The present invention relates to (1) A reagent for an immunoassay of a target substance existing in a free form and a bound form in a specimen, comprising a latex 1 which is immobilized with a monoclonal antibody 1 for the target substance, and a latex 2 which has a different mean particle size from the latex 1 and is immobilized with a monoclonal antibody 2 having a different recognition site for the target substance from the antibody 1, (2) An immunoassay method comprising reacting the target substance with the reagent of (1) and determining an amount of the substance based on the result of an agglutination reaction among the target substance, the latex1 and the latex2, and (3) A reagent kit comprising a reagent of (1) and a reagent containing an agglutination accelerator for an antigen-antibody reaction.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a reagent for a high sensitive immunoassay method, an immunoassay method using said reagent and a reagent kit comprising said reagent.
2. Related Art
It has been known that some biological substances exist both in a free form and a bound form. A representative example thereof is the prostate-specific antigen (PSA) which has been known to exist in a bound form of PSA and α1-antichymotrypsin (ACT) in blood, as well as in a free form of PSA itself. Since such substances exhibit a change in a ratio of the free form and the bound form depending on an amount of substance bound with the free form as well as in vivo circumstances, both forms should be assayed in the assay of such substances. However, there is a problem that in an immunoassay of such substances by applying antigen-antibody reaction, a high precise assay is difficult due to different binding rate of the antibody to the free form and the bound form. In order to solve such the problem, JP-A-09-234068 proposes an assay reagent for equimolar reaction with both free form and bound form, and an assay method using the same are proposed. Since this method is, however, the assay method by ELISA, it can be possible to assay only in the specific equipment and is impossible to apply in the common autoanalyzer. Although the latex turbidimetry is known as a high sensitive immunoassay method by applying the common autoanalyzer, there is also a problem that the equimolar assay of both free form and bound form is difficult in such a method, even if the latex sensitized (immobilized) with the antibody which exhibits equimolar reaction in ELISA is used. Owing to these problems, a development of a method is demanded, which can assay the substance existing in the free form and the bound form in the organism and can be applied in the common autoanalyzer.
In JP-A-10-123137, an immunoassay method is disclosed, in which at least two types of different monoclonal antibodies for a specific antigen are carried by an insoluble carrier such as latex and the insoluble carrier having different mean particle diameter is used. However, in this method, the free form and the bound form in the specimen are not assayed.


A source driver generates a plurality of gradation voltages based on a plurality of gradation reference voltages VH255 to VL255 generated by a gradation reference voltage generation circuit, and drives the data lines using the generated gradation voltages. The control unit sets a waiting time before the power of the source driver is cut off, and controls the gradation reference voltage generation circuit such that all the plurality of gradation reference voltages VH255 to VL255 become the same voltage during the waiting time. In this way, the same voltages are written into the pixel circuits and the charge remaining in the pixel circuits are discharged, and thus, an afterimage, a ghosting, and a flickering caused by the remaining charge when the power is cut off are prevented.

An active matrix type liquid-crystal display device has a structure in which pixel circuits that include a liquid-crystal capacitor and a writing control thin film transistor (TFT) are arranged in a two-dimensional form. In a liquid-crystal display device in the related art, the TFT is formed using, for example, amorphous silicon. In recent years, a technology for forming the TFT using an oxide semiconductor such as indium gallium zinc oxide (IGZO) has been developed. The TFT formed using an oxide semiconductor is characterized in that a leakage current during OFF time is smaller than that in the TFT in the related art. Therefore, according to the liquid-crystal display device in which the TFT is formed using the oxide semiconductor, it is possible to improve the display quality from that in the liquid-crystal display device in the related art.
In the liquid-crystal display device, there is a problem in that an afterimage, a ghosting, and a flickering occur on a display screen. When a DC voltage is applied to a liquid-crystal layer, a movement of charge due to ionic conductivity is induced in the liquid-crystal layer, and the moved charge is accumulated on the alignment film that is applied on electrodes. When the voltage caused by the charge accumulated on the alignment film that is applied on the electrodes is applied between the electrodes (liquid-crystal layer), afterimages and ghosting occur. In the related art, in order to prevent afterimages or ghosting, the liquid-crystal display device performs an AC drive (polarity inversion drive) in which the polarity of the voltage written into the pixel electrode is switched at a predetermined interval. In the AC drive, when the polarities are positive and negative, the same amounts of voltage (the voltages of which the absolute values are the same) are applied. However, even when the same amounts of voltage are applied at the time of the polarities are positive and negative, the electric potentials (absolute values) between the electrodes are slightly different due to an affection of the load such as TFT characteristics or a panel wiring. For this reason, a difference corresponding to the period of the polarity inversion appears in the display luminance, and thus, a deterioration of display quality called a flickering occurs. In the related art, in order to prevent the flickering, the liquid-crystal display device has a function of adjusting the level of the voltage written into the pixel electrode for each polarity.
In addition, in the liquid-crystal display device, when the power is cut off, there is a problem that unnecessary charge remains in the pixel electrode, and thus, afterimages and ghosting occur. In PTL 1, as a method for preventing the afterimage in the liquid-crystal display device, a method is disclosed, in which, when the power is cut off, the voltages in all the gate lines are controlled such that they are in a level that the writing control TFT becomes temporary in ON state. Specifically, as illustrated in FIG. 10, a transistor Tr1 is provided corresponding to a gate line 91, and a power source voltage and voltages of control lines VH1 and VH2 are changed as illustrated in FIG. 11. In this way, when the power is cut off, the transistor Tr1 is controlled such that they are in ON state, the voltage in the gate line 91 is a high level, the writing control TFT 92 in the pixel circuit is in ON state, and thus, the charge remaining in the pixel electrode 93 can be discharged via a source line 94.


The invention relates to a method for carrying out CC-coupling reactions, in particular a Heck and Suzuki reaction, in the presence of supported palladium as the catalyst and a base in a monophase or multiphase solvent mixture. According to said method, palladium detaches itself from the support in a characteristic manner, is redeposited after the reaction and the quantity of palladium not deposited after the reaction is significantly lower than 5000 ppm, in relation to the palladium used.

Palladium-catalysed CC coupling reactions (for example Suzuki coupling, allyl substitution, the Heck reaction) play an important role in preparative organic chemistry. In particular, the toleration of many functional groups, which makes an expensive protective group technique superfluous, make CC coupling reactions particularly attractive for fine chemistry and pharmaceutical chemistry.
Homogeneous catalysts for CC coupling reactions are known. On a production scale, with these catalysts it is essential to remove the palladium from the reaction solution in a further process step. Since in most cases the noble metal palladium is used as catalytically active metal, it must be separated off as quantitatively as possible. On the one hand, the expensive noble metal can be recovered in this way, and on the other hand contamination of the product with noble metal is avoided.
Numerous disadvantages are associated with the use of homogeneous catalysts for CC coupling reactions according to the prior art. After the reaction has taken place, the noble metal must be separated off from the reaction mixture in an expensive manner, which complicates the preparation process. Homogeneous catalysts are in general composed of the noble metal and ligands which are in a particular stoichiometric ratio with respect to one another. These ligands also make purification of the product expensive. Inert gas conditions (nitrogen or argon atmosphere) are very often required, so that the catalyst is not destroyed before or during the reaction.
It is known that CC coupling reactions can be carried out with heterogeneous catalysts. Augustine (R. L. Augustine, S. T. O'Leary, J. Mol. Catal. 1995, 95, 277–285) describes, for example, the reaction of aromatic carboxylic acid chlorides with butyl vinyl ether to give 2-butoxyethenylbenzenes. Eisenstadt (EP 509 426) describes the preparation of UV absorbers with the aid of heterogeneous Pd/C catalysts.
Numerous problems are also linked with the use of heterogeneous catalysts for CC coupling reactions according to the prior art. When halogenoaromatics are employed in, for example, the Heck reaction, an undesirable dehalogenation is often observed.
In direct comparison between homogeneous and heterogeneous catalyst systems, the heterogeneous systems show lower activities than the homogeneous systems.
A very important aspect, which is often not considered in the literature, is the detachment of the noble metal from the support during and/or after the reaction. Where detachment of the noble metal from the support has been investigated at all, this is often so high that contamination of the product takes place. According to the current prior art, it is very expensive or as a rule even impossible to separate off the noble metal completely.

Method for carrying out-CC-coupling reactions


The invention relates to systems and methods for disinfecting, recharging, and conditioning zirconium phosphate in a reusable sorbent module. The systems and methods provide for reuse of a zirconium phosphate sorbent module after dialysis.

Zirconium phosphate containing sorbent cartridges are used in dialysis to remove ammonium, potassium, calcium, and magnesium ions from dialysate, allowing the dialysate to be reused. Known systems require zirconium phosphate to be removed from a sorbent cartridge, transported to a reprocessor, treated, and placed into a new sorbent cartridge, increasing costs and waste associated with reuse of zirconium phosphate. Known systems and methods also cannot reuse a zirconium phosphate sorbent module by concurrently disinfecting the zirconium phosphate to reduce the microbial load to acceptable levels, recovering the capacity of the zirconium phosphate, and conditioning the zirconium phosphate to an appropriate chemical state for dialysis. Hence, there is a need for systems and methods that can quickly and effectively disinfect, recharge and condition zirconium phosphate in a reusable sorbent module. There is further a need for systems and methods optimized to carry out all three steps with the least amount of waste at reduced cost than known systems and methods.

Zirconium phosphate disinfection recharging and conditioning


A voltage regulator system is disclosed for use in selectively regulating a voltage source at a first output voltage potential and a second output voltage potential. The voltage regulator system includes a reference unit, a filter unit and a current source unit. The reference unit is for receiving a voltage reference input signal that is representative of a request for an output reference voltage signal to change. The filter unit is for providing a change in the output voltage over a predetermined period of time. The current source unit is for providing one of a positive or negative current source to an output node at which the output reference voltage is provided.

This invention related generally to voltage regulators, and relates in particular to voltage regulators for use in systems that employ multiple voltage levels.
In certain electronic system such as digital signal processing systems that run on battery power, it is desirable to permit the power supply to provide full power during normal operation, yet provide a reduced power level when the circuit is in an idle state.
Dual power supplies may provide both a high voltage (e.g., 1.5 volts) and low voltage (e.g., 0.9 volts) at all times, and may provide switching between the voltage sources for operation of the system as required. Such an approach, however, may not be energy efficient as it must always provide both voltage potentials as well as the required current.
Another approach may involve changing the output voltage of the power supply responsive to the power needs of the system during operation. This approach, however, may result in power surges or spikes when the change occurs. Moreover, many power supplies include a capacitor at the output stage, and changing the output voltage may require time for the capacitor to change its charge accordingly, particularly when changing from the high to the lower output voltage.
There is a need, therefore, for a more efficient and economical voltage regulator for use in a multi-voltage power supply system.

System and method for providing voltage regulation in a multi-voltage power system


There is provided a punching unit capable of punching holes in high-performance by increasing a punching force and by rotating a punch. A guide hole that guides the punch in the vertical direction is formed to have a narrow upper part, a wider lower part and inclined surfaces between them. An actuation pin engages with a cam and the punch moves up and down to punch a hole when a cam member reciprocates. The actuation pin abuts with the inclined surface of the guide hole at the punching position, so that the punch is rotated and a cam inclined angle is reduced by an inclined angle of the guide hole, allowing a large punching force.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a punching unit for punching holes through sheets of paper by engaging punches with dies and more specifically to a punching unit that is suitably mounted to and used in an image forming apparatus such as a copier, printer, facsimile or their combined machine to punch filing holes through sheets of paper.
2. Related Art
The present applicant et al. had developed a punching unit for punching holes through sheets of paper by vertically moving punches by reciprocally moving a cam plate that crosses at right angles with the punch moving direction (see Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2001-9791 for example). As shown in FIG. 6, the punching unit 1 has a body frame 2 that supports a cam plate 3 movably in the horizontal direction and a plurality of punches 6 movably in the vertical direction. The punching unit 1 is also provided with a die plate 7 disposed across a paper passing space S from the body frame 2. Dies (holes) 9 are formed through the die plate 7 at positions facing the punches 6 described above. A plurality of cams 10 respectively formed of a grooved hole is formed through the cam plate 3 at predetermined intervals and an actuation pin 11 is planted to each punch 6, respectively. The body frame 2 is provided with guide holes 12 each formed of a linear long hole extending in the vertical direction to guide the actuation pin 11 in connection with the cam 10.
In operation, revolutions of an electric motor 13 is transmitted through a decelerator 15 to a pinion 16 that is engaged with a rack 17 to reciprocate the cam plate 3. As the cam plate 3 reciprocates, the cam 10 and the guide hole 12 guide the pin 11 and move the punches 6 in the vertical direction. Thus, the punch 6 punches holes through sheets of paper located in the space S with the die hole 9. As the cam plate 3 moves in one direction, the punch 6 upheld while being positioned at one-end linear portion 10a of the cam 10 is reciprocated in the vertical direction at a V-shaped portion 10b of the cam 10 and is then upheld again by moving to another-end linear portion 10c. At this time, the pin 11 is guided by the guide hole 12 formed of the linear long hole, so that the punch 6 moves in the vertical direction without turning around its axial line.
In a state in which a capacity of the driving motor 13 is limited to a predetermined capacity and a thrust force Q of the cam plate 3 is limited due to an installation space and others of the punching unit 1, it is effective to reduce an inclined angle (wedge angle) α of the V-shaped portion 10 b of the cam 10 in order to obtain a large punching force F of the punch 6.
Because it is necessary to assure a punch moving distance PL to punch holes through sheets of paper, a moving distance (slide stroke) SL of the cam plate 3 must be increased if the inclined angle α of the cam 10 is to be reduced. If the moving distance SL of the cam plate 3 is thus increased, a time required for punching holes is prolonged and the size of the punching unit becomes large, so that it is unable to deal with the high speed operation of the late image forming apparatus such as a printer and to punch through heavy papers. Thus, it is desired to bring out a high-performance punching unit that takes an equivalent installation space with that of the prior art punching unit and does not involve a large modification.


Unidirectional ring lasers formed by integrating nonreciprocal optical elements into the resonant ring cavity. These optical elements either attenuate light traveling in a nonpreferred direction or amplify light traveling in a preferred direction. In one preferred embodiment the resonant cavity takes the form of a circle with an S-shaped crossover waveguide connected to two points on the interior of the cavity such that light traveling in a nonpreferred direction is diverted from the cavity into the crossover waveguide and reinjected out of the other end of the crossover waveguide into the cavity as light traveling in the preferred direction.

Semiconductor diode lasers with a ring resonator are an alternative to linear-cavity (Fabry-Perot) lasers for photonic integrated circuits and other applications. A ring resonator utilizes total internal reflection in a circular ring structure thus eliminating the need for end-facet mirrors and allowing direct integration with waveguides, and other photonic integrated circuit components. Previous semiconductor ring diode lasers have operated in a bidirectional mode characterized by lasing in the two counterpropagating ring directions (clockwise and counterclockwise). This bidirectional mode of operation is undesirable for the following reasons: (1) the lasing power in the ring cavity is distributed between the two lasing ring directions so that only half of the total circulating laser power can be accessible to a single output waveguide when a branching Y-junction output coupler is used (the remaining half of the laser power is propagating around the ring cavity in a direction which is not coupled out at the Y-junction); (2) the lasing power in the non-output-coupled ring direction can actually be much larger than that in the output-coupled direction as a result of back-injection by a reflection of the output-coupled lasing at an end-facet mirror at the termination of the output waveguide or by back-reflections from other downstream photonic integrated circuit components (we have shown that such back-injection can reduce the power and slope efficiency of the output-coupled light by as much as an order of magnitude); and (3) bidirectional ring diode lasers exhibit modal instabilities and kinks in their light-vs-current characteristics due to strong coupling of the counterpropagating lasing modes through the semiconductor gain medium.
The attainment of unidirectional operation in a semiconductor ring diode laser would eliminate many of the undesirable characteristics of bidirectional ring diode lasers as discussed above. Since the majority of the lasing power in a unidirectional device would be in a single preferred ring direction, it would be more readily accessible to a single output-coupled waveguide, thereby leading to an increase in the output power. And since any reflection feedback would be coupled back into the ring cavity in the unsupported low-gain direction, it would have much less of an effect on the output-coupled lasing. Unidirectional operation will also improve the operating characteristics of ring laser sources for use in photonic integrated circuits and other applications by reducing noise and instabilities due to gain competition between counterpropagating lasing modes. This results in much more linear and kink-free light-vs-current characteristic in unidirectional ring diode lasers. And finally, the development of a monolithic unidirectional ring diode laser will lead to new applications based on the control and switchability of the direction of lasing in the ring. These applications include but are not limited to ring gyroscopes (in which a beat frequency between two oppositely-directed unidirectional ring diode lasers is detected to measure the rotation rate), optical logic elements (in which the direction of lasing in the ring is the logic state of the device; and this direction is electrically controlled and switched), optical signal routing elements for photonic integrated circuits (in which the signals are routed around a ring cavity with multiple outputs which can be selected by electrically or optically controlling the ring direction and other electrically switchable components such as output-couplers and waveguides and other optoelectronic elements as may be required).
The attainment of unidirectional lasing has long been a goal in the development of ring diode lasers. Unidirectional lasing in a ring laser cavity requires the use of a nonreciprocal gain or loss (attenuation) mechanism which favors one direction of propagation of the lasing light over another. Previously, the mechanisms proposed for achieving unidirectional lasing in ring diode lasers have been based either on reflection from a cleaved end-facet mirror or on injection locking by a source of lasing radiation external to the ring cavity. The previous reflection schemes relied on the angular-dependent reflection from the cleaved- or etched-facet output mirror in a triangular or polygonal ring diode laser, or on the back-reflection from a cleaved-facet mirror located at the termination of one of the output waveguides of a circular or square ring diode laser. The laser radiation for the injection locking scheme was injected into the ring at a partially transmitting etched-facet ring cavity mirror. The source for injection locking was either another laser or else the lasing output from the ring laser itself, in which case an external etched-facet mirror was used to reflect a part of the lasing output back into the ring cavity in a preferred direction of propagation.
The common requirement of all the previous schemes for unidirectional lasing as presented above is the need for etched- or cleaved-facet mirrors. The requirement for these mirrors complicates the fabrication of these devices and limits their reliability due to the exposed facet which must be coated to protect it from the environment. These facet mirrors also prevent the unidirectional ring diode laser from being directly coupled into other waveguides as for the fabrication of a photonic integrated circuit. These previous devices must instead be air-gap coupled which is less desirable since it introduces transmission and coupling losses and is very sensitive to fabrication tolerances (the air-gap spacing must be precisely controlled since this air gap forms an additional resonant cavity).

The United States of America as represented by the United States Department of Energy


Modified human leptin polypeptides and uses thereof are provided.

The obese (ob) gene product, leptin, is an important circulating signal for the regulation of body weight (Zhang Y et al (1994) Nature 372: 425-432). Mice homozygous for a nonfunctional ob gene become morbidly obese and diabetic, due to overeating and increased metabolic efficiency. In 1995, Tartaglia L A et al (Cell 83: 1263-1271) described a high affinity receptor for murine leptin (OB-R). Evidence suggests that the weight-reducing effects of leptin may be mediated by signal transduction through OB-R in the hypothalamus (Lee G H et al (1996) Nature 379: 632-635).
Regulation in the expression of splice variants can have an important role in the activity of signal transduction molecules and has been implicated in the pathogenesis of several diseases (Khachigian L M et al (1992) Pathology 24: 280-290). For example, mutations that create new splice variants of the sulfonylurea receptor gene segregate with familial persistent hyperinsulinemic hypoglycemia (Thomas P M et al (1995) Science 268: 426-429).
At least 9 alternatively spliced forms of mouse OB-R have been described (Lee et al, supra). A splice variant, B219, is expressed in the mouse yolk sac, early fetal liver, enriched hematopoietic stem cells, a variety of lympho-hematopoietic cells lines, and in adult reproductive organs and may be directly involved in hematopoiesis and reproduction (Cioffi J A et al (1996) Nature Medicine 2: 585-589). Additional support for leptin and a leptin receptor role in reproduction comes from Chehab F F et al, who report that treatment with leptin corrects a sterility defect in ob/ob female mice (1996, Nature Genet. 12: 318-320). The researchers showed that leptin brings on fertility by restoring necessary hypothalmic and pituitary hormone levels rather than by fat reduction.
An OB-R mutation that creates an alternatively spliced transcript is responsible for the severely obese phenotype of db/db mice (Chen H et al (1996) Cell 84: 491-495). Based on synteni between human and mouse chromosomes, the human version of OB-R is likely to map to human chromosome 1p31 (Lee et al, supra).
Genome sequencing efforts in Caenorhabditis elegans and Saccharomyces cerevisiae have revealed putative open reading frames (ORFs) C30B5.2 and YJR044c, respectively (Wilson R et al, (1994) Nature 368: 32-38; Huang M E et al (1995) Yeast 11: 775-781). YJR044c and C30B5.2 are 27% identical and 71% similar in amino acid sequence and share a similar pattern of hydrophobicity. YJR044c has been characterized as a putative membrane associated protein (Wilson et al, supra). The C30B5.2 amino acid sequence has a consensus pattern (CCxxHxxC) for phospholipase A2, a family of enzymes that release fatty acids from the second carbon group of glycerol.
The activity of many signal transduction molecules, such as the leptin receptor, is thought to be regulated by the expression of splice variants of the molecule. A new leptin receptor-related protein could provide the basis for diagnosis and treatment of disease states related to signal transduction events associated with metabolic disorders, such as obesity and diabetes, and reproductive disorders, including infertility.
Covalent attachment of a hydrophilic polymer poly(ethylene glycol), abbreviated PEG, is a method of increasing water solubility, bioavailability, increasing serum half-life, increasing therapeutic half-life, modulating immunogenicity, modulating biological activity, or extending the circulation time of many biologically active molecules, including proteins, peptides, and particularly hydrophobic molecules. PEG has been used extensively in pharmaceuticals, on artificial implants, and in other applications where biocompatibility, lack of toxicity, and lack of immunogenicity are of importance. In order to maximize the desired properties of PEG, the total molecular weight and hydration state of the PEG polymer or polymers attached to the biologically active molecule must be sufficiently high to impart the advantageous characteristics typically associated with PEG polymer attachment, such as increased water solubility and circulating half life, while not adversely impacting the bioactivity of the parent molecule.
PEG derivatives are frequently linked to biologically active molecules through reactive chemical functionalities, such as lysine, cysteine and histidine residues, the N-terminus and carbohydrate moieties. Proteins and other molecules often have a limited number of reactive sites available for polymer attachment. Often, the sites most suitable for modification via polymer attachment play a significant role in receptor binding, and are necessary for retention of the biological activity of the molecule. As a result, indiscriminate attachment of polymer chains to such reactive sites on a biologically active molecule often leads to a significant reduction or even total loss of biological activity of the polymer-modified molecule. R. Clark et al., (1996), J. Biol. Chem., 271:21969-21977. To form conjugates having sufficient polymer molecular weight for imparting the desired advantages to a target molecule, prior art approaches have typically involved random attachment of numerous polymer arms to the molecule, thereby increasing the risk of a reduction or even total loss in bioactivity of the parent molecule.
Reactive sites that form the loci for attachment of PEG derivatives to proteins are dictated by the protein's structure. Proteins, including enzymes, are composed of various sequences of alpha-amino acids, which have the general structure H2N—CHR—COOH. The alpha amino moiety (H2N—) of one amino acid joins to the carboxyl moiety (—COOH) of an adjacent amino acid to form amide linkages, which can be represented as —(NH—CHR—CO)n—, where the subscript "n" can equal hundreds or thousands. The fragment represented by R can contain reactive sites for protein biological activity and for attachment of PEG derivatives.
For example, in the case of the amino acid lysine, there exists an —NH2 moiety in the epsilon position as well as in the alpha position. The epsilon —NH2 is free for reaction under conditions of basic pH. Much of the art in the field of protein derivatization with PEG has been directed to developing PEG derivatives for attachment to the epsilon —NH2 moiety of lysine residues present in proteins. "Polyethylene Glycol and Derivatives for Advanced PEGylation", Nektar Molecular Engineering Catalog, 2003, pp. 1-17. These PEG derivatives all have the common limitation, however, that they cannot be installed selectively among the often numerous lysine residues present on the surfaces of proteins. This can be a significant limitation in instances where a lysine residue is important to protein activity, existing in an enzyme active site for example, or in cases where a lysine residue plays a role in mediating the interaction of the protein with other biological molecules, as in the case of receptor binding sites.
A second and equally important complication of existing methods for protein PEGylation is that the PEG derivatives can undergo undesired side reactions with residues other than those desired. Histidine contains a reactive imino moiety, represented structurally as —N(H)—, but many chemically reactive species that react with epsilon —NH2 can also react with —N(H)—. Similarly, the side chain of the amino acid cysteine bears a free sulfhydryl group, represented structurally as —SH. In some instances, the PEG derivatives directed at the epsilon —NH2 group of lysine also react with cysteine, histidine or other residues. This can create complex, heterogeneous mixtures of PEG-derivatized bioactive molecules and risks destroying the activity of the bioactive molecule being targeted. It would be desirable to develop PEG derivatives that permit a chemical functional group to be introduced at a single site within the protein that would then enable the selective coupling of one or more PEG polymers to the bioactive molecule at specific sites on the protein surface that are both well-defined and predictable.
In addition to lysine residues, considerable effort in the art has been directed toward the development of activated PEG reagents that target other amino acid side chains, including cysteine, histidine and the N-terminus, See, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 6,610,281 which is incorporated by reference herein, and "Polyethylene Glycol and Derivatives for Advanced PEGylation", Nektar Molecular Engineering Catalog, 2003, pp. 1-17. A cysteine residue can be introduced site-selectively into the structure of proteins using site-directed mutagenesis and other techniques known in the art, and the resulting free sulfhydryl moiety can be reacted with PEG derivatives that bear thiol-reactive functional groups. This approach is complicated, however, in that the introduction of a free sulfhydryl group can complicate the expression, folding and stability of the resulting protein. Thus, it would be desirable to have a means to introduce a chemical functional group into bioactive molecules that enables the selective coupling of one or more PEG polymers to the protein while simultaneously being compatible with (i.e., not engaging in undesired side reactions with) sulfhydryls and other chemical functional groups typically found in proteins.
As can be seen from a sampling of the art, many of these derivatives that have been developed for attachment to the side chains of proteins, in particular, the —NH2 moiety on the lysine amino acid side chain and the —SH moiety on the cysteine side chain, have proven problematic in their synthesis and use. Some form unstable linkages with the protein that are subject to hydrolysis and therefore decompose, degrade, or are otherwise unstable in aqueous environments, such as in the bloodstream. See Pedder, S. C. Semin Liver Dis. 2003; 23 Suppl 1:19-22 for a discussion of the stability of linkages in PEG-Intron®. Some form more stable linkages, but are subject to hydrolysis before the linkage is formed, which means that the reactive group on the PEG derivative may be inactivated before the protein can be attached. Some are somewhat toxic and are therefore less suitable for use in vivo. Some are too slow to react to be practically useful. Some result in a loss of protein activity by attaching to sites responsible for the protein's activity. Some are not specific in the sites to which they will attach, which can also result in a loss of desirable activity and in a lack of reproducibility of results. In order to overcome the challenges associated with modifying proteins with polyethylene glycol) moieties, PEG derivatives have been developed that are more stable (e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 6,602,498, which is incorporated by reference herein) or that react selectively with thiol moieties on molecules and surfaces (e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 6,610,281, which is incorporated by reference herein). There is clearly a need in the art for PEG derivatives that are chemically inert in physiological environments until called upon to react selectively to form stable chemical bonds.
Recently, an entirely new technology in the protein sciences has been reported, which promises to overcome many of the limitations associated with site-specific modifications of proteins. Specifically, new components have been added to the protein biosynthetic machinery of the prokaryote Escherichia coli (E. coli) (e.g., L. Wang, et al., (2001), Science 292:498-500) and the eukaryote Sacchronyces cerevisiae (S. cerevisiae) (e.g., J. Chin et al., Science 301:964-7 (2003)), which has enabled the incorporation of non-genetically encoded amino acids to proteins in vivo. A number of new amino acids with novel chemical, physical or biological properties, including photoaffinity labels and photoisomerizable amino acids, keto amino acids, and glycosylated amino acids have been incorporated efficiently and with high fidelity into proteins in E. coli and in yeast in response to the amber codon, TAG, using this methodology. See, e.g., J. W. Chin et al., (2002), Journal of the American Chemical Society 124:9026-9027; J. W. Chin, & P. G. Schultz, (2002), ChemBioChem 11:1135-1137; J. W. Chin, et al., (2002), PNAS United States of America 99:11020-11024; and, L. Wang, & P. G. Schultz, (2002), Chem. Comm., 1-10. These studies have demonstrated that it is possible to selectively and routinely introduce chemical functional groups, such as ketone groups, alkyne groups and azide moieties, that are not found in proteins, that are chemically inert to all of the functional groups found in the 20 common, genetically-encoded amino acids and that may be used to react efficiently and selectively to form stable covalent linkages.
The ability to incorporate non-genetically encoded amino acids into proteins permits the introduction of chemical functional groups that could provide valuable alternatives to the naturally-occurring functional groups, such as the epsilon —NH2 of lysine, the sulfhydryl —SH of cysteine, the imino group of histidine, etc. Certain chemical functional groups are known to be inert to the functional groups found in the 20 common, genetically-encoded amino acids but react cleanly and efficiently to form stable linkages. Azide and acetylene groups, for example, are known in the art to undergo a Huisgen [3+2] cycloaddition reaction in aqueous conditions in the presence of a catalytic amount of copper. See, e.g., Tornoe, et al., (2002) Org. Chem. 67:3057-3064; and, Rostovtsev, et al., (2002) Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 41:2596-2599. By introducing an azide moiety into a protein structure, for example, one is able to incorporate a functional group that is chemically inert to amines, sulfhydryls, carboxylic acids, hydroxyl groups found in proteins, but that also reacts smoothly and efficiently with an acetylene moiety to form a cycloaddition product. Importantly, in the absence of the acetylene moiety, the azide remains chemically inert and unreactive in the presence of other protein side chains and under physiological conditions.
Methods are known in the art for administering exogenous leptin for treatment of obesity (Heymsfield et al, JAMA. 282: 1568-1575, 1999) and for increasing endogenous leptin production, e.g. see U.S. Patent Publication No. 2007/0203225, both references herein incorporated by reference for all purposes. Leptin has a number of actions beyond the regulation of energy balance, in addition to obesity management, a method for increasing serum or circulating leptin could be useful for modulating glucose and lipid metabolism, hypothalamic-pituitary neuroendocrine function, treatment of infertility, and to promote immune function, hematopoiesis, as well as to increase angiogenesis and wound healing. For example, leptin administration was recently shown to improve glucose control and decrease serum lipids (triglycerides) in humans with diabetes due to defects in fat deposition (lipodystrophy) (Oral et al, New Engl. J. Med., 2002). Data has been generated from experiments in cultured adipocytes in vitro that indicate that glucose utilization is an important determinant of insulin-mediated leptin gene expression and leptin secretion (Mueller et al, Endocrinology, 1998). We have also shown that anaerobic metabolism of glucose to lactate does not result in increased leptin secretion (Mueller et al, Obesity Res., 8:530-539, 2000). Additional information indicates a mechanism that requires increasing the transport of substrate into the mitochondria for oxidation in the TCA cycle as a metabolic pathway by which insulin-mediated glucose metabolism regulates leptin production (Havel et al, Obesity Res., Abstract, 1999).
The present invention addresses, among other things, problems associated with the activity and production of leptin polypeptides, and also addresses the production of a leptin polypeptide with improved biological or pharmacological properties.

Modified leptin polypeptides and their uses


SRAM devices are disclosed that utilize write assist circuits to improve the logical transitions of bit lines. In one embodiment, an SRAM device includes a pair of complimentary bit lines traversing a memory cell array for writing data to memory cells. The bit lines have a first end and a second end. A pair of complimentary write drivers is proximate to the first end of the bit lines that writes to the bit lines. A write assist circuit is proximate to the second end of the bit lines that receives a pre-charge signal to assist the write drivers in transitioning the bit lines from a logical zero state to a logical one state. The write assist circuit also receives a boost signal to assist the write drivers in transitioning the bit lines from a logical one state to a logical zero state.

Submicron SRAM experiences performance problems in 20 nm and below process technologies due to the increased parasitic capacitances and resistances of bit lines. The increased parasitic effects degrade the slope of the bit lines during write operations, thereby increasing the cycle times for writing data to SRAM memory cells. However, increasing the size of write drivers for the bit lines fails to improve the slope of the bit line during logical state transitions because the current capabilities of the write drivers tend to saturate even as the size of the drivers are increased.

Bit line write assist for static random access memory architectures

Avago Technologies General IP (Singapore) Pte Ltd


A paper feeding apparatus with a paper size determining means includes a paper tray, paper guide, a belt, a roller set, a sensing mechanism and a control unit. The paper tray has a front surface for supporting paper and a rear surface. The paper guide is movably disposed on the paper tray and for abutting against an edge of the paper in the paper tray. The roller set is rotatably disposed on the rear surface. The belt, connected to the paper guide and wound around the roller set, synchronously moves the paper guide and rotates the roller set. The sensing mechanism disposed on the rear surface senses a to-be-sensed component disposed on the belt or the roller set and thus outputs a sensing signal. The control unit receives the sensing signal and thus determines size of the paper.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates in general to a paper feeding apparatus with a paper size determining means, and more particularly to a paper feeding apparatus detecting paper size by using a to-be-sensed component synchronously moved with a paper guide.
2. Description of the Related Art
Each of a copier, a scanner, a printer and a multi-function peripheral is an electronic product needing a document specification detecting device. So, it is very important to select a suitable document specification detecting device for these electronic products.
FIG. 1 (Prior Art) is a schematic illustration showing a rear surface of a paper tray of a conventional copier. Referring to FIG. 1, the conventional paper tray 100 includes a blade-like plate 110. The blade-like plate 110 contains a fulcrum 120, a section track 130, protrusions 140 and a paper guide 150 movable on the section track 130. When the paper guide 150 slides along the section track 130 and abuts against an edge of the paper, the blade-like plate 110 is rotated about the fulcrum 120. The protrusions 140 having different sizes respectively correspond to different paper sizes. When the paper guide 150 abuts against the edge of the paper, the protrusion 140 corresponding to the size of the paper being used shields a sensing path of a photosensor 115. The size of the paper may be judged according to the size of the range of the sensing path being shielded.
At present, the blade-like plate 110 is manufactured by way of injection molding or sheet metal pressing. These methods have the following drawbacks.
First, the blade-like plate formed by way of injection molding has the drawbacks of the poor rigidity, the contraction and the buckle.
Second, the blade-like plate formed by way of sheet metal pressing has the problems of the burr and the heavy weight.
In addition, the conventional paper feeding apparatus capable of detecting the paper size has the section track 130 having a lot of positions and angles corresponding to the paper with different paper sizes. So, when the paper size is rapidly switched, the paper guide cannot slide smoothly in the section track 130. In addition, the exterior of the blade-like plate 110 is like a long blade, and the swinging area of the blade-like plate 110 is large. Thus, the rear portion of the paper feeding apparatus needs a larger area coverage, thereby causing the bulkiness in the overall assembly.

Paper feeding apparatus with paper size determining means


An igniter's housing is bored continuously there through to define, in succession, several bore regions. A firing pin, slidingly fit in the first bore region, terminates in a tip that protrudes into a primer-filled second bore region when the firing pin is fully seated in the first bore region. An air-filled third bore region follows the second bore region. An open-ended cup is fitted substantially in and sealed to the fourth bore region with the cup's closed end being structurally weakened at a portion thereof. A bored out slug of pyrotechnic material is fitted in the cup.

(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to exothermic torch rods, and more particularly to an igniter for a torch rod that does not require any power for use in or out of water.
(2) Description of the Prior Art
As is known in the art, oxygen-based cutting-torch (or "torch rod") systems use hollow steel tubes that house hollow or solid steel wires or rods therein. An igniter is used to ignite one end of the steel wires or rods which burn to form a cutting-torch. Current ignition methods include exposing the ends of the steel wires or rods to high current, placing the ends of the steel wires or rods in a smoldering cardboard (punk) tube, or depositing a molten metallic product on the ends of the wires or rods while exposing same to a supply of oxygen. However, the high current and smoldering punk tube ignition systems are either useless, unreliable or, at the very least, difficult to use in underwater environments. Currently available ignition systems that produce a molten metallic product use a powdered energetic compound and a chemical catalyst that are separated from one another until ignition is required. However, powdered energetic compounds are not reliable and have a limited shelf life.

The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Navy


In a double row rolling bearing for supporting a pinion shaft, an outer ring is fixed to an inner peripheral surface of an annular wall (case) with its axis disposed horizontally, and an inner ring assembly is fitted on a pinion shaft, and is inserted, together with the pinion shaft, horizontally into the outer ring through a larger-diameter opening of the outer ring, and is mounted in the outer ring. A larger-diameter cage has a drop limitation portion for limiting the vertically-downward movement of the larger-diameter case.

In an automotive differential gear and a transfer apparatus for a four-wheel drive vehicle, it has heretofore been proposed to use a construction in which tapered roller bearings are provided respectively at a pinion gear-side portion (one axial end portion) of a pinion shaft and an anti-pinion-gear-side portion (the other axial end portion) of the pinion shaft, and the pinion shaft is rotatably supported on an inner peripheral surface of a case by the two tapered roller bearings (see Patent Literatures 1 and 2).
However, in this pinion shaft-supporting construction, a radial load and a thrust load simultaneously act on the pinion gear-side tapered roller bearing, and besides the proportion of the thrust load is high, and therefore this tapered roller bearing has a large contact angle.
Therefore, a large frictional resistance acts on this tapered roller bearing, so that a running torque becomes large, and as a result the efficiency of the differential gear tends to be lowered.
Therefore, there has been proposed a pinion shaft-supporting bearing apparatus in which instead of a tapered roller bearing, a double row rolling bearing is used as a pinion gear-side bearing supporting a pinion shaft (see Patent Literature 3).
A differential gear, in which a pinion gear-side portion (free end portion) of a pinion shaft is supported on an inner peripheral surface of a case by this double row rolling bearing, will be described with reference to FIG. 11.
The differential gear 1 includes the differential case 2. The differential case 2 comprises a front case 3 and a rear case 4, and the two cases 3 and 4 are joined together by bolt/nut arrangements 2a.
Bearing-mounting annular walls 27A and 27B are formed within the front case 3. The differential case 2 contains a differential speed change mechanism 5 interlocking right and left wheels in a differential manner, and the pinion shaft 7 having a pinion gear 6.
The pinion gear 6 is in mesh with a ring gear 8 of the differential speed change mechanism 5.
A shaft portion 9 of the pinion shaft 7 is stepped to increase in diameter toward the pinion gear 6. A pinion gear-side portion of the shaft portion 9 of the pinion shaft 7 is rotatably supported on the annular wall 27A of the front case 3 through the double row rolling bearing 10.
An anti-pinion-gear-side portion (remote from the pinion gear 6) of the shaft portion 9 of the pinion shaft 7 is rotatably supported on the annular wall 27B of the front case 3 through a double row rolling bearing 25.
The front case 3 has an oil circulating passageway 40 formed between its outer wall and the annular wall 27A, and an oil inlet 41 of the oil circulating passageway 40 is open toward the ring gear 8, and an oil outlet 42 of the oil circulating passageway 40 is open to a region between the annular walls 27A and 27B.
A closure plate 37 is inserted into the front case 3 through a smaller-diameter opening thereof, and is fitted on the shaft portion 9 of the pinion shaft 7.
A barrel portion 44 of a companion flange 43 is spline-fitted on the shaft portion 9, and an end surface of this barrel portion 44 is held against the closure plate 37. An oil seal 46 is mounted on the barrel portion 44 of the companion flange 43.
A seal protection cup 47 is attached to the smaller-diameter opening portion of the front case 3.
A nut 49 is threaded on a threaded portion 48 of the shaft portion 9, thereby imparting a predetermined preload to rows 17 and 18 of rolling elements of the double row rolling bearing 10 and rows 32 and 33 of the double row rolling bearing 25.
In the above construction, the nut 49 is threaded on the threaded portion 48, so that an inner ring 13 of the double row rolling bearing 10 and an inner ring 14 of the double row rolling bearing 25 are held between an end face of the pinion gear 6 and an end surface of the companion flange 43 in the axial direction, thereby imparting the predetermined preload to the rows 17 and 18 of rolling elements of the double row rolling bearing 10 and the rows 32 and 33 of rolling elements of the double row rolling bearing 25 through the closure plate 37 and a plastic spacer 23.
Here, the double row rolling bearing 10 and the double row rolling bearing 25 are provided respectively on at least two axially-spaced portions, that is, the pinion gear-side portion and the anti-pinion-gear-side portion of the pinion shaft 7, and jointly form a rolling bearing apparatus supporting the pinion shaft 7 on the annular walls 27A and 27B each serving as the inner peripheral surface of the case.
The conventional double row rolling bearing 10 will now be described with reference to FIG. 12. This double row rolling bearing 10 is a double row angular contact ball bearing, and comprises an outer ring 11 having a larger-diameter raceway 11a and a smaller-diameter raceway 11b which are arranged in two rows in the axial direction, the inner ring 13 having a larger-diameter raceway 13a and a smaller-diameter raceway 13b which are arranged in two rows in the axial direction and are opposed respectively to the larger-diameter raceway 11a and the smaller-diameter raceway 11b in the radial direction, the larger-diameter row 17 of rolling elements disposed between the larger-diameter raceways 11a and 13a, the smaller-diameter row 18 of rolling elements disposed between the smaller-diameter raceways 11b and 13b, a larger-diameter cage 19 holding the larger-diameter row 17 of rolling elements, and a smaller-diameter cage 20 holding the smaller-diameter row 18 of rolling elements.
In this double row rolling bearing 10, the inclinations of contact angles of the larger-diameter and smaller-diameter rows 17 and 18 of rolling elements for the respective raceways (11a and 13a) and (11b and 13b) are in the same direction.
Among the bearing parts of the double row rolling bearing 10, the inner ring 13, the rows 17 and 18 of rolling elements and the cages 19 and 20 are assembled together to form an inner ring assembly 21, and this inner ring assembly 21 is inserted into the outer ring 11 through a larger-diameter opening thereof to be mounted therein.
Namely, the outer ring 11 is fixed to an inner peripheral surface of the annular wall 27A with its axis disposed horizontally. The inner ring assembly 21 is fitted on the pinion shaft 7. The pinion shaft 7 having the inner ring assembly 21 fitted thereon is inserted horizontally into the larger-diameter opening of the outer ring 11, thereby assembling the outer ring 11 and the inner ring assembly 21 together in the horizontal direction. By doing so, the pinion gear-side portion of the pinion shaft 7 can be supported on the annular wall 27A through the double row rolling bearing 10.
However, the double row rolling bearing 10 of the above construction has the following problems.
These problems will be described with reference to FIGS. 13 and 14. In the drawings, the upward-downward direction is defined as the vertical direction, and the right-left direction is defined as the horizontal direction. The outer ring 11, the pinion shaft 7 and the inner ring 13 of the inner ring assembly 21 have their respective axes 31 coinciding with one another. FIG. 13 shows a condition before the inner ring assembly 21 is mounted in the outer ring 11. The outer ring 11 is mounted on the inner peripheral surface of the annular wall 27A (that is, the inner peripheral surface of the case) with its axis disposed horizontally. On the other hand, the inner ring assembly 21 is fitted on the pinion shaft 7. The distance from the axis 31 of the outer ring 11 to a vertically-lower portion of an inner peripheral edge 11c of the larger-diameter opening of the outer ring 11 is represented by D0.
In the inner ring assembly 21, the rows 17 and 18 of rolling elements are circumferentially disposed on the raceways 13a and 13b of the inner ring 13, respectively, and are held by the cages 19 and 20, respectively.
In this condition, any load, that is, any external force, acts on the rows 17 and 18 of rolling elements. A radial clearance exists between the row 17 of rolling elements and the raceway 13a of the inner ring 13, and also a radial clearance exists between the row 18 of rolling elements and the raceway 13b of the inner ring 13. Therefore, each of the rolling element rows 17 and 18 moves in a direction to reduce the vertically-upper radial clearance because of the deadweight, so that the vertically-lower radial clearance increases.
Namely, the rolling element row 17 as well as the rolling element row 18 drops downward in an amount corresponding to the radial clearance. As a result, the vertical distance D1 from the axis 31 to a vertically-lowermost end of the larger-diameter row 17 of rolling elements often becomes larger as compared with the vertical distance D0 from the axis 31 of the outer ring 31 to the vertically-lower portion of the inner peripheral edge 11c of the larger-diameter opening of the outer ring 11.
In the case where this distance relation is established, the larger-diameter row 17 of rolling elements are caused to abut against the inner peripheral edge portion 11c of the larger-diameter opening of the outer ring 11 when the pinion shaft 7 is inserted into the outer ring 11 through the larger-diameter opening thereof as shown in FIG. 14.
The inner peripheral edge 11c of the larger-diameter opening of the outer ring 11 has a generally right-angled corner-shape, and therefore when the speed of mounting (or inserting) of the pinion shaft 7 into the larger-diameter opening of the outer ring 11 is high, or when this mounting force is high, there is a possibility that the rolling elements forming the rolling element row 17 are easily damaged at their surfaces by the inner peripheral edge 11c of the larger-diameter opening of the outer ring 11.
And besides, when those rolling elements of the rolling element row 17 which have been damaged at their surfaces roll on the raceway 13a of the inner ring 13 at high speed, a large vibration and sound are produced, and also the raceway 13a of the inner ring 13 is subjected to damage such as flaking, etc., which invites a shortened life of the double row rolling bearing 10 at a premature stage.
Patent Literature 1: JP-A-9-105450 Publication
Patent Literature 2: JP-A-10-220468 Publication.
Patent Literature 3: JP-A-2004-190728 Publication

Double row rolling bearing for supporting pinion shaft and rolling bearing apparatus provided with the same


A method of forming an improved static random access memory (SRAM) interconnect structure is provided. The method includes forming a sidewall spacer around a periphery of a patterned poly-silicon layer formed over a silicon layer of a semiconductor substrate; removing the patterned poly-silicon layer for exposing a portion of a cap layer; etching the exposed portion of the cap layer for revealing a portion of the silicon layer; etching the portion of the silicon layer, in which a portion of said silicon layer connects at least a portion of pull-down device of said SRAM to at least a portion of pull-up device of said SRAM; forming a gate oxide; and forming a gate conductor over the gate oxide. An interconnect structure is also provided.

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates generally to semiconductor memories and, more particularly, to an improved static random access memory interconnect structure.
2. Description of Related Art
High-density SRAM devices are desirable for high-speed cache applications. As the technology of process and device integration is advanced, more and more systems are being incorporated in a single chip. For example, a SRAM cell is formed by a number of transistors, i.e. pMOS and nMOS. In addition, in order for the SRAM to be economically employed in electronic systems for high-performance, continuous efforts are being made to reduce its cost and chip size.
A FinFET is a non-planar, double-gate transistor built on an SOI substrate. In a typical FinFET, the conducting channel is wrapped around a thin silicon fin, which forms the body of the device. Typically, the dimensions of the fin determine the effective channel length of the device. In recent years, the effective channel length of a FinFET is becoming shorter and shorter. In fact, the shorter channel effect is expected to replace planar devices in the future generation high performance CMOS microprocessors. In addition, FinFET devices are also expected to improve SRAM stability due to reduced channel doping and hence lower dopant random fluctuation. FIG. 1 illustrates an example of such SRAM cell 10 illustrating a conventional SRAM contact 12 and M1 interconnect 14 in which a piece of metal layer is used to connect a part of pull-down device to a part of pull-up device through two contacts.
To realize the improved short channel effect benefit, the FinFET channel region must be of sub-lithographic width (about 20 nm), which can be created using spacer image transfer technique, among other know techniques. However, an additional mask is normally required to cut the spacer image to achieve the desired circuit layout. But additional masks introduce a number of concerns that have made earlier introduction unattractive. For example, an additional mask typically translates to an increase in manufacturing cost due to higher consumption of materials and tool time, as well as new processes required for multiple patterning. Moreover, it results in an overlay error between these two masks.
Accordingly, a need exists for forming an SRAM design for achieving sub-lithographic fin thickness using alternative methods circumventing the limitations of using an additional cut mask. The present disclosure provides a structure and method of forming an SRAM having an improved contact and metal wiring.

Structure and method for improved SRAM interconnect

International Business Machines Corporation


An improved motion picture coding scheme is described which provides the benefits of both sub-band coding and motion compensation thereby providing greater degrees of compression than would be obtained using either of these techniques separately. The system generates high and low frequency frames from each pair of frames in the original motion picture. The high frequency represents the difference between the first and second frames of the motion picture. The pixels of the low frequency frame are either the average of two corresponding pixels, one from each of the original frames, or a value derived from a single pixel in the first frame. In the later case, the derived value is chosen to minimize artifacts that could hamper further compression of the low-frequency frame based on sub-band coding.

Images are conventionally represented by a two-dimensional array of values in which each value represents a property of the image at a corresponding point on the image. In the case of gray-scale images, a single number representing the gradations of intensity from white to black, referred to as the gray scale, is stored. In the case of color images, each "value" is a vector whose components represent the gradations in intensity of the various primary colors, or some alternative color code, at the corresponding point in the image. A motion picture comprises a sequence of such images. Typically, thirty or more images are needed for each second of viewing time.
This representation of a motion picture corresponds to the output of a typical image-sensing device such as a television camera. Such a representation is convenient in that it is easily regenerated on a display device such as a CRT tube. However, the number of bits needed to represent the data is prohibitively large for many applications. A single 512.times.512 gray-scale image with 256 gray levels requires in excess of 256,000 bytes. At 30 frames per second, a communication channel with a bandwidth of approximately 64 million bits per second is needed to transmit the motion picture. A frill color 24 bit per pixel motion picture would require a bandwidth of more than 190 million bits per second.
This bandwidth is significantly greater than that available for many communications purposes. For example, high quality consumer telephone lines are typically limited to 64 thousand bits per second. Hence, commercially viable picture telephone systems would require some form of image compression.
Image compression systems used in motion picture compression applications make use of the redundancy between frames to reduce the amount of information that must be transmitted over the bandwidth-limited communication link. For example, many scenes in a motion picture include portions that are constant from frame to frame for several seconds, if not minutes. Prior art compression schemes attempt to divide the scene into the constant portion and the portion that changes from frame to frame.
The constant portion need be sent only once. Hence, if the constant portion comprises a significant fraction of the scene, considerable image compression can be realized. For example, if the entire scene were constant for 10 seconds, the information needed to reproduce the scene would be contained in one frame of the sequence and an indication of the number of times the frame is to be repeated. This would be approximately 1/300 of the information needed if the scene were sent without compression.
To better understand the manner in which this type of prior art image compression operates, consider a motion picture which is being sent over a bandwidth-limited communication link from a transmitter to a receiver. The receiver will be assumed to have a frame buffer which stores one frame of the motion picture. The contents of this frame are then displayed at the receiver. Ideally, the frame in the receiver will exactly match the corresponding frame at the transmitter.
Typically, the process is started by sending one complete frame of the sequence. This frame is referred to as the key frame. After the key frame is sent, successive frames are specified by sending information specifying changes that have occurred relative to the last frame displayed by the receiver. Typically, the difference between the current frame and the last frame is computed to generate an "incremental frame". If the pixels of the incremental frame are added to those of the key frame, the current frame is regenerated. Since most scenes change slowly, the incremental frames on average have much less information than a key frame; hence the incremental frames require less bandwidth to transmit than a key frame.
As the difference between the key frame and the succeeding frames increases, the incremental frame pixels increase in magnitude and the bandwidth required to send an incremental frame exceeds that of the communication channel. At this point, either a new key frame must be sent or only a portion of the incremental frame may be sent. In general, incremental coding schemes have not provided sufficient compression to allow motion pictures of the quality of commercial television to be sent over low-cost communication channels. Hence, further compression of the motion picture is typically required.
One method for reducing the amount of information that must be sent is to further code the key frame and successive incremental frames using sub-band coding techniques such as those used to compress two-dimensional still images. In these systems, each frame is filtered to generate a plurality of component images therefrom. The filtering process concentrates the information in the frame into one or more of the component images thereby reducing the number of bits that must be used to send the other component images. The degree of compression obtained using these techniques depends on the amount of spatially redundant information in the frames being compressed. Such schemes work well with the key frame, as this frame is a single two-dimensional image, and the schemes in question have been optimized for such images.
The degree to which the incremental frames may be compressed depends on the statistical distribution of the pixels in the frames. As the variance of this distribution increases, the bandwidth needed to transmit the frames increases. Hence, it would be advantageous to provide systems in which the variance of the pixel values in the frames is reduced.
Broadly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an improved apparatus and method for coding motion pictures.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a method and apparatus in which the variances of the pixel distributions in the key frames and incremental frames is reduced relative to prior art systems.
These and other objects of the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description of the invention and the accompanying drawings.

Method and apparatus for coding motion pictures utilizing motion compensation


There is provided a process for the manufacture of 2-alkoxymethylacrolein compounds via the reaction of an appropriate alcohol and acrolein in the presence of an acid and a trisubstituted amine to form an intermediate and the subsequent reaction of the intermediate with formaldehyde in the presence of an acid and a disubstituted amine. There is also provided a process for the manufacture of 3-alkoxymethylquinolines from 2-alkoxymethylacrolein.

Although there are literature procedures which have been used successfully to prepare certain substituted acrolein compounds, there is, as yet, no known method reported for the manufacture of 2-alkoxy methylacrolein.
Alpha, beta-unsaturated aldehydes such as 2-alkoxymethylacrolein are useful in the preparation of substituted pyridine-2,3-dicarboxylates, which are key intermediates in the manufacture of a new class of imidazolinone herbicides. The use of .alpha.,.beta.-unsaturated aldehydes in the preparation of pyridine-2,3-dicarboxylates is described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,723,011, 4,948,896 and 5,008,392.
Therefore, it is an object of this invention to provide a convenient and effective method for the manufacture of 2-alkoxymethylacrolein compounds useful in the preparation of the herbicide intermediates.

Process for the manufacture of 2-alkoxymethylacrolein


The present invention is directed to novel functionalized spirocentric compounds and polymers thereof that produce hyper-rigid cross-linked membranes.

Microporous hyper rigid polymeric membranes have emerged as energy efficient molecular separation platforms relative to traditional energy intensive processes. These membranes combine porosity and rigidity, allowing for high permeability and good selectivity. A known polymer of intrinsic microporosity is PIM-1, which has been studied for gas separation and with solvent nanofiltration. PIM-1 is solution-processable, which has enabled the development of a variety of membrane morphologies including dense flat sheet, thin composite materials, and hollow fiber membranes. While PIM-1 has a relatively high membrane permeability for many gases in gas separation due to the "molecular ladder" structure of its polymer chains, it has only a low-to-moderate selectivity.
A variety of methods for covalent derivatization or modification of PIM-1 structures have been described, including tetrazole and methyl tetrazole formation, thioamide formation, amideoxime formation, partial nitrile hydrolysis, nitrile reduction, direct amide formation, and ortho aryl sulfonation. However, the resulting polymers often display poor solubility in solvents that would be used for making membranes, and thus are not practical for further development. To bypass the poor solubility of modified PIM polymers, functionalization directly on the PIM-1 thin film membrane has been reported. However, to reveal the full potential of PIM structures, crosslinkable polymers that are solution processable are required, after which cross-linking could be used to generate insoluble hyper-rigid cross-linked PIM networks. While intermolecular interactions have been used to cross-link PIM-1, examples of covalent cross-linking of PIM-1 rely on aggressive conditions of heat to induce non-specific decarboxylative cross-linking, oxidative cross-linking, and azide decomposition to nitrene for C—H insertion cross-linking. These approaches are nonspecific and generate very low levels of cross-linking.
Thus, despite their potential success, current approaches for polymers of intrinsic microporosity for chemical separations are limited by (1) solution processability; (2) ability to maintain well-defined pore sizes in solvent due to swelling and aging; (3) limited tunability of pore sizes; and (4) limited functional group tolerance.
Thus, there exists an unmet need for monomers and corresponding polymers thereof that are solution-processable at mild conditions and yield highly specific, hyper-rigid cross-linked membranes that have both high membrane permeability and high selectivity for molecular separations.

Spirocentric compounds and polymers thereof

ExxonMobil Research & Engineering Company


A method of measuring drop impact at an electronic device includes detecting a fall based on signals from drop detection sensor of the electronic device, receiving an output from a piezoelectric sensor in response to detecting the fall, and storing drop data based on the output from the piezoelectric sensor in a memory at the electronic device.

Electronic devices, including portable electronic devices, have gained widespread use and can provide a variety of functions including, for example, telephonic, electronic messaging and other personal information manager (PIM) application functions. Portable electronic devices can include several types of devices including mobile stations such as simple cellular telephones, smart telephones, wireless PDAs, and laptop computers with wireless 802.11 or Bluetooth capabilities.
Devices such as PDAs or smart telephones are generally intended for handheld use and ease of portability. Smaller devices are generally desirable for portability. Touch screen assemblies constructed of a display, such as a liquid crystal display, with a touch-sensitive overlay are useful on such handheld devices as these handheld devices are small and are therefore limited in space available for user input and output devices. Further, the screen content on the touch screen devices can be modified depending on the functions and operations being performed. Touch screen devices that provide tactile feedback are particularly advantageous for providing positive feedback upon selection of a feature on the touch screen.
Such portable electronic devices are commonly mistakenly dropped and may be damaged as a result. Design of devices to protect device components in the event of a drop is desirable.

Portable electronic device and method of measuring drop impact at the portable electronic device


The present invention relates to new cure accelerator systems for anaerobic curable compositions. These anaerobic cure systems include tetraalkyl ammonium oxidizing salts that are soluble in the (meth)acrylate component of the composition.

1. Field
The present invention relates to new cure accelerator systems for anaerobic curable compositions. These anaerobic cure systems include tetraalkyl ammonium oxidizing salts that are soluble in the (meth)acrylate component of the composition.
2. Brief Description of Related Technology
Anaerobic adhesive compositions generally are well-known. See e.g., R. D. Rich, "Anaerobic Adhesives" in Handbook of Adhesive Technology, 29, 467-79, A. Pizzi and K. L. Mittal, eds., Marcel Dekker, Inc., New York (1994), and references cited therein. Their uses are legion and new applications continue to be developed.
Conventional anaerobic adhesives ordinarily include a free-radically polymerizable acrylate ester monomer, together with a peroxy initiator and an inhibitor component. Oftentimes, such anaerobic adhesive compositions also contain accelerator components to increase the speed with which the composition cures.
The peroxy initiator is oftentimes cumene hydroperoxide ("CHP"). CHP has a distinctive odor, which to some people is found to be objectionable. Even when formulated into anaerobic adhesives, the odor is said to still be noticed by those people finding it objectionable.
Efforts have been made to seek alternatives to CHP. For instance, U.S. Pat. No. 3,980,627 (McDowell) is directed to and claims an anaerobic sealant composition having an extended shelf life in the presence of air and capable of polymerization upon exclusion of air. The composition includes a polyacrylic ester monomer represented by a certain formula; an inorganic salt as the sole polymerization initiator (and selected from ammonium perchlorate, alkali metal perchlorate, alkaline earth metal perchlorate, ammonium persulfate, alkali metal persulfate, and alkaline earth metal persulfate), present in an amount sufficient to initiate polymerization of the monomer in the absence of air; an accelerator present in an amount sufficient to accelerate polymerization of the monomer in the absence of air; and a polymerization inhibitor in an amount sufficient to retard polymerization of the monomer during storage of the composition in the presence of air.
In the '627 patent, it is suggested that the inorganic salt initiator is insoluble in the polyacrylate ester monomer and thus heating is suggested to influence its solubility. Even after heating, some of the salt remains undissolved. Thus, prior to use of the composition as an adhesive, filtration or decantation is performed. More specifically, column 3, line 58-column 4, line 17 of the '627 patent reads:                The anaerobic sealant compositions are compounded by first admixing predetermined amounts of the polyacrylate ester monomer and the inorganic salt initiator. Thereafter the accelerator is added, and the resulting admixture is aged until anaerobic properties are developed. If desired, a portion of the inorganic salt initiator to be added to the composition can be first dissolved in the accelerator and then added to the monomer as a solution.        Aging of the prepared admixture can be carried out at room temperature or above. The necessary aging period depends to some extent on the aging temperature since anaerobic properties are developed in the formulation within a relatively shorter time period at elevated temperatures. Aging temperatures up to about 200° F. are suitable. At ambient temperature the compounded formulations preferably are aged for at least about 2 days. At elevated temperatures, for example, at about 120° F., the formulations preferably are aged about 1 day. After aging, any solid materials present in the produced anaerobic composition are filtered out or otherwise removed, e.g., by centrifuging and decanting the composition.
Recently, CHP has come under regulatory scrutiny in certain jurisdictions in which anaerobic adhesives are marketed and sold.
In an effort to passivate that regulatory scrutiny, Henkel Corporation has invested time and energy to design and develop new alternative anaerobic cure systems. One such way is the subject of this disclosure, and is described below.

Anaerobic cure systems for an anaerobic curable compositions, and anaerobic curable compositions containing same


An acceleration sensor has a semiconductor acceleration sensor chip and a case. The semiconductor acceleration sensor chip has a fixed portion, a plummet portion surrounding the fixed portion without contacting the fixed portion, and a beam portion connecting the fixed portion and the plummet portion, the thickness of the beam portion being thinner than the thickness of the fixed portion. The case has a cavity housing the semiconductor acceleration sensor chip, and a projection portion formed on the bottom face of the cavity, the bottom face of the fixed portion being fixed to the top face of the projection portion.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an acceleration sensor, which in particular is capable of detecting accelerations acting upon three axes, respectively.
2. Background Information
In recent years, acceleration sensors are widely used in all kinds of precision instruments, cars, robots and other various industrial fields. Especially, there is an increasing demand for a semiconductor acceleration sensor, which uses an MEMS (micro electro mechanical system) technology, as it is small in size, light, accurate and reliable in operation, and available at low cost.
In most semiconductor acceleration sensors, the piezoresistance effect, i.e. a phenomenon in which an electric resistivity changes in proportion to stress, is used in detecting acceleration. A common semiconductor acceleration sensor, for instance, is formed by having a semiconductor acceleration sensor chip fixed on a pedestal of a ceramic substrate forming a portion of a package. This semiconductor acceleration sensor chip has a plummet disposed in a central portion of the semiconductor acceleration sensor chip and four flexible beams which hang the plummet such that the beams will bend in response to the accelerations acting on the plummets. The four flexible beams and the plummet are formed by processing one semiconductor substrate. On the surfaces of the four flexible beams, piezo elements are formed, respectively, and these piezo elements constitute a Wheatstone bridge circuit. When stress occurs at the beam by the act of acceleration, the resistance balance of the Wheatstone bridge will change, and the acceleration is detected by having this resistance change measured as a current change or a voltage change.
For example, inventions relating to the acceleration sensor are disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 2127840, p. 11, FIG. 11 (hereinafter to be referred to as Patent Reference 1), Japanese Laid Open Patent Application No. 9-61448, pp. 2-3, FIG. 3 (hereinafter to be referred to as Patent Reference 2) and Japanese Laid Open Patent) Application No. 10-123166, pp. 5-8, FIGS. 1-6 (hereinafter to be referred to as Patent Reference 3).
The invention disclosed in Patent Reference 1 relates to a semiconductor acceleration sensor using piezo elements, and it has an acting unit (a plummet portion) in a peripheral portion of a silicon monocrystal substrate that performs the main functions of the semiconductor acceleration sensor, flexible portions (beam portions) inside the acting unit, and a fixed portion in a central portion of this silicon monocrystal substrate. The monocrystal substrate is fixed directly to the bottom face of the package through the conical pedestal disposed on the under surface of the fixed portion. When a cylindrical plumb disposed on the under surface of the acting portion (plummet portion) is displaced due to acceleration, this displacement is transmitted to the flexible portions (beam portions) of the monocrystal substrate, and stress accrues on piezo elements formed on the flexible portions. Thereby, the acceleration applied to the semiconductor acceleration sensor is detected. With this semiconductor acceleration sensor structure, the displacement of the plumb in the right and left directions is made to stay within a predetermined limit by a gap formed between the plumb and the pedestal.
The invention disclosed in Patent Reference 2 relates to an acceleration sensor using piezoelectric ceramics. With respect to the invention disclosed in Patent Reference 2, in mounting the acceleration sensor of which one end is closed on a circuit substrate, an integrated circuit for sensor driving is disposed in between the acceleration sensor and the circuit substrate. Due to such arrangement, the mounting area for the acceleration sensor can be minimized, the circuit pattern of the circuit substrate can be shortened, and noise resistance can be improved.
The invention disclosed in Patent Reference 3 relates to a semiconductor acceleration sensor using a piezo element. With respect to the invention disclosed in Patent Reference 3, a semiconductor acceleration sensor chip having a plummet portion hung by beam portions is fixed on a pedestal which is formed by a material having the same thermal expansion coefficient as the semiconductor acceleration sensor, and the pedestal and the plummet portion are disposed closely such that an air gap between the two stays within a range of 7 to 15 μm. With this semiconductor acceleration sensor structure, it is possible to damp the vibrations of the plummet portion by means of air damping between the plummet portion and the pedestal, and stabilize the output characteristic of the sensor, by which a comparatively low level of acceleration can be detected.
In order to minimize the size of the semiconductor acceleration sensor, it is necessary to minimize and reduce the thickness of the plummet portion. Normally, when the plummet portion is minimized or made thinner, the moment of inertia becomes smaller, which desensitizes the acceleration sensor. Therefore, in this case, it is also necessary to reduce the thickness of the flexible beam portion in order to raise the sensitivity of the acceleration sensor. However, making the beam portion thinner deteriorates the shock-resistance of the semiconductor acceleration sensor, and the semiconductor acceleration sensor may become vulnerable to external shocks, such as shocks caused by dropping. Moreover, when the beam portion is made thinner, the semiconductor acceleration sensor may be damaged by receiving shocks in its manufacturing process, which can result in a reduction in the yield ratio. For instance, the semiconductor acceleration sensor may be damaged by water pressure during the dicing process or by force that can be applied to it during pick up. Considering these problems, a semiconductor acceleration sensor which can have a small size and thin configuration, and which can have improved shock-resistance, is required.
In the acceleration sensor of Patent Reference 1, the fixed portion is formed in the central portion of the silicon monocrystal substrate, and the monocrystal substrate is fixed directly to the bottom face of the package through the conical pedestal disposed on the under surface of the fixed portion. Therefore, it is necessary to have a process of forming a gap between the under surface level of the cylindrical plumb disposed on the under surface of the acting unit (plummet portion) in the peripheral portion, and the under surface level of the conical pedestal disposed on the under surface of the fixed portion. It is a problem because such process may complicate the overall manufacturing process. In addition, Patent Reference 1 does not make any reference to the shock-resistance of the acceleration sensor, especially the shock-resistance of the beam portion.
In the acceleration sensor of Patent Reference 2, a plummet portion is disposed in a central portion of the bottom-bearing cylindrical acceleration sensor to which piezoelectric ceramics are used as its material. Therefore, in order to minimize the size of the acceleration sensor, it is necessary to minimize and reduce the thickness of the plummet portion and to reduce the thickness of the flexible portions having sensor functions at the same time. Accordingly, it is a problem because the shock-resistance of the acceleration sensor may be deteriorated due to such arrangement, and the acceleration sensor may become vulnerable to external shocks.
In the acceleration sensor of Patent Reference 3, the plummet portion is formed in a central portion of a semiconductor substrate, and it is supported by a frame body in a peripheral portion through the flexible beam portion. Therefore, in order to minimize the size of the acceleration sensor, it is necessary to minimize and reduce the thickness of the plummet portion and to reduce the thickness of the flexible beam portion at the same time. Accordingly, it is a problem because the shock-resistance of the acceleration sensor may be deteriorated due to such arrangement, and the acceleration sensor may become vulnerable to external shocks.
In view of the above, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art from this disclosure that there exists a need for an improved acceleration sensor. This invention addresses this need in the art as well as other needs, which will become apparent to those skilled in the art from this disclosure.


A method of coating with an aqueous coating composition having a pH <5 of silica nanoparticles having a, average particle diameter of ≦40 nm, silica nanoparticles having an average particle diameter of ≧50 nm, and a tetraalkoxysilane. The resulting coatings are substantially uniform in thickness, durably adheres to the substrate, and provides antireflection and or hydrophilic surface properties to the substrate.

Articles having surfaces capable of spreading water, and thus preventing the formation of water droplets on the surface of the article, are desirable for a variety of uses. For example, transparent plastics used in misty or humid environments, such as windows of greenhouses, should avoid the formation of light-reflecting water droplets which reduce light transmission. A water-spreading surface on these materials helps to maintain their transparency and minimizes undesirable streaking.
Water-spreading characteristics are also desirable on traffic signs that employ retroreflective sheeting. Retroreflective sheeting has the ability to return substantial quantities of incident light back towards the light source. Such light transmission into and back from a retroreflective sheeting is impaired by clinging raindrops and/or dew.
A prominent form of precipitation that affects light transmission is dew formation. Dew can be particularly problematic because it occurs predominantly at nighttime when the retroreflective sheeting is operative. When present on a traffic sign in the form of small beaded water droplets, dew can disrupt the path of incident and retroreflective light. This can make information on the sign very much more difficult for passing motorists to read. In contrast, when the dew is spread out smoothly as a transparent layer over the surface of the retroreflective traffic sign, the information on the sign is easier to read because the resulting thin smooth layer of water does not significantly misdirect the path of incident and retroreflective light to as great an extent.
A problem with water-spreading surface coatings, especially silica-based coatings, is the highly complex nature of the surface chemistry, reaction chemistry and solution chemistry of colloidal silica and colloidal silica films. For example, the interaction of ions with the silica surface is not fully understood despite extensive study (See Iler, "The Chemistry of Silica," John Wiley, 1979 p. 665.) Despite such difficulties, a silica-based water-spreading film that has enhanced durability is provided in accordance with the invention described below.

Silica coating for enhanced hydrophilicity/transmittivity


A portable telephone includes a lower case and elastic sheet, an operation button portion component, and an operation button illuminating light source. Predetermined openings are formed in each of the lower case and elastic sheet to arrange a plurality of front surface operation buttons and plurality of side surface operation buttons such that the openings are in one-to-one correspondence with the operation buttons. The operation button portion component is arranged by bending along inner sides of front and side surfaces of the lower case and elastic sheet. The operation button portion component is obtained by fixing the respective operation buttons on an elastic sheet with a predetermined design. The operation button illuminating light source is arranged on a circuit board frame to be incorporated in the portable telephone and illuminates the front surface and side surface operation buttons. A method of manufacturing the portable telephone is also disclosed.

The present invention relates to a portable telephone having operation buttons on front and side surfaces of its housing, and a method of manufacturing the same.
Conventionally, the function of the portable telephone has progressed. A portable telephone of a type that has front surface operation buttons and side surface operation buttons as operation buttons (keys) serving as a means for the input operation of the user has been developed. Various types of operation buttons (keys), e.g., a dial button, function button, and direction input button, are arranged on the front surface (side surface) of the housing of the portable telephone. Operation buttons (keys) which realize input of predetermined functions are arranged on the side surface of the housing.
In a highly functional portable telephone having operation buttons on both the front and side surfaces of the housing in this manner, usually, a front surface operation button portion and side surface operation button portion are fabricated as two separate components to form the front surface operation buttons and side surface operation buttons. The two components are attached to the housing case to complete a portable telephone product.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-164196 discloses a technique for providing operation buttons to the side surface of the housing of a portable telephone. According to this technique, rubber is provided to the side surface of the housing of the portable telephone to impart waterproof and non-slip functions to the side surface of the housing of the portable telephone, and operation buttons are arranged on the rubber portion.
In the conventional portable telephone, however, a component that forms the side surface operation button portion is assembled by fitting it in a space defined by the inner wall of the housing case of the portable telephone, a side surface operation button component support wall arranged inside the case, and the like. The side surface operation button component support wall as a part of the housing case is located between the side surface operation buttons and a circuit board frame. Therefore, light from an operation button illuminating light source arranged on the circuit board frame is blocked by the side surface operation button component support wall and does not reach the side surface operation buttons. Also, the side surface operation buttons do not have an illuminating function.

Portable telephone and method of manufacturing the same