In the case of motor vehicles from at least two vehicle series assigned to different vehicle classes, a particularly economical manufacturing of the vehicle body of the motor vehicles is achieved in that only the forward section of the rear longitudinal members has a different design depending on the vehicle class, while the center section and the rear section of the rear longitudinal members have a vehicle-class-spanning uniform construction.

The invention relates to a group of motor vehicles.
Motor vehicles are categorized in different vehicle classes as a function of their shape, their size and/or their pricing. Instead of the term "vehicle class," the term "vehicle segment" is also used. The European Commission, for example, has defined the following vehicle classes for the purpose of defining the market with respect to competition: Minicars, subcompacts, midsized cars, top midsized cars, top-end cars, luxury class cars. The German Federal Motor Transport Authority (Deutsches Kraftfahrt-Bundesamt) differentiates between the following vehicle classes: Minicars, subcompacts, compacts, midsized cars, top midsized cars, top-end cars. There are further additional categories, such as cross-country vehicles, sports cars, convertibles, minivans, multi-purpose vehicles.
For increasing the economic efficiency of the manufacturing process, motor vehicle manufacturers use uniform shell components as much as possible for the body shells of their motor vehicles. Here, it is the goal to comprehensively use such "common parts" also in the case of motor vehicles of different vehicle classes. The use of "common parts" can clearly reduce investments in tools and facilities in the pressing plant and in body shell construction. Some manufacturers of motor vehicles refer to the use of common parts, for example, by applying the term "platform strategy".
In the case of vehicle body floor assemblies for motor vehicles of different vehicle classes, different track widths at the rear axle, in the case of the same screw-down points for the rear axle, as a rule, are represented by way of different offsets of the rear wheels. However, a spreading of the track width can only take place to a limited extent. A further differentiation characteristic between the individual vehicle classes is the loading width which, in the case of fold-down seatbacks, is available for the through-loading of transported goods between the passenger compartment and the trunk. The implementation of different loading widths between the vehicle classes therefore requires different vehicle body floor assemblies and/or different rear axles.
It is an object of the invention to provide a new approach for the manufacturing of body shells for motor vehicles of different vehicle classes which, while the use of common parts in the rearward section of the body shell of the floor assembly of a motor vehicle body (also called "rear body end") is as extensive as possible, nevertheless permits a clear differentiation between the various vehicle classes. The differentiation is to take place particularly by a spreading of the loading width.
This object is achieved by a group of motor vehicles.
In connection with the present invention, a group of motor vehicles is the aggregate of motor vehicles of at least a first and a second vehicle series, the two vehicle series belonging to different vehicle classes. Naturally, the body shells of more than two vehicle series may also be combined to form a group of motor vehicles.
According to the invention, the rear body end of motor vehicles of different vehicle classes is designed such that the rear longitudinal members are uniform in their center section and rear section; i.e. are therefore constructed as common parts. According to the invention, only the forward section of the rear longitudinal members has a different design depending on the vehicle class. The forward and center section of the rear longitudinal members are mutually connected to a one-piece longitudinal member by welding. By using the longitudinal members, which are uniform in their center sections and rear sections, considerable savings are achieved with respect to all vehicle classes, particularly with respect to investments for deep-drawing dies for producing the rear longitudinal members by sheet metal shell construction. Also in the case of rear longitudinal members which consist at least partially of extruded sections or cast materials, considerable savings can be achieved by the standardization of the center section and the rear section of the rear longitudinal member.
A spreading of the width at the rearward floor assembly of the motor vehicles of the different vehicle classes can be achieved in a particularly efficient manner by means of the invention. The forward sections of the rear longitudinal members, which are designed differently according to the invention, have a different offset in the transverse (Y-direction) of the vehicle. In this manner, realistic spreads of the width can be achieved in the rear body end of the motor vehicles of the individual vehicle series, whereby greater track width differences can be implemented than by the variation of the offsets of the rear wheels. Because the rear body ends have different widths in the case of the motor vehicles according to the invention, depending on the vehicle class, differently-sized distances will occur between the interior surfaces of the rear wheel wells, so that different trunk volumes and in the case of fold-down seatbacks of the backseats, different loading widths between the passenger compartment and the trunk are created in the respective vehicle classes.
In the same manner, as an alternative or in addition, by means of the invention, a longitudinal spread of the rearward floor assembly of the individual motor vehicles of the different vehicle classes can be implemented. In particular, by differently-designed forward sections of the rear longitudinal members, an adaptation takes place to different positions of the so-called heel plate cross-member with respect to the connection line through the wheel contact points of the rear wheels. The terms "heel plate" and "heel plate cross-member" are further explained below. As a result of the different design of the forward sections of the rear longitudinal members, different positions of the heel plate cross-member in the longitudinal direction of the motor vehicle (X-direction), for example, caused by tank volumes of different sizes in the individual vehicle classes, can be compensated.
Furthermore, in the same manner, by means of the invention, as an alternative or in addition, different ground clearances of the motor vehicles of the different vehicle classes can be implemented in that, as a result of differently-designed forward sections of the rear longitudinal members, an adaptation takes place to lower edges of different heights of the lateral longitudinal members (sills) of the motor vehicles. By means of the invention, an offset in the vertical direction (Z-direction) of the motor vehicles can thereby be compensated.
The motor vehicles of two vehicle classes may be combined in the group of motor vehicles. In this case, the vehicle-class-spanning concept according to the invention is mainly but not exclusively suitable for "neighboring" vehicle classes, for example, for vehicles of the compact class and the mid-sized class or for motor vehicles of the midsized class and the top midsized class. Naturally, the group of motor vehicles may also be expanded to more than two vehicles classes.
The term "common part" (like the term "uniform component") comprises those shell parts which are produced by means of the same deep-drawing die. Subsequent to the production in the pressing plant, these "common parts" can be changed in their length dimension by shortening or by lengthening. During the shortening by cutting to length, for example, a longitudinal member, which is used in a comprehensive manner for motor vehicles of two or more vehicle classes, depending on the vehicle class, is shortened by trimming at one of its end sections for the motor vehicles of the smaller vehicle class(es). As an alternative, the longitudinal member can also be lengthened by attaching an extension piece depending on the vehicle class, by riveting, welding, screwing, gluing, etc. Basically, depending on the vehicle class, different hole patterns for the connection of the "common part" with the shell body and/or with attachments can be made at the "common parts," by stamping, drilling, etc. However, it is essential for the "common parts" that, after the production in the same deep-drawing die, no further shaping changes take place. By the use of vehicle-class-spanning uniform deep-drawing die, the investment costs for the manufacturing devices are considerably reduced.
In an embodiment of the invention, the forward sections of the rear longitudinal members are connected with the insertion of a heel plate and/or of a heel plate cross-member with a uniformly-wide forward floor panel. The combination of the uniformly-wide forward floor panel and differently-shaped forward sections of the rear longitudinal members permits the extremely economical manufacturing of body shells for different vehicle classes, in which case the body shells of the individual vehicle classes are distinguished by differently-wide rear body ends. As required, the rear body ends of the motor vehicles of the individual vehicle classes may additionally differ in their length and/or in their ground clearance. In addition, the body shells of the individual vehicle classes, as a rule, differ by differently-wide lateral longitudinal members (sills), in which case, however, the interior surfaces of the lateral longitudinal members, corresponding to the uniform forward floor panel, in a vehicle-class-spanning manner have a uniform design and the same position.
As mentioned above, it is essential that the forward floor panel constructed as a common part is used for the shell bodies of the different vehicle series. This forward floor panel, which is uniform in its width, can be adapted, for example, by cutting to different vehicle lengths and/or wheel bases, but, as a result of the uniform deep-drawing operation, is uniform for all shell bodies with respect to its shaping. By using the same deep-drawing tools for the forward floor panels of all shell bodies, a clear reduction of investment costs for the manufacturing facilities can be achieved.
The forward floor panel is, for example, constructed in one piece. As an alternative, the forward floor panel may also be composed of several components. In other words, a forward floor panel for the shell bodies of the different vehicle series which is composed of several components can also be produced uniformly, thus by means of the same deep-drawing dies and also with the manufacturing steps for joining (preferably) welding the individual deep-drawn parts. As explained above, in the case of both variants, the forward floor panel for the shell bodies of the different vehicle series is uniformly wide.
The rear longitudinal members do not directly adjoin the forward floor panel but are indirectly connected with the latter with the insertion of a "heel plate area". This "heel plate area" comprises the actual heel plate as well as a heel plate cross-member arranged adjacent thereto, which reinforces the shell body in the area of the backseats. The "heel plate area" is used as a transition area between the uniform longitudinal members constructed according to the invention and the forward floor panel preferably constructed as a common part.
In an embodiment of the invention, the heel plate is also constructed as a common part. The heel plate cross-member is normally implemented in a shell construction. In an advantageous implementation of the invention, at least one shell or at least a portion of the shells is also constructed as a common part. In the case of the heel plate cross-member, at least the two sections situated laterally on the outside are preferably constructed as common parts. These sections are those components which directly adjoin the forward sections of the rear longitudinal members.
The connection between lateral and rear longitudinal members preferably takes place by way of flanges at the forward sections of the rear longitudinal members, which are connected with the lateral longitudinal members particularly by welding.
In a embodiment of the invention, the forward sections of the rear longitudinal members have a fastening device for at least one component of the rear axle of the vehicle, for example, a receiving device for at least one control arm of the rear axle.
In an advantageous embodiment of the invention, the rearward sections of the rear longitudinal members have a different length depending on the vehicle class. Therefore, rear longitudinal members for rear body ends of different lengths are provided for the motor vehicles of the individual vehicle series within the group of motor vehicles. As explained in connection with the definition of the term "common part," the length adaptation takes place by cutting to length (trimming) or by lengthening (attaching). Cutting to length or lengthening are production steps which are carried out as a subsequent measure at rear longitudinal members previously produced by means of a uniform deep-drawing die. Comparatively low labor and tool costs occur for these subsequent measures at the rear longitudinal members.
For increasing the stability of the rear body end, the rear longitudinal members of the two vehicle sides preferably are mutually connected by a rear cross-member. For achieving the spread of the width, the rear cross-member is constructed with a different width in the case of the motor vehicles of the individual vehicle classes, the different widths preferably being generated by the trimming or lengthening of common parts. Advantages are further the result of the use of "width-spread" rear axles, which are composed of a number of common parts which are as numerous as possible.
In an embodiment of the invention, hole patterns for jack housings are provided at the forward sections of the rear longitudinal members, which jack housings are placed such, depending on the vehicle series, that a uniform distance from the longitudinal center line of the vehicle and/or a uniform distance from the forward jack housings is obtained for the hole patterns. Since, during the final assembly of the motor vehicles, these jack housings are used as coupling points for transport devices by which the motor vehicles are moved along the production line, as a result of the standardization of the hole patterns for the jack housings, uniform vehicle-class-spanning transport devices can be used, which leads to savings of production costs.
The position designations "front" and "rear" used in connection with the present invention as well as terms derived therefrom relate to the installation position of the respective components in the motor vehicle and to the driving direction of the motor vehicle.
A conceivable embodiment of the invention is illustrated in the drawing and will be explained in detail in the following.
Other objects, advantages and novel features of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of one or more preferred embodiments when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

Bayerische Motoren Werke Aktiengesellschaft


A photovoltaic converter device includes a photovoltaic conversion layer containing a plurality of nanoparticles in a first material in a dispersed state, wherein the nanoparticles include a second material in particles and a third material that coats the second material, the third material having a band gap E3 that is greater than a band gap E1 of the first material, and greater than a band gap E2 of the second material.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to photovoltaic converter devices and, in particular, to photovoltaic converter devices that use nanoparticles.
2. Related Art
As clean energy sources that contribute to energy conservation and resource saving, solar cells (i.e., photovoltaic converter devices) are being actively developed. Solar cells are electric power devices that use the photo-electromotive force effect to directly convert light energy to electric power. As their structures, various kinds of structures, such as, organic thin film solar cells, dye-sensitized solar cells, solar cells with multi-junction structure, and the like are being investigated. Above all, solar cells that use quantum dots (nanoparticles) are attracting attention as the next-generation solar cells that make it possible in theory to achieve the conversion efficiency higher than 60%.
For example, Published Japanese translation of a PCT application 2007-535806 (Patent Document 1) describes a solar cell having a plurality of crystalline semiconductor material quantum dots that are separated mutually by dielectric material thin layers.
However, with the structure using silicon as the quantum dots that are examined in detail in the above-mentioned Patent Document 1 and silicon oxide as the dielectric material thin layers, it is feared that charge (electrons) cannot be effectively retrieved from the quantum wells. The above-mentioned Patent Document 1 examines that, according to the super lattice structure described therein, mini-bands are formed so that charges (electrons) can be efficiently retrieved.
However, arranging the super lattice structure, a highly advanced technology is necessary to arrange devices with super lattice structure, in other words, quantum dots. Moreover, in order to form mini-bands, variations in the particle size need to be less than 10% for quantum dots of several nm˜several ten nm in diameter, which makes it extremely difficult.

Photovoltaic converter device and electronic device


The present invention provides a heat dissipation device, which comprises: a base; plural heat dissipation pipes, wherein each heat dissipation pipe is hollow and formed in an L-like shape, one end thereof passes the base, the other end thereof is received at the bottom of the base; and a heat dissipation plate having a main body, the center of the main body is formed with a chamber having its outer periphery formed with plural heat dissipation grooves, the outer side of the main body is formed with plural wavelike shaped heat dissipation fins. With the aforementioned structure, advantages of smaller in volume, lighter in weight and more efficient in heat dissipation can be achieved.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an LED lamp and a heat dissipation device thereof, especially to an LED lamp and a heat dissipation device thereof in which a base and a heat dissipation plate being installed, the base is installed with plural L-like shaped heat dissipation pipes, the outer side of a main body of the heat dissipation plate is formed with plural wavelike shaped fins, thereby having the advantages of smaller in volume, lighter in weight and more efficient in heat dissipation.
2. Description of Related Art
A LED lamp has the features of energy saving and long service life, therefore the LED lamp becomes the main stream for the next-generation lighting device. A conventional LED lamp is often installed with a metal housing, the metal housing is integrally formed through aluminum extrusion or formed through processing a metal treatment, e.g. lathing or milling, to a solid aluminum bar, then the outer periphery thereof is formed with several heat dissipation fins for the purpose of heat dissipation.
Take the U.S. Patent Application No. 2010/0084116, the U.S. Patent Application No. 2011/0221324 and the U.S. Patent Application No. 2011/0215696 for examples, the LED lamps disposed in the aforesaid patent applications are all integrally formed with a heat dissipation plate through an aluminum extrusion means, then the outer periphery is formed with several heat dissipation fins for the purpose of heat dissipation; however, the disclosed heat dissipation structure is complicated and the production cost is inevitably increased.
Moreover, the difference between the LED lamps disclosed in the U.S. Pat. No. 7,494,249, the U.S. Pat. No. 7,744,250, the U.S. Pat. No. 7,748,876 and the U.S. Patent Application No. 2010/0243211 and the LED lamps disclosed in the U.S. Patent Application No. 2010/0084116, the U.S. Patent Application No. 2011/0221324 and the U.S. Patent Application No. 2011/0215696 is that the LED lamps disclosed in the aforesaid patents or patent application is installed with one or more heat dissipation pipes for transferring heat to the aluminum-extruded heat dissipation plate, so the heat dissipation can be conducted through the heat dissipation fins installed thereon, thereby increasing the heat dissipation efficiency.
However, the disclosed heat dissipation structure is complicated in manufacturing thereby causing the higher production cost, and the aluminum-extruded heat dissipation plate is large in volume, heavy in weight, thereby causing the volume of LED lamp to be incapable of reducing; the mentioned shortages shall be improved.
As such, a novel LED lamp and a heat dissipation device thereof capable of overcoming the mentioned shortages shall be provided.

LED lamp and heat dissipation device thereof


A storage part of an on-vehicle apparatus stores simplified map data of which content is simplified as compared to original map data used for route guidance. An image generator of the on-vehicle apparatus retrieves the simplified map data stored on the storage part and generates a map image based on the simplified map data. Then a transmitter of the on-vehicle apparatus transmits the map image generated by the image generator to a portable device, in response to a demand from the portable device.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a technology for transmitting data from an on-vehicle apparatus used for a vehicle.
2. Description of the Background Art
On-vehicle apparatuses, such as car navigation apparatus, used for vehicles to display maps have been conventionally known. There is a case where a driver cannot use a function of the on-vehicle apparatus such as route guidance while a fellow passenger other than the driver of the vehicle is looking at, for example, a map of an area around a current location of the vehicle or a map of an area through which the vehicle will go.
However, given convenience for both the diver and the fellow passenger, it is preferable that the fellow passenger can look at information such as a map without preventing the driver from using a function of the on-vehicle apparatus.
A technology that connects an on-vehicle apparatus to a portable device has been proposed as a technology that solves the problem. Such a technology connects the on-vehicle apparatus to the portable device by near field communication and transmits a map from the on-vehicle apparatus to the portable device if necessary. As a result, the map is displayed on a display of the portable device.
However, when the conventional technology is used, the map displayed on the on-vehicle apparatus is displayed on the portable device in a same style. The map is displayed on the portable device in the style designed to be looked at by a driver who is driving. Therefore, the map is not always preferable for the fellow passenger.


According to an aspect, an electronic device includes a display unit, an operation unit, and a control unit. The display unit displays a screen corresponding to an application during execution thereof. The operation unit is operated in order to input a character. When an operation for a character input is performed through the operation unit while the screen corresponding to the application is displayed on the display unit, the control unit displays an input character on the display unit while maintaining a state in which the screen corresponding to the application before the character is input is displayed.

Electronic devices (character input devices) include those provided with an input unit for inputting a character string and a display unit for displaying a conversion candidate of the input character string. Patent Literature 1 describes a system in which a character input is performed by pressing a button of a remote controller for operating a television receiver.
Some electronic devices (mobile electronic devices) are provided with a display unit for displaying various pieces of information and an operation unit for inputting a character string. In a mobile phone as an example of the mobile electronic device, a browser system is used to display a Web page on the display unit, so that a user can browse desired WEB pages (see Patent Literature 2).
Electronic devices include a mobile phone capable of executing various applications (for example, WEB browser). In such electronic devices, a screen corresponding to an activated application is displayed on a display unit (see Patent Literature 3).
Some electronic devices have an operation unit (specifically, operation keys), and a user operates the operation keys, so that activation of an application, a character input at the time of composing mail, and the like are executed.

Electronic device and screen display method


Learning systems and methods of the present disclosure include generating a text document based on a digital file, tokenizing the text document, generating a semantic model based on the tokenized text document using an unsupervised machine learning algorithm, assigning a plurality of passage scores to a corresponding plurality of passages of the tokenized text document, selecting one or more candidate knowledge items from the tokenized text document based on the plurality of passage scores, filtering the one or more candidate knowledge items based on user data, generating one or more structured learning assets based on the one or more filtered candidate knowledge items, generating an interaction based at least on the one or more structured learning assets, and transmitting the interaction to a user device. Each passage score is assigned based on a relationship between a corresponding passage and the semantic model.

Electronic learning technologies are commonly used to help students learn, develop skills, and enhance their understanding of certain subjects. For example, electronic learning technologies may provide a convenient way to take a course online. However, these technologies often provide the same curriculum for many or all the students in the course. For example, a given course may have a common starting point and a common ending point for the students, regardless of each student's weaknesses, strengths, and/or cognitive learning abilities.
Yet, the students typically vary in the way they learn, how quickly they learn, and how they retain what they learn. As a result, the general "one-size-fits-all" approach provided to the students is often ineffective, inefficient, and/or cumbersome to the students. Students using the "one-size-fits-all" approach may apportion too much time reviewing subject matter that they know well at the expense of spending insufficient time reviewing subject matter that they know poorly. In addition, many students may be burdened with trying to identify their own weaknesses and strengths for a given subject matter. Further, students may put forth efforts in determining how to apportion their time effectively to learn the subject matter. As a result, the students may struggle with such burdens, they may not perform well on exams, and they may become discouraged, leading to attrition which is one of the most significant problems in education today.
Electronic learning technologies also commonly lack access to a broad selection of source material. For example, a given online course may be limited to the contents of a single (or several) textbooks selected for the course. Further, the online course may be limited to a subset of chapters in the textbook, such as chapters selected by an instructor. In another example, an exam preparatory course may be limited to the content owned by the provider of the course. As a result, the students may be confined to source material narrowly tailored to one (or several) out of many possible strategies for learning the subject matter. Yet, as noted, students typically vary in the way they learn, how quickly they learn, and how they retain what they learn. Thus, the limited scope of available source material may result in restricting the student's learning process.

Personalized learning system and method for the automated generation of structured learning assets based on user data


A vacuum cleaner comprises a user-controllable clutch assembly for selectively engaging an agitator assembly. The clutch assembly generally comprises an axially displaceable drive member that is selectively engageable by rotating ramps that engage stationary cam lobes. In one embodiment, the clutch module is mounted to the foot housing and is intermediately connected between the vacuum motor/fan shaft and the agitator. In a second embodiment, the clutch module is mounted axially on the agitator shaft. In a third embodiment, a linkage interconnects a handle detent pedal to the clutch module to automatically engage the clutch when a user depresses the detent pedal.

Vacuum cleaners typically utilize a rotating agitator configured to release and propel dust and dirt into a working airflow that is introduced to a downstream separator whereupon the entrained dust and dirt is expelled from the working airflow and collected in a downstream dirt collector in a conventional manner. Vacuum cleaner agitators can be driven by a belt operably connecting a drive pulley on the vacuum motor/fan shaft to a driven brush pulley on the agitator body. In this configuration, the agitator is driven continuously when the vacuum motor/fan is energized. Alternatively, a separate, independently energizable brush motor can be configured to selectively drive the agitator independent of the vacuum motor; however, this configuration adds cost and complexity to the vacuum cleaner design. Single motor vacuum cleaners can utilize a clutch assembly mounted between the vacuum motor/fan for selectively engage and disengaging an agitator in contact with the cleaning surface.

Vacuum cleaner with modular clutch assembly


A garment iron including a rear face to which there is releasably attached a cord reel. The cord reel includes a catch to retain it in its position mounted on the rear face. The cord reel is hollow so as to provide a cavity which receives a beaker which may be used to deliver water to the water reservoir of the iron. During use, the cord reel and beaker are removed from the rear face so that the iron may be vertically oriented, resting on its rear face.

Electrically operated irons are provided with an electric cord to extend to a power outlet. It has been known to provide the rear end of irons with means about which the electric cord may be wound for storage purposes. However, this previously known means of storing the electric cord has not been successful as the cord in essence is not retained in a coiled configuration. There has also been the need to reduce the overall length of the iron in order to ensure stability of the iron when it rests on its rear face so as to have the hot plate generally upwardly extending. If the rear of the iron is extended to accommodate the cord, the iron becomes less stable due to its height when in the rest position.
Steam irons are provided with a resevoir into which water is delivered, which water is transformed into steam during the ironing process. Frequently new irons are sold with a beaker which may be used to deliver water to the water inlet of the iron. These beakers are not physically associated with the iron and accordingly become lost.


The disclosure provides adjuvants, immunogenic compositions, and methods useful for vaccination and immune response. In particular, the disclosure provides a class of adjuvants comprising cationic lipid:co-lipid mixtures and methods for delivering formulated compositions.

In the late 1980s, it was discovered that direct intramuscular (i.m.) injection of lipid-DNA complexes results in measurable protein expression, and that "naked" plasmid DNA (pDNA) is taken up and expressed in muscle to a greater extent than lipid-DNA complexes (Feigner, Scientific American, 276(6), 102-106 (1997)). Later, it was shown that cationic lipid-protein mixtures afforded greater immune responses after i.m. injection than protein alone (Brunel, Vaccine 17, 2192-2203 (1999).
One of the first applications of pDNA injection technology was the induction of an immune response. In 1991, it was first reported that mice could be immunized against HIV gp120 by i.m. vaccination with gp120 plasmid DNA (Feigner et al., Nature, 349, 351-352 (1991)), and that mice could be protected from a lethal challenge of influenza virus after DNA immunization with influenza nucleoprotein (NP) antigen. Protection obtained after immunization with the highly conserved NP antigen extended across 2 different viral strains (Ulmer et al., Current Opinions In Immunology, 8, 531-536 (1996)). Numerous publications in the field of polynucleotide-based vaccination followed thereafter (e.g., Boyer et al., J. Med, Primatology, 25(3), 242-250 (1996); Boyer et al., Nature Medicine, 3(5), 526-532 (1997); Davis et al., Vaccine, 15(8), 849-852 (1997); Wang et al., Vaccine, 15(8), 821-825 (1997); Agadjanyan et al., Current Topics In Microbiology And Immunology, 226, 175-192 (1998); Heppell et al., Fish & Shellfish Immunology, 8(4), 271-286 (1998); Lodmell et al., Nature Medicine, 4(8), 949-952 (1998); Vanderzanden et al., Virology, 246(1), 134-144 (1998)).
A major problem frequently encountered in the course of polynucleotide-based vaccination is insufficient or suboptimal humoral response. Often, the antigens or immunogens encoded by the polynucleotide are expressed in vivo, but they are not sufficiently immunogenic to raise the antibody titer in the organism to sufficient levels to provide protection against subsequent challenge and/or to maintain the potential for generating therapeutically active antibody levels over extended time periods. To obtain a stronger humoral and/or cellular response, it is common to administer such vaccines in an immunogenic composition containing an adjuvant, a material which enhances the immune response of the patient to the vaccine. Adjuvants are useful generally for improving the immune response of an organism to a particular immunogen and are commonly included in vaccine compositions to increase the amount of antibodies produced and/or to reduce the quantity of immunogen and the frequency of administration.
A variety of adjuvants have been reported to effect differing levels of immune response enhancement to polynucleotide-based vaccination. Examples of such adjuvant materials include semi-synthetic bacterial cell wall-derived mono-phosphoryl lipid A (Sasaki, S., et al., Infection and Immunity 65(9), 3250-3258 (1997)), small molecule immunostimulators (Sasaki, S., et al., Clin. Exp. Immunol, 111, 30-35 (1998)), and saponins (Sasaki, S., et al., J. Virology 72(6), 4391-4939 (1998)). The immune response from i.m. pDNA vaccination has also been enhanced through the use of cationic lipids (Ishii, N., et al., Aids Res. Hum. Retroviruses 13(16), 1421-1428 (1997)), Okada, E., et al., J Immunology 159, 3638-3647 (1997); Yokoyama, M., et al., FEMS Immunol. Med. Microbiol. 14, 221-230 (1996); Gregoriadis, G., et al., FEBS Letters 402, 107-110 (1997); Gramzinski, R. A., et al., Molecular Medicine 4, 109-118 (1998); Klavinskis, L. S., et al., Vaccine 15(8), 818-820 (1997); Klavinskis, L. S., et al., J. Immunology 162, 254-262 (1999); Etchart, N., et al., J. Gen. Virology 78, 1577-1580 (1997); Norman, J., et al., in Methods in Molecular Medicine, Vol. 29; DNA Vaccines: Methods and Protocols, D. B. Lowrie and R. Whalen, eds., Chapter 17, pp. 185-196 (1999)). Cationic lipids were originally studied to enhance delivery of pDNA into cells in vitro; however, further development has led to successful specific applications of protein delivery in vivo (Wheeler, C. J., et al., Proc. Nail. Acad. Sci, USA 93, 11454-11459 (1996); Stephan, D. J., et al., Human Gene Therapy 7, 1803-1812 (1996); DeBruyne, L. A., et al., Gene Therapy 5, 1079-1087 (1998)). Accordingly, such cationic lipids may be useful for vaccine applications by enhancing delivery of the pDNA into the cells responsible for giving rise to the humoral arm of the immune response, thereby increasing antibody titer levels.
Commonly used adjuvants, such as Alum, show low levels of immune response enhancement for vaccination (typically less than 3-fold) and possess undesirable toxicological and manufacturing profiles. In addition, cationic lipids used previously for vaccination show only low levels of humoral enhancement. Thus, there is a need for more adjuvant compositions useful for enhancing the immune response of vertebrates to immunization, especially to pDNA vaccination.

Compositions and methods for enhancing immune responses to vaccines


This invention relates to storage stable resin reaction mixtures obtained by mixing at least one organic polyisocyanate, at least one organic compound containing at least two epoxide groups, at least one alkylating agent that inhibits the reaction of the polyisocyanate and epoxide components, and optional auxiliary agents and additives. The present invention further relates to a process for the preparation of such reaction mixtures and to their use.

This invention relates to resin reaction mixtures that are stable during storage and to their preparation and use. Reaction mixtures of polyepoxides and polyisocyanates are becoming more important as starting components for the production of high quality polyaddition plastics. For example, with the aid of curing catalysts, 1,2-epoxides and polyisocyanates may be used to produce plastics having isocyanurate and oxazolidinone structures (DE-AS 1,115,922). Heat hardening resin reaction mixtures for impregnation and embedding are described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,582,723. Such resins are used as electrical insulating materials in numerous applications. Such resins may also be used for the production of rigid structural parts with high dimensional stability under heat. Heat curing resin reaction mixtures containing an organic polyisocyanate, at least one organic compound carrying two epoxide groups, a catalyst which can be activated by heat and optionally other auxiliary agents and additives have already been disclosed in DE-A 3,600,764.
The use of resin reaction mixtures from polyisocyanates and polyepoxides for the synthesis of foam plastics has also been described. E.g., K. Ashida and K. C. Frisch, J. Cell. Plastics, May/June 1972, page 160 et seq. However, the resin reaction mixtures have not been widely used industrially because the mixtures of polyepoxides and polyisocyanates have not been sufficiently stable in storage. A slow increase in viscosity prevents their use in the machines that are generally used today for metering reaction resins in industrial processes. The preparation of fresh resin reaction mixtures necessitates expensive storage methods and rapid processing of the freshly prepared material. It would, therefore, be desirable to obtain storage stable mixtures of polyepoxides and polyisocyanates which do not change their viscosity even when stored for prolonged periods in closed vessels at 40.degree. to 50.degree. C.
An object of the present invention was, therefore, to provide storage stable mixtures of polyepoxides and polyisocyanates which would allow the reaction resins to have a wide application as electrical insulating materials, as foams with high heat resistance, as lacquer binders, as adhesive draw materials, and as matrix materials for construction materials.

Storage stable resin reaction mixtures, and the preparation and use thereof


A vehicle lamp includes a light emitting portion, a lamp body configured to accommodate therein the light emitting portion having an elongated shape, and a transparent cover configured to cover an opening portion in the lamp body. The transparent cover includes a main light exit surface portion positioned in front of the light emitting portion, an auxiliary light exit surface portion inclined with respect to the main light exit surface portion, the auxiliary light exit surface having a fixing portion configured to fix the transparent cover and the lamp body together, and a light diffusive portion formed on at least the periphery of a portion of the auxiliary light exit surface portion where the fixing portion is provided.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a vehicle lamp.
2. Related Art
A combination headlamp is known in which a low beam lamp, a high beam lamp and a clearance lamp are integrally built in a lamp chamber. In a combination headlamp like this, for example, a projector-type or reflector-type lamp is used for low beam and high beam lamps. In addition, it has been practice to use a reflector-type lamp for a clearance lamp. In recent years, however, a clearance lamp using a light guiding member is proposed in which light emitted from a light source made up, for example, of an LED is caused to enter the light guiding member from one end face and is then emitted to the outside of the light guiding member while being guided in an interior thereof (refer, for example, to Patent Literature 1 for a vehicle lamp using a light guiding member).

Vehicle lamp with elongated cover and a light diffusive portion


An exhaust gas recirculation system is provided that includes an internal combustion engine, which is supplied with exhaust gas, diverted at a removal point and returned via a return point and/or charge air, having a heat exchanger arranged between the removal point and the return point, for the returned exhaust gas and/or the charge air, and having an exhaust gas recirculation valve, by means of which the amount of returned exhaust gas and/or charge air can be regulated. To provide an exhaust gas recirculation system, which has a simple structure and can be manufactured cost-effectively, the exhaust gas recirculation valve is connectable between the removal point and the heat exchanger.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an exhaust gas recirculation system having an internal combustion engine, which is supplied with exhaust gas, diverted at a removal point and returned via a return point, and/or charge air, having a heat exchanger, arranged between the removal point and the return point, for the returned exhaust gas and/or the charge air, and having an exhaust gas recirculation valve, by means of which the amount of returned exhaust gas and/or charge air can be regulated.
2. Description of the Background Art
An exhaust gas recirculation line with a heat exchanger is known from the DE 698 17 294 T2 of the European Pat. App. No. EP 0 913 561 B1, which corresponds to U.S. Pat. No. 6,155,042, which is arranged between an engine and a catalyst container in series with restriction component for generating back pressure, whereby the heat exchanger flow is upstream of the restriction component. In the exhaust gas recirculation line, an exhaust gas recirculation valve is connected downstream of the heat exchanger. A throttle plate is connected parallel to the heat exchanger. An exhaust gas line for an internal combustion engine with a circulation line is known from the German patent publication No. DE 103 92 766 T5, which is connected directly or indirectly to an exhaust gas channel, for recycling a fraction of the exhaust gases. To cool the recycled fraction of the exhaust gases, a heat exchanger is connected between an exhaust gas catalyst container and a catalytic element. An exhaust gas system for a heat engine with a waste heat recovery region for recovering heat from the exhaust gas and transferring the recovered heat to a heating medium, which is arranged in the exhaust gas line, is known from the unexamined German Pat. App. No. DE 102 59 702 A1. To burn fuel, a burner, which is also called a combustor, is provided in the exhaust gas line.


The present invention relates to a Cucumis sativus plant which may comprise a QTL, a copy number variant region, at least two copies of an ERF gene, or a mutation leading to increased expression of an ERF gene, which leads to Pythium resistance. The invention further relates to propagation material suitable for producing such Cucumis sativus plant. The invention also relates to a method for producing such Cucumis sativus plant and to methods for identification and selection of such a plant. In addition, the invention relates to a marker for identification of the QTL or copy number variant region, or for identification of the presence of at least two copies of an ERF gene resulting in Pythium resistance in Cucumis sativus, and to use of said marker. The invention also relates to seed which may comprise the QTL, copy number variant region, at least two copies of an ERF gene, or a mutation leading to increased expression of an ERF gene, which leads to Pythium resistance in the plant grown from such seed.

In many crops, the raising of seedlings or the initial growth stage of a plant is hampered by a phenomenon known as 'damping off'. Damping off is a soil-borne problem that can be caused by a number of pathogens. The most common of these pathogens are various Pythium, Phytophthora, Rhizoctonia, and Fusarium species. Damping off is also known as root rot, since the symptoms are usually visible as rotting of the stem and root tissues above or below the soil surface. Damping off can occur pre-emergence, whereby it can initially be confused with a poor seed viability. Often, however, the tissue of just germinated plants becomes water-soaked near the soil surface, after which the seedlings topple over and die.
Very often the cause of damping off turns out to be one of a rather large number of Pythium species. Pythium, like Phytophthora, is a genus of the Oomycetes; the Pythium species are usually very generalistic and have a large number of hosts. The differences between the various Pythium species lie therefore not in their host-range, but in the different environmental conditions under which they can optimally affect the plants. Although Pythium is mostly infecting seedlings, it is also possible that older plants are affected. Because of their non-host specificity, a cultivation method such as crop rotation is not very effective in controlling the disease. In addition, Pythium can easily survive in soil and on plant debris for several years, making it difficult to eradicate the pathogen.
Genetic resistance against Pythium is not known, and Pythium is therefore one of the diseases against which biochemical control is extensively used. Pythium can occur in many different environments, also depending on the species; it is often found in protected cultivation, and can be present in soil as well as in various substrates that are used in high-end cultivation systems. Generally wet soil, large temperature changes, and high levels of fertilizer favor the development of the disease. Various fungicides and biological control agents can be used to prevent the occurrence or the spread of the disease. Once plants are infected, treatment to cure them is not effective. Application can be done for example as a seed treatment, soil drenching, or foliar spray. Most effective however is to maintain a strict hygiene system and high level crop maintenance in order to prevent the pathogen from entering the growing system.
Citation or identification of any document in this application is not an admission that such document is available as prior art to the present invention.


A plurality of valve assemblies having a plurality of manifold valves assembled are electrically coupled in a row via lead wire assemblies to transmit a power signal for driving solenoids of the manifold valves in parallel from the valve assembly at a proximal side of the row to the valve assembly at a leading end side via the manifold valves of the valve assemblies and the lead wire assemblies.

Generally, a valve assembly formed by sequentially connecting a plurality of manifold valves has been used for controlling the pneumatic device such as an air cylinder. The valve assembly is normally disposed around the pneumatic device such that the respective manifold valves are connected to the pneumatic device via air pipes, and further electrically coupled with a serial unit via a lead wire. The respective manifold valves may be driven by electric signals from the serial unit.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2002-51385 discloses a control system using the aforementioned valve assembly, which is structured to control solenoid valves (manifold valves) of the solenoid valve manifold (valve assembly) using serial signals. The control system is formed of the solenoid valve manifold structured by mounting a plurality of solenoid valves on the manifold, and a serial transmission mobile unit (serial unit) for serial transmission to the sequencer. The solenoid valve is driven upon reception of power from the serial transmission mobile unit based on the serial signal from the sequencer.
In the generally employed control system as described above, the solenoid valve manifold and the serial transmission mobile unit correspond one by one. When the serial transmission mobile unit outputs 32 points, 16 solenoid valves each of double solenoid type are assembled. The aforementioned solenoid valves are connected to the corresponding air cylinders via the respective air pipes. However, all the air cylinders are not provided around the solenoid valve manifold. In most of the case, some of the air cylinders are disposed apart from the solenoid valve manifold. In such a case, the long air pipe is required for connecting the air cylinder apart from the solenoid valve manifold, thus causing problems of increase in the air consumption and the response delay.
The solenoid valve manifold may be divided into a plurality of sections so as to be disposed around the air cylinder for solving the aforementioned problem. In this case, the serial transmission mobile unit is also required to be divided into plural sections, or the single serial transmission mobile unit is required to extend different numbers of lead wires with different lengths to the plural sets of the solenoid valve manifolds with the different numbers of the solenoid valves and at the different positions, resulting in complicated system structure.


Medical devices are disclosed which are adapted for indwelling placement in a patient. In one device, a flexible tubular catheter is adapted for placement with its distal end inside of the body and its proximal end outside of the body, and defines a lumen which provides a fluid passageway between its proximal and distal ends. The flexible tubular member has multiple engagement elements located on its outside surface, and an external bolster is provided which includes multiple engagement elements complementary to the engagement elements located on the tubular catheter for adjustably coupling the bolster and the tubular catheter. After placement, the bolster locks to the tubular member such that the bolster can rest securely close to the skin surface. In a first disclosed embodiment, a compression element locks the bolster to the tubular member after selective positioning of the bolster onto the tubular member. In a second embodiment, the bolster has a curved passageway which opens to a side port, and the bolster lumen has engagement elements about the curved passageway which are complementary to the engagement elements located on the tubular member. The bolster is locked into position by the tension between engaged engagement elements caused by the bending of the flexible tubular member in the curved passageway within the side-port bolster. In this way, the bolster is capable of being selectively positioned and locked onto the tubular member to allow the bolster to rest closely to the skin surface without requiring an additional compression element.

The use of various indwelling catheters, especially feeding devices, is well known in the medical art. Feeding tubes may be left in place within the body for a considerable period of time, often up to a year. This is possible due to the use of recent advancements in biocompatible materials, especially silicone indwelling devices which permit long term placement of a device without body rejection or tissue reaction. Medical grade silicone devices are routinely used in gastrostomy feeding devices as well as other types of devices such as wound drains and infusion catheters. The silicone material has many biocompatibility advantages including the ability to remain soft and flexible for long periods of time within the body.
Feeding devices and catheters made from silicone are molded, extruded, and assembled such that the silicone material is very smooth and the surface finish has a very low coefficient of friction. The surface of the silicone catheter becomes very slippery especially when it is in contact with body fluids. As a result, these devices have displayed a tendency to migrate after they have been implanted. To prevent inward migration, designers and manufacturers have added external retention devices to their products. Silicone retention discs are manufactured in various sizes to stabilize catheters and are produced by such companies as Wilson-Cook. Low profile gastrostomy ports of fixed length are also are available in various sizes and lengths with integrally molded bolsters incorporated therein to prevent tube migration.
Retention discs may easily slide on the tubular shaft of the catheter allowing the migration of the catheter into the body. If the catheter slips a sufficient distance this may allow an inner balloon to cause an obstruction or require adjustment of the device. Pull ties have been added to these discs to prevent disc slippage, however, the disc can still fail even with the pull tie in place, due to the smooth slippery outer surface of the catheter and the smooth inner surface of the molded retention disc.
Gastrostomy devices commonly are supplied in various fixed lengths to accommodate differing lengths of stoma tract. Gauderer U.S. Pat. No. 4,803,438, and Russo U.S. Pat. No. 4,944,732, disclose examples of low profile devices that are supplied in various fixed lengths for this purpose. Patients, however, cannot be fitted with a fixed length device when the correct length is not available. Therefore, a large inventory of these devices in a variety of fixed lengths and sizes needs to be maintained at a considerable added expense. This type of device also requires additional equipment to measure the lengths of patients' stoma tracts to determine appropriate sizing for placement. These disadvantages have limited the usefulness for such low profile devices.

Catheters with adjustable external locking bolsters


Multifunctional nitroxide derivatives comprising a potassium channel opener and a reactive oxygen species (ROS) degradation catalyst that can act as an anti-oxidant, as well as pharmaceutical compositions comprising them are provided. The multifunctional compounds and pharmaceutical compositions are useful for treatment of diseases, disorders or conditions associated with oxidative stress or endothelial dysfunction.

Openers of the mitochondrial ATP-regulated potassium channel have been shown to provide cytoprotection in experimental models of redox stress induced by ischemia-reperfusion or inflammation. However, the specificity for the mitochondrial rather than the sarcolemmal K+-ATP channel is important to eliminate the risk of systemic hypotension.
Given the demonstrated benefit in these pathological settings of therapeutic administration of either antioxidants or K+-ATP channel openers, a more substantial benefit may accrue from (i) the concomitant removal of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and (ii) stimulation of endogenous mechanisms (via opening K+-ATP channels) to protect against redox stress. This effect would be maximized if both these actions co-localized in space and time. However, such co-localization would be unlikely to occur by the co-administration of two distinct drugs, such as a separate K+-ATP channel opener and an anti-oxidant molecule, because of the unpredictability of their tissue distribution, metabolism, clearance, excretion, and intracellular localization.

Multifunctional nitroxide derivatives and uses thereof


The present application provides a display device and a driving method thereof which can drive a driving transistor with lower power consumption when displaying an image.

Organic EL display devices are known as thin, high picture quality, low power consumption display devices. In organic EL display devices, a plurality of pixel circuits including organic EL elements (also referred to as Organic Light Emitting Diode (OLED) or "display element") that are self-luminous display elements driven by current and driving transistors are arranged in a matrix shape.
Configurations of pixel circuits in the related art included in such organic EL display devices will be described. FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a pixel circuit 111 according to PTL 1, and FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating a timing chart in order to drive the pixel circuit 111 illustrated in FIG. 6. As illustrated in FIG. 6, the pixel circuit 111 includes one organic EL element OLED, three transistors M1 to M3, a storage capacitor Cst, and a compensation capacitor Ccp. All these transistors M1 to M3 are N-channel type transistors. The transistor M1 is a driving transistor to control drive current to supply to the organic EL element OLED and is a transistor with a double gate structure including a bottom gate terminal Gb and a top gate terminal Gt. The transistor M2 is a writing transistor to charge the storage capacitor Cst with data voltage Vdata given to a data signal line Di in order to apply the voltage (data voltage) Vdata depending on data signals to the bottom gate terminal Gb of the driving transistor M1. The transistor M3 is a compensation transistor to charge the compensation capacitor Ccp for performing compensation for dispersion of threshold value voltage of the driving transistor M1 causing luminance variation. Dispersion of threshold value voltage of the driving transistor M1 is compensated by voltage charged in the compensation capacitor Ccp being applied to the top gate terminal Gt as back gate voltage Vbg.
An action of the pixel circuit 111 will now be described. As illustrated in FIG. 7, a potential of a first scanning signal line Saj connected to a control terminal of the writing transistor M2 changes from a low level to a high level in time t1. With this configuration, the writing transistor M2 turns into an on state, and a preset voltage Vpre is written in the storage capacitor Cst as data voltage Vdata through the data signal line Di. As a result, the preset voltage Vpre is given to the bottom gate terminal Gb of the driving transistor M1, and the driving transistor M1 turns into the on state.
At the same time, a potential of a second scanning signal line Sbj connected to the control terminal of the compensation transistor M3 also changes from a low level to a high level, and the compensation transistor M3 turns into the on state. At this time, power source voltage VDD of a high level power source line ELVDD connected to the driving transistor M1 maintains a high level. Therefore, current flows from the high level power source line ELVDD to a node N through the driving transistor M1 and the compensation transistor M3, and the compensation capacitor Ccp is charged with the power source voltage VDD of high level. The power source voltage VDD of high level charged in the compensation capacitor Ccp is applied to the top gate terminal Gt of the driving transistor M1 as the back gate voltage Vbg. At this time, voltage applied to an anode terminal and a cathode terminal of the organic EL element OLED is all high level because the power source voltage VDD of the high level power source line ELVDD and power source voltage VSS of a low level power source line ELVSS is all high level. Therefore, current does not flow in the organic EL element OLED.
At time t2, the writing transistor M2 turns into an off state by the first scanning signal line Saj changing from a high level to a low level. At this time, because the preset voltage Vpre is written in the storage capacitor Cst, the preset voltage Vpre is applied to the bottom gate terminal Gb of the driving transistor M1, and the driving transistor M1 turns into the on state. Because the power source voltage VDD of the high level power source line ELVDD changes from a high level to a low level, current flows from the compensation capacitor Ccp to the high level power source line ELVDD through the compensation transistor M3 and the driving transistor M1. With this configuration, the back gate voltage Vbg applied to the bottom gate terminal Gb begins to decrease, and threshold value voltage of the driving transistor M1 begins to rise.
Then, until time t3 when the preset voltage Vpre becomes not applied to the bottom gate terminal Gb of the driving transistor M1, current flows to the high level power source line ELVDD through the driving transistor M1, and the back gate voltage Vbg decreases accordingly. At time t3 when the back gate voltage Vbg becomes equal to threshold value voltage, current does not flow in the driving transistor M1, and the decrease in the back gate voltage Vbg also stops. Threshold value voltage of the driving transistor M1 is a predetermined value depending on the back gate voltage Vbg of this time, and its dispersion is compensated. For duration from time t2 to time t3, reverse voltage is applied to the anode terminal and the cathode terminal of the organic EL element OLED, and thus current does not flow in the organic EL element OLED, and the organic EL element OLED does not emit light.
At time t3, the potential of the second scanning signal lines Sbj changes from a high level to a low level, and the compensation transistor M3 turns into the off state. The power source voltage VDD of the high level power source line ELVDD changes from a low level to a high level, and the power source voltage VSS of the low level power source line ELVSS changes from a high level to a low level. Furthermore, the potential of the first scanning signal line Saj changes from a low level to a high level, and the writing transistor M2 turns into the on state. With these actions, drive voltage Vdrive depending on the data voltage Vdata is given from the data signal line Di. The drive voltage Vdrive is retained by the storage capacitor Cst and is applied to the bottom gate terminal Gb of the driving transistor M1. Therefore, current depending on the drive voltage Vdrive is supplied from the high level power source line ELVDD to the organic EL element OLED through the driving transistor M1, and the organic EL element OLED emits light with luminance depending on the drive voltage Vdrive.

Display device and driving method thereof

Abstract: An organic EL display device applies voltage to switch on/off a driving transistor (M1) to a bottom gate electrode (2) of the driving transistor (M1) having a double gate structure, and applies a data voltage (Vdata) depending on data signals to a top gate electrode (6) as back gate voltage (Vbg). With this configuration, variation width of the voltage value can be smaller in comparison with a case to apply the data voltage to the bottom gate electrode (2).


A micromirror actuator includes: a substrate; spring units elastically supported by protrusion formed on the substrate; a micromirror connected to the spring units and formed to be capable of rotating; trenches formed in the substrate at either side of the protrusions to correspond to the surface of the micromirror; and lower electrodes formed in each of the trenches. Accordingly, it is possible to expand the range of the driving angle of the micromirror with the use of a lower voltage.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a micromirror actuator and, more particularly, to a micromirror actuator, which can be driven by attractive electrostatic forces and can have a wide range of driving angles with the use of a low driving voltage.
This application is based on Korean Patent Application No. 2001-36092 filed on Jun. 23, 2001, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
2. Description of the Related Art
Micromirrors are generally used in various fields including an optical communication field. For example, micro-optical cross connects (MOXCs) are devices for selecting an optical path and thus allowing an optical signal to be transmitted from an input terminal to a predetermined output terminal, and micromirrors are the most important components of MOXC.
Micromirror actuators, which can maintain a micromirror at a predetermined angle, have been manufactured by using many different methods and having various structures. FIGS. 1A and 1B are views illustrating a conventional micromirror actuator using attractive electrostatic forces and including an elastic element, such as a torsion spring. Referring to FIGS. 1A and 1B, a micromirror 14 is formed horizontally, over a substrate 11 with a spring unit 13 supported by a protrusion 12 formed on the substrate 11. The micromirror 14 is formed to be capable of rotating, and a lower electrode 15 is formed under the micromirror 14. If external voltage is applied to the micromirror 14 and the lower electrode 15, attractive electrostatic forces are generated between the micromirror 14 and the lower electrode 15, as shown in FIG. 1B. Due to the electrostatic forces, the micromirror 14 supported by the spring unit 13 inclines over the substrate 11 at a predetermined angle.
The range, in which the driving angle of the micromirror actuator driven by attractive electrostatic forces can be controlled by external voltage, is strictly restricted due to the special characteristics of the method of driving the micromirror actuator. In other words, if a voltage not less than a predetermined level, i.e., threshold voltage, is applied between the spring unit 13 and the micromirror 14, attractive electrostatic force generated by the applied voltage is always stronger than the elastic restoring force of the spring unit 13. Thus, the distance between the micromirror 14 and the lower electrode 15 becomes shorter. This can be described more thoroughly with reference to Equation (1).                     F        =                              ϵ                                      xe2x80x83                                                  AV              2                                            d            2                                              (        1        )
In Equation (1), F represents an attractive electrostatic force, xcex5 represents a dielectric constant, A represents the area of an electrode, V represents a potential difference, and d represents the distance between the electrodes. In general, the intensity of the attractive electrostatic force acting between the electrodes is inversely proportional to the square of the distance between the electrodes but is proportional to the square of a voltage applied to the electrodes. Accordingly, as the distance d between the electrodes decreases, the influence of the voltage applied to the electrodes on the attractive electrostatic force between the electrodes increases. In addition, the range, in which the driving angle of a micromirror can be controlled by the voltage applied to the electrodes, becomes very sensitive to a potential difference between the electrodes.
On the other hand, as the distance d between the electrodes increases, the influence of the voltage applied to the electrodes on the attractive electrostatic force between the electrodes, decreases, and the range, in which the driving angle of a micromirror can be controlled by the voltage applied to the electrodes, expands. However, the voltage applied to the electrodes must be increased to obtain a desired angle of the micromirror, and the height of a sacrificial layer formed in manufacturing of a micromirror actuator must be increased.
To solve the above-described problems, it is an aspect of the present invention to provide a micromirror actuator, which is capable of obtaining a larger driving angle with the use of a lower driving voltage by forming a stepped electrode in a trench (thus lower than in FIGS. 1A and B) so as to make the difference between the lower electrode and a micromirror vary.
According to the present invention, a micromirror actuator comprises a substrate, spring units elastically supported by protrusions formed on the substrate, a micromirror connected to the spring units and capable of rotating, trenches formed in the substrate at either side of the protrusions to correspond to the surface of the micromirror and lower electrodes formed in each of the trenches. Lower electrodes may include an electrode formed at the bottom and sidewall of each of the trenches or between the trenches. Trenches may have vertical, slanted or stepped sidewalls. Further, in order to enlarge the range of the driving angle of the micromirror, the distance between the lower electrodes and the micromirror is varied as well as the distance between the lower electrodes and their size.


Adiponitrile is made by reacting 3-pentenenitrile with hydrogen cyanide. The 3-pentenenitrile is made by reacting 1,3-butadiene with hydrogen cyanide. The catalyst for the reaction of 1,3-butadiene with hydrogen cyanide to make 3-pentenenitrile is recycled. At least a portion of the recycled catalyst is purified by an extraction process, which separates catalyst degradation products and reaction byproducts, such as mononitriles having 9 carbon atoms, from the catalyst.

Adiponitrile (ADN) is a commercially important and versatile intermediate in the industrial production of nylon polyamides useful in forming films, fibers, and molded articles. ADN may be produced by hydrocyanation of 1,3-butadiene (BD) in the presence of transition metal complexes comprising various phosphorus-containing ligands. For example, catalysts comprising zero-valent nickel and monodentate phosphorus-containing ligands are well documented in the prior art; see, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,496,215; 3,631,191; 3,655,723 and 3,766,237; and Tolman, C. A., McKinney, R. J., Seidel, W. C., Druliner, J. D., and Stevens, W. R., Advances in Catalysis, 1985, Vol. 33, pages 1-46. Improvements in the hydrocyanation of ethylenically unsaturated compounds with catalysts comprising zero-valent nickel and certain multidentate phosphite ligands are also disclosed; e.g., see: U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,512,696; 5,821,378; 5,959,135; 5,981,772; 6,020,516; 6,127,567; and 6,812,352.
3-Pentenenitrile (3PN) may be formed through a series of reactions as illustrated below.

According to abbreviations used herein, BD is 1,3-butadiene, HC≡N is hydrogen cyanide, and 2M3BN is 2-methyl-3-butenenitrile. A method to increase the chemical yield of 3PN from BD hydrocyanation includes the catalytic isomerization of 2M3BN to 3PN (Equation 2 above) in the presence of NiL4 complexes as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,536,748. Co-products of BD hydrocyanation and 2M3BN isomerization may include 4-pentenenitrile (4PN), 2-pentenenitrile (2PN), 2-methyl-2-butenenitrile (2M2BN), and 2-methylglutaronitrile (MGN).
In the presence of transition metal complexes comprising various phosphorus-containing ligands, dinitriles such as ADN, MGN, and ethylsuccinonitrile (ESN) may be formed by the hydrocyanation of 3PN and 2M3BN, as illustrated in Equations 3 and 4 below. Equation 4 also shows that 2M2BN can be formed when 2M3BN undesirably isomerizes in the presence of a Lewis acid promoter that may be carried over from a pentenenitrile hydrocyanation reaction zone.

The hydrocyanation of activated olefins such as conjugated olefins (e.g., 1,3-butadiene) can proceed at useful rates without the use of a Lewis acid promoter. However, the hydrocyanation of un-activated olefins, such as 3PN, require at least one Lewis acid promoter to obtain industrially useful rates and yields for the production of linear nitriles, such as ADN. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,496,217, 4,874,884, and 5,688,986 disclose the use of Lewis acid promoters for the hydrocyanation of non-conjugated ethylenically unsaturated compounds with nickel catalysts comprising phosphorous-containing ligands.
An integrated process for the production of ADN from BD and HC≡N can comprise BD hydrocyanation, 2M3BN isomerization to produce 3PN, and the hydrocyanation of pentenenitriles, including 3PN, to produce ADN and other dinitriles. Integrated processes are disclosed, for example, in United States Patent Application 2009/0099386 A1.
Disclosed in United States Patent Publication No. 2007/0260086, is a process for the preparation of dinitriles with an aim to provide for the recovery of a catalyst formed by a mixture of mono- and bidentate ligands and to be able to reuse the catalyst thus recovered in the hydrocyanation and/or isomerization stages.
United States Patent Publication No. 2008/0221351 discloses an integrated process for preparing ADN. A first process step includes hydrocyanating BD to produce 3PN over at least one zero-valent nickel catalyst. A second process step of the integrated process involves hydrocyanating 3PN to produce ADN over at least one zero-valent nickel catalyst and at least one Lewis acid. In this integrated process, at least one of the zero-valent nickel catalysts used in one of the process steps is transferred into the other process step.
Reaction byproducts produced in the first reaction zone (Z1) include C8H13C≡N compounds. These C8H13C≡N compounds may be produced by dimerization of 1,3-butadiene and hydrocyanation of such dimers. When such C8H13C≡N compounds are introduced into a reaction zone for producing adiponitrile by the reaction of 3PN with HCN, these C8H13C≡N compounds may react with HCN to produce unwanted C8H14(C≡N)2 compounds.
The improvements obtained by the subsequent disclosures herein provide higher chemical yields and/or selectivities of 3PN and/or ADN from BD and HC≡N. Further improved is the control of byproduct formation in individual reaction steps. These byproducts may include at least: 4-vinyl-1-cyclohexene, 2-methyl-2-butenenitrile, mononitrile compounds of the chemical formula C8H13C≡N, and dinitrile compounds of the formula C8H14(C≡N)2.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


Automatic triaging of patient information within a clinical computing environment is provided. Items of patient information are received, and each item is compared against predefined criteria to determine whether the item is time-sensitive. If an item satisfies a threshold of time-sensitivity, a key notification is provided for the item. A clinician may receive the key notification regardless of the view or application in which the clinician is working. The clinician may directly navigate from the key notification to the associated information, access additional information if necessary, and resolve the condition. Additionally, clinicians may control the triaging of information by specifying patient populations and thresholds required to trigger key notifications.

Triaging of information in a clinical setting, such as a physician office, is typically a manual process. Information to be reviewed by a physician may be placed in specific locations throughout a physician office or otherwise delivered to the physician depending upon the criticality of the information. For example, less time-sensitive and less critical information may be placed at a physician's desk, such that the physician may review the information at a convenient time. More time-sensitive information may be located at a strategic location, such as next to an exam room or a nurses' station, so that a physician may timely review the information and address any needs in between seeing patients. Highly critical and time-sensitive results, such as critical results from laboratory or diagnostic tests indicating a potentially life-threatening condition for a patient, may result in the physician being interrupted by a nurse or a page received via a pager.
The end-to-end process of notifying a physician of critical and time-sensitive information may often be slow and inefficient. For example, in the context of notifying a physician of a critical laboratory result, the process may begin when a laboratory technician obtains a result and interprets it as a critical result. The technician may determine where the patient is located, and call a ward clerk or receptionist at the patient location. The nurse responsible for the patient may then be located and provided the critical information. After receiving the critical information, the nurse may pull the patient's chart and chart the information. The nurse may then need to review policies and procedures to determine how to deliver the information to the appropriate physician (e.g., call a pager or answering service). In cases in which the physician is seeing a patient and receives a page, the physician may interrupt the exam to return the page. After receiving the critical information, the physician will typically need to decide how to address the situation. Often, the physician requires additional information, such as previous testing values, to make such a determination. However, the nurse or laboratory providing the critical information to the physician may not have such additional information readily available. In such cases, the physician must obtain the necessary information and then make a determination regarding how to address the critical information.
Accordingly, current approaches to triaging information present a number of drawbacks. As indicated, the process may often be time-consuming for cases in which time is of the essence. In addition, a manual approach to delivering such information may be error-prone as it provides opportunities for the miscommunication of information. Further, when a physician receives the information, additional background information may not be readily available to allow the physician to make an immediate decision. Moreover, the physician has little control over the triaging of information as the initial interpretation of information and determination of the criticality of the information is left to others. As such, physicians may be needlessly interrupted for notifications of information deemed to be critical or highly time-sensitive by others, but which is in fact less time-sensitive information.

Key notifications in a clinical computing environment


A garment hanger includes a hanger body having an upper bar and a lower bar coupled thereto. The upper and lower bars each have upper and lower surfaces, respectively. A hook is coupled to the upper bar for supporting the hanger body. A finger is pivotably joined to the upper surface of the lower bar proximate the lower surface of the upper bar. The finger pivots upwardly towards the lower bar when a garment is supported on the lower bar over the finger to capture the garment therebetween. An extension bar on the upper bar may include arms to releaseably capture and hold the lower bar thereto.

The present invention is directed generally to a pants hanger and, in particular, to a garment hanger with a hanger bar for hanging a folded garment, such as a pair of pants or the like, with enhanced holding capabilities.
For almost as long as pants have been worn, bars for suspending such pants most likely have been utilized. The legs of the pants are folded at a portion above the knee and then placed in folded condition over a bar. Pants are often displayed in stores hanging in folded condition above the knees on bars, a plurality of which are provided on display carousels, for example. Pants in folded condition are also suspended individually from separate hangers.
It has been recognized in the art that it is desirable in some fashion to gently hold the pants on the bar to prevent them from falling off during shipping, movement or the like. A simple proposal is found in the 1912 U.S. Pat. No. 1,027,223 which shows trousers being held between upper and lower bars on a hanger which are permanently angled towards one another. The problem with such a construction is that if the garment hanging on the lower bar is heavy enough, it will cause the lower bar to separate from the upper bar thereby substantially diminishing or removing the expected holding power.
Accordingly, it is desired to provide a garment hanger for pants or the like with improved and enhanced holding power. The present invention provides such a design and construction.

Pants hanger with pivotable finger on lower bar


Information is displayed on a device by writing data to a buffer in memory, the content of the buffer describing a screen display of the device at a particular point in time. A watermarked version of the buffer content is generated by watermarking the content of the buffer with data, such as data identifying a user of the device and/or a copy of a program (e.g., an operating system) running on the device. The watermarked version of the buffer content is then made available, such as in response to a screen capture request. The data embedded in the watermarked version of the content is undetectable (or nearly undetectable) to the human eye, but can nonetheless be extracted by other computing devices or data extraction systems.

As computing technology has advanced, computer programs have become increasingly complex, resulting in programs that take a large amount of time to build and test. This increased complexity has resulted in programs that provide significant functionality and usability, but the development of these programs is not without its problems. One such problem is that a large number of people can be involved in the development of these programs, including people employed by the program developer as well as third parties. While these people are typically required to keep information about these programs confidential, information about these programs can sometimes be intentionally or inadvertently released. When such information is released, it is desirable to know who released the information so that appropriate remedial action can be taken (e.g., in order to prevent future releases). Unfortunately, when information regarding a program is released, it is oftentimes difficult to determine who released the information, making it difficult to take any remedial action.


A method for emitting or releasing volatile materials to the atmosphere is provided. More specifically, a method for delivering one or more volatile materials using a non-aerosol, non-energized volatile material delivery system via an evaporative surface device, without a source of heat, gas, or electrical current, are also provided.

It is generally known to use a device to evaporate a volatile composition into a space, particularly a domestic space, e.g., a bathroom, to provide a pleasant aroma. The most common of such devices is the aerosol container, which propels minute droplets of an air freshener composition into the air. Another common type of dispensing device is a dish containing or supporting a body of gelatinous matter which when it dries and shrinks releases a vaporized air-treating composition into the atmosphere. Other products such as deodorant blocks are also used for dispensing air-treating vapors into the atmosphere by evaporation. Another group of vapor-dispensing devices utilizes a carrier material such as paperboard impregnated or coated with a vaporizable composition. There are a variety of such devices on sale, for example the ADJUSTABLE® (manufactured by Dial Corp.) or the DUET® 2 in 1 Gel+Spray (manufactured by S.C. Johnson). Generally, these devices consist of a perfume or fragrance source, an adjustable top for fragrance control and/or a sprayer. By the adjustment of the openings in the fragrance source (passive dispenser), there will be a continuous supply of the perfume or fragrance to the space in which the device is placed. By application of the sprayer (active dispenser), there will be a temporary supply of the perfume or fragrance to the space in which the device is delivered.
A problem with such an arrangement is that a person occupying the space will quickly become accustomed to the perfume or fragrance and, after a while, will not perceive the fragrance strength as being as intense or may not notice it at all. This is a well-known phenomenon called habituation. One effort to deal with the problem of habituation is described in U.S. Patent Application Publication No. U.S. Pat. No. 5,755,381, to Seiichi Yazaki. The Yazaki. patent discloses an aroma emission device for emitting aroma from an aromatic liquid for a certain period of time at a uniform level of aroma. The device comprises a vessel that is partitioned via a portioning plate into an upper compartment and a lower compartment, having an air tube penetrating through a top cover portion and a bottom cover portion. Perforation is provided in the portioning plate to allow the upper and lower compartments to communicate with each other. As air is let into the upper compartment, the aromatic liquid held in the upper compartment flows down through the perforation into the partitioning plate and builds up in the empty portion of the bottom compartment. Aroma-laden air is released via the air tube of the lower compartment. When the aromatic liquid in the upper compartment fully transfers into the lower compartment, the emission of the aroma-laden air stops. The device can be repeatedly used by placing the vessel of the device upside down at any time. The Yazaki. patent, however, appears to be directed to a device which can be operated as a water clock. That is, as the fluid travels from upper one compartment to the lower compartment, the device emits an aromatic fragrance and then stops itself when the fluid transfer is complete. The Yazaki patent does not mention the use of evaporative surface devices to deliver the perfume or aromatic fragrance, rather aroma-laden air of the Yazaki device is released via the use of an air tube located in the lower compartment. In addition, the Yazaki aromatic fragrance is delivered as a temporary emission. It is specifically designed not to be continuous.
Evaporative surface device devices (such as, wicking devices) are well known for dispensing volatile liquids into the atmosphere, such as fragrance, deodorant, disinfectant or insecticide active agent. A typical evaporative surface device utilizes a combination of a wick and emanating region to dispense a volatile liquid from a liquid fluid reservoir. Evaporative surface devices are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,994,932; 2,597,195; 2,802,695; 2,804,291; 2,847,976; 3,283,787; 3,550,853; 4,286,754; 4,413,779; and 4,454,987.
Ideally, the evaporative surface device should be as simple as possible, require little or no maintenance and should perform in a manner that allows the volatile material to be dispensed at a steady and controlled rate into the designated area while maintaining its emission integrity over the life span of the device. Unfortunately, nearly all of the relatively simple non-aerosol devices that are commercially available suffer from the same limitation. The emission becomes distorted over the life span of the device due to the fact that the more volatile components are removed first, leaving the less volatile components behind. This change of the composition with time eventually results in a weakening of the intensity of the fragrance since the less volatile components evaporate more slowly. It is these two problems, i.e., the weakening of intensity and distortion over the lifetime of the fragrance material, that have occupied much of the attention of those who seek to devise better air freshener devices. Practically all devices, which depend on evaporation from a surface, suffer from the shortcomings mentioned above. In most of these devices, a wick, gel or porous surface simply provides a greater surface area from which the fragrance material can evaporate more quickly, but fractionation still occurs, as it would from the surface of the liquid itself, resulting in an initial burst of fragrance followed by a period of lower intensity once the more volatile components have evaporated. Due to this fractionation, and perhaps in combination with the clogging of the wick due to precipitation of insolubles, the evaporative surface device begins to malfunction. As the fragrance becomes distorted, the intensity of the emission weakens perceptibly.
Other problems associated with volatile material delivery systems include the steady decline in scent intensity over time, and the limited ability of the consumer to control scent intensity on demand. Attempts to solve these problems often involve combining the features of active and passive dispensers. The goal of these combined devices is to provide the ability to both enhance the atmosphere with a burst of dispersible material for immediate effect, and to provide for a longer lasting, continuous, evaporative effect. An example of such an attempt is set forth in U.S. Pat. No. 3,972,473 of Harrison which teaches a combined spray and evaporative air freshener comprising an aerosol container and an open cup dispenser. Another such dispenser, adapted for combined continuous and instant operation, is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,364,027 of Kuhn, wherein a deformable container for a liquid dispersible substance is fitted with two immersion tube channels, one terminating in a spray nozzle, the other containing a evaporative surface device or similar absorbent material providing for evaporation of the liquid. Also Muoio, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,726,519, teaches a device for both instant and continuous dispensing of an air treatment composition. The device includes a pressurized container containing an air-treating liquid and an absorbent member. The device can simultaneously spray the air-treating liquid into the air and discharge it into the absorbent member. The device of Dearling, U.S. Pat. No. 4,084,732 may be manipulated and adjusted for simultaneous spraying into the air and recharging of a continuous dispensing means. Another effort is described in EP Patent Publication No. 1076014 to Furner, et al. The Furner patent discloses a dual functional dispenser, which combines active aerosol spray dispensers in combination with passive dispensers of volatile materials. The active dispensers described in the Furner patent encompass the following sprayers: pressurized, aerosol, bellows, air displacement, and pump action dispensers, including fluid reservoirs of compressed gaseous active material.
Like the Yazaki patent, the various devices described by the above publications have a number of practical problems and disadvantages, which make them ineffective and/or uneconomical for use. Consumers want non-energized devices that provide an interactive scent experience which enable them to better enjoy the fragrance through improved consistency over time coupled with periodic bursts of freshness. Though some of the above patents require human interaction, none of the patents describe a non-energized device that can provide a temporary, higher scent intensity on-demand (boost level emission) with an automatic return to the continuous, base line scent intensity (maintenance level emission) without further consumer interaction. For those publications that require evaporative surface device devices, none teach an improvement in scent intensity and character fidelity over time by the periodic reversals in volatile material flow direction on the evaporative surface device. There is no non-energized, non-aerosol spray device disclosed that automatically returns to a base line emission level of volatile materials after providing an intensifying temporary emission level of volatile materials. Furthermore, there is no teaching of a non-energized, non-aerosol device that provides for flushing of the evaporative surface device to reduce the problems associated with volatile material fractionation (such as, partitioning) or clogging of the evaporative surface device.
Solutions to the problems of habituation, scent decline, fractionation, and wick clogging coupled with the ability of a non-energized volatile material delivery system to transform the notion of intensity control into a desirable, rewarding process for consumers have been sought. The improved aesthetics associated with the simplicity of how the boost level emission is provided, and the dynamic interactive scent experience thereby created, coupled with an automatic return to the maintenance level emission, makes the non-energized, non-aerosol device highly desirable.

Methods for delivering volatile materials


The present application relates to a transport for transporting a trailer stand. The transport for a trailer stand may be a portable trailer stand and may comprise one or more auxiliary trailer stands. The portable trailer stand may include a pedestal having a top for engaging and supporting the underside of the nose portion of a trailer, a bottom for engaging the ground, wheel means mounted on the pedestal for moving the stand along the ground to and from a position under the nose portion of a trailer, means for adjusting the height of said pedestal, and a member for engaging and securing the auxiliary trailer stand to the portable trailer stand.

Landing gear for articulated trailers allows the raising, lowering and support of the forward end or nose of the trailer in the engagement with and in the disengagement from, the prime mover (alternatively known as the tractor or truck) and allows the trailer to be freestanding whilst not in transit and when disengaged from the prime mover. In most instances, the trailer itself is decoupled from a prime mover and then re-coupled to either the same prime mover or another prime mover depending on the logistics appropriate to the use.
A typical scenario is where a trailer is delivered to a loading dock for loading and/or unloading. The trailer will typically be loaded up to twenty tons in weight, and in some instances, up to twenty five tons, on one trailer. The prime mover positions the trailer at the loading dock. The operator will de-latch the kingpin from the turntable (alternatively known as the fifth wheel) and disconnect the service lines. The operator will then manually lower the legs of the trailer's landing gear. The operator will then raise the forward end or nose of the trailer to clear the trailer king pin from the turntable of the prime mover. Once the trailer king pin is clear of the prime mover turntable, the prime mover can be driven clear of the trailer to leave the trailer freestanding. The prime mover is then typically utilized elsewhere in a more productive role than being idle whilst the trailer is being loaded and/or unloaded. The trailer will then be loaded and/or unloaded which may take a portion of an hour or it may take several days. Once the trailer is loaded and/or unloaded, a prime mover will then return to the trailer for its removal from the loading dock.
Under certain conditions of loading and/or unloading, there is a potential for trailer nose or tail diving. Seldom used or rusted landing gear may collapse under extreme weight conditions. When fork-trucks load and/or unload at the front of trailers, the trailer can become nose heavy and tip over. An unsupported or poorly supported trailer can collapse with fork-truck and driver inside, creating a hazardous situation. Trailer tip over caused by rusted or faulty landing gear can be very costly with injuries to employees, damage equipment and product and downtime.
Loaded trailers may be dropped when moving between loading docks causing damage to the landing gear components thereby increasing the risk of landing gear failure. Trailer drops can occur when the landing gear legs have not been entirely lowered and an operator pulls away, leaving the trailer at a loading dock with insufficiently lowered legs resulting in a dropped trailer. In addition, trailers are often used beyond their suggested life span further increasing the risk of landing gear failure. Lack of proper maintenance can also increase the possibility of landing gear failure.
Currently, devices known as "trailer jacks" or "trailer stands" are often used to act as a safety support under the front end or nose of a trailer when it is being loaded and/or unloaded with the trailer resting on its support legs rather than on a tractor fifth wheel or converter dolly. Many of these known devices use mechanical means to adjust the height of the support such as cranks and gears that must be ratcheted or cranked up and down. Such devices include the Butler/Kelly Trailer Stand and T&S Models and the Roto Riser™ trailer stand from TMI Inc. Other devices use hydraulic or pneumatic means to adjust the height of the support. One such device is the AUTO-RISER™trailer stand from TMI Inc. which uses a gas activated levelling system and a security locking pin.
In some instances, trailer stands comprise wheels to facilitate their movement to, and positioning at, the front end or nose of the trailer to support the trailer. With some portable trailer stands, the components required to allow for their movement increase their weight making manual movement and positioning cumbersome and difficult. Furthermore, the costs with some portable trailer stands, including, but not limited to, production costs and shipping costs, are increased due to the additional components and weight required to make them portable. In addition, some wheeled trailer stands have the potential for failure due to roll over.
It is therefore an object of an aspect of the present invention to provide a novel and inventive portable trailer stand. It is also an object of an aspect of the present invention to provide a trailer stand that overcomes some of the disadvantages of prior art trailer stands. Further and other objects of aspects of the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from reading the following summary of the invention and the detailed description of the embodiments described and illustrated herein.