A communication method between an electronic apparatus and synchronization software includes performing data description communication between the electronic apparatus and the synchronization software to negotiate an acceptable data format; and performing data operation communication between the electronic apparatus and the synchronization software to complete a data processing operation according to the data format.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates in general to a communication method between an electronic apparatus and synchronization software, and more particularly to a communication method between an electronic apparatus and synchronization software, in which a data format can be determined by negotiation before a data processing operation.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general design, a mobile phone is incorporated with synchronization software used in a personal computer or a personal digital assistant (PDA) for retrieving and displaying data in the mobile phone, for example, reading data in a phonebook of the mobile phone and saving them in the personal computer, or transferring the data inputted to the personal computer by a user to those of mobile-phone data format and writing them into the mobile phone.
However, the synchronization software has usually problems of compatibility and extension in process of design and development, thereby giving many troubles to the mobile phone users and R&D technologists. In terms of compatibility, software structure set in each type of mobile phone has a great variety. Take the phonebook of a mobile phone as an example, an old type of mobile phone may have only a field of names and a field of telephone numbers whose available data recording amount is respectively 20 words and 10 words. However, the phonebook in a new type of mobile phone may have four fields such as names, telephone numbers, rings, and pictures, and available data recording amount in the name and telephone number fields is respectively 40 words and 20 words. As a result, two different processing methods have to be used to read records in the two completely different phonebooks. That is, when a data processing operation is performed between a new-type mobile phone and old-type synchronization software, a serious data-overflow issue may occur or the old-type synchronization software cannot understand what data mean in the new-type mobile phone.
In order to solve the above-mentioned issue, the new-type synchronization software is generally designed to support both the new-type and old-type mobile phones. However, if the old-type synchronization software is to be incorporated with a new-type mobile phone, all compatibility-relevant operations should be considered in development of mobile-phone internal software, thereby increasing design complication. Users may have to re-install a new type of synchronization software only because of slight modification in the mobile phone. If the users use an improper type of synchronization software to perform a data operation with their mobile phones, operation errors will be produced to increase repair complication.

Communication method between an electronic apparatus and synchronization software


A multicomponent induction logging tool is used on a MWD bottomhole assembly. Multifrequency focusing that accounts for the finite, nonzero, conductivity of the mandrel is applied. Using separation of modes, the principal components and relative dip angles in an anisotropic medium are determined. The results are used for reservoir navigation in anisotropic media.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention is related to the field of electromagnetic induction well logging for determining the resistivity of earth formations penetrated by wellbores. More specifically, the invention addresses the problem of using multicomponent induction measurements in an anisotropic formation for reservoir navigation using determined distances to an interface in the earth formation.
2. Description of the Related Art
To obtain hydrocarbons such as oil and gas, well boreholes are drilled by rotating a drill bit attached at a drill string end. The drill string may be a jointed rotatable pipe or a coiled tube. Boreholes may be drilled vertically, but directional drilling systems are often used for drilling boreholes deviated from vertical and/or horizontal boreholes to increase the hydrocarbon production. Modern directional drilling systems generally employ a drill string having a bottomhole assembly (BHA) and a drill bit at an end thereof that is rotated by a drill motor (mud motor) and/or the drill string. A number of downhole devices placed in close proximity to the drill bit measure certain downhole operating parameters associated with the drill string. Such devices typically include sensors for measuring downhole temperature and pressure, and tool azimuth and inclination. Also used are measuring devices such as a resistivity-measuring device to determine the presence of hydrocarbons and water. Additional downhole instruments, known as measurement-while-drilling (MWD) or logging-while-drilling (LWD) tools, are frequently attached to the drill string to determine formation geology and formation fluid conditions during the drilling operations.
Boreholes are usually drilled along predetermined paths and proceed through various formations. A drilling operator typically controls the surface-controlled drilling parameters during drilling operations. These parameters include weight on bit, drilling fluid flow through the drill pipe, drill string rotational speed (r.p.m. of the surface motor coupled to the drill pipe) and the density and viscosity of the drilling fluid. The downhole operating conditions continually change and the operator must react to such changes and adjust the surface-controlled parameters to properly control the drilling operations. For drilling a borehole in a virgin region, the operator typically relies on seismic survey plots, which provide a macro picture of the subsurface formations and a pre-planned borehole path. For drilling multiple boreholes in the same formation, the operator may also have information about the previously drilled boreholes in the same formation.
In development of reservoirs, it is common to drill boreholes at a specified distance from fluid contacts within the reservoir or from bed boundaries defining the top of a reservoir. In order to maximize the amount of recovered hydrocarbons from such a borehole, the boreholes are commonly drilled in a substantially horizontal orientation in close proximity to the oil water contact, but still within the oil zone. U.S. Pat. No. RE35386 to Wu et al, having the same assignee as the present application and the contents of which are fully incorporated herein by reference, teaches a method for detecting and sensing boundaries in a formation during directional drilling so that the drilling operation can be adjusted to maintain the drillstring within a selected stratum is presented.
The method comprises the initial drilling of an offset well from which resistivity of the formation with depth is determined. This resistivity information is then modeled to provide a modeled log indicative of the response of a resistivity tool within a selected stratum in a substantially horizontal direction. A directional (e.g., horizontal) well is thereafter drilled wherein resistivity is logged in real time and compared to that of the modeled horizontal resistivity to determine the location of the drill string and thereby the borehole in the substantially horizontal stratum. From this, the direction of drilling can be corrected or adjusted so that the borehole is maintained within the desired stratum. The resistivity sensor typically comprises a transmitter and a plurality of sensors. Measurements may be made with propagation sensors that operate in the 400 kHz and higher frequency range.
A limitation of the method and apparatus used by Wu is that resistivity sensors are responsive to oil/water contacts for relatively small distances, typically no more than 5 m; at larger distances, conventional propagation tools are not responsive to the resistivity contrast between water and oil. One solution that can be used in such a case is to use an induction logging tool that typically operates in frequencies between 10 kHz and 50 kHz. U.S. Pat. No. 6,308,136 to Tabarovsky et al having the same assignee as the present application and the contents of which are fully incorporated herein by reference, teaches a method of interpretation of induction logs in near horizontal boreholes and determining distances to boundaries in proximity to the borehole.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,884,227, issued to Rabinovich et al., having the same assignee as the present invention, is a method of adjusting induction receiver signals for skin effect in an induction logging instrument including a plurality of spaced apart receivers and a transmitter generating alternating magnetic fields at a plurality of frequencies. The method includes the steps of extrapolating measured magnitudes of the receiver signals at the plurality of frequencies, detected in response to alternating magnetic fields induced in media surrounding the instrument, to zero frequency. A model of conductivity distribution of the media surrounding the instrument is generated by inversion processing the extrapolated magnitudes. Rabinovich works equally well under the assumption that the induction tool device has perfect conductivity or zero conductivity. In a measurement-while-drilling device, this assumption does not hold.
The Multi-frequency focusing (MFF) of Rabinovich is an efficient way of increasing depth of investigation for electromagnetic logging tools. It is being successfully used in wireline applications, for example, in processing and interpretation of induction data. MFF is based on specific assumptions regarding behavior of electromagnetic field in frequency domain. For MWD tools mounted on metal mandrels, those assumptions are not valid. Particularly, the composition of a mathematical series describing EM field at low frequencies changes when a very conductive body is placed in the vicinity of sensors. Only if the mandrel material were perfectly conducting, would MFF of Rabinovich be applicable.
U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/295,969 of Tabarovsky et al. ("the Tabarovsky '969 application"), now U.S. Pat. No. 6,906,521 having the same assignee as the present invention and the contents of which are fully incorporated herein by reference, teaches a modification of the method of Rabinovich tat applies MFF to induction measurements made with transmitters and receivers on a mandrel of finite conductivity. U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/934,596 of Tabarovsky et al. ("the Tabarovsky '596 application"), now U.S. Pat. No. 7,031,839 having the same assignee as the present application and the contents of which are fully incorporated herein by reference teaches methods for the optimum design of the MFF acquisition system for deep resistivity measurements in the earth. The frequencies at which the measurements are made are selected based on one or more criteria, such as reducing an error amplification resulting from the MFF, increasing an MFF signal voltage, or increasing an MFF focusing factor. In one embodiment of the invention, the tool has a portion with finite non-zero conductivity. The Tabarovsky '596 application teaches design of the MFF system for both wireline and MWD applications. In the case of MWD applications, the Tabarovsky 596 application also addresses the issue of reservoir navigation.
The teachings discussed above are all directed towards the use of conventional induction tools in which the transmitter and receiver coils are parallel to the tool axis. Such a tool may be referred to as the HDIL tool. U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/373,365 of Merchant et al, published as US20030229449 having the same assignee as the present application and the contents of which are intorporated herein by reference teaches the use of multicomponent induction logging tools and measurements as an indicator of a distance to a bed boundary and altering the drilling direction based on such measurements. In conventional induction logging tools, the transmitter and receiver antenna coils have axes substantially parallel to the tool axis (and the borehole). The multicomponent tool of Merchant et al. has three transmitters and three receivers, with coils oriented in the x-, y- and z-directions and may be referred to hereafter as the 3DEX™ tool.
The teachings of Merchant are show that the 3DEX™ measurements are very useful in determination of distances to bed boundaries (and in reservoir navigation), Merchant discusses the reservoir navigation problem in terms of measurements made with the borehole in a substantially horizontal configuration (parallel to the bed boundary). This may not always be the case in field applications where the borehole is approaching the bed boundary at an angle. In a situation where the borehole is inclined, then the multicomponent measurements, particularly the cross-component measurements, are responsive to both the distance to the bed boundary and to the anisotropy in the formation. In anisotropic formations, determination of a relative dip angle between the borehole and the anisotropy direction may be used for navigation.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,643,589 to Zhang et al., having the same assignee as the present application and the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference, teaches the inversion of measurements made by a multicomponent logging tool in a borehole to obtain horizontal and vertical resistivities and formation dip and azimuth angles. The inversion is performed using a generalized Marquardt-Levenberg method Knowledge of the relative dip angle could be used for reservoir navigation in anisotropic media. However, the method of Zhang, while extremely useful for wireline applications, may not be computationally fast enough to provide the angles in real time that are necessary for reservoir navigation.
U.S. application Ser. No. 10/186,927 of Xiao et al. (now U.S. Pat. No. 6,885,947), having the same assignee as the present invention and the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference, teaches the determination of a relative dip angle using HDIL and 3DEX™ measurements. Compared to Zhang, the method of Xiao has the added drawback of requiring HDIL measurements. In addition, it is hot clear that the dip angles may be determined in real time for reservoir navigation.
There is a need for a method of processing multi-frequency data acquired with real MWD tools having finite non-zero conductivity to get estimates of relative dip angles that may be used in real time for reservoir navigation. The present invention satisfies this need.

Geosteering in anisotropic formations using multicomponent induction measurements


Apparatus, systems, and methods provide a mechanism to enhance the management of mobile devices for users of the mobile devices. Various embodiments include apparatus and methods to manage media content for a mobile device with respect identification, in a management system, of the media content of the mobile device. Additional apparatus, systems, and methods are disclosed.

Individuals in modern society have access to information and media far beyond what they create individually. Most of this media comes from information sources that are not under the individual's direct control. These information sources typically add their own information which remains part of the media itself. Improvements to the management of this media enhance one's ability to interact with others, to respond to changing needs, and to avail oneself of enjoyment from processing various media based information.


A display device, a color filter substrate, a mobile terminal and a driving method thereof are provided. The display device includes a first substrate, provided with a drive device array for controlling display; a second substrate opposite to the first substrate, with a shield layer disposed on a side of the second substrate facing the first substrate; and an antenna device on the second substrate, located on a side of the shield layer away from the first substrate.

With the rapid development of the wireless mobile communication technology, mobile terminal has ushered in changes again and again. With the development of the 4G communication technology, antenna device of mobile terminal for communication also needs to be reformed with the development of the communication technology. Currently, antenna of mobile terminal tends to be miniaturized, multi-functional, and stable. At the same time, the mobile terminal such as the mobile phone also tends to be light and thin, and multi-functional. For example, a current mobile phone can have functions such as gesture recognition in addition to the basic call function, and thus, size of the antenna required for the above-mentioned mobile terminal is also reduced, and the above-mentioned various types of communication functions of the mobile terminal are also required to be implemented.

Display device, color filter substrate, mobile terminal and driving method thereof


A method and system for synchronizing objects among members of a replica set. Objects on members of the replica set are quickly synchronized via a join algorithm that takes advantage of version vectors. When an object is deleted, the object is tombstoned (i.e., marked as “dead”). Tombstones are also replicated between the connected members of the replica set. After a period of time (e.g., a timeout), the tombstones are deleted. A slow sync algorithm executes periodically to ensure that objects that were not deleted via replicated tombstones are eventually deleted. An époque algorithm provides that members that have been offline for a long period of time will update their objects before they participate in a join synchronization.

Systems for optimistic replication of resources are becoming increasingly important to ensure availability and fault tolerance in large networks. Corporate networks that replicate objects containing domain credentials and policies are one example where availability, scalability, consistency, and reliability are critical. These requirements do not necessarily interact in a cooperative manner.
One situation where the requirements for performance, scalability, and consistency collide is in propagating resource deletion information. The deletion of a resource on one machine is communicated to other machines by sending a notification referred to as a tombstone notification, or simply a tombstone. These tombstones are propagated through the network to ensure that the machines that participate in replication are notified about the deletion of a resource. As more and more tombstones accumulate due to resources being created and deleted, deleting the tombstones themselves becomes essential to limiting the amount of meta-data required for replication. However, tombstone deletion (sometimes called garbage collecting the tombstone) has not been solved in a satisfactory way in previous art.

Garbage collection of tombstones for optimistic replication systems


The present invention provides: a process which involves safely and sanitarily extracting a solid material from a shell-and-tube reactor with good efficiency. The process comprises the step of extracting a solid material 90 that is packed in a reaction tube 20 of a shell-and-tube reactor 10, with the process further comprising: the step (a) of inserting an aspirating tube 30 from an end of the reaction tube 30 wherein the aspirating tube 30 is connected to an exhaust gas aspirator 70; and the step (b) of extracting the solid material 90 from the reaction tube 20 by aspirating the solid material 90 in the reaction tube 20 from a tip of the aspirating tube 30 together with a stream of air.

A. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a process for extracting a solid material packed in each reaction tube of a shell-and-tube reactor, for example, a packed material such as a catalyst used for a catalytic reaction of hydrocarbons.
B. Background Art
In the fields of petrochemical industry, many catalytic reactions, such as an oxidation reaction, an ammoxidation reaction, a decomposition reaction, a reduction reaction, and a reforming reaction of hydrocarbons, are carried out with a shell-and-tube reactor. The reactor used for these reactions is packed with a catalyst or inert filler suitable for each catalytic reaction.
The following techniques are concretely known.
JP-A-1484/2000 describes a production process for pyromellitic anhydride, which comprises the steps of: packing two or more catalysts including different components and vanadium as an essential component in a reaction tube; and carrying out a catalytic gas-phase oxidation of 1,2,4,5-tetraalkylbenzene.
JP-A-323950/1997 describes a production process for methacrolein, which comprises the steps of: packing a reaction tube with a catalyst including molybdenum, bismuth, and iron as essential components of which activities are controlled by changing a mixing ratio of an inert raschig ring; and carrying out a catalytic gas-phase oxidation of at least one kind selected from isobutylene and/or t-butyl alcohol.
JP-B-57906/1991 describes a production process for maleic anhydride, which comprises the steps of: packing a reaction tube with a catalyst including phosphorus and vanadium as essential components of which activities are controlled by changing a mixing ratio of an inert alumina pellet; and carrying out a catalytic gas-phase oxidation of n-butane.
JP-A-130722/1999 describes a production process for acrylic acid, which comprises the steps of: arranging a packed inert substance layer between a proceeding packed catalyst layer and a latter packed catalyst layer wherein the proceeding packed catalyst layer includes molybdenum, bismuth, and iron as essential components, and the latter packed catalyst layer includes molybdenum and vanadium as essential components; and carrying out a two-step catalytic gas-phase oxidation of propylene with one shell-and-tube heat-exchanging reactor.
When the catalyst as used for these catalytic reactions is used for a definite period, its activity or mechanical strength is generally lowered by such as poisoning, caulking or sintering. Therefore, the catalyst is extracted from the reactor and exchanged to a new catalyst each time.
When the catalyst is exchanged, the following method is employed as a method for extracting a solid material such as these catalysts in the reactor: a method that involves entering a worker in a reactor, and dropping a solid material in a reaction tube while the worker spears up with such as a metal thin stick from a lower opening portion of the reaction tube.
In addition, U.S. Pat. No. 5,228,484 describes a technique that involves: inserting a nozzle into a reaction tube from its upper end; blowing high-pressure air from a tip of the nozzle; unfastening or fluidizing the catalyst as packed in the reaction tube by the high-pressure air; raising and sending the catalyst into a filling room arranged at the upper end of the reaction tube by the high-pressure air; and exhausting the catalyst by vacuum-exhausting the filling room.
In the conventional method for extracting the solid material by using the spearing stick, whenever being speared by the stick, the solid materials such as the catalyst or these cracked materials in the reaction tube are dropped, and the solid materials as dropped are scattered on a floor and cause plenty of powdery dust. Therefore, the working environment is extremely poor foil the worker.
In addition, these materials as dropped and the powdery dust are often poisonous substances for human body. Therefore, the worker as employed in the extracting work requires putting on protectors, such as a dust-inhibiting wear, a goggle, a dust-inhibiting mask, and gloves.
Furthermore, the catalyst as used for these catalytic reactions may often include noble metals in high concentration. Therefore, the waste catalyst as extracted may be treated to recover metals. However, in case of a reactor of which reaction tube is packed with two or more kinds of catalysts and an inert substance as described in JP-A-130722/1999, the conventional extracting method results in mixing these catalysts and inert substance as dropped from the reaction tube and taking plenty of labor for classifying and recovering the catalysts.
In an industrial operation, a shell-and-tube reactor ordinary has hundreds to tens of thousands of reaction tubes. Therefore, when these solid materials such as catalysts in the reactor are extracted by the conventional method, not only a worker employed in the extracting work greatly feels bodily and mental pain but also the environment is badly influenced.
In addition, in the method that involves using the high-pressure air, the filling room is arranged at the upper end of the reaction tube. Therefore, the problem of causing the powdery dust is reduced. However, the method requires having air-tightness between the filling room and the upper end of the reaction tube, wherein the catalyst enters the filling room together with the high-pressure air. The high-pressure air nozzle as sent into the reaction tube penetrates and passes through the filling room. Therefore, there are also problems of air-tightness at this penetrated portion. As these airtight structures are complicated, the apparatus becomes a large-scale one, such that an apparatus having a mechanism of both supplying the high-pressure air and vacuum-exhausting is necessary, and the workability is not very good.
A. Objects of the Invention
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a process, which solves the problems of the prior arts, and involves safely and sanitarily extracting a solid material from a shell-and-tube reactor with good efficiency.
B. Disclosure of the Invention
The present invention is a process for extracting a solid material from a shell-and-tube reactor, which comprises the step of extracting the solid material that is packed in a reaction tube of the shell-and-tube reactor, with the process further comprising: the step (a) of inserting an aspirating tube from an end of the reaction tube wherein the aspirating tube is connected to an exhaust gas aspirator; and the step (b) of extracting the solid material from the reaction tube by aspirating the solid material in the reaction tube from a tip of the aspirating tube together with a stream of air.
These and other objects and the advantages of the present invention will be more fully apparent from the following detailed disclosure.

Process for extracting solid material from shell-and-tube reactor


A high electron mobility transistor includes a T-type gate electrode disposed on a substrate between source and drain electrodes and insulating layers disposed between the substrate and the T-type gate electrode. The insulating layers include first, second, and third insulating layers. The third insulating layer is disposed between the substrate and a head portion of the T-type gate electrode such that a portion of the third insulating layer is in contact with a foot portion of the T-type gate electrode. The second insulating layer is disposed between the substrate and the head portion of the T-type gate electrode to be in contact with the third insulating layer. The first insulating layer and another portion of the third insulating layer are sequentially stacked between the substrate and the head portion of the T-type gate electrode to be in contact with the second insulating layer.

The inventive concept relates to transistors and methods of fabricating the same and, more particularly, to high electron mobility transistors and methods of fabricating the same.
A high electron mobility transistor (HEMT) is a kind of compound semiconductor device. Generally, one or more layers included in the HEMT have lattice constants very different from those of other layers, such that a structure of a material used as a channel layer may be modified. A mobility of electrons in the channel layer of the HEMT may be improved by the stress modification according the lattice mismatch, such that an operating speed of the HEMT may be improved.
It is difficult to grow a substrate for the HEMT. However, the HEMT has higher power and improved noise characteristics by an increase of the density of charges transmitted to the channel layer and by the high electron mobility. Thus, the HEMT may be operated at a high frequency. The HEMTs have excellent electron speed characteristics as compared with an electronic device using silicon, so that they are widely used in device applications of microwave and millimetric wave bands.
Gallium nitride (GaN) corresponding to a nitride semiconductor is a direct transition type semiconductor. The gallium nitride is attractive as a new material of high frequency electronic devices because of its a high electric field electron mobility (e.g., 2×10−7 cm/s) and a high breakdown electric field (e.g., 3×106 V/cm). The nitride semiconductor may be realized as a heterojunction structure such as aluminum-gallium nitride/gallium nitride (AlGaN/GaN). Additionally, the nitride semiconductor may be selective doped. Thus, the nitride semiconductor maybe designed to have an optimized structure for a high speed. Due to the above physical properties of the nitride semiconductor, an electronic device including the nitride semiconductor may improve trade off relationship between a cutoff frequency (ft) and a breakdown voltage (VBV) which is a problem in in a conventional field effect transistor (FET). Thus, the electronic device including the nitride semiconductor may have high voltage and high frequency characteristics.
If a FET includes the nitride semiconductor which has a great power density as well as the high voltage operation characteristic and is used in an amplifier module, a peripheral circuit such as a power distribution synthesis circuit and a direct current (DC) voltage converting circuit may be omitted or simplified in the amplifier module. Thus, it is possible to realize a high power amplifier module having high power usage efficiency.
Additionally, a high speed semiconductor device may use a T-shape, Y-type or mushroom-type gate having a wide cross-sectional area in order that a resistance of the gate is reduced to improve its noise characteristic. The T-type, Y-type, or mushroom-type gate is generally formed by an electron beam (E-beam) lithography method or a photolithography method.
However, a resolution of the photolithography method may be insufficient for forming a gate electrode having a fine width. Thus, the E-beam lithography method may be mainly used to form the gate electrode. Generally, a double-layered or triple-layered photoresist layer in the E-beam lithography method.

Transistor and method of fabricating the same

Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute


An apparatus, system, and method are provided for configuring a serializer/deserializer (SerDes) based on evaluation of a probe signal. Included is circuitry configured to detect at least one of a probe signal or a reflection resulting from the probe signal. Such probe signal and/or reflection is evaluated such that at least one configurable aspect of the apparatus may be set, based on the evaluation.

A massive data traffic increase has been witnessed recently in data centers which, in turn, has forced interconnect link-speeds from lower speeds (e.g. 10˜28 Gbps, etc.) to significantly higher speeds (e.g. 56 Gbps and up, etc.). Based on such demand, a throughput of interconnects [e.g. serializer/deserializer (SerDes), etc.] has been increased by at least a factor of two, and possibly higher.
This, in turn, has resulted in a variety of technical issues. For example, a high speed physical layer device (PHY-IC) is required, and system-level bit error rate (BER) degradation must be addressed. Specifically, since a majority of link channels built using copper printed circuit board (PCB) traces include at least two connectors (especially for backplane applications), the higher speed channel suffers from more loss and crosstalk and, therefore, bit-error performance is degraded.
To address these issues, various solutions have been proposed. One approach involves utilizing PAM4 signaling that enables two bits of information per one symbol, as opposed to one bit per symbol of non-return-to-zero (NRZ) in PAM2 that has been used in the past. Another approach involves using a full-duplex (FD) transmission system that enables bi-directional communications on the same link in both directions simultaneously, or effectively simultaneously.
However, while the use of these and other technologies enable higher link-speed, they typically require more complex, accurate, and sophisticated signal processing.

Apparatus, system, and method for configuring a serializer/deserializer based on evaluation of a probe signal


A device for detecting a variation in the capacitance of a variable capacitive structure, wherein the device generates voltage pulses, charges the variable capacitive structure using the voltage pulses, discharges the variable capacitive structure toward a reference capacitor, detects a voltage threshold across the terminals of the reference capacitor, determines a number of charges and/or discharges of the variable capacitive structure corresponding to the voltage threshold, and detects a variation in the number of charges and/or discharges with respect to a number of charges and/or discharges previously obtained.

There currently exist numerous systems for detecting the presence of a user. Systems based on optical sensors, on temperature sensors, or on electrodes and capacitive sensors may be mentioned. The systems based on capacitive sensors are based on an evaluation of the variation in the capacitance of a variable capacitive structure as a function of the presence or otherwise of one or more users.
At present, there exist charge transfer capacitive sensors such as the sensors described in the publication "CAPACITIVE SENSORS" by Larry K. Baxter, published by The Institute Of Electrical and Electronic Engineers, Inc. The sensors presented in this publication allow the variation in the capacitance of a variable capacitor C1 to be measured, thanks to a capacitor C2 known as reference capacitor. By carrying out a cycle composed of a large number of charges and discharges of the capacitor C1 into the reference capacitor C2, until a fixed voltage threshold is reached across the terminals of the reference capacitor C2, the variation in the capacitance C1 with respect to the preceding cycle can be detected by estimating the variation in the number of discharges of the capacitor C1 into the capacitor C2 that had to be carried out in order to reach the voltage threshold across the terminals of C2.
These sensors involve using a switching component we that allows the current to be directed so as to firstly charge up the capacitor C1 and then discharge the capacitor C1 into the capacitor C2 and vice versa. However, this switching component is an element that is difficult to manufacture and whose manufacture is very costly.
A technical problem is therefore posed for the construction of a current-reversing circuit such that the circuit can go from a circuit for charging a variable capacitive structure, whose capacitance variation it is desired to detect, to a circuit for discharging this capacitive structure.
In the following, 'variable capacitive structure' is understood to mean any hardware configuration formed by a capacitive electrode integrated into an object or into a system and via its near environment connected directly or indirectly to a ground reference, this environment being able to include a part of the body of a user whose presence must be detected.

Device for detecting a capacitance variation and capacitive sensor for detecting the presence of a user using such a device


A flexible optical coupler for coupling light signals from an optical waveguide on a circuit board or substrate to an optical waveguide on another circuit board or substrate, or to an optical port on an electronic, opto-electronic or photonic integrated circuit. The coupler is self-aligning by virtue of the design of the alignment stops fabricated in close proximity to the optical waveguide or optical port. The coupler may consist of an array of optical waveguides between an array of optical ports and another array of optical ports. The coupler may be used with any substrates appropriate for polymeric waveguide fabrication, including many circuit board materials. The optical waveguide of the coupler is on a flexible and transparent substrate. The coupler is effective for optical connections between devices situated on noncoincident surfaces. Alignment stops are utilized for the case of aligning the ports of the optical coupler to other ports. Alignment stop fabrication is not restricted to crystallographic etch processes.

The present invention pertains to optical couplers and particularly to couplers for coupling light from an optical waveguide on a board or substrate to an optical port on an integrated circuit.
Coupling light from an optical waveguide on a planar printed circuit board or chip substrate via a mount to an optical port on an electronic, opto-electronic or photonic integrated circuit is very difficult to achieve, in the related art, if such coupling is to have high throughput efficiency, tolerance to variations in temperature and wavelength, robustness, and low assembly and maintenance cost.

Flexible channel optical waveguide having self-aligned ports for interconnecting optical devices


A radiator unit (10) includes a radiator core (14) and a fan shroud (16) surrounding a cooling fan (15). Radiator support members (40) are attached to an engine (1), lower end parts of the radiator core (14) are connected to lower positioning lugs (46) formed in the radiator support members (40) by plug-in structures each including a positioning pin (32) and the positioning lug (46) provided with a positioning hole (53), and upper end parts of the radiator core (14) are fastened to radiator holding lugs (45) formed in upper end parts of the radiator support members (40) with bolts (56). The fan shroud (16) is fastened together with the radiator core (14) to the radiator support members (40). An intake duct (25) connected to the air inlet (23) of an air cleaner (5) is formed integrally with the fan shroud (16).

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a radiator unit for an internal combustion engine and, more particularly, to a radiator unit to be used in combination with a cooling fan included in an internal combustion engine and a method of combining the same with the engine.
2. Description of the Related Art
A conventional radiator unit for an automotive internal combustion engine (hereinafter referred to simply as xe2x80x9cenginexe2x80x9d) has a radiator core mounted on a car body, and a fan shroud attached to the radiator core so as to surround a cooling fan mounted on the engine.
When shipping a general-purpose liquid-cooled engine, the liquid-cooled engine is not provided with any radiator unit in most cases. If the user desires, a radiator unit as an option is combined with the liquid-cooled engine before shipping the liquid-cooled engine.
In an engine provided with a radiator unit 10 as shown in FIG. 7, a radiator core 102 is fixedly provided with a fan shroud 101 surrounding a cooling fan 100, and the radiator core 102 is fixed on the engine via upper and lower brackets (not shown) with bolts. An L-shaped intake duct 110 is connected to the air inlet 106 of an air cleaner 105.
Combining the radiator unit 10 with the engine with the bolts as shown in FIG. 7 takes much time and labor because the heavy radiator core 102 must be positioned so that an appropriate clearance is formed between the fan shroud 101 attached to the radiator core 102, and the fan 100. Further, since the fan shroud 101 is attached directly to the radiator core 102, the fan shroud 101 vibrates together with the heavy radiator core 102. Consequently, the position of the fan shroud 101 relative to the cooling fan 100 mounted on the engine changes, noise may be generated or the fan shroud 101 may come into contact with the cooling fan 100.
In many cases, as shown in FIG. 7, the intake duct 110 connected to the air inlet 106 of the air cleaner 105 is opened toward the front side of the radiator unit 10 to take in not heated air. In this case, it is desirable that the intake duct 110 is extended so as to avoid the radiator unit 10 and to extend toward the front side of the radiator unit 10. Thus, the intake duct 110 extends beyond the radiator unit 10, which increases the outside dimensions of the engine.
The present invention has been made in view of such problems and it is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a radiator unit having a radiator core and a fan shroud capable of being easily attached to and detached from an engine and of enabling an intake duct to open toward the front side of the radiator core without increasing the outside dimensions of the engine.
According to a first aspect of the present invention, a radiator unit to be used in combination with a cooling fan mounted on an engine includes a radiator support member attached to the engine; and a radiator core fastened to the radiator support member; wherein a lower end part of the radiator core is connected to a lower end part of the radiator support member by a plug-in structure including a positioning pin provided on the lower end part of the radiator core and a positioning hole of a positioning lug provided in the radiator support member, and an upper end part of the radiator core is fastened to an upper end part of the radiator support member.
Preferably, the radiator unit according to the first aspect of the present invention further includes a fan shroud attached to the radiator support member so as to surround the cooling fan. Preferably, an intake duct connected to the air inlet of an air cleaner mounted on the engine is formed integrally with the fan shroud.
Preferably, the lower end part of the radiator core is connected to the lower end part of the radiator support member through a damping member. Also, it is preferable that the upper end part of the radiator core is connected to the upper end part of the radiator support member through a damping member.
According to a second aspect of the present invention, a radiator unit to be used in combination with a cooling fan mounted on an engine includes a radiator support member attached to the engine; a radiator core fastened to the radiator support member; and a fan shroud attached to the radiator support member so as to surround the cooling fan; wherein an intake duct connected to the air inlet of an air cleaner mounted on the engine is formed integrally with the fan shroud.
According to a third aspect of the present invention, a radiator-engine combining method of combining a radiator unit with an engine includes the steps of fastening a radiator support member to the engine; attaching a fan shroud to the radiator support member so as to surround a cooling fan mounted on the engine; and attaching a radiator core to the radiator support member by connecting a lower end part of the radiator core to a lower end part of the radiator support member by a plug-in structure including a positioning pin provided on the lower end part of the radiator core and a positioning hole of a positioning lug provided in the radiator support member, and fastening an upper end part of the radiator core to an upper end part of the radiator support member with a bolt.
Preferably, the step of attaching the fan shroud to the radiator support member of the method according to the third aspect of the present invention connects an intake duct formed integrally with the fan shroud to the air inlet of an air cleaner mounted on the engine.
According to the first and the third aspect of the present invention, the radiator support member is fixed to the engine, the lower end part of the radiator unit is engaged with the lower end part of the radiator support member by the plug-in structure including the pin and the positioning lug and the upper end of the radiator unit is fastened to the upper end part of the radiator support member with the bolt. Thus, the radiator core can be easily positioned, only the upper end part of the radiator unit needs to be fastened to the radiator support member with the bolt and hence the radiator can be easily combined with the engine.
According to the first and the second aspect of the present invention, the fan shroud for surrounding the cooling fan mounted on the engine is not fixed directly to the radiator core and is fixed individually to the radiator support member attached to the engine. Thus, the fan shroud can be easily positioned and fixed to the radiator support member such that an appropriate clearance is maintained between the fan shroud and the cooling fan. Since the clearance between the fan shroud and the cooling fan remains constant even if the heavy radiator core vibrates, noise will not be generated and the cooling fan will not touch the fan shroud.
According to the first to the third aspect of the present invention, the intake duct connected to the air inlet of the air cleaner is formed integrally with the fan shroud that is fastened to the radiator support member supporting the radiator unit, so that the number of parts can be reduced, the fan shroud and the intake duct can be simultaneously mounted on the engine and work for assembling the engine is simplified. Since the fan shroud is formed integrally with the intake duct, the intake duct can be easily disposed close to the periphery of the radiator core and can be extended to the front side of the radiator unit without increasing the outside dimensions of the engine.

Radiator unit for engine and method of combining the same with engine


An antenna assembly and an electronic device are provided. The antenna assembly includes a metal main body, a first metal connecting part, a second metal connecting part, and eight radiating elements disposed on the metal main body. The metal main body includes a first end, a second end opposite to the first end, a third end, and a fourth end opposite to the third end. The first metal connecting part and the second metal connecting part are respectively connected to the third end and the fourth end. The antenna assembly is configured to be operated as an 8×8 5G MIMO antenna system.

With the development of communication technology, mobile electronic devices such as mobile phones and tablets are more and more widely used in people's daily life.
Antenna is a main electronic assembly to realize communication function of electronic devices and is also one of indispensable electronic components. At the same time, it becomes a trend to set multiple antennas to ensure good communication of electronic devices. However, at present, electronic devices have been equipped with two long-term evolution antennas, one is a position positioning antenna, and the other is a wireless fidelity antenna, thus the number of antennas is limited, which cannot meet the higher antenna demand.

GUANGDONG OPPO MOBILE TELECOMMUNICATIONS CORP., LTD.


The present invention relates to a monoclonal antibody designated STRO-4 which specifically binds human and ovine HSP-90beta and its use for enriching multipotential cells such a mesenchymal precursor cells (MPCs).

The cellular components that comprise haematopoietic supportive marrow stroma and associated skeletal tissues are derived from a population of multipotential cells including multipotential mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) and their precursors (mesenchymal precursor cells (MPCs)). MPC reside within the bone marrow spaces located primarily in perivascular niches which surround blood vessels (Gronthos S at al., 2003 and Shi S et al., 2003). Over the last two decades, studies have focused on the regenerative potential of different human stromal/mesenchymal cell populations to reconstitute fat, bone, cartilage and muscle (Gronthos S et al., 2003 and Simmons P J at al., 1991). However, the successful application of these technologies is dependent on the ability to isolate purified populations of MPC and to subsequently manipulate their growth and differentiation ex vivo. Moreover, there is a need to overcome the various technical and safety concerns often associated with stem cell based therapies by assessing the safety and efficacy of MPC preparations in appropriate large pre-clinical animal models representative of human diseases. Ovine models of human orthopaedic and cardiac disease/trauma have been widely used, as sheep share similarities with human anatomy, physiology, immunology and embryonic development (Airey J A at al., 2004; Liechty K W at al., 2000 and Mackenzie T C et al., 2001).
Whilst, several human multipotential cell specific markers such as STRO-1, CD106, CD146 have been described in the literature (Gronthos S at al., 2003 and Shi S et al., 2003), significant progress in examining the therapeutic potential of multipotential cells in ovine models of human disease has been limited due a lack of specific reagents which enable the isolation and characterisation of an equivalent multipotential cell population in ovine tissues. The development of biological reagents, such as monoclonal antibodies, reactive with both ovine and human multipotential cells would greatly facilitate the capacity to monitor and equate the functional properties of both ovine and human multipotential cell populations in pre-clinical and clinical trials, respectively.
Any discussion of documents, acts, materials, devices, articles or the like which has been included in the present specification is solely for the purpose of providing a context for the present invention. It is not to be taken as an admission that any or all of these matters form part of the prior art base or were common general knowledge in the field relevant to the present invention as it existed before the priority date of each claim of this application.


Peripheral arterialization devices and methods of using the same. In an exemplary embodiment of a catheter for facilitating venous arterialization of the present disclosure, the catheter comprises an elongated body extending from a proximal end to a distal end and having a lumen defined therethrough along a longitudinal length of the elongated body, the elongated body configured to attach to a graft at or near the proximal end of the elongated body and further configured to permit fluid to flow through the graft, through the lumen, and out of one or more apertures defined within the elongated body at or near the distal end to facilitate venous arterialization upon at least partial implantation of the catheter into a vein of a patient.

While direct surgical and percutaneous revascularization through procedures such as a percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty ("PTCA") or coronary artery bypass grafting ("CABG") remain the mainstay of treatment for patients with angina and coronary artery disease ("CAD"), there are many patients that are not amenable to such conventional revascularization therapies. Because of this, much effort has been made to find alternative methods of revascularization for ischemic cardiac patients who are not candidates for revascularization by conventional techniques. Such patients are generally identified as "no-option" patients because there is no conventional therapeutic option available to treat their condition. As described in detail herein, the present disclosure provides various embodiments of devices to address such chronic conditions.
In addition, and as described in detail herein, the present disclosure provides various embodiments of devices that can be used acutely to treat patients with a number of conditions, such as S-T segment elevated myocardial infarction (STEMI) or cardiogenic shock or patients who require high risk percutaneous coronary intervention, until they can receive more traditional therapy.
Currently, there are multiple specific conditions for which conventional revascularization techniques are known to be ineffective as a treatment. Two specific examples of such cardiac conditions include, without limitation, diffuse CAD and refractory angina. Furthermore, a percentage of all patients diagnosed with symptomatic CAD are not suitable for CABG or PTCA. In addition and for various reasons discussed below, diabetic patients—especially those with type 2 diabetes—exhibit an increased risk for CAD that is not effectively treated by conventional revascularization techniques.
There is currently little data available on the prevalence and prognosis of patients with symptomatic CAD that is not amenable to revascularization through conventional methods. However, one study indicated that out of five hundred (500) patients with symptomatic CAD who were considering direct myocardial revascularization and angiogenesis, almost twelve percent (12%) were not suitable for CABG or PTCA for various reasons. Furthermore, in general, patients with atherosclerotic involvement of the distal coronary arteries have high mortality and morbidity. For example, a study conducted on patients indicated that, one (1) year after being diagnosed with atherosclerotic involvement of the distal coronary arteries, 39.2% of such patients had a cardiac-related death, 37.2% had an acute myocardial infarction, and 5.8% had developed congestive heart failure. Overall, 82.2% of the patients with atherosclerotic involvement of distal coronary arteries had developed or experienced a significant cardiac event within one (1) year.
A. Diffuse CAD and Refractory Angina
CAD is typically not focal (i.e. limited to one point or a small region of the coronary artery), but rather diffused over a large length of the entire vessel, which is termed "diffuse CAD." Several studies indicate that patients with a diffusely diseased coronary artery for whom standard CABG techniques cannot be successfully performed constitute about 0.8% to about 25.1% of all patients diagnosed with CAD. Furthermore, it is believed that diffuse CAD is much more common than conventionally diagnosed because it is often difficult to detect by an angiogram due to the two-dimensional views.
Practitioners have realized that the quality of a patient's distal coronary arteries is one of the critical factors related to a successful outcome of a surgical revascularization. As previously indicated, there is considerable evidence that CABG for vessels having diffuse CAD results in a relatively poor outcome. In fact, studies have indicated that diffuse CAD is a strong independent predictor of death after a CABG procedure. Further, as previously noted conventional revascularization techniques have also proven ineffective on a subgroup of patients with medically refractory angina. In line with the aforementioned reasoning, this is likely because patients with medically refractory angina have small or diffusely diseased distal vessels that are not amenable to conventional revascularization therapies. Accordingly, patients exhibiting diffuse CAD or medically refractory angina are often considered no-option patients and not offered bypass surgery, PTCA, or other conventional procedures.
B. Diabetes as a Risk Factor
Diabetes is an important risk factor for the development of CAD, diffuse or asymptomatic, and it has been estimated that approximately seventy-five percent (75%) of the deaths in diabetic patients are likely attributed to CAD. It is estimated that 16 million Americans have diabetes, without only 10 million being diagnosed. Patients with diabetes develop CAD at an accelerated rate and have a higher incidence of heart failure, myocardial infarction, and cardiac death than non-diabetics.
According to recent projections, the prevalence of diabetes in the United States is predicted to be about ten percent (10%) of the population by 2025. Further, the increasing prevalence of obesity and sedentary lifestyles throughout developed countries around the world is expected to drive the worldwide number of individuals with diabetes to more than 330 million by the year 2025. As may be expected, the burden of cardiovascular disease and premature mortality that is associated with diabetes will also substantially increase, reflecting in not only an increased amount of individuals with CAD, but an increased number of younger adults and adolescents with type 2 diabetes who are at a two- to four-fold higher risk of experiencing a cardiovascular-related death as compared to non-diabetics.
In addition to developing CAD at an accelerated rate, CAD in diabetic patients is typically detected in an advanced stage, as opposed to when the disease is premature and symptomatic. Consequently, when diabetic patients are finally diagnosed with CAD they commonly exhibit more extensive coronary atherosclerosis and their epicardial vessels are less amendable to interventional treatment, as compared to the non-diabetic population. Moreover, as compared with non-diabetic patients, diabetic patients have lower ejection fractions in general and therefore have an increased chance of suffering from silent myocardial infarctions.
C. No-Option Patients
Some studies have shown that two-thirds (⅔rds) of the patients who were not offered bypass surgery, because of diffuse CAD or otherwise, either died or had a non-fatal myocardial infarction within twelve (12) months. Furthermore, patients diagnosed with diffuse CAD ran a two-fold increased risk of in-hospital death or major morbidity, and their survival rate at two (2) years was worse than those patients who exhibited non-diffuse CAD or other complicating conditions. As previously indicated, the majority of these patients are considered no-option patients and are frequently denied bypass surgery as it is believed that CABG would result in a poor outcome.
Due to the increasing numbers of no-option patients and a trend in cardiac surgery towards more aggressive coronary interventions, a growing percentage of patients with diffuse CAD and other no-option indications are being approved for coronary bypass surgery because, in effect, there are no other meaningful treatment or therapeutic options. Some effects of this trend are that the practice of coronary bypass surgery has undergone significant changes due to the aggressive use of coronary stents and the clinical profiles of patients referred for CABG are declining. As such, performing effective and successful coronary bypass surgeries is becoming much more challenging. Bypass grafting diffusely diseased vessels typically requires the use of innovative operations such as on-lay patches, endarterectomies and more than one graft for a single vessel. Patients with "full metal jackets" (or multiple stents) are typically not referred to cardiac surgeons and often end up as no-option patients despite the attempts of using these innovative surgeries.
In recent decades, the spectrum of patients referred for CABG are older and are afflicted with other morbidities such as hypertension, diabetes mellitus, cerebral and peripheral vascular disease, renal dysfunction, and chronic pulmonary disease. In addition, many patients referred for CABG have advanced diffuse CAD and have previously undergone at least one catheter-based intervention or surgical revascularization procedure that either failed or was not effective. Because of this, the patient's vessels may no longer be graftable and complete revascularization using conventional CABG may not be feasible. An incomplete myocardial revascularization procedure has been shown to adversely affect short-term and long-term outcomes after coronary surgery.
Due in part to some of the aforementioned reasons, reoperative CABG surgery is now commonplace, accounting for over twenty percent (20%) of cases in some clinics. It is well established that mortality for reoperative CABG operations is significantly higher than primary operations. As such, the risk profile of reoperative patients is significantly increased and such patients are subjected to an increased risk of both in-hospital and long-term adverse outcomes.
Further, clinicians have also turned to unconventional therapies to treat non-option patients. For example, coronary endarterectomy ("CE") has been used as an adjunct to CABG in a select group of patients with diffuse CAD in order to afford complete revascularization. However, while CE was first described in 1957 as a method of treating CAD without using cardiopulmonary bypass and CABG, this procedure has been associated with high postoperative morbidity and mortality rates and has been afforded much scrutiny. Nevertheless, CE is the only therapeutic option available for many no-option patients with diffuse CAD.
Similarly, because conventional therapies have proven ineffective or are unavailable to high risk patients, perioperative transmyocardial revascularization ("TMR") has been indicated for patients suffering from medically refractory angina. TMR has proven effective for most patients suffering from refractory angina; the mortality rate after TMR in patients with stable angina ranges between about one to twenty percent (1-20%). Furthermore, in one study, TMR resulted in a higher perioperatively mortality rate in patients with unstable angina than those with stable angina (27% versus 1%). Some even report an operative mortality rate as low as twelve percent (12%). Patients who experience angina and who cannot be weaned from intravenous nitroglycerin and heparin have a significantly higher operative mortality rate (16-27% versus 1-3%). Based on these findings, the clinical practice has been to avoid taking such patients to the operating room for TMR if at all possible. The success of TMR is thought to be due to improved regional blood flow to ischemic myocardium, but the precise mechanisms of its effects remain unclear.
D. Acute Applications
When a coronary artery becomes blocked, the flow of blood to the myocardium stops and the muscle is damaged. This process is known as myocardial infarction (MI). An MI can damage the myocardium, resulting in a scarred area that does not function properly. MI has an annual incidence rate of 1.5 million in the US and is the primary driver of roughly 500,000 cases of mortality and high morbidity rates in CAD patients. Immediate reperfusion of the myocardium following MI is clinically desirable to preserve as much heart tissue as possible. Current revascularization options include thrombolytic medications, percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), or coronary artery bypass graft (CABG). While thrombolytic compounds can be administered swiftly in an acute care facility, the vast majority of MI patients require a PCI or CABG to adequately restore reliable blood flow to the heart tissue. Both of these revascularization techniques are clinically safe and effective, however, they require specialized staff and facilities, which are not available at all acute care facilities, or not available soon enough to preserve enough myocardial tissue in the wake of an MI. A significant effort has been undertaken in recent years to speed MI patients to the cath lab for PCI upon presenting, but these programs are not available everywhere, and even where available, do not often meet the 90 minute target of door to balloon time.
In the US, nearly 75,000 CAD patients annually present with atherosclerosis of the left main coronary artery (LMCA). The LMCA delivers oxygenated blood to 75% or more of the myocardium. An untreated, diseased LMCA results in 20% 1-year and 50% 7- to 10-year mortality rates. Historically, PCI of the LMCA (LMPCI) has been deemed too risky, however, recent advances in technique and tools have begun to allow an expanded LMCA patient population for PCI, especially in certain patient conditions where PCI is preferable to CABG (e.g., patients who are aging, delicate, and/or in critical condition).
The risks of LMPCI include prolonged myocardial ischemia from balloon inflations, "no-reflow phenomenon" (2-5% incidence rate), or coronary artery dissections (30% incidence rate). Existing circulatory support devices used to address these hemodynamic issues, such as the intra-aortic balloon pump (IABP) and left ventricle circulatory support devices (e.g., Impella 2.5), are unable to sufficiently meet the myocardium oxygen demands even though cardiac pumping mechanics are improved. The assistance from these devices is limited further during no-reflow and coronary artery dissection events. In addition, the clinically superior left ventricle circulatory support devices are complicated to use and require dedicated training and facilities, which has prevented wide-spread clinical adoption.
There are over 35,000 cardiogenic shock (CS) patients each year in the US. This condition severely complicates an MI event with in-hospital mortality rates exceeding 50 percent. PCI is the standard of care for these acute patients; however, the CS patient must be stabilized prior to intervention, according to ACC/AHA guidelines, using a short-term circulatory support device as a bridge. An IABP or left ventricle circulatory support device (e.g. Impella 2.5) can currently be utilized in these cases to stabilize the heart while awaiting revascularization.
The 200,000 S-T segment elevated MI (STEMI) patients per year in the US require immediate reperfusion of the myocardium. Thrombolytic medications are administered as the primary revascularization technique, however, 70 percent of those receiving thrombolysis fail to respond. Furthermore, 10 percent of those that initially respond to thrombolysis experience reocclusion while still an in-patient. These STEMI patients require clinically superior rescue PCI, as opposed to repeated thrombolysis.
Because only 1,200 out of 5,000 acute care hospitals are capable of performing PCI (and even fewer are capable of CABG), nearly 60 percent of STEMI patients do not achieve the required 90 minute time-frame for revascularization.
While awaiting revascularization, IAPB currently is the preferred circulatory assist device and is indicated for use by critical care unit (CCU), intensive care unit (ICU) and emergency medicine (ER) physicians in a variety of clinical settings. However, the IABP's use in MI events remains at less than 5 percent of cases due to complicated training and device-related malfunctions in 12-30% of all cases.
Circulatory support devices used in these cases have two major problems: inability to adequately augment blood flow in flow-limiting atherosclerotic coronary arteries to a damaged myocardium, and 12-30% device complication incidence rates, including peripheral ischemia, compartment syndrome, infection, hematological issues, and mechanical issues.
Peripheral artery disease (PAD) affects approximately eight million Americans (12-20% age 65 and older) and is associated with significant morbidity and mortality. Despite the advances in peripheral arterial revascularization, there remains a large group of patients who cannot be helped by conventional surgical techniques due to severe diffuse occlusion of the distal arterial tree. These patients almost inevitably require major amputation due to gangrene, ulceration, severe pain at rest, or a combination of these (Stage IV Fontaine).
The incidence of critical leg ischemia worldwide has been estimated to range from 500 to 1,000 per one million persons per year. A Swedish study based on a longitudinal analysis of 321 patients identified a mean number of three surgical interventions per patient and a mean length of hospitalization of 117 days, resulting in significant health care costs and disruption of patient's lives.
The current therapeutic options to salvage ischemic limbs include open surgery and radiologic transcatheter therapies such as thrombolysis, angioplasty, and thrombectomy. One approach advocates initial treatment with mechanical transcatheter thrombectomy along with one of several available devices, hydrolyser, or rapid debulking of thrombus. This may be followed by low-dose, short-duration local thrombolytic therapy. Any residual underlying stenoses may then be treated with angioplasty and stent placement or with open surgery.
Despite such an optimized approach, a subgroup of patients (approximately 14%-20%) is not suited for distal arterial reconstruction and may require amputation. Few effective therapeutic options are available to these patients, who usually suffer from advanced disease of small vessels of the calf and foot and who may be further compromised by other co-morbidities.
The clinical prognosis for patients who present with critical leg ischemia is poor. Despite the extensive use of endovascular and surgical revascularization procedures, the primary amputation rate for critical leg ischemia varies from 10% to 40%. The total estimated number of major amputations performed in patients with critical leg ischemia is about 250 to 500 per one million persons per year in Europe and about 280 per one million persons per year in the US. The perioperative mortality for major amputation in these patients is about 10%. Within two years, 30% of patients who undergo below-knee amputation will die, 15% will require a contralateral major amputation, and another 15% will require above-knee amputation. Clearly, there is a need to reduce the number of amputations in this subgroup of patients, who present with critical leg ischemia and are beyond current therapy.
In view of the same, devices and methods to facilitate venous arterialization in the periphery, using minimally invasive surgical techniques and percutaneous procedures, would be well received in the marketplace.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


A running yarn line inspection method inspects yarn lines running in parallel in the same surface. The running yarn line inspection method is provided with a first illumination means and a line sensor for imaging the yarn lines on the side of the first surface of the running surface of the yarn lines and a second illumination means on the side of the second surface, and comprises a data processing means which processes data obtained by the line sensor and a recording means which records data processed by the data processing means with time.

In a production process of a yarn comprising a bundle of numerous continuous filaments such as synthetic fibers, there is a case where fluffs or fuzz occur on the yarn owing to broken filaments and the like. Further, owing to broken filaments and the like, it can happen that filaments may come off from the yarn, to decrease the number of filaments constituting the yarn or to cause yarn splitting. Moreover, it can happen that all the filaments constituting the yarn may be broken to cut the yarn. Most of these defects (disorders) occurring on the yarn are caused by external or internal structural changes of the yarn based on variations of various process conditions such as the variations of tension and heat treatment temperature in the production process. Moreover, fluffs or fuzz once separated from the yarn and suspended in air may reattach to the yarn in the production process of the yarn.
These defects of yarns greatly affect the quality of yarns themselves and the quality of textile products formed of the yarns. Therefore, it is very important for quality control of yarns themselves and textile products, to accurately detect and identify the defects of yarns. In addition, if the states of the yarns running in a yarn production process can be constantly monitored to early identify the changes in the states of yarns or frequent occurrences of defects caused by the variations of process conditions, the yield in the yarn production process can be enhanced. That is, it is important to identify the defects of running yarns online.
Most of yarn production processes employ a method in which multiple yarns are made to run in parallel to each other for simultaneous production of multiple yarns. In such a production process, it is important for quality control of produced yarns themselves and of yarn package obtained by winding the produced yarns that the multiple yarns running in parallel to each other are simultaneously inspected and that the defects of every yarn are detected for obtaining the information on the defects of every yarn.
As a traditional method for constantly monitoring the state of a yarn for detecting the defects occurring on the yarn, proposed is a method in which an inspection region larger than the width of a yarn is irradiated with the light from a light projecting section, so that a light receiving section may detect the light intensity transmitted or reflected when the running yarn passes through the inspection region, for detecting the defects occurring on the yarn in reference to the changes of light intensity (see Patent Literature 1). However, the inspection method described in Patent Literature 1 requires at least one light receiving section for one yarn. For example, in a process for simultaneously producing 100 yarns, 100 light receiving sections are necessary. Therefore, this inspection method is very costly for inspecting all yarns.
As a method for inspecting the defects of multiple yarns simultaneously at low cost, proposed is a method in which a light projecting means is set up on one lateral side of the yarns while a light receiving means is set up on the other side beyond the yarns, with the yarns placed inside of, immediately above or immediately below the luminous flux, to detect each fuzz formed on a yarn when the fuzz intercepts the light (see Patent Literature 2). However, according to the inspection method described in Patent Literature 2, which of the yarns placed between the light projecting means and the light receiving means has been found to have a defect cannot be determined. Therefore, the information on the defects of every yarn cannot be obtained. Further, in the case where a flat defect thinly spreads over the surface of a yarn, since the quantity of intercepted light is small, it is difficult to detect such a defect by this inspection method.
As a method for inspecting the defects of yarns in a yarn sheet in which numerous yarns are laid out parallel to each other, proposed is a method in which the yarns are imaged using a camera to detect the defects of the yarns by image processing (see Patent Literature 3). However, according to the inspection method described in Patent Literature 3, the number of yarns that can be inspected simultaneously is small due to the difficulty of the resolution in the width direction of the camera. For example, it is difficult to simultaneously inspect about 100 yarns running in parallel to each other, and further in the case where the multiple yarns are inspected simultaneously, the yarns found to have defects cannot be identified, not allowing the information on the defects of every yarn to be obtained.
Patent Literature 1: JP 7-300280 A
Patent Literature 2: JP 61-114115 A
Patent Literature 3: JP 2004-277938 A

Running yarn line inspection method and carbon fiber manufacturing method using thereof


A baffle plate support structure supports a baffle plate inside a casing of a transmission. The baffle plate support structure includes a fixing portion and a supporting portion. The fixing portion secures a fixed end of the baffle plate to the casing by tightening bolts. The fixed end is one end of the baffle plate. The supporting portion supports a supported end of the baffle plate with respect to the casing. The supported end is another end of the baffle plate. The supporting portion has protruding ribs formed on an inner surface of the casing. The supporting portion is positioned such that the protruding ribs have a clearance of predetermined distance with respect to the supported end of the baffle plate in a vibrating direction of the supported end.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a baffle plate support structure for a transmission.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a casing of a transmission mounted on a vehicle, a baffle plate for reducing oil agitation resistance (stirring resistance) of gears is provided, for example, as described in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2005-308044. The baffle plate is a plate-like member made of synthetic resin. The baffle plate is mounted such that it extends along the lower rotational periphery of gears and pulleys around rotating shafts. The baffle plate is composed of a series of curved surfaces that extend not only along the rotational periphery of gears, but also extend in a plane along the axial direction of the rotating shafts. Therefore, the baffle plate is a plate-like resin component having a relatively large area.
Such a baffle plate is provided with a support structure by which, in the casing of the transmission, both ends of the baffle plate are supported with respect to the inner surface of the casing. However, if both ends of the baffle plate are secured by tightening bolts etc. without play, vibration applied to the transmission while the vehicle is moving may cause resonance (surface vibration) of the baffle plate. This may lead to warpage of the baffle plate and shorten the vibration life of the baffle plate.
To prevent resonance of such a baffle plate in a known transmission, the baffle plate is secured by tightening bolts at one end only, and the other end of the baffle plate is provided as a free end not in contact with the casing, as described in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2005-308044. That is, the support structure for the baffle plate provided here is a so-called cantilever support structure. However, if one end of the baffle plate is a free end which is not at all in contact with the casing, it is difficult to properly suppress excess vibration of the baffle plate.
In the cantilever support structure described in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2005-308044, the free end of the baffle plate is covered with a transmission case. The free end of the baffle plate is located near the bottom inside the transmission case. This means that it may not be easy to check the mounting at the free end during assembly of the transmission. Therefore, it is difficult to add a support structure, which requires checking of mounting, to the free end of the baffle plate.
A manual transmission also has a baffle plate mounted inside the casing thereof. A baffle plate support structure used here is, for example, one that supports the baffle plate not by completely securing it to the casing at both ends, but by securing it to the casing with some play left therebetween (in a so-called floating state). However, use of such a support structure may result in insufficient mounting strength of the baffle plate. Moreover, since the amount of displacement associated with vibration of the baffle plate increases, it is necessary to leave a large clearance between the baffle plate and gears. This may hinder a reduction in size of the transmission. Additionally, significant vibration of the baffle plate and looseness of the support structure may cause noise.

Baffle plate support structure for transmission


Disclosed is a foot well divider for adjacent parallel passenger seats, having a movable structure adapted to be hinged to a static structure positioned between first and second adjacent parallel passenger suites, the movable structure configured to pivot between a first position separating foot well space of the first suite from foot well space of the second suite, and a second position connecting the foot well spaces of the first and second suites. In certain aspects, the movable structure is a foot well divider in an aircraft foot well.

The present invention relates generally to premium class aircraft passenger seating arrangements and seat privacy, and more particularly, to a seating arrangement including a stowable foot-well partition that divides foot-wells between two laterally adjacent seats.
Premium passenger seating arrangements in an aircraft can take the form of individual suites separated and defined by privacy walls and partitions. Such suites typically include a passenger living area outfitted with comfort, luxury and convenience features such as lie-flat adjustable seats, desks, advanced media and electronics, closets and various storage compartments, among other amenities.
With the development of passenger suites, there is a continuing effort to offer better features and amenities to passengers to further accommodate their needs and increase the level of luxury of such suites. To meet the expectations of passengers while maximizing the use of space and minimizing complexity, provided herein are novel passenger seating arrangements and amenity configurations wherein amenities are arranged to serve specific functions.

Articulating foot well divider for adjacent parallel passenger seats


A receiver for discrete Fourier transform-spread-orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (DFT-S-OFDM) based systems, including a prefilter for received signal codeword(s); and a log-likelihood ratio LLR module responsive to the prefilter; wherein the prefilter includes a pairing and whitening module that based on channel estimates and data rate enables the LLR module to perform either a Serial-In-Serial-Out (SISO) based log likelihood ratio processing of an output from the paring and whitening module or a two-symbol max-log soft output demodulator (MLSD) based log likelihood ratio processing of an output from the pairing and whitening module.

The present invention relates generally to wireless communications, and more particularly, to a receiver for DFT-Spread MIMO-OFDM systems.
Referring to the diagram in FIG. 1, each mobile (or source) transmits its signal using the DFT-S-OFDM technique. The destination or base station receives signals from several mobiles possibly overlapping in time and frequency and has to decode the signal of each mobile.
Discrete Fourier Transform-spread-Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (DFT-spread-OFDMA or DFT-S-OFDMA) has emerged as the preferred uplink air interface for the next generation cellular systems such as the 3GPP LTE. The main advantage of this multiple access technique is that it results in considerably lower envelope fluctuations in the signal waveform transmitted by each user and consequently lower peak-to-average-power ratio (PAPR) compared to the classical OFDMA technique. A lower PAPR in turn implies a smaller power back off at the user terminal and hence an improved coverage for the cellular system. Another key technology that will be employed in the upcoming cellular systems is the utilization of antenna arrays at the base station (a.k.a Node-B) and possibly at the user equipment (UE). Multiple antennas when used in point-to-point or multipoint-to-point systems have been shown in theory to result insubstantial capacity improvements, provided that the environment is sufficiently rich in multipath components. However, in practice the capacity improvement obtained by using multiple antennas at the UEs in the uplink can be much smaller due to the fact that multiple antennas will have to be accommodated in the limited space available at the UE, which will result in correlated channel responses that are not conducive to high rate communications. Moreover, installing multiple power amplifiers in each UE is currently deemed impractical based on cost considerations by many vendors.
A promising scheme, also adopted in 3GPP LTE, which circumvents these two issues is the space-division multiple-access (SDMA) scheme which is sometimes referred to as the virtual multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) scheme. In SDMA multiple single-antenna users are scheduled over the same frequency and time resource block in order to boost the system throughput. Since different users are geographically separated, their channel responses seen at the base-station antenna array will be independent and hence capable of supporting high rate communications. Henceforth, the DFT-S-OFDM based uplink employing SDMA will be referred to as the DFT-S-OFDM-SDMA uplink.
In DFT-S-OFDM systems, which encompass both DFT-S-OFDMA and DFT-S-OFDM-SDMA, as a consequence of the DFT spreading operation at the transmitter, the signal arrives at the base-station with substantial intersymbol interference and the received sufficient statistics can be modeled as the channel output of a large MIMO system. The conventional receiver technique involves tone-by-tone single-tap equalization followed by an inverse DFT operation. While such a simple receiver suffices for the single-user case in the low-rate regime when there is enough receive diversity and where the available frequency diversity can be garnered by the underlying outer code, it results in degraded performance at higher rates as well as with SDMA.
Unfortunately, unlike classical OFDMA, the large dimension of the equivalent MIMO model in DFT-S-OFDMA does not allow us to leverage the sphere decoder which has an exponential complexity in the problem dimension. Furthermore, the stringent complexity constraints in practical systems also rule out the near-optimal MIMO receivers developed for the narrowband channels. Other promising equalizers for the DFT-S-OFDM systems are the decision feedback equalizers (DFE), in particular the hybrid DFE, where the feedforward filter is realized in the frequency domain and the feedback filter is realized in the time domain, and the iterative block DFE with soft decision feedback that has been proposed by others, where even the cancelation is performed in the frequency domain. However, even the DFE whose iterative process does not include decoding the outer code is substantially more complex and has higher latency especially in the SDMA case, than the conventional receiver.
Accordingly, there is a need for a receiver at the destination or base station that can receive and decode multiple wireless signals overlapping in time and frequency in a manner that overcomes the limitations of the conventional receiver techniques discussed above.

Receiver with prefiltering for discrete fourier transform-spread-orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (DFT-S-OFDM) based systems


Spraying apparatus and methods that employ multiple nozzle structures for producing multiple sprays of particles, e.g., nanoparticles, for various applications, e.g., pharmaceuticals, are provided. For example, an electrospray dispensing device may include a plurality of nozzle structures, wherein each nozzle structure is separated from adjacent nozzle structures by an internozzle distance. Sprays of particles are established from the nozzle structures by creating a nonuniform electrical field between the nozzle structures and an electrode electrically isolated therefrom.

The present invention relates generally to spray apparatus and methods. More particularly, the present invention pertains to multiple nozzle spray methods and apparatus, e.g., multiple nozzle electrospray methods and apparatus.
It has been recognized that microsphere production technology can produce drugs or pharmaceuticals that can be taken up by cells, e.g., cells in an intestinal or stomach wall or lining, and may cross into the bloodstream. Such uptake or absorption into the cell is determined at least in part by the surface chemistry of the microspheres. Uptake of microspheres containing macromolecules, e.g., encapsulated proteins, has also been demonstrated.
Currently in drug production, top-down processes are typically used to produce drug particles. For example, in such processes, particles may be formed using grinding techniques. Further, for example, it has been described that such particles may be formed by removing solvent from a mixture that includes the active ingredient as it is being sprayed into a stream of air, e.g., hot air drying.
Electrohydrodynamic spraying (or electrospray) has been used to produce nanoparticles from, for example, solutions or colloidal suspensions. The electrospray is capable of producing nanoparticles that are 10-100 times smaller than, for example, conventional pneumatic atomization techniques. This size of particles allows product that includes such particles to have 100-10,000 times larger surface area than those produced from the conventional techniques, for a given quantity of spray solution.
The increased surface area forms the basis of enabling technology for various important applications. For example, new chemicals being synthesized as future drug products are decreasing in aqueous solubility to such an extent as to present major delivery and development challenges. If the drug products employ nanoparticles rather than macroparticles, the increased surface area results in a significantly greater dissolution rate and/or higher solubility rate. This may allow for superior and/or even enabling drug delivery. Nanoparticle medicine may increase the bioavailability and speed up the response time of the delivered drug. Thus, nanoparticle technology has the potential to significantly impact the pharmaceutical industry.
As described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,105,571 to Coffee, entitled xe2x80x9cDispensing Device,xe2x80x9d issued Aug. 22, 2000, particles are generated that may comprise biologically active material, for example, particles may contain matter such as peptides or large biomolecules such as insulin and/or other pharmaceutical components for enabling delivery of an active component into the blood stream. As indicated therein, electrohydrodynamic processes are used to produce particles, but primarily are used to produce fibres or fibre fragments.
One limiting factor in employing electrospray or electrohydrodynamic techniques for particle generation is that generally only a single spray-nozzle dispenser is used that can deliver only a small quantity of solution, e.g., a few xcexcl/min. A major challenge and problem is the inability to increase the mass throughput from such an electrospray device that can produce nanoparticles so that electrohydrodynamic techniques can be used to deliver industrial quantities particles for use in various products.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,105,571 cited above, shows use of multiple nozzles to produce fibres or particles as described therein. However, problems associated with multiple nozzle approaches are not addressed, e.g., the space charge effect of particles produced using electrospray techniques, arcing between nozzles, etc.
For the above reasons, there is a need in the art for mass throughput apparatus and methods which overcome the problems described above, and other problems as will become apparent to one skilled in the art from the detailed description below. The present invention provides apparatus and methods that produce nanoparticles with high mass throughput, e.g., can produce large quantities of nanoparticles for use in various applications, e.g., pharmaceutical, biological material production for gene therapy, coatings, fabrication processes, etc.
An electrospraying method of the present invention may include one or more of the following features: providing a plurality of nozzle structures, wherein each nozzle structure includes at least one opening defined along a center axis of the nozzle structure and terminating at a dispensing end thereof from which a spray of particles having an electrical charge applied thereto is dispensed; nozzle structures that are separated from adjacent nozzle structures by at least an internozzle distance (L) defined by the distance between center axes of the nozzle structures, wherein the ratio of the internozzle distance (L) to a diameter (D) of the opening at the dispensing end is equal to or greater than 2; dispensing a spray of particles from each of a plurality of nozzle structures by creating a nonuniform electrical field between the dispensing ends from which the sprays are established and an electrode electrically isolated from the dispensing ends; nozzle structures that include a capillary tube comprised of a body portion and a tapered capillary tip at the dispensing end of the capillary tube; nozzle structures that include a tapered portion used to define an opening, wherein at least a part of each of the nozzle structures extends from an integral multiple nozzle structure conductive portion; nozzle structures that include a solid post along a center axis extending through an opening at a dispensing end thereof; dispensing ends of the nozzle structures that are positioned in an x-y plane and have the center axis thereof aligned along the z axis; dispensing a spray of microdroplets including an active ingredient, wherein the electrical charge is concentrated on the active ingredient as the microdroplet evaporates; providing a circular configuration of nozzle structures including an outer multiple nozzle structure ring and one or more inner multiple nozzle structure rings, wherein each of the outer multiple nozzle structure ring and the inner multiple nozzle structure rings are concentric about a center nozzle structure; providing a circular configuration of nozzle structures, wherein each of the nozzle structures of the one or more inner multiple nozzle structure rings are at a substantially equal internozzle distance (L) from adjacent nozzle structures; isolating the dispensing ends of the nozzle structures from one another using separation structures such that a cone jet is allowed to form at the dispensing end of each nozzle structure; dispensing particles that have a nominal diameter of about 1 nanometers to about 2000 nanometers; providing nozzle structures that include at least a first and second opening terminating at the dispensing end of each nozzle structure; providing flows of fluid compositions at the first opening and second opening and establishing a spray of particles from such fluid compositions (e.g., a first fluid composition including an active ingredient and a second fluid composition including a coating component); providing an excipient material and combining the spray of particles with the excipient material; providing a charged pattern and collecting the spray of particles on the charged pattern; dispensing the spray of particles into a container operable for inhalation by a user; and dispensing the spray of particles at a rate in the range of 2 grams/minute to 50 grams/minute.
An apparatus for electrospraying particles according to the present invention may include one or more of the following features: a particle source; a dispensing device configured to receive source material from the particle source, wherein the dispensing device comprises a plurality of nozzle structures; nozzle structures that each include at least one opening defined along a center axis of the nozzle structure and terminating at a dispensing end thereof; nozzle structures that are separated from other adjacent nozzle structures by at least an internozzle distance (L) defined by the distance between center axes of nozzle structures, wherein the ratio of the internozzle distance (L) to a diameter (D) of the opening at the dispensing end is equal to or greater than 2; an electrode isolated from the dispensing end, wherein a nonuniform electrical field is created between the dispensing ends and the electrode such that a spray of particles having an electrical charge applied thereto is dispensed from the dispensing end of each nozzle structure; nozzle structures that include a capillary tube that has a body portion and a tapered capillary tip at the dispensing end of the capillary tube; nozzle structures that include a tapered portion used to form the opening at the dispensing end, wherein at least a part of each of the nozzle structures extend from an integral multiple nozzle structure conductive portion; nozzle structures that include a solid post along a center axis extending through the opening at the dispensing end thereof; dispensing ends of the nozzle structures that are positioned in an x-y plane and have the center axis thereof aligned along the z axis; a circular configuration of nozzle structures including an outer multiple nozzle structure ring and one or more inner multiple nozzle structure rings, wherein each of the outer multiple nozzle structure ring and the inner multiple nozzle structure rings are concentric about a center nozzle structure; a circular configuration of nozzle structures, wherein each of the nozzle structures of the one or more inner multiple nozzle structure rings are at a substantially equal internozzle distance (L) from adjacent nozzle structures; one or more separation structures positioned between nozzle structures and configured such that cone jets are allowed to form at the dispensing end of each nozzle structure; nozzle structures that include at least a first and second opening terminating at the dispensing end of each nozzle structure; a first particle source of at least a first fluid composition including an active ingredient to be dispensed through the first opening and a second particle source of at least a second fluid composition including a coating component to be dispensed through the second opening so as to provide sprays of coated active ingredients; an excipient material provided on a target surface positioned such that the sprays of particles are directed for contact with the excipient material; and a charged pattern positioned such that the sprays of particles is directed for contact with the charged pattern; a container operable by a user for inhalation of contents therein positioned such that the sprays of particles are directed therein.
The above summary of the present invention is not intended to describe each embodiment or every implementation of the present invention. Advantages, together with a more complete understanding of the invention, will become apparent and appreciated by referring to the following detailed description and claims taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

High mass throughput particle generation using multiple nozzle spraying