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Modern internal combustion engines may incorporate advanced throttle control systems, such as, for example, intake valve throttle control systems, to improve fuel economy and performance. Generally, intake valve throttle control systems control the flow of gas and air into and out of the engine cylinders by varying the timing and/or lift (i.e., the valve lift profile) of the cylinder valves in response to engine operating parameters, such as engine load, speed, and driver input. For example, the valve lift profile is varied from a relatively high-lift profile under high-load engine operating conditions to a reduced/lower low-lift profile under engine operating conditions of moderate and low loads. Intake valve throttle control systems vary the valve lift profile through the use of various mechanical and/or electromechanical configurations, collectively referred to herein as variable valve actuation (VVA) mechanisms. Several examples of particular VVA mechanisms are detailed in commonly-assigned U.S. Pat. No. 5,937,809, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. Generally, a conventional VVA mechanism includes a rocker arm that is displaced in a generally radial direction by an input cam of a rotating input shaft, such as the engine camshaft. A pair of link arms transfers the displacement of the rocker arm to pivotal oscillation of a pair of output cams relative to the input shaft or camshaft. Each of the output cams is associated with a respective valve. The pivotal oscillation of the output cams is transferred to actuation of the valves by cam followers, such as, for example, direct acting cam followers or roller finger followers. A desired valve lift profile is obtained by orienting the output cams in a starting or base angular orientation relative to the cam followers and/or the central axis of the input shaft. The starting or base angular orientation of the output cams determines the portion of the lift profile thereof that engages the cam followers as the output cams are pivotally oscillated, and thereby determines the valve lift profile. The starting or base angular orientation of the output cams is set via a control shaft that pivots a pair of frame members which, via the rocker arm and link arms, pivot the output cams to the desired base angular orientation. The frame members in a conventional VVA mechanism are pivoted relative to a fixed pivot point, typically the centerline of the frame to control shaft coupling. The frame members also establish a fixed pivot length. The fixed pivot length, referred to herein as the ground link, is represented by the linear distance between the input shaft or camshaft central axis and the frame to rocker arm coupling. Since the pivot length or ground link is fixed, pivotal movement of the control shaft results in pure pivotal movement of the frame to rocker arm coupling, i.e., the frame to rocker arm coupling does not move in a direction toward or away from the central axis of the camshaft. The pure pivotal nature of the movement of the frame to rocker arm coupling provides for variation of the amount of lift imparted by the mechanism to the associated valves. However, the pure pivotal nature of the movement of the frame to rocker arm coupling precludes significant control over the timing or phasing of the valve opening event. The frame members are typically pivotally disposed upon the input shaft, and thus there is a certain amount of friction between the rotating input shaft and the non-rotating frame members pivotally disposed thereon. This friction between the frame members and input shaft reduces the efficiency of the mechanism as well as the engine upon which it is installed, and requires a bearing surface be formed on the engine camshaft or input shaft. Further, the frame members occupy the limited space between the valves of a cylinder. The placement of the frame members within the space between the valves creates size constraints on other engine components which must also be disposed within that space. Therefore, what is needed in the art is a VVA mechanism that enables control over the timing or phasing of the valve opening event. Furthermore, what is needed in the art is a VVA mechanism that consumes or occupies substantially less space between the cylinder valves. Even further, what is needed in the art is a VVA mechanism that substantially reduces and/or eliminates friction between the frame members and the engine camshaft or input shaft. Moreover, what is needed in the art is a VVA mechanism that eliminates the need for a conventional frame member or members.

Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a printing apparatus and a control method therefor, and in particular to a power control technique for a printing apparatus having a plurality of power states. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, image forming apparatuses have a power state called a “low-power (power-saving) state” different from a job executing state and a job executable state so as to reduce power consumption while they are not operating. To return from the low-power state to the job executable state, initialization of each device is required, but it takes long to initialize some devices. For this reason, there is conventionally known an image forming apparatus which has some different low-power states and sets a state suitable for a processing time period required to initialize devices. Specifically, in the low-power state, the power to devices of which initialization takes a long time is not turned off, and only the power to devices that can be quickly returned to the job executable state turned off. This speeds up the return to the job executable state although a greater amount of power is consumed than in a normal low-power state. As a result, a user is allowed to quickly obtain an output result of printing or the like from the image forming apparatus in the low-power state. Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 2001-201986 describes a technique to turn off the power to devices even in the job executable state so as to reduce power consumption. In this case, when a user issues an instruction to execute a job, the power to a device required for the job is turned on. However, according to Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 2001-201986, a device is initialized when a job is to be executed, and hence it takes a long time before execution of the job. Namely, according to Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 2001-201986, greater importance is placed on saving of power in the job executable state than on shortening of the time period that elapses before execution of a job. On the other hand, the above described technique by which the power to devices of which initialization takes a long time is kept on, and the power to devices that can be initialized within a short time is turned off in the low-power state places greater importance on shortening of the time period before execution of a job than on saving of power in the low-power state. Therefore, using both of these techniques for an image forming apparatus will bring about a situation in which two purposes, i.e. shortening of the time period before execution of a job in the low-power state and saving of power in the job executable state are mutually contradictory, and power may not be controlled in an appropriate manner as intended by a user.

This invention relates generally to lubricating compositions and more particularly relates to a composition for lubricating an internal combustion engine and sealing any leaks which may be present in one or more chambers of the engine, thereby causing a reduction in oil consumption and providing more efficient engine operation. Fuel economy and engine efficiency have attracted the attention of many scientists and engineers. Over the years, it has become more desirable to increase fuel efficiency in vehicles and other devices and also to reduce the emissions thereof. This has occurred as a result of a number of factors including the escalating cost of natural resources and the potential health concerns due to increased environmental pollution, including air, land, and water, which in part is due to an increase in fuel consumption by vehicles and other devices being driven by internal combustion engines. This increased awareness is evidenced by newly enacted government legislation and regulations governing vehicle emissions and preservation of the environment. Often engine wear in various locations, such as cylinder rings, valve stems, and bearings, is responsible for excessive oil consumption. This results in diminished engine performance and also can result in engine oil leaks which likewise results in excessive oil consumption, increased operating costs, and is a direct source of pollution. Furthermore, engine wear and inefficient engine operation will result in increased emissions which causes an increase in air pollution. In general, the diminished engine performance is a result of a number of factors, including but not limited to: (1) combustion gases passing through the rings of the piston instead of the gas being used to generate mechanical energy within the engine, etc.; (2) lubricating oil entering the combustion chamber and interfering with the fuel air combustion process which results in an increase in pollution; and (3) the presence of worn engine bearings which facilitates oil consumption by diminishing the effectiveness of the engine seals. The wearing of the engine bearings diminishes engine performance because a loss of mechanical efficiency is realized due to the presence of excess gaps in the bearing assembly such that energy goes into vibration, etc., instead of being used to power the engine. Thus, there is a perceived need to provide a lubricating oil which will not only provide desirable lubricating characteristics but will also provide increased engine performance in engines which are marked by engine wear. According to the present invention, a lubricating/sealing composition is provided for use in internal combustion engines and the like. Advantageously, the present lubricating/sealing composition is designed to not only to lubricate engine components but also to provide a seal at locations in the engine where lubricating oil is seeping into the combustion chamber or leaking out of the engine itself. For example, such locations include but are not limited to annular spaces located around the pistons, valves, and the seals at the ends of the crank-shaft, etc. The continued wear and tear in the internal combustion engine will cause bearings, rings, valves and seals to wear such that lubricating oil seeps into the combustion chamber and renders mechanical inefficiency. In addition, leakage of lubricating oil can occur as a result of a number of other events. For example, leakage at the head gasket location often occurs as a result of engine over-heating and this can cause compression loss as well as the loss of lubricating oil. By sealing these leak-prone locations in the engine, an improvement in the fuel efficiency of the internal combustion engine is realized. Accordingly, the lubricating/sealing composition of the present invention improves wear of the rings, bearings, valves and seals and also renders increased engine performance by providing a substance which not only lubricates but also serves to seal areas in the engine which are prone to fluid leaks.

The invention relates to a trunk of a motor vehicle having a goods rail which is oriented approximately in the direction of the longitudinal axis of the vehicle and is intended for fixing goods to be transported, and having means which, in the event of a rear impact, prevent penetration into a seat region arranged in front of the trunk by reducing the effective length of the goods rail, the goods rail being composed of at least two partial rails. DE 199 30 763 A1 discloses a trunk of a motor vehicle having two goods rails running parallel to the longitudinal axis of the vehicle. Goods rails serve to securely fix items being transported. In order to prevent, in the event of a rear impact, the goods rail penetrating into a seat region arranged in front of the trunk, means are provided which reduce the effective length of the goods rail. This reduction takes place in DE 199 30 763 A1 by virtue of the fact that predetermined breaking points which are destroyed in the event of a rear impact are placed into the goods rail, so that the rear region of the goods rail can buckle in the direction of the center of the interior. The predetermined breaking point is designed as a linear thinning of material which causes the goods rail to buckle. Since the predetermined breaking point is dimensioned as a function of a number of factors, the buckling of the goods rail may be obstructed, for example in the case of an offset rear impact. It is therefore the object of the invention to provide a trunk of a motor vehicle in which the reduction of the effective length of the goods rail takes place reliably. The object is achieved according to the invention by having a goods rail which is oriented approximately in the direction of the longitudinal axis of the vehicle and is intended for fixing goods to be transported, and having means which in the event of a rear impact, prevent penetration into a seat region arranged in front of the trunk by reducing the effective length of the goods rail, the goods rail being composed of at least two partial rails, with the separating plane between the partial rails running in an obliquely inclined manner, characterized in that the goods rail is arranged in an overlap with a longitudinal member, with a hollow profile shell being placed onto a region of the longitudinal member that is mounted upstream of the separating plane, so that a cavity which, in the event of a rear impact, receives the rear partial rail is formed between the hollow profile shell and the longitudinal member. The trunk of a motor vehicle is equipped with at least one goods rail for fixing goods to be transported. The goods rail is composed of at least two partial rails, with, according to the invention, the separating plane between the partial rails running in an obliquely inclined manner. The composition of the partial rails has the effect that, in the event of a rear impact, the rear partial rail is displaced by the deformation of the rear region in the direction of the seat region arranged in front of the trunk while the front partial rail initially remains fixed in position. The movement of the rear partial rail inevitably obtains a direction because of the obliquely inclined separating plane. This direction of movement is selected in such a manner that the rear partial rail is guided or deflected into unproblematic regions of the trunk, i.e., for example, to the side or downward, so that penetration of the trunk rail into the seat region is avoided. It is also advantageous in the case of the solution according to the invention that the division of the trunk rail into two subsections does not involve additional costs and additional weight and nevertheless is a reliable mechanism in the event of a rear impact. In order to deflect the rear partial rail downward, the separating plane can run in a manner rising from the front to the rear transversely with respect to the longitudinal axis of the vehicle. The separating plane can preferably be provided approximately in the center of the goods rail. As a result, the effective length of the trunk rail can be reduced to at least half in the event of a rear impact without the rear partial rail penetrating into the seat region. The goods rail can be arranged in an overlap with a rear longitudinal member. The goods rail can therefore be fixed to the longitudinal member by simple means, so that there is a stable connection between the goods rail and the body. In one particularly preferred embodiment, a hollow profile shell can be placed onto a region of the longitudinal member that is mounted upstream of the separating plane. The front subsection can be fixed on the hollow profile shell. A cavity can be formed between the hollow profile shell and the overlapped section of the longitudinal member. In the event of a rear impact, the hollow profile shell takes on the task of receiving the rear subsection which can enter into the cavity between the overlapped section of the longitudinal member and the hollow profile shell. The cavity can advantageously be designed in such a manner that the rear partial rail is inevitably guided downward not only by the oblique separating plane but also by the shaping of the cavity. For the fixing of straps or holders, the goods rail can have an upwardly open, U-shaped cross section into which corresponding profiles can be pushed. FIG. 1 partially illustrates a station wagon 1 with its rear region 2. The rear region 2 has a trunk 3 which is separated from a passenger cell 4 by a seat region 5. The lower end of the trunk 3 is formed by a floor assembly 6 which, inter alia, comprises two longitudinal members 7 running parallel to the longitudinal axis of the vehicle. The longitudinal members 7 extend from a bumper 8, which ends the rear region 2 to the rear, over a rear wheel 9 as far as the passenger cell 4. A hollow profile shell 11 is fixed on a section 10 of the longitudinal member 7 that faces the seat region 5, and a supporting part 13 is fixed on a rear section 12 of the longitudinal member 7. A goods rail 14 is arranged on the hollow profile shell 11 and the supporting component 13, the goods rail being composed of a rear partial rail 15 and a front partial rail 16. As illustrated in FIG. 2, the separating plane 17 between the front partial rail 16 and the rear partial rail 15 runs in a manner rising from the front to the rear (as seen in the direction of travel) transversely with respect to the longitudinal axis L of the vehicle at an angle of approximately 45°. In order to obtain the oblique inclination of the separating plane 17, those ends 18 and 19 of the partial rails 16 and 15, respectively, which face the separating plane 17 are beveled at an angle of 45°. The mutually facing ends 18 and 19 are not connected to each other by fixing means, but rather merely bear against each other. As emerges from the sectional illustration from FIG. 3, the hollow profile shell 11 has an essentially U-shaped cross section. The hollow profile shell 11 rests with two flanges 20 on the profile of the longitudinal member 7, with the shape of the flanges 20 being matched to the profile of the longitudinal member 7. As a result, a cavity 21 is produced between the hollow profile shell 11 and the longitudinal member 7. The partial rail 16 rests on the upper side of the hollow profile shell 11, the partial rail 16 having an upwardly open, U-shaped cross section. The hollow profile shell 11 is—as seen in the direction of travel—mounted directly in front of the separating plane 17, so that, in the event of a rear impact, the cavity 21 formed between the hollow profile shell 11 and longitudinal member 7 can serve as a receptacle for the rear partial rail 15 (cf. FIG. 2). Thus if, in the event of a rear impact, a force F acts on the bumper 8, said force is conducted into the longitudinal member 7. The longitudinal member 7 is reduced by being deformed, so that the rear partial rail 15 is shifted forward approximately parallel to the longitudinal axis L of the vehicle in the direction of the seat region 5. However, because of the inclined separating plane 17, the rear partial rail 15 obtains a deflecting movement under the front partial rail 16. On a further forward movement of the partial rail 15, the latter is received by the cavity 21 of the hollow profile shell 11, so that penetration into the seat region 5 can be reliably prevented.

Various attempts have been made to provide a composite of two different pictures or display items which are cut into strips and arranged in an alternating manner so that when bent in an accordion type shape one of the pictures could be seen when viewed at one angle and the other picture could be seen when viewed at the other angle. Heretofore, however, these techniques have not been attempted with actual photographs which are mounted in such a manner that the composite could be displayed in the same manner as a conventional photograph. Even for other display items, prior techniques have been difficult to practice. The prior attempts have generally involved complicated kits or other display devices. Exemplary of these approaches are U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,233,767; 4,422,253; 385,912; 386,780; 386,883; 401,165; 824,860; 922,015; 942,498; 135,363; 2,088,762; 4,255,380.

1. Field of the Invention This invention relates to an apparatus and method for swirling or otherwise moving one or more liquids within a container, for example wine within a drinking glass and/or a decanter. 2. Discussion of Related Art Many conventional wine glasses, decanters or other drinking type containers or vessels have been designed to accommodate a swirling motion of wine within the container. Moving a liquid within the container can aerate the liquid or wine and better expose the surface area of the liquid or wine to the atmosphere, which can result in a chemical reaction that enhances the bouquet, taste, flavor and/or aroma of the wine. Moving or swirling wine within a container allows the wine to open-up and enhance the flavor and also the aroma of the wine. In order to open up or enhance the bouquet of wine, a surface area of the wine is exposed to the atmosphere. Opening a wine bottle and allowing the wine to sit only exposes to the atmosphere a relatively small surface area of the wine positioned within or near a relatively small cross-sectional neck area of the wine bottle. If wine is poured into a decanter or other similar container or vessel and allowed to remain in a static condition, the surface area of the wine exposed to the atmosphere is increased. The aeration or chemical reaction that occurs can be enhanced or accelerated by swirling or otherwise moving the wine within the glass, decanter or other suitable container. Many wine drinkers use their hands and arms to physically move the glass, decanter or other container, for example to impart a swirling motion of the wine within the container. There is an apparent need for an automated device or apparatus that can swirl or move wine within a glass or decanter, or that can move another liquid within a container.

1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an magneto-optical recording medium, and in particular, to a magneto-optical recording medium having a protective film with an increased Kerr effect enhancement and an improved protection characteristic. 2. Description of the Prior Art For magneto-optical recording media, there have been powerfully conducted researches and developments to implement high-density recording media having a magnetic film and being capable of rewriting data recorded thereon. Among magneto-optical recording substances employed to constitute a magnetic film for such a recording medium, an amorphous alloy comprising a rare-earth metal and a transition metal (to be simply refferred to as an RE-TM alloy herebelow) has such features that there is attained a vertical magnetization film, namely, a direction of magnetization thereof is vertical to a film growth plane, that there is developed a large coersive force of several units of KOe, and that the film can be manufactured in a relatively easy fashion by use of a sputtering technology, a vaporized evaporation, or other deposition technology. In this regard, consequently, the research and development has been greatly advanced for the RE-TM alloy, which hence has been put broadly to practial uses. However, a magnetic film formed with an RE-TM alloy is weak argainst corrosive actions (reference is to be made to description in page 427 of "Hikarijiki Disk" supervised by Nobutake Imamura and published from Triceps Co., Ltd.); moreover, the magnetic film is attended with a disadvantage that there is not attained a satifactorily great the magneto-optic Kerr effect. To overcome this difficulty, there has been known a film structure in which a magnetic film formed with an RE-TM alloy is placed between protective films including various materials so as to prevent corrosions of the magnetic film and to increase the virtual rotation angle associated with the Kerr effect by use of a multi-reflection of a light (reference is made also to description in page 119 of the article above written by Imamura et al.) As can be understood from the description of the prior art technology above, in the magneto-optical recording medium, a refractive index and a transmittivity of light through the a protective film exert a great influence on characteristics associated with information write and read operations. As for the refractive index, for example, a protective material mainly including aluminum such as AlN, AlSiN, or AlSiON has a refractive index n of about two and hence has been known as a material developing a relatively high index value among the substances heretofore reported. At present, however, with development of various information apparatuses, there has been required an improvement in the recording density, whichh leads to a problem that the refractive index developed by such a protective film material of the prior art technology cannot attain a satisfactory Kerr effect enhancement. Furthermore, as described above, for the protective film formed on a read side of the magnetic film, it is required that there is developed a small extinction coefficient k with respect to wavelength adopted in the information write and read operations. The extinction coefficient k is attained as an complex refractive index n-ki (i is an imaginary unit) including the refractive index n. In actual, the extinction coefficient k takes a value of about 10.sup.-1 in the known protective film materials; however, it is desirable to develop a further reduced value. As a problem in this situation, there has not been produced a protective film material which satisfies the requirements related to the refractive index n and the extinction coefficient k and which is satisfactorily resistive against corrosions.

The present invention relates to a process and an apparatus for scraping excess coating substance off a running web, such as a paper or cardboard web, of the kind employing a pivotable scraper blade to scrape off the excess material. Such a process and apparatus are used when it is desired to coat a web with a substance as evenly as possible. The web may run over a rotatable roller or over a fixed support device at the point where the excess coating substance is scraped off. If the web is coated on both sides, it may run between two symmetrically arranged scraping devices to remove the excess material from each side. Apparatus of this kind is known, for example, from the Journal "Wochenblatt fuer Papierfabrikation", No. 16, (1978), pages 619 to 624 (published in English in the publication Voith-Press p 2371e), as well as from U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,131,092 and 3,882,817. In the known apparatus, there is a blade holder that is generally attached to a so-called scraper beam. Both the blade holder and the scraper beam extend transverse to the direction in which the web runs. The scraper blade is pressed against the paper web with adjustable force by means of an adjustable pressure device. During this process the scraper blade is deformed to a greater or lesser extent by the force exerted on it by the pressure device. Moreover, the blade is worn down by friction between it and the coating it scrapes off the web. In the design described on page 622 of the cited Journal the scraper beam may be mounted for rotation as a unit with the blade holder around each of two different pivot axes. A first pivot axis is parallel to the blade and is located in the vicinity of the point of the blade, i.e. the end of the blade that is directed toward the web. By pivoting the scraper beam, the blade holder and the scraper blade around the first pivot axis located at or near the point of the blade, the scraper blade can be brought into different angular positions relative to the running web. This is necessary for adaptation to different types of webs, different coating substances and different coating thicknesses. The angle between the blade and the web, known as the blade angle, is determined by the angular position of the scraper beam about the first pivot axis and by the degree of deformation of the scraper blade caused by the force with which the blade is pressed against the web. A second pivot axis is also provided, about which the scraper beam can be rotated between a rest position and an operative position. Both pivot axes are parallel to the surface of the running web and are perpendicular to the direction of the motion of the web. The desired coating thickness can be obtained by setting the force exerted by the pressure device on the blade. If this force varies, the bowing of the blade changes and with it also the blade angle. In addition, the scraping surface of the blade, i.e. the oblique surface located at the point of the blade or that surface formed by wear during operation, no longer lies parallel to the surface of the web, as before. A disadvantage of the known apparatus is that after the force on the blade is altered, some time passes before the scraping surface of the blade is worn down parallel to the web again. Until the blade is worn down by friction in this manner, the coating will not be scraped to a uniform thickness. To maintain the desired coating thickness as the blade scrapes the coating substance from the web after the force urging the blade against the web is changed, the blade angle must remain the same as before the force was changed. Although the machine operator could manually rotate the scraper beam and blade holder about the first pivot axis until the blade angle resumes its previous value, this procedure requires a high degree of skill and would takes the machine operator away from other tasks. On the other hand, the apparatus known from the cited Journal reference has the advantage that the blade angle can be set at any required value over a very wide range. For example, it is possible to pivot the scraper beam and blade holder sufficiently far for the blade angle to be zero, while simultaneously urging the blade sufficiently strongly against the web. When the blade angle is zero, a side surface of the blade, rather than the oblique blade scraping surface, is pressed against the web. This reduces the amount of coating substance the blade scrapes off the web, making it possible to apply larger amounts of coating substance to the web and thus to obtain a greater coating thickness. Finally, German Pat. No. 24 35 527 suggests locating the blade holder pivot axis between the blade point and the point of application of the force on the blade in such a way that the force can be varied as desired by pivoting the blade holder, without the blade angle being altered. As long as the blade angle remains constant, the scraping surface of the blade remains in a substantially unchanged position parallel to the direction of motion of the web. If the arrangement of this patent is employed, therefore, no wearing-down of the blade is required after the magnitude of the force is reset. With this arrangement it is not possible, however, to vary the blade angle by rotating the blade holder around its pivot axis. In particular, it is not possible to achieve the especially desirable operating condition in which the blade angle is zero, without providing a second pivot axis for rotation for the purpose of changing the blade angle. The additional axis would be located, as in the known apparatus first described above, in the vicinity of the point of the blade.

Modern computing devices employ power-saving modes when not in use. Hibernation is a mode in which an operating system (OS) saves memory data from volatile system-memory to an OS boot partition of a hard drive in the form of a hibernation file, after which the computing device is shut down. When turned back on, the basic input output system (BIOS) of the computing device posts and then loads an OS boot loader. The OS boot loader copies the memory data within the hibernation file back into the volatile system-memory. The OS boot loader then resumes operation of the operating system where the operating system was paused instead of booting the operating system as normal. This allows for currently running applications to retain their data even if the data was not saved before hibernation. Suspend is a mode in which the operating system shuts down power to most of the devices within the computing device but not to the volatile system-memory such that the memory data is preserved. To resume full use, the operating system powers on the devices and resumes operation using the memory data that was preserved. Suspend uses significantly more power than hibernation but is much faster. While these modes serve their respective purposes they have undesired limitations. Hibernation mode can be slow to begin and can lose data. Hibernation mode can be slow to begin because it is limited by the speed at which the hard drive can save the memory data to the hibernation file. A computer's data is often stored on a spinning-media hard-disk drive, which is spinning while the hibernation mode is beginning; this presents a data-safety issue. Any substantial movement of the computing device is potentially hazardous while the drive is still spinning. A user who selects to hibernate his laptop, closes the lid, and goes on his way may damage the hard drive and the data it contains. Furthermore, during the time that the hard drive is spinning, both it and the computing device are using power. This is undesirable if the hibernation occurred due to a critical battery alarm because the computing device may run out of power before the hibernation is complete. Even if the device's battery does not fail, using additional power contradicts the point of a power-saving mode. Suspend mode also has undesired limitations. While significantly faster than hibernation, it uses more power because the volatile system-memory remains powered. Furthermore, if the computing device's power source is lost while suspended, the memory data may not be recovered and any information not saved to the hard disk will likely be lost. This can easily occur, such as when the user unplugs the computing device or when a power source fails. The background description provided herein is for the purpose of generally presenting the context of the disclosure. Work of the presently named inventors, to the extent the work is described in this background section, as well as aspects of the description that may not otherwise qualify as prior art at the time of filing, are neither expressly nor impliedly admitted as prior art against the present disclosure.

In a digital communications system 100 as illustrated in FIG. 1, a stream of information bits 112 is transferred from one point to another through a communication channel 130 and is therefore susceptible to noise 132. Forward Error Correction (FEC) techniques improve the channel capacity by carefully adding redundant information to the data being transmitted 110 through the channel 130. In a FEC system, the transmitted data is encoded in such a way so that the receiver 120 can correct, as well as detect, errors caused by channel noise 132. Convolutional encoding 111 with Viterbi decoding 121 is a FEC technique that is well suited for such communication systems. The convolutional encoder 111 inserts redundant information bits into the data stream 112 so that the decoder 121 can reduce and correct errors caused by the channel 130. In today's communication networks there is a steady need for further improvement of the coding sensitivity.

1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a lithium secondary battery, and more specifically, to a lithium secondary battery which has excellent life span property and penetration safety. 2. Description of the Related Art With rapid progress of electronic, telecommunication and computer industries, portable electronic communication devices such as a camcorder, mobile phone, notebook PC, etc. have been remarkably developed. Accordingly, the demand for a lithium secondary battery as a power source capable of driving the above device is also increased. In particular, with regard to applications of eco-friendly power sources such as an electric car, uninterruptible power supply, electromotive tool and satellite, research and development have been actively proceeded in domestic field and other countries such as Japan, Europe, United States, etc. Among currently used secondary batteries, the lithium secondary battery developed since early 1990's includes an anode electrode made of a carbon material capable of absorbing and desorbing lithium ions, a cathode electrode made of lithium-containing oxide, and a non-aqueous electrolyte containing lithium salt dissolved in a mixed organic solvent in a suitable amount. In this regard, as the application of the lithium secondary battery is more enlarged, a case that the lithium secondary battery should be used even under more severe environments is increased. However, lithium transition metal oxide or composite oxide used as a cathode active material of the lithium secondary battery entails a problem that a metal component is desorbed from the cathode electrode during storage at a high temperature under fully charged condition, hence being in thermally unstable state. In addition, when a forced internal short circuit occurs due to an external impact, a heating value inside the battery is rapidly increased, thereby causing ignition. In order to solve the above problems, Korean Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2006-0134631 discloses a cathode active material having a core-shell structure in which a core part and a shell part are made of lithium transition metal oxides different from each other, however, still has lack of improvement in life-span property and safety of the battery.

In many online computer games, there is a virtual world or some other imagined playing space where a player of the game controls one or more player characters (herein “characters,” “player characters,” or “PCs”). Player characters can be considered in-game representations of the controlling player. As used herein, the terms player, user, entity, neighbor, friend, and the like may refer to the in-game player character controlled by that player, user, entity, or friend, unless context suggests otherwise. A game display can display a representation of the player character. A game engine accepts inputs from the player, determines player character actions, decides outcomes of events, and presents the player with a game display illuminating game play. In some games, there are multiple players, wherein each player controls one or more player characters. An electronic social networking system typically operates with one or more social networking servers providing interaction between users such that a user can specify other users of the social networking system as “friends.” A collection of users and the “friend” connections between users can form a social graph in such a social networking system or that can be traversed to find second, third and more remote connections between users, much like a graph of nodes connected by edges can be traversed. Instead or in addition, an in-game social graph may be maintained. Many online computer games are operated on an online social network. Such a network allows both users and other parties to interact with the computer games directly, whether to play the games or to retrieve game- or user-related information. Internet users may maintain one or more accounts with various service providers, including, for example, online game networking systems and online social networking systems. Online systems can typically be accessed using browser clients (e.g., Firefox, Chrome, Internet Explorer).

1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates generally to latches and more specifically to a blow-open current limiting circuit breaker having an improved anti-rebound latch. 2. Description of the Prior Art Current limiting breakers of the type described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,178,618 to Khalid include a blow-open design which facilitates opening of the contacts during the first milliseconds of an extreme overcurrent condition. The blade is accelerated to a high velocity by the increasing fault current and tends to rebound from its open position faster than the tripping response time of the circuit breaker mechanism. Accordingly, means must be provided to delay or hold the blade in the open position until the mechanism trips and supports the blades in the open position. If the blade is not held in the open position, the rebounding blade may reclose under a fault condition in which the excessive current can cause the contacts to weld together. It is also desirable to prevent restriking of arcs between the contacts to stop the current as soon as possible at maximum current level. Blow-open forces will cause current limiting within approximately 0.6 milliseconds; however, the blade, if not restrained in an open position, will immediately rebound and move toward a contact closed position far sooner than the 6 milliseconds it may take for the mechanism to open the circuit. An electromagnetically actuated anti-rebound latch is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,409,573 to DiMarco et al which also desribes some of the typical prior art latching mechanisms that utilize springs to bias a latch toward a contact arm to move the latch into a notch in the contact arm when the contact arm of the circuit breaker is blown open by electrodynamic forces to thereby retain the contact arm in an open position.

Safety dictates electrical grounding of exposed metallic parts of equipment housings or frames if there is a possibility that such parts could carry a current. For example, photovoltaic arrays need to be grounded because they produce electricity and are installed outdoors, exposed to the elements. Such arrays typically comprise a number of photovoltaic modules that are assembled onto a larger mounting structure and must be bonded to each other as well as to the grounded mounting structure. Bonded is used here in the technical sense to mean permanently joined to form an electrically conductive path that ensures electrical continuity and has the capacity to safely conduct any current likely to be imposed. The frames of the individual modules and the structural members on which the modules are mounted usually are made of aluminum. The aluminum is anodized to resist corrosion but the anodic coating insulates these pieces so that simple piece-to-piece contact does not electrically bond them together. A common practice is to install a separate metallic grounding lug on each anodized piece. The grounding lug is mounted to the metal frame of a module by a thread-forming stainless steel screw with a star washer sandwiched between them. The grounding lug accepts a copper wire, which is forced into contact with the grounding lug by a stainless steel set screw. Thus, aside from the mounting screw, there are three parts involved in making such a bonded connection: a lug, a star washer and a set screw. U.S. Pat. No. 8,092,129 to Wiley, et al., which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety, discloses various types of “bonding washers” that are positioned between the metallic pieces of photovoltaic modules and module supporting structures and pierce the anodic coating to create an electrical bond when the pieces are clamped together. FIGS. 33 and 34 show a grounding lug assembly for use when only one of the metallic pieces has an anodic coating, such as for bonding a ground wire to that piece. That assembly, too, has at least three parts besides the mounting screw.

Lithium compound-containing electrochemical cells and batteries including such cells are modern means for storing energy. They exceed certain conventional secondary batteries with respect to capacity and life-time and, in many times, use of toxic materials such as lead can be avoided. However, in contrast to conventional lead-based secondary batteries, various technical problems have not yet been solved. Secondary batteries based on cathodes including lithiated metal oxides such as LiCoO2, LiMn2O4, and LiFePO4 are well established. However, some batteries of this type are limited in capacity. For that reason, numerous attempts have been made to improve the electrode materials. Particularly promising are so-called lithium sulfur batteries. In such batteries, lithium will be oxidized and converted to lithium sulfides such as Li2S8-a, a being a number in the range from zero to 7. During recharging, lithium and sulfur will be regenerated. Such secondary cells have the advantage of a high capacity. Sulfide materials of different compositions and nature are known to be lithium-ion conductors (e.g., Li2Sx/P2S5 glasses, Li2Sx/P2S5-derived glass ceramics, Li7P3S11, thio-LISICON, oxysulfide glasses). However, such materials may suffer from issues such as low stability against liquid organic electrolyte solutions, insufficient stability against metallic lithium or high voltage cathode materials, extreme sensitivity to moisture and/or air, and/or an intrinsically low ionic conductivity. Accordingly, improved lithium-ion ionically conductive compounds are needed.

Radiotherapy consists of projecting onto a predetermined region of a patient's body, a radiation beam so as to eliminate or reduce malignant or benign tumors existing therein as well as treating non-cancerous ailments. Such treatment is usually carried out periodically and repeatedly. At each medical intervention, the patient must be positioned with respect to the radiation source in order to irradiate the selected region with the highest possible accuracy to avoid radiating adjacent tissue on which radiation beams would be harmful. If movement of a patient is detected during treatment, the treatment should be halted to avoid irradiating areas of a patient other than the treatment location. For this reason a number of monitoring systems for assisting the positioning of patients during radiotherapy and detecting patient movement have therefore been proposed such as those described in Vision RT's earlier patents and patent applications U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,889,906, 7,348,974, 8,135,201, US2015/062303 and US2015/0265852. In the systems described in Vision RT's patent applications, images of a patient are obtained using a stereoscopic camera of a speckled pattern projected onto a portion of the patient being monitored. A model generation module determines transformations to identify and match corresponding portions of these images received by the left and right lenses of the stereoscopic camera. These matches are then utilized to generate a 3D model of the patient which is compared with a stored reference model of the surface of the patient when correctly positioned to confirm the patient is in the correct position. Typically such a comparison involves undertaking Procrustes analysis to determine a transformation which minimizes the differences in position between points on the surface of a patient identified by data generated based on live images and points on the stored reference model of the surface of a patient. For stereotactic surgery, in particular when treating brain tumors, it is essential that the patient is positioned relative to the radiation delivery system with very high accuracy so that radiation is delivered to the tumor, and not the surrounding healthy tissue. For this reason, the head of a patient undergoing stereotactic surgery is securely attached to a couch via a patient restraint such as a head mask so that the patient cannot move their head during treatment. The same considerations apply in the case of other types and locations of tumor where alternative patient restraints are employed. A patient restraint such as a mask is normally made out of a thermoplastic material which is heated prior to an initial treatment session. The mask is then molded to a patient's head by being placed over the patient's face and then allowed to set. The resultant head mask completely encloses a patient's head and thus restricts movement and allows a patient to be placed into a fixed position for each treatment session. Examples of such full head masks are disclosed in WO03/061477 and WO04/032781. Although a full-head mask is an improvement on immobilizing a patient solely with a chin strap, as the mask completely obscures a patient's face, it is not possible to monitor for movement of the face during treatment. This problem has been addressed by using an alternative head mask described U.S. Pat. No. 8,662,083 which includes an aperture arranged to leave a patient's face substantially free to allow for monitoring by a stereoscopic camera. Improvements in patient monitoring systems are still desired.

The invention relates to processes and apparatus for recycling. More particularly, the invention relates to processes and apparatus for recycling composite materials. There are several types of packaging used for food products or for different industrial products in general. Most food and industrial product packaging is typically constructed in one of the following forms: a) paper board, for example, cardboard; b) plastic, for example, polyethylene terephtalatic (PET); c) paper/plastic, for example, beverage cartons; d) plastic/aluminum laminates, for example, packaging for coffee, dry soups, dog food, chocolates, cereals, etc.; and, e) paper/plastic/aluminum, for example, beverage cartons for orange juice, milk, etc. When the food and industrial product packaging contains only paper (as in (a)) or paper/plastic (as in case (c)), the public has already discovered processes to recycle such packaging materials. For example, paper packaging is fed into hydro-pulping equipment to desegregate the paper fibers. The separated paper fibers are then removed with water and dried in a paper machine. The resulting recycled paper may then be reused, for example, to make cardboard boxes for instance. In the case where the food and industrial product is a composite material such as paper/plastic (as in case (c)), the plastic is separated automatically in the hydro-pulping, and normally discarded since the plastic is (1) rarely made of only one type of plastic and (2) contains contaminants, which makes it difficult to reuse the plastic rejects. When the food and industrial product packaging contains only plastic such as bottles, the recycling process involves washing, drying and grinding the plastic packaging, and extruding and melting the ground plastic packaging in order to form a new, recycled plastic product. The recycling of food or industrial packaging becomes challenging where plastic/aluminum laminates and paper/plastic/aluminum composite materials are concerned. For example, both types of packaging typically contain a very thin piece of aluminum foil, for example, less than 10 microns thick, intimately joined with a plastic component, for example, a plastic sheet less than 100 microns thick, and paper. The paper can be recycled using recycling processes already described. However, the plastic and aluminum rejects cannot be recycled. There are no commercial recycling processes for recycling plastic and aluminum rejects from plastic/aluminum packaging and paper/plastic/aluminum packaging due to the difficulties associated with separating the plastic from the aluminum. Moreover, whereas paper/plastic/aluminum contains one type of plastic, plastic/aluminum packaging generally utilizes more than one type of plastic. For example, the plastic component typically contains polyethylene (PE), with minor amounts of polypropylene (PP) and polyethylene terephtalatic (PET) also present. These factors contribute to the present inability to effectively recycle plastic/aluminum and paper/plastic/aluminum packaging. Plastic/aluminum food and industrial packaging and the plastic/aluminum rejects, for example, factory wastes, spent packaging, etc., are not being properly recycled; most of these materials are being dumped into landfills or incinerated. Although incineration sounds like an efficient process, incineration possesses some operating difficulties due to the presence of the aluminum. Aluminum does not “burn” and generate gas, rather aluminum oxidizes and generates aluminum oxide, a solid waste, which needs to be periodically removed from the incinerators. At the present time, Corenso United Oy Ltd. of Finland utilizes a pyrolysis process to recycle paper/plastic/aluminum packaging once the paper component is removed. Pyrolysis is conducted for generating a combustible gas that can be used to generate energy. However, the remaining aluminum foil, in pieces, cannot be recycled or reused. During pyrolysis, the aluminum partially oxidizes and the oxidized aluminum becomes difficult to melt. Aluminum oxide will form from the outside to the inside of the aluminum foil. Aluminum oxide melts at temperatures above 1,700° C. and does not melt at temperatures of 700° C., the melting point of aluminum. Since the aluminum foil is very thin to begin with, even a thin oxide layer becomes a significant obstacle and prevents successfully melting the aluminum foil. In addition, the pyrolysis process creates aluminum/aluminum oxide residues and generates a considerable amount of burnt gases. Hence, pyrolysis is not an environmentally friendly process and fails to effectively recycle aluminum from paper/plastic/aluminum food and industrial packaging.

It is generally accepted that exposure to a multitude of visual, audio and physical stimuli during the early stages of development can enhance the learning capability of a child throughout life. Thus, numerous activity centers have been developed in order to stimulate and sharpen a developing child's physical and cognitive capacities. Typically these activity centers provide a variety of toys for visual and physical interaction specifically designed to hone the child's hand-eye coordination, range of motion, familiarity with animals, shapes, alphabet characters, numbers, and the like. When not sleeping, small children often become easily bored or restless during lengthy plane or vehicle rides. Thus, many activity centers have been made portable and readily attach to various objects such as strollers, child carriers, car-seats, cribs, and the like to entertain and/or educate the child during such instances. However, none of the prior art teaches or suggests attachment of activity centers to the caregiver such that the child is entertained and learning while being safely held by or in close proximity to an adult. This arrangement can be especially advantageous in situations where an adult must hold the child on their lap or in close quarters for extended periods of time, such as on a plane, automobile car seat, train, boat, in a restaurant, and the like.

1. Field of the Invention The present invention pertains to image data management and in particular to a container file for large format imagery and method of creating the container file and organizing data within the container file. 2. Discussion of Related Art An image generally contains a plurality of pixels (e.g., several hundred megapixels) and each pixel has one, two or more bands. Each band has a certain color depth or bit depth. For example, an RGB color-based image has 3 bands, the red band (R), the green band (G) and the blue band (B). Each of the R, G and B bands can have a depth of 8 bits or more. An image sensor can be used to capture a series of images, each image having several hundred megapixels. The images may be captured in sequence, for example at a reasonably constant frequency. Each image (i.e., each still image) in the sequence or series of images may have one or more distinct bands and may cover any part of the electromagnetic spectrum that can be captured by the image sensor. The image sensor may be a single sensor or a combination of a matrix of multiple sensors arranged to generate a single image. Therefore, the series of relatively large images captured by an image sensor over a certain period of time at a near constant capture rate are considered to be large format motion imagery.

As part of the process involved in the development of popular light, compact, portable, yet elaborate, electronic apparatuses, such as notebook versions of personal computers (PCS), the density of circuit boards employed for these devices has been increased. A plurality of circuit boards mounted at a high component density are accumulated in a limited space, also, the depositing of signal lines at a higher component density, i.e., more electrodes at larger intervals, is required for connectors used for the electrical connection of circuit boards. FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a conventional circuit board connector, and FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the connector in FIG. 1 taken along the line A-A'. In FIG. 1, connector 10 comprises a first housing unit 12 and a second housing unit 14. At a bottom portion 16 of the housing unit 12, a plurality of connector pins 22 are provided in an array with their ends ranged along two slots 18 and 20. The arms of the connector pins 22 extend outward parallel to the surface of the bottom portion 16 of the housing unit 12, and are bonded to a plurality of electrodes on a circuit board 26, such as by soldering. Similarly, as seen in FIG. 2, connector pins 28 are provided with their arms extending outward parallel to a bottom portion 24 of the second housing unit 14, and are bonded to a plurality of electrodes on a circuit board 30 by soldering. Two projecting portions 32 formed inside the first housing unit 12 extend outward away from the bottom portion 16, with the connector pins 22 running downward along their enclosed side walls. And two opposing recessed portions 34, as best seen in FIG. 2, formed in the second housing unit 14 are located at the side opposite the bottom portion 24, with the connector pins 28 running upward along the interior of their side walls. Thus, when the two housing units 12 and 14 are coupled together in the direction indicated by the downward pointing arrows in FIG. 2, the projecting portions 32 engage the recessed portions 34, and the arms of the connector pins 22 contact arms of the connector pins 28 and establish an electrical connection. Although the conventional circuit board connector, which has a higher signal line density, satisfies the need for increases in the number of electrodes and in the sizes of the intervals for circuit board connectors, it has the following deficiencies. That is, since the interval "D" between the two slots in the bottom of the housing unit 12, as shown in FIG. 2, is narrow and the slots (recessed portions) defining the interval "D" is deep, in the soldering process (reflow process) for bonding the bottom of the housing unit 12 to the board, an infrared ray for heating that is provided upward from the surface of the board does not satisfactorily irradiate the connector pin terminals in the interval "D." As a result, the solder is not adequately heated (melted) and soldering failures can and do frequently occur. Furthermore, when a soldering failure occurs at a connector pin terminal in the interval "D," it is difficult to insert the distal end of a soldering iron into the narrow and deep interval "D" between the two slots. As a result, considerable problems are encountered when attempting to correct a soldering failure. In some cases, correction is not possible.

Recently, as a replacement for conventional laparotomy surgeries, endoscopic surgeries such as a laparoscopic surgery are performed. An endoscopic surgery is performed by making a small incision in the body surface and inserting therein a minimally-invasive insertion device such as a rigid endoscope, forceps and an incision tool of narrow diameters, and its effect is comparable to that of a laparotomy surgery. In endoscopic surgeries, the incisions can be made relatively smaller than those in laparotomy surgeries, thus reducing physical and mental burden of the patient. On the other hand, as conventional insertion devices, there is a flexible endoscope that has a configuration in which the tip of the insertion section can be bent (for example, see Patent Literature 1 or 2 and Non-Patent Literature 1) and a rigid endoscope having a rigid, rod-like insertion section. Also, there is a multifunctional endoscope comprising one endoscope equipped with a plurality of means including an observation means such as a CCD camera and a treatment means such as grip forceps or a snare (for example, see Non-Patent Literature 2 or 3).

There is conventionally known an image reading apparatus for illuminating a transparent original and reading its image, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,038,227. The conventional image reading apparatus will be described with reference to FIGS. 1A and 1B. FIG. 1A is a sectional view showing an image reading apparatus, and FIG. 1B is a perspective view. A bar-like fluorescent tube 700 is attached to the end of a light guide plate 701 which is arranged in parallel to a platen glass 702 for setting an original. The light guide plate 701 is a resin light diffusion panel for diffusing light emitted by the fluorescent tube 700 and emitting the light from the surface. The platen glass 702 is an original table for setting a transparent original such as a photographic film. A transparent original set on the platen glass 702 is sandwiched and fixed between the light guide plate 701 and the platen glass 702. A CCD 703 is a linear imaging element for converting image information into an electric image signal. An imaging optical system 704 optically guides the image information of the transparent original to the CCD 703. A carriage 705 supports the CCD 703 and imaging optical system 704, and is movable in the subscanning direction along guides 706 and 707. When the entire surface of a transparent original is illuminated by the light guide plate 701, image information of the transparent original is read by the CCD 703 via the imaging optical system 704. The carriage 705 is moved in the subscanning direction to sequentially read the image of the entire transparent original. If, however, dirt such as dust exists on a transparent original or an original is scratched, the conventional image reading apparatus reads even the dirt or scratch, so the image degrades owing to the dirt or scratch.

Pharmaceutical compositions containing azo compounds have been used for their bactericidal properties and among the same are those described as heterocyclic sulphonamide azo compounds in U.S. Pat. No. 2,396,145 to Askelof et al. and U.S. Pat. No. 3,681,319 to Lindberg. These patents describe a group of azo compounds which are essentially characterized by the formula: ##STR1## To the first end of the azo linkage is attached a benzene ring having hydroxy substitution in the para position. The second end of the azo linkage is attached to a p-[2-pyridylsulfamoyl]-phenyl group. The compounds thus disclosed in these patents have bactericidal characteristics. We have unexpectedly found novel azo compounds which also possess similar bactericidal characteristics but whose structures are not characteristic of those of U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,396,145 and 3,681,319. We have unexpectedly found that 2-[(p-(2-pyridylsulfamoyl)phenyl)azo] hydroxybenzene has useful properties as an anti-bacterial agent and yet this molecule has neither the essential carboxy group present nor is it substitution at the first end of the azo linkage in the essential para positions to the hydroxy group. Further, this ring also contains a hydroxy group substituted in the ortho position to the azo linkage. Also, we have unexpectedly found that 3-[(p-(2-pyridylsulfamoyl)phenyl)azo] salicylic acid has useful properties as an anti-bacterial agent and also this molecule is not substituted at the first end of the azo linkage in the essential para position to the hydroxy group, but rather it is substituted in the ortho position to the hydroxy group. Additionally, we have unexpectedly found that 5-[(p-(4-(2-pyridylanilines))-N-phenyl)azo] salicylic acid has useful properties as an anti-bacterial agent and this molecule does not contain the essential sulfamoyl linkage between the 2-pyridyl and phenyl moieties at the second end of the azo linkage. This molecule further contains a p-anilino group between the 2-pyridyl and phenyl moieties. We have also found that these compounds can be combined with pharmaceutical excipients to form anti-bacterial preparations.

In line with remarkable developments in an information and telecommunication field, there is an increasing demand for various kinds of memory devices. In particular, nonvolatile memory devices, which can retain data even if power is turned off, are demanded as memory devices available for mobile terminals, MP3 players, or the like. Since nonvolatile memory devices can electrically program and erase data, and retain data even though power is not supplied, they are increasingly applied to a variety of fields at present. However, typical dynamic random access memories (DRAMs) are volatile memory devices, and thus lose stored data when power is not supplied. Therefore, many studies are being conducted on nonvolatile memory devices which can be used in place of DRAMs. Among various kinds of nonvolatile memory devices, researches are mainly being made on a phase RAM (PRAM) using a phase transition phenomenon, a magnetic RAM (MRAM) using a magnetoresistance, a ferroelectric RAM (FRAM) using a ferroelectric effect, and a resistance RAM (ReRAM) using a resistance switching or conductivity switching phenomenon of a metal oxide thin film. In particular, much attention has been paid on MRAMs recently because MRAMs have an operation speed faster than other nonvolatile memory devices, and excellent durability against the repetitive use. MRAMs are classified into two memories according to a method for read-out of information, of which one is an MRAM using giant magnetoresistance (GMR) effect and the other is an MRAM using tunneling magnetoresistance (TMR) effect. Since the MRAM using the GMR effect has the magnetoresistance less than 10%, a reading speed of information is slow and a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) is low. Also, the MRAM using the GMR effect may be affected by a magnetic field applied to adjacent magnetic recording elements, and thus the magnetic recording elements should be spaced apart from each other by a predetermined distance or more, leading to a difficulty in achieving high integration. The MRAM using the TMR effect has a magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) structure as a basic structure. The MTJ structure is a stack structure where a read electrode, an anti-ferromagnetic layer, a magnetic pinned layer formed of a ferromagnetic material, an insulating layer, a magnetic free layer formed of a ferromagnetic material, and a drive electrode are formed over a substrate in sequence. Like the MRAM using the GMR effect, the MRAM using the TMR effect stores information using a magnetoresistance difference according to a relative difference in magnetization direction between the magnetic free layer and the magnetic pinned layer. Unlike the MRAM using the GMR effect, however, the MRAM using the TMR effect has a faster reproduction rate and a higher SNR than the MRAM using the GMR effect because it has the magnetoresistance of 20% or more. In the MRAM using the TMR effect, the resistance of each magnetic recording element greatly varies with a thickness of an insulating layer. Accordingly, information is stored by the use of a resistance difference from an adjacent comparative magnetic recording element at present. If, however, a thickness difference between an insulating layer of a storage magnetic recording element and an insulating layer of a comparative magnetic recording element is 0.2 Å or greater, it is difficult to read out information stored in the magnetic recording element. Therefore, there is a technical problem in that an insulating layer should be conformally formed over a wafer of several inches in radius during a manufacturing process. As the magnetic recording element shrinks in size, the magnetic free layer and the magnetic pinned layer get close to each other. Therefore, a ferromagnet of the magnetic free layer is affected by a magnetic field of a ferromagnet of the magnetic pinned layer. Such a magnetic field produced by the magnetic pinned layer, that is, a stray field, may have a detrimental effect, for example, a decrease in magnetoresistance, or an increase in coercive force of the magnetic free layer. Especially, the insulating layer in the MTJ structure is thinner than the conductive layer of the MRAM using the GMR effect because the MTJ structure makes use of the TMR effect. Consequently, the magnetic free layer and the magnetic pinned layer get closer and closer to each other, and thus the magnetization of the magnetic free layer is greatly affected by the magnetic pinned layer.

1. Technical Field The present invention relates to a roller used for transporting, or the like a medium such as a paper, a separation device including the roller, an image reading apparatus such as a scanner, and a recording apparatus. 2. Related Art In order to secure a transport performance for various media, a surface of a roller is in contact with a surface of the medium and transports the medium, it is desirable that this kind of rollers is elastically slightly crushed a surface thereof which is brought into contact therewith and the contact area between the surface of the medium and the surface of the roller increases. In the related art, the crush is realized using a foamed rubber material as a material for the roller. In addition to the foamed rubber material, an elastomer is used to realize the crush (JP-A-2008-241739 or the like). However, in order to secure the transport performance of the roller by the foamed rubber material, a high-quality material is required, resulting in a problem of high cost. In addition, cracks are likely to be generated from the foamed portion as a starting point over time, and when repeated deformation is added, it is difficult for the shape thereof to be returned to the original shape thereof, resulting in a problem that the durability of the roller is lowered. In a roller using an elastomer other than the foamed rubber material, although there is no problem that cracks are likely to be generated from a foamed portion such as a foamed rubber material as a starting point, since the elastomer generally has a rubber hardness higher than that of a foamed rubber material, in order to secure the transport performance of the roller due to the crush, it is difficult to select a proper material and degrees of freedom of selection is lowered. As a result, there is a problem of high cost. In addition, there are the following problems from the manufacturing aspect of the roller. Generally, the roller is manufactured by pouring a raw material into a mold and filling the mold with the raw material, as in insert molding or the like. In the insert molding or the like, although it is necessary to secure fluidity when pouring and filling the mold with the raw material thereof, even in a structure in which the roller penetrates from one side surface to the other side surface in the axial direction thereof, it is difficult to secure the fluidity and the time required for completion of filling is likely to be long. Therefore, heat history at the time of curing the raw material is likely to be changed according to locations, and there is a problem that a shape accuracy of an outer peripheral surface of the roller as the final molded product is likely to be reduced.

This invention relates to exhaust gas treating systems for the removal of nitrogen oxides (NOx) and sulfur oxides (SOx) present in exhaust gas discharged from boilers, gas turbines, engines and combustion furnaces for burning various types of fuel. This invention can also be suitably used for the removal of nitrogen oxides present in tunnels and for the removal of nitrogen oxides present in exhaust gas from nitric acid production plants. An example of exhaust gas treatment by means of a conventional exhaust gas treating system is explained with reference to FIG. 1. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 designates a boiler; 2, a denitrator; 3, an air preheater; 4, a dust collector; 5, a gas-gas heater; 6, a desulfurizer; and 7, a stack. As shown in FIG. 1, a denitrator 2 using a catalyst is installed at the outlet of a boiler 1 or the like, and an air preheater 3 is installed at the outlet of denitrator 2 so as to lower the temperature of the exhaust gas to about 130xc2x0 C. The exhaust gas having passed through the aforesaid air preheater 3 is dedusted in a dust precipitator 4, passed through a gas-gas heater 5 and then introduced into a desulfurizer 6 where sulfur oxides (SOx) are removed therefrom. Thereafter, the exhaust gas is discharged into the atmosphere through a stack 7. In order to remove sulfur oxides (SOx) from exhaust in the aforesaid desulfurizer 6, there has conventionally been employed the so-called lime-gypsum method in which the aforesaid sulfur oxides (SOx) are absorbed with the aid of calcium carbonate used as absorbing agent and recovered in the form of gypsum. In this method, attempts have been made to reduce the outlet concentration of sulfur oxides (SOx) by varying the gas-fluid ratio, the residence time and the like. Usually, the concentration of sulfur oxides (SOx) in exhaust gas from boilers is in the range of 400 to 800 ppm, and it is intended in the aforesaid lime-gypsum method to reduce the outlet concentration thereof to 50-100 ppm. However, recent environmental standards demand that the concentration of sulfur oxides (SOx) in exhaust gas should be reduced to a level of 5 ppm or less which is commonly known as a high-degree desulfurization level. In order to remove sulfur oxides (SOx) to a level of 50 to 100 ppm according to the aforesaid conventional lime-gypsum method, a marked increase in cost due to an increased size of equipment and the like is unavoidable, even though the conditions are optimized. Moreover, it is desired from the viewpoint of environmental problems to improve the efficiency of removal of sulfur oxides (SOx). Furthermore, the aforesaid desulfurizer 6 employs the so-called lime-gypsum method in which sulfur oxides (SOx) present in exhaust gas are absorbed with the aid of calcium carbonate used as absorbing agent. among dry processes, only an absorption process using active carbon has been put to practical use. However, this adsorption process uses water washing for the purpose of desorption and hence requires a large volume of water. Moreover, this process also involves problems concerning disposal of the resulting dilute sulfuric acid, drying of the adsorbant, and the like. As described above, in the current practical process for the removal of nitrogen oxides present in exhaust gas from boilers, there is used a denitrator 2 based on the selective catalytic reduction (SCR) method in which nitrogen oxides are decomposed to nitrogen and water vapor by using a catalyst comprising V2O5 supported on TiO2 and a reducing agent comprising NH3. However this process involves the following problems. First, a reaction temperature of 300 to 400xc2x0 C. is required because of the performance of the catalyst. Secondly, NH3 is required for use as reducing agent. Thirdly, since the current leak level of NOx is from 5 to 40 ppm, an excess of NH3 needs to be injected for the purpose of reducing the leak level of NOx to zero. Moreover, recent environmental standards demand that the concentration of nitrogen oxides (NOx ) in exhaust gas should be reduced to a level of 1 ppm or less which is commonly known as a high-degree denitration level. In the aforesaid conventional denitration treatment based on the selective catalytic reduction (SCR) method, a marked increase in cost due to an increased size of equipment and the like is unavoidable, even though the conditions are optimized. On the other hand, it is desired from the viewpoint of environmental problems to improve the efficiency of removal of nitrogen oxides (NOx). In view of the above-described problems, an object of the present invention is to provide an exhaust gas treating system which can treat exhaust gas at low temperatures without requiring any heating means and, moreover, can treat exhaust gas efficiently without using a large amount of absorbing agent. In view of the above-described problems of the prior art, the present inventors have made intensive investigations and have now found that an active carbon having been subjected to a specific heat treatment functions as an effective catalyst for desulfurization or denitration reactions. The present invention has been completed on the basis of this finding. Accordingly, the present invention relates to a heat-treated active carbon for use in desulfurization or denitration reactions and a desulfurization or denitration process using it. First of all, the present invention is described below in terms of desulfurization. The present invention provides a heat-treated active carbon for use in desulfurization reactions which has been obtained by heat-treating a starting active carbon in a non-oxidizing atmosphere. The present invention also provides a desulfurization process which comprises bringing a gas containing SO2, water and oxygen into contact with such a heat-treated active carbon for use in desulfurization reactions. No particular limitation is placed on the type of the starting active carbon. For example, an active carbon fiber or an particulate active carbon is used. Active carbon fibers include those derived from pitch, polyacrylonitrile, phenol, cellulose and the like may be used. Commercial products may also be used. Among others, active carbon having highly hydrophobic surfaces are especially preferred. Specific examples thereof include pitch-based and polyacrylonitrile-based starting active carbon fibers. The above-described starting active carbon is heat-treated in a non-oxidizing atmosphere. The term xe2x80x9cnon-oxidizing atmospherexe2x80x9d as used herein comprehends inert gases and reducing atmospheres. No particular limitation is placed on the type of the non-oxidizing atmosphere, so long as the starting active carbon is not oxidized thereby. In particular, inert gases such as nitrogen gas, argon gas and helium gas are preferred. Among them, nitrogen gas is especially preferred because it is readily available. The heat-treating temperature may be any temperature that renders the surfaces of the starting active carbon hydrophobic. Although the heat-treating temperature may be suitably determined according to the type of the starting active carbon and the like, it is usually in the range of about 600 to 1,200xc2x0 C. The heat-treating time may be suitably determined according to the heat-treating temperature and the like. This heat treatment makes it possible to obtain the heat-treated active carbon for use in desulfurization reactions according to the present invention. In the heat-treated active carbon for use in desulfurization reactions according to the present invention, all or part of the hydrophilic oxygen-containing functional groups have been removed in the form of CO, CO2 and the like as a result of the heat treatment, so that its surfaces are highly hydrophobic as compared with those before heat treatment. Consequently, the adsorption of SO2 to SO2 oxidation sites occurs easily and, moreover, the discharge of the resulting sulfuric acid proceeds rapidly. Thus, it can perform a catalytic function for desulfurization reactions without hindrance. The desulfurization process of the present invention comprises the step of bringing a gas containing sulfur dioxide (SO2) into contact with the aforesaid heat-treated active carbon. In this case, the aforesaid gas needs to contain water and oxygen. Although the SO2 concentration can be suitably regulated, efficient desulfurization can be achieved especially at SO2 concentrations of about 20 to 500 ppm. Exhaust gas can be desulfurized in one step by using the heat-treated active carbon of the present invention. Alternatively, the present invention may also be practiced in the form of a high-degree desulfurization process in which the aforesaid heat-treated active carbon for the treatment of exhaust gas is used to remove sulfur oxides on the downstream side of a desulfurization apparatus based on the lime-gypsum method. It is desirable that the aforesaid gas contains water at a relative humidity of 100% or greater and oxygen in an amount of 3% by volume or more (preferably 3 to 21% by volume). Any gaseous components other than those described above may be present therein, provided that they do not interfere with desulfurization reactions significantly. For example, nitrogen, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide and the like may be present therein. Although the contact temperature can be suitably changed according to the type of the heat-treated active carbon, the SO2 concentration and the like, it may usually be in the range of about 20 to 100xc2x0 C. Especially in the process of the present invention, efficient desulfurization can be achieved at ordinary temperatures (i.e., about 20 to 50xc2x0 C.). Even at high temperatures above 100xc2x0 C., desulfurization reactions can be made to proceed by controlling the water content and the like. The flow rate of the aforesaid gas can be suitably changed according to the SO2 concentration, the type of the apparatus, and the like. However, it may usually be in the range of about 1xc3x9710xe2x88x923 to 5xc3x9710xe2x88x923 gxc2x7min/ml per unit weight of the active carbon. In the process of the present invention, any well-known reactors may be used. For example, various types of reactors such as fixed-bed flow reactors, fluidized-bed reactors and stirred reactors may be used. The resulting sulfuric acid may be recovered according to various recovery methods including, for example, (a) the method of absorbing the sulfuric acid into water to recover it as concentrated sulfuric acid, (b) the method of absorbing the sulfuric acid into an aqueous solution of KOH to recover it as a neutralized solution, (c) the method of neutralizing the sulfuric acid with an aqueous solution of Ca(OH)2, Mg(OH)2 or the like to recover it as a salt, and (d) the method of absorbing the sulfuric acid into aqueous ammonia to recover it as a fertilizer (i.e., ammonium sulfate). Similarly to the above-described heat-treated active carbon for use in desulfurization, a heat-treated active carbon for use in denitration can also be obtained by heat-treating a starting active carbon at a temperature of about 600 to 1,000xc2x0 C. in a non-oxidizing atmosphere. The type of the atmosphere and other conditions may be the same as described above. A first process of the present invention for removing nitrogen oxides by means of a heat-treated active carbon for use in denitration comprises providing a nitrogen oxide oxidation tower packed with a heat-treated active carbon for use in denitration which has been obtained by heat-treating a starting active carbon at a temperature of 600 to 1,000xc2x0 C., and passing exhaust gas through the oxidation tower to oxidize and remove nitrogen oxides (NOx) present therein. A second process of the present invention for removing nitrogen oxides by means of a heat-treated active carbon for use in denitration comprises providing a plurality of adsorption towers packed with a heat-treated active carbon for use in denitration which has been obtained by heat-treating a starting active carbon at a temperature of 600 to 1,000xc2x0 C., the adsorption towers being arranged in parallel; and passing exhaust gas successively through the adsorption towers in such a way that the exhaust gas is switched from one adsorption tower to another before a breakthrough of the nitrogen dioxide (NO2) adsorbed on the heat-treated active carbon for use in denitration within the one adsorption tower occurs, and nitrogen oxides (NOx) present in the exhaust gas are thereby oxidized, adsorbed and removed continuously. Moreover, in a high-degree denitration process in accordance with the present invention, nitrogen oxides can be removed by using a heat-treated active carbon for use in denitration, on the downstream side of a denitration treatment based on the selective catalytic reduction (SCR) method. In the aforesaid processes for the removal of nitrogen oxides, it is preferable to treat the exhaust gas at a temperature of as low as 150xc2x0 C. or below. In the aforesaid processes for the removal of nitrogen oxides, the nitrogen oxides oxidized by the heat-treated active carbon for use in denitration can be continuously absorbed into an absorbing fluid such as water or an aqueous alkaline solution, and recovered as nitric acid or a salt thereof. In the aforesaid processes for the removal of nitrogen oxides, no particular limitation is placed on the type of the starting active carbon, as is the case with the heat-treated active carbon for use in desulfurization. However, it is desirable to use a polyacrylonitrile-based or pitch-based starting active carbon fiber as the starting active carbon fiber. According to the present invention, the desulfurization performance of a starting active carbon can be improved by heat-treating it in a non-oxidizing atmosphere. The principle thereof is illustrated in FIG. 2. Prior to heat treatment, the surface of the starting active carbon has many oxygen-containing functional groups distributed thereover as shown in FIG. 2(a), and hence exhibits hydrophilicity. In this case, surface water hinders SO2 from being adsorbed to SO2 oxidation sites. Moreover, sulfuric acid formed by oxidation and hydration is captured by surface water and accumulated on the surface of the starting active carbon, thus hindering desulfurization reactions from proceeding smoothly. In contrast, hydrophilic oxygen-containing functional groups have been removed, in the form of CO, CO2 and the like, from the surface of the heat-treated active carbon, as shown in FIG. 2(b). Thus, its surface exhibits hydrophobicity. Consequently, SO2 is readily adsorbed to SO2 oxidation sites and, moreover, the resulting sulfuric acid is eliminated rapidly, so that the heat-treated active carbon of the present invention exhibits a high activity for desulfurization reactions without being hindered by sulfuric acid. In order to remove sulfur oxides (SOx) present in exhaust gas by means of a heat-treated active carbon as described above, the exhaust gas is conditioned so as to have a temperature of 100xc2x0 C. or below, preferably 50xc2x0 C. or below, and a relative humidity of 100% or greater. Thereafter, the exhaust gas is introduced into a reactor packed with the heat-treated active carbon where sulfur oxides (SOx) present therein are oxidized to sulfur trioxide (SO3) at the surfaces of the heat-treated active carbon. Then, this sulfur trioxide (SO3) is reacted with water or an aqueous solution of sodium hydroxide or the like to recover it as sulfuric acid or a salt thereof. Thus, sulfur oxides (SOx) present in exhaust gas can be removed. Ordinary active carbon have the property of adsorbing nitrogen monoxide (NO), but fail to exhibit sufficient oxidizing power. Although some of them have oxidizing power, their surface structure makes it difficult to remove nitrogen oxides in the form of nitrogen dioxide (NO2). The reason for this is that plenty of oxygen-containing groups (such as carbonyl and carboxyl groups) and N- or S-containing groups remain on the surface of such active carbon. According to the present invention, a starting active carbon is heat-treated in a non-oxidizing atmosphere. This decomposes and eliminates various groups present on the surfaces of the starting active carbon to activate NO oxidation sites. Moreover, hydrophilic oxygen-containing functional groups are also decomposed to decrease water (H2O) adsorption sites which hinder the adsorption of NO and the elimination of NO2. Thus, an improvement in NO-oxidizing activity can be achieved. When an active carbon which has been heat-treated in this manner is used, nitrogen monoxide (NO) present in exhaust gas is adsorbed thereon, and then oxidized by O2 to form nitrogen dioxide (NO2). This nitrogen dioxide (NO2) may be removed in the state adsorbed on the active carbon. Alternatively, the desorbed nitrogen dioxide (NO2) may be absorbed into water and recovered in the form of an aqueous solution of nitric acid, or may be absorbed into an aqueous alkaline solution and recovered in the form a salt of nitric acid. Thus, exhaust gas can be denitrated in the above-described manner. As described above, the present invention makes it possible to remove nitrogen oxides and sulfur oxides from exhaust gas at a low temperature of 150xc2x0 C. or below by using a heat-treated active carbon. Accordingly, a system in accordance with the present invention may be used as a substitute for the currently used denitrators and desulfurizers. Alternatively, when it is desired to improve the denitration or desulfurization performance of the current system, a system in accordance with the present invention may be connected therewith to achieve a further improvement in treating capacity. Moreover, the desulfurization processes of the present invention using a heat-treated carbon for use in desulfurization reactions make it possible to desulfurize exhaust gas efficiently without using a large volume of water (i.e., in a dry manner). Especially when a heat-treated pitch-based carbon fiber for use in desulfurization reactions is used, the degree of removal of SO2 may be raised to 100% depending on the temperature used for the heat treatment. Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 18, the SO2 adsorbed on the surface of a heat-treated active carbon for use in desulfurization reactions according to the present invention is oxidized by O2 present in the gas to form SO3, and the latter reacts with water present in the gas to form sulfuric acid. Then, this sulfuring acid is washed away from the surface. That is, by treating sulfur oxides-containing exhaust gas with a heat-treated active carbon, the concentration of sulfur oxides (SOx) in the exhaust gas can be reduced to a level of 5 ppm or less which has been difficult to achieve in the prior art, and such sulfur oxides can be recovered in the form of sulfuric acid (in particular, concentrated sulfuric acid). Furthermore, according to the present invention, the nitrogen oxides oxidized on a heat-treated active carbon can be continuously treated by converting them into nitric acid or a salt thereof in an absorption tower. In addition, by carrying out high-degree denitration using a heat-treated active carbon in combination with conventional denitration based on selective catalytic reduction using a V2O5 catalyst, the concentration of nitrogen oxides (NOx) in exhaust gas can be reduced to a level of 1 ppm or less which has been difficult to achieve in the prior art. The heat-treated active carbon for use in desulfurization reactions and the desulfurization processes, and the heat-treated active carbon for use in denitration reactions and the denitration processes, which are provided by the present invention, may be suitably used for the removal of sulfur oxides and nitrogen oxides produced in combustion equipment (such as boilers and thermal electric power plants) especially for burning heavy oil, coal and the like, sulfuric acid production plants, nitric acid production plants, metal processing works and facilities, paper mills, and tunnels.

1. Field of the Invention This invention relates generally to mobile computing devices such as personal digital assistants (PDAs), cellular phones, pagers, and the like, and more specifically, to a wearable device/appliance (a wrist watch) capable of wirelessly accessing information and equipped with an interactive user interface that is used to efficiently interact with alarms and notifications on the watch. 2. Discussion of the Prior Art Computing, mobile and wireless communications technologies have been rapidly advancingxe2x80x94culminating in a variety of powerful user friendly devices such as personal digital assistants (PDAs), cellular phones, pagers, etc. Today, it is possible to purchase handheld PDA""s, e.g., palmtops such as the Palm Pilot(copyright), that employ wireless communication devices and that combines computing, telephone/fax, and networking features. A typical PDA may function as a cellular phone, fax sender, and personal organizer and are pen-based, requiring a stylus for text entry. As such, these device incorporate handwriting recognition features and may even employ voice recognition technologies that react to voice input. Small devices such as the RIM 950 and the Motorola PageWriter 2000 pager use a small keyboard for input. Today, the industry is striving to provide advancements by providing increased PC desktop-like functionality while both decreasing size and power requirements. More recently there have been attempts to incorporate some of the capabilities of the above devices into wrist watches. However, today, only special wearable watch devices are available that, besides time keeping functions, may possess a compass, or a Global Positioning System (GPS), or barometer, heart rate monitor, Personal Handy System (PHS) phone, pager, etc. There are shortcomings in these existing special function watches in that most of them are bulky, are mostly unconnected to the Internet or other PC/network devices, have limited battery life, and, are difficult to use. These currently available special function wrist watches additionally have user interfaces that are quite limited in what they can display. For example, in the context of setting time in digital watches, currently, the user is only enabled to set the hour and minute independently, with time only advancing in one direction. Furthermore, most of them have a 6 to 8 seven segment LED or LCDs which can be used to display 6 or 8 digits/letters, and have a small number of indicators that can display AM/PM, Alarm on/off, etc. only at fixed locations within the display. A few watches are currently appearing on the market that have slightly richer display characteristics. Regardless, these various shortcomings have to be solved, otherwise there is no compelling reason for these watches to become popular. The design of a wrist watch for mobile computing applications offers a significant challenge because the watch is a small device. That is, both fitting components and power supplies such as batteries into such a small volume and given the limited screen size of watches pose limitations that have be overcome. Solving these issues is worthy because the watch is an attractive form as 1) it is one of the few devices that a very large fraction of the population is already accustomed to worldwide, 2) is accessible almost all the time, and, 3) is hard to lose. It would thus be highly desirable to provide a wearable device/appliance (a wrist watch) capable of wirelessly accessing information and equipped with an interactive user interface and high resolution display for providing a variety of desktop PC-like functions. It would additionally be highly desirable to provide a wearable device/appliance (a wrist watch) capable of providing time-keeping/alarm functions and equipped with an interactive user interface for enabling the setting of the various time-keeping/alarm functions in a manner requiring minimal effort and concentration from the user. It is an object of the present invention to provide a wearable It device/appliance (a wrist watch) capable of wirelessly accessing information and equipped with an interactive user interface and high resolution display for providing a variety of desktop PC-like functions. It is another object of the present invention to provide a wearable device/appliance (a wrist watch) capable of providing time-keeping/alarm functions and equipped with an interactive user interface for enabling the setting of the various time-keeping/alarm functions in a manner requiring minimal effort and concentration from the user. According to the invention, there is provided a system and method for efficiently activating and deactivating alarm functions via a user interface provided in a wearable appliance having a display for displaying textual or graphical content and including a touch sensitive panel for detecting physical user interaction. The method comprises setting an alarm via minute and hour hand display indicators in response to scroll events generated by manipulating a scroll device; determining a time setting of a next set alarm and providing an alarm indication at the set time; and, detecting a first user interaction with the touch sensitive panel to deactivate said alarm indication, whereby minimal user interaction is required to achieve a desired time set and alarm deactivation. Preferably, an alarm comprises one of two types: an absolute alarm and, a relative alarm. The absolute alarm is set to activate at a daily frequency, and the relative alarm is set for activation at a predefined time relative to a current time and subsequently thereafter. The system is further capable of detecting a second user interaction with the wearable-appliance within a pre-determined time interval, the second interaction proactively enabling one of: automatic snooze-alarm setting; cancellation of the alarm, and, automatic re-setting of the alarm for the next day. Further advantages and features include the provision of a mechanism for enabling input of a text message for association with a set alarm, the activation of a set alarm at the set time including simultaneously displaying the associated text message via the user interface, and, the provision of a mechanism for setting a quiet alarm interval defining an interval of time in which a set time alarm is not to be activated.

Computer networks are ubiquitous, particularly in enterprise and industrial contexts. For example, industrial control systems monitor and control the operation of machinery, such as wind turbines, gas turbines, compressors, motors, generators, and other devices. Interconnection of these and other computer networks facilitates sharing of information therebetween, but increases the threat of cyber attacks. Honeynets, Honeypots and honeyports have been employed to address this threat. These systems are used to create fake, or dummy, services which appear legitimate to attackers. Honeynets, Honeyports and/or honeypots may cause an attacker to make additional pivots in a system, stay connected longer, and be more likely to identify themselves or their motives. Honeyports employ server socket listeners which expose fake services in order to entice port scanners to connect thereto, and report when a connection has been established. A honeypot may comprise a partial or full system (e.g., decoy servers or systems) which gathers information regarding the tactics and/or identity of a network intruder. The threat information received by a honey system (e.g. honeyports/pots/nets) facilitates the detection of, investigation of and response to attacks. However, deployment of honeyports/pots/nets in production environments is typically not feasible due to the high level of overhead required to maintain them. Additionally, an attacker could potentially use the honeyports/pots/nets to gain access to the target network.

Theft of consumer products is a common problem. Theft can occur during transportation, from warehouses and from retail stores, such as grocery stores. A wide variety of security devices have been devised to help prevent theft. One well-known system, often used in retail stores, involves applying a remotely sensible device to high value items in conjunction with a remote sensor at the exits. If the remotely sensible device is not either removed from the product or the actuated, an alarm sounds when the customer passes through the sensor at an exit. One problem with this type of system is that it is relatively expensive to implement and slows down checking out because of the time taken to deactuate or remove the device. Therefore, in some situations, such as the retail grocery store environment, such a system is not generally considered practical. Another type of security label helps provide identification, such as through the use of micro markings or numbers, in the event the product is stolen. A further type of security label is temper evident and tears apart if the potential thief tries to remove the label and, for example, replace it with a different label having a lower price. See U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,845,728; 3,221,427; 4,239,261; 4,547,001; 4,763,928; 4,976,456; 5,346,259; 5,782,496 and U.S. Published Application Nos. 2002/0021002 A1 and 2003/0047937 A1.

Cementitious products are used throughout the world in buildings, roads, and infrastructures in both structural and non-structural uses. Typical cementitious materials used in producing cementitious products include but are not limited to mixtures of cement, fly ash, water, sand, gravel, and/or rock. Of course, other components including plasticizers, water proofing agents, cross linking agents, dyes, colorants, pigments, etc. may also be added to the cementitious material depending upon the desired physical characteristics. Two basic categories of cementitious product production are used and are the “wet cast” and “dry cast” methods. The wet cast method uses a fluid mixture of cementitious materials that is poured in place such as a road or driveway, poured into a form such as a bridge support or reinforced building support, or poured into a mold to produce artwork. Wet cast cementitious material is characterized by a medium to high slump; or water to cement ratios greater than approximately 0.35. Typically, a wet cast product is separated from its form or mold only after cementitious curing. The dry cast method uses a viscous mixture of cementitious materials that is typically formed in molds or extruded under material densification techniques involving vibration, vacuum, and/or significant forming force. Most high volume cementitious building products such as brick, paver, block, retaining wall block, tile, etc. are manufactured using a dry cast method. Dry cast cementitious material is characterized by a negative slump, zero slump, or low slump; or water to cement ratios less than approximately 0.35. Typically, a dry cast product is separated from its form or mold after the forming process and cures in a separate location which in turn enables mass production of dry cast products without the material costs associated with having a mold that is used throughout the curing process. Cementitious mixtures and resulting products may vary from lower cost—utilitarian products to higher cost—market preferred or aesthetic products. Typical cementitious products are the same material throughout, even though only a small portion of the products will be visible when they are finally installed. For example, facing bricks used in home construction may only have one or two sides visible after installation, but the entire brick is made of the relatively high cost material. There is a need, therefore to have a product wherein only the visible faces are made of the higher cost material, with lower cost material on the inside, or non-visible portions, of the product. So called “composite” products are known in the art. Typical composite products either join a less expensive base material to a more expensive market preferred facing material by bonding cured base and cured facing components in a secondary operation or involve some composite products formed with base and/or facing materials using a high percentage of expensive resins, epoxies, or other non-cementitious binding materials. Thus, there is a need for an affordable—market preferred or aesthetic composite cementitious based product that does not use non-cementitious binders to hold the disparate materials together.

Recently, a multiple input multiple output (MIMO) system has received much attention as a broadband wireless communication technology. The MIMO system means a system that enhances communication efficiency of data by using a plurality of antennas. The MIMO system can be divided into a spatial multiplexing scheme and a spatial diversity scheme depending on transmission of same data. The spatial multiplexing scheme means a scheme that can transmit data at high rate without even increasing a system bandwidth by simultaneously transmitting different data through a plurality of transmitting antennas. The spatial multiplexing scheme means a scheme that can obtain transmission diversity by transmitting same data from a plurality of transmitting antennas. An example of the spatial diversity scheme includes a space time channel coding scheme. Also, the MIMO system can be divided into an open loop system and a closed loop system depending on feedback of channel information from a receiving side to a transmitting side. An example of the open loop system includes a space-time trellis code (STTC) system in which a transmitting side transmits information in parallel while a receiving side detects a signal by repeatedly using a zero forcing (ZF) scheme and a minimum mean square error (MMSE) scheme and obtains transmission diversity and encoding gain by using a blast and spatial area that can increase information as much as the number of transmitting antennas. An example of the closed loop system includes a transmit antenna array (TxAA) system. FIG. 1 is a conceptional diagram illustrating a CoMP system of intra eNBs and an inter eNB according to the related art. Referring to FIG. 1, intra base stations 110, 120 and inter base station 130 exist under a multi cell environment. According to a long term evolution (LTE) system, the intra base stations include several cells (or sectors). Cells that belong to a base station to which a specific mobile station belongs are in the relation of intra base stations 110, 120 with a specific mobile station. Namely, cells that share a base station to which a mobile station belongs are cells corresponding to the intra base stations 110 and 120 while cells that belong to other base stations are cells corresponding to the inter base station 130. In this way, although cells based on the same base station as that of a specific mobile station transmit and receive information (for example, data, channel state information (CSI)) through x2 interface, cells based on a base station different from that of a specific mobile station can transmit and receive information through a backhaul 140. As illustrated in FIG. 1, a single cell MIMO user 150 located within a single cell performs communication with a single serving base station in one cell (sector), and a multi-cell MIMO user 160 located at the cell edge performs communication with a plurality of serving base stations in multiple cells (sectors). A coordinated multi-point system (hereinafter, referred to as ‘CoMP system’) is the system for improving throughput of a user located at the cell edge by applying improved MIMO transmission under the multi-cell environment. If the CoMP system is applied, inter-cell interference can be reduced under the multi-cell environment. In case of the CoMP system, a mobile station can commonly be supported with data from multi-cell base stations. Also, each base station can improve system throughput by supporting same radio frequency resource to one or more mobile stations (MS1, MS2, . . . , MSK) at the same time. Also, the base station can perform a space division multiple access (SDMA) method based on channel state information (CSI) between the base station and the mobile station. The CoMP system can be divided into a coordinated MIMO (Co-MIMO) type joint processing (JP) scheme through data sharing and a coordinated scheduling scheme/beamforming (CS/CB) scheme. In the cooperative MIMO system, a serving base station and one or more cooperative base stations are connected with a scheduler through a backbone network. The scheduler can be operated in such a manner that channel information is fed back to the scheduler through the backbone network, wherein the channel information is measured by each of the base stations (BS1, BS2, . . . , BSM) and relates to channel status information between each of the mobile stations (MS1, MS2, . . . , MSK) and the cooperative base station. For example, the scheduler schedules information for cooperative MIMO operation with respect to the serving base station and one or more cooperative base stations. Namely, the scheduler directly commands cooperative MIMO operation to each base station. The CoMP system includes transmission processes (for example, multiple antennas) locally spaced apart from one another as well as the inter-cell joint processing and the coordinated scheduling scheme/beamforming scheme. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating transmission of a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) and a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) in a process of performing downlink CoMP system. As illustrated in FIG. 2, some or all of individual transmission points (Tx points) may be configured within a random base station (eNodeB) or on different base stations. As illustrated in FIG. 2, if a total of N (N>1) transmission points (Tx points) exist, one transmission point is regarded as an anchor point (reference point), and the PDSCH is transmitted from the N transmission points, whereas the PDCCH is transmitted from the anchor point. This is to prevent overhead for receiving the PDCCH in a user equipment (UE) from occurring when considering that a control channel element (CCE) of the PDCCH and CCE of a resource element (RE) to RE mapping is configured differently per transmission point and the user equipment receives control information individually through blind decoding. Since a downlink control information (DCI) format of the PDCCH transmitted through the anchor point includes full control information on PDSCH transmission of a total of N transmission points, payload size of the DCI format may be increased. This may cause deterioration of reliability in receiving the PDCCH due to increase of a useful code rate. Accordingly, when the PDCCH of a single anchor point is transmitted with respect to PDSCH transmission of N transmission points of FIG. 2, a method for transmitting downlink CoMP for effective control signaling and a method for configuring control information should be considered.

Embodiments relate to a light emitting device, a light emitting device package, and a lighting system. A light emitting device (LED) may be implemented by combining a p-n junction diode, which has a characteristic converting an electrical energy to a light energy, with Group III and V elements of a Periodic Table. The LED may implement various colors by adjusting a composition ratio of a compound semiconductor. Three LEDs (i.e., red LED, green LED, and blue LED) that respectively emit light having red, green, and blue colors (three primary colors) may be combined with each other, a yellow phosphor (using phosphors such as yttrium aluminum garnet (YAG) and terbium aluminum garnet (TAG)) may be added to the blue LED, or three-colored (red/green/blue) phosphors may be applied to an UV LED to realize a white LED package. However, in a related art white LED package using a phosphor, the phosphor within an encapsulating material may be precipitated on a bottom of the LED package as time passed after molding. Thus, there is a limitation that the phosphor is non-uniformly distributed around the LED chip to wide a distribution of a color temperature. Also, according to a related art, the phosphor may have a distribution area relatively greater than an area of an LED. Thus, there is a limitation that the phosphor is non-uniformly distributed around the LED to wide the distribution of the color temperature.

The over current protection has been widely used in many systems such as battery charging systems so as to prevent damages to electronic components in the systems. A typical over-current protection method is to sense the charging/discharging current and to compare the sensed current with a threshold. When the charging/discharging current or the sensed current exceeds a predetermined level, a timer will be initiated for blanking the current for a predetermined period so as to reduce or limit the current. If the charging/discharging current still exceeds the predetermined level after the predetermined period, the charging/discharging circuit will be shut down. If the charging/discharging current decreases below the predetermined level within the predetermined period, a controller can resume the charging/discharging process. However, the current level might not be effectively ensured to be within a safe level by the above mentioned conventional method, which may be an issue in power tools with a heavy duty load, e.g., a circular saw. When a heavy duty job is performed and a relatively large load current is drawn, a transient over current condition might occur. If the blanking period is not chosen adequately, the power tools may be stopped abruptly and get stuck into objects. Even if the blanking period can be chosen appropriately for one specific application, the system protection might be only suitable for this specific application since different power tools may have different load duties. Consequently, the compatibility of the system protection in various applications may not be adequate.

Despite advancements in technology, many retail merchants and customers stand by rather traditional payment methods. When a customer is ready to make a purchase, an employee may identify a total amount due, and the customer may present a credit card. The employee or customer may scan the card, which can cause requested payment details (e.g., an identifier associated with the card and a purchase amount) to be sent to a payment server. Upon receiving an indication from the payment server that the requested payment is authorized, the transaction can be completed. This typical payment interaction requires a customer to physically possess one or more credit cards. However, routinely carrying and/or locating physical cards may be inconvenient. Some recent innovations rely on use of electronic devices to transmit payment data to a merchant. However, electronic storage of payment data on a network or device and/or infrastructures designed to complete transactions based on such transmission can carry security risks.

1. Field The present disclosure relates generally to an improved data processing system, and more particularly, to a computer-implemented method, an apparatus and a computer program product for modifying a computer program. 2. Description of the Related Art The dynamic nature of business environments today requires quick responses to repair computer programs. Traditional approaches used by software developers and support persons to facilitate a quick response involve sending a packaged fix across the network to the system executing the failing computer program. This fix, often referred to as a patch, is a new executable of the computer program. Typically, once this patch is installed, the lines of code where the error is occurring are replaced by the patch. After a patch is installed, a restart or a reboot of the computer system and computer program is usually required. Other techniques used by developers include using tuning options to create self-fixing executables. These tuning options, or chicken switches, provide ways to traverse pre-planned code paths to determine where in the computer program the error is occurring.

It has been said that the only time knitting gauge is not important is when the knitter does not care whether the garment fits or how it looks. Gauge, therefore, is normally considered the most important aspect to achieving successful results in a knitting project. It effectively determines the size and fit of the garment or other item being made. Gauge can be defined as the number of stitches per inch, referred to as stitch gauge, or the number of rows per inch, referred to as row gauge. For example, where a person seeks to knit a sweater of 40 inches around with a recommended stitch gauge of 4 stitches per inch but the actual gauge is 4½ stitches per inch, the resulting sweater will be roughly 7 inches too small. To avoid such errors, knitters typically ensure that they are knitting to proper gauge by crafting a representative swatch, also often referred to as a gauge, prior to beginning the actual knitting project. For each type of stitch, row gauge and stitch gauge are determined primarily by the type of yarn and the knitting needle size, more particularly the knitting needle diameter. A larger needle will produce fewer stitches per inch than a smaller needle. Knitting patterns normally indicate the gauge on which the pattern is based using a specified needle size and a recommended yarn. It will be appreciated, therefore, that knowing the knitting needle size is critical to achieving proper gauge. While some needles bear markings to indicate their size, many do not. As a result, the knitter is left guessing as to the precise size of the needle. Since many needle sizes differ by just one quarter of a millimeter, even experienced knitters find reliably determining the exact size of an unmarked needle difficult. The prior art has disclosed a number of needle sizing devices. However, most such devices are disadvantageous for a number of reasons. For example, one common arrangement under the prior art comprises a flat panel with a plurality of sizing apertures formed therein. Such structures are relatively bulky and, therefore, are less than ideal in relation to transport, packing, and storage. Furthermore, with as many as seventeen or more apertures on a single board, the structures can become confusing to the user as he or she seeks to determine which size indication corresponds to which aperture. Even further, many prior art devices enable the user only to determine needle size in one sizing convention, such as US only or metric only, while knitting patterns vary in the referenced sizing convention. In light of the above, it becomes clear that there is a need for a needle sizing structure that provides a solution to the disadvantages from which the prior art has suffered. It is clearer still that a needle sizing structure that accomplishes the foregoing while providing a number of heretofore unrealized advantages would represent a truly useful advance in the art.

1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a reinforced seal cast from a structural material and anchored with steel dowels into the floor and ceiling of a mine passageway. The seal is capable of bidirectionally withstanding an overpressure substantially greater than 20 psi. 2. Brief Description of the Prior Art Seals are required in U.S. mine ventilation plans to protect against explosions and are used extensively in mining to isolate worked-out areas. Over the years, tens of thousands of seals have been erected in underground coal mines in the United States. In the 1990s there were a number of explosions of methane and/or coal dust within sealed areas of underground U.S. coal mines. These explosions, believed to be initiated by lightning strikes on the surface, destroyed numerous seals and did considerable damage in the active workings. A response to the above-mentioned disasters was to require that abandoned areas of a mine must be either ventilated or isolated from active workings through the use of seals capable of withstanding a static horizontal pressure of 20 psi. More recently, in response to other mine disasters with fatalities, the standard for mine seals has been substantially increased to require seals to withstand static horizontal pressures of 50 psi or even 120 psi in some instances. Prior art mine seals formed from masonry or concrete are not designed to meet such blast criteria even when hitched into the passageway with roof bolts or grooves into the ribs. There is a need, therefore, for a cost effective and efficient way to construct a mine seal meeting the higher standards for explosion resistance.

Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) systems have been proposed for the tracking of medical item supplies in hospitals and the entire medical item supply chain. Such systems typically involve one or more readers and many RFID tags, each of which is associated with, such as attached to, items being monitored or tracked. In the case of pharmaceuticals, single-use medical devices, and implantable medical devices, RFID tags are typically affixed to or made part of the pharmaceutical container, e.g., medicine bottle, or medical device container, e.g., disposable packaging for the stent or orthopedic implant. In other cases, the RFID is made part of the medical item itself to allow tracking after consumption or implantation. An advantage of RFID tags is that they are stand-off readable, i.e., readable at a distance without a requirement for contact or a direct line of sight path between the reader and the tag. RFID tags take the form of integrated circuits, with associated antennas, that encode unique serial numbers. The reader can be in a fixed location or mobile with an operator, and items with RFID tags are detected when they enter or leave the electromagnetic field of the reader. For example, RFID readers are often placed at multiple, distributed locations within a supply chain in order to monitor the items as they pass through manufacturing, transportation, distribution, storage, to consumption. Each reader captures the RFID tag serial numbers of each item as it enters the reader's interrogation field, and data collected from all readers facilitates item tracking over time, through and within the chain and within medical and storage facilities. Another aspect of medical item management within the supply chain is handling of medical recalls. It is periodically necessary to purge supply chains of medical items that have been recalled. The recall initiators are typically governmental agencies such as the Federal Drug Administration (FDA) but also include the manufacturers of the medical items. Systems have been proposed that prevent the dispensing of recalled medication. Examples include systems that the automatically deliver unit dose packages or medical fluids to patients. They include a recall function in which recalled products are identified to control servers, which then identify individual medication carriers that contain the recalled medication. The recalled doses of the carriers are then flagged to avoid their being dispensed to patients. In other systems, RFID tags are used to track items allowing a check to be performed before administration against recall data. Others have recognized that, when RFID tags are used to track medical items, the time required to locate products involved in a recall can be reduced.

As a representative form of clarification treatment of wastewater, there is microbial degradation treatment, including, for example, the activated sludge method. However, wastewater also contains substances that are difficult to decompose with microorganisms, and to remove such contaminants, the wastewater is required to be separately treated, physically or chemically. Such physical or chemical treatment methods include, for example, the absorption method, the photooxidation method, and the combustion method, but the absorption method and the photooxidation method are only effective when the wastewater is a low-concentration wastewater, and the combustion method is only effective when the wastewater is a very-high-concentration wastewater. Hence, in the case of a medium-concentration wastewater, which cannot effectively be treated by these methods, the wastewater is evaporated first by a drum dryer, to be concentrated, and then it is treated by the combustion method. Since this method is, however, high in running cost of the evaporation and concentration treatment, there is a demand for development of a method and apparatus that can treat medium-concentration wastewater directly. Further, in the case of a method wherein pollutants in wastewater are removed by decomposition, there is a possibility of different pollution by secondary formation of chemical substances, and therefore it is desired to develop a wastewater treatment method free from any risk of secondary pollution. If pollutants can be separated from wastewater without decomposing them, secondary pollution due to the treatment does not occur. As a solvent that can separate chemical substances from a medium-concentration aqueous solution, there are supercritical fluids used for the separation of water-alcohol in the field of biomass, but there are very few instances of their use in wastewater treatment, and they are accompanied by the problem that they are poor in treatment efficiency. Namely, there is a method in which a supercritical fluid is fed from below, and wastewater is fed from above in a countercurrent contact tower 31, sectioned by sieve trays 32, as shown in FIG. 3(a), or a countercurrent contact tower 33, loaded with Dixon packings 34, as shown in FIG. 3(b), but the treatment efficiency in either method of the method is low, and the method is not suitable for treating a large quantity of wastewater.

A conventional saw is applied to saw objects, such as woods, plastic pipes, or metal objects etc. While sawing the objects, a handle of the saw is pulled and pushed repeatedly by a user so as to press a saw blade to saw the objects. However, it is exhausted to pull and push the handle repeatedly. The present invention has arisen to mitigate and/or obviate the afore-described disadvantages.

This invention relates to devices for anchoring a tubing string to a surrounding well casing. Tubing anchors have a variety of uses in oilfield operations. For example, when an oil well is produced with a downhole rod pump, during the pumping cycle the weight of the fluid in the tubing string shifts between a load on the rod string on the upstroke to a load on the tubing on the downstroke. For installations which do not have an anchor, during the downstroke the weight of the fluid in the tubing causes the tubing to stretch, but on the upstroke the load is transferred to the rod string so the tubing contracts. In an unanchored installation, this cycle causes wear in the rods and tubing because of the rubbing of the rods and rod boxes against the inner wall of the tubing. In unanchored installations the pump efficiency is decreased by the decrease in the effective stroke length. A tubing anchor maintains the tubing in tension, thereby lengthening the effective stroke length of the pump and preventing the stretching/contracting cycle of the tubing string. Tubing anchors generally operate by the urging of slips against the interior wall of the production casing of the well by the application of mechanical or hydraulic force. Anchors which are activated hydraulically typically have a “live slip” or “floating slip” (hereinafter “live slip”) which is urged outwardly against the interior of the casing wall upon the application of hydraulic pressure to a piston which drives the live slip radially outward. The piston may have a relatively large diameter and is capable of providing a substantial applied force to the live slip thereby maintaining the position of the anchor in the casing and keeping the tubing string in tension. When tubing needs to be pulled from the well, the tubing anchor needs to be released. The releasing procedures usually involve pulling up on the tubing string or rotating the tubing string. However, during this process, it is not uncommon for the live slip or other anchor components to separate from the tubing anchor and fall downhole, either to the well bottom or to be stopped by casing restrictions or by a smaller diameter casing/liner below the set point of the anchor. The loss of the live slip downhole is problematic. Anchor slips are typically manufactured from hardened steel and can form an obstruction requiring an expensive fishing job or, alternatively, can be left downhole with the potential for causing problems in the future.

1. Field of the Invention This invention relates to a host controller for the Universal Serial Bus (USB) and more particularly to monitoring of USB activity. 2. Description of the Related Art The Universal Serial Bus (USB) provides a way to attach and access peripheral devices through a common interface over a serial bus in a personal computer (PC) system. The USB was intended to reduce overall cost and simplify the attachment and configuration of peripheral devices from the end-user perspective. In older (also referred to as legacy) personal computer systems, peripheral devices were typically mapped into the central processing unit's (CPU's) input/output space and assigned a specific interrupt request (IRQ) line. In some cases, the peripheral device also received a direct memory access (DMA) channel. These system resources were assigned to particular peripheral devices by various personal computer manufacturers and became the standard input/output locations, IRQs and DMA channels used by software developers to access a given device. The USB breaks away from the resource problems associated with legacy PC input/output implementations. Instead, the USB provides an input/output port where several types of devices can be connected simultaneously and occupy the same hardware resources. The devices range from keyboards to printers to cameras. The USB relies heavily on system software to transfer data between the peripheral device and applications programs requiring use of the peripheral device. Each device on the USB is assigned an address known only to the USB software and thus does not consume additional hardware system resources in the manner typical of legacy PC architectures. In many computer systems, power savings features are utilized to reduce power consumption to extend battery life in e.g., laptop systems or to reduce power consumption to reduce operating costs of the system. Systems incorporating such power saving features typically operate in several reduced power modes where one or more parts of the system are turned off. In typical existing low power designs, hardware which is not controlled by the operating system, monitors system activity and determines the appropriate power state for the computer system. Systems typically measure system activity by monitoring peripheral activity including interrupts and accesses to specific input/output locations. System hardware uses such system activity to appropriately enter and exit from various power states. For example, when the PC is in a low power state, keyboard activity typically causes the PC to wake up from its low power state. On the other hand, many notebook computers are designed to automatically suspend when no activity is detected. Thus, inactivity of the mouse and keyboard, along with other inactive resources, cause the system to go into a low power state. In a legacy system, the specific input/output location, IRQs and DMA channels can be readily monitored by hardware to determine activity. However, in a USB system, only software and the actual peripherals connected to the USB know where USB transactions are directed. So there is no way for the hardware to readily identify which particular USB device, if any, is active. From a power management perspective, one solution is to ignore USB activity. However, that can result in the computer system suspending in the middle of a mouse or keyboard operation. Another solution is to have activity on the USB cause the system to wake up. However, because the hardware cannot distinguish activity on the bus that is relevant to power management from activity that is not, such a solution may prevent the system from entering a low power state. For example, if the system wakes up from a low power state because of any USB activity, even such activity as unacknowledged interrupts will cause the system to wake up. That is because on the USB, the USB host controller periodically polls devices to see if an interrupt is pending on the device. If so, the polled device will acknowledge the interrupt. If the device has no interrupt pending, then the device will not acknowledge the interrupt. If any activity on the USB causes a wake up operation, then even unacknowledged interrupts from the keyboard indicating no keyboard activity, would be considered USB activity and an unwanted wake up operation would occur. It can be seen, therefore, that it is desirable to integrate the USB into power management in a more useful manner.

This invention relates to an improvement for a conventional automotive vehicle side view mirror which will enable the vehicle driver to quickly and accurately adjust the vehicle mirror into positions for either viewing a normal or conventional reflection of the area at the side of the vehicle or, optionally, viewing the side blind spot area which normally is not reflected in the conventional mirror setting. Conventional side view mirrors that are mounted on either the driver""s side or the passenger""s side of an automotive type vehicle, such as an automobile, truck, or bus, generally comprise a housing which supports and provides a frame about a reflective mirror element. The mirror element or member typically is mounted within the housing or frame for angular adjustment around a horizontal axis or vertical axis or both. The vehicle driver may manually, by grasping or pushing the mirror member itself, turn it until it reflects the area to the side of, and rearwardly of that side, of the vehicle. Alternatively, in many vehicles, the adjustment of the mirror element is made by the vehicle driver manually moving or pushing a control button or lever which, in turn, operates a motor driven mechanism that responsively moves or turns the mirror into a driver desired angular position relative to the horizontal and the vertical. Either way, whether the adjustment of the mirror is performed by hand pressure applied directly upon the mirror member or by a mirror moving mechanism which is hand controlled by the driver, such manual adjustments typically are used to arrange the mirror at an angle which reflects the area closely adjacent the side of the vehicle. In normal use, the side view mirror that is conventionally located at the passenger side of the vehicle, is set by turning the mirror so that a reflection of a portion of the vehicle side is visible to the driver while the reflection also shows the area which extends rearwardly and along the side of the vehicle. This enables the driver to see vehicles that are at the passenger side, but not in the blind spot. The conventional setting may also enable the driver to see the adjacent road edge or curb edge or the like for parking the vehicle. The mirror located at the driver""s side of the vehicle similarly is normally adjusted by the driver to reflect the side of the vehicle and the area at the far rear and side of the vehicle. In normal operation, the angularity of the mirror, is set by the driver when the driver is seated within the vehicle and then the mirror remains at that setting. The normal purpose of the permissible mirror adjustment is to enable different drivers within a particular vehicle to arrange the angle of the mirror to display the best rear and side view for a particular driver. In the normal or conventional use of side view mirrors, the so called xe2x80x9cblind spotxe2x80x9d, which is an area generally at the driver or passenger side of, and somewhat laterally spaced from the side of, a vehicle, is normally not visible in the reflection that appears on the mirror when the mirror angularity is conventionally set. Therefore, there are accidents and near accidents that occur because a driver, relying upon the side view mirrors and, in addition, to the rear view mirror which is within the vehicle, is unable to see in the mirrors a following vehicle which is located in the vehicle blind spot. In such conditions as changing lanes, or turning across a lane, an unseen vehicle that is located in a blind spot is the cause of numerous accidents or near accidents. Further, the angular adjustment of a side view mirror is normally a matter of trial and error. That is, a driver when sitting in the driver""s seat behind the steering wheel, must look at the side view mirrors on either side of the vehicle and adjust the angle for that particular driver""s best view of the rear and side of the vehicle. Various attempts have been made to assist the driver in initially setting the particular angle of the side view mirror which is most comfortable and practical for that particular driver and later resetting the angle whenever the mirror angle has been changed. Examples of devices provided for the purpose of enabling a driver to re-set the mirror angle at a pre-selected or pre-determined position are illustrated and described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,989,966 issued Feb. 5, 1991 to Kim for an xe2x80x9cAdjustable Vehicle Side View Mirrorxe2x80x9d and U.S. Pat. No. 5,500,773 issued Mar. 19, 1996 to Easter for a xe2x80x9cVehicle Mirror Alignment Devicexe2x80x9d. The first patent provides a flexible frame around the mirror member that grasps the mirror edges and clamps the mirror which may be set at markings located within the frame. Constriction of the frame around the mirror member is provided by a locking or adjustment mechanism which either tightens the frame around the mirror to maintain its desired angular position or, alternatively, is loosened to allow the mirror to be angularly adjusted. In the second patent mentioned above, a sighting or aiming device is applied upon the mirror, somewhat like a gun sight, which enables the driver to set the angle of the mirror by looking through the aiming device. In both of these patented devices, once the mirror is pre-set for conventional viewing, it remains that way for a particular driver until the mirror is reset by a different driver who wants a different angular viewing position. Then the mirror may again be re-set by the first driver. In the patent to Thomas, U.S. Pat. No. 1,879,592 of Sep. 27, 1932, an interior or rear view vehicle mirror is provided with distance indicator markings. The driver may form markings on the mirror surface which visually correspond to objects located at varying distances behind the vehicle. In addition, a gage is provided for enabling a driver to angle the interior mirror to predetermined positions by aligning an edge of the mirror with the markings. This structure is designed for pre-setting the mirror and maintaining it in a fixed position for a particular driver who will then rely upon the markings formed on the mirror to estimate the distance of a following vehicle behind the driver""s vehicle. Attempts have been made to provide mechanisms by which a mirror may be adjusted, in some cases automatically, to view not merely the normal or conventional area behind the vehicle but also side areas which would include the blind spot area. An example of such a mechanism is illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 5,914,824 issued Jun. 22, 1999 to Valentino for a xe2x80x9cRear View Mirror Apparatus And Method For Vehicle Lane Changingxe2x80x9d. This illustrates an automatic system for adjusting the angle of the mirror temporarily when the vehicle, such as a large truck, turns. Thus, the driver is provided with an image of the blind spot or area along the side of the truck as it makes a wide turn. The present applicant""s previously filed patent application, U.S. Ser. No. 09/294,579 filed Apr. 20, 1999, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,193,380 issued Feb. 27, 2001, similarly focuses on an automatic system for temporarily viewing a reflection of the blind spot area, when a following vehicle enters the blind spot area of a leading vehicle. Another example is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,097,362 issued Mar. 17, 1992 to Lynas for a mechanism for automatically changing the position of the mirror in response to the activation of the vehicle""s turn indicator. But, this system is ineffective for viewing a vehicle""s blind spot when the driver wishes to determine whether a vehicle is located in the blind spot during normal driving conditions. The various devices contemplated for enabling a driver to temporarily view a blind spot area are relatively complex and contemplate changing or replacing the presently available side view mirror mechanisms or devices used on vehicles. The present invention contemplates providing an add-on device which can be utilized on pre-existing mirror constructions, whether those that are adjustable by direct hand pressure or by a hand controlled mechanism, to initially reflect a pre-determined side view area convenient to a particular driver and when desired, to temporarily view the blind spot area relative to the vehicle. The improvement may also be used reversely, that is, to normally view the blind spot area and temporarily view the conventionally viewed areas at either the driver""s side or the passenger""s side of the vehicle. Thus, little if any change is required for adopting the normal or conventionally available side view mirror to achieve these results. This invention contemplates modifying a conventional vehicle side view mirror, which has a reflective mirror member positioned within a frame. The frame may be part of a housing that is mounted on the side of a vehicle. A series of horizontally spaced apart indicium or markings are formed upon the vertical portion of the frame which is most remote from the vehicle and which is visible to the driver. These markings form indicia in which the individual markings are spaced apart horizontally. The vertical edge portion of the mirror element, which is adjacent the frame portion, is arranged into alignment with one or another of the individual indicium. Since the mirror member can be angularly adjusted by the driver, either by directly manually moving it or by moving it manually through the use of a conventional hand operated control that operates a moving mechanism, as is common in many vehicles today, the vertical edge of the mirror can be aligned with one or another of the marks. Thus, alignment with one of the marks that is more to the rearward relative to the vehicle can be used to appropriately align the mirror edge to reflect the conventionally viewed rear and side area relative to the vehicle. However, angularly moving the edge of the mirror member into alignment into one of the more forward markings causes the mirror to reflect the blind spot area along the side of the vehicle. Consequently, in that position the presence of any following vehicles located in the blind spot would be visible to the driver. The driver, upon entering the vehicle, may initially pre-set the mirror angle, if it is not already pre-set, to reflect either the conventional rear-side view or the blind spot view. Preferably, where the driver has an unobstructed rear view on the conventional interior rear view mirror that is normally located at the upper portion of the vehicle windshield in front of the. driver, as is common in most vehicles, the driver could set the side view mirrors to normally view the blind spots on either side of the vehicle. In that case, the driver may only use the interior rear view mirror to see the rear of the vehicle and simultaneously use the side view mirrors to see the blind spots. When desired the driver may reset the side view mirrors, by turning them into alignment with the particular mark or indicium that the driver had pre-selected. An object of this invention is to provide a simple, inexpensive, system by which a vehicle driver may temporarily adjust the side view mirrors of a vehicle for viewing, either the blind spot area or the conventional side view area of the vehicle, without any substantial modification of the mirror structure. Another object of this invention is to provide a means by which the driver of a vehicle may normally, if desired, view the blind spot areas of a vehicle, while relying upon the.inner or interior mirror to view the rear of the vehicle, and to preset the mirror into the best viewing position for the particular driver for blind spot viewing or alternatively for normal side viewing. Still another object of this invention is to provide a simplified modification which inexpensively provides a system by which a driver of a vehicle may accurately and quickly reset the driver""s or passenger""s side view mirrors by simply adjusting the angularity of the mirror, within its frame, to visually align an edge of the mirror with a pre-selected visible marking applied upon the mirror frame.

1. Field of the Invention The invention relates to ball grid array devices, more particularly to an adapter for a ball grid array device. 2. Description of the Related Art The central processing unit (CPU) of most computers is generally used with an integrated circuit socket for establishing electrical connection with a computer motherboard. Because most commercially available integrated circuit sockets comply with a certain standard, they are only suitable for use with specific types of central processing units. In other words, due to differences in the specifications of central processing units made by different manufacturers, current central processing units are not adopted for use with a wide variety of integrated circuit sockets, thereby inconveniencing computer manufacturers. In addition, pin grid array (PGA) packaging currently employed for central processing units is being gradually replaced by ball grid array (BGA) packaging. Since BGA devices generally adopt surface mounting techniques for installation on a circuit board, replacement after installation is often difficult to conduct. Moreover, it is difficult to inspect visually and repair poor connection between a BGA device and a circuit board after the former has been mounted on the latter.

Amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) noise is one of the main noise sources in optical amplifiers. ASE is initiated by spontaneous decay of electrons, creating photons which could travel in any direction. In modern optical amplified systems, after propagating multiple spans, accumulated ASE noise is not negligible compared to wavelength division multiplexed (WDM) signals. For both constant power and constant gain amplifier control, if ASE power is not considered in the total target output power at each network node, a system will take penalty due to lower than expected channel launch power since significant ASE will share the total output power of the amplifier with the WDM signals. With state-of-the-art amplifier control schemes, ASE compensation has been implemented; however, this ASE compensation assumes ASE is evenly distributed across each channel. This assumption was valid for traditional optical networks which include fixed optical add-drop multiplexers. In a normal amplified system, noise across channel is either evenly distributed or filtered down by channelized devices. However, the addition of reconfigurable optical add-drop multiplexers (ROADMs) alters this assumption. ROADMs are a form of optical add-drop multiplexer that adds the ability to remotely and dynamically switch traffic from a WDM system at the wavelength layer. This allows individual wavelengths carrying data channels to be added and dropped from a fiber without the need to convert the signals on all of the WDM channels to electronic signals and back again to optical signals. Referring to FIG. 1, an exemplary embodiment of a micro-electromechanical system (MEMS)-based wavelength-selective switch (WSS) 10 is illustrated. An input fiber including multiple wavelengths λ1, λ2, . . . λn of optical signals is input into a de-multiplexer 11, such as a diffraction grating. The de-multiplexer 11 separates each wavelength from the common input, and optionally a variable optical attenuator (VOA) 14 can be included following the de-multiplexer 11. VOAs 14 are configured to provide variable attenuation to the wavelength, and the VOAs 14 can be remotely and dynamically set to a range of values. The WSS 10 includes a MEMS mirror 12 for each of the wavelengths λ1, λ2, . . . λn. The MEMS mirror 12 is a micro-mirror that deflects the optical signal to an appropriate output port 13. Advantageously, the WSS 10 is fully reconfigurable for adding, dropping, and expressing through optical signals. Since there is a MEMS mirror 12 for each of the optical signals, any signal can be dropped to any of the output ports 13. Additionally, multiple wavelengths including all wavelengths can be dropped to a single port 13, such as an express port. Referring to FIGS. 2a and 2b, WSSs 15,16 are configured to direct each wavelength from a common input port to any one of multiple (e.g., “N”) output ports. To indicate device fan out, these devices are often classified as “1×N” devices, with a “1×9” WSS meaning a 10 port device, with 1 common input and 9 output ports. For example, the WSS 15 is a 1×9 WSS with a common input, eight drop ports, and one express port. The WSS 15 can be utilized at a node where up to eight optical signals need to be dropped, with the remaining optical signals pass through as express signals. Alternatively, the WSS 16 utilizes the same hardware configured for multiple express ports, such as where a node has multiple degree interconnection. Advantageously, the WSS 15,16 provides nodal flexibility to add, drop, and express optical signals with the same MEMS-based hardware. Disadvantageously, MEMS-based WSSs have side-lobes for each channel. The side-lobes are a passband distortion caused by channel attenuation or filter cascading. Currently the designs of ROADM are either based on MEMS tilting mirror array or liquid-crystal modulators (LCM). Note, the passband sag at the edges are possible in both technologies. Furthermore, in practice, both MEMS and LCM devices may require that a finite gap exist between adjacent pixels. The edge effects are known to cause attenuation dependent passband side-lobe. Generally, the side-lobes are located out of signal bandwidth, leading to more noise pass through in the WSS than a traditional system (without WSS), which has an evenly distributed ASE across channel. In this case, even with current ASE migration compensation scheme, the total ASE power can still be under-estimated. When multiple ROADMs are present in a network, the cascading effect will lead the side-lobes to grow along the spans, and the accumulated noise power can increase much faster than traditional flat-noise system. The severe under-estimating accumulated ASE power will cause unexpected signal power drop and lead to OSNR penalty in the system. The OSNR penalty introduced by WSS side-lobes is mainly caused by launching lower than expected signal power into the system along the amplifier chain, due to larger than expected ASE and under-estimated amplifier target power, i.e. side-lobes utilize amplifier power designated for the signal bandwidth. Further, if a WSS is used to realize a dynamic gain equalization (DGE) function in networks, large dynamic range of attenuation on every channel through WSS is needed. Meanwhile, the size of side-lobes of a WSS is dependent on the attenuation of the WSS. Normally, the higher of the attenuation of the WSS, the bigger the side-lobes, and the more unexpected ASE can accumulate along the system. Referring to FIG. 3, graph 19 illustrates a study showing a network of up to 16 spans with a ROADM at every network node (noise figure=9, span loss=20 dB). With a typical WSS side-lobe, when WSS attenuation is set at 0 dB (no side-lobe), 4 dB (typical) and 8 dB (worst case), and assuming all the channels have same attenuation, optical signal-to-noise ratio (OSNR) migration in the network has been calculated. In a typical WSS scenario (i.e., WSS attenuation=4 dB) more than ½ dB OSNR penalty has been observed after propagation through 16 ROADMs; and for the highest attenuation (i.e., 8 dB), more than 4 dB OSNR penalty can be incurred by the system. This study was performed assuming each WSS is working at typical conditions. Alternatively, if the WSSs are working at the worst-case condition in their specification, the system has to take even more OSNR penalty due to the side-lobes. Accordingly, side-lobes due to WSS ROADMs significantly impair network performance, and current systems and methods are inadequate for compensation. Thus, systems and methods are needed to compensate for the OSNR penalty caused by the side-lobe of MEMS-based ROADMs.

There has been well-known heat-sensitive recording materials which utilizing the colorforming reaction between a colorless or pale colored electron donating dye and an organic or inorganic electron accepting compound, in which color images are produced by heating to contact with each other of the electron donating dye and the electron accepting compound. Recently, a considerable progress has been made in the field of heat-sensitive recording systems, and heat-sensitive facsimiles, heat-sensitive printers and the like become possible to make the recording speed very higher. For example, in heat-sensitive facsimiles a recording speed of not more than 10 seconds for a sheet of A4 size can be achieved and in heat-sensitive printers a recording speed of 120 letters per second or more can be achieved. With the improvement of hardware fields as described above, it is required for the available heat-sensitive recording material to be superior in adaptability for a high-speed recording. As means for improving the recording sensitivity of the heat-sensitive recording material, there has been a well-known method in which a heat-fusible material having a melting point lower than that of each of the electron donating dye and the electron accepting compound is added as shown in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 34,842 of 1974, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 39,139 of 1978 and the like. However, it is difficult to obtain one kind of the heat-fusible material which can dissolve both of the electron donating dye and the electron accepting compound. Further, when two or more kinds of heat-fusible materials are used together, there occurs such a problem as the initiation temperature of developing color is lowered by the depression of melting point owing to the eutectic phenomenon and resultantly the whiteness is lowered. Furthermore, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 15,394 of 1981 discloses a method for improving the record sensitivety of a heat-sensitive recording material by finely pulverizing the mixture of an electron donating dye, an electron accepting compound and a heat-fusible material. Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 69,089 of 1983 or U.S. Pat. No. 4,717,593 discloses a method for producing an improved heat-sensitive recording material in which a horizontal sand mill is used to finely pulverize an aqueous dispersion of an electron donating dye or an electron accepting compound. Additionally, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 15, 394 of 1981 teaches that the pulverization degree of dye composition strongly effects upon the recording sensitivity of a heat-sensitive recording material. However, it has been found that any particularly remarkable pulverizing effect can not be obtained even if a fatty acid amide which is a heat-fusible material used in the above methods is pulverized together with the dye with a horizontal sand mill. Further, when the particle size of media used in the horizontal sand mill is relatively large such as 1.0 mm to 3.0 mm, the pulverizing efficiency becomes bad. Therefore, those methods are not practical. The dye, electron accepting compound and heat-fusible material used for producing a heat-sensitive recording material are generally used after pulverizing until the particle size is not more than a few microns. However, as described above, a remarkable improvement of the recording sensitivity is required with the remarkable speed-up of the recording instrument and the like and recently the requirement of the pulverization becomes strong. The object of the invention is, therefore, to provide a method for producing a heat-sensitive recording material and particularly to a method for efficiently producing a heat-sensitive recording material superior in adaptability for a high-speed recording. We have been studied methods for pulverizing the dye which affects the recording sensitivity, particularly methods for simultaneously pulverizing the dye and the heat-fusible material to obtain more improved recording sensitivity. Resultantly, it has been found that a great difference appears in the pulverizing efficiency by the kind of the heat-fusible materials used together with the dye. Particularly, the difference is remarkable in the case of the horizontal sand mill. Further, by widely studying the heat-fusible materials pulverized together with the dye and the pulverizing methods, it has been found that desired mixture dispersions having a volume average particle size of not more than 1.0 .mu.m, preferably 0.5.about.1.0 .mu.m, is obtained efficiently with use of a specific heat-fusible material in the condition of that the heat-fusible material is mixed with a dye dispersion and the dispersion is pulverized with a horizontal sand mill. In this way, the invention has been achieved.

In dynamic print-job environments which process color print jobs for customers, billing is often based on the amount of color content contained in the job to be printed. In order to bill customers for color printing, color detection is a very important feature required in the image path. Color detection is used to analyze print documents for presence as well as amount of color in order to bill customers accordingly. Some systems rely on user input settings for billing information. This can cause incorrect billing especially in the case of a multi-page document having color on some of the pages but not on others. In these case, the print-job operator would have to physically scan every page of the entire multi-page document in order to properly take into account all the color content contain in the document. This can be time consuming and expensive. This is especially problematic in dynamic print-job environments where print-job processing time and throughput must be maximized in order to maintain profitability. In some instances, if a large multi-page document contains any color at all, the customer is charged for the whole document as being a color. This can be problematic for the customer if their large multi-page document really only contains very little color content and the price differential between a black/white print-job differs substantially from the price of a color print-job. Also, billing has traditionally been only a 2-tier billing model. In other words, as long as any single color pixel (C, M, or Y) is turned on, the entire page is billed at the higher rate for reproducing a page of color content. With the need to go with multi-tier color billing, there is a need in this art to examine all 4 color planes (CMYK) quickly and efficiently. However, all four color planes may not always be synchronized when the image path hardware examines the color content of the document because the pixels from each of the different color planes may not be looked at simultaneously. Depending on the kind, amount, and type of image content contained in a particular color page, the results can vary significantly if inefficient metrics such as the number of color pixels or percentage coverage of color is used instead. Accordingly, what is needed in this art are increasingly sophisticated applications and advanced methodologies for color management systems which correctly estimate the amount of color content in a multi-page document when all four color planes (CMYK) are not available simultaneously, i.e., there is an offset between the planes while being printed.

1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a webbing supporting structure for supporting an occupant restraining webbing on a door for use in a seatbelt system for protecting an occupant. 2. Description of the Prior Art There has been proposed a so-called passive seatbelt system in which one end of an occupant restraining webbing is secured to a door, whereby the webbing is caused to approach or recede from a vehicle seat in accordance with a door opening or closing action, so that the webbing can be automatically fastened to or unfastened from the occupant. In this type of passive seatbelt system, when one end of a lap webbing for restraining a lap of the occupant is engaged with the door, the engaging portion is disposed as high as possible on the door, so that a space for actions of legs of the occupant can be secured when the door is opened. However, in this case, when the webbing is fastened to the occupant upon his closing the door, an anchor point of the lap webbing is disposed high, so that the lap webbing cannot satisfactorily display the occupant restraining performance, thereby presenting such disadvantages that the movement of the occupant in the direction of a collision may cause a secondary collision or damages may be caused to the abdominal region of the occupant.

Process control for industrial automation processes or industrial automation devices is often supervised and regulated by a process control system as a number of control loops including one or more closed loop control processes. A traditional approach in the use of closed loop control is to measure a value of a process output and compare the measured value with a reference value. There are also other objectives of control loop control, including set-point regulation, tracking (time-varying reference path), path following (varying reference independent of time), disturbance attenuation etc. The most common form of control is a Proportional, Integral, Derivative (PID) control for feedback control. In PID control a sensor measurement is used as an input for a feedback control loop, and any difference between the measured sensor value and a reference (setpoint) value or signal is determined by a controller. The controller then in turn sends signals to an actuator connected to the control loop in question, making changes to the process, so that the sensed value approaches the reference value over time. The traditional closed loop feedback system comprises hard-wired communication links. A disadvantage with hard-wired communication links is that changes in position of any component or field device in the closed loop, such as a sensor or actuator, usually requires a stop in production or an extensive shutdown, especially in the case of analogue wired connections, and/or digital wired connections. Alternatively, such changes have to be delayed until a process shutdown may be programmed. In addition, hard wiring may be both expensive to replace and sometimes also technically challenging to replace. Wireless technologies give several advantages to industrial automation in terms of gain in productivity and flexibility. Industrial sites are often harsh environments with stringent requirements on the type and quality of cabling. Moreover large sites often require many thousands of cables and it could be difficult to install or engineer additional wires in an already congested site. Thus wireless communication can save costs and time during an installation phase. At the same time wireless communication can improve reliability with respect to wired solutions by offering several mechanisms of diversity, such as space diversity, frequency diversity and time diversity. Furthermore the ad-hoc nature of wireless networks allows for easy setup and re-configuration when the network grows in size. However, when the field devices such as sensors and/or actuators are part of a closed-loop control system, an industrial application will require hard limits on the maximum delay allowed during the communication, so strict timing requirements have to be applied and consistently achieved. Another requirement is the coexistence of the network with other equipment and competing wireless systems. The WirelessHART standard has been developed to fulfill these demands. WirelessHART is a wireless mesh network communication protocol for process automation applications, including process measurement, control, and asset management applications. It is based on the HART protocol, but it adds wireless capabilities to it enabling users to gain the benefits of wireless technology while maintaining compatibility with existing HART devices, tools and commands. A WirelessHART network may be connected to the plant automation network through a gateway. The plant automation network could be a TCP-based network, a remote I/O system, or a bus such as PROFIBUS. All network devices such as field devices and access points transmit and receive WirelessHART packets and perform the basic functions necessary to support network formation and maintenance. Devices can be deployed in a star topology, that is where all devices are one hop to the gateway, to support a high performance application, or in a multi-hop mesh topology for a less demanding application, or any topology in between. These possibilities give flexibility to WirelessHART technology enabling various applications (both high and low performance) to operate in the same network. WirelessHART specifies the use of IEEE STD 802.15.4-2006 compatible transceivers operating in the 2.4 GHz ISM (Industrial, Scientific, and Medical) radio band. Communications among network devices are arbitrated using TDMA (Time Division Multiple Access) that allows scheduling of the communication link activity. WirelessHART uses TDMA and channel hopping to control access to the network and to coordinate communications between network devices. The basic unit of measure is a time slot which is a unit of fixed time duration commonly shared by all network devices in a network. The duration of a time slot is sufficient to send or receive one packet per channel and an accompanying acknowledgement, including guard-band times for network wide-synchronization. The WirelessHART standard specifies that the duration of the time slot is 10 ms. The TDMA Data Link Layer establishes links specifying the time slot and frequency where 1.3. WirelessHART Standard communication between devices occurs. These links are organized into superframes that periodically repeat to support cyclic and acyclic communication traffic. WirelessHART standard does not specify a particular scheduling algorithm to be used for scheduling communication in a WirelessHART network. However, for all network devices accessed through a WirelessHART gateway, the user has to configure how often each measurement value is to be communicated to the gateway. In order to support multiple superframes for the transfer of process measurements at different rates, the size of superframes should follow a harmonic chain in the sense that all periods should divide into each other, in particular, scan rates should be configured as integer multiples of the fastest update time that will be supported by network devices. The correctness of the process control system behavior depends not only on the logical results of the computations performed in each controller, but also on the physical instant at which these results are produced, in other words, it is a system with explicit deterministic (or probabilistic) timing requirements. Thus the task of making up a schedule for communication links in a control loop may be subject to many conditions and constraints. In addition, in a typical process installation, communication scheduling and formation of superframes may be required for many hundreds or even thousands of control loops. This is a time consuming process for an installer or engineer, and one that also presents opportunities for errors to be made when an installer manually constructs a time schedule or configures a superframe for a control loop based on information for a control diagram or P&I diagram (Piping and Instrumentation). U.S. Pat. No. 7,460,865 entitled Self-configuring communication networks for use with process control systems, assigned to Fisher-Rosemount Systems, Inc., discloses methods for automatically assigning a first and a second wireless link to a first field device, wherein the first wireless link wirelessly couples the first field device to a second field device and wherein the second wireless link wirelessly couples the second wireless field device to a controller; the assignment being dependent on at least one first predetermined signal criterion.

1. Field of the Invention This invention relates to craftsman's tools and more particularly to tools designed to produce a straight, smooth edge on a piece of lumber or other material which may have a "crook" or flat bow or rough mill edges. 2. Description of the Prior Art In working with sheets or boards of raw material, such as wood, plywood, or masonite, there is always an interest in minimizing costs to maximize profits and reduce waste. For instance, in woodworking, one can save substantial amounts of money by purchasing unfinished, rough mill lumber. Sometimes, the desired lumber is only available in unfinished form. Regardless, the raw material needs at least one straight, smooth edge as a reference edge for future shaping and cutting. Prior art discloses devices or tools developed to take advantage of the lower prices for rough cut lumber, while seeking ways to guarantee straight edges on lumber and other building materials to be used as furniture, cabinets, counter tops, wall boards, paneling, and for many other purposes including, but not limited to, general construction purposes. In general, these prior art devices include independent clamps of various designs and flat bars which use clamps or screws for attachment to the lumber or other material to be cut. A typical prior art device comprises two clamps. One end of each clamp is tightened around one edge of a known straight board; the other end is tightened to the bowed board. The unobstructed end of the straight board is then used as the contact surface to a saw fence or guide to make a straight cut along the bowed board. This method requires a constant examination of the straight board to determine any warpness or damage from use and a constant checking of the integrity and tightness of the clamps used to prevent relative movement between the straight and bowed lumber prior to and while sawing. Other prior art devices include cutting guides usually made of aluminum. Some of these are of fixed length while others can be lengthened for cutting longer pieces of wood, wallboard, masonite, and paneling. These devices attach by clamps to the board being cut. These clamps may be the well-known "C" clamps (screw type). In use, a plurality of "C" clamps are placed around both the guide and the board, and holds them together by frictional forces created by compression across the thickness of the guide and the board. Alternatively, jaw-type clamps may be used. A plurality of these clamps are typically rigidly attached to the underside of the guide. The jaws then are positioned around the board to be cut across its thickness and are clamped shut by pressing a lever. As with the "C" clamps, the board is held relative to the guide by frictional forces created by compression across the thickness of the board. All of these prior art devices are very difficult to use with a saw fence due to the interferences caused by clamps protruding to the side or below the surface of the board to be cut. Furthermore, under the intense vibrational forces occurring during sawing often loosen the compression-type hold on the board, resulting in board movement and a non-straight cut along the board. Thus, there remains a significant need for a tool or saw guide designed to eliminate the flat bow out of rough cut mill lumber of varying lengths or other materials and provide a near perfect saw cut edge while also allowing the use of a standard table saw, radial saw, or circular saw.

1. Field of the Invention This invention relates to a method of hydroformylating olefinic compounds. More particularly, the invention relates to a method of hydroformylating an olefinic compound into the corresponding aldehyde in an organic solvent and in the presence of a rhodium complex and a trisubstituted phosphine, there being added to the reaction system at least one diphosphino compound of general formula (I) ##STR3## wherein A.sup.1 and A.sup.2, respectively, are aryl groups; R.sup.1 and R.sup.2, respectively, are an aryl group or a saturated hydrocarbon residue of 1 or more carbon atoms; and ##STR4## represents a substituted or unsubstituted alicyclic hydrocarbon group of 3 to 6 carbon atoms in the main ring, in a proportion of 0.20 to 5.0 equivalents per rhodium atom in said rhodium complex to thereby achieve a substantial prolongation of catalyst activity and, consequently, achieve a more advantageous hydroformylation of the olefinic compound. 2. Description of the Prior Art There is known a hydroformylation reaction in which an olefin, exemplified by ethylene, propylene and butene, is reacted with a gaseous hydrogen-carbon monoxide mixture in an organic solvent and in the presence of a rhodium complex and a trisubstituted phosphine to obtain an aldehyde containing one more carbon atom than the starting olefin. The reaction has been commercially utilized, for example, in the production of butyraldehyde from propylene. The rhodium complex as used for catalyzing the hydroformylation reaction is suited for industrial practice in that it helps perform the reaction under considerably milder conditions (lower temperature and pressure) than does a cobalt catalyst and that it contributes to a higher selectivity for normal-aldehyde. However, since the rhodium complex is quite expensive, the industrial value of a hydroformylation reaction with this complex depends largely on the catalyst life of the complex. Therefore, much research has heretofore been done and many proposals made in connection with means of maintaining the activity of the catalyst for an extended time under hydroformylating conditions. These methods may be roughly classified into three categories: (1) A method in which the contemplated reaction is carried out while various reaction conditions such as the concentrations of the rhodium catalyst and trisubstituted phosphine, the partial pressure of carbon monoxide and the reaction temperature are controlled, each within a defined range, so as to suppress thermal degradation of the rhodium complex and formation of an inactive highly-carbonylated rhodium complex, e.g. see, German Patent Application (abbreviated as DTOS) 2,715,685; (2) A method in which a small amount of oxygen is allowed to be present in the reaction system, e.g. see, DTOS 2,730,527; ;P (3) A method in which the reaction is carried out while the concentration of poisonous high-boiling byproducts in the reaction system is maintained below a certain level, e.g., see British Pat. No. 1,338,237 and British Pat. No. 1,545,706. These hitherto-proposed methods, however, have room for improvement when industrial applications are envisaged. The first method (1) is commercially disadvantageous in that any drop in reaction temperature and any increase in concentration of the trisubstituted phosphine result in a reduced reaction rate which would require use of the expensive rhodium catalyst in an increased concentration in order to compensate for the reduction of reaction rate. With respect to the second method (2), the trisubstituted phosphine and the end product aldehyde are unstable against oxygen and tend to be converted to the substituted phosphine oxide and organic carboxylic acid, respectively, with the result that not only is the catalyst activity reduced but there are induced undesirable secondary reactions of the product aldehyde. The third method (3) is disadvantageous in that maintaining the concentration of high-boiling byproducts acting as catalyst poisons below a certain level is industrially equivalent to frequent regeneration, activation and recovery of the rhodium catalyst which are, of necessity, accompanied by losses of the rhodium catalyst and trisubstituted phosphine. Even by the above methods, a depression of catalyst activity is frequently encountered during the reaction and it has been inevitable to carry out the regeneration, activation and recovery of the rhodium catalyst with a fair frequency. This not only means a complicated procedure but also entails losses of the rhodium catalyst and trisubstituted phosphine in the regeneration step. Thus, the conventional methods for maintaining the activity of the rhodium catalyst leave much room for improvement.

Electronic messaging systems, such as email, Instant Messenger, and social networking sites, are commonly used for communication both within and outside the workplace. Generally, a user composes an electronic message with information to be received and reviewed by a recipient. The electronic message received by the recipient can be stored, replied to, or forwarded to other recipients, which can result in the addition or deletion of content and recipients. Thus, organization, sharing, and distribution of the information through the electronic messaging systems can be overwhelming and difficult to manage due to the changing environment. Current electronic messaging systems offer keyword searches to identify electronic messages. However, keyword searches are limited since the keyword must be included in the content of the electronic message and users often have no control over the content if they are recipients of the electronic message. Commonly, the electronic messaging systems also provide a list or “address book” of potential recipients for addressing electronic messages for delivery. However, the list fails to identify which recipients are interested in receiving electronic messages regarding a particular subject matter and a user may be unable to determine the appropriate recipients or obtain email address for the appropriate recipient. Content tagging systems are available to organize electronic information gathered by users using tags. The tags are assigned to a piece of electronic info and can describe a topic or content of the info, which allows users to easily find the tagged information through a tag search. Conventional tagging systems include Delicious and Diigo. However, use of the current tagging systems can be impractical and burdensome due to the need to incorporate a separate system into a user's daily routine. For example, each user client must be installed with the tagging system and registered with the appropriate server. Thus, the tagging systems are not easily incorporated. Also, the tagging systems fail to generate and maintain associations between tags, electronic information, and users. Further, content sharing systems, such as wiki workplaces and boundaryless organizations, emphasize group collaboration with user interest being broadcast and user participation changing over time. However, the dynamics of the content sharing systems are often difficult to manage due to the constantly changing environment and fail to address generating and maintaining groups of users based on interest in particular subject matter. Thus, a system and method for unobtrusively integrating content tagging and distribution with existing communication structures and services is needed.

1. Field of the Invention The invention is directed towards a shadow mask back ring structure for use in color television picture tubes. 2. Description of the Prior Art A shadow mask is an apertured, curved conductive member, which operates as the electron beam limiting electrode in a color television picture tube. An example of the typical shadow mask structure is seen in U.S. Pat. No. 3,639,799. The shadow mask typically has a curved aperture face portion surrounded by a solid skirt portion which is bent in a direction normal to the face portion of the shadow mask. This type of mask is typically formed of relatively thin metal to minimize the weight of the structure, and also to minimize thermal effects. It has been the practice to utilize a relatively thicker unitary metal reinforcing ring which is rigidly affixed to the back end of the mask shirt portion to strengthen and stabilize the shadow mask. It has been found necessary to use a unitary reinforcing ring to achieve the desired strength, and to avoid distortion due to nonsymmetrical thermal heating. In preparing such a unitary reinforcing ring, it has been the practice to stamp such rings from large metallic sheets. This structure and fabricating process results in significant scrap losses, and thus is an expensive, high waste production process.

The present invention relates to a tensioner adapted for adjusting tensile force of a chain or a toothed belt, and more particularly pertains to a tensioner hermetically containing oil, wherein the oil hermetic type tensioner provides a preventive structure which prevents a diaphragm covering an oil reservoir from extraordinarily deforming. FIG. 5 shows a conventional oil hermetic type tensioner 50 as disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Application Laid-open No. Hei 1-121755. A piston 54 divides an inside of a cylinder 52 into a high-pressure chamber 56 and a low-pressure chamber 58. The total volume of the high-pressure chamber 56 and the low-pressure chamber 58 changes depending on the slidably reciprocal movement of the piston 54. The oil reservoir 62 can absorb any change of the total volume of the high-pressure chamber 56 and the low-pressure chamber 58. The foregoing oil hermetic type tensioner 50 includes a diaphragm 60 and a pressurizing means 64 on the atmosphere side of diaphragm 60. The pressurizing means 64 is made up of a combination of a compression spring 65 and a spring seat 66, or of a sponge. When the piston 54 moves frontward (in a right direction as viewed in FIG. 5), oil from the oil reservoir 62 and the low-pressure chamber 58 flows through the passages 68, 70 and valve 72 into the high-pressure-chamber 56, reducing the air pressure in pressurizing means 64 and the oil volume in reservoir 62 and low-pressure chamber 58. The pressurizing means 64 prevents the low-pressure chamber 58 from becoming negative pressure and assures smooth flow of oil. However, the diaphragm 60 is not restricted by the pressurizing means 64. Because the tensioner 50 is used where there are a lot of vibrations, either the diaphragm 60 or the pressurizing means 64 repeats free movement. Such free movement may cause an extraordinary deformation in diaphragm 60 which is normally biased by the pressurizing means 64. Free movement between the diaphragm 60 and the pressurizing means 64 may cause the diaphragm 60 to be worn away. Further, extraordinary deformation may cause the diaphragm 60, itself, to apply a partial force. Consequently, durability of the diaphragm 60 would decline and, if worse comes to worst, oil could leak out of the diaphragm 60, so that the tensioner 50 cannot really properly perform its intended function.

Non-volatile memory cells that are electrically programmable and erasable can be realized as charge-trapping memory cells, which comprise a memory layer sequence of dielectric materials, which is provided for charge-trapping in a memory layer that is arranged between confinement layers. The confinement layers have a larger energy band gap than the memory layer. The memory layer can be silicon nitride, while the confinement layers are usually silicon oxide. The memory layer sequence is arranged between a channel region that is located within a semiconductor body and a gate electrode that is arranged above the channel region and is provided to control the channel by means of an applied electric voltage. Charge carriers moving from source to drain through the channel region are accelerated and gain enough energy to be able to pass the lower confinement layer and to be trapped in the memory layer. The trapped charge carriers change the threshold voltage of the cell transistor structure. A publication by B. Eitan et al., “NROM: a Novel Localized Trapping, 2-Bit Nonvolatile Memory Cell” in IEEE Electron Device Letters, volume 21, pages 543 to 545 (2000), describes a charge-trapping memory cell with a memory layer sequence of oxide, nitride and oxide, which is especially adapted to be operated with a reading voltage that is reverse to the programming voltage (reverse read). This publication is incorporated herein by reference. The oxide-nitride-oxide layer sequence is especially designed to avoid the direct tunneling regime and to guarantee the vertical retention of the trapped charge carriers. The oxide layers are specified to have a thickness of more than 5 nm. Two bits of information can be stored in every memory cell. The ONO (oxide-nitride-oxide) sequence is grown or deposited onto a main surface of a semiconductor substrate in such a fashion that it extends over the complete area provided for the memory cell array before other method steps are performed. These further method steps include a deposition and structuring of wordline stacks comprising the gate electrodes and an implantation of the source and drain regions. The effective channel width of the charge-trapping memory cells is crucially affected by the final top width of the shallow trench isolations, which are provided to electrically insulate columns of memory cells within the array. Other important factors are the step height of the trench fillings and the thickness of the ONO layer. There is a plurality of other process steps that also affect the performance of the memory cells. These concern the exact dimensions of the insulating trenches and the thickness of the trench filling as well as several method steps by which auxiliary or sacrificial layers are removed or structured. Inevitable variations of the process parameters result in problems of a threshold voltage distribution that is too large and in degraded retention-after-cycling values (RAC). A further miniaturization of the memory devices will probably aggravate these problems.

Preface This invention seeks to dramatically increase the utility of car informational displays and controls, while at the same time enhancing safety by improving sensory data presentation and ease of interaction with vehicle controls and data sources. The programmable nature of the disclosed devices also creates new methods for how data is delivered and utilized. The disclosed invention, including co-pending applications incorporated by reference, contains unique embodiments which allow one to interact, by feel, with a display, called herein a “programmable tactile display”. It encompasses two main focus areas: A display having features commonly associated with a touch screen, but in a new form which can be sensed in several tactile manners, as well as visually. A tactile selection or adjustment means, such as a knob, slider, or switch, programmable in its tactile or visual nature, and generally operated in conjunction with the touch screen just described. These features in turn provide the basis for a automobile instrument panel (dashboard) or other control panel which can be operated without undue concentration on visually reading the display while working the controls. It serves as an alternative, or adjunct, to voice activated systems being considered today to allow increased functionality with safety of vehicle operation. In several embodiments, the force or other sensation felt can itself be programmably changed, adding to driver understanding, and enhancing safety. Because it resembles today's dashboards, and can be used for the basic control functions of the vehicle, the invention provides not only a potential means of telematic connectivity while driving (e.g. with the internet, cellular telephonic sources or the like), but a much more useful display and control system capable of many more functions—including the primary vehicle control functions, if desired. In addition, I feel that a dashboard incorporating the invention can be built at lower cost than a conventional dashboard, especially as vehicles become ever more loaded up with navigational systems and other electronic functions incidental to the control of the vehicle. There is no known prior art having the above characteristics.

In a typical vehicle transmission, an output gear is splined on a hub. The output gear is clamped in a desired position on the hub by a bolt. However, in time the bolt will loosen if it is not prevented from rotating. When the bolt loosens, the output gear can shift away from its desired position. What is needed is a simple, effective means to prevent the bolt from rotating.

1. Field of the Invention The present invention generally relates to modular connectors having a female housing and a removable male plug and, more particularly, to multi-purpose modular connectors. 2. Brief Description of the Prior Art RJ-type modular connectors generally include an RJ-type female housing configured to releasably receive an RJ-type male plug. RJ-type modular connectors are commonly used in conjunction with electronic telecommunications, data networking equipment, and computers. The female housing is generally a hollow box which defines an internal cavity and four interior surfaces. A latch groove is generally defined adjacent to one of the four interior surfaces. A plurality of contact terminals is positioned inside the interior cavity, adjacent to one of the four interior surfaces and preferably opposite the interior surface defining the latch groove. Each of the contact terminals is electrically connected to a corresponding phone line, wire, printed circuit board lead, or some other system or device. One RJ-type modular connector is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,978,317 to Pocrass, herein incorporated by reference in its entirety. The internal cavity of the female housing receives the male plug. The male plug is generally box-shaped and defines four external surfaces, an open end, a closed end, and usually an internal cavity. One of the four external surfaces defines a plurality of partitioned wire grooves, wherein the open end, the internal cavity, and each of the plurality of partitioned wire grooves are connected to one another. A collapsible wire holder may be defined by any one of the four external surfaces, and a flexible latch is usually positioned adjacent to the external surface positioned opposite to the external surface defining the plurality of partitioned wire grooves. In one typical configuration, a plurality of wires is inserted into the open end of the male plug. One end of each of the plurality of individual wires is positioned in a corresponding one of the plurality of partitioned wire grooves. The collapsible wire holder is then compressed to hold each of the plurality of individual wires securely within the male plug. The male plug is then inserted into the female housing, such that a ridge on the flexible latch releasably seats in the latch groove, and each of the plurality of individual wires contacts a corresponding one of the plurality of contact terminals. The other end of each of the plurality of individual wires may also be individually connected to another male plug in the same manner described above, forming a plurality of individual wires having a housing at both ends. A significant limitation of prior art RJ-type modular connectors is that the modular connectors are dedicated to one particular function. For example, RJ11 modular connectors are often used in telecommunication applications. RJ11 female housings generally include up to six separate contact terminals, with a corresponding number of male plug partitioned wire grooves. In data networking applications, an RJ45 modular connector is often used. The RJ45 modular connectors generally include up to eight separate contact terminals, with a corresponding number of male partitioned wire grooves, and are specially designed for Local Area Network (LAN) or ETHERNET connectivity. Therefore, if both telecommunication modem and networking capabilities are desired in one particular type of device, such as a computer, the device is generally configured with at least one RJ11 modular connector and at least one RJ45 modular connector. The need for at least two different types of modular connectors increases the size of the device, which is an unwanted design limitation, particularly in the hand-held or laptop computer markets. To help ease the limitations currently imposed by the prior art, the present invention generally includes an RJ-type modular connector which includes an RJ-type female housing and an RJ-type male plug. The RJ-type female housing is configured to receive the RJ-type male plug. The RJ-type female housing has an open, plug receiving end and least two interior surfaces. A first RJ-type contact terminal configuration is positioned along one of the interior surfaces, and a second RJ-type contact terminal configuration is positioned along another interior surface, wherein the second RJ-type contact terminal configuration has a different configuration than the first RJ-type contact terminal configuration, and the first and second contact terminal configurations are adapted to selectively mate with the RJ-type male plug when the plug is oriented with respect to the first and second contact terminals. These and other advantages of the present invention will be clarified in the description of the preferred embodiment taken together with the attached drawings in which like reference numerals represent like elements throughout.

Malicious messages such as malicious email can take many forms. Common forms of malicious email include spoofed messages utilized in phishing, malware or social engineering attacks. Cybercriminals send an email message that appears to be a legitimate email message representing a legitimate identity from what appears to be a legitimate email server to an unsuspecting victim but this email message is actually a spoofed email message. While the email server that originates the spoofed email may not have a previous history of malicious behavior, it is not a legitimate source for the identity the spoofed email claims to represent. The spoofed email may contain malicious attachments or may link to a malicious target destination controlled by the cybercriminal to phish information from the victim for criminal purposes. For example, a cybercriminal sends an email message that appears to be sent by a financial bank institution by spoofing the text of the “from” address to be a legitimate email address of the financial bank institution. However the message will contain a link that links to a webpage of the criminal requesting login credentials of the victim. Alternatively, the email message may spoof a trusted identity and contain instructions or simply establish a history of communications that can be exploited at a later date. For example, a cybercriminal sends an email message to the finance department of a company that appears to be sent by an executive of the company requesting a wire transfer to an account that is controlled by the criminal. Although standardized email validation platforms may be utilized to verify that an identified sender of the message has actually sent the message, much email traffic today does not take advantage of these email validation platforms. Therefore, there exists a need for a more flexible way to identify authenticity and security risk of a message and reputation of a sender.

1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to systems and methods for sending and receiving messages. In particular, the present invention relates to a system and method for sending and receiving messages using a publish/subscribe architecture. Still more particularly, the present invention relates to devices and methods for efficiently implementing a publish/subscribe messaging system on a distributed computing architecture. 2. Description of the Background Art The use and proliferation of distributed computing networks is ever increasing. With the advent and business use of the Internet, the need for more efficient distributed computing system has become critical. The business use of the Internet has forced the integration of disparate computing environments with distributed computing systems that enable data transfer between such disparate systems. However, this in turn has created a need for better messaging systems that can handle amount of data and communication that are needed to effectively let disparate systems operate together and share information. There have been attempts in the prior art to provide a solution to communication and data transfer problems associated with distributed computing. These attempts in the prior art attempt to solve this messaging problem by adding messaging systems that allow different applications to communicate with each other such as Message Oriented Middleware (“MOM”) architectures. MOM systems include software that performs the message-handling tasks that enable disparate software applications to communicate without requiring programmers know the details of the message handling operations. MOM architectures often require additional message processors to handle such message processing responsibilities. Thus, there is a significant amount of administrative overhead associated with such architectures. Moreover, unless messages are at a consistent level and a high volume, the added administrative processing resources can be underutilized and waste bandwidth. This is especially true as networks and systems grow in size and scale. Another issue in the prior art is that most messaging systems provide only point-to-point communication methods. With point-to-point communication methods, there is significant processing overhead associated with establishing a point-to-point connection to every destination when a single message is sent to multiple destinations. As the distributed networks become more complex this only increases the amount of computing bandwidth that gets consumed. Further, the topology and connectivity changes are continual, especially in distributed computing architectures. This adds to the administrative overhead of existing point-to-point messaging systems because they must propagate such changes for each message. Therefore, what is needed is a system and methods for implementing a publish/subscribe messaging system that overcomes the limitations found in the prior art.

1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an apparatus and method for processing a packet in a voice and data integration system. 2. Description of the Related Art Owing to today's rapid popularization of Internet and its accompanying request for various services, an Internet protocol (IP) network is being remarkably advanced in its performance and service. Accordingly, a request for more various services is continuously increased. IP network-based voice transmission, one of such services, plays a great role in the IP network together with data transmission. Hence, a request for various voice transmission functions is also made together. Accordingly, terminals such as a digital telephone and a single telephone have been required to integrate voice IPs (VoIP: Voice over Internet Protocol). Thus, a voice and data integration apparatus begins to be developed so that conventional terminals and Internet terminals can exchange data or voice with each other through the IP network. Such a voice and data integration apparatus performs a gateway function of matching the IP network and each terminal, and performs a VoIP gateway function of decoding a voice packet received from the IP network into pulse code modulation (PCM) data and transmitting the decoded data to the terminal, or encoding the PCM data received from the terminal into the voice packet and transmitting the encoded data to the IP network. Further, main factors deteriorating a quality of voice communication in a network such as an IP network include a loss of packet, a delay, and a jitter. 1) Loss of Packet: phenomenon in which a packet is lost during transmission on the network and thus not decoded in the voice and data integration apparatus, and thereby a quality of voice is remarkably deteriorated. 2) Delay: phenomenon in which a packet is temporally delayed when output, compared to when input, and each packet is differently delayed depending on a route along which the packet is transmitted on the network. 3) Jitter: phenomenon in which queuing and congestion occurring in network equipment due to a different rate of delay of each packet. Each piece of network equipment should include a jitter buffer in order to prevent this phenomenon, but the jitter buffer causes transmission delay. Accordingly, in order to guarantee the quality of voice communication over the IP network, techniques such as dynamic jitter buffering for dynamically adjusting a size of the jitter buffer, Real-time Transport Protocol (RTP) compressing for compressing a Real-time Transport Protocol (RTP) packet as a voice packet, and Real-time Transport Protocol (RTP) multi-framing for splitting a voice packet have been utilized. See Network Working Group Request for Comments (RFC) 1889-RTP: A Transport Protocol for Real-Time Applications; Audio-Video Transport Working Group, H. Schulzrinne et al. January 1996 or Network Working Group Request for Comments (RFC) 3550-RTP: A Transport Protocol for Real-Time Applications; H. Schulzrinne et al. July 2003. However, a perfect quality of voice is not yet guaranteed. Further, in the conventional voice and data integration apparatus, an algorithm for guaranteeing the quality of voice is processed only in a digital signal processing (DSP) manufactured in a manufacture company. Hence, the algorithm is not so good in extensibility and reliability.

The present invention is directed to a vertical lathe apparatus, although certain features of the invention may have applicability in other areas, as may be evident to persons skilled in the art. In a verticle lathe, the work to be machined is mounted upon a turntable, which is rotatable about a vertical axis. The machine is provided with one (usually) or a plurality (occasionally) of rams adapted interchangeably to receive and support cutting tools appropriate to the required machining operations. The rams are mounted for controlled vertical movement in ram support housings, and these in turn are mounted for controlled horizontal movement on a cross slide carried by the machine frame. In some cases, provision may be made for a vertical adjustment of the cross slide itself, in addition to providing for vertical movement of the rams, in order to provide for optimum initial positioning of the rams with respect to a given work piece. In the machining of a work piece on a vertical lathe apparatus, as generally described above, the work piece is fixed upon and rotated by the turntable and machining operations are performed by cutting tools carried by the rams. The desired cutting operations are performed by manipulating the position of the cutting tools, through vertical motions of the rams and horizontal movements of the ram supports. In a typical machining operation, carried out on vertical lathe equipment, a wide variety of cutting tools may be necessary or desirable for effecting various types of machining operations. Frequently, this has been accomplished in the past through the use of turrets mounted on the machine rams and selectively indexable to bring any one of several cutting tools into operative position. The turret arrangements are limited, however, by their tool holding capability in relation to size. Thus, as a practial matter, not more than four or five tools can be conveniently carried on a single turret, necessitating changing of entire turrets where (as is frequently the case) the typical production requirements of the machine involve the use of a greater number of tools. In addition, the use of tool-mounting turrets carried by the machine ram presents certain problems with respect to the accuracy of machining, because the geometry of the turret necessitates a mounting of the cutting tools somewhat more eccentrically, relative to the ram axis, than is desired. The use of the turrets also tends to limit, to a somewhat greater degree than desired, the minimum size of opening that the turret-carrying ram may enter to carry out internal machining. An overall objective of the invention is to provide a vertical lathe machine of the type described with a novel and advantageous form of automatic tool change system, providing for a high speed, versatile changing of individual tools. Of course, the provision of automatic tool change facilities in machine tools of all kinds is well known, in the general sense, and the present invention does not purport to be directed broadly to the concept of automatic tool change. Rather, it is directed to the provision of an automatic tool change system, adapted particularly for vertical lathe equipment, which incorporates a number of novel and highly advantageous features providing for a high degree of efficiency and versatility in effecting and changing of tools in the course of production operations. In accordance with one feature of the invention, a novel tool transport arrangement is provided for conveying a new cutting tool from a stationary tool matrix or "library" over to a ready-to-load position adjacent the ram, during the course of a machining operation with the previous tool. Thus, when the time comes for effecting a change of tools, it is merely necessary to retract the ram vertically from its extended machining position to a predetermined loading position and effect a rapid loading of the waiting new tool into the ram, in exchange for the previously used tool. In addition, a novel arrangement is provided for effecting a simultaneous exchange of tools in the ram with a linear "flow through" movement of tool blocks, minimizing the time required to effect the exchange of tools from the "ready" position. In accordance with another feature of the invention, provision is made in the ram and in the tool library for receiving "right hand" and "left hand" tool blocks, for use in performing internal or external machining operations as may be required. In this respect, a "left-hand" tool block desirably is mounted eccentrically to the left on the ram, while the "right hand" tool is mounted eccentrically to the right. To accommodate these possibilities, the tool transport system and the tool loading system incorporate selectively operable, automatic positioning means accommodating the various "left hand" and "right hand" tool blocks in their several (four) possible combinations. This arrangment permits the use of an advantageous highly simplified form of loading device having a pair of spaced tool engaging elements arranged simultaneously to engage the tool in use and the "ready" tool and with a controlled lateral movement slide the original tool out of position and the new tool into position with the proper right-side or left-side eccentricity. The apparatus of the invention also includes an improved carrousel-type system constituting a tool matrix or tool library for storing a plurality of tool blocks for eventual use. The general function of the carrousel is, of course, to bring the new tool blocks successively into position for transfer to the ram. In this respect, the equipment of the invention incorporates improved control facilities for reliably positioning the carrousel and for reliably retaining and releasing the various tool blocks as they are called for.

The present invention relates to a developer transportation device for supplying a sheet and an image forming apparatus having the developer transportation device. In a conventional image forming apparatus such as a printer, a copier, a facsimile, and the likes, a charge roller charges a surface of a photosensitive drum, and an LED (Light Emitting Diode) head exposes the surface of the photosensitive drum to form a static latent image thereon. Then, a developing roller attaches a thin layer of toner to the static latent image through static electricity, thereby forming a toner image. A transfer roller transfers the toner image to a sheet, and a fixing device fixes the toner image to the sheet, thereby forming an image on the sheet. After the transfer roller transfers the toner image to the sheet, a cleaning blade scrapes off toner remaining on the photosensitive drum, so that toner is collected as waste toner. When the cleaning blade collects waste toner, a toner transportation device as a developer transportation device transports waste toner to a waste toner box, so that waste toner can be discarded externally. The toner transportation device includes a transportation spiral as a transportation member having a coil shape. When the transportation spiral rotates, the transportation spiral transports waste toner (refer to Patent Reference). Patent Reference: Japan Patent Publication No. 2006-58729

Recently, there has been interest in the use of resilient coating materials for areas which are subject to mechanical shock, such as automobile bumpers, moldings and front ends. To maintain the desired appearance for a protective coating on a motor vehicle body panel or like application, any such coating must have certain properties, such as a high degree of extensibility, impact resistance, and resistance to cracking and degradation under severe environmental conditions such as low temperature and high humidity. Conventional coatings, including those heretofore employed on rubber and similar extensible objects, do not have the required combination of properties. Generally, compositions that are flexible enough to be applied over both metal and plastic substrates have rather poor weatherability, appearance, and/or overall durability. U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,882,189 and 3,962,522 are exemplary of numerous patents which describe flexible coating compositions, wherein the resin comprises polyurethane modified polyesters formed by reacting polyisocyanate with polyester polyols. These resins are cured with amine-aldehyde crosslinkers. It is taught therein, that the presence of the urethane groups in the polymer significantly contributes to the flexibility as well as improved weathering properties, gloss, and abrasion resistance of the coating. Such coatings, however, are not of an overall quality to meet certain applications, particularly automotive applications. Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide novel polysiloxane graft copolymers and solvent based, thermosetting coating compositions comprising same, suitable to produce flexible cured coatings with good adhesion over diverse substrates including metal and plastic. In this regard, it is a particular object of the invention to provide such flexible coating compositions at sufficiently low Volatile Organic Content (VOC) to aid in meeting governmental emissions guidelines and yet which can be applied to a substrate by spraying or other known methods. It is another object of the invention to provide a composition which will form a coating on a substrate, which coating has advantageous physical properties including, for example, humidity and solvent resistance, flexibility and corrosion protection for the underlying substrate. Additional aspects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description thereof.

Ion signalling in eukaryotic cells is essential for numerous physiological processes, including regulation of exocytosis, contraction, gene transcription and fertilization, as well as maintenance of cell membrane potential. Ion signalling is equally important in prokaryotic cells, e.g. in osmoregulation. Ion signalling in cells may be affected by alteration of extracellular and intracellular concentration of ions. Such alterations result in intracellular concentration changes in the forms of i) rapid increase followed by a rapid decrease (termed spikes), ii) a sustained, elevated concentration, or iii) repetitive spikes that produce an oscillation of characteristic frequency and amplitude. Due to technical limitations of available methods to decipher these complex signalling pathways, very little is known about the molecular and physiological effects on cells. A limitation of certain concern is the inability of available methods to provide controlled ion fluxes to cells to be studied. Presently, transport of ions from, to or between electrolytes, such as from a stock solution to a cell culture medium, is performed by manual or automated use of e.g. pipettes, pumps or membranes. Such techniques result in unspecific delivery of ions to a cell culture medium as such only, whereas further diffusion to cells cultured in the medium is uncontrollable and unpredictable. Furthermore, said techniques require the use of expensive equipment. Examples of present methods for transport of ions are given below. U.S. Pat. No. 6,780,584 discloses a device for the modulation of a reaction comprising: a first buffer reservoir containing a first buffer and a first charged entity, wherein the first buffer has an initial conductance less than 1000 μS/cm; a second buffer reservoir separated from the first buffer reservoir containing a second buffer comprising a second charged entity, wherein the second charged entity has a charge opposite that of the first charged entity, the second charged entity modulates the specific reaction between the specific binding entity and the first charged entity; a conductive semi permeable matrix contained in a non-conductive support material, the conductive semi permeable matrix disposed between and fluidically connecting the first buffer reservoir and the second buffer reservoir; a first electrode linked to a power source and located in the first buffer reservoir and contacting the first buffer; and a second electrode linked to the power source and located in the second buffer reservoir and contacting the second buffer; and a specific binding entity which reacts specifically with the first charged entity and which is physically fixed on, in, or adjacent to the semi permeable matrix. U.S. Pat. No. 5,776,325 discloses a method of inducing mono-directional transport of ions between electrolyte solutions comprising separating the electrolyte solutions with a conducting polymer membrane and creating a potential gradient across said membrane wherein the potential gradient is created by using the conducting polymer membrane as a shared working electrode.

1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a fluid-filled vibration damping device used for automobile engine mounts and the like. 2. Description of the Related Art From the past, vibration damping devices have been known which are interposed between members constituting a vibration transmission system, and for which those members have a mutual vibration damping connection and vibration damping support, and as one type of vibration damping device, fluid-filled vibration damping devices are also known that exhibit a vibration damping effect based on the fluid flow action of the fluid sealed inside. This fluid-filled vibration damping device has a first mounting member and a second mounting member elastically connected by a main rubber elastic body, and on both sides of a partition member supported by the second mounting member are formed a pressure-receiving chamber and an equilibrium chamber, sealed in which is a non-compressible fluid. Furthermore, the pressure-receiving chamber and the equilibrium chamber are in communication with each other through an orifice passage, and the target vibration damping effect is exhibited based on the fluid flow action of the fluid that flows through the orifice passage. For example, that is what is shown in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. JP-A-2009-243510. However, with the fluid-filled vibration damping device, while the orifice passage effectively exhibits a vibration damping effect based on the fluid flow action of fluid on vibrations of a frequency at which the orifice passage is tuned, it is difficult to obtain an effective vibration damping effect on vibrations of a frequency outside the tuning frequency. In particular, when a vibration of a higher frequency than the tuning frequency is input, the orifice passage is substantially blocked by the anti-resonance, so there is the problem that the vibration damping performance by high action spring reaction decreases. In light of that, with the structure noted in JP-A-2009-243510, a liquid pressure transmission mechanism is provided that is equipped with a fluid flow path that allows transmission of liquid pressure between the pressure-receiving chamber and the equilibrium chamber when vibration of a higher frequency than the tuning frequency of the orifice passage is input. In specific terms, this liquid pressure transmission mechanism has a structure by which a movable member (movable plate) is arranged held in a housing space formed on a partition member, and each of the liquid pressure of the pressure-receiving chamber and the liquid pressure of the equilibrium chamber is applied to both surfaces of the movable member through a communicating hole (fluid flow path) formed by piercing through a wall part of a housing space. Then, when inputting a high frequency, low amplitude vibration, the movable member has minute displacement or minute deformation, allowing transmission of liquid pressure between the pressure-receiving chamber and the equilibrium chamber, and when vibration of the orifice passage tuning frequency range is input, the movable member closes the communicating hole, preventing transmission of liquid pressure between the chambers. By so doing, it is possible to selectively and effectively obtain either the vibration damping effect exhibited by the flow action of the fluid that passed through the orifice passage, or the vibration damping effect exhibited by the liquid pressure absorption effect of the liquid pressure transmission mechanism. However, with the fluid-filled vibration damping device equipped with this kind of liquid pressure transmission mechanism, when the movable member contacts the inner surface of the housing space, it is easy to have the problem of having a striking noise occur based on the impact force. Specifically, the impact energy when the movable member contacts the inner surface of the housing space is applied to a vehicle body via the partition member and the second mounting member that supports it, so there was the risk of noise occurring inside the passenger area.

Typically, internal combustion engines have a trapped mass of air beneath the piston. During each revolution of the crankshaft, this trapped mass of air either compresses or expands, depending upon the stroke of the piston, thereby reducing the efficiency of the engine. To alleviate this problem, prior art arrangements vent the crankcase so as to allow the air to migrate in the crankcase between areas divided by, or demarcated by, the main bearing bulkheads. However, because the vent passages between the bulkheads are somewhat restricted, moving the air mass requires energy. This results in pumping losses which also have a negative effect on engine efficiency. In the present invention, by providing communication ports between cylinders having pistons that are 180.degree. out of phase, a less restricted passage is created, thereby reducing pumping losses. Accordingly, an advantage of the present invention is to reduce pumping losses by providing communication ports between cylinders having pistons that are 180.degree. out of phase. Another advantage of the invention is to provide better crankcase breathing which, in turn, allows more efficient oil return from the cylinder head to the oil pan and subsequently increased engine efficiency and fuel economy.

This operation is performed as follows in the current state of the art: the line is composed of a freezer (machine designed to cool a mix made in advance after having added a variable quantity of air depending on the recipe at a temperature called the proportioning temperature), tubing between this freezer and the proportioning machine, and therefore a proportioning machine that itself usually precedes a setting tunnel and packaging machines. The freezer is started so as to work (freeze) the first mix quantities made in advance and these mixes are then sent to the proportioning machine through the tubing. The first quantities cannot be proportioned because they are too soft and too liquid and they form a loss; attempts are made to recycle this loss later on in other installations under conditions that are not always satisfactory and often partial. The purpose of this invention is to provide a means of reducing these start up losses. An analysis of the phenomena involved during this start up operation shows that the main cause of losses is the quantity of product that has to be used to cool the tubing located between the freezer and the proportioning machine until the metal from which this tubing is made is cold enough so that bond conditions between the product and the tubing wall are such that proportioning is possible. As it exits from the freezer, the temperature of the product is between −8° C. to −9° C. and 0° C. depending on the planned use of the product. The temperature of the tubing at the beginning of the operations is ambient temperature (18° C. or more). Therefore the solid mix melts as it comes into contact with the metal and flows too quickly, losing its consistency and making proportioning impossible until the tubing becomes sufficiently cold so that a bond is formed between the solid product mix and the metal, after a certain quantity of product has passed. The product can then be proportioned, but large losses have occurred.

1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to ports for a shared memory node, and more particularly, to scalable ports for connecting two or more nodes together. 2. Description of the Related Art Conventional scalable multiprocessors consist of multiple nodes that are connected together using an interconnect system. Each node consists of a processor, dynamic random access memory (DRAM), and an input/output (I/O) device. The processor, DRAM, and I/O device couple with a bus. A single chipset also couples with the bus and controls interactions between all of the components. The single chipset also couples with a conventional interconnect port. A conventional interconnect port is an external interface that allows for physically connecting nodes together in an interconnect system. Connecting multiple nodes together may allow for creation of a shared memory system. An example of a shared memory system is a Cache Coherent, Non-Uniform Memory Access (CC-NUMA) architecture. In an interconnect system, to connect one node to another node requires an interconnect port. Where there are only two nodes, the interconnect port is optimized for communication between these two nodes only. A dedicated interconnect port in two node systems is more popular and more commonly in use than systems having three or more nodes. However, because the interconnect port is also dedicated for such two node systems, the interconnect port is not scalable beyond two nodes. Interconnecting more than two nodes requires adding additional hardware between the interconnect port and each additional node. This additional hardware is used to scale the ports. The additional hardware also increases the overall cost of the system. Further, the additional hardware requires additional system space making it less suitable for limited space environments and applications. The additional hardware also increases the number of signal delay points that, in turn, causes a decrease in overall system performance. The additional hardware and the problems it introduces is another reason why such conventional interconnect ports are not desirable for systems with only two nodes. In summary, some problems with conventional interconnect systems are that there may be a need for up to three different types of interconnect ports when adding or removing nodes from the interconnect system. If there is only one node, no interconnect port is needed. If there are two nodes, a non-scalable interconnect port is needed. If there are three or more nodes, a scalable interconnect port is needed. However, this scalable interconnect port is inefficient for two node systems. Therefore, there is a need for an interconnect port that (1) is scalable, (2) has high performance in systems having three or more nodes, as well as two node systems, and (3) does not increase system costs when additional nodes are added to the system.

Hemostasis is the normal physiological process in which bleeding from an injured blood vessel is arrested. It is a dynamic and complex process in which platelets play a key role. Within seconds of vessel injury, resting platelets become activated and are bound to the exposed matrix of the injured area by a phenomenon called platelet adhesion. Activated platelets also bind to each other in a process called platelet aggregation to form a platelet plug. The platelet plug can stop bleeding quickly, but it must be reinforced by fibrin for long-term effectiveness, until the vessel injury can be permanently repaired. Thrombosis may be regarded as the pathological condition wherein improper activity of the hemostatic mechanism results in intravascular thrombus formation. Activation of platelets and the resulting platelet aggregation and platelet factor secretion has been associated with a variety of pathophysiological conditions including cardiovascular and cerebrovascular thromboembolic disorders, for example, the thromboembolic disorders associated with unstable angina, myocardial infarction, transient ischemic attack, stroke, atherosclerosis and diabetes. The contribution of platelets to these disease processes stems from their ability to form aggregates, or platelet thrombi, especially in the arterial wall following injury. Platelets are activated by a wide variety of agonists resulting in platelet shape change, secretion of granular contents and aggregation. Aggregation of platelets serves to further focus clot formation by concentrating activated clotting factors at the site of injury. Several endogenous agonists including adenosine diphosphate (ADP), serotonin, arachidonic acid, thrombin, and collagen, have been identified. Because of the involvement of several endogenous agonists in activating platelet function and aggregation, an inhibitor which acts against all agonists would represent a more efficacious antiplatelet agent than currently available antiplatelet drugs, which are agonist-specific. Current antiplatelet drugs are effective against only one type of agonist; these include aspirin, which acts against arachidonic acid; ticlopidine, which acts against ADP; thromboxane A.sub.2 synthetase inhibitors or receptor antagonists, which act against thromboxane A.sub.2 ; and hirudin, which acts against thrombin. Recently, a common pathway for all known agonists has been identified, namely platelet glycoprotein IIb/IIIa complex (GPIIb/IIIa), which is the membrane protein mediating platelet aggregation. A recent review of GPIIb/IIIa is provided by Phillips et al. Cell (1991) 65: 359-362. The development of a GPIIb/IIIa antagonist represents a promising new approach for antiplatelet therapy. GPIIb/IIIa does not bind soluble proteins on unstimulated platelets, but GPIIb/IIIa in activated platelets is known to bind four soluble adhesive proteins, namely fibrinogen, von Willebrand factor, fibronectin, and vitronectin. The binding of fibrinogen and von Willebrand factor to GPIIb/IIIa causes platelets to aggregate. The binding of fibrinogen is mediated in part by the Arg-Gly-Asp (RGD) recognition sequence which is common to the adhesive proteins that bind GPIIb/IIIa. Several RGD-peptidomimetic compounds have been reported which block fibrinogen binding and prevent the formation of platelet thrombi. European Patent Application Publication Number 478363 relates to compounds having the general formula: ##STR2## European Patent Application Publication Number 478328 relates to compounds having the general formula: ##STR3## European Patent Application Publication Number 525629 (corresponds to Canadian Patent Application Publication Number 2,074,685) discloses compounds having the general formula: ##STR4## PCT Patent Application 9307867 relates to compounds having the general formula: ##STR5## European Patent Application Publication Number 4512831 relates to compounds having the general formula: ##STR6## Copending commonly assigned U.S. patent application (U.S. Ser. No. 08/337,920, filed Nov. 10, 1994, Wityak et al.; published as WO95/13155, Jun. 1, 1995) discloses compounds having the general formula: ##STR7## which are useful as IIB/IIIA antagonists. Copending commonly assigned U.S. patent application (U.S. Ser. No. 08/455,768, filed May 31, 1995, Voss et al.) discloses compounds having the general formula: ##STR8## which are useful as .alpha..sub.v .beta..sub.3 antagonists. None of the above references teaches or suggests the compounds of the present invention which are described in detail below.

1. Field of the Invention The invention relates to a back light module for flat display device, more particularly to a back light module for flat display device by putting the LED light source above one end of the light guide plate. 2. Description of the Prior Art Among all kinds of flat display devices, A liquid crystal display (LCD) device with low electrical power consumption, low voltage operation, thinner thickness and lighter weight, is widely used in nowadays. A liquid crystal display device typically includes a first substrate having common electrodes and a color filter, and a second substrate having thin film transistors and pixel electrodes. The first substrate and the second substrate are provided substantially in parallel with a predetermined gap therebetween, and liquid crystal is injected between the two opposing substrates. An electric field is formed between the substrates by applying different voltages to the pixel electrodes and common electrodes. Accordingly, the alignment of liquid crystal molecules of the liquid crystal material is varied to thereby control the transmittance of incident light. The visions of liquid crystal display devices (LCD) are extremely excellent since the displayed figures or pictures are not offensive to the eyes of human being unlike light emitting diode (LED). But it is one of the drawbacks of LCD that an additional light module is needed in order to show figures or pictures on the screen under the dark circumstance because LCD does not have the character of light-emitting itself. LED is a lighting component with low electricity and high illumination, and it has the steady lighting matter and long life cycle, too. It is very suitable as the light source of LCD device. Please refer to FIG. 1, a conventional structure 100 of back light module with LED light source 102 for LCD display device is shown. The light rays emitted from the LED light source 102 enter into the light guide plate (LGP) 104, then are well distributed and emitted out from the light-emitting surface through the reflector 106. The material of light guide plate 104 is usually PMMA or plastic division with TiO2 diffusion grains whose total volume is between about 50%˜80% of light guide plate. The light rays are well distributed when they collide with the TiO2 diffusion grains. The reflector 106 is placed below the light guide plate 104 to reflect the downward light rays into the light guide plate 104 for increasing the illumination of back light module 100. There are several light diffusion elements on the bottom surface of the light guide plate 104 for distributing the light rays. The light diffusion elements can be convex and/or concave dots formed by the print method or V-cuts. Besides, there are sequentially a first diffusor sheet 108, a prism sheet 110, and a second diffusor sheet 112 on the light guide plate 104 for the light rays emitted from the light-emitting surface of light guide plate 104 can be further well distributed into the panel of liquid crystal device (not shown). The numbers of LED are decided on the illumination of the LCD device. Similarly, the numbers of diffusor sheet and prism sheet are decided on the demand of the back light module 100. A flexible printed circuit board (FPC) is put above the LED light source 102 for connecting electrically the pins of LCD device (not shown) and system board (not shown). However, the aforementioned structure of back light module has many drawbacks. First, the light rays emitted into the light guide plate 104 are not well distributed. As shown in FIG. 2, the illumination of the section A of light guide plate 104 is darker than the section over LED 102 because the illuminating area of each LED is finite, in other words, the serious “firefly” phenomenon is observed because the LED light source 102 is in fact a point light source, not a plane light source. A method that shortens the distance between two LEDs to decrease the area of the section A of light guide plate 104 can solve this problem, but it will need the additional LEDs in the condition of same illuminated area, this method is helpless to reduce manufacturing cost. Next, using the thinner light guide plate can solve the demand for decreasing the thickness of notebook, but the thickness of light guide plate 104 must fit the LED light source 102 for considering the illumination of back light module when the LED light source 102 located at lateral end of light guide plate. So the thickness of back light module and notebook and the manufacturing cost of LCD panel and notebook are not reduced.

Cable railings are becoming increasingly popular. Commonly, the railings are placed in tension between support posts, walls or other support structures. The cables ends must be securely anchored to the support structure to resist the tension. When the support structure is a solid material of sufficient thickness, such as a 4″×4″ wood post, for example, a lag bolt or the like may be used as an anchor. However, when the support structure is thin other anchor types must be used. For a support structure, such as a thin-walled support structure, it is preferable that an anchor be easily installable when only external access to the support structure is available. Further, an anchor should be inexpensive.

A standard telephone or hand shower is a shower head mounted on one end of a handle from whose other end extends a hose connected to the water supply. While such a shower is mainly intended for use while it is being held, it is standard to fit it to a wall-mounted bracket assembly that holds it so that it can function as a standard stationary shower. Like such a stationary shower, the bracket assembly normally permits some range of adjustment of the shower to direct the spray where it is wanted. Accordingly German patent 2,844,190 filed October 1978 by M. Pawelzik et al describes a mounting bracket basically comprised of a stationary wall-mounted support body, a holder body pivotal about a normally horizontal axis parallel to the wall and formed offset from this axis with a seat adapted to hold the hand shower, and a bolt-and-nut assembly extending along the axis. The bolt serves not only as the pivot axis, but it allows the two parts to be secured together axially with sufficient force to frictionally impede them from moving relative to each other, unless of course considerable force is brought to bear, as when the position is being adjusted. This arrangement has two main disadvantages. First of all it holds the shower relatively far from the wall and moves it in a relatively wide arc when it is adjusted. This makes accurately positioning it difficult. Second, the bolt itself typically bears angularly on one part and the nut on the other so that adjustment in one direction will tighten the nut and opposite adjustment will loosen it.

The present invention relates to a variable-magnification image-forming optical system including a zoom lens system comprising four or more lens units. More particularly, the present invention relates to a variable-magnification image-forming optical system having a zoom lens system comprising at least four lens units in which the fourth lens unit includes a non-rotationally symmetric curved surface operating to correct aberrations due to decentration. There has heretofore been known a compact reflecting decentered optical system as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Unexamined Publication Number hereinafter referred to as "JP(A)"! 59-84201. This is an invention of a one-dimensional light-receiving lens comprising a cylindrical reflecting surface; therefore, two-dimensional imaging cannot be effected with this conventional optical system. JP(A) 62-144127 discloses an optical system wherein the identical cylindrical surface is used twice to effect reflection in order to reduce spherical aberration in the above-mentioned invention. JP(A) 62-205547 discloses the use of an a spherical reflecting surface as a reflecting surface, but makes no mention of the configuration of the reflecting surface. U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,810,221 and 3,836,931 both disclose an example in which a rotationally symmetric aspherical mirror and a lens system having a surface which has only one plane of symmetry are used to constitute a finder optical system of a reflex camera. In this example, however, the surface having only one plane of symmetry is utilized for the purpose of correcting the tilt of a virtual image for observation. JP(A) 1-257834 (U.S. Pat. No. 5,274,406) discloses an example in which a surface having only one plane of symmetry is used for a reflecting mirror to correct image distortion in a rear projection type television. In this example, however, a projection lens system is used for projection onto a screen, and the surface having only one plane of symmetry is used for correction of image distortion. JP(A) 7-333551 discloses an example of a back-coated mirror type decentered optical system using an anamorphic surface and a toric surface as an observation optical system. However, the decentered optical system is not sufficiently corrected for aberrations, including image distortion. None of the above-described prior arts use a surface having only one plane of symmetry as a back-coated mirror to form a folded optical path. In the conventional rotationally symmetric optical systems, a transmitting rotationally symmetric lens having refracting power is assigned to exert the required refracting power. Therefore, many constituent elements are needed for aberration correction. In the conventional decentered optical systems, however, an imaged figure or the like is undesirably distorted and the correct shape cannot be recorded unless aberrations of the formed image are favorably corrected and, particularly, rotationally asymmetric distortion is favorably corrected. In a rotationally symmetric optical system comprising a refracting lens which is formed from a surface rotationally symmetric about an optical axis, a straight-line optical path is formed. Therefore, the entire optical system undesirably lengthens in the direction of the optical axis, resulting in an unfavorably large-sized apparatus.

The present invention is directed toward an improved digital-to-analog converter circuit for a speech-synthesizing electronic timepiece. In the past, various means have been adopted for providing audible indications of time information from a timepiece. In the case of conventional mechanical timepieces, this has been performed for example by striking a bell or other sound emitting device, by a number of times which indicates the current time. Somewhat similar methods have been proposed for use in electronic timepieces, for example whereby an audible tone is emitted a number of times in succession to indicate a time value, or combinations of audible tones of different frequencies are emitted. However, due to recent advances in the technology of integrated circuits and memory devices, the sizes of such devices have become such that construction of a timepiece is possible in which indication of time information is given by means of synthesized speech signals. Hitherto, synthesized speech data output has been achieved for some devices of relatively small size such as desk calculators. But in the case of an electronic timepiece, there are certain limitations which have made it extremely difficult to implement in practical form such synthesized speech data output. These limitations are due to the fact that, because of the small size of electronic timepieces in general, the battery which supplies power to the timepiece circuitry is also of very small size, and hence produces a low supply voltage and cannot tolerate a high level of power consumption. For these reasons, all of the circuitry which is utilized for speech synthesis in an electronic timepiece must be capable of operating at a low level of supply voltage, and must have a very low power consumption. However, although the various digital logic circuits and memory circuits associated with a speech synthesis system can be designed to meet these limitations, the digital-to-analog conversion circuit (whereby digital signals representing speech information in sampled and quantized form are converted into analog signals to be output by an audio transducer) presents serious problems in this respect, if conventional types of such digital-to-analog converters ae utilized. The reasons for this will be described hereinafter with reference to circuit examples. Such a digital-to-analog converter produces output signals which are of analog form, and which must be amplified in this form in order to drive an audio transducer. Such amplification is highly inefficient in relation to the power consumption of the digital circuits of an electronic timepiece. Another feature of a conventional digital-to-analog converter circuit is that it is not capable of operating in a satisfactory manner at very low levels of supply voltage, due to limitations imposed by such factor as the saturation voltages of transistor elements, for example. For these reasons, the application of speech synthesis for providing time information output from electronic timepieces has been hindered by the inherent characteristics of conventional analog-to-digital converter circuits, and there exists an urgent requirement for an improved type of digital-to-analog converter circuit which will be more suited for the special requirements imposed upon circuitry for use in an electronic timepiece. Such an improved type of digital-to-analog converter circuit is disclosed by the present invention.

In recent years, as the processing size of semiconductor integrated circuit devices (which will be referred to as “semiconductor devices”) has been reduced, a combination of a copper interconnect and an insulating film having a small dielectric constant, i.e., a so-called low-k film has been used for multilayer interconnects of semiconductor devices. Use of such combination for multilayer interconnects allows reduction in RC delay and in power consumption. Furthermore, to achieve increase in the integration, function and operation speed of semiconductor devices, use of a low-k film having a lower dielectric constant has been under examination. Copper interconnects are normally formed by damascene process. There are two types of damascene process, i.e., single damascene process in which an interconnect and a via plug are alternately formed and dual damascene process in which an interconnect and via plug are simultaneously formed. Hereafter, a method for forming a multilayer interconnect employing damascene process will be described with reference to FIGS. 5(a) and 5(b). As shown in FIG. 5(a), a first insulating film 102 is formed on a silicon substrate 101 and then a first copper interconnect 104 including a first barrier metal 103 is formed in the first insulating film 102. Note that transistors and the like, which are not shown in FIGS. 5(a) and 5(b), are formed over the silicon substrate 101. Then, a diffusion barrier film 105 for preventing diffusion of copper and a second insulating film 106 are formed in this order over the first insulating film 102 and the first copper interconnect 104. Subsequently, a via hole 106a is formed in the diffusion barrier film 105 and the second insulating film 106 and an interconnect trench 106b is formed in the second insulating film 106, thereby forming a recess portion 106c including the via hole 106a and the r interconnect trench 106b. Thereafter, a second barrier metal film 107 is formed so as to extend over wall surfaces of the recess portion 106c. In FIG. 5(a), as an upper barrier metal structure, the case where the second barrier metal film 107 has a single layer structure is shown. However, as shown in FIG. 5(b), a two-layer structure of a second barrier metal film 108 and a third barrier metal film 109 may be formed so as to extend over the wall surfaces of the recess portion 106c. Next, although not shown in the drawings, in the case of FIG. 5(a), a copper seed layer is formed on the second barrier metal film 107 (the third barrier metal film 109 in the case of FIG. 5(b)) and then the recess portion 106c is filled by copper plating using the seed layer as a seed and a copper film is formed so as to cover an entire surface of the second insulating film 106. Subsequently, CMP (chemical mechanical polishing) is performed to remove part of the copper film which is other than part of the copper film located inside of the recess portion 106c and is located over the second insulating film 106 and, in the case of FIG. 5(a) and part of the second barrier metal film 107 which is other than part of the second barrier metal film 107 located inside of the recess portion 106c and is formed on the second insulating film 106 (in the case of FIG. 5(b), parts of the third barrier metal film 109 and the second barrier metal film 108 which are other than parts thereof located inside of the recess portion 106c and are located on the second insulating film 106). Thus, one or both of an interconnect and a via plug can be formed. By repeating a series of this operation, a multilayer interconnect can be formed (see, for example, Patent Reference 1). In general, copper is easily defused in an insulating film such as a silicon oxide film by heat or electric field and this causes degradation of characteristics of transistors in many cases. Moreover, copper has a poor adhesiveness with an insulating film. Accordingly, a method in which in forming a copper interconnect, a barrier metal film including a tantalum film or a tantalum nitride film is formed between copper and an insulating film to prevent diffusion of copper into the insulating film and improve an adhesiveness between the insulating film and the copper has been proposed (see, for example, Patent Reference 2). For example, the case where a barrier metal film has a single-layer structure of a tantalum film or a tantalum nitride film corresponds to the structure of FIG. 5(a) and the case where a barrier metal film has a two-layer structure including a tantalum film and a tantalum nitride film corresponds to the structure of FIG. 5(b). However, for example, in the above-described example, when a high melting point metal film such as tantalum is used as the second barrier metal film 107 shown in FIG. 5(a), an adhesiveness between the second insulating film 106 including the recess portion 106c and the high melting point film is poor. To cope with the problem of the poor adhesiveness, for example, when a tantalum film is used as the third barrier metal film 109, as shown in FIG. 5(b), a tantalum nitride film is formed as the second barrier metal film 108 between the third barrier metal film 109 of a tantalum film and the second insulating film 106 to improve this poor adhesiveness. However, a sufficient adhesiveness can not be achieved by this method. When a tantalum nitride film is used as the second barrier metal film 107 (in the case of FIG. 5(a)) or the third barrier metal film 109 (in the case of FIG. 5(b)), the tantalum nitride film is not oxidized but the tantalum nitride film has a high resistance and the problem of the poor adhesiveness is still left. Furthermore, when a titanium film or a titanium nitride film is used as the second barrier metal film 107 (in the case of FIG. 5(a)) or the third barrier metal film 109 (in the case of FIG. 5(b)), the same problem as that in the above-described case where a tantalum film is used arises. In forming the copper seed layer, PVD (physical vapor deposition) is normally used. With reduction in the size of semiconductor devices, an aspect ratio (i.e., the ratio between the depth and diameter of a via hole) of a via hole tends to be increased. Therefore, when a copper seed layer is formed using PVD, it is difficult to ensure a sufficient thickness of part of the copper seed layer located at the bottom of the via hole. When the part of the copper seed layer at the bottom of the via hold has a small thickness, a current for electrolytic plating can not be sufficiently supplied, so that the via hole can not be sufficiently filled by copper through electrolytic plating. For example, in the case of FIG. 5(a), the recess portion 106c including the via hold 106a and the interconnect trench 106b can not be filled by copper. Accordingly, product yield and reliability are reduced. In view of this point, to ensure a sufficient thickness of part of the copper seed layer at the bottom of the via hole, formation of the copper layer using CVD (chemical vapor deposition) has been examined. However, there are many cases where a substance, such as fluorine (F) and the like, which causes corrosion of copper is contained in a source gas, and thus this method has not been put in practical use yet. Trial of forming a copper interconnect directly on a barrier metal film by electrolytic plating without using a copper seed layer has been under consideration. However, for example, when a high-melting point metal film such as a tantalum film is used as the second barrier metal film 107 (in the case of FIG. 5(a)) or the third barrier metal film 109 (in the case of FIG. 5(b)) in the above-described example, in forming copper by electrolytic plating, tantalum is oxidized, so that a tantalum oxide film having a high resistance is formed. Therefore, increase in interconnect resistance can not be avoided. To realize reduction in resistance of a barrier metal film, use of a metal which does not lose its conductivity even when being oxidized and a metal such as ruthenium, iridium and the like of which oxide itself has a low resistance draw attentions (see, for example, Patent References 3 an 4). Such a metal has a lower resistance than that of tantalum or tantalum nitride and does not lose its conductivity even when being oxidized. Therefore, without using a copper seed layer, copper plating can be directly performed onto the barrier metal film. Note that in general, such a metal is formed by atomic layer epitaxy or chemical vapor deposition. Patent Reference 1: Japanese Laid-Open Publication No. 11-223755 Patent Reference 2: Japanese Laid-Open Publication No. 2002-43419 Patent Reference 3: Japanese Patent No. 3409831 Patent Reference 4: Japanese Laid-Open Publication No. 2002-75994

Some hydrocarbons, such as crude oil and jet fuel, contain significant amounts of mercaptans which may have an impact on the value of these hydrocarbon streams. As a result, such hydrocarbon streams are usually sold at a discount in the market or have to be upgraded to meet product spec. Thus, reducing the mercaptan content could substantially improve both the marketability and the value of such hydrocarbons. Various additives have been employed for the removal of sulfur compounds from hydrocarbon streams (“sweetening” process). Conventional methods in the prior art for removing mercaptans from hydrocarbons typically involve “sweetening,” wherein mercaptans are oxidized to form disulfides. Light mercaptans (C1-C4) may be removed in an aqueous wash in this process but removal of heavy mercaptans (C4+) is less effective due to the poor water solubility of heavy mercaptans. Disulfides which are derived from heavy mercaptans may decompose back to mercaptans at high temperatures, for example, during the distillation process. U.S. Pat. No. 7,914,669 discloses a process to reduce sulfur from liquid hydrocarbon with an agent select from hypochlorites, cyanurates and alkali metal and alkaline earth metal hydroxide. After treatment with an oxidant such as hypochlorite as disclosed in the prior art, the treated crude product may not be suitable for downstream processing with a high inorganic content in the treated crude. Additionally, transportation of fresh bulk chlorine to distant sites for crude treatment (as well as the removal of waste chlorine after treatment) is a major safety concern since the transport of chlorine gas under high pressure can be very hazardous. The transportation of commercial hypochlorite, which is predominantly water, is very expensive due to stringent regulations to prevent accidental releases. There is still a need for an improved and effective process for the removal of sulfur containing compounds such as mercaptans from crudes. There is further a need for an integrated system for the removal of mercaptans with minimal chlorite to waste treatment.

A teletext decoder of the type defined in the opening paragraph is described in Steve A. Money, Teletext and Viewdata, Butterworth & Co Ltd, 1979, pages 35-45. In teletext transmission it is customary to protect a portion of the teletext information from transmission errors by adding a (n-k)-bit Hamming code to k data bits by means of Hamming coding. This provides n-bit code sequences in which the occurrence of one bit error can be corrected and the occurrence of two bit errors can be detected. To that end the error detection and correction circuit of the known teletext decoder is preceded by a series-parallel converter in order to enable the simultaneous processing of the n-bits of a received code sequence. In the prior art circuit predetermined bits of the code sequence are simultaneously applied to as many (n-k)parallel modulo-2 adders as there are protection bits in a code sequence. For that purpose the predetermined bits are branched off by means of a wiring network from the corresponding output of the series-parallel converter. The outputs of the modulo-2 adders form a (n-k)-bit syndrome word which indicates the presence and position of a bit error in an encoded form. The syndrome word is decoded by a network which in response thereto generates a parallel k-bit correction signal whose individual bits are applied in parallel to k exclusive-OR gates. These exclusive-OR gates, denoted controlled inverters in the sequence of this description, each receive a data bit from the series-parallel converter and thereafter apply possibly inverted data bits to the page acquisition and page memory circuit of the teletext decoder. With the prior art teletext decoder the corrected data bits are processed in parallel. This processing operation includes inter alia the storage of teletext information in a memory which for that purpose is in the form of a 8-bit wide static memory. However, in contempory teletext decoders, for reasons of cost price, the use of 1-bit wide dynamic memories is preferred. Moreover it is useful to incorporate a teletext decoder in two integrated circuits (IC's), an acquisition IC and a display IC with integrated memory, the latter IC optionally being separately suitable for the display of so-called On-Screen-Display images. With such a split-up of the teletext decoder a lowest possible amount of parallel connection wires between the two IC's is the aim. Consequently, it is advisable to convey the data signal serially again after error correction. It is then inconvenient to use, only for the purpose of error detection and correction, series-parallel conversion and to serialize thereafter the corrected data. Furthermore the error detection and correction circuit in the prior art teletext decoder is fully structured as a combinatorial network, which has the disadvantage that on integration in an IC a relatively large portion of the chip surface is occupied by the large number of parallel connection conductors which require much space. The previously mentioned wiring network in particularly was found to occupy much space.

1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to warming fluids, and in particular, to warming IV fluid solution bags for use in the medical field. The present invention uses a safe and unique apparatus to heat and store a plurality of IV bags at the locations where they are to be used. 2. Description of the Prior Art The availability of a reliable and convenient source of warm (105.degree. F./40.degree. C.) intravenous fluid solution is important in medical applications and more particularly in an operating environment where large quantities of IV fluids may be necessary. Systems found in the prior art often require depletion of the self-contained sterilized IV fluid bag/container to heat the fluid. Removal of the fluid introduces unnecessary risk (i.e., contamination) and fails to provide for a regulated supply which is simple to use and is a convenient source of warmed IV fluid solutions. These prior art systems often require large and complex devices requiring a circulation unit to withdraw the fluid from a bag or other storage container. The removed fluids are then distributed across or through a variety of heating sources and returned to a separate container. Examples of such prior art systems may be found in the following U.S. Pat. Nos. to Rosner (4,678,460), Ogawa (4,293,762), Le Boeuf (4,309,592), Kurucz (4,844,074), van Leerdam (4,906,816) and Jewett (4,464,563). Each of the above cited patents show systems where removing the fluid is essential for proper heating. Prior art references directed to heating a fluid without removal of the fluid are detailed below. Each of the references fail to provide for a configuration similar to that of the present invention. The U.S. Pat. No. to White (4,936,336) is an apparatus and method for the warming of intravenous equipment consisting of an insulated wrap material having a removable and reusable heat pack. This reference fails to provide for a regulated source of heat integrated within a cabinet structure. To provide for a reliable heating source requires strict attention to temperature changes and distribution thereof. The heating source of White is a heat pack which does not maintain a specified thermal transfer ratio throughout the heating cycle and must be reheated and replaced each time heating is to take place. White is also limited to, at the most, two intravenous bags and has no provisions for adding additional bags. This becomes a problem in the operating room environment where a large quantity of heated bags are needed. The U.S. Pat. Nos. to Nicholas Marchiani Chatelain et al. (4,874,033) and Auerbach (4,801,777) are directed to methods and apparatuses for heating blood products. Both of these references require the submerging of a blood bag in water which is then heated by some means. Applicant's invention is not directed to heating blood products and further requires no source of water to operate. The requirement of providing a water source limits these devices to locations to where an immediate source of water is available. Applicant's instant invention can be used anywhere. The invention also is more convenient as no fluids other than the fluid to be heated are introduced into the system. The U.S. Pat. No. to Coffey (4,657,004) is a mobile livestock intensive care unit having a temperature controlled fluid/medicine chamber. This reference fails to provide for applicant's specific heating cabinet structure and associated electronics.

1. Field of the Invention This invention relates to the art of manufacturing clarifiers or settling tanks and particularly deals with travelling bridge clarifiers easily and quickly assembled at the use site on a concrete basin from pre-fabricated components and sub-assemblies forming compact bundles fitting on a conventional size truck for over the road shipment to the use site. 2. Prior Art Travelling bridge clarifiers or settling tanks are generally too large to be shipped in assembled form and have been erected at the use site requiring services of skilled builders for a prolonged time period frequently under unsatisfactory weather conditions all contributing to large expense and delays. Travelling bridge clarifiers of the type disclosed and claimed in our U.S. Pat. No. 4,193,871 issued Mar. 18, 1980 may be 15 to 25 feet in width, 40 to 75 feet in length, and 6 to 10 feet in depth, thus preventing over the road shipment of complete assembled units. Further the metal tank of the clarifier required heavy steel sheets and beams adding to shipment costs and installation problems. It would, therefore, be an improvement in the art to produce clarifiers with concrete basins which are poured at the use site and pre-fabricated sub-assemblies and interfitting components small enough to be compactly packed and shipped on a conventional size flat bed truck and then easily and quickly assembled on top of the concrete basin.

The invention relates to closures for fluid containers, and in particular to a safety locking closure assembly resistant to unauthorized opening by a child.

1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method of fabricating a strained silicon channel metal oxide semiconductor (MOS) transistor, and more particularly, to a method of fabricating a strained silicon channel MOS transistor by using a mask layer to avoid the defects resulting from etching the recesses and the selective epitaxial growth (SEG) process in the prior art. 2. Description of the Prior Art The selective epitaxial growth (SEG) process is widely applied in manufacturing numerous kinds of semiconductor devices, such as complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) transistors having raised source/drain regions and strained silicon channel CMOS transistors. The SEG process is used to form an epitaxial layer on a single-crystalline substrate, in which the crystalline orientation of the epitaxial layer is almost identical to that of the substrate. Please refer to FIG. 1 to FIG. 3. FIG. 1 to FIG. 3 shows the strained silicon channel CMOS transistors fabricating process by using the SEG process. As shown in FIG. 1, a semiconductor substrate 100 such as a silicon substrate is provided first and the semiconductor substrate 100 has a first active area 102, a second active area 104, and a shallow isolation trench (STI) 106 positioned between the first active area 102 and the second active area 104, and then a first gate structure 112 and a second gate structure 114 are formed on the semiconductor substrate 100. A cap layer 116 is formed on the first gate structure 112, the second gate structure 114, and the semiconductor substrate 100, and a photoresist layer 117 is formed on the cap layer 116 above the second active area 104 and a portion of the STI 106, wherein the thickness of the cap layer 116 is about 500 to 600 angstroms. The first gate structure 112 includes a first gate oxide layer 118, a first gate 120 positioned on the first gate oxide layer 118, a silicon nitride layer 122 positioned on the first gate 120, and a first spacer 124, and the second gate structure 114 includes a second gate oxide layer 128, a second gate 130 positioned on the second gate oxide layer 128, a silicon nitride layer 132 positioned on the second gate 130, and a second spacer 134. In general, the first gate oxide layer 118 and the second gate oxide layer 128 are composed of silicon dioxide (SiO2), and the first gate 120 and the second gate 130 are composed of doped polysilicon. The silicon nitride layer 122 and 132 are used to protect the first gate 120 and the second gate 130 respectively. As shown in FIG. 2, the first gate structure 112 and the photoresist layer 117 are used as an etching mask to perform an etching process in order to form two recesses 140 within the first active area 102 uncovered by the first gate structure 112, and then the photoresist layer 117 is removed. Next, as shown in FIG. 3, after a pre-cleaning step is carried out for the first active area 102 of the semiconductor substrate 100, a SEG process is carried out to form an epitaxial layer 142 composed of SiGe in the recesses 140 respectively as SiGe source/drain. A photoresist layer is formed on the second active area 104. Please note that when performing the etching process and the pre-cleaning step for the recesses 140, the etching gas and cleaning liquid such as diluted HF (DHF), will etch the corners of silicon nitride layer 122 and a portion of the first gate 120 is exposed, as shown in FIG. 2. The SEG process, which is carried out later, will form SiGe bumps 144 on the exposed portion of the first gate 120. Please refer to FIG. 3 and FIG. 4, wherein FIG. 3 is a schematic, cross-sectional diagram, and FIG. 4 is a photograph in reality. This defect will result in spacer leakage current or short problems, and the follow-up processes will be much more difficult. For example, when fabricating the contact plugs of the source/drain regions, the SiGe bumps might contact the contact plugs and become short, i.e. the contact plug process is affected by the SiGe bumps, and the yield is also affected badly.

This invention relates to a gas discharge plasma device wherein an ionizable gas is confined within an enclosure and is subjected to sufficient voltage(s) to cause the gas to discharge. This invention particularly relates to the use of hollow microspheres containing ionizable gas in a plasma display panel (PDP). In a gas discharge plasma display, a single addressable picture element is a cell, sometimes referred to as a pixel. The cell or pixel element is defined by two or more electrodes positioned in such a way, so as to provide a voltage potential across a gap containing an ionizable gas. When sufficient voltage is applied across the gap, the gas discharges and produces light. In an AC gas discharge plasma display, the electrodes at a cell site are coated with a dielectric and insulated from the gas. In a DC gas discharge display, one or more electrodes is in direct contact with the gas. The electrodes are generally grouped in a matrix configuration to allow for selective addressing of each cell or pixel. To form a display image, several types of voltage pulses may be applied across a plasma display cell gap. These pulses include a write pulse, which is the voltage potential sufficient to ionize the gas at the pixel site. A write pulse is selectively applied across selected cell sites. Sustain pulses are a series of pulses that produce a voltage potential across pixels to maintain ionization of cells previously ionized. An erase pulse is used to selectively extinguish ionized pixels. The voltage at which a pixel will ionize, sustain, and erase depends on a number of factors including the distance between the electrodes, the composition of the ionizing gas, and the pressure of the ionizing gas. Also of importance is the dielectric composition and thickness. To maintain uniform electrical characteristics throughout the display it is desired that the various physical parameters adhere to required tolerances. Maintaining the required tolerance depends on cell geometry, fabrication methods, and the materials used. The prior art discloses a variety of plasma display structures, a variety of methods of construction, and a variety of materials. Examples of AC gas discharge (plasma) devices contemplated in the practice of this invention include both monochrome (single color) AC plasma displays and multicolor (two or more colors) AC plasma displays. Examples of monochrome AC gas discharge (plasma) displays contemplated in the practice of this invention are well known in the prior art and include those disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,559,190 (Bitzer et al.), 3,499,167 (Baker et al.), 3,860,846 (Mayer), 3,964,050 (Mayer), 4,080,597 (Mayer), 3,646,384 (Lay), and 4,126,807 (Wedding), all incorporated herein by reference. Examples of multicolor AC plasma displays contemplated in the practice of this invention are well known in the prior art and include those disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,233,623 (Pavliscak), 4,320,418 (Pavliscak), 4,827,186 (Knauer et al.), 5,661,500 (Shinoda et al.), 5,674,553 (Shinoda et al.), 5,107,182 (Sano et al.), 5,182,489 (Sano), 5,075,597 (Salavin et al.), 5,742,122 (Amemiya et al.), 5,640,068 (Amemiya et al.), 5,736,815 (Amemiya), 5,541,479 (Nagakubi), 5,745,086 (Weber), and 5,793,158 (Wedding), all incorporated herein by reference. In addition, this invention may be practiced in a DC gas discharge (plasma) display, for example as disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,886,390 (Maloney et al.), 3,886,404 (Kurahashi et al.), 4,035,689 (Ogle et al.), and 4,532,505 (Holz et al.), all incorporated herein by reference. In the practice of this invention, the microspheres may be used with any plasma display panel (PDP) structure. The PDP industry has used two different AC plasma display panel (PDP) structures, the two-electrode columnar discharge structure and the three-electrode surface discharge structure. The two-electrode columnar discharge display structure is disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,499,167 (Baker et al.) and 3,559,190 (Bitzer et al.) The two-electrode columnar discharge is also referred to as opposing electrode discharge, twin substrate discharge, or co-planar discharge. In the two-electrode columnar discharge AC plasma display structure, the sustaining voltage is continuously applied between an electrode on a rear or bottom substrate and an opposite electrode on the front or top viewing substrate. The gas discharge takes place between the two opposing electrodes in between the top viewing substrate and the bottom substrate. The columnar discharge structure has been widely used in monochrome AC plasma displays that emit orange or red light from a neon gas discharge. Luminescent substances such as phosphors may be used in a monochrome structure to obtain a color other than neon orange. In a multicolor PDP, two or more different luminescent substances such as phosphors are used. In a multicolor columnar discharge (PDP) structure as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,793,158 (Wedding), phosphor stripes or layers are deposited along the barrier walls and/or on the bottom substrate adjacent to and extending in the same direction as the bottom electrode. The discharge between the two opposite electrodes generates electrons and ions that bombard and deteriorate the phosphor thereby shortening the life of the phosphor and the PDP. Wedding ('158) teaches the use of phosphor overcoats to protect the phosphor from electron/ion bombardment and extend life. In a two electrode columnar discharge PDP as disclosed by Wedding ('158), each light-emitting pixel is defined by a gas discharge between a bottom or rear electrode x and a top or front opposite electrode y, each cross-over of the two opposing arrays of bottom electrodes x and top electrodes y defining a pixel or cell. The three-electrode multicolor surface discharge AC plasma panel structure is widely disclosed in the prior art including U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,661,500 (Shinoda et al.), 5,674,553 (Shinoda et al.), and 5,736,815 (Amemiya), all are incorporated herein by reference. In a surface discharge PDP, each light-emitting pixel or cell is defined by the gas discharge between two electrodes on the top substrate. In a multicolor RGB display, the pixels may be called sub-pixels or sub-cells. Photons from the discharge of an ionizable gas at each pixel or sub-pixel excite a luminescent substance such as photoluminescent phosphor that emits red, blue, or green light. In a three-electrode surface discharge AC plasma display, a sustaining voltage is applied between a pair of adjacent parallel electrodes that are on the front or top viewing substrate. These parallel electrodes are called the bulk sustain electrode and the row scan electrode. The row scan electrode is also called a row sustain electrode because of its dual functions of address and sustain. The opposing electrode on the rear or bottom substrate is a column data electrode and is used to periodically address a row scan electrode on the top substrate. The sustaining voltage is applied to the bulk sustain and row scan electrodes on the top substrate. The gas discharge takes place between the row scan and bulk sustain electrodes on the top viewing substrate. In a three-electrode surface discharge AC plasma display color panel containing phosphor, the sustaining voltage and resulting gas discharge occurs between the electrode pairs on the top or front viewing substrate above and remote from the phosphor on the bottom substrate. This separation of the discharge from the phosphor minimizes electron bombardment and deterioration of the phosphor deposited on the walls of the barriers or in the grooves (or channels) on the bottom substrate adjacent to and/or over the third (data) electrode. Because the phosphor is spaced from the discharge between the two electrodes on the top substrate, the phosphor is subject to less electron bombardment than in a columnar discharge PDP. This invention may be practiced with an AC and/or DC plasma display panel structure having two opposing substrates. It may also be practiced in an AC and/or DC monolithic plasma display panel structure having one substrate with or without a top or front viewing envelope or dome. Single-substrate or monolithic plasma display panel structures are disclosed by U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,860,846 (Mayer), 3,964,050 (Mayer), and 3,646,384 (Lay), all cited above and incorporated herein by reference. Each microsphere may be positioned on the surface of the single substrate or within a substrate cavity, well, or hollow. The microsphere may be in electrical contact with 2, 3, or more electrodes. In one embodiment of this invention, the microspheres are positioned on the surface of or within a single-substrate or monolithic gas discharge structure that has a flexible or bendable substrate. The practice of this invention is not limited to flat surface displays. The microspheres may be positioned or located on a conformal surface of a substrate so as to conform to a predetermined shape such as a curved surface, round shape, or multiple sides.

1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to parental control of access to information from a computer system, for example, using a wireless telecommunications network wherein information relating to a communication device is stored and processed. 2. Background of the Invention Typical wireless networks allow for two way telecommunications between multiple users utilizing communication devices, such as handsets or PDAs communicating with at least one base station. Advances in wireless telecommunications will soon provide a user location feature by locating a wireless communication device, for example, during an emergency. Such a feature typically utilizes a Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) system which has the capability of tracking the movements of each specific wireless communication device, such as a cellular telephone handset or PDA and its user. As GPS technology improves, the specific location of the cellular telephone handset and its user will be accurate within a few feet, or even less.

The present invention deals with a garment. More specifically, the present invention deals with a garment that is provided with a handle that can be used to train a person in the use of such things as bicycles, in-line roller skates, roller skates, skateboards, etc. To date, children the world over have learned to ride a bicycle by what is essentially a two step process. In the first step, on either a tricycle, or bicycle with training wheels, the child masters the bio-mechanics of peddling and steering through generally unsupervised trial and error. In the second step, the child is aided by an adult, parent or older sibling who then takes over, in lieu of the training wheels, responsibility for holding the bicycle upright. Few children are able to ride unassisted immediately after having their training wheels removed. Thus, it is clear that having the bicycle held upright for them, either by training wheels or by the hand of the parent or adult instructor, does precious little to facilitate the child's learning to maintain the bicycle in balance beneath them, while posing in the case of the latter unnecessary risk of injury to both the child and the adult instructor or trainer. Accordingly, several guidance apparatus have been developed with the aim of permitting a trainer to control the balance of an inexperienced rider during training. Of these, most are designed to be attached in some way to the bicycle itself. While the majority of those apparatus do serve to minimize the aforementioned risk to the child student and their adult instructor, each serves (much like training wheels) as mere means by which to hold the bicycle up, independent of the child student, the intended subject of the instruction. Also, invariably, assembly by the end user is required for these apparatus. Alternately, there seem to be few prior devices which aim simultaneously to expedite the training of a child by an adult to maintain balance on a bicycle, while reducing the risk of strain or injury to the child or the adult trainer during the course of instruction by means of supporting the child independent of the bicycle. These, prior devices generally either fail to offer the adult/instructor adequate positive lateral control over the child student, or they fail to provide adequate safety advantages to render the devices either effective, or commercially viable. Of the first and largest group, those training aides designed for attachment to a bicycle, the vast majority vary in small degree and rely on the design of various attachment mechanisms (for which assembly is required). A number of these types of systems are set out in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,488,302 B2; 6,244,612 B1; 6,120,050; 5,395,130; 5,303,944; 5,154,096; 4,903,975; 3,650,544. Of the second group, or general type of bicycle training aids (those designed to support the child student independent of the bicycle), four will be described as being illustrative. The first is set out in U.S. Pat. No. 5,226,820 entitled BICYCLE RIDING TRAINING DEVICE. The device amounts to little more than a length of rope looped around a child's waist and through a sliding handle of sorts held behind the child by the adult/instructor. This device offers the child little or no upper body support in a fall. Further, with no means of preventing the device from sliding around the child's waist, it offers the adult/instructor little or no lateral control over the child by which to guide the child away from impending obstacles or other hazards. Further, this device offers little more commercial viability than that of a length of rope available at any hardware store. The second bicycle training aid is set out in U.S. Pat. No. 5,382,040 entitled BICYCLE TRAINING AID. The device comprises a “body member” or wooden board strapped to a child's back with a pivoting arm or handle mounted to the board perpendicular to the child's mid back. Implementation of the handle itself is ergonomically awkward, placing the hand of the instructor in a compromised position with the thumb over extended atop the horizontal handle. This poses a risk of injury to the instructor's hand, forearm or wrist and further injury to the child under subsequent loss of control on the part of the injured instructor. In the event of a fall, as with the device set out in U.S. Pat. No. 5,226,820, the board and straps of this device include no means of distributing the force of the straps over a broad section of the child's torso and so pose risk of injury to the child, while offering substantially no means for preventing the device from sliding around the child's torso. This reduces the already compromised lateral control offered to the instructor. As for fit, the device appears to be generally uncomfortable, for both the instructor and the child. A third device is set out in U.S. Pat. No. 5,540,188 entitled TODDLER HARNES. This device comprises two padded loops of fabric connected adjacently by means of a “grasping portion” or handle of sorts. With one loop stretched across the child's chest, under the arms and up over the head from behind, and the other stretched across the child's back, under the arms and up over the head from the front. These crisscrossing loops depend on the child keeping his or her arms at their sides lest the whole thing slips off like any shirt when lifted from above by the would-be instructor. Further, held from well above the child's head, grasping hand held at shoulder height, the overlong loops offer the instructor little if any lateral control and generally render the device untenable for its stated alternate purpose as a bicycle training aid. Another device is set out in U.S. Pat. No. 5,634,439 entitled BIKER RIDER BALANCE BELT. The device comprises a wide band of fabric secured about the child/student's upper torso, under the arms, with fabric strap type loops serving as handles in the back. This device, as with those set out in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,226,820 and 5,382,040, offers no means by which to prevent the device from sliding around the child. This, coupled with the undesirable slack in the loop handles renders, negligible the lateral control, safety and overall utility offered by the device. Other devices exist as well. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,074,795 entitled METHOD FOR TEACHING CHILDREN TO SKI, like U.S. Pat. No. 5,634,439, shows essentially a wide torso encircling band with two over-long slack loop handles or “reigns” by which an instructor exercises control over the child student. In addition, US Patent Application Publication Number US 2002/0096858 A1 describes yet another device for attaching a handle to a bicycle.

1. Field of the Invention The invention relates to an improved process for the continuous preparation of .alpha.- and/or .beta.-ionone or homologs of these compounds by cyclizing pseudoionones using concentrated sulfuric acid in the presence of organic solvents or diluents and by diluting the reaction mixture with water. 2. Description of the Background It is known that a mixture of .alpha.- and .beta.-ionones is obtained on cyclization of pseudoionone in the presence of acids such as sulfuric acid or phosphoric acid. The ratio of the amounts in which these compounds are produced depends greatly on the conditions under which the reaction takes place. Since both .alpha.-ionone and .beta.-ionone are of great industrial importance, there has been no lack of attempts to develop a maximally advantageous process for their preparation. Processes for cyclizing pseudoionone with concentrated sulfuric acid have proven particularly suitable. Since this reaction is highly exothermic, it is very important to remove the heat produced in the reaction as quickly as possible in order to avoid local overheating. For this purpose, in the known processes, diluents have been added to the reaction mixture. Thus, for example, DE Patents 10 80 105 and 16 68 505 disclose the use of aliphatic or cycloaliphatic hydrocarbons. The disadvantage of this process is that resins are relatively quickly deposited in the reaction vessels in the procedure described therein, and interfere with continuous operation. According to IN patent 77 225, the reaction is carried out in the presence of aliphatic chlorinated hydrocarbons such as methylene chloride, ethylene dichloride, chloroform and tetrachloromethane at temperatures from -10.degree. C. to +10.degree. C. According to the description in DE-A 15 68 108, this Indian process is disadvantageous because the aliphatic chlorinated hydrocarbons eliminate hydrogen chloride with sulfuric acid, leading within a short time to corrosion of the apparatus used. To avoid these disadvantages, it is recommended to carry out the cyclization at -25.degree. C. to +10.degree. C. in a mixture of low-boiling hydrocarbons and chlorinated hydrocarbons. The disadvantage of the two last-mentioned processes is that the reaction temperature must be kept low with costly coolants in order to obtain good ionone yields. Further known processes entail removing the considerable heat of cyclization by evaporative cooling with liquid gases. Thus, liquid sulfur dioxyde [sic] is used in the process of DE patent 16 68 496, propane, butane or isobutane is used in the process of DE patent 16 68 505, and methyl chloride is used in the process of DE patent 19 17 132, at temperatures from -25.degree. C. to room temperature, preferably temperatures below +10.degree. C. The results obtained in these processes are generally quite good. The disadvantage thereof is the large expenditure necessary for reliquefying the gas vaporized in the reaction. Further processes for preparing .beta.-ionone are disclosed in CS patent 179 046, SU patent 458 540 and SU patent 547 445, wherein thorough mixing of the reactants and rapid removal of heat are achieved by using a thin film reactor. The disadvantage of the two last-mentioned processes is that only about 3 to 6 kg of .beta.-ionone are obtained per m.sup.2 of thin film area and hour, and thus transfer to the industrial scale would result in enormous apparatus. The disadvantage of the process in the Czech patent is that temperatures between 10 and 15.degree. C. must be used to obtain good yields, which makes costly coolants necessary once again. In all the known processes there is always formation of a mixture of .alpha.- and .beta.-ionones. According to DE patents 10 80 105, 16 68 496 and 16 68 505, .beta.-ionone is preferentially obtained at reaction temperatures from -20 to 0.degree. C., while the .alpha.-ionone content increases at temperatures from -10 to 25.degree. C. In addition, EP 133 668 discloses a process for the continuous preparation of ionones, in which the pseudoionone is mixed with concentrated sulfuric acid, in a hydrocarbon which boils at 25 to 65.degree. C. under the reaction conditions, with vigorous mixing and evaporative cooling by partial or complete vaporization of the solvent, in such a way that the temperature of the reaction mixture is between 25 and 65.degree. C., and the residence time until the reaction mixture is diluted with water is 0.05 to 20 seconds. The disadvantage of this process, which functions very well in small systems, is that difficulties arise on transfer to the industrial scale. Finally, EP 628 544 A1 discloses a process for preparing .beta.-ionone by sulfuric acid-catalyzed cyclization of pseudoionone in a two-phase solvent system consisting of concentrated sulfuric acid and a second solvent which is essentially immiscible with water, where liquid carbon dioxide under pressure is used as second solvent. The disadvantages of this process are that very high pressures and rather low temperatures must be used, and that the complexity of the apparatus for carrying out the process is considerable. .beta.-Ionone is an essential precursor for the industrial preparation of vitamin A. In this case, a high content of .alpha.-ionone reduces the yield. Pure .alpha.-ionone and alkyl-substituted ionones are, on the other hand, in demand as fragrances in which a high content of .beta.-ionone would have an interfering effect.

Conventional C-arm X-ray imaging systems acquire images along planar paths having a 3-dimensional acquisition axis. The 3-dimensional acquisition axis is the axis about which the x-ray source and radiation detector, held in fixed geometry by the C-arm, rotate. An examination subject being x-rayed by a conventional imaging system may have highly dense, radio-opaque objects (e.g. dental fillings, aneurysm clips or stents, screws, plates, etc.) disposed at various points through his/her body. These radio-opaque objects may include metals or other dense materials. When attempting to capture an image of an area of an examination subject's anatomy proximate the radio-opaque object(s), high x-ray absorption and deflection or scatter of the x-rays is directed at these objects. The deflected and scattered x-rays are picked up by the radiation detector at various locations other than their anticipated path from the source to the radiation detector. When the x-rays are deflected and strike the radiation detector, added noise is introduced into the x-ray image data. While some absorption and scatter is expected, the increased or complete absorption due to the presence of highly dense objects in the subject being imaged will result in artifact(s) obscuring the surrounding anatomy that is of interest. These artifact(s) include at least one of beam hardening artifacts and scatter artifacts. Beam hardening artifacts arise when x-rays are completely blocked from reaching the radiation detector due to the presence of highly dense objects. The presence of beam hardening artifacts produces streaking in the x-ray images. Scatter artifact occurs when dense objects deflect the x-rays and redirect them in different directions. When the x-rays strike the radiation detector, artifacts will result which effect image quality of the x-ray images. These artifact(s) created by the presence of metal or similarly dense radio opaque objects within the examination subject being x-rayed are hereinafter referred to as “metal artifacts.” These metal artifacts degrade the quality of the 3-dimensional image to be constructed. These metal artifacts are manifested in the 3-dimensional image as lines emanating from and extending radially away from the object. The metal artifacts raise the intensity value of voxels (a combination of the words volumetric and pixels) along these lines with a maximum increase in intensity proximal to the object and decreasing intensity moving away from the object. The term voxel refers to a volume element in 3-dimensional space. A voxel in 3-dimensional space is analogous to a pixel in 2-dimensional space. The metal artifacts are worst along the path of the x-ray beams as they pass through the radio-opaque object(s). By nature of conventional scanning geometry (rotation of the source and detector within a single plane) the metal artifacts are most prominent and create the most effects adjacent to the radio-opaque object and in the plane of rotation—within the acquisition plane. This means that metal artifacts in the 3-dimensional (CT) image are fixed and are largely constrained to the planes containing the radio-opaque object generating the metal artifacts and perpendicular to the 3-dimensional acquisition axis. The 3-dimensional acquisition axis is the axis about which the x-ray source and radiation detector rotate. If the region of interest in the examination subject happens to lie adjacent to the radio-opaque object and in a direction perpendicular to the 3-dimensional acquisition axis, the metal artifacts in the image significantly degrade and even preclude an accurate diagnosis of the region of interest when the images are acquired along a planar path. A path, as used hereinafter, refers to the route along which the image acquisition system travels. A planar path refers to a path along a single plane. FIGS. 2 and 3 illustrate the planar 3-dimensional acquisition problem caused by metal artifacts introduced by a radio-opaque object inside the examination subject along a single plane. The planar 3-dimensional path is defined by the rotation of the x-ray source and radiation detector about a single, fixed rotation axis 204. Metal artifacts 201 are formed by a previously-implanted platinum coil, which has been implanted in the examination subject being imaged in order to treat an aneurysm. The platinum coil mass 202 is located in close proximity to a vessel, which contains a stenosis 205. It is desirable to obtain a 3-dimensional constructed image of the examination subject that accurately depicts the vessel containing the stenosis 205 along with its location with respect to the coil mass 202 and other anatomy. This image is used to quantify the stenosis 205 and evaluate treatment options (e.g. angioplasty, stenting or stenting with angioplasty). However, metal artifacts 201 produced in a constructed 3-dimensional image taken along a planar path obscures the stenosis 205. The effects of the metal artifacts are worst and degrade the image most in the path of the x-ray beam and adjacent to the radio-opaque object(s) causing the metal artifacts. FIG. 3 further shows the effects of metal artifacts 301 each time the x-ray imaging system is rotated and image data is acquired. FIGS. 2 and 3 show a situation where the axis of rotation is perpendicular to the image (e.g. coming out of the image toward the reader). In this arrangement, the metal artifacts branch out from a fan beam 203 in FIGS. 2 and 3. In the planar acquisition situation, as depicted in FIGS. 2 and 3, the number of projections that contain metal artifacts for areas around the radio-opaque object greatly outnumbers the number of projections that do not contain metal artifacts. When the ratio of the number of projections that contain metal artifacts to those that do not is high, more metal artifacts are present in the constructed image. Metal artifact is sometimes moved away from a region of interest by changing the anatomical geometry of the examination subject with respect to the acquisition axis. For example, if an examination subject has dental fillings the examination subject is moved with relation to the scanner by tilting the head to shift metal artifacts created from dental fillings away from a particular region of interest (e.g. skull base or carotid arteries). However, moving the examination subject may not always be viable as it is not always possible to reorient the examination subject's anatomy with respect to the table support. Tilting the examination subject's head is hindered by the presence of a breathing tube or is precluded by a need to maintain examination subject's current positioning. In computed tomography (CT) scanners the rotation plane is titled with respect to the examination subject (by applying a gantry tilt in a cranial or caudal direction), allowing the metal artifacts to be shifted without moving the examination subject. A “cranial” direction of movement is movement from the patient's middle toward the patient's head, while a “caudal” direction of movement is a movement from the patient's middle toward the patient's feet. Known C-arm X-ray imaging systems acquire 3-dimensional images by rotating the source and detector (fixed in geometric relationship by the C-arm) of the imaging system about a system specified acquisition axis. This rotation about a single acquisition axis forces a beam axis to be contained in a single plane, throughout the movement of the C-arm. This acquisition geometry places the majority of metal artifact adjacent to the artifact generating object and within planes in the reconstructed image that are parallel to the acquisition plane (perpendicular the acquisition axis). As seen in FIGS. 2 and 3, metal artifact can negatively affect the readability and diagnostic value of the acquired images and, by virtue of the mechanism by which the imaging data is acquired, the metal artifact is focused in the acquisition plane. Additionally, a great deal of effort has been spent improving the quality of 3-dimensional images that contain metal artifacts, by attempting to improve the quality of the data within the signals acquired. However, solutions that shift metal artifacts within the image do not reduce the overall effect of the metal artifacts in the image because the image data is acquired along a planar path. Image data acquired along a planar path will still contain the effects of metal artifacts. Several post processing techniques to reduce the overall effect of metal artifacts have been made. The main disadvantage of post processing techniques to reduce overall effects of the metal artifacts is that the metal artifacts exist in the image data acquired. There is a need to reduce the overall effects of the metal artifacts present in the image data acquired. A system according to invention principles addresses these deficiencies and related problems.

1. Field of the Invention This invention relates to catalysts for chemiluminescent systems. More particularly, this invention relates to catalysts for two component chemiluminescent systems wherein one component is a hydrogen peroxide component and the other component is an oxalate ester-fluorescer component. 2. Description of the Prior Art Two component chemiluminescent systems which utilizes a reaction mixture of a hydrogen peroxide component and an oxalate ester-fluorescer component to produce light are well known. In such systems a solution of hydrogen peroxide in dimethyl phthalate or a mixture of dimethyl phthalate and t-butyl alcohol and a solution of an oxalate ester such as bis(2,4,5-trichlorocarbobutoxyphenyl) oxlate, and a fluorescer, for example 9,10-diphenyl anthracene, in a solvent such as dibutyl phthalate are mixed and allowed to react whereupon light is produced. In two component chemiluminescent systems of the type described, a catalyst is generally included as part of the hydrogen peroxide component. Many catalysts have been tried. Of the catalysts tried, sodium salicylate and various tetraalkylamminoum salicylates have been the most widely used. Sodium salicylate and tetraalkylammonium salicylates are excellent catalysts for chemiluminescent systems of the type described. However, they have certain disadvantages. First, they are not highly soluble in mixtures of dimethyl phthalate and t-butyl alcohol which are the most commonly used solvents for the hydrogen peroxide component. Because of their relatively low solubility, systems which will produce short duration high intensity light cannot be produced. Short duration, high intensity light systems require fairly large concentrations of catalyst. Second, even at relatively low concentrations, sodium salicylate and the tetraalkylammonium salicylates tend to precipitate out of dimethyl phthalate and mixtures of dimethyl phthalate and t-butyl alcohol at low temperatures. This is obviously undesirable when one realizes that chemiluminescent devices may be required to operate at low temperatures.

In an uplink for LTE-Advanced, which is a developed version of 3GPP LTE (3rd Generation Partnership Project Long Term Evolution), support for transmission by a terminal using multiple antennas (SU-MIMO: single user-multiple input multiple output) is being studied. The SU-MIMO is a technique in which one terminal transmits data signal of the same frequency at the same time from multiple antenna ports and spatial-multiplexes data signals using a virtual communication path (stream) in space. In order to improve communication performance by SU-MIMO, a base station must know the status of a propagation path (channel) from each antenna of a terminal using a sounding reference signal, one of the reference signals (hereinafter referred to as “sounding reference signal (SRS)”). Thus, the terminal must transmit an SRS from each antenna. “Sounding” refers to estimation of the quality of a propagation path between a terminal and a base station. The SRS in the LTE is time-multiplexed with data, i.e. the symbol at the tail end of a subframe and transmitted to estimate the channel quality of an uplink data channel. In LTE, because a terminal has one transmission antenna, the terminal transmits one SRS from the antenna. On the other hand, in LTE-Advanced, because a terminal has N antennas, overhead for SRS transmission may increase to N times, causing shortage of domains for SRS. In order to increase the number of SRSs that can be transmitted in a cell every unit time, i.e. enhance the SRS capacity, a known method uses a code resource for reference signals for data demodulation (hereinafter referred to as “demodulation reference signal (DMRS)”) (see NPL 1). NPL 1 discloses a base station that uses scheduling information for uplink (also referred to as an UL grant) to instruct a terminal to transmit SRS. An SRS for which transmission is prompted by scheduling information transmitted from a base station is called “scheduled SRS”. FIG. 1 shows information reported by an UL grant that gives an instruction on transmission of a data signal in LTE. The UL grant contains predetermined numbers of bits, each indicating a piece of information such as a frequency hopping flag (FH flag) that indicates the presence or absence of frequency hopping between slots and the amount of cyclic shift for DMRS (hereinafter referred to as “amount of CS (cyclic shift for DMRS)”). Upon receiving the instruction on SRS transmission contained in an UL grant from a base station, a terminal transmits an SRS using the single carrier-frequency division multiple access (SC-FDMA) symbol in the physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) in which a DMRS is to be assigned. A DMRS is transmitted using the symbol at the center in each slot of one subframe, as shown in FIG. 2, the subframe being consisting of two slots and being a scheduling unit of data signal. A DMRS and an SRS are signals using a cyclic shift sequence having the same sequence (ZC (Zadoff-Chu) sequence) cyclic-shifted. Hence, an SRS can be code-multiplexed in the same band as a DMRS using the amount of CS that is different from that for DMRS. In the LTE specification, an SRS is transmitted using only the symbol at the tail end of one subframe. NPL 1 discloses transmission of SRS using the symbol at the center of a slot (position of the symbol for DMRS) in addition to the symbol at the tail end of one subframe, thus enhancing the SRS capacity. Here, the FH flag contained in the UL grant for DMRS can also be applied to the scheduled SRS. That is, in the case where the Fit flag indicates that FH will be performed (“with FH”), there is an advantage that the channel quality can be measured for a plurality of bands because SRSs can be transmitted in two bands of slots 1 and 2. On the other hand, in the case where the FH flag indicates that FH will not be performed (“without FH”), there is an advantage that SRSs can be equalized in the same band of slot 1 and slot 2 and an influence of interference can be reduced (randomized). Furthermore, multiplication of the Walsh sequence with SRSs in the same band of slot 1 and slot 2 has another advantage in that an SRS can be multiplexed with DMRS in a different bandwidth.

In electrophotography, known processes for converting an electrostatic latent image formed on a photoconductive photoreceptor or the like into a visible image with a toner include, for example, magnetic brush development, cascade development and powder cloud development. Toners for use in these development processes are generally mixtures of a thermoplastic resin and a colorant. The toner image formed on a photoconductive photoreceptor or the like by the above or other development processes is transferred to a support such as paper and fixed thereto by pressing and/or heating. With the recent increasing requirement to provide higher image quality in copies, various improvements have been tried to make in both copiers and developers. In particular, a technique frequently used for improving image quality is to employ a toner having a reduced average particle diameter. The use of a toner having a reduced average particle diameter is an effective means for improving image quality. However, this technique is disadvantageous in that triboelectric charging amount is enhanced, resulting in difficulties in obtaining a desired color density, and that the amount of charges which the toner can have per particle decreases, resulting in blurring. Various limitations are hence imposed on the use thereof. Employed for improving the developing ability are, e.g., a technique of using a carrier having a reduced diameter so as to have an enlarged chargeable surface area and/or a reduced electrical resistance or a technique for development in which toner particles are flown by means of an AC electric field. These techniques are effective in enabling toners having a high-triboelectric charging amount and a small diameter to have a highly improved developing ability and to satisfactorily ensure a maximum color density in solid parts of from 1.5 to 1.9. With respect to the line density in images having a width of from 150 to 500 .mu.m, the above described conventional techniques are capable of ensuring a line density of 1.0 or higher to enable line or character images made up of such thin lines to be clearly recognizable. However, the conventional techniques described above have the following problems. In the reproduction of lines or characters (6 to 8 points) having a line width of 100 .mu.m, which reproduction is recently required to attain further higher image quality in terms of line density and character image density, the reproduced line or character images have a image density of 1.0 or lower and are hence light and unclear. Even when it is attempted to form black toner particles in two or more layers so as to form a thin line having a high image density, the resulting black toner particles are only formed in almost a single layer. This is because the electrostatic latent images on the photoreceptor which correspond to the thin lines have a smaller charge amount unlike solid parts. If the content of carbon black as a colorant is increased in order to obtain a high density, use of the resulting black toner for development in an AC electric field poses a problem that blurring is caused by charge injection due to combinations of the black toner containing a large proportion of carbon black and having a low electrical resistance with a carrier having a low electrical resistance, resulting in image defects. Furthermore, if an electrostatic latent image corresponding to thin lines or small characters (6 to 8 points) having a line width of 100 .mu.m is formed on a photoreceptor in such a manner that the resulting image has a line width larger than 100 .mu.m in order to heighten only the image density of these lines and characters, there are problems, for example, that the resulting images are deformed although a heightened image density is obtained. In this method, repeated copying operations result in an increase in the line widths of both the thin lines and the characters.

When carbon black is incorporated in a room temperature vulcanizable composition such as described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,111,890 to Getson et al, the resultant composition is thixotropic, but exhibits poor shelf-life. Moreover, when the composition is cured in atmospheric moisture, the surface cure appears to be incomplete and the carbon black can be easily transferred (rubbed-off) from the surface of the cured composition. However, it has been found that when the carbon black is treated with a hydrophobic agent, a thixotropic composition is obtained which upon curing to an elastomeric solid is resistant to the transfer (rub-off) of carbon black from the cured surface. Furthermore, it has been found that the resultant composition exhibits better shelf stability over longer periods of time. Therefore it is an object of this invention to provide a room temperature vulcanizable composition which is thixotropic and has non-slump properties. Another object of this invention is to provide a room temperature vulcanizable composition containing carbon black which is substantially free of carbon black rub-off from the cured surface. A further object of this invention is to provide a method for incorporating carbon black into a room temperature vulcanizable composition without inhibiting the surface cure of the composition. A still further object of this invention is to provide a method of incorporating carbon black into a room temperature vulcanizable composition and eliminate rub-off of the carbon black from the cured surface.

Power tools including battery operated tools are well-known. These tools typically include an electric motor having an output shaft that is coupled to a spindle for holding a tool. The tool may be a drill bit, sanding disc, a de-burring implement, or the like. The power source may be a battery source such as a Ni-Cad or other rechargeable battery that may be de-coupled from the tool to charge the battery and coupled to the tool to provide power. The power source is coupled to the electric motor through a power switch. The switch includes input electrical contacts for coupling the switch to the power source. Within the switch housing, a moveable member, sometimes called a switch, is coupled to the input electrical contacts and to a wiper of a potentiometer. As the moveable member is pressed against the biasing component of the switch, it causes the input electrical contacts to close and provide current to one terminal of the electric motor and to the wiper of the potentiometer. The moveable member is biased so that the biasing force returns the moveable member to the position where the input electrical contacts are open when the moveable member is released. The current is coupled to a timing signal generator, such as a “555” circuit, through the potentiometer. As the member or trigger continues to be pulled against the biasing force so that the wiper reduces the resistance of the potentiometer from an open circuit to a low resistance or short circuit condition, the level of the current supplied to the timing signal generator increases. The output of the timing signal generator is coupled to the gate of a solid state device, such as a MOSFET. The source and drain of the solid state device are coupled between a second terminal of the electric motor and electrical ground. In response to the timing signal turning the solid state device on and off, the motor is selectively coupled to electrical ground through the solid state device. Thus, as the timing signal enables the solid state device to couple the motor to electrical ground for longer and longer intervals, the current flows through the motor for longer intervals. The longer the motor is coupled to power, the faster the electric motor rotates the output shaft of the motor. Consequently, the tool operator is able to vary the speed of the motor and, correspondingly, the rotational speed of the tool in the spindle by manipulating the trigger for the power switch. The timing signal generated by the timing circuit selectively couples the motor to the power source because it alternates between a logically on-state and a logically off-state. During the logically off-state, the motor is no longer coupled to the power source. The windings in the motor, however, still have current in them. To provide a path for this current, a freewheeling diode is provided across the terminals of the motor. The trigger of the power switch is also coupled to two sets of contacts. One of these contact sets is called the bypass contact set. When the trigger reaches the stop position of its travel against the biasing component, it causes the bypass contacts to close. The closing of the bypass contacts causes the current through the motor to bypass the solid state device and be shunted to electrical ground. This action enables the motor to remain continuously coupled to the power source and reach its maximum speed. The other set of electrical contacts controlled by the switch trigger are the brake contacts. These contacts are closed when the trigger is at the fully biased off position. As the trigger is moved against the biasing force, the brake contacts open. The brake contacts couple one terminal of the electric motor to the other terminal of the motor. In response to the trigger being released from a position that enables power to be supplied to the motor, the brake contacts close to provide a current path through the motor for dynamic braking of the motor. This enables the motor to stop more quickly than if the motor simply coasted to a stop under the effects of friction. While the power switch described above is effective for tool speed control, it suffers from some limitations. Known power switches are limited because of the effect of carrying the battery current through the switch. When the battery current is first applied to the contacts, the current level may be sufficient to cause arcing. Arcing may cause the contacts to become pitted or otherwise damaged. Additionally, large currents also tend to heat the components within the switch. Consequently, the switch may require a heat sink or a larger volume to dissipate heat within the switch. The larger size of the housing for the switch may also impact the design of the tool housing to accommodate the switch geometry. Another factor affecting the geometry or size of the switch housing is the potentiometer that generates the variable speed signal. Typically, the distance traveled by the wiper of the potentiometer is approximately the same as the distance traveled by the trigger. In many cases, this distance is approximately 7 mm and this distance must be accommodated by the potentiometer and the housing in which the potentiometer is mounted. The direction of motor rotation depends upon whether the battery current flows through the motor from the first terminal to the second terminal or vice versa. Because bidirectional rotation of battery operated tools is desirable, most tools are provided with a two position switch that determines the direction of battery current through the electric motor. In some previously known switches for battery operated tools, this two position switch is incorporated in its own housing that is mounted to the switch housing. The additional two position switch housing may exacerbate the space issues already noted. In other known switches, the two position switch may be integrated within the switch housing. This arrangement, while perhaps smaller than the two housing construction, adds another set of contacts to the switch with the attendant heat or contact deterioration concerns that arise from the motor current flowing through these contacts. Another limitation of known power switches relates to the torque control for power tools. In some battery operated tools, mechanical clutches are used to set a torque limit for the tool. When the resistance to the rotation of the tool causes the torque generated by the tool to increase to the torque limit, the clutch slips to reduce the torque. The torque may then build again until it reaches the limit and the clutch slips again. The iterating action of clutch slippage followed by renewed torque buildup is sensed by the operator as vibration. This vibration informs the operator that the tool is operating at the set torque limit. This slippage also causes wear of the mechanical components from friction and impact. Electric drills suffer the foregoing limitations. Moreover, electric drills are usually constructed as straight-drilling machines in which the drill spindle extends parallel to the motor shaft and axis of the housing and, for specific purposes, as angular-drilling machines in which the drill spindle is aligned at a right angle to the motor shaft and housing axis. In certain applications in which both straight and angular drilling must be carried out, as is the case in installations in wooden house construction, the two machines must be at hand for continuous alternation. What is needed is an articulating power hand tool which does not require a large housing for mechanical switches. What is further needed is an articulating power hand tool with a reduced forward section and a compact articulating system to allow for use of the tool in confined areas.

The invention is directed to an antenna particularly suited for use on a motor vehicle. Antennas for motor vehicles generally include a base secured to the body of the car and a rod that comprises the active element of the antenna. In known applications, the rod of the antenna can be fixed or oriented with respect to the base and it may be connected to the base itself by a removable connection, for example, screws, pins and the like. One of the drawbacks of known antennas is that unauthorized persons can readily remove the antenna from the support with appropriate tools which are easily acquired. The present invention seeks to eliminate or deter this disadvantage. In particular, one aim of the invention is to provide an antenna suitable for installation on a motor vehicle that would have anti-theft features, and particulary features for preventing the removal of the rod from the support base. Another aim of the invention is to provide an antenna with such anti-theft features, both on an arrangement having a fixed rod or an adjustable rod.

A diverse spectrum of technologies is being used today to collect data from remote devices. Data and intelligence from Electric meters, gas meters, water meters, instrumentation, and other consumption and quantification measurement devices that convey data or intelligence, is conveyed by means of a diversity of systems. This data or intelligence is alternately conveyed by means of Radio Frequency carrier wave (RF transmitted), by means of telephony, satellite, wire and cabled telecommunications systems both analog and digital, optically transmitted either via fiber optic cable or across open areas, by induction either with electric or magnetic field through adjacent separate coils or a transformer, and in many cases, through a combination of such technologies. The data or intelligence is often relayed from source to destination, sometimes across great distances, sometimes locally as in a building where RF, wired networks, and computer systems all work in conjunction to receive information (e.g. consumption data, data from a thermostat, etc.). Invariably such systems employ two basic “systems”: (1) devices that are configured with some means of transmitting data and intelligence to a specific reading system in a specific and often proprietary format or protocol which is specific to the vendor of the device; and (2) at least one device that intercepts/receives the transmitted data or intelligence. Simply put, a transmitter and receiver. Embodiments of the disclosed technology seek to address the problem of collecting/receiving consumption data, statistical data, instrumentation data, environmental data, or any type data in a repetitive format that is conveyed either via a physical connection or wirelessly transmitted with a Radio Frequency (RF) carrier, and in conjunction with communications technologies including wired connections, fiber optic cables, satellite links, cellular links, acoustic links as in underwater or subterranean applications, or any other available means. Using the disclosed technology data can be deciphered and collected that is any repetitive or consistent format regardless of source, whether physically connected or from wireless devices, or any other type of data transmitting wireless device (transmitter) or a plurality of devices (transmitters). Restated, while the main communication system may comprise a plurality of transmitters and associated communication languages, using the disclosed technology only one receiver will be required to receive the data. Notably, RF transmissions from utility metering devices occur in urban and rural settings which often require different types of transmitters. Such transmitters are each designed by their manufacturer to be read by specific proprietary equipment. One problem with such systems is that they can effectively limit the future market of the owner of such equipment, (i.e. a municipality, a coop, a utility district, a private utility provider, etc.), for future upgrades as most owners do not wish to deal with the headache of a mixed technology proprietary system. Consider this analogy. Owner purchases a Source-X video main system that can be upgraded with three subsystems; sound, recording, communications subsystems. Further, Source-X, Source-Y, and Source-Z all make such subsystems. Assume Source-Y makes far superior and lower cost sound and recording systems and Source-Z makes superior and lower cost communications systems. Unfortunately, if the Source-Y and Source-Z subsystems are purchased, each will come with its own controller requiring the owner to have Source-X, Source-Y and Source-Z controllers (which is very undesirable). In contrast, if the owner purchases the higher cost and lower quality Source-X subsystems, only a Source-X controller would be needed. What is needed is a universal controller. Similarly, when it comes to the issue of collecting/receiving remotely transmitted data (as described above), the disclosed technology seeks to solve this dilemma by providing a means to read the consumption and serial number data from many different utility RF systems regardless of hardware or protocol differences. The novel technology includes a radio/receiver designed that works in conjunction with various route software and can be used with drive by systems or fixed base systems and controlled locally or remotely over the internet, or as part of a private network serving as a collector device. In short, a Universal Radio. The disclosed technology will automatically detect AMR and AMI broadcasts by utilizing known parameters, and then going through an algorithm that includes a series of RF parameter detection, signal characterizations, signal decoding, and data qualifying techniques with minimal involvement of the user.

1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a noise reduction cable. 2. Description of the Related Art Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 5-325658, for example, proposes an electromagnetic shielding cable that prevents noise generated due to variable speed control of an alternating-current motor from leaking to the outside. The electromagnetic shielding cable includes three electric wires that supply a three-phase alternating current to the motor, each electric wire being covered with a sub-shielding layer; three drain wires that are disposed between the electric wires, each drain wire including a conductor and a semiconductor resin that covers the periphery of the conductor; and a main shielding layer that covers the electric wires and the drain wires with an insulating separator interposed therebetween. The sub-shielding layer is composed of a laminated tape made of aluminum and either nylon or polyester. The main shielding layer has a two-layer structure including a copper tape layer and an iron tape layer. Since the electromagnetic shielding cable of the related art includes the main shielding layer at the periphery thereof, the cable is not satisfactorily flexible.

In order to protect the environment as much as possible, it is indispensible to monitor tanks containing substances which are harmful to water, such as hydrocarbons, and other insidious leaks. When new tanks are designed, such a monitoring system should be designed into the new construction. Existing tank storage systems should be modified and subsequently fitted with adequate monitoring systems. In a state of the art method, intermediate floors are welded into existing flat bottomed tanks. The chamber produced in this way is evacuated or kept at a pressure below atmospheric pressure. If a leakage occurs, it can be detected at an early stage by monitoring the pressure difference. The state of the art solution, however, is rather complicated because the inner bottom must be of a very stable construction capable of withstanding high loads. When modifying existing flat bottomed tanks, first a bitumen layer has to be applied onto the tank bottom, then a first sheet metal floor is welded into the tank, followed by a second welded floor, leaving a chamber between the two. The latter floor has to be welded in because the primary tank bottom is susceptible to corrosion from outside and can therefore not be used to create the chamber. This process is very cost-intensive and technically complicated. A major shortcoming is the fact that the location of the leakage cannot be detected. Furthermore, there is a state of the art process for detecting leaks wherein a sensor tube is laid out horizontally in relation to the tank bottom. The sensor tube is laid in a perforated protective tube and consists of a gas-permeable material. In certain time intervals, such as 24 hours, gas samples are taken and analyzed. This means, however, that the occurrence of a leakage is not immediately detected and thus it is not possible to trigger an alarm immediately. The gas analyses require complicated measuring instruments which are expensive and sometimes even unrealiable, because the gas samples often have to be conveyed over quite long distances, which may change their composition. There is a need for a process for monitoring flat bottomed tanks for leakages. This process must allow for easy modification of existing tanks, must work reliably and localize a leakage without delay, upon its occurence. Furthermore, the measuring process should be as simple as possible.

X-ray computed tomography (CT) is a non-destructive technique for inspecting and analyzing internal structures of samples. In general, x-rays are absorbed or scattered by the sample as the X-rays travel through the sample. The X-rays not absorbed or scattered away are transmitted through the sample and then are detected by a detector system. The image formed at the detector system is known as an x-ray projection. Tomographic volume data sets are reconstructed from a series of these projections at different angles via standard CT reconstruction algorithms. X-ray tomography systems often present these tomographic volumes in two-dimensional, cross-sectional images or “slices” of the tomographic volume data sets. Some x-ray tomography systems utilize polychromatic X-ray beams to generate the x-ray projections. Polychromatic x-rays sources include x-ray tubes (laboratory sources) or white synchrotron beams, or accelerator-based sources. The advantage of polychromatic x-ray beams is that they are typically more powerful that monochromatic beams for a given source since lossy energy filters are not necessary. When using a polychromatic beam, the transmitted x-ray intensity is generally no longer proportional to the material thickness since lower energies are absorbed first as the beam traverses the object. As a result, a phenomenon known as beam hardening (BH) often occurs when polychromatic beams are used to generate x-ray projections. Beam hardening is associated with a change in transmitted X-ray spectrum towards higher X-ray energies as the X-rays pass through the sample. Beam hardening often yields artifacts in tomographic reconstructions with polychromatic X-rays. Typical artifacts generated as a consequence of beam hardening include cupping artifacts and streak artifacts. Beam hardening can be corrected effectively for objects that consist only of one material by linearization of the absorption versus material thickness. This method is not effective for mixed material objects, especially objects containing both low density (low-Z) materials and high density (high-Z) materials, however. Because high-Z elements such as metals or elements with an atomic number higher than 18, such as Iron (Fe) and Gold (Au), absorb much more X-rays than low-Z elements, such as Silicon (Si), Carbon (C), Nitrogen (N) and Oxygen (O), metal element structures typically produce more serious beam hardening artifacts when exposed to X-rays. These artifacts are also known as ‘metal artifacts’. In addition, factors other than beam hardening can cause the creation of metal artifacts such as x-ray scattering, Poisson noise, and motion and edge effects. Current approaches to metal artifact reduction (MAR) in X-ray CT images typically fall into three groups. The first group, Group 1, uses N-order polynomial fitting to do beam-hardening correction to reduce metal artifacts. Here we call this method ‘BHC (beam-hardening correction)’. The second group, Group 2, focuses on segmentation/subtraction of metals in the projections, followed by completion methods with analytical or iterative algorithms. The third group, or Group 3, uses a spectrum-based or physical modeling approach to statistically and iteratively reduce or suppress the artifacts. Each of these artifact reduction approaches has drawbacks. Group 1 MAR methods can only reduce artifacts approximately and work properly only for one kind of metal. Group 2 MAR methods typically only provide partial suppression of the artifacts, and can introduce new blurring artifacts around metals in the sample. This is because information about structures in the sample shadowed by the metal are erased. In contrast, Group 3 MAR methods can theoretically reduce or eliminate most metal artifacts and typically achieve better results since they do not erase information present in the projections. The computational efficiency of Group 3 methods is low, however, because of the large number of iterative processing steps required.

Various mechanisms for adjusting the positions of the guiding vanes of a guiding grid of variable geometry have become known, such as in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,179,247 or 5,146,752. Just the latter illustrates how difficult and tiresome it is to mount the individual parts of the guiding grid in a housing, because various parts have to be fitted into each other and have to be mounted and fixed to one another, particularly when assembling a turbocharger or at least one turbine unit. From U.S. Pat. No. 5,028,208, a guiding grid has become known in which levers are situated on the adjustment shafts of the guiding vanes, the free end of these levers being provided with an opening between two fork arms. In this opening, a sliding block or pin slides and has its longitudinal axis about parallel to the central axis, while being moved by the unison ring (sliding block gear). The disadvantage of this gear or mechanism is that just when the force of the turbine driving fluid or exhaust gas exerts the highest turning torque onto the guiding vanes, the turning torque exerted by the unison ring is relatively small. This is not so great a problem with combustion motors of small power; however, it is a considerable problem (also in view of wear) particularly with combustion motors of an elevated power. This becomes then a problem too with respect to automatic adjustment, particularly when controlling the vanes during a braking operation. In this respect, reference should also be made to U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,123,246; 5,444,980 and 6,148,793 which have all an electronic control.

As an image forming device for a printer, a facsimile machine, a reproducing unit, a plotter, and a multifunctional unit having these functions, an inkjet recording device is known as a liquid ejection recording-type image forming device which uses a recording head which ejects ink droplets, for example. The liquid ejection recording-type image forming device, which ejects the ink droplets from the recording head to a sheet to be conveyed to perform image forming (recording, print, imaging, printing also used interchangeably), includes a serial-type image forming device which ejects liquid droplets while the recording head moves in a main scanning direction to perform image forming and a line-type image forming device with the use of a line-type head which ejects liquid droplets while the recording head does not move to perform image forming. Herein, an “image forming device” represents a device which sets ink onto a medium such as paper, thread, fiber, cloth, leather, metal, plastic, glass, wood, ceramics, etc., to perform image forming, and “image forming” represents not only providing a medium with an image which has a meaning (e.g., character or graphics), but also providing a medium with an image which does not have a meaning such as a pattern, etc. (merely impacting the liquid droplet onto the medium). Moreover, “ink” is not limited to what is called ink, so that it is used to generally represent all types of liquids which can perform image forming, such as what is called recording liquid, fixing solution, liquid, resin, etc. Furthermore, the “sheet”, a material of which is not limited to paper and which includes an OHP sheet, a cloth, etc., represents what the ink droplets are adhered to and is used to generally represent what includes a medium to be recorded on, a recording medium, recording paper, a recording sheet, etc. Moreover, an “image” is not limited to a planar one, so that it also includes an image provided to what is formed three-dimensionally, and also an image formed by three dimensionally shaping a solid itself. Now, a liquid ejection-type image forming device includes a maintaining and restoring mechanism which includes a wiper member (also called a wiper blade, a wiping blade, a blade, etc.) which wipes off a nozzle face of a recording head for cleaning; and a cap which caps a nozzle face of the recording head in order to maintain ejection stability of a nozzle of the recording head, to prevent ink in the nozzle from drying and to prevent dust from mixing into the nozzle). A recovering operation is performed in which, for instance, after draining bodied-up ink from the nozzle into the cap, the device wipes off the nozzle face with the wiper member to form a nozzle meniscus and a non-contributing ejection operation is performed in which a liquid droplet which does not contribute to image forming is ejected from the recording head at a required timing. A related-art non-contributing ejection receiving member for receiving non-contributing ejection droplets which are ejected in an non-contributing ejection operation is known, wherein a multi-porous sheet is arranged at a position which is in proximity to and which opposes a recording head and a waste liquid which is received at the multi-porous sheet is absorbed by an absorbing material (see Patent document 1).

1. Field of the Invention This invention relates to a method for avoiding lump formation when hydrophilic gums are dispersed in aqueous systems and to compositions resulting therefrom. 2. The Prior Art Hydrophilic gums are widely used in industry. They are formulated into pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, personal care products, papers and other diverse compositions. Their functions include acting as thickeners, binders, stabilizers, protective colloids, suspending agents and rheology or flow control agents. Generally, gums are blended directly into aqueous solutions. Upon contact with water, these materials swell and convert to viscous gel-like sols. Rapid addition of hydrophilic gum to water is highly desirable. Unfortunately, rapid contact with water frequently results in lumping. More controlled addition only partially circumvents the problem. The lumps are gel-like substances, wet on the outside, dry in the center. Lumps usually resist dispersion even upon vigorous agitation or cooking. Once formed, extraordinary efforts are needed to effect their removal. Not only time, but considerable material is lost during removal. Commercially, lumping has been avoided by pre-swelling the dry gums prior to addition into aqueous systems. Slow, careful wetting of gum with minor amounts water accomplishes the pre-swelling. Yet lumping is seldom totally avoided. The wetting process is time consuming. Production rates of end-product must be slowed to the rate limiting step, i.e., the pre-swell process. Numerous patents record attempts to solve the problem by designing more readily dispersible gums. For instance, U.S. Pat. No. 2,662,882 modifies the gum by pre-wetting with water, agglomerating, regrinding and drying at room temperature. Dry-mixing gum with sodium bicarbonate or carbonate and an acid such as sodium bisulfite yields readily dispersible powders according to U.S. Pat. No. 2,807,591. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,309,535, sodium carboxymethyl cellulose, hereinafter referred to as CMC, was treated with aluminum chloride dissolved in aqueous isopropanol; drying afforded easily dispersible particles. British Pat. No. 926,409 disclosed that treatment of CMC with a fine water spray in a pulsating trough yielded a power of 5% moisture content with improved dispersibility. Other easily dispersible powders have been reported obtainable where CMC has undergone treatment either with aqueous sodium sulfate, been sprayed with aqueous Sorbit, or been stirred with aqueous mono- and di-glycerides, see Japanese Patent Nos. 78:45,358, 78:65,489 and 80:61,928, respectively. In Japanese Patent No. 73:52,848 cellulose derivatives were swelled with approximately an equivalent weight of water containing a small amount polyethylene glycol. After drying, gum granules were obtained that upon dissolution in water afforded lump-free solutions. All the aforementioned art has pertained to modifying gum powders to enhance their water solubility. In contrast, the literature is relatively silent concerning direct methods to improve processing of hydrophilic gums into aqueous consumer products. Even with modified powders, blending difficulties are often noted. New techniques are still needed to increase gum-water blending efficiency that avoids lumping. It is an object of this invention to present a process for dispersing hydrophilic gums swiftly into water containing formulations while avoiding the lumping problem. It is a further object to provide lump-free compositions comprising hydrophilic gums, water and alcohol.