A leadless intra-cardiac medical device (LIMD) includes an electrode assembly configured to be anchored within a first wall portion of a first chamber of a heart. The electrode assembly includes an electrode main body having a first securing helix, an electrode wire segment extending from the body, and a first segment-terminating contact positioned on the electrode wire segment. The device further includes a housing assembly configured to be anchored within a second wall portion of a second chamber of the heart. The housing assembly includes a body having a second securing helix, a housing wire segment extending from the body, and a second segment-terminating contact positioned on the housing wire segment. The device also includes a connector block that electrically connects the electrode wire segment to the housing wire segment by retaining the first and second segment-terminating contacts.

Current implantable medical devices for cardiac applications, such as pacemakers, include a "housing" or "can" and one or more electrically-conductive leads that connect to the can through an electro-mechanical connection. The can is implanted outside of the heart, in the pectoral region of a patient and contains electronics (e.g., a power source, microprocessor, capacitors, etc.) that provide pacemaker functionality. The leads traverse blood vessels between the can and heart chambers in order to position one or more electrodes carried by the leads within the heart, thereby allowing the device electronics to electrically excite or pace cardiac tissue and measure or sense myocardial electrical activity.
To sense atrial cardiac signals and to provide right atrial chamber stimulation therapy, the can is coupled to an implantable right atrial lead including at least one atrial tip electrode that typically is implanted in the patient's right atrial appendage. The right atrial lead may also include an atrial ring electrode to allow bipolar stimulation or sensing in combination with the atrial tip electrode.
Before implantation of the can into a subcutaneous pocket of the patient, however, an external pacing and measuring device known as a pacing system analyzer (PSA) is used to ensure adequate lead placement, maintain basic cardiac functions, and evaluate pacing parameters for an initial programming of the device. In other words, a PSA is a system analyzer that is used to test an implantable device, such as an implantable pacemaker.
To sense the left atrial and left ventricular cardiac signals and to provide left-chamber stimulation therapy, the can is coupled to the "coronary sinus" lead designed for placement in the "coronary sinus region" via the coronary sinus ostium in order to place a distal electrode adjacent to the left ventricle and additional electrode(s) adjacent to the left atrium. As used herein, the phrase "coronary sinus region" refers to the venous vasculature of the left ventricle, including any portion of the coronary sinus, great cardiac vein, left marginal vein, left posterior ventricular vein, middle cardiac vein, and/or small cardiac vein or any other cardiac vein accessible by the coronary sinus.
Accordingly, the coronary sinus lead is designed to: receive atrial and/or ventricular cardiac signals; deliver left ventricular pacing therapy using at least one left ventricular tip electrode for unipolar configurations or in combination with left ventricular ring electrode for bipolar configurations; deliver left atrial pacing therapy using at least one left atrial ring electrode as well as shocking therapy using at least one left atrial coil electrode.
To sense right atrial and right ventricular cardiac signals and to provide right-chamber stimulation therapy, the can is coupled to an implantable right ventricular lead including a right ventricular (RV) tip electrode, a right ventricular ring electrode, a right ventricular coil electrode, a superior vena cava (SVC) coil electrode, and so on. Typically, the right ventricular lead is inserted transvenously into the heart so as to place the right ventricular tip electrode in the right ventricular apex such that the RV coil electrode is positioned in the right ventricle and the SVC coil electrode will be positioned in the right atrium and/or superior vena cava. Accordingly, the right ventricular lead is capable of receiving cardiac signals, and delivering stimulation in the form of pacing and shock therapy to the right ventricle.
Although a portion of the leads are located within the heart, a substantial portion of the leads, as well as the IMD itself are outside of the patient's heart. Consequently, bacteria and the like may be introduced into the patient's heart through the leads, as well as the IMD, thereby increasing the risk of infection within the heart. Additionally, because the IMD is outside of the heart, the patient may be susceptible to Twiddler's syndrome, which is a condition caused by the shape and weight of the IMD itself. Twiddler's syndrome is typically characterized by a subconscious, inadvertent, or deliberate rotation of the IMD within the subcutaneous pocket formed in the patient. In one example, a lead may retract and begin to wrap around the IMD. Also, one of the leads may dislodge from the endocardium and cause the IMD to malfunction. Further, in another typical symptom of Twiddler's syndrome, the IMD may stimulate the diaphragm, vagus, or phrenic nerve, pectoral muscles, or brachial plexus. Overall, Twiddler's syndrome may result in sudden cardiac arrest due to conduction disturbances related to the IMD.
In addition to the foregoing complications, implanted leads may experience certain further complications, such as incidences of venous stenosis or thrombosis, device-related endocarditis, lead perforation of the tricuspid valve and concomitant tricuspid stenosis; and lacerations of the right atrium, superior vena cava, and innominate vein or pulmonary embolization of electrode fragments during lead extraction.
To combat the foregoing limitations and complications, small sized devices configured for intra-cardiac implant have been proposed. These devices, termed leadless pacemakers (LLPM) are typically characterized by the following features: they are devoid of leads that pass out of the heart to another component, such as a pacemaker can outside of the heart; they include electrodes that are affixed directly to the can of the device; the entire device is attached to the heart; and the device is capable of pacing and sensing in the chamber of the heart where it is implanted.
LLPM devices that have been proposed thus far offer limited functional capability. These LLPM devices are able to sense in one chamber and deliver pacing pulses in that same chamber, and thus offer single chamber functionality. For example, an LLPM device that is located in the right atrium would be limited to offering AAI mode functionality. An AAI mode LLPM can only sense in the right atrium, pace in the right atrium and inhibit pacing function when an intrinsic event is detected in the right atrium within a preset time limit. Similarly, an LLPM device that is located in the right ventricle would be limited to offering VVI mode functionality. A VVI mode LLPM can only sense in the right ventricle, pace in the right ventricle and inhibit pacing function when an intrinsic event is detected in the right ventricle within a preset time limit. To gain widespread acceptance by clinicians, it would be highly desired for LLPM devices to have dual chamber pacing/sensing capability (DDD mode) along with other features, such as rate adaptive pacing.
It has been proposed to implant sets of multiple LLPM devices within a single patient, such as one or more LLPM devices located in the right atrium and one or more LLPM devices located in the right ventricle. The atrial LLPM devices and the ventricular LLPM devices wirelessly communicate with one another to convey pacing and sensing information there between to coordinate pacing and sensing operations between the various LLPM devices.
However, these sets of multiple LLPM devices experience various limitations. For example, each of the LLPM devices must expend significant power to maintain the wireless communications links. The wireless communications links should be maintained continuously in order to constantly convey pacing and sensing information between, for example, atrial LLPM device(s) and ventricular LLPM device(s). This pacing and sensing information is necessary to maintain continuous synchronous operation, which in turn draws a large amount of battery power.
Further, it is difficult to maintain a reliable wireless communications link between LLPM devices. The LLPM devices utilize low power transceivers that are located in a constantly changing environment within the associated heart chamber. The transmission characteristics of the environment surrounding the LLPM device change due in part to the continuous cyclical motion of the heart and change in blood volume. Hence, the potential exists that the communications link is broken or intermittent.

Multi-piece dual-chamber leadless intra-cardiac medical device and method of implanting same


The invention relates to apparatus for the production of a web of fiber by dewatering a suspension of fibrous material between a pair of rotating strips, at least one of which is water permeable, wherein the suspension follows a curved path between the strips. The invention seeks to avoid or at least reduce undesirable pressure gradients along the flow path of the suspension by controlling the radius of curvature of at least one of the strips according to a formula.

The invention concerns apparatus for the production of a web of fiber, e.g. a paper web, by dewatering a liquid suspension of the fibrous material between a first or inner rotating strip that is directed over a convexly curved supporting device and a second or outer rotating strip which is curved concavely over the suspension and which is held under tension longitudinally. The two strips rotate or move together through the dewatering area and carry the suspension between them. At least one of the strips is water permeable. This apparatus would typically be used in a paper making machine.
The permeable one of the two strips is usually like a sieve. When it is in the form of a metallic screen, the permeable strip is called a wire. The other strip may also be water permeable, e.g. it may be a wire or it may be a fabric screen, called a felt. Apparatus such as these when used in paper making machines are familiarly known as twin wire formers, crescent formers, etc.
These apparatus as opposed to the usual long wire apparatus, have the advantage that dewatering of the suspension can occur from both sides simultaneously and there is no free surface or unpressured portion of the suspension during the formation of the web. By providing an area for the formation of the web which has a constantly decreasing radius, it is sought to reduce the length of the dewatering area of the apparatus. (See German Published Specification Offenlegungsschrift 2,059,962). Also, it is sought to avoid accumulation of water and the consequent relatively limited flows at the intake or the entrance to the dewatering area as well as uncontrollable shearing flows in the area of drainage, at an angle to the strips. (Journal "Das Papier", 31. Year of Publication, Volume 10A (1977), Pages V 125 to V 137).
Through the above-described means, separation of the fibers as a flocculent during the formation of the web is almost totally eliminated. As a result, the web produced is much more uniform than those formed on prior long wire apparatus. However, in practice, the improved effect is often not achieved. The inventor has recognized that during the formation of the web between two simultaneously co-rotating strips (normally wires), undesirable relative longitudinal motions occur between the liquid suspension being carried between the strip and the layers of fibrous material which have already been deposited on the strips. These motions cause a cloudy appearance in and the formation of nodular shapes in the web produced.
For this reason, the twin wire web forming apparatus has only been acceptable for producing a very limited range of types of paper and webs and only for high speed operation, or for producing the kind of products which do not need a high level of uniformity, as for example for the inner layers of multi-ply board.

Apparatus for dewatering fiber suspension for producing a web of fiber


A slot machine includes a symbol display device that variably displays a plurality of symbols, and a controller. A mode shifts from a non-insurance mode to an insurance mode on a condition that a predetermined number of game media is inserted. A number of games in which game media are BET in a number equal to a previously set maximum number of BETs after shifting to said insurance mode, in said insurance mode, is counted. A game in which game media are BET in a number not equal to said previously set maximum number of BETs is not counted. A predetermined number of game media are paid out when the number of games counted in the counting reaches a specific number. The mode shifts from the insurance mode to the non-insurance mode while holding the number of games counted in the counting when a predetermined insurance canceling condition is established.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a slot machine and control method of game.
2. Discussion of the Background
Conventionally, in a facility where a slot machine or the like is installed, a variety of game media such as coins or cash are inserted into the slot machine to play a game. Each slot machine is configured to conduct a payout according to a winning state (game result) occurring along with progression of games.
Examples of such a slot machine are disclosed in: U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,820,459, 6,695,697, US 2003/0069073-A1, EP 1192975-A, U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,254,483, 5,611,730, 5,639,088, 6,257,981, 6,234,896, 6,001,016, 6,273,820, 6,224,482, 4,669,731, 6,244,957, 5,910,048, 5,695,402, 6,003,013, 4,283,709, EP 0631798-A, DE 4137010-A1, GB 2326830-A, DE 3712841-A1, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,964,638, 6,089,980, 5,280,909, 5,702,303, 6,270,409, 5,770,533, 5,836,817, 6,932,704, 6,932,707, 4,837,728, EP 1302914-A, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,624,459, 5,564,700, WO 03/083795-A, DE 3242890-A1, EP 0840264-A, DE 10049444-A1, WO 04/095383-A, EP 1544811-A, U.S. Pat. No. 5,890,963, EP 1477947-A, and EP 1351180-A.
In a casino where a plurality of slot machines are installed, a so-called "jackpot" is employed where part of credits consumed in each slot machine is reserved and when the reserved amount reaches a certain amount, an amount too large to be paid out according to normal winning is paid out. In such a slot machine, in the normal case, each winning occurs with its set probability, and a player carries on a game with expectations that the winning will occur. The Jackpot winning occurs on any of the slot machines at certain timing according to a determination different from the normal winning determination based on the probability set in each slot machine.
The contents of U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,820,459, 6,695,697, US 2003/0069073-A1, EP 1192975-A, U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,254,483, 5,611,730, 5,639,088, 6,257,981, 6,234,896, 6,001,016, 6,273,820, 6,224,482, 4,669,731, 6,244,957, 5,910,048, 5,695,402, 6,003,013, 4,283,709, EP 0631798-A, DE 4137010-A1, GB 2326830-A, DE 3712841-A1, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,964,638, 6,089,980, 5,280,909, 5,702,303, 6,270,409, 5,770,533, 5,836,817, 6,932,704, 6,932,707, 4,837,728, EP 1302914-A, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,624,459, 5,564,700, WO 03/083795-A, DE3242890-A1, EP0840264-A, DE 10049444-A1, WO 04/095383-A, EP 1544811-A, U.S. Pat. No. 5,890,963, EP 1477947-A, and EP1351180-A are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


A method and system for detailed placement of layout objects in a standard-cell layout design are disclosed. Layout objects comprise cells and etch dummies. The method includes a programming based technique to calculate layout object perturbation distances for the layout objects. The method includes adjusting the layout objects with their corresponding layout object perturbation distances. This leads to improved photolithographic characteristics such as reduced Critical Dimension (CD) errors and forbidden pitches in the standard-cell layout.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to standard-cell layout designs, and more particularly, to a dynamic system and method for adjustment of the placement of layout objects, such as the cells and etch dummies used with standard-cell layout designs.
2. Description of the Related Art
The feature size of modern standard cell-based layout designs of integrated circuits has reached nanometer scale. For example, the feature size of leading optical lithographic processes is significantly smaller than that of the wavelength of the light used, resulting in a "sub-wavelength lithography" regime. This requires advanced photomasks that embody one or more resolution enhancement techniques (RETs) such as optical proximity correction (OPC), phase shift masks (PSM), off-axis illumination (OAI), and the insertion of sub-resolution assist features (SRAFs). These techniques achieve enhanced critical dimension (CD) control in photo and etch processes. Further, the resolution of the lithographic process is also improved.
A standard-cell layout comprises a plurality of features. This plurality of features can include a plurality of polysilicon lines, active-layer shapes and added features. The plurality of polysilicon lines and active-layer shapes form a plurality of cells in the standard-cell layout. A polysilicon line can be a gate polysilicon shape, a field polysilicon shape and a wiring polysilicon shape. A gate polysilicon shape is formed with an overlapping of a polysilicon line and an active-layer shape. Extra added features include SRAFs and etch dummies. SRAFs typically are scattering bars which are extremely narrow lines, placed adjacent to primary patterns, that do not actually print on the wafer but affect the pattern of light passing through a photo mask on which they are printed. Traditionally, the features are arranged in a horizontal plane in a plurality of rows. The features are oriented vertically in the plurality of rows. A center-to-center distance between two features is termed as a pitch.
With OAI, the illumination is made to fall on the mask at an oblique angle. This angle is chosen to enhance the photolithographic characteristics of the most common pitches in the standard-cell layout. When off-axis illumination is optimized for one pitch (usually the minimum or the most commonly used pitch in the design), there will always be other pitches for which angle of illumination and angle of diffraction together lead to a poor lithographic response and hence a small depth of focus/process window. These pitches are known as forbidden pitches as it is best to avoid them in the layout. Typically they are defined as pitches for which CD has more than 10% error at the worst-case defocus. Avoiding forbidden pitches is a major task involved in designing a standard-cell layout.
SRAFs, as noted above, are dummy geometries that are inserted as a part of an RET flow, to make the isolated pitches "appear" dense, thereby improving the printability of the otherwise forbidden pitches. The correct placement of SRAFs is a major concern involved in the RET of layouts. Incorrect placement of SRAFs can result in unwanted printing of SRAFs on the wafer. It is necessary to maintain a certain minimum spacing between SRAFs and polysilicon shapes as well as between pairs of SRAFs. At the same time, large spacing can make the SRAFs less effective in helping with printability.
Another method of enhancing CD control during photolithography and the etching process is to insert etch dummies during the preparation of standard-cell layouts. In etch processes, different consumptions of etchants with different pattern density lead to etch skew between dense and isolated patterns. Typically, all available etchants in areas with low density are consumed rapidly, and thus the etch rate drops off significantly. To reduce this etch skew, etch dummies are inserted adjacent to the primary pattern with specific spacing. Furthermore, etch dummies are placed outside of active-layer regions. Therefore, etch dummies require correct placement to make printability of resist and etch processes better. However, the insertion of etch dummies and SRAFs together requires precise spacing. Examples of such spacing include the spacing between etch dummies, between polysilicon shapes and SRAFs, and between active-layer shapes and etch dummies. Incorrect etch dummy placement does not allow SRAF insertion in forbidden pitches even when there is enough space to insert multiple SRAFs before etch dummy insertion. Thus, forbidden pitches, resist CD and etch CD degradations occur due to incorrect spacing between various features in a standard-cell layout, including cells, etch dummies, and SRAFs.
There are a number of methods for the reduction of forbidden pitches and resolution enhancement. Some of these techniques are based on the control of certain optical conditions, such as a numerical aperture (NA) and an illuminator aperture shape for OAI. Neglecting SRAFs during layout preparation requires precise sizing of SRAFs and the proper adjustment of the exposure dose. This results in an increase in the complexity of mask inspection, and possibly to CD degradation.
Therefore, there is a need for a method and system that can place layout objects and SRAFs correctly in a standard-cell layout to reduce forbidden pitches. The method and system should result in enhanced CD control in photo and etch processes. Furthermore, the running time of an OPC should not increase substantially.

Method and system for placing layout objects in a standard-cell layout


A catalytic method of reducing chemical compounds in solution utilizing a transition metal alcoholate complex as the reducing agent is disclosed. More particularly, this active reducing complex is produced and regenerated from its oxidized inactive state simultaneously with its conversion to such inactive state during the reduction process by exposure to radiation of an appropriate wavelength and intensity. The catalytic method is particularly useful in the reduction of molecular nitrogen to hydrazine and ammonia. Other useful applications involve the reduction of hydrazine to ammonia, of aliphatic substituted hydrazine to aliphatic amines, of alkynes to alkenes and alkanes, of alkenes to alkanes, and of oxides of nitrogen and carbon.

The invention relates to a catalytic method of reducing chemical compounds in solution. The catalyst is a transition metal alcoholate complex. This catalytic complex may be produced and is regenerated by exposure to radiation of the appropriate wavelength.
It is well known that vanadium (II) is a strong reducing agent. However, the divalent ion is also the least stable and consequently the least important of the oxidation states of vanadium.
Transition metal ions, the best being the highly reactive vanadium (II), have been shown to reduce molecular nitrogen, acetylene, ethylene and carbon monoxide under certain conditions. The transition metal ions, being oxidized and consumed in the course of these reactions, are reducing agents and not true catalysts.
A research group heated by Schrauzer investigated reductions by vanadium (II). Zones, et al., "The Reduction of Molecular Nitrogen, Organic Substrates, and Protons by Vanadium (II)," J. Am. Chem. Soc. 98, 7289 (1976). In this article, the authors set forth the reduction of acetylene to ethylene and the reduction of ethylene to ethane by vanadium (II) hydroxide. They also indicate that hydrazine may be produced by the reaction of molecular nitrogen with alkaline suspensions of vanadium (II) hydroxide in magnesium hydroxide. In the absence of the magnesium hydroxide host lattice, only traces of hydrazine were formed by the reaction of nitrogen with vanadium (II) hydroxide. The addition of vanadium (III) to vanadium (II)/magnesium hydroxide systems prevented hydrazine formation and increased the evolution of hydrogen.
The group under the direction of Schrauzer also reduced acetylene, ethylene and 2-butyne respectively to ethylene or ethane, ethane and cis-2-butene using mixed hydroxide gels of vanadium (II)/magnesium hydroxide. Vanadium (II) was oxidized to vanadium (IV) during this reduction. Whereas vanadium (II) hydroxide had reduced nitrogen only in strongly alkaline media and in the presence of magnesium hydroxide to produce only traces of hydrazine and ammonia, in the form of a mixed hydroxide gel, at 0.degree.-25.degree. C., nitrogen was reduced virtually exclusively to hydrazine. At temperatures between 70.degree. and 90.degree. C., a secondary reduction of hydrazine to ammonia occured. Production of hydrazine was increased at elevated nitrogen pressures.
Schrauzer's group also reported on the effect of ultraviolet light in some of these reductions. They mention that the evolution of hydrogen, as well as the reduction of certain substrates by vanadium (II) in homogeneous acidic solutions, was stimulated by ultraviolet light. Irradiation of acidic solutions of vanadium (II) with ultraviolet light reduced acetylene, ethylene and, to a certain extent, nitrogen. The reactions of vanadium (II) hydroxide and of vanadium (II)/magnesium hydroxide with substrates were not markedly influenced by irradiation of the gels with ultraviolet light. Hydrogen evolution and reduction of acetylene, as well as ethylene in acidic solutions of vanadium (II) were stimulated by ultraviolet light. Traces of nitrogen were reduced to ammonia under similar conditions. Corresponding reactions occurred only very slowly, or not at all, in the dark or on irradiation with visible light. Whereas hydrogen evolution and ethylene and acetylene reduction were efficiently stimulated by ultraviolet light, the light-induced reduction of nitrogen produced only traces of ammonia under the same conditions.
The research by Schrauzer's group discussed above was directed to studies of the reducing properties of vanadium (II). Reactions of vanadium (II) as a reducing agent were studied. No attempt was reported to produce a catalytic reaction using divalent or trivalent vanadium as a catalyst, and not simply as a reducing agent.
A research group under the direction of Shilov studied the reduction of nitrogen by a vanadium (II)-catechol system. Nikonova, et al., "A Comparison of the Reduction of Dinitrogen by a Vanadium (II)-Catechol System with That by the Active Centre of Nitrogenase," J. Mol. Catal. 1, 367 (1976). Several molybdenum or vanadium containing compounds reduced molecular nitrogen to hydrazine and ammonia with the participation of solvent protons. A vanadium (II)-catechol complex reduced molecular nitrogen to ammonia in homogeneous aqueous and alcoholic media under mild conditions. The vanadium (II)-catechol complex is a strong reducing agent and reacted with the protons in the water molecules to form vanadium (III) and hydrogen. In the presence of nitrogen at a pH of 8.5-14, both in aqueous and alcohol solutions, a competitive reduction of molecular nitrogen to ammonia occurred. This reduction of nitrogen was inhibited by carbon monoxide and acetylene. Hydrazine was readily reduced to ammonia by vanadium (II)-catechol complexes.
The research by this group under the direction of Shilov was also directed to the study of vanadium (II) as a reducing agent. In this research, as in that of Schrauzer's group, the well-established reducing properties of divalent vanadium were further investigated.
A number of prior workers have attempted to reproduce the process of nitrogen "fixation," the naturally-occurring reduction of molecular nitrogen to ammonia by certain types of plants through a process which is believed to be enzymatic. For example, another group under the direction of Shilov investigated the reduction of nitrogen in protonic media in the presence of several metal compounds. Shilov, et al., "New Nitrogenase Model for Reduction of Molecular Nitrogen in Protonic Media," Nature 231, 460 (June 18, 1971). In the laboratory, titanium (III), chromium (II) and vanadium (II) were shown to reduce molecular nitrogen to both hydrazine and ammonia in aqueous and alcohol solutions. The reduction by titanium (III) and chromium (II) proceeded only in the presence of molybdenum compounds. The publication states, on the other hand, that vanadium (II) reduced nitrogen in the absence of molybdenum compounds, and formed the most active systems for reducing molecular nitrogen. The reduction of nitrogen proceeded only at a pH greater than 7. Alkaline solutions containing titanium (III), chromium (II) and vanadium (II) in the absence of molybdenum compounds also reduced acetylene to ethylene.
Although Shilov demonstrated that several metals, including vanadium (II), were capable of reducing molecular nitrogen, acetylene or ethylene, no true catalytic acticity was established. Again in these studies the well-known properties of divalent vanadium as a reducing agent were investigated.
Koryakin, et al. studied the photo-reduction of vanadium (III) to the divalent state in water-alcohol solutions. "Photocatalytic Liberation of Hydrogen from Water-Alcohol Solutions of Vanadium Trichloride," Dokl. Akad. Nauk SSSR 229, 128 (1976). This process was further investigated by Applicants. Doi, Y and M. Tsutsui, "Fluorescence and Photochemistry of the Charge-Transfer Band in Alcoholic Vanadium Trichloride Solution," J. Amer. Chem. Soc. 100, 3243 (1978). Photo-reduction was observed to be accompanied by the simultaneous catalytic formation of hydrogen and the oxidition of the alcohol to an aldehyde. Vanadium (III) alcoholate complexes in the parent alcohol solution exhibited luminescence of relatively high quantum yield upon excitation at the charge-transfer band with a competitive photo-reduction of vanadium to the divalent state.
Methods of catalytically reducing molecular nitrogen to ammonia have long been sought. Although the strong reducing activity of divalent vanadium has long been known, and studies indicated its capability to reduce molecular nitrogen, the divalent vanadium was stoichiometrically consumed in the reduction. Thus, any reduction employing divalent vanadium as the reducing agent required the continual replenishment of the consumed reactant, vanadium (II).

Method for producing a reduction product using a photo-regenerated transition metal catalyst


A method for operating a switched mode power supply (SMPS) during a start-up sequence includes receiving an input current at a bias supply circuit while a first relay and a second relay coupled to a first side circuit within the SMPS are open, generating a first bias supply voltage based on the received input current, closing the first relay after generating the first bias supply voltage, conducting the input current through the first relay and through an in-rush resistor coupled in series with the first relay, and closing the second relay after a first time period.

Power supply systems are pervasive in many electronic applications from computers to automobiles. Generally, voltages within a power supply system are generated by performing a DC-DC, DC-AC, and/or AC-DC conversion by operating a switch loaded with an inductor or transformer. One class of such systems includes switched mode power supplies (SMPS). An SMPS is usually more efficient than other types of power conversion systems because power conversion is performed by controlled charging and discharging of the inductor or transformer and reduces energy lost due to power dissipation across resistive voltage drops.
An SMPS usually includes at least one switch and an inductor or transformer. Some specific topologies include buck converters, boost converters, and flyback converters, among others. A control circuit is commonly used to open and close the switch to charge and discharge the inductor or transformer. In some applications, the current supplied to the load and/or the voltage supplied to the load is controlled via a feedback loop.
For some power supply systems, a transformer is used between a primary side circuit and a secondary side circuit. In one example of an AC-DC converter for large voltages, the transformer provides isolation between the large voltage AC signal and the converted DC signal. The primary side circuit may include a rectifier and a switched converter coupled to the transformer while the secondary side may include a filter or further rectification circuit. For an SMPS, it is known that an in-rush current may be received at the input during start-up. Such an in-rush current may damage the SMPS if not properly handled during start-up.

System and method for a normally-on switched mode power supply


A cathode-ray tube comprises a bulb formed by connecting a panel having a phosphor provided on the inner surface and a funnel having a conductive coating film provided on the inner wall, an electron gun housed in the neck portion of the funnel, and springs that are provided for a final electrode of the electron gun. The springs have contact portions to electrically contact the coating film on the funnel inner wall and the final electrode, in which the specific resistance value of the contact portions of the springs is determined to be greater than that of the graphite coating film contacting with the contact portions. As only one kind of conductive coating film need be applied, the production process can be simplified compared to the case for using plural kinds of coating films, and problems in connecting the junctions of the coating films can be also resolved. Furthermore, the maximum instantaneous current generated at a discharge inside the bulb can be reduced, and thus, malfunction or breakage of the circuit parts of a TV set can be prevented.

In a general cathode-ray tube, a high resistivity film is provided at the midpoint of a feed line from an anode provided for a funnel to an anode of an electron gun in order to lower the maximum instantaneous current at sparking inside a bulb, and to prevent the current from damaging the electron circuit connected to the electron gun, or the like. More specifically, as shown in FIG. 7, a conventional cathode-ray tube comprises a bulb 6 comprising a panel 2 having a phosphor 1 provided on the inner surface and a funnel 5 having conductive films 4a, 4b, and 4c provided on the inner wall 3, an electron gun 7 housed in a neck portion 5a of the funnel 5, and springs 10 having contact portions 9 to electrically connect the conductive film 4a on the funnel inner wall 3 with a final electrode 8. Numeral 24 indicates an anode terminal which applies high voltage to the final electrode 8 of the electron gun 7 through the conductive films 4a, 4b, and 4c.
The specific resistance value of the conductive film 4a at the neck portion 5a is set to be 0.1-1 .OMEGA.cm, the specific resistance value of the conductive film 4b at the cone portion 5b is set to be no more than 0.1 .OMEGA.cm, and the specific resistance value of the conductive film 4c between the conductive film 4a at the neck portion 5a and the conductive film 4b at the cone portion 5b is set to be 1-10 .OMEGA.cm respectively. The contact portions 9 of the springs 10 to contact with the conductive film 4a at the neck portion 5a are made of a metallic material having high conductivity, such as stainless steel. The above-mentioned construction lowers the maximum instantaneous current generated at a discharge inside the bulb 6, and protects the circuit parts of a TV set from malfunction or breakage (Tokkai Sho 59-171439).
In such a cathode-ray tube, however, the conductive films (4a, 4b, 4c) made of different materials are respectively formed on the funnel inner wall 3, so the cathode-ray tube has problems in connection, such as conductivity failures at the junction A between the conductive films 4a and 4c, and the junction B between the conductive films 4b and 4c, and stripping of the coating film. Another problem is the complicated production process since the different kinds of conductive films (4a, 4b, 4c) are respectively formed in a wide range at predetermined regions having different shapes on the inner wall 3 of the funnel 5.

Color cathode-ray tube with resistive spring contact


Provided is a long chain carboxylic acid imide ester (I) represented by the following general formula (I) ##STR1## wherein W is a divalent long chain hydrocarbon group which may optionally be interrupted by one or more groups each independently selected from the group consisting of an oxygen atom, a sulfur atom, and a group of --N(R.sup.1)-- (R.sup.1 being a lower alkyl group) and X represents a divalent hydrocarbon group which may optionally be substituted, or salts thereof. The above long chain carboxylic acid imide ester or its salts is useful for modifying enzymes or proteins having biological activities to give their derivatives which have, while retaining most of the original biological activities, an extremely prolonged plasma half-life as compared with the proteins and have no antigenecities and can be administered to animals.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to long chain carboxylic acid imide esters or their salts. The long chain carboxylic acid imide esters or their salts are useful for modifying enzymes or proteins (hereinafter enzymes and proteins are referred to simply as "proteins") having biological activities, to give their derivatives which have, while retaining most of the original biological activities, an extremely prolonged plasma half-life as compared with the proteins and no antigenecities and can be administered to animals.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A number of attempts have been made to improve proteins with various modifiers. Polyethylene glycol (hereinafter referred to as "PEG") is one of those modifiers which have been studied most actively in recent years. PEG is being used for modifying, for example, anticancer agents such as asparaginase, arginase and interleukin-2 (hereinafter referred to as "IL-2"), thrombolytic agents such as urokinase, streptokinase, tissue plasminogen activator (hereinafter referred to as "TPA"), treating agents for enzyme deficiency diseases, such as .beta.-glucosidase, .beta.-glucuronidase, .alpha.-galactosidase and adenosine deaminase, gout treating agents such as uricase, anti-inflammatory agents or anti-ischemic agents such as superoxide dismutase (hereinafter sometimes referred to as "SOD"), diabetes treating agent of insulin, and hyperbilirubinemia treating agent of bilirubin oxidase. In more recent years, an attempt was made to modify granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (hereinafter referred to as "G-CSF"), which is one of hematopoietic factors, with PEG to prolong its plasma half-life and to use it for treating hematopoietic disorder and like purposes [Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 316400/1989 and International Laid-open No. WO90/06952]. There have been studied and used modifiers other than PEG, and there examples are natural polymers, such as serum albumin and dextran, and polyaspartic acid, partially half-esterified styrene-maleic anhydride copolymer (hereinafter referred to as "SMA") and reactable derivatives of long chain fatty acids ["Tanpakushitsu Haiburido" ("Protein Hybrids"), Chapters 1, 2, 3 and 6, published by Kyoritsu Shuppan Co. on Apr. 1, 1987, "Zoku Tanpakushitsu Haiburido" ("Protein Hybrids; a 2nd series"), Chapters 3, 4 and 6, published by Kyoritsu Shuppan Co. on May 20, 1988 and "SOD No Shinchiken" ("New Findings on SOD" ), p. 107, published by Nihon Akuseru Shupuringa Co. on Dec. 20, 1990].
SOD modified with serum albumin has antigenicity [Agents and Actions, 10, 231 (1980)]. Although the structures of other modifiers including dextran, PEG, polyaspartic acid and SMA can be specified from the viewpoint of polymer chemistry, they have a certain distribution in their molecular weights. The molecular weights of proteins modified with these polymers are therefore not constant, which is a problem in practical applications in view of the current situation in which the compound to be used as a medicinally active ingredient should preferably have a single chemical structure.
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a novel long chain carboxylic acid imide ester or its salts that can modify proteins to obtain protein derivatives having significantly prolonged plasma half-life as compared with that of unmodified proteins and no antigenicity and can be administered to animals.
This object was well as other objects and advantages of the present invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description.


A foldable combination head-and-neck rest and tray having a pair of opposed cardboard headrests detachably formed on a foundation. Each headrest may be folded to create a pair of spaced-apart triangular-shaped cup-holding regions on opposite sides of a base portion. The base portions and cup holding regions of the pair of opposed headrest define a storage area on the foundation. The headrests may be detached and folded to form a pair of head rests, which may be positioned behind a user's neck with the triangular shaped cup-holding regions serving as supports on opposite sides of the user's head.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a head-and-neck rest and more particularly to an inexpensive, disposable head-and-neck rest.
2. Description of the Related Art
Many types of head-and-neck rests have been provided for use during travel. For example, head-and-neck rests are available that may be inflated to a horseshoe shape for positioning on either side of a person's neck or head. Other head-and-neck rests include horse-shoe-shaped members filled with beans or U-shaped and horse-shoe-shaped pillows. Although these neck supports do perform their intended function, they are expensive and must be re-packed after use so that they may be re-used at a later time. This re-use of head-and-neck rests between different consumers raises some health concerns.
Further, these head-and-neck rests also did not lend themselves to creative packaging whereby the headrest could function multiple uses, including advertising.


Provided herein are methods, processes and apparatuses for determining the fraction of fetal nucleic acid in a test sample derived from a pregnant female with improved accuracy and/or precision. Also, provided herein are methods, processes and apparatuses for determining the presence or absence of a genetic variation in a fetus with improved accuracy and/or precision. Certain methods include using fetal fraction measurements for the determination of a fetal genetic variation.

Genetic information of living organisms (e.g., animals, plants and microorganisms) and other forms of replicating genetic information (e.g., viruses) is encoded in deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) or ribonucleic acid (RNA). Genetic information is a succession of nucleotides or modified nucleotides representing the primary structure of chemical or hypothetical nucleic acids. In humans, the complete genome contains about 30,000 genes located on twenty-four (24) chromosomes (see The Human Genome, T. Strachan, BIOS Scientific Publishers, 1992). Each gene encodes a specific protein, which after expression via transcription and translation fulfills a specific biochemical function within a living cell.
Many medical conditions are caused by one or more genetic variations. Certain genetic variations cause medical conditions that include, for example, hemophilia, thalassemia, Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD), Huntington's Disease (HD), Alzheimer's Disease and Cystic Fibrosis (CF) (Human Genome Mutations, D. N. Cooper and M. Krawczak, BIOS Publishers, 1993). Such genetic diseases can result from an addition, substitution, or deletion of a single nucleotide in DNA of a particular gene. Certain birth defects are caused by a chromosomal abnormality, also referred to as an aneuploidy, such as Trisomy 21 (Down's Syndrome), Trisomy 13 (Patau Syndrome), Trisomy 18 (Edward's Syndrome), Monosomy X (Turner's Syndrome) and certain sex chromosome aneuploidies such as Klinefelter's Syndrome (XXY), for example. Another genetic variation is fetal gender, which can often be determined based on sex chromosomes X and Y. Some genetic variations may predispose an individual to, or cause, any of a number of diseases such as, for example, diabetes, arteriosclerosis, obesity, various autoimmune diseases and cancer (e.g., colorectal, breast, ovarian, lung).
Identifying one or more genetic variations or variances can lead to diagnosis of, or determining predisposition to, a particular medical condition. Identifying a genetic variance can result in facilitating a medical decision and/or employing a helpful medical procedure. In certain embodiments, identification of one or more genetic variations or variances involves the analysis of cell-free DNA. Cell-free DNA (CF-DNA) is composed of DNA fragments that originate from cell death and circulate in peripheral blood. High concentrations of CF-DNA can be indicative of certain clinical conditions such as cancer, trauma, burns, myocardial infarction, stroke, sepsis, maternal bloodstream and used for various noninvasive prenatal diagnostics.
Non-invasive prenatal testing is becoming a field of rapidly growing interest. Early detection of pregnancy-related conditions, including complications during pregnancy and genetic defects of the fetus is of crucial importance, as it allows early medical intervention necessary for the safety of both the mother and the fetus. Prenatal diagnosis has been conducted using cells isolated from the fetus through procedures such as chorionic villus sampling (CVS) or amniocentesis. However, these conventional methods are invasive and present an appreciable risk to both the mother and the fetus. The National Health Service currently cites a miscarriage rate of between 1 and 2 percent following the invasive amniocentesis and chorionic villus sampling (CVS) tests.
An alternative to these invasive approaches has been developed for prenatal screening, e.g., to detecting fetal abnormalities, following the discovery that circulating cell-free fetal nucleic acid can be detected in maternal plasma and serum (Lo et al., Lancet 350:485-487, 1997; and U.S. Pat. No. 6,258,540). Circulating cell free fetal nucleic acid (cffNA) has several advantages making it more applicable for non-invasive prenatal testing. For example, cell free nucleic acid is present at higher levels than fetal cells and at concentrations sufficient for genetic analysis. Also, cffNA is cleared from the maternal bloodstream within hours after delivery, preventing contamination from previous pregnancies. The presence of fetal nucleic acid in maternal plasma allows for non-invasive prenatal diagnosis through the analysis of a maternal blood sample. Hence, fetal nucleic acid analysis in maternal plasma can be a useful mechanism for the monitoring of fetomaternal well-being.
Examples of prenatal tests performed by detecting fetal DNA in maternal plasma or serum include fetal rhesus D (RhD) genotyping (Lo et al., N. Engl. J. Med. 339:1734-1738, 1998), fetal sex determination (Costa et al., N. Engl. J. Med. 346:1502, 2002), and diagnosis of several fetal disorders (Amicucci et al., Clin. Chem. 46:301-302, 2000; Saito et al., Lancet 356:1170, 2000; and Chiu et al., Lancet 360:998-1000, 2002). In addition, quantitative abnormalities of fetal DNA in maternal plasma/serum have been reported in preeclampsia (Lo et al., Clin. Chem. 45:184-188, 1999 and Zhong et al., Am. J. Obstet. Gynecol. 184:414-419, 2001), fetal trisomy 21 (Lo et al., Clin. Chem. 45:1747-1751, 1999 and Zhong et al., Prenat. Diagn. 20:795-798, 2000) and hyperemesis gravidarum (Sekizawa et al., Clin. Chem. 47:2164-2165, 2001).

Methods and processes for non-invasive assessment of genetic variations


A group III nitride laminate includes, on an AlN single crystal substrate, a multilayer structure having an AlXGa1-XN layer (0<X≤1) that is lattice-matched to the AlN single crystal substrate, and wherein a GaN layer that has a film thickness of 5-400 nm and a dislocation density of less than 5×1010 cm−2 or a half width of the X-ray omega rocking curve of 50-300 seconds is laminated on the AlXGa1-XN layer (0<X≤1).

The group III nitride semiconductor expressed by AlaGa1-aN (0≤a≤1) can regulate (modify) the composition of the group III element (aluminum (Al), gallium (Ga)), thereby the luminescence peak wavelength can be selected arbitrarily within the range of 210 to 365 nm; the band structure with a direct bandgap type is attained within the energy range corresponding to the above mentioned wavelength range, thus the group III nitride semiconductor is a most suitable material for forming ultraviolet ray emitting element.
The ultraviolet ray emitting element made of the group III nitride semiconductor is generally produced by carrying out a crystal growth of an AlaGa1-aN layer on the single crystal substrate by a metal organic chemical vapor deposition method (MOCVD method) and molecular beam epitaxy method (MBE method). As the single crystal substrate, preferably the material having good matching lattice constant and matching thermal expansion coefficient with AlaGa1-aN layer is used.
For example, non-patent articles 1 and 2 obtain the ultraviolet ray emitting element having the luminescence wavelength of 300 nm or less by growing an AlGaN layer using a sapphire as the substrate. The non-patent articles 1 and 2 disclose that the luminescence efficiency and the element lifetime are improved by reducing the dislocation density of the AlaGa1-aN layer.
Also, in case of growing the AlaGa1-aN layer (0<a≤1) which includes Al, the aluminum nitride (AlN) single crystal layer is used to reduce the defect density in the AlaGa1-aN layer including Al, and as an advantageous means for producing the highly efficient ultraviolet ray emitting element. For example, the patent document 1 discloses that the dislocation density in the AlaGa1-aN layer can be reduced, and the ultraviolet ray emitting diode having a luminescence peak wavelength of 250 nm is obtained by producing the ultraviolet ray emitting diode including a laminate structure comprising the AlaGa1-aN layer which is lattice matched with the AlN single crystal layer on the AlN single crystal substrate.
Also, the patent document 2 discloses the ultraviolet ray emitting element, wherein a cap layer which is substantially lattice relaxed, that is having substantially the same lattice constant as distortion free condition (the condition wherein the lattice relaxation rate is 100%), is provided on a similar structure (on the AlaGa1-aN layer which is lattice matched). This patent document 2 discloses that by lattice relaxing the cap layer, the doping can be easily done, and the cap layer can be thickened, and also because a foundation layer is not influenced by the distortion of the cap layer, effects such as thickening of the AlaGa1-aN layer as the foundation layer can be expected. Further, a p-type gallium nitride (GaN) layer, which is the cap layer thereof, has large difference of the lattice constant between the AlaGa1-aN layer which is lattice matched with the AlN single crystal substrate, thus it discloses that this will grow on the AlaGa1-aN layer by Stranski-Krastanov(SK) mode or Volmer-Weber(VW) mode. Due to this growth, during the initial growth stage, GaN is known to undergo three dimensional crystal growth such as forming an island.
Also, the non-patent document 3 discloses that in case the GaN layer is 100% lattice relaxed (in case the lattice relaxation rate of the GaN layer is 100%) wherein the GaN layer is grown on AlN layer formed on the sapphire substrate, then the island form crystalline having a height of 500 nm or so is formed which corresponds to 2 times or so of the designed value. Further, by using the nitrogen carrier gas during the growth of the GaN layer, the smoothness of the GaN layer is improved, and also the lattice relaxation rate of the GaN layer thereof was 75%. Also, the patent document 3 discloses the example of using nitrogen gas when growing GaN layer, wherein the ratio of nitrogen carrier gas is 0.5 or more, and the example shows the carrier gas ratio having 0.9 of nitrogen gas and 0.1 of hydrogen gas.

Group III nitride laminate, luminescence element comprising said laminate, and method of producing group III nitride laminate


A steering torque is transmitted from a steering wheel side rotary member to a steering shaft side rotary member through a plurality of elastic bodies, when a steering wheel is turned. The elastic bodies are provided around a rotational center of a steering shaft which bending parts. A relative rotation produced between the steering wheel side rotary member and the steering shaft side rotary member is detected by detecting coils, because the detecting coils detect the change of the reluctance of the magnetic circuit of the rotary members and the detecting coil.

This invention relates to a steering torque detecting device for detecting a steering torque caused by turning a steering wheel.
A conventional steering torque detecting device as shown in Japanese Patent Laid-open 63-78876 detects the reluctance produced by the relative rotation between the driving shaft and the steering shaft which are connected by a torsion.
In this related art, the relative rotation between the driving shaft and the steering shaft is detected as the steering torque. The torsion bar must be made smaller (narrower) than the driving shaft and the steering shaft to obtain a high sensitivity of torque detecting. In this case, the smaller (narrower) torsion bar can achieve an easy production of the relative rotation results in the high sensitivity of the torque detecting. This smaller (narrower) torsion bar, on the other hand, produced the low rigidity of axial direction and the radial direction causing the low durability. In order to increase the rigidity, some bearings have been used. Such bearings, however, cause hysteresis of the torque detecting.


Embodiments of the present disclosure disclose an information access control method performed at a server, the method including: receiving an image sharing request from a first terminal, the image sharing request including a first image to be shared among a user group of a social networking application; encrypting the first image using an encryption key to obtain a second image; sending a preview version of the first image to a second terminal; receiving an image viewing request from the second terminal in response to a user selection of the preview version of the first image at the second terminal and a user-initiated resource transfer from the second user account to the first user account; and returning the second image and a decryption key to the second terminal, wherein the second terminal is configured to restore the first image from the second image using the decryption key.

As intelligent terminals are widely used, information is exchanged more conveniently by using the intelligent terminals. One information exchange form is exchanging information based on a social application. For example, a user publishes text, image, or video information in a social group based on a social application, and a user receiving the text, image, or video information may comment on the information, thereby implementing information exchange between users in the social group. In addition to comment information generated by comments, information in other forms may further be added. Information in more forms and the initially sent information are integrated to facilitate the information exchange between the users in the social group.
In the initially sent information, a part of the information is expected to be open and displayed to all users. For example, information is an image. The part of the information is displayed on a user interface of the social application in a form of a clear thumbnail or a clear image. Another part of the information is encrypted and is expected to be selectively open and displayed to some users. This part of the information can be clearly displayed on the user interface of the social application only when a user responds to the information and feeds back an information form that can be used for correspondingly decrypting the information.
However, there is not yet an effective solution to the foregoing problem in the related art.

Information processing method, first terminal, second terminal, server, and system

TENCENT TECHNOLOGY (SHENZHEN) COMPANY LIMITED


A self-closing bag holder has first and second resilient clamp plates which are connected by hinges on opposite ends to permit the clamp plates to bend outwardly with respect to each other. The hinged clamp plate assembly provides an expandable collar for supporting a plastic bag in an upright orientation. The sidewall of the plastic bag is fitted through the collar and is folded about the clamp plates in an open mouth configuration. The bag sidewall is secured to the bag holder by spikes formed on opposite ends of the clamp plates, and also by the interlocking union of a mounting bracket and handle assembly. Self-closure is provided by the resilient clamp plates which retract into engagement with each other upon release.

Flexible plastic bags are in widespread use for collecting a wide variety of items, including wastepaper, food scraps and other disposable items which are commonly found in the kitchen, bathroom, nursery, garage/workshop, laundry room, and office. Because of their flexibility, plastic bags are not well adapted for stand-alone service, and are usually sized for insertion into a rigid metal or plastic container which supports the flexible bag in an upright orientation, with the bag sidewall being secured about the rim of the rigid container in an open arrangement. The disposable items are simply tossed into the open mouth of the bag, and when it has been filled, the bag is removed from the container and sealed with a plastic or metal tie strap. Typically, the sealed bag is then inserted into a larger disposal bag for pickup by a sanitation service. The larger bag is usually sealed by tie straps, or is itself enclosed within a large upright disposal container, which may be sealed by a removable lid.


A front-loader arrangement (12) for an agricultural vehicle (10) with a bracket (16) and a mast arrangement (18) for fastening a front loader (13) to the bracket (16). The mast arrangement (18) comprises a contact point (53) for application onto a bearing point (36) of the bracket (16) and a displaceable locking element (54) that extends through at least one first opening (52, 52A) formed on the mast arrangement (18) and through at least one second opening (38) brought into alignment with the first opening (52, 52A). The locking element (54) is connected by a connection element (56) to an actuation element (58) arranged offset parallel to the locking element (54). The actuation element (58) can be actuated by an external force and the locking element (54) can be displaced by the connection element (56) and by the actuation of the actuation element (58) from the unlocked position into the locked position.

Front-loader arrangements, i.e., the arrangement of a front loader on a vehicle, especially on an agricultural vehicle, or also on a different type of utility vehicle, are known. Thus, front loaders can be attached to or mounted on a vehicle, for example, a tractor or an agricultural tractor, by means of a mounting frame or bracket, in order to carry out loading work. The mounting frame or the bracket is typically screwed onto the vehicle frame or is fastened to this vehicle frame. The front loader itself provides an attachment or mounting point or mast arrangement that is attached or mounted or hinged to the bracket. In this respect, different possibilities are known. Thus, some known embodiments for front-loader arrangements have mechanisms that provide two hooks that are formed on the bracket and are used for the reception of two bearing bolts formed on the mast arrangement of the front loader, wherein at least one of the hooks is locked after the reception of the bearing bolt. The reception of the bearing bolt is here realized by guiding the bracket or driving the vehicle onto the mast arrangement or onto the front loader that is located in a corresponding park position or mounting position. After reception of the bearing bolt, the locking of the hook can be performed manually or also semi-automatically or fully automatically or by an external motor or by remote control. Other mechanisms provide that the bracket has only one hook that is used for the reception of one bearing bolt formed on the mast arrangement. For locking, furthermore, on each of the bracket and mast arrangement, connection openings are formed that are connected to each other by means of a locking bolt or through which a locking bolt is guided. Also here, the locking can be performed manually or also semi-automatically or fully automatically or by an external motor or by remote control.
Such semi-automated locking is disclosed in US 2007/0059147A1, in which a front-loader arrangement is proposed that comprises a spring-biased locking bolt that can be actuated by means of actuation elements formed on a mast arrangement and on a bracket, in that the actuation elements trigger a locking through movement relative to each other, such that the locking bolt is guided through spring force into connection openings formed on the mast arrangement and on the bracket of the front-loader arrangement. For the unlocking, the locking bolt must be guided manually out from the connection openings against the spring force and the actuation elements are brought into a corresponding unlocked position. It is disadvantageous here that, in particular, the formation and arrangement of the actuation element formed on the mast arrangement, as well as its connection to the locking bolt, require relatively complex production and assembly efforts.


An electronic converter for converting numbers between two numeric systems, as for example, from the English to the metric systems. The converter comprises a dual keyboard for entering a number represented by a succession of digits and two calculators each having a display for displaying the contents stored in each calculator. The converter further comprises a direction control circuit which generates a signal identifying the actuated keyboard for each digit entered and a memory circuit programmed with a conversion algorithm for each direction of conversion between the two numeric systems. The appropriate conversion algorithm is selected by accessing memory in response to the actuated keyboard as identified by the direction control circuit. The selected memory information is controllably directed to one of the two calculators for performing the proper conversion. A conversion of the numerical information stored in the calculator occurs for each keyboard digit entered in the converter.

This invention relates to an electronic converter, and, more particularly, to a converter capable of converting numbers between two numeric systems.
In various educational fields, such as economics, engineering and natural science, it is often necessary to convert numbers from one numeric system to another, or from one form to another. Generally, there is a conversion function which is utilized in going from one numeric system to the other, and an inverse or reverse function which is used in going backwards from the second numeric system to the first. In most cases, a general calculator can be utilized to perform such conversions. For example, in converting from the English measuring system to the metric system, the number is multiplied by a particular constant. In going backwards from the metric system to the English system, a different constant is utilized. When using such a general calculator for these conversions, each time a conversion is carried out, the constant must be entered into the calculator or its memory, and then the particular arithmetic function key must be operated. For example, in converting from the English system to the metric system, the constant must be entered and the multiplication key as well as the equal sign key must be operated.
While such general calculators can be utilized for these conversions, when numerous conversions must be carried out in both the forward and reverse directions, it becomes difficult to continuously enter the conversion functions and continuously depress the many keys that are needed to produce each conversion. Therefore, while general calculators have the capabilities of performing such conversions, they become difficult to work with when specialized type of conversions must frequently be performed.
There are also specialized calculators which can be specifically utilized for the purpose of individual conversions. However, such specialized calculators are mostly of the mechanical type and are, therefore, rather slow in performance, and both costly and difficult to operate. Furthermore, they generally contain only a single display whereby once the number has been entered and subsequently converted, it is no longer possible to verify that the initial number entered was correct. Additionally, even for prior art calculators with multiple displays there are many buttons and keys which must be operated in order to carry out each conversion and to provide conversions both in the forward and reverse direction.
There are also specialized nonconventional solid state calculators which are commercially available. These are however, in general, quite expensive and have many of the same operational disadvantages as indicated above particularly relating to the number of buttons and keys that must be depressed by the operator to carry out a conversion of a complete number from one numeric system into another. Where the number to be converted has many digits there is no assurance of the accuracy of the final conversion unless the operator has carefully observed the accuracy of each keyboard entry. In accordance with one embodiment of the present invention a conversion is carried out for each digit entered on the keyboard thereby always providing a direct correspondence between each successive entry and the converted number. The operator can thus always rely on the accuracy of the correspondence between each new number entered through the keyboard and the conversion without the necessity for signaling completion of the numerical entry. The latter feature of the present invention is hereinafter referred to as "on the fly conversion" and is carried out in accordance with the present invention using only standard 4 function calculator chips. A dual display is preferably used in conjunction with the dual keyboard with each display preferably dedicated to a separate numeric system. Accordingly, for each digit entered, the two displays provide a meaningful correlation regardless of how much time elapses between entries or the number of digits in the number to be converted.


A multilayer ceramic capacitor includes an external electrode on an end surface of a ceramic body to be connected to internal electrodes including a base layer including a sintered metal containing Cu and glass and a Cu plated layer on the base layer. The external electrode includes a principal surface portion disposed on a principal surface of the ceramic body. The Cu metal of the Cu plated layer is present in the base layer to a position of about ⅓ or more of the thickness of the base layer from a surface layer of the external electrode. The metal thickness of the external electrode is about 8.7 μm or more and about 13.9 μm or less.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a multilayer ceramic capacitor.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, with the reduction in size and height for electronic devices such as cellular phones and portable music players, multilayer printed wiring boards mounted on the electronic devices have been progressively reduced in size. Accordingly, multilayer ceramic capacitors mounted on the multilayer printed wiring boards have been also progressively reduced in size and height.
Some of the multilayer ceramic capacitors are built into multilayer printed wiring boards, such as the multilayer ceramic capacitor described in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2002-203735. In the case of building the multilayer ceramic capacitor into Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2002-203735, there is a need to irradiate external electrodes of the multilayer ceramic capacitor with a laser to form opening for via holes in order to electrically connect the capacitor to the multilayer printed wiring board.
However, the external electrodes preferably have laser resistance in the case of irradiating the external electrodes of the multilayer ceramic capacitor with a laser in order to form the openings for via holes. This is because the external electrodes may be damaged unless the electrodes have laser resistance.
Moreover, if the multilayer ceramic capacitor to be built into a multilayer printed wiring board has large differences in level between the surface of the ceramic body and the surfaces of the external electrodes, the gap between the surface of the multilayer printed wiring board and the mounting surface of the ceramic body is widened when the capacitor is built in the multilayer printed wiring board. Therefore, peeling is likely to be caused between the multilayer printed wiring board and the external electrodes, and there is also a problem of moisture ingress from the peeled sites, which results in degraded resistance to moisture.


A method for controlling a piezoelectric actuator of a fuel injector of an internal combustion engine of a vehicle, the actuator acting on valve elements to open or close the injector, respectively enabling or stopping the injection of fuel into a combustion chamber of the engine, includes the steps of:                applying to the actuator a first nominal electric charge required to open the injector in accordance with the torque requested and the engine speed, to open the valve elements for fuel injection,        instructing the closure of the injector to stop the fuel injection, by applying an electric discharge to the actuator to close the valve elements,

Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for controlling at least one piezoelectric actuator of a fuel injector of an internal combustion engine of a vehicle, the at least one piezoelectric actuator acting on a valve means in order to open or close the injector, respectively enabling or stopping the injection of fuel into a combustion chamber of the engine, comprising the following steps:                applying to the piezoelectric actuator a first nominal electric charge which is required to open the injector and which is referred to as a nominal control charge, in accordance with the torque requested and the engine speed, so as to open the valve means of the injector for an injection of fuel into the combustion chamber,        instructing the closure of the injector in order to stop the injection of fuel, by the application of an electric discharge to the piezoelectric actuator.
Description of the Related Art
It is known to use a piezoelectric actuator in order to instruct the opening and closure of an injector in an internal combustion engine which operates using a fuel of the petroleum or gas oil type.
A piezoelectric actuator is principally composed in known manner of a stack of ceramic members which define a predetermined length, which has the property of causing this length to be modified under the action of an electric field and conversely producing an electric field under the action of mechanical stress; this stack is arranged in an injector between a stop and a valve means and operates in summary in the following manner: when an electric charge is applied to the piezoelectric actuator using an electrical voltage, the length thereof increases and opens the valve means of the injector which releases fuel under pressure into the combustion chamber. In the rest state, that is to say, in the closure position of the valve means, there is play between the piezoelectric actuator and the valve means in order to ensure the closure of this valve means and to prevent uncontrolled leakages of fuel toward the combustion chamber.
In order to be stable and to have a reproducible behavior, a piezoelectric actuator must be polarized at a reference value, which is carried out ex works during the production of the actuator and before the engine is operated in a vehicle. Such a polarization, which is called an initial polarization, involves applying an electric charge via a predetermined voltage, called a polarization voltage, for a time which is also predetermined, to the terminals of the piezoelectric actuator which results in orientating the crystalline structure thereof in the direction of the electric field imposed on the piezoelectric stack, which corresponds to the direction in which the variation of the dimension of the piezoelectric actuator is desired. After this initial polarization voltage has been suppressed at the terminals of the piezoelectric stack, the stack retains a residual polarization state for its subsequent use.
When used in an internal combustion engine, however, a piezoelectric actuator has a tendency to lose this initial polarization, in particular as a result of a substantially urban use of the vehicle which involves low engine speeds and therefore low nominal electrical voltages for controlling the injectors under low fuel pressure, which are largely below the polarization voltage. This is because the value of the nominal electrical supply or control voltage applied to a piezoelectric actuator in order to open an injector is adjusted in accordance with the torque required and the engine speed. In particular and where applicable, it is adjusted in accordance with the value of the fuel pressure which acts counter to the opening of the valve means of the injector, and more generally the energy required to open the valve means of the injector. This adjustment of the electric charge supplied to the piezoelectric actuator, for example, via the electrical voltage, is thus optimized in particular in accordance with the resistance force applied by the fuel pressure and consequently prevents or is intended to reduce clattering of the injector under the action of the application of a force for opening the valve means which is very much greater than this resistance force. The clattering of an injector is substantially a result of the impact of the piezoelectric actuator when it moves into mechanical abutment during its extension under the action of an instruction for opening the injector.
It should be noted that the injectors, in particular for an internal combustion engine operating with diesel fuel under high pressure, are preferably configured so that the pressure of the fuel is used in such a manner that it is applied, in the closure position of the injector, at the side of the valve means which holds it in a position of abutment on the seat thereof. Furthermore, the electric charge required for instructing the opening of the injectors can be adjusted so as to prevent the noise generated by this opening of the injectors from being audible above the general engine noise, that is to say, that a mapping of the nominal opening voltages of the injectors is established ex works in accordance with the engine speed.
Other conditions of use, such as repeated cycles of increase/decrease of the temperature of the engine, or long periods without use of the piezoelectric actuator, corresponding to periods of extended immobilization of the vehicle, may also bring about over time a modification of the polarization of the piezoelectric actuator.
The depolarization or drift brings about a retraction of the stack of ceramic members of the piezoelectric actuator and a resultant increase of the play between the piezoelectric actuator and the valve means. The increase of this play brings about less precise control of the actuator, or drift, which may result in the loss of one or more injections of low quantities of fuel, for example, injections referred to as pilot injections, the injector no longer having the time to compensate for the play and to open the valve for short periods of opening time, which brings about an excess of engine noise of the rattling type (combustion of main injection with a high pressure gradient owing to the lack of the pilot injection), and pollution, and driving discomfort. For longer periods of time for which the injector is open, the drift of the piezoelectric actuator brings about poor control of the quantity of fuel which is actually injected into the combustion chamber.
FIGS. 1a and 1b are schematic graphs of an example of control, according to the prior art, of an injector having a piezoelectric actuator, for which: the graph of FIG. 1a is a profile example of the electrical voltage applied to the terminals of the piezoelectric actuator in accordance with the time for which the injector is opened; and the graph of FIG. 1b shows an example of the charge current intensity profile applied to the piezoelectric actuator in accordance with time. The time scale on the two graphs is illustrated in a synchronized manner: for example, the four vertical broken lines 1, 2, 3, 4 indicated across both FIGS. 1a and 1b correspond to four different times t1, t2, t3, t4 on the time scale, respectively, each of these four times t1, t2, t3, t4 being the same for the two graphs.
In FIG. 1a, it can be seen that the electrical voltage Uinj of the charge applied, illustrated on the ordinate axis, comprises a constant and continuous gradient from the time t1 which corresponds to the instruction for opening the injector up to the time t2 which corresponds to a nominal voltage level Uc for controlling the piezoelectric actuator applied for opening the injector, that is to say, for the extension or contraction of the piezoelectric actuator; this nominal voltage level Uc is predetermined by an injection mapping of the engine (not illustrated) and corresponds to the minimum voltage which is required in order to obtain an injector opening action which particularly brings about minimal noise and which is suitable for a required engine torque and an engine speed. The nominal voltage Uc illustrated in FIG. 1a is lower than the polarization voltage Up of the piezoelectric actuator. The voltage Uinj applied to the piezoelectric actuator is then kept constant at the level of the nominal voltage Uc, in general as a result of the fact that, since the piezoelectric element behaves in the manner of a capacitor, it retains the voltage Uc thereof applied to the terminals thereof. This nominal voltage Uc is kept constant until the time t3 which corresponds to the instruction for closing the injector, which is illustrated on the axis of the abscissa t which corresponds to the timescale. Then, from the time t3, the voltage Uinj decreases as far as the time t4 for the closure of the injector, resulting from an electric discharge of the piezoelectric actuator which thus returns to its initial contracted length which corresponds to the closure of the injector. The electric discharge can be obtained, for example, by means of a short-circuiting of the terminals of the piezoelectric actuator.
FIG. 1b illustrates in a schematic manner, on the axis of the ordinate I corresponding to the charge/discharge current passing through the piezoelectric actuator, a first charge current intensity line Ic, between the times t1 and t2, which correspond to the application of the nominal voltage Uc in order to open the injector by increasing the length of the actuator, and a second discharge current intensity line Id for the closure of the injector which corresponds to the drop of the voltage Uinj between the times t3 and t4, resulting from an electric discharge of the piezoelectric actuator, for example, by a short-circuiting of the terminals thereof, in order to obtain a rapid contraction thereof and thus the closure of the injector. The electric charge Qc applied to the piezoelectric actuator for opening the injector may be calculated in known manner from the surface-area 9 in FIG. 1b, defined between the charge current pulse line Ic and the axis t of the abscissa; the same applies to the electric discharge Qd applied to the piezoelectric actuator in order to close the injector, from the surface-area 10 in FIG. 1b, defined between the discharge current pulse line Id and the axis t of the abscissa for the closure of the injector, and which is, for example, substantially equal to −Qc.
The electrical control time of the injector is defined as being the time for maintaining the electric charge which is applied to the piezoelectric actuator. This is precisely the time between the opening instruction and the closure instruction of the injector; it is therefore between t3 and t1 as illustrated in the Figures.
There are methods for compensating for the depolarization of a piezoelectric actuator which are intended to polarize it again after the initial polarization provided ex works and which are more or less efficient and costly and which generally require the disassembly of the injector and/or a workshop operation for the vehicle. Often, the piezoelectric actuator, or the injector, is replaced when the depolarization is excessive, and it is no longer possible to compensate for it in an effective manner.
It is known in particular to precharge a piezoelectric element of an injector by initially polarizing this piezoelectric element by means of the application of a polarization voltage before an injection of fuel, the initial polarization being carried out only when the rotation speed of the motor exceeds a predetermined value in an attempt to open the injector more rapidly.

Method for controlling at least one piezoelectric actuator of a fuel injector of an internal combustion engine

Abstract: the method applied from an on-board engine control unit during operation, and including applying to the actuator between these 2 steps at least one second electric charge to polarize the actuator during an opening phase of the injector and during fuel injection.


Disclosed is a transceiver including a sub-sampling based frequency synthesizer with a sampling frequency fsmp, configured to generate M different output signals 3 for use as a carrier signal for transmission and/or a signal with a channel frequency for reception. M is an integer greater than 4, each output signal has a corresponding predefined frequency. The predefined frequencies are within a frequency band with a predefined bandwidth CFR. CFR is greater than fsmp. The frequency synthesizer includes a frequency shift unit configured for shifting a version of the output signal over a predefined frequency shift fshift to obtain a frequency shifted signal which is supplied to a sampling unit of the sub-sampling based frequency synthesizer, wherein −fsmp/2≦fshift≦+fsmp/2. The frequency shift unit is configured to use for the generation of each of the N different output signals a corresponding predefined frequency shift fshift.

Frequency synthesizers utilized in known radio frequency (RF) communication devices, such as a RF transmitter, have included a voltage controlled oscillator and a reference oscillator coupled together in a phase locked loop. A voltage-controlled oscillator or VCO is an electronic oscillator designed to be controlled in oscillation frequency by a voltage supplied to a control input. The frequency of oscillation fVCO depends on the applied DC voltage. The VCO frequency is divided by a 1/N divider to a frequency comparable to a reference frequency fref. A phase detector PD compares the phase of the reference frequency with the phase of the divided VCO frequency out of the 1/N divider. A phase difference will result in a phase error signal on the output of the phase detector. Usually this error signal is either a positive or negative current pulse with a duration equal to the difference in phase, wherein the direction of the current depends on the direction of the error. The translation of the phase error into a current is performed inside the phase detector PD. This translation is done with a charge pump, named so as to indicate that charge is pumped into the loop filter. The loop filter low-pass filters the current representing the phase error so as to obtain an averaged phase error which is fed back to the control input of the VCO. The loop is a negative feedback loop. If the VCO frequency drifts, the error signal will increase/decrease driving the VCO frequency in the opposite direction so as to reduce the error. Thus, the VCO output is locked to the reference frequency at the other input of the phase detector PD.
A 2.2 GHz low jitter sub-sampling based PLL is disclosed in "A Low Noise Sub-Sampling PLL in Which Divider Noise is Eliminated and PD/CP Noise is Not Multiplied by N2", IEEE JOURNAL OF SOLID-STATE CIRCUITS, VOL. 44, NO. 12, DECEMBER 2009. The proposed sub-sampled PLL comprises to ensure correct locking of the PLL, an additional frequency-locked loop. The FLL consists of a divide by-N and a three-state PFD/CP as in a classical PLL, which is not a sub-sampled PLL.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,444,420 describes a synthesizer having a PLL with a partial analog and partial digital control back loop and with a frequency divider and sub-sampling.
US Patent application 2010/207693 A1 describes a synthesizer having a PLL with a divide-by-N feedback loop and a frequency fine tuning loop.
US Patent application 2005/0117664 A1 describes a frequency conversion circuit with a down-conversion and a Hartley demodulator to provide baseband I-signal and Q-signal.
The difference between a sub-sampling synthesizer and a commonly used synthesizer architecture is that a sampler with a sampling frequency which is much lower than the RF frequency is used to obtain information on the frequency and phase of the carrier instead of a divider. A major advantage of the sampling architecture is that the power consumption can be low, because a low-frequency sampler is (much) less power hungry than a high-frequency divider. This makes the sub-sampling architecture attractive for low-power synthesizers.
Another advantage of the sub-sampling architecture is that the division operation in a traditional synthesizer adds in-band noise, proportional to N2, wherein N is the division factor of the RF signal. Especially for high-frequency synthesizers this noise deteriorates the spectral purity of the LO signal. With a sub-sampling based architecture, better phase noise performance can be obtained.
The two mentioned advantages of the sub-sampling based architecture make it likely that it will be used more and more in future synthesizer designs.
However a disadvantage to this sub-sampling based architecture is that for generating some output frequencies sub-sampling does not work. This depends on the type of locking that is used: frequency-locking or phase-locking. If a frequency-locked loop (FLL) is used, the sampler does not work at exact integer multiples of the sampling-frequency. If phase-locked loop (PLL) is used, the architecture only works at the exact integer frequencies of the sampling-frequency.
Normally the sampling frequency is fixed. For generating only one RF output signal, one skilled in the art has to select a suitable sampling frequency. However, normally a transceiver has to operate at a multitude of channels and thus has to be able to generate a multitude of RF output signals. For a PLL design, this means that all frequencies of the RF signal to be generated must be a multiple of the sampling frequency. For a FLL design, this means that all frequencies to be generated by the frequency synthesizer must be at a minimal distance from any multiple of the sampling frequency.
Using different sampling frequencies for generating different RF output signals is not suitable in view of design requirements such as EMC.
Here is an example to illustrate the operation and practical problems of a subsampler that operates in the 2.4 GHz band. The RF-signal that is to be sampled has a frequency of Frf and is sampled with a clock with frequency fsmp. fsmp is much smaller than Frf. The frequency Fout of the subsampled RF signal is then:Fout=|Frf−fsmp*round(Frf/fsmp)|
The transfer function from Frf to Fout for a certain frequency-range in the 2.4 GHz band with a sampling frequency of 16 MHz, has been depicted in FIG. 2. The sub-sampler is part of the control loop of the frequency synthesizer. The VCO RF output signal is controlled digitally and therefore requires a sampler to convert the RF frequency to a digital format.
For fast frequency measurement and to remain in a linear transfer region of the function Fout(Frf), Fout should be in a certain range to combine accuracy and acquisition time. From FIG. 2 it can be observed that around frequencies 2400, 2416 and 2432 MHz, etc, the RF frequency is converted to 0 MHz. Low frequencies makes it impossible to perform fast frequency-measurement/phase-measurement and thus to have a fast loop behavior. Furthermore, around multiples of the sampling frequency, i.e. 2400, 2408, 2416, 2424 MHz, etc, the function Fout(Frf) is not differentiable, i.e. a control signal derivable from Fout could not be used to obtain a stable loop behavior so it is hard to build a control-loop with such a transfer-function. Starting at a RF signal with a RF frequency which is a multiple of the sampling frequency, in both cases a) increase or b) decrease of the RF signal frequency, the frequency of the sub-sampled signal Fout will change in the same direction.

Transceiver with sub-sampling based frequency synthesizer