This invention is a device and method for reducing blood flow into an aneurysm, especially a cerebral aneurysm, in order to promote therapeutic embolization of the aneurysm. The device comprises: at least one core member that is inserted into the aneurysm; and at least one longitudinal flexible member that is wound repeatedly around the core member within the aneurysm. The longitudinal flexible member is wound around the core member until the rotational accumulation of the flexible member reduces blood flow into the aneurysm and promotes therapeutic embolization of the aneurysm.

1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to treatment of aneurysms.
2. Review and Limitations of the Prior Art
An aneurysm is an abnormal localized bulging or ballooning of the wall of a blood vessel. A cerebral aneurysm is an abnormal bulging or ballooning of an intercerebral artery. The prevalence of cerebral aneurysms is in the range of 1-5%.
According to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) of NIH, the incidence of reported ruptured aneurysms is about 10 per 100,000 persons per year (about 27,000 per year in the U.S.). Approximately one third to one half of people who suffer a ruptured cerebral aneurysm die within one month and, among those who survive, approximately one half suffer significant deterioration of brain function. The vast majority of cerebral aneurysms form in the junction of arteries known as the Circle of Willis where arteries come together and from which these arteries send branches to different areas of the brain.
The most common methods of treating aneurysms are surgical clipping (placing a clamp on the aneurysm from outside the vessel) and endovascular coiling (inserting flexible coils into the aneurysm from inside the vessel). During the past three decades, there has been a general trend away from surgical clipping and toward less-invasive endovascular methods of treating aneurysms such as coiling. The limitations of surgical clipping include the risks of invasive surgery and difficulty accessing aneurysms in some areas. We will now discuss endovascular coiling in greater depth because the invention disclosed here is more similar to coiling than to clipping. The following are four serious problems with endovascular coiling in the prior art that will be corrected by the present invention:
1. Limited Fill Volume Due to Resilient and Springy Coils
Endovascular coils in the prior art tend to be relatively resilient and springy. They are often metal. These qualities are needed in traditional coiling in order to create the surface tension between the coils and the aneurysm walls that holds the coils within the aneurysm sack. The coil loops do not form a solid mass within the aneurysm and would likely prolapse into the parent vessel if they were not resilient and springy. However, the resilient and springy nature of coils in the prior art limits the percentage of the aneurysm volume that can be filled by these coils. As these coils overlap in loops, there are often large gaps between them. Fill rates for the aneurysm sack volume can be as low as 25%-50%. Much of the volume of the aneurysm remains unfilled. As a result of these low fill rates, sometimes blood can continue to flow into the aneurysm and the aneurysm can continue to expand or even rupture.
2. Limited Fill Volume Due to Radially Inward Filling Process
In deployment of the endovascular coils in the prior art, accumulation of coil mass starts around the perimeter of the aneurysm. Accumulation of mass then moves radially-inward toward the center of the aneurysm sack with successive coil loops. Unfortunately, coil maneuverability can become quite constricted as the remaining central volume shrinks. Visibility can also be difficult inside the hollow ball of perimeter coils. Accordingly, it can be difficult to achieve a high percentage of fill volume inside the mass of coils and for the aneurysm overall. As a result, the mass of coils can be relatively hollow and the coils can compact over time. This can allow recanalization of the aneurysm, continued aneurysm expansion, and even aneurysm rupture.
3. Coil Prolapse Due to Randomness of Coil Loop Directions
In deployment of endovascular coils in the prior art, the directionality of looping within the aneurysm during coiling is constantly changing, highly variable, and somewhat random in nature. Although a talented and experienced practitioner can exert some control over the changing directionality of coil looping by manipulating the device from outside the patient's body, it can be laborious for the practitioner to constantly work at avoiding having the loops turn in a direction that could prolapse into the parent vessel. Coil loops that prolapse into the parent vessel can block blood flow in real time. Prolapsed coils can also cause embolization or stoke in the future.
4. Long Procedure Time Due to Randomness of Coil Loop Directions
In addition to the possibility of coil prolapse into the parent vessel due to the randomness of changing loop directionality in traditional endovascular coiling, this randomness also makes the procedure time consuming. It can be very time-consuming for a practitioner to gradually snake coils around the aneurysm, one loop at a time, in different directions. This is especially true when multiple coils are used or when coils with different characteristics are used at different stages in the procedure.
For these four reasons, despite significant progress in surgical clipping and endovascular coiling during the past two decades, there remains a significant unmet clinical need for development of a new option to treat cerebral aneurysms that can address these four problems. The invention that we will now disclose is a novel option for treating cerebral aneurysms that can address these four problems and meet this unmet clinical need.

Aneurysm embolization by rotational accumulation of mass


A motor mounting system for a vehicle is provided comprising a motor carrier frame and a resilient flexible member connecting the motor carrier frame to a chassis of the vehicle. The motor carrier frame comprises an overtravel cage with a portion of the chassis projecting into the cage and being movable in the cage.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to motorized vehicles and, more particularly, to a system for mounting a motor to a chassis.
2. Prior Art
U.S. Pat. No. 4,821,827 discloses an engine mount for a golf cart having flanges on a chassis and a grommet located between the flanges and attached to a front flange on an engine mounting frame. A need exists for a motor mounting system which is relatively easy to assemble, provides a flexible connection, but limits over-travel, and which can accommodate a relatively small engine receiving area in a chassis.
In accordance with one embodiment of the present invention, a motor mounting system for a vehicle is provided comprising a motor carrier frame and a resilient flexible member connecting the motor carrier frame to a chassis of the vehicle. The motor carrier frame comprises an over-travel cage with a portion of the chassis projecting into the cage and being movable in the cage.
In accordance with another embodiment of the present invention, a motor mounting system for a motorized vehicle is provided comprising a motor carrier frame and a resilient flexible member connecting the motor carrier frame to a chassis of the vehicle. The resilient flexible member comprises a one-piece member with a first receiving aperture and a second receiving aperture. A portion of a first connection section on the chassis projects into the first receiving aperture and a portion of a second connection section on the motor carrier frame projects into the second receiving aperture.
In accordance with another embodiment of the present invention, a motor mounting system for a motorized vehicle is provided comprising a first connection section, a second connection section and a resilient flexible connection. The first connection section is stationarily connected to a chassis of the motorized vehicle. The first connection section comprises a first cantilevered projection. The second connection section is stationarily connected to a motor carrier frame. The second connection section comprises a second cantilevered projection. The resilient flexible connection connects the first and second cantilevered projections to each other. The first and second cantilevered projections project, at least partially, in a same direction from the chassis and the motor carrier frame, respectively.
In accordance with one method of the present invention, a method of connecting a motor carrier frame to a chassis of a vehicle is provided comprising steps of providing first and second cantilevered projections extending, at least partially, in a same direction from the chassis and the motor carrier frame, respectively; positioning the first cantilevered projection into a first aperture of a one-piece resilient flexible member; and positioning the second cantilevered projection into a second aperture of the one-piece resilient flexible member.


One aspect of the present invention relates to reactive compositions and methods of use thereof, wherein a metal oxide cluster is used to connect a reactive group (or groups) to the surface of a substrate. In certain embodiments, the reactive group in the compositions decomposes organophosphate agents through nucleophilic hydrolysis. In certain embodiments, the reactive group in the compositions is bactericidal. Remarkably, the use of metal oxide clusters in the disclosed compositions and methods permits incorporation of higher quantities of nucleophilic and bactericidal groups without the difficulties associated with having to pretreat the substrate prior to its association with the reactive groups.

The presence of organophosphate esters (OPEs) in industrial and agricultural drain waters, spills, runoffs, and drifts, as well as OPE agent-based chemical munitions that may be released during warfare or a terrorist attack, poses great risks to human health and the environment. The worldwide number of exposures to OPEs in pesticides and insecticides is estimated at some 3,000,000 per year; the resulting total number of deaths and casualties is estimated at over 300,000 per year. Eyer, P. "The role of oximes in the management of organophosphorus pesticide poisoning," Toxicol Rev. 2003, 22(3), 165-190. Numerous OPE-based pesticides, insecticides and warfare agents, such as sarin, soman, and VX, in addition to being carcinogenic, act as nerve poisons which may cause cumulative damage to the nervous system and liver. The primary mechanism of action of the OPEs is irreversible inhibition of acetylcholinesterases; essential enzymes for breaking down acetylcholine and maintaining normal nerve function, resulting in the accumulation of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine at nerve synapses. Structures of the nerve poison sarin and a model analogue used in this study, diisopropyl fluorophosphate (DFP), are given in FIG. 1. The acute toxicity of various pentavalent organophosphorus (OP) compounds toward living species has resulted in the widespread use of phosphoric, thiophosphoric, and phosphonothioic acid derivatives as biocides for animal and crop protection as well as in the development of chemical weapons of mass destruction. Quin, L. D. A Guide to Organophosphorus Chemistry; Wiley: New York, 2000; Compton, J. A. Military Chemical and Biological Agents; Telford Press: NJ, 1997; p 135; Gallo, M. A.; Lawryk, N.J. Organic Phosphorus Pesticides. The Handbook of Pesticide Toxicology; Academic Press: San Diego, Calif., 1991; Sultatos, L. G., J. Toxicol. Environ. Health, 1994, 43(3), 271-289; Morales-Rojas, H.; Moss, R. A., Chem. Rev, 2002, 102(7), 2497-2522. Development of an economical strategy for dealing with possible OP contamination is critical.
Some of the first OPE-decontaminating agents were oxidizers, such as bleaching powders. See Yang, Y. C. et al. "Decontamination of chemical warfare agents," Chem. Rev. 1992, 92(8), 1729-1743. However, the activity of bleaches decreases upon long-term storage; therefore, to have the desired effect, copious amounts of bleach must be used. Moreover, because bleaches are corrosive, they are not compatible with many surfaces.
At present, the decontamination solutions of choice are DS-2 (a non-aqueous liquid composed of diethylenetriamine, ethylene glycol, monomethyl ether, and sodium hydroxide) and STB (super tropical bleach). Although DS-2 is generally not corrosive to metal surfaces, it damages skin, paints, plastics, rubber, and leather materials. STB, while effective, has the same environmental problems as bleaches and cannot be used on the skin. Consequently, personal decontamination equipment typically consists of packets of wipes containing such chemicals as sodium hydroxide, ethanol, and phenol. These chemicals are selected to provide a nucleophilic attack at the phosphorous atom of nerve agents.
Efforts aimed at alternatives to oxidizers have focused on the development of processes for the catalytic destruction (CD) of nerve agents and pesticides. Chiron, S. et al. "Pesticide chemical oxidation: state-of-the-art," Water Research 2000, 34(2), 366-377; and Russell, A. J. et al. "Biomaterials for mediation of chemical and biological warfare agents," Annu. Rev. Biomed. Eng. 2003, 5, 1-27. It was first recognized in the 1950s that certain metal ions, especially Cu(II), had the ability to catalyze the hydrolysis of nerve agents and their stimulants. The catalytic activity of such chemicals was significantly enhanced when Cu(II) was bound to certain ligands. For example, diisopropyl phosphorofluoridate (DFP) has a hydrolytic half-life of approximately 2 days in water, 5 hours in water when CuSO4 is added, and just 8 minutes in water when Cu(II) bound to either histidine or N,N′-dipyridyl is added in an approximately 2:1 ratio of metal complex to substrate. Sarin was found to be even more susceptible to metal-based catalysis with a half-life of only 1 minute in the presence of tetramethyl-EDA-Cu(II) complex (1:1 metal complex to substrate). However, the use of free copper-ligand complexes for catalyzing the degradation of nerve agents also has disadvantages. First, the nerve agent must be brought into contact with a solution of the metal-ion-containing catalyst. Second, the ratio of metal to chelate must be carefully controlled. Third, solubility issues can still limit the pH range and choice of chelates for use in a particular environment. Catalytic hydrolysis is an important step in the detoxification of insecticides and chemical warfare agents; reactions show high specificity and dramatically enhanced rates.
In addition, researchers have begun to look at enzymes stabilized by attachment to a polymeric support as catalysts for the degradation of nerve agents. These enzymes, variously known as organophosphorous acid anhydrases, phosphotriesterases, sarinase, or others, are extracted either from microorganisms, such as Pseudomonas diminuta, or from squid. The enzymatic approach shows promise but is limited by the specificity of the proteins for their substrates, e.g., a parathion hydrolase would not be effective against another nerve agent. Further, the enzymes require a very specific range of conditions, e.g., pH, to function properly. In addition, field conditions can involve concentrated solutions of nerve agents, which can overwhelm the relatively low concentration of enzymes, which can be immobilized on a support.
The shortcomings of the free metal-ligand complexes and enzymatic approaches has caused the majority of the practical catalytic destruction technologies to focus on acid-catalyzed or base-catalyzed hydrolysis or nucleophile-aided hydrolysis. Magee, R. S. "U.S. chemical stockpile disposal program: the search for alternative technologies. In Effluents From Alternative Demilitarization Technologies," ed. F W Holm, Dordrecht: Kluwer Acad., 1998, 22, 112; Amos, D.; Leake, B. "Clean-up of chemical agents on soils using simple washing or chemical treatment processes," J. Hazard. Mater. 1994, 39, 107-117; Yang, Y. C. "Chemical detoxification of nerve agent," Acc. Chem. Res. 1999, 32, 109-15; and Yang, Y. C.; Baker, J. A.; Ward, J. R. "Decontamination of chemical warfare agents," Chem. Rev. 1992, 92(8), 1729-1743. In this regard, α-nucleophiles, such as hydroperoxides, hypochlorite, iodosocarboxylates, hydroxamates, and oximates, have been investigated alone or in concert with surfactants. Wagner, G. W.; Yang, Y.-C. "Rapid Nucleophilic/Oxidative Decontamination of Chemical Warfare Agents," Ind. Eng. Chem. Res. 2002, 41(8), 1925-1928; Moss, R. A.; Chung, Y. C. "Immobilized iodosobenzoate catalysts for the cleavage of reactive phosphates," J. Org. Chem. 1990, 55(7), 2064-2069; and Fanti, M.; Mancin, F.; Tecilla, P.; Tonellato, U. "Ester Cleavage Catalysis in Reversed Micelles by Cu(II) Complexes of Hydroxy-Functionalized Ligands," Langmuir 2000, 16(26), 10115-10122. However, very few reagents are currently available that are both inexpensive and non-toxic as well as catalytic. Rather, most of these compounds show only stoichiometric dephosphorylating activities at neutral pH. Bhattacharya, S.; Snehalatha, K. "Evidence for the Formation of Acylated or Phosphorylated Monoperoxyphthalates in the Catalytic Esterolytic Reactions in Cationic Surfactant Aggregates," J. Org. Chem. 1997, 62(7), 2198-2204. Notable exceptions include micellar iodosobenzoate, and related derivatives, micelle-forming metallocomplexes, and immobilized metal chelate complexes. Moss, R. A.; Chung, Y. C. "Immobilized iodosobenzoate catalysts for the cleavage of reactive phosphates,"J. Org. Chem. 1990, 55(7), 2064-2069; Menger, F. M.; Gan, L. H.; Johnson, E.; Durst, D. H. "Phosphate ester hydrolysis catalyzed by metallomicelles," J. Amer. Chem. Soc. 1987, 109(9), 2800-2803; and Chang et al. (US 2003/0054949 A1). Most studies have concentrated on homogeneous or micellar catalysts, which do not afford the advantages of catalyst recycle. Additionally, operational cost and environmental footprint are always a concern.
Magnetic nanoparticles have attracted attention for possible applications to biological and environmental separations because they permit fast and economical removal of target compounds from complex media by use of magnetic fields. Magnetite nanoparticles are most commonly utilized and often prepared by co-precipitation of Fe(II) and Fe(III) salts in water. The procedure is simple and can be run on a large scale with "off the shelf" raw materials. Magnetic nanoparticles may also be functionalized by reactive groups and used as catalysts. Because the particles are small, the surface area per unit volume is high and mass transfer resistances are small.
Even given the advances discussed above, destruction of stockpiled chemical weapons and OPE biocides accumulated in the biosphere by environmentally friendly means remains challenging, calling for continuing development. Singh B K, Walker A. "Microbial degradation of organophosphorus compounds" FEMS Microbiol Rev. 2006, 30(3), 428-471; Russell A J, Berberich J A, Drevon G F, Koepsel R R. "Biomaterials for mediation of chemical and biological warfare agents," Annu Rev Biomed Eng. 2003, 5, 1-27; Raushel F M. "Bacterial detoxification of organophosphate nerve agents," Curr Opin Microbiol. 2002, 5(3), 288-295. As mentioned above, chemical means of OP decomposition by hydrolysis or oxidation are among the common decontamination techniques. Acid- or base-catalyzed hydrolysis or nucleophile-aided hydrolysis enable highly specific and efficient pathways of the OP decontamination. Magee, R. S. "U.S. chemical stockpile disposal program: the search for alternative technologies. In: Effluents From Alternative Demilitarization Technologies," Holm, F. W., editor, Dordrecht: Kluwer Acad. 1998, 22, 112; Amos, D., Leake, B. "Clean-up of chemical agents on soils using simple washing or chemical treatment processes," J. Hazard. Mater. 1994, 39, 107-117; Yang, Y. C. "Chemical detoxification of nerve agent," Acc. Chem. Res. 1999, 32, 109-115; Yang, Y. C.; Baker, J. A.; Ward, J. R. "Decontamination of chemical warfare agents," Chem. Rev. 1992, 92(8), 1729-1743; Wagner, G. W., Yang, Y.-C., "Rapid nucleophilic/oxidative decontamination of chemical warfare agents," Ind. Eng. Chem. Res. 2002, 41(8), 1925-1928; Moss, R. A., Chung, Y. C. "Immobilized iodosobenzoate catalysts for the cleavage of reactive phosphates,"J. Org. Chem. 1990, 55(7), 2064-2069; Fanti, M., Mancin, F., Tecilla, P., Tonellato, U., "Ester cleavage catalysis in reversed micelles by Cu(II) complexes of hydroxy-functionalized ligands," Langmuir 2000, 16(26), 10115-10122.
Interestingly, hypervalent iodine carboxylates, such as 2-iodoxybenzoic acid (IBX, 1-hydroxy-1,2-benziodoxol-3(1H)-one 1-oxide) and o-iodoso- or iodosylbenzoic acid (IBA) (Scheme 1) and their tautomers and derivatives, have attracted increasing interest because of their selective, mild, and environmentally friendly properties in organic reactions, such as oxidation of alcohols into carbonyl compounds, oxidation of thiols to disulfides, single electron-transfer agents in cyclization of unsaturated amines to heterocycles and amides to γ-lactams, cleavage of oximes and hydrazones into the corresponding carbonyl compounds, etc. E. B. Merkushev, "Organic Compounds of Polyvalent Iodine—Derivatives of Iodosobenzene," Russ. Chem. Rev. 1987, 56 (9), 826-845; A. Varvoglis, "Hypervalent Iodine in Organic Synthesis," Academic Press, San Diego (1997); Wirth, T. "IBX-new reactions with an old reagent," Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2001, 40(15), 2812-2814.
Compounds classified as α-nucleophiles have strong hydrolytic reactivity, excellent chemical stability in the targeted complex systems, and relatively straightforward preparations. For example, hypervalent iodine carboxylates are very reactive α-nucleophiles due to the large electron density on the exocyclic oxygen and the short endocyclic I—O bond capable of attacking electrophilic P—O centers in the OPE compounds. Morales-Rojas, H.; Moss, R. A. "Phosphorolytic Reactivity of o-Iodosylcarboxylates and Related Nucleophiles," Chem. Rev. 2002, 102(7), 2497-2522.

Moss and co-workers exploited the nucleophilic reactivity of hypervalent iodine carboxylates for the degradation of organophosphorus substrates. Moss, R. A., Chung, Y. C. "Immobilized iodosobenzoate catalysts for the cleavage of reactive phosphates," J. Org. Chem. 1990, 55(7), 2064-2069; R. A. Moss, H. Morales-Rojas, "Kinetics of Cleavage of Thiophosphates and Phosphonothioates by Micellar Iodosocarboxylates and Copper Metallomicelles," Langmuir 2000, 16(16), 6485-6491; Morales-Rojas, H.; Moss, R. A. "Phosphorolytic Reactivity of o-Iodosylcarboxylates and Related Nucleophiles," Chem. Rev. 2002, 102(7), 2497-2522. Furthermore, it has been shown that reactivity of these agents can be improved by the reactant incorporation into the self-assembled colloids, such as surfactant micelles. Moss, R. A.; Morales-Rojas, H. Langmuir 2000, 16, 6485; Moss, R. A.; Kim, K. Y.; Swarup, S. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1986, 108, 788; Morales-Rojas, H.; Moss, R. A. "Phosphorolytic Reactivity of o-Iodosylcarboxylates and Related Nucleophiles," Chem. Rev. 2002, 102(7), 2497-2522. The rate enhancements observed in these aggregated systems are primarily due to the increases in the concentrations of reactants in the small interfacial volumes in which the reactions occur. Over the years, powerful reagents for the chemical degradation of the OPE compounds were created via syntheses of iodoso-modified surfactants and hydrophobic iodosocarboxylates with enhanced binding to the micellar pseudophase. C. A. Panetta, S. M. Garlick, H. Dupont Durst, F. R. Longo, J. R. Ward "Synthesis of 4-alkyl-2-iodosobenzoic acids: potent catalysts for the hydrolysis of phosphorus esters," J. Org. Chem. 1990, 55(18), 5202-5205; R. A. Moss, R. Fujiyama, H. Zhang, Y. C. Chung, K. McSorley "Iodosobenzoate-microemulsion reagents for the cleavage of a reactive phosphate," Langmuir 1993, 9(11), 2902-2906; Moss, R. A.; Morales-Rojas, H. "Kinetics of Cleavage of Thiophosphates and Phosphonothioates by Micellar Iodosocarboxylates and Copper Metallomicelles," Langmuir 2000, 16(16), 6485-6491; R. A. Moss, K. Y. Kim, S. Swamp "Efficient catalytic cleavage of reactive phosphates by a functionalized o-iodosobenzoate surfactant," J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1986, 108(4), 788-793. Polymers modified with covalently attached iodosobenzoate groups have also been synthesized for the purpose of creating solid decontaminates and were reported to be capable of inducing the cleavage of the P—O bond. Moss, R. A.; Bolikal, D.; Durst, H. D.; Hovanec, J. W. Tetrahedron Lett. 1988, 29, 2433; Moss, R. A.; Chung, Y.-C.; Durst, H. D.; Hovanec, J. W. J. Chem. Soc. Perkin Trans. 1 1989, 1350; Moss, R. A.; Chung, Y.-C. J. Org. Chem. 1990, 55, 2064; R. A. Moss, Y.-C. Chung "An Efficient Iodosobenzoate-Functionalized Polymer for the Cleavage of Reactive Phosphates" Langmuir 1990, 6, 1614-1616. Polymer-supported iodoxybenzoic acid has also been utilized as a reagent for alcohol oxidation and OP hydrolysis. M{umlaut over (ú)}lbaier, M., Giannis, A., "The synthesis and oxidative properties of polymer-supported IBX," Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2001, 40(23), 4393-4394; Z. Lei, C. Denecke, S. Jegasothy, D. C. Sherrington, N. K. H. Slater and A. J. Sutherland, "A facile route to a polymer-supported IBX reagent," Tetrahedron Lett. 2003, 44(8), 1635-1637; Morales-Rojas, H.; Moss, R. A. "Phosphorolytic Reactivity of o-Iodosylcarboxylates and Related Nucleophiles," Chem. Rev. 2002, 102(7), 2497-2522.
Immobilization of iodoso- and iodoxybenzoate reagents into paints, synthetic fabrics and other colloidal systems can result in self-decontaminating materials. R. A. Moss, Y. C. Chung, "Immobilized iodosobenzoate catalysts for the cleavage of reactive phosphates," J. Org. Chem. 1990, 55(7), 2064-2069. Moss and Chung reported iodosobenzoate catalysts immobilized onto macroreticular acrylate resin with pending dimethylamino groups, which mimicked a micellar catalyst and exhibited reactivity comparable to aqueous micellar suspensions. Moss, R. A.; Chung, Y.-C. J. Org. Chem. 1990, 55, 2064.; R. A. Moss, Y.-C. Chung "An Efficient Iodosobenzoate-Functionalized Polymer for the Cleavage of Reactive Phosphates," Langmuir 1990, 6, 1614-1616. Numerous reported synthetic routes toward IBA and IBX moiety immobilization included (but were not limited to) silylation of silica or titanium dioxide followed by coupling with dimethylamine iodobenzoate derivative with the subsequent oxidation of the iodo- to iodoso-reagents, coupling of hydroxy-iodobenzoic acid to an aminoalkyl-derivatized macroporous resin, chloromethyl polystyrene, or silica gel via an aryl ether or phenoxide linkers, modification of nylon into aminonylon, which could be further quaternized with iodobenzoate, leading to the quaternary ammonium iodobenzoate nylon derivative, or quaternization of dimethylamino groups of a commercially available resin by iodobenzoate moieties followed by their oxidation to iodosobenzoate groups. R. A. Moss, Y. C. Chung, "Immobilized iodosobenzoate catalysts for the cleavage of reactive phosphates," J. Org. Chem. 1990, 55(7), 2064-2069; R. A. Moss, Y.-C. Chung "An Efficient Iodosobenzoate-Functionalized Polymer for the Cleavage of Reactive Phosphates," Langmuir 1990, 6, 1614-1616; M{umlaut over (ú)}lbaier, M., Giannis, A., "The synthesis and oxidative properties of polymer-supported IBX," Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2001, 40(23), 4393-4394; Sorg, G., Mengel, A., Jung, G., Rademann, J. "Oxidizing polymers: a polymer-supported, recyclable hypervalent iodine (V) reagent for the efficient conversion of alcohols, carbonyl compounds, and unsaturated carbamates in solution," Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2001, 40(23), 4395-4397; Reed, N. N., Delgado, M., Hereford, K., Clapman, B., Janda, K. D., "Preparation of soluble and insoluble polymer supported IBX reagents," Bioorg. Medicinal Chem. Lett. 2002, 12, 2047-2049; Togo, H.; Sakuratani, K. "Polymer-supported hypervalent iodine reagents," Synlett 2002, 12, 1966-1975; Ladziata, U., Willging, J., Zhdankin, V. V. "Facile Preparation and Reactivity of Polymer-Supported N-(2-Iodyl-phenyl)-acylamide, an Efficient Oxidizing System," Org. Lett. 2006, 8(1), 167-170.
However, all of the approaches described above were multistep syntheses involving either careful choice or extensive chemical derivatization of a surface prior to the conjugation of an iodocarboxylate moiety, for example. Therefore, needed is a method of derivatizing substrates to enable them to decompose organophosphate agents, without the need for extensive pretreatment of the substrate prior to derivatization.

Compositions for chemical and biological defense


A method of attaching a first metal object to a second metal object is presented. The first metal object and the second metal object are dissimilar materials. The first metal object comprises an upper surface and a lower surface. The method comprises: positioning the first metal object in intimate contact with the second metal object such that the second metal object is in contact with the lower surface of the first metal object; identifying at least one attachment location on the upper surface of the first metal object where the first metal object is in intimate contact with the second metal object; adding a powdered metal on the upper surface of the first metal object at the at least one attachment location; and firing a heat source at the powdered metal to melt the powdered metal and drive the melted powdered metal through the first metal object and into the second metal object.

In the manufacturing of industrial components, there is a need to join two metallic structures together by welding or similar fusion. When the structures are of the same type of metal it is easier to weld them together than if they are composed of two different types of metals. It is particularly difficult to weld dissimilar metals together because of the different melting points and reflectivity of the two metals. These difficulties are present in the manufacture of industrial heat exchangers where copper waveforms are required to be welded to a stainless steel under laminate sheet. Various attempt in the prior art have been put forward to weld dissimilar materials of this type together. What is presented is an improved method of welding dissimilar materials.

Bimetallic joining with powdered metal fillers


A catamaran for pastime, model construction or racing with induced hydrodynamic stability, having a hull with a board (1) and a pair of longitudinally extended semi-immersible appendages (2, 3; 8, 9; 13, 14; 24, 25) arranged parallel to each other symmetrically to the center-line of the hull, the respective bottoms of which, at the bow tips (4, 5; 12, 12a; 21, 22; 32, 33) of said appendages, have mutually opposite slopes, each slope being contrary to the slope of the respective aft rest of the bottom with respect to the median symmetry plane of the hull.

As it is known, racing catamarans or catamarans used for pleasure boating, usually called "two-points", or also the relevant models, have a forward configuration with two convergent bottoms or hulls, such as the bottoms of the monohull motorboats. This configuration has major drawbacks, especially during the races run in basins not perfectly calm.
In fact, it may happen that one of the two bottoms slips into the waves either due to a piloting mistake or falling down from the jumps the catamaran may make. In this way, it often occurs that, at best, there is just a spin-around of the catamaran, which at cruising speed can be very dangerous anyway, whereas, at worst, there may be the complete capsizing of the catamaran with the possible ejection of the pilot, with easily imaginable consequences.
U. S. Pat. No. 3,113,543 discloses a boat with two catamaran-like appendages having opposite slopes developing into a V-shaped hull at the boat end with the aim of obviating the difficulties of an inverted V-bottom boat, which is not suitable for high speeds in racing.
However, this solution could not be adopted in a real catamaran to overcome the above-mentioned problems due to the high speed experienced in racing.
The aim of the present invention is to eliminate or substantially reduce the above-mentioned drawbacks of known type catamarans by devising an induced hydrodynamic stability catamaran, which eliminates the possibility of spin-arounds or capsizings of the catamaran itself.
Within the scope of the mentioned aim, an object of the present invention is to obtain a catamaran maintaining the same driving and performance characteristics of known type catamarans.
Not last object of the present invention is to obtain a high reliability catamaran, fairly easy to build and at competitive costs.

Catamaran for pastime, model construction or racing in any competition rating, with induced hydrodinamic stability


A data processing method includes: selecting, by a network device according to a downlink control information (DCI) format of DCI used for scheduling data, a modulation coding scheme (MCS) mapping table to be used, the MCS mapping table including a mapping relationship between multiple MCS indication information and multiple MCSs, the DCI format including a first DCI format and a second DCI format; determining, by the network device according to the MCS mapping table and an MCS used for processing the data, an MCS indication information carried in the DCI; and sending, by the network device, the DCI carrying the MCS indication information to a terminal device.

In the 5G New Radio (NR) system, two new modulation methods are introduced: binary phase shift keying (BPSK) with pi/2 offset and 256 quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM). Moreover, other higher-order modulation methods, such as 1024 QAM, will be supported in subsequent evolutions.
Among them, BPSK with pi/2 offset is used in the scenario with very low signal-to-noise ratio. In this case, the terminal can use a multiple access method based on discrete Fourier transform spread orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (DFT-S-OFDM). The 256QAM is mainly used in the scenario with a high signal-to-noise ratio. In this case, the terminal can adopt a multiple access method based on cyclic prefix orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (CP-OFDM). Since the application scenarios of these modulation methods are different, how to select the modulation and coding method becomes an urgent problem to be solved.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Data processing method, terminal device and network device

GUANGDONG OPPO MOBILE TELECOMMUNICATIONS CORP., LTD.


The invention provides a Low-voltage Differential Signaling (LVDS) receiver circuit that comprises a folded-cascode operational transconductance amplifier (OTA) that includes a pair of input branches and a pair of output branches. The pair of input branches of the folded-cascode OTA includes a p-channel metal-oxide semiconductor (PMOS) input transistor pair connected to a first supply voltage domain. The pair of output branches includes an output circuit connected to a second supply voltage domain. The LVDS receiver circuit further includes a common-mode feedback circuit connected to the pair of output branches of the folded-cascode OTA that controls the second supply voltage domain. The LVDS receiver circuit further includes a regenerative buffer circuit connected to the pair of output branches of the folded-cascode OTA and an output generated from the pair of output branches of the folded-cascode OTA directly operates the regenerative buffer circuit to produce a distortion-free output signal.

Low-voltage Differential Signaling (LVDS) technology is commonly used to provide a low-power and a low-voltage alternative to other high-speed input/output (I/O) interfaces, specifically for point-to-point transmissions, such as those used in network devices within data and communication networks.
An LVDS receiver is an essential part of an LVDS transceiver that is employed for high-speed low-power differential signaling over electrical interconnects. The high-speed data transmission is widely applied to a variety of applications which may include, but need not be limited to, data transmission between chips, data transmission between integrated circuit boards and the like.
The LVDS receiver has to receive a differential signal ranging from 250 millivolt (mV) to 400 mV while accommodating a large common-mode voltage over which the differential signal ranging from 0.2V to 2.2 V resides. Also, the LVDS receiver has to regenerate this very low-voltage signal into a rail-to-rail high-edge-rate signal.
Thus, an LVDS receiver circuit has to be designed in such a way that it can accommodate a large (2 volt) common-mode input range and providing a high enough gain and bandwidth to regenerate the received low-voltage and low-edge rate signal. Further, the LVDS receiver circuit has to perform the above mentioned functions in a power-efficient and an area-efficient manner.
Conventional LVDS receiver circuit designs employ a folded-cascode operational-transconductance amplifier (OTA) as a first stage of the receiver circuit with a p-type metal oxide semiconductor (PMOS) input pair. The folded-cascode OTA provides a high gain with a targeted bandwidth while the PMOS input pair allows for a high common-mode input range.
The folded-cascode OTA is followed by a domain-shifter circuit that converts the I/O voltage to a core voltage of the receiver chip. As the LVDS receiver is a well-researched domain for integrated circuits, complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) processes going towards the deep submicron regime and the LVDS receiver circuit design employed with the PMOS input pair and the domain shifter circuit raises new challenges in accordance with the power and area used for the LVDS receiver circuit.
Therefore, in light of the above, there is a need for an LVDS receiver circuit design that further improves gain and bandwidth along with a considerable reduction in area and power consumption.
Skilled artisans will appreciate that elements in the figures are illustrated for simplicity and clarity and have not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements in the figures may be exaggerated relative to other elements to help to improve understanding of embodiments of the invention.

Low-voltage differential signaling (LVDS) receiver circuit and a method of operating the LVDS receiver circuit

THE KING ABDULAZIZ CITY FOR SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY (KACST)


A method for improving audio experience for a user of an audio device is provided. The method includes establishing a communication channel between the audio device and a remote client; detecting a peripheral audio device in the vicinity of the audio device; establishing a temporary communication channel between the peripheral audio device and the remote client; and transferring, via the temporary communication channel, audio data between the peripheral audio device and the remote client.

To successfully achieve a desired auditory experience for a user of an audio device it is required that there is an efficient transfer of auditory information between the audio device and the user. The transfer of auditory information is, however, often affected by the environment of the audio device. The acoustics of the location where the audio device is placed may for example impair the quality of the auditory information that is transferred. Objects in the environment may furthermore obstruct the transfer of auditory information such that the auditory experience is affected. A common solution to overcome such problems is to increase the degree of loudness or the intensity of a sound, i.e. increase the volume of the sound that is emitted to and/or from the audio device. Such a solution may, however, disturb the environment of the audio device. An increased volume may lead to that sensitive information may be overheard by other persons than the user of the audio device. Increasing the volume of the sound may moreover introduce distortions such that quality of the auditory information that is transferred is reduced.
Hence there is a need for improved transfer of auditory information between an audio device and the user of the audio device.

Method for improving audio experience for a user of an audio device


Ethanol preparations exhibiting a superior effect upon food preservation and also a superior antiseptic effect upon yeasts are provided, which preparations comprise a polylysine or a polylysine salt added to anhydrous ethanol or a water-containing ethanol in an ethanol concentration of 30% by weight or higher.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to ethanol preparations for food preservation, which exhibit a superior effect upon food preservation. More particularly it relates to ethanol preparations for food preservation, characterized by having a polylysine added to anhydrous ethanol or a water-containing ethanol in an ethanol concentration of 30% by weight or higher, or by having a polylysine salt added to a water-containing ethanol in an ethanol concentration of 30% by weight or higher.
2. Description of the Related Art
It has been experientially known from old times that ethanol inhibits growth of microorganisms, and ethanol has been widely used for hygienic control of food factories or as a countermeasure to food preservation.
Further, there have been used ethanol preparations for food preservation having added to ethanol, an agent for improving food preservation, for example natural or synthetic food additives such as organic acids e.g. fumaric acid, malic acid, citric acid, etc., sodium salts of these acids, sodium chloride, calcium oxide, glycine, lower fatty acid esters e.g. glycerine fatty acid esters, sorbitan fatty acid esters, etc.
However, such ethanol preparations for food preservation having the above-mentioned agent for improving food preservation added to ethanol have a drawback that they are inferior in the antiseptic effect upon yeasts; thus it is the present status that ethanol preparations for food preservation also having a superior antiseptic effect upon yeasts have been desired to be developed.
The present inventors have made extensive research in order to develop ethanol preparations for food preservation having a superior antiseptic effect not only upon various bacteria and molds but also upon yeasts. As a result, we have found that ethanol preparations having a polylysine added to anhydrous ethanol or a water-containing ethanol in an ethanol concentration of 30% by weight or higher or ethanol preparations having, a polylysine salt added to a water-containing ethanol in an ethanol concentration of 30% by weight or higher have a superior antiseptic effect not only upon various bacteria and molds, but also upon yeasts, and have achieved the present invention based upon the above finding.

Method for treating food to control the growth of yeasts


An optical recording medium includes a substrate, a light transmission layer and a plurality of recording layers between the substrate and the light transmission layer and capable of recording data in the plurality of recording layers and reproducing data recorded in the plurality of recording layers by projecting a laser beam via the light transmission layer onto the plurality of recording layers, at least one recording layer other than a farthest recording layer from the light transmission layer among the plurality of recording layers including a first recording film containing Si as a primary component and a second recording film located in the vicinity of the first recording film and containing Cu as a primary component. In the thus constituted optical recording medium, it is possible to record data in a farthest recording layer from the light transmission layer and reproduce data from the farthest recording layer in a desired manner.

The present invention relates to an optical recording medium and a method for recording and reproducing data and, particularly, to an optical recording medium which is constituted so that data can be recorded in a plurality of recording layers and data can be reproduced from the plurality of recording layers by projecting a laser beam thereonto via a light transmission layer and in which data can be recorded in a farthest recording layer from the light transmission layer in a desired manner and data can be reproduced from the farthest recording layer in a desired manner, and a method for recording data in and reproducing data from such an optical recording medium in a desired manner.

Optical recording medium and method for recording and reproducing data


A Predictive, Foveated Virtual Reality System may capture views of the world around a user using multiple resolutions. The Predictive, Foveated Virtual Reality System may include one or more cameras configured to capture lower resolution image data for a peripheral field of view while capturing higher resolution image data for a narrow field of view corresponding to a user's line of sight. Additionally, the Predictive, Foveated Virtual Reality System may also include one or more sensors or other mechanisms, such as gaze tracking modules or accelerometers, to detect or track motion. A Predictive, Foveated Virtual Reality System may also predict, based on a user's head and eye motion, the user's future line of sight and may capture image data corresponding to a predicted line of sight. When the user subsequently looks in that direction the system may display the previously captured (and augmented) view.

Virtual reality (VR) allows users to experience and/or interact with an immersive artificial environment, such that the user feels as if they were physically in that environment. For example, virtual reality systems may display stereoscopic scenes to users in order to create an illusion of depth, and a computer may adjust the scene content in real-time to provide the illusion of the user moving within the scene. When the user views images through a virtual reality system, the user may thus feel as if they are moving within the scenes from a first-person point of view. Similarly, augmented reality (AR) combines computer generated information with real world images to augment, or add content to, a user's view of the world. The simulated environments of virtual reality and/or the enhanced content of augmented reality may thus be utilized to provide an interactive user experience for multiple applications, such as interacting with virtual training environments, gaming, remotely controlling devices or other mechanical systems, viewing digital media content, interacting with the internet, or the like.
However, conventional virtual reality and augmented reality systems may also suffer from latency problems potentially cause eyestrain, headaches, and/or nausea. For example, conventional virtual reality and augmented reality systems may involve significant lag times between the time a user looks in a particular direction and the time that the system is able to display the corresponding scene to the user. Additionally, the amount of image data required to be captured, generated and/or displayed to the user of a conventional virtual reality system may be so large as to affect the performance of the system (e.g., increased latency) and to increase the cost and/or size of the system.

Predictive, foveated virtual reality system


A storage system and method for direct quad-level cell (QLC) programming are provided. In one example, a controller of the storage system is configured to create codewords for lower, middle, and upper pages of data; program the codewords in the memory of the storage system using a triple-level cell programming operation; read the programming of the codewords for the lower, middle, and upper pages of data in the memory; create a codeword for a top page of data; and program the codeword in the memory.

When writing data to a non-volatile memory having a multi-level cell (MLC) configuration, the process is typically accomplished by storing each of the bits for a cell in random access memory (RAM) in the memory controller for all the cells in a complete wordline in the memory and then proceeding with a multiple-stage programming process for injecting charge into each multi-bit cell to achieve the programmed state desired for that cell. As part of this multiple-step programming process, and for each of the multiple programming steps, memory in the controller can store a copy of all the data bits to be programmed in a cell and process the error correction code (ECC) bits for the data.

Storage system and method for direct quad-level cell (QLC) programming


Embodiments of the invention include a system and set of processes for organizing image collections. The system detects individuals in each image uploaded into the system using facial recognition or similar methods. The user and viewers of the images may then view dynamic albums based on the interrelationships of individuals in images. Users and viewers may browse all images with an individual or see albums of images with two selected individuals or similar combinations based on the relationships between users.

The online storage and management of digital images has become an enterprise with many companies offering services that allow a user to upload and share digital images with other users. The services these companies offer are similar in nature. Typically these services allow a user to upload a set of pictures and organized them into sets that may each be labeled as albums.
The online services often have specialized local clients that must be installed before images can be uploaded to the servers. The local client manages the upload and may provide some limited image manipulation functionality such as image rotation or cropping. The online services typically provide a limited amount of storage for the images that are uploaded and limit the duration for which the images may be stored.
The organization of the uploaded images is limited to placing them in albums that may have titles and dates associated with them, but do not have any internal order except for a sequence of images assigned to the album.

Facial based image organization and retrieval method


Embodiments of the present disclosure provide methods, systems, and apparatuses related to multilevel encoding with error correction. In some embodiments, data may be programmed and/or read from a matrix of nonvolatile memory cells with concatenated encoding/decoding schemes. In some embodiments, a calculation module may determine an actual bit per cell value of a given combination of parameters of a nonvolatile memory device. Still other embodiments may be described and claimed.

1. Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to the field of memory, and more particularly, to error correcting codes for increased storage capacity in multilevel memory devices.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the usual workflow for the development of a nonvolatile memory (NVM) device such as a flash device, error correcting codes (ECCs) are designed after fixing key parameters of the NVM device (e.g., size of technology node, number of bits per cell, etc.). At most, some rough estimate of ECC impact on latency times and logic area are performed.

Error correcting codes for increased storage capacity in multilevel memory devices


A protocol emulator includes an executable emulation application configured for promiscuously detecting IP frames on a network interface. The executable emulation application generates response IP frames for each corresponding detected IP frame. The protocol emulator also includes a raw socket configured for outputting each response IP frame onto the network interface. Hence, the protocol emulator minimizes use of UNIX kernel resources by eliminating IP filtering of received IP frames from the network interface, and by using a raw socket for sending a response IP frame generated by the emulation application instead of the socket layer or the kernel. Hence, the minimal use of UNIX kernel resources enables scalable emulation of multiple logical IP addresses, effectively enabling an unlimited number of IP devices to be emulated without assignment of IP addresses to respective sockets.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an arrangement for testing network-based systems by emulating network workstations having respective Internet Protocol (IP) addresses.
2. Description of the Related Art
Protocol emulators are often programmed in a UNIX environment for testing network devices that are designed to implement a prescribed protocol. Often there is a need to emulate multiple IP devices having respective IP addresses. Typically such emulation of multiple IP devices is accomplished by creating logical IP addresses, also referred to as alias IP addresses or secondary IP addresses, and binding each of the logical IP addresses to a socket using BSD (Berkeley Software Distribution) socket programming. In particular, different types of sockets may be created: stream sockets are used for character streams (TCP) for use by HTTP or FTP; and datagram sockets are used for (UDP) datagrams. Other types of sockets exist, for example raw sockets. Once the socket is created, the bind function is used to bind the socket to the corresponding logical IP address, enabling a UNIX kernel to provide Ethernet access to the logical IP address. Hence, a UNIX workstation can emulate multiple devices by binding multiple logical IP addresses to respective sockets for access to the UNIX kernel.
The above-described emulation approach, however, does not scale well for multiple logical IP addresses. In particular, each logical IP address takes up kernel resources because each corresponding socket requires a file descriptor. A typical UNIX kernel is unusable with more than several thousand file descriptors, hence the UNIX kernel cannot handle more than 1000 to 2000 logical IP addresses. Although more IP addresses can be handled by specialized kernel code provided by test vendors, such specialized kernel code is based on proprietary source code in conjunction with specialized test hardware from the test vendor. Since test vendors prefer not to provide the source code for the specialized kernel code, test engineers may have difficulty in modifying the kernel code for their own particular testing requirements. Hence, test engineers would need several months to modify the kernel code in order to perform the necessary test operations. Consequently, test engineers need to choose between testing systems under test by using only a limited number of IP addresses, and substantial delay of the systems under test.

Arrangement for emulating an unlimited number of IP devices without assignment of IP addresses


The invention provides a method for conjugating a peptide displayed on a genetic display system to a molecular scaffold performed on an ion exchange resin.

Cyclic peptides are able to bind with high affinity and target specificity to protein targets and hence are an attractive molecule class for the development of therapeutics. In fact, several cyclic peptides are successfully used in the clinic, as for example the antibacterial peptide vancomycin, the immunosuppressant drug cyclosporine or the anti-cancer drug ocreotide (Driggers, et al., Nat Rev Drug Discov 2008, 7 (7), 608-24). Good binding properties result from a relatively large interaction surface formed between the peptide and the target as well as the reduced conformational flexibility of the cyclic structures. Typically, macrocycles bind to surfaces of several hundred square angstrom, as for example the cyclic peptide CXCR4 antagonist CVX15 (400 Å2; Wu, B., et al., Science 330 (6007), 1066-71), a cyclic peptide with the Arg-Gly-Asp motif binding to integrin αVb3 (355 Å2) (Xiong, J. P., et al., Science 2002, 296 (5565), 151-5) or the cyclic peptide inhibitor upain-1 binding to urokinase-type plasminogen activator (603 Å2; Zhao, G., et al., J Struct Biol 2007, 160 (1), 1-10).
Due to their cyclic configuration, peptide macrocycles are less flexible than linear peptides, leading to a smaller loss of entropy upon binding to targets and resulting in a higher binding affinity. The reduced flexibility also leads to locking target-specific conformations, increasing binding specificity compared to linear peptides. This effect has been exemplified by a potent and selective inhibitor of matrix metalloproteinase 8, MMP-8) which lost its selectivity over other MMPs when its ring was opened (Cherney, R. J., et al., J Med Chem 1998, 41 (11), 1749-51). The favorable binding properties achieved through macrocyclization are even more pronounced in multicyclic peptides having more than one peptide ring as for example in vancomycin, nisin or actinomycin.
Different research teams have previously tethered polypeptides with cysteine residues to a synthetic molecular structure (Kemp, D. S. and McNamara, P. E., J. Org. Chem, 1985; Timmerman, P. et al., ChemBioChem, 2005). Meloen and co-workers had used tris(bromomethyl)benzene and related molecules for rapid and quantitative cyclisation of multiple peptide loops onto synthetic scaffolds for structural mimicry of protein surfaces (Timmerman, P. et al., ChemBioChem, 2005). Methods for the generation of candidate drug compounds wherein said compounds are generated by linking cysteine containing polypeptides to a molecular scaffold as for example tris(bromomethyl)benzene are disclosed in WO 2004/077062 and WO 2006/078161.
WO2004/077062 discloses a method of selecting a candidate drug compound. In particular, this document discloses various scaffold molecules comprising first and second reactive groups, and contacting said scaffold with a further molecule to form at least two linkages between the scaffold and the further molecule in a coupling reaction.
WO2006/078161 discloses binding compounds, immunogenic compounds and peptidomimetics. This document discloses the artificial synthesis of various collections of peptides taken from existing proteins. These peptides are then combined with a constant synthetic peptide having some amino acid changes introduced in order to produce combinatorial libraries. By introducing this diversity via the chemical linkage to separate peptides featuring various amino acid changes, an increased opportunity to find the desired binding activity is provided. FIG. 1 of this document shows a schematic representation of the synthesis of various loop peptide constructs. The constructs disclosed in this document rely on —SH functionalised peptides, typically which may comprise cysteine residues, and heteroaromatic groups on the scaffold, typically which may comprise benzylic halogen substituents such as bis- or tris-bromophenylbenzene. Such groups react to form a thioether linkage between the peptide and the scaffold.
Heinis et al. recently developed a phage display-based combinatorial approach to generate and screen large libraries of bicyclic peptides to targets of interest (Heinis, et al., Nat Chem Biol 2009, 5 (7), 502-7; see also international patent application WO2009/098450). Briefly, combinatorial libraries of linear peptides containing three cysteine residues and two regions of six random amino acids (Cys-(Xaa)6-Cys-(Xaa)6-Cys) (SEQ ID NO: 1) were displayed on phage and cyclised by covalently linking the cysteine side chains to a small molecule (tris-(bromomethyl)benzene). Bicyclic peptides isolated in selections for affinity to the human proteases cathepsin G and plasma Kallikrein (PK) had nanomolar inhibitory constants. The best inhibitor, PK15, inhibits human PK (hPK) with a Ki of 3 nM. Similarities in the amino acid sequences of several isolated bicyclic peptides suggested that both peptide loops contribute to the binding. PK15 did not inhibit rat PK (81% sequence identity) nor the homologous human serine proteases factor XIa (hfXIa; 69% sequence identity) or thrombin (36% sequence identity) at the highest concentration tested (10 μM) (Heinis, et al., Nat Chem Biol 2009, 5 (7), 502-7). This finding suggested that the bicyclic inhibitor possesses high affinity for its target, and is highly specific.
Although the method disclosed by Heinis et al. is effective for the modification of displayed polypeptide ligands to produce bicyclic peptides, its efficiency is very low. For example, infective phage are generated at a rate of only 1 in 350 per starting phage particle. We have therefore developed an improved protocol for the modification of polypeptide ligands displayed on genetic display systems.
Citation or identification of any document in this application is not an admission that such document is available as prior art to the present invention.


An ophthalmologic apparatus includes an objective lens, a refractive power measurement optical system, an inspection optical system, and a corneal shape measurement optical system. The refractive power measurement optical system projects light onto a subject's eye via the objective lens and detects returning light from the subject's eye. The inspection optical system includes an optical scanner. The inspection optical system deflects light from a light source, projects the light deflected by the optical scanner onto the subject's eye via the objective lens, and detects returning light from the subject's eye. The corneal shape measurement optical system projects an arc-like or circumferential measurement pattern from an outer edge side of the objective lens onto the subject's eye and detects returning light from a cornea of the subject's eye. When a working distance is WD, a distance from a corneal apex of the subject's eye to a pupil of the subject's eye is d1, a distance from the pupil to a fundus of the subject's eye is d2, and a scan range by the optical scanner is SA square, a diameter of the objective lens is greater than or equal to ((WD+d1)×SA/d2).

Ophthalmologic apparatuses capable of performing a plurality of inspections and measurements for a subject's eye are known. The inspections and the measurements for the subject's eye include a subjective inspection and an objective measurement. The subjective inspection is to acquire the result based on the responses from the subject. The objective measurement is to acquire information on the subject's eye mainly by the use of a physical method without referring to the responses from the subject.
For example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2017-136215 discloses an ophthalmologic apparatus capable of performing the subjective inspection and the objective measurement. In this ophthalmologic apparatus, a refractive power measurement of the subject's eye, a keratometry of the subject's eye, photographing using optical coherence tomography, and a measurement using optical coherence tomography can be performed.


Structures and configurations for planar ultrawideband modular antenna arrays. One example of a PUMA array includes an unbalanced RF interface, a lattice of horizontal dipole segments directly fed with the unbalanced RF interface, the lattice being arranged in either a dual-offset dual-polarized configuration or a single-polarization configuration, and a metallic plate capacitively-coupled to the lattice of horizontal dipole segments and pinned to a ground plane with a first plated via.

Ultrawideband electronically scanned arrays (UWB-ESAs) with polarization agility and wide-scan performance remain as a key component in programmable and multifunctional RF front-end systems. Additionally, UWB-ESAs are desirable for use in high-throughput wireless communication systems, high-resolution radar applications, electronic countermeasures, and radio astronomy. However, conventional UWB-ESA technologies are expensive and challenging to fabricate, assemble, and maintain due to non-planar geometries that require vertical integration and the use of external feeding parts such as feed organizers and baluns or hybrid circuits, for example.
Planar UWB-ESA technologies are appealing due to their simplicity, low-cost fabrication, ease of integration, and low-profile. U.S. Pat. No. 6,512,487, for example, discloses a sheet antenna (CSA) array that was among the first planar UWB-ESAs capable of achieving up to 9:1 (high-to-low frequency ratio) bandwidths in a dual-polarized arrangement by using a coincident phase center fed capacitively coupled horizontal dipoles above a ground plane. Other planar arrays such as the fragmented aperture array (FAA; an example of which is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,323,809), long slot arrays, and thumbtack arrays use connected electric or "magnetic" elements that, when radiating in free space and infinite array configurations, yield infinite bandwidth. To produce unidirectional radiation, a ground plane is introduced that inevitably engenders resonances, and thus lossy screens or frequency selective surfaces, and R-card are introduced between the array and the ground plane to suppress them at the expense of some gain loss, efficiency reduction, and increases in antenna temperature.
Despite exhibiting some satisfactory UWB radiation properties, these conventional UWB-ESAs can be costly, and impossible to manufacture for operation at millimeter-wave (mm-wave) frequencies. ESAs typically include very large, dense two-dimensional grids of periodically-spaced radiators (e.g., 100-70,000 elements). Such large grids of, often complex, radiator elements are impossible to fabricate in one piece. Consequently, assembly from individual elements by pick-and-place is time-consuming or often inhibited due to electrical connection requirements between elements. Accordingly, a modular tile-based design that allows integration of a moderate number of elements in one tile followed by the modular assembly of such tiles would be preferable. In addition, all conventional UWB-ESAs rely on multiple manufacturing technologies (hybrid manufacturing) at different build stages, for example, planar fabrication combined with CNC or EDM machining or 3D printing. These technologies have different tolerances and part size limitations that ultimately prohibit UWB-ESA scalability to higher frequencies, including newly released spectrum bands at EHF mm-waves (30-300 GHz). Related to cost, frequency scalability and electrical performance is the reliance of all conventional UWB-ESAs upon external circuitry such as feed-organizers, wideband passive or active baluns, and/or wideband hybrids. All of these are difficult to integrate to the ESA aperture, can be large and bulky or lossy, and increase cost and weight/profile, while compromising electrical performance.
To circumvent these difficulties, the Planar Ultrawideband Modular Antenna (PUMA) array was developed in 2008 to provide a fully planar, modular UWB array technology, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 8,325,093, for example. Unlike other dual-polarized UWB-ESAs, the PUMA array is fully manufactured with planar etched circuits and plated vias without the use of external baluns/hybrids and feed organizers to allow for a simple, low-cost multilayer PCB fabrication process. The dipole array layer is comprised of planar, horizontal metallic traces fed by non-blind plated vias, where one pin connects a segment to the ground plane and the other connects an adjacent segment to the active fed wire. This simplified construction is based on an unbalanced feed-line scheme that uses an additional plated via to connect the fed horizontal trace to the ground plane, effectively enabling direct connection to standard RF interfaces by mitigating common-modes that would otherwise develop within the operating band at broadside scanning conditions. This feeding additionally allows for modular, tile-based assembly due to the dual-offset egg-crate lattice arrangement and lack of external circuitry. Some examples of such an array demonstrated low VSWR and good scan performance out to 45 degrees over a 3:1 instantaneous bandwidth up to 21 GHz.
Despite exhibiting strong performance with a simple design, the bandwidth of the type of UWB-ESA disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 8,325,093, for example, was limited to 3:1. This limit is inherently imposed by loop modes spurring from the introduction of the additional plated via on each fed dipole arm. To overcome this, a planar matching network was printed on the opposite side of the ground plane, which effectively boosted the instantaneous bandwidth up to 5:1 in simulations, as described in S. S. Holland and M. N. Vouvakis, "The Planar Ultrawideband Modular Antenna (PUMA) Array," IEEE Trans. Antennas Propag., vol. 60, pp. 130-140, January 2012. Although the bandwidth was improved to approximately 5:1, such matching network usage restricted the operation to frequencies up to approximately 5 GHz.
Thus, although certain PUMA arrays may provide a low-cost, modular UWB-ESA solution as compared to conventional UWB-ESAs, these PUMA arrays exhibit comparatively low instantaneous bandwidth despite their convenient fabrication and assembly benefits.

Planar ultrawideband modular antenna array having improved bandwidth

THE GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, AS REPRESENTED BY THE SECRETARY OF THE NAVY


A mechanical mud bucket for collecting drilling fluid from tubular members of a drill string or work string. A first shell member includes a fluid outlet. A second shell member is pivotally attached to the first shell member. A seal mechanism and a mechanical locking component are attached to the first and second shell members. In an engaged position, the mechanical locking component locks the first and second shell members in a closed position such that the seal mechanism seals an inner space of the mechanical mud bucket and an annular space between one or more tubular members and the first and second shell members. A pressure control may be attached to the first or second shell members for maintaining atmospheric pressure within the inner space of the mechanical mud bucket when draining drilling fluid.

This invention relates to an apparatus and method for collecting a drilling fluid. More particularly, but not by way of limitation, this invention relates to an apparatus and method for collecting a drilling fluid contained within a work string on a drilling rig floor.
In the drilling of wells, and in particular, oil and gas wells, it is necessary to drill a bore hole with use of a tubular work string and boring device. The boring device is generally a bit. A fluid is used in the drilling of the bore hole. The drilling fluid has many purposes including but not limited to the pressure control of subterranean reservoir pressures, bit lubrication, and lifting bore hole cuttings.
In the course of drilling a well, it becomes necessary to lift the work string from the well bore. Under some circumstances, as the operator is pulling the work string from the well bore, the work string may contain, within the inner diameter portion, the fluid. This may be referred to as pulling a wet string. As readily understood by those of ordinary skill in the art, in the process of tripping the work string from the hole, and once a thread connection is undone, the drilling fluid spills out onto the drill floor. From the drill floor, the fluid may be directed to the mud tanks, but may fall off of the rig, and out into the environment. Many times, the drilling fluid may contain harmful and caustic materials. Sometimes, the drilling fluid contains toxic materials. In any case, the prevention of the fluid spillage is important for health, safety and environmental reasons. Under some instances, the prevention of spillage is required by law.
Several prior art bucket devices have been proposed. However, all prior art devices suffer from certain problems. For instance, a proper seal is not formed. Also, prior art devices have inadequate closing and latching mechanisms. Hence, there is a need for an apparatus for efficiently and effectively collecting fluids from work strings. There is also a need for an apparatus and method that will dependably open and close at the direction of the operator.


An information recording disk for recording an information signal along a track defined by a depression on the disk as a change of physical property of a recording material deposited on the track comprises a disk-shaped glass substrate made of a glass and carries a groove corresponding to the track. The groove has a surface roughness substantially smaller as compared to the surface roughness caused at a bottom surface of a groove on a silica glass substrate when both the disk-shaped glass substrate and silica glass substrate are dry-etched under same conditions. The disk-shaped glass substrate comprises SiO.sub.2 component and one or both of Al.sub.2 O.sub.3 and BaO components with substantially no alkali components. Further, a recording layer comprised of the recording material which changes in physical property responsive to a projected energy beam is deposited on the substrate such that the depression is formed in correspondence with the track.

The present invention generally relates to information signal recording media and in particular to a disk-shaped information recording medium on which an information signal is recorded by means of an energy beam such as a laser beam (optical beam) or an electron beam.
Optical information recording medium such as an optical disk or a magneto-optical disk hereinafter referred to as a disk is recorded with an information signal such as a video signal or an audio signal modulating an optical beam which moves along a spiral or concentric guide groove provided on the surface of the disk. At the time of reproduction, the guide groove is irradiated by an optical beam and the information signal is reproduced by processing the optical beam reflected back from the guide groove. For this purpose, tracking of the the optical beam must be controlled such that the optical beam traces the guide groove properly. Such a tracking of the optical beam is achieved by means of a known servo control system which controls the optical beam on the basis of the optical beam reflected back from the guide groove. The same tracking principle is known to be applicable to recording the information along a preformed guide track. Thus, the guide groove is used not only for storage of information signals but also for maintaining a proper tracking of the optical beam at the time of recording and reproducing of the information signal on and from the disk. The guide groove is usually a spiral-shaped or concentric continuous groove but may be a series of intermittent pits as in the case of a reproducing only type optical disk such as a so-called Compact Disk.
The information recording medium having the guide groove or pits as aforementioned is manufactured by impressing a pattern on a metal stamper which is an inversion of the pattern of the groove or pits to be formed on the surface of the disk. The disk may be formed by injection molding or compression molding of a thermoplastic resin using the metal stamper as the mold. The manufacture of the disk by the injection molding or compression molding has a high productivity and is suited for automatic production. On the other hand, the disk thus produced has a problem in that the impression of the guide groove or pits by the stamper is not satisfactorily precise. Further, the disk tends to show birefringence, and the disk is deformed by the moisture in the air. Thus, these problems of the conventional plastic disk will create difficulties at the time of recording and reproducing.
In order to eliminate these problems, use of silica glass for the substrate of the disk is proposed. The use of silica glass as the substrate of the disk is advantageous in that the disk thus produced has a small thermal expansion and shows virtually no absorption of moisture. Further such a disk has negligible birefringence. In order to provide the guide groove or pits on the surface of such silica glass disk, a layer of UV-cure resin which is a resin cured by ultraviolet radiation is deposited on the surface of the glass. In detail, a layer of UV-cure resin is first applied to the surface of the stamper in an uncured state and the resin is covered by the silica glass disk so as to be sandwitched between them. Next, an ultraviolet light is irradiated on to the resin through the glass disk and the resin is cured. The stamper is then removed and a two layered disk comprising a glass substrate and a layer of the cured resin carrying the pattern of groove or pits thereon is obtained. The disk thus produced is superior as compared with the plastic disk of thermoplastic resin in that a resin having a low viscosity at room temperature can be used and the groove or pits on the stamper is transferred to the plastic layer more accurately as compared to the case of the conventional disk molded from the usual thermoplastic resin. However, this procedure involves delicate steps of sandwitching uncured resin layer as well as of the separation of the stamper from the cured resin layer which pauses difficulties in automatization of its manufacture.
The disk produced by molding of the thermoplastic resin or by application of the UV-cure resin on the silica glass substrate is further deposited with a reflection layer by vacuum vapor deposition or by sputtering. During such procedure, there is a problem that water is released from the cured resin or molded plastic due to the heating and the structure and property of the reflection layer become deteriorated.
In order to eliminate this problem, provision of the guide groove or pits directly etched on the surface of the silica glass substrate is proposed in the U.S. Pat. No. 4,655,876 as well as in the Japanese Laid-open Patent Application No. 26951/1986 in which the respective assignee and the applicant are same as the assignee of the present application. According to the procedure proposed by the aforementioned patent and patent application, a layer of photoresist is applied on a polished surface of a silica glass substrate. Then, the pattern of guide groove or pit is written on this photoresist by means of a focused laser beam. Then, after a development of the laser exposed photoresist, the substrate is subjected to a dry etching such as a plasma etching using a plasma gas such as CF.sub.4. The plasma gas selectively reacts with the silica of the glass and the silica material at the portion of the disk not covered with the photoresist is removed by the reaction. On the other hand, the portion of the silica masked by the photoresist is not subjected to the reaction. The reaction is continued until an intended groove depth is reached. After the groove reaches the intended depth, the plasma gas is changed to a gas containing oxygen (O.sub.2) and the remaining photoresist is removed by reaction with the oxygen.
However, the disk thus produced shows an unsatisfactory signal-to-noise ratio when the recording and reproduction is made after deposition of recording layer and protection layer on the disk. More specifically, error in the reproduced signal as well as the tracking error of the optical beam were found to be excessive for a satisfactory recording and reproducing operation of the disk. The reason for this was studied by electron microscopic observation of the disk and it was discovered that deterioration in the S/N ratio is caused by the irregularity or roughness at bottom of the groove. Such irregularity produces an unstable reflection of the optical beam. When the surface roughness exceeds about 100 .ANG., the reflected optical beam becomes too unstable for satisfactory operation of the recording and reproducing system and the proper reproduction of the information signal or proper tracking of the optical beam is lost. At present, it is impossible to etch silica glass without causing irregularity at the bottom of the groove. Thus, it is not possible to obtain disk to provide satisfactory recording and reproducing results.

Information recording medium having a glass substrate


An SoC is connected to an SDRAM that is controlled by a memory controller and a memory PHY, and the SoC is operable in a normal mode and in a power saving mode. The SoC includes a block A to be powered off in the power saving mode and a block B not to be powered off in the power saving mode. A memory controller is included in the block A. A memory PHY and signal level holding cells are included in the block B. The signal level holding cells are provided between the memory controller and the memory PHY, and are configured to fix output signals from the memory controller at predetermined levels in the power saving mode.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a circuit, an electronic device, and an image processing device, and particularly to power-saving control.
2. Related Art
In recent years, there has been a demand for electronic devices including image processing devices such as printers that operate with reduced power consumption. For example, there is an electronic device having a normal mode in which the electronic device operates normally and a power-saving mode in which some operations are stopped. The following example is an example of a known power-saving operation. A plurality of devices (e.g., central processing unit: CPU, random-access memory: RAM, read-only memory: ROM, and various types of processing circuits) provided in the main elements, such as a system on chip (SoC), an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), and a large scale integration (LSI) chip, of an electronic device are divided into a plurality of blocks, and then some of the blocks are powered off.
JP-A-2006-4108 discloses a method that provides a power-controlled block and stops and starts power supply to the block.
The circuit size and the power saving capability of an electronic device vary depending on how the aforementioned various devices are arranged in a block where power supply is turned off in the power saving mode and in a block where power supply is turned on in the power saving mode.

Circuit, electronic device, and image processing device


A field emission device manufactured by the disclosed method and employed in a display unit includes a glass substrate, an emitter electrode formed on the glass substrate, a carbon nanotube (CNT) emitter formed on the emitter electrode, and a gate stack formed around the CNT emitter. Electron beams are extracted from the CNT emitter and the extracted electron beams are focused onto a given position. The gate stack includes a mask layer that covers the emitter electrode provided around the CNT emitter, a gate insulating layer and a gate electrode sequentially formed on the mask layer, a focus gate insulating layer having double inclined planes facing the CNT emitter on the gate electrode, and focus gate electrode coated on the focus gate insulating layer.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a field emission device, a display adopting the same, and a method of manufacturing the same, and more particularly, to a field emission device which has improved focusing effect of electron beams, a display adopting the same, and a method of manufacturing the same.
2. Related Art
Display devices, which are the principal conventional information transmission media, have been typically used as monitors of PCs or TV receivers. Such display devices are largely classified into Cathode Ray Tubes (CRTs), which use high-speed emission of hot electrons, and flat panel display devices, which have been rapidly advancing. The flat panel display devices include liquid crystal display (LCD) devices, plasma display panels (PDPs), and field emission display devices (FEDs).
In the field emission display device, a strong electric field is formed between a field emitter and a gate electrode disposed on a cathode at a constant interval, so that electrons are emitted from the field emitter to impinge phosphors on an anode, thereby emitting light. The field emission display is a very thin display device, and is therefore attracting great attention in view of its thinness of several centimeters in overall thickness, a wide viewing angle, low power consumption, and a low fabrication cost.
The field emission display device utilizes substantially the same physical principle as the CRT. In other words, emissions emitted from the cathode are accelerated to collide with the anode, so that phosphors coated on the anode are excited to then emit light of a particular color. Unlike the CRT, however, the field emission display device uses a cold cathode material as an electron source.
The field emission display device includes a cathode formed on a substrate. Also, a gate electrode is formed on an insulating layer as an electron extracting electrode. A field emitter is provided within a hole through which part of the cathode is exposed.
In the field emission display device having the above-described structure, however, if trajectories of electron beams are not controlled, a desired color cannot be exactly displayed at a given pixel. Therefore, there is a need for an electron beam trajectory control technique which enables electrons emitted from a field emitter to be accurately transmitted to a desired pixel on an anode coated with a phosphor material.
With respect to an electron source having a focus gate electrode, a second insulating layer is additionally deposited over a gate electrode, and a focus gate electrode for controlling electron beam trajectories is formed thereon.
With respect to trajectories of electron beams emitted from emitters of the FED having the focus gate electrode, overfocused electrons deviate from a target phosphor layer region and excite a phosphor layer in another region, which results in deterioration of color purity. This undesirable result is caused by variation in the protruding directions of a carbon nanotube (CNT) used as an electron source.
To avoid the above-described concerns, U.S. Pat. No. 5,920,151 discloses a field emission display (FED) device having an imbedded focusing structure, which requires, however, an outgassing process for exhausting volatile gas from an organic material formed on a focus gate electrode, i.e., polyimide. This makes the disclosed FED difficult to be applied to a large-screen display field.

Field emission device, display adopting the same and method of manufacturing the same


A method and device for reminding a user are provided. The method includes: monitoring a region in which a mobile terminal presents; when a reminding operation of the mobile terminal is activated, determining a target region in which a human body presents; and if the target region doesn't comprise the region in which the mobile terminal presents, sending a reminding notice to a reminding device in the target region for instructing the reminding device to send a reminder corresponding to the reminding operation to the user.

With continuous advancement of computer and communication technology, mobile terminals such as smart phones are becoming more and more popular, and have brought significant convenience to people's everyday life.
In case that a mobile terminal receives or generates a message that needs to be checked in time by the user, the mobile terminal will generally carry out the preset reminding operations. In the related art, the mobile terminal will remind the user by ringing using a built-in speaker, or by vibrating using a built-in motor. However, when the mobile terminal is far away from the user, its ringing sound or vibration may not reach the user timely, which means a poor reminding effect.


A motorcycle having a transmission which includes a counter shaft to which a rotation of a crankshaft disposed in an engine is transmitted and a drive shaft to which a rotation of the counter shaft is transmitted. A pair of drive gears mounted on the counter shaft so as to be rotated integrally with the counter shaft, and a pair of driven gears mounted on the drive shaft so as to be meshed with the pair of drive gears, respectively, to be rotatable therewith, and a friction ring is interposed between the pair of driven gears.

1. Field
Disclosed embodiments relate to a transmission of a motorcycle.
2. Related Art
Generally, a transmission of a motorcycle includes a counter shaft to which a rotation of a crankshaft provided in an engine is transmitted through a clutch, and a drive shaft to which a rotation of the counter shaft is transmitted. When the drive shaft is rotated, the rotation thereof is transmitted to the drive shaft to thereby enable the motorcycle to run.
A plurality of drive gears are mounted on the counter shaft, and a plurality of driven gears always meshed with the drive gears are also mounted on the drive shaft.
In addition, the driven gears are rotatably mounted on the drive shaft in a gear change stage (i.e., speed shift stage) at which the drive gears are provided to be integrally rotatable with the counter shaft, and on the other hand, the driven gears are provided to be integrally rotatable with the drive shaft in a gear change state at which the drive gears are mounted on the counter shaft to be rotatable.
Further, a sliding dog gear that rotates integrally with the counter shaft or the drive shaft to be slidable is included in the drive gears and the driven gears, and the drive gears or the driven gears rotatable with respect to the counter shaft or the drive shaft are disposed adjacent to the sliding dog gear (hereinafter, these drive gears or driven gears may be referred to as "adjacent gears").
Furthermore, a dog clutch is composed of dog pieces provided at the respective gears adjacent to the sliding dog gear, and when the gears are shifted, a gear-meshing state in a predetermined speed stage is shifted by meshing one of the dog clutches, by using a gear shift operation mechanism, so as to engage the adjacent gears with the counter shaft or the drive shaft.
However, at a time when the gears are shifted as described above, rotational speeds of the sliding dog gear and the adjacent gears are generally different from each other. Therefore, rotational speeds of the dog pieces composing the dog clutch are also different from each other, thus causing a shift shock in a case when the dog pieces with different rotational speeds are meshed with each other, thus being inconvenient.
In order to address this inconvenient matter, Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. 2000-205352 (Patent Document 1) discloses an arrangement in which a friction ring is disposed between the counter shaft and a fifth-speed drive gear rotatably provided on the counter shaft. By employing such a configuration, a rotation resisting force due to friction occurs between the counter shaft and the fifth drive gear at the same time when a clutch is disengaged to thereby slow down the counter shaft, thus enabling to reduce a difference of the rotational speeds between the counter shaft and the drive shaft at the time of shifting gears. According to such operation as mentioned above, it becomes possible to reduce also a difference of the rotational speeds between the sliding dog gear and the adjacent gears and a difference of the rotational speeds between the respective dog pieces, thus enabling to reduce the above-described shift shock associated with the differences of the rotational speeds.
In the conventional technology such as mentioned above, for example, when slowing down the counter shaft using the friction ring, there occurs a problem of causing a difference of rotational speeds between members between which the friction ring is interposed. Then, in view of the above matter, a difference of rotational speeds between the counter shaft and the fifth drive gear in each gear position will be described hereunder with reference to FIG. 17.
First, when driving with the fifth drive gear, a dog piece provided in a fourth drive gear, which is the sliding dog gear, is meshed a dog piece of the fifth drive gear, the counter shaft and the fifth drive gear are integrally rotated, the relative number of rotations (a difference of the number of rotations) of the counter shaft and the fifth drive gear is zero "0", and thus there occurs no difference of the rotational speeds between the counter shaft and the fifth drive gear.
Meanwhile, when driving with the gear positions other than the fifth drive gear, the counter shaft and the fifth drive gear are not integrally rotated, and at this time, when a primary reduction ratio (gear ratio of a primary drive gear provided at the crankshaft and a primary driven gear provided at the counter shaft) is considered, the following equation is established:(number of rotations of counter shaft)=(engine rpm×primary reduction ratio)
In contrast, as for the number of rotations of the fifth drive gear, the drive shaft is slowed down with respect to the counter shaft at a reduction ratio of a selected gear position, and the fifth drive gear is driven to rotate by a fifth driven gear that rotates integrally with this drive shaft, whereby the following equation is established:(number of rotations of fifth drive gear)=(engine rpm×primary reduction ratio×reduction ratio of selected gear position×<number of fifth driven gear teeth/number of fifth drive gear teeth>)
Accordingly, since the numbers of rotations of the counter shaft and the fifth drive gear are different from each other, the relative number of rotations becomes not "0", thereby causing the difference of the rotational speeds between the counter shaft and the fifth drive gear.
As is apparent from the above two equations, in an occasion of the engine rpm being constant, although the number of rotations of the counter shaft is constant, the number of rotations of the fifth drive gear changes according to the reduction ratio of the selected gear position. Therefore, the relative number of rotations between the counter shaft and the fifth drive gear also changes according to the reduction ratio of the selected gear position (see FIG. 17). Accordingly, there causes a problem such that when the friction ring is arranged between the counter shaft and the fifth drive gear as in the above-described conventional example, a rotation resisting force differs for every gear shift operation depending on the each selected gear position, and in such occasion, a rider cannot obtain a stable operation feeling.
Still furthermore, in the conventional arrangement, since the reduction ratio of each gear position is designed so as to increase as the gear change position becomes smaller, the relative number of rotations of the counter shaft and the fifth drive gear increases in low gear positions, such as the first drive gear and the second drive gear as compared with high gear positions, such as the fourth to sixth drive gears (see FIG. 17). Accordingly, in the arrangement in which the friction ring is arranged between the counter shaft and the fifth drive gear as in the above-described conventional example, the number of operational rotations of the friction ring in the low gear positions is increased, and in a case when a particularly large friction torque is required, an inconvenient matter will occur in durability of the friction ring.


An alkaline fuel cell having an electrolyte, and anode and cathode electrodes disposed on two sides of the electrolyte is provided. A fuel cell system has this fuel cell, a discharge passageway that is connected to a discharge opening of the fuel cell and that discharges from the fuel cell an exhaust fuel containing unreacted fuel, and a circulation passageway that is connected to an introduction opening for introducing the fuel into the fuel cell and that circulates and supplies the exhaust fuel to the fuel cell. The fuel cell system further includes fuel/water separation means linked to the discharge passageway and the circulation passageway and disposed between the discharge and circulation passageways. The means separates and removes water from the exhaust fuel flowing in from the discharge passageway, and then causes a concentrated fuel from which water has been separated and removed to flow into the circulation passageway.

There are various types of fuel cells, for example, the alkaline type, the phosphoric acid type, the molten carbonate type, the solid electrolyte type, the solid polymer type, etc. Among such fuel cells, the alkaline fuel cell is generally constructed of an anode electrode, a cathode electrode, and an electrolyte solution that separates the two electrodes from each other. The anode electrode is supplied with hydrogen as a fuel (or with a fuel that is used as a material for producing hydrogen), and the cathode electrode is supplied with oxygen (or atmospheric air or the like). At the anode electrode, the hydrogen supplied thereto becomes hydrogen atoms, which react with hydroxide ions that reach the anode electrode from the cathode electrode by permeating through the electrolyte solution, so that water is produced. The electrons generated by this reaction are sent to an external electrode. At the cathode electrode, on the other hand, as the electrons extracted at the anode electrode are supplied via an external circuit, oxygen molecules adsorbed in the cathode electrode receive the electrons, and react with water of the electrolyte solution to produce hydroxide ions.
For example, in conjunction with an alkaline fuel cell disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2002-8706. (JP-A-2002-8706), a system for supplying hydrogen to the anode electrode is disclosed in which a reaction chamber is provided on the anode electrode side and pure hydrogen is generated. The interior of the reaction chamber is filled with a potassium hydroxide aqueous solution. During the operation of the fuel cell, silicon is supplied into the reaction chamber, in which silicon and potassium hydroxide react to produce pure hydrogen. The hydrogen thus produced is supplied to the anode electrode, so that the above-described electrochemical reaction occurs.
In some cases, for effective utilization of fuel, the fuel supplied to the anode electrode is used by circulating it. However, in the alkaline fuel cell, hydrogen and oxygen react at the anode electrode to produce water. Therefore, in the case where the anode electrode is supplied with a water-soluble fuel by circulation, fuel and water sometimes mix and the concentration of the fuel gradually declines. However, it is preferable that the fuel at a certain level of concentration be supplied in order to maintain high performance in power generation.
To this end, for example, a method in which the fuel concentration is detected, and at the time point when the detected fuel concentration declines to a certain level, the fuel is discharged and new fuel is supplied is conceivable. However, in some cases, the exhaust fuel contains unreacted fuel. From the viewpoint of effective utilization of fuel, it is preferable that such a wasteful discharge of fuel be restrained.

Fuel cell system and operation method therefor