A floating non-volatile memory has a substrate and source and drain regions disposed in a surface region of the substrate and spaced apart from each other with a channel forming semiconductor region disposed therebetween. A gate insulating film is disposed on the channel forming semiconductor region. A single crystal control region is disposed in the surface region of the substrate and is electrically separated from the channel forming semiconductor region. A control gate insulating film is disposed on the single crystal control region. A floating gate is disposed on the control gate insulating film and is capacitively coupled with the single crystal control region. A chemical-vapor-deposited shield insulating film is formed in a gas atmosphere charge-balanced on the floating gate. A shield conductive film is disposed on the chemical-vapor-deposited shield insulating film and capacitively coupled with the floating gate.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor non-volatile memory having a floating gate, and more particularly to a semiconductor non-volatile memory in which a floating gate is provided above a control gate.
2. Description of the Related Art
A non-volatile memory, in which a control gate is provided on an insulating film grown on a floating gate, has a problem in that the insulating film grown on the polycrystalline silicon floating gate has a large leakage current and a small withstand voltage. As a floating gate non-volatile memory for solving the problem, there is disclosed a structure in which: a floating gate is provided on a channel forming semiconductor region sandwiched by a source region and a drain region through an insulating film; the floating gate is extended onto an insulating film grown on a single crystal control region; and the single crystal control region is used as a control gate (refer to JP 57-49148 B, FIG. 3).
On the other hand, there has been separately developed a technique in which an insulating film with a small leakage current and an excellent withstand voltage is formed on a polycrystalline silicon floating gate; however, the technique shares few manufacturing processes with that of a MOS logic. Therefore, the floating gate non-volatile memory having the single crystal control region has been utilized as a non-volatile memory appropriate for being embedded in a MOS logic shortly after JP57-49148B was disclosed. In this case, the single crystal control region is formed in a surface of a semiconductor substrate as a semiconductor region of an opposite conductivity type to a substrate.
In these days, the lowering of a power supply voltage of IC/LSI has progressed, which makes a potential control in a small voltage range of a floating gate important. Thus, the following problem has arisen.
That is, (1) an electric potential of an interconnection, which is arranged above the floating gate (in the state of not contacting with and being separated from the floating gate), has a capacitive coupling with the floating gate. As a result, a gate threshold voltage of a floating gate non-volatile memory measured from a single crystal control region varies.
(2) When even one part in and on an insulating film on the floating gate is included or attached with electric charge, the gate threshold voltage of the floating gate non-volatile memory measured from the single crystal control region varies.
The electric charge included into the insulating film is generated when discharge of a source gas is excited immediately above a wafer in plasma CVD or the like, to deposit the insulating film on the floating gate. The electric charge on the insulating film is generated due to contamination of a surface of the wafer or chip, or discharge from a handling jig.
The effect of the interconnection arrangement is not considered in many cases at the time of design of the floating gate non-volatile memory, and an amount of the included or attached electric charge cannot be predicted. Therefore, the gate threshold voltage of the completed floating gate non-volatile memory measured from the single crystal control region is difficult to predict.


A method for a polymeric or nanocomposite material. The method includes assembling a multiphase hard-soft structure, where the structure includes a hard micro- or nano-phase, and a soft micro- or nano-phase that includes a polymeric scaffold. In the method, the polymeric scaffold includes dynamically interacting motifs and has a glass transition temperature (Tg) lower than the intended operating temperature of the material.

Field of the Invention
The invention relates to nanocomposite materials and methods of making thereof.
Related Art
The market for aerospace composites is expected to exceed $50 billion in 2014. These materials make up more than 50% of the latest generation of aircraft because of their advantageous low density, excellent combination of stiffness and toughness, and resistance to corrosion when compared to conventional aluminum alloys (1). Unfortunately, these materials, which took decades to become accepted by the aerospace industry, are running into limitations inherent to their composition and production methods, such as poor high-temperature tolerance and expensive, complicated processing. Nanocomposites present a potential route to both improved properties and simpler processing, as well as access to new and multiple functionalities (2), and are the key to unlocking the next revolution in aerospace materials technology.
A nanocomposite is a multiphase solid material where one of the phases has one, two or three dimensions of less than 100 nm, or structures having nano-scale repeat distances between the different phases that make up the material. In mechanical terms, nanocomposites differ from conventional composites due to the exceptionally high surface to volume ratio of the reinforcing phase and/or its exceptionally high aspect ratio. The mechanical, electrical, thermal, optical, electrochemical, and catalytic properties of the nanocomposite will differ markedly from that of the component materials. This "emergent" (the whole being greater than the sum of the parts) functionality property places nanocomposites in the optimal design space to provide a solution to both the "materials-by-design" and "multifunctionality" requirements for the next generation of synthetic engineering materials (3,4).
Synthetic nanocomposites are an important research target in materials science. The use of nanoparticle-rich materials long predates the understanding of the physical and chemical nature of these materials. From the mid-1950s nanoscale organo-clays have been used to control flow of polymer solutions (e.g. as paint viscosifiers) or the constitution of gels (e.g. as a thickening substance in cosmetics, keeping the preparations in homogeneous form). By the 1970s polymer-clay nanocomposites were commercially viable commodity materials. This successful system is nonetheless limited to low nano-object volume fractions, due to synthesis and processing obstacles that have thus far prevented the full realization of the potential engineering benefits and game-changing technologies presented by nanocomposites.
Nanocomposites are nature's universal materials-by-design solution. Biological nanocomposites may possess >95% inorganic volume fraction in <5% polymer matrix, as in the case of abalone nacre, giving this material both strength and toughness (5). Biological nanocomposites may also possess zero inorganic component, as in the case of spider dragline silk, which is among the toughest and strongest materials known, as a result of nanoscale reinforcement by organic crystallites. The modular design of biological nanocomposites enables a wide range of mechanical properties to be obtained from the same starting components and manufacturing process (6). For example, stiff and tough bone and strong and extensible tendon vary only in their degree of inorganic nanoscale reinforcement. The dynamic nature of the self-assembly processes makes the resulting materials adaptive and highly tolerant of minor manufacturing flaws. Critically, the modular design and universal process capability of biological-nanocomposites enables the facile production of mechanical property gradients, for example at the interface of bone and tendon, minimizing interfacial stresses, a key failure mechanism in synthetic materials. An extreme example of this effect is seen in the squid beak, the hardest natural substance at its edge, which must bond to the soft and flexible squid body (7). Finally, biological nanocomposites possess emergent multifunctionality, such as the ability to change mechanical properties in response to environmental stimuli, as in the case of the Sea Cucumber dermis (8).
The ability to spontaneously heal injury is another key emergent functionality found in biological nanocomposites that increases the survivability and lifetime of most plants and animals. In sharp contrast, synthetic materials usually fail after damage or fracture.
For decades, scientists and engineers have dreamed of developing self-healing materials to improve the safety, lifetime, energy efficiency, and environmental impact of manmade materials (9). The first successful demonstration of a spontaneously self-healing (requiring no external input or trigger beyond the damage itself) involves micro-encapsulated healing agents and catalysts embedded in a conventional polymer matrix (10). While this approach is very effective for the initial damage-healing cycle, further damage in an already healed region is not reversible due to prior consumption of the healing agents. For most new designs, external energy is required to achieve healing. For example, thermally reversible covalent bonds or non-covalent supramolecular linkages were introduced into polymers, which upon heating can reversibly rupture and reform to afford self-healing (11). Recently, a metallo-supramolecular polymer was shown to be thermally mendable by converting photo energy into localized heat. In this microphase-separated system, the metal complex healing motifs reside in the crystalline hard domain, which requires thermal energy to reversibly dissociate in order to heal (12). For many applications, however, autonomic healing without any external stimulus is desirable. Toward this goal, an elegant dynamic supramolecular approach was developed to achieve a self-healing rubber by employing multivalent hydrogen bonds, which though individually weak, collectively form a load-bearing network that is dynamic at room temperature, allowing automatic healing of damage. However, the lack of molecular/nano-level structure control severely limits both mechanical properties and processing of this system (13).

Bio-inspired method to obtain multifunctional dynamic nanocomposites

The Regents of the University of California


An inkjet ink composition consists essentially of a vehicle and an effective amount pigment red 168.

The present disclosure relates generally to inkjet ink compositions and methods of making the same.
Secondary color inks have been added to ink sets in an effort to increase the color gamut of the printing system in which the ink sets are used. Many pigments included in secondary color inks are capable of forming images that exhibit some relatively good properties, yet at the same time exhibit other, relatively poor properties. As examples, some pigments generate images having good gloss and chroma, but relatively poor lightfastness (e.g., window, indoor, or outdoor) and/or poor ozonefastness; and other pigments generate images having poor gloss and chroma, but exhibit relatively good lightfastness and/or ozonefastness.
For example, secondary color inks based upon orange or red pigments generally deliver relatively good gloss and chroma. However, these inks may also exhibit relatively poor lightfastness (i.e., color fade resulting from light exposure) and ozonefastness (i.e., color fade resulting form air exposure). Printed images formed from these inks tend to suffer from red, green, blue or other color density loss (i.e., fade) upon exposure to various forms of light (e.g., indoor, window, etc.) or to air over time. Alternatively, orange and red inks formed with magenta and yellow pigments may be formulated to have good lightfastness. However, these inks also tend to exhibit lower chroma or pure color than inks based on a secondary color pigment. The mixed pigment inks (e.g., those formed with magenta and yellow pigments) generally do not supply additional gamut to the printing system in which they are incorporated.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Inkjet ink composition and method of making the same

Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.


Universal serial bus wakeup when the bus is not powered. In one embodiment, a method of waking up a universal serial bus (USB) from a non-powered state, comprises: upon detection of a wakeup condition, a wakeup generation module associated with a USB device generating a wakeup signal on a power line of a USB bus coupled to the USB device, or on a single-wire sideband; and a host wakeup module detecting the wakeup signal and causing the USB bus that is coupled to the USB device to be supplied with power.

The Universal Serial Bus (USB) standard was originally designed to support personal computer to telephone interconnect, ease of use and port expansion for a personal computer. Port expansion includes peripherals such as a mouse, keyboard, monitor, printer, scanner, modem, etc. Today however, electronic systems other than personal computers may also include a Universal Serial Bus to facilitate connections. Although most USB devices today are still peripheral devices, a motherboard or an equivalent, or an expansion card may in some cases include USB devices.
In order to enhance readability herein, a bus which is a Universal Serial Bus will also be referred to herein below as a USB bus in order to emphasize that the bus is being indicated, even though the term may be considered by some to be repetitive because the word "bus" is included in the acronym. Under the current USB standard, four wires are included in the USB bus: a power line (e.g. Vbus), a ground connection, and a pair of differential data leads (lines), denoted D+ and D− on which USB signals are transferred.

Wakeup of a non-powered universal serial bus


An image projector includes a first deflector configured to deflect a first optical path and to form a second optical path, a second deflector configured to deflect the second optical path and to form a third optical path, a shifter configured to shift a projection lens in a vertical direction which corresponds to a longitudinal direction of the projected surface among directions orthogonal to an optical axis of the projection lens, a housing configured to house the first deflector and the second deflector, and a fixed plate fixed onto the housing at an end on an installing surface side of the housing, the projection lens and the shifter being fixed onto the fixed plate, wherein the third optical path is closer to an installing surface of the housing than the first optical path.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image projector.
2. Description of the Related Art
Japanese Patent No. 3,339,504 discloses an image projector configured to deflect an optical path of light emitted from a light source, to arrange an optical path of a projection lens above the optical path of the light emitted from the light source, and to make vertically shiftable the projection lens of the projection lens by the shifter.
It is difficult to miniaturize such a conventional image projector that deflects the optical path and includes the shifter for the projection lens because the vertical length (or height) of the housing is likely to increase. In addition, when the projection lens and the shifter are fixed onto a fixed plate and when a lower end of the fixed plate is fixed onto a bottom plate of a housing of the image projector, the vertical length or height of the fixed plate becomes large and the fixed plate is likely to incline in the horizontal direction. As a result, projected image quality may deteriorate as an image plane of the projection lens fluctuates.


There is provided a DC-DC converter including: a main switching element to perform an on-off operation; a first choke coil; an output capacitor; and a diode module. The diode module includes a first series circuit which includes an auxiliary switching element and a resonant capacitor, and a second series circuit which includes a flywheel diode and a resonant coil, wherein the first series circuit and the second series circuit are connected in parallel to each other. The DC-DC converter reduces the switching loss, deals with an extensive range of input and output voltage variation, and accommodates easy modifications from conventional circuits.

A DC-DC converter, which, through switching control of a semi-conductor device, converts an input DC voltage into a desired stable DC voltage, has such advantages as high efficiency and easy reduction in dimension and weight, and therefore is used as an essential constituent in power supplies for various electronic devices, in controlling electrical motors based on inverter technology, and in circuits to light various discharge lamps.
FIG. 16 is a circuit diagram of a typical step-down DC-DC converter 100. The DC-DC converter 100 includes a field-effect transistor Q1 as a main switching element, a flywheel diode D3, a choke coil L1, an output capacitor C5, and a control circuit 102, wherein a voltage Vi is a DC power source, R1 is a load, and C1 is a junction capacitance formed between the drain and source terminals of the field-effect transistor Q1.
The DC power source Vi has its positive terminal connected to the drain terminal of field-effect transistor Q1 and has its negative terminal grounded. The field-effect transistor Q1 is connected via its source terminal to the cathode terminal of the flywheel diode D3 and also to one terminal of the choke coil L1 which has its other terminal connected to one terminal of the output capacitor C5. The other terminal of the output capacitor C5 and the anode terminal of the flywheel diode D3 are grounded. The control circuit 102 is connected via its sensing terminal to the other terminal (positioned toward the load R1) of the choke coil L1, and via its output terminal to the gate terminal of the field-effect transistor Q1.
The DC-DC converter 100 operates as follow. Under a steady state condition with the field-effect transistor Q1 set turned-off, when the field-effect transistor Q1 is turned on, a current flows from the DC power source Vi to the choke coil L1 via the field-effect transistor Q1, and a voltage at the other terminal (positioned toward the load R1) of the choke coil L1 is smoothed by the output capacitor C5 and then applied to the load R1. While the field-effect transistor Q1 stays turned-on, energy is stored up in the choke coil L1 according to the current. Then, when the field-effect transistor Q1 is turned off, electromotive force is generated across the both terminals of the choke coil L1, and the current maintained by the electromotive force commutates to flow through the flywheel diode D3, whereby the energy stored up during the turn-on period of the field-effect transistor Q1 is supplied to the load R1.
With repletion of the operation described above, a voltage according to the duty ratio (on-time/on-time+off-time) of the field-effect transistor Q1 is outputted across the both terminals of the load R1. In order to keep the output voltage constant irrespective of variations of the input voltage (Vi) and the load R1, the control circuit 102 performs pulse width modulation (PWM) control, in which the duty ratio of the field-effect transistor Q1 is modulated according to a detected level of the output voltage.
In the DC-DC converter 100 described above, due to the junction capacitance C1 formed between the drain and source terminals of the field-effect transistor Q1 and also due to wiring-related parasitic inductances, a transitional period, at which a non-zero voltage across drain and source terminals and a non-zero drain current are concurrently present, arises at the moment when the field-effect transistor Q1 turns on or turns off, and a switching loss is thereby caused. Since the switching loss becomes larger with increase of a frequency for performing on-off control, a serious problem is involved when reduction of the dimension and weight of an apparatus is sought to be achieved by increasing the on-off control frequency so as to reduce the inductance of a choke coil and the capacitance of an output capacitor. Further, there is another problem that when the field-effect transistor Q1 turns off thereby reverse-biasing the flywheel diode D3, a large recovery current is caused to flow from the cathode to the anode at the reverse recovery time resulting in causing a heavy loss.
Under the circumstances described above, what is called a "soft switching technique" is conventionally applied which utilizes resonance thereby reducing losses attributable to the switching loss and the recovery current. For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2003-189602 discloses a DC-DC converter in which a resonant circuit uses the junction capacitance of a switching element and a rectifying element in order to deal with an extensive range of an input and output voltage variation.
In the DC-DC converter disclosed in the aforementioned Japanese Patent Application, however, when the duty ratio is set small, a resonant coil cannot build up a sufficient energy thus resulting in a decreased voltage of a resonant capacitor. If this condition goes on, the voltage polarity of the resonant capacitor is reversed, and the resonant coil cannot be reset. Also, in the DC-DC converter, a rectification circuit, which is constituted by a rectifying diode (flywheel diode) and additional components for resonance, is structured such that only the resonant coil is located between a first switching element and a choke coil while the other components are connected in parallel to the resonant coil, and consequently if the rectification circuit is made into one module, then the circuit is to come with at least three terminals, which hampers an easy modification from a conventional circuit which incorporates only a flywheel diode that is a two-terminal element.

DC-DC converter having a diode module with a first series circuit and a second series with a flywheel diode


Systems and methods for generating a predicted flight trajectory using a combination of aircraft state data, flight information, environmental information, historical data or derived flight information from aircraft messaging which can be used for the transmission of environmental data. The generated trajectory prediction is assigned a level of confidence based on fidelity, merit or accuracy. The level of predicted accuracy is based on the number of and sources of the specific information, time, distance or flight phase. The predicted trajectory includes pseudo-waypoints at flight transitions not readily available in the flight information and also includes the environmental conditions at all waypoint (including pseudo-waypoint) locations.

The present disclosure relates generally to aircraft traffic management, and more specifically, to systems and methods for computing a predicted flight trajectory for an aircraft.
In this section, characteristics of so-called "known" trajectory predictors are described. The adjective "known" is used to indicate prior art features known to one or more authors of this disclosure and should not be construed to be a representation concerning any prior art teachings not known to the authors.
Known trajectory predictors operate with the limitations of requiring an aircraft performance database to calculate a trajectory. The aircraft performance database itself can present limitations where content is limited or access to the information is limited. Additionally, the accuracy of known trajectory predictors can be inadequate. Some known trajectory predictors do not apply in situ and forecasted environmental conditions to trajectory prediction. Those trajectory predictors which apply environmental conditions typically use forecasted, not current environmental data. Some on-board flight plan systems have the capability to add environmental conditions to their predicted trajectories, but lack a database of current and forecasted environmental conditions. They may be provided a set of forecasted environmental conditions, but often that set is or will be outdated during the flight. Other trajectory predictors do not include knowledge systems to compile and manage data histories or monitor situational awareness of its own functions as evolving patterns for internal or external function use.
Thus the accuracy of known trajectory predictors is inadequate at least for the following reasons: (a) the users do not use current aircraft messaging, histories and state data; (b) users only use forecasted environmental data (current environmental observations are not incorporated); and (c) users do not know or anticipate all the pseudo-waypoints associated with a flight. Another distinguishing characteristic is that known trajectory predictors do not have the ability to adapt the output trajectory (e.g., by varying its fidelity) based on the input data.
Current trajectories predicted by ground systems are incomplete not only because the flight plan information they are built upon is incomplete, but also because they do not include pseudo-waypoints and associated metadata information, which omission affects the accuracy of the trajectory prediction. Pseudo-waypoints help complete the flight plan. A sequence of waypoints in a flight plan define the lateral projection of the flight route, but do not reflect more gradual transitions between the straight segments connecting waypoints. These gradual transitions entail changes of flight constraints at specific locations termed pseudo-waypoints which are neither listed in the flight plan nor stored in a navigation database.
Additionally, none of the trajectory metadata information (such as up-to-date weather information) is used dynamically by ground stations for optimizing flight operations. The fidelity of environmental data applied to current airborne on-board computer predictions and ground station applications is restricted by current methods. Without an accurate current flight trajectory prediction, environmental conditions processors do not know at what predicted locations or at what times to provide which environmental conditions data. Accuracy is lost for this reason and gained when appropriate environmental data is applied to the trajectory prediction.
To overcome these shortcomings, current solutions place the burden on the source to transmit its representation of the entire trajectory. These solutions do not address the accuracy issues of replicating the source trajectory nor is it desirable to do so due to the associated communication cost and the additional burden the increased messaging places on an already congested frequency.
An adaptive solution is needed that may resemble the originating source format or is based on user configuration declarations, flight parameters, or aircraft state information histories compiled and managed by an embedded knowledge system. Preferably, this solution should operate without an aircraft performance database and should address the accuracy of the trajectory prediction with other methods. Also, the solution must be able to produce multiple outputs (e.g., of varying fidelity) from the same source. Specifically, flight information is received and multiple trajectories are requested as the final output. The reason for this is that each customer has their own trajectory specification requirements. The solution must also ascertain the level of confidence or accuracy that the trajectory predictions must comply with to meet user requirements.

Flight trajectory prediction with application of environmental conditions


A host controller is coupled to host computers that host virtual machines. At least one of the virtual machines is a highly available virtual machine. The host controller detects a change in system resources and identifies a highly available virtual machine that failed before the change occurs. The host controller re-runs the highly available virtual machine upon detection of the change of the system resources.

A virtual machine is a software implementation of a machine (computer) that includes its own operating system (referred to as a guest operating system) and executes application programs. A host computer allocates a certain amount of its resources to each of the virtual machines, and multiplexes its underlying hardware platform among the virtual machines. Each virtual machine is then able to use the allocated resources to execute its guest operating system and applications. The software layer providing the virtualization is commonly referred to as a hypervisor and is also known as a virtual machine monitor (VMM), a kernel-based hypervisor, or part of a host operating system. The hypervisor emulates the underlying hardware of the host computer, making the use of the virtual machine transparent to the guest operating system and the user of the computer.
In a virtualization system, some of the virtual machines may be configured as "highly available." A highly available virtual machine may run critical applications that need to have minimal down time. Thus, there is need for a management system of the virtual machines to ensure that these virtual machines can stay in an up state as much as possible, unless they are stopped by a user.

Monitoring of highly available virtual machines


An electron beam inspection system is disclosed, in accordance with one or more embodiments of the present disclosure. The inspection system may include an electron beam source configured to generate one or more primary electron beams. The inspection system may also include an electron-optical column including a set of electron-optical elements configured to direct the one or more primary electron beams to a sample. The inspection system may further include a detection assembly comprising: a scintillator substrate configured to collect electrons emanating from the sample, the scintillator substrate configured to generate optical radiation in response to the collected electrons; one or more light guides; one or more reflective surfaces configured to receive the optical radiation and direct the optical radiation along the one or more light guides; and one or more detectors configured to receive the optical radiation from the light guide.

Inspection systems identify and classify defects on semiconductor wafers to generate a defect population on the sample. Inspection systems may include optical inspection systems and charged particle inspection systems, such as electron-beam systems. In the context of electron-beam inspection systems, electron beams are directed to the sample, and detectors are configured to collect secondary and/or backscattered electrons emanated from the sample in order to characterize the sample. Conventionally, electron-beam inspection systems utilize silicon detectors in order to collect secondary and backscattered electrons. However, the capacitance of silicon detectors limits the bandwidth of detection. Additionally, silicon detectors typically require transimpedance amplifiers, which may significantly impact the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) in low signal environments. Moreover, the transimpedance amplifiers required to amplify currents from the detectors typically must be placed as close as possible to the detectors in order to maximize bandwidth and signal-to-noise ratio. This typically requires placing the transimpedance amplifiers within a vacuum chamber of the electron beam inspection system, which may result in outgassing from the circuit components. Finally, electrical signals from the silicon detectors must be directed a significant distance out of the vacuum chamber prior to being digitized, leading to negative cross-talk and electromagnetic interference (EMI) issues. Therefore, it would be desirable to provide a system and method for curing shortcomings such as those identified above.


A flame retardant thermoplastic resin composition includes: (A) about 60% by weight (wt %) to about 90 wt % of a polycarbonate resin including a first polycarbonate having a weight average molecular weight from about 30,000 g/mol to about 50,000 g/mol and a second polycarbonate having a weight average molecular weight from about 5,000 g/mol to about 20,000 g/mol; (B) about 10 wt % to about 40 wt % of an aromatic vinyl resin having a fogging index (FI) of about 0.8 or less as calculated by Equation 1 defined in the specification; (C) about 1 part by weight to about 20 parts by weight of an impact modifier based on about 100 parts by weight of (A)+(B); and (D) about 5 parts by weight to about 30 parts by weight of a flame retardant based on about 100 parts by weight of (A)+(B.

Polycarbonate (PC) compound materials are prepared by melt-mixing PC, which is widely used as an engineering plastic, with organic/inorganic materials, such as heat stabilizers, antioxidants, plasticizers, impact modifiers, flame retardants, inorganic fillers, and the like. Such PC compound materials exhibit superior properties to general resins such as polystyrene, polyethylene, polyvinyl chloride, polypropylene, and the like. In particular, since the PC compound materials allow easy adjustment of properties, such as impact resistance, flame retardancy, flowability and the like, the PC compound materials are applicable to various fields from electric/electronic products such as mobile phones, televisions, office machines and the like to industrial components and miscellaneous goods.
Recently, as plastic products have become lighter and thinner to achieve more eco-friendly designs, demand for novel PC compound materials simultaneously exhibiting various properties which are difficult to realize in existing PC compounds has increased.
Generally, PC compound materials can obtain suitable properties by adjusting a mixing ratio of organic/inorganic materials to be melt-mixed with PC. For example, Korean Patent Publication No. 10-2008-0063229A, No. 10-2010-0125344A, and the like disclose thermoplastic resin compositions prepared by melt-mixing PC with a cross-linkable rubber-modified impact modifier, a phosphorus flame retardant, and other additives. However, such thermoplastic resin compositions require an excessively large amount of the phosphorus flame retardant for realization of high flowability, thereby causing deterioration in heat resistance.
Korean Patent Publication No. 10-2007-0052820A discloses a resin composition having improved flowability through application of a PC oligomer. However, since such a PC oligomer has a relatively low weight average molecular weight ranging from 3,000 g/mol to 6,000 g/mol, the composition can suffer significant deterioration in impact resistance and elongation, despite improved flowability.
Thus, there is a need for a flame retardant thermoplastic resin composition that exhibits excellent properties in terms of impact resistance, oil resistance, flame retardancy and flowability, even when melt-mixed with flame retardants, impact modifiers, and the like.

Flame retardant thermoplastic resin composition and molded article produced from the same


A locking paddle handle assembly for closures has a housing with a paddle handle pivotally mounted therein, a latch which latches and unlatches the closure upon rotation of the paddle handle, and an exterior key lock with a movable member that shifts between locked and unlocked positions. A deadbolt lock selectively engages the closure frame in the locked position to positively retain the closure closed. The deadbolt lock is operably connected with the movable key lock member, such that movement of the latter between the latched and unlatched positions contemporaneously shifts the deadbolt lock between the locked and unlocked positions. A remotely operable controller may be mounted either horizontally or vertically relative the handle assembly and is operably connected to a multi-armed lock cam to power shift the deadbolt lock between the locked and unlocked positions from a remote location.

The present invention relates to latches for movable closures and the like, and, in particular, to a remotely operated locking paddle handle latch assembly.
Paddle handles are generally well known in the art, and are typically flush mounted on an associated closure or door to facilitate selectively shifting the closure between an open unlatched position and closed latched position. Paddle handle assemblies are used widely on entry doors for recreational vehicles, motor homes and the like, and in such applications, require that the latch mechanism be accessible and operable from both the inside and the outside of the vehicle, and that they include a deadbolt lock for maximum security.
Heretofore, paddle handle assemblies have proven generally effective, although they experience certain drawbacks. For example, such prior art paddle handle assemblies are not particularly adapted for use with remotely operated power actuators, which have become quite popular in the recreational vehicle industry. Hence, a paddle handle assembly which overcomes such drawbacks would be advantageous.

Remotely operated locking paddle handle latch assembly


A convection-based device having no moving parts, which effectively catalytically removes volatile organic compounds from an ambient airspace. The device has, located within a vented housing, a catalytic structure designed to allow air to pass through it. The catalytic structure is heated by electric current and maintained to a predetermined temperature. Air enters the bottom of the device, passes through the catalytic structure, where the volatile organic compounds in the air are reduced, and exits the top of the device.

Air pollution is an issue that has been discussed for many years. Pollutants in the air have been proved to affect human comfort and health. Originally, most air pollution concern was focussed on such factors as automobile and factory stack emissions. Relatively recently, it has been found that the quality of the air inside a home or business is frequently worse than the quality of the air outside that very same home or business. The problem has been termed the Sick Building syndrome, and it has been proved that many of the symptoms of this syndrome are caused by volatile organic compounds (hereafter VOC) in the ambient air within the building.
This concern with indoor air pollution has passed from the realm of scholarly study into the area of publications intended for the general public. The Environmental Protection Agency published "The Inside Story: A Guide to Indoor Air Quality" in 1988. This booklet discusses, among other things, the health effects caused by indoor air pollutants. The pollutants discussed include various VOCs, especially formaldehyde, as well as particulates.
Any recognized problem breeds potential solutions, and many devices for reduction of air pollution have been developed. The simplest such devices draw the air through some sort of filtration device. Air purification devices to remove particulate materials such as dust and smoke particles from the ambient air particles are well known. Examples are the various versions of small units intended to remove cigarette smoke from the air. Electrostatic precipitation devices produce basically the same results without the need for filter replacement. However, such devices can do little to remove VOCs from the air.
The next step in sophistication are devices that, often in conjunction with a filtration or electrostatic precipitation system, incorporate an adsorptive material such as activated charcoal. The adsorptive material aids in the removal of volatile organic compounds from the air.
One rather multifunctional and complex device includes many air purification approaches: filtering systems including an electrostatic one, adsorbent materials, washing systems, germicidal and heating elements, as well as fans to move air through the device. This device, patented as "Gas Treatment Device", U.S. Pat. No. 3,299,620, to C. E. Hollingworth, is intended to process large volumes of air, either indoors or outdoors.
A device employing a catalyst to purify an air stream is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,008,091, to Bassi et al., "Method for Purifying Air." This method involves preheating the air and passing it through a catalytic bed which is made up of a combination of platinized heat-conductive pellets and metal turnings. This bed is to be maintained at a temperature between 160.degree. C. and 300.degree. C. Low molecular weight hydrocarbons in the airstream are oxidized during passage through the catalytic bed. An intended use of the device is to remove ethylene from fruit storage chambers, since ethylene is known to hasten the ripening process and is therefore undesirable.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,138,220 to Davies et al., "Apparatus for Catalytic Oxidation of Grease and Fats in Low Temperature Fumes", discloses an apparatus intended to remove odors and other hydrocarbons such as grease, fats and oils from the air stream emitted form a restaurant's cooking operations. A preferred catalytic system utilizes a honey-comb substrate of refractory material coated with a platinum containing catalyst.
The apparatus has a fan which draws air into the essentially cylindrical structure. Inside the structure are baffles and heat exchangers, as well as the catalytic system. An auxiliary heater heats the incoming air stream, which then passes through the catalytic system, where the hydrocarbons are oxidized. Warmer, processed air is directed back from the combustion zone into a heat exchange zone, where it seems to heat incoming air and reduce the need for auxiliary heat. The temperature of the air moving into the combustion chamber is thermostatically controlled and the combustion zone kept at a temperature of 357.degree. F. to 475.degree. F. (181.degree. C. to 246.degree. C.).
U.S. Pat. No. 4,948,567 to Atarashiya, "Deodorizer For Refrigerators Or The Like", discloses a device which has a deodorizing component comprising an adsorbent material (such as activated charcoal or silica) layer and a catalyzer (such as platinum or nickel) layer. The device has heating means which serve to regenerate the adsorbent material. The catalyzer layer is formed on one side of the adsorbent material by dipping the adsorbent layer in the catalyzer solution.
Most currently available air purification devices are thus of either limited utility (the pure filtration systems) or are fairly complicated and are therefore subject to mechanical malfunctions and relatively expensive to produce and thus to purchase.
As discussed before, most residential air purification devices on the market are filtration systems, sometimes incorporating adsorption systems, electrostatic precipitators and negative ion generators.
Ironically, the electronic air cleaners and negative ion generators used in an attempt to purify indoor air themselves produce ozone, since they are high voltage devices (see Indoor Air Pollution by Thad Godish, Lewis Publishers, 1989, at p. 280), and excess ozone is well known to have adverse health effects on humans--urban areas, especially in hot and humid weather, publish ozone alerts recommending limiting outdoor activity. Thus, a simple, relatively inexpensive device with a minimum number of components capable of removing volatile organic compounds from an ambient air space and destroying ozone is highly desirable.

Catalytic reduction of volatile organic contaminants in indoor air


A method and apparatus for completing a junction of plural wellbores includes providing a casing junction assembly having plural outlets for communicating with corresponding wellbores. A tool has plural extendable conduits for engaging in the outlets. The casing junction assembly has an integral diverter with guiding surfaces to guide the conduits into the outlets.

This invention relates generally to subsurface tools used in the completion of subterranean wells and, more particularly, provides an apparatus and method for use in multilateral completions.
Hydrocarbon fluids such as oil and natural gas are obtained from a subterranean geologic formation, such as a reservoir, by drilling a well that penetrates the hydrocarbon-bearing formation. Once a wellbore has been drilled, the well must be completed before hydrocarbons can be produced from the well. A completion involves the design, selection, and installation of equipment and materials in or around the wellbore for conveying, pumping, or controlling the production or injection of fluids. After the well has been completed, the production of oil and gas can begin.
It is increasingly commonplace within the industry to drill and complete multilateral wells. These are wells that contain one or more lateral wellbores that extend out from a main wellbore running to the earth""s surface. These lateral wellbores can increase the production capacity and ultimate recovery from a single productive formation, or may allow multiple reservoirs to be depleted from a single well. This is particularly true when drilling from an offshore platform where multiple wells must be drilled to cover the great expenses of offshore drilling.
Standard completion practices are to complete the lateral wellbores separately. This requires separate trips into the well to perform the completion operations, with each trip resulting in significant costs of money and time.
There is a need for apparatus and methods to reduce the time and expense of completing multilateral wells.
In general, according to an embodiment, a downhole assembly comprises a casing junction assembly adapted to be installed at a junction of plural wellbores, the casing junction assembly defining plural outlets to respective plural lateral wellbores, and the casing junction assembly having an integrated diverter providing plural guide surfaces proximate corresponding outlets.
A method of completing a well at a junction of plural wellbores comprises providing a casing junction assembly having plural outlets for establishing communication with respective plural wellbores, and providing a diverter integrated with the casing assembly, with the diverter having plural guide surfaces. A tool having plural conduits is engaged with the casing junction assembly, and the conduits are guided into respective outlets with the plural guide surfaces.
Other or alternative features will become apparent from the following description, from the drawings, and from the claims.

Apparatus and method for completing a junction of plural wellbores


The invention is directed to a motor-driven apparatus such as a motor-driven chain saw and the like having a lubricating oil pump having a piston which rotates about its central axis and an oil supply for a work tool. There is also a control means containing a rotating piston having cam member on the piston interacting with a control pin member which acts as a cam follower. There is provided means for adjusting the percentage of contact made between the cam member and the cam follower per revolution of the pumping member.

Conventional motor-driven apparatus such as motor-driven chain saws have as standard equipment a lubricating-oil pump feeding lubricating oil from an oil tank to the moving saw chain.
Known motor-driven apparatus such as motor-driven chain saws where the saw chain moves around a guide bar are equipped with a lubricating-oil pump which in the operation of the chain saw continuously feeds lubricating oil for the chain links into a groove in the guide bar. Motor driven apparatus of this type are also equipped with other attachments or tools, for example with hedge trimmers, drills or the like which require no lubrication during operation. Further, it is known to equip motor-driven chain saws with sharpening devices which permit resharpening the cutting links with the motor running and the saw chain rotating.
When working with the known attachment tools which require no oil lubrication, it has been customary to drain the oil tank prior to mounting the attachment in order to avoid an unintentional oil leakage. For this purpose, the lubricating oil was collected in a suitable container to be saved for later use. In various applications the operator did not drain the oil tank so that oil continued to be fed without being needed; this resulted in additional oil consumption and environmental pollution. Also in other operations such as when the tool is being operated in the idle state, continuous lubrication of the tool is unnecessary.
In U.S. Pat. No. 2,070,203 there is disclosed a reciprocating oil pump in which the amount of oil pumped can be varied between a maximum delivery and a minimum deliver. As disclosed the piston in the pumping cylinder is provided with a pair of spaced cams rotatable with the piston. A sleeve providing a bearing for a portion of the piston is provided and has a cam pin secured to it for reciprocating the piston. The sleeve bearing is rotatably adjustable so as to change the relative circumferential position of the cam pin and cam surfaces to thereby change the quantity of oil pumped from a maximum delivery to a minimum delivery.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,678,411 there is shown a control wherein the volume of oil is regulated by the interaction of a control cam and a control bolt which may be rotated to vary the stroke of the pump.
The U.S. Pat. No. 2,347,364 discloses the use of tapered pin and a matching two-walled cam surface to reciprocate a rotating piston.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,797,073 a tapered pin cam follower is used to vary the stroke of a piston.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,636,147 discloses a lubricating-oil pump for a motor-driven apparatus which provides for activating and interrupting the supply of lubricating oil to the tool driven be the motor.
Accordingly, a principal desirable object of the invention is to provide a lubricating-oil pump system having a rotating and reciprocating piston for a motor-drive apparatus and the like with a state of art control apparatus for regulating the quantity of oil from full maximum flow through a full intermediate range to a no flow or interrupted flow state.
Another object of the invention is to provide such control of flow by means of a camming pin having a cam follower and a complementary cam surface where the stroke of the pump's piston is inversely proportional to the predetermined axial space between the cam follower on the camming pin and the cam surface; the space controls the percentage of time the cam surface and cam follower are in contact during a revolution of the piston.
Yet another object of the invention is to adjust the piston stroke of a lubricating-oil pump having a rotating and reciprocating piston by varying the time per revolution a cam surface is on the piston in contact with its complementary cam follower and control pin.
Still another object of the invention is to provide a lubricating-oil pump having a rotating and reciprocating piston where the volume of oil pumped is a function of an axial adjustment of the piston and the time per revolution a cam surface is in contact with its cam follower.


A microresonator includes a beam-type resonator element in which a beam that is an oscillating portion of the resonator element has a high-resistance portion or an insulating portion.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a microresonator including a beam-type resonator element that is electrostatically driven, a band-pass filter including this microresonator, a semiconductor device including this microresonator, and a communication apparatus that uses a band-pass filter based on this microresonator.
2. Description of the Related Art
With progress in wireless communication technology in recent years, there has been demand for size reduction and weight reduction in a communication apparatus that uses wireless communication technology. Micro-electro-mechanical-system (MEMS) technology, which employs micro-processing technology used for a semiconductor to manufacture a micro mechanical structure, has been used for an RF signal processing portion where size reduction has been hitherto considered to be difficult. As an example thereof, there is a mechanical filter using mechanical resonance, which is expected to be applied to a communication field, because size is small and integration is possible.
Japanese Published Patent Application No. 2004-328076 discloses a beam-type microresonator element that is electrostatically driven, as a mechanical resonator element constituting a filter. As shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B, a microresonator element 1 is configured such that an input electrode 3 and an output electrode 4 that are lower electrodes are formed on a substrate 2 having at least an insulating surface. Further, an electrode to be an oscillating portion, that is, a beam 6 is formed opposing those input electrode 3 and output electrode 4 across a space 5. The input electrode 3 and the output electrode 4 are formed to intersect the lengthwise direction of the beam 6. The beam 6 straddles the input and output electrodes 3, 4 in the manner of a bridge and is integrally supported at both ends by support portions (anchor portions) 8 [8A, 8B] to be connected to wiring layers 7 disposed outside the input and output electrodes 3, 4. A necessary DC bias voltage VDC is applied to the beam 6 through the wiring layer 7.
In this microresonator element 1, based on a signal input from the input electrode 3, the beam 6 oscillates at a specific resonance frequency, because the beam 6 receives external force caused by electrostatic force generated between the beam 6 to which a DC bias voltage VDC is applied and the input electrode 3. This oscillation is transmitted as a signal to the output electrode 4 through the micro space 5.

Microresonator, band-pass filter, semiconductor device, and communication apparatus


A process for the production of a physiologically active peptide (a target peptide) containing cysteine residue, comprising the steps of:. (1) culturing Escherichia coli transformed with a plasmid capable of expressing a fusion protein under control of a promoter of E. coli origin or a promoter of a phage origin, wherein the fusion protein is represented by the following formula: EQU A--L--B PA0 wherein B represents a target peptide containing cysteine residue; A represents a partner polypeptide consisting of 90 to 220 amino acid residue but not containing cysteine residue; and L represents a linker amino acid residue positioned between C-terminal of the partner polypeptide and N-terminal of the target peptide wherein the same amino acid as the linker amino acid is not present in the target peptide, and the linker amino acid is selected so that the peptide bond between the C-terminal of the linker amino acid and the N-terminal of the target peptide is claimed by a protease or the linker amino acid is selectively degraded by a chemical substance; PA0 (2) disrupting the cultured cells and obtaining an insoluble fraction containing the fusion protein; PA0 (3) solubilizing the fusion protein with a solubilizing agent, and treating the solubilizing fusion protein with the protease or the chemical substance to liberate the target peptide, and isolating the target peptide.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a process for the production of a physiologically active peptide containing at least one cysteine residue (hereinafter abbreviated as target peptide).
2. Description of the Related Art
There have been many attempts to obtain physiologically active peptides or proteins of eukaryote origin in microbial cells such as Escherichia coli cells using recombinant DNA techniques.
To produce a relatively small size peptide which is readily degraded in microbial cells such as E. coli, a process is usually used wherein a desired peptide or protein is produced in microbial cells as a protein fusion with another peptide or protein, the produced fusion protein is then chemically or enzymatically cleaved to liberate the desired peptide or protein, and the desired peptide and protein is isolated and purified.
Various methods are known for liberating a desired peptide from a fusion protein. In the case of a desired peptide not containing a methionine residue, the desired peptide is produced as a fusion protein wherein the desired peptide is fused with a partner protein via a methionine residue, and the desired peptide is liberated from the partner protein by cleavage at the methionine residue with cyanogen bromide (Science, 198, 1059 (1977); and Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 76, 106 (1978)). In the case of a desired peptide not containing an arginine or lysine residue, the desired peptide is produced as a fusion protein wherein the desired peptide is fused with a partner protein via the arginine or lysine residue, and the desired peptide is liberated from the partner protein by proteolytic cleavage at the arginine or lysine residue with trypsin, which specifically cleaves a peptide bond at the C-terminal of the arginine or lysine residue (Nature, 285, 456, 1980). Moreover, in some cases, Achromobacter protease I (hereinafter abbreviated as API, also known as lysyl endopeptidase), which specifically cleaves a peptide bond at the C-terminal of a lysine residue, may be used.
In many cases, a partner protein which forms a fusion protein in combination with a desired peptide is selected from a protein which is naturally produced by a host organism. In this case, usually, a polypeptide fragment having an appropriate size derived from the N-terminal part of a protein which is produced in large amounts by the host is used as a partner protein. In such a case, it is considered that the size of the partner protein affects the productivity of the desired peptide. For example, although it is thought that by using a smaller size of a partner protein a larger amount of a desired peptide is obtained, because of a high proportion of the desired peptide in the fusion protein. This does not always occur. For example, in the case of production of insulin using E. coli .beta.-galactosidase as a partner in a fusion protein, although a decrease of the size of the .beta.-galactosidase region provides an increase in the production of the target insulin, a further decrease of the .beta.-galactosidase size decreases the production of the target insulin (Gene, 29, 251, 1984). As seen from the above, when a particular peptide is to be produced as a fusion protein, there is no rule determining a size of a partner protein which provides maximum productivity of a desired peptide.
Therefore, the most important point for efficient production of a target peptide is the selection of the most suitable partner protein for the target peptide efficiently to express a fusion protein of the target peptide and the partner protein, and efficiently recover the target peptide from the fusion protein. However, since a general rule for such a selection has not been established, the optimum conditions for a particular target peptide must be found by experiment.
Next, as examples of a target peptide containing cysteine residues, .alpha.-type human atrial natriuretic polypeptide (hereinafter abbreviated as .alpha.-hANP), and human calcitonin precursor (hereinafter abbreviated as HPTC) are mentioned, and the problems in the production of the these peptides by the recombinant DNA technique are described in detail.
The .alpha.-hANP is a peptide consisting of 28 amino acid residues, containing two cysteine residues at portions 7 and 23 which form an intramolecular disulfide bond, and having the following formula (I): ##STR1## wherein (1) and (2) are directly bonded.
The .alpha.-hANP was extracted and purified from human atria by Matsuo and Kangawa (European Patent Publication No. 0147193). The .alpha.-hANP exhibits a notable natriuretic activity and blood pressure lowering activity (Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun. 118, 131-139, 1984).
On the other hand, the HPCT is a peptide consisting of 36 amino acid residues, containing two cysteine residues at positions 1 and 7 which form an intramolecular disulfide bond, and having the following formula (II): ##STR2## wherein (1) is directly bonded with (2), and (3) is directly bonded with (4).
The HPCT is known as an intermediate of human calcitonin corresponding to a sequence from the first amino acid to the 32nd amino acid in the formula (II) (Nature 295 345-347, 1982).
Although these peptides are now chemically synthesized, the process for chemical synthesis of a large amount of these peptide is labor intensive and time-consuming. Therefore, since these peptide in particular are intended for use as pharmaceuticals, a simple and inexpensive process for large scale production of these peptides is strongly desired.
To resolve the above-mentioned problems, attempts have been made to produce such peptides using a recombinant DNA technique. For example, to produce .alpha.-hANP, .alpha.-hANP is expressed as a fusion protein comprising the .alpha.-hANP and E. coli Trp E protein, and a crude extract containing the fusion protein prepared from a cell disruptant is treated with lysyl endopeptidase or a coagulation factor Xa to liberate the .alpha.-hANP from the fusion protein (Seikagaku, 57(8), 854(1984). In this procedure, however, the recovery process is complicated and the recovery ratio of the target peptide from the fusion protein is low, and thereofor, this procedure is not practical. To resolve the problem, the present inventors invented a process to produce a physiologically active peptide not containing lysine residues represented by .alpha.-hANP. The target peptide is expressed as a fusion protein comprising the target peptide and a partner polypeptide of 90 to 220 amino acid residues not containing lysine residues linked via a lysine residue, and the fusion protein is treated with lysyl endopeptidase to liberate the target peptide (Japanese Patent Application No. 61- 101100). However, this improved process does not provide a satisfactory recovery efficiency of the target peptide.
On the other hand, for the production of the HPCT, the present inventors reported a process for the production of a derivative of HPCT wherein the eighth methionine residue is converted to valine residue in the formula (II) (Japanese Patent Application No. 58-203953). In this process, the target peptide is expressed as a fusion peptide with E. coli alkaline phosphatase, and then the fusion protein is treated by cyanogen bromide to obtain the target peptide. However, this process, as described for .alpha.-hANP, also does not have a satisfactory recovery efficiency of the target peptide from the fusion protein. In contrast to these cases, it is known that, in the production of a peptide not containing cysteine residues by a recombinant DNA technique, the recovery efficiency of the target peptide from fusion protein is higher than the case of a target peptide containing cysteine residue(s). Therefore, a key factor in the efficient production of a peptide containing cysteine residue(s) is an increase of the recovery efficiency of the target peptide from the fusion protein. A solution to this problem is strongly desired at this time.
Therefore, the present invention is intended to provide a process which can be applied to a large scale production of a peptide containing cysteine residue(s), and especially, relates to the selection of a partner protein and a linker amino acid which bond the partner protein and the target peptide in fusion protein.

Use of a 97 amino acid leader sequence from the E. coli B-galactosidase gene for the production of hanp and hptc as fusion proteins


The invention features a hand held device that dispenses fluid during operation. The hand held device includes a handle and a device head operably engaged thereto. The handle has a proximal end forming a product dispensing aperture, a distal end forming a cavity for housing a fluid, a supply channel in fluid communication with the cavity and the product dispensing aperture, a peristaltic pump physically engaged with the supply channel, and a flexible barrier that rests between the peristaltic pump and the supply channel preventing direct contact of the supply channel by the peristaltic pump. Actuation of the peristaltic pump displaces fluid from the cavity to the product dispensing aperture.

Hand held liquid dispensing devices, such as razors and toothbrushes, are known. For example, razors that dispense liquid have been disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,653,188, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,701,674 and 5,070,611, and U.S. Applications 2009/0235530, 2009/0211099, 2009/0183371, 2008/0216322, and 2006/0272154. Disclosed in these and other publications are various wet shaving product configurations that include systems for conveying a shaving preparation during shaving, e.g., a lubricating fluid, from a reservoir incorporated in the razor structure in the form of a hollowed out razor handle or even an aerosol can that acts as a razor handle, to a dispensing location near the head of the razor. A number of more recent wet shaving razors have cartridges that are moveably mounted, in particular, pivotable, relative to the handle structures on which they are mounted either permanently, in the case of disposable safety razors intended to be discarded when the blade or blades have become dulled, or detachably to allow replacement of the blade unit on a reusable handle structure. Exemplary razors of this sort are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,789,321 and 7,127,817. Exemplary toothbrushes having pumps are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,918,995, 5,458,563, and 7,699,552.
Additionally, the use of movable actuators to dispense liquid from the razor is known. Examples of razors utilizing peristaltic pumps are disclosed in U.S. Applications 2006/0289031 and 2008/0016692. However, many of these wet razors that dispense liquid during use are awkward to operate and cumbersome to hold because of the size and shape needed to accommodate a peristaltic pump. Some of these devices require the mechanism for dispensing the liquid to be reset after every operation of the device. Moreover, some even require multiple parts and electrical power from a wall outlet, limiting the portability of the hand held device. Furthermore, with multiple parts, when stored and during operation, these hand held devices occupy valuable space in bathrooms that are typically limited in size. Additionally, most peristaltic pumps contain a rotor with rollers attached thereto. Smaller peristaltic pumps, however, requires nodes or nubs on a rotor, rather than rollers, like those disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,098,261 and 4,025,241, and GB 2,270,300. When rotated, the nodes or nubs tend to pull and/or tug on the tube transporting the liquid. This pulling and tugging by the smaller peristaltic pumps is believed to cause displacement of the tube, as well as wear and tear on the material of the tube, ultimately reducing the life of the device. Exemplary toothbrushes having pumps are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,918,995, 5,458,563, and 7,699,552.
A need therefore exists to provide a razor that overcomes one or more of the aforementioned problems.

Liquid dispensing device comprising a peristaltic pump


A network meeting application for providing network meetings, such as web conference meetings, runs on a presenter device. In response to a request for a network meeting from an attendee device, the presenter device creates a secure desktop separate from a working desktop. The presenter may use the secure desktop to share documents, presentations, or other applications with the attendee device. The attendee device is blocked from accessing the working desktop of the presenter device. A presenter using the presenter device may switch between the working desktop and the secure desktop. Security policies, downloaded to the presenter device from a server, determine the applications the attendee may run on the secure desktop. The secure desktop thereby protects the integrity of the presenter's working desktop during a web conference meeting, while allowing documents, presentations, or other applications to be shared with attendees via the secure desktop.

Network conferencing software allows two or more remote parties to conduct meetings over a public network such as the Internet. For example, remote parties may use web conferencing for services such as customer support, troubleshooting, training, interviewing, or sales meetings. A web conference meeting may consist of one or more presenters and one or more attendees, each of which may be located at a geographically remote site. Web conference software allows the presenters and attendees to share documents, presentations or other applications between their computers, and may allow an attendee to view or control a presenter's computer desktop.
Conventional web conference software operates on the presenter's working desktop. When an attendee remotely controls the presenter's working desktop, the attendee may open files and run applications from the working desktop. As a result, attendees may have access to sensitive information on the presenter's working desktop, such as emails or address books. Consequently, when using web conferencing software, presenters may feel as though sensitive information and working desktop integrity are at risk. Some web conference programs attempt to solve this problem by limiting the applications that a remotely controlling attendee may launch. However, sensitive information may be inadvertently shared with attendees. Further, actions taken by an attendee remotely controlling the presenter's desktop may directly impact the presenter's working desktop.


To provide an improved meat hook for piercing and moving meat, the meat hook comprises: (1) a rigid, curved cylinder having a pointed meat piercing end; (2) a handle engaging end; and (3) a handle rigidly secured to the handle engaging end of the cylinder with the cylinder extending from the front side of the handle near one end at an angle of approximately 90 degrees or more. The cylinder is formed with an inclined portion extending from the handle engaging end with a curved end section extending from the inclined portion and relatively straight portion extending from the curved end section to form a pointed, piercing end. The piercing end is preferably in prallel, spaced relation from the front side of the handle and may be formed to extend beyond a plane which passes through the end of the handle. The meat book may be grasped with the cylinder adjacent to the index finger or the little finger to selectively position the meat piercing end in either direction for piercing the meat with a downward or upward thrust.

This invention relates to meat hooks, and more particularly to a meat hook for use in handling slabs of meat in slaughter houses, meat packing plants and the like.
One type of meat hook now in use includes a handle and a hook portion. The hook portion includes a curved, elongated solid metal cylinder having a straight rod section connected to the handle at one end and a curved section forming a hook with a pointed end extending from the other end of the rod. The rod extends from the midpoint of an elongated handle and the meat hook is held with the rod extending between the first and second fingers or the second and third fingers when the handle is gripped by a user. The curved end section of the hook portion extends out of the plane of the handle. The weight of the meat on the hook portion is at least in part carried by the rod against one or the other of the straddling fingers as the user grips the handle. Many users switch back and forth between the two positions to relieve the pain and trauma to the fingers straddling the elongated metal cylinder.
This type of meat hook has a disadvantage in that the rod extending between the fingers, the disposition of the meat piercing end of the hook and the angle of the wrist from the disposition of the hook portion with respect to the handle may result in injuries such as "tendinitis" from continuous use of the meat hook.
Another type of meat hook known to the art has an elongated handle that receives a U-shaped elongated solid metal cylinder joined to each end of the handle and a curved elongated solid cylinder forming a hook with a pointed end. The hook portion is centrally disposed with respect to the handle and perpendicular to its main axis and extends from the U-shaped elongated cylinder.
This type of hook has a disadvantage in that the U-shaped, elongated, solid metal cylinder and a curved, elongated, solid cylinder forming a hook with a pointed end cannot be formed from a single elongated, solid metal cylinder, which complicates the design and increases the cost and weight of the meat hook.


In an image forming apparatus, the passage of paper is detected by light and compact optical sensor apparatus including a plurality of light emitting devices, a plurality of optical sensor units, each of which includes an optical sensor disposed so as to receive the light from the light emitting device and an output circuit for selectively outputting a signal from the optical sensor, and a control unit connected to the optical sensor units through common cables. The output circuit of each optical sensor unit passes the sensor signal from the optical sensor of the unit to an output terminal or outputs the signal to one of the terminals of the unit, according to a selection signal generated at the control unit for exclusively designating the optical sensor units. Since each optical sensor unit outputs the sensor signal only when selected, all optical sensor units can use a common output cables, thereby reducing the weight and the size of the apparatus.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an optical sensor apparatus for detecting the passage of paper, provided in an image forming apparatus, such as a facsimile machine, a copy machine or the like.
2. Description of Related Art
In an image forming apparatus, such as a facsimile machine, a copy machine, or the like, plural sheets of plain paper are loaded in a cartridge or a tray for storing paper. When printed, each sheet of paper is fed sheet by sheet front the cartridge or the tray to a photosensitive drum, at which toner image is applied to the paper. Since respective processes and timings of image formation have to correspond to the position of the paper, such an image forming apparatus generally uses an optical sensor apparatus constituted of a plurality of optical sensors disposed at positions at which existence or passage of the paper is detected. In order to simplify control of the optical sensor device, those optical sensors are controlled by a control unit including a central processing unit. Output terminals of each optical sensor are connected to cables, respectively, which are connected to the control circuit. While light is being emitted from the light emitting device, if a sheet of paper passes between the light emitting device and the corresponding optical sensor, the control unit receives an output signal of a low voltage from the optical sensor, thereby detecting that the paper is passing by the optical sensor. If the output voltage remains in a high voltage, the control circuit detects that no paper passes by the optical sensor.
In an image forming apparatus having such an optical sensor apparatus constituted of a plurality of optical sensors, however, the number of cables increases as the number of the optical sensors increases. For example, in an image forming apparatus, such as a facsimile machine, using the optical sensor device of twenty sensors or above, a bundle of the cables becomes 5 to 10 mm in diameter, so that the cables are prone to prevent the image forming apparatus from being compact in size and light in weight.

Object detecting device having multiple optical sensors with a common output line and a common selection signal line


A method includes introducing a tool string into a wellbore having material disposed in an annular region surrounding the casing. Obtaining acoustic refracted waveform measurements of the material from a cement bond logging tool, obtaining ultrasonic measurements of the material from a circumferential acoustic scanning tool, obtaining gamma radiation measurements scattered from the material from a circumferential spectral density logging (RSDX) tool by emitting gamma radiation from a radioactive source in a rotating portion of the RSDX and detecting scattered gamma radiation using near and far spectral density detectors, and obtaining thermal neutron radiation measurements scattered from the material from a dual spaced neutron logging tool. A computer obtains measurements and generates a deliverable that includes one or more cross plots that identify a compositional equivalent of the material in an entire circumference of the wellbore.

In the oil and gas industry, after drilling a wellbore it is common practice to line the wellbore with one or more strings of pipe known in the industry as "casing," and secure the casing in the wellbore with cement pumped into the wellbore annulus defined between the casing and the wall of the wellbore. In some cases, two or more strings of casing are concentrically positioned in the wellbore and cement is pumped between the casings and the wellbore annulus to secure the casings within the wellbore.
Good cement bonding characterization between the casing and the wellbore, and also the location and distribution of other classes of downhole materials and their characterization, is essential and particularly critical in the case of plug and abandonment operations. For instance, accurately characterizing the materials or substances disposed within the annulus, and determining their azimuthal and depth distributions throughout the wellbore may help an operator determine a preferred location to cut the casing so that upper portions of the casing may be pulled out of the wellbore. More particularly, determining the azimuthal and depth location of particular materials present within the annulus may help determine where the casing is relatively "free" or has little resistance to being extracted (pulled) from the well after being cut. It is also desirable to estimate the forces required to extract cut casing when portions of the casing are covered entirely or in part by solids and/or gelled materials that increase the friction existing between the casing and materials in the annulus. Additionally, it is desirable to estimate the presence of gas and/or lighter fluids that may pose a risk or hazard to operations performed during well intervention and abandonment activities.
Past methods to accomplish this include using data acquired from cement bond logging tools, such as omni-directional or sectored/segmented logging tools, ultrasonic measurement tools, and pad-mounted spectral density logging tools. Like the sectored/segmented cement bond logging tools, the pad-mounted spectral density logging tools acquire data only from a sector of the wellbore and do not acquire data from the entire circumference of the wellbore. Further, in deviated wellbores, the pad-mounted spectral density logging tools may only acquire data only from the lower side of the wellbore since the weighted measurement pad may become oriented in the downward direction due to gravity. It is therefore difficult to accurately determine the presence of certain substances, such as settled drilling fluid ("mud") solids, in the wellbore annulus and in between the casings and thereby differentiate these substances from the cement present in the wellbore annulus and in between the casings.
Over a period of years from the initial completion of the well to the time of well abandonment, drilling fluids left in place in the wellbore annulus deteriorate and precipitate the suspended weighting materials, which often accumulate between concentric or overlapping layers of casing. These solids can act as a binding agent that makes it harder to extract cut casing above a cutting depth.
By relying on legacy acoustic and spectral density measurements, the identification of such solids is often partially inaccurate. This is because acoustic sensor readings for such solids fail to provide significant contrast to adjacent materials present in the wellbore annulus at a suitable level sufficient for identification purposes. This often results in the incorrect determination of the character of materials within the annulus and, therefore, a resulting miscalculation of optimal or feasible cutting forces required to extract the casing.

Rotating spectral density tool for behind pipe evaluation


A piezoelectric element comprises a piezoelectric layer consisting a complex oxide having a perovskite structure containing bismuth and iron and electrodes provided to the piezoelectric layer. The complex oxide further contains a first dopant element that is at least one of magnesium and zinc and a second dopant element that is cerium.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a liquid ejecting head and a liquid ejecting apparatus, each including a pressure generating chamber communicating with a nozzle aperture and a piezoelectric element that includes a piezoelectric layer and electrodes applying a voltage to the piezoelectric layer and functions to change the pressure in the pressure generating chamber, and relates to the piezoelectric element.
2. Related Art
Some piezoelectric actuators used in liquid ejecting heads include a piezoelectric element having a structure in which a piezoelectric layer made of a piezoelectric material capable of electromechanical conversion, such as a crystallized dielectric material, is disposed between two electrodes. Ink jet recording heads are a typical type of liquid ejecting head. An ink jet recording head includes a vibration plate defining a part of a pressure generating chamber communicating with nozzle apertures through which ink droplets are ejected. In the ink jet recording head, a piezoelectric element deforms the vibration plate to apply a pressure to the ink in the pressure generating chamber, thereby ejecting ink droplets through the nozzle apertures.
The piezoelectric material (piezoelectric ceramic) used for forming the piezoelectric layer of such a piezoelectric element is required to have high piezoelectric properties, and a typical example of the piezoelectric material is lead zirconate titanate (PZT) (JP-A-2001-223404).
On the other hand, it is desirable to reduce lead from piezoelectric materials, from the viewpoint of environmental protection. An exemplary lead-free piezoelectric material is BiFeO3, which has a perovskite structure expressed by ABO3. In the ABO3 structure, A represents the A site and has 12 oxygen ligands, and B represents the B site and has 6 oxygen ligands. However, for example, BiFeO3-based piezoelectric materials are less insulating and liable to cause leakage current. If leakage current is liable to occur, the material is likely to crack when it is used while a high voltage is applied, and is therefore difficult to use in a liquid ejecting head. Accordingly, piezoelectric materials used in piezoelectric elements are required to have a high insulation value of 1×10−3 A/cm2 or less in use, for example, at a typical driving voltage of 25 V.
This issue arises not only in ink jet recording heads, but also in other liquid ejecting heads that eject droplets other than ink, and piezoelectric elements used for applications other than piezoelectric elements have the same issue. Furthermore, leakage current results in a serious problem that the energy consumption of the piezoelectric element is increased when the piezoelectric element is used as a sensor. It is desirable that leakage current be low as well in piezoelectric elements used for piezoelectric sensors, infrared sensors, thermal sensors and pyroelectric sensors that are used at an applied voltage of, for example, 1 V or less.

Piezoelectric element, liquid ejecting head, and liquid ejecting apparatus


A drawer-type circuit interrupter is constructed with a first contact member having an open-and-close contact member, an open-and-close operation mechanism for operating said first contact member, an interrupter main body having a second contact member and a mounting frame having the external line contact terminals, wherein the second contact member is a movable-type provided with an open-and-close contact portion that is contactable with and separable from the first contact member on the one end thereof and a drawer contact member that contacts with an external line contact terminal on the other end thereof, and a compression spring for urging the second contact member into a direction for contacting the external line contact terminal on the other end of the second contact member. When the interrupter body is in the connected position the drawer contact portion on the other end of said second contact member and said external line contact terminal are into contact. The second contacting member and the external line connecting terminal can be constituted to contact each other at a plurality of points, for example two, to improve contact and interruption performance.

The present invention relates to a drawer-type circuit interrupter, in particular to a contact device of such a drawer-type circuit interrupter.
Conventionally, the maintenance and checkout of a circuit interrupter provided in an electric circuit is usually done by removing the circuit interrupter from a switchboard, etc. In removing such circuit interrupter, it is necessary to cut-off electric power and interrupt service for safety purpose, because the electric wires must be disconnected when the circuit interrupter is removed. However, when the electric power source in a large electric circuit system is interrupted, the cutoff effects the other electric circuits provided in parallel with the one for which the circuit interrupter is to be checked out, causing the great problems.
Therefore, there are many instances where the circuit interrupter used in such electric circuits, particularly large type circuit interrupters are made as drawer-type circuit interrupters consisting of a mounting frame secured on a construction such as a switchboard and an interrupter main body removably provided on the mounting frame. In the case of drawer-type circuit interrupter, however the maintenance thereof can be easily done without causing any interruption, because the main body of the circuit interrupter can be dismantled without removing the outer wires connected to the terminals provided on the mounting frame.


A method for processing an image of a body region is provided, the region comprising a plurality of vessels capable of propagating a fluid of the body, the image comprising a plurality of pixels each being associated with an intensity. The method comprising determining, for each pixel, a probability that the pixel belongs to a vessel, based on the intensity of the pixel; simulating a propagation of the fluid from at least one source pixel towards the pixels of the image, the propagation being simulated to have a velocity that is function of the probability that the pixels of the image belong to a vessel; and inferring from the simulation a propagation time between the source pixel and each of the pixels of the image.

1. Field of the Invention
The field of the invention relates to a method for processing an image of a region of a human or animal body and device for implementing said method.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In the field of medical imaging, images of regions in a human or animal body are frequently taken to prepare subsequent medicinal treatment or surgical operations. The observed regions are most often vascularized with blood acting as carrier fluid from one organ or region to another by propagating through body vessels. In some cases, a practitioner wishes to direct a medicinal product towards a target in the region, for example, in order to eradicate a localized tumour. Alternatively, it is sometimes necessary to cut off the supply of blood to some diseased targets of the region in order to remove them.
X-ray imaging is conventionally used to take images of regions in the human body. However, X-rays primarily allow the viewing of hard structures in the body e.g. bones. To obtain an image of vessels of the body such as blood vessels (veins, arteries, etc.), it is necessary to inject a product opaque to X-rays such as iodine. Thus, the image obtained gives a certain visualization of the vessels and their mapping for the practitioner. However, because of the small diameter of some vessels (e.g. capillaries) and the limited resolution of imaging techniques, some vessels are not visible in the image. Therefore, the region to be treated may be separated from the portal chosen by the practitioner by multiple vessels not shown in the image.
Because of the above mentioned issues, the practitioner cannot plan surgical treatment or the injection of medicinal products with accuracy. In addition, the images do not produce reliable, precise visualization of vessel mapping in the observed region. Furthermore, the obtained images are static, which does not produce information regarding the propagation of blood in the region. Yet, propagation dynamics are crucial, notably in applications involving the injection of therapeutic substances.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide a method and a device that can improve knowledge of vessel mapping and of propagation dynamics in the observed region.


According to one embodiment, an X-ray computed tomography apparatus includes a gantry body, a column, and fixing equipment. The gantry body includes a bore to form a field of view, and also includes an X-ray tube and an X-ray detector. The column supports the gantry body so that the gantry body is vertically movable with a central axis of the bore extending vertically to a floor face. The fixing equipment fixes a subject holder so that the subject holder is located on a passage of the bore and partially in the bore in a phase of attaching a subject to the subject holder.

X-ray computed tomography is usually performed on a patient who is in the lying position on a bed. However, when X-ray computed tomography is used to diagnose deglutition disorders and the like, it is desirable that a patient be in the standing position. X-ray computed tomography for patients in the standing position has not yet been put to practical use.


An organic light emitting diode display comprises: a display panel; a touch screen panel disposed on a display surface of the display panel; a sensing unit for sensing a position through the touch screen panel; and a polarizing plate disposed on the touch screen panel, wherein the touch screen panel is attached to the display surface area of the display panel with an air layer provided therebetween.

1. Field of Invention
This document relates to an organic light emitting diode display and a manufacturing thereof.
2. Related Art
An organic light emitting element used for an organic light emitting diode display is a self-emission element in which a light emitting layer is formed between two electrodes disposed on a substrate. The organic light emitting diode display is divided into a top-emission type, a bottom-emission type, and a dual-emission type according to a light emission direction. The organic light emitting diode display is divided into a passive matrix type and an active matrix type according to a driving method.
A subpixel disposed in the organic light emitting diode display comprises a transistor unit including a switching transistor, a driving transistor, and a capacitor and an organic light emitting diode including a lower electrode connected to the driving transistor included in the transistor unit, an organic light emitting layer, and an upper electrode.
In the organic light emitting diode display, a scan signal, a data signal, a power, etc. are supplied to a plurality of subpixels arranged in a matrix format and light is emitted from the selected subpixels, thereby displaying an image. The organic light emitting diode display is advantageous in that it can be realized as a thin display device. Much research has been recently made to add a touch screen function to thin display devices such as the organic light emitting diode display.
However, the conventional organic light emitting diode display with a touch screen function has problems, such as degradation in visibility and exposure of transparent electrodes, due to a difference in reflected light caused by a difference in refractive index between an area in which the transparent electrodes for performing the touch screen function are formed and an area in which no transparent electrodes are formed. Thus, improvement thereof is required.

Organic light emitting diode display and manufacturing method thereof


A readily assembled and disassembled gazebo having a four sided upright portion made up of like sized pairs of panels at each of the four corners of said upright portion. Each pairs of panels is joined at right angles at one of their vertical edges. The pairs of panels are connected to adjacent pairs of panels at their upper extremities by tubular horizontal members spanning the space between the free vertical edges of the joined pairs of panels.

Various gazebos have been proposed which are fabricated in sections or pieces and are intended to be adapted for assembly and disassembly. For example, U.S. Design Pat. Nos. D458689, and D411309. Typically, a gazebo is sold in knocked down form with instructions to the buyer for assembly. The gazebos often are not left permanently in an assembled state. Instead, they may be, for example, assembled in the spring and disassembled in the fall, or put up for a special occasion and then taken down.
All of the gazebos known in the marketplace are assembled or held together with the aid of numerous fasteners (bolts, nuts and washers). Assembly and disassembly requires the use of tools which may tax the skill of many persons. In any event, the known gazebos take an hour or even several hours to assemble or disassemble, involving the placement and tightening of dozens of nuts, bolts and washers.
The present invention provides a gazebo which is for simpler to assemble and disassemble, and reduces the time required for each of these operations to a matter of fifteen minutes or even less, all without the need for tools.
Briefly, this invention comprises a readily assembled and disassembled gazebo having a four sided upright portion made up of like sized pairs of panels at each of the four corners of said upright portion, each said pairs of panels being joined at right angles at one of their vertical edges, each said pairs of panels being connected to adjacent pairs of panels at their upper extremities by tubular horizontal members spanning open space between the free vertical edges of said joined pairs of panels;
at each of the upper corner extremities of each of said joined pair of panel members and slidably received on projections extending above said panels, a corner member having a tubular projection projecting upwardly toward the center of the gazebo, each said tubular projection being slidably connected to a tubular roof supporting member, and
said tubular roof supporting members being slidably connected to a raised central roof supporting member whereby said tubular roof supporting members and said central roof supporting member are adapted to support a sloping roof surface material covering said gazebo.
This invention further comprises a readily assembled and disassembled gazebo having a four sided upright portion made up of like sized pairs of panels at each of the four corners of said upright portion, each said pairs of panels being joined at right angles at one of their vertical edges, each said pairs of panels being connected to adjacent pairs of panels at their upper extremities by tubular horizontal members spanning open space between the free vertical edges of said joined pairs of panels;
at each of the upper corner extremities of each of said joined pair of panel members and slidably received on projections extending above said panels, a corner member having a tubular projection projecting upwardly toward the center of the gazebo, each said tubular projection being slidably connected to a tubular roof supporting member, and
all of said tubular roof supporting members being slidably connected to a raised central roof supporting member whereby said tubular roof supporting members and said central roof supporting member are adapted to support a sloping roof surface material covering said gazebo.
Still further his invention further comprises a kit adapted to be readily assembled and disassembled to form a gazebo having a four sided upright portion, said kit including like sized pairs of panels for forming each of the four corners of said upright portion, each said pairs of panels being adapted to be joined together at right angles at one of their vertical edges,
tubular members, each said pair of panels being adapted to connected to adjacent pairs of panels at its upper extremity by said tubular members to horizontally span open space between the free vertical edges of the joined pairs of panels;
a corner member adapted to be slidably received at each of the upper corner extremities of each of said joined pair of panel members, said corner member having a tubular projection projecting upwardly toward the center of the gazebo,
tubular roof supporting members, each said tubular projection being adapted to be slidably connected to a said tubular roof supporting member, and
a central roof supporting member,
all of said roof supporting members being adapted to be slidably connected to said central roof supporting member whereby said tubular roof supporting members and said central roof supporting member are adapted to support a sloping roof surface material covering said gazebo.

Abstract: At each of the upper corner extremities of each of the joined pair of panel members and slidably received on projections extending above the panels, a corner member having a tubular projection projecting upwardly toward the center of the gazebo. Each of the tubular projection being slidably connected to a tubular roof supporting member.

Abstract: All of the tubular roof supporting members are slidably connected to a raised central roof supporting member whereby the tubular roof supporting members and the central roof supporting member are adapted to support a sloping roof surface material covering the gazebo.

Zhongshan Hua Yuan, Qiu Yue Yuan 17 A, 310014