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The present invention relates to isolated DNA molecules encoding single strand gap response proteins involved in activation of a DNA repair/cell cycle checkpoint pathway, as well as diagnostic and therapeutic uses of the DNA molecules, their expressed proteins or polypeptides, and antibodies raised against the proteins or polypeptides.
The progression of a eukaryotic cell through the stages of the cell cycle can be arrested if the events of the previous stage of the cell cycle, such as DNA replication, have not been completed or, in addition, if the DNA has sustained some type of damage. The controls on cell cycle progression are termed checkpoints (Hartwell, L., et al., xe2x80x9cCheckpoints: Controls That Ensure the Order of Cell Cycle Events,xe2x80x9d Science, 246:629-34 (1989)), and they can be used to detect whether the processes of the individual stages of the cell cycle have been completed and whether the DNA is intact or in need of repair. Genes whose expressed products are involved in cell cycle delay or DNA repair are broadly defined as checkpoint control genes. Cells that are mutated in one of the cell cycle checkpoint control genes, however, are able to proceed from one stage of the cell cycle to the next even if the cellular processes of that stage are incomplete or in the presence of DNA damage. The G2 phase of the cell cycle lies between S phase, in which DNA replication takes place, and M phase, when mitosis occurs. Thus, the G2 checkpoint is critical for ensuring that mitosis does not occur until all the necessary steps of DNA replication, DNA repair, and chromosome duplication are complete.
Many checkpoint-deficient mutants have been identified in the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae and in the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe.
Genes have been isolated that link mitosis to the completion of DNA replication. Enoch, T., et al., xe2x80x9cMutation of Fission Yeast Cell Cycle Control Genes Abolishes Dependence of Mitosis on DNA Replication,xe2x80x9d Cell, 60:665-73 (1990); Enoch, T., et al., xe2x80x9cFission Yeast Genes Involved in Coupling Mitosis to Completion of DNA Replication,xe2x80x9d Genes Dev., 6:2035-46 (1992); McFarlane, R. J., et al., xe2x80x9cCharacterization of the Schizosaccharomyes pombe rad4/cut5 Mutant Phenotypes: Dissection of DNA Replication and G2 Checkpoint Control Function,xe2x80x9d Mol. Gen. Genet., 255:332-40 (1997). In addition, many genes that function in DNA repair have been identified as G2 checkpoint control genes. Nasim, A., et al., xe2x80x9cGenetic Control of Radiation Sensitivity in Schizosaccharomyces pombe,xe2x80x9d Genetics, 79:573-82 (1975); Al-Khodairy, F., et al., xe2x80x9cDNA Repair Mutants Defining G2 Checkpoint Pathways in Schizosaccharomyces pombe,xe2x80x9d EMBO J., 11:1343-50 (1992); Al-Khodairy, F., et al., xe2x80x9cIdentification and Characterization of New Elements Involved in Checkpoint and Feedback Controls in Fission Yeast,xe2x80x9d Mol. Biol. Cell, 5:147-60 (1994). Several examples include Saccharomyces cerevisiae RAD9 (Weinert, T. A., et al., xe2x80x9cCharacterization of RAD9 of Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Evidence that Its Function Acts Post-Translationally in Cell Cycle Arrest after DNA Damage,xe2x80x9d Mol. Cell. Biol., 10:6554-64 (1990)), Saccharomyces cerevisiae MEC3 (Weinert, T. A., et al., xe2x80x9cMitotic Checkpoint Genes in Budding Yeast and the Dependence of Mitosis on DNA Replication and Repair,xe2x80x9d Genes and Dev., 8:652-65 (1994)), Schizosaccharomyces pombe rad1 (Rowley, R., et al., xe2x80x9cCheckpoint Controls in Schizosaccharomyces pombe: rad1, xe2x80x9d EMBO J., 11:1335-42 (1992)), Schizosaccharomyces pombe rad3 (Jimenez, G., et al., xe2x80x9cThe rad3+ Gene of Schizosaccharomyces pombe is Involved in Multiple Checkpoint Functions and in DNA Repair,xe2x80x9d Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 89:4952-56 (1992); Bentley, N. J., et al., xe2x80x9cThe Schizosaccharomyces pombe rad3 Checkpoint Gene,xe2x80x9d EMBO J., 15:6641-51 (1996)), Schizosaccharomyces pombe rad17 (Griffiths, D. J. F., et al., xe2x80x9cFission Yeast rad17: a Homolog of Budding Yeast RAD24 That Shares Regions of Sequence Similarity with DNA Polymerase Accessory Proteins,xe2x80x9d EMBO J., 14:5812-23 (1995)), Schizosaccharomyces pombe hus1 (Kostrub, C. F., et al., xe2x80x9cMolecular Analysis of hus1+, a Fission Yeast Gene Required for S-M and DNA Damage Checkpoints,xe2x80x9d Mol. Gen. Genet., 254:389-99 (1997)), and the fungus Ustilago maydis REC1 (One1, K., et al., xe2x80x9cThe REC1 Gene of Ustilago maydis. Which Encodes a 3xe2x80x2-5xe2x80x2 Exonuclease, Couples DNA Repair and Completion of DNA Synthesis to a Mitotic Checkpoint,xe2x80x9d Genetics, 143:165-74 (1996)). A number of reviews summarize this work. Sheldrick, K. S., et al., xe2x80x9cFeedback Controls and G2 Checkpoints: Fission Yeast as a Model System,xe2x80x9d BioEssays, 15:775-82 (1993); Lydall, D., et al., xe2x80x9cFrom DNA Damage to Cell Cycle Arrest and Suicide: A Budding Yeast Perspective,xe2x80x9d Curr. Opin. Genet. Dir. 6:4-11 (1996); Stewart, E., et al., xe2x80x9cS-phase and DNA-damage Checkpoints: a Tale of Two Yeasts,xe2x80x9d Curr. Opin. Cell Biol., 8:781-87 (1996); Carr, A. M., xe2x80x9cControl of Cell Cycle Arrest by the Mec1sc/Rad3sp DNA Structure Checkpoint Pathway,xe2x80x9d Curr. Opin. Genet. Dev., 7:93-98 (1997). Some of the Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Schizosaccharomyces pombe genes involved in the G2 cell cycle checkpoint are summarized in FIG. 1.
A human homolog of the Schizosaccharomyces pombe rad9 checkpoint control gene was described recently. Lieberman, H. B., et al., xe2x80x9cA Human Homolog of the Schizosaccharomyces pombe rad9+ Checkpoint Control Gene,xe2x80x9d Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 93:13890-95 (1996). The mapping of a human homolog to Schizosaccharomyces pombe rad1 was reported. Parker, A., et al., xe2x80x9cIdentification of a Putative Human Homolog of the Schizosaccharomyces pombe rad1 Checkpoint Genexe2x80x9d, Eukayrotic DNA Replication, p. 179, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y. (1997). Interestingly, referring to FIG. 1, two Saccharomyces cerevisiae genes, MEC3 and RAD9, do not appear to have Schizosaccharomyces pombe or human homologs, while Saccharomyces cerevisiae does not carry homologs for Schizosaccharomyces pombe hus1 or rad9. The checkpoint control systems of Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Schizosaccharomyces pombe have some gene homologs in common; however, they appear to have diverged significantly, perhaps because cell division is so different in these organisms. Saccharomyces cerevisiae divides by budding, while Schizosaccharomyces pombe divides by fission. The mitosis and cell division of Schizosaccharomyces pombe is much more similar to that of human cells than the mitosis and cell division of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Schizosaccharomyces pombe has a distinct G2 phase of the cell cycle and, in addition, the chromosomes undergo condensation during mitosis. Russell, P., et al., xe2x80x9cSchizosaccharomyces pombe and Saccharomyces cerevisiae: A Look at Yeasts Divided,xe2x80x9d Cell, 45:781-82 (1986). This may be why the human genes of the G2 cell cycle checkpoint pathway correspond so much more closely to the genes of Schizosaccharomyces pombe than to the genes of Saccharomyces cerevisiae.
The occurrence of mutations in checkpoint control genes of higher eukaryotes can lead to cancer. Hartwell, L., xe2x80x9cDefects in a Cell Cycle Checkpoint may be Responsible for the Genomic Instability of Cancer Cells,xe2x80x9d Cell, 71:543-46 (1992); Hartwell, L., et al., xe2x80x9cCell Cycle Control and Cancer,xe2x80x9d Science, 266:1821-28 (1994); Kastan, M. B., et al., xe2x80x9cParticipation of p53 Protein in the Cellular Response to DNA Damage,xe2x80x9d Cancer Res., 51:6304-11 (1991); Kuerbitz, S. J., et al., xe2x80x9cWild-Type p53 is a Cell Cycle Checkpoint Determinant Following Irradiation,xe2x80x9d Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 89:7491-95 (1992). Genes which, when mutated, allow increased rates of tumor formation are termed tumor suppressors. Many tumor suppressors have cell cycle checkpoint function, and loss-of-function mutations in these genes causes runaway cell proliferation, leading to tumor formation. Collins, K., et al., xe2x80x9cThe Cell Cycle and Cancer,xe2x80x9d Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 94:2776-78 (1997). For example, ATM has been identified as the gene that is defective in patients with ataxia telangiectasia. As seen in FIG. 1, ATM is the human homolog of Saccharomyces cerevisiae MEC1/ESR1 and Schizosaccharomyces pombe rad3. Nowak, R., xe2x80x9cDiscovery of AT Gene Sparks Biomedical Research Bonanza,xe2x80x9d Science, 268:1700-01 (1995); reviewed by Enoch, T., et al., xe2x80x9cCellular Responses to DNA Damage: Cell-Cycle Checkpoints, Apoptosis and the Roles of p53 and ATM,xe2x80x9d Trends Biochem. Sci., 20:426-30 (1995); Lehmann, A. R., et al., xe2x80x9cThe Ataxia-Telangiectasia Gene: a Link Between Checkpoint Controls, Neurodegeneration, and Cancer,xe2x80x9d Trends Genet., 11:375-77 (1995); Jackson, S. P., xe2x80x9cThe Recognition of DNA Damage,xe2x80x9d Curr. Opin. Genet. Dev., 6:19-25 (1996). These proteins have protein kinase activity and are involved in generating a signal to halt progression through the cell cycle in response to DNA damage.
The genes of G2 cell cycle checkpoint function in a number of cellular contexts in both Schizosaccharomyces pombe and Saccharomyces cerevisiae. One such function involves causing a G2 phase-specific cell cycle arrest in response to DNA damage from UV or gamma-irradiation, thereby blocking the onset of mitosis. In this instance, they are responding to DNA damage-specific structures. In Schizosaccharomyces pombe , this is mediated by the Chk1 protein kinase. Walworth, N. C., et al. xe2x80x9crad-Dependent Response of the ChK1-Encoded Protein Kinase at the DNA Damage Checkpoint,xe2x80x9d Science, 271:353-56 (1996). Another function involves causing a delay of S-phase and allowing S-phase recovery in response to stalled DNA replication, as can be induced by exposure of cells to hydroxyurea. In this case, the genes are responding to a DNA replication-specific structure. In Schizosaccharomyces pombe, this is mediated by the Cds1 protein kinase. Lindsay, H. M., et al., xe2x80x9cS-Phase-Specific Activation of Cds1 Kinase Defines a Subpathway of the Checkpoint Response in Schizosaccharomyces pombe,xe2x80x9d Genes Div. 12:382-95 (1998). Finally, in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, these genes induce a G2 arrest upon inactivation of a cdc13 temperature-sensitive mutant. Lydall, D., et. al., xe2x80x9cYeast Checkpoint Genes in DNA Damage Processing: Implications for Repair and Arrest,xe2x80x9d Science, 270:1488-91 (1995). Inactivation of cdc13 results in the appearance of single stranded TG-rich regions at telomeres due to a specific loss of the AC-rich DNA strands.
The unifying principle in these instances is activation of the cell cycle checkpoint pathway by regions of single stranded DNA. After DNA damage, such as by UV or gamma-irradiation, a single strand gap is created by excision of a length of DNA containing the damaged nucleotides. Sancar, A., xe2x80x9cExcision Repair in Mammalian Cells,xe2x80x9d J. Biol. Chem., 270:15915-18 (1995). The stalling of DNA replication forks will normally result in a single strand region on the lagging strand, even if the leading strand is fully replicated up to the point at which the parental DNA strands have not been unwound and remain duplexed. Impaired functioning of Saccharomyces cerevisiae cdc13 renders the telomeric TG strand single stranded, perhaps due to a reduced protection of the CA strand from degradation. Garvik, B., et al., xe2x80x9cSingle-Stranded DNA Arising at Telomeres in cdc13 Mutants May Constitute a Specific Signal for the RAD9 Checkpoint,xe2x80x9d Mol. Cell. Biol., 15:6128-38 (1995); Nugent, C. I., et al., xe2x80x9cCdc13p: A Single-Strand Telomeric DNA-Binding Protein with a Dual Role in Yeast Telomere Maintenance,xe2x80x9d Science, 274:249-52 (1996); Lin, J. J., et al., xe2x80x9cThe Saccharomyces CDC13 Protein is a Single-Strand TGI1-3 Telomeric DNA-binding Protein in vitro that Affects Telomere Behavior in vivo,xe2x80x9d Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 93:13760-65 (1996). Thus, these specific checkpoint control genes appear to monitor the intactness of cellular DNA by responding to the generation of single stranded regions. They act in concert with one another to slow S phase or induce G2 arrest when single stranded gaps appear in the DNA. As such, they constitute genes of a distinct pathway of the G2 cell cycle checkpointxe2x80x94i.e. the xe2x80x9csingle strand gap responsexe2x80x9d (SSGR) pathway. Genes involved in the SSGR pathway are specifically defined as xe2x80x9csingle strand gap responsexe2x80x9d (SSGR) genes.
Researchers have isolated and sequenced several SSGR genes in Schizosaccharomyces pombe and Saccharomyces cerevisiae.
The gene for Schizosaccharomyces pombe rad17 has been described in Griffiths, D. J. F., et al., xe2x80x9cFission Yeast rad17: a Homolog of Budding Yeast RAD24 That Shares Regions of Sequence Similarity with DNA Polymerase Accessory Proteins,xe2x80x9d EMBO J., 14:5812-23 (1995). The gene for its homolog in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, RAD24, has been deposited in EMBL/Genbank/DDBJ data banks, which are publicly available databases. Zhu, Y. B., et al., xe2x80x9cMolecular Cloning and Sequencing of DNA Repair Gene RAD24, Chinese Biochem. J., 11:541-50 (1995). Cloning of Schizosaccharomyces pombe rad17 revealed that it has extensive homology to the DNA polymerase accessory proteins known as clamp loaders. Griffiths, D. J. F., et al., xe2x80x9cFission Yeast rad17: a Homolog of Budding Yeast RAD24 That Shares Regions of Sequence Similarity with DNA Polymerase Accessory Proteins,xe2x80x9d EMBO J., 14:5812-23 (1995). This suggests that Schizosaccharomyces pombe rad17 may carry out a clamp loading or unloading function in the DNA repair pathway. Interestingly, while the Schizosaccharomyces pombe rad17 gene carries out two roles, DNA repair and cell cycle checkpoint regulation, the two functions, are separable. Specific point mutations of rad17 were generated that abolished DNA repair activity but did not affect checkpoint control. Griffiths, D. J. F., et al., xe2x80x9cFission Yeast rad17: a Homolog of Budding Yeast RAD24 That Shares Regions of Sequence Similarity with DNA Polymerase Accessory Proteins,xe2x80x9d EMBO J., 14:5812-23 (1995).
The cloning of the gene for Schizosaccharomyces pombe rad1 has been described in a series of reports. Sunnerhagen, P., et al., xe2x80x9cCloning and Analysis of a Gene Involved in DNA Repair and Recombination, the rad1 Gene of Schizosaccharomyces pombe,xe2x80x9d Mol. Cell. Biol., 10:3750-60 (1990); Rowley, R., et al., xe2x80x9cCheckpoint Controls in Schizosaccharomyces pombe: rad1,xe2x80x9d EMBO J., 11:1335-42 (1992); Long, K. E., et al., xe2x80x9cThe Schizosaccharomyces pombe rad1 Gene Consists of Three Exons and the cDNA Sequence is Partially Homologous to the Ustilago maydis REC1 cDNA,xe2x80x9d Gene, 148:155-59 (1994). The cloning of its Saccharomyces cerevisiae homolog, RAD17, has also been described in Siede, W., et al., xe2x80x9cCloning and Characterization of RAD17, a Gene Controlling Cell Cycle Responses to DNA Damage in Saccharomyces cerevisiae,xe2x80x9d Nuc. Acids Res., 24:1669-75 (1996). Extensive work has been carried out over a number of years concerning its homolog in Ustilago maydis, REC1. Holliday, R., et al., xe2x80x9cGenetic Characterization of rec-1, a Mutant of Ustilago maydis Defective in Repair and Recombination,xe2x80x9d Genet. Res., 27:413-53 (1976); Holden, D. W., et al., xe2x80x9cNucleotide Sequence of the REC1 Gene of Ustilago maydis,xe2x80x9d Nuc. Acids Res., 17:10489 (1989); Tsukuda, T., et al., xe2x80x9cIsolation of the REC1 Gene Controlling Recombination in Ustilago maydis,xe2x80x9d Gene, 85:335-41 (1989). An exonuclease activity is associated with the protein (Thelen, M. P., et al., xe2x80x9cThe REC1 Gene of Ustilago maydis Involved in the Cellular Response to DNA Damage Encodes an Exonuclease,xe2x80x9d J. Biol. Chem., 269:747-54 (1994)), and the role of the gene in DNA repair and cell cycle regulation is known (Onel, K., et al., xe2x80x9cMutation Avoidance and DNA Repair Proficiency in Ustilago maydis Are Differentially Lost with Progressive Truncation of the REC1 Gene Product,xe2x80x9d Mol. Cell. Biol., 15:5329-38 (1995); Onel, K., et al., xe2x80x9cThe REC1 Gene of Ustilago maydis, Which Encodes a 3xe2x80x2-5xe2x80x2 Exonuclease, Couples DNA Repair and Completion of DNA Synthesis to a Mitotic Checkpoint,xe2x80x9d Genetics, 143:165-74 (1996)).
Recent studies offer some insight into the in vivo role of the Saccharomyces cerevisiae checkpoint genes. Lydall D., et al., xe2x80x9cYeast Checkpoint Genes in DNA Damage Processing: Implications for Repair and Arrest,xe2x80x9d Science, 270:1488-91 (1995). The Rad24, Rad17, and Mec3 proteins appear to activate an exonuclease activity in vivo, while the Rad9 protein appears to modulate exonuclease activity. It was suggested that Saccharomyces cerevisiae Rad 17 protein may actually be an exonuclease, based on homology between it and U. maydis Rec1.
The cloning of Schizosaccharomyces pombe hus1 was described recently. Kostrub, C. F., et al., xe2x80x9cMolecular Analysis of hus1+, a Fission Yeast Gene Required for S-M and DNA Damage Checkpoints,xe2x80x9d Mol. Gen. Genet., 254:389-99 (1997). Yeast strains disrupted in hus1 are viable but are checkpoint-defective.
It is expected that the mammalian homologs of the SSGR genes of Schizosaccharomyces pombe will also carry out an SSGR function in human cells, and are likely candidates for human tumor suppressor genes. However, no mammalian, particularly human, SSGR genes have been cloned. The present invention is directed to overcoming this deficiency in the art.
The present invention relates to isolated DNA molecules encoding mammalian xe2x80x9csingle strand gap responsexe2x80x9d (SSGR) proteins involved in activation of a DNA repair/cell cycle checkpoint pathway. In particular, the isolated DNA molecules include the human HRAD17, human HRAD1, human HHUS1, mouse HRAD1, and mouse HHUS1 DNA molecules. The present invention is also directed to proteins or polypeptides encoded by the DNA molecules as well as antibodies raised against those proteins or polypeptides. Expression systems and host cells transformed with these DNA molecules are also disclosed.
The DNA molecules of the present invention are useful in detecting the presence of genes encoding SSGR proteins in a tissue sample. This may be useful in identifying the presence of mutants in germline tissue samples, which indicates the potential for development of inheritable diseases, and in tumor samples, which indicates the particular mutation attributable to tumor formation and, therefore, may identify suitable treatment regimen.
The DNA molecules of the present invention can also be used in gene therapy to restore proper cell cycle regulation to cells. This is particularly useful in halting or reversing a cancerous or pre-cancerous condition.
The proteins or polypeptides of the present invention can be utilized to detect the presence of antibodies raised by such proteins or polypeptides in a sample of mammalian origin.
The antibodies or binding portions thereof of the present invention are useful for detecting the presence or absence of the expressed SSGR proteins or polypeptides from a sample.
The present invention also relates to a transgenic animal whose somatic and germ cells lack a gene encoding a SSGR protein or possess a disruption in that gene. This animal is susceptible to spontaneous tumor development and, therefore, is useful for studying tumor formation and treatment.
As tumor supressors, the SSGR proteins act at the G2 cell cycle checkpoint in order to permit complete repair of DNA damage. Their mutation leads to cancer by allowing increased amounts of DNA damage, leading to increased levels of mutation in the cell. Therefore, one benefit of the invention is its use as a tool for the diagnosis of cancers caused by mutations of these genes.
However, there is a second reason for the importance of the SSGR genes with respect to cancer, aside from their role as tumor supressors, and that is as a crucial consideration for chemotherapy. These genes function at the G2 cell cycle checkpoint and act as a barrier to the initiation of mitosis in the presence of unrepaired DNA damage. This barrier allows a cell with DNA damage to halt the cell cycle at the G2 stage for up to 8 hours, or more, and make repeated attempts to repair the DNA damage before allowing mitosis to proceed. This is useful to the cell because entry into mitosis in the presence of high levels of unrepaired DNA damage causes mitotic catastrophe and cell death (e.g., apoptosis). As such, this pathway is of key importance in the problematic survival of cancerous tissue or tumor cells after they are assaulted by chemotherapeutic DNA-damaging agents or radiotherapy.
Since cancers with mutations in the SSGR genes will have an increased susceptibility to DNA-damaging chemotherapeutic agents, it is important to determine whether the SSGR genes are mutated. Identification of cancers carrying mutations in or causing reduced expression of these genes would flag those cancers as being particularly susceptible to DNA-damaging chemotherapeutic agents, as opposed to drugs that poison the cell in other ways.
Furthermore, the SSGR proteins are key targets for anti-cancer drugs in those cancers that do not carry mutations in the SSGR genes. Inhibition of SSGR response protein function in these cancers will heighten the potency of chemotherapeutic DNA-damaging agents. The proteins or polypeptides of the present invention can be used to identify drugs that will inhibit the SSGR pathway and increase the effectiveness of tumor destruction by DNA-damaging agents. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of impact plating selective metal powders onto metallic articles.
2. Description of the Related Art
Impact plating, otherwise known as mechanical plating, is a well-established technique for applying powdered coating materials onto discrete articles. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,640,001 and 2,640,002 disclose methods of applying finely divided metal powder onto discrete articles, such as screws and nails, by placing the articles, the metallic powder, film-forming organic compounds and, optionally, metallic balls, in a rotating mill. The rotation of the mill causes the metal powder to be impacted into a coating on the articles.
The use of water and water soluble organic compounds, rather than a completely organic medium, to plate finely divided metallic powder onto discrete articles is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,689,808. This type of aqueous environment containing various water soluble organic compounds is also disclosed in other patents such as U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,023,127 and 3,132,043.
As the art of impact plating has progressed, several developments concerning different aspects of the process have been made. For instance, U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,141,780 and 3,164,448 describe the pretreatment of the metallic articles with a flash coating of copper in order to improve the adhesion between the article and the subsequently impact plated metallic powder.
Developments in the chemicals used to obtain the chemical plating, which are commonly known as "promoter chemicals" or "plating accelerators", are marked by such patents as U.S. Pat. No. 2,999,767 wherein various organic ammonium chloride salts are employed to facilitate the plating of brass powder onto lead articles, U.S. Pat. No. 3,328,197 wherein high molecular weight polyoxyethylene glycol is used as a promoter chemical, U.S. Pat. No. 3,460,977 wherein a variety of defined dispersants are used as a promoter chemical and U.S. Pat. No. 3,479,209 wherein water insoluble oxygen-substituted lubricious aromatic compounds are employed as the promoter chemical.
The impact media which is commonly used in the impact plating process has also undergone a transition. In particular, whereas in the earlier techniques, metallic balls were commonly employed, U.S. Pat. No. 3,251,711 describes non-metallic impacting granules which are vitreous, ceramic or mineral in nature, while U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,013,892 and 3,443,985 describe the use of cullet or glass beads, respectively, as the impact media.
With respect to process developments, U.S. Pat. No. 3,268,356 sets forth a technique wherein metallic particles and/or chemical plating promoter is added over substantial portion of the plating cycle. In U.S. Pat. No. 3,400,012, flash coatings are provided on conductive substrates by employing a dissolved metal salt and a driving or plating inducing metal. In U.S. Pat. No. 3,531,315, the articles are plated by successively adding the necessary chemicals into a rotating barrel in the absence of any intervening rinsing operation. More recently, U.S. Pat. No. 3,690,935 discloses a process wherein all the water is recovered and reused and U.S. Pat. No. 4,062,990 sets forth a process wherein all treating and plating chemicals are recovered and reused.
From an apparatus development standpoint, U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,442,691 and 3,494,327 disclose plating systems wherein the plating barrel rotates and vibrates at the same time. U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,726,186 and 4,162,680 disclose the apparatus aspects of the previously mentioned processes wherein water or all the treating and plating materials are captured and reused.
Despite the development of numerous aspects of impact plating, the technique has been practically limited to plating the metals tin, cadmium, zinc or combinations of tin, cadmium and/or zinc onto various substrates. Notwithstanding descriptions in the art that any malleable metal can be impact plated, there has been no known commercial way of impact plating metals such as aluminum, brass or stainless steel. The present invention is directed to a solution of this problem. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a VLSI system, and more particularly to a self-timed latch circuit for a high-speed VLSI system.
2. Description of the Conventional Art
Generally, latches and flip-flops which are used as data storing devices are the most basic elements for a VLSI system. Particularly, the storing devices are mostly synchronized by clock signals. In that case, transition of the clock signal should be simultaneously occurred in all synchronizing points of of a system wherein the data storing devices (the latches and flipflops) are located. However, since in real situations the clock signal passes through a plurality of different wiring paths respectively having different loads, the clock signal arrives at each point by having a different time delay.
As a result, the change of the time delay generated while the clock signal is being dispersed results in skew of the clock signal which leads to serious problems such as, for example, false output latching. Further, in order to uniformly disperse the clock signal without any skew, increase of the design costs must be attended. Accordingly, generally a self-timed latch circuit is used for solving such problems. Since the self-timed latch circuit does not apply the clock signal, the clock skew problem and the clock dispersion costs can be reduced.
FIGS. 1A and 1B illustrate self-timed latch circuits in a SR type which are used in a synchronizing system. As shown in FIG. 1A, an active-low SR latch of a NAND type consists of NAND gates which receives external signals S, R, respectively, the NAND gates being connected to each other in a back-to-back mode. While, as shown in FIG. 1B, an active-high SR latch of a NOR type consists of NOR gates which receives external signals S, R, respectively, also the NOR gates being connected to each other in the back-to-back type. Such self-timed latch circuits have a feedback-type connecting configuration in which an output signal Q or Qb is used as an input signal of the logic gate NAND or NOR, and can be used for driving large load by which each output terminal thereof is connected with a driver inverter. Here, the external signals R, S are reset and set signals, respectively.
In the conventional self-timed latch circuit, when the external signals S, R are respectively at a high level, as shown in FIG. 1A, signal Q, Qb outputted from the NAND-type SR latch maintain previous values Q.sub.-- 1, Qb.sub.-- 1, respectively. When one of the external signals S, R is transited to a low level in such condition, a corresponding output signal becomes a high level and thereby a logic state is accordingly changed. Various changes of the output signals Q, Qb with respect to the external signals S, R are illustrated as a truth table in Table 1.
TABLE 1 ______________________________________ SET RESET Q Qb ______________________________________ 1 1 Q.sub.-- 1 Qb.sub.-- 1 0 1 1 0 1 0 0 1 0 0* 1 1 ______________________________________ *not allowed
While, as shown in FIG. 1B, when the external signals S, R are respectively at a low level, signals Q, Qb outputted from the NOR-type SR latch maintain previous values 0.sub.-- 1, Qb.sub.-- 1, respectively. When one of the external signals S, R is transited to a high level in such condition, a logic state of a corresponding output signal is accordingly changed. In table 2, various changes of the output signals Q, Qb with respect to the external signals S, R are illustrated as a truth table in following Table 2.
TABLE 2 ______________________________________ SET RESET Q Qb ______________________________________ 0 0 Q.sub.-- 1 Qb.sub.-- 1 1 1 1 0 1 0 0 1 1* 1* 0 0 ______________________________________ *not allowed
However, the conventional self-timed latch circuit has several problems due to the back-to-back connection. More specifically, a critical path formed by the feedback connection considerably decreases a processing speed of the latch circuit. Such decrease of the processing speed thereof becomes more serious as load of a output terminal becomes large, because the output terminal having the large load exists on the critical path.
In addition, since the conventional self-timed latch circuit has a serial output system by the feedback connection, there must be time difference between the output signals Q, Qb. Therefore, the output signals Q, Qb are generated asymmetrically, and thus it is impossible to supply stable signals to a circuit which requires both of the output signals Q, Qb.
Further, the conventional self-timed latch circuit of the NAND or NOR type has a serial connection of an NMOS or PMOS transistor. Therefore, the serial connection configuration unavoidably increases the size of the transistor and decreases the processing speed. Particularly, those problems are more seriously induced in the NOR-type SR latch having the serial connection of the PMOS transistor, and also there is large difference in performance between the conventional active-low and active-high self-timed latch circuits. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
Synchronizers for use in multi-ratio transmissions are well known. Such synchronizers may be of the double acting type including pairs of friction and jaw members for respectively synchronizing and positive clutching gears to a shaft, synchronizer assemblies for engaging the friction members in response to initial engaging movement of a shift sleeve, a hub rotatably fixed to the shaft and having external spline teeth slidably receiving internal spline teeth of the shift sleeve which often defines one of the jaw member pairs, a baulking means having blocker teeth for arresting engaging movement of the shift sleeve until synchronization is reached and for transferring a shift force from the sleeve to increase the engaging force of the friction members.
It is also known that such synchronizers may be used to reduce shift time and shift effort required by a vehicle operator by the providing the synchronizers with self-energizing means. EP-A-0663 541 discloses a synchronizer having all of the above. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
1. Field of Invention
The invention relates to a structure and method for laminating and fixing lead frames that are used to assemble thin plate parts used for an ink-jet printer head and an electronic part, and also relates to a method for fabricating ink-jet printer heads.
2. Description of Related Art
An on-demand type piezoelectric ink-jet printer head is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,680,595. The disclosed head includes a cavity plate formed by laminating a plurality of thin plate parts and a diaphragm plate bonded to the back side of the cavity plate.
A plurality of thin plate parts forming a cavity plate includes a nozzle plate having a plurality of nozzles, a base plate having pressure chambers associated with the nozzles, and a manifold plate having a manifold and ink passages connected to an ink source and to the pressure chambers. Each plate is a thin metal plate having a thickness of 25 μm or less. A plurality of plates are positioned such that the nozzles, pressure chambers, and ink passages communicate with each other, and are laminated in predetermined vertical alignment.
Piezoelectric elements are securely fixed to one side of the diaphragm plate so as to be associated with the pressure chambers. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to electrochromic display panels and more particularly to such panels having a matrix of coincident selection display elements that are periodically refreshed in a matrix selection mode of operation.
2. Description of the Prior Art
It is well known that certain types of materials exhibit an electrochromic characteristic. That is, when coupled between an anode and a cathode they exhibit a change of color at the anode or cathode or both depending upon the electrical energization of the anode relative to the cathode. It is known to provide an electrochromic display in which a plurality of separate segments or display elements are individually energized to provide a desired display characteristic. One such arrangement is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,008,950 to Chapman et al. However, such arrangements are relatively inconvenient for displays having a large number of display elements because individual control must be maintained over the energization of each display element. Furthermore, it is quite expensive to provide individual cavities for each display element, fill the cavities with an electrochromatic fluid and then seal the cavities.
An arrangement which avoids the necessity of separately filling and sealing individual cavities for each display element is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,864,589 to Schoot et al. In this arrangement an elongated horizontally extending electrochromic fluid cavity is provided for each of a plurality of electrodes. A plurality of vertically oriented, horizontally spaced individual display element cavities extend in communication with each elongated fluid cavity and orthogonal column electrodes are provided to form a matrix display in which individual electrochromic filled cavities extend between a matrix of row and column electrodes but with each of the individual cavities extending into communication with the elongated horizontally extending fluid cavity so that all individual cavities can be filled by filling a small number of elongated row cavities. This arrangement thus provides both a degree of electrical isolation of the individual display element cavities plus a simplified fluid filling procedure. This arrangement also provides coincident matrix selection of the individual display elements to reduce the complexity of the electrical drive circuit by eliminating the need for a separate individually controlled electrical connection for each display element.
Severe problems have heretofore limited practical applications of matrix addressed electrochromic displays. One is image diffusion and another is cross-talk or the effect which one display element has upon another. The patent to Schoot et al illustrates the two techniques which are most commonly used for minimizing these effects. These are physical isolation of the individual display element cells and use of an electrochromic chemical system in which the colored species deposits out on the electrode. While the use of a horizontally extending pool of electrochromic material as taught by Schoot et al reduces the manufacturing cost, the partial isolation used therein still maintains the manufacturing cost relatively high. The use of solid colored materials limits the choice of the chemical systems which can be used and degrades the speed with which the cells can be colored or erased. Furthermore, in addition to the direct conductivity of the electrochromic fluid between cells, another source of cross-talk is interaction between cells via the electrodes associated with the matrix. An electrically isolated colored display cell in general has a different electrochemical potential difference across it than a clear cell. When these cells are connected together the colored cell tends to drive or color the clear cell. While eliminating the conductivity between cells, the Schoot et al arrangement still suffers from communication between the cells via the electrodes. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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Traditionally, containers for chemically sensitive materials have been made from inorganic materials such as glass. Glass containers offer the advantage that they are substantially impenetrable by atmospheric gases and thus provide a product with a long shelf life. Glass containers are also readily recyclable. However, glass containers are heavy and expensive to manufacture.
More recently, lighter and less expensive containers made of polymeric materials are being used in applications where traditionally glass containers were used. These polymeric containers are less suspectable to breakage, are less expensive to manufacture, are lighter and less expensive to ship than glass containers. Further, polymeric containers can be made transparent thus allowing the contents of the container to be readily viewed by a consumer before the product is purchased.
However, polymeric containers are not without disadvantages. One significant disadvantage is that polymeric containers are ordinarily highly permeable to gases. This high permeability to gases allows atmospheric gases to pass through the polymeric container to the packaged product and also allows gases in the packaged product to escape through the polymeric container, both of which undesirably degrade the quality and shelf life of the packaged product.
One approach to decrease the gas permeability of polymeric containers is to form a multilayered polymeric container which includes at least one low gas permeable polymeric layer along with at least one other polymeric layer. However, such an approach is relatively complicated, costly and often produces a container which is difficult to recycle.
Another approach to decrease the gas permeability of polymeric containers is to deposit a barrier coating, i.e. a coating having a substantial resistance to the permeation of gaseous or volatile material, on the polymeric container. To date however, there are several obstacles which have prevented barrier coated polymeric containers from gaining wide acceptance.
One obstacle which has inhibited the use of barrier coated polymeric containers is that conventional barrier coating deposition techniques are not well suited for mass production. To illustrate, in Thomas et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,378,510 a method and apparatus for depositing barrier coatings on the interior surface of a polymeric container is presented. However, in Thomas et al., a tubular plasma chamber 46 with downstream extension 52, adaptor 50, tube 54 and coaxial conduit are employed to convert an oxidizing gas into a plasma and to deliver the activated oxidizing gas species separately from organosilicon vapor to the vicinity of the article to be coated (see col. 6, lines 46-67 and FIG. 1). Thus, although Thomas et al. demonstrates the feasibility of depositing a barrier coating on an article, the tubular plasma chamber and associated equipment are relatively expensive and complex and thus are not well suited to the production environment.
Another obstacle which has inhibited the use of barrier coated polymeric containers is the difficulty associated with depositing a uniform barrier coating. Generally, it is preferable to deposit a uniform barrier coating on the polymeric container to ensure that the entire polymeric container provides an effective gas permeation barrier.
One conventional technique to improve the uniformity of the deposited barrier coating is to rotate the container during processing. To illustrate, in Thomas et al. at col. 9, lines 14-20 the polymeric container is rotated during the deposition of the barrier coating to promote the even distribution of the barrier coating on the interior surface of the polymeric container. However, as rotation of the polymeric container is accomplished using an additional motor which rotates a shaft extending into the chamber through an air to vacuum feedthrough, rotation of the polymeric container further increases the cost and decreases the reliability of the barrier coating deposition process.
Accordingly, the art needs a simple, inexpensive and reliable process for depositing a barrier coating on a polymeric container. The process should have a fast cycle time to accommodate production demands. Further, the barrier coating deposited should have good uniformity without the necessity of rotating the polymeric container and the barrier coated polymeric container should be readily recyclable. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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The present invention relates to an apparatus for automatically initiating the drop of a neutron absorbing member into the core of a nuclear reactor.
More specifically, the apparatus according to the invention makes it possible to automatically free from its control mechanism an absorbing member, when the level of the cooling liquid circulating in the vessel containing the reactor core drops below a minimum level.
In nuclear reactors, scram of the fission reaction in the reactor core is obtained by dropping neutron absorbing members into the latter.
In pressurized water nuclear reactors, these absorbing members are generally in the form of a cluster or a control rod. They are suspended on a control bar, which is itself connected to a manipulating member by an electromagnetic link. By controlling the fracture of this link, the absorbing members automatically drop into the reactor core and consequently bring about the scram of the fission reaction. Experience has shown that these scramming systems have a very high reliability level.
However, the information controlling scram passes through a complex electronic and mechanical apparatus chain and consequently it is not impossible for none of the absorbing members to drop into the reactor core.
Despite the highly improbable character of this hypothesis, it still leads to considering the existence of a scram system making it possible, by a direct mechanical action to automatically separate the absorbing member from its control bar when the cooling conditions impose reactor scram. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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Vascular access devices such as subcutaneous implantable ports are often inserted inside a major vein for a period of months or years so that blood can be repeatedly drawn or medication and nutrients can be injected into the patient's bloodstream on a regular basis. Subcutaneous implantable ports, which are also sometimes referred to as subcutaneous access ports, may be used for giving chemotherapy, providing blood transfusions, taking blood samples, delivering intravenous (IV) fluids, providing IV medicines, and the like. Known ports have an attached catheter which is typically a soft tube that is implanted into a patient's blood vessel.
However, sometimes there is a medical need to have more than one port chamber to access for a dedicated use. Hence, there is a need for an assembly that combines ports such that the assembly can provide multiple ports in a single assembly. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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Bucket teeth of buckets for excavators, diggers and other related excavation, digging, construction and mining equipment, are subjected to severe wear and corrosion conditions. Wear is caused by contact with abrasive materials including rocks, gravel and dry sand. The wear problem is further aggravated because such materials can be much harder than even hardened steel. The wear of bucket teeth is not substantially reduced by simply hardening the contact surface. Therefore, an approach other than heat treatment is desired to reduce the wear rate to prolong the life of bucket teeth substantially.
Also, due to the functional nature of such equipment, bucket teeth are frequently in intimate contact with wet materials, such as wet sand slurry, gravel and rocks. This contact can cause bucket teeth to corrode, thereby producing a synergistic effect on bucket tooth wear.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide longer wearing surfaces on bucket teeth to extend the service life and to reduce the associated long-term maintenance cost. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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A typical data storage system includes a rigid housing having a base and top cover that encloses a variety of components. The components include one or more discs having data surfaces for storage of digital information. The disc(s) are mounted on a rotor of a spindle motor. The spindle motor causes the disc(s) to spin and the data surfaces of the disc(s) to pass under respective aerodynamic bearing disc head sliders. The sliders carry transducers, which write information to and read information from the data surfaces of the discs.
Recently, there has been a rapid increase in the production of smaller and lighter weight disc drives in the disc drive industry. These smaller sized disc drives are typically used in handheld or portable devices, such as cell phones and digital music players. When producing smaller sized disc drives for portable devices, it is often desirable to include a spindle motor with a high electromagnetic (EM) performance level. Spindle motors having high EM performance levels include low power consumption, a high torque constant (Kt) and a high voltage margin at low temperatures (to overcome start up problems). It is also desirable to include spindle motors that have small z-heights. Small z-heights allow the disc drive to be as small as possible for use in portable devices. However, in general, the smaller the z-height of a spindle the motor the lower the EM performance level.
In conventional small sized disc drives, the printed circuit board assembly (PCBA) is attached to the base of the disc drive and includes an aperture. The aperture in the PCBA accommodates a housing of the spindle motor such that the z-height of the spindle motor can be as large as possible relative to the thickness of the disc drive. However, a diameter of the aperture in the PCBA can be rather large and, therefore, compromises space needed for holding printed circuit board components. Although a small aperture in the PCBA for a smaller sized spindle motor allows more room for printed circuit board components, a small aperture in the PCBA for a smaller sized spindle motor compromises EM performance levels.
Embodiments of the present invention provide solutions to these and other problems, and offer other advantages over the prior art. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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In a memory device, such as static random access memory (SRAM) cell, an electrical charge (HIGH) is stored in the memory device to represent a digital “1”, while the absence of such an electrical charge or a relatively low charge (LOW) stored in the device indicates a digital “0”. To increase the ability to write to the memory cell, the power supply voltage for the cell may be reduced during the write cycle. Reducing the power supply voltage for the write cycle is commonly referred to as initiating a VDD collapse.
One technique for implementing bit-cell VDD collapse during a write cycle is to use a pull-down transistor enabled by a write assist signal. Clamping transistors that are coupled between the memory cell supply voltage line and the main power supply voltage maintain VDD at its normal level during normal operations. When the pull-down transistor is enabled prior to a write cycle, the pull-down transistor is in contention with the clamping transistors, but since it is stronger than the clamping transistors, VDD drops.
This scheme creates a large crow-bar current between pull-down and clamp due to the contention-based design. Process Variation (PV) and Bias Temperature Instability Degradation (BTI) can significantly shift up or down the magnitude of the VDD collapse. The up/down shift in collapse can cause bit-cells to either lose their state or prevent a successful write. To combat the variation in the collapse circuitry, columns across the memory are typically shorted together to average out the variation. The need to short columns together prevents this approach from being used in a bit-writable memory design without upsizing the devices to reduce variation, resulting in a significant area increase.
The use of the same reference symbols in different drawings indicates similar or identical items. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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As shown in FIG. 18(A), in a conventional grid array electronic component, a via hole B of a printed wiring board K and a land L of the printed wiring board K corresponding to a large number of lands of a grid array LSI chip P mounted on the printed wiring board K are directly connected to each other through a wiring pattern H.
In a conventional wiring board having the lands (Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No.H8-213730 (improvement of a break caused by fracture based on difference of thermal expansion), Japanese Utility Model Application Laid-open Nos.S61-201374 and S62-184783 (improvement of land shape in accordance with high density of wire), Japanese Patent Publication No.S56-22151, and the like), as shown in FIG. 19, an auxiliary land AL is formed on a portion of a periphery or an entire periphery of through holes TH, and even if the through holes TH are deviated from each other, connection properties are secured.
In a conventional printed wiring board (Japanese Patent Applications Laid-open Nos.H1-115195, H11-54859 and S64-84875, as well as Japanese Patent No. 2519068), since there is a problem that if a tier drop is added to secure electrical conduction of a land in a printed board of epoxy glass or the like and to avoid a danger of brake of wire, the entire area of the land is increased and thus, density cannot be increased as compared with a case in which the tier drop is not added, a predetermined insulation gap cannot be obtained between the tier drop and another conductive circuit. Therefore, tier drops TD are offset with respect to a land L1, and the tier drops TD are formed on one side of a line or asymmetrically in a lateral direction as shown in FIG. 20.
In a mounting structure of a conventional ball grid array package (Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No.H10-335516), as shown in FIG. 21, in order to prevent thermal fatigue life of soldering from being lowered by reduction bonding force of soldering based on void caused by air trapped in the four corner via holes BH of the disposition region of a rectangular ball grid array package, flat pads PP are disposed instead of a pad BH for the via hole.
In the conventional grid array electronic component, the via hole B of the printed wiring board K and the land L of the printed wiring board K corresponding to a large number of lands of the grid array LSI chip P mounted on the printed wiring board K are directly connected to each other through the wiring pattern H. Therefore, if a load is applied to the printed wiring board K, a brake is generated in the wiring pattern H.
That is, if warpage and distortion are generated in the printed wiring board K, a great stress is applied to a connection portion between the wiring pattern H, the via hole B of the printed wiring board K and the land L of the printed wiring board K corresponding to the land of the grid array LSI chip. Therefore, a brake is generated in the connection portion of the wiring pattern H.
As shown in FIG. 19, the conventional wiring board having the land, the through holes TH are formed at a portion of its periphery or an entire periphery with an auxiliary land AL, and even if the through holes TH are offset from each other, the connection properties are obtained. Therefore, this is a technique related to a 2.54 mm pin grid array (PGA) between pins, and this is not a technique related to BGA of ball grid array LSI chip in which a large number of soldering balls having 1.27 mm pitch between pins are disposed on a lower surface of an LSI device.
In the conventional printed wiring board, if the tier drop is added to moderate the concentration of stress of the land of the printed board of epoxy glass or others of 1 mm thickness, the entire area of the land is increased. Therefore, there are problems that the density is not increased as compared with a case in which the tier drop is not added, and a predetermined insulation distance between the tier drop and other conductive circuit can not be secured. Thus, the tier drops TD are decentered with respect to the land L1, and are formed on one side of the line or asymmetrically in the lateral direction, and two leads D1 and D2 are interposed between adjacent lands L1 and L2, and this technique is judged as being one generation older technique of the ball grid array (BGA) in which a large number of surface-mounting type soldering balls of 1.27 mm pitch are disposed on a lower surface of the LSI device.
Further, in the conventional printed wiring board, since a brake of the wiring pattern when a load is applied to the printed wiring board to which the ball grid array type LSI chip is mounted is not prevented, the printed wiring board is different in wiring pattern and the like of the pitch, lead and the like of the land of the LSI device and printed board which is soldered to the printed board.
In the mounting structure of the conventional ball grid array package, a flat pad PP is disposed instead of a via hole pad BH in order to a void reduction of the soldering thermal fatigue life caused by reduction of the soldering bonding force based on void by air trapped in four corner via holes BH in disposition region of the rectangular ball grid array package, and a brake of the wiring pattern when a load is applied to the printed wiring board to which the ball grid array type LSI chip is mounted is not prevented. Therefore, the land whose wiring pattern is broken is not provided with an auxiliary land naturally. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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The increasing utilization of remote access and broadband services has increased the need for security verification of users who use remote devices to access various services and/or to perform transactions. For example, a customer may access various multimedia services, perform banking transactions, make purchases, and so on, using a mobile device such as a laptop computer, a cell phone, a smart phone, and the like. A typical authentication method may simply use a password and a user login name. Unfortunately, passwords and user login names can be easily compromised for many reasons. For example, the user may keep a default password, or use an easily deducible name, birthday, etc.
Another approach for increasing security is to employ verification or authentication using biological markers such as fingerprints, and the like. Biological markers are less likely to be compromised. However, authentications based on biological markers are typically available only on fixed stations, e.g., security devices deployed near entry doors to highly secure areas. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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It is common to keep pets, typically dogs and cats, indoors. Therefore, various kinds of disposable diapers for pets are available. For example, a disposable diaper for pets as disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication JP 2004-159591A is provided. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
The present invention relates to a haircutting angle indicator for use with scissors or the like.
Previously, barbers have relied on eye measurement to hold the scissors at a desired angle during haircutting work. This conventional way requires a great deal of skill to perform correctly.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a haircutting angle indicator which is adapted to be mounted on scissors or the like and is very helpful for quick, accurate haircutting.
The haircutting angle indicator according to the present invention are provided with an angle gauge with which the barber can hold the scissors easily at any desired angle. With the invention, haircutting can be expedited and performed correctly. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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This invention relates to photography, and more particularly, to a new continuous film feed type of camera. Cameras constructed in accordance with the concepts of this invention are particularly adapted, among other possible uses, for use in an aircraft or space vehicle for taking wide angle scan photographs.
As understood in the photographic art, a strip camera is a continuous film feed type which produces a photographic record in the fore-to-aft mode, i.e., along the path of the aircraft in which the camera is mounted. However, heretofore, the use of this type of camera was limited to relatively narrow field angles, and hence, panoramic type cameras became popular. A panoramic camera is one in which the optical axis sweeps or scans the view to be photographed particularly in a transverse mode, i.e., at right angles to the direction of movement of the vehicle on which it is mounted. However, such panoramic cameras are not entirely satisfactory due to their inherent mechanical complexity, required to effect the scanning motion.
A related patent in this field is the Scott U.S. Pat. No. 3,821,763, which is assigned to the same Assignee as the present application. This patent describes an image-forming optical system which includes elements arranged rotationally symmetric about an axis. The system is optically corrected to produce adequate imagery in an annular zone centered on the axis with all points in the zone possessing field angles other than zero, and at least one image surface conforms substantially to at least a part of the zone. Aperture limiting means are provided to define at a conjugate focal surface an area whose points possess field angles corresponding to the field angles of points in the zone. The aperture limiting means is positioned to define an object field area imaged on the image surface, and means are provided to scan the object field area with respect to the system. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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The embodiments herein relate generally to a detachable wall mounted shower seat. Prior to the disclosed invention, it was needlessly challenging to bathe a young child. The child would need to be bathed separately of an adult or in a bathtub. The prior art comprises U.S. Pat. No. 5,362,123 issued to Simmons, U.S. Pat. No. 5,310,242 issued to Golder, and U.S. Pat. No. 6,807,690 issued to Satterfield.
Simmons teaches a seat that is mounted to a wall where the seat can accommodate the child by using a sewn material for a base that rests between arms like a hammock. This serves to trap the child in place because the young child lacks the strength to lift one's legs from the hammock. However, this cannot be used to bathe a child because whatever runs from the child with water will pool in the hammock, making parts of the child cleaner than others.
Golder teaches a wall mounted child's seat that secures a child to a cushion with a plurality of straps. Golder, like Simmons is designed for the static application of keeping a young child in place in a public restroom. Embodiments of the present invention assist a user in bathing a child in a shower. Typically, shower heads are static, so a user must rotate proximate the shower head in order to wash. Golder and Simmons offer no theory of how to rotate the wall mounted child's seat in order to clean the child.
Satterfield notes that the ability for a wall mounted seat to pivot can be useful. However, it uses the pivot in a manner similar to Golder and Simmons, that is, to make the wall mounted seat compact. Embodiments of the present invention are concerned with rotation at tangent to the wall, not rotation orthogonal to the wall, as noted above this allows the user to bath the child as opposed to keeping the child in place. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
Protein kinases are families of enzymes that catalyze the phosphorylation of specific residues in proteins, broadly classified into tyrosine and serine/threonine kinases. Inappropriate kinase activity, arising from mutation, over-expression, or inappropriate regulation, dys-regulation or de-regulation, as well as over- or under-production of growth factors or cytokines has been implicated in many diseases, including but not limited too cancer, cardiovascular diseases, allergies, asthma and other respiratory diseases, autoimmune diseases, inflammatory diseases, bone diseases, metabolic disorders, and neurological and neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer's disease. Inappropriate kinase activity triggers a variety of biological cellular responses relating to cell growth, cell differentiation, survival, apoptosis, mitogenesis, cell cycle control, and cell mobility implicated in the aforementioned and related diseases.
Protein kinases have emerged as an important class of enzymes as targets for therapeutic intervention. In particular, the JAK family of cellular protein tyrosine kinases (Jak1, Jak2, Jak3, and Tyk2) play a central role in cytokine signaling (Kisseleva et al, Gene, 2002, 285, 1; Yamaoka et al. Genome Biology 2004, 5, 253)). Upon binding to their receptors, cytokines activate JAK which then phosphorylate the cytokine receptor, thereby creating docking sites for signaling molecules, notably, members of the signal transducer and activator of transcription (STAT) family that ultimately lead to gene expression. Numerous cytokines are known to activate the JAK family. These cytokines include, the IFN family (IFN-αs/β/ω/Limitin, IFN-γ, IL-10, IL-19, IL-20, IL-22), the gp130 family (IL-6, IL-11, OSM, LIF, CNTF, NNT-1/BSF-3, G-CSF, CT-1, Leptin, IL-12, IL-23), γC family (IL-2, IL-7, TSLP, IL-9, IL-15, IL-21, IL-4, IL-13), IL-3 family (IL-3, IL-5, GM-CSF), single chain family (EPO, GH, PRL, TPO), receptor tyrosine kinases (EGF, PDGF, CSF-1, HGF), and G-protein coupled receptors (AT1).
Until recently, the therapeutic potential of JAK inhibitors has focused on diseases affecting various pathologies of the immune system. These include, but are not limited to atopy (allergic asthma, atopic dermatitis, allergic rhinitis), cell mediated hypersensitivity (allergic contact dermatitis, hypersensitivity pneumonitis), rheumatic diseases (systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), rheumatoid arthritis, juvenile arthritis, Sjogren's Syndrome, scleroderma, polymyositis, ankylosing spondylitis, psoriatic arthritis), transplantation (transplant rejection, graft vs host disease), viral diseases (Epstein Barr Virus, Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C, HIV, HTLV1, Vaicella-Zoster Virus, Human Papilloma Virus), cancer (leukemia, lymphoma), cardiovascular disease (cardiac hypertrophy, atherosclerosis and arteriosclerosis), neurodegenerative diseases (motor neuron disease), food allergy, inflammatory bowel disease, Crohn's disease, cutaneous inflammation, and immune suppression induced by solid tumors. Most efforts to date have targeted JAK3 inhibition for immunosuppression, for example organ transplantation and allograft acceptance (for a review, see Borie et al. Current Opinion in Investigational Drugs, 2003, 4(11), 1297).
Most recently, two significant findings of the role of the EPO-JAK2 signaling pathway in myeloproliferative disorders and proliferative diabetic retinopathy were found. First, a gain-of-function, somatic (acquired) mutation of the JAK2 kinase (V617F) was reported to be a causative factor in a number of “typical” myeloproliferative disorders, including polycethemia vera, essential thrombocythemia and melofibrosis with myeloid metaplasia, and the mutation has been found in patients with either “atypical” myeloproliferative disorders and myelodysplastic syndrome (for reviews see Tefferi and Gilliland, Cell Cycle 2005, 4(8), e61; Pesu et. al. Molecular Interventions 2005, 5(4), 211). Additionally it was found that (a) the V617F JAK2 mutation was associated with constitutive phosphorylation of JAK2 and its downstream effectors as well as induction of erythropoietin hypersensitivity in cell based experiments, (b) V617F JAK2-indcued cell proliferation signals were inhibited by small molecule inhibitors of JAK2, and (c) murine bone marrow transduced with a retrovirus containing V617F JAK2 incuded erythrocytosis in the transplanted mice.
Furthermore, recently it has been found that mutations in EPO-R also keep the JAK pathway constitutively activated leading to myleoproliferative disorders.
Second, EPO was found to be a potent angiogenic factor in proliferative diabetic retinopathy, a major cause of vision loss affecting diabetic, working-age persons (see for example Aiello, New England Journal of Medicine, 2005, 353 (8), 839; Watanabe et al. New England Journal of Medicine 2005 353 (8), 782).
Further, findings from the Watanabe research showed (a) intraocular EPO levels and VEGF (another well-known angiogenic factor in proliferative diabetic retinopathy) were significantly higher among those with proliferative diabetic retinopathy than those with quiescent disease or non-diabetic control, (b) EPO and VEGF levels were not closely correlated, (c) EPO levels were more strongly correlated with the presence of proliferative diabetic retinopathy than VEGF, (d) EPO stimulated growth and intracellular signaling in retinal endothelial cells, and (e) inhibitors of either EPO or VEGF reduced hypoxia-induced retinal neovascularization in rodent models.
Recently it has been shown that mutations in the EPO receptor may also affect the signaling related to the JAK pathway and this may have implications in terms of disease states where JAK signaling is important in the cell cycle.
There is another feature regarding inhibitors of the JAK pathway. It has been demonstrated that the JAK pathway may be recruited in cell survival and proliferation. For example, in the case of the cells that are Philadelphia chromosome positive that result in chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML), there is evidence that the Jak pathway is recruited in constitutive activation. Accordingly, using a JAK inhibitor may have use in CML in which the Philadephia chromosome has been shown to produce the hybrid Bcr-Abl, thus keeping cells constitutively active.
More telling is that in cases of resistance mutations that arise on account of specific inhibitors to BCR-ABL, as in the case of the T315I gatekeeper mutation, or any other mutation, it may be possible to use a JAK inhibitor on account of the pathway used by the BCR-ABL mutant (as in the case of BCR-ABL(T315I) mutation) utilizing the Jak pathway. Thus Jak inhibitors may be used in the treatment of patients with resistance to known therapies where BCR-ABL is directly targeted and drug resistance has now been shown as the dominant (50-90%) of all resistance in patients where existing therapies fail.
The use of JAK inhibitors may also find utility in other myeloid disease states, both blood disorders and other disease states with myeloid implications, and other disease states in which the JAK pathway is implicated directly or indirectly.
Accordingly, there is a need to develop compounds useful as inhibitors of kinases, particularly, JAK kinase, given the inadequate treatments available for the aforementioned diseases where the JAK signaling pathway is dysregulated, or recruited directly or indirectly. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
There is heightened awareness of fire prevention in homes and businesses in the United States. This awareness has led to the development of standards and legislation directed to reducing the risk of fires, particularly with respect to bedding and upholstered furniture. Conventional fire prevention techniques for bedding and upholstered furniture involve the topical application of flame retardant chemicals directly to an outer decorative layer of upholstery material.
However, recently passed legislation may render conventional fire protection techniques for bedding (particularly mattresses) inadequate. For example, the cigarette burn test for measuring flame resistance (developed by the Upholstered Furniture Action Council) has been deemed inadequate by the state of California and by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. In addition, new regulations being promulgated in some states prohibit the sale or manufacture of mattresses that do not pass these new flammability tests.
For example, California Technical Bulletin 603 of the State of California Department of Consumer Affairs (hereinafter “TB-603”), which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety, exposes the top and sides of a mattress to an open gas flame to simulate the effects of burning bedclothes. TB-603 is extremely aggressive relative to conventional cigarette burn test and many industry analysts are skeptical that conventional upholstered furniture and bedding products (e.g., mattresses, etc.) will be able to pass TB-603.
In addition, material that can prevent the propagation of flame into the core cushioning material of furniture, and institutional bedding is desired. California Technical Bulletin 117 of the State of California Department of Consumer Affairs (hereinafter “TB-117”), which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety, provides testing for upholstered furniture, and California Technical Bulletin 129 of the State of California Department of Consumer Affairs (hereinafter “TB-129”), which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety, provides testing for institutional bedding.
In some cases, even though an upholstery fabric or ticking is constructed of inherently flame resistant material, it may be permeable such that heat and hot gases may be transmitted through the fabric causing internal materials to ignite. Furthermore, conventional methods of assembling mattresses and upholstered furniture may produce seams and joints that cannot withstand the new flammability test without splitting open and subjecting flammable interior materials to the flame. Also, pores formed in bedding fabrics as a result of sewing, seaming, quilting, or the attachment of labels, handles, decorations, vents, etc., may be penetrated by flames and hot gases which may result in the combustion of interior materials.
It is desirable to provide a thin and workable flame barrier to the upholsterer or mattress builder, to enable the incorporation of the material into thin or tightly fitting structures. Unfortunately, conventional flame resistant materials used in the mattress construction industry are very thick and heavy battings or high loft nonwoven structures, in excess of 10 ounces per square yard. These materials are difficult to use, add unacceptable bulk to the article, and are not as soft, resilient, or durable as conventional non-flame resistant cushions foams or battings. | {
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a silicone composition containing liquid organopolysiloxane as main component and made into semi-solidified form by a thickening agent.
2. Description of the Related Art
Hitherto, the lubricants used for the light weight sliding section upon which is exerted a light load in electronic equipment and the like have incorporated silicone, mineral oil, and synthetic oil. Among them, the silicone-containing lubricants which do not deteriorate by oxidation over a long period of time have come to occupy a very important place, in recent years, because they are reliable over an extented period of time. In addition, since they have excellent characteristics in the low-temperature region, they are widely used. In contrast, compared to lubricants containing silicone, lubricants containing mineral oil and lubricants containing synthetic tend to deteriorate, and the oil viscosity generally increases drastically in the low temperature region, thereby making it difficult to guarantee stable mechanical operation. In such a way, the silicone-containing lubricants provide good performance for use in the relatively light weight sliding section upon which is exerted a relatively light load. Such lubricants, however, tend to spread considerably on the coated surface as a result of the properties that it has on the surface. Accordingly, the lubricant composition spreads and adheres onto portions where it should not in the first place, thus giving rise to a very inconvenient problem.
There are silicone-containing compositions, compounds, and adhesives used for improving heat radiation and the like. In the same way, however, these spread to unnecessary portions on the surface and ooze out, making it very inconvenient to work with and to utilize the finished products containing thereof.
On the other hand, up to the present time, various attempts have been made to minimize the oozing of the compositions containing such liquid component as the primary component. This may be accomplished for some such compositions by conventional techniques. These techniques, however, include the step of adding fluorine-containing surfactants to the compositions, which means they may be expected to be effective for compositions containing as primary component liquid components other than those in silicone-containing compositions, but not for those in silicone-containing compositions. This is because the fluorine-containing surfactants in the silicone-containing compositions are not effectively dispersed nor effectively arranged at the interface in the gas, liquid, and solid phases, so that it is impossible to expect the method to be effective in eliminating oozing of the compositions to about the same extent. | {
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Material application systems are used to apply one or more materials in one or more layers to an object. General examples are powder coating systems, other particulate material application systems such as may be used in the food processing and chemical industries. These are but a few examples of a wide and numerous variety of systems used to apply particulate materials to an object.
The application of dry particulate material is especially challenging on a number of different levels. An example, but by no means a limitation on the use and application of the present inventions, is the application of powder coating material to objects using a powder spray gun. Because sprayed powder tends to expand into a cloud or diffused spray pattern, known powder application systems use a spray booth for containment. Powder particles that do not adhere to the target object are generally referred to as powder overspray, and these particles tend to fall randomly within the booth and will alight on almost any exposed surface within the spray booth. Therefore, cleaning time and color change times are strongly related to the amount of surface area that is exposed to powder overspray.
In addition to surface areas exposed to powder overspray, color change times and cleaning are strongly related to the amount of interior surface area exposed to the flow of powder during an application process. Examples of such interior surface areas include all surface areas that form the powder flow path, from a supply of the powder all the way through the powder spray gun. The powder flow path typically includes a pump that is used to transfer powder from a powder supply to one or more spray guns. Hoses are commonly used to connect the pumps to the guns and the supply.
There are two generally known types of dry particulate material transfer processes, referred to herein as dilute phase and dense phase. Dilute phase systems utilize a substantial quantity of air to push material through one or more hoses or other conduit from a supply to a spray applicator. A common dilute phase pump design used in powder coating systems is a venturi pump which introduces a large volume of air under pressure and higher velocity into the powder flow. In order to achieve adequate powder flow rates (in pounds per minute or pounds per hour for example), the components that make up the flow path must be large enough to accommodate the flow with such high air to material (in other words lean flow) otherwise significant back pressure and other deleterious effects can occur.
Dense phase systems on the other hand are characterized by a high material to air ratio (in other words a “rich” flow). A dense phase pump is described in pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/501,693 filed on Jul. 16, 2004 for PROCESS AND EQUIPMENT FOR THE CONVEYANCE OF POWDERED MATERIAL, publication WO 05-0095071 published on May 5, 2005, the entire disclosures of which are fully incorporated herein by reference, and which are owned by the assignee of the present invention. This pump is characterized in general by a pump chamber that is partially defined by a gas permeable member. Material, such as powder coating material as an example, is drawn into the chamber at one end by gravity and/or negative pressure and is pushed out of the chamber through an opposite end by positive air pressure. This pump design is very effective for transferring material, in part due to the novel arrangement of a gas permeable member forming part of the pump chamber. The overall pump, however, in some cases may be less than optimal for purging, cleaning, color change, maintenance and material flow rate control. | {
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Augmented reality applications relate to a form of interaction between users and technology which superimposes information on a person's field of view, e.g. via a head mounted display, thereby enhancing that person's perceived reality. In order to be able to perform such a virtual enhancement of a person's visual field, so-called tracking processes are used. These can employ both hardware and software. For example, optical, inertial, acoustic and/or magnetic systems are used in tracking. These systems must be supplied with data in order to determine the user's position. This data can be, for example, three-dimensional models of a viewed object, images of the viewed object from different positions, identified salient points, lines or color regions or specially applied coded markers. All the information necessary for tracking is fed into the tracking process at its commencement.
In the industrial, medical and consumer fields, the tracking environments for augmented reality applications are many and varied, which means that the process of creating tracking configurations is complex and costly. This stands in the way of any widespread use of augmented reality applications in the fields mentioned.
Creating tracking configurations for a specified environment is complex because with known tracking processes the entire environment is used or rather analyzed.
Even slight differences between two similar but not completely coinciding environments often cause the particular tracking process used to fail, as e.g. contradictory data concerning the positions of salient points, lines or color regions is present, so that no consistency with the real scene can be achieved.
The creation/authoring of tracking configurations is based on generating parameter sets and data derived e.g. from reduced CAD models of the environment in question. For example, salient points, edges and/or color regions are extracted and a subset thereof is selected so that the tracking process used can work efficiently. Then the selection made must be tested in the real environment and where necessary adapted thereto. The creator/author must also select the salient points, edges and/or color regions such that they are evenly distributed in the real environment. This is the only way of ensuring the stability of the particular tracking process. These steps require good knowledge of the behavior of the particular tracking process on the part of the author and involve much time and effort for the author. High-quality superimposition of the augmentation over the real environment is therefore dependent to a large extent on the know-how and accuracy of the author.
Already known from DE 10 2005 046 762.8 are a system and a method for displaying augmented reality information. Here objects are captured as image information of a detail of an environment by means of a camera. The objects captured are identified and representations of the captured objects are reconstructed in virtual three-dimensional space on the basis of associated tracking information stored in the system. In addition, local coordinates of the objects are calculated and the position of the user and his/her viewing angle onto the relevant object is determined. The local coordinates are also assigned user information which is then inserted in a positionally correct manner into the user's field of view. The tracking information mentioned is read out contactlessly from at least one mobile data memory by means of a read/write device. The mobile data memory is mounted on the particular object to be captured. | {
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This invention relates generally to a device for transferring bags from a volumetric bagger to a remote bag-closing machine for closure, and more specifically to such a device which is linked to the drive mechanism of a volumetric bagger in such a manner that the transfer of filled bags from the bagger to the bag-closing machine is synchronized with the rate at which bags are filled by the bagger. | {
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Curve tracing is a pin-to-pin electrical verification technique to correlate or to verify the electrical failure mode of an Integrated Chip (IC) tested on an Advanced Test Equipment (ATE). A curve tracer or parametric analyzer equipment is typically used to view the IV characteristic (Current vs Voltage) on a failure pin as specified by the tester. Curve tracing of all the input, output, Vdd and Vss pins may be necessary at times during analysis.
One analysis technique or method for curve tracing is to fabricate a PCB board mounted with an IC socket and connecting each of the pins of the IC to a connector. Ribbon cables are used to electrically connect the connector to a switchboard. The switchboard consists of multiple switches, each connecting to individual pins on the mounted IC package. The switchboard is connected to the curve tracer. This is currently the most common setup in the Failure Analysis (FA) lab. A detailed description of this typical setup of using a switchboard is provided below.
As illustrated in FIG. 1, a typical switchboard 102 is connected to the curve tracer 104 on an ATE and a PCB socket 106 (an IC socket 108 mounted to a PCB 110). The PCB socket 106 is connected to the switchboard 102 using a ribbon cable 112. An IC sample to be curve traced is inserted on the IC socket 108 on the PCB 110. Each individual pin of the IC socket 108 is electrically connected to a neutral or middle terminal of a three-way switch, eg. 114. The scanning voltage output 116 of the ATE curve tracer 104 is connected to a terminal (+) of each of the three-way switches, eg. 114, while the sensing input 118 of the ATE curve tracer 104 is connected to a terminal (−) of each of the three-way switches, eg. 114.
The condition for curve tracing is then set by electrically connecting the neutral or middle terminal of the three-way switches, eg. 114, to either the scanning voltage output 116 or the sensing input 118 of the ATE curve tracer 104. An example of such a condition is to ground the sensing input 118 and to connect all the Vss pins of a particular IC chip to the sensing input and to connect all Vdd pins of the chip to a scanning voltage output 116 of the ATE curve tracer 104. Another example is to connect all Vss pins to ground and trace each pin by connecting the pin to a scanning voltage output 116 of the ATE curve tracer 104. Additional connectors, eg. 120, may be used to provide extra biasing for curve tracing in the event where the ATE curve tracer 104 is not able to provide a required level of voltage through the scanning voltage output 116 to any individual pin of the IC socket 108. The IV curve 122 is either remembered by the tester or stored for each pin (or a few pins at a time).
The limitations of using the current typical setup include that curve tracing can only be done on one IC sample at a time. Thus, comparison to a reference IC sample requires the removal of a test IC sample and the insertion of the reference IC sample on a single socket 108. At the same time, only one or a few pins may be traced on the same IC sample at any one time. There is also a need to remember the IV curve for each or several pins when making a comparison. This is not productive for comparison between pins numbering more than one hundred, for example. It is also not possible to curve trace all pins in a short time and therefore, only specific pins are curve traced. Normally, specific pins are traced according to a datalog with the assumption that the test coverage is 100%. Multiple insertion of IC samples and possible mishandling may also lead to increased chances of bending the IC leads as well leading to increasing the chances-of Electro-Static Discharge (ESD). | {
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1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a new hot surface ignition system for a gas furnace or the like, a control device therefor and to new methods of making such a system and such a control device.
2. Prior Art Statement
It is known to provide a hot surface ignition system for a gas furnace or the like, the system comprising a burner means, a settable thermostat means, an electrically operable gas valve, control means, and an electrically operable hot surface igniter means disposed so as to be in the path of gas issuing from the burner means that is adapted to be fed the gas from a source thereof through the gas valve when the control means has been activated by the thermostat means to operate the igniter means and the gas valve in a certain sequence, the control means having lockout means for deactivating the system should ignition of the gas issuing from the burner means not take place by the end of the certain sequence, the control means having resetting means for causing the control means to be reactivated to be adapted to repeat the certain sequence of the system when the resetting means is activated, the control means having means for selecting the certain sequence to have one or more attempts of the control means to ignite the gas at the burner means before the lockout means can deactivate the system. For example, see the U.S. Pat. No. to Geary, 4,643,668, and the U.S. Pat. No. to Geary, 4,711,628, wherein the resetting means comprises the thermostat means.
It is also known to provide a hot surface ignition system which has a control means that will deactivate the system should ignition of the gas issuing from the burner means not take place at the end of the first attempt to ignite the gas at the burner means so that a manually operated electrical switch that is remote from the thermostat means must be manually moved to a certain position thereof to reactivate the control means before another attempt can be made to ignite gas issuing from the burner means. | {
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor integrated circuit device having, in a semiconductor chip thereof, a voltage generating circuit for generating an operation voltage required for an integrated circuit thereof, a method of investigating a cause of a failure if the failure takes place in the semiconductor integrated circuit device, and a method of verifying the operation of the semiconductor integrated circuit device.
2. Description of the Related Art
An EEPROM, which is one type of non-volatile memory, permits data to be electrically written thereto and data to be electrically erased therefrom. A portion of EEPROM, for example, an EEPROM called NAND EEPROM, uses a tunnel current when data is electrically written or erased. The NAND EEPROM has a plurality of memory cells (hereinafter called "cells") serially connected between bit lines and the ground lines. A portion of the NAND EEPROM comprises, in the chip thereof, a voltage generating circuit for generating writing/erasing voltage, the level of which is higher than the power supply voltage. The NAND EEPROM can be operated by only supplying one type of power supply voltage.
FIGS. 28A to 28C show a cell of the NAND EEPROM. FIG. 28A is a plane view, FIG. 28B is a cross-sectional view taken along line B--B shown in FIG. 28A, and FIG. 28C is a cross-sectional view taken along line C--C shown in FIG. 28A.
FIG. 28A shows two cells, in series, connected to each other. Then, the structure of the cell will now be described while paying attention to one of the two cells.
As shown in FIGS. 28A to 28C, an N-type silicon substrate 1 includes a P.sup.- type well 2 formed therein. The well 2 includes a plurality of N.sup.+ type diffusion layers 3 formed therein. The N.sup.+ type diffusion layers 3 serve as sources and drains of the cell. A portion of the substrate 1 between the N.sup.+ type diffusion layers 3 is used as a channel region 4. On the channel region 4, there is formed a gate oxide film (SiO.sub.2) 5. Note that a thick silicon dioxide film (SiO.sub.2) 6 formed on the well 2 is a field insulating film for separating the cells from one another. The field insulating film 6 is formed by LOCOS (Localized Oxidation of Silicon). A floating gate 7 is formed on the top surface of the gate oxide film 5 to the field insulating film 6. The floating gate 7 is made of electrically conductive polysilicon. The floating gate 7 is a charge storage layer for enabling the threshold of the cell to be variable. Therefore, the floating gate 7 is formed for each cell. On the floating gate 7, there is formed a control gate 9 through an interlayer insulating film (SiO.sub.2). The control gate 9 is made of electrically conductive polysilicon. The control gate 9 serves as a word line.
The method for writing data "0" in the cell will now be described.
The well 2 and the N.sup.+ type diffusion layers 3 respectively are grounded, and then program potential VPP (about 20V) is applied to the control gate 9. As a result, the control gate 9 and the floating gate 7 are capacity-coupled to each other so that the potential of the floating gate 7 is raised. The conduction type of the channel region 4 is reversed from P type to N type. The N-type channel region 4 is connected to the N-type diffusion layer 3. The potential of the channel region 4 is made to be the ground potential. Thus, the potential difference takes place between the channel region 4, which has been made to be the ground potential, and the floating gate 7. Therefore, a tunnel current flows from the floating gate 7 to the channel region 4 (and the N.sup.+ type diffusion layers 3). When the tunnel current has been allowed to flow, electrons are injected into the floating gate 7. The floating gate 7, into which electrons have been injected, is negatively charged. Wherein the floating gate 7 has been negatively charged, the threshold of the cell is raised. When the threshold of the cell has been raised, the cell is turned off when data is read out. The foregoing state is a state in which data "0" has been written. When data is read out, the state in which the cell has been turned on, is a state in which data "1" has been written. In this specification, the method of writing data "1" is omitted from description.
The magnitude of the tunnel current depends upon the level of the potential between the floating gate 7 and the channel region 4. Since change in the magnitude of the tunnel current causes the amount of electrons to be injected into the floating gate 7 to be changed, the amount of charge of the floating gate 7 is changed. That is, even if the same program potential VPP is applied to the control gate 9, change in the intensity of the electric field E results in the threshold of the cell being changed.
The electric field E is represented by the following equation: EQU E={C.sub.CF /(C.sub.CF +C.sub.FS)}.times.(1/t.sub.GAOX).times.V (1)
wherein C.sub.CF is the capacity of a capacitor between the control gate 9 and the floating gate 7, C.sub.FS is the capacity of the capacitor between the control gate 9 and the channel region 4, t.sub.GAOX is the thickness of the gate oxide film 5 and V is the voltage to be applied to the control gate 9.
An assumption is performed that a capacitor having capacity C.sub.CF and a capacitor having capacity C.sub.FS are parallel-plate type, capacitors respectively having areas S.sub.CF and S.sub.FS. Moreover, thickness of the interlayer insulating film 8 is assumed to be t.sub.INTER.
Assuming that the gate oxide film 5 and the interlayer insulating film 8 are made of the same material (SiO.sub.2) having the same dielectric constant, the foregoing Equation (1) can be converted into the following equation: EQU E=(V/t.sub.GAOX).times.[1/{1+(S.sub.FS /S.sub.CF).times.(t.sub.INTER /t.sub.GAOX)}] (2)
As can be understood from Equation (2), the electric field E is in inverse proportion to the thickness t.sub.GAOX and the area S.sub.FS. The area S.sub.FS is determined by gate width W shown in FIG. 28B and gate length L shown in FIG. 28C.
The thickness t.sub.GAOX of the gate oxide film 5 is determined in an oxidizing process for forming the gate oxide film 5. The gate length L is determined in a lithography process for patterning the control gate 9 and the floating gate 7. That is, each of the thickness t.sub.GAOX, the gate width W and the gate length L unintentionally contains dispersion (dispersion occurring during the manufacturing process) from a designed value. Since each of the thickness t.sub.GAOX, the gate width W and the gate length L contains dispersion from the designed value as described above, the electric field E cannot be constant for all chips.
However, since the voltage V is fixed for all chips, the quantity of electrons to be injected into the floating gate 7 is dispersed for each chip.
The dispersion becomes greatest for each manufacturing lot because the same manufacturing conditions cannot be allowed to reappear for all lots even if the manufacturing process is performed on the same manufacturing line. | {
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The detection and/or quantitation of specific nucleic acid sequences is an increasingly important technique for identifying and classifying microorganisms, diagnosing infectious diseases, detecting and characterizing genetic abnormalities, identifying genetic changes associated with cancer, studying genetic susceptibility to disease, and measuring response to various types of treatment. Such procedures have also found expanding uses in detecting and quantitating microorganisms in foodstuffs, environmental samples, seed stocks, and other types of material where the presence of specific microorganisms may need to be monitored. Other applications are found in the forensic sciences, anthropology, archaeology, and biology where measurement of the relatedness of nucleic acid sequences has been used to identify criminal suspects, resolve paternity disputes, construct genealogical and phylogenetic trees, and aid in classifying a variety of life forms.
A common method for detecting and quantitating specific nucleic acid sequences is nucleic acid hybridization. This method is based on the ability of two nucleic acid strands which contain complementary or essentially complementary sequences to specifically associate, under appropriate conditions, to form a double-stranded structure. To detect and/or quantitate a specific nucleic acid sequence (known as the "target sequence"), a labelled oligonucleotide (known as a "probe") is prepared which contains sequences complementary to those of the target sequence. The probe is mixed with a sample suspected of containing the target sequence, and conditions suitable for hybrid formation are created. The probe hybridizes to the target sequence if it is present in the sample. The probe-target hybrids are then separated from the single-stranded probe in one of a variety of ways. The amount of label associated with the hybrids is measured.
The sensitivity of nucleic acid hybridization assays is limited primarily by the specific activity of the probe, the rate and extent of the hybridization reaction, the performance of the method for separating hybridized and unhybridized probe, and the sensitivity with which the label can be detected. Under the best conditions, direct hybridization methods such as that described above can detect about 1.times.10.sup.5 to 1.times.10.sup.6 target molecules. The most sensitive procedures may lack many of the features required for routine clinical and environmental testing such as speed, convenience, and economy. Furthermore, their sensitivities may not be sufficient for many desired applications. Infectious diseases may be associated with as few as one pathogenic microorganism per 10 ml of blood or other specimen. Forensic investigators may have available only trace amounts of tissue available from a crime scene. Researchers may need to detect and/or quantitate a specific gene sequence that is present as only a tiny fraction of all the sequences present in an organism's genetic material or in the messenger RNA population of a group of cells.
As a result of the interactions among the various components and component steps of this type of assay, there is almost always an inverse relationship between sensitivity and specificity. Thus, steps taken to increase the sensitivity of the assay (such as increasing the specific activity of the probe) may result in a higher percentage of false positive test results. The linkage between sensitivity and specificity has been a significant barrier to improving the sensitivity of hybridization assays. One solution to this problem would be to specifically increase the amount of target sequence present using an amplification procedure. Amplification of a unique portion of the target sequence without requiring amplification of a significant portion of the information encoded in the remaining sequences of the sample could give an increase in sensitivity while at the same time not compromising specificity. For example, a nucleic acid sequence of 25 bases in length has a probability of occurring by chance of 1 in 4.sup.25 or 1 in 10.sup.15 since each of the 25 positions in the sequence may be occupied by one of four different nucleotides.
A method for specifically amplifying nucleic acid sequences termed the "polymerase chain reaction" or "PCR" has been described by Mullis et al. (See U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,683,195, 4,683,202 and 4,800,159 and European patent applications 86302298.4, 86302299.2, and 87300203.4 and Methods in Enzymology, Volume 155, 1987, pp. 335-350). The procedure uses repeated cycles of primer-dependent nucleic acid synthesis occurring simultaneously using each strand of a complementary sequence as a template. The sequence which is amplified is defined by the locations of the primer molecules that initiate synthesis. The primers are complementary to the 3'-terminal portion of the target sequence or its complement and must complex with those sites in order for nucleic acid synthesis to begin. After extension product synthesis, the strands are separated, generally by thermal denaturation, before the next synthesis step. In the PCR procedure, copies of both strands of a complementary sequence are synthesized.
The strand separation step used in PCR to separate the newly synthesized strands at the conclusion of each cycle of the PCR reaction is often thermal denatured. As a result, either a thermostable enzyme is required or new enzyme must be added between thermal denaturation steps and the initiation of the next cycle of DNA synthesis. The requirement of repeated cycling of reaction temperature between several different and extreme temperatures is a disadvantage of the PCR procedure. In order to make the PCR convenient, expensive programmable thermal cycling instruments are required.
The PCR procedure has been coupled to RNA transcription by incorporating a promoter sequence into one of the primers used in the PCR reaction and then, after amplification by the PCR procedure for several cycles, using the double-stranded DNA as template for the transcription of single-stranded RNA. (See, e.g. Murakawa et al., DNA 7:287-295 (1988).
Other methods for amplification of a specific nucleic acid sequence comprise a series of primer hybridization, extending and denaturing steps to provide an intermediate double stranded DNA molecule containing a promoter sequence through the use of a primer. The double stranded DNA is used to produce multiple RNA copies of the target sequence. The resulting RNA copies can be used as target sequences to produce further copies and multiple cycles can be performed. (See, e.g., Burg, et al., WO 89/1050 and Gingeras, et al., WO 88/10315.)
Methods for chemically synthesizing relatively large amounts of DNA of a specified sequence in vitro are well known to those skilled in the art; production of DNA in this way is now commonplace. However, these procedures are time-consuming and cannot be easily used to synthesize oligonucleotides much greater in length than about 100 bases. Also, the entire base sequence of the DNA to be synthesized must be known. These methods require an expensive instrument capable of synthesizing only a single sequence at one time. Operation of this instrument requires considerable training and expertise. Methods for the chemical synthesis of RNA have been more difficult to develop.
Nucleic acids may be synthesized by techniques which involve cloning or insertion of specific nucleic acid sequences into the genetic material of microorganisms so that the inserted sequences are replicated when the organism replicates. If the sequences are inserted next to and downstream from a suitable promoter sequence, RNA copies of the sequence or protein products encoded by the sequence may be produced. Although cloning allows the production of virtually unlimited amounts of specific nucleic acid sequences, due to the number of manipulations involved it may not be suitable for use in diagnostic, environmental, or forensic testing. Use of cloning techniques requires considerable training and expertise. The cloning of a single sequence may consume several man-months of effort or more.
Relatively large amounts of certain RNAs may be made using a recombinant single-stranded-RNA molecule having a recognition sequence for the binding of an RNA-directed polymerase, preferably Q.beta. replicase. (See, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 4,786,600 to Kramer, et al.) A number of steps are required to insert the specific sequence into a DNA copy of the variant molecule, clone it into an expression vector, transcribe it into RNA and then replicate it with Q.beta. replicase. | {
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The subject matter disclosed herein relates generally to cryogenically cooled magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) systems, and more particularly to systems and methods for cooling the magnet coils of the MRI systems.
In superconducting coil MRI systems, the coils forming the superconducting magnets are typically cryogenically cooled using a helium vessel. In these conventional MRI systems, the superconducting coils are cooled in a bath of liquid Helium (He), such that the coils are immersed in the liquid He. This cooling arrangement requires the use of an extremely large high pressure vessel that contains a significant amount of liquid He (e.g., 1500-2000 liters of liquid He). The resulting structure is not only expensive to manufacture, but heavy.
Additionally, in some instances the helium vessel may not be completely filled, such as to save cost. In this situation, portions of the wires forming the coils of the MRI superconducting magnet will be exposed to gas instead of the cooling liquid He. Accordingly, the likelihood of instability and a possible quench event increases. During quench events, the liquid He in these systems can boil-off, wherein the boiled-off helium escapes from the cryogen bath in which the magnet coils are immersed. Each quench, followed by a re-fill and re-ramp of the magnet, is an expensive and time consuming event.
Thus, a significant amount of liquid He is needed in conventional MRI systems. This large amount of He is needed not only to fill the large helium vessel, but increases with any subsequent re-fills. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to electromagnetic modulating valves. More particularly, the present invention relates to valves utilizing permanent magnets and electromagnets to provide enhanced response times. Even more particularly, the present invention relates to a modulating electromagnetic valve which may be used in a vehicle shock absorber to vary the damping characteristics of the shock absorber.
2. Description of Related Areas of Art
U.S. Pat. No. 4,605,197 issued on Aug. 12, 1986 to Casey, et al for "Proportional And Latching Pressure Control Device" shows a proportional pressure control device which includes a motor having a housing and reciprocably movable armature which move between first and second limit positions. A poppet valve member is attached to one end of the armature adjacent a valve seat. Centering springs maintain the armature in a centered position with the poppet at a given distance from the valve seat. The fluid flow is controlled proportionally to the current induced in an electromagnetic coil element. Although several elements of this device are similar to the present invention, it is a proportional pressure control device, the length of armature stroke being proportional to the amount of electrical current being used. Dissimilarly, applicant's pulse-width modulated device always moves to each limit position in a cyclical fashion, the frequency of the movement determining the flow rate.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,794,890 issued to Richoson, Jr. on Jan. 3, 1989 for "Electromagnetic Valve Actuator" shows a bistable electromechanical transducer having a reciprocable armature which utilizes a permanent magnet latching arrangement. The permanent magnet latches the armature in each of its two limit positions and an electromagnet moves the armature between the two limit positions. The device further includes an arrangement for decelerating the armature and valve as the valve nears a limit position.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,127,835 issued to Knutson on Nov. 28, 1978 for "Electromechanical Force Motor" shows an electromechanical force motor which has an elongate magnetic casing housing a magnetic armature. The annular electromagnetic coil surrounds the armature and is axially positioned between a pair of permanent magnets having axially directed poles. Like the Casey, et al device, centering springs are used. Furthermore, unlike the present invention, permanent magnetic poles are axially directed as opposed to being radially directed.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,740,594 issued to Casey on June 19, 1973 for "Permanent-Electromagnetic Reciprocating Device" has a tubular, radially magnetized permanent magnet coaxially surrounding a long length armature. The permanent magnet and armature are closely spaced, having an electromagnetic coil in the gap therebetween. | {
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1. Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the present invention generally relate to substrate processing systems and chambers used to process semiconductor wafers, solar panels, and flat panel displays and, in particular, to depositing electrically conductive pasting material in a plasma processing chamber.
2. Description of the Related Art
To help ensure semiconductor device integrity and performance, a semiconductor substrate is often cleaned prior to depositing a film on the substrate to remove contaminants and native oxides which may reside on the substrate surface. Conventional preclean processes typically include a sputter etch process to remove the contaminants and expose the native oxides. The native oxides may then be removed by additional sputter etching and/or reactive etching which uses a reduction reaction.
During chip packaging, metal layers are used for connecting solder material to bond pads that are electrically connected to semiconductor devices. Generally, incoming wafers for under-bump metallization (UBM) processes consist of metal pads embedded in a polymer passivation layer, such as a polyimide layer. The metal pads, such as aluminum pads, must be cleaned prior to UBM to remove any native oxide, such as aluminum oxide, from the surface of the metal pads.
Conventional preclean chambers and processes often do not uniformly clean the surface of the every smaller features being fabricated on a substrate. Failure to properly clean these features may result in void formation or increased electrical resistance between the surface features. The native oxides and other contaminants which are present on the features may cause void formation by promoting the uneven distribution of material deposited on the substrate in a subsequent processing step, or by causing the corners of the features to grow, merge, and seal off before the feature is filled with material being deposited therein. Precleaning processes are especially desirable to uniformly etch and clean substrate surface for subsequent barrier layer or metal deposition processes.
Conventional processes for removing aluminum oxide may include various halogen sputtering processes. Although the sputtering processes alone may be effective at removing the native oxide, they may also undesirably remove portions of the underlying aluminum material and the passivation resulting in redeposition on various chamber components. Other processes may include utilizing various chemical compounds, such as boron trichloride to remove the native oxide from the aluminum pads. However, when boron trichloride is used, residual chloride molecules may remain on the aluminum pads which must then be removed in subsequent processes. For example, the aluminum pads may be fluorized to remove the chloride in combination with a subsequent hydrogen peroxide process to remove any residual fluoride molecules that may remain on the aluminum pads. The aforementioned process requires multiple processing steps which consume valuable time which may reduce the overall throughput for performing precleaning processes.
Therefore, there is a need in the art for a native oxide removal process which reduces sputtered material in the chamber and which improves the efficiency of precleaning processes. | {
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The present invention relates to a failure notice system in a data transmission system having a plurality of processors.
In a data transmission system for distributed data processing, a common path is connected with a plurality of remote processors, which are usually used as unattended processors and are remote from each other.
A failure of one of the processors can be caused by a power failure or the failure of the other units in the processor. When such a failure occurs, it is necessary to detect the failure and to inform other processors.
One prior art technique for accomplishing this includes a master or supervisor station, which sends periodic inquiries to all processors for the purpose of checking for failures. If no response is received from a processor, the master or supervisor station assumes there is a failure and notifies all other remote processors. This technique significantly adds to the traffic on the common loop.
Japanese Kokai No. 56-34260, published Apr. 6, 1981 describes an example of a technique for detecting and reporting failures, wherein a second common loop, in addition to the data transmission common loop, carries failure notices. | {
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As is well known, the usually large dimensions of technical drawings makes it necessary to fold them into a size enabling them to be easily repositioned or partly opened out. Such folding must be done in a standardized manner to enable the folded sheets to be filed in an orderly way. This folding has previously been done manually by filing clerks. Currently there is a tendency to entrust it to specific sheet folding machines, which can carry out the operations in a more precise and rapid manner.
Currently known sheet folding machines are however particularly complex and costly, to the extent of being able to be acquired or used only by industries with large financial resources. | {
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The invention relates to a tape cassette which is used in a magnetic tape recorder, and more particularly, to an improved tape cassette which assures a smooth running of a magnetic tape contained therein.
As is well recognized, a tape cassette which is used in a magnetic tape recorder of the cassette type is provided with a variety of sophistications which are utilized in order to prevent a magnetic tape contained therein from becoming loose or deformed in its winding form, but the prior art approaches failed to provide a satisfactory solution to prevent these undesirable effects completely.
During a rapid advance or rewind mode, the tape runs at a higher speed, which may cause a lateral displacement of the tape, resulting in a deformed or offset or staggered winding. This increases the frictional resistance which the tape experiences during its running, whereby the running performance becomes unstable. In particular, with a tape cassette of a miniature size which is commonly referred to as MICRO-CASSETTE (registered trademark), there is a reduced distance from a point on an associated tape hub where the tape is delivered to a magnetic head, so that the use of tape guides is insufficient to bring the running tape into an optimum record/playback position with respect to the head, as considered in the lateral direction, resulting in the difficulty that the azimuth during the record/playback of the first surface (surface A) of the cassette is offset from that during the record/playback of the second surface (surface B) of the cassette. A support spring which is associated with tape pads is held between a spring abutment and another spring support post, both located within the cassette, and is subject to a degree of rattling in the lateral direction or in the direction of thickness of the tape cassette. Hence, it is impossible to bring and maintain the tape at the optimum record/playback position with respect to the magnetic head by the use of such pads alone.
One of the attempts which intended to eliminate such inconveniences of a conventional tape cassette is disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 6358/1975 where ribs are mounted on the inner wall surface of a cassette half. With this arrangement in which no liner sheet is used and the tape bears against the ribs directly which are mounted on the inner surface of the cassette half, a shifting of the tape in the lateral direction during the tape running, in particular, during a rapid advance or rewind mode, is reduced, effectively preventing a deformed winding of the tape. However, the resulting smoothness of tape running is less than that achieved with the use of a liner sheet.
Accordingly, there has been proposed to provide ribs on the internal surface of the cassette half to control the position of a liner sheet so that a deformed winding of the tape may be prevented. Such a tape cassette is illustrated in FIG. 1. As shown, a tape cassette 1 is formed by a pair of upper and lower cassette halves 2, 3 carrying ribs 2a, 3a on their inner surfaces. The provision of such ribs reduces a displacement of the tape in the lateral direction as compared with the tape movement without them, but because the width of tape receiving surfaces of a pair of tape hubs 4, 5 is less than the distance between the aligned ribs 2a, 3a, a lateral displacement of tape hubs may occur depending on the machining accuracy thereof to cause an unstable tape running. A pair of upper and lower liner sheets 7, 8 are provided. Their ends, in particular, those of the upper liner sheet 7, depend downwardly outside the windings of tape 6 which are disposed on the tape hubs 4, 5, so that the edge of the tape 6 may move into contact with the liner sheets 7, 8 as the tape is being taken up on or delivered from the tape hubs 4, 5, resulting in a skewed running of the tape. This results in a deformed winding of the tape 6.
Another tape cassette is disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 9000/1975 where a sheet having a low friction surface is disposed for receiving the edge faces of a tape winding disposed within the cassette. A deformation of the sheet is prevented by providing a plurality of projections extending from the inner surface of the cassette casing so that the sheet may be held in planar form parallel to the inner surface of the casing. Even though a number of projections may be provided to maintain the sheet in a plane which is substantially flush with the inner surface of the casing, an inherent deformation of the sheet may cause a skewed tape running and a deformed winding in the similar manner as mentioned above in connection with the tape cassette 1.
Japanese Laid-Open Utility Model Application No. 69,128/1975 discloses a further tape cassette in which a liner sheet extends to a point where it crosses a pad supporting spring. Even with this cassette, it is impossible to eliminate a rattling of the pad spring in the lateral direction perfectly. | {
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(1) Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a rotary/linear motion converter or actuator assembly of the type for longitudinally moving a flexible motion transmitting core element to transmit motion in a curved path, or vice versa. One example of such an actuator is one utilized in the throttle system for a jet engine of an aircraft wherein motion must be remotely transmitted between the throttle control and the pilot, and in such transmission there is a requirement for conversion between rotary and linear motion.
(2) Description of the Prior Art
There are various known actuators for making a conversion between rotary and linear motion. Many convert rotary motion to linear motion for moving a motion transmitting core element slidably supported in a conduit. Such assemblies include a motion transmitting core element and a rotating member with an operating connection between the two for longitudinally moving the core element upon rotation of the rotatable member. In such systems it is desirable that upon rotation of the rotatable member there be a corresponding exact longitudinal movement of the core element; however, there is a problem of lost motion between the rotatable member and the core element which is also referred to as backlash. This occurs because of manufacturing tolerances and/or wear. These same problems occur in assemblies where linear motion is converted to rotary motion. | {
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The invention relates generally to a coating composition and process for making and applying the coating. More specifically, the invention relates to radiation-cured and thermally-cured coatings having a macroscopic texture that provides superior abrasion resistance and unique aesthetic qualities.
Radiation-curable coatings are used in many applications throughout the coatings industry, such as protective coatings for various substrates, including plastic, metal, wood, ceramic, and others, and the advantages of radiation-curing compared to thermal curing are well known in the art. These coatings are typically resin-based mixtures that are usually cured using ultraviolet (UV) radiation. The resins are typically mixtures of oligomers and monomers that polymerize upon exposure to UV radiation resulting in a cured coating.
Various other components may be added to the resin mixture. A photosensitizer or photoinitiator may be added to cause cross-linkage of the polymers upon exposure to UV radiation. Flatting agents, such as silica, may be added to reduce or control the level of gloss in the cured coating; however, U.S. Pat. No. 4,358,476 discloses that excessive concentrations of flatting agents may result in undesirably high viscosities impeding proper application of the coating to a substrate, potential separation of the resin into separate phases, and a deleterious effect on the efficacy of the UV radiation. U.S. Pat. No. 5,585,415 describes the use of a pigmented composition and various photoinitiators that produce a uniform microscopic surface wrinkling that provides a low gloss surface without the use of flatting agents. Various other components, such as fillers, plasticizers, antioxidants, optical brighteners, defoamers, stabilizers, wetting agents, mildewcides and fungicides, surfactants, adhesion promoters, colorants, dyes, pigments, slip agents, fire and flame retardants, and release agents, may also be added to the resin mixture to provide additional functionality.
An important aspect of these coatings is their level of scratch or abrasion resistance. Good abrasion resistance is desirable so that the integrity and appearance of the coating is maintained. For example, a superior abrasion-resistant coating would be desirable for a flooring substrate, since flooring is typically exposed to a variety of abrasives. Improvements in the abrasion-resistance of coatings has been accomplished through various techniques. U.S. Pat. No. 4,478,876 describes the addition of colloidal silica to hydrolyzable silanes and polymers derived from a combination of acryloxy functional silanes and polyfunctional acrylate monomers. Another technique is the use of compositions containing acrylate or methacrylate functionalities on a monomer, oligomer, or resin. U.S. Pat. No. 5,104,929 describes the use of colloidal silica dispersions in certain acrylate or methacrylate ester monomers or mixtures thereof. U.S. Pat. No. 5,316,855 describes the use of a cohydrolyzed metal alkoxide sol with a trialkoxysilane-containing organic component having the trialkoxysilane.
These radiation-cured coatings generally have a substantially smooth, exposed surface such that there is no macroscopic texture or texture visible to the naked eye. This type of smooth surface provides for ease of cleaning. Some radiation-cured coatings have a microscopic texture as described in U.S. Pat. No.5,585,415. The individual features of this texture are not visible to the naked eye, but the combined effect of the microscopic texture results in the scattering of visible light that results in a matte or low gloss appearance. This texture is provided by the coating curing process which results in microscopic wrinkles on the surface of the coating. While the microscopic dimensions of this texture provide a matte finish, these dimensions also make the coating susceptible to particle entrapment within the microscopic wrinkles. This particle entrapment results in a visibly dirty surface that is difficult to clean. Another microscopic texture found in radiation-curable coatings results from the addition of flatting agents to the uncured coating mixture. During the curing process these flatting agents, which are small inorganic or organic particles, concentrate at the coating surface to form a microscopically rough surface that scatters visible light resulting in a matte finish. The size of the particle used is typically such that it is no larger in diameter than the average thickness of the cured coating. Particles much larger than the coating thickness do not result in a matte finish and are not desired. Since most radiation-cured coatings are no more than 75-100 xcexcm thick, and since UV radiation can not typically penetrate any deeper, typical flatting agent particles for UV-cured coatings range in size from 0.1-100 xcexcm, depending upon average coating thickness. Flatting agents are well known in the art as described, for example, in F.D.C. Gallouedec et al., xe2x80x9cOptimization of Ultrafine Microporous Powders to Obtain Low-Gloss UV Curable Coatings,xe2x80x9d Radtech Report, Sepember/October 1995, pp 18-24.
To produce such macroscopically smooth surfaces requires the application of a coating mixture that can be easily distributed across the substrate to be coated. If the coating mixture has a high viscosity, for example, the coating will not distribute smoothly. Therefore, it is preferable to use a lower viscosity coating to produce such a macroscopically smooth coating surface.
Thermally-cured coatings are also used in many applications throughout the coatings industry for various substrates such as plastic, metal, wood, ceramic, and others. Thermally-cured coatings are similar to radiation-cured coatings in that they typically comprise resin-based mixtures of oligomers and monomers that polymerize upon curing. Instead of using radiation to cure or polymerize the resin, however, heat is used to affect polymerization. As such, a thermally-activated initiator is used to initiate polymerization, rather than a photosensitizer or photoinitiator. However, various other components may be added to the thermally-curable resin mixture, including the same components that are added to radiation-curable resin mixture, such as flatting agents, fillers, plasticizers, antioxidants, optical brighteners, defoamers, stabilizers, wetting agents, mildewcides and fungicides, surfactants, adhesion promoters, colorants, dyes, pigments, slip agents, fire and flame retardants, and release agents.
Similar to the radiation-cured coatings, however, thermally-cured coatings are also substantially smooth from a macroscopic perspective. Also, to produce such macroscopically smooth surfaces requires the application of a coating mixture that can be easily distributed across the substrate to be coated. If the coating mixture has a high viscosity, for example, the coating will not distribute smoothly. Therefore, as with radiation-cured coatings, it is preferable to use a lower viscosity coating to produce such a macroscopically smooth coating surface.
Other coatings provide a macroscopically textured surface but by methods other than radiation-curing or thermal-curing. In chemical embossing, for example, a macroscopic texture is formed based upon the use of various chemicals added to the substrate. In mechanical embossing, the substrate itself is imprinted with the desired textural pattern. In both types of embossing, the subsequently applied coating naturally conforms to the shape of the substrate textural pattern. However, any desired change to the textural pattern requires changes in the amount and type of chemicals added to the substrate and/or the replacement of the roller used to mechanically imprint the pattern on the substrate, which can be significantly expensive and time consuming. Furthermore, neither the coating itself or its application are inherently providing the desired texture. In another form of mechanical embossing, texture may be achieved by impressing a given pattern on the cured coating itself. Similarly, however, the texture is not produced inherently by the coating itself or its application.
Based on the foregoing, there is a need for a superior abrasion-resistant, radiation-cured and thermally-cured coatings for various substrates including plastic, metal, wood, and ceramic, among others, having a macroscopic texture. In addition, there is a need for a coating having a macroscopic texture that is easily cleanable and that provides certain aesthetic properties. Further, there is a need for a method to produce such a superior abrasion-resistant, radiation-cured coating having a macroscopic texture using a high viscosity pre-cured coating mixture and/or texture-producing particles.
In one embodiment the present invention provides a coated substrate comprising a substrate, a radiation-cured coating on at least a portion of the substrate, wherein the coating comprises an inherent macroscopic texture. In another embodiment, the present invention provides a pre-cured coating mixture comprising a radiation-curable resin and an initiator, wherein the radiation-curable resin and the initiator form a pre-cured coating mixture capable of forming a macroscopic texture upon application of the mixture on a substrate. In another embodiment the present invention provides a pre-cured coating mixture comprising a radiation-curable resin, an initiator, and texture-producing particles having an effective size to provide a macroscopic texture upon application of the mixture on a substrate.
In yet another embodiment, the present invention provides a coated substrate comprising a substrate, a thermally-cured coating on at least a portion of the substrate, wherein the coating comprises an inherent macroscopic texture. In another embodiment, the present invention provides a pre-cured coating mixture comprising a thermally-curable resin and a thermal initiator, wherein the thermally-curable resin and the thermal initiator form a pre-cured coating mixture capable of forming a macroscopic texture upon application of the mixture on a substrate. In another embodiment the present invention provides a pre-cured coating mixture comprising a thermally-curable resin, a thermal initiator, and texture-producing particles having an effective size to provide a macroscopic texture upon application of the mixture on a substrate.
In addition, the present invention provides a process for making a coating on a substrate, comprising the steps of distributing a pre-cured coating mixture comprising a radiation-curable resin and an initiator or a thermally-curable resin and thermal initiator over at least a portion of a substrate to form a pre-cured coating having a macroscopic texture, and radiation-curing or thermally curing, respectively, the pre-cured coating to form a radiation-cured or thermally-cured coating having the macroscopic texture.
The coating of the present invention provides a top coat or protective coating having a macroscopic texture to substrates containing plastic such as polyvinyl chloride, metal, cellulose, fiberglass, wood, and ceramic, among others. In a preferred embodiment the coating of the present invention is used in connection with sheet flooring. In an additionally preferred embodiment, the coating of the present invention is used in connection with floor tiles. The coating of the present invention provides superior scratch or abrasion resistance and good transparency. In addition, the coating of the present invention is easily cleanable, and the macroscopic texture provides an aesthetic aspect to the coating.
Other embodiments and features of the present invention will appear from the following description in which the preferred embodiments are set forth in detail in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. | {
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In some military vehicles the main gun is mounted in a turret which rotates around a vertical axis in the azimuth plane; the gun is mounted on the turret for swinging movement in a vertical elevational plane. The gun is trained on the enemy target (airborn or land) by combinational movements of the turret and gun in the azimuth and elevation planes.
In one particular vehicle the minimum gun depression angle is -20.degree. except over the rear end of the vehicle where the elevation angle is restricted to -7.degree.. An aim of this invention is to provide circuitry that enables the gunner to have tracking capability in the low level zones between -7.degree. and -20.degree. except in the so-called "avoidance zone" defined by the vehicle rear end. As the gun approaches the avoidance zone a "pop-up" command is generated by circuit components that respond to azimuth train velocity and gun position. The pop-up command is applied to relay contacts shunted around resistances in a potentiometer that is responsive to gun motion in the elevational plane.
Potentiometer voltage signal is summed with an elevation tachometer-derived voltage to limit the normal maximum elevation rate from 90.degree./sec at -5.degree. to 0.degree./sec at -20 .degree. elevation. In the avoidance zone this limit is modified to 90.degree./sec allowable at +18.degree. and 0.degree./sec at -7.degree.. This function is accomplished by switching the voltage levels on the elevation position limit potentiometer as a function of azimuth position and velocity.
As the gun approaches avoidance zone 14 below the -7.degree. elevation it is necessary for safety reasons to limit possible azimuthal acceleration inputs by the gunner. The circuitry senses and stores the difference between the so-called "safe" azimuthal rate and the actual azimuth rate. When a pop-up command is issued the stored difference provides a signal that limits the azimuthal velocity to a safe value until the gun is elevated to the -7.degree. elevation. | {
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Implantable medical devices that monitor ambulatory patients must have a manner of alerting patients to relevant events. Notification can occur for the detection of medical events such as acute ischemia, arrhythmia, bradycardia, or low levels of insulin. Notification can also be triggered by the detection of low battery levels, device malfunction, signal quality issues, and when device adjustment is merited. In order to provide patient notification the implanted medical device (IMD) can use either internal or external alerting means, or both. In the case of internal alerting, the IMD can use, for example, vibration or sonic alert signals. In the case of external alerting signals, the IMD may communicate with an external device which then produces an alert signal such as a vibrotactile, sonic, or visual signal. Multimodal alert protocols occur when the alert signals are emitted to relay information to multiple sensory modalities.
It is useful to provide both internal and external alerting for medical devices because this increases the likelihood that the patient will pay attention to the alert signal and take appropriate action (e.g., going to the hospital in the case of an emergency alarm related to a dangerous cardiac condition). However, in the daily life of a patient the IMD may not always successfully communicate with the external device. For example, the patient may leave the external device beyond the IMD wireless communication range. Additionally, when the patient is in the shower or swimming an external device is not practical and alert signals may not be noticed by the patient. Further, the external device may not work correctly as may occur if its battery becomes depleted. In these cases it is important that at least internal alerting is available to notify the patient to a serious medical event. Accordingly, it is important to be able to determine that the IMD can successfully provide alerting to the patient.
Vibration alarms have a number of advantages. In the case of both internal and external alarms, patients may prefer relatively silent vibration alarms over sonic alarms that may cause persons nearby to learn about a particular medical condition which is being monitored. In a movie theater visual and auditory alarms may be inadvertently ignored due to saturation of these sensory channels, while there is little interference with respect to noticing a vibration alarm.
Alert transducers may fail in several manners. This is particularly true in the case of a vibration alert which requires moving parts. A transducer may simply fail to operate or may operate in a compromised manner. In the case of vibration, the vibration may be provided at a lower vibration level or frequency than intended. If an electric motor that provides the vibration is not able to product the expected strength, frequency, or pattern associated with the alert signal, then the patient may misinterpret the alert, become unsure as to whether an alert is occurring, or simply not experience it at all. Accordingly it would be an advantage to provide a manner of objectively testing the integrity of alarm signals such as vibration alarms.
Subjective reports of vibration have a number of disadvantages. Older people or diabetics may experience lower levels of vibration due to physiological factors rather than to actual mechanical changes which occur in the motor. If the patient complains that a vibration alarm is not strong enough, a medical professional may pursue different solutions depending upon whether the problem is with the patient or the implanted device. Accordingly would be an advantage to provide a manner of objectively assessing the strength of the alarm signals such as vibration alarms.
Additionally, if a patient fails to respond to an alarm such as when the patient is sleeping, the medical professional may not be able to determine whether the alarm strength was inadequate for the patient and must be increased, or whether the IMD did not actually vibrate as anticipated (or at all!) at the time of the alarm. It would be an advantage to provide a manner of objectively determining if an alarm occurred, and that it occurred as intended, at the time that the actual alarm was triggered. An alarm log of what actually occurred can be valuable both for clinical and legal reasons.
Lastly, when changes in alarm characteristics are small, and alarms occur infrequently (e.g. not more than every 5 months) then a patient may not be able to subjectively assess whether the vibration alarms have changed from how they originally experienced these. Vibrotactile sensitivity for internal vibration signals changes as a function of vibration pattern, frequency and amplitude. It is important to be able to accurately measure any changes which may occur in the IMD's vibration signals so that these can be detected, quantified, and/or compensated for if desired.
The IMD can be any type of implantable medical device. In one embodiment the IMD is a cardiosaver device, as described by Fischell et al in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,112,116, 6,272,379 and 6,609,023, incorporated herein by reference, which can detect a change in the patient's electrogram that is indicative of a cardiac event, such as acute ischemia and then provide notification. The IMD can also be a medical device which provides drug or electrical stimulation to a neural, vagal-nerve, or other anatomical target. The IMD may be partially implanted, such as an implanted insulin pump/delivery system with an external reservoir. Notification (or alerting/alarming) occurs by way of an internal alarm system within the IMD and/or an external alarm system which may comprise an external, pager-type device, a patient programmer, and a remote station where patient data may be sent for review. The IMD communicates with the external alarm system using wireless communication signal as long as the external alarm system is within range. The external alarm system of the current invention has capabilities equivalent to those described by Fischell et al in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,112,116, 6,272,379 and 6,609,023. For example, the external alarm system may provide one or more types of visual, sonic and vibratory alerting signals, and may provide voice/data communication between the IMD/patient and a remote medical monitoring station.
The IMD and/or the external alarm system may provide a single type of alarm. Alternatively, at least two types of alarms may be used (“two stage alerting”). In one embodiment a major/critical event alarm (an “EMERGENCY ALARM”) can provide notification of the detection of a serious medical event (e.g., a heart attack which is an AMI) and the need for immediate medical attention, and a less medically significant alert (a “SEE DOCTOR ALERT” or alarm) can signal the detection of a less serious condition that is not life threatening such as exercise induced ischemia or the detection of a depleted battery. The two types of alerting consist of different multimodal alarm patterns, which are selectable to occur at different strengths. When a particular sensory modality of alerting is used to provide notifications of different event types, the signals may differ in amplitude (e.g., strength of signal), pattern (e.g., long or short bursts, inter burst-interval), or frequency (e.g., a 500 or 2000 Hz sound). It would be helpful to perform various back-up/compensatory operations if the internal and external alerting did not occur as expected and to be able to quantify and detect these operational deviations. Transducer malfunction can cause normally distinct types of notification to be mistaken, or ignored, by the patient.
US patent application 2009/0072768, entitled “Use of an accelerometer to control vibration performance” to Murray el al. teaches using an accelerometer to measure the performance of a vibration motor and to increase, in a closed loop manner, the voltage applied to the drive circuit to compensate for changes in the speed of rotation that may occur over time. U.S. Pat. No. 6,774,769 to Okada entitled “Vibrating Alert Device” describes a method of increasing the voltage applied to a vibration alarm so that it increases gently over time and does not startle a user of the device. | {
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It has been recognized that in principle the lower unsaturated hydrocarbon component in certain hydrocarbon streams is a valuable source for higher organic molecules. Such higher organic molecules may be reached, for example, by treatment, for example hydroformylation, of unsaturated hydrocarbons, in particular those containing two carbon atoms, the unsaturated hydrocarbons being obtainable, for example, by pyrolysis of hydrocarbons, more especially their pyrolysis in the presence of steam to form a light olefin-containing mixture, or pyrolysis of methane in appropriate conditions, as described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 375,324 of Jan. 18th, 1995, and a corresponding PCT application entitled "Direct Hydroformylation of a Multi-Component Synthesis Gas Containing Carbon Monoxide, Hydrogen, Ethylene and Acetylene", applicants Gabor Kiss et al., assigned to Exxon Research & Engineering Company, filed simultaneously with the present application, and whose entire disclosures are incorporated by reference herein. | {
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1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to tension measurement instruments and, in particular, to a scale for measuring the drag tension on, for example, a fishing reel.
2. Discussion of Prior Art
In the field of sport fishing, the quest for a proper drag setting is a continuing, yet unsatisfied goal. Drag setting is a practice currently performed without a standard gauge of measure and without a proper language for communication. This situation occurs because existing fishing scales are designed to weigh fish, not to set drag tension on a reel.
U.S. Pat. No. 960,535 Gilfillan, Jun. 7, 1910; U.S. Pat. No. 2,603,474, Mandolf, Jul. 15, 1952; and U.S. Pat. 4,660,666; Reder, Apr. 28, 1987, disclose fishing scales that are equipped with hooks to attach an entity to be weighed. In the practical environment, however, fishermen prefer to keep their fishing line threaded through the xe2x80x9ceyesxe2x80x9d of their fishing rods with a lure tied at the end of the line. A rod and reel set maintained in this form is termed xe2x80x9crigged.xe2x80x9d To measure the drag on a rigged rod and reel using currently available systems, the hook would either have to be attached at the lure, or to a loop tied on the fishing line between the reel and the first eye of the rod. In the first method, setting the drag would require one person to hold the scale, while a second person holds the reel to monitor the drag release. While the second method can be performed by a single person by attaching the scale to the loop, this would require re-threading the line through the eyes of the rod and retying the lure each time that a drag measurement is performed. Both approaches are dreaded by the average fisherman.
Typically, drag tension is currently measured by xe2x80x98feelxe2x80x99 as the line is manually pulled from the reel. This technique prohibits an accurate standard of measurement and, more detrimentally, prevents a communicable language for sharing information among fishermen.
Accordingly, my invention provides a technique for attaching a drag setting measuring device on a segment of fishing line between the reel and first eye of a rod without breaking the line, tying a knot or otherwise damaging the line. My invention also provides a drag setting measurement in standard units, e.g. pounds, thus allowing fishermen to exchange knowledge in commonly recognized terms, thereby improving fishing results and fishing enjoyment. Using my invention, a single fisherman can measure the drag on a xe2x80x98riggedxe2x80x99 fishing rod and reel set.
In its general sense, the present invention provides a hand-held weighing instrument, a wheel that functions as a pulley and a connector that provides a mechanical connection between the weighing instrument and the wheel. The fishing line from the reel is looped around the wheel. Then, while holding the weighing instrument in one hand and the reel in the other, the fisherman extends the weighing instrument away from the reel to exert tension on the line, thereby causing the instrument to provide a drag setting measurement.
Further features and advantages of my invention will become apparent from the following detailed description and accompanying drawings which set forth illustrative embodiments in which the principles of the invention are utilized. | {
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1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a computer-implemented method and a system for locating an indoor object, more particularly to a computer-implemented method and a system involving fusing radio frequency (RF) coordinate information and motion sensor coordinate information through fusion techniques for locating an indoor object.
2. Description of the Related Art
A conventional system for locating an indoor object, such as that disclosed in “A pyroelectric infrared sensor-based indoor location-aware system (PILAS) for the smart home,” Lee et al., IEEE Transactions on Consumer Electronics, Volume 52, Issue 4, November 2006 Page(s): 1311-1317, utilizes a plurality of pyroelectric infrared (PIR) sensors to locate the indoor object. Although the aforesaid conventional PILAS can be used to estimate the position of the indoor object, it has flaws when a plurality of indoor objects are to be located. For example, referring to FIG. 1, when PIR sensors a and b are on and PIR sensor c is off, the PILAS is unable to determine whether there are two indoor objects moving in sensing areas A and B, respectively, or only one indoor object moving in overlapped region AB of sensing areas A and B.
Another conventional system for locating an indoor object involves the use of RF locating techniques, such as the Received Signal Strength (RSS) approach. The RSS approach utilizes at least three reference node RF transceivers, each of which is placed at a pre-determined position, and a blind node RF transceiver carried by the indoor object to locate the indoor object. The RSS approach estimates the position of the indoor object according to at least three RSS signals, each of which is related to a distance between a respective one of the reference node RF transceivers and the blind node RF transceiver. The RSS approach is disadvantageous in that the propagation of radio signals is easily affected by indoor obstacles, such as furniture and people in the indoor area, as well as by other electronic devices, which can result in estimating error and Non-Line-of-Sight (NLOS) error. NLOS error is attributed to signal interference caused by indoor obstacles, and gets worse when the number of indoor obstacles is increased. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a visual line detecting device and to a camera having the visual line detecting device.
2. Description of the Related Art
A visual line detecting device which optically detects the line of sight (visual axis) of an observer has been disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. SHO 61-172552.
This device is arranged to detect the visual line of the observer on the basis of the position of the center of a pupil and a first Purkinje image which is a reflection image obtained from the front surface of a cornea and which is generated by irradiating the eyeball of the observer with parallel rays of light. FIG. 9 of the accompanying drawings shows this.
Referring to FIG. 9, the illustration includes a cornea 501; a sclera 502; an iris 503; a light source 504; a light projecting lens 506; a light receiving lens 507; an image sensor 509; a half-mirror 510; a rotation center O' of the eyeball; the center of curvature O of the cornea 501; end parts "a" and "b" of the iris 503; the center "c" of the iris 503; a point "d" where a first Purkinje image is generated; the optical axis "h" of the light receiving lens 507, which coincides with the X-axis shown in FIG. 9; and the optical axis "i" of the eyeball.
The light source 504 is an infrared ray emitting diode which is arranged on the focal plane of the light projecting lens 506 to emit infrared rays insensible to the observer. The infrared rays emitted from the light source 504 become parallel rays through the light projecting lens 506 and are then reflected by the half-mirror 510 to illuminate the cornea 501. A part of the infrared rays reflected by the surface of the cornea 501 passes through the half-mirror 510 to be formed into an image at a point d' on the image sensor 509 by the light receiving lens 507. The end parts "a" and "b" of the iris 503 are imaged through the half-mirror 510 and the light receiving lens 507 at points a' and b' on the image sensor 509. Assuming that the Z-coordinates of the end parts "a" and "b" of the iris 503 are Za and Zb, the coordinate Zc of the center point "c" of the iris 503 can be expressed as follows when the rotation angle .theta. of the optical axis "i" of the eyeball relative to the optical axis "h" of the light receiving lens 507 is small: ##EQU1##
Further, assuming that the Z-coordinate of the first Purkinje image generating point "d" is Zd and a distance from the curvature center O of the cornea 501 to the center "c" of the iris 503 is oc, the rotation angle .theta. of the optical axis "i" of the eyeball approximately satisfies the following formula: EQU oc.multidot.sin .theta..apprxeq.Zc-Zd (1)
Therefore, the rotation angle .theta. of the optical axis "i" of the eyeball can be found by detecting specific points (the first Purkinje image Zd' and the end parts Za' and Zb' of the iris 503) projected and obtained on the image sensor 509. Formula (1) above is rewritten as follows: EQU .beta..multidot.oc.multidot.sin .theta..apprxeq.Za'+Zb'/2-Zd'
wherein: .beta. represents a magnifying rate determined by a distance l1 between the first Purkinje image generating point "d" and the light receiving lens 507 and a distance l0 between the light receiving lens 507 and the image sensor 509. This rate .beta. is normally a constant value.
The direction of the line of sight is detectable according to the principle described above.
However, the visual line detecting device described has presented the following problem: The reflection factor of the cornea is about 2.5%. The light quantity of the reflection image of the cornea is large enough to have its location detected without fail. Whereas, the reflection factor of the iris is very small and a contrast at the boundary between the iris and the pupil is insufficient. Therefore, in actuality, it has been difficult to accurately determine the position of the pupil center.
Further, assuming that the visual line detecting device is employed in a camera and arranged, for example, to detect a point looked at by the photographer within the viewfinder of the camera and that a focusing action is carried out according to the result of detection, a distance between the eye and the visual line detecting system in the direction of the optical axis of the viewfinder optical system varies with the camera holding state of the photographer. As a result, therefore, a reflection image coming from the eyeball might blur to further deteriorate the characteristic of a detection signal thus obtained. A camera actually using such a visual line detecting device for automatic focusing has been known from U.S. Pat. No. 4,574,314 (Weinblatt). | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
The Optimized Link State Routing Protocol (OLSR) has been developed for mobile ad hoc networks. It operates as a table driven and proactive protocol, and thus exchanges topology information with other nodes of the network regularly. The nodes which are selected as a multipoint relay (MPR) by some neighbor nodes announce this fact periodically in their topology control (TC) messages. Thereby, a node announces to the network, that it has reachability to the nodes which have selected it as an MPR. In route calculation, the MPRs are used to form the route from a given node to any destination in the network. The protocol uses the MPRs to facilitate efficient flooding of TC messages in the network.
More specifically, OLSR operates by maintaining an internal data structure within each node of local 1-hop and 2-hop neighbors, overall network connectivity, and a routing table. OLSR generates and maintains these internal data structures by exchanging three kinds of OLSR over the air (OTA) messages including HELLO messages, TC messages, MID (multiple interface declaration) messages and HNA (host and network association) messages.
The internal data structures are used in the network to populate a relay cache with next-hop node IDs indexed by final-destination node ID. A table pairing network MAC addresses and IP addresses is also maintained. HELLO messages are exchanged exclusively between 1-hop neighbors. For example, each node may generate HELLO messages every 2 seconds. They serve to establish and maintain the 1- and 2-hop neighborhood connectivity state parts of a node's internal OLSR data structures. Exchange of 1-hop neighborhood information between 1-hop neighbors serves to inform each node of its 2-hop neighborhood. This, in turn, allows each node to select MPR nodes that are used for efficient message-flooding (i.e., network broadcast). For each node, the MPRs implement a spanning tree covering the network.
Also, each node may generate TC messages that flood the network via its MPR spanning tree, typically every 5 seconds. TC messages distribute each node's relevant 1-hop neighborhood information in the form of its MPR selectors (1-hop neighbors who selected it as their MPR) to all other nodes in the network. This information is then used by each node to build its routing table. The OLSR routing table is used to fill each node's relay cache. Each node generates HNA messages that flood the network via its MPR spanning tree, e.g. every 5 seconds. HNA messages distribute each node's network mask and MAC address. HNA message information is used to fill each node's MAC address to IP address table.
Conventional OLSR may drop routes during network topology transitions. The causes may include TC messaging forwarding factors such as each node trying to minimize MPRs selected, TC messages distributed via MPR spanning trees, TC/HNA message forwarding ordering, each node's OLSR timers being de-correlated, TC message distribution race conditions and/or reverse MPR spanning tree routing. When TC messages fail to arrive for the aforementioned reasons, network topology segments can timeout and be dropped.
As mentioned above, MPR spanning trees are used by OLSR to efficiently flood a node's messages through the entire network. When a node generates a message to be flooded, it broadcasts the message to its 1-hop neighbors. Each 1-hop neighbor selected by the node as an MPR, in turn, retransmits the message. Because of how MPRs are selected, this 1-hop-MPR-neighbor forwarding gives coverage of all 2-hop neighbors. Each node receiving the message checks to see if the message has already been received, i.e., if it was a duplicate. If a duplicate was received, then the message is discarded. If a non-duplicate was received and the transmitting node had selected the receiving node as one of its MPRs, then the receiving node retransmits (i.e., forwards) the message. The retransmissions continue until no more retransmissions (forwardings) occur. Loops are avoided by discarding duplicates. The flooding process terminates when the flooded message has been delivered to all end nodes (or leaves) of the originating node's MPR spanning tree.
OLSR includes routing via reverse MPR-spanning-trees. Conventional OLSR constrains computed routes to lie along reverse paths in the destination's MPR spanning tree. Each node's MPR spanning tree should cover the entire network, i.e. that is what makes it a spanning tree. Thus any node in the network can route to a destination node by plotting a route from itself to the destination backward through branches in the destination node's MPR spanning tree, by reversing the path used by the destination node's flooded messages to reach the source node.
OLSR's reverse-MPR-spanning-tree routing works well when the network is stable, i.e. when the OLSR topology-distribution mechanism has converged so that each node in the network has the same network-level view of network topology. But during a period in which a node's local connectivity changes and MPR selection changes are being distributed across the network, problems can arise. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
The present application relates to the prerecording of audio tape, and in particular to a method of prerecording sequence dependent information onto an audio tape monaurally, as well as an apparatus for use therewith.
Various magnetic audio recording tapes and tape cassettes are conventionally known in the art. Typically, such audio tapes are used with a stereophonic tape recording and playing device in order to produce a multi-track tape that reproduces stereophonic sound. Normally, such conventional stereo tape recording and replay equipment include a reel mechanism that advances the tape past a split pick-up head. The pick-up head simultaneously reads two adjacent magnetic tracks of encoded information on the tape, each track corresponding to one channel of the stereophonic signal. Since the pick-up head either simultaneously records or replays the two adjacent tracks, complementary signals are encoded on each track or channel so as to be harmoniously mixed during replaying of the tape. Normally, the audio tape includes two pair or four separate recording tracks. This allows the tape to be played in each direction, with two adjacent tracks being dedicated to the two stereo channels in each direction.
Most conventional audio tape players utilize one of two methods to select the direction of tape play or advancement and the particular pair of tracks to be played. In one class of tape playing devices the split pick-up head maintains a single orientation. The tape is sufficiently wide that when the tape is loaded into the playing device only two of the tracks adjacent one edge of the tape are accessed by the pick-up head. In order to change the tracks to be played the tape must be manually removed from the player unit, turned over and reinserted for play in the opposite direction. In the second class of tape playing devices, the pick-up head itself is rotated and shifted within the device so as to be inverted and access the unplayed pair of tracks. The direction of tape travel or advancement within the device is also reversed.
Heretofore magnetic audio tapes have been prerecorded with two monaural signals on two adjacent tracks in the same direction. Such prerecorded tapes find use in certain specific applications, for example, in foreign language instruction and the like. The English material or questions are recorded on one track separated by silent pauses, while the foreign language counterpart is recorded on the second track at the locations corresponding to the pauses. With such a prerecorded tape the user may listen to the tape in a conventional fashion to hear the English phrase followed immediately by the foreign language counterpart. However, the user may also operate the balance control of the stereo tape player in order to select a single track or channel to be played. By setting the balance to produce a maximum volume on one channel and a minimum volume on the other, the student can select either the English phrase or the foreign language counterpart only to be replayed
In other applications conventional stereo audio tapes have been recorded with monaural information on the adjacent tracks normally used to record stereophonic information. For example, verbal material has been recorded on one track, such as a foreign language, while background sounds or music relating to the verbal material is recorded on the second track. The two tracks can therefore be replayed simultaneously with the background sounds complementing the spoken information. Stereophonic audio tapes have also been prerecorded with background music on four separate tracks to be used in the replaying of monaural background music in stores and the like.
Heretofore, however, there has not been available a method of prerecording audio tapes that substantially increases the storage capacity of the tape with sequence dependent or serialized information and which also permits the replaying of the entire tape with a minimal amount of control adjustment. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an oil field apparatus or tool, and more particularly relates to an improved power wrench brake or drag assembly. Even more particularly, the present invention relates to an improved power wrench brake assembly providing an adjustable brake assembly having external, easily accessible brake drum surface and brake shoe portions which can be quickly field adjusted or field removed/replaced.
2. General Background and Prior Art
In the oil field and in oil/gas drilling, there is often utilized a "power wrench" or "power tong" for making up and braking up sections of drill pipe, casing, or other like piping assemblies which are generally made up into strings from a plurality of joints. Many of these power tongs or power wrenches are in use which quickly make or brake the desired connection using power supplied by an electric or hydraulic motor for example. Generally, power wrenches of this type have a clutch or drag or brake assembly which transforms rotary power through a gear reduction system into gripping power through a cam mechanism, thus allowing the pipe to be gripped at the joint and the desired torque applied. Power wrenches and power tongs of this type are known.
The clutch or drag assembly of a power wrench requires adjustment. This is because the frictional contact between a drum surface and a shoe surface to one or both. Further, adjustment of the drag assembly makes a great deal or torque or a lesser amount of torque (as desired) transferable directly to the gripping jaws of the power wrench. In other words, whether or not the frictional engagement of the drag assembly is great or small determines at least to some extent the force with which the pipe joint will be gripped. The adjustment must be maintained over a long period of time during the drilling operation. As wear occurs on the shoe and/or drum, adjustments must be made to assure the same gripping strength to the pipe. Generally the brake mechanism is internal to the wrench and cannot be adjusted in the field. Adjustment with internal brake assemblies must be performed by a shop mechanic or other technical person who inspects the wrench and readies it for operation at a shop or other site, usually removed from the actual drilling location. Often a portion of the wrench itself must be disassembled to gain access to the brake assembly for replacement/adjustment.
Other prior art type clutch assemblies recommend and teach that a duplicate clutch assembly or drag assembly or brake assembly be kept in the field with the tool to replace the original assembly since field adjustment is impossible or at least very difficult. With such assembly, the shoe and drum are a single unit, with adjustment on the entire unit being possible but when outside the wrench.
When a driller is required to spend excessive down time on the adjustment of a particular part of his drilling equipment, very expensive down time results which loses production for the driller desirous of completing a drilling of the well. Needless to say, time is money and the driller as well as all other persons connected with the drilling of the well desire that it be completed as soon as possible with as little down time to the equipment as possible.
Several devices have been patented which address the concept of a brake or drag apparatus for a power tong. U.S. Pat. No. 2,618,468 issued to C. A. Lundeen and entitled "Power Tong", shows a brake rim and a cooperating stationary brake band.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,015,661 entitled "Apparatus for Coupling and Uncoupling Pipe Sections", there is shown a pair of brake members which function as a brake apparatus for a power tong.
In U.S. Pat. No. 2,650,070 issued to C. A. Lundeen, there is also seen a friction band having a lining which encircles an upright rim.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,141,362 issued to Simon Tammy and Zenis Weisel provides a "Jaw Operating Structure for a Power Operated Wrench". A annular brake pad 61 is provided with a cooperating drum structure.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,516,308 issued to J. E. Ham and Merrill Willsey provides a power tong transmission assembly which shows a brake band engaged with an annular wall. Further provided with the Ham-Willsey device is a means for applying more or less braking force to the band designated as a brake actuator mechanism.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,540,326 issued to J. L. Dickman provides a "Pipe Tong Head". This patent is also discussed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,516,308.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,589,742 issued to Howard S. Flick and entitled "Jaw Actuating Means for Pipe Tongs" provides a brake band having an inner lining which cooperates with a drum structure.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,625,095 issued to James Barnett provides a brake means for use with power tongs.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,380,323 issued to A. B. Campbell and entitled "Power Wrench" illustrates a braking structure which is comprised of flat annular disc like braking elements. The Campbell device also utilizes as a preferred means for braking a drum and brake shoe structure.
These and other prior art type brake devices for use with power wrenches and power tongs are generally hard to regulate, and are hard to replace. Many are deep within the housing of the wrench or power tong and require a disassembly of the wrench and order that they be adjusted and/or replaced. Further, many of the above devices have no adjustability with respect to the brake shoe and brake drum portions, thus having no way to adjust the torque applied by the wrench or to compensate for wear or either the brake or drum structure. At least one device above (U.S. Pat. No. 3,516,308) does provide an adjuster screw, which can be adjusted to get more or less braking force to the tong assembly. However, in that patent to J. E. Ham and Merrill Willsey, the adjustable screw is unbalanced and difficult to adjust. Further, the entire assembly is not freely available for inspection and/or replacement.
Most prior art devices are difficult and/or impossible to replace in the field should the need arise. Further, they are plagued by the problem of adjustability of the frictional contact of the drum and shoe during operation of the wrench. Further, they often require extensive use of extra tools to precisely vary the torque provided by the wrench through the braking assembly if such adjustability is available at all.
Those devices which have braking members which are within the housing of the wrench usually require shop maintenance removed from the site of the use of the tong in order to properly repair, replace, and/or adjust the braking apparatus.
3. General Description of the Present Invention
The present invention provides an improved power tong brake apparatus which utilizes a preferably integral brake drum body provided with an outer bearing surface. The brake drum body is affixed to the power tong at the jaw carrier portion thereof with the bearing surface portion of the brake drum body projecting externally to the outside of the power tong housing when affixed thereto during operation.
An adjustable brake shoe adapted for frictional engagement with the brake drum is provided and also externally mounted on the outer frame portion of the power tong with the shoe being movably adjustable on the power tong frame with respect to the drum.
In the preferred embodiment, the brake drum is an integral single body having a downwardly depending cylindrical drum portion provided with an outer curved drum bearing surface. The drum surface is entirely external to the power tong itself and thus easily accessible by a driller, repairman, or other technical person when adjustment is required. The brake shoe can be for example, semi-circular in structure and attaches to the external portion of the power tong frame and registers with and contacts frictionally the brake drum at its outer circular bearing surface. The brake shoe is provided with an external adjustment which allows it to be quickly and easily moved and adjusted with respect to the brake drum surface minimizing down time, minimizing repair time, and maximizing production of the oil well or other installation to which the entire power tong apparatus is assigned.
Therefore it is an object of the present invention to provide an improved power tong brake apparatus which is generally external to the power tong allowing easy access thereto.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an adjustable power tong brake apparatus which is generally externally adjustable and easily adjustable in the field where the power tong is being utilized.
It is further object of the present invention to provide a power tong brake apparatus which is simple in structure and simple to manufacture, and requiring little maintenance.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a power tong brake apparatus providing a semi-circular brake shoe, which is externally mounted to the power tong and is externally adjustable on the power tong with respect to the brake drum.
A feature of the present invention is that it can be externally adjusted with conventional tools in the field at the site of the oil well, gas well, or other installation or job to which the power tong is being used.
Another feature of the present invention is that it provides a power tong brake apparatus which includes a brake drum and brake shoe, which are mutually separate parts that can be individually changed without the changing of the other part associated therewith. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to error detection and, in particular, residue-based error detection.
2. Description of the Related Art
With computers being part of every day life and critical for business, the microprocessors' reliability is a critical design requirement. This reliability, usually expressed as MTBF (Mean Time Between Failures), indicates both the error rate of the microprocessor and the capability of the microprocessor to survive many of these errors. Processor errors can be classified into two categories: 1) soft or transient errors and 2) hard or permanent errors. The error rate is reported in FITs (failures in time), where one FIT specifies one failure in a billion hours of operation. As a frame of reference, a FIT rate of 114,000 FIT for a component (a microprocessor, for example) indicates that the component has an MTBF of one year. However, if a company sells 1000 microprocessors to a customer, the microprocessor should have a FIT rate of about 114 FIT in order for that customer to experience an average of one microprocessor failure per year for this lot.
High energy particles from cosmic radiation or alpha particles in packaging materials cause soft errors affecting electronic components. Such radiation events can cause charge collection at sensitive circuit nodes, corrupting those circuit states without causing permanent damage. The radiation events primarily affect storage elements (RAM cells, latches, flip-flops) which hold a state (bit values) for a relatively long time. Radiation events and altitude affect soft error rates of different storage elements. In addition, soft error rates (SER) depend on voltage and circuit characteristics.
Combinatorial logic can be affected if a soft error occurs in the window that would cause the corrupted value to be captured in that logic's latches or flip-flops. For static logic, this window is very narrow and the logic is built with rather large transistors, which can better fight the spurious charge collected due to radiation events. For dynamic logic, the window is wider (equal to the evaluation stage of the logic) and the charge after prefetch is preserved by a half-latch (“keeper” logic). Hence, this logic is significantly more sensitive to radiation events than static logic (although less sensitive than storage elements because of the refresh due to precharge).
Left uncorrected, soft errors induce an error rate which is higher than all other reliability mechanisms. For modern microprocessors, which have large SRAM elements (mostly large caches) and are implemented in deep sub-micron technologies, the error rate, which is dominated by single bit upsets, continues to grow with the increased number of bits in each technology generation. If the single bit upsets in SRAMs are left uncorrected, the reliability (MTBF) of these microprocessors becomes unacceptable. This is the reason why most modern microprocessors implement error detection and correction (EDC) mechanisms (at least) for their caches. These mechanisms are capable of detecting and correcting single bit upsets. It has been observed in chip multi-threading microprocessors that adding EDC to the caches reduces the failure rate due to soft errors (improves MTBF) by over two orders of magnitude. With the single bit upsets for large storage elements out of the way, the failure rate due to soft errors (FRSE) is dominated by the SER of smaller, unprotected storage structures, like register files, buffers and queues etc., as well as the SER of the flip-flops and latches in the microprocessor's logic.
For modern microprocessors that correct single bit upsets in their caches, the hard error rate becomes another significant reliability component. The hard errors, which are the result of either process or manufacturing defects, or of processor wear-out (electromigration, thermal cycling etc.), are becoming more frequent as microprocessors are implemented in ever denser, deep sub-micron technologies. The main reasons for this are increased power densities in transistors and interconnect due to smaller device and interconnect geometries, higher transistor count, power management techniques that might result in thermal cycling, etc. As the hard errors reflect failures in the chip's transistors and interconnect, the hard error rate of a block is proportional with that block's area.
For correctable errors, the error detection mechanisms in a microprocessor usually differentiate between soft and hard errors based on the success of the correction mechanism to recover from the error. All detected errors are, normally, communicated to software by either interrupts (in the case of errors corrected by special hardware mechanisms, as described below) or by traps (in the case of errors corrected by instruction retry initiated by hardware or software). Typically, the software tallies the different errors and, if a certain error occurs more than a preset number of times, then that error is declared a hard error and treated accordingly. The software could also keep track of errors in different components for preventive maintenance, in order to identify and report the components with error rates above an acceptable threshold.
A microprocessor's errors can be classified as a function of the existence of EDC mechanisms for that error. Errors can be classified into the following four main classes:
1. Detected and correctable errors: the error can be detected and the correct value can be recovered. This type of coverage can be achieved by error correction codes (ECC), by parity or residue detection of errors in write-through caches (the parity or residue error forces a miss and, as a result, a refresh of the cache line) or by error detection (parity, ECC, residue, etc.) in storage structures that do not hold architectural state, in logic gates or in flip-flops (if covered). The error correction for these soft errors is done by either hardware or software. In hardware, the error correction is done by either special state machines (e.g. correcting and writing back a dirty line with a single-bit error in a write-back cache before returning the corrected data to the pipeline) or by clearing the pipeline when an instruction with an error tries to commit and re-executing the instructions pending in the pipeline, beginning with the instruction affected by the error. In the case of software correction, the error usually causes a precise trap when the first instruction affected by the errors tries to commit. The trap's service routine can then correct the error using processor hardware that allows it to access the storage elements affected by the error.2. Detected and uncorrectable errors (DUE errors): the error is detected, but cannot be corrected, resulting, in some systems, in an application or system crash. Parity errors, ECC-detected multi-bit errors in write-back caches, or residue errors in an architectural register are examples of such detected, but uncorrectable errors (at least not correctable by the detecting mechanism).3. Undetected and unimportant errors: while an error occurred, it affected a structure which is part of speculation, so it does not impact correctness (e.g. a branch predictor). Actually those errors are detected and corrected as part of the normal processor functionality of checking the correctness of the speculation, so the error recovery is indistinguishable from recovering from a wrong speculation.4. Undetected and uncorrectable errors: an error occurred, but was undetected and caused silent data corruption. These are also known as Silent Data Corruption (SDC) errors. SDC errors can affect the processor state for a significant amount of time without being detected. They are considered the most dangerous type of errors and should be eliminated as much as possible.
Error detection is the most important reliability function in a microprocessor, as an undetected error could silently corrupt the system's state, with potentially grave consequences. Microprocessors designed for mission critical systems, for servers, etc., invest a large percentage of their area and power budgets for error detection and, when possible, correction to avoid faults from SDC errors. IBM's G4/G5 microprocessors have two identical copies of the pipeline (the I-unit and E-unit), sharing the first-level caches, which are parity protected. Pipeline errors are detected by comparing the results from the two I- and E-units. The arrays holding the processor state (register files, store buffer) are ECC protected. In case of an uncorrectable or hard error the G5 processor signals the operating system to transfer the state of the failed processor to the dispatch queue of a different processor in the system. The failed processor is taken out of the active configuration and the task it was executing is restarted on the new processor with the proper priority. Duplicating the I- and E-units improves error detection, but at a high price in area and power of about 35% chip area overhead.
Fujitsu's 5th generation SPARC64 microprocessor achieves error detection by using a variety of error detection mechanisms like parity and ECC on the caches, register files, parity prediction and checking for ALUs and shifters, 2-bit residue checker for the multiply/divide unit, etc. Parity check also covers over 80% of the chip's latches, including all data path latches. Error recovery is done by re-issuing (retrying) at commit an instruction that cannot commit due to an error that affected its execution. All of these error detection mechanisms and their checkers sprinkled throughout the chip benefit reliability, but add significant complexity and area to the chip.
The DIVA and the SplitDiva checker architectures not only detect errors in the pipe, but also incorrect results due to design corner cases (those cases of a strange combination of happenings and circumstances that conspire to generate errors). These checker architectures achieve this by providing a checker in addition to the core processor. The checker, which can be simpler and slower than the core processor, executes the same instructions as the core, checks the correctness of these instructions and retries instructions that fail. The checker is also designed to take over the program execution in case of a hard core processor failure, but with poor performance. DIVA delivers error detection and correction (including surviving design corner cases, uncorrectable errors and hard errors), but at a significant cost in area and power.
Run-Ahead Execution (RAE) is a microarchitecture optimization that attempts to prefetch for loads further down the execution path when the processor has a lengthy stall (e.g., a load missing the L2 cache). Though RAE is a performance optimization technique primarily, it also improves the failure rate due to soft errors, because the residence time of data in unprotected registers and flops on the processor core is bounded by the initiation of RAE and consequent flushing on a lengthy stall.
Error detection techniques for existing high reliability microprocessors, suffer from high area and power overhead, and might be overkill for most markets. After EDC is added to caches, the unprotected regular structures (e.g. register files) become some of the most important contributors to the failure rate due to soft errors, while the execution units, which occupy a large portion of each processor core's area, are some of the most important contributors to the hard error rate, and, to a lesser extent, soft error rate.
As discussed above, conventional processors mostly detect errors in random access memory, although there is also a need to detect errors arising from register files, execution units, buffers, etc. One of the most efficient (i.e., low overhead) ways for detecting errors in execution units is with residue checking. Residue checking has been implemented for arithmetic units (adders, multipliers, dividers). Some mainframes (e.g., Amdahl's 5990A and 5990M) use a module 3 (2-bit) residue checker for its multiply/divide unit. More recently, microprocessors, such as Fujitsu's SPARC64 microprocessors, adopted the same technique (also for error detection in the multiply/divide unit). The motivation for employing residue-based error detection for their arithmetic units is 1) that the technology of these microprocessors makes transient errors in those units more probable, and 2) that, in time, hard errors could occur in these units and, if not detected, could result in silent data corruption.
Though conventional techniques protect arithmetic units with residues, these techniques are piece-meal and require inefficiently crossing many protection domains variously protected by parity, ECC and residues. Accordingly, a technique is desired that maximizes error detection (minimum silent data corruption in case of an error) with minimum area overhead and minimum complexity. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of controlling production or the recycle of photo film cartridges or lens-fitted photo film units, and more particularly to a method of managing information by use of IC memories mounted to the photo film cartridge or the film unit, for use in controlling the production process, the recycling process and quality of the photo film cartridges or the lens-fitted photo film units.
2. Background of the Invention
JPB No. 4-59627 discloses a production control method for controlling the manufacture and packing of photo film cartridges, wherein semi-products or products or components are each individually provided with an optically readable identification mark like a bar code, which is read by an optical sensor for collation at appropriate stages of the production. A general production control method using bar codes as identification marks is disclosed in JPB No. 57-28131, wherein the bar codes are used for collation between components, semi-products, products and packaging materials in order to prevent confusion between different types of components and regulate the flow of packaged products.
These production control systems using identification marks or bar codes cannot handle a sufficient amount of data necessary for tracing the production history of products. Since a new type photo film cartridge, called IX 240 type, is constituted of many components or parts compared to a conventional photo film cartridge like 135-type photo film cartridge, it is desirable to store data of each component not only for preventing confusion between different types of parts, but also for improving traceability of production history of the photo film cartridge.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,896,293 discloses a method of managing information for production of photo film cartridges, wherein the production processes of the photo film cartridges are supervised by computers. Data obtained from the respective processes, including feeding processes of raw materials, is collected by local computers in a real time fashion, and is transferred to a host computer, called a production information supervisory computer, to sum up as a database, so that the database may be used for many purposes such as production control, process control and quality control.
On manufacturing and packing lines of the IX 240 type photo film cartridge, all or sampled ones of semi-products or products or packaging materials are subjected to inspections. To make the most of data obtained during the inspections, it is necessary to correlate the inspection data to individual semi-products or products, or to manufacture lots. However, it takes a huge memory capacity to transfer all the data relating to the production, including the inspection data, to the production information supervisory computer, to make the database. Thus, the cost of information management inevitably increases.
A lens-fitted photo film unit, simply a film unit, is known as a product containing a photo film cartridge and having simple photographic mechanisms. After taking all available frames of photographs, the entire film unit is forwarded to a photo finisher. The photo finisher removes the photo film cartridge containing a strip of exposed filmstrip from a unit body for developing and printing. The developed filmstrip and the printed photographs are returned to the photographer.
Since the conventional film unit just has a lot number, it is only possible to know the date of manufacture, the line number and other limited production data from the lot number. Therefore, if trouble occurs in the film unit after the shipment, it is hard to trace the cause of the trouble and thus take a preventative measure against that trouble.
It is known in the art to previously record a service picture or pictures, such as illustration or title, on the filmstrip of a limited number of the film units. The design of the service picture varies depending upon where the film unit is expected to be sold or delivered. Usually, the design of the outer cover attached to the body of the film unit and that of a packaging material or gazette of the film unit are changed in accordance with the service picture. Even among those film units having no service print, the design of the outer cover and that of the packaging material tend to have many variations. To produce such specific film units, specific outer covers and specific packaging materials are set in place of standard outer covers and standard packaging materials in the conventional production control system, after a number of standard film units are produced to use up standard outer covers and standard packaging materials which are previously set in the production line.
Since it is necessary to wait till the production line completes production of standard or another kind of film units of a predetermined number, and replace the outer covers and packaging materials with another kind, producing a large variety of film units lowers the production efficiency. In addition, it is necessary to check if the combination between the outer cover, the packaging material, the unit body and the film cartridge is proper. It results in raising the total production cost.
To reduce industrial waste and prevent environmental pollution, used-up industrial products are required to be recovered for recycling. Recycling a product can be reusing the components as they are or reusing materials of the components for forming the same or other components. Hereinafter, reusing the material will be referred to as material recycling, whereas reusing the component will be referred to just as reuse. JPA No. 5-93950 discloses a method of indicating and detecting how many times and when the film unit has been recycled.
Also, JPA No. 6-161042 discloses an automatic disassembling line for the used film unit, wherein snap-in engagements between components of the film unit are disengaged to separate reusable components and those for recycling from the used film unit. Since the engaging portions are located differently according to the film unit type, it is necessary to sort the used film units according to the types before feeding them into the automatic disassembling line. For sorting, a type discrimination system of the film unit is disclosed in JPA No. 6-160048, wherein the film unit is positioned in a predetermined posture, and is photographed by a CCD camera. By comparing image data from the CCD camera with previously stored image data, the type of the film unit is determined.
The reusable components need to be examined as to whether they are practically reusable or not. U.S. Pat. No. 5,659,491 discloses an inspection apparatus for a flash unit used in the film unit, and a system for discriminating between reusable flash units, repairable flash units and others. The inspection apparatus performs an appearance test, inspections on mechanical and electrical functions. Each flash unit is placed on a pallet and conveyed sequentially to respective inspection stages. The pallet is provided with an ID unit for storing data obtained from the respective inspections. The ID unit consists of an infrared sending-receiving section, a communication interface, a CPU and a memory. At the conclusion of all inspections, data stored in the ID unit of each pallet is read out for judgement on respective inspection items as well as for total judgement.
Because the CCD camera and an image discrimination device for discriminating the type of film units based on image data are expensive, the type of discrimination system disclosed in the above prior art is expensive. Beside that, the type of discrimination system cannot discriminate between those types having the same outer appearance. Also, the discrimination system of the above U.S. patent is expensive as using a lot of pallets with the ID units each containing the CPU. Moreover, the pallets need to be inspected, which increases the number of necessary processes for the discrimination. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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In an effort to identify genes involved in the early stages of tumor progression, Bryne JA et al (1995, Cancer Res 55:2896-2903) screened human breast and basal cell carcinomas for genes commonly overexpressed in tumor cells relative to non-tumor tissue. One novel sequence, D52, was differentially expressed in carcinoma cells and showed little homology to other genes. Chen SL et al (1996, Oncogene 12:741-751) independently cloned D52 based on its increased expression in lung tumor derived cell lines relative to cell lines derived from normal tissues. Recently, Byrne et al (1996, Genomics 35:523-532) described a human homolog of D52, termed D53, which is often coexpressed with D52 and may form hetero- or homo-dimers. Both D52 and D53 contain PEST domains, regions that are rich in amino acid residues proline (P), glutamate (E), serine (S), and threonine (T) (Rechsteiner M (1990) Semin Cell Biol 1:433-440). In human D52, 18 of 37 amino terminal residues are PEST domain residues (Byrne et al, supra). PEST domains are associated with rapidly degraded enzymes, transcriptional factors, and components of receptor signaling pathways (Loetscher P et al (1991) J Biol Chem 266:11213-11220). Caenorhabditis elegans open reading frame (ORF) F13E6.1 has homology to D52 (Wilson R et al (1994) Nature 368:32-38).
Tumor Proteins and Disease
Cancer remains a major public health concern, and current preventative measures and treatments do not match the needs of most patients. For example, among women in the United States, as many as one in eight will contract breast cancer in their lifetime (Helzlsouer KJ (1994) Curr Opin Oncol 6:541-548). Furthermore, the incidence of breast cancer is rising by about 1% a year (Harris JR et al (1992) N Engl J Med 327:319-328). Among men over 50 years of age, the lifetime risk of prostate cancer is 9.5% and of death from prostate cancer is 2.9% (McLellan DL et al (1995) Can Med Assoc J 153:895-900).
Genes may be differentially expressed in tumor cells relative to non-tumor cells. For example, elevated expression levels of 12-lipooxygenase correlate with advanced stage and poor differentiation of human prostate cancer (Gao X et al (1995) Urology 46:227-237). Additionally, the high incidence of HER2 gene overexpression in breast tumors suggests that perturbations in HER2 are among the earliest and most common genetic lesions in human breast cancer (Liu E et al (1992) Oncogene 7:1027-1032). This correlation has led to the development of potential HER2 specific therapeutics (Kern JA et al (1993) Am J Respir Cell Mol Biol).
The discovery of additional tumor associated genes may provide agents which are more efficacious in cancer diagnosis and treatment than HER2 and 12-lipooxygenase. Novel tumor associated genes may be specific to a different spectrum of tumor types than known genes. A new tumor protein would satisfy a significant need in the art by providing new agents for the diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of cancer. | {
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This invention relates to compounds having antiviral activity, pharmaceutical compositions thereof, and methods of treatment utilizing the compositions. In particular, this invention is related to compounds having antiviral activity against viruses of the herpes group, pharmaceutical compositions containing the compounds, and methods of treating viruses of the herpes group using the pharmaceutical compositions.
There are four separate viruses of the herpes group which infect and cause disease in humans. These are (1) herpes simplex virus 1 and 2 (HSV-1 and HSV-2, respectively); (2) cytomegalovirus (CMV); (3) varicellazoster virus (VZ); and (4) Epstein-Barr virus (EB). Examples of diseases associated with herpes simplex virus infection include herpes labialis, genital herpes (herpes progenitalis), neonatal herpes, herpetic keratitis, eczema herpeticum, disseminated herpes, occupational herpes, herpetic gingivostomatitis, meningitis (aseptic), and encephalitis.
CMV is widespread in humans and numerous other mammals. The great majority of human CMV infections are subclinical; that is, the primary infection occurs with no signs or symptoms. An exception to this is a congenital infection which occasionally gives rise to cytomegalic inclusion body disease in infants. There is also a mononucleosis-like syndrome caused by the virus.
The great majority of serious cases due to CMV infection come from recurring infections in immuno-compromised patients, such as transplant patients and cancer patients. It has been estimated that silent CMV infections have occurred in a majority of humans by the time adulthood is reached.
VZ virus is associated with chicken-pox (varicella) and shingles (zoster) in humans.
EB virus is quite common and causes glandular fever; it is also believed to cause the genetic damage that leads to Burkitt's lymphoma.
Examples of drugs used to treat herpes infections include: (1) IUDR (5'-iodo-2'-deoxyuridine); (2) Ara-C (1-[beta-D-arabinofuranosyl]-cytosine); (3) Ara-A (9-beta-D-arabinofuranosyladenine); and (4) Acyclovir (9-[(2-hydroxyethoxy)methyl]guanine). Also Haines et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 4,757,088 issued Jul. 12, 1988) disclose that lidocaine (2-(diethylamino)-N-(2,6-dimethylphenyl)acetamide) is an antiviral agent in cell culture against HSV-1 and HSV-2, and is able to treat herpes virus infections of mammals. Haines et al. also disclose that lidocaine is particularly effective in the treatment of HSV oral and genital lesions in humans. According to Haines et al., the addition of pantothenic acid or its alcohol and salt forms, dexpanthenol and pantothenate respectively, to lidocaine or lidocaine hydrochloride significantly enhances the antiviral activity of those drugs.
In view of current interest in the art for finding useful antiviral agents, in particular, useful agents against herpes group viruses, any new compounds exhibiting antiviral activity would be a welcome contribution to the art. This invention provides such a contribution. | {
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1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a method of dry etching, and more particularly to a method of dry etching a nickel film for making an electrode. The invention also relates to an apparatus of making dry etching exhaust gas non-toxic.
2. Description of the Related Art
There has been used various methods and apparatuses for dry etching of nickel in order to etch a nickel film with high accuracy to thereby form a electrode in a semiconductor device.
For instance, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 53-20769 has suggested a method of dry etching a nickel film by means of plasma generated from CO or CO.sub.2 gas. The suggested method utilizes a method of refining metal, known as carbonyl process. Iwanami, Scientific and Chemical Encyclopedia, the 3rd edition, pp. 270 defines the word "carbonyl process" as follows: "This is a method of refining metal, utilizing thermal dissociation of metal carbonyl. Mond process for refining nickel is an example of the carbonyl process, and is based on the following equilibrium equation. EQU Ni(CO).sub.4.revreaction.Ni+4CO
If nickel dioxide (II) were reduced to metal nickel with hydrogen gas, the thus reduced metal nickel were caused to react with CO at 60.degree. C. to thereby produce gaseous nickel carbonyl, Ni(CO).sub.4 having a boiling point of 42.5.degree. C., and then the thus produced gaseous nickel carbonyl were heated up to 180.degree. C. in a decomposition tower, the above-mentioned equilibrium equation proceeds towards the right. As a result, there is obtained highly purified nickel in the form of powder, including CO in a small content."
As mentioned above, Ni can be etched merely by causing Ni to directly react with CO gas. The above-mentioned Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 53-20769 further suggests a method of etching Ni by producing plasma of CO gas, but does not mention an advantage of producing plasma of CO gas.
When CO.sub.2 gas is employed, CO.sub.2 gas has to be turned into plasma ill order to etch Ni. This is because CO.sub.2 gas is decomposed by being turned into plasma to thereby produce CO gas necessary for etching Ni.
By etching Ni with either CO or CO.sub.2 gas, there can be obtained an advantage that it is no longer necessary to use chemicals which has a problem that waste solution thereof is quite difficult to properly dispose of.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 60-228687 has suggested another method of dry etching nickel by using CO.sub.2 plasma. The Publication mentions that a method of etching nickel at a temperature in the range of 40.degree. C. to 100.degree. C. by using CO gas has a shortcoming of poor etching accuracy relative to a mask pattern due to that etching is isotropic. In addition, the Publication further mentions that if plasma were generated based on CO gas, there would be generated O.sub.2 gas which would oxidize nickel, and hence make it difficult to carry out nickel etching. As a solution to such a problem, the Publication has suggested the use of CO.sub.2 plasma for etching nickel, and addition of H.sub.2 to CO.sub.2 gas for preventing oxidation of nickel.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 60-228687 presents a graph showing a relation between a nickel etching rate and input power provided to a discharge electrode, which relation is found when nickel is etched by means of plasma of CO.sub.2 gas. The graph is illustrated in FIG. 1. According to FIG. 1, an input power of about 150 W is required for obtaining an etching rate of 1000 angstroms/min., for instance.
For the purpose of dry etching nickel, there may be used a variety of etching apparatuses. For instance, there may be used a plane parallel plate type reactive ion etching (RIE) apparatus, an electron cyclotron resonant (ECR) etching apparatus, or an inducive coupling type plasma (ICP) etching apparatus.
FIG. 2 illustrates an exhaust system of those etching apparatuses. The exhaust system comprises an exhaust pump system 80 disposed downstream of an etching apparatus 79, and an apparatus 81 for making an exhaust gas non-toxic, disposed downstream of the exhaust pump system 80. The exhaust gas 98 made non-toxic by the apparatus 81 is released to atmosphere, or introduced to a gas scrubber (not illustrated) through an exhaust conduit 97. As illustrated in FIG. 2, the exhaust pump system 80 generally includes a booster pump or turbo-molecular pump 95, and a rotary pump employing oil for rotation or a dry pump 96 employing no oil for rotation, disposed downstream of the pump 95.
The etching apparatus 79 includes an etching chamber 88 having a gas inlet 85 through which etching gas 84 is introduced into the etching chamber 88. The etching chamber 88 is provided with a gate 83 which is designed to be open or closed by means of a gate valve 82. Inside the etching chamber 88 are disposed an anode 89 and a cathode 90. The anode 89 is supported in the etching chamber 88 with an insulator 86, and is grounded at 87. The cathode 90 is supported in the etching chamber 88 with an insulator 99 in the same fashion as the anode 89, and is electrically connected to RF power source 93 via a matching box 92. The RF power source 93 is grounded at 94. A substrate 91 on which a nickel film to be etched is formed is placed on the cathode 90.
However, the above-mentioned conventional methods of dry etching have problems as follows.
The first problem is that nickel is isotropically etched in accordance with any one of the conventional methods, causing side etching with the result of poor accuracy in nickel etching relative to a mask pattern. This is because that CO gas directly reacts with Ni, which causes isotropic etching, in a conventional method where Ni is etched with CO gas at 40.degree. C. to 100.degree. C.
In a method of dry etching Ni with plasma of CO gas without keeping a substrate at 40.degree. C. or lower, a temperature of a substrate would be over 40.degree. C. by ion radiation to the substrate while nickel is being etched. Thus, as a result, etching is carried out isotropically due to direct reaction of CO gas with Ni.
Similarly, in a method of dry etching Ni with plasma of CO.sub.2 gas without keeping a substrate at 40.degree. C. or lower, a temperature of a substrate would be over 40.degree. C. by ion radiation to the substrate while nickel is being etched. As a result, etching is carried out isotropically due to direct reaction between CO generated by decomposition of CO.sub.2 gas in plasma and Ni.
The second problem is that when nickel is etched with plasma singly of CO gas, excessive deposition is accumulated on a surface of a substrate, which causes reduction in a nickel etching rate, or in some cases, inability of nickel etching. The reason is as follows. In decomposition of CO.sub.2 gas, there are found two stages. Namely, CO.sub.2 gas is first decomposed into CO and O in the first stage, and CO is further decomposed into C and O in the second stage. To the contrary, in decomposition of CO gas, CO gas is decomposed directly into C and O. Hence, non-volatile carbon is generated in a greater amount than CO.sub.2 gas, resulting in that deposition onto a substrate is generated in a greater amount.
The third problem is that plasma singly of CO gas and plasma singly of CO.sub.2 gas could not etch nickel without causing a damage to an underlying substrate. The reason is as follows. If nickel is etched with plasma singly of CO gas or plasma singly of CO.sub.2 gas, nickel is oxidized at a surface thereof by O or O.sub.2 generated by decomposition of CO and CO.sub.2. Hence, if input power were decreased in order to prevent an underlying substrate from being damaged due to ion radiation, it would be impossible to remove a surface oxidation film of nickel, and as a result nickel could not be etched.
If nickel is etched with plasma of CO.sub.2 and H.sub.2 gases, nickel tends not to be oxidized at a surface thereof, which avoids inability of nickel etching caused by oxides formed on a surface of nickel. However, it would be necessary to increase input power to be provided to a discharge electrode in order to decompose CO.sub.2 gas by plasma to thereby sufficiently produce CO acting as an etchant for nickel. Hence, the plasma of CO.sub.2 and H.sub.2 gases is not allowed to be applied to etching where it is expected to avoid causing a damage to an underlying substrate. For instance, an input power of about 150 W is necessary to be provided to a discharge electrode in order to obtain an etching rate of 1000 angstroms/minute. However, an input power of about 150 W would cause too much ion bombardment to an underlying substrate, resulting in that crystallinity in the underlying substrate would be destroyed. If an input power were reduced down to about 30 W in order to reduce damage to the underlying substrate caused by ion bombardment, an nickel etching rate would be reduced smaller than 500 angstroms/minute, which is not a practical etching rate.
The fourth problem is that exhaust gas resulted from nickel etching was not always disposed properly for making harmless. The reason is as follows. As described in Iwanami, Scientific and Chemical Encyclopedia, the third edition, pp. 981, Ni(CO.sub.4) gas resulted from nickel etching is virulently toxic. However, Ni(CO.sub.4) gas is removed after it has passed through an exhaust pump, Ni(CO.sub.4) gas discharged from an etching chamber pollutes the exhaust pump. Thus, operators doing maintenance of the pump are exposed to serious danger. Such a danger is significantly serious in particular in an oil rotation type rotary pump which requires oil exchanges. | {
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It is well known in the spinning of polyurethane elastic filaments that a liquid finishing agent such as an oil is applied to the filaments for prevention of their damage which may be caused by their abrasion, and conferring smoothness thereon to facilitate their handling in the subsequent steps.
A conventional means for application of a finishing agent takes a roller system in which a roller partially immersed in a bath containing the finishing agent is rotated to form a uniform layer of the finishing agent on the roller surface and a polyurethane elastic filament is allowed to run while being brought into contact with this surface to apply the finishing agent thereto.
Another example is a guide system, so called in general, in which a finishing agent such as an oil is supplied to a slit or groove provided in the guide and a polyurethane filament is allowed to run through the slit or groove to apply the finishing agent thereto.
It is also well known that spun filaments of a polyurethane material are subjected to false twisting upstream in their running direction from the finishing agent applying means. FIG. 1 shows the schematic diagram of a conventional apparatus for spinning of polyurethane elastic filaments. In this apparatus, a melt or solution of a polyurethane material is supplied from the conduit 12 and extruded through the spinning nozzle 14 into the spinning tube 15. At that time, warm air or cold air is always introduced from the inlet 13 into the spinning tube 15 and exhausted through the outlet 16. The air flow facilitates the formation of a filament 4 from the extruded melt or solution. The filament 4 coming out through a slit at the bottom of the spinning tube 15 is subjected to false twisting by the false twisting means 17, and a finishing agent is applied to the false twist filament by the finishing agent applying means 18, after which the false twist filament is wound up on the first roller 19 or allowed to turn its running direction to a certain direction for final winding.
In a conventional means for application of a finishing agent, whichever it takes either the roller system or the guide system as described above, a polyurethane elastic filament, although it is finally wound up with a winding machine after the application, is inevitably brought into contact with the application face of this means before or simultaneously with the application. The filament before its contact with the application face is in an extremely unstable state (i.e., not yet completely solidified), which is aggravated by a variation in the frictional resistance on this face, so that the properties of the wound filament, particularly its evenness, may be adversely affected.
Further, in the conventional spinning apparatus, when a polyurethane elastic filament is subjected to false twisting with a revolving gas flow or by mechanical rotation, it is brought into contact with a certain solid face of the false twisting means at the time of false twisting. A variation in the running frictional resistance of the filament is caused by the false twisting or its contact with the solid face. This variation has an adverse effect on the filament in an unstable state, i.e., not yet completely solidified, just after the extrusion through the spinning nozzle, to cause a phenomenon such as waviness and cramp in the filament, which may adversely affect on the evenness of the filament and may finally give rise to even filament breaking. | {
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The measurement data from NDT/NDI devices used for the routine monitoring of structural integrity must be of sufficient accuracy to allow a valid assessment to be made of the condition of the structure under test. Examples of such structures are pipes and vessels widely used in the petrochemical and other industries. Examples of measurement data are pipe wall thickness and other geometric conditions, including, but not limited to, the presence of irregular surfaces (e.g. corrosion, oxide, etc.) and flaws (e.g. porosity, cracks, etc.).
The decision to perform or not perform maintenance on a structure is made based on the assessment of the measurement data. Therefore, the measurement accuracy will have a direct impact on the decision. The consequence of inaccurate measurement data that underestimates an unfavorable condition of a structure can result in failures occurring before maintenance is performed. Conversely, inaccurate measurement data that overestimates an unfavorable condition of a structure can result in performing expensive and unnecessary maintenance.
One of the most common NDT/NDI devices used for assessing structural integrity is a corrosion gage, such as the instant assignee's 37 DLP product. Products of this type typically employ a ‘dual-element’ probe or probe system that contains one element for acoustic transmission and another for acoustic reception, preferably packaged in an integral housing. The two elements are set at a fixed angle, thereby setting a fixed focal depth and ‘V-Path’ within the object being tested. Although this element positioning provides advantages for measuring corrosion wear, measurement errors, known as ‘V-Path errors’, can be introduced when measuring thicknesses at depths other than that of the focal depth.
The specific challenge herein dealt with is to provide a method that will ameliorate the measurement errors resulting from V-Path echo, which is the energy path traveled by the acoustic wave after the energy is transmitted into the target material and reflected from the back-wall of the material and into the receive element of the transducer. Particularly, V-Path errors occur when thickness measurements are being made on a material thinner than the focal thickness of the transducer.
Existing efforts have been made to eliminate or reduce such errors as described above. Thus, embodiments employing pre-defined data for the V-Path, or time distortion, correction in the calculation of a thickness measurement are well known by those skilled, and are therefore not described in detail herein.
One conventional solution for V-Path error compensation employs pre-defined static data tables to compensate for the time distortion; however, this solution has the drawback of not accounting for actual material sound velocity, transducer wear and manufacturing variances in transducer population.
Materials under inspection have their own individual velocities denoted as V, where V=material velocity. U.S. Pat. No. 3,554,013 teaches a hardware error correction circuit for ultrasonic thickness gauges. It is not a software method and presents the drawbacks of thermal and other electronic drift and material costs.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,570,486 teaches V-Path calibration for UT thickness measurement using hardware error correction circuits for ultrasonic thickness gauges. It is not a software method and presents the drawbacks of thermal and other electronic drift and material costs.
Current V-Path methods using a pre-determined data table, called “V-Path Table,” use empirical methods of deriving data to generate the Table. The predetermined Table is generated by using TOF measurement methods on a batch of typical transducers of one model. It is then used for hundreds of the transducers of the same model for many years. The existing V-Path Table is herein referred to as the “Empirical V-Path Table”.
Using an Empirical V-Path Table to compensate all the transducers of one model is less accurate because of variations of transducer factors such as acoustical focal depth and saturation of the acoustic barrier. The factors causing such variations include manufacturing tolerance changes in different batches of transducers, changes in material characteristics, and changes caused by wear-and-tear.
Accordingly, a solution that overcomes the drawbacks described above and results in advantages highly valued by potentially affected industrial and public infrastructure concerns, needs to: a. Improve measurement accuracy; b. Extend the longevity of transducers along with their measurement accuracy; and c. Improve measurement accuracy of generic transducers for which the pre-defined V-Path data is unknown. | {
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The present invention relates to failure localization and, more specifically, to prioritization metrics for efficient post-Si failure localization.
One of the most time consuming tasks in hardware (HW) verification processes is related to failure debug processing. The first stage of failure debug processing is failure localization and is mostly done manually and consumes significant time per each failing test. The task becomes especially challenging in post-Si verification processing, where knowledge of internal states is limited. Moreover, if the results of failure localization are incorrect or not sufficiently focused, the results can lead to wasted time and effort in subsequent debug processing based on failure location assumptions that are wrong.
Techniques have recently been developed for facilitating automation of failure localization processing and are often based on dynamic slicing techniques adopted from software (SW) debug domains. The techniques relate to simulations of tests on instruction-set simulators and build a dependency graph of the test instructions and resources. The techniques thus allow for automatic reporting of a set (or slice) of the test instructions that are related to the faulty resources at the end of the test.
The above-described techniques also incorporate justification heuristics that provide a reduced slice by filtering out instructions that are related to correct resources. However, the resulting slice still may still contain multiple instructions related to any faulty resource, without the ability to prioritize and further filter the findings. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a diagnostic system for a variable valve timing control system of automotive internal combustion engines, and specifically to a system for diagnosing whether a variable valve timing control system itself operates in a normal state or in an abnormal state.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In modem vehicles, a variable intake- and/or exhaust-valve timing control system is often provided for variably adjusting an intake valve timing and/or an exhaust valve timing so that the optimum performance can be obtained corresponding to the use of the engine or vehicle. In such a variable valve timing control system for automotive engines, an intake- and/or exhaust-valve timing would be varied depending on engine revolutions, engine load and the like. One such valve timing control system has been disclosed in Japanese Patent Provisional Publication No. 2-298615 or in U.S. Pat. No. 4,231,330. As may be appreciated, in the event that the variable valve timing control system malfunctions, the optimum performance cannot be obtained. For the reasons set out above, there have been developed and proposed various diagnostic systems for a variable valve timing control system of automotive engines. In most popular diagnostic systems for a variable valve timing control system, for the purpose of diagnosing the normality or abnormality of the valve timing control system, the diagnostic system forcibly switches from an ON position (an operative state) of the valve timing control system to an OFF position (an inoperative state) under diagnostic permissible conditions for example a predetermined engine revolution range, a predetermined intake-air flow rate or the like, and then the diagnostic system monitors variations in the operating state of the engine (such as a rate of change in intake-air flow), resulting from the forcible switching operation to the OFF position. After the forcible switching operation, the diagnostic system determines that the valve timing control system operates normally when the variation of the operating state of the engine exceeds a predetermined reference value. In contrast to the above, when the variation of the operating state of the engine is less than the reference value, the diagnostic system determines that the valve timing control system operates abnormally.
Irrespective of whether or not the valve timing control system is shifted from the operative state to the inoperative state or vice versa, there are comparatively great positive and negative fluctuations in the rate of intake-air flow during acceleration or during deceleration. In such a case, it is difficult to precisely diagnose the valve timing control system. In the case that the engine experiences great fluctuations in the rate of intake-air flow owing to acceleration or deceleration, it is necessary to inhibit the incorrect diagnosis on the valve timing control system. To avoid the incorrect diagnosis, it is advantageous to properly inhibit the diagnosis on the valve timing control system, depending on a rate of change in the throttle valve opening. For example, it is preferable to inhibit the diagnosis on the valve timing control system when the rate of change in throttle valve opening is greater than a predetermined threshold. The magnitude relationship between the rate of change in throttle valve opening and the predetermined threshold is dependent on a sampling time interval of the throttle valve opening. Assuming that the throttle valve opening is detected every predetermined sampling time intervals, such as 0.1 sec (a comparatively short time interval) and additionally the rate of change in throttle valve opening is less than the predetermined threshold at the above-noted short time intervals, the system determines that it is unnecessary to inhibit the diagnosis because of a less rate of change in throttle valve opening. Thereafter, the diagnosis will be made on the valve timing control system. However, even when the rate of change in throttle valve opening is less than the predetermined threshold at the above-noted short time intervals, there is a possibility that the rate of change in throttle valve opening may become greater than the predetermined threshold in the event that the sampling time interval of the throttle valve opening is set at a comparatively long interval such as 1 sec. In this case, the diagnosis cannot be inhibited properly and timely, and thus there is a possibility that the diagnostic system may make an incorrect diagnosis on the valve timing control system. If the predetermined threshold of the rate of change in throttle valve opening is set at a smaller value, the system may operate to more frequently inhibit the diagnosis on the valve timing control system owing to slight fluctuations in the throttle valve opening. This undesiredly reduces the frequency of the diagnosis on the variable valve timing control system. Alternatively, assuming that the sampling time interval of the throttle valve opening is set at a longer time interval such as 2 sec, the diagnostic system begins to make a diagnosis on the valve timing control system with a time lag of 2 sec from the time when the rate of change in the throttle valve opening has been reduced down to a value less than the predetermined threshold. This also reduces the frequency of the diagnosis. | {
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1. Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to the field of silicon crystal growth. More particularly, the present invention relates to thermal load leveling using anisotropic materials to control silicon crystal growth.
2. Discussion of Related Art
Demand for solar cells continues to increase as the demand for renewable energy sources increases. As these demands increase, one goal of the solar cell industry is to lower the cost/power ratio. Solar energy in terms of $/watt is expensive due in part to the cost of manufacturing solar cells. There are two types of solar cells: silicon and thin film. The majority of solar cells are made from silicon wafers, such as single crystal silicon wafers which accounts for the majority of the cost associated with the manufacture of crystalline silicon solar cells. The efficiency of the solar cell, or the amount of power produced under standard illumination, is limited, in part, by the quality of this wafer. Currently, the production of these solar wafers can exceed 40% of the entire cost of a solar cell. Thus, providing high quality solar wafer production in a cost efficient manner can reduce the overall cost of solar energy. It is with respect to these and other considerations that the present improvements have been needed. | {
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1. Field
Aspects of the present invention generally relate to a control for changing a light emitting direction of an illumination device.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, flash imaging involving the following procedure (hereinafter, referred to as a bounce flash imaging) has been known. Specifically, light is emitted from an illumination device to a ceiling and the like, and an object is illuminated with diffused reflected light from the ceiling and the like. With the bounce flash imaging, the object can be illuminated with the light from the illumination device, not directly but indirectly, whereby the object can be depicted with soft light.
In a flash device discussed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2008-180913, a light emitting unit can be manually rotated and can be stopped at a predetermined angle with a click mechanism. The flash device discussed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2008-180913 further includes a lock mechanism in addition to the click mechanism. The lock mechanism prevents the light emitting unit from rotating beyond the predetermined angle. The light emitting unit of the flash device discussed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2008-180913 includes at least the click mechanism and is rotatable in the right and left direction.
In recent years, flash devices, having what is known as an auto bounce function, as discussed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2011-170014 and Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2009-75340, have been developed. With the auto bounce function, a light emission direction of the flash device is rotated by a drive mechanism, using a drive source such as a motor, so that the light emitting direction is automatically adjusted.
The flash device discussed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2009-75340 rotates a remote light emitting unit in a casing of a head unit. The flash devices discussed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2011-170014 and Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2008-180913 rotate a casing (hereinafter, referred to as head unit) accommodating the light emitting unit. To achieve greater user friendliness, the flash devices having the auto bounce function preferably have, in addition to the auto bounce function, a configuration allowing a user to directly hold and manually rotate the head unit.
Generally, the following counter measure is provided for abnormalities such as collision of the drive mechanism against an obstacle, and rotated manually or by the drive mechanism. More specifically, a clutch mechanism such as a slipping clutch is provided in the drive mechanism, including the motor, to protect the drive mechanism. However, the click mechanism and the lock mechanism discussed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2008-180913 might hinder operations of the drive mechanism and thus are preferably not provided.
However, the head unit, stopped at a predetermined angle and held only by the holding force of the clutch mechanism, is likely to have the angle changed upon receiving external force. When the resultant angle is not what is intended by the user, the object is not properly illuminated with the illumination light, and this leads to a failure imaging.
To prevent such a problem, the clutch mechanism needs to have extremely high holding force to sufficiently hold the head unit. Alternatively, the click mechanism and the lock mechanism, which hinder the operation of the drive mechanism, need to be provided. In such cases, the drive mechanism of the head unit needs to be rigid enough to bear the holding force of the clutch mechanism or the resistive force of the click mechanism. A high-output, large-size motor is required to overcome the resistive force of the click mechanism, whereby the size and the cost of the drive mechanism increase. When the lock mechanism is provided, the configuration becomes complicated considering that the locking needs to be released when the drive mechanism operates, whereby the size and the cost of the flash device increase. | {
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to wheelchairs for transporting invalids and, more particularly, to a wheelchair having a chair assembly that is shiftable relative to the frame along a generally horizontal path for facilitating transfer of an individual to and from a support surface, such as an automobile passenger seat or a hospital bed.
2. Discussion of Prior Art
Wheelchairs are used in various circumstances to assist with the transport of persons from one location to another. In many instances, the wheelchair serves to transport a person to and from a support surface, such as an automobile passenger seat, a hospital bed, etc. It is, of course, necessary to safely transfer the person from the support surface to the chair, or vice versa. With conventional wheelchair designs, however, the safe transfer of a person to and from the wheelchair is often very difficult. Such transfer is particularly problematic with highly debilitated persons.
A conventional wheelchair typically includes a wheeled frame having a pair of rear drive wheels and a pair of relatively smaller front castor wheels, a chair for supporting a person in a sitting position, and footrests upon which the person places her feet during transport. The chair faces forwardly and is attached to the frame in a position generally between the front and rear wheels for stability purposes. Furthermore, the chair is traditionally surrounded on all but its forward side by a pair of armrests and a chair back, all of which project upwardly from the chair. The footrests traditionally extend forwardly from the frame ahead of the front wheels for supporting the persons feet above the ground during transport. A conventional footrest includes a bar fixed to the frame and a pedal swingably supported on the bar for swinging movement about a substantially horizontal, fore-and-aft axis. Such a configuration allows for swinging of the pedal between a substantially horizontal foot supporting position and an upright position, in which the pedal is swung out of the foot supporting position so that the person's feet may be placed on the ground between the upright pedals during transfer of the person to and from the wheelchair.
Thus, transfer of a person to and from the wheelchair requires that the person be moved in a generally fore-and-aft direction into and out of a sitting position. For example, to transfer a person from a support surface to the wheelchair, the wheelchair is placed in close proximity to the support surface and the pedals are swung to the upright position. Subsequently, the person raises from a recumbent position on the support surface to her feet and walks, in most cases with assistance, to the wheelchair. The person is positioned relative to the wheelchair so that her legs and feet are between the upright pedals and bars of the footrests and her backside faces the chair. The person is finally lowered to a sitting position on the chair and the pedals are swung to a foot supporting position. Of course, transfer of a person from the wheelchair to a support surface is essentially the reverse of the steps set forth above.
The conventional wheelchair design, as hereinabove described, is highly problematic, particularly with regard to transfer of the patient to and from the wheelchair. As evident from the description, the person must step between the footrests when being transferred to and from the wheelchair. This can indeed be very difficult and unsafe for persons who are not highly agile. Furthermore, some wheelchair configurations have the front wheels positioned forwardly of the frame so that the person must also maneuver between the front wheels when being transferred to and from the wheelchair.
Conventional wheelchairs are also problematic in the sense that most wheelchair constructions prevent placement of the chair adjacent the support surface, whereby the person can simply slide from the support surface to the chair, or vice versa. That is, the wheelchair components extending forwardly beyond the chair prevent the unobstructed forward side of the chair from being placed alongside the support surface, such that transfer of a person to and from the wheelchair necessarily involves raising the person to her feet and moving the person between the footrests.
It will be appreciated that conventional footrests also present an obstacle for care providers that assist the person. Of course, the care provider, along with the person, must avoid tripping over the footrests during transfer. Moreover, in instances where it is desired to place the wheelchair as near the support surface as possible so as to minimize movement of the person, the support surface, chair and footrests define an essentially enclosed area that prevents optimum location of the care provider immediately behind or in front of the person during transfer. The location of the wheelchair relative to a support surface, and the access to the person during transfer to and from the wheelchair afforded the care provider are attributes of the wheelchair which supplant, rather than supplement, one another. That is proximity of the chair relative to the support surface must be sacrificed in favor of unobstructed access to the person, and vice versa. For example, a person demanding a significant amount of assistance requires that the wheel chair be spaced sufficiently away from the support surface to provide the care provider with the access to assist the person. However, because of the necessary spacing of the wheelchair from the support surface for accommodating the care provider, the person must move a greater distance during transfer to and from the wheelchair. | {
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In an increasingly networked world, more and more traffic, such as data, voice, and video, is transmitted over public and proprietary networks. Wireless networks, in particular, are becoming increasingly popular as networks through which subscribers obtain both voice services (e.g., telephone calls) and data services (e.g., email and web surfing).
Wireless networks may be cellular networks, made up of a number of radio coverage areas (e.g., cells). In a cellular network, different radio cells may use different radio frequencies. Additionally, radio frequencies may be reused, such as by non-adjacent cells. When a mobile device moves across the border of two cells, the network may “handoff” the device to the cell that the mobile device is entering. | {
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Polypropylene resins are extensively used in the fields of automotive parts and other various molded articles including parts for domestic electrical appliances, miscellaneous goods, and films, because molded articles obtained therefrom are excellent in rigidity and high-temperature rigidity. However, the molded articles of general polypropylene resins have insufficient impact resistance and are hence usable in a limited range of applications.
Several methods are known as techniques for improving the impact resistance of polypropylene resins. Representative examples thereof include a technique in which propylene is block-copolymerized with ethylene and a technique in which an ethylene-.alpha.-olefin copolymer rubber is incorporated into a polypropylene resin. The polypropylene resins obtained by these techniques are used mainly in applications such as materials for exterior automotive parts such as automotive bumpers and materials for interior automotive parts, such as instrument panels, console boxes, resin pillars, and trims, and as materials for domestic electrical appliances, such as washing tubs, the housings of vacuum cleaners, and the housings of coffee makers. According to need, these polypropylene resins are used after incorporation of an inorganic filler, e.g., talc, thereinto or after addition of a rubber to the block copolymer. Although the impact resistance of polypropylene resin compositions has been improved due to these techniques, the compositions thus improved have new problems, for example, that when a rubber is added in a large amount, the molded articles obtained are reduced in rigidity and high-temperature rigidity and the compositions have reduced flowability. There is hence a desire for the development of a polypropylene resin composition which gives molded articles having improved impact resistance while retaining intact rigidity, high-temperature rigidity, and flowability.
For eliminating the above problem, several proposals have been made. Known as such proposals are: a technique in which a propylene block copolymer improved in the stereoregularity of the propylene homopolymer block is used in order to enhance the reduced rigidity and high-temperature rigidity (Examined Japanese Patent Publication No. 1-254706 and Unexamined Published Japanese Patent Application No. 62-187707); and a technique in which an inorganic filler, e.g., talc, is incorporated into a polypropylene resin. The technique in which the stereoregularity of a propylene homopolymer block is improved is used in various fields because it can improve rigidity and high-temperature rigidity and hardly increases the specific gravity of the composition. On the other hand, the technique in which talc is incorporation is also used frequently. However, problems have been pointed out, for example, that the incorporation of talc not only results in molded articles having an increased specific gravity and hence in increased product weights, but also impairs the flowability of the resultant composition itself.
For the purpose of improving impact resistance, resistance to impact blushing, etc., several techniques have been proposed in which various copolymers are incorporated into a polypropylene resin. For example, Examined Japanese Patent Publication No. 59-37294 discloses a resin composition obtained by incorporating a hydrogenated polybutadiene into a polypropylene resin, and Examined Japanese Patent Publication No. 62-45883 discloses a diblock copolymer comprising a hydrogenated polybutadiene. Furthermore, Unexamined Published Japanese Patent Applications Nos. 4-342752 and 5-132606 disclose a resin composition obtained by incorporating a block copolymer comprising a hydrogenated polybutadiene into a polypropylene resin, and Unexamined Published Japanese Patent Applications Nos. 1-168743 and 1-168744 disclose a resin composition obtained by incorporating a hydrogenated block copolymer of isoprene and butadiene into a polypropylene resin or polyethylene resin.
The above resin compositions generally can have both improved resistance to impact blushing or blushing by bending and improved impact resistance. However, these resins have a problem, for example, that their rigidity and high-temperature rigidity are considerably low for the improvement in impact resistance. Practical applications thereof are hence limited.
When a rubber ingredient such as those described above, which serves to improve the impact resistance of a polypropylene resin composition, is added in a large amount, new problems arise. For example, the resultant composition gives molded articles having reduced rigidity and has impaired flowability. Consequently, attention is focused on the development of a polypropylene resin composition which can give molded articles having improved impact resistance without impairing the rigidity of the molded articles or reducing the flowability of the resin composition. An object of the present invention is to provide polyolefin resin compositions having excellent flowability and giving molded articles excellent in rigidity and impact resistance and in balance between these properties.
The present inventors made intensive investigations in order to eliminate the problems described above. As a result, they have found that a polyolefin resin composition having excellent flowability and giving molded articles having an excellent balance between rigidity and impact resistance is obtained by incorporating a hydrogenated diene block copolymer into a composition comprising an ethylene-(higher .alpha.-olefin) copolymer rubber and a high-rigidity polypropylene/propylene-ethylene block copolymer and optionally containing talc. The present invention has been completed based on this finding. | {
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(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the art of protecting executable programs and data against malicious analysis.
(2) Description of the Related Art
Unauthorized use of computer software through program analysis and tampering is a longstanding problem. For instance, an analyzer can execute software, which is designed to require a password to be executed, without entering the password by identifying and disabling the part of the code which checks a password. Also, software for viewing encrypted digital contents may include a cryptographic key for decryption. If the software is analyzed and the cryptographic key is identified, illegal copying of digital contents becomes possible.
In this way, malicious software analysis endangers software business and digital contents business.
To solve this problem, anti-tamper software technologies have been developed. One example of such technologies uses a complicated or redundant program so as to make the analysis with a disassembler or the like difficult (see “Non-patent Document 1”).
However, all of the above-mentioned technologies are realized as contrivances during the programming phase. That is, in the executing phase, every kind of software protected by any anti-tamper technology is being represented as lines of instruction codes, which are understandable to a CPU, and being loaded into main memory. Therefore, analyzers can refer to the codes in the memory using a debugger, and rewrite the codes to follow operations of the program. By repeating execution and analysis of a program, analyzers can fully analyze the program.
<Non-Patent Document 1>
Tomohiro Inoue, “The protect II: Introduction to program analysis”, Shuwa System Trading, March, 1987. | {
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Existing polarizing plates generally has a structure in which a triacetyl cellulose (hereinafter, TAC) film is laminated on both surfaces of a polyvinyl alcohol (hereinafter, refer to as ‘PVA’) polarizer.
However, a TAC film is vulnerable to moisture thereby causes a durability problem due to dimensional changes when used for a long period of time, and in order to remedy such a disadvantage, attempts to use a film having a composition with high resistance for moisture and a low phase-difference physical property such as a cyclo-olefin polymer (hereinafter, COP), a polycarbonate (hereinafter, PC) or an acryl-based resin in a polarizing plate have been made. Particularly, a film having an acryl-based composition is known have advantages not only in optical properties and durability, but also in costs.
However, an acryl-based film prepared using existing acryl-based resins has high surface friction, therefore, has a problem in that blocking (a phenomenon of two film surfaces joining and sticking to each other after winding) occurs when winding the film, and adhesion with a polarizer is not satisfactory.
In view of the above, a primer prepared by adding fine particles to a polyurethane polymer has been developed. In this case, a polarizer protective film having an excellent winding property may be prepared by suppressing the blocking occurring during the winding. However, even in this case, static electricity is generated during a process of unwinding a wound film due to high electric insulation of an acryl-based film, which causes a problem of contaminating the surface by foreign substances being adsorbed to the film substrate, and in severe cases, this leads to the generation of sparks threatening the safety of workers. Besides, there is a problem in that, despite a cleaning operation for removing the adsorbed foreign substances, optical defects occur due to the foreign substances still remaining.
Particularly, polarizing plate sizes tend to increase with the recent trend of liquid crystal display device panels becoming larger, and the amount of static electricity generated further increases with processes speeding up for productivity improvement. Accordingly, the development of polarizer protective films having an excellent anti-static effect, and having a function capable of quickly removing generated static electricity has been required. | {
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1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a corner supply type plane light source device making use of optical means having both light guide function and scattering function in an internal volume region (hereinafter called light-scattering light guide). The plane light source device of the invention is applied to backlight source means of display device such as liquid crystal display.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a known plane light source device of a thin panel type used in backlight source means of various display devices including liquid crystal display, a light guide of straight tube type (typically, a fluorescent lamp) is disposed at a position opposite to the side end face of a plane light guide, and light is supplied to the light guide from the straight tube light source. The light introduced into the light guide is converted in propagation direction, and is emitted from a light exit surface (luminescent surface). In such plane light source device, to form a luminescent surface of a relatively wide area on the surface of the light guide, light supply means of a large size must be disposed at least in one direction. This is not, however, an advantageous condition for saving power in the plane light source device or simplifying the structure.
On other hand, in the plane light source device having a flat light guide, a technique for disposing light supply means at a corner or corners of the light guide has been proposed, but it is difficult to distribute the light entering from a corner of the light guide uniformly in the entire light guide, and practical plane light source device has not been realized yet. A light-emitting diode (LED) of high luminance and small size has been developed, and its size is considered to be suited to be disposed in the corner of the light guide. However, when an LED between a type with strong directivity in radiation light is used for enhancing the efficiency of light coupling between the LED and the light guide, a plane light source device high in uniformity of brightness is not realized in the constitution of disposing at the corner of the light source.
To avoid this problem, when high luminance LEDs are used as light supply means of plane light source device, a light diffusion plate is combined by arranging the LEDs in a two-dimensional array. Therefore, if the light supply means of high luminance LEDs is used, the entire structure including the wiring is complicated, and it is difficult to save power and simplify the structure.
Moreover, in the conventional plane light source device for obtaining an illumination light by converting the propagation direction of incident light by using light scattering in the light-scattering light guide, a considerable portion of the light entering in the light-scattering medium is scattered backward, and tends to return to the light source side without being guided sufficiently in the scattering medium. Such return light not only causes light loss, but also raises locally the luminance in the portion near the light supply source and generally lowers the luminance in the portion remote from the light supply source. | {
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1. Field of the Invention
The invention pertains to the field of video transmissions. More particularly, the invention pertains to a system and a method for generating video frames.
2. Description of the Related Art
Virtually all applications of video and visual communication deal with large quantities of video data. To create a video presentation, a rendering computer displays a plurality of digital images (“frames”) in succession, thereby simulating movement.
Currently, certain technical problems exist relating to transmitting and rendering a video presentation across low bandwidth computer networks. FIG. 1 illustrates a conventional streaming video system 100. In the video system 100, a media server 102 is connected via a network 104 to a rendering computer 106. The media server 102 typically includes one or more video presentations 110 for transmission to the rendering computer 106.
One problem that is encountered in current streaming systems is that the transmission bandwidth between the media server 102 and the rendering computer 106 is not sufficient to support a real-time seamless presentation, such as is provided by a standard television set. To overcome this problem and allow the user to receive the presentation in real-time, the video presentation is often spatially and temporally compressed. Further, to reduce the amount of data that is transmitted, the media server 102 skips selected frames of the presentation, or, alternatively, the video presentation can be developed having only a few frames per second. The resulting presentations, however, are jittery and strobe-like and are simply not as smooth as a presentation that has a higher frame rate.
To increase the rate at which the frames are displayed to a user, a frame generator 112 may be used to provide intermediate frames between two selected reference frames of the video presentation 110. Typically, frame generators fall within one of two categories: linear motion interpolation systems and motion compensated frame interpolation systems. Linear motion interpolation systems superimpose two reference frames of the video presentation 110 to create one or more intermediate frames. Motion compensated frame interpolation systems use motion vectors for frame interpolation.
FIG. 2 illustrates the data format of a frame 200 according to one motion compensated frame interpolation system. The frame 200 of FIG. 2 is divided into nine horizontal groups of blocks (GOB). Each GOB includes eleven macroblocks. Each macroblock has four luminance blocks of 8 pixels by 8 lines followed by two downsampled chrominance blocks (Cb and Cr).
In motion compensated interpolation systems, selected macroblocks are assigned a motion vector based upon a reference frame. FIG. 3 illustrates an exemplary reference frame 300. Usually, the reference frame is the last frame that was transmitted to the rendering computer 106. Each motion vector points to an equivalently sized region in the reference frame that is a good match for the macroblock that is to be transmitted. If a good representation cannot be found, the block is independently coded.
By sending motion vectors that point to regions in the reference frame already transmitted to the rendering computer 106, the media server 102 can transmit a representation of a frame using less data than if the pixel information for each pixel in each block is transmitted.
Although current frame generators increase the frame rate, they are simplistic in design. These systems do not account for certain idiosyncrasies within selected streaming presentations. For example, current frame generators that use motion compensated frame interpolation do not account for video presentations that have textual characters. Often a video image is overlaid with video text to convey additional information to the viewer. If motion compensated frame interpolation generates an intermediate frame having textual characters, the generated frame may inappropriately move the text to a new position, thereby creating some floating text that was not intended by the creator of the video presentation.
Another problem associated with existing frame generators is that they unintelligently perform frame generation regardless of whether such interpolation results in a better quality video presentation. Although frame interpolation does increase the number of frames presented to the viewer, such frame generation can produce strange results under certain circumstances. Some encoders, for example, choose a motion vector for a selected block based only upon the fact that the motion vector references a block that is a good match for the selected block even though there is no actual motion from one corresponding frame to the other. Thus, since all of the vectors do not represent motion, frame generation in these instances should not always be employed.
Additionally, current frame generators do not perform any type of post filtering to the generated frames. As can be readily appreciated, since motion compensated interpolation systems build an intermediate frame using blocks of pixels, i.e., macroblocks, the pixels at the border of each block may not be a close match to the pixels in the neighboring block. Accordingly, the borders of each of the blocks may be readily visible to a viewer of the media presentation.
There is a need for a frame generator that behaves intelligently about the frame generation process. If frame generation would produce anomalous results, frame generation should not be performed. A frame generator should also determine whether the reference frames include textual characters and account for them in the frame generation process. A frame generator should also filter interpolation artifacts from the intermediate frame. | {
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1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to disubstituted polycyclic compounds, to pharmaceutical compositions thereof, and methods of use in mammals to treat cognitive disorders, neurological dysfunction, and/or mood disturbances such as, but not limited to degenerative nervous system diseases. Additionally, these compounds can be used as reagents in studies on the biochemical mechanism of neurotransmitter based diseases.
2. Background Including Prior Art
Increasingly there is a need for effective treatments for nervous system disorders and neurological deficiencies. Many of these diseases correlate with increasing age due mainly to degenerative changes in the nervous systems. Although in early stages of some diseases, certain systems are rather specifically affected (e.g., cholinergic systems in Alzheimer's Disease and Myasthenia Gravis, the dopaminergic system in Parkinson's Disease, etc.), multiple neurotransmitter system deficiencies (acetylcholine, dopamine, norepinephrine, serotonin) are generally found at later stages of disease such as senile dementia, multi-infarct dementia, Huntington's Disease, mental retardation, etc. This explains the generally observed multiple symptomatology that includes cognitive, neurological, and effective/psychotic components (see Gottfries, Psychopharmacol., 1985, 86, 245). Deficits in the synthesis and release of acetylcholine in the brain are generally thought to be related to cognitive impairment (see Francis, et al., New England J. Med., 1985, 7, 313) whereas neurological deficits (e.g. Parkinsonian symptoms) and mood/mental changes may be related to impairment of dopaminergic and serotonergic systems, respectively. Other neurological deficits (e.g. Myasthenia Gravis) are related to cholinergic deficiencies in the peripheral nervous system.
Treatment strategies employed previously encompass vasoactive drugs like vincamine and pentoxifylline; metabolic enhancers like ergoloid mesylates, piracetam, and naftidrofuryl; neurotransmitter precursors like I-DOPA, choline, and 5-hydroxytryptamine; transmitter metabolizing enzyme inhibitors such as physostigmine; and neuropeptides like adrenocorticotropic hormone and vasopressin-related peptides. Except for I-DOPA treatment for Parkinson's Disease and cholinesterase inhibitor treatment for Myasthenia Gravis, these treatment strategies have generally failed to enhance the residual function of the affected systems by enhancing the stimulus-induced release of neurotransmitters. Theoretically, such an enhancement would improve the signal-to noise ratio during chemical transmission of information, thereby reducing deficits in processes related to cognition, neurological function, and mood regulation.
Cook, L., et al., Drug Development Research 19:301-314 (1990), Nickolson, V. J., et al., Drug Development Research 19:285-300 (1990), and DeNoble, V. J., et al., Pharmacology Biochemistry & Behavior, Vol. 36, pp. 957-961 (1990), all have shown by invitro testing that the drug DuP 996, 3,3-bis(4-pyridinylmethyl)-1-phenylindolin-2-one, is useful in the treatment of cognition dysfunction. Saletu, B., et al., Br. J. Clin. Pharmac. (1989), 28, 1-16, suggest that DuP 996 may exhibit indirect action or may have an active metabolite, and that three metabolites have been identified, a mono-N-oxide, a bis-oxide and a C-dealkylated alcohol. Chem. Abstracts 111(13):108875p suggest that the following structure is one of the above-named metabolites metabolite of DuP 996: ##STR2##
Neither reference presented chemical data to support their hypotheses.
European Patent Application 311,010, published Apr. 12, 1989, discloses that .alpha., .alpha.-disubstituted aromatics or heteroaromatics of the formula: ##STR3## or a salt thereof wherein X and Y are taken together to form a saturated or unsaturated carbocyclic or heterocyclic first ring and the shown carbon in said ring is .alpha. to at least one additional aromatic ring or heteroaromatic ring fused to the first ring;
one of Het.sup.1 or Het.sup.2 is 2, 3, or 4-pyridyl; or 2, 4, or 5-pyrimidinyl, and the other is selected from PA1 R.sup.1 and R.sup.2 independently are H or C.sub.1 C.sub.3 alkyl; PA1 --H and --H.sup.1 independently are 6-membered heterocyclic aromatic rings containing at least one nitrogen atom as a part of the ring optionally substituted with one substituent selected from the group C.sub.1 -C.sub.3 alkyl, halo, OR.sup.1 or NR.sup.1 R.sup.2, or an N-oxide or pharmaceutically suitable acid addition salt thereof. These references claim the necessity of heteroaryl groups for activity. Patent WO 91/01/306, Feb. 7, 1991 discloses oxindole derivatives of formula: ##STR6## useful for treating senile dementia, i.e. improving brain functions and activating and protecting brain metabolism. In the above formula, R.sup.1 represents hydrogen, halogen, lower alkyl, or lower alkoxy; R.sup.2 represents hydrogen or lower alkyl; R.sup.3 represents --CH.sub.2 --R.sup.5, wherein R.sup.5 represents alkyl which may be cyclic, benzodioxanyl, or phenyl which may be substituted with a plurality of halogen, lower alkyl, lower alkoxy, hydroxy, diethylamino, trifluoromethyl, nitrile, nitro, or benzyloxy; alternatively R.sup.2 and R.sup.3 may be combined together to form .dbd.CH--R.sup.5, wherein R.sup.5 is defined above; and R.sup.4 represents 1-propylbutyl, pyridyl, phenyl or substituted phenyl. This reference only discloses imides and does not suggest alkyl or aryl substituted amides. PA1 R.sup.1 is 4-,3-, or 2-pyridyl, pyrimidyl; pyrazinyl, 2-fluoro-4-pyridyl or 3-fluoro-4-pyridyl; PA1 R.sup.2 is alkyl of 1 to 10 carbons, cycloalkyl of 3 to 8 carbons, 2-,3-, or 4-pyridyl, Phe or Phe-W; PA1 Phe is a phenyl group; PA1 W is F, Cl, Br, R.sup.4, --OH, --OR.sup.4, --NO.sub.2, --NH.sub.2, --NHR.sup.4, --NR.sup.4 R.sup.4, --CN, --S(O).sub.m --R.sup.4 ; PA1 R.sup.3 is H, F, Cl, Br,--CN,--OH,--NO.sub.2, --NH.sub.2,--CF.sub.3, --NHR.sup.4, --NR.sup.4 R.sup.4, R.sup.4, --OR.sup.4, --S(O).sub.m --R.sup.4 ; PA1 R.sup.4 and R.sup.4' are alkyl of 1 to 4 carbons, CH.sub.2 Phe--W or Phe--W; PA1 R.sup.5 is --(CH.sub.2).sub.n --Y or --OCOR.sup.4 ; PA1 Y is H, OH, NH.sub.2, --NHR.sup.4, --NR.sup.4 R.sup.4, --NHCOR.sup.4, --NHCO.sub.2 R.sup.4, F, Cl, Br, OR.sup.4, --S(O).sub.m R.sup.4, --CO.sub.2 H, --CO.sub.2 R.sup.4, --CN, --CONR.sup.4 R.sup.4, --CONHR.sup.4, --CONH.sub.2, --COR.sup.4 ; --CH.dbd.CHCO.sub.2 R.sup.4, OCOR.sup.4, Phe, Phe-W, -C.tbd.CCO.sub.2 R.sup.4, --CH.dbd.CHR.sup.4, or --C.tbd.CR.sup.4 ; PA1 m is 0, 1 or 2; PA1 n is 1 to 7; PA1 provided that, when Q is oxindole and R.sup.5 is (CH.sub.2).sub.n Y, then Y is other than OH; PA1 A and B together form .dbd.O; PA1 R.sup.1 is (a)4-pyridyl, (b)4-pyrimidyl, or (c) 2-fluoro-4-pyridyl; PA1 R.sup.5 is --(CH.sub.2).sub.n --Y; PA1 n is 1 to 5; PA1 Y is H, --OH, NH.sub.2, NHR.sup.4, NR.sup.4 R.sup.4, F, Cl, Br, --CO.sub.2 H, --CO.sub.2 R.sup.4, --CN, --CONHR.sup.4, --CONH.sub.2, --CONR.sup.4 R.sup.4, --COR.sup.4, --.dbd.CHCO.sub.2 R.sup.4, --OCOR.sup.4, or -Phe-W PA1 W is F, Cl, or Br; R.sup.4, --OR.sup.4, --S(O).sub.m --R.sup.4, --CN, --NO.sub.2, or --NH.sub.2 ; PA1 R.sup.4 is alkyl of 1 to 4 carbons, and m is 0, 1,2. PA1 R.sup.1 is (a)4-pyridyl, (b) 4-pyrimidyl, or (c) 2- fluoro-4-pyridyl; PA1 R.sup.5 is --(CH.sub.2).sub.n --Y; PA1 n is 1 to 4; PA1 Y is --CO.sub.2 R.sup.4, --CN, --CONHR.sup.4, --CH.dbd.CHCO.sub.2 R.sup.4, --OCOR.sup.4, PA1 R.sup.2 is 4-pyridyl, Phe or Phe-W, PA1 W is F, Cl, or Br; NO.sub.2, CN, or CH.sub.3 ; PA1 R.sup.3 is H, F, Cl, or Br; and PA1 R.sup.4 is alkyl of 1 to 2 carbons.
(a) 2, 3, or 4-pyridyl PA2 (b) 2, 4, or 5-pyrimidinyl PA2 (c) 2-pyrazinyl PA2 (d) 3 or 4-pyridazinyl, PA2 (e) 3 or 4-pyrazolyl, PA2 (f) 2 or 3-tetrahydrofuranyl, and PA2 (g) 3-thienyl
are useful as cognition enhancers. U.S. Pat. No. 4,760,083, issued to Myers et al. on Jul. 26, 1988, discloses that indolines of the following formula are useful for treatment of cognitive deficiencies: ##STR4## wherein p is 0 or 1; Z is 0 or S; R is C, --C.sub.10 alkyl, C.sub.1 -C.sub.3 cycloalkyl, 2-pyridyl, 3-pyridyl, 4-pyridyl or ##STR5## V, W, X and Y are independently halo, C, --C.sub.3 alkyl, OR.sup.1, NO.sub.2, CF.sub.3, CN or NR.sup.2 R.sup.2 ;
EP415-102-A discloses a series of 1,3-dihydro-1-(pyridinylamino)-2H-indol-2-ones as having analgesic, anticonvulsant, and/or memory enhancing activity and are useful in the treatment of Alzheimer's disease. ##STR7## where R.sup.1, R.sup.2 and R.sup.3 are independently hydrogen, loweralkyl, aryl, arylloweralkyl or heteroarylloweralkyl selected from the group consisting of pyridinylmethyl, pyridinylethyl, thienylmethyl, thienylethyl; or R.sup.2 and R.sup.3 together form a cycloalkane ring of 4 to 6 carbons or a spiro-fused aryl cycloalkane or heterocycloalkyl selected from the group consisting of piperidine and tetrahydropyran; X and Y are independently hydrogen, halogen, hydroxy, loweralkyl, loweralkoxy, nitro, amino or trifluoromethyl; m and n are independently integers of 1 to 3. This reference disclosed hydrazides and does not suggest alkyl or aryl substituted amides. | {
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The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Sedum plant, botanically of hybrid origin and known as Sedum ‘Lime Zinger’ referred to hereinafter by its cultivar name, ‘Lime Zinger’. The new cultivar of Sedum is a hardy herbaceous perennial grown for use as a landscape and container plant and is particularly suitable as a groundcover.
‘Lime Zinger’ arose from an ongoing breeding program by the Inventor in Hudsonville, Mich. The objective was to obtain a new cultivar of Sedum with lime green leaves with red picotee margins combined with a compact mounded habit without the tendency to flop open in the center of the plant.
The new cultivar arose from a controlled cross made in July of 2009 between unnamed plants from the Inventors breeding program as male and female parents. The Inventor selected ‘Lime Zinger’ as a single unique plant in September of 2010 from the resulting seedlings.
Asexual reproduction of the new cultivar was first accomplished by tip stem cuttings in July of 2010 in Hudsonville, Mich. Propagation by cuttings and crown division has determined the characteristics to be stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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The present invention relates to highly delaminated hexagonal boron nitride powders, a process for making such powders, and the use of the resulting powders.
Several methods for milling boron nitride, in particular, hexagonal boron nitride (xe2x80x9ch-BNxe2x80x9d) are known in the art. One conventional process for milling h-BN is disclosed in Hagio et al., J. Am. Cer. Soc. 72:1482-84 (1989) (xe2x80x9cHagioxe2x80x9d). According to Hagio, a virgin h-BN powder (characterized by a particle size of about 10 xcexcm, a surface area of about 5 m2/g, and a thickness of about 100 nm) is milled by grinding with tungsten carbide mortar (WC) in air. The apparent purpose of Hagio""s milling operation is to increase the surface area of the h-BN powder, thereby increasing its reactivity. When milled in this manner for 24 hours, the resultant h-BN powder has a lower particle diameter (2 xcexcm), a higher surface area (54 m2/g), and is slightly thinner (71 nm). The data reported by Hagio suggests that the final geometry of the milled powder is not dependent upon the starting powder purity. Although Hagio reports a reduction in the platelet thickness, Hagio""s milling operation primarily results in BN particle fracture, thereby reducing the particle diameter, resulting in an increased surface area.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,063,184 to Tsuyoshi et al. (xe2x80x9cTsuyoshixe2x80x9d), it is reported that high surface area, highly reactive h-BN powders are useful in providing high density, pressureless sintered h-BN components. In each example in Tsuyoshi, the virgin h-BN is milled in either air or nitrogen.
The present invention is directed towards providing an improved milling method for producing h-BN powders.
The present invention relates to a powder comprising hexagonal boron nitride particles having an aspect ratio of from about 50 to about 300.
The present invention also relates to a method of making delaminated hexagonal boron nitride powder. This method involves providing hexagonal boron nitride powder and milling the hexagonal boron nitride powder in a mixture under conditions effective to produce delaminated hexagonal boron nitride powder having an aspect ratio of from about 50 to about 300.
The method of the present invention produces more highly delaminated, high aspect ratio boron nitride powder. Whereas the dry milling procedures of the prior art increase the surface area of the BN particle essentially by particle fracture (i.e., by reducing the particle diameter), the method of the present invention provides similar increases in surface area but does so by particle delamination (i.e., by reducing particle thickness). The resulting boron nitride powder has a high aspect ratio (a large particle diameter and a small particle thickness) which is useful in certain applications, e.g. as a processing aid for the extrusion of polymers. In particular, the delaminated BN powders of the present invention are more effective at lowering the die wall/polymer interfacial friction during extrusion, leading to a decrease in extrusion pressures and delaying further the onset of gross melt fracture to higher effective shear rates. | {
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an oxygen concentration detector which is used for air/fuel ratio control, etc. in an automobile engine.
2. Description of the Related Art
Oxygen concentration detectors have conventionally been provided with protecting covers to protect their sensing elements. That is, an oxygen concentration detector has a solid electrolyte, a sensing element which consists of the solid electrolyte coated on the surface with an outer electrode, a heater provided inside the above-mentioned solid electrolyte, and a protecting cover which protects the above-mentioned sensing element. In addition, two levels of openings are provided in the above-mentioned protecting cover, through which a gas to be measured is introduced into the gas-measuring chamber.
The oxygen concentration detector described above is sometimes mounted onto the exhaust pipe, etc. and used as a part of the engine""s combustion control system, in order to make the automobile engine burn fuel at the theoretical air/fuel ratio. The exhaust gas cleaning efficiency is highest when the engine burns fuel at the theoretical air/fuel ratio.
However, in order to further increase the exhaust gas cleaning efficiency, it has been attempted, in recent years, to raise the sensitivity of the oxygen concentration detectors used for detecting the air/fuel ratio.
The sensing elements of such oxygen concentration detectors, however, have unstable characteristics until heated above the activation temperature. As a result, when the temperature of the sensing element is low, for example, when the engine is started, the oxygen concentration sensitivity is also low.
Consequently, in order to increase the exhaust gas cleaning efficiency, it is necessary to heat the sensing element to the above-mentioned activation temperature within a short time after starting the engine.
To meet this requirement, it has been proposed to heat the sensing element by increasing the power fed to the heater to increase the heater temperature.
However, in such cases there is a risk that the temperature of the heat-generating part inside the heater may increase to an abnormally high temperature which is considerably higher than the temperature necessary for oxygen concentration detection, and may even rise above the heat-resistant temperature of the ceramic or other material of which the heater is constructed. This results in problems such as damage to the heater and the shortening of its useable life.
In light of these problems, it is an object of the present invention to provide an oxygen concentration sensing element which allows the sensing element to be heated to the activation temperature more rapidly, without raising the temperature of the heat-generating part above the heat-resistant temperature of the heater.
The present invention is an oxygen concentration detector which comprises a sensing element which includes a solid electrolyte coated on the surface thereof with an outer electrode, a heater provided inside or near the above-mentioned solid electrolyte, and a protecting cover which protects the above-mentioned sensing element, characterized in that
the protecting cover has two levels of openings, and
the area of the outer electrode which contributes to the exchange (conduction) of oxygen ions is constructed within the range defined by the length of the heat-generating part of the heater, and the section of the protecting cover adjacent (nearest) to the sensing element is provided with two levels of openings in the axial direction outside the range corresponding to the range in which the outer electrode contributes to exchange of oxygen ions, wherein the relationship between the length L1 of the heat-generating part and the distance between the openings L2 of the two levels of openings in the axial direction is such that L1/L2=0.9-1.3.
The above-mentioned two levels of openings may be coaxial with respect to the central axis of the oxygen concentration detector, or they may be non-coaxial, at spirally offset positions. The distance between the two levels of openings is the distance from the perimeter line including the lower edge of the openings at the proximal end of the sensing element to the perimeter line including the upper edge of the openings at the distal end of the sensing element (see FIGS. 7(A), (B)).
The heater consists of a heat-generating part which increases in temperature upon electrification to heat the sensing element, a lead part which supplies power to the heat-generating part, and a ceramic body which houses the heat-generating part and the lead part. The heat-generating part and the lead part may take any of a variety of shapes (see FIG. 8, FIGS. 15-18), and the construction of the present invention may be applied to heat-generating parts and lead parts of all such shapes.
The heat-generating part is made of a paste consisting of, for example, platinum, tungsten, molybdenum or the like. Furthermore, the heater may either be provided inside the sensing element as a separate heater, or it may be formed integrally with the solid electrolyte of the sensing element (which results in a layered sensing element).
The relationship between the length L1 of the heat-generating part and the distance between the openings L2 is such that L1/L2=0.9-1.3. If the value of L1/L2 is less than 0.9, then there is a possibility that the temperature of the heat-generating part may rise above the heat-resistant temperature of the heater when the sensing element is heated to the activation temperature. This may result in damage to the heater and the shortening of its useable life.
On the other hand, if the value exceeds 1.3 the power consumption of the heat-generating part may increase, thus lowering efficiency.
A lower power consumption is also preferred since the heater has a positive resistance temperature coefficient, and thus in cases where the heater resistance is high, sufficient power sometimes may not be provided by the voltage of the battery mounted in the automobile.
The length of the heat-generating part is preferably between 8 mm and 16 mm. If the length is less than 8 mm, then the temperature of the heat-generating part may rise above the heat-resistant temperature of the heater when the sensing element is heated to the activation temperature. Conversely, a length exceeding 16 mm will increase power consumption by the heat-generating part and may result in the same type of problem as when the value of L1/L2 is greater than 1.3.
The distance between the openings L2 is preferably between 9 mm and 16 mm. If the length is less than 9 mm, then the shorter distance between the outer electrode of the sensing element and the openings may result in a greater tendency toward deterioration of the outer electrode due to contamination in the gas to be measured. Conversely, if the length exceeds 16 mm then the longer distance between the outer electrode of the sensing element and the openings may result in a poor response.
The axial offset xcex94L between the center position of the heat-generating part of the heater and the center position of the distance between the openings L2. is preferably no more than L2/4.
If this xcex94L is longer than L2/4, as explained below, the sensing element will be cooled by the low-temperature gas to be measured which is introduced through the openings, and this may make it impossible to rapidly heat the sensing element to the activation temperature.
The area of the individual openings in the openings is preferably between 0.75 and 3.5 mm2, and the total area counting both levels of openings is preferably between 10 and 23 mm2. If the total area of both levels of openings is less than 10 mm2, then it may become impossible to introduce a sufficient amount of the gas to be measured into the gas-measuring chamber to allow detection of the oxygen concentration, and if the area of each individual opening is less than 0.75 mm2, then working of the openings becomes problematic, resulting in disadvantages from the viewpoints of workability and productivity.
Conversely, if the total area of the openings of both levels is greater than 23 mm2, then cooling of the sensing element when the low-temperature gas to be measured is introduced may render it impossible to reach the activation temperature without excessively raising the temperature of the heat-generating part. If the area of each opening is greater than 3.5 mm2, condensed water in the exhaust gas pipe may pass through the opening so that the element is damaged or cracked by contact of water.
The above-mentioned outer electrode is provided as a band around the surface of the solid electrolyte, and the outer electrode preferably does not face the openings of the above-mentioned protecting cover.
That is, most limiting current-type oxygen concentration detectors have the outer electrode on only specific sections of the sensing element. Also, since the outer electrode is the most essential part for oxygen concentration detection, this section must be kept at the activation temperature for stable detection of the oxygen concentration.
Consequently, situating the above-mentioned openings and outer electrode in the manner described above makes it possible to prevent lowering of the temperature of the outer electrode when the low-temperature gas to be measured is introduced. An additional effect is that since it is possible to avoid direct contact between the outer electrode and the gas to be measured which is introduced through the openings, there may be realized a reduction in electrode malfunction and loading of the diffusion layer due to toxins in the gas.
The surface of the outer electrode may also have a gas diffusion-resistant layer. Providing a limiting current-type oxygen concentration detector with such a gas diffusion-resistant layer will allow adjustment of the number of oxygen molecules and oxygen ions taken into the sensing element, to obtain the desired output.
The exterior of the above-mentioned protecting cover may be provided with an external cover which has throughholes. Water droplets infiltrating through the openings in the protecting cover cause water cracks in the sensing element, and contamination in the gas to be measured results in its deterioration. Thus, providing an external cover on the exterior of the protecting cover will effectively protect the sensing element from such damage. An opening may be provided at the bottom of the cover for the sensor element, which may improve the responsibility of the sensor.
In the oxygen concentration detector of the present invention, the section of the outer electrode of the sensing element which contributes to the exchange of oxygen ions is constructed within the area defined by the length of the heat-generating part of the heater.
As a result, the heat from the heater is received over the entire surface of the outer electrode. Thus, the heater is able to preferentially heat the sections most useful for detection of oxygen concentration, and thus heat the sensing element to the activation temperature without causing the temperature of the heat-generating part to rise above the heat-resistant temperature of the heater.
In addition, the specific relationship described above is set between the length L1 of the heat-generating part and the distance between the openings L2 of the two levels of openings in the axial direction.
This allows the sensing element to receive the heat from the heat-generating part in the most efficient manner. As a result, since the heater can heat the sensing element more efficiently, the sensing element may be heated to the activation temperature by a heater with a lower temperature.
The present invention is most effective when the temperature of the gas to be measured is considerably lower than the activation temperature of the sensing element.
Thus, according to the present invention there is provided an oxygen concentration detector which allows the sensing element to be heated to the activation temperature more rapidly, without raising the temperature of the heat-generating part above the heat-resistant temperature of the heater. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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1. Field of the Invention
One or more aspects of the invention relate to stereoscopic image photographing apparatuses and methods.
2. Description of the Related Art
A three-dimensional image is characterized by a three-dimensional effect that allows a viewer to feel that he/she is seeing a three-dimensional object. In the past, such a three-dimensional effect was used in limited fields such as health care fields. However, recently, various visual media using three-dimensional images and three-dimensional television (TV) technologies for residential use have been developed.
In order to provide a three-dimensional image, two images that are substantially simultaneously captured at different angles need to be shown to the two eyes of a viewer, respectively. For example, a right image and left image may be generated by alternatively shutting optical paths of a left region and a right region using an iris or a shutter, and a stereoscopic image is generated using the right image and the left image.
However, a user may position a digital camera in various directions, not only in one direction, in order to capture images. When the digital camera is vertically positioned, the iris or the shutter alternately shuts the optical path of upper and lower regions, but does not shut an optical path of right and left regions. Thus, a stereoscopic image cannot be obtained when the digital camera is vertically positioned. | {
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Combustion chambers form part of gas turbines, which are used in many fields to drive generators or machines. In such applications the energy content of a fuel is used to generate a rotational movement of a turbine shaft. For this purpose the fuel is combusted by burners in the combustion chambers connected downstream of them, with compressed air being supplied by an air compressor. Combustion of the fuel produces a high-temperature working medium which is subject to high pressure. This working medium is directed into a turbine unit connected downstream from the combustion chambers, where it expands in a manner that provides work output.
In this arrangement a separate combustion chamber can be assigned to each burner, whereby the working medium flowing out of the combustion chambers can be combined before or in the turbine unit. Alternatively the combustion chamber can however also be designed as what is known as an annular combustion chamber structure, in which a majority, in particular all, of the burners open out into a common, typically annular, combustion chamber. The turbine unit adjacent to the combustion chamber in the direction of flow of the working medium typically comprises a turbine shaft which is connected to a plurality of rotatable blades which form series of blades in an overlapping ring shape. The turbine unit also comprises a plurality of fixed vanes which are also attached in an overlapping ring shape to the inner housing of the turbine thereby forming series of vanes. The blades serve here to drive the turbine shaft by transmitting the pulse from the working medium flowing through the turbine unit, while the vanes serve to direct the flow of the working medium between two consecutive series of blades or blade rings viewed in the direction of flow of the working medium in each instance.
As the rotational movement of the turbine shaft is generally used to drive the air compressor connected upstream of the combustion chamber, this is extended beyond the turbine unit so that the turbine shaft is surrounded in a toroidal manner by the annular combustion space in the area of the annular combustion chamber connected upstream from the turbine. The combustion space is bounded in this case by an annular outer wall on the one hand and an annular inner wall located within it on the other hand. For this purpose the inner wall of the combustion chamber generally comprises two or more individual parts which are screwed together on their side facing the turbine shaft.
In the design of gas turbines of this kind a particularly high level of efficiency is one of the design aims in addition to the achievable performance. Here, an increase in efficiency can basically be achieved for thermodynamic reasons through an increase in the exit temperature at which the working medium flows out of the combustion chamber and into the turbine unit. For this reason temperatures of around 1200° C. to 1500° C. are aimed at for gas turbines of this kind and also attained.
With the working medium reaching such high temperatures, however, the components and parts exposed to this medium are subject to high thermal stresses. In order nonetheless to ensure a comparatively long useful life for the affected components, in particular the combustion chamber, while maintaining high reliability, it is usually necessary to construct them using particularly heat-resistant materials and to provide a means of cooling them. In order to prevent thermal deformations of the material which limit the useful life of the components, efforts are usually made to achieve as uniform a cooling of the components as possible.
For this purpose the combustion chamber wall can be lined on its inside with heat shield elements which can be provided with particularly heat-resistant protective layers and which are cooled through the actual combustion chamber wall. Toward that end, a cooling method also known as “impingement cooling” can be employed. With impingement cooling a cooling medium, generally cooling air, is supplied to the heat shield elements through a plurality of holes drilled in the combustion chamber wall so that the cooling medium impinges essentially vertically onto its external surface facing the combustion chamber wall. The cooling medium heated up by the cooling process is subsequently discharged from the inner space that the combustion chamber wall forms with the heat shield elements.
The manufacture of a cooling system of this type can be very expensive, however, since very many holes with a comparatively small cross-section are needed in the combustion chamber wall in order to achieve as uniform a cooling of the heat shields as possible, which can be very time- and cost-intensive. In particular the requirements to be met by the tools needed to produce the holes are very high, since the cooling air holes are relatively long compared to their cross-section because the structure of the combustion chamber wall must have a sufficiently great strength for stability reasons. Furthermore, with a large number of cooling air holes which in total add up to a large surface area, there is a possibility of friction and turbulence occurring in the supply of the cooling medium. This leads to an increased cooling medium pressure loss in the cooling medium circuit, which has a disadvantageous effect on the efficiency of the combustion chamber.
Moreover the design of the annular combustion chamber described above has a number of further disadvantages with regard to necessary maintenance work. With these maintenance and repair activities, which are generally performed at regular intervals, it is necessary to repair or replace parts of the combustion chamber such as, for example, the heat shield elements or the cooling system used as well as in particular also components of the downstream turbine unit because of the high thermal and mechanical loads to which they are exposed. A disadvantage in the design of the combustion chamber is that the turbine shaft is not accessible from the combustion chamber when maintenance work is carried out. Consequently, in order to perform maintenance work on the turbine shaft in the area of the annular combustion chamber or to carry out repairs to the first vanes and blades immediately adjacent to the combustion chamber, it is usually necessary to remove all the contiguous vanes and blades of the turbine unit. Only after all vanes and blades of the turbine have been disassembled is it possible to remove the inner wall of the combustion chamber by way of the screw connection facing the turbine shaft and so gain access to the turbine shaft. The assembly work is therefore very labor- and time-intensive. As a result of the comparatively long operational outage of the gas turbine, downtime costs are incurred in addition to the assembly costs for the gas turbine, leading to comparatively very high total costs for maintenance and repair work to the gas turbine. | {
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Numerous of today's wells related to the production of hydrocarbons are completed with permanently installed monitoring devices for measuring data such as pressure, temperature, flow rate, flow composition, flow direction, sand and other. In addition, many wells are completed with permanently installed instrumentation and devices in order to enable both remote monitoring and control of that well, eliminating the need for any well intervention. The control devices comprise means for controlling influx of produced fluids (and the out flux of injected fluids) such as valves, sliding sleeves, downhole chokes and similar. Wells that include permanent systems for remote monitoring and control are often referred to as intelligent completions.
In relation to this, communication is becoming a very vital concept in borehole instrumentation systems. The systems that are being developed consist of a number of different devices, where each device typically is capable of executing one specific task. If these devices are to work properly together, they must be able to communicate with each other. To do this, they must be physically connected and, equally important, they must speak a common language. Particularly in monitoring and controlling well production there is a need for transmitting data and commands in any direction along a wellbore completion. For example is there a need for transmitting measurement data from the wellbore to the surface, there may be a need for transmitting commands to tools in the well, or instruments located in different locations in the wellbore may need to exchange information. | {
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The present invention relates generally to machines for making an aggregate for concrete and, more particularly, to a machine for making ground sand for concrete.
Rod mills for making crushed sand for concrete are well known. A rod mill includes a cylindrical crushing drum and a plurality of iron rods provided within the cylindrical drum. Rock fragments and water are supplied to the rotating crushing drum in which the iron rods exert impacts on the rock fragments to provide crushed sand.
In the above rod mill, the iron rods are lifted along the inside wall of the rotating drum and fall to crush the rock fragments. The hardness of the iron rods is much higher than that of the rock fragments so that the impacts upon the rock fragments are very high. The iron rods, however, do not sufficiently grind them to provide high quality sand.
Among river sand, mountain or pig sand, sea sand and land sand, the river sand is the hardest and has the most spherical shape and is the highest in quality as an aggregate. An experiment has shown that the particle shape percentage (unit volume mass divided by specific gravity in absolute dry condition) of a river sand sample prepared by washing with water according to Japan Industrial Standards (JIS) A 5004 is 57-59 percent while the particle shape percentage of the crushed sand obtained from the above rod mill is about 53 percent.
It is desirable that the particle size distribution curve falls between a pair of broken lines A and B in FIG. 13 (standard particle size range of a fine aggregate for concrete according to the Japanese Society of Civil Engineers). A test has shown that the particle size distribution curve of the crushed sands made by the rod mill does not always fall within the range.
In other words, the crushed sand made by the rod mill has flat and sharp particles with rough surfaces. Some of the particles even have a crack. These properties have adverse effects on the concrete characteristics such as workability and fluidity.
Hence, this inventor has proposed a machine for making ground sand for concrete in Japanese Patent Application No. 63-254539. This machine includes a cylindrical drum and a plurality of pebbles placed within the drum. Rock fragments (sand) and water are supplied to the rotating grinding drum through an inlet port on one end of the drum and ground sand is discharged through an outlet port on the other end of the drum. In this machine the rock fragments are ground by the pebbles and water with friction in a way similar to a river so that impurities are removed from the rock fragments, and sand having spherical particles with smooth surfaces without a crack are obtained in a short period of time.
The above machine, however, has the following disadvantages.
Rock fragments and water are supplied through the inlet port on one end of the drum and the ground sand and water is discharged through the outlet port on the opposite end. This outlet port is placed somewhere around the axis of the drum so that there is a very small centrifugal force acting on the ground sand in the vicinity of the outlet port, let alone a force acting along the axis. As a result, the fluidity of the ground sand near the outlet port is so low that the ground sand is not efficiently discharged through the outlet port.
In addition, water is supplied through the inlet port on only one end so that the water fails to sufficiently separate the ground sand from the working pebbles, impairing discharge of the ground sand.
Moreover, the inside surfaces of the end walls are so smooth that the rock fragments and working pebbles are slipping on the surface, failing to make any contribution to the grinding action within the drum. | {
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This invention relates to magnetic induction accelerators of the betatron type and, more particularly, to active electron control circuits for betatrons.
1. Cross Reference to Related Patents
The invention of the present application is related to the invention described in the commonly-owned U.S. Pat. No. 5,077,530, issued Dec. 31, 1991 to the present inventor for Low-voltage Modulator for Circular Induction Accelerator, and to the invention described in the commonly-owned U.S. Pat. No. 5,122,662, issued Jun. 16, 1992 to the present inventor et al. for Circular Induction Accelerator in Borehole Logging, the disclosures of both of which are hereby incorporated by reference.
2. Background of the Invention
Prominent among performance criteria for betatrons, and in particular for miniature betatrons, as used, for example, in borehole logging tools, are power efficiency, beam end-point energy stability, and beam energy and flux stability under changing ambient temperature. Specifically as to power efficiency, two contributing factors may be distinguished, namely (i) the efficiency of a modulator in the conversion and delivery of power to the betatron magnet and (ii) the efficiency of conversion of the magnet excitation power into beam power. The former, namely modulator efficiency, is a primary concern of the aforementioned U.S. Pat. No. 5,077,530. The present invention is mainly concerned with the latter, namely the efficiency of magnet-excitation power conversion.
In a betatron, almost all the magnetic-circuit excitation energy is stored in the air gap of the field magnet. This is because the air gap in the magnetic circuit which provides the confining magnetic field is considerably wider than the air gap in the core magnetic circuit which provides the bulk of the acceleration voltage, and because of the high permeability of the core material. On the one hand, with the magnetic induction (field strength) B at an electron-beam target as a reference, the excitation energy is approximately proportional to B.sup.2 ; on the other hand, the end-point energy of a relativistic beam in a betatron is proportional to r.multidot.B, where r is the radial position of the target. Furthermore, B is proportional to r.sup.-n, with n between 0 and 1. Thus, optimal power conversion is realized if the target is placed at the outer edge of the field magnet and if the electron beam is extracted to strike the target when B is at its peak. Since the beam must be located within r during acceleration, the beam radius has to be expanded as the magnetic field increases towards its peak.
Prior art techniques for beam extraction have reduced the confining magnetic field either with an extraction coil and switch arrangement in the field magnetic circuit, or with a magnetic flux clamping circuit in the core circuit. These techniques are relatively simple to implement, but neither effects extraction of the beam at its maximum possible energy.
Typically, in an accelerator-based logging tool, e.g., a density tool, the electromagnetic radiation is relatively intense and has a short duty cycle, and the detectors operate in an energy deposition mode. In the case of a betatron as the radiation source, this holds true at least for near-spaced detectors. However, the total radiation energy depends not only on the amount of charge accelerated per pulse (which affects radiation intensity but not spectrum shape), but also on the end-point energy, affecting spectrum shape. While variations in radiation intensity are scalable (e.g., doubling the intensity will double the detector count rate without regard to source-detector spacing) and thus are normalizable, variations in end-point energy affect the radiation transport processes and affect detector response differently at different spacings. It is important, therefore, that end-point energy variation be kept as small as possible.
In a betatron, one important factor that affects the extracted beam energy is extraction timing. Since the end-point beam energy is determined mainly by B (i.e., by the magnetic induction at the target), and since B varies essentially sinusoidally, it is desirable to extract the beam when B is at or near its peak, where a change in extraction timing has the least effect on beam energy.
Magnetic properties of materials change as a function of temperature. Where power consumption is of no concern, a sufficiently large air gap in a magnetic circuit will minimize the magnetic effects of temperature changes; this, however, is impractical in the case of a miniature betatron, for borehole use, for example. In the case of a cut core made of Metglas S-3 and SC and without a large gap, as described, for example, in the aforementioned U.S. Pat. No. 5,122,662, the apparent permeability drops with temperature, with the core current increasing by as much as 50 percent for a temperature change of 50 degrees C. A larger current results in a higher resistive loss in the core, and this in turn modifies the betatron condition in such a way that the electron orbit shrinks with temperature. In such circumstances, unless corrected, at the least extraction will be delayed, because the smaller the electron orbit before expansion, the longer it takes to expand it to the target. In the extreme case, electrons may even strike the inside of the betatron "donut" before expansion takes place. A change in the betatron condition may further result in excessive electron loss, and hence a reduction in beam intensity. | {
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The invention relates generally to a projection screen arrangement.
One form of projection screen arrangement comprises a tubular housing in which there is mounted a spring-loaded roller, for winding in and winding out the projection screen. A rotary handle or knob which can be actuated from the outside of the housing is provided at one end thereof, and is nonrotatably connected to the roller for tensioning the projection screen when in the extended position. The end of thwe projection screen which is remote from the roller usually has a terminal bar member. As the force of the spring for winding in the projection screen so as to retract it automatically into the housing is generally not sufficient to hold the projection screen absolutely flat and taut when in the extended condition, the rotary knob is used for subsequently tensioning the projection screen in the extended position, by manual rotation of the knob.
It has been found that projection screen arrangements with automatic winding-in means of the above-indicated general kind suffer from the disadvantage that, in their wound-in or rolled-up condition, the location at which the projection screen member is secured to the winding-in roller, usually by the end portion of the screen member being engaged into the roller, causes pressure to be applied to the layers of the screen which are disposed thereabove around the winding-in roller, due to the force applied by the spring means loading the roller into the retracted condition of the screen member, and such pressure results in transverse strips or stripe markings being formed on the screen when in the extended condition. It will be appreciated that such markings interfere and detrimentally affect the quality of reproduction of an image on the screen | {
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The present invention relates generally to detection of the onset of a rapid drop in a patient's blood pressure during extracorporeal blood treatments, such as hemodialysis, hemofiltration or hemodiafiltration.
The human body consists of approximately 60% water—a level which is important to maintain for survival. While it is unproblematic to provide the body with new water, disposal of surplus water is a major problem in renal patients. The task of the normal kidney is to remove superfluous fluid from the blood, such as water, urea and other waste products. The resulting urine is transferred to the bladder and finally leaves the body during urination. The kidney's second task is to regulate for example the balance of acid and base. With malfunctioning kidneys, disorders may develop in most major body organs, a syndrome called uremia. If uremia remains untreated, it will lead to death. Uremia is treated either by kidney transplantation, or some for of extracorporeal blood treatment.
During extracorporeal blood treatment it is common that the patient suffers from symptomatic hypotension (i.e. a rapid blood pressure decrease), followed by nausea, vomiting and sometimes fainting. Such an event is not only strenuous for the patient, but also requires considerable attention from the staff overseeing the treatment. Consequently, during extracorporeal blood treatment, it is highly desirable to detect the onset of symptomatic hypotension and preventing it from coming about.
In recent years, the connection between heart rate variability (HRV) and hypotension has been studied. HRV analysis has been proven to be a useful noninvasive tool for assessing information on the state of the autonomatic nervous system, and thus parasympathetic and sympathetic activity. If the HRV is analyzed in the frequency domain, the spectrum is often divided into two sub-bands: a low-frequency (LF) band, e.g. 0.04 Hz to 0.15 Hz, and a high-frequency (HF) band, e.g. 0.15 to 0.40 Hz. The effect on HRV due to changes in the autonomatic balance has been investigated in many studies, with the main conclusion that the LF band is influenced by sympathetic activity, whereas parasympathetic activity influences the HF band. Moreover, determinants of HRV in hemodialysis patients have been studied as well as autonomic dysfunction during hemodialysis.
In addition, the relationship between HRV and blood pressure during hemodialysis has been investigated. For instance, the patent document U.S. Pat. No. 4,718,891 describes an automated hemodialysis control based on this relationship. Although being silent about dialysis treatment, the published International Patent Application WO99/59466 discloses a combined electrocardiogram (ECG) and blood-pressure measuring apparatus.
Today, little is known about sequential changes in the activity of the autonomatic nervous system, which occur just before and during a hypotensive episode. So far, the major attention has been focused on the relation between the power in the LF and the HF band, the so-called LF/HF ratio, in hypotension-prone and hypotension-resistant uremic patients. It has been concluded that the LF/HF ratio can be used as a hypotension marker in patients receiving extracorporeal blood treatment, since significant increase of the LF/HF ratio is observed during extracorporeal blood treatment sessions not complicated by hypotension, whereas at the time of collapse, the LF/HF ratio fell markedly in sessions with hypotension. It has also been suggested that the LF/HF ratio may reveal differences between groups with different propensity to hypotension, and can thus give a deeper insight into the autonomatic control during extracorporeal blood treatment. Hence, the LF/HF ratio appears to be a useful index for discriminating between hypotension-prone and hypotension-resistant patients. The sympathovagal balance has also been identified as a major determinant of short-term blood pressure variability. The sympathovagal balance describes the dual, opposing effects of the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems on the sinus node.
In the article, “ECG Changes and Cardiac Arrhythmias in Chronic Renal Failure Patients on Hemodialysis”, Journal of Electro-cardiology, Vol. 25, No. 4, October 1992, Shapira, O. M. et al. describe that patients with chronic renal failure frequently exhibit ECG changes and a high incidence of ventricular and supra-ventricular arrhythmias, which may be prognostically significant during and after extracorporeal blood treatment. One very important effect of cardiac arrhythmias and other beat abnormalities, which may occur during extracorporeal blood treatment, is that these events disturb the above-mentioned HRV analysis. As a result, the HRV-based techniques for predicting/detecting hypotension fail when ventricular ectopic beats (VEB) and supra-ventricular ectopic beats (SVEB) are too frequent. In such cases, the premature beats disrupt the neurocardiac modulation of the sinus rhythm and render adjacent RR-intervals useless for HRV analysis.
In the article “Detection of Hypotension during Hemodialysis using the ECG”, Computers in Cardiology 2004; Chicago, Ill., United States, Sep. 19-22, 2004, Solem, K., et al. describe a strategy for estimating a patient's propensity to hypotension at an early stage of hemodialysis based on evaluation of HRV and ectopic beat patterns.
However, there is yet no solution being capable of, on one hand, modeling the beat abnormality aspects of cardiac activity sufficiently well in order to detect, or predict, a rapid blood pressure change arising during an ongoing extracorporeal blood treatment; and on the other hand, minimizing the amount of unnecessary signal processing (i.e. relating to cardiac properties being irrelevant with regard to the patient's specific condition). | {
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Conventionally, a wire harness that is laid at a position exposed to the outside of a vehicle, e.g. an automobile, such as a lower surface of the bottom plate (underflooring) of the vehicle, sometimes includes an electric-wire protection pipe that is made from metal and surrounds the electric wires. The electric-wire protection pipe protects the electric wires from foreign substances such as gravel flying up from the road, and functions as an electromagnetic shielding pipe for shielding from noisy electromagnetic waves. Therefore, the electric wires inserted into the hollow part of the electric-wire protection pipe are usually unshielded electric wires. “Unshielded electric wire” refers to an insulated electric wire that is not covered with a shielding member, such as a braided wire.
Furthermore, the electric-wire protection pipe that is laid out at the bottom plate of the vehicle has to meet the following requirements. First, the electric-wire protection pipe is required to have a hollow part whose internal cross-sectional area is sufficiently large for the plurality of electric wires to be inserted into the hollow part. Furthermore, the electric-wire protection pipe is required to have an outer shape with a projection height from the lower surface of the bottom plate that is as low as possible.
In order to meet the above-described requirements, it is conceivable to use, as an electric-wire protection pipe, a metal pipe having a flat outer shape. For example, the electric-wire protection pipe disclosed in Patent Document 1 is a metal pipe having a flat outer shape that is obtained by performing press working on a round pipe having a circular cross-sectional shape. | {
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Existing software applications enable the creation of video compositions involving multiple videos combined with one another. In one example, a user creates a composition that plays five video one after another by specifying the positions of the videos on a timeline. In another example, portions of one or more of the videos are blended at video transitions by placing videos on different, partially-overlapping tracks on such a timeline. While these video composition creation applications provide numerous features to enable the creation of video compositions, the applications generally do not facilitate the user's finding and selection of videos to include in such compositions. Video professionals and enthusiasts accumulate large volumes of video data over time. When working on a composition project, visually scanning this tremendous amount of data to find relevant videos is a difficult task. For example, consider a videographer planning to build a wedding portfolio for a client. For this project, he would need to manually review each video in his collection to check if it is about a wedding or not and then filter out relevant videos. This manual search consumes a considerable amount of time, delaying the actual creative work. One way to attempt to address this burden is to manually apply relevant tags to all of the videos in the video collection so that quicker tag-based searches can be used. However, tagging all videos in a video collection can be extremely burdensome and requires consistent book-keeping of new videos to apply relevant tags on an ongoing basis. Thus, manual tagging methods are generally too burdensome and time consuming, especially for large video collections, to be practical. | {
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The application of conducting polymer actuators to the propulsion of vehicles is taught in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/130,500, filed Aug. 7, 1998, which is attached hereto and incorporated herein by reference. Conducting polymer actuators are attractive because they have the potential to overcome the low torque to mass ratio and the efficiency limitations of current propulsion technologies.
In many applications, actuators impart kinetic energy to devices. In automobiles, for example, combustion engines are employed to develop tremendous kinetic energy (typically, kinetic energy on the order of 400 kJ). This energy is not recovered and, particularly for "stop and go" city driving, reduces vehicle fuel efficiency. The ability to reuse developed kinetic energy is an important consideration in choosing the next generation of automobile motor. Furthermore, the harnessing of power from, for example, water, wind, and human motion all involve the conversion of mechanical power into other forms of energy for more convenient storage and delivery. Typically, electrical generators are used in such applications.
In many electric vehicles, the same motor that develops the torque used in acceleration is also responsible for braking. During braking of these vehicles, electrical power is regenerated and batteries recharged. A major disadvantage of these electric vehicle motors, when considering both vehicle acceleration and power regeneration, is their low power to mass ratio for direct drive motors (<0.2 kW/kg). Combustion engines, by comparison, produce 1 kW/kg, so that, although they are incapable of performing regeneration, they remain the motors of choice. Conducting polymer actuators offer the potential of power to mass ratios of 200 kW/kg.
Conducting polymers feature a conjugated carbon backbone. Some common conducting polymers are polyaniline, polypyrrole and polyacetylene. These materials are normally semiconductors. Without being bound to any particular theory, the conductivity of the conducting polymers may be changed by oxidation or reduction. It is theorized that the oxidation or reduction leads to an electric charge imbalance which, in turn, results in a flow of ions into the polymer material in order to restore balanced charge. Such ions or dopants may enter the polymer from a surrounding, ionically conductive, medium. The medium may be a gel, a solid electrolyte or a liquid electrolyte. If ions are already present in the polymer when it is oxidized or reduced, they may also exit the polymer. Such mass transfer of ions both into and out of the material leads to a contraction or expansion of the polymer. In some conducting polymers, the expansion is due to ion insertion between polymer chains; in others, interchain repulsion is the dominant effect. Additionally, conformational and bond length changes may also result in macroscopic expansion and contraction. Typical volume changes are on the order of 10%, and linear dimensional changes are hence on the order of 3%. Stresses have been observed in conducting polymer materials which are on the order of 20 Mpa, while bandwidths of 10 kHz are anticipated in conducting polymer actuators, although those observed to date are limited to 60 Hz.
Takashima et al. in Mechanochemoelectrical effect of polyaniline film, Synthetic Metals, 85, 1395 (1997) were the first to publish results demonstrating the use of conducting polymers in converting mechanical energy into electrical energy. They describe the generation of a current in response to deformation of a strip of polyaniline and attribute the current generated to a mechanically induced electrochemical reaction. The mechanical to electrical energy conversion efficiency is reported to be much less than 0.01%. | {
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Generally, in times of an increasing number of advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) employing radar sensors, there is a growing need of a testing device and a testing method for testing such radar sensors.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,660,041 discloses a device including an array of antenna systems which send scene simulation signals to a target seeking radar. Based on a lack of storage capability, however, the device lacks flexibility and provides testing results that lack practical relevance or applicability as a result of its ability to simulate only a single—permanently wired—scene. Additionally, the lack of flexibility is emphasized by the fact that an intermediate frequency signal has to be fed-back.
Nevertheless, investigating devices under test such as radar sensors, for example, with respect to a plurality of different radar scenarios, in a most efficient and flexible manner is very important, because only in this way practice-oriented results can be obtained in order to ensure the proper functioning of the sensors in the field.
What is needed, therefore, is an approach for testing devices under test (e.g., radar sensors) in a most efficient and flexible manner, leading to highly practice-oriented testing results. | {
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Hydroprocessing can include processes which convert hydrocarbons in the presence of hydroprocessing catalyst and hydrogen to more valuable products. Hydrocracking is a hydroprocessing process in which hydrocarbons crack in the presence of hydrogen and hydrocracking catalyst to lower molecular weight hydrocarbons. Depending on the desired output, a hydrocracking unit may contain one or more beds of the same or different catalyst. Hydrocracking can be performed with one or two hydrocracking reactor stages.
A hydroprocessing recovery section typically includes a series of separators in a separation section to separate gases from the liquid materials and cool and depressurize liquid streams to prepare them for fractionation into products. Hydrogen gas is recovered for recycle to the hydroprocessing unit. A stripper column for stripping hydroprocessed effluent with a stripping medium such as steam is used to remove unwanted hydrogen sulfide and other light gases from hydroprocessed liquid streams before product fractionation.
Hydroprocessing recovery sections comprising fractionation columns rely on external utilities that originate from outside of the hydroprocessing unit to provide heater duty to vaporize the fractionation materials. Fractionation sections that rely more on heat generated in the hydroprocessing unit than external utilities are more energy efficient.
In some regions, diesel demand is lower than demand for lighter fuel products. Distillate or diesel hydrocracking is proposed for producing the lighter fuel products such as naphtha and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG).
There is a continuing need, therefore, for improving the efficiency of processes for recovering fuel products from hydrocracked distillate stocks. | {
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In recent years, with the increasing concerning in a global warming in various quarters in Japan and abroad, various efforts have continued for discharge control of carbon dioxide. An increase in the consumption of fossil fuels brings an increase of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere. Due to the greenhouse effect, the atmospheric temperature of the earth rises, and it makes a serious influence to the environments of the earth. In order to solve the global problems, various approaches have been examined. In particular, anticipation for photovoltaic generation is increasing, because it is clean and does not generate environmental pollution.
The solar cell constitutes a core part of the solar energy power generation system which directly changes the energy of sunlight into the electrical energy, and which is made of a semiconductor of a single crystal, polycrystal, amorphous silicon, etc. A solar cell element (cell) is not used alone. In general, several to several dozen of the solar battery elements are wired in series or in parallel, and the solar battery elements are packed to be unitized in order to protect the cell over a long period of time (about 20 years). The unit built in the package is called a solar cell module.
As shown in FIG. 1, the solar cell module includes a surface exposed to the sunlight which is covered with a glass A-3, gaps separating the solar cell elements A-1 are filled with a thermoplastic A-2, in particular, a filler including an ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymer, and the rear surface thereof is protected by a sealing sheet B.
Since the solar cell modules are used out doors, the structure, material to be used, etc. are required to have sufficient durability and weather resistance. In particular, the sheet for sealing a rear surface of a solar cell is required to have weather resistance as well as a small moisture vapor transmission rate (that is, excellent moisture barrier properties). When a filler is peeled, or discolored, or wiring is corroded, by moisture transmission, there is possibility that electrical output power itself of the module is influenced.
In the past, a fluorine resin which has excellent adhesive to an ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymer which has excellent weather resistance and fire resistance and has been used as a filler for the solar cell module (Patent Document Nos. 1 and 2). In addition, a sheet for sealing a rear surface of a solar cell which includes a film made of polyester having excellent electric insulation, such as polyethylene terephtharate, has also been developed. Furthermore, in order to improve inferior weather resistance, which is a disadvantage of the polyester film, a composition comprising an ultraviolet absorber was suggested (Patent Document No. 3), attempts in which an amount of a circular oligomer in polyester is adjusted (Patent Document Nos. 4 and 5), and in which the molecular weight of polyester is adjusted (Patent Document No. 6), were suggested.
As explained above, the solar cell is required to maintain its performance for about twenty years. In order to evaluate the durability, an acceleration test was performed under a high temperature and a high moisture (85° C.-85% relative humidity) environment. In particular, when a polyester film is used as a substrate, the film substrate is hydrolyzed in the acceleration test, and the strength of the film is dramatically decreased. Therefore, as explained in Patent Documents, it is very much a situation in which various attempts were made to compensate the decrease of the strength. However, there is a new problem that is caused by improving the weather resistance (hydrolysis resistance) of the film substrate.
The problem is delamination which is caused by hydrolysis of an adhesive for attaching the film substrate. In general, when heat resistance and safety are concerned, a polyurethane-based adhesive comprising polyester polyol as a main component is used. However, polyester polyol is hydrolyzed and the molecular weight thereof becomes smaller. Thereby, a problem, in which adhesive strength is remarkably decreased under the conditions of the acceleration test, is highlighted.
The problem is similarly happened in the fluorine resin which is explained above. When the acceleration test was conducted, not only is the surface raised by delamination with time and the appearance inferior, but the barrier properties which are required for the sheet for sealing a rear surface are also decreased. These may affect the electric output of the solar cell.
It is very much a situation in which not only is the film substrate required to have weather resistance (hydrolysis resistance) but also the adhesive for attaching the film substrates is required to have hydrolysis resistance. However, these requirements have not been achieved yet.
[Patent Document No. 1]: Japanese Language publication (Kohyo) 8-500214 corresponding to PCT Application
[Patent Document No. 2]: Japanese Language publication 2002-520820 corresponding to PCT Application
[Patent Document No. 3]: Japanese Patent Application, First Publication No. 2001-111073
[Patent Document No. 4]: Japanese Patent Application, First Publication No. 2002-100788
[Patent Document No. 5]: Japanese Patent Application, First Publication No. 2002-134771
[Patent Document No. 6]: Japanese Patent Application, First Publication No. 2002-26354 | {
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a mobile communication terminal, an interference cancellation system, an interference cancellation method, and a base station.
2. Related Background Art
Conventionally, the TDD (Time Division Duplex) system is utilized as one of systems for substantializing two-way communications between mobile communication terminals like cellular phones and base stations. In the TDD system, uplink and downlink channels are switched over in the short period (e.g., 667 μs) whereby various signals are transmitted and received by making use of communication channels of the same frequency.
On the other hand, in the case where a mobile communication terminal is located in a reachable range of radio waves from a plurality of base stations, interference can occur between a signal from a base station in communication and signals from the other base stations. Interference occurs between a mobile communication terminal and a base station and also occurs between a plurality of mobile communication terminals. There is a proposal for Joint Detection as a technique of canceling such interference in the TDD system.
The Joint Detection is a process of calculating a demodulated signal D by a predetermined operational expression, based on received signal E received by the mobile communication terminal, spreading code C, and channel estimate H. The mobile communication terminal executes the Joint Detection upon reception of a signal to cancel the interference with the other mobile communication terminals or base stations present in the same cell. The Joint Detection is the technique that can also be applied to the CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) system. | {
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to an opening/closing device mainly for use in a door member and more particularly, to an opening/closing device of a door member of a refrigerator which is arranged to open or close the door member at either desired side of the door member.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A door member of a refrigerator has been generally designed to be opened or closed only at one side, namely, either at the right side or at the left side thereof. In other words, the door member has been already destined to be operable only at the right side or only at the left side when it was manufactured.
Therefore, a user has been obliged to select one of the two types of a refrigerator, one provided with the right-operable door member or the other provided with the left-operable door member, while taking considerations into the place where the refrigerator is placed. Moreover, after the purchase of the refrigerator, if it occurs that the user wishes to change the vacation for the refrigerator inconveniences would be brought about such that the door member would hit the wall of the room, resulting in difficulties of opening/closing of the door member, and therefore the placing position of the refrigerator has been limited in prior arts.
Further, in the case where many people use the refrigerator, it may be difficult for those at the different side of their able arm to open or close the door member of the refrigerator.
To avoid such inconveniences as above, various types of an opening/closing device for the door member by which the door member can be opened/closed at the desired side, that is, the double-side-operable device have been proposed up to now.
FIGS. 141 and 142 illustrate respectively a representative double-side operable device of the type referred to above.
In the device of FIG. 141, hinge pins 20 and 20 are provided at the right and left corners of respective opposite upper and lower end portions of a door member 10. The hinge pins 20 are freely projectable upward or downward. Moreover, the hinge pins 20 are received by respective bearing recessed portions 40 each formed in a part of a main body 30 confronting to the upper or lower end portion of the door member 10. When either one of operating handles 50 provided in the door member 10 is rotated, either of the right and left hinge pins 20 are slipped off from the corresponding bearing recessed portions 40, so that the door member 10 becomes operable.
Referring to the double-side-operable device shown in FIG. 142, the refrigerator has a middle frame 80 which is bored at the central part thereof and sandwiched between a main body 60 and a door member 70. The middle frame 80 is pivotally fixed to the main body 60 at one lateral side of the right and left sides thereof, and also pivotally fixed to the door member 70 at the other side thereof. When one of right and left operating handles provided in the door member 70 is rotated, only the door member 70 can be rendered openable at one side, while the door member 70 and the middle frame 80 are all together rendered openable at the other side. | {
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This disclosure relates to a vane arm for a variable vane actuation system of a gas turbine engine and, more particularly, a claw of the vane arm.
A gas turbine engine typically includes a fan section, a compressor section, a combustor section and a turbine section. Air entering the compressor section is compressed and delivered into the combustion section where it is mixed with fuel and ignited to generate a high-speed exhaust gas flow. The high-speed exhaust gas flow expands through the turbine section to drive the compressor and the fan section. The compressor section typically includes low and high pressure compressors, and the turbine section includes low and high pressure turbines.
Vanes are provided between rotating blades in the compressor and turbine sections. Moreover, vanes are also provided in the fan section. In some instances the vanes are movable to tailor flows to engine operating conditions. Variable vanes are mounted about a pivot and are attached to an arm that is in turn actuated to adjust each of the vanes of a stage. A specific orientation between the arm and vane is required to assure that each vane in a stage is adjusted as desired to provide the desired engine operation. Accordingly, the connection of the vane arm to the actuator and to the vane is provided with features that assure a proper connection and orientation. | {
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Bioelectronics is a progressing interdisciplinary research field that involves the integration of biomaterials with electronic devices. Bioelectronics methods have been used for analyzing cells and assaying biological molecules and cells. In one type of application, cells are cultured on microelectrodes and cell-electrode impedance or cell-substrate impedance is measured and analyzed to monitor cellular changes, such as changes in cell morphology. For example, PCT Application No. PCT/US03/22557, titled “Impedance Based Devices and Methods for Use in Assays”, discloses a device for detecting cells and/or molecules on an electrode surface. The device detects cells and/or molecules through measurement of impedance changes resulting from the attachment or binding of cells and/or molecules to the electrode surfaces. A number of embodiments of the device are disclosed, together with the apparatuses, and systems for using such devices to perform certain cell based assays.
Bringing a new drug to the market can take anywhere between 8 to 16 years, and the average cost of developing a drug is now around $500-$800 million with the cost expected to hit the $1 billion mark within the next four years. Cardiotoxicity has been cited as the reason for 30 percent of all failed drug compounds during development and is a major cause of compound attrition. The late detection of cardiotoxic side effects caused by pharmacological compounds can impede drug discovery and development projects, and consequently increase their cost. Testing for the potential cardiotoxic side effects of compounds at an early stage of drug development has therefore been the goal of many pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. Cardiotoxicity itself can entail a number of short-term and long term cellular events including directly affecting the beating rate of cardiomyocytes, viability of cardiomyocytes and morphology of cardiomyocytes as would occur in hypertrophy. The core of the current issue in pharmacological safety assessment and drug development is the lack of a reliable screening methodology capable of monitoring potential drug-mediated cardiotoxicity and distinguishing between different modes of cardiotoxicity. What is urgently needed in the field is a good cell-based model system as well as a monitoring system with a physiological and functional readout that can provide incisive information regarding potential cardiotoxic side effects of drugs.
Traditionally, the drug discovery industry has undertaken two different approaches for toxicological assessment of drug candidate leads in cardiac function. The first approach involves isolation of cardiomyocytes directly from a mammalian species such as rats and dogs followed by electrophysiological and viability studies on the isolated cardiomyocytes. This approach is extremely labor-intensive, time consuming and costly and at the same time not very amenable to the high throughput demands of pharmaceutical industry
An alternative method for prediction of cardiotoxicity of drug candidate leads early in the drug development process has involved utilizing cell-based assay models which heterologously express specific ion channels such as hERG channels or voltage-gated calcium channels. These cardiac ion channels have been envisioned as possible molecular targets through which drugs could induce cardiotoxicity. These cell-based systems allow the assessment of drug-channel interaction by monitoring the effect of the drug on the currents produced by the different channels in cultured cells using a technique known as ‘patch clamping’, which isolates regions of the cell membrane containing channel proteins and measures changes in electrical potential difference. Use of this method in high throughput requires automation of patch clamping in array format, which even though is available in last several years is not yet widespread. Another issue with this approach is that cardiac toxicity may occur by other mechanisms which can easily be missed by this type of targeted approach.
An alternative to the in vitro ion-channel recording assays as well as the labor-intensive isolation of primary tissue is to utilize the differentiation of embryonic stem (ES) cells into cardiomyocytes as a starting material for functional assays. The utility of ES cells as a treatment for various chronic diseases has received much attention in recent years. Mammalian ES cells are self-renewing cells derived from the inner cell mass of a blastocyst stage embryo, which can be differentiated into multiple different cell types. It has been demonstrated that the mouse ES cells as well as human ES cells can be differentiated into cardiomyocytes, which retain the ability to beat in culture.
The differentiation of ES cells first involves an intermediate in vitro developmental stage in which ES cells form compact cell structures known as embryoid bodies. These embryoid bodies can induce the developmental program of ES cell differentiation into multiple cell types including cardiomyocytes, which are distinguished in culture by their ability to undergo spontaneous beating. These ES derived in vitro differentiated cardiomyocytes recapitulates the normal development of cardiomyocytes as evidenced by the stage-specific expression of cardiomyocyte specific genes. All the known transcription factors, ion channels and structural proteins that are part of normal heart development and function in vivo are also expressed in ES-derived cardiomyocyte.
Because ES cells are self-renewing, cells in culture can serve as an excellent source for continuous production of cardiomyocytes. Therefore, these cardiomyocytes which behave in every way like normal cardiomyocytes isolated from the heart tissue itself addresses the ever important supply problem and for the first time allows for assessment of cardiac function and its modulation by lead candidate drugs and compounds in relatively large scale in both viability assays, assessment of morphology and in monitoring the beating function of cardiomyocytes. Furthermore, because the technology exists to selectively knockout or express trans-genes in ES cells, it provides an excellent model system to study the role of certain genes in cardiac development and function without having to be concerned about adverse affects on overall embryonic development in transgenic animals.
The ability to express transgenes in ES cells has been utilized as a way to enrich for preparation of cardiomyocytes that are 100% pure. For example, the gene encoding GFP has been cloned downstream of a cardiac-specific promoter and then introduced into ES cells. Embryoid cells, which ultimately differentiate into cardiomyocytes, will therefore express the GFP transgenes and these cells can be easily isolated by cell sorting techniques and therefore an enriched cardiomyocyte population can be obtained.
Technologies designed to assess cardiomyocyte behavior and function and the effect of drugs and other manipulations in vitro can be divided into two different approaches. One approach involves long term assessment of cardiomyocyte viability for example in response to certain compounds. Such assays are typically end point assays designed to measure a cellular component such as ATP, which correlates with the degree of viability of the cells. The other approach involves studying short term effect of drugs and compounds on beating function of cardiomyocytes. High throughput techniques for short term functional characterization of ion channels and other targets in cardiomyocytes has been rather challenging and limited. Systems such as automatic patch clamp instrumentation that are available can monitor a single cardiomyocyte at a time and with very limited throughput.
In US 2011/0039294 an approach to monitoring a cardiomyocyte population is disclosed, which includes both impedance monitoring and extracellular recording technologies with high precision. While acceptance of the technology is increasing, there still remain challenges when working with the cells themselves. For example, when using primary cardiomyocyte cells harvested from tissue or after extended culturing, the beating of cells can stop or slow. Accordingly, there is a need to provide devices, systems and methods that assess the cardiotoxicity of compounds while working to ensure the continued or regular beating of cardiomyocyte cells. | {
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Surgical fastening instruments carry a number of surgical fasteners which are typically placed to ligate a vessel, hemostatically staple and cut tissue, or to attach a prosthetic to tissue. All of these instruments contain a plurality of fasteners, which can be placed in a single firing, or in multiple firings. Single firing instruments, such as endocutters or various stapling instruments, contain a plurality of fasteners that are placed within tissue in a single firing. Multifire instruments, such as clip appliers and hernia tackers, contain a plurality of fasteners that are held within the surgical instrument, and the fasteners can be applied one at a time. These types of instruments can be fired repeatedly until the instrument runs out of fasteners or the surgery is complete.
One well known multifire instrument is a clip applier such as the ER320 LIGACLIP™ Multiple Clip Applier manufactured and sold by Ethicon EndoEND-Surgery, Cincinnati, Ohio. Clip appliers are used to close or ligate vessels during surgery, and are commonly used to ligate the cystic duct and cystic artery during the removal of a gall bladder. These surgical instruments can contain up to twenty clips and contain a feed shoe that pushes or feeds the clips distally within the instrument. In particular, a cam tube is advanced over jaws formed on the distal end of the device, thereby camming the jaws closed and crushing a clip disposed between. Some devices also simultaneously retract a feed bar while the cam tube is being advanced to reposition the feed bar in a position to advance the next clip. Once the clip is fully formed, the cam tube is retracted thereby releasing a return spring which is coupled to and advances the feed bar to advance the next clip into the jaws. Similar instruments can be used to deliver a hernia tack or skin staple.
One of the challenges with multifire devices is that a small stroke is repeatedly fired. The stroke must be controlled to allow for rapid repeat firing. Current mechanisms utilize mechanical linkages to accomplish this, however such linkages can be difficult to use in devices having a flexible shaft. In particular, the transfer of force from a handle to an end effector of a device having a flexible shaft can interfere with the tortuous orientation of the shaft, potentially causing it to straighten.
Accordingly, there remains a need for methods and devices for actuating surgical fastening instruments, such as clip appliers, hernia tackers, and skin staplers, and in particular for methods and devices that require a low force to effect actuation. | {
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Apart from thermal isolation, gloves typically serve to protect the hands. Injuries are avoided by blocking or at least cushioning mechanical impacts to the hand. For example, work gloves are typically made from stable and tear-resistant materials to reduce the risk of cuts to the hand.
A goalkeeper glove, for example, fulfills several requirements. Apart from improving the grip on the inner side of the hand, it is important to protect the hand against the significant mechanical loads arising when deflecting a sharply shot ball. A particular risk for a goalkeeper is the hyperextension of individual fingers or the thumb. When a goalkeeper tries to deflect a ball with an extended hand, there is the risk that one or two fingers of the extended hand, which barely contact the ball, are subjected to the full impact of the ball and hyperextended. Straining or even breaking a finger or the hand is a possible consequence. It has, therefore, been known to provide goalkeeper gloves and gloves for sports (e.g., snowboard gloves), where the hand is subjected to similar loads, with active reinforcing elements. These reinforcing elements allow for bending of the hand in a gripping direction, but they block a bending of the extended hand into the opposite direction, i.e., in the direction of a hyperextension. In the case of a goalkeeper glove, the extended hand and in particular individual fingers and the thumb are actively supported by the glove when deflecting a sharply shot ball.
To obtain the desired mechanical properties it is known from German Patent No. DE 35 16 545 C2, the entire disclosure of which is hereby incorporated herein by reference, to manufacture the backside of a glove in certain areas out of two layers. A series of compression-proof bodies are arranged on a flexible, but non-yielding first layer (for example a suitable foil). A glove having such a backside can be right away bent, since the first, flexible layer does not provide any significant resistance against such a deformation. If the hand and the glove are extended, however, the compression-proof bodies of the second layer contact each other. The compression-proof bodies, together with the non-yielding nature of the first layer, prevent the backside of the glove from being bent in a direction of hyperextension, i.e., beyond the extended configuration.
A different approach is known from German Utility Model No. DE 201 13 431 U1, the entire disclosure of which is hereby incorporated herein by reference. A glove reinforcing element is disclosed comprising a plurality of hingedly connected parts, each of which have a rotation pin and at the other end a corresponding bearing cavity. The links are designed such that a rotation of two links is only possible in one direction and the link chain blocks a movement in the opposite direction beyond the extended configuration.
A further design is shown in German Patent Application No. DE 100 10 404 A1, the entire disclosure of which is hereby incorporated herein by reference. The glove reinforcing element disclosed in this document comprises a plurality of links that are threaded onto a pulling organ extending through the links. This arrangement is similar to the design of the backside of the glove disclosed in DE 35 16 545 C2, wherein the pulling organ, for example a wire, has the function of the first, non-yielding layer.
Glove reinforcing elements known from the prior art for active protection against hyperextension are, however, difficult to manufacture. In the designs explained above, the compression-proof bodies of the second layer first have to be reliably anchored on the non-yielding first layer, for example by gluing or sewing or by guiding the pulling organ through openings in each of the compression-proof bodies. This process is difficult to automate.
The same applies to reinforcing elements made from a plurality of hingedly connected links. In a first step, each link must be manufactured. Subsequently, all links have to be interconnected. Since up to ten reinforcing elements are needed for a complete protection of the hands, this will lead to a significant manufacturing effort and resulting costs. As a consequence, gloves providing active protection against hyperextension can until now only be found in high-priced gloves for (semi-) professional users. In particular, it is impossible to produce gloves with a protection against hyperextension for kids at a cost that would be accepted by the market, although kids have the greatest risk of injuries.
A further disadvantage is the comparatively greater weight of gloves having a backside as described in DE 35 16 545 C2. The same applies to gloves having other known reinforcing elements. As a result, the movements of the goalkeeper become slower and the wearer cannot react quickly to a surprise shot.
Furthermore, known glove reinforcing elements are typically uncomfortable and create pressure points on the backside of the finger and/or the hand, for example when a ball is deflected using the fist, so that a very high load acts locally on the reinforcing element. Glove manufacturers try to avoid this effect by providing complex cushioning; however, such complex cushioning further increases the price, renders the glove bulky, and leads to a less direct support function of the glove reinforcing element. Moreover, the use of a plurality of compression-proof bodies or hinges makes it difficult to control the ball when deflecting with the fist, so that the ball is often deflected in an uncontrolled manner.
In a completely different technical field, i.e., the manufacture of soccer boots, it is known from German Patent Application No. DE 27 32 463, the entire disclosure of which is hereby incorporated herein by reference, to integrate a curved reinforcing insert into the shoe sole, which allows a bending of the shoe during rolling-off, but which stabilizes the shoe when shooting a ball.
There is, therefore, a need to provide a reinforcing element that protects against hyperextension, overcomes at least some of the above mentioned disadvantages of the prior art, and can be manufactured at a low cost. | {
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The phthalamide derivatives of the present invention represented by general formula (I) are known compounds disclosed in JP-A-11-240857 and JP-A-2001-131141, wherein it is mentioned that these compounds have an insecticidal or acaricidal activity.
On the other hand, the compounds having insecticidal, acaricidal or nematocidal activity, as the second active ingredient of the present invention, are known compounds as disclosed in The Pesticide Manual Eleventh Edition 1997, etc. | {
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The present invention relates to data storage systems, and more particularly, this invention relates to beaked write transducer configurations for magnetic media.
In magnetic storage systems, magnetic transducers read data from and write data onto magnetic recording media. Data is written on the magnetic recording media by moving a magnetic recording transducer to a position over the media where the data is to be stored. The magnetic recording transducer then generates a magnetic field, which encodes the data into the magnetic media. Data is read from the media by similarly positioning the magnetic read transducer and then sensing the magnetic field of the magnetic media. Read and write operations may be independently synchronized with the movement of the media to ensure that the data can be read from and written to the desired location on the media.
An important and continuing goal in the data storage industry is that of increasing the density of data stored on a medium. For tape storage systems, that goal has led to increasing the track and linear bit density on recording tape, and decreasing the thickness of the magnetic tape medium. However, the development of small footprint, higher performance tape drive systems has created various problems in the design of a tape head assembly for use in such systems.
In a tape drive system, the drive moves the magnetic tape over the surface of the tape head at high speed. Usually the tape head is designed to minimize the spacing between the head and the tape. The spacing between the magnetic head and the magnetic tape is crucial and so goals in these systems are to have the recording gaps of the transducers, which are the source of the magnetic recording flux in near contact with the tape to effect writing sharp transitions, and to have the read elements in near contact with the tape to provide effective coupling of the magnetic field from the tape to the read elements. | {
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The epoxy cresol novolac (ECN) resins have become important items of commerce with a myriad of users based on their highly desirable physical properties after curing. These ECN resins with a multiplicity of glycidyl ether groups in each molecule lead to cured resins with high crosslink density and great rigidity. Such properties are particularly important in the electronic industry for circuit boards and other end-uses.
Epoxy novolac resins are prepared by reacting a novolac resin with excess epichlorohydrin, based on the phenolic hydroxyl group of the novolac resin, in a strongly alkaline medium, such as aqueous sodium hydroxide, to give first the corresponding chlorohydrin ether intermediate which is then dehydrochlorinated to form the desired glycidyl ether or epoxy novolac resin product.
The process is illustrated schematically below with a cresol novolac resin. ##STR1##
Ideally all the chlorohydrin ether intermediate is converted by dehydrochlorination into the epoxy novolac resin leaving "no" reactive chlorine content in the final product. Such chlorine if still present would be potentially reactive in the presence of moisture or chemical reagents and is designated as hydrolyzable chlorine. The presence of such hydrolyzable chlorine would clearly have detrimental and deleterious effects on the final properties of the cured epoxy novolac resins particularly in the electrical and electronics industries where low chlorine and alkali metal ion contents are needed for the flawless encapsulating of electronic devices. The cured epoxy novolac resins must have low electric conductivity to minimize the electrical failure of electronic devices such as memory chips and semiconductors. Commercial ECN resins do not always meet these purity requirements.
The use of potassium tert-butylate to effect the dehydrohalogenation of alpha-halocarboxylic acids has been reported by J. Cason et al, J. Org. Chem. 18, 850 (1953).
The use of such alkali metal alkoxides with the dehydrohalogenation of epoxy resins, particularly EPN or ECN resins, is unknown. | {
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Large consumer studies show that between 1977 and 1996 in the United States average portion sizes for key food products grew markedly (Nielsen S J, Popkin B M, JAMA 2003; 289:450-453). The actual increase of portion sizes for a number of food products is shown in the following table (from the aforementioned article by Nielsen et al.):
Increase inIncreaseFood productvolume (ml)in kcalSnacks1893Hamburgers3897French fries1568Soft/fruit drinks20049
Together with the trend of decreasing physical activity, the increase in portion sizes is believed to have contributed significantly to the obesity boom.
Apart from increasing the total calorie intake, the increase of portion size has an additional important consequence, since altering visual cues (e.g. portion size) of how much is eaten influences the intake and satiety perception. A recent study (Wansink et al., Obes Res 2005; 13:93-100) suggests that people associate the amount of consumed calories/meal volume and accompanying satiety feeling with what they believe they saw themselves eating, rather than with how much they actually ate. This implies that if people believe to have consumed a relatively small volume of food, they are likely to feel less satiated then in case they believe to have consumed a relatively large volume.
Consequently, the consumption of decreased portion sizes during dieting leaves consumers with cognitive/mental and physical perception that this reduced amount of food is insufficient. Thus, consumers are left with the nagging feeling that their stomach is still ‘empty’ and find it difficult to comply with the diet. In order to overcome this problem, nutritionists have introduced the concept of food energy density, which is defined as the number of calories per given weight of food and recommend to eat foods with a low energy density. One way to achieve this is to eat products which by nature are low in energy density (e.g. high fibre fruits and vegetables) and to avoid eating energy dense products (e.g. full-fat mayonnaise, fatty meat, cakes etc.).
Another way to decrease the energy density of foods is to dilute them with non-caloric material, e.g. water or air. A large number of literature studies have confirmed that the addition of water to lower energy density increases immediate feelings of satiety and decreases subsequent food intake. The effects of simple additions of water, however, tend to be rather short-lasting (20-60 minutes). Furthermore, the addition of water is often found to adversely affect the eating quality of the edible product.
Rolls et al., Am J Clin Nutr 2000; 72:361-8 report the results of a study that examined the effect of food volume on satiety, independent of energy density (kJ/g). The design of the study was as follows: In a within-subjects design, 28 lean men consumed breakfast, lunch, and dinner in the laboratory 1 d/wk for 4 wk. On 3 d, participants received a preload 30 min before lunch and on 1 d no preload was served. Preloads consisted of isoenergetic (2088 kJ), yogurt-based milk shakes that varied in volume (300, 450, and 600 mL) as a result of the incorporation of different amounts of air. Preloads contained identical ingredients and weighed the same. It was found that the volume of the milk shake significantly affected energy intake at lunch (P<0.04) such that intake was 12% lower after the 600 mL preload than after the 300 mL preload. Furthermore it is stated that subjects reported greater reductions in hunger and greater increase in fullness after consumption of both the 450 and 600 mL preloads than after the 300 mL preload. However, the authors also conclude that “Subjects overate compared with the control condition (4199±193 kJ) in the 300 mL (5456±196 kJ), 450 mL (5233±180 kJ) and 600 mL conditions (5054±246 kJ). Therefore, it can be concluded from this study that the consumption of the preloads failed to induce a level of satiety that resulted in the consumption of less energy.
Edible foam products of pourable or spoonable consistency are known in the art. EP-A 0 292 034 describes a foamable product consisting of a homogenized mixture of fat, protein, water, alcohol and a calcium source containing lactates and/or polyphosphate. It is observed that foaming of the foamable product can be performed by whisking or from an aerosol can. The resulting foam is said to be stable in a temperature range of −8 to 50° C. when using alcohol up to a maximum alcohol content of 40 vol. % and to acid up to a pH of about 2.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,809,764 describes low caloric food compositions comprising an aqueous foam containing water, polyglycerol ester as foaming agent, a hydrophilic colloid as stabilizer and optional ingredients. Example A describes the preparation of a whipped imitation butter that is said to be stable for several days at room temperature.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,000,974 describes aerated food products formed by aerating a fruit base comprising fruit or fruit extract base, locust bean flour, pectin, carrageenan and water. The aerated food products are said to be structure-stable, temperature-insensitive as well as inexpensive.
WO 2006/067064 describes a shelf stable mousse comprising a food composition based on condensed milk aerated with an inert gas, wherein the food composition contains a foam stabilizer and has a fat content of les than 25% by weight. It is stated in the international patent application that the shelf stable mousse does not need to be stored in a refrigerated environment. | {
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Nrf2 (nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2) is a protein in the cap'n'collar transcription factor family that induces cytoprotective genes and plays an important role in protecting against oxidative stress. Under non-stress conditions, Nrf2 is negatively regulated by ubiquitination and proteasomal degradation triggered by Keap1 (Kelch-like ECH-associated protein 1). When Keap1 is exposed to oxidative stimulation and electrophilic stimulation, Nrf2 avoids proteasomal degradation. The Nrf2 then moves to the nucleus, where it forms heterodimers with small Maf proteins and binds to antioxidant response elements (AREs) in antioxidative genes and detoxification genes and induces expression of these genes. This stress response gene regulatory system is called the “Keap1-Nrf2 system”.
In addition to its antioxidative function and detoxification function, the Keap1-Nrf2 system also appears to be involved in metabolic homeostasis, and compounds that activate this system have been considered as potential treatment agents for various diseases (NPL 1, NPL 2). Specific diseases associated with Nrf2 include autoimmune diseases (multiple sclerosis, psoriasis, rheumatoid arthritis, systemic lupus erythematosus, scleroderma, ulcerative colitis, etc.), central nervous system diseases (Friedreich ataxia, mitochondrial myopathy, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease, Huntington's disease, etc.), malignant tumors (melanoma, lung cancer, medulloblastoma, neuroblastoma, etc.), respiratory diseases (chronic occlusive pulmonary disease, etc.), eye diseases (ocular inflammation, ocular pain, age-related macular degeneration, corneal endothelial disorder, etc.), skin diseases (dermatitis, radiation skin disorders, epidermolysis bullosa, etc.), kidney diseases (diabetic nephropathy, etc.), circulatory diseases (pulmonary arterial hypertension, etc.), liver diseases (hepatitis, liver cirrhosis, etc.), traumatic brain injury, aging, diabetes, obesity and the like.
Compounds having Nrf2 activation ability include sulforaphane, lithospermic acid B (LAB), oltipraz, bardoxolone methyl (CDDO-Me), curcumin and dimethyl fumarate (BG-12), and along with their Nrf2 activating effects, application of these to various diseases has been suggested (NPL 2 and NPL 3).
A compound having a purine ring and a tetrahydrothiophene structure is disclosed in WO 2011/156889 (PTL 1) as a compound having Nrf2 activation ability. However, its basic framework is different from that of a compound having an isothiazole ring structure, and the compound of the present invention is neither disclosed nor suggested.
In the field of drug development, strict criteria must be met not only in terms of the intended pharmacological activity, but also in the areas of absorption, distribution, metabolism, excretion and the like. For example, various tests are required for drug interactions, desensitization and resistance, gastrointestinal absorption upon oral administration, transfer rate into the small intestine, absorption rate and first pass effect, organ barriers, protein binding, induction and inhibition of drug metabolizing enzymes, excretory route and clearance, application methods (application site, methods, object) and the like, and it is rare that all of these criteria are satisfied. However, these problems are common to all medicines. | {
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1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a system for driving auxiliary equipments by an automobile engine, and, in particular, to an auxiliary equipment drive system for driving the auxiliary equipments by an engine crankshaft through a power transmission mechanism.
2. Description of Related Art
Automobile engines are equipped with various auxiliary devices or equipments, such as alternators, air conditioner compressors, oil pumps, and water pumps, etc., which are driven by means of belts and pulleys connected to an engine crankshaft. For example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 61-93232 discloses a configuration for driving a mechanical super charger, which is one of the auxiliary equipments, by an output shaft of a stepless transmission which can transfers the rotation of the engine crankshaft at linearly varying speeds. Similarly, Japanese Unexamined Utility Model Publication No. 63-21736 discloses a configuration for driving a supercharger by a crankshaft through a belt and pulley mechanism. In this mechanism, the supercharger is provided on its input shaft with an input pulley and a disk pressed against the input pulley via a facing member by means of an urging mechanism. This urging mechanism allows the disk to slip relatively the pulley so as to absorb the input torque from the crankshaft to the supercharger when the supercharger is disabled to operate.
On the other hand, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 61-105342 discloses a compressor drive mechanism for driving a compressor, which is one of engine related auxiliary equipment, in two different way. This compressor drive mechanism includes a plurality of pulleys provided on a crankshaft, first and secondary pulleys which are coaxially attached to a drive shaft of compressor, and first and secondary idle pulleys provided between the first and secondary compressor pulleys and between the first and secondary crankshaft pulleys, and first and secondary electromagnetic clutches disposed between the first and secondary compressor pulleys and between the first and secondary idle pulleys, respectively, for engaging and disengaging the compressor pulleys and the idle pulleys. By locking or unlocking of the first and secondary electromagnetic clutches, the transmission path from the crankshaft pulley to the first and secondary compressor pulleys is changed in two different courses.
Some of engine related auxiliary equipment, such as a mechanical supercharger, is provided with helical gears, as a torque input shaft, which are in mesh with each other and are mounted on a pair of parallel drive shafts, In this instance, as the supercharger operates, each of the drive shafts sustains a thrust force and consequently, cause axial vibration or oscillation. Especially, in the case where the supercharger is provided with a body of relatively large mass, such as a clutch by which supercharger pulleys, mounted for relative rotation on the drive shaft and driven by the crankshaft, are mechanically connected and disconnected, vibration of the supercharger is increased with an accompanying increase in noise.
In the case where a clutch is provided to an auxiliary equipment usually mounted on an engine by means of brackets, such as a supercharger, an alternator and the like and as a result, there is caused an increase in the weight of the auxiliary equipment, shifting of the center of gravity of the engine or the overall distribution of weight on the engine is caused, so that the added equipment becomes yet another source of engine vibrations. | {
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a liquid crystal display device. More particularly, the present invention relates to a liquid crystal display device having a light leakage preventing structure in a periphery of an active region.
2. Description of the Related Art
A liquid crystal display device (LCD) has low power consumption and good portability. Also, the LCD is considered as a next generation display device having high added value.
In the LCD, liquid crystals are injected between two substrates in which transparent electrodes are formed and images are displayed using anisotropy of the liquid crystals according to a difference of refractive indexes.
Recently, an active matrix LCD (hereinafter, simply referred to as LCD) has better resolution and moving image reproducibility and thus is most spotlighted. The active matrix LCD includes a plurality of switching thin film transistors that can control the on/off of voltage according to pixels.
FIG. 1 is a sectional view of a related art LCD.
In FIG. 1, the related art LCD includes an upper substrate (a color filter substrate) 12, a lower substrate (an array substrate) 14, and a liquid crystal layer 16. The upper substrate 12 is arranged opposite the lower substrate 14, and the liquid crystal layer 16 is interposed between the upper substrate 12 and the lower substrate 14.
An active region Ia containing a pixel region P is defined in the lower substrate 14, and a first non-active region Ib is defined in an outer periphery of the active region Ia. A second non-active region Ic is defined in the upper substrate 12. The second non-active region Ic is located at a position that is more inside the active region Ia than the first non-active region Ib corresponding to the lower substrate 14.
A thin film transistor T is formed on the active region Ia of the lower substrate 14. The thin film transistor T includes a gate electrode 18, a semiconductor layer 22, and source and drain electrodes 24 and 26. Also, a pixel electrode 32 connected to the thin film transistor T is formed on the pixel region P.
A color filter layer 34, a planarization layer 38, and a common electrode 40 are sequentially formed on the upper substrate 12. At this time, the color filter layer 34 includes a black matrix 34a and a color filter 34b. The black matrix 34a is formed over the thin film transistor T and the second non-active region Ic, and the color filter 34b partially overlaps the black matrix 34a and includes red (R), green (B) and blue (B) colors that are repetitively formed on the pixel region P.
Although not shown in FIG. 1, upper and lower alignment layers are formed in an inner surface of the upper and lower substrates 12 and 14 contacting the liquid crystal layer 16.
A spacer 42 is formed inside the liquid crystal layer 16 so as to constantly maintain a cell gap between the upper and lower substrates 12 and 14. In order to maintain the cell gap and prevent leakage of the liquid crystal layer, a seal pattern 44 is formed in an outer periphery of the active region Ia between the upper and lower substrates 12 and 14.
In order to connect an external circuit and the LCD, a data pad part II is formed at an end portion of data line 25, which is integrally formed with the source electrode 24 of the thin film transistor T, in the first non-active region Ib of the lower substrate 14.
Upper and lower polarizers 31 and 35 are respectively attached on outer surfaces of the upper and lower substrates 12 and 14, and a backlight is disposed at a lower portion of the lower polarizer 35 so as to supply an additional light source.
In such an LCD, the black matrix 34a is formed in the non-active region, except the thin film transistor region and the color filter 34b. Therefore, it is possible to effectively shield the light source LI corresponding to the non-active region in the periphery portion of the seal pattern 44 and to prevent a lightening phenomenon at a periphery of a screen.
The black matrix 34a is formed of a metal thin film such as Cr having an Optical Density (OD) of 3.5 or more, or carbon-based organic material, or a photo-acryl resin. A dual-layer structure of Cr/CrOx may also be used for the purpose of low reflection of the screen.
However, when the black matrix 34a is formed of a metal such as Cr, low resistance results in a leakage current. This causes distortion of an electric field and affects an image. Thus, it is preferable to use a resin black matrix that can prevent the leakage current because of its high resistance. A specific resistance of the resin black matrix 34a is about 107 Ω.
However, the resin black matrix has different transmittance characteristics in wavelengths of incident light according to the manufacturing methods of the resin black matrix. The transmittance characteristics are determined by the OD (Optical Density) characteristic that is an ability to shield light.
In recent years, the LCD is becoming larger and the backlight is also becoming larger and brighter. However, when such a high brightness model, that is, high-brightness beam of 5000 nit or more, is supplied to the LCD panel, the resin black matrix 34a has an OD value that is changed by a transmittance characteristic, as described above. Thus, the beam cannot be effectively shielded.
In addition to the related art TN LCD shown in FIG. 1, a related art In-Plane Switching (IPS) LCD and a Thin film transistor On Color filter (TOC) LCD or a Color filter On Thin film transistor (COT) LCD where the color filter layer and the array element are formed together on the lower substrate cannot overcome the above problems. | {
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This invention relates generally high speed digital telecommunication systems. The invention more particularly relates to retiming circuits and methods for SONET (synchronous optical network) signals.
The telecommunications network servicing the United States and the rest of the world is presently evolving from analog transmission to digital transmission with ever-increasing bandwidth requirements. Fiber optic cable has proved to be a valuable tool of such evolution, replacing copper cable in nearly every application from large trunks to subscriber distribution plants. Fiber optic cable is capable of carrying much more information than copper with lower attenuation.
In attempting to accommodate the protocols, equipment, and cables of the past while providing for the direction of the future, various standards and system requirements relating to fiber optic cables have been adopted. In particular, the T1 Standards Committees of ANSI have provided a draft document ANSI T1.105-1988 dated Mar. 10, 1988 which sets forth specifications for a rate and format of signals which are to be used in optical interfaces. Additional details and requirements are set forth in Technical Advisory publications SR-TSY-000202, --000233, -000253, -000303 Issue 3 of Bell Communication Research (Bellcore). The provided specifications detail the SONET standard. SONET defines a hierarchy of multiplexing levels and standard protocols which allow efficient use of the wide bandwidth of fiber optic cable, while providing a means to merge lower level DS0 and DS1 signals in a common medium. In essence, SONET establishes a uniform, standardized transmission and signaling scheme which provides a synchronous transmission format that is compatible with all current and anticipated signal hierarchies. Because of the nature of fiber optics, expansion of bandwidth is easily accomplished.
A basic SONET signal, termed an STS-1 signal, is seen in FIG. 1. The SONET signal is a 51.84 Mhz, bit serial signal, having nine rows of ninety columns of eight bit bytes at a 125 microsecond frame rate. The first three columns of bytes in the SONET signal are termed the transport overhead (TOH) bytes and are used for various control purposes as indicated in FIG. 2. The remaining eighty-seven columns of bytes constitute the STS-1 Synchronous Payload Envelope (SPE) as seen in FIG. 3.
Turning to FIG. 2, it is seen that the first two bytes Al and A2 of the transport overhead are framing bytes which contain a specified framing pattern allowing synchronization of the basic SONET STS-1 signal. Three other bytes, H1, H2, and H3 form a pointer giving explicit information as to the location of the start of the SONET SPE (i.e. the "SPE phase"). The pointer bytes are required due to the fact that the position of the SPE is not fixed in time in the STS-1 frame, but is allowed to be displaced in time (i.e. a change in the location of the SPE in the frame over time constituted an SPE "phase" shift). Hence, as seen in FIG. 3, a single SPE is seen to typically straddle two consecutive STS-1 frames
As seen in FIG. 4 which sets forth the payload pointer coding, the pointer for the SPE is located in the last ten bits of the word formed by bytes H1 and H2. The pointer value is an offset value and designates the location after byte H3 of the first byte of the SPE. If the pointer value is zero (i.e. zero offset), the first byte of the SPE is located in the first byte position after the H3 byte. If the pointer value equals one, the SPE starts at the second byte past byte H3. The greatest value allowed for the pointer is seven hundred eighty-two (equal to 810 minus 27 minus 1; 810 bytes in the frame, less 27 bytes for the TOH, less one byte to find the final location). The value of seven hundred eighty-two indicates, as seen in FIG. 5 which shows byte locations, that the SPE starts at the last byte position before the Hl byte of the next STS-1 frame.
As indicated in FIGS. 4 and 5, during normal operation, two kinds of pointer adjustments are allowed. A negative stuff is utilized when the SPE being transported is running at a frequency higher than that of the STS-1 envelope (i.e. additional information must be inserted into the envelope), while a positive stuff is utilized where the SPE is running at a frequency slower than the STS-1 signal (i.e. stuff bytes are inserted into the envelope). Regardless, the SPE phase is moved by one byte, forward or backward in time (the SPE "phase" is retarded or advanced relative to the envelope itself).
While the SONET specifications provide standards which permit the SONET SPE to float within the STS-1 envelope, details of means for taking the SPE of one STS-1 envelope and inserting into the envelope of another STS-1 signal for transport are not known in the art. Clearly, then such means are needed. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
Automatic riveting assemblies, such as used in large-scale riveting operations for aircraft for example, typically include a rivet insertion assembly which utilizes fingers at the end of the insertion assembly to grasp a rivet, which is then inserted into a pre-drilled opening in a workpiece by a ram assembly acting on the rivet insertion assembly. Once the rivet is inserted, the ram assembly is used to upset the rivet, thereby completing a riveting cycle. Such automatic riveting machines typically operate with a rivet feed system in which rivets move from a storage hopper to the rivet insertion assembly fingers. In many arrangements, the feed system includes a ramp or a track which extends from the storage hopper to a position adjacent the rivet insertion assembly, at which point the rivet is injected into the insertion assembly fingers.
In vertical axis riveting, the workpiece is in a horizontal plane and the riveting is perpendicular to the workpiece. The rivet track or ramp is usually at a 30 degree angle ±10 degrees depending on style from the horizontal, so that the rivets slide down the track by gravity, which however results in an angular mismatch between the rivet track and the vertical fingers of the rivet insertion assembly. This mismatch results in jams and other compromises in operation of the riveting apparatus. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
The present invention relates to improvement of a grass collecting container attached to a vehicle body of a grass mower and adapted for depositing mowed grass, e.g. mowed lawn.
With grass collecting containers of this type, since mowed grass, e.g. mowed lawn is forcibly taken into a body of the container with blowing air, it is necessary to exhaust the blowing air from the inside of the container to the ambience. Therefore, there have been provided in the prior art various ways to carry out this air exhausting operation such as the container per se is formed of material having good ventilation characteristics or of a mesh member or further such as the container formed of synthetic resin has a large numer of pores for exhausting air in all walls thereof, i.e. upper and lower walls, right and left walls and a rear wall also.
However, according to the above-described conventional constructions, a problem arises that the air taken into the container is exhausted in all directions from the respective walls of the container along with fine dust contained in the exhausted air. This causes a health hazard especially when the container is attached to a walking type grass mower as the dust is directly blown against an operator situated behind the vehicle body. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
At present, the development of display screens tends to be narrow frame, ultra-thin, and high brightness, and the conventional backlights can't meet high grade requirements. The conventional backlight is composed of LED, multilayer films, light guide assembly, housing frame and light-shielding tape, when it is applied to meet the high grade requirements, it will cause various defects such as bright lines, light leakage, wrinkles, and glue failure, which will greatly reduce the yield of products and increase costs. Moreover, the ultra-thin, narrow frame display screen requires extremely high accuracy for cutting and assembly of the film, and the requirement for uniformity of the light output is gradually increased. Therefore, the current backlight still needs improvement. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
During fabrication of flash memory arrays, such as flash memory arrays that include memory cells capable of storing two independent bits in separate locations within the memory cell (e.g., Advanced Micro Devices' (AMD) MirrorBit™ memory cells), bitlines are implanted in the substrate and an ONO (Oxide-Nitride-Oxide) stack is typically formed over the substrate. In the conventional flash memory array fabrication process, a layer of polycrystalline silicon (polysilicon) is typically deposited and lithographically patterned over the ONO stack to form a desired number of wordlines, which are situated over and aligned perpendicular to the bitlines. In the conventional flash memory array fabrication process, wordline critical dimension (i.e. wordline width) is determined by the lithographical patterning process. However, as the flash memory array is scaled down, the difficulty in forming wordlines having uniform wordline width increases significantly.
Additionally, during memory cell programming in a conventional flash memory array, a parasitic current can flow in a portion of the substrate situated between adjacent wordlines at or close to the interface between the bottom oxide layer in the ONO stack. This parasitic current, which is inversely proportional to the thickness of the ONO stack, can undesirably increase memory array power consumption and cause undesirable memory cell threshold voltage distribution in the memory array, which can reduce memory array performance and reliability.
Thus, there is a need in the art for a method of fabricating a flash memory array having reduced parasitic current flow in substrate portions situated between wordlines and having increased wordline critical dimension uniformity. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
Computer-aided diagnosis (CAD) systems help doctors to diagnose diseases by analyzing medical images, such as ultrasound images, and by displaying abnormal portions in the medical images based on the analysis. Such CAD systems may reduce diagnosis uncertainty caused by a human's limited ability to detect, and may also reduce doctors' heavy workload in reading each medical image.
A main task used in the analysis of medical images and in the CAD system is accurate and effective detection of lesion areas from medical images. To this end, various algorithms are used, in which algorithms mainly used for image processing or data analysis processing in other technical fields are used as a measure to evaluate detection accuracy of detected lesion areas. However, such measure may not reflect characteristics of medical images. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
Suspension systems—such as those for vehicles, manufacturing equipment, or buildings—link a frame or body (sprung elements) to wheels or the ground (unsprung elements). The suspension systems allow controlled movement between the sprung and the unsprung elements. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
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