schedules used in a semi-automatic work cell is often reduced in order to eliminate the need for constant adjustment of the output of the semi-automatic equipment. While this reduction of welding schedules makes the overall operation easier for the welder, the forced simplification of this approach can lead to reduced productivity and lower overall quality.
Additionally, when abiding by strict quality control specifications, it is sometimes necessary to perform welds in a specific sequence, verify that each weld is performed with a given set of conditions, and monitor the output of the equipment during the welding operations. In a robotic work cell, these requirements are easily fulfilled. However, in a semi-automatic work cell, these requirements are susceptible to human error, since the operator must keep track of all of these aspects in addition to performing the welding operations themselves.
An illustrative example of the above problems is shown in the related art semi-automatic welding method diagrammatically represented in FIG. 1. In this method, each of the various scheduling, sequencing, inspection and welding operations are organized and performed by the operator (i.e., the welder) himself. Specifically, the operator begins the welding job at operation 10. Then, the operator sets up the welding equipment according to schedule A, at operation 20. Next, the operator performs weld #1, weld #2, and weld #3 using welding schedule A at operations 22, 24 and 26. Then, the operator stops welding operations and sets up the welding equipment according to schedule B at operation 30. Next, the operator performs weld #4 using welding schedule B at operation 32. Then, the operator checks the dimensions of the assembly at operation 40, and sets up the welding equipment according to schedule C at operation 50. Next, the operator performs weld #5 and weld #6 using welding schedule C at operations 52 and 54. After the welding operations are completed, the operator visually inspects the welded assembly at operation 60, and completes the welding job at operation 70.
Clearly, the method shown in FIG. 1 depends on the operator to correctly follow the predefined sequencing for performing welds and inspections, to accurately change between welding schedules (such as at operation 30), and to perform the welding itself. Errors in any of these responsibilities can result either in rework (if the errors are caught during inspection at operation 60) or a defective part being supplied to the end user. Further, this exemplary semi-automatic welding method hampers productivity, because the operator must spend time configuring and reconfiguring weld schedules.
The above problems demand an improvement in the related art system.
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