Automatic process control of after-etch-inspection critical dimension. A dielectric layer is deposited over a substrate and is then planarized to a first thickness. A cap oxide layer having a second thickness is deposited, wherein the combination of the first thickness and the second thickness is substantially constant. An ADI CD of a contact hole to be formed on the substrate is altered and pre-determined based on the second thickness of the cap oxide layer. A photoresist layer is formed on the cap oxide layer. An opening having the predetermined ADI CD is formed in the photoresist layer. Using the photoresist layer as an etching mask, the cap oxide layer and the dielectric layer is etched through the opening to form a contact hole having an AEI CD.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to semiconductor fabrication processes. More particularly, the present invention relates to an after-etch-inspection critical dimension (AEI CD) control method for contact process.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In the fabrication of semiconductor devices, it is typical to use photoresist layer on a semiconductor wafer to mask a predetermined pattern for subsequent etching or ion implantation processes. The patterned photoresist is usually formed by, firstly, coating the photoresist, exposing it to suitable radiation (UV, EUV, e-beam, etc.), and then developing (and baking) the exposed photoresist. For positive-type photoresist, for example, the irradiated parts of the photoresist are chemically removed in the development step to expose areas of the underlying layer where are to be etched.
As known in the art, quality inspections are carried out after development and after etching, respectively, to ensure good quality of the device critical dimensions (CDs), which are also referred to as After-Develop-Inspection CD (ADI CD) and After-Etch-Inspection CD (AEI CD). These quality control procedures are designed to remedy any process anomaly in time.
As the feature size of the semiconductor devices shrinks, the difference between the ADI CD and AEI CD becomes larger. This turns out to be a serious problem when the device dimension shrinks to nano scale and beyond. In some circumstances, the AEI CD that is smaller than the ADI CD is required. For example, in the fabrication of contact holes of a SRAM device, the contact hole is in close proximity to the polysilicon gate. In such case, even very slight deviation of the AEI CD may result in short between the contact device and the gate, thus causing malfunction of the memory unit. It is desired to precisely control the AEI CD in order to improve product quality and reliability.


There is provided a homogenous composite dispersion. The composite dispersion is made from ingredients comprising: a first dispersion comprising a filler dispersed in a liquid continuous phase, the filler selected from the group consisting of nanotubes, graphene or a combination thereof, the liquid continuous phase comprising an acid copolymer and a first solvent, the acid copolymer comprising at least one carboxyl functionalized polymeric unit and at least one carboxylate ester functionalized polymeric unit having an alkyl or fluorinated alkyl attached to an oxygen atom of the carboxylate ester; a second dispersion comprising a fluoroplastic dispersed in a second solvent; and a sacrificial polymeric binder material.

In a typical electrophotographic reproducing apparatus, a light image of an original to be copied is recorded in the form of an electrostatic latent image upon a photosensitive member. The latent image is subsequently rendered visible by application of electroscopic thermoplastic resin particles which are commonly referred to as toner. The visible toner image is then in a loose powdered form and is usually fused, using a fusing apparatus, upon a support, which may be an intermediate member, or a print medium such as plain paper.
Conventional fusing apparatuses include a fuser member and a pressure member, which may be configured to include a roll pair maintained in pressure contact or a belt member in pressure contact with a roll member. In a fusing process, heat may be applied by heating one or both of the fuser member and the pressure member.
Fuser members can be coated with layers (e.g., topcoat) of materials having low surface energy (to maintain good release properties), adequate flexibility, good thermal conductivity, and/or mechanical robustness (to extend fuser member life). Fluoropolymer such as perfluoroalkoxy (PFA) resins are often used in topcoats for fuser members because they possess both low surface energy and high mechanical strength.
PFA topcoats are usually prepared as coatings by spray coating or dip coating from aqueous dispersions, powder coating with PFA powders, or as sleeves by extruding PFA resins. As perfluoroplastics such as PFA, PTFE and FEP are highly crystalline fluoropolymers, they are typically insoluble in organic solvent and melt at high temperatures, i.e. about 260 to about 327° C.
Among the coating processes available for topcoat application—including spray coating, flow coating, power coating, and dip coating—flow coating has advantages over other processes because it permits high transfer efficiency (e.g., flow coating provides a more efficient metered coating process, resulting in less wasted coating material, as compared to spray coating which involves overspray loss), high production rate, and avoids toxic airborne atomized PFA particles. Employing flow-coating methods for applying PFA resin particles and like fluoroplastics in dispersion can be difficult compared to spray or dip coating methods. This is because flow-coating has relatively strict conditions for the coating dispersion to be stable and to have suitable rheology.
One example of a stable flow-coatable fluoroplastic topcoat formulation is taught in U.S. Pat. No. 8,588,669, issued on Nov. 19, 2013, to Qi Zhang et al., which includes common inventors with the present disclosure. However, it has been found by the inventors of the present disclosure that when carbon nanotubes are included in the fluoroplastic topcoats of the Zhang patent, flow coating followed by a high temperature baking process results in large voids on the surface and undesirable agglomerates throughout the coating. It is believed that these defects indicate an incompatibility with the nanotube dispersion system being employed.
A novel flow coating composition or flow coating method for manufacturing nanotube/fluoroplastic composites suitable for use as fuser topcoat materials and/or for solving one or more of the aforementioned problems would be considered a notable advancement in the art.

Composition for making flow-coatable fuser topcoat and method of making a fuser topcoat


A liquid container including: a containing portion, adapted to store liquid; a liquid outlet port, adapted to flow out the liquid from the containing portion therethrough; an outer wall, having a liquid supply opening for exposing the liquid outlet port to an outside, and covering a periphery of the liquid outlet port while the outer wall keeps a predetermined gap from an outer end of the liquid outlet port; and a first liquid absorption member, disposed at the predetermined gap so as to absorb the liquid.

1. Technical Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a liquid container that is mounted on a cartridge mounting portion in a liquid ejection apparatus, such as an ink jet printer or the like.
2. Description of the Related Art
As a liquid container that is mounted on a cartridge mounting portion in a liquid ejection apparatus, such as an ink jet printer or the like, an ink cartridge having the configuration shown in FIG. 14 has been suggested.
An ink cartridge 101 shown in FIG. 14 is disclosed in JP-A-5-16377 described below. The ink cartridge 101 has an ink pack 104 that has a flexible pouch body 102 containing an ink liquid and an ink outlet port 103 provided in the pouch body 102, and a rectangular cartridge case 105 that accommodates the ink pack 104 and is mounted on a cartridge mounting portion of a printer.
In the cartridge case 105, a boxlike case main body 106 having a top opened and a lid body 107 that covers the opened portion of the case main body 106 defines a pack accommodating space 105a that accommodates the ink pack 104.
The pouch body 102 is formed by stacking aluminum-laminated films and bonding their circumferential portions to each other using a heat welding method or the like. The aluminum-laminated films are obtained by forming a nylon film and a polyethylene film on both surfaces of an aluminum foil. In addition, the aluminum-laminated films are stacked such that their polyethylene films face each other.
As shown in FIG. 15, the ink outlet port 103 is configured such that a sealing plug 103b formed of an elastic material, such as rubber or the like, is press-fitted into and fixed to a cylindrical body 103a formed of plastic. A thin film portion 103c is provided on the sealing plug 103b close to the pouch body 102 so as to prevent the occurrence of eluted products and deposits of impurities due to the insertion of the sealing plug 103b that was brought into contact with ink.
A rear end of the cylindrical body 103a that is inserted between the superimposed portion of the aluminum-laminated films of the pouch body 102 and the cylindrical body 103a is heat-welded to the aluminum-laminated films. Accordingly, the ink outlet port 103 is incorporated into the pouch body 102 in an airtight manner.
As shown in FIG. 14, a pack positioning portion 106b is provided at a front-end side wall 106a of the case main body 106 so as to position the ink outlet port 103.
As shown in FIG. 15, the pack positioning portion 106b is a semicircular notch that is fitted into an anchoring groove 103d formed in an outer circumference of the cylindrical body 103a of the ink outlet port 103. With the engagement of the pack positioning portion 106b and the ink outlet port 103, a front end of the outer end of the ink outlet port 103 is positioned so as to slightly protrude from the cartridge case 105.
If the ink cartridge 101 that accommodates the ink pack 104 is mounted on the cartridge mounting portion of the printer, as shown in FIG. 15, an ink supply needle 108 provided in the cartridge mounting portion passes through the sealing plug 103b and the thin film portion 103c, such that the ink liquid within the pouch body 102 can be supplied to an ink supply portion of the printer connected to the ink supply needle 108.
If the ink cartridge 101 is mounted on the cartridge mounting portion of the printer in such a manner, the ink supply needle 108 of the printer is inserted into and connected to the exposed ink outlet port 103 at one end of the cartridge case 105. Then, when the ink cartridge is removed from the cartridge mounting portion of the printer for cartridge replacement, a small amount of a remaining ink liquid may leak to the ink outlet port 103 in a state where the ink supply needle 108 is extracted.
In the conventional ink cartridge 101, the front end of the ink outlet port 103 protrudes outside the cartridge case 105. For this reason, an ink liquid leaking from the ink outlet port 103 may drip within the printer and stain the inside of the printer. Further, the ink liquid may flow out from the case and stain the hand of a worker or peripheral matters.

Liquid container, ink cartridge and ink jet printer having ink cartridge


A moving target indicating system wherein a pulse source which generates radiofrequency drive pulses at a predetermined pulse repetition frequency is connected to the inputs of a pair of channels. The first channel includes a phase-dispersive filter having a first phase-slope dispersion characteristic, while the second channel has a phase-dispersive filter having a phase-slope dispersion characteristic which is the negative of that of the first filter. A pulse group comprising the output of the first and the second channels is transmitted periodically as each drive pulse is applied. The pulse repetition frequency is sufficiently low that when transmitted, echos of only one pulse of each group are received at a time. Due to the "matched" or "conjugate" phase-dispersive characteristics of the filters in the respective channels, the first channel operates in reception upon the reflected pulse originally generated in the second channel and compresses it thus resynthesizing or reconstituting a short duration pulse like the original, while the second channel operates in reception upon the reflected pulse generated in the first channel, compressing it to reconstitute a short duration pulse like the original. A canceler is switched between the outputs of the first and second channels to receive the two resulting reconstituted pulses of each group. In the usual application, fixed target information is cancelled out and moving target information is derived for application to a display device.

This invention relates to a target detecting radar system and, in particular, to a radar system for detecting targets having a radial velocity relative to the system.
A radar system, in general, includes a transmitter adapted to radiate short duration, high frequency, pulses of electromagnetic energy and a receiver responsive to the echo pulses returned when the radiated pulses impinge upon an object. The information provided by the echo pulses is derived and presented on an indicating device.
A radar system which is adapted to distinguish between fixed objects and moving objects and which applies to the indicating device signals representing moving targets only is referred to as a moving target indicating (MTI) system. Distinction between moving and fixed targets is normally attained by utilizing the Doppler effect, i.e., the phase change of the echo with respect to the transmitted pulse due to the radial velocity of the target with respect to the radar system. In contrast, the phase relationship between a transmitted pulse and an echo resulting from a fixed target is the same for successive pulses. The fact that for successive pulses the relative phase of the transmitted pulse and the echo varies when the target is moving, and is constant when the target is fixed, provides a means for distinguishing between fixed and moving targets.
One type of prior art moving target indicating system periodically transmits a group of two pulses at a predetermined repetition frequency, the Doppler phase-shift produced between the two pulses of a group being utilized to detect moving targets. An important advantage of this type of system is the effective elimination of so-called "blind speeds" by closely spacing the pulses of a group. "Blind speeds" result from the failure of a moving target indicating system to detect phase changes of whole cycles from objects which move toward or away from the radar system a distance equal to an integral number of half-wave lengths of the transmitted radio frequency energy during the interval between pulses.
One such moving target indicating radar system is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,225,349 issued to Robert C. Thor on Dec. 21, 1965. In this system, a radar transmits an upswept frequency pulse for a time T. After a time .tau.-T, the radar transmits another pulse. On the second pulse the radar changes the direction of the frequency sweep. The cycle is repeated after a delay during which echos are received and pulse-compressed. Two receiver channels in the radar contain respective matched filters. The first filter compresses echoes of the first pulse, while the second filter compresses echoes of the second pulse. Stationary target echos appear at the same range on successive transmissions, whereas radially moving targets appear at different ranges on successive transmissions. Because of this difference in behavior, echoes from the first pulse can be subtracted from echos from the second pulse to cancel non-moving target echos, without cancelling moving targets echos.
This system suffers from the following disadvantage. Since the interpulse period of the radar is short, long-range echos of the first pulse arrive at the radar at the same time as short-range echos of the second pulse. Thus, the filters in the receiver each act on both matched and mismatched signals. In the presence of distributed clutter, the compressor limiter in the two receiver channels will not suppress the mismatched component and the moving target indicating radar system will not provide significant clutter cancellation or subclutter visibility.

Moving target indicator with no blind speeds


An access control device (10) has an electronic/electric control unit (19) fed with electrical current via an electrically conductive fastener (28), such as the ones that also function to clamp the outdoor and indoor housings (15, 17) of the device (10) together against the opposed sides of a door (12) or the like.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to electrical current transmission and, more particularly, to a new way of transferring electrical current from one component to another.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Electro-mechanical and electronic access control devices, commonly referred to as "locks" need a source of power to operate the electronics that decode inputs caused by persons attempting access and also to provide motive force for initiating unlocking. The prior art includes various methods of providing power internal to the access control device, such as primary and secondary batteries, dynamo generators, piezoelectric generators and solar cells. External sources of power are also employed, such as voltage stepped down from 120 VAC household current. For external power, the prior art includes wiring directly to the access control device or wiring to the strike area in the door frame then transferring the power from the strike through the latch bolt and then to the lock electronics.
In the prior art, power has been transferred from one side of the door to the other through a cable. Cables are typically difficult to install and susceptible to damage. Cables also require an additional assembly step for the installer.

Electrically conductive component suited for use in access control devices


A support mechanism supports a hood in a raised position with respect to a vehicle to which the hood is pivotally coupled. The support mechanism includes a pivotal lift rod coupled between the vehicle and the hood. The mechanism also includes a pair of arm members which are pivotally coupled to each other by a central pivot pin, and which are coupled between the vehicle and a central portion of the rod. A flat coil spring is coiled around the central pivot pin and is attached to the arm members. The spring is biased to pivot the hood upwardly. The lower end of the rod is anchored by a removable pivot pin, which, when removed, permits the hood to be raised approximately 90 degrees from it lowered position.

This invention relates to a support mechanism for a hood which covers a vehicle engine and other components of a vehicle, such as an agricultural or industrial vehicle.
It is known practice to use gas springs to support the hood of a vehicle, such as an agricultural tractor. However, gas springs are prone to failure as they wear out or lose their gas charge, and their force is variable as the temperature varies. Some known hood supports require a safety catch or a separate prop rod to hold a hood in a raised position. Accordingly, it would be desirable to have a hood support mechanism which avoids the use of gas springs, and which does not require a safety catch or a prop rod.
An object of the present invention is to provide a hood support mechanism.
Another object is to provide such a hood support mechanism which avoids the use of gas springs.
Another object is to provide such a hood support mechanism which has a long life and which eliminates the need for a safety catch or separate prop rod.
These and other objects are achieved by this invention wherein a support mechanism supports a hood in a raised position with respect to a vehicle to which the hood is pivotally coupled. The support mechanism includes a pivotal lift rod coupled between the vehicle and the hood. The mechanism also includes a pair of arm members which are pivotally coupled to each other by a central pivot pin, and which are coupled between the vehicle and a central portion of the rod. A flat coil spring is coiled around the central pivot pin and is attached to the arm members. The spring is biased to pivot the hood upwardly. The lower end of the rod is anchored by a removable pivot pin, which, when removed, permits the hood to be raised approximately 90 degrees from it lowered position. With this support mechanism there is no gas spring, the coil spring has a long life and no safety catch or separate prop rod is required.


Embodiments of the present invention provide a method of dynamically transitioning into a distinct display format during unusual attitude conditions. In one embodiment, the method includes collecting attitude data, comparing current attitude to a first set attitude angle, and fading a distinct display format into a display for unusual attitude conditions when current attitude is at least equal to the first set attitude angle.

With respect to flight, attitude refers generally to the position of an aircraft or spacecraft relative to the horizon or a celestial object, respectively. In the context of aircraft, attitude refers to the angles for pitch, yaw and bank. With regards to spacecraft, attitude refers to the spacecraft's angular position and rotation. In both situations, it is essential to maintain and control proper attitude conditions. Unusual attitude conditions refer to situations where the craft is at an extreme angle or deviation. For example, in aircraft, such situations include having a high pitch angle or being banked at a high angle. When a craft is in an unusual attitude condition, it is important for the flight crew to correct and return the attitude to normal.
In unusual attitude conditions, direct outside views and conformal visual image displays, such as those containing perspective view backgrounds, are not always effective ways of providing clear cues of attitude upset information for a variety of reasons. In particular, perspective view backgrounds with 3-dimensional terrain, runways, etc. can make it difficult for flight crews to ascertain the correct horizon line. However, these displays greatly aid flight crews during normal flight and removal of perspective view backgrounds can distract or even startle flight crews when taking proper recovery actions.
For the reasons stated above, and for other reasons stated below which will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon reading and understanding the present specification, there is a need in the art for a display which minimizes distractions to a flight crew during unusual attitude conditions.

Dynamic primary flight displays for unusual attitude conditions


An assembly is disclosed for mounting on an inclined planar surface, a light fixture suspended by at least one fixture suspension cable and provided with at least one power cord. In general, the mounting assembly comprises a mounting base, and first and second suspension means. The mounting base is for attachment to a planar structure disposed relative to a reference plane, and includes at least one power cord suspension aperture. The first suspension means is operably associated with the mounting base and is adapted for attachment to one end of the fixture cable. The second suspension means is mounted through the power cord suspension aperture and is adapted for attachment to a portion of the power cord. The first suspension means and the second suspension means each permit pivotal movement of the fixture suspension cable and the power cord, respectively, that is, relative to the mounting base, and the first suspension means and the second suspension means are operable independent of each other. In the illustrated embodiment, three first suspension means are operably associated with the mounting base, and each comprises fixture cable length adjustment means which permits simple adjustment in length of the fixture suspension cable with respect to the reference plane. Also the second suspension means comprises power cord length adjustment means which permits simple adjustment in length of the power cord with respect to the reference plane.

1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates generally to ceiling mounting devices for lighting fixture assemblies, and more particular to such devices which can adjustably mount lighting fixture assemblies to inclined surfaces of a varying range of inclination.
2. Brief Description of the Prior Art
A variety of prior art devices are known for installing a lighting fixture assembly to ceiling structures.
According to one type of prior art mounting device, a tubular arm is rotatably connected to a ceiling support base, to provide positional adjustment to an electrical lamp unit disposed at one end of the tubular arm, while electrical conductors extend therethrough. Representative examples of such prior art mounting devices are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,937,841 to Bodian; 2,762,598 to Rumge; 2,753,445 to Thomas, et al ; 1,137,906 to Rosenberg; 684,264 to Kemmerer; and 393,126 to Smart.
According to a second type of prior art mounting device, a tubular arm is rotatably connected to a ceiling support base, in order to provide positional adjustment to an electrical lamp unit disposed at the distal end of the tubular arm, while electrical power lines extend exteriorly of the tubular arm. Representative examples of such prior art mounting devices include U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,751,627 to Usher and 394,680 to Dawes.
While prior art ceiling mounting devices have had many desirable characteristics, such as permitting angular and rotational adjustment, such devices in general have not permitted independent angular and rotational adjustment of lighting fixture cables and power cords such that a drop-type lighting fixture assemblies can be suspended from an inclined ceiling surface in a simple, quick and convenient manner.
Accordingly, it is a primary object of the present invention to provide a ceiling mounting assembly for suspending a drop-type lighting fixture or luminaire assembly from an inclined ceiling surface, in a way which overcomes the shortcomings and drawbacks of prior art devices.
Another object of the present invention is to provide such a mounting device, in which each lighting fixture cable and power supply cord is permitted to undergo independent angular or rotational displacement to the vertical position in response to gravitational loading.
Another object of the present invention is to provide such a mounting device in which the length of each lighting fixture suspension cable and power supply cord can be independently adjusted in length so as to permit quick and simple leveling of a luminaire assembly independent of the inclination of the ceiling or fixture support surface.
An even further object of the present invention is to provide such a mounting device, in which after installation of the mounting assembly to the inclined ceiling and of the leveling lighting fixture, the length of the power supply cord can be simply adjusted in length in order to match the distance of the luminaire assembly from the ceiling.
These and other objects of the present invention will become apparent hereinafter.

Apparatus for installing lighting fixture assemblies from inclined planar surfaces

Lightolier Division of the Genlyte Group, Inc.


An image forming apparatus which reduces the burden on users and enhances the ease of use by not updating information needed for wireless connection while the same user is using the image forming apparatus. Wireless connection information for carrying out a wireless communication between a terminal device and the image forming apparatus is displayed on a display unit. The wireless connection information is changed when users of the image forming apparatus have changed. Even when the wireless communication is terminated, the wireless connection information is not changed during a time period for which it is determined that the same user is using the image forming apparatus.

Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus, a control method therefore, and a storage medium, and in particular to a wireless connection control technique for use in inputting a job to the image forming apparatus from a wireless network using a wireless connection.
Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, image forming apparatuses such as MFPs (Multi Function Peripherals) have a function of inputting a job from a network and processing the same. As disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 2012-157006, it is known that a device and a terminal establish a direct wireless connection by Wi-Fi Direct without using a dedicated access point. It is also known that a terminal stores wireless connection information (including a password, an SSID, and so on) it used before, and when the terminal enters its network communication zone, a wireless connection is automatically established.
Due to these functions, there may be cases where when there is a terminal which has used a device before near the device, a wireless connection with not a terminal of a user who is near the device and going to actually using the device but the other terminal near the device is established first. In this case, the user near the device may not use the device. To avoid this, there is known a control method that updates wireless connection information on the device side whenever a wireless connection is established and prevents connection to the device based on wireless connection information that has been stored before on the terminal side.
However, if wireless connection information on the device side is updated whenever a wireless connection is established, the user has to input wireless communication to the terminal whenever a wireless connection is established, and this places a burden on the user. For example, in a case where after the device is shifted into a wireless job input mode, and a job is input to the device from a wireless network, the device exits the wireless job input mode to perform copying, and then a job is input to the device again from the wireless network, the user is required to make wireless connection settings twice.

Image forming apparatus with wireless communication function, control method therefor, and storage medium


A balance (10) has a mounting unit (30) movably connected to a first side (35) of a rear wall (25) of a weighing chamber. The mounting unit is above a top wall (23) of the weighing chamber. An elongate slot (40) extends from the first side through a second side (36) and receives the mounting unit and the top wall. The elongate slot guides the mounting unit and the top wall in a direction normal to a base body (11) of the balance. A position control unit (50), on the second side, has lower and upper carriages (52, 54). The upper carriage is connected to the mounting unit and the lower carriage is connected to the top wall. A stopper (64) limits the lower carriage at a predetermined position away from the base body, while allowing the upper carriage to advance therebeyond, separating the mounting unit from the top wall.

Weighing balances of the type to which this invention belongs are used to weigh small objects or substances with a very high precision of, typically, a fraction of a milligram. The sensitivity that enables a balance to measure weight so precisely also makes the balance susceptible to any air circulation in the area of the weighing pan. The weighing pan and the space above it are therefore separated from the ambient environment by an enclosure, which is commonly referred to as a draft shield. The space inside the draft shield is referred to as the weighing chamber. While a draft shield keeps out drafts of ambient room air, the weighing accuracy and speed of operation of a laboratory balance may still be negatively affected by temporary turbulence when a door of the draft shield is opened, and in addition by convective air currents inside the weighing chamber due to heat dissipation from the electrical and electronic parts of the balance. These air movements inside the draft shield tend to be stronger and takes longer duration to subside when the volume of the weighing chamber is larger. It is well known in the art that smaller weighing chamber volumes will have lesser turbulence and offer better accuracy. In conventional practice, draft shields of varying sizes are maintained as part of the ware to meet these demands.
One known state-of-the-art draft shield for a laboratory weighing balance, described in commonly-owned U.S. Pat. No. 8,294,046, has planar panels, i.e. a rear wall, a front wall, two sidewalls, a top cover, and a floor, which together enclose a weighing chamber. The front wall and sidewalls are suspended from the edges of the top cover and overhang the front and sides of a base housing of the weighing balance. The top cover with the suspended front- and sidewalls can be raised and lowered, with the front- and sidewalls sliding up and down over the front and sides of the base housing, whereby the height of the weighing chamber can be adjusted. Obviously, the range of downward movement ends at the point where the bottom edges of the front- and sidewalls reach the level of the work surface on which the weighing balance is set up. In addition, the dosage dispensing housing carrying the dosage dispensing device is configured to move in a fore and aft direction in a horizontal plane of the weighing balance. The top cover is also attached fixedly to the dosage dispensing housing so that the top cover travels along with the dosage dispensing housing at all times. For removing the dosage-dispensing device, the entire housing is moved backwards. Thus, the possible range of height adjustment of the weighing chamber with the draft protection device is rather limited. Besides, the process of setting up the dosage-dispensing device for performing the dosing operation as described in U.S. Pat. No. 8,294,046 is time consuming.
The object of the present invention is to improve the weighing balance of the type described above by providing one or more features that enable easy mounting and movement of replaceable accessories attached to the mounting unit. The inventive weighing balance according to claim 1 accomplishes the aforementioned task. Advantageous embodiments and detail features of the invention are set forth in the dependent claims accompanying this specification.

Weighing balance having a mounting unit for carrying accessories


An infusion pump system provides a display to indicate to the physician the proper advanced cardiac life support (ACLS) procedures for a given protocol of ACLS heart disorder. The infusion pump is to be located by the bed side of a patient in critical care, such as in the intensive care unit of a hospital. The system monitors certain physiological characteristics as sounds an alarm if any of the measured characteristics have values outside of an acceptable range for each characteristic measured. The infusion pump system would be connected to the patient via an intravenous connection when it is determined that the ACLS procedure is to be administered. By pressing certain buttons, therapeutic agents are administered to the patient. A complete record of the heart activity, the blood pressure, and the oxygen saturation of hemoglobin of the patient, along with which drugs were administered and in what amounts, is continually printed out during the ACLS procedure.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to infusion pump systems for delivering a plurality of therapeutic agents to a patient via intravenous connection. More particularly, the present invention relates to an infusion pump system in which critical care therapeutic agents are delivered accurately and rapidly to a patient requiring Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS).
2. Description of the Prior Art
The intravenous delivery of drugs by infusion pump is well known and has many advantages over the manual modes for delivering drugs. However, despite these developments, there remains a need for improved techniques for rapid, safe, and accurate intravenous drug delivery to a patient during ACLS. Presently, the manual mode of operation is still in use for the delivery of therapeutic agents such as lidocaine, sodium bicarbonate, epinephrine, etc. These drugs are used during resuscitation of patients who have sustained cardiac arrest, ventricular tachycardia, ventricular fibrillation, electromechanical dissociation of the heart and pulse, and bradycardia.
To the present day, the nurses and physicians involved in ACLS must locate the separate medications (generally located in a cart which may be locked), take them out of their cardboard containers after removing them from the cart, assemble the syringes, uncap the needles, locate the intravenous injection hub, and, finally, administer the prescribed therapeutic agents.
This procedure wastes precious time, allows for errors in dosing, and increases the risk of the physicians or nurses sticking themselves with a needle due to the rush of providing the therapeutic agents to the patient because of the urgency of the situation. Further, because of the rush and urgency of the situation, records of what drugs were administered and when may not be properly kept or easily remembered afterwards.
An article by Vivian T. Biggers, Codes for a Code, American Journal of Nursing, May 1992, pages 57-61, discloses the currently accepted protocols for managing a variety of cardiac emergencies and is incorporated herein by reference, for purposes of indicating the background of the invention and illustrating the state of the art as to the just mentioned protocols. In the ideal situation, a doctor would be thoroughly familiar with these protocols before they are needed in a medical emergency.
The Medex advertisement discloses an infusion pump which delivers the proper amount of the therapeutic agent in accordance with the patient's weight.
The Medical Data Electronics advertisement discloses a portable and compact EKG machine which displays heart rhythm, blood pressure, and oximetry data.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,088,981 issued Feb. 18, 1992 to Howson et al discloses a microprocessor controlled infusion pump system for delivering therapeutic agents in accordance with a "library" of delivery protocols stored in the microprocessor.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,869,266 issued Sep. 26, 1989 to Taylor et al discloses a patient weight monitoring system for controlling an infusion pump, a display, a printer, and for setting off an alarm if the patient's weight changes drastically.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,850,972 issued Jul. 25, 1989 to Schulman et al discloses a programmable infusion pump system for delivering a plurality of therapeutic agents. The system is compact and utilizes a printer to record the history of the activity of the system while in use.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,041,086 issued Aug. 20, 1991 to Koening et al discloses an infusion pump system with Light-Emitting Diodes (LEDs) or a Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) which allows the user to control the system through user inputs.
None of the above inventions and patents, taken either singly or in combination, is seen to describe the instant invention as claimed.


There is provided a heavy duty tire made by using as a tread rubber a rubber composition obtained by compounding 100 parts by mass of a rubber component consisting of 90-30% by mass of (a) natural rubber and 10-70% by mass of (b) a solution-polymerized styrene-butadiene copolymer rubber containing tin in at least one of a middle of a polymer molecular chain and a terminal of the molecular chain and having a bound styrene content of 28-45% by mass and a vinyl bond content in a butadiene portion of less than 30 mol % with 40-60 parts by mass in total of (c) carbon black and (d) silica, provided that an amount of (d) silica as a filler is 5-20 parts by mass. In the heavy duty tire, the resistance to uneven wear is considerably improved without damaging the heat buildup and wear resistance.

For the purpose of controlling the uneven wear of the tire, there have hitherto been made various means in the design of tread groove, tread crown form, tread pattern or the like such as defense grooves, side grooves and the like. However, these means have a problem that the control of the uneven wear is insufficient. In general, non-uniform wear is caused in ribs, blocks and the like of the tire tread by various factors before the occurrence of the uneven wear in the tire.
Since such a non-uniform wear is caused by an input in a radial direction, an input in a circumferential direction or an input of a composite thereof with respect to a rotating direction of the tire, it is attempted to improve the resistance to uneven wear by using a rubber composition hardly affected by these inputs in a tread and combining with a tire structure.
In order to prevent the uneven wear in the tire, there is used a method of using a rubber composition compounded with styrene-butadiene copolymer rubber in the tread to enhance hysteresis loss. However, the compounding of the styrene-butadiene copolymer rubber deteriorates the heat buildup of the tire, so that there is particularly a restriction in the compounding amount thereof in heavy duty tires.
Now, there is proposed an attempt that a solution-polymerized styrene-butadiene rubber modified at a terminal of its polymer molecule is used to enhance dispersion of carbon black through a coupling effect of its modified terminal, whereby the self-heat generation is improved to make the heat buildup low to establish the resistance to uneven wear and the heat buildup (e.g. see JP-A-11-217004, page 3). However, it can not be said to be sufficient in the heavy duty tire.
Further, there is proposed a technique of establishing the resistance to uneven wear and the heat buildup by a combination of solution-polymerized styrene-butadiene copolymer rubber, silica and a silane coupling agent (e.g. see JP-A-11-59116, page 1).
However, silica has such an effect that the heat buildup is not lowered while enhancing the hysteresis loss, but has a fear of lowering the wear resistance under severe use condition in the heavy duty tire. In such a compounding technique, the resistance to uneven wear and the heat buildup are conflicting relation and it is difficult to establish them simultaneously.


The present disclosure relates to the discovery of methods of isolating subfractions of an F3 Reishi extract, and of administration of these novel isolates to eukaryotic cells in order to induce certain immumodulatory, hematopoeitic and tumor-inhibiting phenotypic changes in those eukaryotic cells, mediated through particular toll-like receptor (TLR) and other transmembrane receptors. F3 subfractions F301 and F331 have demonstrated that F331 is capable of activating at least TLR-2 while F301 is capable of activating at least TLR-2, TLR-4, and TLR-5.

The present disclosure provides medicinally active extracts, fractions and more specifically subfractions of Reishi and methods of preparing the same, from components of Ganoderma lucidum and Ganoderma tsugae, otherwise known as "Reishi" in order to induce certain immumodulatory, hematopoeitic and tumor-inhibiting phenotypic changes in those eukaryotic cells, mediated through particular toll-like receptor (TLR) and other transmembrane receptors.

Reishi F3 sub fraction polysaccharides and methods of using same


A linearized thermal and optical model of an optical integrated circuit can be used to temperature-stabilize one or more optical elements of the circuit using active temperature regulation. To stabilize a single optical element, a temperature sensor and a heater can be provided proximate to the grating. Thermal and optical coefficients can be then used to select an appropriate temperature set-point for the temperature controller that receives readings from the sensor and determines the power dissipated in the heater. Multiple optical elements can be stabilized individually, using the same process and lumping cross-heating factors together with other environmental factors. Alternatively, multiple AWG's can be stabilized using fewer sensors than optical elements, by stabilizing one of the optical elements in the same manner as in the case of a single optical elements, and determining power dissipated in the heaters of the remaining optical elements based on the linearized model.

Fiber optic technology has now been used in telecommunications for several decades. In high-bandwidth applications, optical fiber has virtually replaced old-fashioned copper wire. The reasons for this transition are many. Optical fiber's advantages over copper wire include wide bandwidth, low signal attenuation, light weight, immunity to electromagnetic interference, absence of electrical sparking, virtual elimination of crosstalk, physical flexibility, small size, and low cost.
In optical networks, an electrical signal to be transmitted modulates light, typically of the infrared variety with a wavelength in the 1.3 or 1.5 μm bands. The modulated light is transmitted over an optical fiber, received, and demodulated to recover a copy of the original electrical signal.
A significant number of fiber-optic networks is intended for the commercial transport of data. As such, the network operator seeks wide bandwidth capability at low cost, with high reliability, fidelity, efficiency, and security. The transmission bandwidth of a single fiber is quite high. Cost-effective systems that transport data at 10 Gbits/s (OC-192) and 40 Gbits/s (OC-768) on a single wavelength channel are presently available, and the transmission rate capability will likely continue to grow. But the total throughput theoretically realizable from a fiber is much higher, several tens of Terahertz. Dense wavelength-division multiplexing (DWDM) systems have evolved to use more of this available spectrum. In such systems, many different wavelength channels are used concurrently to transmit data-carrying signals over the same fiber. Systems using up to 160 different wavelengths that carry as much as 10 Gbit/s each and provide a total capacity of 1.6 Tbit/s in a single fiber have been developed. For fiber links requiring less capacity, a less dense architecture, called coarse wavelength-division multiplexing (CWDM), with fewer channels at more widely spaced wavelengths, may be used in similar fashion. DWDM and CWDM will be collectively referred to as wavelength-division multiplexing, or WDM.
In WDM optical networks, it is necessary to multiplex (combine) multiple independent wavelengths when transmitting, and demultiplex (separate) those wavelengths back into individual channels when receiving. Multiplexing and demultiplexing functions are performed by optical filters, typically thin-film interference filters, waveguide interferometers such as arrayed-waveguide gratings (AWG's), or fiber Bragg gratings. The nodes of an optical network typically provide both types of functions, extracting some or all of the individual wavelength channels on one or more inbound fibers, and recombining some of those wavelengths with new wavelengths carrying data from local sources into one or more outbound fibers. Optical filters that perform these and other functions are distributed abundantly throughout a WDM optical network.
Significant costs are associated with converting data from optical to electrical representation, or from electrical to optical representation. Therefore, it is usually preferred that data that is not bound to or from the local traffic of a node be passed through the node transparently, that is with no conversion or non-linear processing. Because of the transparency, a given optical signal may pass through several optical filters on its route through the network. To avoid excessive degradation of signal fidelity, the precision and stability of the optical filter bandshapes and phase responses need to be more stringently controlled in a distributed network than for direct connections.
AWG's are fabricated from integrated planar waveguides and scale elegantly to higher channel counts. Although they are the most recently developed of the commonly-applied filter architectures, AWG's are beginning to dominate applications where eight or more optical channels are being multiplexed or demultiplexed, because of their high performance and cost-effectiveness. FIG. 1 illustrates a typical arrayed waveguide grating 10 with an input waveguide 12, one or more output waveguides 14, a phased array of waveguides 16 arranged side-by-side, and a pair of focusing slab regions 18 and 19. The focusing slab region 18 couples light from the input waveguide 12 into the near end of the waveguides of the phased array 16, while the focusing slab region 19 couples the light emerging at the far end of the waveguides of the phased array 16 into the output waveguides 14. The waveguides of the phased array 16 have different lengths, with a constant optical path-length difference ΔLop between neighboring waveguides.
When monochromatic light illuminates the input waveguide 12, the slab 18 spreads the energy of the light into the near ends of the waveguides 16a-16n. Because of the differing optical path-lengths of the waveguides 16a-16n, the light emerging at the far ends of the waveguides 16a-16n has different phases, depending on the particular waveguide traveled by the light. After the emerging light is combined by the focusing slab region 19, the different phases interfere constructively at some point, depending on the wavelength of the light. If the point is coincident with one of the output waveguides 14, the light is coupled into this optical waveguide. Changing the wavelength of the monochromatic light changes the point of constructive interference, moving it from one output waveguide (e.g., 14a) to another (e.g., 14b).
As is known from linear system theory, a non-monochromatic WDM light signal having a spectral distribution of
      ∑    i                c      i        *          λ      i      can be treated simply as a collection of individual monochromatic signals ci*λi. Therefore, if the input waveguide 12 is illuminated with this WDM signal, each of its constituent wavelength components λi will focus at a different point and will be coupled into a different output waveguide 14. The constituent wavelength channels λi of the WDM signal are thus physically separated—i.e., demultiplexed—into different output waveguides 14. Through reciprocity principle applicable to electromagnetic fields, if a wavelength λj incident on the input waveguide 12 is channeled into an output waveguide 14j, then the same wavelength channel λj incident on the output waveguide 14j will be channeled—i.e., multiplexed—into the input waveguide 12. The arrayed waveguide grating 10 can thus be used as both a multiplexer and a demultiplexer, depending on which end is selected as the input.
Planar waveguide technology used for fabricating AWG's is an optical integration technology. As optical network nodes become more and more complex, the AWG becomes just one of multiple optical circuit elements integrated onto a chip. Examples of devices having higher scales of integration include multiplexer/demultiplexer matched pairs, add-drop multiplexers, programmable wavelength blockers, and wavelength-selective routing switches. There are of course other integrated optical circuits that may include one or more arrayed waveguide gratings.
One way of more stringently controlling the precision and stability of the optical filter bandshapes and phase responses of AWG's is to control the center wavelength of the AWG. The center wavelength λc of an AWG depends on the phase shifts through the phased waveguides of the AWG. ("Center wavelength" means the wavelength that is optimally or near optimally channeled into a particular output waveguide.) The phase shifts depend on the refractive index of the waveguides, which in turn depends on the temperature of the waveguides. For silica-based waveguides, the magnitude of the temperature coefficient of the refractive index
  (            ⅆ      n              ⅆ      T        )is of the order of 10−5/(° C.), or 10 parts per million per degree Celsius, which translates into a similar magnitude of the wavelength temperature coefficient
      (                  ⅆ        n                    ⅆ        T              )    ,and into a temperature frequency coefficient
  (            ⅆ      f              ⅆ      T        )of about 2 GHz/(° C.) at 1.5 μm wavelength. For channel spacing of about 100 GHz and less, operation of the arrayed waveguide grating over the commercial temperature range of even 60° C. is problematic. Moreover, without expensive trimming it is difficult to manufacture arrayed waveguide gratings having sufficient center wavelength accuracy for the relatively narrow channel spacing. For this reason, arrayed waveguide gratings and similar optical components are center wavelength-stabilized.
Most commonly this stabilization is accomplished by actively regulating the temperature of the optical chip. According to this method, a heating element uniformly elevates the temperature of the component to a set-point temperature. Varying the selection of the set-point temperature allows tuning of the grating to a chosen center wavelength, eliminating or decreasing the need for trimming and increasing yields.
In one variation on the basic method of thermally tuning an arrayed waveguide grating, an integrated heater is patterned to cover longer lengths of some waveguides of the phased array than of other waveguides of the array. If the shape of the heater is properly chosen, localized heating generated by the operation of the patterned heater causes an increase in the effective optical path-length differences between neighboring waveguides. In other words, it causes tilting of the waveform to increase (or decrease) by a higher factor than would have resulted from a heater uniformly distributed over the array's waveguides. Because the patterned heater affects the phased waveguides unevenly, the sensitivity of the center wavelength to temperature of the heater increases, and the tuning range of the grating increases along with it. The shifting of the center wavelength thus becomes more efficient, and less thermal energy can be applied to produce the same thermo-optic tilt of the output waveform. In this document, such patterned heaters will be referred to as "efficient patterned heaters."
Optical integrated circuits may contain arrayed waveguide gratings, waveguides, optical couplers, splitters, three dimensional optical memory devices, Bragg gratings, optical attenuators, optical splitters, optical filters, optical switches, lasers, modulators, interconnects, optical isolators, optical add-drop multiplexers (OADM), optical amplifiers, optical polarizers, optical circulators, phase shifters, optical mirrors/reflectors, optical phase-retarders, optical detectors, and other optical components. It should be understood that optical integrated circuits are not 'circuits' in the strict sense (e.g., they do not have 'ground' paths), although they are commonly called optical integrated circuits by analogy to electrical integrated circuits. As in the case of electrical (semiconductor) integrated circuits, fabrication of several optical components on a shared substrate results in several advantages, including substantial cost savings during manufacture, and smaller size of the assembly. Multi-device optical integrated circuits built with planar waveguides on common substrates are known as "planar lightwave circuits," or PLCs.
In order to fabricate an AWG directly to the 100 GHz optical frequency grid commonly used for DWDM, the accuracy of absolute index of refraction would need to be better than 10−5. This level of process control is presently difficult to achieve. As has already been discussed, actual manufacturing variations can be compensated for by adjusting the selected operating temperature for active stabilization. It is unlikely that two AWG's on the same chip would require the same stabilization temperature. Given the currently employed methods of wavelength stabilization, it is challenging to control thermally more than one grating on a given PLC.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


Biomarker proteins that can be used in the diagnosis of early-stage ovarian cancer (OC) are described. The biomarker panels not only permit the distinction of patients with ovarian neoplasia (benign or malignant) from normal subjects, but they also allow the identification of patients with early-stage (stage I/II) ovarian cancer from those patients with benign ovarian tumors or normal individuals. The invention additionally provides methods for detecting and treating various cancers, including cancer of the ovary using OC-related molecules.

Of the gynecologic malignancies, ovarian cancer has the highest mortality rate. Ovarian cancer often eludes the clinician because of the lack of early symptoms and signs. Hence, ovarian cancer tends to present at a late clinical stage in >85% of patients and is often followed by the emergence and outgrowth of chemotherapy-resistant disease in these patients after conventional primary cytoreductive surgery and induction chemotherapy. The American Cancer Society reported that >23,000 women were diagnosed with ovarian cancer in the United States in 2002, and 60% of those diagnosed, ≈14,000, are projected to die of their disease. More women die from ovarian cancer than from all other gynecologic malignancies combined. However, the 5-year survival rate for patients diagnosed with early-stage disease is often >90%, but it is <20% for advanced-stage disease, underscoring the importance of early detection.
The diagnostic and prognostic tumor biomarkers in use today are not adequate in distinguishing benign from malignant ovarian neoplasia and cannot differentiate among the various histological and clinically aggressive forms of ovarian cancer. The most commonly used biomarker for clinical screening and prognosis in patients with ovarian cancer is ovarian cancer antigen 125 (CA125). Serum CA125 levels are elevated in ≈80% of patients with advanced-stage epithelial ovarian cancer but are increased in only 50-60% of patients with early-stage disease. Serum CA125 levels may be falsely elevated in women with any i.p. pathology resulting in irritation of the serosa of the peritoneum or pericardium, uterine fibroids, renal disorders, and normal menses. Moreover, serum CA125 levels do not predict the outcome of cytoreductive surgery in patients with advanced epithelial ovarian cancer.
Ciphergen Biosystems (Fremont, Calif.) has developed the ProteinChip® high-throughput protein expression technology coupled with surface-enhanced laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (SELDI-TOF-MS) to facilitate protein profiling of complex biological mixtures (U.S. Pat. No. 6,881,586, issued Apr. 19, 2005). In SELDI-TOF-MS analysis, a nitrogen laser desorbs the protein/energy-absorbing molecule mixture from the array surface, enabling the detection of the proteins captured by the array. The efficacy of the SELDI-TOF-MS technology for the discovery of cancer protein markers in serum has recently been demonstrated (Rai, A., et al., Arch Pathol. Lab. Med. 126:1518-1526, 2002; Kozak K R, et al., Proc Nad Acad Sci USA. 100(21): 12343-12348, 2003).
There remains a need for improved tools to permit the early detection and prognosis of cancer, particularly ovarian cancer. There also remains a need for targets useful in the detection and treatment of cancer.

Biomarkers for early detection of ovarian cancer

The Regents of the University of California


Disclosed herein are novel polypeptides and the nucleic acid sequences that encode them. Also disclosed are antibodies that immunospecifically bind to the polypeptide, as well as derivatives, variants, mutants, or fragments of the novel polypeptide, polynucleotide, or antibody specific to the polypeptide. Vectors, host cells, antibodies and recombinant methods for producing the polypeptides and polynucleotides, as well as methods for using same are also included. The invention further discloses therapeutic, diagnostic and research methods for diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of apoptosis associated disorders involving these novel human nucleic acids and proteins.

Programmed cell death, referred to as apoptosis, plays an indispensable role in the development and maintenance of tissue homeostasis within all multicellular organisms (Raff, Nature 356: 397-400, 1992). Genetic and molecular analysis from nematodes to humans has indicated that the apoptotic pathway of cellular suicide is highly conserved (Hengartner and Horvitz, Cell 76: 1107-1114, 1994). In addition to being essential for normal development and maintenance, apoptosis is important in the defense against viral infection and in preventing the emergence of cancer.
Considerable progress has been made in identifying molecules that regulate the apoptotic pathway at each level. Of note, both positive and negative regulators, often encoded within the same family of proteins, characterize the extracellular, cell surface and intracellular steps (Oltvai and Korsmeyer, Cell 79: 189-192, 1994).
The mitochondrion is a highly complex and compartmentalized organelle and is a prominent participant in apoptosis following a variety of death stimuli (Green and Reed, Science 281, 1309-1312, 1998; Kroemer et al., Annu. Rev. Physiol. 60, 619-642, 1998). The "multidomain" pro-apoptotic BCL-2 family members BAX and BAK prove necessary for the onset of mitochondrial dysfunction and cell death following remarkably diverse signals (Wei et al., Science 292, 727-730, 2001). Thus, mitochondria may prove an obligate organelle for apoptosis downstream of perhaps all intrinsic pathway signals. Release of cytochrome c from the intermembrane space (IMS) is a prominent facet of such intrinsic pathway deaths. Cytochrome c triggers a post mitochondrial pathway, forming an "apoptosome" of Apaf-1, cytochrome c and caspase-9 which subsequently cleaves the effector caspases-3,-7 (Li et al., Cell 91, 479-489, 1997).
The precise mechanism whereby cytochrome c is released across the outer mitochondrial membrane (OM) is less certain. Permeability transition (PT) that ultimately leads to mitochondrial swelling with secondary rupture of the OM and cytochrome c release has been noted in certain apoptotic and necrotic deaths (Lemasters et al., Biochim. Biophys. Acta 1366, 177-196, 1998). In its fully open conformation the PT pore (PTP), a high conductance inner membrane channel, is permeable to solutes up to 1500 Da (Bernardi, Physiol. Rev. 79, 1127-1155, 1999). However, openings of the PTP can also be transient and not cause swelling (Huser et al., Biophys. J. 74, 2129-2137, 1998; Petronilli et al., Biophys. J. 76, 725-734, 1999). As originally noted at the single channel level, the PTP flickers over milliseconds (msecs) between its open and closed states (Petronilli et al., FEBS Lett. 259, 137-143, 1989). Cyclosporin A (CsA) inhibits both activities of the PTP, presumably through its mitochondrial target cyclophilin D (Nicolli et al., J. Biol. Chem. 271, 2185-2192, 1996). Thus, models of cytochrome c release must also assess whether PT participates.
Defining the serial events responsible for cytochrome c release requires a distinct initiating event. The "BH3 domain-only" subset of BCL-2 members provides such a signal as they connect proximal death signals to the core apoptotic pathway at the mitochondria. The "BH3 domain-only" molecules BID, BAD, BIM, NOXA require the "multidomain" members BAX, BAK to release cytochrome c and induce cell death (Wei et al., 2001; Zong et al., Genes Dev. 15, 1481-1486,2001; Cheng et al., Mol. Cell 8,705-711,2001). For example, after CD95 (Fas) or TNFR1 engagement BID is cleaved by caspase-8 followed by N-myristoylation to induce its molecular activation (Luo et al., Cell 94, 481-490, 1998; Zha et al., Science 290, 1761-1765, 2000). Recombinant tBID (truncated p15 BID) is an ideal initiating event as it appears to function as a death ligand that induces the homo-oligomerization of BAK with subsequent release of cytochrome c from wild-type (wt) but not Bak-deficient mitochondria (Wei et al., Genes Dev. 14, 2060-2071, 2000). tBID releases cytochrome c without detectable swelling of the mitochondria (Shimizu and Tsujimoto, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 97, 577-582, 2000; Eskes et al., J. Cell Biol. 143, 217-224, 1998; Wei et al, 2000) but increases the permeability of the OM (Kluck et al., J. Cell Biol. 147, 809-822, 1999).
Any model must also account for the rapid kinetics and complete extent of cytochrome c release (Goldstein et al., Nat. Cell Biol. 2, 156-162, 2000). High-voltage electron microscopic (HVEM) tomography of mitochondria has revealed that the IMS is very narrow, as the average distance between the OM and inner boundary membranes (IM) is only ˜20 nm (Frey and Manila, Trends. Biochem. Sci. 25, 319-324, 2000) consistent with functional estimates that only 15-20% of total cytochrome c is available in the IMS (Bernardi and Azzone, J. Biol. Chem. 256, 7187-7192, 1981). The pleomorphic, tubular cristae constitute highly sequestered compartments where the majority of oxidative phosphorylation complexes (Perotti et al., J. Histochem. Cytochem. 31, 351-365, 1983) and cytochrome c are located. Cristae junctions of ˜18 nm diameter physically separate the tubular cristae compartments from the narrow IMS in normal liver mitochondria. The major stores of cytochrome c (˜85%) are sequestered within the cristae, and computer modeling of this subcompartmentalization indicates ion and ADP diffusion gradients across the cristae junctions (Mannella et al., IUBMB Life, 52(3-5):93-100, 2001). A major challenge is to explain how this compartmentalized store of cytochrome c can be released in the absence of mitochondrial swelling. Therefore, investigating whether a structural reorganization occurs during apoptosis to mobilize the cristae stores of cytochrome c for release across the OM is desirable.
Some disease conditions are affected by the development of a defective apoptotic response. For example, neoplasias may result, at least in part, from an apoptosis-resistant state in which cell proliferation signals inappropriately exceed cell death signals. Furthermore, some DNA viruses such as Epstein-Barr virus, African swine fever virus and adenovirus, parasitize the host cellular machinery to drive their own replication and at the same time modulate apoptosis to repress cell death and allow the target cell to reproduce the virus. Moreover, certain disease conditions such as lymphoproliferative conditions, cancer including drug resistant cancer, arthritis, inflammation, autoimmune diseases and the like may result from a defect in cell death regulation. In such disease conditions, it would be desirable to promote apoptotic mechanisms.
Furthermore, in certain disease conditions it would be desirable to inhibit apoptosis such as in the treatment of immunodeficiency diseases, including AIDS, senescence, neurodegenerative diseases, ischemia and reperfusion, infertility, wound-healing, and the like. In the treatment of such diseases it would be desirable to diminish or inhibit cell death agonist activity.
Since there is an unmet need in regard to apoptotic modulation, it is desirable to identify novel proteins or critical protein domains which have cell-death agonist/antagonist properties and to utilize these as a basis for treatment modalities in advantageously modulating the apoptotic process in disease conditions involving either inappropriate repression or inappropriate enhancement of cell death.

BID polypeptides and methods of inducing apoptosis


Method of manufacturing holding plate (11) including ceramic material of several chemical elements and configured for holding apparatus (10) for holding a component by electrostatic forces or vacuum, includes the steps of material removal from holding plate (11) by laser ablation, wherein by laser irradiation (1) protrusions (13) are formed on holding plate (11), end faces (13.1) of which span a carrier surface for the component, and surface modification of holding plate (11) by laser irradiation (1), wherein irradiation parameters of laser irradiation (1) are set such that at least one of the chemical elements of the ceramic material is enriched on the surface of holding plate (11). A method is also described of manufacturing holding apparatus (10) for holding a component by electrostatic forces or vacuum, holding plate (11) which is produced with the inventive method, and holding apparatus (10) with at least one holding plate (11).

The invention concerns a method of manufacturing a holding plate which is provided for a holding apparatus for holding a component by electrostatic forces or vacuum, in particular a method of manufacturing a holding plate which is adapted for holding a semiconductor component, such as for example a wafer, with electrostatic forces or by means of vacuum, and which has a structured surface with protrusions, e.g. protruding burls, formed by material removal. The invention furthermore concerns a method of manufacturing a holding apparatus which is provided with the holding plate. The invention furthermore concerns a holding plate of a ceramic material with a structured surface with protrusions, which is configured for holding a component, and a holding apparatus with such a holding plate, in particular an electrostatic clamp or a vacuum clamp. Applications of the invention lie e.g. in the manufacturing of tools, machines or wafers for the semiconductor industry.
It is generally known to produce integrated circuits (semiconductor chips) by a lithographic processing of semiconductor wafers which are held during or between individual process steps with a holding apparatus (clamp) by electrostatic forces (electrostatic clamp) or by means of vacuum (vacuum clamp). Further uses of holding apparatuses lie in inspection or measurement processes in which e.g. the planarity of a wafer is detected.
The holding apparatus comprises one or two holding plates with exposed surfaces for receiving semiconductor wafers, and electrode devices, cooling devices and where applicable further electrical, mechanical or pneumatic components. As integration density grows, extremely high requirements are imposed for the planarity of the semiconductor wafers, for example in exposure steps, which must be guaranteed by the mechanical stability and planarity of the surface(s) of the holding plate(s).
Since semiconductor wafers can be disruptively deformed simply by dust particles on the surface, it has proved advantageous to provide the holding plate with a plurality of protrusions, the free faces (end faces) of which span a flat carrier surface. The protrusions comprise e.g. so-called burls. The burls offer the advantage of minimizing the contact area between the holding plate and the semiconductor wafer, and eventually occurring dust particles can be collected in the gaps between the burls. Furthermore, it has proved advantageous in practice to manufacture the holding plate from a ceramic material, since ceramic materials are available with particularly high mechanical stability and strength.
In the manufacturing of a conventional holding apparatus, firstly the holding plate is made from the ceramic material with a free flat surface. Then the burls are formed by material removal from the ceramic material. Various removal methods are known for this, such as for example material removal methods using a CNC milling machine, or removal by means of sink erosion.
The conventional methods may have the following disadvantages, in particular on manufacturing of burls with small diameters (e.g. less than 500 μm). Machining CNC processing may result in undesirable flaking at edges of the protrusions or recesses, which can lead to a reduced abrasion resistance and the occurrence of microscopically small ceramic particles. Holding plates machined by sink erosion also have a tendency towards the undesirable creation of ceramic particles. Furthermore, damage can occur to the ceramic material on sink erosion. Observations in practice show an increased fracture susceptibility of the burls as the burl diameter decreases. The fracture susceptibility is particularly critical since, actually in a holding plate with several thousand burls, the loss of just a few burls can lead to a malfunction of the holding apparatus. In many practical applications, even a disappearing error rate is required.
A further, generally known method for structuring solid body surfaces is based on material removal by laser ablation. Under the effect of a focused laser beam, the solid body is vaporized locally to create a recess in the solid body surface. Laser ablation was initially proposed for metals and has also recently been used in machining ceramic materials (see for example DE 44 16 479 A1; J. Meijer in "Journal of Materials Processing Technology", Vol. 149, 2004, p. 2-17; S. Yeo et al. in "Journal of the Korean Physical Society", Vol. 59, 2011, p. 666-669; and A. Temmler et al. in "Physics Procedia", Vol. 12, 2011, p. 419-430).
Laser ablation of ceramic material has previously been restricted mainly to surface processing of micro-mechanical components, and in particular for creating local depressions such as for example holes or trenches in an otherwise closed surface. It is known from practice that attempts to produce burls on holding plates of ceramic material by means of laser ablation have delivered unsatisfactory results only. It has for example been found that the burls can have such a high fracture susceptibility that on normal use of the holding apparatus, they break simply under the effect of the clamping force on holding of a component.
The objective of the invention is to provide an improved method of manufacturing of a holding plate for electrostatic holding or vacuum holding of a component, with which the disadvantages of conventional methods are avoided. The objective of the invention lies in particular in producing a holding plate so that protrusions can be formed which have an increased break strength both during manufacturing of the holding plate and on use of the holding apparatus, and that protrusions can be formed with reduced lateral dimensions e.g. burls with reduced diameter, and/or that the holding plate can be manufactured with a reduced error rate. The objective of the invention is furthermore to provide an improved holding plate with projecting protrusions for electrostatic holding or vacuum holding of a component, with which the disadvantages of conventional holding plates are avoided. The holding plate is to be distinguished in particular by an increased break strength of the protrusions, and increased abrasion resistance and/or a reduced tendency towards the formation of ceramic particles.
These objectives are achieved by methods, a holding plate and a holding apparatus of the invention.

Method of manufacturing a holding plate, in particular for a clamp for holding wafers

BERLINER GLAS KGAA HERBERT KUBATZ GMBH & CO.


A terminal block connecting arrangement includes a first terminal block having a first electrical contact, an electrical device having a second electrical contact, a test terminal block arranged between the electrical apparatus and the first terminal block for displacement between a first test position spaced from the electrical apparatus and a contact position adjacent the electrical apparatus, the test terminal block having a double-ended electrical contact. A spring-biased detent device normally retains the test terminal block in the test position. As the first terminal block is progressively displaced toward the electrical device, the first contact is brought into engagement with one end of the contact on the test terminal block. Upon further displacement of the first terminal block toward the electrical device, the detent device is released, and the test terminal block is displaced to effect connection of the first contact with the second contact via the two-ended test contact.

1. Field of the Invention
A terminal block connecting arrangement includes a first terminal block having a first electrical contact, an electrical device having a second electrical contact, a test terminal block arranged between the electrical apparatus and the first terminal block for displacement between a first test position spaced from the electrical apparatus and a contact position adjacent the electrical apparatus, the test terminal block having a double-ended electrical contact. Spring-biased detent means normally retain the test terminal block in the test position. As the first terminal block is progressively displaced toward the electrical device, the first contact is brought into engagement with one end of the contact on the test terminal block. Upon further displacement of the first terminal block toward the electrical device, the biasing force of the detent device is released, and the test terminal block is displaced to effect connection of the first contact with the second contact via the two-ended test contact.
2. Description of Related Art
Various arrangements for connecting terminal blocks to control panels and the like have been proposed in the prior art, as evidenced by the U.S. patents to Ericson et al U.S. Pat. No. 4,020,301, Rei et al U.S. Pat. No. 5,295,870, and the German Patent No. 692 23 483 T2. It has been proposed to place the terminal block in an initial test position before completing the final connections between the components. These proposals have been relatively complex, and are not always reliable.
The present invention was developed to provide an improved terminal block connecting arrangement of simple structure in terms of design, and which assures in a positive manner the positioning of the components in the testing and final connecting conditions.


A vehicle headlamp includes a light source, a projection optical member, a light deflector, and a tube shaped housing. The projection optical member projects light, which is incident on the projection optical member, ahead. The light deflector includes a plurality of optical devices that are arrayed. The optical devices are individually switchable between a first state and a second state. In the first state, the optical devices reflect light emitted from the light source to a direction other than a direction towards the projection optical member. In the second state, the optical devices reflect the emitted light towards the projection optical member. The light deflector is disposed inside the housing. The projection optical member is disposed in an opening portion of the housing. A first portion, of the housing, intersecting a path of a light beam incident on the light deflector is transparent.

Field
Exemplary embodiments relate to a vehicle headlamp that employs a light deflector.
Related Art
One light deflector is provided with the large number of micro-mirror devices each of which is tiltable. Tilt angles of the micro-mirror devices are digitally switched between a first tilt angle and a second tilt angle, so that a reflection direction of light from a light source can be changed appropriately between a first reflection direction (that is, the micro-mirror devices are turned ON) and a second reflection direction (that is, the micro-mirror devices are turned OFF).
JP H09-104288 A (corresponding to U.S. Pat. No. 5,938,319) describes a vehicle lighting device including a reflective light deflector that is disposed on a light path of reflected light from at least one light source. The light deflector can reflect light that hits the light deflector so as to form light flux that are emitted from the lighting device.


Housing arrangement 8 for a drill rig, especially adapted for damping sound, said drill rig comprising a feed beam holder 3, a feed beam 4 being movably attached to the feed beam holder 3 and having a drill end 41 and a rear end 42, and a drilling machine 5 being movably attached to and movable along the feed beam 4, said housing arrangement 8 comprising a casing 7, and said feed beam 4. The invention is characterized in that the casing 7 is directly attachable to the feed beam 4, such that the casing 7 and at least a part of the feed beam 4 enclose the drilling machine 5, and allows for mutual movement between the feed beam 4 and the feed beam holder 3.

Drilling equipment of different kinds generate sound, and especially heavy drill equipment such as rock drill rigs used for surface or underground drilling.
Generally, a rock drill rig (FIG. 1) comprises a movable carrier, a boom and a feed beam connected to the boom via e.g. a feed beam holder. The feed beam and the feed beam holder are movable in relation to each other along at least part of the length of the feed beam, to enable relative movement between the feed beam and the boom. A drilling machine is movable along the feed beam, affecting the drill string to be forced into the ground. The drill string comprises the drill point (drill bit) and the joined rods.
Disturbing sound is for instance generated at the drilling machine and at the drill point. It is therefore desirable to dampen the generated sound to the surroundings. Various arrangements for screening off the sound generated at the drilling machine are known.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,667,571 discloses a multilayer housing enclosing the drilling equipment and the feed beam. The feed beam is suspended in the housing via dampening members, thereby making the positioning and the whole construction unstable and not applicable in modern drill rigs.
WO02/070856 discloses a housing of flexible sheets that encloses the drilling equipment and the feed beam. A longitudinal opening is arranged, which enables the operator to monitor the drilling process and to scarf rods to the drill string. The housing is fastened to the feed beam via bars. It is assumed that the elongated opening, to a certain degree, leaks sound to the surroundings. Furthermore, the smaller the opening is made to reduce the noise, the harder it gets for the operator to monitor and scarf (join) the rods.
JP5079271 shows another type of housing, enclosing a drill machine that is movable on a feed beam.
WO00/39412 discloses a housing arranged to the feed beam, enclosing the drilling equipment and the feed beam, and it may also enclose the feed beam holder. The housing is attached to the feed beam via brackets, and is arranged with an opening for enabling the movement between the feed beam and the boom. The opening is arranged with a so called "noise curtain" of e.g. bristles to seal the opening. Despite the noise curtain, sound is spread to the environment through the opening. Furthermore, the hatches arranged in the housing are relatively small, which makes it difficult to monitor e.g. scarfing.
A major drawback of the prior art housings is that they fail in enabling sound dampening of the sound generating parts and at the same time allow for relative movement between the feed beam and the feed beam holder.


The present invention provides a low-cost, high-bandwidth optical laser array where subsequent streams of data are injected in a serial fashion. The invention permits the creation of multiple channels of data on a single optical substrate without the use of costly multiplexer arrays to consolidate various optical signals. Further, the serial array eliminates the need for the parallel alignment of optical data sources, such as lasers, and instead allows for the serial alignment of the optical data sources, resulting in decreased footprint applications.

Increasingly, the field of photonics is helping to achieve high bandwidth communications to replace traditional electrical connections. Fiber optic communication involves the process of transporting data at high speeds by using light to transmit a signal over a glass fiber. However, as communication speeds increase, traditional single mode laser configurations have become impractical and instead, most solutions achieve high transmission rates via multiplexing.
A traditional laser generates infrared light which may then be tuned and filtered to a specific wavelength. Once this single wavelength is established, data is placed on the transmission signal and transmitted via a glass fiber. However, the amount of data that can be transmitted via a single wavelength/single mode fiber is limited. Although enormous bandwidth may be available on a single-mode optical fiber, transmission of data sufficient to occupy that bandwidth would result in a data rate far higher than what can be handled by both senders and receivers. Therefore, in an attempt to deal with this barrier and satisfy the need for transmission of high volumes of data, multiple optical laser channels are usually combined. Typically, 4-10 channels are combined to achieve a higher data rate, and although each individual channel may have a lower data rate than a single mode laser, the aggregate of the multiple data streams is well in excess of that which can be technologically achieved by a single mode signal.
In order to aggregate multiple individual laser signals, individual signals are created as in a single mode application and the multiple lasers are positioned parallel to each other. These individual light streams of varying wavelengths are then focused and passed through a multiplexer to combine the multiple wavelengths onto a single strand of fiber.
Finally, the receiving end of the signal reverses the process. A de-multiplexer separates the data stream received from the optical fiber and separates the signal into its component wavelengths. These individual data streams are then routed to photodetectors to convert the light into electrical signals which can then be used with traditional electronic components. Logic circuits on the host device are then able to process the signal just as if it had been received as a traditional electrical signal over a copper wire.


The present invention relates to a side mirror for an automobile, and more particularly, to a side mirror for an automobile in which an assembled structure is modified such that even in case of an excessive pressing the side mirror to fall in a driver's view, in comparing with pressing a mirror for adjusting to fall in a driver' view as a conventional method, the assembled state is not return to a disassembled state. In accordance with the present invention, an assembly work is easily preformed and further a assemble state is not easily return to a disassemble state by an external force.

As shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, in a conventional side mirror for an automobile, it includes an outer housing 10 the upper part and lower part of which are opened and which is provided with protruding parts for assembling 11 on both upward sides, respectively, of the inner circumferential surface thereof; an inner housing 20 which is configured to insert into the upper part of the outer housing 10, on the center of which a circular groove 21 on a center of which a shaft member 22 is formed with protruding, is formed, on both sides of the outer circumferential surface thereof a pair of semicircular grooves 23 are formed such that the protruding parts for assembling 11 of the outer housing 10 are disposed respectively thereon, and on both upward sides of the outer circumferential surface of which a pair of outer protruding parts 24 are formed outward respectively such that the upper outer circumferential surfaces thereof can not pass through the inner circumferential surface of the lower opening of the outer housing 10; a cylindrical elastic spring 30 that is to be inserted into the intermediate groove 21 of the inner housing 20; a supporting member 40 on the lower part of which a cylinder 41 is formed such that it is to be inserted into the upper part of the elastic spring 30 and the shaft member 22 of the inner housing 20 is to be inserted into the inner circumferential hole thereof, wherein on the upper part of the cylinder 41, a pair of support protruding parts 43 on upper surfaces of which a pair of support grooves 42 are formed in symmetry, are formed respectively; a stopper member 50 in a shape of a long bar on which a plurality of holes 51 into which a plurality of protruding bars 44 formed in protruding between the protruding parts 43 of the supporting member 40 are inserted, are punctured and are to be seated within the rotation preventing strut 25 formed on the outer side of the circular groove 21 of the inner housing 20; and a glass holder plate 60 on the lower surface of which a seat protruding part 61 that is seated in the support groove 42 of the support member 40 is formed downward with protruding and on which a seat supporting shaft 62 that protrudes from the both sides thereof in symmetry and is to be received in the lower circumferential surface of the protruding part for assembling 11 of the outerhousing 10 and seated therein, is formed.
Referring to assembling the side mirror for an automobile as configured in a aforementioned manner, first, the inner housing 20 is inserted through the upper opening of the outer housing 10, the elastic spring 30 is seated in the circular groove 21 of the inner housing 20, the cylinder 41 formed on the lower part of the support member 40 is inserted through the upper part of the elastic spring 30 such that the shaft member 22 is inserted into the inside groove of the cylinder 41, the pair of the protruding bars 44 of the support member 40 are inserted into the holes 51, respectively, of the stopper member 50 and pair of the seat protruding parts 61 of the glass holder plate 60 are seated in the support grooves 42, respectively, of the support protruding part 43 of the support member 40.
Under this state, the upper surface of the glass holder plate 60 is pushed to press the elastic spring 30 and the pair of the seat support shafts 62 formed on both ends of the glass holder plate 60 are seated respectively into the lower circular part of the protruding parts 11 of the outer housing 10.
In the case the side mirror for an automobile is assembled in an aforementioned manner, a driver adjusts manually a side mirror to fall in his sight and at this time, he pushes the glass holder plate 60 attached to the rear surface of the mirror for this purpose.

Assembly structure of side mirror for automobile


A method, computer system, and a computer program product for processing a set of data objects of one or more users stored in a computer system is provided. The present invention may include providing data object properties and user properties of the set of data objects. The present invention may include determining a combined property of the data object properties and user properties. The present invention may include determining time dependent properties and at least two metrics, wherein a first metric indicates the deletability of a cluster and a second metric indicates the quality of the cluster, and wherein the first metric is determined using time dependent properties of the cluster. The present invention may include inputting the set of combined properties to a clustering algorithm and using the clustering algorithm to cluster the data objects to identify a best deletable cluster to determine if a data object is deletable.

The present invention relates to the field of digital computer systems, and more specifically, to a method of processing a set of data objects of one or more users.
Companies accumulate enormous amounts of data objects. Disposing of those objects which are no longer relevant for business, legal, or any other important purposes in a justified, explainable way is desirable. Alternatively, data objects for a local usage community, such as certain legal documents, may be preserved. The majority of commonly accessible documents in today's enterprises are subject to a more or less rigid top-down retention scheme, such as the execution, control, and evaluation of which typically requires significant human and infrastructure resources.

Method to estimate the deletability of data objects

International Business Machines Corporation


A chemical vapor deposition apparatus comprising a hot wall reaction tube, one or more reaction gas preheaters, a reaction gas exhaust outlet, and substantially eddy free reaction gas flow control means for passing reaction gases in a substantially laminar flow from a preheater to the exhaust outlet. The gas flow control means includes a tube flange positioned to be in a substantially eddy free relationship with the end of the wafer boat zone, the flange having a curved surface means extending from the end of the wafer boat zone to the outer tube for directing the reaction gas flow out of or into the reaction zone while maintaining the gas in a state of substantially laminar flow. One reaction gas preheater comprises a first heating tube having a removable baffle. A second reaction gas preheater comprises a two wall cylindrical heater with inner surface deformations. The two wall cylindrical heater and the heating tube each can have a plurality of gas injector ports with central axes positioned to cause immediate mixing of gases injected therefrom. An alternate reaction gas preheater comprises the passageway formed by concentric vacuum and reaction chamber tubes.

Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD) is the process of depositing a solid material from a gaseous phase onto a substrate by means of a chemical reaction. The deposition reaction involved is generally thermal decomposition, chemical oxidation, or chemical reduction.
The apparatus of this invention is a CVD apparatus primarily useful for coating semiconductor wafers in the manufacture of solid state electronic devices and energy conversion devices.
With the continuing reduction in integrated circuit component size and multiplication in the number of components per chip, particle contamination and resulting device defects have become an increasingly serious problem. Vertical and horizontal tube reactors use wafer boat assemblies which can be loaded by robot in a dust-free environment, reducing environmental particle contamination. However, these reactors produce contaminating particles in the coating process.
The CVD deposition process, itself, is a major source of particles which can contaminate wafer surfaces, create defects, and lower production yields of advanced devices. In reactions exemplified by the chemical vapor deposition of silicon nitride, for example, dichlorosilane and ammonia are heated to form a reactive mixture which coats the wafer surface with silicon nitride. Dichlorosilane and ammonia begin to react and form particles as soon as the mixed gases reach a threshold reaction temperature, and particulate contamination is unavoidable with the reactors available prior to this invention. In pyrolytic reactions such as the deposition of polysilicon from gaseous silanes, for example, particulate formation and contamination of wafer surfaces has also proven to be a major problem. Overheating the reactants away from the wafer surface and the presence of zones of recirculation or stagnation in the reaction vessel both contribute to particle formation. Formation of particles which can foul the semiconductor products is also a problem in other types of low pressure reactions.
The improved CVD apparatus and process of this invention greatly reduce particle formation and particulate contamination of wafer surfaces.

Primary flow CVD apparatus comprising gas preheater and means for substantially eddy-free gas flow