A fuel recovery system for a machine is disclosed. The fuel recovery system may have a tank configured to store a liquid fuel. The fuel recovery system may also have an accumulator fluidly connected to the tank and configured to receive gaseous fuel formed in the tank. The fuel recovery system may further have a compressor fluidly connected to the accumulator and configured to compress the gaseous fuel. In addition, the fuel recovery system may have a separator fluidly connected to the compressor and the tank. The separator may be configured to receive the compressed gaseous fuel, and separate the compressed gaseous fuel into a first flow of gaseous fuel at a first temperature and a second flow of gaseous fuel at a second temperature. In addition, the separator may be configured to direct the second flow to the tank.

Natural gas has received much attention as a plentiful and viable alternative to traditional fuels such as diesel. Natural gas, however, has a lower energy density than traditional fuels such as diesel and gasoline. As a result, mobile machines generally use liquefied natural gas ("LNG") as fuel. To maintain natural gas in liquid form at atmospheric pressure, its temperature must remain below about −160° C. Mobile machines utilizing LNG as a fuel, therefore, typically store LNG in insulated tanks. Some heat can still enter the tank because of imperfect insulation, causing some of the LNG to change its state to a gaseous form.
The gaseous fuel ("boil-off") accumulates near the upper portions of the tank. Moreover, as the amount of gaseous fuel produced in the tank increases, the pressure within the tank also increases. The increasing pressure, if left unchecked, can damage the tank and can even cause the tank to explode. Traditional LNG systems, therefore, vent the gaseous fuel (composed mostly of methane) directly to the atmosphere. Government regulations, however, no longer permit direct venting of gaseous fuel to the atmosphere because it contributes to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. To get around this problem, some LNG systems ignite the gaseous fuel as it vents to atmosphere, thus reducing the amount of methane leaving the tank. Although effective, this process results in an inefficient waste of potential fuel energy.
One attempt to address the problems described above is disclosed in Japanese Patent No. JP 2009216078 of Masataka et al. that issued on Sep. 24, 2009 ("the '078 patent"). In particular, the '078 patent discloses a canister containing an adsorbent material to adsorb fuel vapors generated in a fuel tank. The '078 patent further discloses a vortex tube, which receives a supply of compressed air at an inlet and separates the compressed air into a hot stream of air and a cold stream of air. The system of the '078 patent directs the cold air stream towards the fuel tank, cooling the fuel tank, and reducing the amount of fuel vapor produced in the tank. Simultaneously, the system of the '078 patent directs the hot air stream towards the canister to help segregate the adsorbed fuel from the adsorbent material and introduces the segregated fuel into the suction passage of an engine. The '078 patent also discloses that at least a portion of the gaseous fuel formed in the fuel tank is discharged to the atmosphere.
Although the '078 patent discloses a method for partial recovery of fuel vapor generated in a fuel tank, the system of the '078 patent requires an adsorbent material to adsorb and release the fuel vapor generated in the fuel tank. Moreover, the '078 patent requires an external source of compressed air to generate the required hot and cold streams of air. The adsorbent material and external source of compressed air add complexity and make the system of the '078 patent more expensive. Further, although the system of the '078 patent consumes some of the fuel vapor by using it in the engine, the system of the '078 patent also discharges some fuel vapor into the atmosphere contributing to GHG emissions.
The fuel recovery system of the present disclosure solves one or more of the problems set forth above and/or other problems in the art.


A 3D memory device comprising a memory unit block, a first stair-step structure, a second stair-step structure, a first conductive strip and a second conductive strip is provided. The memory unit block comprises a first stacked structure comprising a first semiconductor strip and a second stacked structure comprising a second semiconductor strip. The first stair-step structure is disposed on one side of the memory unit block. The second stair-step structure is disposed on an opposite side of the memory unit block. The first conductive strip electrically coupled to the first semiconductor strip via the first stair-step structure. The second conductive strip electrically coupled to the second semiconductor strip via the second stair-step structure.

With advances in the integrated circuit manufacturing technology, 3D memory devices with multiple planes of memory cells are provided to achieve greater storage capacity.
In a 3D memory array, bit lines are configured to access the various layers of the memory array, so the configuration of the bit lines significantly affects the read and/or program speed of memory. Therefore, there is a need for a memory device capable of improving the bandwidth of read and/or program operation.


A semiconductor defect classification device includes feature extractors that are configured to receive images of semiconductor patterns on a wafer and to extract features of the images from the images, and a classifier that is configured to receive the features of the images and first meta information about the wafer and to use machine learning to classify a defect of the semiconductor patterns associated with the images based on the features of the images and the first meta information.

Embodiments of the inventive concept described herein relate to semiconductor devices, and, more particularly, to semiconductor defect classification devices, semiconductor defect classification methods, and semiconductor defect classification systems.
A semiconductor device is manufactured through various processes. As technology for designing semiconductor devices develops, the number of processes for manufacturing semiconductor devices may increase, and the complexity of each process may increase. As the number of processes and the complexity increase, various defects may occur in the process of manufacturing semiconductor devices.
A semiconductor defect may be detected with an intent to correct a cause of the semiconductor defect. One of the methods used for detecting a semiconductor defect is a visual method. According to the visual method, a semiconductor defect is classified based on one or more images of a semiconductor device.
Typically, a manager of a semiconductor manufacturing process may classify a semiconductor defect manually using the visual method. However, the accuracy or reliability of the defect classification by the manager may vary with the manager's skill in recognizing defects. Also, there may be time limitations associated with the visual method due to the cumulative fatigue of the manager.

Semiconductor defect classification device, method for classifying defect of semiconductor, and semiconductor defect classification system


The present invention discloses a cell system, as a host cell to be infected with an F gene-deficient virus, which can constitutively and stably express the F protein, and a method for producing an F gene-deficient virus by utilizing the cell. A non-proliferative human parainfluenza type 2 virus vector is produced by co-culturing an F gene-deficient human parainfluenza type 2 virus with a Vero cell having the F gene of human parainfluenza type 2 virus in such a manner that the F gene is non-inducibly expressed, and isolating viral particles from a culture supernatant.

Human parainfluenza type 2 virus (hPIV2) infects human respiratory mucosa and can induce mucosal immunity, and therefore is expected to find application as a vaccine vector. In order to put this vector to practical use, the virus vector is required to have an ability to infect human cells and not to generate transmissible viruses in the human body after infection (such a vector is referred to as a non-proliferative vector). Thus a system is required which can primarily infect cells or tissue but does not produce transmissible viruses in the infected cells or tissue so that it does not cause recurrent infections. The procedure for construction of such a system generally includes partially deleting a gene on a viral genome, preparing cells expressing a product encoded by the deleted gene, and complementing in trans the defective virus in the cells with the product encoded by the deleted gene to prepare a non-proliferative vector. This system has been introduced to DNA viruses such as adenoviruses (e.g. WO 94/28152) and RNA viruses such as retroviruses (e.g. WO 2006/084746). For viruses of Paramyxoviridae to which human parainfluenza type 2 virus belongs, a Sendai virus vector defective in the F gene and the like has been proposed (WO 2000/070070). It has also been reported that a vaccine for the prevention of onset of tuberculosis, which utilizes a non-proliferative recombinant vector derived from human parainfluenza type 2 virus by incorporating an a antigen (Ag85B) gene from typical mycobacteria such as Mycobacterium kansasii or Mycobacterium bovis BCG (PCT/JP 2010/069435), has a high suppressing effect of Mycobacterium tuberculosis proliferation.
F gene-deficient human parainfluenza type 2 virus does not contain, in itself, the Fusion protein (hereinafter referred to as "F protein") of human parainfluenza type 2 virus which is required for, during viral replication and transcription after invasion into a host cell, fusing a viral envelope with a cell membrane and introducing a viral nucleocapsid into the host cell, and thus cannot form replication competent viral particles. Therefore the preparation of a non-proliferative human parainfluenza type 2 virus vector which is defective in the F gene on the genome but contains the F protein on a vector envelope includes generating cells expressing the F protein of the virus, culturing the defective virus on the cells in order to retain the F protein on the viral envelope in the presence of the F protein complemented in trans by the cells and thereby constructing infectious viral particles. The human parainfluenza type 2 virus particles collected from the culture supernatant prepared according to the above replication system contain a genome lacking the F gene. Incorporating therapeutic genes or genes encoding vaccine antigens into the F gene-defective human parainfluenza type 2 virus vector may provide viral particles useful as medicaments.
Because viruses generally include membrane proteins which are cytotoxic, it has been conventionally necessary to suppress expression of the viral F gene and the like at normal times by establishing a cell line after introducing a vector which is designed to express the F gene and the like under the control of an inducible promoter and to induce the expression of the F gene and the like only when the virus is reconstituted after infecting helper cells which express the F gene and the like. In the above document pertaining to the Sendai virus vector (WO 2000/070070), for example, a system is used in which the F gene of Sendai virus is not expressed during proliferation of host cells by using the Cre-loxP inducible system and the expression thereof is induced upon infection of the virus to the cells by addition of an adenovirus.
However, the step of preparation and addition of an adenoviruses makes commercial production of the virus vector complicated. There is also a problem in that the medicament manufacturing control step becomes complicated because the gene introducing efficacy by an adenovirus is not constant. Further there is a problem in that during actual production of the virus vector with the membrane protein expression inducible system by culturing cells and replicating viral particles, the viral replication capacity decreases with an increase in the number of passages of the host cells due to toxicity of the expressed membrane protein, such that the cells lose the production ability of the virus after about 5 passages.
Therefore there is a need to obtain, as a cell which can express a gene encoding a membrane protein and the like that is defective in a virus and allows replication of the defective virus vector, a cell system which can constitutively and stably express the protein. There is also a need for a host cell system which has such robustness that the properties thereof are stable after subculturing.
The references cited in the present specification are shown below. The contents of these references are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety. However it does not intend to admit that any of these references is available as "Prior Art" to the present specification.
Patent Document 1: WO 94/28152
Patent Document 2: WO 2006/084746
Patent Document 3: WO 2000/070070
Patent Document 4: PCT/JP 2010/069435

Method for producing virus vector for gene transfer


A composition and methods for making the same. The composition includes an isoolefin having from 4 to 7 carbons, a first styrene, and a second styrene alkylated with a diene to have a pendant double bond. A copolymer having units derived from an isoolefin having from 4 to 7 carbons and an alkylstyrene can be reacted with a diene to provide the composition. The reaction of the copolymer with the diene can be reacted in the presence of a catalyst at a temperature of about 80° C. to about 200° C.

Butyl rubbers, which are copolymers of isobutylene and isoprene, have been around since the 1930s. Butyl is a crosslinkable thermoset rubber with majority polyisobutylene (PIB) so to have the excellent damping and exceptional impermeable properties of PIB. The commercial process to make butyl rubber involves cationic copolymerization of isobutylene and isoprene in methyl chloride diluent using aluminum chloride initiating system.
Isoprene, a conjugated diene, was added to butyl rubber as a co-monomer to make the resulting rubber crosslinkable. Isobutylene is perfectly suited for cationic polymerization with the formation of tert-butyl cations after its protonation, but isoprene is not. Therefore, the isoprene content within a butyl rubber is limited, if it is incorporated by cationic copolymerization using an aluminum chloride initiator. The isoprene content is typically below 5 mole %, and mostly below 3 mole %. Moreover, the double bond of the resulting polymer is in the backbone, so its accessibility is restricted leading to slow curing (or crosslinking) kinetics.
Despite excellent impermeability, butyl rubber lacks polarity, which renders it highly immiscible, incompatible, and non-adherent to other general purpose rubbers (GPRs) of NR (natural rubber), BR (butadiene rubber), and SBR (styrene-butadiene rubber). Butyl rubbers are thus used as inner tubes, curing bladders, and curing envelope where non-stickiness is desired. The invention of bromobutyl and chlorobutyl in the 1960s, by halogenation of butyl rubbers, introduced tubeless tires, using innerliners instead of innertubes. Halogenation of the backbone double bonds on the isoprene co-monomer improved the polarity and converted the backbone double bond to allylic bromine for faster cure process. The higher polarity of BIIR (bromobutyl) and CIIR (chlorobutyl) allow their innerliner green compound sheets, prior to curing, to stick to the tire carcass for forming the innerliner layer. Improving their compatibility with GPR made it possible to use HIIR (halogenated butyl)/NR blends as innerliners and to add HIIR into tire tread compounds based on SBR, BR, and NR.
To further enhance oxidative and thermal stability of HIIR, copolymers of isobutylene and para-methyl styrene were introduced in late 1980s (European Patent No. 0344021) with no backbone or pendant unsaturations. Para-methyl styrene (PMS) was used due to its high cationic polymerizability, better than styrene, and both PMS and styrene have high cationic polymerization reactivity than that of isobutylene. High PMS incorporation in IMS (isobutylene-p-methylstyrene copolymer) became possible with PMS contents greater than 10 mole % and can reach to 90% PMS. However, the IMS component is not crosslinkable. Later, by radical bromination of the PMS moiety to generate benzyl bromide functionality, a crosslinkable BIMS (brominated IMS) was discovered (U.S. Pat. No. 5,162,445). This radical bromination process is slow and requires the use, and associated capital expenditures, of several residence tank reactors to increase the reaction time, allowing bromination process to complete. Additionally, benzyl bromides are highly reactive and specific care must be exercised to prevent compound scorching, gelling, and nerving during processing. Additionally, the bromination extent is very low due to radical bromination difficulty. Typical bromination level in a BIMS, and the resulting crosslinking level, that can be delivered economically is below 2 mole % despite the fact that one can incorporate greater than 10 mole % of PMS.
Limited unsaturations in butyls and their low polarity restrict their uses to innertubes and bladders. Halogenation of butyls leads to HIIR with higher polarity but without increasing their crosslinking sites and raising their crosslinking density. This polarity enhancement by halogenation expanded their uses with HIIR being the preferred material of choice for tire innerliners. However, there are almost no uses of HIIR in tire sidewall and tread compounds. The PIB based copolymers are prone to wear and have low elasticity, which are the limiting factors for their use in treads and in sidewalls. This propensity to wear and the low elasticity can be mitigated by raising the crosslinking density. Although one can incorporate a lot more PMS than isoprene in IMS than in butyl rubber, the PMS bromination difficulty resulting in a BIMS with still low crosslinkability while the BrPMS renders BIMS a lot more scorchy and difficult to handle, process, and store.
Accordingly, a need exists for isobutylene based copolymers that are of high polarity and crosslinkability while possessing less reactive crosslinking sites for ease of processing, scorch safety, long shelf life, and minimal Marching Mooney.

Compositions of isobutylene, styrene and styrene with graft-on pendant double bonds


A triple papermaking fabric includes a set of warp machine direction top yarns; a set of weft cross machine direction top yarns interwoven with the top MD yarns to form a top fabric layer; a set of bottom MD yarns; a set of bottom CMD yarns interwoven with the bottom MD yarns to form a bottom fabric layer; and a set of binding yarns arranged in the cross machine direction and interwoven with the top MD yarns and binding the top layer to the bottom layer. The binding yarns are arranged in pairs between two adjacent top CMD yarns, and in a fabric repeat unit at least one binding yarn of each pair is interwoven with at least one bottom MD yarn. The ratio between weft yarns and warp yarns is 4:2.

The traditional Fourdrinier papermaking process substantially includes three subsequent steps, carried out in corresponding sections of the papermaking machine: forming section, pressing section, drying section.
At the forming section, an aqueous pulp of cellulose fibers (and other possible components) is arranged on a so-called forming fabric or web shaped as a closed loop belt and supported by rollers. The water removal from the pulp through the forming fabric leads to the gradual formation of a wet paper material band with a still relatively high water content. A further water removal occurs at the pressing section, in which the paper material is pressed passing through one or more pairs of rollers. The paper material is then sent to the drying section for a last moisture removal. The so-formed paper is ready for the following steps of finishing and packaging.
Hereinafter, as customary in the field of papermaking and related fabric making, the terms "machine direction" (abbreviated "MD") and "cross machine direction" (abbreviated "CMD") are used to indicate a direction aligned with the feeding direction of the forming fabric in the papermaking machine and a direction parallel to the fabric surface and transversal (orthogonal) to the feeding direction, respectively. The direction or orientation of the warp and weft yarns of the forming fabric is also indicated with reference to machine direction and cross machine direction.
Furthermore, again as customary in the field, the surface of the forming fabric in contact with the cellulose pulp (i.e. with the paper material being formed) is meant to be the top surface of the fabric and the opposite surface facing the machine is the bottom surface. This reference will be also adopted to describe the vertical spatial arrangement of the yarns in the forming fabric.
Although various types of paper forming fabrics are known, in particular for use in the forming section, enhancement margins in this field still appear to exist, e.g. in terms of mechanical strength, stability, durability, draining capacity and quality of the formed paper.

Triple papermaking fabric use of the fabric and papermaking method


The mold comprises a stationary mold half (31) and a movable mold half (32). An annular groove (33) surrounding a cavity (30a) formed by the stationary mold half (31) and the movable mold half (32) is formed in one of the stationary mold half (31) and the movable mold half (32), and a mold seal member (36) formed of a silicon rubber is disposed in the annular groove (33). A mold seal groove (37) opposed to the mold seal member (36) is formed in the other of the stationary mold half (31) and the movable mold half (32). The mold seal member (36) is projected from the contact surface of the stationary mold half (31) or the movable mold half (32) and comprises a fitting part (36a) fittedly installable in the mold seal groove (37). The cross sections of the fitting part (36a) and the mold seal groove (37) are formed in an approximately same shape.

A mold used for vacuum molding capable of bringing a cavity into a vacuum state after the mold is clamped is known as a conventional one.
Patent Document 1: Japanese Published Unexamined Patent Application No. 2002-225096
Patent Document 2: Japanese Published Unexamined Patent Application No. 2001-129833
A mold disclosed by Patent Document 1 (2002-225096) or Patent Document 2 (2001-129833) is composed of a stationary mold half and a movable mold half. An annular groove is formed in a parting surface of one of the stationary and movable mold halves. An O-ring is disposed in the groove.
When the stationary mold half and the movable mold half are clamped together, the O-ring comes into elastic contact with the parting surface of one of the mold halves, so that a cavity formed inside the groove can be kept in a state of being sealed off from the outside. Under this state, a vacuum pump communicating with the cavity is operated, and, as a result, the cavity can create a vacuum.
For example, the mold disclosed by Patent Document 1 (2002-225096) has a vent, which is an opening used for vacuuming, formed in a contact surface between the stationary mold half and the movable mold half. The vent is opened toward a cavity formed by the stationary and movable mold halves, and leads to a vacuum apparatus through an exhaust passage bored in the movable mold half. The thus structured mold can keep the cavity in a vacuum state by being clamped and then allowing the vacuum apparatus to evacuate air from the cavity through the vent and the exhaust passage.
However, a conventional problem resides in the fact that, since the mold uses the O-ring by which the cavity is sealed off, the O-ring is broken or reduced in elasticity by repeatedly performing a molding operation, and hence a drop in sealability makes it impossible to maintain the sealed state. Another conventional problem is that, since the mold has the O-ring sandwiched between the stationary mold half and the movable mold half when clamped, there is a need to, for example, adjust a clamping pressure when clamped, and hence much time is consumed for molding, and restrictions are imposed on the molding operation.
Additionally, since the mold disclosed by Patent Document 1 (2002-225096) has the vent opened toward the cavity, there has been a fear that molten resin will enter the vent when the molten resin is injected into the cavity. Still additionally, disadvantageously, a molded article has a part formed by the vent that needs to be processed, thereby increasing man-hours.
The present invention has been made in consideration of these problems. It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an injection mold capable of maintaining sealability even if a molding operation is repeatedly performed, and provide a method of manufacturing the mold. It is another object of the present invention to provide an injection mold capable of reliably keeping a cavity in a vacuum state and capable of producing molded articles at low cost without creating extra work for the molded articles after completing the molding operation, an injection molding apparatus, and an injection molding method.


A structure for bending transversal elastic waves around a zone to isolate of a plate, has an anisotropic Young's modulus and/or a heterogeneous mass density. The wavelengths of the elastic waves to bend are large with respect to the thickness of the plate and small with respect to the other dimensions of the plate. The structure is made by defining a meshing of a peripheral zone surrounding the zone to isolate; dividing the peripheral zone into several elementary rings and several elementary angular sectors; and forming, in each mesh delimited by an elementary angular sector and an elementary ring, a structural element in a material having a Young's modulus and/or a mass density different than those of the material forming the plate, the dimensions of the meshes and of the structural elements in the plane of the plate being less than half the wavelengths of the elastic waves to bend.

The present invention relates to the control of the propagation of elastic waves such as vibrations, notably in the fields of mechanics and of geology. In particular, the present invention relates to the bending of transversal elastic waves propagating in a thin plate.
Significant progress has recently been made in the control of electromagnetic waves. Transformations based upon Maxwell's equations in a cylindrical coordinate system allow structures to be defined for bending electromagnetic waves around a region to hide. Such a structure, which may also be termed an "invisibility cloak", is a metamaterial having a permeability and a permittivity that are strongly heterogeneous and anisotropic and allow the electromagnetic waves to bend around the region to hide. The term metamaterial here designates an artificial composite material having physical properties that are not found in a natural material. The permeability and the permittivity of the metamaterial may be deduced from a transformation of a coordinate system of Maxwell's equations.
United States Patent Application Publication No. 2008/0024792 discloses a geometric transformation allowing for the definition of an invisibility cloak with respect to light. This geometric transformation leads to permittivity and permeability tensors, anisotropic and varying in space, that may be approximated with the aid of a periodic structure comprising structural elements such as "split ring resonators" or in the form of a "Swiss Roll". The invisibility properties of this structure are based on the resonance of the structural elements, and therefore act intrinsically in a specific frequency range.
United States Patent Application Publication No. 2008/0165442 uses the same geometric transformation as that of the application US 2008/0024792, but proposes to approximate the permittivity and permeability tensors with the aid of other structural elements having a fixed permeability, and presenting the shape of metallic lengthened ellipsoids.
United States Patent Application Publication No. 2009/0218523 proposes the use of gradient index materials to approximate the permittivity and permeability tensors.
Contrary to Maxwell's equations and as described in the previously-mentioned documents, Navier equations describe the propagation of elastic waves that do not remain invariable with respect to geometric transformations of the coordinate system. It turns out that such geometric transformations are not applicable to Navier equations. Nevertheless, in a cylindrical coordinate system, equations relating to waves transversal to their propagation plane appear to be unrelated to equations concerning longitudinal and shear waves situated in the propagation plane to which they remain associated. Document [1] "Achieving control of in-plane elastic waves", M. Brun, S. Guenneau, and A. B. Movchan, Applied Physics Letters 94, 061903 (2009), describes a cylindrical structure adapted to elastic waves situated in their propagation plane. The propagation of these waves is described by a 4th rank (non-symmetric) elasticity tensor with 24 Cartesian inputs and an isotropic density. This document shows that the required properties of a metamaterial for bending elastic waves around a cylindrical zone require the intervention of a 4th rank elastic tensor and 34 Cartesian inputs variable in space. Nevertheless, in the particular case of a thin plate, that is to say having a large length and width with respect to its thickness, the elastic tensor may be represented in a cylindrical coordinate system by a diagonal matrix with two inputs variable in space.
Document [2] "Ultrabroadband Elastic Cloaking in Thin Plates", M. Farhat, S. Guenneau, S. Enoch, Physical Review Letters, PRL 103, 024301(2009) describes an anisotropic heterogeneous structure for bending transversal elastic waves around a zone to protect of a thin plate. This structure is formed by a plurality of radially symmetric layers, each having a Young's modulus and a constant mass density. To determine the behavior of this structure in relation to elastic waves to be controlled, the wavelength of the elastic waves was considered to be very large with respect to the thickness of the plate and small with respect to the other dimensions of the plate, which allows the von Karman Theory hypotheses to be adopted ("Theory of plates and shells", S. Timoshenko, McGraw-Hill, New York, 1940, and "Wave motion in elastic solids", K. F. Graff, Dover, N.Y., 1975).
In a cylindrical coordinate system, a displacement u(0, 0, U(r,θ)) of the plate in a direction x3 perpendicular to the plane of the plate is a solution of the following differential equation:λ∇·{ζ−1∇└λ∇·(ζ−1∇U)┘}−β04U=0  (1)
in a zone protected by the annular structure formed in the plate, centered at the coordinate origin. In equation (1):
λ=ρ1/2(r), ρ being the mass density of the annular structure,
ζ is equal to E−1/2, E being a Young's modulus of the material of the plate,
∇ is the nabla operator in cylindrical coordinate
      (                  ∂                  /                      ∂            r                              ,                        1          r                                  ∂                      /                          ∂              θ                                            )    ,  and
β04=ω2ρ0h/D0, ω being the pulsation of elastic waves, ρ0 being the mass density of the material constituting the plate, h being the thickness of the plate, and D0 being the flexural rigidity of the plate.
The following coordinate transformation is then applied:r′=a+r(1−a/b)  (2)
wherein a and b are the interior and exterior radii of the annular structure centered on the coordinate origin. This transformation allows for compression of the region such that r<a in the ring (a<r<b). It results that by choosing a plate having a constant mass density, for example ρ0=1, the Young's modulus and the mass density components of the structure have the following values:
                                          E            r                    =                                                    (                                  b                                      b                    -                    a                                                  )                            4                                                                  (                                                      r                    -                    a                                    r                                )                            4                                      ,                                                                E            θ                    =                                                                      (                                      b                                          b                      -                      a                                                        )                                4                                                                                and                                                                                ρ                        =                                                            (                                      b                                          b                      -                      a                                                        )                                4                                                                            (                                                            r                      -                      a                                        r                                    )                                2                                                                        (        3        )
r being comprised between a and b.
The annular structure thus presents an anisotropic Young's modulus E and an isotropic mass density ρ, E and ρ varying as functions of the radius only.
In document [2], the ideal structure defined by equations (3) is approximated by a structure formed by several concentric annular layers having Young's moduli respectively increasing from the interior layer towards the exterior layer. Nevertheless, a structure formed of several concentric annular layers having different Young's moduli is rather difficult to implement, since to get as close as possible to the ideal structure, the number of layers must be as high as possible.
It is therefore desired to define a structure for bending the transversal elastic waves propagating in a thin plate that is easy to fabricate.

Structure that can channel an elastic wave propagating in a plate

Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique

Université Paul Cézanne Aix-Marseille III


The present invention relates to a high-efficiency, full range acoustic resonator that functions as a high musical definition loudspeaker. It does not require electrical filters (crossover filters). The electrical signal from the amplifier directly passes to a single speaker, without energy losses and added distortions. Further, the acoustic resonator of the present invention does not require a loudspeaker enclosure to accommodate the speakers.

Patent Application US 2014/0291065 A1 discloses a loudspeaker having an external extension that includes an enclosure, at least one speaker, and a port formed in a surface of the enclosure so as to communicate with a hollow extension extending from the port outwardly. The configuration of this loudspeaker is designed to reproduce low range frequencies only, damping or lowering both middle and high frequencies. In other words, this patent application is aimed to damp intermediate and high frequencies in order to emphasize low frequencies only.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,457,341 B2 discloses a sound reproduction system, in the form of a horn, having one or more drivers coupled to a sound barrier. Different frequency responses are obtained by altering areas and lengths of the system. As disclosed, the configuration of this patent is designed to reproduce, for example, only low frequencies, damping or lowering both middle and high frequencies.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,194,905 B1 discloses an apparatus comprising a high frequency horn placed within a low frequency horn, so that the emitted sounds are time aligned, and the sounds overlapping at the same frequencies do not cancel or cause significant interference or sound distortion. This technique uses two or more speakers.
Prior art traditional loudspeakers are basically made up of three main elements or parts.
1.-Dynamic speaker(s);
2.-Frequency dividers or crossover filters;
3.-Loudspeaker enclosures.
The dynamic speaker is an electroacoustic transducer, as its function is to transform electrical energy from an audio amplifier into acoustic energy perceivable by the human ear. Usually, said prior art technique uses three speakers in order to cover all of the frequencies that the human ear is able to hear. A low-frequency reproducing speaker (bass), middle-frequency reproducing speaker (mids), and high-frequency reproducing speaker (highs). These three speakers cover together, in theory, all of the frequencies that the human ear is able to hear, namely from about 20 Hertz up to 20,000 Hertz. In some cases, said technique uses more than one speaker for each "pathway". This means that in said technique there are loudspeakers with two or more low-frequency reproducing speakers (bass), two or more middle-frequency reproducing speakers (mids), and two or more high-frequency reproducing speakers (highs).
Given that the signals from an audio amplifier contain all of the audible frequencies (20 Hertz to 20,000 Hertz), it is necessary to separate, in a certain way, the frequencies that each of the speakers are able to reproduce.
In order to achieve this, said technique uses frequency dividers or crossover filters. This means that in the entrance of the frequency dividers we have the signal from the audio amplifier, and in the exit of the frequency divider we have three outputs. This makes possible that the low-frequency reproducing speaker (bass) only receives low frequencies (first output), that the middle-frequency reproducing speaker (mids) only receives middle frequencies (second output), and finally, that the high-frequency reproducing speaker (highs) only receives high frequencies (third output). There are well known techniques for designing these kinds of frequency dividers based on the characteristics of the speakers used.
Lastly, said technique uses different kinds of enclosures to accommodate therein the three speakers or more, along with the frequency dividers. Below, two traditional basic forms of constructing loudspeaker enclosures using said technique are mentioned.
Hermetically Sealed Loudspeaker Enclosure
A completely-sealed, rectangular enclosure made from pressed sawdust "MDF" accommodating speakers and frequency dividers.
Bass-Reflex Enclosure Having a Vent
Enclosure containing one or more vents generally located in the front surface thereof. Said loudspeaker enclosures are made from pressed sawdust "MDF". The vent(s) can be simply a port in the front cover of the enclosure or can be made with one or more plastic ducts, with specific length and diameter. This vent makes possible to tune the loudspeaker enclosure to the natural resonance frequency of the low-frequency reproducing speaker. This tuning is achieving by using Helmholtz resonance. By tuning the loudspeaker enclosure atresonance frequency of the low-frequency reproducing speaker (bass), the loudness of the bass response is emphasized just for that resonance frequency.
In said technique, usually the two types of loudspeaker enclosures are filled inside with an acoustic absorbent material. Typically fiberglass wool to avoid to some extent, the undesirable wave reflections produced inside thereof.
The fact that speakers of said technique are not sufficiently efficient to reproduce by themselves all of the frequencies that we can hear, forces to modify the original signal from the audio amplifier. This is because the original signal from the audio amplifier has to be divided or separated in three signals of different frequency in order to lead these signals to each of the speakers. The original signal from the audio amplifier is not the same anymore; low range frequency, middle range frequency and high range frequency are taken out from the original signal to send them all afterwards to each speaker. This separation has to be done by using frequency dividers or crossover filters.
When a frequency divider is interposed between the original signal from the audio amplifier and the speakers, various problems affecting the final reproduction of the sound emitted by the speakers of the system as a whole are presented.
Frequency dividers or crossover filters have inevitably electrical energy losses. So, from the total energy of the original signal from the audio amplifier entering them, only a portion will eventually reach the speakers
Moreover, the elements used in frequency divider such as coils, electrical resistances and capacitors modify the original signal introducing "electric noise" or current and voltage distortion in the form of harmonics. The original signal from the audio amplifier now has harmful elements that not presented before at the crossover filter output.
In other words, passive electrical elements used to separate or divide the original signal from the output amplifier into three different frequency ranges, damage and draw energy from the original signal.
Another disadvantage of frequency dividers used in said technique is that they produce the well-known "phase" distortion. This distortion is due to the time delay existing between the input signal to the frequency divider and the output signal therefrom, that will reach the speakers certain time later. This "phase" distortion produced by frequency dividers in the prior art affects the final audible quality of loudspeakers.
Another disadvantage of said technique is related with what occurs inside loudspeaker enclosures, either sealed or with vent, when the speakers are working. The low-frequency reproducing speaker (bass) generates significant air compressions and depressions inside the acoustic loudspeaker enclosures when the cones thereof move. They behave similar to a piston. The compression and depression generated inside the loudspeaker enclosure reaches the cones of the other speakers of the system, in opposite "phase", restricting its correct operation, mainly the operation of the middle-frequency reproducing speaker. Namely, when the electrical signal from the frequency divider makes the low-frequency speaker cone move forward, depression or vacuum is generated inside the loudspeaker enclosure. Said depression inside the loudspeaker enclosure "pulls" backward the middle-frequency speaker cone, but in that moment, the middle-frequency speaker also receives an electrical signal from the frequency divider, which tries to move it forward. Similarly, when the electrical signal from the frequency divider makes the low-frequency speaker cone move backward, a pressure inside the loudspeaker enclosure is generated, said pressure "pushes" forward the middle-range speaker cone, but in this moment, the middle-frequency speaker also receives an electrical signal from the frequency divider which tries to move it backward, so there are opposite forces in the cones of the low-frequency speaker and middle-frequency speaker, caused by this operation form. These opposite speaker cone forces diminish significantly the total system efficiency that finally results in a significant acoustic distortion and therefore, in a poor audible quality.
Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide an acoustic resonator having a single high-efficiency, full range speaker, which can reproduce with high definition almost all of the sound frequencies that humans are able to hear, unlike the three or more speakers used by the prior art. Additionally, the frequency divider filters used in the prior art are eliminated. The rectangular loudspeaker enclosures made from pressed "MDF" wood, which house speakers in the prior art are also eliminated.

High musical definition acoustic resonator


A rinse process is described for processing an initially patterned structure formed with an organometallic radiation sensitive material, in which the rinse process can remove portions of the composition remaining after pattern development to make the patterned structure more uniform such that a greater fraction of patterned structures can meet specifications. The radiation sensitive material can comprise alkyl tin oxide hydroxide compositions. The rinsing process can be effectively used to improve patterning of fine structures using extreme ultraviolet light.

Patterning technologies can be used to form semiconductor-based and other electronic devices having complex, fine structures. In the fields of micro- and nanofabrication, integrated circuits have become very small. This has been driven, in part, by the steady decrease in circuit size and the increase in circuit componentry density.
Photolithography technologies have been used to fabricate and manufacture such integrated circuits. In photolithography, the patterning of photoresist generally involves several steps including: exposing the photoresist to a selected energy source, through a mask, to record a latent image and then developing and removing selected regions of the photoresist. The exposed regions of the photoresist are transformed to make patterned regions selectively removable. For a positive-tone photoresist, the exposed regions are removed to leave the unexposed regions. For a negative-tone photoresist, the unexposed regions are removed to leave the exposed regions.
Extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography is a specific photolithographic technology making possible the continued reduction in feature sizes in semiconductor manufacturing. The short wavelength (λ=13.5 nm) of EUV radiation allows generation of high density patterns of light and, thereby, fabrication of small, dense features by photolithography. In the EUV photolithographic process, the photoresist is deposited as a thin film, exposed with a pattern of EUV radiation to create a latent image, and then developed with a liquid, such as an organic solvent, to produce a developed pattern of the resist.

Patterned organometallic photoresists and methods of patterning


The present invention is related to a method for analyzing a clinical response of a patient suffering from or at risk of developing a neoplastic disease towards at least one given mode of treatment, said method comprising the steps of: a) obtaining a biological sample from said patient; b) determining, on a non protein basis, the expression level of three genes of interest, said genes being correlated with the Estrogen receptor (ESR) status in the sample, c) comparing the pattern of expression levels determined in (b) with one or several reference pattern(s) of expression levels; and d) predicting therapeutic success for said given mode of treatment in said patient from the outcome of the comparison in step (c); and treating based on said outcome.

In some neoplastic diseases, particularly gynaecological cancers like breast cancer, the response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy is comparatively low, with only about 20% of patients achieving pathological complete remission (pCR) with no tumor cells left in the breast or lymph nodes; the latter being the strongest prognostic factor for prolonged survival due to treatment benefit to date.
However, a substantial number of patients suffer severe side effects (ADRs) from highly toxic drug combinations (e.g. alopecia due to inclusion of taxanes) without additional benefit. In addition, there is a burden on national health systems due to the high cost of some therapies in this regime, especially if the chemotoxic treatments are combined with new targeted treatment options (e.g. Herceptin®, Lapatinib® and Avastin®). Moreover the new treatment options are related with some severe, probably life threatening side effects (e.g. cardiac toxicities upon combinatorial treatment with Herceptin®, gastrointestinal perforation upon combinatorial treatment with Avastin).
A better characterization of the respective tumors would thus allow a better selection of the most promising therapy in a given breast cancer patient, in order to avoid unnecessary side effects due to neoadjuvant chemotherapy in those patients which do no not draw any benefit from such therapy anyway.
Some neoplastic diseases, particularly gynaecological cancers like breast cancer (BC), are characterized the fact that approximately 80% of them are estrogen receptor positive as characterized by standard immunohistochemistry, i.e. the exhibit estrogen receptors. However, it turned out that only a fraction of these tumors are dependent on hormone ligands (i.e. estrogen) for activation of Estrogen receptors (ESR) and sustained growth of the tumor tissue.
The estrogen receptor is a member of the nuclear hormone family of intracellular receptors which is activated by the hormone 17-β-estradiol (estrogen). The main function of the estrogen receptor is that of a DNA binding transcription factor which regulates gene expression. In addition a subfraction of estrogen receptor is able to interact with receptor tyrosine kinases (e.g. Her-2/neu) on the membrane which is critical for development of resistance towards cancer therapeutics. Estrogen and the ESRs have also been implicated in breast cancer, ovarian cancer, colon cancer, prostate cancer and endometrial cancer. Advanced colon cancer is associated with a loss of ERβ (also termed ESR2), the predominant ESR in colon tissue, and colon cancer is treated with ERβ specific agonists in some cases.
As stated above, Estrogen receptors are overexpressed on the protein level in around 80% of breast cancer cases, referred to as "ESR positive". Two hypotheses have been proposed to explain why this causes tumorigenesis. One stipulates that binding of estrogen to the ESR stimulates proliferation of mammary cells, with the resulting increase in cell division and DNA replication leading to mutations. The other one states that estrogen metabolism produces genotoxic waste.
The result of both processes is disruption of cell cycle, apoptosis and DNA repair and therefore tumor formation or growth.
Different versions of the ESR1 (also termed ERα), gene have been identified (with single-nucleotide polymorphisms) and are associated with different risks of developing breast cancer.
It has turned out that, typically, ESR-positive tumors demonstrate only poor responses on neoadjuvant chemotherapy, with about 10% pathological complete remission (pCR) reported.
However, ESR-positive tumors may profit from a treatment with Tamoxifen, an estrogen-receptor antagonist used as an adjuvant hormonal treatment. Another selective estrogen receptor modulator, raloxifene, has been used as a preventative chemotherapy for women judged to have a high risk of developing breast cancer. Another anti-estrogen, ICI 182,780 (Faslodex) which acts as a complete antagonist also promotes degradation of the estrogen receptor.
Other anti estrogen drugs are Anastrozole (Arimidex®), a drug which prevents the conversion of adrenal gland androgen hormones to estrogen, Exemestane (Aromasin®) and Letrozole (Femara®), which are inhibitors for the enzyme aromatase which is involved in the production of estrogen, and Megestrol acetate (Megace®) which is a progesteron agonist acting trough competitive inhibition.
One current standard for diagnosis of early breast cancer is the determination of ESR1 by immunohistochemistry (IHC) using subsequent scoring systems. These assays are based on Protein-level measurements exhibiting limited quantitative performance and comparatively high inter- and intra-assay variabilities. Moreover, the final assessment is essentially subjective and is known to show substantial inter-operator (i.e. inter-pathologist) variance (Faneyte et al., 2003).
In this context, it has been shown that as few as 1 to 5% of ESR1 positive tumor cells within a given tumor are sufficient to specify this tumor as being potentially responsive to endocrine treatment. This is somewhat surprising as one would rather think that the 95% to 99% ESR1 protein negative tumor cells should not be dependent on estrogen and thereby not be responsive to endocrine treatment as described above. Conversely, this already shows the limitations of the protein determination of estrogen receptors as being insufficient to describe estrogen receptor dependent tumors. Clinically the 95% to 99% of estrogen receptor negative tumor cells have a high potential to be hormone dependent. Moreover, the determination of estrogen receptor status based on immunohistochemistry is highly subjective and varies between different labs (approximately 70% concordance). In view, of the marginal protein expression level of estrogen receptor being necessary to qualify for endocrine treatment this is critical.
Moreover, there are apparent differences between ESR1 positive tumors, which clearly separate the growth characteristics and dependency on solely estrogen. For example, it has been shown that a significant fraction of estrogen receptor coexpress progesteron receptor and/or the receptor tyrosine kinase Her-2/neu. This raises e.g. the possibility of estrogen independent growth capabilities via progesterone or EGFR family ligands.
Nevertheless, Estrogen receptor positive tumors do have a comparably good prognosis, while Estrogen receptor negative tumors as determined by IHC have a particularly bad prognosis.
It has yet been reported that about 20% of breast cancer cases are independent of estrogen, and are thus resistant against anti estrogen treatments (Ring et al., 2004).
These tumors, however, seem to demonstrate a better response towards chemotherapy, with about 20% pathological complete remission (pCR) reported. In addition, if Her-2/neu positive, these tumors may additionally have benefit from anti-Her-2/neu regimen such as Herceptin™ or Tykerb™. Apparently, bad prognosis tumors particularly bear the potential of benefit from combined antibody and chemotherapeutic regimen.
Still, not at least in view of the new therapeutic options, the worst prognosis among the breast cancer subgroups do have estrogen receptor negative, progesterone receptor negative and Her-2/neu receptor negative breast cancer, which are also the so called "basal like tumors" as originally defined by multiparametric gene array analysis by unsupervised cluster analysis (Sorlie et al., 2001)
However, the precise definition of the so called "basal like tumors" has been defined by fresh tissue RNA analysis using multigene arrays, and the definition of the "basal like tumors" by immunohistochemistry in fixed tissue routine samples is far from being adequate. Moreover, the "basal like tumors" itself seem to be clinically heterogenous and do contain two very different subtypes, one of which seems to have a particularly good response to chemotherapy.
A proper differentiation between these two "basal like" tumor subclasses would help to apply or develop patient or tumor specific therapies, in order to reduce side effects and improve tumor remission rates.
Moreover, new targets for newly available targeted drugs, or drugs yet to be developed, could thus be determined.
It is obvious that current methods do not suffice to characterize a high risk or low risk "basal like tumor" in a reliable and reproducible way by immunohistochemically determining it as ESR-negative, PR-negative and Her-2/neu negative.

Method for predicting therapy responsiveness in basal like tumors


An end device may include a camera configured to capture an image of an object, a touch screen configured to receive a touch input and a processor configured to determine to unlock the end device based, at least in part, on the image of the object and the touch input.

Touch-sensitive displays (also known as "touch screens" or "touchscreens") are well known in the art. Touch screens are used in many electronic devices to display graphics and text, and to provide a user interface through which a user may interact with the devices. Touch screens are becoming more popular for use as displays and as user input devices on portable devices, such as mobile telephones and personal digital assistants (PDAs). The portable devices may be locked upon satisfaction of predefined lock conditions, such as upon manual locking by a user, and have to be unlocked in order to be used again. The portable devices with touch screens may be unlocked by any of several well-known unlocking procedures, such as pressing a predefined set of buttons (simultaneously or sequentially) or entering a code or password.

University of Seoul Industry Cooperation Foundation


More than one security bit is used in a block of a PLD chip. The internal configuration and other information is left unprotected when all the security bits are in the erased state, and is protected by programming one or all the security bits. The security bits are located physically in proximity to the areas containing configuration and any other user-defined data, both so that they are difficult to discover and so that the erasure of all security bits in a EPROM-based PLD would cause a large number of adjacent user-defined bits to be erased as well, hence making it very difficult to extract useful information from a protected device by reverse engineering. Situating security bits in a different, pseudorandom location within each block of the chip makes them difficult to find and so further inhibits reverse engineering.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to programmable logic devices (PLDs), and more particularly to security protection of internal configuration information of PLDs.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A PLD usually includes multiple configurable logic blocks, I/O blocks and an interconnect network. FIG. 1 shows one enlarged configurable logic block in a PLD device, including a programmable configuration element area A, where programmable configuration elements 11 are located in a row-column array, and an area B, where the AND array, and hence the AND programmable element array are located. A typical contains several such blocks. It is to be understood that the AND array B is only an example; area B can be any other programmable logic array. The programmable configuration elements in area A control multiplexers, gates, tri-state buffers, etc. to configure the block into different internal configurations, while the AND programmable elements in area B are for programming the AND array to specify different combinatorial logic functions. In addition, programmable elements are also included in the interconnect network to determine routing between the blocks. In most cases, all these programmable elements are identical for a given PLD. They la9 be fuses, anti-fuses, EPROM or EEPROM elements or other programmable memory elements.
Programing of a PLD is accomplished by programing each of the programmable elements. However, the most important information defining a user's chip design of the block is contained in the programmable configuration element array in area A because the programing of these elements 11 determines the basic circuit structure the block assumes. Normally the state pattern of these programmable elements programmed into a PLD can, like a PROM, be read and displayed by use of programming hardware to allow a user to verify his design. Therefore, if no security steps are taken, a user's design implemented by such programmed PLDs can easily be reverse-engineered (copied) since the state pattern of the programmable configuration elements programmed into a PLD determines the internal configuration, hence the operation, of the device. Therefore, a single security element configuration bit 12 as shown in FIG. 1 is often provided in PLDs, and disables this read function when bit 12 is in a set state. This somewhat secures the user's design from attempts to copy or reverse engineer it. However, no special consideration is given as to the location of bit 12, and it has even in some cases been physically isolated in some chips, making its location easily discovered. In any case, if a reverse engineer carefully examines the chip and sees what gates control the reading operation and what disables the reading operation, he may find the security bit 12 and restore it to its unset or original state, and then the internal configuration information can easily be read out again.
Erasable CMOS PLDs, commonly called EPLDs, are considerably more secure than the above described electrically programmable devices. EPLDs are fabricated by a technology similar to that of EPROMs, and have a quartz window in the chip package for UV-erasing programmed data, and are reprogrammable. As described above, EPROM-based PLDs have a "security bit" 12 in configuration area A as shown in FIG. 1, which, if set by the programmer, disables reading of the internal configuration information. For such a device, the security bit can be erased by exposure of the chip to ultraviolet light, although in such a case, all the configuration information in area A is erased as well, hence ensuring the security of the design. However, the security bit can sometimes be defeated by a diligent "reverse engineer" who carefully examines the chip and determines approximately where in the chip the single security bit is located, and can erase just the area immediately surrounding the security bit, while leaving much of the other EPROM region unerased. In this case, the bulk of the configuration information can still be read out, easing the task of reverse engineering.

Programmable logic device having security elements located amongst configuration bit location to prevent unauthorized reading


A pixel structure includes pixel electrodes, data lines, and gate lines. Each of the pixel electrodes has two opposite ends that are each provided with one of the gate lines. The data lines and the gate lines re perpendicular to each other. Each of the pixel electrodes includes at least two sub-pixel domains. The data lines are located beneath the pixel electrode at interfacing between every two adjacent ones of the sub-pixel domains. The pixel electrodes each include slits located in the interfacing of the two adjacent sub-pixel domains. The slits are in alignment with the data line and located above the data line. Also provided is a liquid crystal display. The pixel structure and a liquid crystal display including the pixel structure have a reduced overlapping area between the data line and the pixel electrode above the data line so as to reduce parasitic capacitance and improve V-crosstalk.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of liquid crystal displaying, and in particular to a pixel structure and a liquid crystal display comprising the pixel structure.
2. The Related Arts
With the increasing progress of the liquid crystal display technology, liquid crystal displaying devices, such as light emitting diode panels, which serve as a display component, has been widely used in electronic products, such as mobile phones, digital cameras, and personal digital assistants (PDAs). The liquid crystal display panel comprises a pixel structure. Referring to FIG. 1, a schematic view is given to illustrate a conventional pixel structure. The pixel structure 100 is applicable to a liquid crystal displaying device, such as a liquid crystal display. The conventional pixel structure 100 generally comprises a plurality of pixel electrode 10, data lines 20, gate lines 30, and an upper substrate. The data lines 20 are arranged between adjacent pixel electrodes 10 and are perpendicular to the gate lines 30. The upper substrate is provided at locations corresponding to metal wiring, such as the data lines 20 and the gate lines 30, with a black matrix (BM). The black matrix shields light leakage between the data lines 20 and shielding metal. As shown in FIG. 1, each pixel electrode 10 is generally divided by separation electrodes 40 into four domains 50.
In displaying a black-background white-frame image with the pixel structure 100, due to factors, such as panel warpage and positional shift of upper and lower substrates, light leakage may occur around the data line 20 so as to cause V-Crosstalk. Further, since relative positional shift occurs between the upper and lower substrates, an area with a large positional shift would result in a large area of darkness so that the black matrix on the substrate must be expanded in order to shield light leakage. This reduces the aperture ratio of the pixel. To increase the aperture ratio of the pixel, it is common to arranged the data line 20 beneath the separation electrode 40 at the interfacing of the domains 50. However, since in such an arrangement, the data line 20 is completely coincident with the separation electrode 40 of the pixel electrode 100, a relatively high parasitic capacitance would be caused between them. This leads to V-crosstalk in a grey-background white frame image.

Pixel structure and liquid crystal display comprising the pixel structure

Shenzhen China Star Optoelectronics Technology Co., Ltd


Disclosed is a positive charging single-layer organic photoreceptor for liquid development which comprises a conductive substrate having thereon a photosensitive layer containing a charge generating material, an electron transport material and an organic binder resin comprising a polymer represented by formula (I):

This invention relates to a positively working single-layer organic photoreceptor which can be mounted on high-resolution electrophotographic equipment of liquid (or wet) development system.
Electrophotographic image-forming apparatus have been widely spreading chiefly in offices as printers, copiers, facsimiles, etc. for their capability of high speed processing and high image quality.
Broadening of application of the electrophotographic image-forming techniques particularly in the fields of instruments having color output capability and light-duty printers has been of recent interest. Accordingly, electrophotographic image-forming technology realizing high resolution, high gradient and high speed has been being actively researched and developed, and market development of image-forming apparatus reflecting the results of the researches and developments is being undertaken.
Coping with such a market trend, improvements along the researches and developments have been added to a photoreceptor, which may be said to be the heart of this type of image-forming apparatus, particularly an organic photoreceptor.
This kind of organic photoreceptors are roughly divided into layered or dual-layer ones comprising a charge generating layer (CGL) having a charge generation function and a charge transport layer (CTL) having a charge transport function and single-layer ones having a photosensitive layer having both a charge generation function and a charge transport function.
The former type of organic photoreceptors comprise a cylindrical conductive substrate made of aluminum, etc. on which a CGL and a CTL are stacked in this order. Their application is generally limited to negatively charging image-forming apparatus in nature of the organic material. The latter type construction comprises a cylindrical conductive substrate of aluminum, etc. on which a single-ply photosensitive layer is provided and is mainly applied to positively charging image-forming apparatus which, in principle, easily provide high resolution.
When a semiconductor laser having a wavelength of 700 to 800 nm or a light-emitting diode having a wavelength of 600 to 700 nm is used as an exposure light source, both the single-layer and the layered photoreceptors often contain such photoconductive materials as phthalocyanine compounds, particularly metal-free phthalocyanine pigments and titanyl phthalocyanine pigments as a charge generating material (CGM).
Layered photoreceptors of separate function type in which a CTL is superposed on a CGL have been widely put into practical use for their electrophotographic characteristics and durability. However, because the CTL used in this type of photoreceptors chiefly contains a hole transport material (HTM) by material limitation, most of these photoreceptors adopt a negative charging layer configuration fit for negative charging electrophotographic processing.
Compared with positive corona discharge, negative corona discharge used in negative charging image-forming apparatus is less stable and generates more ozone, the powerful oxidizing action of which gives adverse influences to the photoreceptor and the working environment.
While a positive charging system generating less ozone is an effective choice to solve these problems, a positive charging organic photoreceptor required for this system is generally less sensitive than negative charging organic photoreceptors. Therefore, a positive charging organic photoreceptor with high sensitivity has been sought for. Because a positive charging photoreceptor has the charge generating function predominantly in the vicinity of its surface, the distance of electrons"" movement to the photoreceptor surface necessary to form an electrostatic latent image is shorter than that in a negative charging photoreceptor. As a result, a positive charging photoreceptor is characterized by high resolution.
Various layer configurations have been proposed for a photosensitive layer of a positive charging photoreceptor, including a layered type having a CGL on a hole transport layer (HTL) and a single-layer type having a layer containing both a charge generating material (CGM) and a charge transport material (CTM). Positive charging layered type photoreceptors are behind negative charging layered type photoreceptors in practical application because they have a thin CGL on their surface and therefore involve the problem of poor durability. Positive charging single-layer photoreceptors tend to be inferior to negative charging layered photoreceptors in electric characteristics such as sensitivity as stated above. This problem is due to because none of the available electron transport materials (ETMs) is equal or superior to available hole transport materials (HTMs) in mobility.
In recent years, a large number of ETMs and electrophotographic photoreceptors using them which deserve attention have been proposed or reported in JP-A-1-206349, JP-A-4-360148, Denshi Shashin Gakkaishi, vol. 30 (1991), pp. 266-273, JP-A-3-290666, JP-A-5-92936, Proceedings of Pan-Pacific Imaging Conference/Japan Hardcopy ""98, Jul. 15-17th, 1988, JA Hall, Tokyo, Japan, pp. 207-210, JP-A-9-151157, Proceedings of Japan Hardcopy ""97, Jul. 9-11th, 1998, JA Hall, Tokyo, Japan, pp. 21-24, JP-A-5-279582, JP-A-7-179775, Proceedings of Japan Hardcopy ""92, July 6-8th, JA Hall, Tokyo Japan, pp. 173-176, and JP-A-10-73937.
Further, single-layer photoreceptors having a combination of the HTM and the ETM disclosed in JP-A-5-150481, JP-A-6-130688, JP-A-9-281728, JP-A-9-281729, and JP-A-10-239874 have been noted for their high sensitivity, and part of them have been put to practical use.
On the other hand, electrophotographic apparatus are classified according to the development system into those for dry development and those for wet (liquid) development. The wet development system uses a liquid developer comprising charged toner particles dispersed in a dielectric medium, usually a petroleum isoparaffinic solvent such as Isopar (available from Exxon Chemicals). A photoreceptor having thereon an electrostatic latent image formed by exposure processing is dipped in or brought into contact with the liquid developer. Whereupon, the toner is electrophoretically adhered to the latent image in an electric field produced between the photoreceptor and a separately provided development electrode thereby to visualize the latent image. The toner used in the liquid development system has a smaller particle size (0.1 to 1 xcexcm) than that used in the dry development system (3 to 10 xcexcm) and a larger total surface area and thereby gains greater toner charge. As a result, toner image disturbances hardly occur, and the edge effect is reduced. Thus, the liquid development system is characterized by providing images of high resolution and good gradation reproduction and is particularly suitable for full color image formation.
Since the photoreceptor is dipped in a petroleum paraffinic solvent as mentioned above, the photosensitive layer must be resistant to this solvent. Because organic photoreceptors generally used in dry development are not sufficiently resistant to the solvent of this kind, they would undergo not only considerable deterioration in appearance but elution of the CTM dispersed therein into the solvent, resulting in serious reduction of electrical and optical characteristics. Therefore, inorganic photoconductive substances such as selenium and amorphous silicon have been of frequent use to make a solvent-resistant photoreceptor for use in the liquid development system.
With the recent development of organic photoreceptors, a solvent-resistant photoreceptor comprising a poly(2,6-dimethoxyanthracene-9,10-diol alkanedicarboxylic acid ester) resin has been proposed in JP-A-4-358157. The proposed photoreceptor is a negative charging layered photoreceptor having a solvent-resistant overcoat. The problem of harmful ozone generation due to negative corona discharge is still involved. It has therefore been keenly demanded to develop a positive charging single-layer photoreceptor that can be used in liquid development.
JP-A-2000-214610 discloses a positive charging single-layer photoreceptor format for wet development which has no overcoat and yet exhibits high resistance to Isopar, a main carrier medium used in wet development, involves little elution of the CTM, and exhibits high sensitivity for practical use. According to the present inventors"" investigation, however, the proposed photoreceptor cannot be seen as satisfactory in terms of sensitivity enough to meet the market demand, still leaving room for further improvement.
JP-A-2000-63456 discloses a positive charging single-layer photoreceptor for wet development which is free from deterioration by solvent and elution of the CTM into solvent, wherein a copolymer of a block having a chemical structure with a charge transport function and a block having a chemical structure as a binder resin is used. However, the sensitivity of the proposed single-layer photoreceptor cannot be necessarily seen as sufficiently high as to fulfill the market demand.
JP-A-5-230202 proposes a polycarbonate copolymer and an electrophotographic photoreceptor comprising the same. The polycarbonate copolymer comprises a diarylene vinylene arylene skeleton as a repeating unit and has a charge transport function. The disclosure refers to use of the polycarbonate copolymer in a single-layer photoconductive layer. However, the object of the invention is to improve wear resistance and electrophotographic characteristics, and to solve the problems of photoreceptors for wet development is not necessarily aimed at. There is found no reference still less suggestion as to durability against Isopar, a main carrier medium for wet development. It is unclear from the disclosure whether or not a photoreceptor having the single-layer photoconductive layer reaches high sensitivity in wet development.
JP-A-9-127713 discloses, in Table 1, a distyrylamine-polycarbonate copolymer resin comprising a distyrylamine skeleton (serving as an HTM) and a polycarbonate unit bonded to the para-position of a phenylene group bonded to the tertiary amino group of the distyrylamine skeleton. Although the disclosure suggests that the resin is applicable to a single-layer photoreceptor shown in FIG. 2, it lacks experimental confirmation that the resin is effective in a single-layer photoreceptor as well in a wet development system, seeing that all the photoreceptors prepared in Examples 1 to 16 are layered photoreceptors.
An object of the present invention is to provide a positive charging single-layer organic photoreceptor which has high resistance to an isoparaffinic solvent, a petroleum solvent used in liquid development, undergoes little elution of a CTM into the solvent, and exhibits sufficiently high sensitivity for practical use.
Other objects and effects of the invention will be apparent from the following description.
The objects of the present invention have been achieved by providing:
(1) A positive charging single-layer organic photoreceptor for liquid development which comprises a conductive substrate having thereon a photosensitive layer containing a CGM, an ETM, and an organic binder resin comprising a polymer represented by formula (I):
wherein R1 and R2 each represent a substituted or unsubstituted alkyl group or a substituted or unsubstituted aryl group, or R1 and R2 may form a cycloalkyl group in combination; R3, R4, R5, R6, R7, R8, R9, R10 and R11 each represent a hydrogen atom, a halogen atom, an aryl group or an alkyl group; and m and n each represent a molar percentage giving a total of 70 to 95 mol %.
The present invention also provides the following preferred embodiments.
(2) The positive charging single-layer organic photoreceptor for liquid development according to item (1) above, wherein said photosensitive layer contains metal-free phthalocyanine.
(3) The positive charging single-layer organic photoreceptor for liquid development according to item (1) above, wherein said photosensitive layer contains titanyl phthalocyanine.
(4) The positive charging single-layer organic photoreceptor for liquid development according to any one of items (1) to (3) above, wherein said photosensitive layer contains a hole transport material.
(5) The positive charging single-layer organic photoreceptor for liquid development according to item (4) above, wherein the total content of said hole transport material and the component functioning for hole transport in said polymer represented by formula (I) is larger than the content of said electron transport material.
(6) The positive charging single-layer organic photoreceptor for liquid development according to any one of items (1) to (5) above, wherein said polymer represented by formula (I) is represented by formula (II), wherein m and n give a total of 80 to 90 mol %.
(7) The positive charging single-layer organic photoreceptor for liquid development according to any one of items (1) to (6) above, wherein the content of said polymer in said photosensitive layer is 70% by weight or more.

Positive charging single-layer organic photoreceptor for liquid development

Abstract: wherein R1 and R2 each represent a substituted or unsubstituted alkyl group or a substituted or unsubstituted aryl group, or R1 and R2 may form a cycloalkyl group in combination; R3, R4, R5, R6, R7, R8, R9, R10 and R11, each represent a hydrogen atom, a halogen atom, an aryl group or an alkyl group; and m and n each represent a molar percentage giving a total of 70 to 95 mol %.


The invention provides a method of obtaining a population of antigen-specific T cells from peripheral blood of a host. An embodiment of the method of the invention comprises (i) dividing PBMCs from peripheral blood of a host into more than one sub-population; (ii) contacting the PBMCs with an antigen and IL-2; (iii) obtaining a sample of PBMCs from each sub-population; (iv) identifying an antigen-reactive sub-population by determining by high throughput quantitative PCR the expression of a factor produced by the PBMCs of each sample; (v) dividing the antigen-reactive sub-population into microcultures; (vi) identifying the antigen-reactive microculture; and (vii) expanding the microculture, thereby obtaining a population of T cells specific for the antigen. The invention also provides a population of T cells obtained by the inventive method, a pharmaceutical composition comprising the same, and a method of treating a disease in a host using the pharmaceutical composition. Related isolating and screening methods are further provided.

Adoptive immunotherapy with autologous tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TIL) has been shown to mediate significant tumor regression in ˜50% of patients with refractory metastatic melanoma (Dudley et al., Science 298: 850-854 (2002) and Dudley et al., J. Clin. Oncol. 23: 2346-2357 (2005)). However, the isolation of TIL requires invasive surgery, which can lead to post-operative complications and delays in initiating adoptive immunotherapy with TIL.
The use of lymphocytes from peripheral blood (i.e., peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBL) or peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs)) in adoptive immunotherapy, in place of TIL, has been postulated as having several advantages. For example, procuring tumor reactive PBLs from a blood draw or leukapheresis avoids the need for invasive surgery. Also, the broad repertoire of PBL might allow for the isolation of unique populations of tumor-reactive lymphocytes that are not commonly found in TIL. Finally, the use of PBL might allow for the use of a generalized strategy to obtain tumor-reactive lymphocyte populations from patients, regardless of the diversity of the histology, thereby, expanding the therapeutic relevance of this approach.
A significant obstacle to the use of PBL in adoptive immunotherapy has been the lack of the availability of efficient in vitro methods to rapidly isolate and expand tumor reactive T cell clones from the peripheral repertoire. Many attractive tumor antigens are derived from normal self proteins, and conventional views of immunologic tolerance suggest that T cells reactive against these self antigens are rare in the natural peripheral repertoire and are predominantly of low functional avidity, incapable of recognizing tumor cells.
In view of the foregoing, there is a need for a rapid and efficient method of obtaining a population of antigen-specific T lymphocytes, especially rare antigen-specific T lymphocytes, from the peripheral blood of a host.

Methods of obtaining antigen-specific T cell populations

The United States of America, as represented by the Secretary, Department of Health and Human Services


A tensioner is provided for a power transmission belt comprises a tensioning roller with which the belt cooperates, a return spring for controlling the displacement of said roller when the tension of the belt decreases and means for damping the vibrations likely to occur in the belt and comprising two variable volume chambers filled with a liquid and communicating together at one of their ends through a valve device through which the passage of the liquid entering and/or leaving said chambers introduces the damping effect, wherein the sidewall at least of one of the chambers is a membrane made from an elastomer material, such as rubber, having a general bell-shape and without spring, and the return spring associated with the other chamber is formed by a coil spring working under compression, prestressed in its rest state.

The invention relates to a tensioner for a power transmission belt.
Tensioners for belt power transmission systems have already been proposed, in particular by the Applicant in FR-A-2 597 565 or FR-A-2 612 591. In the embodiments according to these documents, a linear tensioner for a power transmission belt comprises a return spring associated with the shaft of a tensioner roller with which the belt cooperates for controlling the displacement of said roller and the action of said spring, which is coated with elastomer forming a sheath defining at least a variable volume chamber filled with a liquid, said chamber being closed at one of its ends by a valve device, through which the passage of the liquid entering or leaving said chamber introduces an effect of damping the vibrations likely to occur in the belt. Although devices of this type are satisfactory for obtaining the desired results, it has proved that their construction, in particular in so far as the manufacture of the elastomer sheaths and fixing them at their ends are concerned, lead to manufacturing costs which are too high for devices for used in the automobile industry where the price factor is of great importance.
In other documents, for example in FR-A-2 617 556, also in the name of the Applicant, a tensioner of rotary type is described having a helical spring exerting a resilient return torque and comprising a flexible member of a general toroidal shape divided into two fluid chambers separated at one of their ends by a valve with dissymmetric operation so as to introduce the desired damping effect. The manufacture of such a device is also relatively expensive and leads to a relatively cumbersome assembly.
Since, however, the natural extension of the belt during use, as well as the vibrations generated in the belt by cyclic irregularities of the engine speed, are accompanied by slipping of the belt over the pulleys of the driven members--with consequently transmission defects--it is important to remedy this drawback of belt power transmissions using a tensioner, either rotary or linear depending on the organization of the belt power transmission, but which in all cases must be of as low a size and cost as possible, while offering great safety and reliability.


A driving device of a embodiment of the invention for driving a pixel array section includes a generation device (weighted average calculation section) for generating pixel values of driving signals of at least one color for pixels of the at least one color among driving signals of colors to be supplied sequentially to the pixel array section, the generation device being configured to generate the pixel values for each pixel of the at least one color on (i) a pixel value of the pixel in a current frame of the color of the pixel and (ii) a pixel value of the pixel in a previous of the same. This makes it possible to create a subframe appropriate in display position and luminance, thereby realizing an image display signal device, driving method, image display device, television receiver, and display monitor device, in which color breaking is effectively alleviated.

Liquid crystal display apparatuses having liquid crystal displays, for example, are widely used as apparatuses for displaying a color video image.
Driving methods for liquid crystal display panels encompass field sequential driving. The field sequential driving refers to a driving method for controlling a liquid crystal display panel so that three subframes which respectively correspond to three primary colors are sequentially displayed in sync with respective lighting timings of backlights which respectively correspond to the three primary colors. The three subframes displayed in a time-division manner are superimposed on a retina of a viewer due to persistence of vision so that the three subframes are recognized by the viewer as one color frame.
FIG. 7 is a block diagram (cited from Patent Literature 1) illustrating an arrangement of a conventional drive circuit for driving a liquid crystal display panel by field sequential driving. The conventional drive circuit has an RGB sync separation circuit 42, an R scan speed conversion circuit 43, a G scan speed conversion circuit 44, a B scan speed conversion circuit 45, a timing control circuit 46, and a backlight drive circuit 47.
An input video signal 41 supplied to the conventional drive circuit is separated by the RGB sync separation circuit 42 into video signals which respectively correspond to the three primary colors, red (R), green (G), and blue (B). The video signals are supplied to the R scan speed conversion circuit 43, the G scan speed conversion circuit 44, and the B scan speed conversion circuit 45, respectively, so that respective scan speeds of the video signals are converted into tripled ones. Then, the video signals subjected to this speed conversion are sequentially supplied to a light valve (liquid crystal display panel) in accordance with signals from the timing control circuit 46. The backlight drive circuit 47 supplies backlight control signals to backlights in accordance with the signals from the timing control circuit 46.
In a liquid crystal display apparatus which does not have color filters but carries out the field sequential driving, each of pixels corresponds to one picture element. That is, the liquid crystal display apparatus which drives its liquid crystal display by the field sequential driving makes it possible to obtain a resolution three times a resolution of a common liquid crystal display apparatus in which each of pixels corresponds to three picture elements. Further, the liquid crystal display apparatus makes it possible to obtain a transmittance three times a transmittance of the common liquid crystal display apparatus. This makes it possible to reduce power consumption for image display operation at a luminance to one-third of that of the common liquid crystal display apparatus to perform the image display operation at the same luminance.
On the other hand, there has been known that the liquid crystal display apparatus utilizing the field sequential driving causes a phenomenon called color breaking. The color breaking is such a phenomenon that in a case where a line of sight of a viewer follows an object moving on a display screen, sequentially-displayed subframes which respectively correspond to the three primary colors are not evenly superimposed on a retina of the viewer so that the viewer recognizes the three primary colors such that a color component corresponding to one of the subframes is emphasized.
The following describes the color breaking, with reference to drawings.
FIG. 2 is a view illustrating how a white object having a uniform luminance moves rightward along a horizontal line in a video image to be displayed on a liquid crystal display.
(a) of FIG. 8 is a schematic view illustrating video signals which are outputted from the RGB sync separation circuit 42 in a case where a video signal indicative of the video image illustrated in FIG. 2 is supplied to the RGB sync separation circuit 42. In (a) of FIG. 8, signs IR, IG, and IB indicate video signals which respectively correspond to red, green, and blue, and the signs have subscripts (n−1, n, and n+1) indicating corresponding frame numbers. A height of each of the video signals IR, IG, and IB indicates a luminance of an image. In this example, the white object has a uniform luminance. Accordingly, the video signals IR, IG, and IB have rectangular shapes having an equal height.
In (a) of FIG. 8, a vertical axis represents a temporal axis, and time progresses downward along the temporal axis. (a) of FIG. 8 shows, perpendicularly to the temporal axis, a rightward coordinate axis corresponding to the horizontal line of FIG. 2. (a) of FIG. 8 shows the video signals IR, IG, and IB along a direction perpendicular to both the temporal axis and the rightward coordinate axis. Note that arrangement of the synchronization input signals along the rightward coordinate axis does not indicate an actual arrangement of the pixels on the display screen illustrated in FIG. 2.
(b) of FIG. 8 is a schematic view illustrating output signals which are supplied from the R scan speed conversion circuit 43, the G scan speed conversion, circuit 44, and the B scan speed conversion circuit 45 to the light valve (liquid crystal display panel) in a case where the video signals IR, IG, and IB in (a) of FIG. 8 are supplied to the R scan speed conversion circuit 43, the G scan speed conversion circuit 44, and the B scan speed conversion circuit 45 on a frame-by-frame basis, respectively. The output signals are referred to as SR, SG, and SB, respectively, and have subscripts (n−1, n, and n+1) indicating that the output signals are those for different frames.
Consider here that a line of sight of a viewer follows an edge P of the white object in FIG. 2. The white object moves rightward along the horizontal line. Accordingly, a point of sight moves on the display screen while following the edge P. This movement corresponds to a downward movement of the point of sight along a dashed line (hereinafter, referred to as follow line Q) in (b) of FIG. 8.
In (b) of FIG. 8, the follow line Q intersects with end points of falls of the output signals SR. On the other hand, the follow line Q does not intersect with end points of falls of the output signals SG and SB. This indicates that the viewer recognizes only a red color at the edge P, and a green color and a blue color are off the point of sight.
Accordingly, the three primary colors cannot be properly superimposed on the retina of the viewer. As a result, the three primary colors are recognized at the edge P such that only red is emphasized. This is a phenomenon called color breaking.
The explanation above deals with a case where the line of sight of the viewer follows the edge of the white object moving on the display screen. However, the color breaking can be caused in case of objects other than the white object, and can also be caused in a position other than an edge of an object.
Patent Literature 1 discloses a liquid crystal display apparatus of a field sequential driving method. The liquid crystal display apparatus divides one frame into two subframes so as to display, in one of the two subframes, a subframe made up of a green component only, and display, in the other of the two subframes, a subframe made up of a red component and a blue component.
In order to realize such a display method, a liquid crystal display panel of the liquid crystal display apparatus has color filters which allow the red component and the green component to pass through, and color filters which allow the blue component and the green component to pass through. According to the liquid crystal display apparatus, it is sufficient to divide each frame into two subframes in total which are a subframe corresponding to green and a subframe corresponding to red and blue, in order to display an image in color. This makes it possible to increase a frame rate of a video image to be displayed on the liquid crystal display, as compared to that liquid crystal display apparatus of a field sequential driving method which requires three subframes. This makes it possible to expect an effect of alleviating the color breaking.
However, a problem still persists in that it is difficult to fundamentally alleviate the color breaking only by increasing a frame rate.
Patent Literature 2 discloses an image processing apparatus having a display position correction circuit which corrects display positions of subframes of each frame by use of a movement detector circuit. The display position correction circuit of the image processing apparatus corrects display positions of subframes so that subframes are evenly superimposed on a retina of a viewer while a line of sight of the viewer follows an object moving a display screen. This makes it possible to suppress color breaking in displaying a moving image.

Driving device, driving method, image display device, television receiver, display monitor device, program and record medium