All The Claims

What is claimed is:

1. An inkjet-receptive coating composition for efficacious, water- resistant inkjet printing comprising:
(a) (i) swellable, water-insoluble polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVPP) particles and (ii) microporous silica, and (b) a binder for said particles.
2. A composition according to claim 1 wherein, by weight, (a) is 2-5% and (b) is 5-15%, of the composition.
3. A composition according to claim 1 wherein (b) is a polymer.
4. A composition according to claim 3 wherein (b) is polyvinyl alcohol.
5. A composition according to claim 1 which is a microporous composition.
6. A composition according to claim 1 wherein (ii) is fumed silica.
7. A composition according to claim 1 including (c) water.
8. A composition according to claim 7 at a solids content of 18%.
9. A composition according to claim 1 wherein the weight ratio of (i) to (ii) is 10-70:30-90.
10. A composition according to claim 9 wherein said weight ratio is 30-50:50-70.

The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.

1. A near-field generator comprising a multilayer structure having a front end face, wherein
the multilayer structure includes a first dielectric layer, a second dielectric layer, a third dielectric layer, a first metal layer, and a second metal layer,
the first metal layer is interposed between the first dielectric layer and the second dielectric layer,
the second metal layer is interposed between the second dielectric layer and the third dielectric layer,
each of the first to third dielectric layers and the first and second metal layers has an end located in the front end face,
each of the first and second metal layers is formed of a metal material,
each of the first to third dielectric layers is formed of a dielectric material,
the dielectric material used to form the first dielectric layer, the dielectric material used to form the second dielectric layer, and the dielectric material used to form the third dielectric layer have the same permittivity, and
the near-field light generator is configured so that the first metal layer propagates a first surface plasmon, the second metal layer propagates a second surface plasmon, and the front end face generates near-field light based on the first and second surface plasmons.
2. The near-field light generator according to claim 1, wherein the dielectric material used to form the first dielectric layer, the dielectric material used to form the second dielectric layer, and the dielectric material used to form the third dielectric layer are the same.
3. The near-field light generator according to claim 1, wherein the dielectric material used to form the first dielectric layer, the dielectric material used to form the second dielectric layer, and the dielectric material used to form the third dielectric layer are higher in Vickers hardness than the metal material used to form the first metal layer and the metal material used to form the second metal layer.
4. The near-field light generator according to claim 1, wherein each of the first metal layer and the second metal layer has a thickness in the range of 5 to 20 nm.
5. The near-field light generator according to claim 1, further comprising a core through which light is propagated,
wherein the first and second surface plasmons are excited based on the light propagated through the core.
6. The near-field light generator according to claim 5, wherein
the core has an evanescent light generating surface that generates evanescent light based on the light propagated through the core,
the first dielectric layer includes an interposition part interposed between the evanescent light generating surface and the first metal layer, and
the first and second surface plasmons are excited based on the evanescent light generated from the evanescent light generating surface.
7. The near-field light generator according to claim 5, wherein
the core has a first evanescent light generating surface and a second evanescent light generating surface opposed to each other with a predetermined distance therebetween,
the first evanescent light generating surface generates first evanescent light based on the light propagated through the core,
the second evanescent light generating surface generates second evanescent light based on the light propagated through the core, and
the multilayer structure is interposed between the first evanescent light generating surface and the second evanescent light generating surface.
8. The near-field light generator according to claim 7, wherein
the first dielectric layer includes a first interposition part interposed between the first evanescent light generating surface and the first metal layer,
the third dielectric layer includes a second interposition part interposed between the second evanescent light generating surface and the second metal layer,
the first surface plasmon is excited based on the first evanescent light, and
the second surface plasmon is excited based on the second evanescent light.
9. A thermally-assisted magnetic recording head comprising:
a medium facing surface facing a recording medium;
a main pole that produces a write magnetic field for writing data on the recording medium;
a core through which light is propagated; and
a near-field light generator, wherein
the near-field light generator includes a multilayer structure having a front end face located in the medium facing surface,
the multilayer structure includes a first dielectric layer, a second dielectric layer, a third dielectric layer, a first metal layer, and a second metal layer,
the first metal layer is interposed between the first dielectric layer and the second dielectric layer,
the second metal layer is interposed between the second dielectric layer and the third dielectric layer,
each of the first to third dielectric layers and the first and second metal layers has an end located in the front end face,
each of the first and second metal layers is formed of a metal material,
each of the first to third dielectric layers is formed of a dielectric material,
the dielectric material used to form the first dielectric layer, the dielectric material used to form the second dielectric layer, and the dielectric material used to form the third dielectric layer have the same permittivity, and
the near-field light generator is configured so that the first metal layer propagates a first surface plasmon that is excited based on the light propagated through the core, the second metal layer propagates a second surface plasmon that is excited based on the light propagated through the core, and the front end face generates near-field light based on the first and second surface plasmons.
10. The thermally-assisted magnetic recording head according to claim 9, wherein the dielectric material used to form the first dielectric layer, the dielectric material used to form the second dielectric layer, and the dielectric material used to form the third dielectric layer are the same.
11. The thermally-assisted magnetic recording head according to claim 9, wherein the dielectric material used to form the first dielectric layer, the dielectric material used to form the second dielectric layer, and the dielectric material used to form the third dielectric layer are higher in Vickers hardness than the metal material used to form the first metal layer and the metal material used to form the second metal layer.
12. The thermally-assisted magnetic recording head according to claim 9, wherein each of the first metal layer and the second metal layer has a thickness in the range of 5 to 20 nm.
13. The thermally-assisted magnetic recording head according to claim 9, wherein
the core has an evanescent light generating surface that generates evanescent light based on the light propagated through the core,
the first dielectric layer includes an interposition part interposed between the evanescent light generating surface and the first metal layer, and
the first and second surface plasmons are excited based on the evanescent light generated from the evanescent light generating surface.
14. The thermally-assisted magnetic recording head according to claim 9, wherein
the core has a first evanescent light generating surface and a second evanescent light generating surface opposed to each other with a predetermined distance therebetween,
the first evanescent light generating surface generates first evanescent light based on the light propagated through the core,
the second evanescent light generating surface generates second evanescent light based on the light propagated through the core, and
the multilayer structure is interposed between the first evanescent light generating surface and the second evanescent light generating surface.
15. The thermally-assisted magnetic recording head according to claim 14, wherein
the first dielectric layer includes a first interposition part interposed between the first evanescent light generating surface and the first metal layer,
the third dielectric layer includes a second interposition part interposed between the second evanescent light generating surface and the second metal layer,
the first surface plasmon is excited based on the first evanescent light, and
the second surface plasmon is excited based on the second evanescent light.

1. A method for degrading a readily degradable resin composition comprising an aliphatic polyester (A) which is biodegradable, and an aliphatic polyester (B\u2032) which releases an acid upon hydrolysis and which is biodegradable at a higher degradation rate than that of the aliphatic polyester (A), the method comprising:
(a) determining the maximum activity pH value at which the degradation activity value of a hydrolase, when used to degrade a simple polymer of the aliphatic polyester (A) alone in a buffer solution, is maximized;
(b) determining an active pH range in which the degradation activity value is not less than 30% of the degradation activity value at the maximum activity pH value; and
(c) degrading the readily degradable resin composition in an enzyme reaction liquid containing the hydrolase, and having a pH which is within the active pH range and which is less than 8.0, wherein the pH of the enzyme reaction liquid is maintained within the active pH range and at less than 8.0 in the degradation step.
2. The degradation method according to claim 1, wherein the degradation temperature is a temperature that is between the temperature that is 5\xb0 C. lower than the glass transition temperature of the aliphatic polyester (B\u2032) and the temperature that is the maximum temperature at which the enzyme is active.
3. The degradation method according to claim 1, wherein the hydrolase is a protease, lipase, cellulase, or cutinase.
4. The degradation method according to claim 1, wherein the acid released from the aliphatic polyester (B\u2032) is oxalic acid or maleic acid.
5. The degradation method according to claim 1, wherein the readily degradable resin composition is one which is obtained by dispersing a polyoxalate in a polylactic acid-based resin.

The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.

1. A method for permuting data before the data is sent to local memories of processing elements (PEs) for inbound transfers or before being sent to system memories for outbound transfers comprising the steps of:
reordering data within data elements of a block of data elements in a direct memory access (DMA) controller; and
performing other stream oriented operations on said data elements including masking, data merging or complementing operations in the DMA controller to create a modified block of data elements.
2. The method of claim 1 wherein said step of data merging further comprises:
performing a logical AND operation with a mask followed by performing a logical OR operation with a constant.
3. The method of claim 1 wherein said step of complementing further comprises using a logical XOR operation with a specified mask.
4. The method of claim 1 wherein the steps of reordering and performing other stream, oriented operations are controlled by DMA instructions that are executed in the DMA controller.
5. The method of claim 1 wherein data elements of the modified block of data elements are sent to addresses as specified by the DMA controller.
6. The method of claim 1 wherein a modified data element of the modified block of data elements is sent to a multicast address specifying a parallel distribution of the modified data element to one or more PEs or one or more system memories.
7. The method of claim 1 further comprising:
generating for each PE a base plus index as a virtual offset into a PE local memory relative to address zero of the first location in each PE’s local memory; and
translating a PE virtual ID to a physical ID to select a PE, wherein a virtual ID is assigned to support various data distribution and collection patterns, a physical ID is based on a physical placement of the PEs, and an address of a data element within the PE local memory is specified by the physical ID to select the PE local memory and the virtual offset to select the address within the PE local memory.
8. The method of claim 7 further comprising:
translating the virtual offset by an address permutation and selection mechanism to a physical offset.
9. The method of claim 7 wherein the translating a PE virtual ID to a physical ID includes use of a table that maps PE virtual IDs to PE physical IDs.
10. An apparatus for permuting data before the data is sent to local memories of processing elements (PEs) for inbound transfers or before being sent to system memories for outbound transfers, the apparatus comprising:
a transfer controller for reordering data within data elements of a block of data elements in a direct memory access (DMA) controller; and
logic circuits for performing other stream oriented operations on said data elements including masking, data merging or complementing operations under control of the DMA controller to create a modified block of data elements.
11. The apparatus of claim 10 wherein the logic circuits are associated with the transfer controller and provide the stream oriented operations on the data elements before being sent to each of the PE local memories.
12. The apparatus of claim 10 further comprising:
a plurality of local memory interface units (LMIUs), each LMIU coupled to a PE local memory and each LMIU coupled to the transfer controller over a DMA bus, each LMIU provides PE relative operations on data transferred over the DMA bus.
13. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the PE relative operations are determined in response to a PE’s ID and a PE operation code specified by the transfer controller.
14. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the PE operation code is specified by a group of signals that is part of the DMA bus.
15. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the PE operation code is specified on a data bus that is part of the DMA bus and under control of a signal indicating whether the data bus contains the PE operation code or data.