Human interleukin 12 (IL-12) has recently been characterized as a cytokine with a unique structure and pleiotropic effects (Kobayashi, et al. (1989) J. Exp Med. 170:827-845; Seder, et al. (1993) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 90:10188-10192; Ling, et al. (1995) J. Exp Med. 154:116-127; Podlaski, et al. (1992) Arch. Biochem. Biophys. 294:230-237). IL-12 plays a critical role in the pathology associated with several diseases involving immune and inflammatory responses. A review of IL-12, its biological activities, and its role in disease can be found in Gately et al. (1998) Ann. Rev. Immunol. 16: 495-521.
Structurally, IL-12 is a heterodimeric protein comprising a 35 kDa subunit (p35) and a 40 kDa subunit (p40) which are both linked together by a disulfide bridge (referred to as the “p70 subunit”). The heterodimeric protein is produced primarily by antigen-presenting cells such as monocytes, macrophages and dendritic cells. These cell types also secrete an excess of the p40 subunit relative to p70 subunit. The p40 and p35 subunits are genetically unrelated and neither has been reported to possess biological activity, although the p40 homodimer may function as an IL-12 antagonist.
Functionally, IL-12 plays a central role in regulating the balance between antigen specific T helper type (Th1) and type 2 (Th2) lymphocytes. The Th1 and Th2 cells govern the initiation and progression of autoimmune disorders, and IL-12 is critical in the regulation of Th1-lymphocyte differentiation and maturation. Cytokines released by the Th1 cells are inflammatory and include interferon γ (IFNγ), IL-2 and lymphotoxin (LT). Th2 cells secrete IL-4, IL-5, IL-6, IL-10 and IL-13 to facilitate humoral immunity, allergic reactions, and immunosuppression.
Consistent with the preponderance of Th1 responses in autoimmune diseases and the proinflammatory activities of IFNγ, IL-12 may play a major role in the pathology associated with many autoimmune and inflammatory diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis (RA), multiple sclerosis (MS), and Crohn's disease.
Human patients with MS have demonstrated an increase in IL-12 expression as documented by p40 mRNA levels in acute MS plaques. (Windhagen et al., (1995) J. Exp. Med. 182: 1985-1996). In addition, ex vivo stimulation of antigen-presenting cells with CD40L-expressing T cells from MS patients resulted in increased IL-12 production compared with control T cells, consistent with the observation that CD40/CD40L interactions are potent inducers of IL-12.
Elevated levels of IL-12 p70 have been detected in the synovia of RA patients compared with healthy controls (Morita et al (1998) Arthritis and Rheumatism. 41: 306-314). Cytokine messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) expression profile in the RA synovia identified predominantly Th1 cytokines. (Bucht et al., (1996) Clin. Exp. Immunol. 103: 347-367). IL-12 also appears to play a critical role in the pathology associated with Crohn's disease (CD). Increased expression of INFγ and IL-12 has been observed in the intestinal mucosa of patients with this disease (Fais et al. (1994) J. Interferon Res. 14:235-238; Parronchi et al., (1997) Am. J. Path. 150:823-832; Monteleone et al., (1997) Gastroenterology. 112:1169-1178, and Berrebi et al., (1998) Am. J. Path 152:667-672). The cytokine secretion profile of T cells from the lamina propria of CD patients is characteristic of a predominantly Th1 response, including greatly elevated IFNγ levels (Fuss, et al., (1996) J. Immunol. 157:1261-1270). Moreover, colon tissue sections from CD patients show an abundance of IL-12 expressing macrophages and IFNγ expressing T cells (Parronchi et al (1997) Am. J. Path. 150:823-832).
Due to the role of human IL-12 in a variety of human disorders, therapeutic strategies have been designed to inhibit or counteract IL-12 activity. In particular, antibodies that bind to, and neutralize, IL-12 have been sought as a means to inhibit IL-12 activity. Some of the earliest antibodies were murine monoclonal antibodies (mAbs), secreted by hybridomas prepared from lymphocytes of mice immunized with IL-12 (see e.g., World Patent Application Publication No. WO 97/15327 by Strober et al.; Neurath et al. (1995) J. Exp. Med. 182:1281-1290; Duchmann et al. (1996) J. Immunol. 26:934-938). These murine IL-12 antibodies are limited for their use in vivo due to problems associated with administration of mouse antibodies to humans, such as short serum half life, an inability to trigger certain human effector functions and elicitation of an unwanted immune response against the mouse antibody in a human (the “human anti-mouse antibody” (HAMA) reaction).
In general, attempts to overcome the problems associated with use of fully-murine antibodies in humans, have involved genetically engineering the antibodies to be more “human-like.” For example, chimeric antibodies, in which the variable regions of the antibody chains are murine-derived and the constant regions of the antibody chains are human-derived, have been prepared (Junghans, et al. (1990) Cancer Res. 50:1495-1502; Brown et al. (1991) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 88:2663-2667; Kettleborough et al. (1991) Protein Engineering. 4:773-783). However, because these chimeric and humanized antibodies still retain some murine sequences, they still may elicit an unwanted immune reaction, the human anti-chimeric antibody (HACA) reaction, especially when administered for prolonged periods.
A preferred IL-12 inhibitory agent to murine antibodies or derivatives thereof (e.g., chimeric or humanized antibodies) would be an entirely human anti-IL-12 antibody, since such an agent should not elicit the HAMA reaction, even if used for prolonged periods. However, such antibodies have not been described in the art and, therefore are still needed.


The present invention relates to electrical connecting arrangements in general, and more particularly to a connector for connecting two electric conductors with one another.
There are already known various constructions of conductor connecting arrangements of the above type, among them such which include at least one current bar having at least one end portion which is bent backwards upon itself, and at least one clamping body which can be slid onto the bent-back end portion of the current bar from a central region of the current bar and serves for connecting an electrical conductor to the current bar. A conductor connector arrangement of this type, which is of a particular interest for use in high-current terminals or clamps, is known, for instance, from the German published patent application DE-A-No. 34 08 006. In conductor connector arrangements of this type, it is often necessary to connect relatively thick-wire conductors, so that it is essential to be able to lay the conductor freely onto the current bar first, and only then to slide the clamping body over the current bar and the conductor.
It is further known in principle to slide the clamping body of a screw connector arrangement in a guided manner on the current bar and over the conductor positioned on the current bar to the clamping location. Herein, the clamping body is guided to a certain extent and more or less in the correct position on the current bar itself, as disclosed in the Swiss patent CH-PS No. 392 658, or guides for the clamping body are provided in a complicated manner by correspondingly constructing and configuring the electrically conductive parts themselves and providing special guiding elements and arresting holders.
Such guiding possibilities are not conventionally provided or available in conductor connectors of the type discussed above. Moreover, it is to be considered that the positioning of the clamping body from the longitudinally central region of the current bar onto the bent-back end portion of the current bar requires, to begin with, a considerable amount of skill and that it would be especially difficult to perform this operation if it was desired to associate such a conductor connector with or accommodate it in a sort of an insulating material housing, for instance, for reasons of prevention of contact with electric current carrying elements


Systems and methods that provide map-based directions for mobile devices and other computers are well known. For example, Google Maps for Mobile allows mobile devices, such as cell phones and PDAs, to display maps and text-based directions in response to user requests.
Some software, including Google Maps for Mobile, also allows users to display their progress relative to a map in real time. For example, if a mobile device is able to determine its geographic location, the device may download or otherwise access maps corresponding with its location and then display its location on the map. Mobile devices typically calculate their position via an internal or external GPS component, or by calculating their position relative to one or more cell phone towers.
Relatively complete and accurate maps are available with respect to many parts of the world. However, in many other areas of the world, the map data is incomplete and sometimes even incorrect, particularly when it comes to undeveloped or rapidly-developing areas. For example, a map database may not reflect the fact that a road has been recently built, closed or rerouted. Moreover, the database may be aware that a road is present, but it may not store the street name. Some streets will not even have a name.
One method of coping with the problem of incomplete maps is for mapping companies to retain people who drive around with GPS devices, manually detect road changes and enter new roads into the database. In addition to being relatively expensive, such a method of uploading data to a map database has other disadvantages as well.


1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for driving a display made up of a current-driving type light-emitting device which displays various pieces of information, results of measurement, moving pictures, or still pictures and to a circuit employing the above method and to portable electronic devices incorporating the circuit and more particularly to the method for driving the display which is used as a display device of computers such as notebook computers, palm-sized computers, pocket computers, or a like, of portable electronic devices such as a PDA (Personal Digital Assistant), a portable cellular phone, or a PHS (Personal Handy-phone System) and to the circuit employing the above method and to the portable electronic devices being equipped with driving circuits for the display.
The present application claims priority of Japanese Patent Application No.2001-285838 filed on Sep. 19, 2001, which is hereby incorporated by reference.
2. Description of the Related Art
Some types of displays are made up of current-driving type light-emitting devices. The displays of this kind conventionally include a display made up of an EL (Electroluminescnece) device, a display made up of an LED (Light-Emitting Diode), a VFD (Vacuum Fluorescent Display) including, in particular, an FED (Field Emission Display) being one of types of the VFDs, a PDP (Plasma Display Panel), or a like. Hereinafter, this type of the display is called a “self-emissive type display”.
Generally, the self-emissive type display tends to draw current more than a voltage-driving type liquid crystal display. That is, in the voltage-driving type liquid crystal display, since its liquid cell is a capacitive load, an amount of current consumed is as little as several mA. However, since the self-emissive type display emits light for every pixel and therefore consumes current every time it emits light, an amount of current consumed reaches 200 mA or more when high current volumes are consumed, for example, when an image is displayed at a high value of luminance. Therefore, when the self-emissive type display is used in a displaying section of a portable electronic devices to which power is supplied by a battery, dry cell, or a like, to keep operating time as long as possible, an amount of current consumed has to be reduced to a minimum. The portable electronic devices include notebook-type, palm-type, or pocket-type computers, PDAs, or portable cellular telephones, PHSs, or a like.
The portable cellular phone or the PHS has a waiting mode in which, though power is provided, a user does not perform any operation while waiting for an incoming call. The displaying section provides a waiting screen corresponding to a waiting mode.
Not only the portable cellular phone or the PHS but also other portable electronic devices when, though power is provided, and a specified time has elapsed without any operations performed by a user, as shown in FIG. 8, is put into a screen save mode in which a specified character or diagram is displayed randomly on each portion on the display at every specified time and a moving object is displayed on the display. FIG. 8 shows that a current time indicated by the self-emissive type display in the portable cellular phone or the PHS is displayed in the screen save mode in a manner that a place for displaying time is changed at every specified time. The screen save mode is used to prevent occurrence of a phenomenon called an “image burn-in” state in which same characters or same diagrams continue to be displayed for a long time, even if power is turned OFF, a trace of the character or the diagram is left. The user, when such portable electronic devices are in the waiting mode or in the screen save mode, does not view the screen of a display carefully.
However, conventionally, even when the user drives a screen of a display in a waiting mode or lowers luminance of each pixel in a screen save mode, the user employs the same driving method as is used for driving the ordinary screen on which the user views the screen carefully. For this reason, in the former case, power is drawn wastefully. Moreover, in the latter case, the display becomes dark as a whole and are hard to view and, therefore, if the user views the display unexpectedly, the user cannot confirm contents of the display immediately and misunderstands, in some cases, that power has not been provided.
In some cases, as shown in FIG. 9, the display screen of the conventional portable cellular phone or the PHS is made up of, for example, an upper display portion 1, a central display portion 2, and a lower display portion 3. In the upper display portion 1, a battery mark 1a indicating a charging state of a battery, an antenna mark 1b indicating whether or not the portable cellular phone or the PHS being presently used is in a service area of a wireless telephone system of a mobile communication network, or a like are displayed. In the central display portion 2, sentences of electronic mail, images being attached to the electronic mail, and images indicating contents being provided from various contents providers in a WWW (World Wide Web) server or a like are displayed. FIG. 9 shows an example in which map data is displayed in the central display portion 2. In the lower display portion 3, a menu key used to select a menu is displayed. Then, generally, in the central display portion 2 is displayed a detailed image, while in the upper display portion 1 and in the lower display portion 3 are displayed a character and/or a mark in a simplified manner. This is because, even if the character and/or mark is simplified, information can be fully transferred to the user of the portable cellular phone or the PHS.
However, conventionally, even in the case of the upper display portion 1 and in the lower display portion 3 in which such simplified characters or marks are displayed, a same driving method as is used to display in the central display portion 2 in which detailed images are displayed is employed. This causes wasteful power consumption. The same inconveniences as described above occur in other portable electronic devices to which power is supplied by the battery or the dry cell such as the notebook-type, the palm-type, and pocket-type computers, the PDA or the like, though contents and portions displayed therein (for example, in a window), or a like are different.


Typically, polymers are used in the manufacture of printed wiring boards (PWB), by coating the PWB with a polymer coating. For solder masks the coating pattern covers conductor wiring traces at all locations except where electrical contact is to be made with the traces. The curing traces may also be printed on a metallic layer such as copper on an insulating substrate by means of polymer printing patterns defining areas which are to be etched in one primary imaging method. In other primary imaging methods, polymer printing patterns may define zones for accumulation of conductive materials forming conductor traces. Other printed objects are similarly manufactured by use of the polymer printing patterns.
In common use are three types of polymers, namely, (1) thermal curing epoxy, (2) ultra-violet (UV)-curing polymers generally classified as liquid polymers which are hardened by radiation, and (3) dry film polymers which are changed in solubility by radiation. The epoxies and UV-curables are applied as liquid coatings for curing in place as contrasted with the dry films.
Some of the patterns formed by these polymers are formed mechanically such as by silk screening. Others are formed by photo-imaging techniques, where the photo response characteristics of certain polymers such as the UV curing liquid polymers are utilized.
Dry film solder mask photopolymers are supplied by two manufacturers, in roll form, consisting of an inner layer of photopolymer sandwiched between a carrier film of clear polyester and a polyolefin liner. They have problems of adhering to copper, and are not conveniently used for overlaying rough surfaces. Thus, for a solder mask coating on a typical PWB, wherein the metal conductors extend 0.003 to 0.004 inch above the base laminate, the dry film needs be conformed without intermediate air bubbles. The use of a roller laminator is not usually satisfactory, as air is trapped between the photopolymer and the PWB laminate, particularly between closely-spaced conductors. A vacuum chamber laminator is normally used in a plasticizing procedure to prevent air entrapment. The lamination cycle is as follows: A PWB and a section of dry film solder mask is inserted into the heated chamber; the chamber is evacuated, and when up to temperature the photopolymer is forced into contact with the PWB, effecting an air-free lamination. Lamination occurs at a temperature of the order of 200 degrees F., at which temperature the dry film solder mask photopolymer becomes tacky and adheres to the PWB surface. The solder mask pattern is attained by exposing the photopolymer to a strong UV light source through a photographic film, wherein the light hardens the exposed photopolymer. The polyester carrier film is then peeled away and the unhardened photopolymer is washed out in a solvent spray bath.
There are several shortcomings with the dry films listed below:
1. The single photopolymer layer is expensive being of the order of four times the cost of liquid photopolymers; the equipment required to laminate is overly complicated and expensive; the labor required is excessive, as each processing step of laminating, exposing, and developing is overly lengthy.
2. The laminating step forces photopolymer into circuit holes, and the like, with the result that with small holes of the order of 0.025 inch diameter, the photopolymer does not wash out, leaving the holes plugged.
3. The laminating step forces photopolymer into large tooling holes and slots, leaving a puckered, striated coating of photopolymer, for the polyester carrier film is non-conforming and wrinkles around larger holes and sharp corners.
4. The dry photopolymer is characterized by a lack of adhesion to metal conductors. For PWB having bare copper conductors with dry film solder mask thereover, the solder coating and hot-air leveling step is usually not satisfactory without copper surface pretreatment as with a black oxide coating; otherwise the solder mask separates from the conductors.
5. The dry photopolymers need be applied in thick layers of standard thicknesses, and the thicker layers are not only expensive but also inhibit high resolution photo reproduction and require higher temperatures to photodevelop.
6. The photopolymer is temperature sensitive, delaying the application sequence. After laminating at 200 degrees F., the photopolymer must cool to room temperature prior to exposure. After exposure, which raises the temperature again, the photopolymer must cool to room temperature before washing out unexposed photopolymer.
Similarly epoxy coatings have disadvantages since the initial liquid layers required need be cured in situ, generally at very high temperatures which can damage the printed wiring boards or other substrates being printed upon.
The liquid polymers provide problems in initial application since they do not tend to stay in place, and have conventionally been applied in very thin coatings, unsuitable for pinhole free coatings, and for covering the rough surfaces of printed wiring traces.
The different polymers each have advantageous features, but it is not known in the prior art how to overcome this disadvantage in producing printed patterns on substrates therewith.
Typical of prior art polymer printing techniques used in PWB are those of U.S. Pat. No. 3,629,036--C. Isaacson, Dec. 21, 1971, where a microthin adhesive layer including a photopolymer solvent is interspersed between smooth copper surfaces and a dry film photoresist layer, which is thereby glued in place before photoimaging and developing the desired pattern.
Reference is made to U.S. Pat. No. 3,824,104 in which Kloczewski teaches a method for photoimaging a liquid photopolymer, wherein the image bearing photomask is separated from the photopolymer by a distance of eight mils during exposure, leading to a stated loss of resolution.
Reference is made to U.S. Pat. No. 4,260,675 in which Sullivan describes a method for photoimaging liquid photopolymer using a glass plate photomask with raised opaque pillars in contact only with portions of the PWB which will be free of hardened solder mask.
Each of these patents and current practices in the art of PWB manufacture has characteristics which this invention seeks to improve.
One objective is to improve the adhesion of dry film to metal conductors.
A second objective is a process to laminate a dry film to a highly irregular surface such as over PWB traces without use of a vacuum laminator.
Another objective is to reduce the time required to process dry film by negating the requirement for laminating at an elevated temperature.
Another objective is to achieve a photoimaged solder mask having the electrical and environmental characteristics of dry film, but at reduced cost.
Another objective is to achieve a photoimaged PWB solder mask in which UV-curable liquids are exposed with a photomask in contact with the liquid, and in which the solder mask coating is not thinned out over the metal conductors.


The present invention relates generally to strap retainers and, more particularly, to strap retainers for retention of shopping cart safety straps.
It is well known in the prior art to secure a nylon safety strap child restraint to a grocery shop cart in order to assure the safety of a child riding in the cart. It is important that such devices are securely attached to the shopping cart and it is desirable that the retainer does not become accidentally detached. In addition, the strap retainer should be resistant to damage, or removal, as a result of vandalism. This latter consideration is important because, in many cases, shopping carts are left in open parking lots for substantial periods of time thereby affording opportunities for vandalization.
Several conventional devices have been used to secure a child safety strap to a grocery cart. In general, these devices are complicated, sometimes made of metal and subject to rust, and are relatively expensive to produce. An example of a complicated device is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,669,118 in which a complicated combination of retainer elements is utilized. This device, as well as some other conventional devices, is relatively difficult to use.
Accordingly, there is a need for an efficient, low cost and effective technique for attaching a safety strap to a shopping cart.
The environment in which the device is to be used typically dictates the desirable characteristics of a suitable safety strap retainer. In a typical case, the safety strap retainer is fixed to a convenient shopping cart rail and is thereafter subject to somewhat rough usage. It is not unusual for shopping cart to be left outside, in wet weather, for long periods of time and a metal strap retainer tends to rust under these circumstances. Clearly, it would be desirable to have a strap retainer that is relatively weather resistant and able to withstand rough usage.
As another consideration, retail store employees often attach the strap retainer to the shopping cart. In this regard, it would be desirable if the retainer could be installed conveniently, without any need for a tool. In addition, a suitable strap retainer should be simple in construction and inexpensive to produce. Further, the strap retainer should be difficult to remove, after it has been installed, so that the retainer would not be susceptible to damage by vandals.
From the foregoing it will be apparent that there is a need for a strap retainer for use in securing a safety strap to a shopping cart that is mechanically simple, easy to use, low in cost and resistant to easy removal.


1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a color matching method and an image capturing device using the color matching method or an electronic apparatus provided with such image capturing device. More particularly, the present invention relates to a color matching method for handling an electronic digital image and an image capturing device using the color matching method or an electronic apparatus provided with such image capturing device.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, electronic apparatuses provided with a color image capturing device are widely used, for example, a digital camera, an electronic type video recorder, or a mobile phone. Generally, a semiconductor image sensor is provided in these electronic apparatuses for converting a captured image into an electrical signal. Due to the inherent limitations of the image sensor with respect to the color sensing performance, the color of an image outputted under such limitations is usually required to be adjusted. In addition, the color of the image is different depending on the light illumination conditions. For example, the perception of color for the human visual system is quite different in the moonlight and in the daylight outdoors. Therefore, it is important that the obtained electronic image is required to meet the perception of the human's visual sense in color processing.
In these electronic apparatuses, an image signal outputted from the image sensor will be subjected to a series of signal processing procedures in which the color of the obtained image will be corrected by performing a color matching process so as to output an image with a natural color.
Regarding the color correction process, a number of conventional techniques that adopt a correction matrix to correct the color of an image are known. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 7,053,935 has disclosed one advantage over current electronic capture systems that the accuracy of color capture, which is a result of the match between the human visual system and the unique set of spectral response curves and the correction matrix used in the invention. However, the color correction result cannot be dynamically adjusted since the matrix is predefined, and thus a quick, accurate color correction result is difficult to be achieved, and a high-quality image cannot be offered.
As a result, in the conventional technique described above, since a fixed correction matrix is used to correct the color of the image, the color difference is large and cannot be rapidly converged to a predetermined value.
Therefore, a color matching method capable of dynamically adjusting the color difference and rapidly converging the color difference to the predetermined value is required for achieving a color demonstration with high color accuracy.


A mobile robot is a machine which can work automatically. The mobile robot can be operated under the command of human operators or in pre-programmed programs, and can act according to principles set out by the artificial intelligence technology as well. This type of mobile robot can be used indoors or outdoors, and can be used in industry, business or household. For example, the mobile robot can be used to replace security guards to perform patrol, or replace people to clean the surface. The mobile robot can also be used to accompany family members or assist in doing office work.
When mobile robot like cleaning robot, accompanying robot or guest-guiding robot moves under an operating mode, due to the complexity of the operating environments, the mobile robot may often hit obstacles so as to damage furniture and itself in the operating process because of an unfavorable obstacle avoidance performance thereof, thereby influencing normal operation of the mobile robot. Wheels of the mobile robot often get entangled with some flexible obstacles (e.g., cables, ropes, ribbons, leftover of cloth), so that the mobile robot cannot move, and even the mobile robot may tip over to cause safety accidents. For a cleaning robot, the cleaning system of the cleaning robot may be more likely to be entangled by flexible obstacles, for example, cleaning brushes may be entangled by flexible obstacles, or a dust collection component may be entangled or blocked by flexible obstacles.
Generally speaking, in order to detect obstacles on the floor such as ground in time, obstacle detection technologies often adopted on the existing mobile robot are mainly as follows:
Mechanical collision detection: a mechanical baffle connected with an electronic switch is arranged at the front of the bottom of the mobile robot, when the mobile robot comes into contact with obstacles, the electronic switch is converted into a connected state from a disconnected state, so as obstacles in the front can be detected. In this way, detection of obstacle can be performed only after collision occurs, and thus contribute to a poor user experience. Moreover, flexible obstacles are easily pushed away by the mobile robot, the electronic switch cannot be triggered because the collision force between robot and obstacles is too small, thereby leading to a missing detection.
Infrared distance measurement detection: one or more infrared distance measurement sensors are arranged on the mobile robot. And obstacles in the front can be detected in the case of the detected distance is smaller than a preset threshold. However, infrared detection is greatly influenced by ambient lighting, and there is a greater dead zone within a short distance. Obstacles made from glass, light-absorbing or all-black materials are easily missed in detection, and the consistency of precisions is poor. Because of the structure limitations, the infrared sensor cannot be arranged on the lower part of housing, thus some obstacles which are lower than the infrared rays, e.g., flexible obstacles, may be missed in detection.
Ultrasonic distance measurement detection: one or more ultrasonic distance measurement sensors are arranged on the mobile robot. And obstacles in the front can be detected in the case of the detected distance is smaller than a preset threshold. However, on the one hand, ultrasonic waves are easily influenced by factors such as ambient temperature, material of reflectors and multipath propagation of sound waves. On the other hand, Because of the structure limitations, the ultrasonic sensor cannot be arranged on the lower part of housing, thus some obstacles which are lower than the ultrasonic waves, e.g., flexible obstacles, may be missed in detection. In addition, another limitation of ultrasonic measurement is that it depends on the effective reflection area of the obstacle, such that object with a size greater than a certain threshold can be detected, smaller object such as wires can be easily missed.
Therefore, it can be seen that the detection of flexible obstacles is the problem that needs to be solved urgently for the existing mobile robot.


Recently, as being accompanied by the developments of portable electronic devices such as cellular phones and notebook-size personal computers, or as being accompanied by electric automobiles being put into practical use, and the like, small-sized, lightweight and high-capacity secondary batteries have been required. At present, as for high-capacity secondary batteries meeting these demands, non-aqueous secondary batteries have been commercialized, non-aqueous secondary batteries in which lithium cobaltate (e.g., LiCoO2) and the carbon-system materials are used as the positive-electrode material and negative-electrode material, respectively. Since such a non-aqueous secondary battery exhibits a high energy density, and since it is possible to intend to make it downsize and lightweight, its employment as a power source has been attracting attention in a wide variety of fields. However, since LiCoO2 is produced with use of Co, one of rare metals, as the raw material, it has been expected that its scarcity as the resource would grow worse from now on. In addition, since Co is expensive, and since its price fluctuates greatly, it has been desired to develop positive-electrode materials that are inexpensive as well as whose supply is stable.
Hence, it has been regarded promising to employ lithium-manganese-oxide-system composite oxides whose constituent elements are inexpensive in terms of the prices as well as which include stably-supplied manganese (Mn) in their essential compositions. Among them, a substance, namely, Li2MnO3 that includes tetravalent manganese ions alone but does not include any trivalent manganese ions making a cause of the manganese elution upon charging and discharging, has been attracting attention. Although it has been believed so far that it is impossible to charge and discharge Li2MnO3, it has come to find out that it is possible to charge and discharge it by means of charging it up to 4.8 V, according to recent studies. However, it is needed to further improve Li2MnO3 with regard to the charging/discharging characteristics.
In order to improve the charging/discharging characteristics, it has been done actively to develop xLi2MnO3.(1−x)LiMeO2 (where 0<“x”≦1), one of solid solutions between Li2MnO3 and LiMeO2 (where “Me” is a transition metal element). Note that it is feasible to write and express Li2MnO3 by a general formula, Li(Li0.33Mn0.67)O2, as well, and that it is said to belong to the same crystal structure (i.e., a layered rock-salt structure) as that of LiMO2. Consequently, there arises a case where xLi2MnO3.(1−x)LiMeO2 is set forth as Li1.33−yMn0.67−zMey+zO2 (where 0<“y”<0.33, and 0<“z”<0.67), too, but even any of the two methods for writing it down specify a composite oxide that possesses the same sort of crystal structure.
For example, Patent Literature No. 1 discloses a production process for solid solution between LiMO2 and Li2NO3 (where “M” is one or more kinds that are selected from Mn, Ni, Co and Fe, and “N” is one or more kinds that are selected from Mn, Zr and Ti). This solid solution is obtainable as follows: ammonia water is dropped to a mixed solution, in which salts of respective metallic elements that correspond to “M” and “N” are dissolved, until the pH becomes 7; an Na2CO3 solution is further dropped to it in order to deposit “M”-“N”-system composite carbonates; and the resulting “M”-“N”-system composite carbonates are calcined after mixing them with LiOH.H20.
However, upon employing a secondary battery including Li2MnO3 as the positive-electrode active material, it is needed to activate the positive-electrode active material at the time of the first-time charging. Since the activation is accompanied by a large irreversible capacity, ions having moved to the counter electrode do not come back, and so there is such a problem that charging/discharging balance between the positive electrode and the negative electrode becomes imbalanced. With regard to the mechanism of this activation and to an obtainable capacity by means of the activation, it is the present situation that they have not been clearly clarified yet (see Non-patent Literature No. 1).
Moreover, in a case where a particle diameter of Li2MnO3 is large, since only the particles' superficial layer is activated, it is believed that it is necessary to make the particle diameter of Li2MnO3 smaller in order to turn Li2MnO3 to be employed into an active material serving as battery in the total amount virtually. In other words, it is needed to develop convenient processes for synthesizing fine particles as well. For example, in Patent Literature No. 2, a process for synthesizing nano-order oxide particles is disclosed. In Example No. 3 of Patent Literature No. 2, MnO2 and Li2O2 are added to and are then mixed with a mixture, in which LiOH.H2O and LiNO3 are mixed in a molar ratio of 1:1; and they are turned into 300° C. molten salt after letting the mixture go through a drying step, thereby synthesizing lithium manganate (e.g., LiMn2O4) with a spinel structure, whose manganese has an average oxidation number that is equal to a valence number of 3.5.


Conventional computing devices typically include one to many conventional types of input/output (I/O) ports for communicating with connectable external devices such as mice, keyboards, wireless modems, thumb drives, hard drives, etc., as well as internal devices such as hard drives and SSD drives. Conventional computing devices typically further include subsystems for inputting and outputting audio and video streams such as music, videos, video chat and conferences, presentations, etc.
However, the specifications for these I/O and multimedia interfaces and subsystems typically do not provide for security functions such as authentication and verification. Meanwhile, there are a number of applications such as corporate video conferencing that would greatly benefit from efficient provision and management of security over such multimedia interfaces and subsystems.


Semiconductor devices are used in a variety of electronic applications, such as personal computers, cell phones, digital cameras, and other electronic equipment, as examples. As technology has progressed, the demand for smaller semiconductor devices with improved performance has increased. As feature densities increase, the widths of the conductive lines, and the spacing between the conductive lines of back-end of line (BEOL) interconnect structures also need to scale smaller.
A move is being made away from the traditional materials used in the past in semiconductor device designs, in order to meet these demands. To reduce the RC time delay, low dielectric constant (low-k) materials are being used as insulating materials, and there is a switch being made to the use of copper for interconnect materials, rather than aluminum. Advantages of using copper for semiconductor device interconnects include abilities to operate faster and manufacture thinner conductive lines because copper has lower resistivity and increased electromigration resistance compared to aluminum. Combining copper interconnects with low-k dielectric materials increases interconnect speed by reducing the RC time delay, for example.
Copper interconnects are often formed using damascene processes rather than by direct etching. Damascene processes are typically either single or dual damascene, which includes forming openings by patterning and etching inter-metal dielectric (IMD) layers and filling the openings with copper. Because copper diffuses easily into some dielectric materials, especially some types of low-k dielectric materials, a diffusion barrier layer is usually deposited on the inner walls of the damascene opening before the copper is formed. Refractory metals such as tantalum (Ta) or titanium (Ti), or nitride compounds of these metals are used as materials of the diffusion barrier layer. However, there are some challenges in using refractory metals in the copper damascene structure since these metallic films have high resistance, thereby causing increased resistance in the copper lines and increased RC delay, especially in small, narrow features.
As the shrinkage of copper lines has progressed in recent years, there is a trend towards thinner films being used for the diffusion barrier layer. Physical vapor deposition (PVD) process used for depositing a thinner TaN/Ta barrier layer encounters difficulties in advanced scale of interconnection. Atomic layer deposition (ALD) process is the candidate to deposit a very thin diffusion barrier layer with uniform coverage, but the ALD method is disadvantageous in extremely low deposition rate and poor throughput. In addition, in manufacturing the TaN/Ta film, a problem occurs in which favorable adhesion between diffusion barrier layer and the IMD layer cannot be achieved. For example, copper lines peel off at the interface, worsening the yield of the semiconductor device.
Therefore, there is a need for an improved diffusion barrier layer in the copper interconnect, and a method of forming thereof.


The invention relates to a battery terminal connecting cable with a strand consisting of numerous fine wires and a further section having a hole for a screw, whereby on the further section the numerous fine wires are welded together, a method for the manufacture of a battery terminal connecting cable and a device for the manufacture of such a cable.
Battery terminal connecting cables are used primarily to interconnect battery cells conductively. In this case one also talks of cell connectors. For the conduction of relatively high currents at low electrical resistance the strand usually consists of copper wires twisted into a strand having a cross-section of approximately 50 mm2. Depending on the field of application, however, both thicker and thinner strands are used.
In order to connect such a strand consisting of numerous fine copper wires to a battery terminal, a copper pipe section is first inverted over the strand and this pipe section is then pressed to an approximate plate shape. In this plate there is a hole which first passes through the upper side of the original pipe section, then through the compressed cable and finally through the lower side of the original pipe section. Finally in this hole there is inserted a screw which interacts with a thread in the battery terminal so that when the screw is tightened, the strand held together by means of the copper sleeving is pressed onto the battery terminal.
In practice it has been found that even a relatively strongly tightened screw works loose as a result of vibrations, as occur especially in batteries located in vehicles. This has the result that the end of the cable is no longer securely connected to the battery terminal. Contact is therefore made over smaller areas and is thus severely impaired. In cases of more severe loosening this leads to undesirable heating, even to the extent of sparking.
In order to prevent screws working loose, in known battery terminals a plastic section, such as preferably a plastic bead, is provided in the thread region between the screw and the battery terminal. This bead becomes deformed as the screw is turned and acts to prevent loosening of the screw.
The insertion of a bead or other plastic section has the result that expensive, special screws are required. Since battery terminal connectors are a mass-produced product manufactured in large quantities, any increase in the cost of the product leads to economic disadvantages.
A battery terminal connecting cable of appropriate type is known from EP-A-O 707 321. In practice the end of the cable strand produced by spot welding does not give the required strength values for the cable end so that the cables described have not proved suitable as battery terminal cables.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,325,760 discloses a cable whose end was soldered. However, soldering is an expensive procedure which leads to increased costs in the area of mass production.
The invention is based on the problem of preparing a connection between battery terminal connecting cable and battery terminal at a favourable cost, which ensures secure contact between the battery terminal connecting cable and the battery terminal even under severe vibration or thermal expansion.
The problem is solved using a battery terminal connecting cable of appropriate type where the strand is at least partly insulated and a further section is secured at the end of the strand.
The invention is based on the knowledge that the problem of screw loosening in the battery terminal is not primarily attributable to the screw being held inadequately in the battery terminal. The reason for loosening screws lies in the fact that at times fairly high temperatures occur at the contact piece of the battery terminal connecting cable as a result of the flowing currents. At varying temperatures the fine wires inside the copper sleeving are severely compressed from time to time and then remain in this severely compressed form. As a result after many temperature fluctuations the originally tightened screw is subject to less force so that the screw sits more loosely in the thread. Loosening of the screw can then only be impeded by the plastic section described above. The plastic section certainly impedes loosening of the screw but the fact that the screw at times exerts less pressure on the contact piece is not impeded by the plastic section. However, a constant pressure on the contact piece is required to ensure a continuous equally good current flow.
Practical tests have shown that when a cable end consisting of wires welded together, is screwed on, the compression of the connecting piece described above does not occur and consequently normal screws without protection against loosening can be used. Since the screw now presses the contact piece onto the battery terminal at a constant pressure, optimal electrical conditions are created and thus the heating in the contact region is reduced.
According to the invention a further section is secured at the end the strand. This further section can, for example, serve as a contact piece and can be connected in various ways to the end of the strand welded to form a solid material.
A particularly preferred embodiment of a battery terminal connecting cable is obtained if the further section is welded onto the end of the strand. In this way a specially favourably shaped contact piece can be used. This in particular allows the weight of the battery terminal connecting cable to be reduced.
It is also advantageous if the further section, preferably constructed as a contact piece, is made of copper.
In all known battery terminal connecting cables the longitudinal axis of the further section extends in the direction of the axis of the battery terminal connecting cable. Since the battery terminal connecting cable serves as a connecting element between two terminals, it seems to be logical to use a further section extending in the direction of the axis of the battery terminal connecting cable. However, tests have shown that in many cases it is of great advantage if this further section is configured such that its longitudinal extension runs at an angle to the longitudinal axis of the cable. Examples of this type of configuration are shown in FIGS. 6-9.
Depending on the configuration of the battery terminals, in practice the connecting cables are frequently very severely bent. In many cases, the angular configuration of the further section to the axis of the battery terminal connecting cable reduces the necessary bending of the cable and also allows shorter cables to be used. The configuration described thus has the result that the cable can be protected and material usage can be reduced.
The angular configuration described is also of great importance for battery terminal connecting cables regardless of the afore-mentioned characteristics and can thus also be used to advantage for clamp connections between the cable strand and a further section.
The problem according to the invention is also solved using a method for the manufacture of a battery terminal connecting cable in which a strand consisting of numerous fine wires is welded by means of ultrasound and the strand is welded to a contact piece or with a contact piece.
The use of ultrasound for making electrical connections is already known from EP-A-0 671 790. However, the welding of the strand to a contact piece or with a contact piece cannot be inferred from this document.
All types of welding or soldering of an end of a strand developed so far have failed in that the high heat input during the welding process is transferred from the copper cables normally used to the insulating layer. On the one hand, this leads to destruction of the insulation and on the other, the input heat is rapidly dissipated. Only welding by means of ultrasound produced such good results that the insulating layer can remain on the cable strand during welding. This surprising result reduces the energy input and allows known manufacturing methods for moulding plastic onto the connecting regions to be used even for the new battery terminal connecting cable.
For manufacture of the battery terminal connecting cable according to the invention a device is proposed which has a sonotrode, a strand feed device, a contact piece feed device and a pressure cylinder arranged so that the strand and the contact piece can be pressed onto one another by means of this device.
The device allows the battery terminal connecting cable to be manufactured automatically and rapidly.
Since during pressing of the wire strand the fine wires are pressed to the side, it is proposed that on the device according to the invention there should preferably be provided movable jaws which act on the strand at right angles to the axis of the pressure cylinder. These jaws together with the pressure cylinder and the sonotrode define a cross-section in which the wires should be welded together to form the most compact copper piece. At the end of the welding process the jaws are moved away from the strand and the pressure cylinder is retracted so that the strand connected to the contact piece can be removed from the device.


As known in the art, the CD (compact disc) system currently employed as a main-current acoustic apparatus is of such a type that pits are formed in a 12 cm-diameter disc in a manner to correspond to digital PCM (pulse code modulation) data and reproduction is performed by, while rotating the disc in a drive rotation in a CLV (constant linear velocity) system, linearly tracking the data from an inner periphery side to an outer periphery side on the disc by a semiconductor laser and an optical pickup built in a photoelectric conversion element.
Audio playback musical tone data and sub-code data P, Q, R to W defined for control/display are recorded in the disc. Of the aforementioned data, the sub-code Q is also called as address data and represents, in a program area containing disc's musical tone data, a program number (TNO) of recorded musical tone data, a phrase number (INDEX), a lapse time (TIME) for each program, a total time (ATIME) lapsing from a start position of the program area, etc.
Further, the aforementioned sub-code data Q represents, in a lead-in area located on the inner periphery side of the program area, a start address of each program as TOC (table of contents) data. That is, the sub-code data Q is recorded for implementing a search operation, accurately at high speeds, for selective reproduction of playback data from vast information recorded in the disc to enable a stereo reproduction to be performed for about one hour and grasping the state of a reproduction on the disc.
The CD system has initially been developed so as to record and reproduce musical data. In recent years, with attention paid to such a vast recording capacity, a CD-ROM (read only memory) system is determined to be used as a read-only data recording medium for the disc through the use of a musical data recording area of the disc as a digital information recording area. The CD-ROM system is of such a type as to record and reproduce digital information on the disc without varying a recording/reproduction format for musical data reproduction in the CD system and to do so by adding a new format thereto.
In the existing digital data processing system using a CD-ROM system, however, when there occurs a shift in frequency of a clock serving as a reference of a data processing speed relative to a host processing section side and disc reproduction section side, the buffer memory at the host processing section side is placed in an over- or an underflowed state, failing to make a normal data reproduction and thus presenting a problem.
The present invention is achieved, taking the above situations into consideration and the object of the present invention is to provide a much better digital data processing apparatus which, even when there occurs a shift in frequency of a clock serving as a reference of a data processing speed relative to a host processing section side and disc reproduction section side, can prevent a buffer memory on the host processing section side from being placed in an over- or an underflowed state and make a normal data reproduction.


1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to tunnel boring machines, and more particularly to a machine that utilizes a casing centered within a casing structure, and still more particularly to one which utilizes a spoils ejector adjacent the cutting head at the forward end of the auger that is turned by the boring machine.
2. Description of the Related Art
This invention is directed to the providing of an auger boring machine of the type used in the installation of in-ground pipe. For decades, prior art boring machines have been positioned on tracks in a large hole at the initiation site of a tunnel. The machine has a power source that pushes a casing into a tunnel dug by a rotating drill head. This digging is accomplished by the power source turning an auger that extends within and is parallel to the casing. At the terminal end of the auger is a drilling head that revolves as the auger spins, the drilling head cuts soil and/or rocks loose from the ground. The cut soil and/or rock are referred to as spoils and are evacuated from the tunnel by the auger blade.
Prior art tunnel boring machines bore tunnels 4-96″ in diameter. The machines cost thousands of dollars to set up to begin the digging of a tunnel. When adjustments need to be made, it can take a day. Oftentimes, the auger used in these machines has to be removed from within the casing if a problem is encountered at the cutting head. This takes time and incurs expense.
It is thus apparent that the need exists for an improved tunnel boring machine which in addition to being easy to use, permits tunnels to be bored faster and more economically than in the past.


1. Field
The present disclosure relates to a composition for preventing, improving, or treating osteoporosis (Type I osteoporosis) in postmenopausal women, the composition including, as an active ingredient, scopolin, a derivative thereof, or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
Estrogen which is a representative hormone that symbolizes women is an important female hormone that regulates a lifespan of women through menstruation, pregnancy, and menopause. Estrogen is a well-known female hormone that is mainly secreted from follicles and corpus luteum that are in female ovaries and from the placenta, and is a generic term for estrone (E1), estradiol (E2), and estriol (E3). Estrogen affects a wide range of tissues, and is especially needed to maintain flexibility and steady state of the uterus, urinary tract, breast, skin, bones, and blood vessels. In particular, estrogen acts on osteoblast involved in production of bones to maintain bone formation, and also acts on osteoclast involved in removal of bones to inhibit bone resorption, thereby maintaining homeostasis of bones (see FIG. 1). Thus, postmenopausal osteoporosis which is caused by reduced estrogen levels is one of the most serious diseases in postmenopausal women (see FIG. 2).
Osteoporosis is a condition where bone mass per unit volume is abnormally reduced compared to a normal level according to sex, age, and race of a normal person. Due to brittle bones that break easily by minor impacts such as bending the waist or sitting down, osteoporosis is characterized by fractures in the coxa, carpal, vertebrae, or the like. According to pathogenesis of osteoporosis, osteoporosis is divided into primary and secondary forms. Primary osteoporosis includes postmenopausal osteoporosis (Type I osteoporosis) and senile osteoporosis (Type II osteoporosis), and secondary osteoporosis is caused by drugs or the like (see FIG. 3).
Regarding postmenopausal osteoporosis (Type I osteoporosis) in women, when a deficiency of estrogen hormones appears after menopause, postmenopausal osteoporosis occurs as components of bones are absorbed into body tissues and calcium absorption through intestines is reduced (see FIG. 4). In addition, the reduction in estrogen hormones inhibits differentiation and proliferation of osteoblasts, resulting in inhibition of bone formation, and activation of osteoclasts leads to occur bone the resorption more frequently than the bone formation, resulting in an increase of bone loss and a decrease of bone mass (see FIG. 5). The above phenomenon may progress rapidly after menopause depending on a person.
Senile osteoporosis (Type II osteoporosis) is caused by bone loss with increasing age in both men and women. In particular, senile osteoporosis is characterized by a decrease in intestinal calcium absorption due to a reduction in active vitamin D in the body and by a decrease in the number of osteoblasts that newly produce osteocytes. Here, senile osteoporosis progresses relatively slowly herein.
Secondary osteoporosis is caused by various diseases or medications that affect functions related to bone cell production and maintenance of the human body. For example, such various diseases may include hyperthyroidism, hyperparathyroidism, Cushing's syndrome, rheumatoid arthritis, hyperprolactinemia, and the like, and in addition, steroid hormone preparations or thyroid hormone preparations may also cause secondary osteoporosis.
When the climacteric begins, female hormones secreted from the ovaries are reduced due to a decrease or an imbalance in ovarian functions, and accordingly a variety of symptoms may appear. Even after menopause, postmenopausal osteoporosis may occur due to a rapid decrease in bone density and a decrease of bone mass. Since postmenopausal osteoporosis may cause backache or other bone-related diseases, and bone fractures, postmenopausal osteoporosis is considered as a disease that significantly affects the quality of life. In particular, women undergoing premature menopause or having an ovariectomy before age of 50 may be more susceptible to postmenopausal osteoporosis.
As therapeutic agents for postmenopausal osteoporosis in women, incrementally modified composite drugs, such as Bonviva Plus (composition: bisphosphonate-based drugs) and Aclasta (composition: zoledronic acid injection 5 mg), may be used. However, due to side effects of the agents above, the demand for therapeutic agents derived from natural products or health functional foods is increasing. Calcium which is good for bone health, vitamin D, and health functional foods including isoflavones are widely used, but effects thereof are limited. Therefore, there is a need for the development of more effective pharmaceutical preparations or health functional foods for prevention, improvement, and treatment of postmenopausal osteoporosis in women.


1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to data processing systems, and more particularly to a data processing system, method, and computer program product for maintaining a relational database in a virtualization system of usage information of multiple, different physical devices in a system that implements virtual storage devices.
2. Background of the Invention
In some known data processing systems, a server computer system is coupled directly to its storage devices, such as tape drives and/or disk drives. To perform a backup operation to a tape drive, for example, the server computer system commands the tape library to mount a specific physical tape cartridge into a specific physical tape drive. The application running on the server can then directly access the physical tape drive. Any warning or errors encountered can be managed by the server through the application. It is possible for this error information to be used by the application to perform preventative maintenance on the physical storage devices. The problem with this environment is that the storage administration resides on the server. The server has access to only its own storage devices. These storage devices cannot be shared with other servers.
Storage virtualization has been used to overcome the limitations that arise when a server is coupled directly to its storage devices. In a system that implements storage virtualization, the server computer systems are isolated from the physical storage devices by a virtual representation of the storage system. The storage system is a pool of physical storage devices, such as disk drives and tape drives. This approach permits the sharing of the physical storage devices among the server computer systems. Each server has access to one or more virtual storage devices. These virtual storage devices are logical devices maintained by the virtual interface. The virtual interface maps the virtual storage devices to physical devices. When an application running on one of the servers wants to access data on ore of its virtual interfaces, the server identifies the virtual interface. For example, when a server wants to perform a backup, the application commands the tape library to mount a physical tape cartridge into a virtual tape drive. The virtual interface then intercepts the command, modifies the request to translate this virtual tape drive to a physical tape drive, and creates a mapping from this physical device to the virtual interface.
Storage virtualization hides warnings and errors from the server, however. The server knows about only the virtual interface. Usage information about the physical device is not available to the server. Although, the virtual interface logs some limited information about what occurs with the physical storage devices, the log is a continuous event log that combines very minimal information about events that occurred in the physical devices. The log is a single, sequential string of events occurring in various physical devices kept in the log in the sequential order in which the events occurred. Events are placed in the log in the order in which they occur without regard to where the event occurred. Thus, an event occurring in a first storage device may be logged followed by an event occurring in a second storage device followed by an event occurring back in the first storage device. It does not maintain a separate log for each device. Further, information about which physical device was used and the history of usage is not recorded. This log is not available to the servers. They may not access it.
The StorageNet 6000, available from Storage Technology Corporation, is an example of a system that implements a virtual interface. The SN6000 presents a virtualization system for tape drives. The system presents virtual tape drives to servers, and dynamically maps these virtual interfaces to the physical tape drives as needed. When errors occur in the system, it is very difficult for the server to determine where the error occurred since it does not have information about which physical device was being used. When an error occurs, a host attributes the error to the virtual interface that the host is coupled to, and not the physical device.
Therefore, a need exists for a method, system, and product for maintaining a relational database within the virtual interface of information about usage of physical storage devices in a system that implements virtual storage devices.


One type of roller conveyor is powered by DC motors located in roller cylinders which are mounted with other rollers between the conveyor side plates. Electronic motor control modules are mounted on one of the side plates. Packages traveling on the conveyor rub against the side plates and rollers generating static electricity which can arc between the side plate and control module damaging the control module components.


Traditional editing for storytelling on film (and later video) created and perfected the style of inter-cutting shots of varying focal lengths and at varying angles to communicate the positional relation between characters in establishing shots and to provide increased intensity of performance by using close-ups. The ability to cut away from one perspective to another also allowed the use of different takes within the same production. These techniques have become so commonplace that they are inculcated and accepted by everyone with any media exposure whatsoever.
These techniques have also been used for many years in live productions with multiple cameras from the beginning of Television as Live Broadcast TV to today's news, awards, sports and talk shows.
Since the mid 1960's as the “Studio Tours” flourished in the Los Angeles area, “simulated” shows were created where participant could take the role of actors on sets with contemporary equipment and create short video scenes from famous shows. This type of “live” production has become a Theme Park staple over the years and many versions of custom media inserting guests into the previously produced segment have been created.
On a separate path, beginning more than 20 years ago, as MTV exploded onto the scene, the evolution of audio Karaoke to music video setups were taking the first steps of simplifying the production studio apparatus to bring some version of these expensive production techniques to a new market as a simplified production studio. These were all single camera set-ups and were not attempting to accomplish anything more than a superimposition of the guest over an interesting background while the music played. There was no intent of interacting with the background.
The next step in the evolution was to insert participants into a background entirely pre-produced specifically for the purpose of inserting a participant member of the public who could interact by answering questions or reading prompts to give them the appearance of appearing on a television show. In one example, this was showcased a decade ago at EPCOT center in Florida where guests could do a brief interview with Jay Leno. This setup was reprised at the Olympic Village in Atlanta in 1996 and has been resident at the NBC Experience in Rockefeller Plaza since 1999. There are other options in the later location and another example in “Studio 39” in San Francisco. However, in all of these installations, a single camera is used to place the participant into a back ground scene produced specifically and only for that purpose.


In current aircraft technology there is the hydraulic system for operating inter alia the flight control system. This hydraulic system is divided into three different circuits (green circuit, yellow circuit, blue circuit). Under high loads in these circuits the maximum allowable temperature of the hydraulic fluid (e.g. Skydrol) of 90° C. can be reached, which causes high stress in the individual components (pumps, conduits, and seals). This reduces the reliability of these components.
A fuel cell is an electrochemical reactor, which produces electric and thermal energy from the reactive gases hydrogen and oxygen. The electric energy is conducted from the cell e.g. as direct current and conditioned accordingly for further use. The thermal energy, which is produced, has to be removed through a cooling circuit, so that the fuel cell does not overheat during operation, and does not get damaged.


Fast dissolving pharmaceutical dosage forms which are designed to release an active ingredient in the oral cavity are well known and can be used to deliver a wide range of drugs (Critical Reviews in Therapeutic Drug Carrier Systems, 21(6):433-475 (2004); Seager H. (1998), J. Phar. Pharmacol 50:375-382; Bandari et al. (January 2008), Asian Journal of Pharmaceutics 2-11).
In a fast dissolving dosage form, a drug may physically be trapped in a matrix composed of e.g. mannitol and fish gelatin (EP 1501534; EP1165053), modified starch (U.S. Pat. No. 6,509,040), pullulan in combination with an amino acid (EP1803446), or maltodextrin in combination with sorbitol (US2004/0228919). The solution, suspension or dispersion of the drug and the carrier material may be filled into blister cavities, frozen and thereafter lyophilized. As any product of technology at all times, also the latter can still be improved upon.
The subject invention provides an improved fast-dispersing dosage form.


1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the production of hydrogen-rich gas by the partial oxidation of a water saturated gaseous hydrocarbonaceous fuel or a mixture of water saturated gaseous hydrocarbonaceous fuel and a liquid hydrocarbonaceous fuel.
This invention also relates to the use of at least a portion of the hydrogen-rich gas or synthesis gas produced during a partial oxidation gasification process as the feedstock in a process for the direct reduction of iron, also referred to as the "DRI" process.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The production of hydrogen-rich gas by the partial oxidation of a liquid hydrocarbonaceous feed or a pumpable slurry of solid carbonaceous feed to produce a raw feed gas which is cleaned and purified to produce a product gas comprising about 20 to 60 mole % hydrogen is disclosed in coassigned U.S. Pat. No. 4,338,292. In coassigned U.S. Pat. No. 4,021,366, the process gas stream from the partial oxidation of a liquid hydrocarbon material or a slurry of solid carbonaceous feed is cooled, scrubbed, and water-gas shifted in a bed of low temperature catalyst followed by a bed of high temperature catalyst. In coassigned U.S. Pat. No. 5,152,976, refinery offgas is partially oxidized.
Partial oxidation gasification processes are most effective when operated at relatively high pressures, generally greater than 20 atmospheres. As used herein, a partial oxidation reactor can also be referred to as a "gasification reactor," or simply a "gasifier" and these terms are often used equivalently and interchangeably.
The feedstock for a partial oxidation reaction is usually a hydrocarbonaceous material, that is, one or more materials, generally organic, which provide a source of hydrogen and carbon for the gasification reaction. The hydrocarbonaceous material can be in a gaseous, liquid or solid state, or in a combination as desired, for example, a solid-liquid composition in a fluidized state. Petroleum based feedstocks include petroleum coke, coal residual oils and byproducts from heavy crude oils. The coal or coke can be in a finely divided state. Waste plastic materials can also be used as the feedstock.
Many uses for the syngas produced from the partial oxidation reaction are at relatively lower pressures. Therefore, expansion of the high pressure syngas across a power recovery machine to obtain a syngas at reduced pressure is often employed. This type of expansion is often used as a means for generating electricity. The power generation step is not 100% efficient and some energy is lost in converting the energy to electricity. The electricity generated in such an expansion process requires step up transformers, additional electrical switchgear, and a use for the electricity.
The DRI process can use syngas as a feedstock if it is fed to the reaction chamber at a relatively low pressure, typically less than about 5 atmospheres for a moving bed reactor, and less than about 15 atmospheres for a fluidized bed reactor. The DRI offgas is cooled, compressed, sent to a carbon dioxide removal step, and then mixed with fresh syngas feed and recycled to the DRI process. The recycle compressor is a large energy user and often uses an electrically driven motor. This electrically driven motor is not 100% efficient and some energy is lost in converting electricity to shaft power. Use of an electrical motor requires step down transformers, additional electrical switchgear, and a source of electricity. Alternately, a steam driver can be used with similar energy losses and supporting equipment.
The operation of gasifiers at relatively high pressures in power generation systems, for example, the integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) system is disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,117,623 and 5,345,756, wherein these systems are coupled with expanders, gas turbines and steam turbines for power generation. U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,531,424 and 5,370,727 disclose processes for the direct reduction of iron.


1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the field of sonar, and more particularly to the field of demultiplexer circuits used in demultiplexing the multiplexed signal information obtained from DIFAR sonobouys.
DIFAR sonobouys are dropped in numbers by intelligence gathering aircraft into ocean areas that are to be subjected to short term sonar monitoring. As shown in FIGS. 1a and 1b respectively, the DIFAR sonobouys typically have a first dipole directional sonar hydrophones that respond to sound along a sonobouy (Y) axis, a second dipole directional hydrophones that respond to sound along a sonobouy (X) axis, and a non-directional or omni hydrophone that responds to sound with uniform sensitivity on all level radials from the instrument.
The DIFAR sonobouy is typically characterized to float at a predetermined depth for a predetermined duration. The (X) and (Y) axes are orthogonal and are kept float level by operation of the hydrostatic design of the sonobouy. The sonobouy is equipped with a fluxgate compass. No means is provided to orientate the sonobouy once it is in the water.
Sounds received by the hydrophones in the sonobouy are multiplexed in accordance with a predetermined DIFAR format for transmission to an aircraft sent to record the received data.
The DIFAR format requires that the following conventions be adopted. Using a top view of the sonobouy, angle Phi is measured clockwise from magnetic north to the +Y axis. Angle Theta is measured clockwise from the +Y axis to the target location. When dropped into the ocean, the angle phi can be any angle from 0 to 360 degrees. The sonobouy orientation can continually change due to wave action. The relative amplitude and polarity of target signals from the Y axis hydrophones varies as the cosine of angle theta. The relative amplitude and polarity of target signals from the X axis hydrophones varies as the Sine of angle theta. The omni hydrophone signal is positive in all quadrants of angle theta.
The sonobouy circuitry provides a 15.0 kilohertz phase reference signal. The 15.0 kilohertz phase reference signal is phase shifted or delayed in time by an interval proportional to the magnetic heading angle phi to generate a signal referred to as the phase pilot signal.
The Y axis hydrophone information is referred to as cosine channel information. The X axis channel information is referred to as sine channel information. The cosine channel information is multiplied by a reference carrier signal having a frequency of 15.0 kilohertz. The reference carrier signal leads the 15.0 Kilohertz phase reference by 90 degrees. All delays are measured with respect to the phase reference signal. The sine channel information is multiplied by a quadrature reference carrier signal having a frequency of 15.0 kilohertz and is phased shifted to lead the reference carrier of the cosine channel by 90 degrees.
The sonobouy also provides a constant amplitude 7.5 Kilohertz frequency pilot signal. The frequency pilot signal is by definition exactly one half the frequency of the phase reference signal.
The omni signal is not multiplied by a carrier. The bandpass of the omni signal information is typically under 2.5 kilohertz. An RF carrier is modulated with the sum of the frequency pilot, the phase pilot, the cosine channel, sine channel and the omni signal information and transmitted by the DIFAR sonobouy to the sampling aircraft to be recorded on board the aircraft or for retransmittal to a receiving station as a single channel signal for demultiplexing by the invention DIFAR demultiplexing circuit.
2. Prior Art
Previous DIFAR demultiplexer circuits used two or more phase locked servos. The invention DIFAR demultiplexer circuit uses one phase locked servo loop with a digital correction in 45 degree steps and analog adjustment of the quadrature phase signal to the phase pilot.


1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a method of upgrading low-value linear alpha olefins (LAOS) of C18 or more. More particularly, the present invention relates to a method of manufacturing high-quality lube base oil by converting a low-value LAO having a C18 or more hydrocarbon chain into a linear internal-olefin (LIO) having a controlled double bond position distribution, which then undergoes oligomerization.
2. Description of the Related Art
Ethylene is a raw material used in the chemical industry to the extent that the production and consumption thereof are considered as indicators of the chemical industry scale of a country. Typically, ethylene is employed as a monomer for preparing a polymer such as polyethylene. In some cases, LAOs having a C4-C40 carbon length (or chain) are prepared by adjusting the degree of polymerization of ethylene, and thus utilized to manufacture a variety of chemicals. In this regard, as used herein, the term “full range LAO” refers to a C4-C40 LAO mixture resulting from ethylene polymerization or oligomerization.
The reason why LAO production techniques are important is that LAO is a chemical without sulfur and nitrogen derived from crude oil. Generally, since crude oil contains impurities such as sulfur and nitrogen components in amounts of ones of wt %, it is difficult to directly prepare chemicals composed of pure hydrocarbons without such impurities. However, ethylene resulting from catalytic cracking of crude oil is converted into LAO, which is then converted again into a desired chemical, thereby obtaining chemicals composed of pure hydrocarbons without impurities.
Ethylene polymerization is mainly carried out using a batch reactor under air-sensitive conditions in the presence of a metallocene catalyst. Since a metallocene catalyst has a very strong single acid site, ethylene is selectively polymerized at the single acid site of the catalyst, and is thus linearly grown at the acid site of the catalyst. Ultimately, the olefin produced by the LAO preparation reaction possesses a linear alpha-olefin structure having an even number of carbon atoms because of the use of an ethylene monomer.
When operating conditions for the LAO preparation reaction are controlled, the LAO composition distribution may be altered. For example, when the reaction temperature or the polymerization time is increased, the proportion of LAO having a relatively high molecular weight may become high. In contrast, when the reaction temperature or the polymerization time is decreased, the proportion of LAO having a relatively low molecular weight may increase. Taking into consideration the industry scale for LAO-derived chemicals by LAO manufacturers, the LAO composition is changed in such a manner that the reaction conditions are appropriately controlled, thereby ensuring optimal profitability for individual projects.
Alpha-olefins produced by the LAO preparation processes exhibit properties varying depending on the number of carbon atoms thereof, and the properties of the resulting chemicals may become different depending on the type of LAO feed. For example, C4 LAOs obtained by polymerizing two ethylene monomers are present in a gas phase, and polymers resulting from the polymerization thereof have an excess of intramolecular branches, making it difficult to apply to a specific product, for example, lube base oil. Also, even when C6 LAOs obtained by polymerizing three ethylene monomers are converted into polymers, such polymers are unlikely to be applied to lube base oil and so on due to many intramolecular branches thereof. As such, copolymerization of ethylene with a C6 LAO may result in an ethylene-1-hexene copolymer having properties different from those of conventional polyethylene. Also, C8 LAOs obtained by polymerizing four ethylene monomers may be applied to Group IV lube base oil via polymerization, and may be used to produce a copolymer with ethylene, as in the C6 LAOs. Also, C10-C12 LAOs are polymerized and thus mainly used as Group IV base oil, and C14-C16 LAOs are reacted with amine or succinic acid, so that the resulting products may be applied to various functional chemicals, or mixed and thus used for cheap drilling oil.
The aforementioned LAOs have certain end-uses, and the markets adapted for the demand thereof are established. Furthermore, the related techniques have been already developed to some extent. The most expensive LAO is a C8-C12 LAO for preparing high-quality lube base oil (e.g. Group IV lube base oil), and C6 and C8 LAOs may be mainly utilized because the demand thereof is high for producing copolymers. Also, although C14-C16 LAOs are relatively less used due to limited end-uses thereof compared to the C6-C12 LAOS, C14-C16 LAOs may be used to prepare specialty chemicals and may thus be formed into products by increasing purity thereof. However, C18 or more LAOs are problematic because the end-uses thereof are limited, and the purity thereof has to be increased to obtain desired products. In this regard, C18 or more LAOs have been employed as an additive for lube oil or in wax form, but are not general-purpose chemical products, and thus the demand thereof is undesirably low. Also, C20 or more LAOs are limited in serving as feeds because they exist as a solid at room temperature. Like this, the market prices of C18 or more LAOs are maintained very low compared to the other LAOS, on account of low demands, tendencies to exist as a solid, and restrictions where such feeds may be prepared into products only when the purity thereof is increased.
Owing to the limitations of end-uses as above, the yield of high-value C8-C12 LAOs is intended to be selectively increased while decreasing the yield of C18 or more LAOs, by LAO manufacturers. However, the LAO products have a composition of the normal distribution due to characteristics of the polymerization catalyst, making it impossible to attain operating conditions for preparing only C8-C12 LAOs and for drastically lowering the yield of C18 or more LAOS.
Hence, LAO preparation under reaction conditions able to lower the yield of C18 or more LAOs as much possible is chosen by LAO manufacturers, and is advantageous because only LAOS, the demand of which is high and the value of which is also high, may be selectively prepared while decreasing the yield of C18 or more LAOs regarded as byproducts. However, since the composition of products resulting from ethylene polymerization has the normal distribution as mentioned above, the yield of C8-C12 LAOS, corresponding to feeds for end-uses (especially Group IV lube base oil) which have the highest price and a future market of which is expected to grow, is relatively low, which is undesirable.
Alternatively, the reaction conditions may be set so as to maximize the yield of the most expensive C8-C12 LAOs without taking into account the yield of C18 or more LAOS. As such, the yield of C18 or more LAOs is 10 wt % or more, but the yield of relatively high-value C8-C12 LAOs may be increased. Therefore, if C18 or more LAOs obtained by full range LAO techniques can be simply converted into general-purpose high-value products, the effect of such technology is expected to be very significant. Accordingly, methods of converting C18 or more LAOs into high-value chemicals are required.
Meanwhile, techniques for preparing chemicals (e.g. drilling oil) having improved properties in such a manner that a double bond present at the alpha position of the LAO is shifted to the inside of the carbon chain to form a linear internal-olefin (LIO) (olefin shift reaction) are also known (e.g. U.S. Pat. No. 6,281,404). However, the above techniques are not regarded as the application of low-value C18 or more LAOs because a wide range of C4-C50 LAOs are utilized, and also because the double bond shift reaction for 1-pentene is mainly disclosed. In addition, there are known techniques for manufacturing lube base oil (e.g. EP 0 136 377 B1) by oligomerizing internal olefins (especially, internal olefin produced from dehydrogenation of paraffin so that a double bond is randomly distributed in the molecule) in the presence of a boron trifluoride catalyst and a promoter, and for manufacturing lube base oil (Japanese Patent Application Publication NO. 1993-306241) by oligomerizing a C10-C24 LAO/LIO mixture. However, these techniques are limited in improving properties of the lube base oil because the position of the double bond in the olefin is not controlled. In particular, such techniques are unlikely to become technology for increasing the value of low-value C18 or more LAOS produced inevitably as byproducts in full range LAO preparation.


The present invention relates to a high-frequency amplifier circuit that outputs differential signals, a semiconductor device, and a magnetic recording and reproducing device.
High-frequency amplifier circuits used in radio communication and the like widely employ a multistage configuration using a plurality of amplifiers so as to attain desired power for a load. Furthermore, differential signals are used for various purposes, such as improving noise immunity and reducing power consumption, and in cases where it is difficult to place a ground electrode. However, in the case where a high-frequency amplifier circuit having a multistage configuration outputs differential signals, for example, when a common-mode component is generated in the circuit, abnormal oscillation may occur in the amplifier via a feedback path, such as a power line or a signal line, which has been a problem. Note that in order to output differential signals at the last stage in a high-frequency amplifier circuit, one differential amplifier including two amplifiers having the same properties or a dual configuration including two amplifiers having the same properties placed in parallel may be used.


Cigarette lighters have usually been independently carried in pockets and as a result were often inadvertently left on a table by the owner or momentarily loaned to another who thoughtlessly carried it away. No satisfactory way of securement has been conceived for attaching the cigarette lighter to the wearing apparel for avoiding such occurrences and which also provide an attractive apearance and enabled the wearer to use the lighter without the necessity of separating the lighter from its securement of the wearing apparel.


The present invention generally relates to stringed musical instruments and more particularly to a stringed instrument, such as an acoustic guitar, comprising a sound chamber, or body, in which sound waves generated by the plucked strings are amplified by the vibrations of the materials forming the sound chamber and emitted from the sound chamber. For musical instruments, such as flat-topped acoustic guitars, the sound chamber has a front (also referred to as the soundboard), back, and sides. For some of these instruments, the strings are attached on one end to a head at the end of a neck extending from the sound chamber, and attached at the other end to a bridge which is attached to the soundboard. The flat-topped acoustic guitar is so identified because its soundboard is generally flat, as opposed to an arched top guitar which, as suggested by the name, has an arching top with three dimensional characteristics. The term flat-topped acoustic guitar includes both steel string acoustic guitars as well as nylon string classical guitars.
Under the traditional design of a flat-topped guitar, the soundboard has a single opening for the emission of sound waves, which opening is disposed beneath the strings of the instrument, the opening being located centrally with respect to each side of the instrument.
When the strings vibrate, the vibrations travel through the bridge to the soundboard, such that the entire soundboard vibrates. The rest of the sound chamber amplifies the vibrations of the soundboard, with the sound waves primarily emitted from the soundhole.
In the case of acoustic guitars, the sound chamber generally comprises a top, known as the soundboard, a back, and sides. The lower bout is the large rounded bottom of a traditional guitar and the upper bout is the smaller, rounded and convex shape at the top. Under traditional design, the shape of the sound chamber of acoustic guitars is in the shape of a number “8”, with the upper half, i.e., the upper bout, being smaller than the bottom half, i.e., the lower bout. The upper bout and lower bout are separated by the “waist” of the guitar, which is the concave transition between the upper and lower bouts. For traditional designs, the sound hole is located almost entirely in the upper bout of the instrument.
For the typical right handed guitar player, the upper bout of the guitar is adjacent to the player's left arm, and the lower bout is adjacent to the player's right arm. The left hand is utilized for fingering notes on a fingerboard (also referred to as the “fretboard”), where the fingerboard is disposed on the neck. The right hand is utilized for picking or strumming the strings. For the remainder of this description, it will be assumed that the guitar is a “right handed” guitar, i.e., built to be played by a right-handed person. However, correlating the description for a left-handed guitar only requires the assumption that the right hand is utilized for fingering the notes and the left hand is utilized for picking or strumming the strings.
The sides of the guitar may, for purposes of description, be identified with respect to the strings. The treble strings of the instrument are on the side of the instrument facing downward as it is played in the conventional manner, while the bass strings are on the side of the instrument generally facing upward as the instrument is played. Using the strings as a point of reference, the sides of a guitar may be referred to as the treble side and the bass side. With respect to the string orientation described above, the side of the guitar facing downward while being played is considered the treble side of the instrument and the side of the guitar facing upward is considered as the bass side of the instrument. The upper bout therefore may be further described as having a treble side upper bout and a bass side upper bout. Likewise, the lower bout may be further described as having a bass side lower bout and a treble side lower bout. The bass and treble sides of the lower bout meet at the bottom center of the guitar, where the meeting sides of the lower bout are glued to an an internal structure known as the “tailblock.”
Under the traditional design for guitars, the exterior of the sound chamber is symmetric, where the treble side and bass side are mirror images of one another. However, over the years, instrument makers have modified the traditional design. One of the most common of these modifications, which results in an asymmetrical sound chamber, has been to fashion a “cut-away” into the treble side of the upper bout and upper portion of the soundboard adjacent to the neck on the treble side to allow the player greater access to the portions of the fingerboard adjacent to the body of the guitar. Other modifications have also been made, such as placing the sound hole in a different position than directly under the strings. As another modification, some instrument makers have placed bevels in various portions of the instrument, such as where the soundboard of the instrument joins the sides. Under the traditional design, the soundboard and sides of the instrument are at a right angle to each other, defining a common edge. This common edge may have a binding material, such a wood, plastic, or other trim, which protects the soundboard and side from impact damage. Some instrument makers “soften” this common edge by forming a rounded transition section from the side to the soundboard, forming a beveled edge (i.e. a bevel) for a portion of the common edge.
The inventor herein has invented a structural feature referred to as the “Ryan bevel” which has since been utilized and/or modified by others practicing the guitar making art. The Ryan bevel generally comprises an approximate 45 degree chamfer on the bass side lower bout. The Ryan bevel feathers in just above the bass-side waist and feathers out just beyond the centerline of the guitar at the tailblock area. The Ryan bevel has some acoustic advantages but it also creates greater comfort for the player since the player's right arm is resting on a chamfered, wide surface rather than against the relatively sharp corner of the guitar where the sides and soundboard of a conventional acoustic guitar meet.
Another modification made in recent years to acoustic flat-topped guitars has been the placing of an opening or cutout in the bass side upper bout of the guitar, where this opening is referred to as a “soundport”. The soundport, as with the soundhole beneath the strings in the soundboard, provides an emission means for the sound waves generated by the strings as amplified by the sound chamber. For soundports located in the usual position on the bass side upper bout, sound waves emitted from the soundport are directed toward the face of the guitar player.
The known soundports present several problems and disadvantages. First, placing a soundport in the side of the instrument can result in diminished structural strength. For example, the sides of a guitar typically have a wall thickness ranging from 0.060″ to 0.090″, with about 0.075″ being the most common thickness. Given this relatively thin wall, and the continuous load imposed on a guitar body by the string tension—approximately 180 pounds for a steel string guitar—the structural integrity of the load-bearing components of the instrument is always a concern. However, when a side has one or more cutouts for the soundports, the structural integrity may be adversely impacted.
One method of resolving this problem is to place a reinforcement member or other structure within the interior of the sound chamber, such as thicker backing on the interior side of the bout in which the soundport will be placed. However, this method has its own disadvantages. Utilizing a reinforcement member in this manner has the disadvantage of adding to the weight of the instrument and/or adversely impacting the acoustic properties of the sound chamber. Adding structural reinforcement on the inside of the instrument utilizes additional materials and is time consuming, thereby resulting in greater manufacturing expense. A reinforcement member can also create additional stresses on the side of the instrument, because the additional piece of wood glued to the side will not always shrink and expand at the same rate as the side material, which can create stresses and possible cracks in the side during relative humidity fluctuations.
Another problem presented by the known soundports is that when the soundports are located in the upper bout of the instrument, they are located in a portion of the instrument which is not as acoustically active as other portions of the sound chamber, such as in the lower bout behind and/or adjacent to the bridge.
The orientation of the known soundports is typically directed upward into the face of the player, with the axis of the soundport generally perpendicular to the front or soundboard of the instrument. It is to be appreciated that because an audience is typically located at the front of the instrument, the axis of a soundport located in the upper bout of the instrument will be perpendicular to the general direction of the audience. Moreover, depending upon the position in which the player holds the instrument, this location is not optimal for directing sound waves to the player's ear.


The present invention relates to a valve mechanism, particularly to a valve mechanism which can be used for a tube-type fluid container.
As this type of valve mechanism, for example, as described in Japanese Patent Laid-open No. 2001-179139, a valve mechanism having a spherical valve body and a spring for giving momentum to the valve body toward a valve seat has been used. Manufacturing costs of the valve mechanism using the spherical valve body and the spring, however, tend to be high.
Consequently, a valve mechanism having a resinous valve seat, and a resinous valve body which moves between a closed position in which the valve body contacts the valve seat and an open position in which the valve body separates from the valve seat is commonly used.
In the resinous valve mechanism, it is preferred that the valve mechanism has a simple configuration which can close a fluid flow reliably. Additionally, it is preferred that the configuration can alter a flow rate of the fluid passing through the valve mechanism discretionally according to a pressure applied to the fluid. As matters stand, however, a valve mechanism satisfying these requirements is not reported.