All The Claims

1. A motor, comprising:
a rotor including:
a rotor core;
a plurality of magnets arranged along the circumferential direction of the rotor core, the magnets functioning as first magnetic poles, the number of which is p; and
a plurality of salient poles integrally formed with the rotor core, each salient pole being located between a circumferentially adjacent pair of the magnets with caps in between, and functioning as a second magnetic pole different from the first magnetic poles; and
a stator including:
a stator core arranged to be opposed to the rotor in the radial direction, the stator core having a plurality of radially extending teeth that are arranged at equal intervals in the circumferential direction; and
multiphase coils wound about the teeth;
wherein, the number of teeth, L, is 2\xd7p\xd7m\xd7n (where m is the number of the phases of the coils and n is a natural number);
the stator core includes slots, each slot being located between circumferentially adjacent teeth and extending through the stator core in the axial direction;
the coil of each phase includes a plurality of segment conductors, each of which has slot insertion portions, the slot insertion portions extending through the slots in the axial direction, and the segment conductors being electrically connected to each other by welding ends of

the slot insertion portions protruding from the slots; and

when:
the occupancy angle of each magnet is defined as a first magnetic pole occupancy angle (electrical angle) \u03b81, which ranges from the midpoint of the gap between the magnet and one of the circumferentially adjacent salient poles to the midpoint of the gap between the magnet and the other circumferentially adjacent salient pole, and
the occupancy angle of each salient pole is defined as a second magnetic pole occupancy angle (electrical angle) \u03b82, which ranges from the midpoint of the gap between the salient pole and one of the circumferentially adjacent magnets to the midpoint of the gap between the salient pole and the other circumferentially adjacent magnet,
the following expression is satisfied:
\u03b81+\u03b82=360\xb0, and
the first magnetic pole occupancy angle \u03b81 is set to a value in the range of 210\xb0\u2266\u03b81\u2266270\xb0 such that the torque ripple of the motor is reduced.
2. The motor according to claim 1, wherein a gap is formed between the stator and the rotor, the gap satisfying an expression 1<BA, where A represents the shortest gap distance between the stator and the magnets, and B represents the shortest gap distance between the stator and the salient poles.
3. The motor according to claim 2, wherein the ratio BA is in the range of 1<BA\u22661.6.
4. The motor according to claim 1, wherein the number of the magnets and the number of the salient poles are each an odd number, and
wherein each magnet is located at a position opposite to, or 180\xb0 away from, one of the salient poles.
5. The motor according to claim 1, wherein a continuous portion and a gap are formed between the distal ends of each circumferentially adjacent pair of the teeth, the continuous portion connecting the teeth together.
6. The motor according to claim 5, wherein:
the stator core is formed by laminating a plurality of lamination members in the axial direction; and
the continuous portion has a recess that is recessed in the axial direction by pressing, the recesses forming the gap.
7. The motor according to claim 5, wherein:
the stator core is formed by alternately laminating first lamination members and second lamination members,
each first lamination member has the gap between the distal ends of each circumferentially adjacent pair of the teeth, and
each second lamination member has the continuous portion between the distal ends of each circumferentially adjacent pair of the teeth.
8. The motor according to claim 5, wherein:
the stator core is formed by laminating a plurality of lamination members in the axial direction; and
in each lamination member, the continuous portions and the gaps are alternately formed in the circumferential direction, the lamination members being laminated such that the continuous portions and the gaps are alternately arranged in the axial direction.
9. The motor according to claim 1, wherein a first auxiliary groove is formed in a surface of each salient pole that is opposed to the teeth, each first auxiliary groove having a pair of side surfaces facing each other in the circumferential direction.
10. The motor according to claim 9, wherein, when the opening degree of each salient pole is represented by Yk\u03b8(\xb0), the opening degree of the distal end of each tooth is represented by T\u03b8(\xb0), and the number of the teeth is represented by L,
in each salient pole, the angle D1 from the circumferential center line to the side surface of the first auxiliary groove closer to the circumferential center line satisfies the following expression:
D1=T\u03b8+(a\u22121)\xd7360(\xb0)L\u2212Yk\u03b82 (where a is a natural number).
11. The motor according to claim 10, wherein the first auxiliary groove in each salient pole is one of a pair of first auxiliary grooves that are formed along the circumferential direction to be symmetrical with respect to the circumferential center line of the salient pole.
12. The motor according to claim 10, wherein:
a second auxiliary groove is formed in a surface of each salient pole that is opposed to the teeth, each second auxiliary groove having a pair of side surfaces facing each other in the circumferential direction; and
in each salient pole, the angle D2 from the circumferential center line to the side surface of the second auxiliary groove closer to the circumferential center line satisfies the following expression:
D2=D1+360(\xb0)L.
13. The motor according to claim 12, wherein the second auxiliary groove in each salient pole is one of a pair of second auxiliary grooves that are formed along the circumferential direction to be symmetrical with respect to the circumferential center line of the salient pole.
14. A motor, comprising:
a rotor including:
a rotor core;
a plurality of magnets arranged along the circumferential direction of the rotor core, the magnets functioning as first magnetic poles, the number of which is p; and
a plurality of salient poles integrally formed with the rotor core, each salient pole being located between a circumferentially adjacent pair of the magnets with gaps in between, and functioning as a second magnetic pole different from the first magnetic poles; and
a stator including:
a stator core arranged to be opposed to the rotor in the radial direction, the stator core having a plurality of radially extending teeth that are arranged at equal intervals in the circumferential direction; and
multiphase coils wound about the teeth;
wherein, the number of teeth, L, is 2\xd7p\xd7m\xd7n (where m is the number of the phases of the coils and n is a natural number);
the stator core includes slots, each slot being located between circumferentially adjacent teeth and extending through the stator core in the axial direction;

the coil of each phase includes a plurality of segment conductors, each of which has slot insertion portions, the slot insertion portions extending through the slots in the axial direction, and the segment conductors being electrically connected to each other by welding ends of the slot insertion portions protruding from the slots; and

when:
the occupancy angle of each magnet is defined as a first magnetic pole occupancy angle (electrical angle) \u03b81, which ranges from the midpoint of the gap between the magnet and one of the circumferentially adjacent salient poles to the midpoint of the gap between the magnet and the other circumferentially adjacent salient pole, and
the occupancy angle of each salient pole is defined as a second magnetic pole occupancy angle (electrical angle) \u03b82, which ranges from the midpoint of the gap between the salient pole and one of the circumferentially adjacent magnets to the midpoint of the gap between the salient pole and the other circumferentially adjacent magnet,
the following expression is satisfied:
\u03b81+\u03b82=360\xb0, and
the first magnetic pole occupancy angle \u03b81 is set to a value in the range of 150\xb0\u2266\u03b81\u2266180\xb0 such that the torque ripple of the motor is reduced.

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. (canceled)
2. (canceled)
3. (canceled)
4. (canceled)
5. (canceled)
6. (canceled)
7. A method for using a strap to secure a shutter to a track using bolts and fasteners, the track having a thickness and width for receiving the bolts, the shutter being used to protect a building opening, and the method comprising:
using a rectangular-shaped flexible material; and
using a plurality of openings within the material for holding the bolts, wherein the openings within the material are equidistant from each other and the same size.
8. A strap for securing a shutter to a track using bolts and fasteners, the track having a thickness and width for receiving the bolts, the shutter being used to protect a building opening, and the strap comprising:
a rectangular-shaped flexible material; and
a plurality of openings within the material for holding the bolts, wherein the openings within the material are equidistant from each other and the same size.
9. The strap of claim 8, wherein the bolts are inserted in the openings within the material.
10. The strap of claim 8, wherein the bolts are inserted in the openings within the material and the bolts are mounted in the track.
11. The strap of claim 8, wherein the bolts are inserted in the openings within the material, the bolts are mounted in the track, and the shutter is mounted on the bolts.
12. The strap of claim 8, wherein the bolts are inserted in the openings within the material, the bolts are mounted in the track, the shutter is mounted on the bolts, and the fasteners are used to secure the shutter.

1. An arrangement comprising:
a light transmission path arrangement which includes at least one of an optical fiber or an optical waveguide for propagating at least one electro-magnetic radiation, wherein the at least one electro-magnetic radiation is propagated to illuminate a sample with a beam of light, the light transmission path arrangement including a first fiber cladding region; and
a light collection path arrangement which is separate from the light transmission path arrangement, the light collection path arrangement including only a second fiber cladding region configured to receive a further radiation from the sample, wherein the light transmission path arrangement includes a fiber core and the first fiber cladding region.
2. The arrangement of claim 1, further comprising at least one of:
(a) a double-clad fiber;
(b) a multi-clad fiber;
(c) one single-mode and one multimode fiber;
(d) a single-mode fiber for illumination and one or more multi mode waveguides for signal collection; or
(e) a plurality of a single-mode fibers for illumination and one or more multi-mode waveguides for signal collection.
3. The arrangement of claim 1, wherein at least one of the at least one first cladding region or the at least one second cladding region comprises an irregularly shaped cladding layer.
4. The arrangement of claim 3, further comprising a coherence detection arrangement coupled to a connection portion of the arrangement so as to receive signals from at least one of:
a single-mode illuminating core which includes the further fiber core; or
a single-mode waveguide which is one of the optical waveguides in a probe such that at least one coherence detection procedure can be performed.
5. An arrangement comprising:
a light transmission path arrangement which includes at least one of an optical fiber or an optical waveguide for propagating at least one electro-magnetic radiation, wherein the at least one electro-magnetic radiation is propagated to illuminate a sample with a beam of light, the light transmission path arrangement including a first fiber cladding region; and
a light collection path arrangement which is separate from the light transmission path arrangement, the light collection path arrangement including a particular fiber core and a second fiber cladding region, wherein the first fiber cladding region propagates the at least one electromagnetic radiation to illuminate the sample.

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 to serve fresh media content for a plurality of student computers coupled to a local area network (LAN) with a router coupled to the Internet to access multimedia educational content originally stored on a remote server, the method comprising:
attaching a local server to the LAN to locally store educational multimedia content and periodically synchronizing contents of the local server with contents on the remote server;
determining requests for Internet contents and directing the requests in real-time to directories on the local server by creating proxies and reverse proxies to force web pages to route to the local server;
presenting the multimedia educational content to the students and testing for student comprehension of the multimedia content and presenting additional multimedia educational content based on student performance on earlier questions, wherein the presenting further comprises:
redirecting predetermined multimedia content requests to the local server; and
forwarding other requests to another server or to the Internet;

periodically checking content freshness between the local server and a remote server;
if a stale content exists on the local server, replacing the stale content with a fresh content from the remote server; and
serving the fresh content from the local server.
2. The method of claim 1, comprising providing educational adaptive diagnostic assessment of student performance.
3. The method of claim 1, comprising adaptively testing a student by:
receiving one or more parameters for an assessment and one or more sets of test questions for a sub-test;
selecting a set of test questions from the sub-test;
presenting the selected set of test questions to the student and collecting responses thereto;
generating a score for the responses to a completed set;
applying the score to select either the current set of questions or a new set of test questions; and
using a final score for the sub-test to select a new set of questions in a subsequent sub-test.
4. The method of claim 3, wherein the parameters comprise one or more of: a number of subtests; a number of sets of questions for each subtest; a number of questions per set of questions; an assessment starting point; a grade level; a student age; a prior score; a parameter specifying a transition between subtests; a parameter specifying a movement within a subtest; a termination condition for each subtest; a termination condition for the assessment; a graphical interface parameter; an audio parameter; a summary score formula.
5. The method of claim 1, wherein a student responds to test questions through a teacher management application.
6. The method of claim 1, wherein the student responds to test questions through a third party application having a security key code.
7. The method of claim 1, wherein the student begins the assessment based on one of: a grade level, an age, a student type, a previous test score from a completed assessment.
8. A system, comprising:
a remote server to store fresh content;
a wide area network coupled to the remote server; and
a local server coupled to the wide area network, the local server periodically replacing stale content with fresh content from the remote server and serving the fresh content in response to a request from one or more clients coupled to the local server, wherein proxies and reverse proxies route web pages to the local server for presenting multimedia educational content to students and testing for student comprehension of the multimedia content and presenting additional multimedia educational content based on student performance on earlier questions, wherein predetermined multimedia content requests are sent to the local server; and
other requests are forwarded to another server or to the Internet.
9. The system of claim 8, comprising:
means for receiving one or more parameters for an assessment and one or more sets of test questions for a sub-test;
means for selecting a set of test questions from the sub-test;
means for presenting the selected set of test questions to the student and collecting responses thereto;
means for generating a score for the responses to a completed set;
means for applying the score to select either the current set of questions or a new set of test questions; and
means for using a final score for the sub-test to select a new set of questions in a subsequent sub-test.
10. The system of claim 9, wherein the parameters comprise one or more of: a number of subtests; a number of sets of questions for each subtest; a number of questions per set of questions; an assessment starting point; a grade level; a student age; a prior score; a parameter specifying a transition between subtests; a parameter specifying a movement within a subtest; a termination condition for each subtest; a termination condition for the assessment; a graphical interface parameter; an audio parameter; a summary score formula.
11. The system of claim 8, comprising means for modifying a user’s response by directing matching requests to the local server and forwarding non-matching requests to the Internet.
12. The system of claim 8, comprising means for controlling traffic using one or more proxies.
13. The system of claim 8, comprising means for providing one or more reverse proxies.
14. The system of claim 8, comprising means for forcing certain requests to route through the local server.
15. The system of claim 8, comprising means for communicating through a primary local area network (LAN) directly coupled to the Internet.
16. The system of claim 8, wherein the local server is coupled to the LAN.
17. The system of claim 8, comprising means for communicating through one or more sub-LANs coupled to the primary LAN.
18. The system of claim 8, wherein the local server is coupled to one of the sub-LANs.