1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a polyvalent clamp chucks for machine-tools, i.e. a rotating part having retractable jaws able to rigidly hold a workpiece in a very precise position. Numerous types of chuck are already known, each being designed for a specific use.
2. Discussion of Background Information
A first type of chuck has a cylindrical body with two, three, four or six concentric gripping jaws guided radially in its front face. By their design, arrangement and large degree of movement, the jaws of these chucks can grip large workpieces. These jaw-type chucks are differentiated according to the type of drive means provided for radially actuating the jaws in response to axial displacement of a concentric internal control cylinder in the chuck body.
A first kind of jaw-type chuck, the so-called wedge-type, as, for example, described in French patent publication FR-2 447 768, comprises a control cylinder terminating with a sleeve having, facing each jaw, an oblique outwardly-directed wedge in the form of a groove of inverted T cross-section, in which wedge is engaged the rear heel of a main jaw, also of T shape. As the main jaw is mobile only radially in the front face of the chuck body, it is easily understood that when the control cylinder is withdrawn, the lower part of the sleeve's wedge causes lowering of the jaw's correction heel. FR-2 431 338 describes a device for compensating for centrifugal force for this wedge-type of chuck, comprising a lever situated to the rear of and perpendicular to the jaw, with a short arm bearing in a recess in the rear face of the jaw and a longer arm that is pulled outwards by an inertia block under the action of centrifugal force.
In a second kind of jaw-type chuck, the so-called sliding block chuck, such as that described in European patent publication EP-0 215 350, the main jaw is engaged on one side (or on both sides) by an oblique tenon and mortice coupling with a part sliding parallel to the chuck axis, this block being actuated by a rear control cylinder also via a tenon and mortice coupling. To avoid jamming effects, the tenon and mortice coupling between the sliding block and the main jaw may have a trapezoidal cross-section. Alternatively, the oblique coupling of jaws/sliding block may also be provided by a series of parallel, oblique and interpenetrating toothings.
Another jaw-type chuck of the so-called lever type, such as that sold by Messrs GAMET under reference "MX", comprises a lever for each jaw, situated in the radial plane passing through the jaw, with a short arm engaged in a recess provided in the jaw's rear face, and a longer arm at right angles to the other, that engages in a recess provided in the external face of the control cylinder. Thus, by withdrawing the control cylinder, the short arms are caused to move down, thus bringing the jaws together. Advantageously, one or all of the levers further comprises, in extension of their short arm and beyond the pivot, an inertia block that enhances gripping of the jaws under the action of centrifugal force.
A second general type of chuck of the so-called pincer-clamp type, such as that described in European patent publication EP-0 258 771, comprises several pincers in the form of segments of a hollow truncated cone, whose external surfaces come to bear in an also-conical fixed part of the chuck body. The ends of these pincers are provided with hooks by means of which they can be pulled by the control cylinder towards the inside of the fixed conical part of the chuck. This type of chuck is more particularly designed for machining workpieces from bars or parts of medium dimensions requiring uniform gripping over a large surface.
Another general type of chuck, the so-called "front-driving" type, comprises a coaxial body whose end is fitted centrally with a centering point and, adjacent to this point, a series of radial driving knives. The centering point may be fixed with the mobile driving knives driven by a rearwardly-located jack, or vice versa. Cooperating with a similar facing body, these parts are designed to grip by its lateral faces a workpiece to be machined over its entire external surface. Frequently, these chucks are mounted on a jaw-type chuck, either by being directly fixed against the flat front face by bolts, or by being gripped in the jaws themselves. However, the centering of this fitted jaw may create some difficulties, which may slow down the installation operation.
Another general type of chuck, the so called expansible type, comprises a body fitted against the chuck's front face. An external part of this body can expand, or an internal part can contract, under the action of a displaceable control body or under the action of hydraulic pressure, so as to seize a workpiece to be machined on its external surface.
A first type of expansible mechanical chuck comprises a simple external cone forming an integral part of the basic body and over which a slit part is pushed or pulled, according to the inclination of the cone. The converse arrangement can also be envisaged, namely a fixed pincer with an inner cone that is pushed or pulled.
A second type of expansible mechanical chuck of the so-called "double cone" type comprises a pincer gripped between a conical part of a main body and a second mobile conical part situated at the end of a pull-piece. By pulling the pull-piece, thus bringing the two conical parts towards one another, it is possible to radially displace the pincers so they can grip from the inside a hollow part to be machined on its outer surface.
A third type of expansible mechanical chuck comprises, also in a fitted body, an elastic membrane deformed by hydraulic pressure produced by displacement of a piston in a cylinder integrated in the fitted body, which piston is manually or automatically actuated by a jack.
From the above, it can be understood that a mechanic's workshop having to machine numerous small series of different parts, as, for instance, is usual for subcontractor's workshops, must imperatively be equipped with several types of chuck, which requires a large investment.
Moreover, changing from one type of chuck to another is often long and intricate, and increases the dead time between production runs. Furthermore, it would be possible to allow entirely automatic machines to run continuously, even when the operator is absent during breaks, the workpieces being loaded and unloaded by the machine as long as no manual adjustment is required when passing from machining with orthogonal jaws to machining with oblique jaws, or vice versa.
Lastly, upon each change of the clamping chuck, the position of the gripping jaws on the main jaws must accordingly be set to a procedure that may vary from one chuck manufacturer to another.


1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to methods and systems for organizing and displaying financial information.
2. Description of the Related Art
Fidelity Investments' Web site provides a visual representation of stocks in the stock market, which is branded as “Map of the Markets”. Each of the stocks is represented by a rectangular shape. An aggregate of the rectangular shapes is also rectangular. Though all of the stocks are represented in a compact form, it is unclear how a stock represented by one rectangle specifically relates to stocks represented by neighboring rectangles.
PCQuote.com introduced a graphical representation of a single equity, branded as “Sniper”. The representation has a bulls eye design comprised of 13 sectors, each sector representing an area of reconnaissance. The areas of reconnaissance include: stock flow which indicates a relationship between a number of shares that traded on the bid side versus a number of shares traded on the offer side, quadrant distribution which indicates a total volume of shares traded distributed across four quadrants to show what prices are attracting the most activity, price rotation which numerically indicates when price rotation activity favors buyer or sellers, relative price rotation which visually indicates when price rotation activity favors buyers or sellers, time rotation which measures the acceptance of higher or lower prices, relative time rotation which shows a current time period bias, “to target” which indicates when a stock price is within ½ point of a forecast high or low price, “to exit” which indicates a most extreme stop-out price, buy/sell imbalance which measures where a majority of trades are occurring, look-out signal which indicates a day's direction for an equity, gatekeeper which provides a logical stop-out price, stock and market direction which points out a path of least resistance, and “center of the scope” which indicates whether buyers or sellers are dominant across the board.


1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a prevention of buildup condensate and mold on the inner surface of the beehives caused by temperature and humidity conditions. In particularly, the invention relates to a beehive climate and moisture control system which prevents freezing air from entering the beehive and balances the temperature and humidity surrounding the cluster.
More particularly, this invention relates to a creation of balancing relationship between the sources of the heat, specially constructed winter ventilation inner cover, ventilation, ability to use the subject of invention at remote apiaries without permanent sources of electrical power.
2. Background Art
As the temperature inside the bee hive reach between 10 and 12° C. bees start to establish cluster. Because there is no air circulation inside the hive, temperatures at different levels of the hive would have tendency to stay different. Cluster can be built, based on bees aspiration toward warmer areas, at higher levels (elevations). As soon as cluster is set up, it is instinctively moving upward. The frames with food, located under the cluster will never be reached by bees, which would resulted by the end or even middle of cold season to lack of food and colony starve to death for that reason.
Excessive moisture within a beehive creates an unhealthy environment for bees during winter time. High humidity promotes decay of the wooden structures, mold growth and may contribute to dysentery and other health problems. During cold periods the bees form a cluster within and around the combs of honey, which supply food when foraging is no longer possible. When bees consume honey from comb frames, they heat up bee cluster only, but not surrounding area. Although the bees produce heat, the temperature inside beehive is essentially at the same temperature as the outside. Bees from the core feed on stored honey and gradually work to the outer layer of the cluster to change places with cold bees. While the bees can survive dry cold alone, a cold wet bee cannot survive.
To protect, bees from excess humidity condensation derived from accumulated moisture drops needs to be prevented in a way that they can drop onto semi-donnant bees. The moisture is accumulated from the heat of metabolism of the living cluster as they feed on stored honey. The small amount of heat generated nevertheless causes vapor to rise and condense upon the first cold surface it contacts.
When air with high water vapor content and relatively high Per Dew point met the surface of the ceiling, walls as well as frames surfaces with lower Per Due Dew point, it is start to condensate on their colder, practically equal to outside temperature surfaces. Large amount of honey, pollen which is organic substances and perfect food source in the bee hive create ideal environment for mold grow. There is a need to keep constantly removing any excessive moister out of the bee hive, but at the same time as much as possible avoiding to cool down the interior of the bee hive, especially cluster surrounding area. That why the main sensing device is not temperature sensor but humidity sensor, which is actually through the level of RH in used air watching two main parameters of humidity and temperature inside the beehive.
A need exists in the current art for an improved beehive climate and moisture control system that may be used during winter time. The present invention solves the problem by a beehive system according to claims 1 to 18.


The present invention relates to a portable terminal, an information processing apparatus, a content display system, and a content display method.
Cellular phones capable of browsing internet sites and television (TV) programs have come into wide use today. On the other hand, there have been increasingly employed television sets capable of connecting to networks. In this environment, a technique in which a content received by a cellular phone is viewed by a television set with higher usability and a technique in which a cellular phone is employed as a remote control device to operate a television set are under discussion.
For example, JP-A-2006-286855 describes a cellular phone including a broadcast receiving function. The cellular phone transmits a history of viewed programs and playback indication signals thereof to a video playback device. According to the cellular phone, a program which the user viewed outside his or her house can be again viewed on a large screen after returning home. It is also possible that when the user viewed part a program outside home during a free period of time, the user can view its subsequent part, parts before and after the viewed part, or the entire program from the start point to the end point hereof after returning home by using a recording and reproducing device in the house.
JP-A-2005-135346 describes a technique for use in a system including a cellular phone, an information processing apparatus, and a display. When mail data including Uniform Resource Locator (URL) information is received, the cellular phone transfers the mail data via radio communication to the information processing apparatus. On receiving the mail data, the information processing apparatus displays the mail data on the display. If an operation is conducted for the URL information in the mail data, an operation is conducted to access a radio communication network other than a network used for the radio communication on the basis of the URL information, and resultantly obtained information is displayed on the display.
JP-A-2006-338406 describes a technique in which a communication terminal device including another function is ordinary employed as a remote control device to remotely control other communication terminal devices.
Additionally, JP-A-2007-74265 describes a videoconference system using a cellular phone connected via the internet to a videoconference server to communicate information with the server and a display device capable of, when connected via a communication function to the cellular phone, displaying the information. The videoconference system controls devices connected thereto via the videoconference server and a network. The videoconference system includes an information display module to display on a first display of the cellular phone a first videophone screen on which the information is displayed using letters. The information display module also displays on a second display of the display device a second videophone screen on which image information included in the information communicated as above is displayed. JP-A-2007-74265 describes a system in which a monitor camera is remotely controlled by a cellular phone, and a video image produced from the camera is displayed on a display screen of a Personal Computer (PC)


1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image signal processing apparatus which is used for an electronic still camera or the like, and in which the transfer control of an image signal sent from an image pickup element is improved in connection with the encoding of the image signal.
2. Description of the Prior Art
As an apparatus for converting an optical image into an image signal through an image pickup element and for storing the image signal as digital data into a storage device, there is, for example, a digital-type electronic still camera. In the electronic still camera, image data compression is essential in order to store a bulky amount of digital image data in a storage device of a given capacity. As the method of image data compression, conventionally, there have been proposed various methods. For example, known methods are a DPCM system using a correlation between picture elements adjacent to each other, a DCT system in which a picture area is divided into n x n picture element areas (blocks) composed of n columns of picture elements and rows of picture elements and a correlation in which every block is used.
FIG. 9 is a block diagram showing an example of the signal processing in an electronic still camera employing the DPCM system. This example will be described hereunder.
An image signal produced from an image pickup element 11 such as a CCD or the like is amplified by an amplifier 12, and the amplified signal is separated into three color signals, for example, red, green, and blue (R, G, B) color signals, by a color separation circuit 13. Then, the color signals R, G, and B are processed by gamma circuits 14 and white balance circuits 15 respectively, converted into digital signals by A/D conversion circuits 16 respectively, and stored in a field memory 17. The field memory 17 is used as a buffer memory for a DPCM encoding circuit 18.
The DPCM encoding circuit 18 serves to encode the image data which is converted into the digital signal and read from the field memory 17 in the order of color frames or in the order of color lines. FIG. 10 shows the configuration of the DPCM encoding circuit 18. That is, in the DPCM encoding circuit 18, a predicted value X.sub.0 (obtained by predicting a value at the present point of time on the basis of a sampled value/values at a sample point/points before the present point of time) is subtracted from a sampled value x.sub.0 at the present point of time by means of a subtracter 81 to thereby obtain a prediction error signal .epsilon..sub.0. The prediction error signal .epsilon..sub.0 obtained as a result of the subtraction is outputted after being non-linearly converted by a non-linear converter 82. The predicted value may be obtained, for example, by a method using a sampled value at a sampling point one picture element before the present point of time (hereinafter referred to as a previous-sample-prediction method).
Reference numeral 83 designates a local decoder portion which serves to prevent accumulation of errors generated in the decoding operation. In the local decoder portion 83, a non-linear reverse converter 84 serves to reversely convert an output of the non-linear converter 82, and an adder 85 serves to add a prediction error signal which is an output of the non-linear reverse converter 84 to the above-mentioned predicted value, the result of addition being supplied to a predictor 86.
The image data encoded in the DPCM encoding circuit 18 is written, through a buffer memory 19, into an image data storage medium such as an IC memory card or the like in a storage device 20. The buffer memory 19 serves to finally write the image data into a storage medium 20a while controlling the rate of data transfer between the DPCM encoding circuit 18 and the image data storage medium 20.
In FIG. 9, a CCD driving circuit 21 serves to operate a CCD used as the image pickup element 11. Further, a timing generation circuit 22 is controlled by a system control circuit 23 so as to supply timing signals at predetermined points of time to various circuits 13 through 21 to thereby operate those circuits 13 through 21.
In such a configuration, the gamma circuit 14, the white balance circuit 15, and the A/D conversion circuit 16 are required for each of the color signals of R, G, and B. Further, all the color signal R, G, and B separated by the color separation circuit 13 are simultaneously outputted from the color separation circuit 13. Accordingly, if the field memory 17 were not provided, it would be necessary to provide the DPCM encoding circuit 18 for each of the color signals of R, G, and B. It is however difficult to actually realize such a configuration, and, therefore, it is necessarily required to provide, in a camera, a buffer memory, such as a field memory 17 as mentioned above or a frame memory, of a large capacity.
Thus, in the conventional case, it has been necessary to provide three sets of the gamma circuits 14, the white balance circuits 15, and the A/D conversion circuits 16 for the respective R, G, and B color signals and the field memory 17 or the like which is a large-capacity buffer memory. As a result, the circuit scale and cost is prevented from being reduced so that the apparatus cannot be made inexpensive.


1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of leakage coaxial cables which are used for radio communication in closed in areas such as the interior of buildings, tunnels or underground markets, where no ordinary radio waves can be received.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A leakage coaxial cable typically has slots formed in the exterior thereof which are spaced at predetermined intervals along the conductor, so that electromagnetic waves propagating inside the coaxial cable are partially radiated from the conductor into an external space through the slots.
When a fixed signal source is connected to the leakage coaxial cable, the signal is radiated into the external space and may be received by a mobile station running near the leakage coaxial cable. In addition, a signal transmitted by the mobile station may be received by the fixed station through the leakage coaxial cable.
A common application for leakage coaxial cables has been in disaster warning and prevention system for use in building, tunnels and underground markets. It is important in such applications to make certain that the cables are fireproof. The ability of prior art leakage coaxial cables to withstand high heat has been limited. Consequently, there has existed a long and unfilled need in the prior art for a method of making leakage coaxial cables that have transmission characteristics which will not degrade during a fire related emergency.
A conventional leakage coaxial cable has an external conductor with slots formed therein to radiate an electromagnetic wave which is propagating inside the cable outwardly into an external space. The external conductor is disposed coaxially around an internal conductor with an insulating member therebetween. The external conductor is covered by a protective sheath. In order to minimize the transmission loss of the electromagnetic wave, the insulating member is preferably made of a low-loss plastic material, such as polyethylene or polystyrene. The external conductor is preferably made of high-conductivity material such as alminum or copper. A polyester film is laminated on the external conductor with adhesive to compensate for the decrease of the mechanical strength of the conductor which is caused by the formation of the slots. The protective sheath is preferably made of polyethylene or polyvinyl chloride.
If a leakage coaxial cable thus constructed encounters a fire, the protective sheath will burn away and the external conductor will be directly exposed to the flames. The polyester will burn, and the plastic insulating member will melt. The molten plastic will flow through the slots formed in the external conductor, ignite and drop from the cable while burning. The burning molten plastic may actually contribute to the spread of the fire and may burn the skins or clothes of persons fighting the fire or running away from the fire.
One example of a prior art method of making a leakage coaxial cable refractory has been disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Application Publication No. 16682/1977. In that method, a heat-resistant tape which is made of an inorganic material such as asbestos is spirally wound between a polyethylene insulating member and an external conductor. The heat-resistant tape prevents the melting of the polyethylene insulating material for a long time. In addition, the heat-resistant tape maintains the insulation between the internal and external conductors even after the polyethylene insulating member has been molten. Therefore, the radio communication properties of the cable can be maintained unchanged for some time after the occurrence of the fire.
However, the leakage coaxial cable disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Application Publication No. 16682/1977 is still not an ideal solution to the problem discussed above, since the polyethylene insulating material will eventually ooze out through the stitch lines of the non-organic tape or the seams of the spirally wound tape and flow out through the slots. In addition, since the tape is relatively thick, on the order of 0.25 to 0.5 mm, the dielectric value between the internal and external conductors is large, causing large transmission losses.
Another example of a prior art conventional leakage coaxial cable is disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Application (OPI) No. 3537/1980. In that cable, a heat-resisting tape of polyimide resin is spirally wound between an external conductor and a polyethylene insulating member. Because of the presence of the heat-resisting tape, the internal and external conductors are not short-circuited even if the polyethylene insulating member is molten.
However, that leakage coaxial cable also has the problem of the polyethylene insulating member oozing out through the seams of the spirally wound tape, flowing out through the slots and dropping from the cable while burning.


1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is broadly concerned with improved breakaway sign posts which can be used to support various types of signs in roadway environments. More particularly, the invention is concerned with such sign posts, as well as the coupling assemblies used to interconnect upper and lower sign post sections, wherein a magnetic coupling arrangement is employed in lieu of complex and costly mechanical couplers.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Posts of many different varieties are used in association with roadways. Such posts may be employed to support signs, providing information to vehicle operators, and barriers, directing vehicles away from hazardous areas. Most posts along a roadway are fixed to the ground by digging a post hole, inserting the base of the post into the hole and then filling the hole with concrete or other material to support the post.
Such roadway posts are often inadvertently hit by vehicles traversing the roadways, which usually result in breaking of the posts. When a post breaks, the top portion thereof can rotate toward the vehicle and possibly enter the vehicle's passenger compartment. This can result in serious or even fatal injuries to the occupants.
A further problem with roadway posts currently in use is the difficulty in replacing the post once it has been broken. To reinstall a damaged post, the original concrete must be dug up and removed. Then, a new post is inserted into the hole and fresh concrete is poured to fix it in place. This is labor intensive and requires several man-hours of labor for each broken post.
Breakaway posts have been devised in the past for use in supporting signs, while providing a breakaway function during a sudden vehicle impact. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,264,162 describes a successful design of this character. This breakaway post assembly includes a specialized breakaway collar having strategically located lines of weakness which yields during a vehicle impact. Additional breakaway post designs are described in the following U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,480,121, 3,349,531, 3,820,960, 3,846,030, 4,490,062, 4,926,592, 4,928,446, 5,088,683, 5,160,111, 5,214,886, 5,484,217, 5,535,555, 5,782,040, and 5,988,598.
These prior art breakaway posts are all characterized by mechanical connection structure between upper and lower separate post sections. While providing a useful breakaway function, once impacted by a vehicle, it is necessary to reinstall the collar or related structure to put the post back into an operative condition. Moreover, in certain of the prior designs, it is impossible to repair the breakaway post, and a new installation is necessary. In other instances, the prior breakaway posts do not break away in any predetermined fashion or direction, i.e., it is possible that the broken away portion may fall toward the vehicle rather than away from it.
There is accordingly a real and unsatisfied need in the art for an improved breakaway post assembly which avoids complex mechanical collar arrangements and permits easy repair of a post after it has broken away, and which is designed to cause the broken away post section to fall in a predetermined direction away from the impacting vehicle.


Modem semiconductor integrated circuits usually involve multiple layers separated by dielectric (insulating) layers, such as of silicon dioxide or silica, often referred to simply as an oxide layer, although other materials are being considered for the dielectric. The layers are electrically interconnected by holes penetrating the intervening oxide layer which contact some underlying conductive feature. After the holes are etched, they are filled with a metal, such as aluminum, to electrically connect the bottom layer with the top layer. The generic structure is referred to as a plug. If the underlying layer is silicon or polysilicon, the plug is a contact. If the underlying layer is a metal, the plug is a via.
Plugs have presented an increasingly difficult problem as integrated circuits are formed with an increasing density of circuit elements because the feature sizes have continued to shrink. The thickness of the oxide layer seems to be constrained to the neighborhood of 1 .mu.m, while the diameter of the plug is being reduced from the neighborhood of 0.25 .mu.m or 0.35 .mu.m to 0.18 .mu.m and below. As a result, the aspect ratios of the plugs, that is, the ratio of their depth to their minimum lateral dimension, is being pushed to 5:1 and above.
Filling such a hole with a metal presents two major difficulties.
The first difficulty is filling such a hole without forming an included void, at least with a filling process that is fast enough to be economical and at a low enough temperature that doesn't degrade previously formed layers. Any included void decreases the conductivity through the plug and introduces a substantial reliability problem. Chemical vapor deposition (CVD) is well known to be capable of filling such narrow holes with a metal, but CVD is considered to be too slow for a complete filling process. Physical vapor deposition (PVD), alternatively called sputtering, is the preferred filling process because of its fast deposition rates. However, PVD does not inherently conformally coat a deep and narrow hole. A fundamental approach for applying PVD to deep holes is to sputter the metal on a hot substrate so that the deposited material naturally flows into the narrow and deep feature. This process is typically referred to as reflow. However, high-temperature reflow results in a high thermal budget, and in general the thermal budget needs to be minimized for complex integrated circuits. Further, even at high temperatures, the metal does not always easily flow into a very narrow aperture.
The second difficulty is that an aluminum contact is not really compatible with the underlying semiconductive silicon. At moderately high temperatures, such as those required for the reflow of aluminum into the narrow hole, aluminum tends to diffuse into the silicon and to severely degrade its semiconductive characteristics. Accordingly, a diffusion barrier needs to be placed between the aluminum and the underlying silicon.
These problems are well known and have been addressed by Xu et al. in U.S. patent application, Ser. No. 08/628,835, filed Apr. 5, 1996, incorporated herein by reference in its entirety, which is a continuation in part of U.S. patent application, Ser. No. 08/511,825, filed Aug. 7, 1995 now U.S. Pat. No. 5,962,923.
As shown in the cross-sectional view of FIG. 1, a contact hole 10 having an aspect ratio defined by its depth 12 and its width 14 is etched through a dielectric layer 16 to an underlying substrate 18, which in the more difficult situation includes a surface layer of silicon. In the hole filling process, the contact hole 10 is conformally coated with a titanium (Ti) layer 20, a titanium nitride (TiN) layer 22, and a graded (TIN.sub.x) layer 24, that is, the graded layer 24 begins at its bottom as TiN but its top portion is nearly pure Ti. These three layers form a tri-layer barrier 26, which provides both the conformality and the adhesion to the underlying layers, as well as sufficient wetting for the after deposited aluminum. A Ti layer 20, after siliciding at the sufficiently high annealing temperature, forms a good ohmic contact with the underlying silicon substrate 18. Thereafter, a metal layer 28 is sputter deposited into the hole 10 so as to fill it without voids. That is, the tri-layer barrier 26 sufficiently wets to the after filled aluminum that it readily flows into the hole 10 at a moderate temperature while the tri-layer barrier 26 nonetheless provide a sufficient diffusion barrier between the aluminum 28 and the underlying silicon 18.
According to Xu et al., the wetting quality of the three layers 20, 22, 24 is enhanced by depositing them in a high-density PVD reactor. On the other hand, they recommend that the aluminum layer 28 be sputter deposited in a conventional PVD chamber with a low plasma density. In particular, they recommend that the aluminum layer 28 be deposited as two layers in an improved two-step cold/warm version of a conventional sputtering process. In the first cold step, a seed layer 30 of aluminum is sputter deposited at a substrate temperature below 200.degree. C. so as to conformally coat the underlying barrier tri-layer 26 with a fairly uniform aluminum layer. In the second warm step, a filling layer 32 of aluminum is sputter deposited at higher temperatures so as to reflow and fill the contact hole 10. An advantage of the tri-layer barrier 26 grown by ionized metal plating (IMP) is that the warm Al filling layer 32 can be filled at temperatures below 400.degree. C., even as low as 350.degree. C. according to the reported data. The warm layer 32 can be deposited at a fairly high rate so as to improve the system throughput. Because the two aluminum layers 30, 32 differ primarily in their different deposition temperatures, they are likely deposited within a single conventional PVD chamber capable only of developing a low-density plasma. Also, the two deposition can be performed continuously, with the temperature being ramped up during the deposition. As a result, the two Al layers 30, 32 have no clear boundary between them.
In the context of contact hole filling, a high-density plasma is defined in one sense as one substantially filling the entire volume it is in and having an average ion density of greater than 10.sup.11 cm.sup.-3 in the principal part of the plasma. The conventional plasma-enhanced PVD reactor produces a plasma of significantly lower ion density. Although high-density plasmas are available in a number of different types of reactors, they are preferably obtained in an inductively coupled plasma reactor, such as the type shown in schematical cross section in FIG. 2. For reasons to be described shortly, this is referred to an ionized metal plasma or plating (IMP) reactor.
As shown in this figure, which is meant only to be schematical, a vacuum chamber 40 is defined principally by a chamber wall 42 and a target backing plate 44. A PVD target 46 is attached to the target backing plate 44 and has a composition comprising at least part of the material being sputter deposited. For the deposition of both titanium (Ti) and titanium nitride (TiN), the target 46 is made of titanium. A substrate 48 being sputter deposited with a layer of a PVD film is supported on a pedestal electrode 50 in opposition to the target 46. Processing gas is supplied to the chamber 40 from gas sources 52, 54 as metered by respective mass flow controllers 56, 58, and a vacuum pump system 60 maintains the chamber 40 at the desired low pressure.
An inductive coil 62 is wrapped around the space between the target 46 and the pedestal 50. Three independent power supplies are used in this type of inductively coupled sputtering chamber. A DC power supply 64 negatively biases the target 46 with respect to the pedestal 50. An RF power source 66 supplies electrical power in the megahertz range to the inductive coil 62. The DC voltage applied between the target 46 and the substrate 48 causes the processing gas supplied to the chamber to discharge and form a plasma. The RF coil power inductively coupled into the chamber 40 by the coil 62 increases the density of the plasma, that is, increases the density of ionized particles. Magnets 68 disposed behind the target 46 significantly increase the density of the plasma adjacent to the target 46 in order to increase the sputtering efficiency. Another RF power source 70 applies electrical power in the frequency range of 100 kHz to a few megahertz to the pedestal 50 in order to bias it with respect to the plasma.
Argon from the gas source 54 is the principal sputtering gas. It ionizes in the plasma, and its positively charged ions are attracted to the negatively biased target 46 with enough energy that the ions sputter particles from the target 46, that is, target atoms or multi-atom particles are dislodged from the target. The sputtered particles travel primarily along ballistic paths, and some of them strike the substrate 48 to deposit upon the substrate as a film of the target material. If the target 46 is titanium or a titanium alloy and assuming no further reactions, a titanium film is thus sputter deposited, or in the case of an aluminum target, an aluminum film is formed.
For the sputter deposition of TiN in a process called reactive sputtering, gaseous nitrogen is also supplied into the chamber 40 from the gas source 52 along with the argon. The nitrogen chemically reacts with the surface layer of titanium being deposited on the substrate to form titanium nitride.
As Xu et al. describe in the cited patent application, a high-density plasma, primarily caused by the high amount of coil power applied to the chamber 40, increases the fraction of the sputter species that become ionized as they traverse the plasma, hence the term ionized metal plating. The wafer bias power applied to the pedestal 50 causes the pedestal 50 to become DC biased with respect to the plasma, the voltage drop occurring in the plasma sheath adjacent to the substrate 48. Thus, the bias power provides a tool to control the energy and directionality of the sputter species striking the substrate 48.
Xu et al. disclose that the Ti/TiN/TiN.sub.x barrier tri-layer 26 should be deposited in an ionized metal process plating (IMP) process in which the various power levels are set to produce a high-density plasma. They observe that an IMP barrier tri-layer 26 as shown in FIG. 1, when deposited in the contact hole 10, promotes the reflow of aluminum into the contact hole 10 when the aluminum is subsequently deposited in a conventional PVD reactor, that is, one not using inductively coupled RF power and not producing a high-density plasma. This superior reflow is believed to require two characteristics in a narrow aperture. The barrier layer needs to adhere well to the underlying SiO.sub.2 or Si so as to form a continuous, very thin film. The aluminum needs to wet well to the barrier layer so that it flows over the barrier layer at relatively low temperatures.
Although the TiN IMP barrier tri-layer offers significant advantages in promoting reflow of subsequently deposited conventional PVD aluminum, as processing requirements become even more demanding, further improvement of reflow into narrow apertures is desired.


The present invention relates to a lamp tube support structure and, more particularly, to a lamp tube support piece of low cost, simple structure, and easy assembly.
As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, a prior art office business machine like a scanner la has a lamp seat 11a disposed therein. A lamp tube 12a used as a light source for scanning documents is disposed on the lamp seat 11a. The lamp tube 12a can be divided into single-tube type and double-tube type. A rack 13a for supporting the lamp tube 12a is disposed below the lamp tube 12a. In order to meet the compactness requirement of present products, the lamp tube 12a must be designed to be thinner. Therefore, the lamp tube 12a easily breaks because of vibration of the scanner 1a or careless fall during the transportation process.
Accordingly, the above lamp tube fixing structure has inconvenience and drawbacks in practical use. The present invention aims to resolve the problems in the prior art.
The primary object of the present invention is to provide a lamp tube support structure, which is slipped onto a lamp tube to add support positions at two ends of the lamp tube for effectively preventing breakage of the lamp tube. Moreover, clamping effect can be achieved to protect the lamp tube from impact from all directions.
To achieve the above object, the present invention provides a lamp tube support structure, which comprises mainly a support piece applying to office business machines for supporting and fixing a lamp tube thereof. The lamp tube support structure comprises a first half and a second half. The first half has a gap for placing a lamp tube. A clamping portion is formed at two extension ends of the gap. Grooves are disposed at left and right ends of the second half. A wing portion is formed below the grooves. After the wing portion is bent, it can be jammed into a hole of a rack for supporting the lamp tube so as to be erectly fixed on the rack.


This application is based upon and claims the benefit of priority from the prior Japanese Patent Applications No. 2000-182564, filed Jun. 19, 2000; No. 2000-182566, filed Jun. 19, 2000; and No. 2001-056268, filed Mar. 1, 2001, the entire contents of all of which are incorporated herein by reference.
The present invention relates to an onboard X-ray CT apparatus which can be mounted in a motor vehicle, trailer, or container, a container for mounting the X-ray CT apparatus, and a motor vehicle for mounting the X-ray CT apparatus.
X-ray CT apparatuses for obtaining the tomographic image of an object to be examined by exposing the object from his/her surroundings to X-rays, measuring the amount of X-rays having passed through the object, and performing image reconstruction processing for the obtained projection data by using a computer are effective for detection of a disease in its early stage and determination of an appropriate therapeutic plan. Further, a so-called X-ray CT apparatus onboard vehicle, e.g., a motor vehicle such as a bus which contains an X-ray CT apparatus is moved to a disaster-stricken area where image diagnosis for the presence/absence of a fracture or an injury to a viscus is done. Such a motor vehicle is also exploited for itinerant diagnosis or group examination in a depopulated area such as a mountainous area.
Recently, the development of helical scanning X-ray CT apparatuses enables photographing in a pectoral region within one breath. Along with this, strong demands have arisen for implementation of an X-ray CT apparatus onboard vehicle which contains a helical scanning X-ray CT apparatus for group examination in order to detect a pectoral disease in its early stage.
A known example of a conventional X-ray CT apparatus onboard vehicle is disclosed in Utility Model Registration No. 3,027,769, and schematically shown in FIG. 1. A gantry 2a and bed 2b of an X-ray CT apparatus are mounted at the center of a large-bus type vehicle 1 in the longitudinal direction. A power supply device 3 and high-voltage generator 4 are installed in the space between a driver""s seat 18 at the front portion of the vehicle and the gantry 2a and bed 2b. An X-ray monitor 5 and console 6 are installed at the back portion of the vehicle 1. A doorway 12 and lift device 15 for an object who uses a stretcher or wheelchair are formed in the back wall surface of the vehicle 1. A doorway 13 for an object who can walk by himself/herself is also formed in the backward side wall surface of the vehicle 1.
Other X-ray CT apparatus onboard vehicles are disclosed in Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication Nos. 6-154202 and 8-127282.
In the X-ray CT apparatus onboard vehicle disclosed in Utility Model Registration No. 3,027,769, the power supply device 3 is installed in the same room as the gantry 2a and bed 2b of the X-ray CT apparatus, which impairs safety and gives annoying noise to an object during an examination.
The X-ray CT apparatus disclosed in Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 6-154202 performs X-ray CT photographing while an object sits on a chair, and is not suitable for X-ray CT photographing of a severely wounded object. The X-ray CT apparatus disclosed in Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 8-127282 is an industrial X-ray CT apparatus mounted in a large trailer, and is not suited for itinerate diagnosis or group examination in a depopulated area such as a mountainous area owing to the road situation.
These conventional X-ray CT apparatus onboard vehicles do not consider any protection means for the movable portions of the mounted X-ray CT apparatuses, and the movable portions of the X-ray CT apparatuses may be damaged by vibrations or shocks during traveling of the X-ray CT apparatus onboard vehicle.
In the conventional X-ray CT apparatus onboard vehicles, a CT operation room and the like are designed in accordance with a mounted X-ray CT apparatus, which makes it difficult to exchange the X-ray CT apparatus with another type apparatus upon upgrading the apparatus.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an X-ray CT apparatus suitably mounted in a motor vehicle, trailer, or container.
According to the present invention, there is provided an X-ray CT apparatus which can be mounted in a motor vehicle, trailer, or container, comprising locking mechanism unit for locking at least one of movable portions of the X-ray CT apparatus, detectors for detecting locking states of the locking mechanism unit, and a notifying unit for representing the states of the locking mechanism unit on the basis of outputs from the detectors.
Additional objects and advantages of the invention will be set forth in the description which follows, and in part will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention. The objects and advantages of the invention may be realized and obtained by means of the instrumentalities and combinations particularly pointed out hereinafter.


Bibliographic details of the publications referred to by the author in this specification are collected alphabetically at the end of the description.
The reference in this specification to any prior publication (or information derived from it), or to any matter which is known, is not, and should not be taken as an acknowledgment or admission or any form of suggestion that that prior publication (or information derived from it) or known matter forms part of the common general knowledge in the field of endeavour to which this specification relates.
Malignant tumours, or cancers, grow in an uncontrolled manner, invade normal tissues, and often metastasize and grow at sites distant from the tissue of origin. In general, cancers are derived from one or only a few normal cells that have undergone a poorly understood process called malignant transformation. Cancers can arise from almost any tissue in the body. Those derived from epithelial cells, called carcinomas, are the most common kinds of cancers. Sarcomas are malignant tumours of mesenchymal tissues, arising from cells such as fibroblasts, muscle cells, and fat cells. Solid malignant tumours of lymphoid tissues are called lymphomas, and marrow and blood-borne malignant tumours of lymphocytes and other hematopoietic cells are called leukaemias.
Cancer is one of the three leading causes of death in industrialised nations. As treatments for infectious diseases and the prevention of cardiovascular disease continues to improve, and the average life expectancy increases, cancer is likely to become the most common fatal disease in these countries. Therefore, successfully treating cancer requires that all the malignant cells be removed or destroyed without killing the patient. An ideal way to achieve this would be to induce an immune response against the tumour that would discriminate between the cells of the tumour and their normal cellular counterparts. However, immunological approaches to the treatment of cancer have been attempted for over a century with unsustainable results.
Accordingly, current methods of treating cancer continue to follow the long used protocol of surgical excision (if possible) followed by radiotherapy and/or chemotherapy, if necessary. The success rate of this rather crude form of treatment is extremely variable but generally decreases significantly as the tumour becomes more advanced and metastasises. Further, these treatments are associated with severe side effects including disfigurement and scarring from surgery (e.g. mastectomy or limb amputation), severe nausea and vomiting from chemotherapy, and most significantly, the damage to normal tissues such as the hair follicles, gut and bone marrow which is induced as a result of the relatively non-specific targeting mechanism of the toxic drugs which form part of most cancer treatments and is a major limiting factor for dosage
Still further, common chemotherapy drugs do not significantly penetrate into tissue further than about 70 microns from the blood supply (Primeau et al. Clin. Canc. Res. 2005, 11:8782-8788; Minchinton et al. Nat. Rev. Cancer 2006, 6:583-592). The rapid growth and poor vascular development of most solid tumours puts many tumour cells well beyond the capacity of the drugs to penetrate the tissue. Critically, many cells experience sub-lethal doses, allowing them to survive and to develop drug resistance.
Solid tumours cause the greatest number of deaths from cancer and mainly comprise tumours of the linings of the bronchial tree and the alimentary tract that are known as carcinomas. In the year 2000 in Australia, cancer accounted for 30% of male deaths and 25% of female deaths (Cancer in Australia 2000, 2003) and it accounted for 24% of male and 22% of female deaths in the US in year 2001 (Arias et al. 2003, National Vital Statistics Reports 52:111-115). Solid tumours are not usually curable once they have spread or ‘metastasised’ throughout the body. The prognosis of metastatic solid tumours has improved only marginally in the last 50 years. The best chance for the cure of a solid tumour remains in the use of local treatments such as surgery and/or radiotherapy when the solid tumour is localised to its originating lining and has not spread either to the lymph nodes that drain the tumour or elsewhere. Nonetheless, even at this early stage, and particularly if the tumour has spread to the draining lymph nodes, microscopic deposits of cancer known as micrometastases may have already spread throughout the body and will subsequently lead to the death of the patient. In this sense, cancer is a systemic disease that requires systemically administered treatments. Of the patients who receive surgery and/or radiotherapy as definitive local treatment for their primary tumour and who have micrometastases, a minor proportion may be cured or at least achieve a durable remission from cancer by the addition of adjuvant systemic treatments such as cytotoxic chemotherapy or hormones.
Conventionally, solid cancer has been treated locally with surgery and/or radiotherapy, and during its metastatic stage with systemically administered cytotoxic drugs, which often interfere with the cell cycle of both normal and malignant cells. The relative selectivity of this approach for the treatment of malignant tissues is based to some extent on the more rapid recovery of normal tissues from cytotoxic drug damage. More recently, the targeted therapy of cancer has aimed to improve the therapeutic ratio of cancer treatment by enhancing its specificity and/or precision of delivery to malignant tissues while minimising adverse consequences to normal non-malignant tissues. Two of the major classes of targeted therapy are (i) the small molecule inhibitors such as the tyrosine kinase inhibitors imatinib mesylate (Glivec®), gefitinib (Iressa®) and erlotinib (Tarceva®), and (ii) the monoclonal antibodies (mAb) such as rituximab (Mabthera®) and trastuzumab (Herceptin®).
In parallel to the development of targeted therapies, combining at least two conventional anti-cancer treatments such as chemotherapy and radiotherapy in novel ways has been another approach to the development of cancer therapeutics. By exploiting synergistic interactions between the different modalities of treatment, combined modality treatment seeks to improve treatment efficacy so that the therapeutic ratio for the combined treatment is superior to that for each of the individual treatments.
Combined modality treatment using external beam radiation and radiosensitising chemotherapeutic drugs such as 5-fluorouracil and cisplatin (chemoradiotherapy) has improved survival in a number of solid tumours such as those of head and neck, lung, oesophagus, stomach, pancreas and rectum because of both improved local tumour control and reduced rates of distant failure (TS Lawrence. Oncology (Huntington) 17:23-28, 2003). Although radiosensitising drugs increase tumour response, they also increase toxicity to adjacent normal tissues, which is especially true of the potent new generation radiosensitisers, gemcitabine and docetaxel. However, decreasing the radiation volume allows cytotoxic doses of gemcitabine to be better tolerated clinically (Lawrence 2003, supra). Chemoradiotherapy may overcome mutually reinforcing resistance mechanisms, which may only manifest in vivo.
Radioimmunotherapy (RIT) is a systemic treatment that takes advantage of the specificity and avidity of the antigen-antibody interaction to deliver lethal doses of radiation to cells that bear the target antigen. Radio-isotopes that emit β-particles (e.g. 131Iodine, 90Yttrium, 188Rhenium, and 67Copper) are usually used to label monoclonal antibodies (mAb) for therapeutic applications. The energy from □-radiation is released at relatively low intensity over distances measured in millimeters (Waldmann, Science 252:1657-1662, 1991; Bender et al., Cancer Research 52:121-126, 1992; O'Donoghue et al. Journal of Nuclear Medicine 36:1902-1909, 1995; Griffiths et al. International Journal of Cancer 81:985-992, 1999). Thus, high-energy □-emitters such as 90Yttrium are useful for the treatment of larger and heterogeneous solid tumours (Liu et al. Bioconjugate Chemistry 12:7-34, 2001). Research interest in radioimmunotherapy has been reawakened because in spite of the low radiation doses delivered, significant and unexpected biological effects of RIT upon surrounding host cells have been observed (Xue et al. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 99:13765-13770, 2002). Furthermore, the lower but biologically effective dose of radiation delivered by RIT had greater cytocidal effects than a larger dose of radiation conveyed as external beam radiotherapy (Dadachova et al., PNAS 101:14865-14870, 2004). Nonetheless, the efficiency of RIT as a treatment for solid tumours may be hampered by the low penetration of antibody through the tissue barriers that surround the target antigen in the tumour, which will consequently extend circulatory half life of the antibody (Britz-Cunningham et al. Journal of Nuclear Medicine 44:1945-1961, 2003). Furthermore, RIT is often impeded by the heterogeneity of the target antigen's expression within the tumour. Thus, although RIT affords molecular targeting of tumour cells, the major limitation of RIT remains the toxicity that may result from large doses of radiation that are delivered systemically in order to achieve sufficient targeting (Britz-Cunningham et al. 2003, supra; Christiansen et al. Molecular Cancer Therapy 3:1493-1501, 2004). Altogether, a useful therapeutic index using RIT has proven difficult to achieve clinically (Sellers et al. Journal of Clinical Investigation 104:1655-1661, 1999).
Tumour associated antigens, which would allow differential targeting of tumours, while sparing normal cells, have also been the focus of cancer research. Although abundant ubiquitous antigens may provide a more concentrated and accessible target for RIT, studies adopting this have been extremely limited.
The development of nanoparticle technology was also hailed as an exciting new frontier in terms of the development of new and effective cancer treatments. However, although previous attempts at using particulate material, such as nanoparticles, to target tumours for either diagnostic or therapeutic purposes have been extensive, in the context of therapeutics there has, disappointingly, been minimal success. With diagnostics, relatively shallow penetration of the particles into the tumour has been sufficient to achieve the objective of visualising the tumour. However, in terms of the delivery of a therapeutic agent, such shallow penetration has not been sufficient to effectively deliver the agent throughout the tumour, in particular to the interior of the tumour, as is required if total tumour destruction is to be achieved. In relation to therapeutics, specifically, conjugation of particles to a wide variety of different materials has so far failed to live up to the promise of achieving effective tumour penetration, this being an essential prerequisite for a therapeutic to have any chance of effectiveness.
Significant effort has also been made to take advantage of the enhanced permeability and retention (EPR) effect of tumours as a means to develop an effective therapeutic. Without limiting the present invention to any one theory or mode of action, this is a well described phenomenon based on the notion that certain sizes of molecules, typically liposomes or macromolecular drugs, tend to preferentially accumulate in tumour tissue. The general explanation for this phenomenon is that, in order for tumour cells to grow quickly, they must stimulate the production of blood vessels. VEGF and other growth factors are involved in cancer angiogenesis. Tumour cell aggregates of sizes as small as 150-200 μm become dependent on blood supply carried by neovasculature for their nutritional and oxygen supply. These newly formed tumour vessels are usually abnormal in form and architecture. They comprise poorly-aligned defective endothelial cells with wide fenestrations, lacking a smooth muscle layer, or innervation with a wider lumen, and impaired functional receptors for angiotensin II. Furthermore, tumour tissues usually lack effective lymphatic drainage. All these factors will lead to abnormal molecular and fluid transport dynamics, especially for macromolecular drugs. Accordingly, it has been thought that one way to achieve selective drug targeting to solid tumours is to exploit these abnormalities of tumour vasculature in terms of active and selective delivery of anticancer drugs to tumour tissues, notably defining the EPR effect of macromolecular drugs in solid tumours. Due to their large molecular size, nanosized macromolecular anticancer drugs administered intravenously escape renal clearance. Often they cannot penetrate the tight endothelial junctions of normal blood vessels, but they can extravasate in tumour vasculature and become trapped in the tumour vicinity. Nevertheless, the EPR effect has not been efficiently or successfully harnessed.
Various nanoparticles have been designed which are directed to achieving efficient cellular endocytosis. However, even if this is achievable, the issue of tissue penetration is still a separate one which, to date, has not been successfully overcome. The general notion of the use of a nanoparticle as a vector for delivery of a drug is widely discussed in the literature but, in the absence of achieving deep tumour penetration, is of limited value.
Even where effective tumour distribution of a drug is achieved (by whatever means) a further problem has been the fact that neoplastic cells within solid tumours can exhibit a slowed metabolism. This means that even if a cytotoxic drug penetrates to these cells, if it is not effectively metabolised it will have a limited impact on the viability of the tumour.
Accordingly, there is an urgent and ongoing need to develop improved systemic therapies for solid cancers, in particular metastatic cancers.
In work leading up to the present invention it has been determined that particulate material which is maintained in a dispersed state by a stabiliser is able to achieve deeper penetration into solid tumour models than has previously been achievable using nanoparticle technology. This has enabled the development of an effective means for treating solid tumours, both primary and metastatic, based on the co-administration of a cellular toxin with the particulate material. By either sequentially or simultaneously delivering this toxin, deeper penetration and therefore more extensive cellular exposure to the toxin is achieved. By virtue of the less effective reticuloendothelial clearance which is associated with tumours, a form of targeted treatment is effectively achieved. Still further, it has been observed that the toxin uptake by tumours penetrated by the particles of the present invention is effective, suggesting upregulation of tumour cell metabolism. Accordingly, the method of the present invention provides a means for achieving a more effective localised delivery and uptake of a cellular toxin to a tumour and its metastases in a manner which is characterised by significantly improved outcomes and/or reduced side effects relative to those which would normally be expected in the context of conventional treatment of an equivalent type of tumour. This is an extremely significant development since current protocols directed to treating metastatic disease are based on the non-targeted systemic delivery of chemotherapeutic agents.


1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a clutch cover assembly for an automotive vehicle or the like, and more particularly to a clutch cover assembly which includes a diaphragm spring.
2. Description of the Related Art
A conventional clutch cover assembly is disclosed in FIG. 8. This conventional art shown in Japanese Utility Model Laid Open Print No. 6256832, includes a cover 101 connected to an input delve member 102, a pressure plate 103 arranged in and connected to the cover 101, a clutch disk 104 disposed between the pressure plate 103 and the input drive member 102 and connected to an output driven member (not shown), and a diaphragm spring 105 disposed between the cover 101 and the pressure plate 103 wherein the pressure plate 103 is biased into the direction of the clutch disk 104.
However, the diaphragm spring 105 is radially positioned by contacting with an inner wall surface 101a of the cover 101. Therefore, an outer peripheral surface 105a of the diaphragm spring 105 must be cut so as to position a center thereof accurately. Thus, the positioning of the center of the diaphragm spring 105 is very difficult.
Also, when a facing 107 of the clutch disk 104 is worn or damaged, the pressure plate 103 is moved in the direction of the clutch disk 104 by the spring force of the diaphragm spring 105. The diaphragm spring 105 is also moved in the direction of the clutch disk 104 by the spring force thereof. Thereby, an inner peripheral portion 105b of the diaphragm spring 105 contacts the clutch disk 104 and presses it against the input drive member 102 even when the facing 107 is worn away. Thus, the clutch disk 104 is damaged. In order to avoid this problem, a stopper 108 which is provided on an outer peripheral portion 101b of the cover 101 prevents the movement of the pressure plate 103 in the direction of the clutch disk 104 by more than a certain amount. However, the stopper 108 requires a large radial space.


Enterprise interworking typically involves the establishment of end-to-end connectivity among sites of an enterprise (or site) over a “wired” infrastructure. This type of connectivity has been traditionally enabled through various routing protocols, such as open shortest path first (OSPF), routing information protocol (RIP), border gateway protocol (BGP), and the like. Depending on the types of underlying networks, the operation of these routing protocols may be different but, in all cases, each protocol seeks to achieve the propagation of reachability information among interconnected sites so as to establish direct end-to-end connectivity between the sites. For security purposes, enterprises also seek to establish this direct end-to-end connectivity through private networking services. Typically, this capability is offered through addressing and routing techniques, such as multiprotocol label switching, virtual private networking (MPLS/VPN) services, which essentially enable service providers to logically partition their networks—using, for example, virtual routing and forwarding (VRF)—to permit sites with overlapping internet protocol (IP) addressing to share the same physical networking infrastructures, but maintain privacy through logical networking virtualization techniques.
As wireless networking capabilities continue evolve and offer increased reliability and throughput, enterprises are increasingly considering wireless connectivity as a potential source of both primary and secondary access to their enterprise (or private) networks. As such, suitable wireless interconnecting networks must be able to support the aforementioned direct end-to-end connectivity, as well as enable private networking services. Unfortunately, network virtualization and the ability to support multiple enterprises having overlapping or identical IP addressing spaces have been limited to the “wired” domains.
Therefore, there is a need for an approach that extends private enterprise networking to wireless interconnecting domains.


1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a camera with a flashlight emitting device.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In recent years, cameras of the lens shutter type having a built-in flash device are on the market which include a zoom lens having a focal length which can be varied continuously. In a camera of the type mentioned, a flash coverage or irradiation angle of flashlight from the flash device is normally varied in response to a zooming operation of the zoom lens.
However, a camera wherein a flash coverage is varied in response to a zooming operation while a mode in which flashlight is ot emitted is selected by a user not only consumes power wastefully but also may make the user feel disagreeable. Besides, such camera is inconvenient to a user in that, upon use thereof, it can photograph an object only within a zooming range of the zoom lens.
Further, in a camera of the lens shutter type having a built-in flash device and including a zoom lens, after a flash coverage is varied in response to a zooming operation, a focusing operation of the lens is performed in response to completion of such zooming operation.
However, if a focusing operation is held inhibited while a flash coverage is being varied in response to a zooming operation, then so much time is required until initiation of photographing that a shutter chance may possibly be lost.
Meanwhile, in a camera of another type which has a built-in flash device and is capable of mounting an interchangeable lens thereon, a flash coverage of the flash device is fixed to a predetermined angle. Since such flash coverage is fixed in the camera of the type just mentioned, a certain focal length of the lens may result in unnatural exposure.
On the other hand, various cameras are also on the market which include an interchangeable camera and which control, when a flash device is mounted, the flash coverage of the flash device to a flash coverage corresponding to a focal length of the interchangeable lens in response to operation of a release button.
In a camera of the type mentioned just above, a change of the focal length of the interchangeable lens will not cause a variation of the flash coverage, and the flash coverage is not varied until the release button is operated. Accordingly, when it is intended to operate the release button suddenly to take a photograph, such photographing may be effected while the flash coverage remains in such a condition wherein it does not correspond to a current focal length of the lens. Such photographing may result in irregular flash coverage.
Also, cameras are on the market which have a built-in lens having a variable focal length and a built-in flash device having a variable flashlight irradiating range and wherein the focal length of the lens and the flash coverage of the flash device are varied in response to operation of a release button or of a focal length varying operating member such as a power zooming button.
In a camera of the type just mentioned, the lens and the flash device are connected mechanically to each other such that variation of the focal length and variation of the flashlight irradiation range may be performed simultaneously by a single electromagnetic driving means. Such mechanism can be realized with a camera which has a built-in lens and a built-in flash device. In the case of a camera which includes an interchangeable lens, however, it is very difficult to mechanically connect a lens and a flash device to each other particularly because different interchangeable lenses are interchangeably mounted on the camera.


Conventionally, dressings for the treatment of wounds or pressure sores are essentially flat dressings which are sufficiently conformable to be applied to flat or curved areas of the body and possess a sufficient absorbent capacity to absorb wound exudate. Such flat dressings are not very suitable for applying on protruding parts of the body such as elbows, heels or the tips of fingers or toes.
Published EP application No. 0 573 708 discloses a process for the forming of means comprising hydrocolloid adhesives for wound treatment. This reference discloses production of means or dressings for treatment of wounds which means or dressings can be prepared in a continuous manner.
Published EP application No. 0 092 999 discloses an occlusive wound dressing which may be used for treatment of wounds on the skin and a particulate or granular material being able to act together with the exudate of the wound. Wounds secreting vast amounts of liquid may be treated by firstly applying the granulate material and then to cover the wound with the material for treating wounds. This reference is silent with respect to three-dimensional dressings and concentrate on wounds or damages from which a considerable amount of liquid is secreted.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,876,748 discloses a dressing containing a water-soluble or water-swellable hydrocolloid, a water-insoluble, viscous elastomeric binder and optionally a tackifier resin which is bevelled along all outer edges and optionally also, if annular, along the inner edge.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,367,732 discloses a skin barrier consisting of an elastic film, secured to the film a layer of at least weakly elastic adhesive material, these two components together having low resistance to quick deformation and rapid recovery to substantially the original shape after deformation, the plastic properties of the adhesive thereby being compensated by the elasticity of the film. Optionally there may be a protective cover on the other side of the adhesive layer. The adhesive material consists of a hydrocolloid dispersed in a continuous phase consisting of a mixture of a physically cross-linked elastomer, a hydrocarbon resin tackifier, a plasticizer for the elastomer, an antioxidant and optionally an oily extender. This reference does not disclose three-dimensional dressings.
DK patent No. 147,226 discloses a dressing having an adhesive layer and a water-proof polymer film. The dressing comprises a layer of pressure-sensitive adhesive and a water-impermeable flexible polymer film in which the adhesive comprises a rubbery elastomer in which is distributed a water-soluble or water-swellable hydrocolloid or a mixture of hydrocolloids, a tackifying resin and a plasticizer. Between the adhesive layer and the flexible polymer film is a layer of flexible foam having semi-open cells. The reference does not disclose three-dimensional dressings.
Published EP application No. 0 055 023 discloses an antiseptic adhesive comprising a natural or synthetic viscous rubbery mixture having one or more water-swellable hydrocolloids and antiseptic agents. It has been shown that having one or more antiseptic agents incorporated in the adhesive, the probability of bacterial growth will be reduced considerably and in many cases be totally avoided. The healing effect does not seem to be adversely afflicted. This reference does not mention three-dimensional dressings.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,348,541 discloses a prepared bandage complementary to the end of a finger including at least the first joint thereof, and having an adhesive strip for holding the bandage on the finger.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,847,005 discloses a surgical dressing for forming a finger cot. The dressing comprises an elongated flexible member permanently formed as an arcuate trough for disposition longitudinally along the outer surface of a finger, said trough including an open rear end and a closed forward end portion, and comprising a part to be folded over the finger once placed in the trough. The part to be folded over the finger comprises a strip of adhesive along its edge adhering to the finger.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,875,785 discloses a finger tip bandage having a central cornpress or protecting pad with adjoining adhesive areas in the form of a flat sheet having two pairs of notches to allow bending the bandage to fit the finger.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,243,422 discloses a finger bandaging unit comprising a gauze pad having substantially rectangular body and a tab portion extending from one edge thereof and adhesive-surfaced securing means carried by said pad.
Published International Patent Application No. WO 92/05756 discloses a conformable wound dressing of concavo-convex or cup-like shape comprising a body facing layer of an apertured elastomeric material having a concave nonadherent wound contacting surface, an outer layer of bacteria impermeable moisture vapor transmitting elastomeric film having an outwardly facing convex surface and an extensible intermediate layer of absorbent material which may be a sheet of polymer foam. The dressing is made from a flat blank.
None of the above references disclose nor indicate the existence of three-dimensional dressings for covering a protruding part of the body, said dressing having a three-dimensional part having an adhesive surface for contacting the wound.
One object of the invention is to provide a dressing, for example a finger tip or toe tip dressing allowing the choice of materials and form of the dressing ensuring an improved healing and a dressing being simple to produce and to apply to the wound to be covered. Another object of the invention is to provide a dressing which may prevent e.g. wearing or abrasion damages, e.g. on heels or elbows, and are provided with a surface which may be adapted to the environment in which the dressing is to be used giving a longer effective time of use for the dressing between the change the dressing. A further object of the invention is to provide a dressing which comprises emollients or e.g. retinoids for treating or preventing formation of psoriasis, eczema, callous skin, corns or blisters. A still further object of the invention is to provide processes for the preparation of such dressings.


1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the purification of brominated aromatic compounds such as decabromodiphenyl ether and pentabromophenol and more particularly to a process for purifying aromatic compounds containing residual free bromine and by-product hydrogen bromide.
2. Description of the Prior Art
High levels of purity are required for brominated aromatic compounds which have found utility as flame retardant agents in polymer compositions. In particular, it is important that such brominated products have extremely low levels of residual impurities such as free bromine, hydrogen bromide, retained catalysts, by-product bromine containing derivatives and the like since the presence of such impurities can have undesirable effects on the polymer compositions in which such agents are used. Purity is particularly important from the standpoint of color, and thermal stability under the processing conditions in commercial molding operations is likewise an essential parameter.
High purity is an especially important consideration in the case of decabromodiphenyl ether, a flame retardant agent that has found wide application as an additive for high impact polystyrene used in television cabinets and other consumer appliances.
The preparation of decabromodiphenyl ether by the direct bromination of diphenyl oxide using excess bromine itself as a reaction solvent, as disclosed in British patent specification No. 1,411,524, published Oct. 29, 1975, and in Stepniczka, U.S. Pat. No. 3,965,197, issued June 22, 1976, produces highly brominated derivatives containing undesirably large amounts of occluded free bromine and by-product hydrogen bromide.
The cited British specification describes the use of various chemical purification treatments (e.g., injection of sulfur dioxide to convert occluded bromine into hydrobromic acid and injection of ethylene to convert residual bromine into dibromoethane). The cited U.S. patent merely describes the recovery of crude brominated product and gross separation of bromine therefrom by injecting superheated steam and by washing with hot dilute hydrochloric acid and hot water. The patent does not describe purification of the crude reaction project.
Traditional purification methods such as recrystallization techniques are usable only with difficulty with materials such as decabromodiphenyl ether because its limited solubility in available solvents makes recrystallization both cumbersome and uneconomical.
Burk, U.S. Pat. No. 3,733,366, granted May 15, 1973, describes a procedure for decolorizing brominated biphenyl obtained by treating biphenyl with bromine or bromine chloride in methylene chloride solvent in the presence of aluminum chloride catalyst. The patentee describes heating the product to a temperature between about 100.degree. C. and about 160.degree. C. with a preferred temperature range being about 110.degree. C. to about 150.degree. C. (Col. 2 lines 7-13). The disclosed heating step may take place optionally in the presence of solvents such as ethylene dibromide, toluene and xylenes. The patent is concerned only with decolorizing brominated biphenyl and contains no disclosure that would aid one in purifying materials such as decabromodiphenyl ether using a heat treating step.
Britton, U.S. Pat. No. 2,022,634, issued Nov. 26, 1935 relates to the halogenation of diphenyl oxide and describes (page 2, col. 1, lines 3-7) heating the reaction mixture to above 75.degree. C., preferably between 250.degree. and 350.degree. C., to destroy bromine addition products. Britton's products are not completely brominated, nor does the patentee recognize that free bromine, rather than bromine addition products, may be removed by such a heating step.
Nagy et al, U.S. Pat. No. 3,752,856, issued Aug. 14, 1973, is directed to a process for producing brominated compounds in which an intimate mixture between bromine and the organic starting material is obtained by physical mixing with a sigma type blender. After bromination, the apparatus is flushed with dry air, preferably under lowered pressure, to remove the residual hydrobromic acid and, if applicable, excess bromine, and the whole mass is allowed to cool while continuing the grinding operation. The brominated aromatic product is said to be removed in the form of a powder as a rule. (Column 3, lines 5-11).
The patentee suggests that gaseous ammonia be passed into the apparatus to neutralize "the hydrobromic acid and possibly the bromine retained by the product" and goes on to describe purification of "[t]he crude product" by "washing with acidified water or better still, by wet grinding in the presence of a dilute inorganic acid, followed by washing with water and by drying." The reference also suggests that "[r]ecrystallization in an appropriate solvent offers another possibility of purification."
Nagy et al's Example III is a preparation of decabromodiphenyl in which the crude product was "heated at the temperature of 200.degree. C. under normal pressure and under a nitrogen flow . . . ," the resulting product containing over 2 weight percent ammonium and aluminum bromide impurities. In Example IX of the patent, crude decabromodiphenyl was first subjected to dry air at 70.degree. C. under vacuum (20 mm Hg) followed by heating at 150.degree.-200.degree. C. "under a flow of air." Recovery was completed by washing the "crude product" with aqueous NaOH. In Example IV, which is directed to decabromodiphenyl ether, purification is carried out by recrystallization in chlorobenezene.
Brackenridge, U.S. Pat. No. 3,833,674, issued Sept. 3, 1974, describes a process for polybromination of aromatic compounds including diphenyl ether by reacting an aromatic compound with bromine in the presence of methylene bromide solvent. The patent states (column 2, lines 11-15) that "a main improvement" of the invention is the isolation of the product by precipitation from the reaction mixture by adding methanol or the like as a precipitant.
Brackenridge describes four approaches to enhancement of product purity. (Column 4, line 46, et seq.) More particularly, the patent suggests the exclusion of light from the methylene bromide and methanol and from the reaction and recovery steps, minimization of temperature, and use of distilled solvent and precipitating agent. (Id., lines 60-68).
As a result, the prior art has failed totally to appreciate the applicability of the techniques of the present invention to the purification of brominated aromatic compounds such as decabromodiphenyl ether. In particular, the prior art has failed to recognize the importance of the crude decabromodiphenyl ether being thermally stable, much less that thermal stability is directly controlled by the substantial exclusion of aliphatic and alicyclic hydrocarbon impurities from the raw materials employed. The art further fails to disclose the importance of precise particle size control of the brominated aromatic product to be subjected to the heating step in achieving desired elimination of bromine, bromide, and other impurities.
Accordingly, it is a primary object of this invention to obtain a process for producing purified brominated aromatic compounds that is superior to the techniques that heretofore have been employed.
Another object is to provide a method of the character described that may be economically employed in purifying decabromodiphenyl ether.
A still further object is to provide a method of obtaining thermally stable decabromodiphenyl ether that may be purified in accordance with the present invention.


This invention relates to an electronic taximeter, and more particularly to an electronic taximeter which provides simple changes in tariff display conditions in various operating modes (as determined by an actuated tariff key and a prior actuated tariff key).
Tariff display conditions in an electronic taximeter are generally fixed with regard to various operating modes of the taximeter. For instance, "PAID" is displayed upon actuation of a paid key, "20% UP" upon actuation of a 20% up key and "OCCUPIED" upon actuation of an occupied key. There may be a need to change these tariff display conditions in the respective operating modes of the taximeter due to tariff system reforms. In this case, a problem persists with the prior art taximeter in that the circuit arrangement thereof must itself be reconstructed whenever such changes are necessary.


In modern motor vehicles, systems for assisting a parking process, in brief parking assistance systems, are often used. Conventionally, in this case, surroundings of a vehicle are checked for the presence of a suitable parking space by sensor-based measurement while passing a parking space, and the vehicle is parked in a selected parking space using the parking assistance system according to a decision by the driver. There are parking assistance systems that can carry out the entire parking process automatically. With autonomously driven vehicles, automatic parking assistance systems are also occurring more frequently.
Typically, in an observation phase, a parking assistance system of a vehicle determines a suitable parking space in which the vehicle fits with the dimensions thereof, wherein adjacent regions are included within a determination that are sufficient for boarding and exiting and loading, and that guarantee a safety distance from other vehicles. If a suitable parking space is found, in a calculation phase, a trajectory is calculated in which a steering angle and vehicle speeds within defined sub segments of the path to be traversed are incorporated. Depending on the prevailing dimensions of the vehicle and the parking space, the trajectory can be divided into sub segments in which the vehicle may move back and forth multiple times. Furthermore, correction movements can be incorporated into the trajectory. In a parking phase, the parking assistance system starts a movement of the vehicle that is controlled according to the calculated trajectory into the parking space. Conventional parking assistance systems operate during this phase according to the open-loop principle (open control loop), with which, once calculated, the trajectory is not changed when movement of the vehicle has been started. If a vehicle bounding the parking space moves during the parking process, the parking process cannot be dynamically adjusted to the changed parking space. The object of the present disclosure is to improve conventional methods based on the use of parking assistance systems.


p-Diethylbenzene (p-DEB) is used as the desorbent in the Parex process (Derosset, et al., Sep. Sci. Technol. 15, 637 (1980)) for the separation of p-Xylene for xylene isomers and as the cross-linking agent in the synthesis of polymeric resins. One of the ways to produce p-DEB is to separate mixed DEB supplied from ethylbenzene alkylation process (Wang, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,950,835). Because of the very close boiling points possessed by DEB isomers: for example, ortho-diethylbenzene (o-DEB) is 183.degree. C.; meta-diethylbenzene (m-DEB) is 180.degree.-181.degree. C.; and para-diethylbenzene (p-DEB) is 184.degree. C., it is difficult to have a complete separation by distillation. The cryogenic separation is an alternative, however, it is in general costly.
At present, while several adsorption processes have been developed for separation of diethylbenzene isomers, the selective adsorption process using zeolite as a adsorbent in liquid phase is most commonly used and it is recognized as a most economic one. For example, disclosed in the U.S. Pat. No. 4,051,192 (1977), Neuzil, et al. used about 70 cm.sup.3 of the zeolite X ion-exchanged with barium (Ba) and potassium (K) to recover 90.7% of p-DEB at the temperature 450 K. and the pressure 136 atm, wherein toulene was used as the desorbent; Lu and. Lee, in their article, Ind. Eng. Chem., Res. 26, 2024 (1987), tested several adsorbents and desorbents for separation p-DEB from mixed DEB and found that the CDZ zeolite was the most appropriate one to obtain p-DEB with a purity over 95% in the temperature range from 393-463 K. and in the pressure range from 1.5 to 3.0 atm. wherein o-xylene was used as the desorbent.
Santacesaria, et al. in their article, entitled "Separation of Xylenes on Y Zeolites in the Vapor Phase. 1. Determination of the Adsorption Equilibrium Parameters and of the Kinetic Regime", Ind. Eng. Chem. Processes Des. Dev. 24, 78-83 (1985) reported the separation of xylene isomers under gas phase operation was found to be superior to that under liquid phase operation. The improvement was attributed to higher mass transfer rate in vapor. But for both operations a desorbent is required. Some of C.sub.8 aromatics were the most commonly employed desorbent.
Several methods of separation using desorbent as mentioned above require using aromatic compounds as a desorbent, therefore, a distillation operation is thereby needed in order to separate desorbent from product, which is energy intensive and increased separation cost.
TAN, Chung-Sung, one of the inventors of the present invention, and Tsay, Jeng-Leei, in their article, entitled "Separation of Xylene Isomers on Silicalite in Supercritical and Gaseous Carbon Dioxide" Ind. Eng. Chem. Res., Vol. 29, 502-504 (1990) reported an experimental study of the separation of an equal amount of p- and m-xylenes on silicalite using carbon dioxide as the carrier and the desorbent. The results showed that the operations in the gaseous phase carbon dioxide offered a better separation efficiency over those at supercritical conditions. The effects of temperature, pressure and flow rate on the effectiveness of separation were also examined. It was found that, for a pulse of 1.0 cm.sup.3 of xylene isomers and 39.5 g of silicalite, the most appropriate operating conditions were a temperature of around 358 K., a pressure of 476 atm and a flow rate of about 15.0 cm.sup.3 /min.
TAN, Chun-Sung, in his U.S. Pat. application Ser. No. 07/801,531 filed on Dec. 2, 1991 (which was allowed on Dec. 24, 1992), disclosed a process for separating ethylbenzene and p-xylene from xylene isomers mixture, wherein a compressed high pressure vapor phase CO.sub.2 was used as the carrier. A fixed amount of xylene isomers was fed into a silicalite adsorbent bed for adsorption operation, and a first stage effluent stream containing a rich m-xylene and/or o-xylene, but having substantially no ethylbenzene and p-xylene was obtained from the adsorbent bed, wherein when ethylbenzene or p-xylene contained in the mixture started to appear in the first stage effluent stream, a supercritical CO.sub.2 used as a desorbent was introduced into the adsorbent bed and a second stage effluent stream containing a rich ethylbenzene and p-xylene, but having substantially no other xylene isomers is thereby obtained. Preferably, the first and the second effluent streams could be separately sent into different activated carbon adsorbent beds to adsorb isothermally and isobarically the said xylene isomers products, and the resulting substantially pure CO.sub.2 exiting from said activated carbon adsorbent bed could be recovered and repeatedly used. Alternatively, the introduction of said high pressure gaseous CO.sub.2 could continue until m-xylene, o-xylene and p-xylene were completely separated from the mixture, and then a supercritical CO.sub.2 was introduced as a desorbent such that a second stage effluent stream containing a rich ethylbenzene (EB) was obtained.
The object of the present invention is to provide a process for separation of diethylbenzene isomers on silicalite in high pressure gaseous CO.sub.2 or propane to produce a high purity of p-diethylbenzene.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a process for separation of diethylbenzene isomers on silicalite in high pressure gaseous CO.sub.2 or propane to to produce a high purity of p-diethylbenzene with a high productivity, that is, the amount of the adsorbent used is relatively lower.
The other object of the present invention is to provide a process for separation of diethylbenzene isomers on silicalite in a high pressure gaseous CO.sub.2 or propane to produce a high purity of p-diethylbenzene, wherein CO.sub.2 or propane is used as a carrier in the first stage of the process and as a desorbent in the second stage of the process, and by reducing the pressure of the effluent stream from the adsorbent bed the diethylbenzene isomers products could be separated from the carrier or desorbent.


The present invention relates to the structure of a sawdust discharge port of a chain saw.
Generally, a cover member for the body of a chain saw is made relatively thin as a whole for the purpose of causing a decrease in weight of the chain saw. For this reason, it is necessary, with regard to a side wall thereof particularly at the side of sawing section, to reinforce its lower end edge portion constituting a sawdust discharge port and thereby prevent the side wall from being broken or damaged. To this end, the side wall was conventionally reinforced by being made thicker at its lower end portion in such a manner that its outer surface is allowed to protrude outwardly. By so doing, the inner surface of the side wall is made flat at its lower end portion to prevent a turbulency from occurring in the fluid discharged, thereby making the sawdust discharge smooth. This structure, however, had drawbacks in that, during the sawing operation, the above-mentioned outward protrusion of the side wall at the lower end portion thereof hinders the performance of the operations, or sawdust is very likely to be widely scattered into outside the body of the chain saw.


The invention relates to the field of encapsulating nanomaterials and, in particular, to the encapsulation of semiconducting nanowires and carbon-encapsulated semiconducting nanowires.