A stable liquid composition comprising warfarin sodium, glycerin, an alcohol such as ethanol, and a pH buffer such as a phosphate buffer providing a pH above 7 is provided. The stability of the composition is characterized by the amount of warfarin sodium in the composition degraded after 1 month at room temperature, which is 5% or less. A method for preparing the composition and a method for providing an anti-coagulant therapy are also disclosed.

Warfarin sodium, known by the chemical name 4-hydroxy-3-(3-oxo-1-phenylbutyl)-2H-1-benzopyran-2one sodium salt, has the structure represented by Formula 1:
Warfarin sodium has a molecular weight of 360.37 g/mol; is known to crystallize only as a clathrate with isopropyl alcohol as the guest molecule; and is monoclinic in the crystalline form.
Warfarin sodium is a well-established, widely-used anticoagulant that acts by blocking the synthesis of vitamin K-dependent coagulation factors (II, VII, IX, and X). There are a number of related conditions for which warfarin sodium is prescribed such as venous thrombosis, pulmonary embolism, myocardial infarction, and progressive stroke. Warfarin is administered as a racemic mixture of two enantiomers which have markedly different metabolism and activity. The t1/2 of racemic warfarin ranges from 40 to 60 hours. Oral absorption of warfarin is rapid (2-6 hours) and extensive (F≈1). Warfarin is highly bound to albumin in plasma (≈99%) and has apparent Vd of 0.13 L/kg. Warfarin has a low hepatic extraction ratio and elimination occurs almost entirely by metabolism (>99%). Warfarin is known to have both pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic interactions with a number of drugs including barbiturates, rifampicin, cimetidine, phenylbutazone, and salicylate.
Currently, warfarin sodium for oral administration is provided only in tablet form, and no warfarin sodium product is available in oral liquid form.
Even the warfarin sodium products for intravenous injection currently available in the market are not provided in liquid form but as lyophilized powder that is reconstituted with sterile water immediately prior to injection. For example, Coumadin®, a warfarin sodium drug produced by Bristol-Myers Squibb Company, is available for intravenous injection but is provided as lyophilized powder in a vial. The powder is reconstituted with sterile water for intravenous injection, and must be used within 4 hours of reconstitution because the warfarin sodium formulation is chemically and physically stable only for 4 hours at room temperature. After reconstitution, the warfarin sodium formulation must be stored at controlled room temperature (15-30° C.), and any unused solution must be discarded.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,999,049 also discloses warfarin sodium composition for intravenous or intramuscular injection. This reference is directed to providing a intravenous or intramuscular composition containing both warfarin sodium and heparin sodium, and, while disclosing a liquid form of the composition as well as a dry lyophilized form, the reference also discloses that a solid product substantially free of moisture is preferred for overall stability during long periods of storage.
Thus, there is no currently available liquid form of warfarin sodium that can be orally administered. Further, the available injectable form of warfarin sodium presents a number of disadvantages. Not only is it difficult to administer since it requires reconstitution with water before use, but warfarin sodium currently available for intravenous injection must also be carefully monitored during administration to ensure sterility. For instance, reconstitution must be carried out under sterile conditions, the reconstituted Solution must be inspected for presence of particulate matter or discoloration, and sterility must be maintained throughout the injection procedure. In addition, administration of the existing injectable warfarin sodium solution is constrained by time because the solution must be used within 4 hours of reconstitution, and may involve additional waste since the vial containing lyophilized powder of warfarin sodium cannot be used multiple times and unused portions of reconstituted solution must be discarded.
In view of the current state of the art, a liquid form of warfarin sodium that is stable in the long term and does not require reconstitution is desired. Such stable warfarin sodium liquid would not only be safer to administer than the conventional injectable warfarin sodium, but would also be more user-friendly and easier to administer and therefore would help eliminate mistakes associated with administration of the existing warfarin sodium product.
Further, a stable warfarin sodium liquid form that can be orally administered is desired, especially since the dosage form of warfarin sodium (solution or tablet) does not seem to significantly affect plasma levels. The amount absorbed is also not affected by food, volume of fluid ingested, or dosage form. Until now, however, the difficulty of producing a stable liquid form of warfarin sodium has prevented commercialization of the drug in oral liquid form despite its potential advantages over the conventional tablet form for providing easy administration even to patients who have trouble swallowing tablets. A drinkable form of warfarin sodium is further advantageous over intravenous injection, since it is much more convenient to use and can be administered without a physician's supervision or special equipments.
Hence, what is needed is a stable liquid form of warfarin sodium that can be adapted for parenteral as well as oral administration. The present invention addresses the problems of the prior art by providing a liquid warfarin sodium formulation that is stable in the long term and can be conveniently administered.

Stable warfarin sodium liquid formulation and method of making same


A variable-pitch mechanism, for use in an airplane, a ship, or the like, for adjusting the pitch of a plurality of blades of a propeller in which attachment shafts of a plurality of radial blades of a propeller are rotatably mounted on a tubular hub which can be driven by a drive shaft, and eccentric pins projecting from ends of the attachment shafts are held in an annular groove defined in the outer periphery of an adjusting ring which is disposed concentrically in the hub and axially movable. The attachment shafts can be turned about their own axes through the eccentric pins in response to axial displacement of the adjusting ring for adjusting the pitch of the propeller blades.

The field of the present invention relates to a variable-pitch mechanism for use in an airplane, a ship, or the like, and more particularly to a mechanism for adjusting the pitch of a plurality of blades of a propeller.
Heretofore there have been proposed various variable-pitch mechanisms employing a rack and pinion, a cam, a link, and the like, but the conventional mechanisms have been costly since they are complex in structure and difficult to machine.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a variable-pitch mechanism which is of a simple structure and can be machined with ease.

Variable-pitch mechanism for a propeller


A method is disclosed for preparing a space in bone of a human body to receive an insert at least in part therein. The method is performed with a device having a mid-longitudinal axis and a rotatable abrading element having an abrading surface. The method includes the steps of: activating the device to cause the abrading surface to move; contacting the abrading surface of the abrading element against the bone to remove bone therefrom to form a surface on the bone to create the space; rotating the abrading element about an axis different from the mid-longitudinal axis of the device; removing the abrading surface from the space; and positioning an insert into the space created in the bone.

Inserts for placement between adjacent vertebrae in the spine come in a variety of shapes and sizes and are made of a variety of materials. Such inserts may or may not be designed to promote fusion of the adjacent vertebral bodies. Inserts not intended to participate in or to promote fusion of the adjacent vertebrae, for example an artificial spinal disc, are intended to maintain the spacing between the adjacent vertebrae and to permit relative motion between those vertebrae. Such inserts may or may not include some type of surface treatment or structure designed to cause the vertebrae to attach and grow onto the surface of the insert to thereby stabilize the insert. Another type of insert comprises bone grafts. Such bone grafts are typically intended to participate in and to promote fusion of the adjacent vertebrae. Another type of insert for use in human spinal surgery comprises implants made of selected inert materials, such as titanium, that have a structure designed to promote fusion of the adjacent vertebrae by allowing bone to grow through the insert to thereby fuse the adjacent vertebrae. This last type of insert is intended to remain indefinitely within the patient's spine.
The first known example of this last type of insert (for use in humans) is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,015,247, which, in its preferred embodiment, discloses a hollow, threaded, cylindrical, perforated fusion implant device made of a material other than and stronger than bone and which is intended to cause fusion of adjacent vertebral bodies. A fusion promoting material, such as cancellous bone for example, is packed within the hollow portion of the implant and participates in the fusion. As used herein, the term fusion defines the growth of bone tissue from one vertebral body across a disc space to an adjacent vertebral body to thereby substantially eliminate relative motion between those vertebrae.
Human vertebral bodies are comprised of a dense, hard outer shell and a relatively less dense inner mass. The hard outer shell is very densely compacted cancellous bone, resembling cortical bone at all but high magnification, and is generally referred to as the cortex. The inner mass is softer cancellous bone. The outer shell of cortex bone that is adjacent the disc and the bone immediately adjacent, and deep to it (both are subchondral, that is, beneath the cartilage layer that separates the bone from the disc), are defined for the specific purposes of this specification to comprise the "end plate region" or "end plate" to avoid any confusion that might otherwise arise from any inconsistency in the use of any of these terms. While it is understood that these terms may have other meanings more ordinary or special, and that those of ordinary skill in the art might otherwise differ as to the correct meanings of these terms, it is exactly for the purpose of removing any ambiguity that these terms are being so precisely defined specifically for this specification.
For the purposes of this application only, and to avoid any possible confusion, the term "apophysical rim" is defined to be the bony rim of the densely compacted cancellous bone disposed peripherally about each of the opposed bony vertebral end plate regions of a human vertebral body. The rim is at least in part the all-bony remnant of what was the cartilaginous apophysical growth area prior to the conversion of that cartilage to bone at skeletal maturation.
The spinal disc that resides between adjacent vertebral bodies maintains the spacing between those vertebral bodies and, in a healthy spine, allows for relative motion between the vertebrae. At the time of surgery, for example in the instance where fusion is intended to occur between adjacent vertebral bodies of a patient's spine, the surgeon typically prepares an opening at the site of the intended fusion by removing some or all of the disc material that exists between the adjacent vertebral bodies to be fused. Because the outermost layers of bone of the vertebral end plate are relatively inert to new bone growth, the surgeon must work on the end plate to remove at least the outermost cell layers of bone to gain access to the blood-rich, vascular bone tissue within the vertebral body. In this manner, the vertebrae are prepared in a way that encourages new bone to grow onto or through an insert that is placed between the vertebrae.
Present methods of forming this space between adjacent vertebrae generally include the use of one or more of the following: hand held biting and grasping instruments known as rongeurs; drills and drill guides; rotating burrs driven by a motor; and osteotomes and chisels. Sometimes the vertebral end plate must be sacrificed as occurs when a drill is used to drill across the disc space and deeper into the vertebrae than the thickness of the end plate. Such a surgical procedure necessarily results in the loss of the hardest and strongest bone tissue of the vertebrae—the end plate—and thereby robs the vertebrae of that portion of its structure best suited to absorbing and supporting the loads placed on the spine by everyday activity. Nevertheless, the surgeon must use one of the above instruments to work upon the adjacent end plates of the adjacent vertebrae to access the vascular, cancellous bone that is capable of participating in the fusion and causing active bone growth, and also to attempt to obtain an appropriately shaped surface in the vertebral bodies to receive the insert. Because the end plates of the adjacent vertebrae are not flat, but rather have a compound curved shape, and because the inserts, whether made of donor bone or a suitable implant material, tend to have a geometric rather than a biologic shape, it is necessary to conform the vertebrae to the shape of the insert to be received therebetween.
It is important in forming the space between the adjacent bone structures to provide a surface contour that closely matches the contour of the inserts so as to provide an adequate support surface across which the load transfer between the adjacent bone structures can be evenly applied. In instances where the surgeon has not been able to form the appropriately shaped space for receiving the inserts, those inserts may slip or be forcefully ejected from the space between the adjacent vertebrae, or lacking broad contact between the insert and the vertebrae, a failure to obtain fusion may occur.
Furthermore, no known prior art device for preparing the vertebral end plates to receive an insert includes a working element that corresponds in shape, size, or contour to the shape of the insert to be implanted. That is, the known devices must be moved from side to side and in and out within the intervertebral space by an amount that exceeds the dimensions of the working element of the device, e.g., the rotating burr of a motor driven routing instrument or the working end of known osteotomes and chisels.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Method for preparing a space in bone to receive an insert


An optical pickup or an optical head capable of favorably irradiating a plurality of independent different light beams and receiving return light with a simple structure. The optical pickup is composed of a beam emitting unit for supplying at least two independent light beams, a common light converging optical system for converging the light beams from the beam emitting unit to a recording medium, an integrated prism for guiding each of the light beams from the beam emitting unit incident thereto to the light converging optical system and for providing return light from the recording medium incident thereto with astigmatism, and a light receiving element for receiving the return light provided with astigmatism by the prism.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an optical pickup device, and particularly to an optical head.
2. Description of Related Art
A variety of optical discs such as those called LD (Laser Disc), CD (Compact Disc), and DVD (Digital Video Disc) are known as optical information recording media. These optical discs are separately standardized in accordance with different specifications for requirements such as the thickness of a substrate. For instance, in a multi-layer structured optical disc included in the DVD specifications, each recording layer has a different effective thickness of the optical disc. In addition, the different optical discs also require different optimal numerical apertures (NA) for optical lenses for reading information therefrom.
While there is a need for a compatible player which is capable of reading recording information from either of CD and DVD, an optical system for reading CD differs from an optical system for reading DVD in the following aspects:
(1) Difference in Numerical Aperture NA: 0.6 for DVD versus 0.45 for CD; PA1 (2) Difference in Thickness of Substrate from Optical Disc Surface to Recording (Reflecting) Surface: 0.6 mm for DVD versus 1.2 mm for CD; and PA1 (3) Difference in Wavelength of Optimal Reading Light: 650 nm for DVD versus 780 nm for CD.
It is therefore necessary to absorb these differences in specifications for realizing an optical pickup for a CD/DVD compatible player.
To realize such a compatible player, it is often thought to be convenient to employ an objective lens having two focuses in an optical pickup. Specifically, an objective lens having a single focus is not suitable because an optimal numerical aperture for one optical disc is not appropriate for the other optical disc, and employment of an inappropriate disc will result in the generation of aberration such as spherical aberration or the like.
An example of realizing a two-focus pickup has already been known (Japanese Patent Application Kokai No. 7-98431) in which a hologram lens is employed. This two-focus pickup has a composite objective lens formed of an objective lens 1 and a hologram lens 2, as illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2. The hologram lens 2 is formed with a plurality of concentric diffraction grooves 3 extending over a region corresponding to a numerical aperture for CD. The diffraction grooves 3 deflects a light beam from a light source to split the light beam into zero-order diffracted light and first-order diffracted light to provide them with different incident angles to the objective lens 1, thereby focusing the light beam on a recording surface of each optical disc as required. In this event, the optical beam as it is transmits a region of hologram lens 2 without the diffraction grooves 3 and is converged by the objective lens 1 together with the zero-order diffracted light, so that the transmitted light as well as the zero-order diffracted light and the first-order diffracted light cause a change in numerical aperture. The first-order diffracted light diffracted by the diffraction grooves 3 and having a smaller numerical aperture is utilized for reading a CD 4 as illustrated in FIG. 1, while the transmitted light and the zero-order diffracted light having a larger numerical aperture is utilized for reading a DVD 5 as illustrated in FIG. 2.
Basically, the foregoing structure forms the reading spots with a single light source, and generally uses a light source which emits a reading light having a wavelength of 650 nm appropriate to the DVD. However, appropriate light for reading recordable and reproducible recording media called CD-R (CD Recordable, or R-CD: Recordable CD) belonging to a CD family is 780 nm in wavelength. In other words, the light at wavelength of 650 nm is not appropriate for reading information recorded on a CD-R. Therefore, it can be said that, to realize a compatible player capable of favorably recording and reproducing information on and from a disc such as the CD-R, it is safer to provide a modified structure for an optical pickup or a head having a plurality of light sources for emitting light at different wavelengths appropriate to the respective discs, instead of the structure employing a single light source for emitting light at a single wavelength. However, an easily designed optical system having a plurality of light sources would result in an optical pickup or a head which tends to have a more complicated structure and a larger size as a whole.

Optical pickup device with two independent light beams and an integrated prism for providing return light with astigmatism


A sustained-release composition for oral administration of a drug, comprising the drug, a mixture of sodium alginate and xanthan gum as a carrier for sustained release and a mixture of hydroxypropyl methylcellulose and propylene glycol alginate as a gel hydration accelerator, which is capable of maintaining a constant drug level in blood for 24 hours or more. Due to rapid gel hydration without forming a non-gelated core, the drug release rate follows zero order kinetics and does not significantly vary with the degree of gastrointestinal motility.

Once injected, the in vivo activity of a drug lasts only a short period of time and, for this reason, repeated administration of the drug is required for a long-term treatment. For example, in order to treat hypertension, drugs such as nifedipine should be administered more than 3 times a day.
Accordingly, there have been numerous efforts to develop a sustained-release formulation which can maintain an effective in vivo drug level for more than 24 hours. For instance, Japanese Patent Publication No. 6001716A (1994. Jan. 11) discloses a solid dispersion formulation based on a hydroxypropyl methylcellulose matrix, and European Patent Publication No. 521310A (1993. Jan. 7), a formulation based on a mixture of hydroxypropyl cellulose and hydroxypropyl methylcellulose which is a water-soluble polymer gelation agent. Further, Japanese Patent Publication No. 62077335A (1987. Apr. 9) teaches a gel forming formulation based on carboxyvinyl polymer; Japanese Patent Publication No. 03169814A (1991. Jul. 23), a formulation based on a mixture of a water-soluble polymer such as hydroxypropyl cellulose, hydroxypropyl methylcellulose, polyvinyl pyrrolidone and methylcellulose, and a water insoluble polymer such as microcystal cellulose; and European Patent No. 274176B (1992. May 27), a sustained release formulation based on polyvinyl pyrrolidone. However, these formulations have the drawback that a constant rate of drug release cannot be maintained for more than 24 hours due to the formation of a gel membrane on the outer shell of the formulation, leaving a non-gelated core.
Further, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,765,989A, 5,208,037A and 5,019,397A report osmotic release control formulations that exhibit a constant rate of drug release rate following zero order kinetics. However, the manufacturing process of such formulations is very complicated and costly, besides the problem that the drug contained therein is not fully bioavailable (John S Grundy and Robert T. Foster, Clin. Pharmacokinet, 30(1): 28-51(1996)).
The present inventors have previously reported that a formulation of a drug prepared by using a monoglyceride gel carrier releases the drug at a constant rate that follows zero order kinetics for 24 hours, when brought into contact with a hydrophilic matrix or a water soluble matrix (Korean Patent No. 10-0216624 (1999. May 31)). However, this formulation is of an erosion type and has the problem of easy degradation by contractive movements of the gastrointestinals.

Sustained release composition for oral administration of drugs


Example methods and apparatus control ratios between a maximum gradient amplitude (MGA) of a readout lobe (GREAD) in a Cartesian continuous sampling read gradient (CSRG) and an MGA of a dephase lobe (GDEPHASE) in the CSRG and an MGA of a rephase lobe (GREPHASE) in the CSRG, where the direction of GREAD is opposite to the direction of GDEPHASE, and GREPHASE. One example method includes controlling an MR apparatus to produce a CS gradient where GREAD and GDEPHASE correspond to the first ratio and where GREAD and GREPHASE correspond to the second ratio. One example method includes controlling the MR apparatus to acquire an MR signal in response to the CS gradient. The MR signal is acquired during the read lobe and during a portion of the dephase lobe and/or the rephase lobe. The method includes selectively altering the ratios based on an SNR ratio associated with the MR signal.

Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) apparatus rely on differences in induced magnetization in biological tissues as a source of image contrast. The induced magnetization can induce a current in a receiver coil(s). The signal measured in a receiver coil(s) is the integral of the induced magnetization over an imaged volume. The signal measured in a receiver coil(s) can be characterized by, for example, a signal to noise ratio (SNR). A certain SNR may be required to allow faithful reconstruction of an image and/or spectra from a magnetic resonance (MR) signal.
To reconstruct an original three dimensional (3D) distribution of magnetization induced in an object, a spatially varying magnetic field pattern (gradient) is generated in the volume so that voxels at different locations produce a signal having spatially distinguishable (e.g., spatially encoded) information. Phase and frequency can be controlled in individual voxels so that each voxel can be distinguished by the phase and frequency of the signal it produces. However, a sampling method that produces an inadequate SNR may make it infeasible and/or impossible to reconstruct an image from the acquired signal.
Image quality may be characterized by factors including, but not limited to, resolution and SNR. SNR is determined by the amount of measured magnetization relative to, for example, thermal noise in an image. The magnetization available to measure depends on the power and duration of an RF (radio frequency) pulse(s) applied to a sample, on the time interval between excitation pulses, and so on. Traditional approaches to improving SNR include using stronger fields, increasing TR (repetition time), averaging over shots, and so on. However, some of these parameters are limited by physical factors (e.g., gradient slew rate, field strength).

Cartesian continuous sampling with unequal gradients


An interface is provided for navigating among views in a multi-camera environment. In addition to providing improved ease of use, such an interface also provides an overview of the scene represented by the captured video, by virtue of the positioning of various user interface elements representing different camera views. The navigation interface includes a number of selectable user interface elements, arranged in a fashion that approximates the physical positions of the cameras. Tapping or clicking on one of the elements causes a main window to display a current view from a corresponding camera or video feed. The navigation interface can be implemented, for example, in a live video capture system, or in a post-production system.

The above-referenced related applications describe multi-camera systems wherein views from multiple cameras are combined to generate, for example, a light-field image or video stream that can be used in generating virtual reality (VR) or augmented reality (AR) content.
In many software applications for content creation, it is useful to navigate among views from multiple cameras. One such example is Nuke, a compositing suite available from Foundry, of London, United Kingdom. In generating VR or AR content, it is often necessary to navigate among dozens of video feeds, which can be challenging if the navigation interface is not clear and intuitive.


A shift register includes a plurality of stages to generate a plurality of output signals, in sequence. Each of the stages includes a driving circuit, a charging circuit, a discharging circuit and a holding circuit. The driving circuit is configured to generate a first output signal in response to a first clock signal or a second clock signal having a phase different from the first clock signal. The charging circuit is configured to charge an electric charge in response to a scan start signal or a second output signal of an adjacent previous stage. The discharging circuit is configured to discharge the electric charge in response to a third output signal of an adjacent next stage. The holding circuit is configured to maintain the first output signal within a first voltage when the first output signal is in an inactive state. Therefore, a parasite capacitance is decreased to prevent a floating of a pull-up transistor.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a shift register, a scan driving circuit having the shift register and a display apparatus having the shift register.
2. Description of the Related Art
A data driver integrated circuit or a gate driver integrated circuit may be integrated into a liquid crystal display (LCD) panel so as to decrease a manufacturing cost and a size of an LCD apparatus. In order to integrate the driver integrated circuits, a scan driving circuit of the LCD panel has a simplified structure.
The scan driving circuit includes a shift register to generate a gate pulse, and applies the gate pulse to a gate line of the LCD panel. A unit stage of the shift register includes a set-reset (S-R) latch and an AND gate.
When a first input signal that is outputted from an adjacent previous stage is applied to the S-R latch, the S-R latch is activated. When a second input signal that is outputted from an adjacent next stage is applied to the S-R latch, the S-R latch is deactivated. When the S-R latch is activated and a first clock signal has a high level, the AND gate generates a gate pulse. The gate pulse outputted from a present stage may be a scan signal.
The first clock signal and a second clock signal that has an opposite phase to the first clock signal are applied to the unit stage of the shift register.
The unit stage, generally, includes a buffer, a charging circuit, a driving circuit and a discharging circuit. The present stage outputs a gate signal or the scan signal in response to a scan start signal or an output signal of the adjacent previous stage.
The buffer includes a first transistor. A gate electrode of the first transistor is electrically connected to a drain electrode of the first transistor. A source electrode of the first transistor is electrically connected to a first end of the charging circuit. The first input signal (IN1) is applied to the drain electrode of the first transistor. The charging circuit includes a capacitor. The first end of the capacitor is electrically connected to the source electrode of the first transistor and the discharging circuit. A second end of the capacitor is electrically connected to the driving circuit.
The driving circuit includes a second transistor and a third transistor. A drain electrode of the second transistor is electrically connected to a clock terminal. A gate electrode of the second transistor is electrically connected to a first node and the first end of the capacitor. A source electrode of the second transistor is electrically connected to the second end of the capacitor and an output terminal. A drain electrode of the third transistor is electrically connected to the source electrode of the second transistor and the second end of the capacitor. A first voltage is applied to a source electrode of the third transistor. The first or the second clock signal that has the opposite phase to the first clock signal is applied to the clock terminal.
The discharging circuit includes a fourth transistor. A drain electrode of the fourth transistor is electrically connected to the first end of the capacitor. A gate electrode of the fourth transistor is electrically connected to the gate electrode of the third transistor. The second input signal is applied to the gate electrode of the fourth transistor. The first voltage is applied to a source electrode of the fourth transistor.
When the first input signal has a high level, an electric charge is stored in the capacitor. When the second input signal has the high level, the charge in the capacitor is discharged so that an S-R latch operation is performed.
When the electric charge is stored in the capacitor, the first or the second clock signal that is applied to the clock terminal is outputted to the second transistor that is turned on, thereby turning on a plurality of switching elements that are electrically connected to a gate line of the LCD panel. Each of the switching elements includes an amorphous silicon thin film transistor (a-Si TFT). In addition, the second transistor is turned on in response to the second input signal so that the second transistor is pulled down within a first voltage level, so that an AND-gate operation is performed.
Therefore, it is desirable that the first or the second clock signal has the high level that is higher than about 15 volt to turn the amorphous silicon TFT on. The first voltage has a level lower than about −7 volt. It is also desirable that the first voltage is lower than about −7 volt to turn the amorphous silicon TFT off. The amorphous silicon TFT of the switching element is electrically connected to the gate line.
A drain current of the amorphous silicon TFT is proportional to a channel width of the amorphous silicon TFT where the output signal is applied.
For example, when a capacitance of the gate line that is electrically connected to the output terminal is about 250 pF, a channel width and a channel length of the second transistor are about 7000 μm and about 4.5 μm, respectively. A parasite capacitance (Cgd) formed between the gate and drain electrodes of the second transistor increases, when the channel width and the channel length of the second transistor increases.
A time period when the first and second input signals have the low levels is longer than a time period when the first input signal or the second input signal has the high level. Therefore, when the third and fourth transistors have high impedances, the parasite capacitance may be formed between the gate electrode of the second transistor and a drain electrode of the second transistor where the first or the second clock signal is alternately applied, so that a voltage that is synchronized with the first or the second clock signal is induced.
Therefore, when the scan driving circuit includes the amorphous silicon TFT, the parasite capacitance may be formed between the gate and drain electrodes of the second transistor, and the first node floats, thereby deteriorating the scan driving circuit.

Shift register, scan driving circuit and display apparatus having the same


A nonaqueous electrolyte secondary battery using a silicon compound as a negative electrode active material, suppress deformation of a negative electrode. An embodiment includes a winding type electrode body in which a positive electrode and a negative electrode are spirally wound with at least one separator interposed therebetween. In a negative electrode mixture layer, a silicon compound is contained as a negative electrode active material. A winding-start side end of the negative electrode mixture layer extends to a winding-start end side of the electrode body past a winding-start side end of a positive electrode mixture layer. A length Y (mm) of a portion of the negative electrode mixture layer extending from the winding-start side end of the positive electrode mixture layer and a rate X (percent by mass) of the silicon compound with respect to the total mass of the negative electrode active material satisfy a relationship of Y≥3X−15 (6≤X≤15).

It has been known that, compared to a carbon-based material such as graphite, a silicon compound, such as a silicon oxide represented by SiOx, is able to occlude a large amount of lithium ions per unit volume. For example, PTL 1 has disclosed a nonaqueous electrolyte secondary battery using a silicon compound as a negative electrode active material. In the battery disclosed in PTL 1, as the negative electrode active material, a silicon compound and graphite are used in combination.

Nonaqueous electrolyte secondary battery


Heat from a heat generating device such as a CPU is dissipated by a heat spreader containing a cycled two-phase vaporizable coolant. The coolant cycles inside a closed metal chamber, which has an upper section and a lower section. The lower section contains a wick layer, a part or parts of which serves as an evaporator. The upper section is composed of a set of channels. The channel walls contain a plurality of cut-off openings over the evaporator region to allow for vapor distribution efficiently. The liquid coolant in the evaporator is vaporized by the heat from the heat generating device. The coolant vapor can prevail in the channels by either directly entering the adjacent channels or indirectly through lateral conduits formed with the wall openings. The vapor condenses on the channel, walls to liberate latent heat which is then dissipated out through the top chamber wall. The condensed coolant is directly collected by the lower-section wick and further flows back to the wick evaporator by capillary action, thereby cycling the coolant.

(1) Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a heat pipe, in particular, a grooved flat-plate heat pipe used for heat dissipation for electronic integrated circuit (IC) chips, such as a central processing unit (CPU), or other high-flux heat sources.
(2) Brief Description of Related Art
The latest generation of Pentium IV CPU generates power more than 100 watts (Joule/sec). In order to maintain its normal performance and avoid overheating of the unit, more effective heat dissipating mechanism is needed. A method uses a flat-plate heat pipe, as shown in FIG. 1, for spreading the heat generated by a semiconductor device. An enclosed and vacuumed metal chamber 11, whose inner surface covered with a layer of wick 10, contains a working liquid undergoing a cycling loop. The wick material is commonly sintered metal powder, metal wire mesh, or metal cloth, etc. A part of the wick on the lower surface serves as the evaporator, where the heat from the attached heat generating device is absorbed by the evaporation of the working liquid. The working vapor spreads over the internal space of the enclosed chamber 11 to make it nearly isothermal. The vapor condenses on the top surface where a heat sink (not shown) is connected. The condensed liquid flows back to the evaporator via the wick, as shown in arrows in FIG. 1. There are at least two disadvantages for such a scheme. First, as the wick is porous, large friction tends to retard the liquid back flow and lead to dry-out at high heat loading. Second, as the vacuumed chamber faces with inward pressure, deformation is avoided either by inserting stiffeners or by locally squeezing the chamber to cause local contacts of the top and bottom layers (not shown).
To improve the first disadvantage, the porous wick 10 can be replaced with the parallel grooves 9, as shown in FIG. 2, to reduce the friction for liquid flow. Again, stiffeners are needed to withstand the inward pressure.
To improve the second disadvantage, U.S. Pat. No. 3,613,778 disclosed a structural wick 6a to withstand the inward pressure, as shown in FIG. 3. Two layers of porous wick 12 and 13 with parallel grooves 14 are disposed face to face within the enclosed metal chamber 11. The groove orientations of each wick layer are perpendicular. The space composed by the perpendicular grooves 14 serves as the vapor conduit, while the liquid conduit is the interior pores of the porous wick. The first disadvantage of large friction for liquid flow, however, is not improved in this embodiment.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,679,318 disclosed another single-layer, waffle-shaped structural wick made of sintered metal powders, to withstand the inward pressure. It also disclosed an anti-pressure layout with the upper and lower sections, both containing porous non-structural layers. The small pores within the lower-section wick layer serve as the liquid conduit, while the large pores within the upper-section metal wire mesh or metal open cell foam sheet serve as the vapor conduit.
U.S. Patent Application 2005-0183847-Al disclosed a flat-plate heat pipe as shown in FIG. 4. The interior of the enclosed metal chamber 100 comprises the upper and lower sections designed for coolant cycling. The route for the working fluid is shown therein. The upper section includes a set of parallel V-shaped grooves 201 lying over the wick layer 203 in the lower section. Between the parallel grooves 201 and the wick layer 203 is disposed another dividing layer 205 made of permeable metal or nonmetal material. An open space 300 is thus retained for lateral vapor motion. When the heat pipe is heated with a CPU or other heat generating device, the working liquid (not shown) in the wick 203 evaporates. The vapor spreads over the upper section and condenses on the walls 202 of the parallel grooves 201, with the condensation heat dissipated out through the heat sink (not shown) connected with the upper chamber wall. The condensed liquid passes through the permeable dividing layer 205 to directly, without flowing through a long route, enter the wick layer 203 in the lower section. The evaporation of the liquid in the wick 203 leads to a liquid-vapor interface within the wick 203. This liquid-vapor interface results in a capillary pulling force on the working liquid on the groove walls 202 and in the wick 203 toward the evaporation region to make a full cycle: liquid→vapor→cooling→liquid following the arrows as shown in FIG. 4. However, when single or multiple layers of metal mesh or metal cloth is adopted as the wick 203, the wick tends to bump up without some kind of strengthener between the top wall and the wick 203 to press it down. This leads to attenuation of capillary force for the back flow of the working liquid and the subsequent dry-out.
The differences between this invention and the embodiment of U.S. Pat. No. 3,613,778 include: (1) The present groove structure is made of non-porous materials, preferably fabricated on the top chamber wall 101 as a unitary cover. In contrast, the embodiment of U.S. Pat. No. 3,613,778 adopts a structural porous wick, which can not be fabricated on the metal wall as a unit; (2) The present porous wick in the lower section is a simple non-structural wick layer, rather than a structural wick; (3) The vapor conduit in this invention is the upper-section channel space connected by the cut-off openings, in contrast with the cross-linked space of the upper and lower grooves; (4) The liquid conduit in this invention includes upper-section groove wall and groove corners and the lower-section wick pores, in comparison with the wick pores in both structural wick layers. The superiorities of this invention include: (1) When the grooves are fabricated on the top wall as a unit, the structure is simpler with better heat transfer characteristics because no contact thermal resistance exists between the grooves and the top chamber wall. In contrast the sintered-metal-powdered structural wick cannot be fabricated with the top wall as a unit. Contact thermal resistance exists between the wick and the top wall and retards the heat transfer across the top wall; (2) The friction of liquid flow associated with the groove corners and groove walls is much smaller than that associated with the fine pores within the wick, and (3) Both the upper-section groove structure and the lower plain wire-mesh wick layer in the are simpler and cheaper than the structural wick with grooves.
The differences between this invention and the embodiment of U.S. Pat. No. 6,679,318 include: (1) The present upper-section structure is a grooved structure made of non-porous materials, preferably fabricated on the top chamber wall 101 as a unitary cover. In contrast, the embodiments of U.S. Pat. No. 6,679,318 adopt porous wick made of either metal wire mesh or open cell foam sheet, which can not be fabricated on the metal wall as a unit; (2) The vapor conduit in this invention is the upper-section smooth channel space connected by the cut-off openings, in contrast with the internal non-smooth pores of the metal wire mesh or the open cell foam; (3) The liquid conduit in the upper section in this invention includes smooth groove wall and groove corners, in comparison with the non-smooth walls of the metal wire mesh or the open cell foam. The superiorities of this invention are: (1) When the grooves are fabricated on the top wall as a unit, the structure is simpler with better heat transfer characteristics because no contact thermal resistance exists between the grooves and the top chamber wall. In contrast, none of the waffle-shaped wick, metal wire mesh, or metal open cell foam can be fabricated with the top wall as a unit. Contact thermal resistance exists between the wick and the top wall and retards the heat transfer across the top wall; (2) The friction for vapor flow associated with the smooth groove walls is much smaller than that associated with the non-smooth. pores within the metal wire mesh or metal open cell foam; (3) The friction for liquid flow in the upper section associated with the smooth groove walls and groove corners is much smaller than that associated with the non-smooth surface of the metal wire mesh or metal open cell foam. Besides, a large number of corners exist at the intersecting locations of the mesh wires or the irregular foam surfaces. Their remarkable capillary force attracts and holds a considerable amount of working liquid. This tends to retard liquid cycling.

Flat-plate heat pipe containing channels


A waterproof lens including a lens frame located within a lens barrel. An inner peripheral flange is provided on the inner periphery of the lens barrel. The waterproof lens also has a tubular member which is detachably mounted to the inner peripheral flange for the purpose of intercepting light in a space between the lens barrel and the lens frame. An elastic waterproof ring is provided on the outer peripheral surface of the tubular member. The waterproof lens further includes a mechanism for sealing the transparent member and the inner peripheral flange in a water-tight manner.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a waterproof lens having a transparent member mounted to a front end of a lens barrel in a water-tight fashion.
2. Description of Related Art
There is known a waterproof camera which does not allow water to go into the camera and can take pictures in shallow water. There is also known a water-resistant camera which resists against the penetration of drops of water or rain into the camera. Such a known waterproof or water-resistant camera includes a light intercepting flange which is provided on the inner peripheral edge of the front end of a lens barrel to intercept light between the inner periphery of the lens barrel and a taking lens. The light intercepting flange extends to the outer peripheral surface of the taking lens from the inner periphery of the lens barrel. Consequently, the space between the inner periphery of the lens barrel and the taking lens is closed by the light intercepting flange when the camera is assembled. Accordingly, it is impossible to adjust an internal mechanism of the camera without disassembling the camera.
In particular, in the case of a water-resistant compact camera having a built-in zoom lens, it is necessary to provide a means for effecting the focus adjustment in order to increase the light sensitivity of the optical system of such a small camera after the camera has been assembled because an error in adjustment may occur in the initial assembly process. However, it is impossible to insert, for example, a special adjusting jig into the lens barrel from the front end thereof to effect focus adjustment after the camera is assembled because of obstructions by the light intercepting flange, for example, inside the camera.


Techniques for providing power and communicating data via an audio interface to a peripheral device are described herein. In one embodiment, a peripheral device is communicatively coupled to a host device via an audio interface of the host device, where the audio interface includes a first stereo output channel, a second stereo output channel, an audio input channel, and a ground pin. The peripheral device receives from the host device a first audio signal via the first stereo output channel and a second audio signal via the second stereo output channel. In response, the peripheral device harvests energy from both the first audio signal and the second audio signal to generate direct current (DC) power to power one or more hardware components of the peripheral device including a processor of the peripheral device.

An audio port in a personal computer and a mobile electronics device is very rarely used for data communication and power transferring. As a modern electronics device is getting smaller and more powerful, it can be made with more and more functions, due to the portability requirement. Most of them have very limited external interfaces to communicate with a peripheral device. Besides universal serial bus (USB) and wireless interface, an audio port or interface provides a very non-expensive approach for a host device to communicate with a peripheral device.
In the mean time, to simplify the design of both host and peripheral devices and reduce the cost; it is desirable to transfer power from the host device to the peripheral device through the audio interface. Conventional systems use one channel of stereo audio port to provide power to a peripheral device and the other channel used for data communication. Limited to the driving strength of audio port, one audio channel is not sufficient to provide enough power for many applications.

Method and apparatus to use audio port to provide power and data communications for peripheral devices


In a method and an apparatus for forming image, digital image information is generated by conveying a document and scanning an image recorded on the document while conveying the document. When an image is scanned with a high resolution that is greater than a default resolution, a document is conveyed at a default speed at an initial stage and the document is conveyed at a speed slower than the default speed during an image scanning operation. The image forming apparatus includes a scan unit scanning the image recorded on the document, and a conveying unit which conveys the document at a default speed in an initial stage of conveying the document, and which conveys the document at a speed slower than the default speed while scanning the image in a high resolution scanning operation that has higher resolution than a default resolution.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus and a method of forming an image, and more particularly, to an apparatus and a method of forming an image, by which less time is taken from picking a document to discharging the document in a high resolution scanning operation.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, an image forming apparatus is an apparatus that receives an image signal and transfers the image signal onto a document as a visual image. On the other hand, an image forming apparatus having an image scanning function is an image forming apparatus having a function of reading an image recorded on a document and converting the image into digital image information so as to be displayed on another document or a display device, for example, a facsimile or a scanner. The image forming apparatus having the scanning function includes a conveying unit that transports a document, on which an image is recorded, into the image forming apparatus along a predetermined document conveying path and discharges the document out of the image forming apparatus, and a scanning unit disposed on the document conveying path. The conveying unit generally includes various kinds of rollers, and a driving unit such as a motor or a clutch for driving the rollers. The scanning unit includes a charge coupled device (CCD) module. When the document passes the CCD module, the image recorded on the document is read out.
However, in order to obtain high resolution digital image information of high resolution from the image scanning operation, the conveying speed of a document passing the CCD module should be slower than that for a document having relatively lower resolution. Therefore, in the conventional image forming apparatus, in a case where the resolution of the scanning document is high, the speed of conveying the document is lowered throughout the entire conveying path, that is, from picking the document to discharging the document. Accordingly, it takes a lot of time from the picking operation to the discharging operation in the high resolution scanning operation, and consequently, scanning efficiency of the image forming apparatus is degraded. Also, a rotating speed of a pickup roller that picks up the document is too slow to perform the pickup operation well.

Apparatus and method of forming an image


The present invention relates to encapsulated matter comprising a core material having a charge on a surface thereof and a plurality of coating layers each mainly comprising a polymer with which the core material is coated, the layers comprising at least a first coating layer and a second coating layer, wherein the polymer constituting the first coating layer which contacts the core material comprises at least: (1) a repeating structural unit derived from an ionic polymerizable surfactant A and/or an ionic monomer, each having a charge opposite to the surface charge of the core material; and (2) a repeating structural unit derived from an ionic polymerizable surfactant B having a charge of the same kind as or opposite to the surface charge of the core material, and the polymer constituting the second coating layer which contacts the outside of the first coating layer comprises at least: (3) a repeating structural unit derived from an ionic polymerizable surfactant C and/or an ionic monomer, each having a charge opposite to the surface charge of the first coating layer; and (4) a repeating structural unit derived from an ionic polymerizable surfactant D having a charge of the same kind as or opposite to the surface charge of the first coating layer.

Encapsulation of various materials has hitherto been performed in many industries and technical fields. In the printing, paint and ink industries, encapsulation of pigments or dyes has been in practical use in large numbers. Further, also in the pharmaceutical and agricultural chemical fields, encapsulation of drugs has been in heavy usage, in order to retard their effect or to decrease their toxicity. As encapsulation methods, there have generally been known a phase separation method (a coacervation method), a submerged drying method (an interfacial precipitation method), a spray drying method, a pan coating method, a submerged curing coating method, an interfacial polymerization method, an interfacial inorganic reaction method and an in-situ polymerization method. However, these methods have had the problems that a core material is limited, that it is difficult to freely design the thickness of a shell layer (a coating layer for the core material), that it is difficult to encapsulate one core material, that it is difficult to freely design a functional group on a capsule surface, that it is not easy to produce particles having a homogeneous surface state, and that encapsulation in a nano-order is not easy.
Further, in an ink jet recording process comprising ejecting ink droplets from a fine nozzle head to form letters or figures on a surface of a recording medium such as paper, an aqueous pigment ink in which a pigment is dispersed in water has recently been used because of its excellent water resistance and light resistance. As such an aqueous pigment ink, there has been generally used in many cases one in which the pigment is dispersed in an aqueous dispersing medium with a dispersant such as a surfactant or a polymer dispersant. When the pigment is dispersed with the dispersant as described above, the dispersant is merely adsorbed on surfaces of the pigment particles. Accordingly, in the ink jet recording process in which strong shear force is applied to the pigment particles, the dispersant adsorbed on the surfaces of the pigment particles is eliminated in some cases, whereby dispersibility of the pigment ink deteriorates to cause deterioration in ejection stability (the characteristic of being ejected from a recording head in a definite direction) in some cases. Further, the pigment ink in which the pigment is dispersed in the aqueous dispersing medium with the dispersant such as the surfactant or the polymer dispersant is liable to cause the adsorption and desorption of the dispersant. When the ink is stored for a long period of time, the dispersion is liable to become unstable.
On the other hand, in order to improve fixability of a pigment contained in a pigment-based ink jet ink to a recording medium, a technique using an encapsulated pigment in which colorant particles are coated with a polymer has been known.
There have been proposed encapsulated fine pigment particles (for example, see patent documents 1, 2 and 3), and pigment particles on surfaces of which a polymer is graft polymerized (for example, see patent documents 4 to 7). Further, there has been proposed a method for encapsulating a hydrophobic powder with an amphiphilic graft polymer (for example, see patent document 8). However, the use of a previously polymerized polymer has raised the problem that the particle size after encapsulation becomes too large.
In addition to the above-mentioned proposals, there have been proposed inks using a pigment coated with a resin having film forming properties at room temperature by phase inversion emulsification (for example, see patent documents 9 to 17), and inks using a pigment coated with an anionic group-containing organic polymer compound by acid precipitation (for example, see patent documents 18 to 27).
Further, there have been proposed inks using a polymer emulsion in which fine polymer particles and a colorant are impregnated by phase inversion emulsification (for example, see patent documents 28 to 33). However, in the colorant obtained by phase inversion emulsification or acid precipitation, the polymer adsorbed on the pigment particles is also sometimes eliminated and dissolved in the ink, depending on the kind of organic solvent such as a penetrant used in the ink, so that dispersion stability and ejection stability of the ink, image quality and the like have been insufficient in some cases.
Patent Document 1: JP-B-7-94634
Patent Document 2: JP-A-8-59715
Patent Document 3: JP-A-2003-306661
Patent Document 4: JP-A-5-339516
Patent Document 5: JP-A-8-302227
Patent Document 6: JP-A-8-302228
Patent Document 7: JP-A-8-81647
Patent Document 8: JP-A-5-320276
Patent Document 9: JP-A-8-218015
Patent Document 10: JP-A-8-295837
Patent Document 11: JP-A-9-3376
Patent Document 12: JP-A-8-183920
Patent Document 13: JP-A-10-46075
Patent Document 14: JP-A-10-292143
Patent Document 15: JP-A-11-80633
Patent Document 16: JP-A-11-349870
Patent Document 17: JP-A-2000-7961
Patent Document 18: JP-A-9-31360
Patent Document 19: JP-A-9-217019
Patent Document 20: JP-A-9-316353
Patent Document 21: JP-A-9-104834
Patent Document 22: JP-A-9-151342
Patent Document 23: JP-A-10-140065
Patent Document 24: JP-A-11-152424
Patent Document 25: JP-A-11-166145
Patent Document 26: JP-A-11-199783
Patent Document 27: JP-A-11-209672
Patent Document 28: JP-A-9-286939
Patent Document 29: JP-A-2000-44852
Patent Document 30: JP-A-2000-53897
Patent Document 31: JP-A-2000-53898
Patent Document 32: JP-A-2000-53899
Patent Document 33: JP-A-2000-53900

Encapsulated matter comprising multiple polymeric coatings of opposite charges and production process thereof


A treatment method for solid oxide fuel cells includes: measuring a radius of curvature of a cell; measuring a surface resistance of cathode current collecting layer of a cell; performing an alcohol permeating test of a cell; performing simultaneously several stages of compression and heating or cooling to a cell; an apparatus for completing above stages is also disclosed.

In recent years, with the raising awareness of environmental protection, almost every country in the world has invested in the development of alternative energy sources, and among those efforts, one alternative energy source that had been commonly agreed to be the most promising is solid oxide fuel cells.
The solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) is an electrochemical conversion device that produces electricity directly from oxidizing a fuel, and in this oxidation reaction, only water as a byproduct is being given off. Thus, this class of fuel cells is characterized in that: high efficiency and low emissions.
SOFCs can be divided into two types of SOFCs depending on their geometry designs, which are the planar type and the tubular type. Generally, The power performance of the planar SOFCs is currently better than the power performance of the tubular SOFCs. However, all the SOFCs in various designs should share the advantages of high efficiency, long-term stability, and relatively low cost.
There are numerous reports and patents for various SOFC constitutions had been provided, whereas a common SOFC is composed of electrolytes, anodes and cathodes. Generally, the electrolyte is made of yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ), the anode is made of a cermet (Ni/YSZ) composed of nickel (Ni) and yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ), and the cathode is made of conductive lanthanum strontium-doped manganite (LSM, LaMnO3) with a perovskite structure.
However, since yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) exhibits sufficient ion conductivity only under high temperatures larger than 900° C., and as a consequence, the sealing material and the connection material used in the solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) must be made of high-cost materials with good high-temperature resistance. Therefore, SOFCs can be too expensive to be used widely.
Nevertheless, there are SOFCs which is designed to operate at a temperature lower than 900° C. by adopting a thinner YSZ electrolyte, but such SOFCs still suffer great energy loss due to resistance. On the other hand, an electrolyte (made of, for example, lanthanum strontium gallate magnesite (LSGM) with high ion conductivity, can be used to manufacture a solid oxide fuel cell that works at intermediate temperatures ranged from 600° C. to 800° C.
Moreover, as the temperature decreases, electrochemical activities at the cathode and anode decrease, causing polarization resistances at the cathode and anode to increase and thus inducing great energy loss.
For the planar SOFCs, they are usually being fabricated with robust supports for supporting the construction of the whole SOFC stack. The most common supports are made of a composite of ceramic and metal, and thus can be referred as cermet (ceramic-metal) supports. However, such cermet supports are disadvantageous in their high cost, difficulty to process, vulnerability to cracking and breakage, low resistance to thermal shocks, and low thermal conductivity.
Therefore, there are more and more metal-supported planar SOFCs to be developed for replacing the traditional cermet-supported planar SOFCs, and the metal-supported planar SOFCs have porous metal substrates to support themselves. There are already many methods being developed for fabricating such metal-supported planar SOFCs, such as strip casting, pulsed laser deposition (PLD), and air plasma spray (APS). Among which, APS is most common method, but it can cause the fuel cell to deform. The reason is: the porous metal substrate and the different layers of a SOFC are generally made of different materials with different thermal expansion coefficients so that they can expand differently while the layers of a SOFC are sequentially coated on the porous metal substrate by the high temperature plasma spraying in the APS process, and thus thermally induced stresses exerted between different layers of a SOFC cause a SOFC to deform as the consequence.

Treatment method for solid oxide fuel cells and apparatus thereof

INSTITUTE OF NUCLEAR ENERGY RESEARCH ATOMIC ENERGY COUNCIL, EXECUTIVE YUAN


A system and method are provided for associating location data from one or more unique sources. The place and time of a unique location enabled device are associated with stored demographic information relating to the particular place and particular time. The place and time of the unique location enabled device are associated with a historical record of past locations and time of locations that the device has been. Based on the association of demographical information and historical information, the unique location enable device is assigned to one or more groups or tribes. The location of all members of the group or tribe can be aggregated and exported for further analysis or display, thereby showing all group or tribe members at a particular time and place.

The proliferation of UPS and other positioning methods in mobile phones, taxis, personal navigation devices and automobiles has begun to generate an enormous amount of historic and real-time data, consisting of a latitude, longitude, unique identifier, and some metadata in many cases like if a taxi is full or empty.
For example, location-based media (LBM) delivers multimedia directly to the user of a mobile device dependent upon their location. The media can be delivered to, or triggered within any portable wireless device that is location enabled and has the capacity to display audiovisual content. Media content is managed and organized externally of the device on a standard desktop or laptop. The mobile device then downloads formatted content with location coordinated triggers applied to each media sequence. As the location-aware device enters the selected area, the assigned media is triggered. The assigned media is designed to be of optimal relevance to the user in the context of the user's surroundings.
In addition to location based media, there are other back-end server systems that process sensor data in real-time, including GPS, Wifi, and other location data, for example, a taxi dispatch system, the air traffic control system, or RFID systems for tracking supply chains. All of these systems were built for a specific purpose, a specific kind of sensor, and provide limited and focused analysis relevant to the specialized system. Moreover, historical information and related geographic information is typically limited to the current time and place of the subject of interest.
There has not been a system employing methodologies to associate data based on the historical location record of an individual device or user and demographic data that may be associated with the locations in the historical location record of an individual user.

System and method of performing location analytics


Provided is a method of cross-paging including transmitting mobile terminal location information from a mobile communication system to a heterogeneous mobile communication system after the mobile terminal location registration. The mobile communication system is then requested to page the mobile terminal according to the received information in the heterogeneous mobile communication system and, then the mobile terminal is paged. Further provided is a method of cross-paging that includes determining whether the mobile terminal has been location-registered in the mobile communication system or in the heterogeneous mobile communication system with reference to pre-registered mobile terminal location information when a mobile terminal paging request occurs in the heterogeneous mobile communication system. A cross-paging message is then transmitted from the heterogeneous mobile communication system to the mobile communication system if the mobile terminal has been location-registered in the mobile communication system and then the mobile terminal is paged.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to mobile communication service, and more particularly to a method of paging a hybrid access terminal supporting both voice service and high-speed packet data service.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, wireless communication systems performing 3rd generation wireless communication include, for example, Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) 2000 1x, Wideband Code Division Multiple Access/Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (WCDMA/UMTS), General Packet Radio System (GPRS) and CDMA 2000 Evolution in Data Only (1xEV-DO).
As the system standard is currently being changed from IS-2000 which corresponds to a CDMA 2000 1x standard capable of simultaneously supporting voice service and packet data service to IS-856 which corresponds to a CDMA 2000 1xEV-DO standard supporting only high-speed packet data service, a hybrid access terminal (HAT) capable of having access to the two systems has been developed. The hybrid access terminal is designed to simultaneously monitor both the CDMA 2000 1xEV-DO system and the CDMA 2000 1x system, but automatically shifts to a state in which it monitors only the CDMA 2000 1x system if an idle state of the CDMA 2000 1xEV-DO system lasts for a predetermined period of time in order to further reduce battery consumption.
A system capable of transmitting large capacity data such as the CDMA 2000 1xEV-DO system provides a multimedia message service (MMS) which is an improvement over the existing short message service (SMS) to satisfy the additional variety of customer demands. The multimedia message service is a service which enables not only characters, but also multimedia data including graphics or photograph, music and video clips to be given and taken via a mobile terminal. By virtue of the improvement in speed in wireless communication, the launch of color terminals capable of reproducing moving pictures, etc., it is expected that the multimedia message service hereafter occupies the heart of the 3rd generation mobile communication service. Therefore, the major mobile communication service providers also show a great interest in constructing the multimedia message service and are preparing a variety of supplementary services applying the multimedia message service, such as photographs, messages, moving picture cards, moving advertisements, etc.
Similarly for the short message service, a multimedia message service is provided by using an overhead channel, not a traffic channel such as a control channel or a paging channel. A mobile terminal periodically or continuously monitors additional channels in an idle state so as to obtain a short message or a multimedia message and to respond to a paging from a system.
However, as described above, if a predetermined period of time elapse after an idle state of the CDMA 2000 1xEV-DO system starts, the hybrid access terminal automatically shifts to a state in which it monitors only the CDMA 2000 1x system while simultaneously monitoring both the CDMA 2000 1xEV-DO system and the CDMA 2000 1x system. Accordingly, the hybrid access terminal has a problem in that it cannot continuously monitor the CDMA 2000 1xEV-DO system, and thus cannot use a multimedia message service through the CDMA 2000 1xEV-DO system.

Method of cross-paging a hybrid access terminal supporting voice service and packet data service


A composition useful for the top layer of two-layered stoneware or semi-stoneware tiles has, with or without added coloring substances or pigments, the following composition:. ______________________________________ Clay (white burning) 13-40% by weight, Wollastonite 0-25% by weight, Potassium feldspar 8-32% by weight, Sodium feldspar 5-15% by weight, Lithium feldspar 0-12% by weight, Nepheline-Syenite 3-15% by weight, Frit 0-25% by weight, ZnO 0-5% by weight, Calcined kaolin/clay 6-24% by weight, Calcined aluminum oxide 3-16% by weight, and ZrSiO.sub.4 0-10% by weight. ______________________________________

Both densely burned, unglazed and glazed stoneware tiles are known from the literature. Both types of tiles have their advantages and disadvantages. Densely burned, unglazed stoneware tiles have greater surface hardness and wear resistance than glazed tiles but glazed tiles offer a wider range of possibilities for decorative surfaces. This includes not only the use of ceramic decorative finishes on or under the glaze but also a wider range of colors for glazes.
Conventional unglazed ceramic stoneware compositions which burn to a light color and have suitable characteristics for dense burning and the required stain resistance are fired at temperatures above 1200.degree. C. As their burned color is non-white, however, they cannot be obtained in luminous and saturated color shades. Moreover, they are frequently sensitive to stains due to a slight residual porosity. Added to this is the problem that the clays required for producing densely burned stoneware tiles with a light burned color are not always readily available. Only a few natural deposits are known, and these have only limited reserves (e.g. Westerwald).
Stoneware or semi-stoneware tiles fired at low temperatures and having a water absorption capacity greater than about 0.3% by weight are generally sensitive to staining if they have not been glazed. For obtaining closed, dense surfaces, these products must be glazed. On the other hand, clays which are widely available but burn to a dark color may be used for the manufacture of such products.
The problem therefore arose of providing compositions which, when applied as a relatively thick top layer to a basic (more or less colored) stoneware or semi-stoneware body, could be used for the production of stoneware tiles which at least on the surface sinter to a dense structure, are abrasion resistant and can be colored in luminous colors with a high degree of saturation with coloring materials even at relatively low concentrations. Semi-stoneware is generally understood as having a residual porosity of 3-6%.
This problem has been solved by means of the compositions according to the invention.

Ceramic composition for the production of the top layer of two-layered stoneware tiles


A process for enriching water with oxygen, wherein water is conducted through a water inlet into a sealed enriching space and through one or more turbulent mixers in the enriching space, open is introduced through an oxygen inlet into the water in the enriching space before passing through the turbulent mixer, and the oxygen-enriched water is recovered. The invention further includes an aerobic process by carrying out a chemical or microbiological reaction in the oxygen enriched water as the reaction medium, and a therapeutic process of carrying out a therapeutic treatment of a body with an agent containing the oxygen enriched liquid as a vehicle. The invention also concerns as apparatus for enriching water with oxygen, having a water inlet, a sealed enriching space containing an oxygen inlet, and one or more turbulent mixers, and an outlet for oxygenated water.

The most effective method and apparatus for saturating water with oxygen on an industrial scale is described in international patent application WO 95/29130. (U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/411,708, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,814,222). According to this known process, water is introduced into a sealed enriching vessel which is under oxygen pressure, the water is subdivided such as by running it over a series of trays and the water is inflowing contact with the oxygen before about up to 55-60 mg/l oxygen is dissolved in the water. Is known method and apparatus works very well, however, it was desired to develop a high capacity, smaller and less costly and more portable apparatus capable of producing on an industrial scale super oxygenized water containing even more oxygen and retaining the dissolved oxygen for longer periods than with the known method.
Effective bioremediation requires a high rate of oxygen use, but replenishment of oxygen occurs very slowly in groundwater. As a result, oxygen levels in the contaminated systems are often quickly depleted, even when water has been thoroughly aerated before the onset of the bioremediation process. Bioremediation processes would be much more effective if oxygen levels could be maintained in the groundwater for a longer period of time after they are aerated. This means both higher concentrations of dissolved oxygen, and a lessened degree of degassing of oxygen from the water.
Groundwater pollution control efforts have generally focused on using various "pump and treat" methods which have met only with very limited success while being extremely costly and time consuming. A later development of bioremediation, also known as in-situ or passive remediation, has recently presented itself as a more cost-effective means of treatment, and is by far the most rapidly expanding sector of groundwater treatment technology. Most bioremediation sites utilize aerobic microorganisms to degrade the contaminants. In some circumstances the contaminants themselves are the primary substrate. However, due to resistance of most synthetic organic chemicals to biodegradation, the microbes often require an additional food source, such a methane or methanol to utilize the contaminants. In any case, the organisms need a surplus of dissolved oxygen to maintain the aerobic conditions necessary for accelerated by biodegradation.
Experience demonstrated to date that the maintenance of adequate dissolved oxygen levels is one of the larger challenges to bioremediation projects. It was determined that the greater the dissolved oxygen content, the greater and more rapid the treatment A study conducted by the U.S. Air Force in 1992 found that with about 35 mg/l dissolved oxygen feed water, an 80% reduction in dichloroethane could be obtained within 150 hours. In a laboratory study in 1993 it was found that vinyl chloride could be reduced by 95% within two weeks by infusing the contaminated groundwater with about 25 mg/l dissolved oxygen. Low dissolved oxygen bioremediation operations have proven to be very slow at best, and completely unsuccessful at worse. For example, in another 1993 experiment it was determined that oxygen levels around 18 mg/l produced little or no reduction in dichloroethane after twelve days.
Four different methods have been employed in the past to introduce oxygen into aquifers: air sparging, electrolysis, hydrogen peroxide, and surface aeration. All of these have limitations. Air sparging in the case of aquifers involved sinking wells into the aquifer to provide contact between the ground-water and the atmosphere. This, however, produces very low oxygen levels, comparable to those that occur naturally, of about 10-14 mg/l in cold water. Electrolysis was not found to offer any practical, real word applications, because concentrations of only up to 16 mg/l could be obtained but at the same time the organisms for the biodegradation became substantially depopulated. Hydrogen peroxide injection seemed promising only at first glance, because oxygen was produced only at ratio of 1:2 and two as high a concentration of hydrogen peroxide was required to arrive at the relatively low obtainable dissolved oxygen level. Furthermore, hydrogen peroxide proved toxic to the biodegradation organisms and the resulting foam and dead organisms clogged the injection wells.
The best remaining known option was above-ground aeration wherein a portion of the groundwater was pumped up, aerated with air or pure oxygen, and injected back in to the aquifer. When using pure oxygen, dissolved oxygen levels of about 35 mg/l have been obtained in 1992, but theme were diluted upon reentering the aquifer.
A direct relationship between the biological activity and the high oxygen levels could be established, and the activity dropped sharply with lower dissolved oxygen levels. The observations have clearly indicated the need for even higher levels of dissolved oxygen for accelerating the bioremediation for more optimum rates.
Oxygenated water, when exposed to ambient atmosphere, will gradually lose the dissolved oxygen content above the amount (about 10-12 mg/l) that can be maintained under atmospheric equilibrium dynamics.

Oxygenating apparatus, method for oxygenating liquid therewith, and applications thereof


A method of synthesizing a polynucleotide which can, for example, be used during fabrication of an array. A second nucleoside is coupled to a first nucleoside through a phosphite linkage, with the second nucleoside having a hydroxyl protecting group that is a non-carbonate protecting group. The product of the foregoing step is exposed to a composition which both oxidizes the formed phosphite to a phosphate and deprotects the protected hydroxyl of the coupled nucleoside. The method has particular application to fabricating an addressable array of polynucleotides on a substrate which carries substrate bound moieties each with a hydroxyl group.

Conventional phosphoramidite chemistry, so named for a functional group on the monomer building blocks, was first developed in the early 1980's as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,415,732. This functional group provided a relatively efficient means of joining a building block monomer to the growing chain. Solid phase synthesis disclosed by Caruthers et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 4,458,066 was another improvement to oligonucleotide synthesis. In this technique, the growing DNA chain is attached to an insoluble support via a long organic linker which allows the growing DNA chain to be solubilized in the solvent in which the support is placed. The solubilized, yet immobilized, DNA chain is thereby allowed to react with reagents in the surrounding solvent and allows for the easy washing away of the reagents from the solid support to which the oligonucleotide is attached. These significant advances in phosphoramidite chemistry and solid phase synthesis paved the way to making custom DNA synthesis accessible to the average biology lab. Other novel techniques, e.g. polymerase chain reaction ("PCR", which is used in forensic testing and DNA fingerprinting), have been facilitated due to the ready availability of synthetic DNA.
There are several sites on the nucleosides of similar chemical nature, e.g.——OH or hydroxyl groups. However, during oligonucleotide synthesis, the monomer subunits must be attached to the growing oligonucleotide molecule in a site-specific manner. This requires functionalizing a site either on the growing chain or on the incoming base for attachment of the incoming monomer building block to the growing chain. To prevent the incoming monomer from attaching at the wrong site, the wrong sites must be blocked while the correct site is left open to react. This requires the use of what are termed protecting groups. Protecting groups are compounds attached temporarily to a potentially reactive site so as to prevent it from reacting. The protecting group must be stable during said reactions and yet must eventually be removed to yield the original site. The synthesis of oligonucleotides requires several sites to be protected and particular sites must be deprotected while others remain protected. These protecting groups grouped together as a set are termed orthogonal protecting groups.
Solid phase oligonucleotide synthesis protocols typically use a dimethoxytrityl protecting group for the 5′ hydroxyl of nucleosides. A phosphoramidite functionality is utilized at the 3′ hydroxyl position. The synthesis generally proceeds from the 3′ to the 5′ of the ribose or deoxyribose sugar component of the phosphoramidite nucleoside in a synthesis cycle which adds one nucleotide at a time to the growing oligonucleotide chain. Beaucage et al. (1981) Tetrahedron Lett. 22:1859. See FIG. 1 for a schematic representation of this technology. In FIG. 1 "B" represents a purine or pyrimidine base, "DMT" represents dimethoxytrityl protecting group and "iPr" represents isopropyl. In the first step of the synthesis cycle, the "coupling" step, the 5′ end of the growing chain is coupled with the 3′ phosphoramidite of the incoming monomer to form a phosphite triester intermediate (the 5′ hydroxyl of the added monomer has a protecting group so only one new monomer is added to the growing chain per cycle). Matteucci et al. (1981) J. Am. Chem. Soc. 103:3185. Next, an optional "capping reaction" is used to stop the synthesis on any chains having an unreacted 5′ hydroxyl, which would be one nucleotide short at the end of synthesis. The phosphite triester intermediate is subjected to oxidation (the "oxidation" step) after each coupling reaction to yield a more stable phosphotriester intermediate. Without oxidation, the unstable phosphite triester linkage would cleave under the acidic conditions of subsequent synthesis steps. Letsinger et al. (1976) J. Am. Chem. Soc. 98:3655. Removal of the 5′ protecting group of the newly added monomer (the "deprotection" step) is typically accomplished by reaction with acidic solution to yield a free 5′ hydroxyl group, which can be coupled to the next protected nucleoside phosphoramidite. This process is repeated for each monomer added until the desired sequence is synthesized.
According to some protocols, the synthesis cycle of couple, cap, oxidize, and deprotect is shortened by omitting the capping step or by taking the oxidation step 'outside' of the cycle and performing a single oxidation reaction on the completed chain. For example, oligonucleotide synthesis according to H-phosphonate protocols will permit a single oxidation step at the conclusion of the synthesis cycles. However, coupling yields are less efficient than those for phosphoramidite chemistry and oxidation requires longer times and harsher reagents than amidite chemistry.
The chemical group conventionally used for the protection of nucleoside 5′-hydroxyls is dimethoxytrityl ("DMT"), which is removable with acid. Khorana (1968) Pure Appl. Chem. 17:349; Smith et al. (1962) J. Am. Chem. Soc. 84:430. This acid-labile protecting group provides a number of advantages for working with both nucleosides and oligonucleotides. For example, the DMT group can be introduced onto a nucleoside regioselectively and in high yield. Brown et al. (1979) Methods in Enzymol. 68:109. Also, the lipophilicity of the DMT group greatly increases the solubility of nucleosides in organic solvents, and the carbocation resulting from acidic deprotection gives a strong chromophore, which can be used to indirectly monitor coupling efficiency. Matteucci et al. (1980) Tetrahedron Lett. 21:719. In addition, the hydrophobicity of the group can be used to aid separation on reverse-phase HPLC. Becker et al. (1985) J. Chromatogr. 326:219.
However, use of DMT as a hydroxyl-protecting group in oligonucleotide synthesis is also problematic. The N-glycosidic linkages of oligodeoxyribonucleotides are susceptible to acid catalyzed cleavage (Kochetkov et al., Organic Chemistry of Nucleic Acids (New York: Plenum Press, 1972)), and even when the protocol is optimized, recurrent removal of the DMT group with acid during oligonucleotide synthesis results in depurination. Shaller et al. (1963) J. Am. Chem. Soc. 85:3821. The N-6-benzoyl-protected deoxyadenosine nucleotide is especially susceptible to glycosidic cleavage, resulting in a substantially reduced yield of the final oligonucleotide. Efcavitch et al. (1985) Nucleosides & Nucleotides 4:267. Attempts have been made to address the problem of acid-catalyzed depurination utilizing alternative mixtures of acids and various solvents; see, for example, Sonveaux (1986) Bioorganic Chem. 14:274. However, this approach has met with limited success. McBride et al. (1986) J. Am. Chem. Soc. 108:2040.
Conventional synthesis of oligonucleotides using DMT as a protecting group is problematic in other ways as well. For example, cleavage of the DMT group under acidic conditions gives rise to the resonance-stabilized and long-lived bis(p-anisyl)phenylmethyl carbocation. Gilham et al. (1959) J. Am. Chem. Soc. 81:4647. Protection and deprotection of hydroxyl groups with DMT are thus readily reversible reactions, resulting in side reactions during oligonucleotide synthesis and a lower yield than might otherwise be obtained. To circumvent such problems, large excesses of acid are used with DMT to achieve quantitative deprotection. As bed volume of the polymer is increased in larger scale synthesis, increasingly greater quantities of acid are required. The acid-catalyzed depurination which occurs during the synthesis of oligodeoxyribonucleotides is thus increased by the scale of synthesis. Caruthers et al, in Genetic Engineering: Principles and Methods, J. K. Setlow et al., Eds. (New York: Plenum Press, 1982).
Considerable effort has been directed to developing 5′-O-protecting groups which can be removed under non-acidic conditions. For example, Letsinger et al. (1967) J. Am. Chem. Soc. 89:7147, describe use of a hydrazine-labile benzoyl-propionyl group, and deRooij et al. (1979) Real. Track. Chain. Pays-Bas. 98:537, describe using the hydrazine-labile levulinyl ester for 5′-OH protection (see also Iwai et al. (1988) Tetrahedron Lett. 29:5383; and Iwai et al. (1988) Nucleic Acids Res. 16:9443). However, the cross-reactivity of hydrazine with pyrimidine nucleotides (as described in Baron et al. (1955) J. Chem. Soc. 2855 and in Habermann (1962) Biochem. Biophys. Acta 55:999), the poor selectivity of levulinic anhydride and hydrazine cleavage of N-acyl protecting groups (Letsinger et al. (1968), Tetrahedron Lett. 22:2621) have made these approaches impractical. Seliger et al. (1985), Nucleosides & Nucleotides 4:153, describes the 5′-O-phenyl-azophenyl carbonyl ("PAPco") group, which is removed by a two-step procedure involving transesterification followed by β-elimination; however, unexpectedly low and non-reproducible yields resulted. Fukuda et al. (1988) Nucleic Acids Res. Symposium Ser. 19, 13, and Lehmann et al. (1989) Nucleic Acids Res. 17:2389, describe application of the 9-fluorenylmethylcarbonate ("Fmoc") group for 5′-protection. Lehmann et al. (1989) report reasonable yields for the synthesis of oligonucleotides up to 20 nucleotides in length. The basic conditions required for complete deprotection of the Fmoc group, however, lead to problems with protecting group compatibility. Similarly, Letsinger et al. (1967), J. Am. Chem. Soc. 32:296, describe using the p-nitrophenyloxycarbonyl group for 5′-hydroxyl protection. In all of the procedures described above utilizing base-labile 5′-O-protecting groups, the requirements of high basicity and long deprotection times have severely limited their application for routine synthesis of oligonucleotides.
Still an additional drawback associated with conventional oligonucleotide synthesis using DMT as a hydroxyl-protecting group is the necessity of multiple steps, particularly the post-synthetic deprotection step in which the DMT group is removed following oxidation of the internucleoside phosphite triester linkage to a phosphorotriester. It would be desirable to have a synthesis protocol where the hydroxyl-protecting group could be removed concurrently with oxidation, such that the final two steps involved in nucleotide addition, namely oxidation and deprotection, could be combined.
The problems associated with the use of DMT are exacerbated in solid phase oligonucleotide synthesis where "microscale" parallel reactions are taking place on a very dense, packed surface. Applications in the field of genomics and high throughput screening have fueled the demand for precise chemistry in such a context. Thus, increasingly stringent demands are placed on the chemical synthesis cycle as it was originally conceived, and the problems associated with conventional methods for synthesizing oligonucleotides are rising to unacceptable levels in these expanded applications.
Our own previous research on using carbonate protecting groups resulted in the discovery that carbonate groups could be used with good effect to reduce depurination during the synthesis and to combine the oxidation step with the removal of the carbonate protecting group. U.S. Pat. No. 6,222,030 to Dellinger et al. (Apr. 24, 2001).
Oligonucleotides may be useful as diagnostic or screening tools, for example, on polynucleotide arrays. Such arrays include regions of usually different sequence polynucleotides arranged in a predetermined configuration on a substrate. These regions (sometimes referenced as "features") are positioned at respective locations ("addresses") on the substrate. The arrays, when exposed to a sample, will exhibit an observed binding pattern. This binding pattern can be detected upon interrogating the array. For example all polynucleotide targets (for example, DNA) in the sample can be labeled with a suitable label (such as a fluorescent compound), and the fluorescence pattern on the array accurately observed following exposure to the sample. Assuming that the different sequence polynucleotides were correctly deposited in accordance with the predetermined configuration, then the observed binding pattern will be indicative of the presence and/or concentration of one or more polynucleotide components of the sample.
Polynucleotide arrays can be fabricated by depositing previously obtained polynucleotides onto a substrate, or by in situ synthesis methods. The in situ fabrication methods include those described in WO 98/41531 and the references cited therein. The in situ method for fabricating a polynucleotide array typically follows, at each of the multiple different addresses at which features are to be formed, the same conventional iterative sequence used in forming polynucleotides on a support by means of known chemistry.
The foregoing methods of preparing polynucleotides are well known and described in detail, for example, in Caruthers (1985) Science 230: 281-285; Itakura et al., Ann. Rev. Biochem. 53: 323-356; Hunkapillar et al. (1984) Nature 310: 105-110; and in "Synthesis of Oligonucleotide Derivatives in Design and Targeted Reaction of Oligonucleotide Derivatives", CRC Press, Boca Raton, Fla., pages 100 et seq.; U.S. Pat. No. 4,458,066; U.S. Pat. No. 4,500,707; U.S. Pat. No. 5,153,319; U.S. Pat. No. 5,869,643; EP 0294196, and elsewhere. The phosphoramidite and phosphite triester approaches are most broadly used, but other approaches include the phosphodiester approach, the phosphotriester approach and the H-phosphonate approach.
In the case of array fabrication, different monomers may be deposited at different addresses on the substrate during any one iteration so that the different features of the completed array will have different desired polynucleotide sequences. One or more intermediate further steps may be required in each iteration, such as the conventional oxidation and washing steps.
Each iteration of the foregoing conventional sequence can have a very high yield (over 90%), with each step being relatively rapid (requiring less than a minute). Thus, the foregoing conventional sequence is ideal for preparing a particular polynucleotide on a packed column. Whether the preparation requires four or five minutes is usually not great concern. However, when it is desired to mass produce a polynucleotide array with hundreds or more typically, thousands, of features each carrying different polynucleotides requiring ten, twenty or more cycles, the time taken for each step in each cycle at each feature becomes much more important. Furthermore, each step in the cycle requires its own solutions and appropriate system of delivery to the substrate during in situ array fabrication, which complicates an in situ array fabrication apparatus and can lead to more waste. It would be desirable then, to provide a means of fabricating an array by the in situ process with a simplified synthesis cycle requiring requiring fewer steps and/or less time to complete each cycle. It would further be desirable if the number of solutions required for each cycle could be reduced.

Synthesis of polynucleotides using combined oxidation/deprotection chemistry