The present invention is related to the fields of molecular biology, virology, immunology and medicine. The invention provides a composition comprising an ordered and repetitive antigen or antigenic determinant array, and in particular an array comprising a protein or peptide of IL-5, IL-13 or eotaxin. More specifically, the invention provides a composition comprising a virus-like particle and at least one protein, or peptide of IL-5, IL-13 and/or eotaxin bound thereto. The invention also provides a process for producing the conjugates and the ordered and repetitive arrays, respectively. The compositions of the invention are useful in the production of vaccines for the treatment of allergic diseases with an eosinophilic component and as a pharmaccine to prevent or cure allergic diseases with an eosinophilic component and to efficiently induce immune responses, in particular antibody responses. Furthermore, the compositions of the invention are particularly useful to efficiently induce self-specific immune responses within the indicated context.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is related to the fields of molecular biology, virology, immunology and medicine. The invention provides a composition comprising an ordered and repetitive antigen or antigenic determinant array, and in particular an array comprising a protein or peptide of IL-5, IL-13 or eotaxin. More specifically, the invention provides a composition comprising a virus-like particle and at least one protein, or peptide of IL-5, IL-13 and/or eotaxin bound thereto. The invention also provides a process for producing the conjugates and the ordered and repetitive arrays, respectively. The compositions of the invention are useful in the production of vaccines for the treatment of allergic diseases with an eosinophilic component and as a pharmaccine to prevent or cure allergic diseases with an eosinophilic component and to efficiently induce immune responses, in particular antibody responses. Furthermore, the compositions of the invention are particularly useful to efficiently induce self-specific immune responses within the indicated context.
2. Related Art
A number of allergic diseases including asthma, nasal rhinitis, nasal polyps, eosinophilic syndromes and atopic dermatitis have prominent inflammatory components characterized by pronounced eosinophilic infiltration.
The most medically important group of these diseases, atopic asthma is recognized as a chronic inflammatory disease of the airways that is clinically characterized by episodic airflow obstruction, inflammation of the airways, and enhanced bronchial reactivity to nonspecific allergens. The degree of obstruction of the airways and hyperreactivity often correlates with the level of airway inflammation. These clinical features are indicative of asthma severity (Kay, A. B., J Allergy Clin Immunol, 1991, 87:893; De Monchy, J. G. et al., Am Rev Respir Dis, 1985, 131:373; Beasley, R. et al., Am Rev Respir Dis, 1989, 139:806; Azzawi, M. et al., Am Rev Respir Dis, 1990, 142:1407; Ohashi, Y. et al., Am Rev Respir Dis, 1992, 145:1469; Nakajima, H. et al., Am Rev Respir Dis, 1992, 146:374; Broide, D. H. et al., J Allergy Clin Immunol, 1991, 88:637; Warlaw, A. J. et al., Am Rev Respir Dis, 1988, 137:62). Cellular infiltration correlates with disease progression and indicates inflammation of the airways that is a major contributing factor to pathogenesis and pathobiology. The inflammatory infiltrate in asthma is complex; however, it is now widely recognized that CD4+ Th lymphocytes with a Th2 profile (Th2 cells) of cytokine expression play a pivotal role in the clinical expression and pathogenesis of this disorder (Robinson, D. S. et al., J Allergy Clin Immunol, 1993, 92:397; Walker, C. et al., J Allergy Clin Immunol, 1991, 88:935). Th2 cells regulate disease progression and airways hyperresponsiveness (AHR) by orchestrating allergic inflammation of the airways through the release of a range of cytokines such as IL-4, -5, -9, -10, -13 (Robinson, D. S. et al., N Eng J Med, 1992, 326:298; Robinson, D. S. et al., J Allergy Clin Immunol, 1993, 92:313; Walker, C. et al., Am Rev Respir Dis, 1992, 146:109; Drazen, J. M. et al., J Exp Med, 1996, 183:1). Like Th2 cells, the levels of eosinophils and their inflammatory products in the lung correlate with disease severity, and accumulation of this leukocyte in the airways is a central feature of bronchial dysfunction during the late-phase asthmatic response (Bousquet, J. et al., N Eng J Med, 1990, 323:1033). Although Th2 cells orchestrate many facets of the allergic response, their role in regulating eosinophilia through the secretion of IL-5 is thought to be a major proinflammatory pathway in asthma.
Interleukin-5 (IL-5) is a proinflammatory cytokine expressed at high levels in asthmatics. Moreover, IL-5 is a cytokine primarily involved in the pathogenesis of atopic diseases. It specifically controls the production, activation and localization of eosinophils, the major cause of tissue damage in atopic diseases. Furthermore, IL-5 is an inducible T-cell derived cytokine with remarkable specificity for the eosinophil lineage. IL-5 is controlled at the level of transcription and regulation of the gene represents a promising target for therapy of eosinophil-dependent allergic disorders such as asthma, eczema and rhinitis.
There is a large body of evidence that eosinophils are a key component of the allergic response in asthma. IL-5 is uniquely involved in the production of eosinophils, and with a variety of other cytokines such as IL-13, chemokines such as Eotaxin and other factors controls their activation, localization and survival. Thus, IL-5 has become an important drug target for new anti-asthmatics (Foster, P. S. et al., Pharmacol Ther, 2002, 94(3):253; Foster, P. S. et al., Trends Mol Med, 2002, 8(4): 162).
There is 71% homology between human and murine proteins (Cytokine hand book). IL-5 exhibits no significant amino acid sequence homology with other cytokines, except for short stretches in the murine interleukin-3, murine GM-CSF, and murine interferon-γ proteins. The predicted molecular mass of both the human and mouse protein sequences are 13.1 kDa. Biologically active IL-5 is a disulfide-linked homodimer that is covalently linked by highly conserved cysteine residues (44-86′ and 86-44′) that orient the monomers in a head to tail configuration (Takahashi T. et al Mol. Immunol. 27:911–920 1990). Although wild-type monomeric IL-5 is biologically inactive a functional IL-5 monomer has been engineered by insertional mutagenesis (Dickason R R, et al J. Mol. Med 74: 535–46 1996) Analysis of the crystal structure of human IL-5 demonstrated a novel two-domain configuration with each domain requiring the participation of two chains, with a high degree of similarity to the cytokine fold found in GM-CSF, interleukin-3, and interleukin-4 (Milburn M. V et al Nature 363: 172–176). The C-terminal region of IL-5 appears to be important for binding to the IL-5 receptor and for biological activity (Proudfoot et al J. Protein Chem. 15(5):491–9.1996). Binding of IL-5 to its receptor is thought occur in regions overlapping helices A and D where helix A is principally involved in binding the α-subunit of the receptor (Graber P. et al J. Biol Chem 270: 15762–15769 1995). Native human IL-5 has 2 potential glycosylation sites and mouse IL-5three. Human IL-5 is both N-glycosylated and O-glycosylated at Thr 3. Recombinant IL-5 expressed in eukaryotic systems exhibits a broad range of molecular masses from 45–60 kDa due to differential glycosylation. Deglycosylated IL-5 and IL-5 expressed in prokarytocic cells retain full biologic activity (Tominaga A. et al J. Immunol 144: 1345–1352, 1990).
The routes to drug discovery are typically based on screens for inhibitors of IL-5 production, ligand antagonists, control of receptor expression and receptor activation. In particular, inhibition of the action of IL-5 might provide a way of treatment against asthma and other diseases associated with eosinophils. Immunotherapy represents another and very attractive approach to controlling IL-5 levels and disease conditions associated with eosinophilia such as asthma.
Currently, the commonest treatment for prevention of the symptoms of asthma is the use of inhaled corticosteroids. Generally the use of these agents is fairly safe and cheap. However they function by inducing a general immunosuppressive effect and there are adverse side effects associated with their long term use including high blood pressure, osteoporosis and development of cataracts. Corticosteroids must be taken everyday and hence patient compliance is another issue in the successful use of these medicines. Furthermore there are asthmatic patients refractory to the use of corticosteroids necessitating the use of alternative therapies. Selective targeting of eosinophils using immunotherapeutic agents directed against IL-5 may overcome the adverse effects of using general immunosuppressive agents with pleiotropic actions.
Possible future treatment of diseases such as asthma may include passive immunization and, thus, the use of monoclonal antibodies specific for IL-5. Clinical trials with humanized monoclonal antibodies against IL-5 aimed at reducing eosinophilia in asthmatic patients are ongoing. In particular, clinical trials using SCH55700 (eslizumab, Schering Plough) which is a humanized monoclonal antibody with activity against IL-5 from various species [Egan, R. W. et al., Arzneimittel-Forschung, 1999, 49:779] and SB240563 (mepolizumab, Glaxo Smith Kline) which is a humanized antibody with specificity for human and primate interleukin-5 [Hart, T. K. et al., Am J Respir Crit Care Med, 1998, 157:A744; Zia-Amirhosseini, P. et al., J Pharmacol Exp Ther, 1999, 291:1060] have been reported. Both monoclonal antibodies demonstrated acceptable safety profiles in phase 1 trials and led to reduction of eosinophil numbers but no reduction in airway hypereactivity was, observed. The deleterious action that eosinophils exert on the airways of asthmatics is thought to be a chronic phenomena involving tissue re-modeling. Studies designed to test efficacy of anti IL-5 therapy in this context need to be assessed and are in development.
The treatment with mAbs, however, entails several disadvantages. Monoclonal antibodies are expensive therapeutic agents which must be taken monthly or bimonthly. The issue of patient non-compliance resulting form repeated medical visits for administration of the injected drug is an important problem. Furthermore, allotype variation between the patient and therapeutic antibody may lead to the monoclonal antibody therapy eventually becoming ineffective. The high dose of mAb and the possibility of immune complex formation may also reduce the efficacy of passive immunisation. An active vaccination strategy limits these complications.
Another approach to provide therapeutic agents for chronic asthma or other disease states with demonstrated eosinophilia or other conditions associated with IL-5 has been described in WO 97/45448. Therein, the use of "modified and variant forms of IL5 molecules capable of antagonising the activity of IL5" in ameliorating, abating or otherwise reducing the aberrant effects caused by native or mutant forms of IL5 has been proposed. The antagonizing effect is reported to be the result of the variant forms of IL5 binding to the low affinity a chain of IL5R but not to the high affinity receptors. By this way of action the variants compete with IL5 for binding to its receptors without exerting the physiological effects of IL5.
Eotaxin is a chemokine specific for Chemokine receptor 3, present on eosinophils, basophils and Th2 cells. However, Eotaxin has high specificity for eosinophils (Zimmerman et al., J. Immunol. 165: 5839–46 (2000)). Eosinophil migration is reduced by 70% in eotaxin-1 knock-out mice, which however can still develop eosinophilia (Rothenberg et al., J. Exp. Med. 185: 785–90 (1997)). IL-5 seems to be responsible for the migration of eosinophils from bone-marrow to blood, and eotaxin for the local migration in the tissue (Humbles et al., J. Exp. Med. 186: 601–12 (1997). Thus targeting eotaxin in addition to IL-5 may enhance immunotherapies directed towards lowering eosinophilia.
The human genome contains 3 eotaxin genes, eotaxin1–3 which share 30% homology. To date 2 genes are known in the mouse: eotaxin 1 and eotaxin 2 (Zimmerman et al., J. Immunol. 165: 5839–46 (2000)). They share 38% homology. Murine eotaxin-2 shares 59% homology with human eotaxin-2. In the mouse, eotaxin-1 seems to be ubiquitously expressed in the gastro-intestinal tract, while eotaxin-2 seems to be predominantly expressed in the jejunum (Zimmerman et al., J. Immunol. 165: 5839–46 (2000)). Eotaxin-1 is present in broncho-alveolar fluid (Teixeira et al., J. Clin. Invest. 100: 1657–66 (1997)). The sequence of human eotaxin-1 is shown in SEQ ID No.: 242 (aa 1–23 corresponds to the signal peptide), the sequence of human eotaxin-2 is shown in SEQ ID No.: 243 (aa 1–26 corresponds to the signal peptide), the sequence of human eotaxin-3 is shown in SEQ ID No.: 244 (aa 1–23 corresponds to the signal peptide), the sequence of mouse eotaxin-1 is shown in SEQ ID No.: 245 (aa 1–23 corresponds to the signal peptide), and the sequence of mouse eotaxin-2 is shown in SEQ ID No.: 246 (aa 1–23 corresponds to the signal peptide).
The monomer of eotaxin has a mass of 8.3 kDa and is in equilibrium with dimeric eotaxin over a wide range of conditions. The estimated Kd is 1.3 mM at 37° C. however the monomer is the predominant form (Crump et al., J. Biol. Chem. 273: 22471–9 (1998). The structure of Eotaxin has been elucidated by NMR spectroscopy. The binding site to its receptor CCR3, is at the N-terminus and the region preceding the first cysteine is crucial (Crump et al., J. Biol. Chem. 273: 22471–9 1998). Peptides derived from chemokine receptors bound to Eotaxin confirmed this finding. Eotaxin has four cysteines forming two disulfidebridges and can be chemically synthesized (Clark-Lewis et al., Biochemistry 30:3128–3135 1991). Eotaxin 1 is variably O-glcosylated on Thr 71(Noso, N. et al Eur J. Biochem. 253: 114–122). Expression of Eotaxin 1 in E. coli cytosol has also been described (Crump et al., J. Biol. Chem. 273: 22471–9 (1998)). Expression in E. coli as inclusion bodies with subsequent refolding (Mayer et al., Biochemistry 39: 8382–95 (2000)), and Insect cell expression (Forssmann et al., J. Exp. Med. 185: 2171–6 (1997)) have been reported for Eotaxin-2.
Interleukin 13 (IL-13) is secreted as a biologically active monomeric Th2 cytokine. The mature form of IL-13 comprises 112 amino acids in humans and 111 amino acids in mice. The calculated molecular mass of the protein is approximately 12.4 kDa. IL-13 can be N-linked glycosylated (Fitzgerald K. A. et al The Cytokines Fact Book 2nd edition Academic Press) IL-13 is produced by Th2 cells, mast cells, basophils and natural killer cells (Brombacher F, 2000 Bioessays July; 22(7):646–56). The functional IL-13 receptor is a heterodimer composed of the Interleukin 4 receptor α chain (IL-4R α chain) and one of the two IL-13 receptor α binding proteins (Brombacher F, 2000 Bioessays July; 22(7):646–56).
IL 13 plays a significant role in the pathology of asthma. It has been shown that IL 13 is involved in the central features of this disease. It has direct effects on allergen-induced airway hyperresponsiveness (AHR) and mucus production and has an involvement in eosinophilia (Kupenman D. A. 2002 Nature Medicine epub ahead of print). Selective neutralization of IL-13 in mice significantly attenuated the asthma phenotype. Furthermore, administration of IL-13 conferred an asthma-like phenotype to nonsensitized T-cell deficient or naive mice, respectively (Grünig G. et al., 1998 Science, 282(5397): 2261–3, Wills-Karp, M. et al, 1998 Science 282(5397): 2258–61). Mice with a targeted deletion of IL-13 failed to develop allergen-induced AHR and showed a marked decrease in mucus production (Walter, D. M. et al, 2001 J Immunol 167(8): 4668–75). Since IL-13 also influences eosinophilia in the murine asthma model (Grünig G. et al., 1998 Science, 282(5397): 2261–3), it possible IL-13 is involved in many more allergic diseases associated with eosinophilia and neutralizing its activity may offers a promising treatment for patients.
Additionally, upregulation of IL-13 and IL-13 receptor has been found in many tumor types (e.g. in all Hodgkin lymphoma disease cell lines examined to date). Thus immunization against IL-13 may provide a way of curing tumor patients overexpressing IL-13.
One way to improve the efficiency of vaccination is to increase the degree of repetitiveness of the antigen applied. Unlike isolated proteins, viruses induce prompt and efficient immune responses in the absence of any adjuvants both with and without T-cell help (Bachmann and Zinkernagel, Ann. Rev. Immunol: 15:235–270 (1991)). Although viruses often consist of few proteins, they are able to trigger much stronger immune responses than their isolated components. For B-cell responses, it is known that one crucial factor for the immunogenicity of viruses is the repetitiveness and order of surface epitopes. Many viruses exhibit a quasi-crystalline surface that displays a regular array of epitopes which efficiently crosslinks epitope-specific immunoglobulins on B cells (Bachmann and Zinkernagel, Immunol. Today 17:553–558 (1996)). This crosslinking of surface immunoglobulins on B cells is a strong activation signal that directly induces cell-cycle progression and the production of IgM antibodies. Further, such triggered B cells are able to activate T helper cells, which in turn induce a switch from IgM to IgG antibody production in B cells and the generation of long-lived B cell memory—the goal of any vaccination (Bachmann and Zinkernagel, Ann. Rev. Immunol. 15:235–270 (1997)). Viral structure is even linked to the generation of anti-antibodies in autoimmune disease and as a part of the natural response to pathogens (see Fehr, T., et al., J Exp. Med. 185:1785–1792 (1997)). Thus, antibodies presented by a highly organized viral surface are able to induce strong anti-antibody responses.
As indicated, however, the immune system usually fails to produce antibodies against self-derived structures. For soluble antigens present at low concentrations, this is due to tolerance at the Th cell level. Under these conditions, coupling the self-antigen to a carrier that can deliver T help may break tolerance. For soluble proteins present at high concentrations or membrane proteins at low concentration, B and Th cells may be tolerant. However, B cell tolerance may be reversible (anergy) and can be broken by administration of the antigen in a highly organized fashion coupled to a foreign carrier (Bachmann and Zinkernagel, Ann. Rev. Immunol. 15:235–270 (1997)).

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Antigen arrays for treatment of allergic eosinophilic diseases


The present disclosure involves systems, software, and computer implemented methods for improved design and implementation of data access metrics for automated physical database design. An example method includes identifying a database workload for which index advisor access counters are to be tracked. Each SQL statement in the database workload is executed. For each SQL statement, attribute sets are determined for which a selection predicate filters a result for an SQL statement. An output cardinality of each selection predicate is determined. A logarithmic counter for an attribute set corresponding to the selection predicate is determined based on the output cardinality of the selection predicate. The determined logarithmic counter is incremented. Respective values for logarithmic counters of the determined attributes are provided to an index advisor. The index advisor determines attribute sets for which to propose an index based on the logarithmic counters of the respective attribute sets.

A database system can be tuned using a number of configurable parameters. A database system can be tuned to adjust the database system to meet one or more particular requirements, desires, or goals of the customer using the database system. For example, a first customer may wish to have a first database system tuned to prioritize throughput and/or latency. As another example, a second customer may wish to have a second database system tuned to prioritize reduction of memory consumption. As yet another example, a third customer may wish to have a third database system tuned so as to reduce overall cost of ownership.

Implementation of data access metrics for automated physical database design


According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided apparatus for accessing a remote source device, comprising a network interface for receiving a media stream from a remote media encoding device, the remote media encoding device generating the media stream from media signals generated by the remote source device, a media decoder for decoding the received media stream, and a user input device for generating signals in response to actuation of the use input device and for transmitting the generated signals to the media encoding device for delivery to the remote source device.

Ever since the introduction of computing devices computing power has been increasing at a phenomenal rate. At the same time the complexity of computing devices, and the computer programs and applications running on computing devices, has also increased at an equally impressive rate.
A result of this seemingly endless progression is that the lifespan of a typically computer system may typically be no more than five years. One of the reasons for this is that, as the whole computer industry moves forward, computer hardware is becoming increasingly powerful and software developers are continually aiming to exploit the latest hardware with increasingly sophisticated computer software such as computer operating systems, computer applications, computer games, and the like. A result of this is that older computer software quickly becomes obsolete and unsupported, whereas newer computer software is unlikely to run satisfactorily, if at all, on older computer hardware. One consequence of this is that consumers are almost obliged to upgrade both their computer hardware and software systems on a regular basis.
Another downside of this constant evolution is that computer systems are generally becoming increasingly complex, and many users are struggling to understand how to operate their own personal computer systems.
Take, for example, an activity which is often taken for granted, such as browsing the Internet through an Internet browser.
Browsing the Internet involves a large number of separate components and considerations. For example, a user needs, amongst other things, a suitable computing device which has a visual display device, audio output capabilities, a user input device, adequate processing resources including a suitable microprocessor and adequate memory, network connectivity, a suitable operating system, and a suitable Internet browser application. If the device is going to be connected to the Internet the device may also require anti-virus software to prevent malicious programs being executed on the device and a firewall, to prevent unauthorized access to the device whilst connected to the Internet.
Typical Internet browsers are capable of viewing information content written in either hypertext mark-up language (HTML) or extensible mark-up language (xML)—the two main content formats designed for and by the Internet community. However in addition to HTML and xML there exists a proliferation of different, often proprietary, multimedia formats which are often used by web designers when designing web pages. Such formats include Shockwave, Macromedia Flash, MP3 audio, DivX video, Quicktime, Adobe Personal Document Format (PDF), Java, and so on. Since these formats are typically proprietary, and are generally not developed by the same companies which provide Internet browsers, they are not provided for in Internet browsers. Hence, in order to view a web page using one of these formats the consumer is required to find, download and install the specific proprietary applications (or plug-in) to enable the content to be viewed. The installation of such additional applications brings with it additional concerns, such as increased storage and memory requirements, additional processing requirements, compatibility issues with existing applications and hardware.
In addition to device related requirements, the installation of such applications is generally governed by a license agreement which the consumer has to read and agree to prior to installing the application. In some circumstances the consumer may be unwilling to accept the terms of the license agreement, and is thus unable to install the application, and hence is unable to view content provided for in that particular format.
Furthermore, due to the complex security and interoperability requirements, such devices typically require a degree of configuration and maintenance to be performed by the consumer, which in turn requires that the consumer has a reasonable degree of expertise regarding the device.
Still further, as consumer computing equipment becomes out-of-date consumers are required to regularly upgrade their existing computing equipment with evermore powerful and complex equipment.
The current situation is thus particularly confusing and inconvenient to many people, especially the majority of the general public who have little or no information technology skills.
What is required is a way to provide users with access to computing systems in a simple manner.
Accordingly, one aim of the present invention is to overcome, or at least to alleviate, at least some of the above-mentioned problems.

Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.


In one embodiment, a method includes receiving, at a filter comprising a Miller amplifier, a differential data signal output by a limiting amplifier (LA), the data signal comprising an output direct current (DC) offset resulting at least in part from a threshold-adjustment signal applied to the LA or an intrinsic DC offset caused by physical characteristics of the LA. In one embodiment, the method additionally includes generating a compensation signal based on the threshold-adjustment signal, a polarity of the compensation signal being opposite a polarity of the threshold-adjustment signal or the DC offset, a magnitude of the compensation signal being a function of the magnitude of the threshold-adjustment signal. In one embodiment, the method further includes introducing the compensation signal to an internal node of the Miller amplifier to compensate for the DC offset to keep one or more amplifier stages of the Miller amplifier in their linear operating regions.

In an integrated limiting amplifier (LA), a large resistance/capacitance (RC) low-pass filter is typically utilized to sense and extract the LA's direct current (DC) offset. The DC offset may have one or more contributions including an intrinsic DC offset that arises due to mismatches in the dimensions or doping characteristics of the LA's constituent transistors, among other possibilities. The output of the filter—the DC offset—is fed back to the LA's input stage in negative feedback to cancel or compensate for the DC offset. Typically, industry specifications dictate that the time constant of the filter be very large (e.g., in the tens of kilohertz (kHz)) such that the low-frequency cutoff of the LA is sufficiently low so that the LA can tolerate long strings of consecutive identical digits (CIDs) without introducing baseline wander (also referred to as "DC drift") into the LA output signal. Consequently, the filter capacitance (C) must be large, often in the microfarad range. Achieving such a large capacitance on-chip would require a very large chip (e.g., silicon chip) area. Such a required area is expensive and often unfeasible.
Thus, to produce the large required capacitance in a smaller and achievable silicon chip area, the filter's capacitor is often enclosed in a negative feedback loop to increase the effective capacitance of the filter, a well-known technique referred to as the Miller effect. The feedback loop, also referred to as the "Miller loop," generally comprises one or more voltage amplifiers (referred to collectively as the "Miller amplifier"). Specifically, using the Miller amplifier, the capacitance of the filter may be increased by a factor of 1+AV, where AV is the total voltage gain of the Miller amplifier. The amplifiers of the Miller loop (i.e., the Miller amplifier) should remain in their linear operating regions in order to realize the desired capacitance amplification. If the amplifiers become non-linear, the gain AV decreases, and consequently so too does the amplified capacitance of the filter.

Maintaining loop linearity in presence of threshold adjustment


An automotive embedded permanent magnet rotary electric machine can suppress increases in torque ripples and cogging torque, reduce core loss near a stator, and increase magnetic torque and reluctance torque. In the automotive embedded permanent magnet rotary electric machine, a first permanent magnet and a second permanent magnet that constitute a magnetic pole are embedded so as to line up in a main direction of rotation of magnetic poles of a rotor core and are embedded so as to be radially outwardly convex in a region that extends from a leading end portion to a trailing end portion in the main direction of rotation of the magnetic poles, and the first permanent magnet is formed into an integrated body that extends from the leading end portion in the main direction of rotation of the magnetic poles beyond a pole center toward a trailing side.

Conventional embedded permanent magnet rotary electric machines include a rotor that has; a rotor yoke that is formed by laminating electromagnetic steel plates, and in which pairs of magnet insertion apertures are formed at a uniform angular pitch circumferentially so as to correspond to a number of poles; and permanent magnets that are inserted into the respective pairs of magnet insertion apertures (see Patent Literature 1, for example). In conventional embedded permanent magnet rotary electric machines, permanent magnets that have like magnetic poles are inserted into pairs of magnet insertion apertures, and permanent magnets that have different magnetic poles are inserted into adjacent pairs of magnet insertion apertures. In addition, grooves that partition the permanent magnets that have different magnetic poles are formed on the electromagnetic steel plates that constitute the rotor yoke.

Automotive embedded permanent magnet rotary electric machine


A cleaner having a brush includes a suction motor mounted in a main body, and generating a suction force; a filter for collecting dust or filth sucked by the suction force generated at the suction motor; a suction head connected with the filter by a suction pipe, and having an inlet through which dust and filth on a floor are sucked; and a brush rotatably mounted at an inside of the suction head. The inlet is partitioned off into a first section and a second section by a belt cover for protecting a belt winding around the brush, and a flow passage unit is formed at the brush so that air can flow between the first and second sections. Accordingly, air can flow smoothly at a portion, which is blocked by the belt cover, and thus cleaning performance can be improved.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a cleaner having a brush, and more particularly, to a cleaner capable of improving cleaning performance by smoothing a flow of air at a portion with a relatively weak suction force.
2. Description of the Background Art
FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an upright cleaner according to a conventional art, and FIG. 2 is a cross sectional view of an upright cleaner according to a conventional art.
The conventional upright cleaner includes a main body 102 disposed in a state of standing uprightly; a suction motor 104 mounted in the main body 102, and generating a suction force; a filter 106 disposed at a suction side of the suction motor 104, and collecting dust and filth sucked by the suction force generated at the suction motor 104; a filter container 108 in which the filter 106 is mounted; a suction head 110 disposed at a lower portion of the main body 102, and sucking dust and filth on a floor; and a brush 112 rotatably installed at the suction head 110, and cleaning a carpet.
A handle 114 is mounted at an upper portion of the main body 102, and a wheel for moving 118 is installed at a lower portion of the suction head 110.
In the suction head 110, a brush 112 rotatably mounted at its inside, an inlet 120 through which dust and filth on the floor are sucked, is formed at its lower portion, and a suction pipe 122 for guiding dust and filth sucked through the inlet 120 to the filter 106, is connected to its one side.
As shown in FIG. 3, both ends of the brush 112 are rotatably supported by the inside of the suction head 110 respectively, and the brush 112 is rotated by receiving a rotating force of the suction motor 104. That is, a driven pulley 130 is formed at one side of the brush 112, and a driving pulley 132 is mounted at a rotation shaft 126 of the suction motor 104. The driving pulley 132 and the driven pulley 130 are connected to each other by a belt 134, and thus the brush 112 is rotated when the suction motor 104 is driven. And, a belt cover 140 for protecting the belt 132 is mounted at the suction head 110.
In the conventional upright type cleaner constructed as above, when the suction motor 104 is driven and thus a suction force is generated, dust and filth on a floor are sucked into the suction head 110 through the inlet 120, and the dust and filth flowed into the suction head are collected at the filter 106 along the suction pipe 112.
When the rotation shaft 126 of the driving motor 104 rotates, a driving pulley 132 is rotated, and thus the driven pulley 130 connected with the driving pulley 132 by the belt 134, is rotated. When the driven pulley 130 is rotated, the brush 112 at which the driven pulley 130 is formed, is rotated and thus cleans a carpet during its rotation.
However, as shown in FIG. 4, in the conventional upright cleaner, a certain section (T) at a right portion of the inlet 120 is blocked by the belt cover 140 for protecting the belt 134. Therefore, at the section (T), a suction force for sucking dust and filth on the floor is not occurred so that cleaning performance is deteriorated.
That is, as shown in FIG. 4, a flow of air sucked through the inlet 120 is induced into the suction pipe 112, having a flow form like an arrow P because of rotation of the brush 112. At this time, since a certain section (T) of the inlet 120 is blocked by the belt cover 140, a flow of air is cut off at the section (T) and thus suction force is not occurred.


A system for optimizing play of media content, and a method of optimizing play of media content are disclosed. The system for optimizing play of media content includes a hub that is at least partially remote from a media content play point, for accessing and instructing a forwarding of the media content for play, at least one output associated with the hub that contributes non-play content, and at least one module at the media content play point for the parsing of the non-play content, wherein the parsed non-play content enables the hub to instruct a preemption of a first of the media play content with an accessing and insertion of a second of the media play content to the media content play point.

Many broadcasters and advertisers struggle with managing broadcast and advertising campaigns, and try to identify which broadcasting and advertising is effective and, perhaps more importantly, which is not. For example, advertisers may spend thousand of dollars and dedicate countless hours producing advertising campaigns, and subsequently monitoring and managing those campaigns, in an attempt to capture the attention of and maximize the response from a selected or targeted audience. Advertisers try to target advertising to particular groups of consumers by tailoring the advertising campaign media, the frequency of the campaign, the nature of the advertisements, and many other variables. Advertisers may place advertisements in newspapers, magazines, trade journals, direct mailings, yellow pages, radio, and television. Unfortunately, advertisers do not presently have an accurate and timely mechanism for monitoring and tracking the delivery or broadcast of their campaigns, let alone the response to their campaigns. This problem may be exacerbated in broadcast radio, where advertisers may not receive verification of delivery or broadcast of advertising campaigns for up to weeks after the scheduled run of campaigns. An automated system that is capable of providing the advertiser with real-time, tailored and accurate reports on which radio advertising campaigns and programs are and were delivered, and on which station, and when, has thus far eluded those skilled in the art.
Attempts to identify and track where and when select radio advertising campaigns and radio broadcast programming are broadcast over the air have, to date, included using computer automated or manual listening posts deployed in geographic markets to record, log and analyze radio broadcasts over the air to identify songs, advertisements, and selected programming. Advertisers may contract with broadcast monitoring firms to receive reports on what advertising and radio programming was broadcast. Such a mechanism is error-prone, inefficient, and untimely. Marketers and advertisers, who often focus on increasing sales and driving product and service demand, do not have the time to wait for reports to be generated, particularly when, even after waiting for a report, the report may include discrepancies and errors.
Advertisers may be conducting costly advertising campaigns on a very tight schedule, and may need to act on a failed delivery or broadcast, either on a certain station or across a certain market, by finding alternative advertising opportunities. Such a method might come to be if the advertiser could verify immediately whether the campaign had been delivered. Monthly affidavits or reports are often inadequate to service the needs of advertisers. Reporting often does not capture crucial information to the advertiser, at least in that such reports generally fail to report the aggregate audience size, segmented by demographics and geography, at the time of advertising delivery. Such information is usually not available through any existing radio advertising and programming auditing or reporting services. However, such information may be valuable and crucial to an advertiser. An advertiser may prefer to identify the audience and those potential consumers who listened to the advertising, and directly compare those metrics against response and sales numbers.
An effective mechanism for an advertiser to monitor and track radio advertising delivery has, to date, eluded those skilled in the art. Accordingly, a need exists for a system and method for providing the broadcaster/advertiser with real-time, tailored and accurate reports on which broadcast and advertising campaigns and programs were delivered, including station information, such that the broadcaster/advertiser may identify the audience and those potential consumers who listened to the broadcast or advertising, and may directly compare those metrics against response and sales numbers.
Additionally, radio stations often operate with daily unsold advertising inventory, such as public service advertisements, bonus advertisements, unsold and/or remnant advertisements and preemptible advertisements, for example, resulting from market demand factors, poor ratings, station inefficiencies, trafficking logistics, programming logistics, and 3rd party variables. This daily unsold advertising inventory may account, on average, for up to 30% of the advertising on a daily basis.
Specifically, a local station may load advertising orders into the traffic system and when these advertisements are scheduled against the schedule log gaps and holes may result. This may be caused by not having an advertisement to schedule during a certain time slot. Generally systems fill these gaps with public service advertisements, bonus advertisements and/or low-priority advertisements in order to fill in the schedule.
An effective mechanism to monitor and monetize unsold inventory has, to date, eluded those skilled in the art. Accordingly, a need exists for a system and method for monetizing unsold inventory using the schedule file and replace unsold inventory with paid advertising.

Broadcast monitoring system and method for intelligent optimization


An airborne, gas, or liquid particle sensor with one or more intelligent modules either within the instrument or attached to the instrument. These modules comprising sub-systems with local controllers or memory.

Particle counters have been used for decades in manufacturing or industrial applications to measure particulate quantities in air, gases or liquids. Typically such counters would also bin particulates by size. These size bins vary by application and often by instrument. A particle counter has at least one size channel and popular counters can have 6 or more channels. Typically these size channels discriminate pulses based on the pulse height of the incoming signal. The pulse height refers to the peak voltage of the signal. Sometimes there is also rudimentary discrimination of pulse width, often in hardware. These systems provide a go/no-go qualification for an incoming pulse, typically they are implemented in hardware and provide a simple gate function such that pulses below a minimum duration are excluded from counting. The intent is to reject noise, typically at the most sensitive resolution where the signal-to-noise ratio is the poorest. Therefore what is needed is a system and method that allows rejection of noise at the most sensitive resolutions for particle.

Intelligent modules in a particle counter


A semiconductor device includes a word line that is reset to a negative voltage when the word line is unselected. The semiconductor device further includes a sequence circuit that clamps the word line to a first fixed voltage, until a fixed power-supply voltage that is supplied to a memory cell connected to the word line reaches a second fixed voltage, at a time of starting power supply. Thus, the semiconductor device can prevent a negative power-supply voltage used for resetting the word line from rising, and can reduce consumed energy.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a sequence circuit and a semiconductor device. More particularly, the present invention relates to a sequence circuit controlling start up of a power-supply circuit, and a semiconductor device using the sequence circuit.
2. Description of the Related Art
A semiconductor device using a layer-built cell capacitor and a negative word-line resetting system generates a plurality of power sources from an internal step-down power source, and uses the plurality of power sources, for example. A sequence circuit shown in FIG. 1 controls start up of a power-supply circuit generating the plurality of power sources from the internal step-down power source.
FIG. 1 shows an example of a structure of a sequence circuit 1 controlling start up of a power-supply circuit. The sequence circuit 1 shown in FIG. 1 controls start up of a power-supply circuit including a Vbl/Vcp generating unit 11 and a Vnn generating unit 12, and includes a Vii voltage-detecting unit 10 and a sequencer 13.
The Vbl/Vcp generating unit 11 generates a bit-line power-supply voltage Vbl and a cell-plate power-supply voltage Vcp. The Vnn generating unit 12 generates a negative power-supply voltage Vnn. The Vii voltage-detecting unit 10 detects an internal step-down power-supply voltage Vii. Additionally, the sequencer 13 controls a start-up order of a power-supply-voltage-generating unit such as the Vnn generating unit 12. The sequencer 13 includes a plurality of sequencers 13-1, 13-2 and so on, in accordance with the number of the power-supply-voltage-generating units whose start-up orders are controlled.
The sequencer 13 is reset initially at start up. The Vii voltage-detecting unit 10 detects the internal step-down power-supply voltage Vii, and supplies a signal xe2x80x9cVii_okxe2x80x9d to the sequencer 13-1 if the voltage Vii rises to a fixed voltage. The sequencer 13-1 supplies a signal xe2x80x9cactxe2x80x9d to the Vbl/Vcp generating unit 11 and the Vnn generating unit 12 if the signal Vii_ok is supplied from the Vii voltage-detecting unit 10.
The Vbl/Vcp generating unit 11 starts generating the bit-line power-supply voltage Vbl and the cell-plate power-supply voltage Vcp, if the signal xe2x80x9cactxe2x80x9d is supplied from the sequencer 13-1. Additionally, the Vnn generating unit 12 starts generating the negative power-supply voltage Vnn, if the signal xe2x80x9cactxe2x80x9d is supplied from the sequencer 13-1. The Vnn generating unit 12 supplies a signal xe2x80x9cVnn_okxe2x80x9d to the sequencer 13-1, if the negative power-supply voltage Vnn rises to a fixed voltage. If the signal xe2x80x9cVnn_okxe2x80x9d is supplied from the Vnn generating unit 12, the sequencer 13-1 supplies a signal xe2x80x9cSq.1_okxe2x80x9d to the sequencer 13-2.
As described above, a related-art sequence circuit operates the Vbl/Vcp generating unit 11 and the Vnn generating unit 12 concurrently.
FIG. 2 is a circuit diagram showing an example of capacity coupling among a word line, a bit line and a cell plate. In a layer-built cell capacitor shown in FIG. 2, a word line WL is coupled with a bit line BL and a cell plate CP with a large capacity. The negative word-line resetting system resetting a word line to a negative voltage while being inactive needs the negative power-supply voltage Vnn.
Strong capacity coupling is performed among the word line WL, the bit line BL and the cell plate CP, since voltages of the word line WL, the bit line BL and the cell plate CP are set to the negative power-supply voltage Vnn, the bit-line power-supply voltage Vbl and the cell-plate power-supply voltage Vcp, respectively, at start up.
FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of voltage changes of the negative power-supply voltage Vnn, the bit-line power-supply voltage Vbl and the cell-plate power-supply voltage Vcp at a time of starting up a power source. As shown in FIG. 3, if the bit-line power-supply voltage Vbl and the cell-plate power-supply voltage Vcp rise at the time of starting up the power source, the negative power-supply voltage Vnn is raised for a certain period even if the Vnn generating unit 12 is operating. Accordingly, the Vnn generating unit 12 needs to lower the negative power-supply voltage Vnn raised as described above, and, thus, a start-up time is extended.
Further, an increase in the negative power-supply voltage Vnn has a possibility to cause a through current shown in FIG. 4, latch up and the like. FIG. 4 is a circuit diagram showing an example of a word-line driving circuit. The negative word-line resetting system lowers a voltage of a sub word line to the negative power-supply voltage Vnn, after lowering the voltage of the sub word line to a ground voltage Vss.
An NMOS (Negative Metal-Oxide Semiconductor) transistor 15 shown in FIG. 4 is a driver that lowers the voltage of the sub word line to the ground voltage Vss at the time of starting up the power source. A gate, a source and a drain of the NMOS transistor 15 are connected to the negative power-supply voltage Vnn, the ground voltage Vss and the internal step-down power-supply voltage Vii, respectively. A through current is generated from the internal step-down power-supply voltage Vii to the ground voltage Vss because of a rise in the negative power-supply voltage Vnn. For example, tens of milliamperes (mA) of a through current is generated in an entire 128M-bit chip.
Accordingly, it is a general object of the present invention to provide a sequence circuit and a semiconductor device employing the sequence circuit. A more particular object of the present invention is to provide a sequence circuit that can reduce a consumed current by avoiding a rise in a negative power-supply voltage used for resetting a word line at a time of starting up a power source, and a semiconductor device employing the sequence circuit.
The above-described object of the present invention is achieved by a sequence circuit that controls a start-up order of a power-supply circuit, including a first circuit that detects a first power-supply voltage charging a capacitor of a memory cell or a bit line; a second circuit that clamps a second power-supply voltage resetting a word line, to a first fixed voltage, until the first power-supply voltage reaches a second fixed voltage; and a third circuit that cancels clamping the second power-supply voltage after the first power-supply voltage reaches the second fixed voltage, and, then, generates the second power-supply voltage.
The above-described object of the present invention is also achieved by a semiconductor device, including a word line that is reset to a negative voltage when the word line is unselected; and a sequence circuit that clamps the word line to a first fixed voltage until a fixed power-supply voltage supplied to a memory cell reaches a second fixed voltage, at a time of starting up power supply.
Since the sequence circuit clamps the word line to the first fixed voltage such as a ground-level voltage, until the fixed power-supply voltage supplied to the memory cell reaches the second fixed voltage, at the time of starting up the power supply, the semiconductor device can prevent a negative power-supply voltage used for resetting the word line from rising. Consequently, the semiconductor device can reduce consumed energy.

Sequence circuit and semiconductor device using sequence circuit


A threaded washer with a central bore for use with a bone screw is disclosed. The washer is threaded into a counterbore extending below the bone surface and into cancellous bone material. The external washer threads are tapered to provide improved purchase. The bone screw is inserted through the central bore of the washer and threaded into the fragment beyond the fracture. The washer provides improved compressive forces while permitting the bone screw head to be located beneath the bone surface.

In orthopedics, successful treatment of nonunion and fracture of small bone fragments often involves the use of small screws. These screws are installed through both fragments in a direction substantially normal to the fracture plane. The small screw must compress the fragments sufficiently to promote healing.
Fractures resulting in small bone fragments often occur in bones adjoining intra-articular regions, such as the scaphoid, other carpal bones, ends of long bones, and bones of the spine. It is important in these applications that the head of the bone screw does not protrude from the outer surface of the bone, where the screw head could interfere with joint movement or damage surrounding tissue during articulation.
Standard small bone screws having threads only on the leading portion of the shank have been tried in this application. These screws are threaded into pre-drilled holes until the head contacts the outer fragment. The screw is then turned until a force is generated compressing the fragments between the screw head and the threads, which engage the inner fragment. In intra-articular applications, the pre-drilled hole must be countersunk to prevent the head of the screw from protruding from the bone surface. The depth of this counterbore often exceeds the thickness of the relatively thin bone cortex and penetrates to the softer cancellous bone below. When tightened, the small screw head can sink further into the cancellous bone, providing insufficient compressive forces for proper union of the fragments.
Another approach to this problem is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,175,555 to Herbert, which shows a small, headless screw utilizing threads of different pitch at the leading and trailing ends. The differential in pitch draws the bone fragments together as the screw is tightened. Because the screw head is replaced by the threads on the trailing end, the screw does not protrude from the bone and does not require countersinking. The threads on the trailing portion of the screw provide some purchase in the cancellous bone material. These screws, however, provide insufficient compression in many applications. Furthermore, a surgeon installing the screw must exercise care in starting each set of threads into the bone so that proper fracture reduction and compression occur simultaneously with the screw head reaching the proper depth. Otherwise, optimum fracture compression may occur too early, with the trailing end protruding from the bone, or too late, with the trailing screw threads engaging part of the inner fragment.
U.S. Pat. No. Re. 33,348 to Lower discloses a hip screw with an unthreaded shaft section and a leading threaded portion. A threaded sleeve member is retained on and slidable along the unthreaded shaft portion. The threads of the sleeve are designed to engage the relatively thick bone cortex of the femur. The threads on the leading portion and on the sleeve have different pitches. The assembled screw is installed as a unit, with compressive forces being generated as a result of the pitch differential as in Herbert '555. The two-piece design permits the unthreaded shaft section of the screw to back out through the sleeve member when bone absorption occurs, solving the problem of prior hip screws being forced in the opposite direction, into the hip joint capsule.
A method frequently used for the installation of small bone screws is to first install a guide wire in the bone in the location and orientation decided upon for the screw. The wire passes through the surrounding soft tissue, providing a guide for tools, such as screwdrivers, reamers and drills, and a guide for the orthopedic implants, such as screws and washers. Tools and implants used in such a procedure are cannulated, i.e. provided with a central bore through the long axis for placement over the wire.


An apparatus for finding a machine tool origin includes a probe, a base, and a sensor positioned on a first side of the base. Probe engagement components are configured for movable engagement with a probe of the machine tool to produce electronic signals processed by electronic circuitry to provide a signal indicative of the machine tool origin. Mechanical positioning components are positioned on a second side of the base. The mechanical positioning components include a pedestal with a first tab (301) and a second tab (302) aligned to be operable as a mechanical stop with the first tab (301) corresponding to a position of a left-hand origin (107) for the machine tool and the first tab (301) and a third tab (303) aligned to be operable as a mechanical stop with the first tab (301) corresponding to a position of a right-hand origin (108) for the machine tool.

Presently, an edge finder is typically used by a machinist to find a point on an axis, say an X axis, and then an edge finder is used again to find another point on a second axis, say a Y axis. The intersection of these two axes defines an origin. It is desirable to locate the origin directly, thereby saving the machinist time and otherwise simplifying the process. In addition, a single point direct determination of the origin may be more accurate than two separate edge finder measurements and the required extrapolation to the origin.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,999,299 discloses an edge finder that is still popular today. A rotating cylinder contains an off-axis spring. The visual inspection of cylinder wobble indicates the point where the edge finder touches the part to be machined, thereby determining a point on an axis. It is desirable to minimize the guesswork used for wobble estimation in the process of edge detection. For example, an origin determination may also include an indication that the origin is being approached, and an indication that the origin has been passed, with the inherent option for the machinist to pass by and then return to the right spot at the origin.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,272,818 and 5,522,147 disclose calculations and extrapolations to deduce an origin. The patents do not address the concept of right-handed and left-handed origins as being useful to a machinist.
In view of the foregoing, it would be desirable to provide improved techniques for identifying a machine tool origin.

Apparatus for finding a machine tool origin


In an embodiment a method includes forming a semiconductor layer sequence on a growth substrate, applying a silicon oxide layer to a surface of the semiconductor layer sequence facing away from the growth substrate, applying a first metal layer to the silicon oxide layer, wherein the first metal layer includes gold, platinum, copper or silver, providing a silicon substrate and applying a second metal layer formed of the same material as the first metal layer to the silicon substrate, bonding the semiconductor layer sequence to the silicon substrate by direct bonding of the first metal layer to the second metal layer, wherein the first metal layer and the second metal layer are brought into contact at a temperature in a range of 150° C. to 400° C. so that they form a metal bonding layer and detaching the growth substrate from the semiconductor layer sequence.

Semiconductor devices based on a nitride compound semiconductor are usually manufactured by epitaxial growth of a semiconductor layer sequence onto a suitable growth substrate, such as sapphire. Since growth substrates suitable for growing nitride compound semiconductors are usually comparatively expensive, it can be expedient to transfer the semiconductor body to a comparatively inexpensive carrier substrate, such as a silicon substrate, and to remove the growth substrate. A connection between the semiconductor body and the new carrier substrate can be made by a connection layer, such as a solder layer, or by direct bonding.
Direct bonding is a technique for wafer bonding that does not use adhesion-promoting intermediate layers. Direct bonding is possible, for example, if the two surfaces to be joined each have silicon oxide (SiO2). The silicon oxide layers can, for example, be applied to the semiconductor body and the carrier substrate before direct bonding.
It has turned out that when a semiconductor body based on a nitride compound semiconductor material is bonded to a silicon substrate by direct bonding, in particular by means of silicon oxide layers, a comparatively large stress occurs due to the different thermal expansion coefficients of gallium nitride and silicon. This can cause the silicon substrate to exhibit a bow after bonding to the semiconductor body and detaching the growth substrate.

Method of manufacturing a semiconductor device and semiconductor device


Disclosed is a rigid fine-celled foam composition and a method of producing it. The foam composition is nontoxic, environmentally friendly, has improved absorption/adsorption and retention of liquids, is not as hard as prior art foams, does not include polymerization by-products detrimental to flower and plant life, and is a foamed mixture of a caustic silicate solution derived from the caustic digestion of rice hull ash having diffused activated carbon particles from thermal pyrolysis of rice hulls rather than from commercial sodium silicate solutions. Valuable by-products of commodity grade are obtained including activated carbon and sodium fluoride.

Current commercial floral and horticultural foams are phenol/formaldehyde foams which are potential health hazards and have environmental problems because both phenol and formaldehyde are toxic chemicals subject to Section 313 of Title III of the Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act (SARA) of 1986 and 40 C.F.R. Part 372 reporting requirements. Also, formaldehyde is listed as a carcinogen by the National Toxicology Program (NTP), the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), and the American Conference of Government Industrial Hygienists (ACGIH). Smithers-Oasis, U.S.A., and other companies currently market a phenol/formaldehyde foam ("PF foams"), and California presently requires the following label on PF foams: "Warning| This product contains a chemical known to the State of California to cause cancer."
Attempts have been made to provide nontoxic, environmentally friendly floral, agricultural, and horticultural foams, but to applicant's knowledge, none of these foams have been acceptable to the industry. One such unsuccessful attempt has been to develop silica foams by using the industry standard sodium silicate consisting of a water solution of sodium oxide (Na.sub.2 O) and silicon dioxide (SiO.sub.2) with the ratio of SiO.sub.2 to Na.sub.2 O at 3.22 and the soluble solids at 39.3 percent. This silica foam was produced in a continuous, high speed mixer by injecting a surface tension depressant (tall oil mix) and polymer forming agent (sodium fluorosilicate) into the sodium silicate. Also, cotton reinforcing fibers, such as cotton flock (260 microns) were mixed with sodium silicate to provide cohesive strength in the resulting foam, and coloring agents were added to provide the desired color. The final dry density of the foam was controlled by the injection of compressed air or nitrogen into the mixer. While this process and these raw materials produced a silica foam product with fine cells in the 40 to 60 microns diameter range, the best achievable liquid retention was at the 39 volume percent level due to capillary repulsion in the cellular structure. Another undesirable property of this foam was its hardness at the lowest practical density of near 4 pounds per cubic foot. When used as a floral foam for insertion of cut flowers, the hardness limited its use to large-stemmed flowers, and even then there was potential damage to the stems while inserting the flowers.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,741,898 and 3,856,539 produced silica foam products without the inclusion of any substantial amounts of fillers or reinforcements. By "substantial amounts" of fillers or reinforcements was stated to be an amount in excess of about 10 percent on a dry basis or about 3 percent by weight of the alkali metal silicate (commercial sodium silicate) raw material on a wet basis. These foam products were produced for use as structural and insulation materials but were never acceptable by the floral, agricultural, nursery, and horticulture industries.
The terms "silica" and "silicate" have been used interchangeably in the trade. In the foregoing patents, a silica foam product from sodium silicate solution is defined as not having over a substantial amount of filler (10 percent) of filler or reinforcement materials. In the present invention, considerably in excess of 10 percent "filler" and reinforcement material, such as activated carbon, and cellulosic fibers are present; and the caustic silicate solution derived from caustic digestion of rice hull ash has about 1/2 percent by weight of metals.
It would be highly desirable to provide a fine-celled, rigid foam composition which has improved absorption/adsorption and retention of liquids, which is not as hard as prior art foams so that, when used as a floral foam for insertion of cut flowers, hardness does not limit its use to large stem flowers and does not damage stems of the flowers while inserting them in the foam, which contains no harmful concentrations of polymerization by-products, such as sodium fluoride which is detrimental to cut flowers' life, does not require the addition of expensive coloring agents, and accordingly is desirable and suitable for floral uses.
It is also highly desirable to provide a foam composition suitable and useful as a propagation medium or blocks for plant and other agricultural cuttings, seeds, seedlings, nursery stock, trees, as soil conditioners, mulches, and the like.
It is also highly desirable to provide such a foam composition which is inexpensive, utilizes waste products, rice hull ash having diffused activated carbon throughout, and has valuable by-products acceptable to the various industries to which they pertain.


A warming device for fuel cell system having a fuel battery and a secondary battery has a first heater, a second heater and a control device. The first heater heats the secondary battery. The second heater heats the fuel battery by using electricity of the secondary battery. In warming of the fuel cell system, the control device first drives the first heater to heat the secondary battery to a preset temperature, and then drives the second heater. This reduces warming time of the fuel cell system.

The present invention relates to a warming device for a fuel cell system having a fuel battery and a power storage device.
In recent years, attention is being given to fuel cells, which are clean and provide high energy efficiency, as power sources for electric vehicles. A fuel battery produces an electromotive force by a chemical reaction of oxygen with hydrogen. Oxygen is supplied to a cathode, and hydrogen is supplied to an anode, and chemical energy obtained by the reaction of oxygen with hydrogen is directly converted into electric energy, thus providing high conversion efficiency.
For use in a fuel cell vehicle, a compact fuel battery with high output is required, and a polymer electrolyte fuel cell (PEFC) is preferably used. The polymer electrolyte fuel cell efficiently generates electric power at a preset temperature (about 80° C.). Since a reaction that produces heat occurs in the fuel battery, efficient power generation can be continued even at a low ambient temperature after a lapse of predetermined time from a start of power generation. However, if the temperature is low (for example, 0° C. or less) at the start of the power generation, power cannot be generated or is inefficiently generated.
Water generated in the fuel battery is generally discharged together with unreacted gas. However, generated water sometimes remains in a gas passage when the fuel battery is stopped. If an outside air temperature is 0° C. or less, which is a freezing point of water, in a cold district, water remaining in the gas passage may freeze to block the gas passage, thus preventing flow of fuel gas. This prevents the fuel battery from being activated.
At a low temperature, moisture in an electrolyte membrane of the polymer electrolyte fuel cell may freeze, which may prevent power generation or significantly reduce power generation efficiency. Even at a temperature that causes no freeze of water, the polymer electrolyte fuel cell generally generates power at the preset temperature, and thus requires quick warming on a cold day.
For example, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 63-91967 discloses a method for heating a fuel battery main body and a storage battery in a power supply device including a fuel battery and the storage battery in combination, by detecting a temperature in a housing container in which the fuel battery main body and the storage battery are placed, and energizing a heater for heating the inside of the housing container from the storage battery when the detected temperature is below a set value. The Laid-Open Japanese Patent Publication No. 63-91967 also discloses a method for energizing a heater for heating the fuel battery when the temperature in the housing container is between −15° C. and −5° C., inclusive, and energizing a heater for heating the fuel battery and a heater for heating the storage battery when the temperature in the housing container is −15° C. or less.
For example, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 3-272567 discloses a hybrid fuel battery in which a fuel battery and a storage battery are combined and connected to the same load, and a temperature of the storage battery is kept within a predetermined range in order to prevent reduction in capacity of the storage battery at a low temperature. The hybrid fuel battery includes a temperature sensor provided in the storage battery for detecting the temperature of the storage battery, a heating device for heating by remaining heat or electricity generated by the fuel battery, and a control part that controls the heating device so as to keep the temperature of the storage battery within the predetermined range based on the temperature detected by the temperature sensor.
As a warming method of a fuel battery, for example, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2002-93445 discloses a method in which a temperature detection device for detecting a temperature of the fuel battery, and an air heating device for heating air to be supplied to an air electrode of a fuel cell are provided, and the air heating device is actuated when the temperature of the fuel cell is a preset temperature or less. The air heating device includes a heater to which power is supplied from a storage battery.
In the method disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 63-91967, the fuel battery and the storage battery (secondary battery) are heated by the heater actuated (driven) by the power from the storage battery, and the heater is actuated without the storage battery being preheated. However, a secondary battery incorporated in a fuel cell vehicle produces high output at a normal temperature (a temperature that requires no warming), but remains producing low output at a low temperature that requires warming. Therefore, if the method described in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 63-91967 is applied to warming of a fuel cell vehicle, the heater is energized in a low output state of the secondary battery to warm the fuel battery and the secondary battery, which takes much time.
In the hybrid fuel battery disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 3-272567, the heating device is controlled to detect the temperature of the storage battery by the temperature sensor and keep the temperature of the storage battery within the predetermined range. However, the heating device is heated by the remaining heat or the electricity generated by the fuel battery, which requires the fuel battery being always actuated. Therefore, when the hybrid fuel battery is applied to the case where warming is required at a low temperature such as the case of a fuel cell vehicle used in a cold area, power generation by the fuel battery for warming is required even during the fuel cell vehicle being not used.
In the warming method described in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2002-93445, the fuel cell is heated by the heater to which the power is supplied from the storage battery when the temperature of the fuel cell is the preset temperature or less. In this case, no consideration is given to low output of the storage battery at a low temperature, and warming takes much time as in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 63-91967.


A liquid ejection apparatus includes a liquid ejection head that discharges liquid, a liquid receiving portion that receives the liquid from the liquid ejection head, a detachable liquid storage portion that stores the liquid within the liquid receiving portion, and a liquid passage that conducts the liquid within the liquid receiving portion into the liquid storage portion. The liquid storage portion includes an absorbing portion that absorbs the liquid, and a scattering prevention portion that prevents scattering of the liquid.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a liquid ejection apparatus that ejects liquid, and a liquid storage portion of the liquid ejection apparatus.
2. Related Art
Conventionally, for example, an ink-jet recording apparatus that is a liquid ejection apparatus is provided with an ink-jet recording head. Further, the ink-jet recording head is provided with a number of nozzles for discharging ink onto a recording sheet, etc. Fine ink droplets are discharged onto a recording medium from the nozzles, thereby recording records images, such as desired characters or figures.
Further, the ink-jet recording apparatus is provided with a cleaning mechanism for sealing the above nozzles to prevent the viscosity of the ink within the nozzles from increasing, or for removing the viscous ink that causes poor discharge, by sucking ink, etc.
The above-mentioned cleaning mechanism stores the sucked ink (hereinafter referred to as "waste ink") within a waste ink tank in an ink-jet recording apparatus through a tube (hereinafter referred to as "pump tube"). The pump tube becomes a passage of the waste ink, which is an example of liquid, to the waste ink tank, and becomes an example of a liquid passage. The waste ink tank is an example of a liquid storage portion.
Further, the waste ink tank has a housing that is a main body of the waste ink tank, and is constructed such that an absorbing portion that absorbs waste ink is arranged within a housing of the tank. Also, the waste ink tank has a construction in which waste ink is absorbed and held by the absorbing portion.
Conventionally, in order to prevent the ink-jet recording apparatus from being soiled with ink, a construction in which a leakage ink receptacle for receiving waste ink is arranged on a waste ink tank is disclosed (for example, Patent Document 1).    Patent Document 1: JP-A-2004-188629 (FIG. 1, etc.)
However, waste ink may remain in the vicinity of the outlet of the pump tube that is a passage of waste ink to the waste ink tank, and bubbles may be entrained within the waste ink remaining in the pump tube. In such a case, when the waste ink tank is detached, there is a possibility that the bubbles within waste are burst, and the waste ink is scattered to surroundings, thereby polluting surroundings. Further, if bubbles are entrained in waste ink, the apparent amount of the waste ink increases due to the bubbles when the waste ink is discharged to and absorbed by the absorbing material. Thus, the waste ink may overflow, and may soil the ink-jet recording apparatus.
Moreover, the surface of the waste ink tank that faces the tube, i.e., the open face of the absorbing material of the waste ink tank may be soiled with the waste ink.
In this case, if the waste ink tank is detached from the liquid ejection apparatus in order to replace the waste ink tank, there is a possibility that a user may touch the surface of the waste ink tank that faces the tube, i.e., the open face of the absorbing material of the waste ink tank, and the user may be soiled with the waste ink.

Liquid ejection apparatus and liquid storage portion of liquid ejection apparatus


A method of fabricating a capacitive micromechanical electrical system (MEMS) pressure sensor includes the steps of forming a backing wafer, forming a diaphragm wafer that includes a diaphragm configured to deflect from an applied force and a pressure cavity configured to produce on the diaphragm the applied force which is indicative of a system pressure; fusing the diaphragm wafer to the backing wafer thereby forming a base wafer, forming a top wafer, joining the top wafer to the base wafer, thereby forming a detector wafer. The diaphragm defines a first capacitor surface and the top wafer defines a second capacitor surface. A void separates the second capacitor surface from the first capacitor surface by a separation distance which is a capacitor gap. A capacitive MEMS pressure sensor is also disclosed.

The present disclosure relates to pressure sensors, and in particular, to a capacitive micromechanical electrical system (MEMS) pressure sensor.
Electronic capacitive pressure sensors are known in the art for providing an indication of a system pressure that acts on a flexible diaphragm, thereby changing the electrical capacitance of a capacitor circuit that is formed by the diaphragm and a reference body. Borosilicate glass (marketed as PYREX™) is known as a component of capacitive pressure sensors of the prior art that are used in many applications, including automotive, aerospace, and industrial control applications. For example, metalized borosilicate glass can be used to form an electrical capacitor structure in a capacitive pressure sensor. Because of the relatively small physical size of a capacitive pressure sensor, the batch manufacturing of multiple capacitive pressure sensors on a borosilicate glass (i.e., PYREX™) wafer provides an economic means of mass-producing capacitive pressure sensors.
Despite the relatively good performance of borosilicate glass based capacitive pressure sensors, there are opportunities for improvement. For example, when used in a cold environment, a phenomenon known as cold jump results from the physical property of borosilicate glass, which can affect sensor accuracy. While using a thinner borosilicate glass can mitigate the effect of cold jump, the thinner glass can increase the manufacturing complexity. Configuring a capacitive pressure sensor as an absolute pressure detector requires the creation of a vacuum seal in the sensor packaging, which can increase the manufacturing cost. Moreover, the future supply chain of borosilicate glass wafers is uncertain, which can affect the pricing and/or availability of borosilicate glass wafers. Accordingly, it can be beneficial to have an alternative design for a capacitive pressure sensor that is not based on borosilicate glass, while also having a highly-accurate design that can facilitate a cost-effective manufacturing process.

Capacitive MEMS pressure sensor and method of manufacture


The invention relates to a method for determining possible positions of a robot arm of a robot. The robot arm comprises a frame, numerous links, disposed successively, which can move in relation to one another, with respect to axes. First, a target position and target orientation in space for a robot arm or a tool center point assigned to an end effector attached to the robot arm, are defined, to which a reference coordinate system having polar coordinates is assigned. Subsequently, potential possible positions of the frame of the robot arm in space and in the polar coordinates of the reference coordinate system are determined on the basis of the geometry of the robot arm, such that the tool center point can assume the defined target position and target orientation.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,550,953 discloses a mobile robot and a method for operating the mobile robot. The mobile robot comprises a robot arm having numerous links that can be moved in relation to one another and a transport vehicle, to which the robot arm is attached. The position of the robot arm as such can be altered by means of the transport vehicle.

Method for determining possible positions of a robot arm


The present invention is a lamp system for use in a light string system comprising a light assembly and a socket assembly. The light assembly comprises a light source, a base in communication with the light source, and a bypass activating system. The socket assembly comprises a socket adapted to receive the light assembly and a bypass mechanism having a first position and a second position. The bypass activating system is adapted to move the bypass mechanism between the first and second positions.

Light strings are known in the art. Light strings are predominantly used during the holiday season for decorative purposes (e.g., Christmas tree lights, outdoor holiday lights, and icicles light sets).
Conventional light strings are arranged with lights on the strings being electrically connected in series, rather than in a parallel arrangement. Unfortunately, there are disadvantages to designing a light string in series. When even a single light bulb is removed from a socket, the entire series of lights is rendered inoperable. Because each light bulb within its respective socket completes the electrical circuit, when a light bulb is removed or the filament of the bulb burns out, a gap is created in the circuit, i.e., an open circuit is formed. Therefore, electricity is unable to continue to flow through the circuit. When a "good" or operable light bulb is inserted into the socket, it completes the circuit, and allows electricity to flow uninterrupted.
There have been many attempts at improving series-designed light strings to overcome the "open circuit" problem of prior art devices. For instance, U.S. Pat. No. 5,453,664, to Harris, is directed to a light bulb shunt system that is configured to shunt the electronic current passing through the light bulbs if a filament breaks or is removed from the socket. Additionally, U.S. Pat. No. 6,257,740, to Gibboney, Jr., discloses a socket having a very particular spring mechanism arrangement to act as a shunt allowing electricity to continue to flow through the remainder of lights on the string when a light bulb is missing. The Gibboney, Jr. patent requires the implementation of two cantilevered springs, wherein the springs separate when the light source is inserted into the socket, and the springs come together when the light source is removed from the socket. Therefore, the Gibboney, Jr. patent results in a complicated, expensive manufactured design.
Another attempt to improve series-designed light strings is described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,533,437 to Ahroni. Ahroni discloses a socket of a light unit having two specific mechanical springs to shunt electricity, whereby enabling electricity to flow through the light string when a light bulb is loose or removed from the light string. The mechanical shunts disclosed in Ahroni include (i) a socket having a horizontally positioned spring device and (ii) a pair of impinged metal strips. In one embodiment, the horizontal coil spring is adapted to shunt the socket. The shunt disables when the light source is seated in the socket, wherein an actuating member disables a connection between one end of horizontal spring and a contacting element. Another embodiment of Ahroni includes displacing two metal strips from one another. The actuating stub of the light source is adapted to impinge against a long metal strip to displace contact away from a short metal strip, whereby opening the switch to enable electricity to flow through the light source. The long metal strip is positioned beneath the shorter metal strip and serves as a moveable element of the switch. A contact end portion of long metal strip is displaceable downward away from the small metal strip to disconnect the metal strips from one another, or break the circuit path.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,702,262 to Brown discloses an electrical connector for a pair of connectors disposed in a housing. The electrical connector includes an actuator assembly having a pair of spring arms, specifically made of insulating material. It has been suggested that a combination of Ahroni and Brown would provide a beneficial light assembly. Yet, Ahroni discloses "a highly cost effective and uncomplicated way to maintain power throughout a light string to inspect for loose bulbs." Brown is an expensive and complicated connector assembly. Brown discloses an electrical connector for a pair of connectors disposed in a housing. Not only would be impractical and expensive to include the Brown connector within a light string system, such as Ahroni, but such a combination would not provide a suitable light assembly, as the Brown spring arms are insulators, and only conducting arms would work in a light string assembly.
In view of the disadvantages with conventional designs of light in series, it would be beneficial if a light string system could be designed to allow the electricity to continue to flow with a missing bulb and/or burned out bulb in a simple, easy and economical construction. It is to such a system and device that the present invention is primarily directed.


Methods and apparatus provide for Reveal. Reveal includes a lens and a light source mounted within a housing. The light source projects light through the lens onto a projection surface. A first slide, a second slide and a motion slide are mounted in the housing between the light source and the lens. The first slide causes light from the light source to project a first defined image upon the projection surface. The second slide, which is less focused than the first defined image, causes light from the light source to project a second defined image upon the projection surface. The motion slide includes motion elements movable in response to a stimulus, such as airflow. Movement by the motion elements introduce an interference in light cast by the light source onto the projection surface. The interference provides an appearance of movement of an image projected by the second slide.

Light sources such as electric filaments (e.g. light bulbs) or candles are often used to illuminate surfaces. As an example, a candle on a dining table is commonly used for soft lighting during dining, and lamps of various shapes, sizes and intensities are common in homes and other locations for purposes of illumination. Light sources can also be included within conventional projectors. Such conventional projectors utilize a light source to project an image onto a wall.

Methods and apparatus for projecting images


A packaged semiconductor device (450) includes a semiconductor chip (400) having at least one selectively thinned substrate (cavity) region (410). A package (460) is provided for mounting, enclosing and electrically connecting the chip (400) to the outside world, and structure for applying external stress (470) to induce strain in the thinned substrate region (410). The external stress is preferably adjustable, such as by varying the gas flow (or a vacuum) applied through a pressure valve.

There has been significant research and development activity regarding surface strain to enhance the mobility of carriers in the inversion channel of field-effect transistors (FETs) as a method to continue improve device performance. Recently, it has been shown that the incorporation strain via internal stress on the order of 100 to 1000 MPa (1 GPa) in the surface regions of integrated circuits improves the performance of both n-channel metal-oxide-semiconductor (NMOS) transistors and p-channel metal-oxide-semiconductor (PMOS) transistors. Devices with strained silicon surface channels have demonstrated improved performance with higher drive currents and higher switching speeds.
For example, biaxial tensile strain, introduced by lattice mismatch between a fully relaxed Si1-xGex layer and a thin epitaxial Si layer below the transistors, has been shown to increase both electron and hole mobilities. However, the hole mobility improvement is known to degrade at high electric fields. For longitudinal uniaxial strains, different strain polarities, negative-compressive for PMOS and positive-tensile for NMOS, have been shown to result in mobility increases. These uniaxial strains can be obtained via a tensile silicon nitride capping layer used as a channel elongator for NMOS transistors and internal stresses exerted by a selective Si1-xGex spacer layer employed as a channel compressor in PMOS. In both the capping layer and spacer layer embodiments, the stress layer is disposed on the front of the die.
The implementation of these strains for complementary MOS (CMOS) process improvement requires significant modification of the standard CMOS process flow to incorporate the stresses, and thus results in a significant increase in cycle time and processing cost. Moreover, conventional surface strain techniques introduce the strain in front-end process steps which are before the high temperature source/drain (S/D) anneal. The S/D anneal is generally the final high temperature step (e.g. 950° C.) in a given CMOS process. Such high temperature processing after strain introduction limits the magnitude of the strain that can be achieved due to strain relaxation. As a result, current approaches are generally limited to stress of no more than about 1 GPa. In addition, once set by the process, the stress and resulting strain is not adjustable.
Instead of process-induced strain, external mechanical stress applied using a four-point bending apparatus has been disclosed to modify carrier transport as a function of bending-induced uniaxial strain. A variation of this method may be also employed to yield bending-induced biaxial strain. While such a bending apparatus may have merit for laboratory studies of strain effects on carrier transport, such an apparatus is clearly not suitable for integration into the CMOS process nor easily implemented in an IC package.

Methods and articles incorporating local stress for performance improvement of strained semiconductor devices

University of Florida Research Foundation, Inc.


A technique to reduce refresh power in a DRAM. In one embodiment, all of the DRAM memory cells are refreshed at a first rate and a subset of the memory cells are refreshed a second rate greater than the first rate. In another embodiment, the DRAM has a refresh controller that generates a refresh address and controls the refresh of the memory cells addressed by the refresh address. A marker memory is used by the refresh controller to determine which of the memory cells requires refreshing at a rate faster than the refresh rate of the remaining memory cells. Testing the DRAM uses a method to determine which of the memory cells are to be refreshed at the faster rate and to store the results in the marker memory.

Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM), either as an embedded DRAM or as a stand-alone DRAM, is widely used in a variety of applications because the density of the memory (the number of bits that can be stored in the memory per mm2) is the highest of all semiconductor memory technologies. A typical large DRAM memory has blocks of memory cells, the cells disposed in rows and columns within each block. A typical DRAM memory cell comprises a storage capacitor and an access transistor. The capacitor stores a charge related to the value of the data stored in the cell and the access transistor selectively couples the storage capacitor to a column conductor (also referred to as a "bit line") for reading and writing the memory cell. Because of various leakage paths, the charge on the storage capacitor will typically dissipate in less than a few tens of milliseconds. To maintain integrity of the data in the memory, each cell is periodically "refreshed" to maintain the data therein by reading the data in the memory cell and rewriting the read ("refreshed") data back into the cell before a charge stored in the storage capacitor has had the opportunity to dissipate. Because of the large number of memory cells (e.g., 16 million) and the row-column structure of the memory, a typical DRAM is designed to refresh all the memory cells in a row at a time. This is known as a row-only or row-by-row refresh, where the entire memory is refreshed by sequencing through all the rows in the memory.
DRAM manufacturers typically specify a maximum interval between refreshes of any row and the interval is same for all rows. The interval is set short enough (typically less than a millisecond) to assure that the "weak" cells in the memory (i.e., those cells with the highest leakage rates, compared to the other ("normal") memory cells in the DRAM, for all operating temperature and power supply voltage conditions) will not lose any data stored therein. Usually, the length of the refresh interval is based upon a small percentage of the memory cells and is much shorter than necessary for the majority of memory cells in the memory. For one exemplary DRAM, if all the memory cells are refreshed every 100 microseconds, none of the memory cells will fail (i.e., lose data). If, however, the refresh interval is lengthened to one millisecond, then some of the memory cells will fail. Thus in this example, the memory is refreshed every 0.1 milliseconds so that the memory does not lose any of the data stored therein, resulting in a much higher refresh rate than required for the majority of memory cells. The high refresh rate results in relatively high refresh power consumption. Battery operated electronic devices, such as cell phones and multimedia players, require as low as possible power consumption by the memories therein to prolong battery life. Because these applications do not read or write (access) the memory most of the time, very low memory standby power is desirable. A major component of memory standby power is the refresh power. Thus it is desirable to reduce refresh power to very low levels.
One approach reducing refresh power is to replace the memory elements (e.g., whole rows or columns or entire memory blocks) having the weak cells with spare memory elements having no weak cells, and the memory is refreshed using a lower refresh rate than would otherwise be required. Having spare memory elements adds additional silicon area, and therefore cost, to the DRAM.
Another approach is to use error correction techniques (ECC) to correct erroneous data from failing cells while using a lower refresh rate than would otherwise be required. This requires additional circuitry and memory cells (ECC cells) to be added to the memory, increasing silicon area and, thus, cost. In addition, ECC may require extra time during memory reads to detect and correct errors and during memory writes to calculate the ECC data, as well as increasing power consumption during read and write cycles of the memory.

Dynamic random access memory with low-power refresh


Techniques for dynamically selecting example passages to output on an electronic device in response to a user selecting a word or other portion of a content item are described herein. In one example, a user selects a word from a rendered electronic book. In response, the device outputs an entry for the word from a reference work (e.g., a definition from a dictionary, etc.). In addition, the device outputs passages that include the word from other electronic books stored on the device. These passages are more likely to be recognized and appreciated by the user than generic passages, since the dynamically-selected passages are found in electronic books that the user has previously acquired and potentially previously read.

A large and growing population of users is consuming digital content items on a varying array of electronic devices. These electronic devices include dedicated electronic book reader devices, smartphones, desktop computers, laptop computers, personal digital assistants (PDAs), tablet computing devices, and the like. While consuming content on these devices, users often utilize one or more reference works stored on or accessible by the devices. For instance, when reading an electronic book on an electronic book reader, a user may request to view a definition of a word that the user does not know the meaning of. In response, the device may display a definition of the word from a dictionary. However, because dictionaries or other reference works often include static content, the displayed definition or other type of reference work entry is often static. As such, the displayed definition or other entry is common across different users and devices.


A medical instrument holding apparatus includes a shaft slidably engaged into a housing and movable into and out of the housing, the housing includes a guiding member engaged with the shaft for guiding and limiting the shaft to slide relative to the housing only and for preventing the shaft from being rotated relative to the housing, a locking device is engaged onto the shaft and includes a positioning member for engaging with an anchoring member of the shaft and for locking the shaft and the housing together, and one or more fasteners are engaged with the housing and the locking device for securing the shaft and the housing together with the locking device.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a medical instrument holding or supporting apparatus, and more particularly to a medical instrument holding or supporting apparatus including an improved or simplified structure or configuration that may be easily and quickly made or manufactured by the manufacturers and that may be adjusted to different length for conducting different medical surgery or medical operation.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Typical medical instruments, such as rigidoscopes, laparoscopes, endoscopes, trocars, treating instruments, or the other medical instruments or the like have been developed and widely provided and used for conducting or operating an operation on a patient, and are typically grasped and held by the hands of the operators, such as the doctors, and it will be difficult for the operators or the doctors to hold the medical instruments and to conduct or operate the operation on the patient.
Normally, the medical instruments are grasped and held by one of the operators or the doctors, and the other operator or doctor will stand beside the medical instruments holding operator and will both standing near the patient at the same time, in a tiny or narrowed operation room.
For allowing the medical instruments to be held in place without being grasped by the operators or the doctors, a scope-holder has been disclosed and used to hold the medical instruments in place, for inserting the medical instruments into the abdominal cavity of a patient.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,697,939 to Kubota et al. discloses one of the typical medical instrument holding apparatuses comprising a plurality of arms sections and holding sections for holding and grasping the treating instrument or medical instrument and for engaging or inserting the treating or medical instruments into the abdominal cavity of the patient.
However, the typical medical instrument holding apparatuses comprise a rather complicated structure or configuration having a number of parts or elements that may not be easily and quickly made or manufactured and that may not be easily used to conduct the operation on the patient.
The present invention has arisen to mitigate and/or obviate the afore-described disadvantages of the conventional medical instrument holding apparatuses.