The present invention relates to a system for the heterologous expression of a viral protein or a fragment thereof, said system comprising    a) a ciliate host cell,    b) at least one cDNA encoding for a viral protein, or a fragment thereof, and    c) a promoter operably linked to said cDNA.

The present invention relates to a system for the heterologous expression of a viral protein in a ciliate host cell.
As many viruses play a considerable role as human or animal pathogens, attention has been drawn to the use of viral proteins as vaccines against viral pathogens. Viruses (especially RNA viruses) are highly variable and many viral infections are due to viruses with multiple serotypes (e.g. Influenza virus, FMD virus). As a consequence, many of the existing viral vaccines are often unable to cope with the prevailing strains in the field and new ones have to be generated from the field strains with new outbreaks.
Despite the fact that, grace to modern biotechnology techniques, methods are available which allow for the heterologous expression of almost every conceivable protein, the expression of viral proteins is not such a common thing today, as viral proteins are, in most cases, structural proteins, i.e., neither enzymes nor protein hormones nor antibodies, and thus not that interesting for pharmaceutical or industrial purposes.
However, as many viruses play a considerable role as human or animal pathogens, attention has been drawn to the use of viral proteins as vaccines against viral pathogens.
Today, the standard procedure of producing vaccines against viral pathogens is to cultivate the respective virus in a given system, collect and inactivate virus particles thus obtained, and manufacture a pharmaceutical composition comprising said inactivated particles as a vaccine.
Said principle is for example practised in the production of influenza vaccine, which is being produced in fertilized chicken eggs. Eleven days after fertilization, the influenza virus strains are injected into the albumin of individual eggs and then infects the lungs of the developing embryo. After several days of incubation, the viruses are harvested and purified, chemically inactivated and used to produce a vaccine. On average, about one and two eggs are needed to produce one dose of vaccine. The entire production process lasts at least six months.
This way of vaccine production is well established and cost-effective, but has disadvantages as the procurement of many million eggs, the long timeline the tedious handling of the eggs and the limited flexibility in case of rapidly increasing demand or sudden appearance of new virus strains. Furthermore, fertilized chicken eggs can not be used to produce vaccines against a number of pathogenic virus, amongst them avian Influenza A virus (H5N1).
Anyway, fertilized chicken eggs can at least principally be used for the production of all viruses which are compatible with chicken embryoes as a host, or for the production of vaccines comprising elements of the former.
An alternative way of producing viruses, or vaccines comprising elements of the former is based on cell or tissue cultures. In one approach, the virus is injected into mammalian kidney cells. After propagation of the virus, the cells are lysed and then virus particles are harvested, purified and inactivated. However, these systems require the use of complex growing media, and their handling is laborious and time consuming. Furthermore, the said infection approach is difficult to carry out and not fully reproducible.
In another approach disclosed in WO03048348 a method for producing inactivated virus vaccines on the human cell line PER.C6® is disclosed. Because of the presence of the Sia2-6Gal and the Sia2-3Gal containing receptors on its surface this cell line is highly infectable with different viruses like Influenza virus, parainfluenza virus, adeno-associated virus or poliomavirus types. That might cause safety problems regarding the production process.
On the one hand mammalian cell culture based systems can, in contrast to the above egg based systems, be rapidly expanded and scaled up in times of emergency. On the other hand up-front costs for operational readiness of such production facilities (with its huge bioreactors) are much higher than the costs for egg-based systems, and the yield may be slightly slower. Again, these systems require the use of complex growing media, and their handling is laborious and time consuming.
Therefore, the development of alternative methods for the production of viral proteins which can be used as vaccines has high priority.
One approach is the production of those proteins using recombinant DNA techniques. One obvious advantage is a greatly improved safety of the vaccine, because of the opportunity to purify recombinant expressed viral protein in contrast to the vaccine production using eggs. Furthermore, the flexibility to adapt to different seasonal virus subtypes is highly increased.
However, as viral proteins are, in most cases structural proteins, the production for pharmaceutical and industrial purposes is complex and laborious. In the beginning it was attempted to express polypeptides corresponding to viral proteins like hemagglutinin in Escherichia coli. It is however noteworthy that heterologous expression of proteins which are to be used as vaccines in prokaryotes does not make sense, as the latter do not have a posttranslational modification apparatus. Therefore, proteins expressed in prokaryotes like Escherichia coli lack posttranslational modifications, like glycosylation pattern, which appears to affect the stability and contribute to a large extent to the immunogenic potential of an antigen. (Nayak et al. 1984).
Expression of viral proteins in the eukaryotic organism Saccharomyces cerevisiae (U.S. Pat. No. 4,752,473 for hemagglutinin) caused problems by the hyper-glycosylation of recombinant protein with the extensive addition of high molecular weight outer chain mannans (Jabbar and Nayak 1987, Jabbar et al. 1985) and had not proved satisfactory.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,858,368 discloses a method to express Influenza A virus hemagglutinin (HA) in recombinant baculovirus-infected insect cell lines. The proteins are chromatographically purified after being extracted from the peripheral membranes of the infected cells with a non-denaturing, nonionic detergent. The purification process is however rather time-consuming. Furthermore, it is questionable whether or not, due to their glycosylation pattern, proteins produced in a baculovirus/insect cell expression system are suitable for therapeutical use in mammals (Kulakosky et al. 1998). There are furthermore hints that certain residues in N-glycans of proteins expressed in insect cells represent potential allergenic epitopes (Tomiya et al. 2004).

System for the heterologous expression of a viral protein in a ciliate host cell


Provided is a display device including a display panel and an input sensing unit. The input sensing unit includes at least one insulation layer, an electrode, and an auxiliary electrode. The electrode includes sensor parts including a metal and having a mesh shape and connection parts connecting adjacent sensor parts of the sensor parts to each other. The auxiliary electrode overlaps the sensor parts, is connected to the sensor parts, and includes transparent conductive oxide.

The present disclosure herein relates to a display device, and more particularly, to a display device in which at least a portion of an input sensing unit is directly disposed on a display panel.
Various display devices used in multimedia devices such as televisions, mobile phones, table computers, navigation devices, and game consoles are being developed. Such a display device includes a keyboard or a mouse as an input unit. Also, in recent years, such a display device includes a touch panel as an input unit.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Display device having electrodes having sensor and auxilary sensor parts


An electric circuit used in a vehicle having an idling stop function of automatically stopping and automatically restarting an engine includes an electric generator, a first electricity storage capable of charging and discharging electric power generated by the electric generator, a second electricity storage connected in parallel to the first electricity storage, capable of charging and discharging the generated electric power, and having high durability against repetitive charge and discharge compared to the first electricity storage, an engine restarter, which is connected to the first electricity storage and the second electricity storage, configured to crank the engine at a time of the automatic restart, and a switch, which is connected between the engine restarter and the first electricity storage, configured to block a flow of current between the engine restarter and the first electricity storage. The switch includes at least a semiconductor switch.

Technical Field
The present invention relates to an electric circuit including two secondary batteries that differ from each other in durability against repetitive charge and discharge.
Related Art
JP 2011-234479A discloses an electric circuit for a vehicle including a lead-acid battery and a lithium-ion battery. The electric circuit of this document is configured as follows. When restarting an engine from idling stop, a power supply voltage of the vehicle instantaneously drops due to high current that flows through a starter motor; therefore, in order to protect a part of electric loads of the vehicle, a flow of current between the lithium-ion battery and the starter motor is blocked, and electric power is supplied to the starter motor only from the lead-acid battery.


In a round baler, twin arms come together in the start position, on the side opposite the cut position, because that configuration ensures that two twines lie nearly on top of each other to secure the bale much better at that end than with a single twine. The “start position” refers to that position where the twine arms reverse direction, and change from a fast speed of travel used to move the twine arms across the bale width, to a slower, controlled speed that is adjustable to vary the spacing of the twines. The change in direction combined with bringing the twine arms together at the start position, ensures that loose twine ends are effectively restrained as the twines are applied.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a twin twine arm for use in balers and more particularly, to one which bring the twine arms together at the start position to ensure that loose twine ends are effectively restrained as the twines are initially applied.
2. Background Art
U.S. Pat. No./Pat. application. #TitleDate6,769,353Four twine tube round baler twineAug. 3, 2004system6,446,548Round baler twine wrap control withSep. 10, 2002automatic restart (2 tubes)6,209,450Round baler with improved twineApr. 3, 2001wrap control (2 tubes)5,388,504Twine wrap control for round balerFeb. 14, 1995(2 tubes)5,215,005Telescopic twine arm for round balerJun. 1, 1993twine wrapping apparatus (2 twinearms)5,170,701Twine arm arrangementDec. 15, 19924,793,249Double twine arm for dispensingDec. 27, 1988twine into a bale chamber
The patents listed above, all of which are incorporated herein in their entirety, show twin twine arm technology for round balers. A major problem with this prior art technology as clearly reflected in the patents above is the problem of getting the twines to hold at the starting side of a bale. Accordingly there is a need to solve this problem.


A novel associative network architecture is described in which a neural network is subdivided into a plurality of smaller blocks. Each block comprises an array of pattern matching cells which is used for calculating the relative match, or Hamming distance, between an input pattern and a stored weight pattern. The cells are arranged in columns along one or more local summing lines. The total current flowing along the local summing lines for a given block corresponds to the match for that block. Each of the blocks are coupled together using a plurality of global summing lines. The global summing lines sum the individual current contributions from the local summing lines of each associated block. Coupling between the local column lines and the global summing lines is achieved by using a specialized coupling device which permits control of the coupling ratio between the lines. By selectively turning on or off various blocks a measure of the match for individual blocks or for groups of blocks representing a subset of the network, may be calculated. Control over the coupling ratio within the blocks also prevents destructive levels of current from building up on the global summing lines.

In the past several years, electronics researchers working in the field of analog neural networks and associative memories have attempted to duplicate the logic performed by the human brain. Circuit models have been proposed which provide for both learning (e.g., a programming mode) and decision-making (e.g., recognition, associative memory, etc.).
One category of tasks that neural networks are particularly useful in performing are recognition tasks. That is, neural networks may be utilized to analyze data and identify which features are present. This involves matching templates and expected features to the data and finding the best fit. In pattern matching problems the same stored patterns are repeatedly compared to different input patterns using the same calculation. Various measures of the relative match between the patterns may then be computed.
One measure of the difference between two binary patterns is referred to as the "Hamming distance". (A binary pattern or binary vector is defined in this application to be a string of 1's and 0's, i.e., bits in which the sequence of the bits is meaningful.) Mathematically, the Hamming distance between two patterns is the number of the bits which are different in the two patterns in corresponding bit positions. Of course, both patterns must have the same number of bits for the Hamming distance to have any real meaning, as this provides one-to-one correspondence between bit positions. A semiconductor cell useful in performing pattern matching in a neural network is disclosed in co-pending application entitled "EXCLUSIVE-OR Cell For Pattern Matching Employing Floating Gate Devices", Ser. No. 325,380, filed Mar. 17, 1989 and assigned to the assignee of the present invention; which application is herein incorporated by reference.
Implementing large neural networks in VLSI architecture presents several technical problems which do not normally arise in smaller circuit configurations. By way of example, in an ordinary memory product, only a portion of the array (corresponding to a specific address, i.e., one cell per output bit) is active during a read cycle. In other words, the output is entirely digital in nature and does not depend on the sum of the output currents of each of the cells within the array. Conversely, a neural network may have all of the cells in its entire array active at the same time, providing a large total output current.
As described in the above-referenced application, each neural network matching cell (e.g., EXCLUSIVE-OR cell) may produce a current which is typically summed in an analog manner along one or more column lines. These column lines must be capable of handling very small currents (when none of the cells contribute current) as well as very large currents (for situations in which many or all of the cells are contributing current).
Very large column currents can lead to electromigration of the metal which is used to fabricate the column lines within the array. Electromigration is a leading cause of reliability-type failures. If an attempt is made to lower the read current along the current summing lines, signal interference (i.e., noise) may degrade the accuracy of the computation. The amount of current that any active cell may contribute to the total column current, of course, depends on the programming (i.e., learning) state, as well as the input vector applied.
Since relatively high current can flow on each summing line for a large array, ohmic voltage drop and electromigration presents a serious problem for very large neural network arrays. (The former generates signal interference which degrades the accuracy of the computation while the later gives rise to reliability problems).
As will be seen, the present invention solves these problems by use of a novel neural network architecture. According to the present invention, a neural network is subdivided into a number of smaller blocks. Each block comprises an array of pattern matching cells such as those described in the above-mentioned co-pending application. The cells are arranged in columns along one or more local current summing lines. These lines provide a means of adding together the current contributions from each cell to produce a measure of the relative match between a binary input pattern applied to the block and a binary weight pattern stored within the cells of the array.
In addition, each column line within a block is coupled to a global summing line through a specialized coupling network. The global summing lines add the associated local column currents to produce a measure of the Hamming distance for a plurality of blocks. The type of architecture described in this application is referred to as a leveled summing scheme with blocked array (LSBA) and provides an elegant solution to the problem of large neural network implementation.
Other prior art known to applicant which is believed pertinent to this application includes U.S. Pat. No. 4,760,437 of Denker et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 4,660,166 of Hopfield; U.S. Pat. No. 4,782,460 of Spencer; U.S. Pat. No. 4,773,024 of Faggin et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 4,802,103 of Faggin et al.; and "A Pipelined Associative Memory Implemented In VLSI" by Clark et al., IEEE Journal of Solid State Circuits, Vol. 24 No. 1, pp. 28-34, February 1989.

Neural network employing leveled summing scheme with blocked array


A ported float shoe and a landing collar are attached at one end of a casing string and a sliding air trapping insert attached by shear pins at the other end. The air trapping insert includes a fluid flow passageway blocked by a plug attached by shear pins to the insert. The air trapping insert and float shoe form an air cavity within the string portion. After running the string into a deviated well bore, the shear pin supported plug is pressure actuated open to allow air to be vented and drilling mud to flow into the cavity. A wiper plug followed by pressurized cement slurry shears away the attached insert, opens the float shoe, moves the insert to the bottom of the well, and allows cementing of the casing. Moved apparatus (near well bottom) forms a single drillable unit until drilled out in normal post-cementing operations. The flotation method reduces insertion drag and the related chance of a differentially stuck casing, and avoids the separate removal steps required by current flotation techniques. This method and device have the added benefit of safely venting air, and not adding a low density miscible fluid to the well bore casing annulus.

Many well completions involve setting a liner or casing string in a portion of the well bore. In some extended reach wells, such as wells drilled from platforms or "islands," a string must be set in a slant drilled (i.e., inclined angle) portion of a deviated hole. The inclined portion is located below an initial (top) portion of a lesser inclined angle. The angle (from vertical) of these inclined holes frequently approaches 90 degrees (i.e., the horizontal) and sometimes exceeds 90 degrees. The result is a well bottom laterally offset from the top by a significant distance. Current state-of-the-art allows extensive drilling of well bores at almost any angle, but current well completion methods have experienced problems, especially related to the setting of casing or liner strings in long, highly deviated well bores.
The liner or casing string is set in a pre-drilled hole. The drill string used to cut the hole is rotated, thereby reducing drag forces which retard the pipe string from sliding into the hole. The diameter and weight of the casing/liner string being set is larger and heavier than the drill string. Because of this, the torsional forces needed to rotate the casing or liner can be greater than the torsional strength of the pipe itself, or greater than the available rotary torque. Casing or liner strings are therefore normally run (i.e., slid) into the hole without drag reducing rotation.
Running in deviated holes can result in significantly increased (high) drag forces. A casing or liner pipe string may become differentially stuck before reaching the desired setting depth during running into a deviated or high drag hole. If sufficient additional force (up or down) cannot be applied, the result will be stuck pipe string and may result in effective loss of the well. Even if a stuck string is avoided, the forces needed to overcome high drag may cause serious damage to the pipe. These problems are especially severe for wells with long, nearly horizontal intervals.
Long, nearly horizontal well intervals may be needed for fluid production from tight reservoirs or from fields having limited surface access. Even for fields where reservoir permeability or access is not a problem, long horizontal well sections may be economically desirable because of higher production rates. Higher production rates may be possible in horizontal wells from zones where production of unwanted fluids (such as water/gas in oil fields) from adjacent beds, normally occurs in vertical wells, i.e., coning.
Common casing or liner running (i.e., installation) methods either (1) add downward force or (2) reduce the coefficient of friction, e.g., by lubrication. A modification of the added force approach provides bumpers to deliver downward shocks and blows in addition to added downward static forces.
Only a limited downward force can be exerted on the pipe string. The added downward force can convert a pipe string (normally supported from the top of the well) into a highly compressed member. Compression tends to buckle the string, adding still further drag forces (if laterally supported by the well bore) or causing structural failure (if laterally unsupported). In addition, large amounts of added downward force may be impractical.
Similar limits affect common lubricating or coefficient of friction reducing methods since the coefficient of friction cannot be reduced to zero. These lubricating methods do allow longer pipe strings to be run into an inclined hole. However, as longer lubricated pipe strings are run into an extended reach well, unacceptable drag forces will still be generated. The geometry and drilled surface conditions of some holes may also create increased resistance (high drag) conditions in shorter inclined holes, even if lubricating methods are used.
A flotation method of placing a pipe string into a deviated, liquid filled hole is also known. This method is illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 4,384,616. After providing a means to plug the ends of a pipe string portion, the plugable portion is filled with a low density, miscible fluid. The low density fluid must be miscible with the well bore fluids and the formation. Miscibility and avoidance of air are required to avoid a burp or "kick" to or from the formation outside the pipe string. After feeding the string into the well bore, the plugs are drilled out and the miscible fluid is forced into the well bore/pipe annulus.
The known string flotation method requires added well completion steps, especially if cementing is required. The low density fluids compatible with the formation and bore fluid must be circulated out ahead of a cement slurry. This requires drilling out the plug(s) prior to cementing of the casing or liner string. Subsequent to the cementing, a second drilling out (of hardened residual cement) is frequently also required. The multi-step drilling result in costly well completions and increase the risk of damage to the string and formation.
None of the current approaches known to the inventors allow the flotation of a string into a high drag slanted well without a multi-step completion process. The cost of the multi-step completion has also apparently resulted in limited commercially practical application of the current flotation method.
A simplified flotation device and method are needed to allow the placement and completion of long pipe strings in extended reach well bores. The method and device should also be safe, reliable, and cost effective.


Lithographic apparatus includes a substrate table and a motion control system for controlling a movement of the substrate table. The motion control system includes at least 3 position detectors constructed for detecting a position of the substrate table. For measuring a position and orientation of the substrate table, each position detector comprises an optical encoder of a single dimensional or multi dimensional type, the optical encoders being arranged for providing together at least 6 position values, at least one position value being provided for each of the 3 dimensions. Some of the optical encoders may be connected to the substrate table at different locations in the 3 dimensional coordinate system. The motion control system is arranged to calculate the position of the substrate table in the 3 dimensional coordinate system from a subset of at least 3 of the 6 position values and to calculate an orientation of the substrate table with respect to the coordinate system from another subset of at least 3 of the 6 position values. Further, a method for calibrating the position detectors is presented.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a lithographic apparatus and method for calibrating the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
A lithographic apparatus is a machine that applies a desired pattern onto a target portion of a substrate. Lithographic apparatus can be used, for example, in the manufacture of integrated circuits (ICs). In that circumstance, a lithographic patterning device, which is alternatively referred to as a "mask" or "reticle," may be used to generate a circuit pattern corresponding to an individual layer of the IC, and this pattern can be imaged onto a target portion (e.g., comprising part of, one or several dies) on a substrate (e.g., a silicon wafer) that has a layer of radiation-sensitive material (i.e., resist).
In general, a single substrate will contain a network of adjacent target portions that are successively exposed. Known lithographic apparatus include so-called steppers, in which each target portion is irradiated by exposing an entire pattern onto the target portion in one go, while in so-called scanners, each target portion is irradiated by scanning the pattern through the projection beam in a given direction (the "scanning"-direction) while synchronously scanning the substrate parallel or anti-parallel to this direction.
The term "patterning device" used herein should be broadly interpreted as referring to a device that can be used to impart a projection beam with a pattern in its cross-section such as to create a pattern in a target portion of the substrate. It should be noted that the pattern imparted to the projection beam may not exactly correspond to the desired pattern in the target portion of the substrate. Generally, the pattern imparted to the projection beam will correspond to a particular functional layer in a device being created in the target portion, such as an integrated circuit (IC).
The patterning device may be transmissive or reflective. Examples of patterning means include masks, programmable mirror arrays, and programmable LCD panels. Masks are well known in lithography, and include mask types such as binary, alternating phase-shift, and attenuated phase-shift, as well as various hybrid mask types. An example of a programmable mirror array employs a matrix arrangement of small mirrors, each of which can be individually tilted so as to reflect an incoming radiation beam in different directions; in this manner, the reflected beam is patterned.
Lithographic apparatuses generally employ a motion control system. The motion control system comprises a position detector for detecting a position of the substrate table in at least a plane, i.e. in at least two dimensions and a controller constructed for driving the actuator in dependency on an output signal provided by the position detector. The motion control system thus ensures that the substrate table is in a correct position (within a certain tolerance range) as a position of the substrate table is detected by the position detector, and a difference between the detected position and the desired position is reduced by an appropriate action of the controller. The position detector and controller thus form part of a feed forward and/or feed back control system.
In a current lithographic apparatus, a desired accuracy for the substrate table (also sometimes called a wafer table or wafer stage) is in an order of magnitude of nanometers. Hence, it is required according to the state of the art that the position detector achieves such high accuracy. Furthermore, requirements on the position detector are also high in that the range within which the position detector is required to operate encompasses a range of movement of around 0.5 m, as the substrate table in a lithographic apparatus according to the state of the art is able to make movements in two dimensions, i.e. in a plane covering around 0.5 m×0.5 m. To achieve these requirements, according to the state of the art, the position detector comprises one or more interferometers, preferably an interferometer for a first dimension and an interferometer for a second dimension perpendicular to the first dimension. A disadvantage of the interferometers however is that it is an expensive position detector.
A further type of position detector, well-known in the general state of the art, is an optical encoder. The encoder consists of a light source, a grating and a detector. By moving the grating with respect to the light source and the detector, changes occur in the light pattern as received by the detector due to e.g. reflection or transmission changes. The grating is thus comprised in an optical path from the light source to the detector and by movement of the grating, the pattern as received by the detector changes. From these changes, displacement of the grating with respect to the light source and detector can be calculated. From these displacements and knowing a starting position, a position can be calculated. As will be known to the skilled person, the above describes an incremental encoder, the skilled person will be familiar with the fact that also absolute encoders exist.
A specific type of optical encoder has been described in co-pending US Patent Pub. Application 2002/0041380, which is incorporated herein by reference. This optical encoder comprises a diffraction type encoder comprising a light beam generator constructed for generating a light beam, a first grating, a second grating, the second grating being movable with respect to the first grating, and a detector arranged for detecting a diffracted beam of the light beam as diffracted on the first and the second grating, one of the gratings being mechanically connected to the substrate table, the other one of the gratings being mechanically connected to a reference base of the lithographic apparatus, a movement of the substrate table causing a movement of the first grating with respect to the second grating and in operation causing a change in the diffracted beam.
The known lithographic apparatus comprises a motion control system for controlling a movement of the substrate table. The substrate table is movable in at least two directions under control of the motion control system. The movement of the substrate table is to be understood as a movement of the substrate table with respect to the projection system, i.e. a movement of the substrate table results in a movement of the patterned radiation beam with respect to the substrate.

Lithographic apparatus and method for calibrating the same


A system for continuously manufacturing an optical display device and methods thereof are described. The system and method include a feeding unit for feeding an optical film, which includes a release film and a plurality of sheet pieces of a polarized film. The system and method further include a peeling unit for peeling the sheet pieces of the polarized film; a winding unit for winding the release film form the sheet pieces of the polarized film; and a controlling unit. The controlling unit controls at least one of the feeding unit, the winding unit, and the laminating unit.

A method for continuously manufacturing an optical display device in the related art is known, in which while a release film in which a sheet piece of a polarization film is formed by an adhesive layer is inwardly folded back to peel the sheet piece of the polarization film from the release film together with the adhesive layer, the sheet piece of the peeled polarization film is laminated to a panel with an attachment unit by the adhesive layer.
According to the method for continuously manufacturing the optical display device in the related art, the release film is inwardly folded back at the front end of a peeling unit to peel the sheet piece of the polarization film from the release film, and the release film from which the sheet piece of the polarization film is peeled is wound and recovered.
In this case, a peeling point is positioned at the front end of the peeling unit, the release film is wound by generating a vibration by friction force between the front end of the peeling unit and the release film, and the sheet piece of the polarization film is also peeled from the release film by generating a vibration by the vibration of the release film. As a result, the sheet piece of the polarization film to be laminated on the panel may be non-uniform, and in the case of laminating the non-uniform sheet piece of the polarization film and the panel by inserting the non-uniform sheet piece of the polarization film and the panel between laminating rolls, a stripe defect (for example, linear bubbles) in the optical display device may be formed.
Meanwhile, in the conventional method for continuously manufacturing the optical display device in the related art, equally controlling a feeding speed of the polarization film and a laminating speed of the sheet piece of the polarization film is generally known. In the conventional method, the sheet pieces of the polarization film, which are adjacent to each other with a slit line, may be reattached and connected to each other by the adhesive layer even after the slit line is formed and a first sheet piece of the polarization film. The polarization film which is being laminated and a second sheet piece of the polarization film to be laminated next may not be completely separated from each other until the first sheet piece of the polarization film is completely laminated on the panel. In this case, there is a problem in that the second sheet piece of the polarization film may be attached to the rear end of the panel on which the first sheet piece of the polarization film is to be laminated while the front end of the polarization film is not separated from the rear end of the first sheet piece of the polarization film.

System and method for continuously manufacturing optical display device


What I claim is new about my invention is that the double-edged plows on the ends of the plurel to tines (eight as shown) can cultivate and entangle weeds, weed roots and root vines in forward or reverse, will entangle the plural (eight as shown) of tines and double-edged plows with weeds, weed roots and root vines. When a given amount of weeds, weed roots and vines are entangled, stop rotation. Push down Sleeve 7 to have Sleeve 9 cut and push all debris off center pin and tines for removal of the collection of weeds, weed roots and vines.

This invention relates to cultivating tools, many types of cultivating tools for individual manual operation have been proposed. To use most of them the user must bend his or her back, squat, get down on his or her knees, or sit on the ground or a stool.
The short 12xe2x80x3 to 14xe2x80x3 sized hand held rake, shovel or hoe, will do just as good of a job of cultivating and extracting the weeds, weed roots and root vines but will exert much energy from the user.
It is the object of this invention to provide a cultivating tool which doesn""t require the user to bend, squat, get down on knees or sit and move a stool.
It is the object of this invention to do the same weed, weed root, root vine removing and cultivating job as the above mentioned band held tools.
It is the object of this invention to remove from and around and in the flower beds or vegetable gardens any undesired uncultivated plants such as weeds, weed roots and root vines that tend to crowd out the desired crop.
It is the object of the invention to entwine a given amount of weeds, weed roots, and root vines on and around the center pin and the plurality of tines with their double-edge plows. A cutting sleeve mounted around the shank center pin and under the cross arms is affixed to a sleeve mounted around the shank above the cross arms by two rods with the sleeve above the cross arms held up by a spring. When the sleeve above cross arm is shoved down the shank it will cause the sleeve below the cross arms to cut and loosen the weeds, weed roots and root vines causing them to be pushed off the center prin. The weeds, weed roots and root vines should be collected in a container to be disposed of later.
It is the object of this invention to provide a hand tool crank or a source of power such as an electric drill which at high speeds cultivates the soil while entangling a given amount of weeds, weed roots and root vines to the cultivating tines and center pin. Pushing down said sleeve will rid the tool of the entangled debris.

Weed, weed root and root vine removing, cultivating tool


A method and apparatus for reducing seek acoustics in a disk drive using a variable-bandwidth low-pass filter is provided. The variable-bandwidth low-pass filter is used to adaptively shape a control signal supplied to a VCM for moving a head relative to a disk surface during a seek operation. The bandwidth of the variable-bandwidth low-pass filter is dependent upon head position relative to a target track.

Computer disk drives store information on magnetic disks. Typically, the information is stored on each disk in concentric tracks, divided into sectors. Information is written to and read from a disk by a head (or transducer), which is mounted on an actuator arm capable of moving the head radially over the disk. Accordingly, the movement of the actuator arm allows the head to access different tracks. The disk is rotated by a spindle motor at a high speed, allowing the head to access different sectors on the disk. The head may include separate or integrated read and write elements.
A disk drive 10 is illustrated in FIG. 1. The disk drive comprises a disk 12 that is rotated by a spin motor 14. The spin motor 14 is mounted to a base plate 16. The disk drive 10 also includes an actuator arm assembly 18 having a head 20 (or transducer) mounted to a flexure arm 22, which is attached to an actuator arm 24 that can rotate about a bearing assembly 26 that is attached to the base plate 16. The actuator arm 24 cooperates with a voice coil motor 28 in order to move the head 20 relative to the disk 12. The spin motor 14, voice coil motor 28 and head 20 are coupled to a number of electronic circuits 30 mounted to a printed circuit board 32. The electronic circuits 30 typically include a read channel chip, a microprocessor-based controller and a random access memory (RAM) device. Instead of a one disk configuration (shown in FIG. 1), the disk drive 10 may include a plurality of disks 12 and, therefore, a plurality of corresponding actuator arm assemblies 18.
FIG. 2 is a diagrammatic representation of a simplified top view of a disk 12 having a surface 42 which has been formatted to be used in conjunction with a sectored servo system (also known as an embedded servo system). As illustrated in FIG. 2, the disk 12 includes a plurality of concentric tracks 44a-44h for storing data on the disk's surface 42. Although FIG. 2 only shows a relatively small number of tracks (i.e., 8) for ease of illustration, it should be appreciated that typically tens of thousands of tracks are included on the surface 42 of a disk 12.
Each track 44a-44h is divided into a plurality of data sectors 46 and a plurality of servo sectors 48. The servo sectors 48 in each track are radially aligned with servo sectors 48 in the other tracks, thereby forming servo wedges 50 which extend radially across the disk 12 (e.g., from the disk's inner diameter 52 to its outer diameter 54).
One of the operations that a disk drive performs is known as a seek operation. During a seek operation, the head 20 is moved from a present track of the disk to a target track of the disk, so that a data transfer can be performed with the target track. In order for a seek operation to be performed, a current is delivered to the VCM 28 of the disk drive, which causes the actuator arm 24 to rotate, thereby moving the head 20 radially relative to the disk surface 42.
It is desirable to perform seek operations as quickly as possible. Accordingly, in conventional long seek operations, for example, a maximum current will be applied to the VCM 28 in a first direction for a period of time to accelerate the head 20 towards a maximum velocity as it moves towards the desired track. Once the head 20 reaches its maximum velocity, no current is applied to the VCM 28 and the head 20 coasts at its maximum velocity for a period of time. Just prior to reaching the target track, in order to decelerate the head 20, a maximum current is applied to the VCM 28 in a direction opposite to the first direction, such that the head 20 is positioned near the target track. Once near the target track, the drive 10 may enter a linear mode to position the head 20 more closely to the target track. A diagrammatic representation of such a bang-coast-bang current profile is illustrated in FIG. 3.
Application of currents in such a fashion causes abrupt changes in the acceleration and deceleration of the head. This tends to excite vibration modes in the drive, which can cause acoustic noise due to seek operations (also known as seek acoustics). If seek acoustics are not kept within acceptable levels, a disk drive may fail to meet qualification standards, which reduces drive yields and increases the overall manufacturing costs of disk drives.
Accordingly, it would be advantageous to provide a method and apparatus for reducing seek acoustics in a disk drive system. At the same time, however, it would be desirable to provide such a method and apparatus, which does not significantly compromise seek performance.

Method and apparatus for reducing seek acoustics using a variable-bandwidth low-pass filter


A pipe member is pushed into an inner periphery of a core of an armature to fix the pipe member to the armature. The pipe member is inserted over a fixed shaft. Bearing members have a small hole and a large hole formed at their centers. Pipe member ends are pushed into and fixed to the large diameter holes. The fixed shaft is inserted into the small holes to rotatably support the armature. A guide hole is formed at the center of an impeller of a pump unit, and is fitted to the bearing member, thereby the impeller rotates while the impeller is guided by the outer peripheral surface of the bearing member which rotates integrally with the armature. Coupling protrusions formed on the armature are inserted, and engaged with engagement recesses formed in the impeller to transmit a rotation force of the armature to the impeller.

This application is based upon, claims the benefit of priority of, and incorporates by reference, the contents of Japanese Patent Applications No. 2001-232390 filed Jul. 31, 2001, and No. 2002-123317 filed Apr. 25, 2002.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a fuel pump constructed such that a fixed shaft is at the center of a housing, and a motor unit and a pump unit rotate about the fixed shaft.
2. Description of Related Art
Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. Sho. 63-82086 discloses a fuel pump. Generally, in this fuel pump, as shown in FIG. 4, a fixed shaft 12 is fixed at the center of a housing 11. Bearing members 16 are individually pushed into and fixed to an inner periphery of both ends of a pipe member 15 provided at the center of an armature 14 (a rotor) of a motor unit 13. These bearing members 16 are rotatably inserted over the fixed shaft 12 to rotatably support the pipe member 15 with the fixed shaft 12 through the bearing members 16. In this case, the bearing members 16 are pushed into and fixed to the inner periphery of the pipe member 15, thereby positioning the bearing members 16 between the pipe member 15 and the fixed shaft 12. An impeller 18 in a pump unit 17 is fitted and fixed to the pipe member 15, and the armature 14 of the motor unit 13, the pipe member 15, and the impeller 18 integrally rotate about the fixed shaft 12.
However, in the conventional construction described above, since the motor unit 13 and the pump unit 17 are arranged with a gap provided therebetween in the axial direction in the housing 11, the dimension of the fuel pump becomes large along its axial direction.
In the conventional construction described above, it is necessary to provide spaces for interposing the bearing members 16 between the pipe member 15 for supporting the armature 14 of the motor unit 13, and the fixed shaft 12. Accordingly, the outer diameter of the pipe member 15 increases, and storage space for the armature 14 decreases in the housing 11. As a result, space for armature windings decreases, motor output decreases, and discharge capability of the pump also decreases. On the other hand, when the outer diameter of the housing 11 is increased to secure the winding space of the armature 14, and to prevent decrease of the motor output and to prevent decrease of the discharge capability, the outer diameter of the fuel pump increases.
In the conventional construction described above, the outer peripheral surface of the bearing members 16 is pressed against the inner peripheral surface of the pipe member 15, and the inner peripheral surface of the bearing members 16 is slidably in contact with the outer peripheral surface of the fixed shaft 12. Because of this, precision in dimension and concentricity is required both for the inner diameter and the outer diameter of the bearing members 16. When the precision of the inner diameter and the outer diameter of the bearing members 16 decreases in dimension and concentricity, the assembly of the fuel pump becomes difficult. Additionally, the armature 14 may vibrate and noise may be generated when the fuel pump is in operation. Thus, it is necessary to precisely machine both the inner diameter and the outer diameter of the bearing members 16 to secure the precision of the inner diameter and the outer diameter in dimension and concentricity. As a result, the time and costs associated with machining the bearing members 16 may increase, and the overall manufacturing cost of the fuel pump may increase.
A first object of the present invention is to decrease the axial dimension of the fuel pump. A second object of the present invention is to reduce the diameter of the pipe member, which supports the armature of the motor unit, to increase the storage space for the armature in the housing, to increase the pump discharge capability, and to reduce the outer diameter of the fuel pump. A third object of the present invention is to simplify the machining of the bearing members while maintaining precision in dimension and concentricity required of the bearing members. Finally, reducing machining costs is desired.
In a first aspect of the invention, a fuel pump of the present invention includes a pump unit for drawing and discharging fuel, a motor unit for driving the pump unit, a housing for housing the pump unit and the motor unit, a fixed shaft fixed at the center of the housing, a pipe member provided at the center of an armature of the motor unit, and inserted over the fixed shaft, and bearing members individually used for rotatably supporting both ends of the pipe member on the fixed shaft. A part of said armature and a rotational body of the pump unit are arranged on the bearing members located on the side of the pump unit such that they are overlapped with each other to integrally rotate. With this construction, the storage space for the motor unit and the pump unit decreases in the axial direction in the housing, and the axial dimension of the fuel pump decreases.
In one regard, it is preferable to form the fuel pump such that the part of the armature overlapped with the rotational body of the pump unit is engaged with the rotational body to transmit a rotational force of the armature to the rotation body. With this construction, the engagement structure (a coupling structure) between the armature and the rotational body of the pump unit is compactly formed on the bearing member. In another regard, it is preferred that the part of the armature overlapped with the rotational body of the pump unit be made of a resin.
To attain the second object, in another aspect, the ends of the pipe member may be placed between the fixed shaft and the bearing members. With this construction, it is not necessary to provide spaces for interposing the bearing members between the pipe member and the fixed shaft, and the outer diameter of the pipe member can be reduced accordingly. As a result, the storage space for the armature in the housing can be increased, the winding space for the armature can be increased, and the motor output and the pump discharge capability can be increased. In other words, even when the outer diameter of the housing is made small, the winding space secured for the armature is almost as large as that in the conventional case. Additionally, the outer diameter of the fuel pump can be reduced while the discharge capability of the pump can be maintained at the conventional pump level.
To attain the third object, in another aspect, a through hole in a step shape may be formed at the center of the bearing members. Additionally, the fixed shaft may be rotatably inserted into a part of the through hole with a smaller diameter (referred to as a xe2x80x9csmall diameter holexe2x80x9d), and a part of the through hole with a larger diameter (referred to as a xe2x80x9clarge diameter holexe2x80x9d) may support the ends of the pipe member. With this construction, since it is not necessary to provide spaces for interposing the bearing members between the pipe member and the fixed shaft, beneficial effects can be obtained.
Since the large diameter hole for supporting the pipe member and the small diameter hole for inserting over the fixed shaft are formed concentrically on the inner peripheral side of the bearing members, the inner peripheral side of the bearing member is machined using a cutting tool while the outer periphery of the bearing member is held by a chuck during machining of the bearing members. Thus, the large diameter hole for supporting the pipe member and the small diameter hole for inserting over the fixed shaft are precisely formed on the inner peripheral side of the bearing members while the shaft centers of both of the holes precisely coincide with each other. Consequently, machining the bearing members becomes simple while dimensional accuracy and precise concentricity required for the bearing members is secured. Additionally, machining costs decrease.
In this case, though an independent member may be interposed between the large diameter hole of the bearing members and the ends of the pipe member, it is preferable that the ends of the pipe member be pushed into and fixed to the large diameter hole of the bearing members. This construction makes the shaft center of the pipe member precisely coincide with the shaft center of the large diameter hole of the bearing member. Thus, the precision in concentricity among the pipe member, the bearing members, and the fixed shaft increases compared with the case where the independent member is interposed between the large diameter hole of the bearing members and the ends of the pipe member. Additionally, runout of the armature caused by the low concentricity (non-concentric condition) can be prevented.
In the structure for supporting the rotational body of the pump unit, though the rotational body of the pump unit may be inserted over the fixed shaft, sliding friction is generated between the fixed shaft and the rotational body. As a result, pump performance decreases accordingly, and the rotational body may be fused to the fixed shaft because of frictional heat when the rotational body is formed of a resin.
In consideration of this, a guide hole slightly larger than the outer diameter of the bearing member is formed at the center of the rotational body of the pump unit. The bearing member is fitted into the guide hole of the rotational body. Coupling protrusions provided on the armature of the motor unit are engaged with engagement parts formed on the rotational body. Thereby the rotational force of the armature is transmitted to the rotational body. With this construction, the rotational body of the pump unit rotates while the rotational body is guided by the outer peripheral surface of the bearing member which rotates integrally with the armature. Thus, the rotational friction of the rotational body decreases, the pump performance increases accordingly, and the fusion of the rotational body to the bearing member caused by frictional heat can be prevented even when the rotational body is made of a resin.
Additionally, a pump cover may constitute an end surface of the housing on the motor unit side, and a fixing hole for fixing the end of the fixed shaft may be formed on the pump cover. In addition, a tapered part may be formed on the side of the motor unit in the fixing hole. With this construction, the tapered part guides the end of the fixed shaft to the fixing hole on the pump cover when the end of the fixed shaft is inserted into, or pushed into, the fixing hole on the pump cover in a manufacturing and assembling process of the fuel pump. Thus, the operation for inserting or pushing the end of the fixed shaft into the fixing hole on the pump cover is facilitated.
Again, the pump cover may be made of a resin. With this construction, the requirement of reducing the manufacturing cost, and reducing part weight is satisfied. When the housing is made of a resin, the housing including the pump cover may be integrally formed with the resin.
Further areas of applicability of the present invention will become apparent from the detailed description provided hereinafter. It should be understood that the detailed description and specific examples, while indicating the preferred embodiment of the invention, are intended for purposes of illustration only and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention.

Fuel pump having rotatably supported pipe member between bearing members and fixed center shaft


There is provided a black ink for ink jet textile printing which includes a disperse dye (A), a disperse dye (B), a disperse dye (C), water, and an organic solvent. The disperse dye (A) is at least one of C.I. Disperse Blue 60 and C.I. Disperse Blue 165, the disperse dye (B) is at least one of C.I. Disperse Red 92, and C.I. Disperse Red 154, and the disperse dye (C) is C.I. Disperse Yellow 163.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a black ink for ink jet textile printing and a textile printing method using the same.
2. Related Art
An ink jet recording method is a recording method in which recording is performed by discharging small droplets of ink from fine nozzle heads to be flown and by adhering small droplets of ink on a recording medium such as paper. The method has a feature that images with a high-resolution and a high-quality at a high speed using a relatively inexpensive apparatus can be recorded.
In recent years, a method which prints on a cloth which is a recording medium using an ink jet printing technique has been proposed. In the case where the cloth is subjected to textile printing, it is necessary to select a colorant depending on the type of the cloth, an ink including a disperse dye is used for the cloth such as polyester fiber, and an ink with an excellent light resistance and coloring property for the ink jet textile printing has been proposed (JP-A-2010-65177 and JPA-2000-239980).
However, in the black ink described in JPA-2010-65177, there are some cases where a poor reservation of white area occurs when reduction-cleaning a printed material. The "poor reservation of white area" is a phenomenon in which a dye flowing out to a cleaning solution from the cloth is re-adsorbed in an area other than a printing pattern, and thus, dyeing inadvertently occurs in a cleaning step of the printed material. The "poor reservation of white area" is also called a poor white area.
In addition, in the black ink disclosed in JP-A-2000-239980, there is a case where a sufficient light resistance cannot be obtained.
Therefore, it can be considered that a black ink for ink jet textile printing which can suppress the poor reservation of white area and has an excellent light resistance is still required.

Black ink for ink jet textile printing and textile printing method


A refrigerator includes a refrigerated compartment and a door that selectively seals the refrigerated compartment. A shelf is mounted in the refrigerated compartment. The shelf includes a plate and a frame encapsulating the plate. A front trim is coupled to a front portion of the frame. The front trim includes a front face that is flush with the frame.

The present invention pertains to the art of refrigeration and, more particularly, to refrigerator shelves.
Production of current refrigerator shelf designs is often time consuming and expensive. For example, the glass of a shelf needs to be secured to the frame by an adhesive or mechanical fastening mechanism. Such adhesives are expensive and require curing time. Similarly, mechanical fastening mechanisms add cost and complexity. These arrangements can also make a shelf less robust.
In view of the above, there is a need in the art for a refrigerator shelf that can be quickly and inexpensively produced, while actually being robust.

Refrigerator shelf and method for producing the shelf


A transmission device having power splitting. In the first driving range, the mechanical power branch transmits torque from the ring gear to the additional fixed gear by the fixed gear. In this case, power branches from the ring gear. The hydrostatic power branch branches from the second sun gear. The hydrostatic branch transmits power from the first to the second hydraulic unit. The first and second hydraulic units act respectively as a pump and a motor. On one of the hydrostatic shafts, the mechanical and hydrostatic powers are added and transmitted to the output. In the second driving range, power from the planet carrier partially branches to the ring gear and passes to the hydrostatic shaft for the second hydraulic unit. An auxiliary shaft can be coupled by a gear to a fixed gear operatively connected to a shaft of the power splitting device.

A power split transmission, in particular for a working machine such as a wheel loader, is known from DE 10 2007 047 194 A1 and has a hydrostatic power branch and a mechanical power branch. The power branches are added by means of a summing transmission, wherein a reversing transmission is connected upstream of the summing transmission and a gear shifting transmission is connected downstream of the summing transmission.
Two driving ranges for forward driving and two driving ranges for reverse driving can be provided by means of the power split transmission, within which driving ranges the gear ratio of the power split transmission can be continuously varied by means of a hydrostatic device. The driving ranges can be switched by disengaging a shift element that is engaged and by engaging a shift element that is disengaged.
Disadvantageously, a shift element designed to provide a second driving range of the power split transmission is arranged on a hydrostatic shaft of the hydrostatic device, and therefore a connection of the hydrostatic shaft to a mechanical power branch requires a complex design. This is the result, among other things, of the fact that the hydrostatic device is normally supported by means of an elastic rubber bearing device for vibration damping and therefore an axial offset that varies during operation must be compensated by an appropriate jointed connecting device in the connection region between the hydrostatic device and the mechanical power branch. However, without additional design measures, this permanent compensation in turn causes excitation of vibrations to an undesired extent in the region of the shift element arranged on the hydrostatic shaft and an increase in the tendency to sway.
Furthermore, the power split transmission is characterized by a high installation space requirement due to the arrangement of the shift element on the hydrostatic shaft, because the two hydrostatic shafts of the hydrostatic device must be arranged at a certain distance from each other so that the installation space required for installing the shift element on the hydrostatic shaft can be provided.

Transmission device having power splitting


The present invention is directed to a composition for improving substrate characteristics. The composition has a substrate enhancing agent, like a monohydric alcohol, and the composition reduces wrinkles in substrates that have not been subjected to ironing.

This invention is directed to a composition that may be used to treat a substrate. More particularly, the invention is directed to a composition that improves the characteristics of a substrate, like a fabric. The characteristics of the substrate are improved as a direct result of the composition and substrate coming into contact, and the improvements may be realized without the need to employ a mechanical washer, dryer, or ironing device.
It is desirable in busy households to minimize the amount of work required to treat substrates. Particularly, it is very desirable to minimize the amount of work required to reduce or even eliminate, for example, wrinkles in substrates such as clothing. This is especially true when a consumer has worn clothing for a brief period of time and plans to wear the clothing a second time before having it, washed, dried and/or ironed.
Attempts to reduce wrinkles in clothing have been made, and especially with the introduction of durable permanent press treatments in the textile industry. Such treatments are known to employ polycarboxylic acids to strengthen the fibers of the textile, thereby rendering them less likely to wrinkle. Notwithstanding the above-described permanent press treatments, it is well settled that the effects of such treatments do not last long after the textiles (e.g., clothing) are subjected to a few washing cycles.
A need exists to reduce wrinkles in substrates, like clothing, that may not be subjected to washing, drying and/or ironing, even if the substrates have been subjected to permanent press treatments. This invention, therefore, is directed to a composition that improves the characteristics of a substrate as a direct result of the substrate coming into contact with the composition. The characteristics which are improved by the composition described in this invention include the reduction of substrate wrinkles and/or the reduction of substrate shape distortion.
Additional Information
Efforts have been disclosed for spraying surfaces. In U.S. Pat. No. 5,783,544, a spray composition for reducing malodor is described.
Still other efforts have been disclosed for spraying surfaces. In U.S. Pat. No. 5,663,134, a spray composition with less than 1.0% by weight of monohydric alcohol is described, and the composition is used to reduce malodor impressions on inanimate surfaces.
Even further, additional attempts have been made to spray surfaces. In U.S. Pat. No. 5,534,165, spray compositions with odor absorbing features are described.
None of the references above disclose a composition that may be sprayed on to a substrate in order to reduce wrinkle formation and/or shape distortion of the substrate. As used herein, substrate is defined to mean a textile having the capacity to wrinkle, including curtains, table cloths, upholstery, and especially, clothing. Substrate enhancing agent is defined to mean a compound (including oligomers and polymers) that results in a reduction in wrinkle formation and/or shape distortion of a substrate. Such a substrate enhancing agent is also meant to include a compound that enhances the wrinkle reducing properties of conventional wrinkle reducing additives.
In a first embodiment, this invention is directed to a composition for improving substrate characteristics, the composition comprising:
(i) from about 0.1 to about 20.0% by weight of a least one substrate enhancing agent selected from the group consisting of a polyhydric alcohol, a polyether, a monohydric alcohol and a mixture thereof; and
(ii) greater than about 5.0% by weight water
wherein the polyhydric alcohol is at least a C4 polyhydric alcohol, the polyether comprises at least one alkylene chain of at least 4 carbons and the monohydric alcohol is at least a C5 monohydric alcohol.
In a second embodiment, this invention is directed to a method for reducing wrinkles and/or shape distortion of a substrate by using the composition described in the first embodiment of this invention.
In a third embodiment, this invention is directed to an article of manufacture comprising the composition described in the first embodiment of this invention.

Unilever Home and Personal Care, USA division of Conopco, Inc.


This invention provides a plant growth sheet structure which includes a base web layer and a core layer integrally coupled together in this order, a base web layer, a plant seed holding layer and a core layer integrally coupled together in this order, or a base web layer, a core layer, a plant seed holding layer and a cover web layer integrally coupled together in this order, and is provided at its surface with plant protection projections, and also provides a natural turf sheet structure including a natural turf grown on the plant growth sheet structure. This invention also provides a turf growing method in which a semi-artificial turf sheet structure including an artificial turf portion and a natural turf portion is laid over a concrete wall surface for performing hydroponics of the natural turf portion, and also provides a method of laying a turf sheet structure, in which a similar semi-artificial sheet structure is accommodated in an outdoor accommodating place for growing a natural turf portion, and is transferred to and laid in large-scale facilities on demand.

When one intends to grow natural turfs, grasses or flowers at a ground such as a general house garden, a bank of a river, a park or a golf course, or a planting zone of a building, road or the like, he or she directly sows plant seeds in the ground or planting zone, or plants young plants therein. An appropriate anti-flow-out fence or the like may be provided for preventing flow-out of the sowed seeds or planted young plants as well as applied fertilizer by rain, wind and irrigated water.
In the sport facilities, fields of soil or natural turfs have been used for a long time. However, a difficult or laborious work is required for maintaining such fields, so that artificial turfs are now used in many cases.
However, the artificial turf is not suitable to some kinds of sports such as a soccer, so that such sports are played on the natural turf even in these days.
In the sport facilities, however, the field in which the natural turf is directly planted in the ground suffers from such problems that it is difficult to control the growth of the turf, and that a long time is required for repairing a turf damaged by the play, which may disable continuous use thereof. In view of this, such a method may be used that natural turfs which have been grown at another place are laid on a leveled and prepared base ground, and a possible damaged portion can be replaced with a new turf.
Natural turfs which have been grown at a different place and are cut into an appropriate size are used for laying them in the sport facilities and for replacing a damaged turf portion with it, as is well known. In connection with this, one can envisage a semi-artificial natural turf sheet structure which does not use natural soil and can be transferred.
Such a turf sheet structure may be used at grounds such as a general house garden, a bank of a river, a park, a golf course, a hillock and a seaside as well as planting zones of various buildings, roads or the like.
As an example of a semi-artificial natural turf sheet structure, Japanese Laid-Open Patent publication No. 51-119108 (1976) has disclosed a turf mat which can be rolled up and includes a turf growing soil layer made of saw-dust, an underlying mesh mat and a water-proof base sheet in a layered fashion. Also, Japanese Laid-Open Patent publication No. 54-117732 (1979) has disclosed a turf sheet in which soil or sand is laid on a net, and a turf is grown on the same. Japanese Laid-Open Patent publication No. 60-95004 (1985) has disclosed a structure, in which a rubber mat or a synthetic resin plate provided with holes are laid in a place for growing a natural turf, and the holes are filled with soil, sand, turf runners, fertilizer and water retaining material for growing the turf. Japanese Laid-Open Patent publication No. 62-25907 (1987) has disclosed a mat which is mainly made of a rock wool holding turf seeds mixed thereinto. Japanese Laid-Open Patent publication No. 63-91015 (1988) has disclosed a planting mat, in which a rock wool is integrally provided with a frame member having substantially equally spaced tip ends and a bottom in a matrix form, and turf seeds are contained in the rock wool. Japanese Laid-Open Patent publication No. 2-104216 (1990) has disclosed a long-sheet product in a roll form, in which turfs are decomposed and expanded into elongated forms, stripe-shaped runners are arranged on a net having an appropriate mesh size, and their top surfaces are covered with a water-soluble paper sheet. Japanese Laid-Open Patent publication No. 3-247204 (1991) has disclosed the following natural turf base. A turf growing base member is made of a mixture of fertilizer and an inorganic light-weight soil member. Side and lower surfaces of the base member are covered with a lower sheet. An upper sheet is arranged on an upper surface of the base member. A member holding turf seeds are arranged at the lower surface of the upper sheet. A wave-shaped net is arranged between the turf seed holding member and the lower sheet and in the base member. The upper and lower sheets are integrally joined together by sewing threads, staples or the like.
However, when one intends to grow natural turfs, grasses or flowers at a ground such as a general house garden, a bank of a river, a park, a golf course, a hillock washed with rainwater, or a seaside exposed to a strong wind, or at a planting zone of a building, road or the like by directly sowing plant seeds in the ground or planting zone, or planting young plants therein, such a problem arises that the sowed seeds or planted young plants as well as applied fertilizer and others are liable to be flown out by rainwater, wind, irrigated water and others. Although the above problem can be prevented by provision of an anti-flow-out fence, or the like, this requires a laborious and time-consuming work.
Each of the natural turf sheet structures disclosed in the foregoing publications can be used without cutting it or after cutting it into an appropriate size. Further, it may be cut into an appropriate size after germination of turf seeds or growth, if necessary. Thereby, it can be laid over grounds such as a general house garden, a bank of a river, a park and a golf course as well as a place such as a planting zone of a building or a road, in which case the foregoing problems caused by direct sowing in the soil can be prevented to a certain extent. Also, the above structures can be used in sport facilities. However, the following problem arises.
The perforated rubber mat and synthetic resin plate disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent publication No. 60-95004 are used not for entirely growing the turf but for intermittently growing the turf. Therefore, this cannot be employed when the turf is to be grown on a whole surface without a space. Particularly, this cannot be employed in sport facilities.
Further, except for the natural turf base, which includes the upper and lower sheets fixed together by the sewing threads, staples or the like as disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent publication No. 3-247204, the structures disclosed in the foregoing publications cannot be used for the places such as sport facilities in which a severe force is applied thereto, because these structures are liable to be entirely decomposed and/or damaged. If the turf is damaged, e.g., by being shaved, an underlying material is exposed to exhibit an unpreferable appearance.
Even in the natural turf base disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent publication No. 3-247204, if the turf is damaged, e.g., by being shaved, an underlying material is exposed, which similarly results in an unpreferable appearance.
Further, any of the natural turf sheet structures disclosed in the foregoing publications suffers from a problem that its weight is small and/or it cannot be sufficiently fitted with the underlying soil or the like, resulting in a poor stability. Therefore, a problem arises when it is laid, for example, over an inclined surface of a river bank, hillock or the like. Particularly, it is not suitable to the sport facilities, because players cannot stably play on the structure.
Description has been given on the case where the plants such as a turf are grown in grounds such as a general house garden, a bank of a river, a park and a golf course as well as planting zones of various buildings, roads or the like, fields of various sport facilities and others. In addition to these places, it is preferable to plant the natural turf at concrete walls of concrete constructions such as a concrete dam in some cases in order to protect the construction and/or improve an appearance.
Generally, dams are used for irrigation and water control, and more specifically, for storing water for electric power generation, irrigation, public water, industrial water or the like, and/or for preventing flood or controlling a water level. As a kind of dam, there has been a concrete dam constructed from concrete.
Generally, outer surfaces or walls of the concrete dam are not finished or coated. However, the unfinished concrete surface is directly exposed to the sunshine, wind and rain, so that they are liable to be deteriorated. In order to prevent the deterioration, outer finishing may be effected on the concrete surface as is done in ordinary buildings. However, the concrete dam, which is a huge construction, requires a vast sum of money for finishing its outer surfaces, so that the outer surfaces are not actually finished.
Some of huge dams are tourist attractions, in which case unfinished concrete surfaces of the dams present an unpreferable scene and sense of incompatibility with respect to surrounding green.
As measures for the above, it may be envisaged to cover the concrete surfaces, e.g., of the concrete dam with a natural turf sheet. However, appropriate method and technique for the above have not been proposed.
In addition to the foregoing, the following problem actually arises when one intends to lay turfs or the like.
In many large-scale facilities such as indoor sport facilities, gymnasiums and other multipurpose holes, an artificial turf is laid and removed depending on contents of the games and events. In this case, a problem actually arises in connection with storage of huge artificial turfs, which are to be laid in large-scale facilities. For example, if a warehouse for storing the artificial turfs cannot be ensured in the large-scale facilities, the warehouse must be independently prepared for storing them. If the independent warehouse is remote from the large-scale facilities, a time-consuming work is required for transferring the artificial turfs between the warehouse and the large-scale facilities. Further, the artificial turf is worn in accordance with use, and is considerably damaged when it is used for hard sport games such as a soccer. Therefore, the artificial turf requires a time-consuming repair.
Accordingly, a first object of the invention is to provide a plant growth sheet structure of a first type for growing a plant such as a turf which has the following advantages.
(1-1) Without changing a size or after cutting the structure into an appropriate size, the structure can be simply and easily laid in grounds such as a general house garden, a park, a river bank, a golf course, a hillock washed with rainwater and a seaside exposed to a strong wind as well as planting zones of various kinds of buildings, roads or the like, sport facilities and others. Also, it is possible to sow seeds of turfs, grasses and flowers, and grow them in the structure. Also, the structure can be moved to and from the above places.
(1-2) Sowed seeds, sprouts growing therefrom and others are suppressed from being moved and flowed out by the wind, rain, irrigated water or the like, which facilitates growth and maintenance of the plants.
(1-3) The whole structure is integral and has a sufficient resistance against decomposition. Sowed seeds as well as sprouts, roots and others are protected against a downward load, a lateral pulling force or the like, which also facilitates maintenance of growing and grown plants.
(1-4) It is possible to suppress an unpreferable appearance before growing of plants and even in such a case that grown plants are damaged or lost due to shaving or withering.
(1-5) The structure can be laid over possible seeds of weeds to restrict growth thereof, which also facilitates maintenance of growing and grown plants.
(1-6) A weight can be controlled, and thus its weight can be reduced to allow easy transfer. Also, the weight can be increased to improve stability of the laid structure at an installation place. The stability of the laid structure can be improved to allow use in sport facilities for some kinds of sports.
(1-7) The structure can be produced in an elongated form.
A second object of the invention is to provide a plant growth sheet structure of a second type, which holds seeds of plant such as turf seeds in advance, and has the following advantages.
The "turf seeds" mean the seeds of turf themselves as well as runners or the like which are obtained from cut turfs or the like, and from which a turf can be obtained.
(2-1) Without changing the size, or after cutting the structure into an appropriate size, the structure can be easily laid in grounds such as a general house garden, a river bank, a park, a golf course, a hillock washed with rainwater, and a seaside exposed to a strong wind as well as planting zones of various buildings, roads or the like, sport facilities and others. It is possible to grow plants from seeds of turf, grass or flower which are held in advance at the structure. Also, the structure can be moved to and from the above places.
(2-2) The plant seeds held at the structure, sprouts growing therefrom and others are suppressed from being moved or flowed out by the wind, rain, irrigated water or the like, which facilitates growth and maintenance of plants.
(2-3) The whole structure is integral and has a sufficient resistance against decomposition. Held seeds as well as sprouts, roots and others are protected against a downward load, a lateral pulling force or the like, which also facilitates maintenance of growing and grown plants.
(2-4) The structure also has advantages similar to those already described at the items (1-4) through (1-7) of the plant growth sheet structure of the first type.
A third object of the invention is to provide a natural turf sheet structure having the following advantages.
(3-1) Without changing the size, or after cutting the structure into an appropriate size, the structure can be easily laid in grounds such as a general house garden, a park, a river bank, a golf course, a hillock and a seaside as well as planting zones of various buildings, roads or the like, sport facilities and others. Also, the structure can be easily moved to and from the above places.
(3-2) The turf is suppressed from being moved or flowed out by the wind, rain, irrigated water or the like, which facilitates growth and maintenance of turfs.
(3-3) The whole structure is integral and has a sufficient resistance against decomposition. Sprouts, roots and others of the turf are protected against a downward load, a lateral pulling force or the like. Therefore, the structure can be used in the sport facilities. This also facilitates maintenance of the turf.
(3-4) As compared with a conventional natural turf sheet structure, it is possible to suppress an unpreferable appearance in such a case that turfs are damaged or lost due to shaving or withering.
(3-5) The structure can be laid over possible seeds of weeds to restrict growth thereof, which also facilitates maintenance of turfs.
(3-6) A weight can be controlled, and thus its weight can be reduced to allow easy transfer. Also, the weight can be increased to improve stability of the laid structure at an installation place. The stability of the laid structure can be improved to allow use in sport facilities for some kinds of sports.
(3-7) The structure can be produced in an elongated form.
A fourth object of the invention is to provide a method of growing a turf, in which a turf is grown at a concrete surface of a concrete dam, a retention pond or the like for covering the concrete surface with a natural turf so as to protect the surface against the direct sunshine, wind and rain, and to improve an appearance thereof.
A fifth object of the invention is to provide a method of laying a turf sheet structure, and in particular to a method of laying a turf sheet structure in large-scale facilities, by which it is possible to perform storage of the turf sheet structure before and after intended arrangement of the same, laying of the stored structure for the intended arrangement, and restoring and rearranging of the damaged turf sheet structure in a more simple and economical manner than a conventional artificial turf.

Plant growth sheet structure, natural turf sheet structure, method of growing turf and method of laying turf sheet structure


An indication is sent from a mobile station to a network regarding the capability of the mobile station to receive or transmit on two or more carriers simultaneously. The network determines an ideal multi-carrier multi-slot capability of the mobile station from an existing capability indication for single carrier transmission mode of the mobile station; and the mobile station sends in an additional field an indication in respect of a reduction in number of time slots from the ideal multi-carrier multi-slot capability determined by the network.

Downlink dual carrier transmission is being developed in the 3rd generation partnership project (3GPP) as part of global system for mobile communications (GSM) enhanced data rates for GSM evolution (EDGE) Radio Access Network (GERAN) specifications in Release 7. With the additional capabilities of the dual carrier mobiles, the support of the new multi-slot capabilities has to be indicated by the mobile station (MS) in the Classmark 3 and MS radio access capability (RAC) as set out in 3GPP TS 24.008. As there are already quite a large number of bits in the Classmark 3 and MS RAC, increasing the size further by a large number of bits is undesirable. A large number of bits in those messages would delay the network attach procedure for the MS. However, some flexibility is needed in the MS implementation to allow early introduction of the feature in the market and this needs a number of MS classes to be allowed with varying multi-slot capabilities. Hence any new indication needs to be done in the most efficient possible way.

Method of indicating mobile station capability to a network


A control circuit of a power converter providing at least a first output voltage and a second output voltage, having: a first loop control circuit, configured to provide a first error amplifying signal based on the first output voltage and a first reference voltage; a second loop control circuit, configured to provide a second error amplifying signal based on the second output voltage and a second reference voltage; a saturation detecting circuit, configured to provide a saturation indicating signal based on the first error amplifying signal and a saturation reference signal; and a first current source circuit, configured to charge an output terminal of the second error amplifier based on the saturation indicating signal.

Today, LED backlighting is more and more widely adopted by monitors. For example, in LCD TV field, LED is tending to replace traditional CCFL as the backlighting source. In some applications, besides currents provided to LED strings, voltages are also provided to the other circuits or chips inside the whole system, e.g., MCU by a LED driver. A driver in these applications often adopts single power stage multiple outputs topology, to provide multiple outputs, e.g., currents to the LED strings and voltages to the other circuits.
In a single power stage multiple outputs topology, one of the outputs is in a feedback loop to control the power conversion of the single power stage. Compared with other output regulation loops, the feedback loop with power conversion control is slow, especially when any one of the other outputs suffers a sudden load change, the feedback loop with power conversion control may need a long time to respond, which results in a slow load regulation. In other words, the dynamic response of the driver is poor.

Single stage multi-outputs circuit and a method thereof

Chengdu Monolithic Power Systems Co., Ltd.


A water-insoluble polymeric particle has an inner core comprising a detectable tracer material distributed in a first polymer for which the tracer material has a high affinity. This first polymer has a glass transition temperature (Tg.sub.1) less than about 100.degree. C. The particle also has an outer shell comprising a second polymer for which the tracer material has substantially less affinity relative to said first polymer. This second polymer has a glass transition temperature (Tg.sub.2) which is greater than or equal to the term [Tg.sub.1 -10.degree. C.]. It also contains groups which are either reactive with free amino or sulfhydryl groups of an immunoreactive species or which can be activated for reaction with such groups. Such a species can be covalently attached to this particle to form an immunoreactive reagent which is useful in analytical elements and various analytical methods including immunological methods, for example, agglutination assays.

Biologically active polypeptides or proteins which are attached to insoluble carrier materials, such as polymeric particles, have been used in a variety of ways. For example, the diagnosis of pathological or other conditions in human beings and animals is often carried out using immunological principles for the detection of an immunologically reactive species, for example antibodies or an antigen, in the body fluids of the person or animal. An antigen is generally known as a foreign substance, such as a drug, hapten, toxin, lectin, glycoprotein, polysaccharide, glycolipid, polypeptide or protein which, when introduced into the body, causes the production of certain soluble proteins known as antibodies.
Other proteins (such as enzymes or avidin) or biotin, have been covalently linked to various carrier materials for use in affinity chromatography, enzymatic reactions, analytical procedures, specific binding reactions and immunoassays. Among useful carrier materials are sheep and human erythrocytes, bacterial cells, latex particles, resinous particles and finely divided diazotized amino cellulose. For example, carrier particles prepared from sparingly water-soluble monomers (such as epoxy group-containing monomers) in the absence of emulsifiers are described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,15,700 (issued Nov. 15, 1983 to Batz et al).
The antigen-antibody reaction is the basis or all immunological test methods. The normal body response to a foreign substance has led to the development of a number of techniques which are used to diagnose various diseases, disorders and physiological conditions. Other specific binding reactions can occur between a ligand and corresponding receptor compounds. For example, avidin or a derivative thereof specifically reacts with biotin or a derivative thereof. Other specific binding reactions occur between enzymes and their substrate analogs, inhibitors or cofactors, lectins and sugars (including mono- , oligo- and polysaccharides and glycoproteins), nucleic acids and complementary base sequences, histones and binding proteins, and hormones and their receptors. In a general sense, one component of the reaction can be defined as the ligand while the corresponding component which reacts with it is considered the receptor.
In vitro tests for the presence of a suspected protein (for example, an antigen or antibody) in a biological sample are carried out by adding the immunological counterpart to the biological sample. If the suspected substance is present, the resulting antigen-antibody reaction can be demonstrated by precipitation of the antigen-antibody complex. This reaction complex is generally difficult to detect visually. For this reason, either antibodies or antigens are often bound to insoluble particles, for example polymer latex particles, so that when the complex is formed, it is readily detectable from the resulting agglutination either by observing the presence of clumping or by a detectable tracer associated with the particles. Agglutination is characterized by the clumping of particles from a suspension of particles. Further details of known agglutination methods are provided in U.S. Pat. No. 4,419,453 (issued Dec. 6, 1983 to Dorman et al) and U.S. Pat. No. 4,459,361 (issued July 10, 1984 to Gefter).
Immunoreactive reagents are described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,259,313 (issued Mar. 31, 1981 to Frank et al). These reagents are composed of a polymer or mixture of polymers in particulate form having distributed throughout the particles a fluorescent rare earth chelate which renders the reagents detectable using suitable equipment. Attached to the particles are molecules of an immunological species such as an antibody or antigen. The resulting reagent can be used in immunoassays. However, fluorometric equipment is required with these reagents. There are many instances where such equipment is not available or practical. For example, it would be useful to have immunoreactive reagents which can be detected readily by a user without the need for detection equipment either in a consumer's home or in a doctor's office. Such reagents would desirably be detectable within a few minutes visually with the unaided eye.
As a result, it has been proposed to incorporate various dyes or color-forming materials within such reagents by dispersing them within the polymeric particle as described, for example, in E.P. Publication 227,173. While this makes the reagents readily detectable, surprisingly it has been found that dye molecules on the surface of the particles often interfere with immunological reactions, such as those required for agglutination assays. Other materials on the surface of such particles, such as surfactants or stabilizers can also similarly interfere with the reactions.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,401,765 (issued Aug. 30, 1983 to Craig et al) describes a reagent which is a core/shell polymer having an immunological species attached thereto. These reagents contain no tracer material, and are detected in the assay through light scattering techniques which require sophisticated equipment that would be available only in a clinical chemistry laboratory. Even the simplest technique involving the measurement of turbidity requires the use of a spectrophotometer (see Col. 4, lines 1-56). These techniques clearly would not be useful for assays which are to be carried out at home, in doctors' offices and other places where equipment is limited or impractical. Hence, there is a need for a readily detectable immunoreactive reagent which can be easily detected without complicated equipment and procedures and which avoids the interference caused by materials on the surface of particles.

Water-insoluble particle and immunoreactive reagent, analytical elements and methods of use


A retractable amusement ball device includes a retract assembly. The retract assembly includes a recoil mechanism. A rope or cord is attached to the recoil assembly at one end. The other end of the cord may include a handgrip assembly such as a knob, a ring, or a handle. When the retractable amusement ball device is at rest, the cord is wound about the recoil assembly. The handgrip assembly comes to rest against an exterior of the retractable amusement ball device. When a participant plans to launch the retractable amusement ball device, the participant grips or grabs the handgrip assembly and pulls the cord into an extended position. A force is applied to the ball through the extended cord and handgrip mechanism. When the participant releases the handgrip assembly, the recoil mechanism rewinds the cord back into the retract assembly as the retractable amusement ball device is propelled through the air. By the time the retractable amusement ball device is back at rest, the cord is completely recoiled within the retractable amusement ball device and the handgrip assembly is again at rest against the retractable amusement ball device.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to amusement devices, and more specifically, to an amusement ball having a retractable propelling mechanism.
2. Description of the Related Art
Sales of toys and other amusement devices form a large part of the economy. Some popular amusement devices are conventional ball devices that are propelled or launched through the air by human power. Propelling with human power is conventionally achieveed in one of two methods. In a first method, a conventioral ball device is first physically gripped. Once gripped, the conventional ball device is then launched by using forward momentum of an outward force.
In a second method, the conventional ball device is attached to the end of a rope. The amusement device again first gripped by the rope. Once gripped, the rope is used to twirl the conventional ball device in a circular motion. Using the developed centrifugal force the conventional ball device is released and launched forward. Frequently, the second method produces the furthest throwing results.
Conventional ball devices that can be gripped and then physically launched are known. A problem, however, with these conventional ball devices is that they lack a rope or a cord. The lack of a rope or a cord limits the amount of total force to be applied to the conventional ball device to launch it. This results in limiting or decreasing the distance that the conventional ball device can be propelled.
Conventional ball devices having a rope or a cord attachment that may generate momentum with a circular motion and with the help of centrifugal force be launched are also known. A problem with conventional ball devices having a rope or a cord attachment is that the rope or the cord consistently trails the conventional ball device. The trailing rope increases drag on the conventional ball device. The increased drag clearly hinders the flight of the ball. This results in limiting or decreasing the distance that the conventional ball device can be propelled.
Another problem with conventional amusement devices having a rope or a cord attachment is that the rope consistently flails once it is released. This also increases drag on the ball and results in limiting or decreasing the distance the amusement device can be propelled. The flailing rope also disrupts the aerodynamics of the conventional ball device. More particularly, the flailing rope causes the flight path of the conventional ball device to be altered as the whipping force of the trailing rope causes a shift in the direction of force in which the conventional ball device is propelled. This also reduces the distance the ball can be propelled. Moreover, it reduces the accuracy with which the ball may be directed once it is propelled.
Yet another problem with conventional ball devices having a rope or a cord is that they may be susceptible to causing increased damage in the surroundings where they are propelled. More particularly, the trailing rope may be flaiLing out of control. The trailing and flailing rope causes whip-like forces to be applied to innocent objects and things resulting in damage to those items.
Therefore, there is a need for an amusemnent ball device that may (1) be launched through a rope or a cord and (2) that minimizes or eliminates the application of external forces on the amusement ball device that may unnecessarily hinder the forces to propel the amusement ball device.

Amusement ball device with retractable propelling mechanism