A system and method are provided for prioritizing incoming datalink messages. When a datalink message is received in an aircraft, it is parsed into individual information elements. The relevance of the received datalink message is then assessed from the individual information elements. The received datalink message is then categorized into one of a plurality of playback priority categories, based on the assessed relevance of the received datalink message.

Datalink messaging provides an additional channel of communication for pilots, and provides enhanced information flow to and from the flight deck. Indeed, datalink messaging technologies are supplanting traditional radio transmissions as the primary means of communication between aircraft and ground facilities (e.g., air traffic control). However, datalink messaging may adversely impact pilot workload and attention. In particular, recent research suggests that pilot workload may increase due to increased interaction with a display device that is configured to render received datalink messages, and time spent creating, editing, and generally writing datalink messages. Moreover, frequent datalink messages may be a source of pilot distraction on the flight deck.
In addition to the above-mentioned potential impacts, it is postulated that increased datalink message usage could adversely impact pilot situation awareness due to the loss of what is generally known as the "party line effect." The party line effect refers to information pilots may overhear while monitoring radio communications between ground facilities and other aircraft in the same sector. Pilots often use this "party line information" to establish situational awareness of the air traffic around their own aircraft, to anticipate future instructions from ground facilities, and to obtain knowledge of potential atmospheric hazards.
Hence, there is a need for a system and method to effectively filter incoming datalink messages to support pilot situation awareness and without overloading the pilot with irrelevant and/or non-time-critical datalink messages and/or to tailor datalink message presentation to the current situation, to increase situation awareness and decrease potential information overload. The present invention addresses at least these needs.

Datalink message prioritization system and method


A vibrating tine resonator having a unitary body cut from flat, planar crystalline stock includes spaced apart end portions and a tine system extending between said portions. The tine system includes a pair of similar tine arrays extending side-by-side between base portions. Each array includes a pair of tines extending parallel to one another and defining a slot separating each adjacent pair of tines. Each array also includes a bridge portion spanning the slot and joining the tines. The resonator is excited to operate in a dynamic mode including both a torsional motion component and also a normal motion component. The bridge portion interconnecting adjacent tines is pivoted around an axis parallel with the tines. The tines are also moved to vibrate in directions normal to the flat plane of the resonator body.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to improvements in vibrating tine resonators useful as force transducers or the like and, more particularly, to resonators having an improved tine system and to structure and methods for operating the resonator in a dynamic mode including torsional and normal components.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Resonators with tines or beams have been used as frequency determining elements in electronic oscillator circuits. A characteristic of such devices is that the resonant frequency at which they vibrate varies in response to an applied force such as an axial force applied to the tines. This characteristic has been exploited by using resonating tine devices as transducers to measure parameters including acceleration, force, temperature, pressure and weight.
In a typical transducer implementation, the resonator may be made of a piezoelectric material such as crystalline quartz, and electrodes applied to the tines couple the resonator to an oscillator feedback circuit. Energy applied by the electrodes excites the resonator to vibrate at a resonant frequency. Frequency variations indicating changes in the measured parameter are detected to provide an output for instrumentation, control or the like. Alternatively, the resonator may be made of silicon and driven electrostatically or electromagnetically.
To provide for balancing of forces within the resonating device, one common configuration for a resonator is a double ended tuning fork (DETF) having a pair of spaced and parallel tines or beams fixed at opposite ends to integral end portions. A slot separates the beams, and a crotch is defined at each end portion where the beams terminate. Each tine is mechanically coupled to the other by forces communicated between the ends of the tines through the end portions. The result is that the tines vibrate in sympathetic motion at the same frequency, but in opposite, out-of-phase directions. Resonators with more than two tines, and many different structural features such as shoulders, notches, added masses and the like have been proposed to increase the efficiency of vibrating tine structures.
Vibrating tine resonators are typically made from a flat sheet or web of crystal material, often piezoelectric quartz. When quartz is used, the electrodes are usually bonded to the tines to apply electrical potentials resulting in piezoelectric forces in the quartz material. If a different material such as silicon is used, electromagnetic or electrostatic electrodes may be used. Normally, the electrodes are arrayed to cause the tines to vibrate in the plane of the sheet material from which the device is formed.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,469,979 discloses a DETF resonator in which electrodes are disposed on all four surfaces of each tine. The electrodes are deployed to optimize a desired fundamental or harmonic flexure mode. U.S. Pat. No. 4,773,493 discloses DETF resonators with rotational masses coupled to nodal points along the length of the tines to influence the tines to resonate at the intended measurement frequency.
Resonators employed in the past are subject to problems. When the tines vibrate in the plane of the stock in air or another gaseous atmosphere, gas is forced from between adjacent tines as they move toward one another and then is pulled or sucked into the space between the tines as they separate from one another. This effect, called gas pumping or air pumping, results in loss of energy, reducing the Q and the efficiency of the resonator. Q is the ratio of energy stored in the resonator in each cycle of vibration to the energy lost per cycle. Because the value of the ratio Q is directly proportional to the gain and thus the sensitivity of the crystal controlled oscillator, the reduction of Q due to gas pumping is undesirable. Gas pumping can also decrease the linearity of the system because of inconsistent resistance to tine motion. Although the disadvantageous effects of gas pumping can be avoided by operating the device in a vacuum, this may not be a practical or cost effective solution.
In the case of quartz resonators, the array of electrodes used to piezoelectrically drive the tines in the plane of the stock usually includes electrodes on the sides of the tines. While it is relatively easier to form electrodes on the outwardly facing surfaces of the stock, it is more difficult and expensive to form electrodes upon the side surfaces. One reason for the difficulty is the limited space between adjacent tines.
It has been proposed to use three tines in a resonator in an attempt to decrease the loss of energy resulting from coupling unbalanced reaction forces to the support for the resonator, and in an attempt to increase to maximum axial force measurement capability. A three tine device has disadvantages including difficulty in manufacture due to critical beam mass balancing requirements.

Vibrating tine resonators and methods for torsional and normal dynamic vibrating mode


A panning control device includes a memory for storing image data, a display for displaying a part of the image data stored in the memory as a display image, and a pointing arrangement for pointing out a specific position of the display image displayed at the display. A panning control arrangement is also provided which is connected to the pointing arrangement, for calculating and outputting guide information concerning a display image to be displayed when the specific position pointed out by the pointing arrangement is placed at a center of the image displayed at the display. A display control arrangement is provided which is connected to the memory, the display, the pointing arrangement, and the panning control arrangement for controlling the display image at the display to conform to the guide information output from the panning control arrangement such that the guide information includes frame lines of the display image to be displayed and a travel indication line having one end at the specific position pointed out by the pointing arrangement and having its other end at another location on the display.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a panning control device, more particularly, to a panning control device for controlling an area of a display image on a display unit in a computer aided design system.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, a computer aided design (CAD) system using an engineering work station (EWS) has been developed and provided for various design work. Note, the CAD system is used in various fields, for example, the circuit design field, architectural design field, plant design field and the like, and in such a CAD system, a man-machine interface, by which a human operator communicates with the CAD system, is important, and thus a more advanced man-machine interface enabling an easy operation and a high speed operation is required.
Currently, a pointing device (for example, a mouse) is used as a man-machine interface in the CAD system, instead of a conventional keyboard, and graphic forms or drawings are easily described or edited by using the pointing device.
Note, in such a CAD system, when displaying a larger size graphic form than an image size of a display unit, or when displaying a whole shape of the graphic form on the display unit of the CAD system having a smaller image size of the display unit than the whole shape of the graphic form, the whole shape of the graphic form is reduced and displayed at the display unit of the CAD system. Nevertheless, it is difficult for an operator (or designer) to carry out a design process by using the reduced graphic form (or whole shape of the graphic form), and thus preferably a part of the graphic form having a larger scale is displayed at the display unit of the CAD system. Further, the CAD system should be able to freely change a display image on the display unit in accordance with the operator's requirements.
In a CAD system according to the prior art, to display a required part of a display image (or graphic form), first the operator points (pan-hits) at a specific position on a display image, and that image is then displayed at an image area of a display unit, by using a pointing device, and the display image is then changed so that the specific position (pan-hit position) pointed out by the pointing device is placed at the center of the image area of the display unit.
In the above prior art CAD system, however, only the display image displayed at the display unit (image area) is changed, and thereafter, the pan-hit position is placed at the center of the image area, and thus the operator cannot recognize the area of the following display image which has been changed after a panning operation (pan-hit operation) is completed. Accordingly, the pan-hit operation must be repeatedly carried out to obtain a display of a required area of the graphic form. Furthermore, when the pan-hit operation is carried out many times, a part of the graphic form currently displayed at the image area of the display unit cannot be immediately recognized by the operator, and in such a case, after displaying a whole shape of the graphic form by a reduction operation, an enlarging operation and then a pan-hit operation must be carried out.
As described above, in the prior art CAD system, a problem arises in that the labour effectivity thereof cannot be increased because a required part of the display image cannot be easily displayed at the image area of the display unit.

Panning control device for controlling area of display image in computer aided design system


Methods for fabricating dual bit flash memory devices are provided. Method steps include forming a charge trapping layer overlying a substrate and fabricating two insulating members overlying the charge trapping layer. A polycrystalline silicon layer is provided overlying the charge trapping layer and about sidewalls of the insulating members. Sidewall spacers are formed overlying the polycrystalline silicon layer and about the sidewalls of the insulating members. A portion of the first polycrystalline silicon layer and a first portion of the charge trapping layer are removed. A first insulating layer is conformally deposited overlying the insulating members and the substrate. A gate spacer is formed between the two insulating members and overlying the first insulating layer. The two insulating members are removed and the charge trapping layer is etched to form charge storage nodes. Impurity dopants are implanted into the substrate to form impurity-doped bitline regions within the substrate.

A type of commercially available flash memory product is a MirrorBit® memory device available from Spansion, LLC, located in Sunnyvale, Calif. A MirrorBit cell effectively doubles the intrinsic density of a flash memory array by storing two physically distinct bits on opposite sides of a memory cell. Each bit within a cell can be programmed with a binary unit of data (either a logic one or zero) that is mapped directly to the memory array.
A portion of an exemplary MirrorBit® memory device 10, illustrated in FIG. 1, includes a P-type semiconductor substrate 12 within which are formed spaced-apart source/drain regions 14, 16 respectively (both typically having N-type conductivity), otherwise known as bitline regions or bitlines. A charge trapping stack 18 is disposed on the top surface of the substrate between the bitlines. The charge trapping stack 18 typically comprises, for example, a charge trapping layer, often a silicon nitride layer 20, disposed between a first or bottom insulating layer 22, such as a silicon dioxide layer (commonly referred to as a tunnel oxide layer), and a second or top insulating layer 24. A gate electrode 26, which typically comprises an N or N+ polycrystalline silicon layer, is formed over the charge trapping stack. An isolation region or gate insulator 40 divides the charge trapping stack below each gate electrode 26 to form a first charge storage node or bit 28 and a complementary second charge storage node or bit 30 of memory cells 32 and 34.
As devices densities increase and product dimensions decrease, it is desirable to reduce the size of the various structures and features associated with individual memory cells, sometimes referred to as scaling. However, the fabrication techniques used to produce flash memory arrays limit or inhibit the designer's ability to reduce device dimensions. For example, with 65 nm node devices, it is not necessary to isolate portions of the charge trapping layer of complimentary bits, that is, gate insulators 40 in cells 32 and 34 are not necessary. However, as device dimensions decrease to 45 nm nodes, isolation of the charge trapping layer portions of the complimentary nodes by gate insulator 40 becomes advantageous. In addition, it is difficult to achieve the desired charge trapping stack thickness in the charge storage nodes independently of the thickness of the gate insulator separating the storage nodes. Further, as charge storage nodes become narrower, variations in the length of the nodes have more deleterious effects on the charge storage characteristics of the nodes. Moreover, charge storage nodes fabricated with less than substantially vertical sidewalls can result in "shadowing" that effect subsequent etching processes.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide methods of fabricating dual bit memory devices with design flexibility. In addition, it is desirable to provide methods of fabricating flash memory devices that can be scaled with device dimensions. It is also desirable to provide memory devices with substantially vertical sidewalls. Furthermore, other desirable features and characteristics of the present invention will become apparent from the subsequent detailed description of the invention and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and this background of the invention.

Dual bit flash memory devices and methods for fabricating the same


An intravascular stent is provided to be implanted in coronary arteries and other body lumens. The transverse cross-section of at least some of the stent struts have a ratio of polar and bending moments of inertia, which results in optimal resistance to stent twisting. This resistance to twisting ratio for the stent struts minimizes out of plane twisting of the struts or projecting edges of the struts when the stent is expanded from a compressed diameter to an expanded diameter in a coronary artery.

The invention relates to expandable stents which are adapted to be implanted into a patient's body lumen such as a coronary artery, in order to maintain the patency thereof. Stents are useful in the treatment of atherosclerotic stenosis in the coronary arteries, and other vessels in the body.
Stents are generally tubular-shaped devices which function to hold open a segment of a blood vessel or coronary artery, or other anatomical lumen. They also are useful to support and hold back a dissected arterial lining which can occlude the fluid passageway therethrough. The delivery and deployment of stents in the coronary arteries are well known in the art and various types of catheters are used, along with guide wires, to position and implant a stent in an artery.
Stents typically are formed from thin-walled metal tubing that is laser cut to form a pattern of stent struts in the tubing wall. The stent struts will typically have a generally rectangular cross-section when formed by the laser cutting. One of the difficulties encountered in forming stents having struts with a rectangular cross-section is that the ability to uniformly compress the stent onto the balloon portion of a catheter and expand the stent for implanting into a coronary vessel is not uniform and results in twisting or projecting edges. For example, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,514,154, which is incorporated herein by reference, the struts have an aspect ratio resulting in projecting edges and twisting when the stent is expanded and implanted in a coronary artery.
What has been needed and heretofore unavailable is a strut aspect ratio that provides a stent that can be uniformly compressed and expanded without developing out-of-plane twisting of the stent struts or projecting edges of the struts.

Optimal ratio of polar and bending moment of inertia for stent strut design


The present invention is a method for producing a fiber-reinforced plastic molding including, in the following order, the steps of: forming a preform laminate fixed to a molding die by laminating a plurality of preforms each including a dry fiber fabric and a fixing resin, the preforms being laminated through the fixing resin formed on a surface of the dry fiber fabric and including a partially-cured thermosetting resin exhibiting tackiness at a room temperature; impregnating the dry fiber fabric, provided in the preform laminate fixed to the molding die, with a liquid thermosetting resin; curing the liquid thermosetting resin and the fixing resin to form a fiber-reinforced plastic molding; and demolding the fiber-reinforced plastic molding from the molding die.

Fiber-reinforced plastic (FRP) attracts attention in various industrial fields as light-weighted and high-strength material. In recent years, to produce a relatively large fiber-reinforced plastic molding at a low cost, there has been employed a vacuum assist resin transfer molding (VaRTM) for molding fiber-reinforced plastic under a pressure-reduced atmosphere by means of vacuum absorption. The vacuum assist resin transfer molding is a method for obtaining a fiber-reinforced plastic molding including the steps of covering a dry fiber fabric arranged in a molding die with a bag film, vacuum-absorbing the bag film, infusing a liquid resin into the bag film, impregnating the fiber fabric with resin, and curing the resin (for example, refer to PTL1: Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 60-83826).
However, since a dry fiber fabric has no tackiness (viscosity), the dry fiber fabric itself cannot be fixed at a position against gravity in the step of forming into a three-dimensional shape (the step of arranging a dry fiber fabric on a molding die, the step of laminating a dry fiber fabric on a dry fiber fabric, and the like). Further, when a dry fiber fabric and a molding die, or a dry fiber fabric and a dry fiber fabric are not in sufficient contact with each other, fibers in some cases exhibited wrinkles under the pressure-reduced condition.
As a simplified method for solving such a problem, a method is conceivable using a tape to fix a portion being subject to trimming and not eventually used in a finished product. However, there is a problem that a portion which can be fixed using a tape is limited, and that the operation is cumbersome and results in low productivity.
Therefore, there have been proposed a method for fixing a dry fiber fabric with use of solution with a binder containing an amorphous thermoplastic resin (tackifier: spray) (for example, refer to PTL2: Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2004-269705) and a method for shortening the step of laminating dry fiber fabrics by adhering a plurality of fiber fabrics each other in advance by means of an adhesive resin composed of a mixture of a thermoplastic resin (toughness) and thermosetting resin (for example, refer to PTL3: Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2004-114586).
The method disclosed in PTL2 can be used in the step of arranging a dry fiber fabric on a molding die and in the step of laminating a dry fiber fabric on a dry fiber fabric, allowing the operation time to be shortened. However, when the method is used in the step of arranging a dry fiber fabric on a molding die, a non-cured thermoplastic component is exposed at the surface of a demolded fiber-reinforced plastic molding. Therefore, there has been a problem that the surface which was in contact with the molding die may become sticky and that a thermoplastic component may exhibit white dots to cause poor appearance.
Further, the method disclosed in PTL 3 can be used in the step of laminating a dry fiber fabric on a dry fiber fabric, allowing the operation time to be shoretened. However, the method cannot be used in the step of arranging a dry fiber fabric on a molding die. Further, when a plurality of fiber fabrics are combined in advance, and a large number of layers are present, shaping with respect to a bent portion becomes difficult. Particularly, the tension applied to the fiber will differ between the inside and outside, resulting in occurrence of wrinkles due to loosening of fibers.

Method for producing fiber-reinforced plastic molding, preform and method for producing same, and adhesive film


A system comprising a media player configured to play media content, a projector operatively coupled to the media player, and a control unit operatively coupled to the media player and the projector is provided. The control unit is configured to detect an on-screen display condition associated with the media player, and the control unit is configured to prevent first information associated with the on-screen display condition and provided by the media player from being displayed by the projector in response to detecting the on-screen display condition.

Manufacturers of different components used in display systems often include on-screen display (OSD) information for display during operation. For example, a projector or other type of display device may display OSD information that indicates a manufacturer of the device or other state information associated with the device. Similarly, a digital video disc (DVD) player may provide OSD information for display which indicates a manufacturer of the device or other state information associated with the device or a disc in the device. Generally, the OSD information from these components is displayed at different times such that OSD information from two different display components is not displayed simultaneously and does not present a confusing interface for a user. In the event that OSD information is displayed simultaneously, a user may make an adjustment to one or more of the components to prevent OSD information from multiple components from being displayed at the same time.
As display components are increasingly integrated or combined for sale by manufacturers, the concern with OSD information from different components being displayed simultaneously may increase. The concern may be enhanced where the components originate from different manufacturers. OSD information from different manufacturers may be inconsistent with one another in terms of the overall design, fonts, icons, and/or color schemes. In addition, OSD information from different manufacturers may be inconsistent with one another in terms of the differing behaviors that devices may undertake. For example, one device may simply ignore invalid entries from a user while another device may provide OSD information to the user to indicate an invalid entry. A manufacturer of the combined components may seek to make the combination of components more user friendly. Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide a reliable and consistent interface to a user of an integrated display device.

Media projector system for preventing the display of on-screen display information

Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L. P.


A picture frame assembly has a first picture frame and a second picture frame. The first picture frame has a first connection bar, a first insert rod disposed on the first connection bar, a first connection plate, and a first C-shaped clamp plate disposed on the first connection plate. The second picture frame has a second connection bar, a second insert rod disposed on the second connection bar, a second connection plate, and a second C-shaped clamp plate disposed on the second connection plate. The second insert rod is inserted in the first C-shaped clamp plate.

The present invention relates to a picture frame assembly. More particularly, the present invention relates to a picture frame assembly which comprises a plurality of picture frames.
A conventional picture frame can display a picture. Two conventional picture frames can be fastened by a fastener. Once two conventional picture frames are assembled to become a picture frame assembly, it is difficult to detach the picture frame assembly.


A styling and curling hairbrush 1 having an elongated tubular body 6 with an interior hollow volume along the longitudinal extent to forming air channel 7. A hot air stream 17 enters the open end of body 6. Body 6 has air exit openings 9 connecting the air channel 7 with the outer shell surface of the tubular body 6. Several bristle rows B1–B3 are distributed circumferentially on the tubular body. An air stream divider 3 is in front of the bristle rows B1–B3. A hot air stream 17 is divided by the air stream divider into an air stream 18 flowing into the air channel 7 and one flowing along the outer shell surface of the tubular body 6. The bristle rows B1–B3 of the brush 1 are spaced apart from one another. Each bristle row B1–B3 is next to an air guidance element L1–L3 closed in the radial direction and forming at least one flow channel 12, 16 and is open toward at least an adjacent bristle row B1, B2, B3.

Styling brushes which can be attached to a hot air blower or permanently mounted as part of a hair styling tool are well known in the art. Generally, the body of the brush had an inner hollow volume following the longitudinal extent of the body forming an air channel to act as a collector. The air channel has an open end to allow a hot air stream to flow into the air channel. Air escape openings connect the air channel with the outer shell surface of the tubular body. Several rows of bristles are distributed circumferentially with respect to the tubular body. The rows of bristles can be formed by individual bristle elements of synthetic material or steel, or by tufts of bristles. The individual bristle rows are disposed along the longitudinal extent of the tubular body.
The flow of hot air is a limiting factor in the amount of heat supplied to the hair to be shaped. This can be limited when desirable close spacing of the individual bristles prevents further perforation of the tubular body. In order to supply more heat to the hair to be shaped prior art styling and curling hairbrushes have an additional air stream flowing along the shell surface of the tubular body. To accomplish this the hairbrush has an air stream divider to direct a portion of the hot air stream flowing to the hairbrush onto the outside of the tubular body. This air stream flows through the individual bristles or bristle rows at their base.
The prior art curling hairbrushes do shape hair with the heat supplied via the hot air stream. However, a limitation of the prior art curling hairbrush is that hair which is next to the exit openings of the outer air stream gets more heat than the hair that is farther from the air exit openings. This is caused by the hair in close proximity to the air exit openings blocking the path of the air stream to the more remote hair and/or hair bristles. Even if it may occasionally be desired to attain a different shaping result over the useful length of such a hairbrush within the same shaping process, it would be desirable to have a styling and curling hairbrush available with which shaping results are identical over the entire useful length.
Building on the discussed prior art, the invention addresses the problem of a styling and curling hairbrush in which the disadvantages listed under the discussed prior art are at least largely avoided.
This problem is solved in the present invention when the bristle rows of the brush are spaced apart. The individual bristle rows are disposed next to an air guidance element which is closed in the radial direction and forms an air flow channel open to the adjacent bristle row or rows.


An electronic assembly can include a support structure, a circuit substrate coupled to a first portion of the support structure, and a composite material panel coupled to a second portion of the support structure. An electronic device can be coupled to a mounting surface of the circuit substrate and disposed within a space enclosed by walls of the support structure. The panel can include contiguous sections inner surfaces of which can be oriented within twenty-five degrees of parallel to said mounting surface. Each section can be significantly more thermally conductive generally parallel to the inner surface of the section than generally perpendicular to the inner surface.

Circuit board assemblies are known in which multiple electronic circuit elements are attached to a circuit board. A support structure, to which the circuit board is attached, is often included. The support structure can, for example, aid in sinking heat generated by the electronic circuit elements and enhance the physical stiffness of the circuit board. Embodiments of the present invention include a composite heat frame, which can comprise a panel attached to such a support structure. Such a heat frame can be configured to enhance conduction of heat and impart stiffness to the circuit board. This can lead to improvements in heat sinking and physical stiffness with respect to weight, which can allow for the use of larger circuit boards. Some embodiments of the present invention provide the foregoing and/or other improvements and advantages.

Panel for enhancing thermal conduction in an electronic assembly


A test vehicle comprises at least one product layer having a east one product circuit pattern on the product layer, and one or more clone layers formed over the product layer (1902). The one or more clone layers include a plurality of structures, which may include clone test vehicle circuit patterns and/or clone test vehicle vias (1902). The presence of one or more defects (1904) in the one or more clone layers (1908) is an indicator of a tendency of the product circuit pattern to impact yield of a succeeding layer to be formed over the product circuit pattern in a product (1910).

In the past two decades, sophisticated systems have evolved in the techniques to evaluate defects that affect the yield of integrated circuits. These systems include yield models generated in conjunction with the design of test vehicles (TV) that facilitate both yield prediction and yield enhancement of an integrated circuit manufacturing process. Except for the measurement of contact yields, (short flow) TV structures are utilized to evaluate defects on a single level.
In the case of full flow TV's, the prior art does not disclose how to identify the detailed interaction of defects in adjacent (vertical) levels through the results of electrical testing. For the case of the identification of defects on a single layer through optical and/or scanning electron microscope (SEM) inspection techniques it is difficult to predict what artifacts discovered on an inspected layer might produce killer defects in the next layer above it. That is, such inspection methods attempt to identify killer defects within the layer that is inspected.
U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/316,317, filed Aug. 31, 2001, which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety, addressed the design of TV's which characterize the interaction of feature induced defects within adjacent (vertical) layers related to the Copper damascene chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) processing geometries.
It is desirable that the next generation of yield models with yield predictive capabilities take into account the yield impact of the interaction of structural artifacts within multi-level process layers.


The present invention provides a new and improved process of producing vehicle grille guards by gas-assisted injection molding and the grille guards produced thereby. The process includes injecting a plastic resin into a mold cavity in an amount less than the total volume of the mold cavity. An inert gas in then injected into a center portion of the cavity and a hollow gas channel extending throughout the center portion is formed, forcing the plastic resin to flow along an outer surface of the cavity.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to vehicle grille guards, and more particularly to a structural web automotive grille guard and a process for preparing the same.
2. Discussion
Current grille guards are typically made of a welded steel construction and are usually chrome plated to provide an attractive finish surface. However, such prior art steel grille guards are relatively heavy, which is highly undesirable. For example, heavy grille guards may cause the balance of the vehicle to be adversely affected which in turn can render steering more difficult.
Further, such prior art steel grille guards tend to be relatively expensive as to material cost, in view of the steel and chrome coating materials. Additionally, the manufacturing and labor costs tend to be high, due for example, from the need for welding the grille to the vehicle frame or chassis. Yet another possible problem with chrome coated grille guards is the likelihood that the chrome will wear away over time leaving the steel exposed and subject to unsightly rust.
In an apparent effort to address one or more of the perceived problems with steel grille guards, other prior art grille guards have been proposed which are formed from semi-rigid, self-skinning, foamed polyurethane with reinforcing metal strips, as in U.S. Pat. No. 5,215,343 or polycarbonate tubes as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,168,855. However, the use of self-skinning foaming material or certain thermoplastic resins presents problems with regard to strength and durability as compared to steel guards.
Thus, there exists a need in the art to produce a vehicle grille guard that is lightweight, cost effective, and of high strength. The present invention provides a structural web injected plastic grille guard that can be produced cost effectively, is lightweight and non-corrosive but maintains an effective combination of rigidity and flexibility.

Process for making a vehicle grille guard


A closed mold method of making a composite having a barrier layer. The method includes providing a mold; applying and curing a layer of gel coat on an inside surface of the mold; applying and curing a layer of barrier composition over the gel coat, the barrier composition comprising: about 10 to about 50 wt % vinyl ester resin, about 15 to about 60 wt % polyester resin, 0 to about 30 wt % monomer, about 1 to about 15 m wt % thickening agent, about 0.1 to about 5 wt % accelerators, about 1 to about 25 wt % filler, and a catalyst; applying a layer of fiberglass reinforcement over the barrier composition; applying resin to the fiberglass reinforcement; closing the mold; curing the resin; and opening the mold and removing the composite, wherein the composite has an improved surface finish compared to a composite without the barrier composition made with a closed mold process. The invention also relates to the composite made by the method.

This invention relates generally to closed mold processes, and more particularly to a closed mold method of making a composite having a barrier layer, and to a composite made by the method.
Fiberglass parts are widely used in many products. However, the glass fibers are often visible in the surface finish of such parts, which can be undesirable for some applications. In addition, water permeation into a fiberglass part can create structural problems, weakening the part. It can also cause cosmetic problems on the surface, such as blistering.
Therefore, there is a need for fiberglass parts having one or more barrier layers and an improved surface finish, and for a method of making such parts.

Method of making a composite with a barrier layer in a closed mold process


The invention barbecue apparatus with an air-permeable holder for ignition material for fuel in the fireplace to be suspended in a tubular stand of the barbecue apparatus. A reservoir for liquid fire extinguishing material and/or for collecting ashes can be provided in the tubular stand, whereby the reservoir with fire extinguishing material contributes to a lowering of the center of gravity of the apparatus. A removable support grating for solid fuel can be provided in the fireplace. The barbecue apparatus can include a cover so that in case of unexpected falling, the barbecue apparatus tips over in the direction of the cover and the solid fuel lands in the cover.

Barbecue apparatuses which employ solid fuel are generally known. These barbecue apparatuses are especially suited for private use, are often portable and comprise a fireplace for solid fuel such as for example charcoal, briquettes, and the like. One of the problems with those types of barbecues is ignition of the solid fuel. Various solutions have been put forward for that purpose, including ignition fluids have proven very dangerous with a second attempt at lighting, electrical devices (which often prove to be either too costly or function insufficiently), fire-lighters for use in the fireplace with petroleum derivatives or the like (which give off an unpleasant smell and/or provide an insufficient homogeneous ignition) and finally, ignition devices below the fireplace. As to this latter approach, a number of developments are known.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,209,743 and 3,841,299 and Belgian patent 901.452 describe ignition provisions which are mounted under the fireplace and use available materials such as newspaper for ignition.
The barbecue device according to Belgian patent 901.452 comprises a fireplace for solid fuel, a tubular stand having a draught opening that connects to the fireplace and an ignition device in the tubular stand whereby paper can be inserted into the ignition device and lit via the draught opening. Although such a barbecue solves certain problems of the barbecue apparatuses known in the past, there are nevertheless still disadvantages. Thus, insertion of the paper and lighting it is not easy and stability and safety are not optimal.
The object of this invention is to provide a barbecue device which avoids these disadvantages and improves the stability and safety in use.


The present invention provides a lithography apparatus which forms a pattern on a substrate, the apparatus including an optical unit including a plurality of optical systems each of which irradiates the substrate with a beam for forming the pattern and which are arranged in at least one of a first direction and a second direction orthogonal to an optical axis thereof, and a pair of interferometers configured to measure a rotation angle of the optical unit around an axis parallel to the optical axis, wherein a distance between measurement axes of the pair of interferometers is not small than longer one of a distance between optical axes of two optical systems, of the plurality of optical systems, farthest away from each other in the first direction and a distance between optical axes of two optical systems, of the plurality of optical systems, farthest away from each other in the second direction.

Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a lithography apparatus, and a method of manufacturing an article.
Description of the Related Art
One of lithography apparatuses is a drawing apparatus which performs drawing on a substrate using charged particle beams. The drawing apparatus irradiates the substrate with charged particle beams emitted from a charged particle optical system and controls (deflects) the charged particle beams, thereby drawing (forming) an arbitrary pattern on the substrate (of the resist). The charged particle optical system is housed in an optical system barrel (optical system housing) and supported by a vacuum chamber.
High drawing positional accuracy is required for the pattern drawn on the substrate by the drawing apparatus. However, the drawing positional accuracy of the pattern decreases when, for example, a position fluctuation caused by the vibration of the optical system barrel of the charged particle optical system occurs. In a conventional exposure apparatus, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2004-153092, so-called optical system barrel reference measurement which includes a measurement system for measuring the position of the optical system barrel housing a projection optical system and corrects an exposure position (pattern formation position) in real time based on a measurement result by the measurement system is performed. This optical system barrel reference measurement measures, using a plurality of interferometers, not only the position fluctuation of the optical system barrel in a translation direction but also the orientation fluctuation of the optical system barrel around each translation direction.
In order to increase throughput, some drawing apparatus employs a multicolumn method in which a plurality of charged particle optical systems are arranged in at least one of the first direction and the second direction. In this case, a substrate stage arranged under the plurality of charged particle optical systems can move in the first direction or the second direction, and simultaneously irradiate a substrate held by the substrate stage with a plurality of charged particle beams emitted from each of the plurality of charged particle optical systems. Even in such a multicolumn drawing apparatus, optical system barrel reference measurement is needed to improve drawing positional accuracy.
In a conventional exposure apparatus, the length of a side of an area on the substrate that is exposed at once is about 30 mm at the maximum. On the other hand, in the multicolumn drawing apparatus, the length of a side of an area on the substrate with which the plurality of charged particle beams are irradiated simultaneously may be, for example, about 250 mm. A rotation measurement error around the optical axis of each charged particle optical system in optical system barrel reference measurement will be the target positional error of each charged particle beam to irradiate the substrate. The target positional error depends on the rotation measurement error and the area (the length of a side thereof) on the substrate with which the plurality of charged particle beams are irradiated simultaneously. In the drawing apparatus, therefore, since the length of a side of the area on the substrate with which the plurality of charged particle beams are irradiated simultaneously is long, the drawing positional accuracy (the positioning precision of a beam on the substrate) decreases.

Lithography apparatus, and method of manufacturing article


In some examples, an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) may receive location information via the global navigation satellite system (GNSS) receiver and may receive acceleration information via an onboard accelerometer. The UAV may determine a first measurement of acceleration of the UAV in a navigation frame of reference based on information from the accelerometer prior to or during takeoff. In addition, the UAV may determine a second measurement of acceleration of the UAV in a world frame of reference based on the location information received via the GNSS receiver prior to or during takeoff. The UAV may determine a relative heading of the UAV based on the first and second acceleration measurements. The determined relative heading may be used for navigation of the UAV at least one of during or after takeoff of the UAV.

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) typically are operated manually such as by a human using a controller to remotely control the movements of the UAV. More recently, UAVs with automated flight and autonomous control features have become available. These autonomous UAVs may rely on multiple on-board sensors for performing auto-navigation functions, such as following a moving subject, taking images of a specified area or location, traveling a prescribed route, and so forth, while concurrently avoiding collisions and respecting dynamics limits. In certain cases, some onboard sensors may be unable to provide sufficient information for normal navigation. For example, when there is no light or low light, navigation cameras might not provide sufficiently clear images for enabling localization and other navigation functions. Furthermore, structural steel, rebar and other ferromagnetic material in structures, etc., can affect the accuracy and reliability of compasses or other magnetometers that may also typically be relied on during autonomous navigation.

Low-light and no-light aerial navigation


A processor that executes coded instructions using an instruction scheduling unit receiving the coded instructions and issuing an instruction for execution. A replay signaling device generates a signal indicating when the instruction failed to execute properly within a predetermined time. A replay device within the instruction scheduling unit responsive to the signaling device then reissues the instruction for execution.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to microprocessors and, more particularly, to a system, method, and microprocessor architecture providing a cache throttle in a non-blocking hierarchical cache.
2. Relevant Background
Modern processors, also called microprocessors, use techniques including pipelining, superpipelining, superscaling, speculative instruction execution, and out-of-order instruction execution to enable multiple instructions to be issued and executed each clock cycle. As used herein the term processor includes complete instruction set computers (CISC), reduced instruction set computers (RISC) and hybrids. The ability of processors to execute instructions has typically outpaced the ability of memory subsystems to supply instructions and data to the processors, however. Most processors use a cache memory system to speed memory access.
Cache memory comprises one or more levels of dedicated high-speed memory holding recently accessed data, designed to speed up subsequent access to the same data. Cache technology is based on a premise that programs frequently re-execute the same instructions. When data is read from main system memory, a copy is also saved in the cache memory, along with an index to the associated main memory. The cache then monitors subsequent requests for data to see if the information needed has already been stored in the cache. If the data had indeed been stored in the cache, the data is delivered immediately to the processor while the attempt to fetch the information from main memory is aborted (or not started). If, on the other hand, the data had not been previously stored in cache then it is fetched directly from main memory and also saved in cache for future access.
Typically, processors support multiple cache levels, most often two or three levels of cache. A level 1 cache (L1 cache) is usually an internal cache built onto the same monolithic integrated circuit (IC) as the processor itself. On-chip cache is the fastest (i.e., lowest latency) because it is accessed by the internal components of the processor. Also, latency to on-chip cache is usually predictable. On the other hand, off-chip cache is an external cache of static random access memory (SRAM) chips plugged into a motherboard. Off-chip cache has much higher latency, although is typically much shorter latency than accesses to main memory.
Modern processors pipeline memory operations to allow a second load operation to enter a load/store stage in an execution pipeline before a first load/store operation has passed completely through the execution pipeline. Typically, a cache memory that loads data to a register or stores data from the register is outside of the execution pipeline. When an instruction or operation is passing through the load/store pipeline stage, the cache memory is accessed. If valid data is in the cache at the correct address a "hit" is generated and the data is loaded into the registers from the cache. When requested data is not in the cache, a "miss" is generated and the data must be fetched from a higher cache level or main memory.
In a hierarchical cache system valid data may reside in any of a number of cache levels. Cache accesses generated by, for example, memory operations executing in the processor will have a variable latency depending on whether the data that is the target of the memory operation resides in cache, and if so, what is the lowest cache level that holds a valid copy of the data. Hence, any functional unit in the processor (e.g., arithmetic logic unit, instruction execution unit, and the like) cannot predict when operand data will be available or when the instruction will complete execution until the data is known to reside in the lowest cache level.
One method of handling this uncertainty is to delay instruction execution until all data required by that instruction is known to exist in the lowest cache level. This can be accomplished by stalling an execution pipeline until the memory operation is complete, then execution the instruction requiring the results of the memory operation. However, stalling the execution pipeline reduces overall processor performance. Because the execution pipeline includes a plurality of instructions at any given time, a pipeline stall results in a time penalty to all instructions currently in the pipeline when a stall occurs. Further, a pipeline stall can propagate to other pipelines due to data dependencies between instructions executing in different pipelines.
Another difficulty in hierarchical caches arises in filling a lower cache level with data returned from a higher cache level. To execute a line fill operation, a cache being filled must receive data and an address identifying the cache line that should hold the data. In conventional cache systems, the higher cache level returns both the data and the address. In the case of blocking cache designs, the returned data presents little difficulty because the higher cache level has absolute control over the address of the lower cache until the fill operation is complete. However, blocking caches stall the memory pipeline until the line fill operation completes and so slow memory access and overall processor performance.
Non-blocking caches enable the cache to process subsequent memory operations while a miss is being serviced by higher cache levels. While this speeds overall memory access, the non-blocking cache receives address signals from both the lower level devices generating cache access requests and higher cache levels trying to return data from cache misses. The higher level cache must now arbitrate for control over the lower level cache. In this sense, the cache fill operation is intrusive to the ability for the lower level cache's ability to service memory access requests. This arbitration increases cache complexity, slows memory access, and is inconsistent with high frequency design.
What is needed is an architecture and a method for operating a processor that non-intrusively handles cache fills and load misses.
In an in-order processor, instructions are executed in the order in which the instructions appear in the program code. Each instruction may generate results that are used by subsequent instructions. For example, a memory operation that loads data from memory into a register must be completed before an arithmetic operation that uses the data in the register can be executed to generate correct results. In these cases, the subsequent instruction is referred to as "dependent" or as having one or more dependencies on precedent instructions. A dependency is resolved when the precedent instructions have completed and their results are available to the dependent instruction. In-order processors execute instructions in program-defined order and so will not execute an instruction until all prior instructions from which it depends have completed.
Greater parallelism and higher performance are achieved by "out-of-order" processors that include multiple pipelines in which instructions are processed in parallel in an efficient order that takes advantage of opportunities for parallel processing that may be provided by the instruction code. Dependencies in an out-of-order processor must be tracked to prevent execution of a dependent instruction before completion of precedent instructions that resolve the dependencies in the dependent instruction. However, the processor cannot predict with certainty when the dependencies will be resolved due to the variable latencies of a hierarchical cache. Prior processors handle this problem by delaying execution of dependent instructions until the dependencies are resolved. This solution requires implementation of a feedback mechanism to inform the instruction scheduling portion of the processor when the dependency is resolved. Such feedback mechanisms are difficult to implement in a manner consistent with processors issuing and executing multiple instructions per cycle using a high frequency clock. Moreover, this solution also does not scale well. As attempts to execute more instructions in parallel are made, the number of resources required to track dependencies increases out of proportion to the number of resources used to actually execute instructions.
A need exists for a processor that executed dependent instructions in an efficient manner consistent with high frequency clock frequencies.

Apparatus for executing coded dependent instructions having variable latencies


A new shrub rose which has abundant, dark red flowers and attractive foliage. This new and distinct variety has shown to be uniform and stable in the resulting generations from asexual propagation.

Botanical: Rosa hybrida xe2x80x98POULattraxe2x80x99.
Commercial: Shrub rose.
The present invention constitutes a new and distinct variety of shrub rose which originated from a controlled crossing between xe2x80x98Kormixal Suffolkxe2x80x99 and xe2x80x98an unnamed seedlingxe2x80x99, both unpatented varieties. The two parents were crossed during the summer of 1993 and the resulting seeds were planted in a controlled environment in Fredensborg, Denmark. The new variety is named xe2x80x98POULattraxe2x80x99.
The new rose may be distinguished from its seed parent, xe2x80x98Kormixal Suffolkxe2x80x99, by the following combination of characteristics:
1. xe2x80x98POULattraxe2x80x99 exhibits dark red blooms, whereas xe2x80x98Kormixal Suffolkxe2x80x99 exhibits lighter red blooms with a yellow center.
2. xe2x80x98POULattraxe2x80x99 has small double blooms, whereas the seed parent has semi-double blooms.
The new variety may be distinguished from its pollen parent, xe2x80x98an unnamed seedlingxe2x80x99 by the following combination of characteristics:
1. xe2x80x98POULattraxe2x80x99 is a shrub rose with a spreading, bushy habit, whereas the pollen parent is a miniature rose.
2. xe2x80x98POULattraxe2x80x99 has larger leaves and more foliage than the pollen parent.
The objective of the hybridization of this rose variety was to create a new and distinct variety for garden use with unique qualities, such as:
1. Uniform and abundant dark red flowers;
2. Vigorous, but compact growth when propagated both as a budded rose and on its own roots;
3. Disease resistance.
This combination of qualities is not present in previously available commercial cultivars of this type and distinguish xe2x80x98POULattraxe2x80x99 from all other varieties of which we are aware.
As part of their rose development program, L. Pernille Olesen and Mogens N. Olesen germinated the seeds from the aforementioned hybridization during winter 1993 and conducted evaluations on the resulting seedlings in a controlled environment in Fredensborg, Denmark.
xe2x80x98POULattraxe2x80x99 was selected in the spring 1994 by the inventors as a single plant from the progeny of the aforementioned hybridization. Asexual reproduction of xe2x80x98POULattraxe2x80x99 by traditional budding and rooted cuttings was first done by L. Pernille and Mogens N. Olesen in their nursery in Fredensborg, Denmark in summer 1994. This initial and other subsequent asexual propagations conducted in controlled environments have demonstrated that the characteristics of xe2x80x98POULattraxe2x80x99 are true to type and are transmitted from one generation to the next.

Shrub rose variety xe2x80x98POULattraxe2x80x99


A teething toy that is chewable and sensory stimulating uses a hollow cylinder made of a soft clear polymeric material. It is approximately half filled with a colored fluid. Shiny particle specks and different shaped multicolored floating objects are suspended in the fluid. Nipple shaped protrusions extend from end spherical end. A circular handle with oval cross section extends from the side of the cylinder. Directly opposite this handle is a rectangular shaped handle with oval cross section. The sides of both handles have small extension knobs protruding from the narrow sides of the cross sections. Options include longitudinal ribs running along the cylinder surface for easy grasp and manipulation. Additional options include rectangular grips extending, from the sides of the toy. Options include a suction cup and suspended from a flexible plastic cord that tethers the toy to a surface such as a high chair tray.

In the first years of a young child's life, physical and cognitive growth occurs at a rapid rate. Sensory stimulation provides an ideal learning path with additional benefits of hand eye coordination, motor skills and physical enjoyment. Inadequate stimulus slows development and may cause irritability and dissatisfaction.
It is a fact of life in the 21st century to have two income households. With so many mothers in today's workforce, many children are bottle fed by parents and caregivers at day care centers. Children become accustomed to the shape of feeding bottles and retain a memory of enjoyment because of the sucking and hunger satisfaction. Most young children become accustomed to manipulating the feeding bottle themselves.
It has also been a fact of life since the dawn of mankind that young children have a need to chew on objects to lessen the discomfort of cutting teeth through their gums. The process is commonly referred to as "teething" and the objects used to chew on include fingers and anything else that is within reach. Human nature provides the young with a natural curiosity to grasp, look at, chew on and then discard objects, because they have lost interest in them. Then the process begins again. Many objects brought to the mouth for oral gratification could potentially harm the child because of sharp edges, swallowing potential or material content. Caregivers have sought safe and effective ways to provide a chewing surface with the advent of the teething toy.
Teething toys are generally configured of a soft material that a young child can chew on. However, because of generic shapes, lack of visual stimulation and lack of real satisfaction, interest in the toy is easily lost. There is not adequate sensory stimulation built into current teething toys to retain the interest of most young children or a memory response for retention of the toy. This results in throwing of the toy with eventual dissatisfaction of the child. An example of a representative teething toy is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,766,223 issued to Johnson.
Prior art teething toys are inherently boring to a child. They do provide a chewing surface but lack an inherent interest, satisfaction or memory response. Heretofore, no toy has been developed that can orally satisfy the child, provide sensory stimulation and retain the child's interest for toy retention.
It is therefore an object of the invention to provide a chewable teething toy
It is another object of the invention to provide a teething toy with visual sensory stimulation
It is further object of the invention to provide a teething toy that is familiar in size, shape and weight to a feeding bottle
It is an object of the invention to provide a teething toy that is easy to chew on, suck on and manipulate near the mouth
It is another object of the invention to provide a teething toy that stimulates a memory response to hunger suppression and oral stimulation
It is a further object of the invention to provide a teething toy that remains interesting and orally gratifying to the child for toy retention


The present invention relates to a method for analyzing the interaction between HIF-1 peptide and VBC protein using fluorescence polarization, more precisely, a method for quantitative analysis of formation of HIF-1-VBC protein complex which is composed of the steps of 1) preparing a fluorescent probe by attaching a fluorescein to hydroxyproline containing HIF-1 peptide; 2) reacting the fluorescent probe with VBC protein; and 3) measuring the fluorescence polarization of the above reactant and then comparing the fluorescence polarization with that of the fluorescent probe itself to investigate the changes of fluorescence polarization; a method for screening an inhibitor of the binding of HIF-1 peptide and VBC protein using the above method; and a method for analyzing the activity of prolyl hydroxylase using the above method. The method of the present invention enables simple analysis of the interaction between HIF-1 peptide and VBC protein by observing changes of fluorescence polarization and thus, it can be effectively used for high-speed screening using a well plate.

HIF-1 (hypoxia inducible factor-1) is a protein that plays an important role in various cell responses in hypoxic condition including regulation of a gene involved in energy metabolism, vasomotor control, angiogenesis and apoptosis. In particular, HIF-1α (alpha) is degraded by proteosome under normoxic conditions, while being stabilized in hypoxic conditions. Such mechanism is regulated by the interaction between pVHL (von Hippel-Lindau tumor suppressor) protein and HIF-1α. The inhibition of the interaction between HIF-1α and pVHL results in the acceleration of cell cycle, angiogenesis and cell survival function in hypoxic condition, which provides an idea for the treatment of ischemia such as coronary insufficiency, cerebral insufficiency and vascular insufficiency (U.S. Pat. No. 6,787,326 B1). On the contrary, the promotion of the interaction results in the inhibition of angiogenesis in normoxic conditions, suggesting that tumors might be suppressed by that mechanism (Amato G. et al., Nature Reviews 2: 1-9, 2003).
The binding of VHL protein with human HIF-1α depends on hydroxyproline group residing in 402nd or 564th amino acid of human HIF-1α. And the interaction between VHL protein and HIF-1α is regulated by hydroxylation of a specific proline group of HIF-1α by prolyl hydroxylase (Masson N. and Ratcliffe P J., Journal of Cell Science 116: 3041-3049, 2003). Particularly, prolyl hydroxylase-2 uses oxygen, iron and 2-oxoglutarate as cofactors for its reaction, and at this time ascorbate is necessarily used to prevent rapid inactivation of the enzyme by self-oxidation (Ivan M. et al., PNAS 99(21): 13459-13464, 2002). The disclosure of a mechanism that regulates hydroxylation-induced transcription and proteolytic destruction can be helpful for the studies on pathological mechanisms.
VHL protein is composed of β domain containing about 100 amino acids and α domain containing approximately 35 amino acids. The β domain is bound to Elongin C protein to form a VHL-Elongin C complex and then Elongin B protein is bound to the position of Elongin C to form a VBC protein. To the rest α area of the VBC protein is bound to HIF-1α, during which hydrogen bonds between the 115th His group and the 111th Ser group of VHL protein and the 564th hydroxy-Pro group of HIF-1α are crucial (Min J. H. et al., Science 296: 1886-1889, 2002).
The interaction between VHL protein and HIF-1α has been detected by biochemical or immunological approaches. First, two-hybrid assay has been used to detect the interaction between two different proteins. In this assay, DNA binding domain (DBD) of yeast GAL4 transcription factor is fused into VHL protein and transcriptional activation domain (TAD) is fused into HIF-1α, respectively, and then the transcription is activated by the binding of the two proteins. At this time, the activation of the transcription induced by the binding of the two different proteins is easily detected by using a reporter gene such as GFP (green fluorescent protein), luciferase and β-galactosidase. That is, upon the combination of VHL protein and HIF-1α, a reporter gene is activated, by which the interaction between heterologous proteins can be easily detected (U.S. Pat. No. 6,787,326 B1).
There is another method to detect the interaction between two proteins, in which either VHL protein or HIF-1α protein is labeled with detectable material and the remaining one is fixed in solid carrier. And the detectable marker is not limited as long as it can be inserted in a recombinant protein, which is exemplified by 35S-methionine, HA tag, GST tag, histidine tag, etc (U.S. Pat. No. 6,787,326 B1). In general, HIF-1α is labeled with GST tag and VHL protein is marked by 35S, and the interaction between the two proteins is observed by SDS-PAGE and autoradiography (Yu F. et al., PNAS 98(17): 9630-9635, 2001). However, this method has problems of requiring a large amount of samples, intricacy of the protocol, lengthy analysis time and the use of radioactive reagents.
Coimmunoprecipitation of VHL protein and a specific part of HIF-1α is a way to screen HIF-1α interacting with VHL protein (Yu F. et al., Cancer Research 61: 4136-4142, 2001). In addition, scintillation proximity assay can be also used to detect the interaction, in which a target compound is radio-labeled and scintillation occurring during the process of binding of two proteins is detected (U.S. Pat. No. 6,787,326 B1).
However, all these biochemical, immunological or radiographic assay present problems including intricacy of protocol and high costs. Therefore, an alternative assay which is easier and simpler is required to observe characteristics of the binding of VHL protein with HIF-1α. Accordingly, a method has been developed that analyzes the binding of VBC protein with HIF and characteristics of hydroxylation involved therein using a 96-well plate in a short period of time without using a radioactive agent (F. Oehme, et al., Analytical Biochemistry 330: 74-80, 2004). Precisely, the method is to quantify OD450 of the complex of biotin labeled HIF-1α (biotinyl-HIF-1α) and VBC protein in a plate coated with avidin. This method enables the observation of hydroxylation of HIF at the concentration range of tens of nano mols and simple quantification, but still presents a problem of requirement of using an expensive avidin coated plate.
Thus, the present inventors have made every effort to develop an alternative assay for quantifying the interaction between HIF-1 peptide and VBC protein, and as a result, the inventors have developed a method for quantitative analysis of the interaction between probe prepared by attaching a fluorescein to hydroxyproline containing HIF-1 peptide and VBC protein using fluorescence polarization. The method of the invention does not require the separation of the binders, making the procedure simple and lowering the costs for analysis owing to the automation using a well-plate. Therefore, the developed assay can be very useful for the detection of an inhibitor of the interaction or for the analysis of the activity of prolyl hydroxylase mediating hydroxylation of HIF-1.

Method for quantitative analysis for prolyl hydroxylase activity using fluorescence polarization

Korea Institute of Science and Technology


An apparatus for supporting a vehicle door, the apparatus comprising a base, a first support column mounted on the base, a lift device mounted on the first support column, the lift device comprising at least a first lift bar and a second lift bar each for engaging and together supporting a vehicle door and an actuator operatively coupled to the lift device. When actuated, the actuator imparts vertical movement to the lift device thereby imparting vertical movement to the vehicle door by way of the first lift bar and second lift bar. A second support column is mounted on the base, and the lift device is mounted on and guided by the first support column and the second support column. A load-bearing bridge member spans a space between the first support column and second support column above the base, and the actuator is mounted on the bridge member.

Certain vehicles, for example, some Jeep-brand and Ford Bronco brand vehicles, have removable doors. The doors are mounted on the vehicle chassis by external hinges that receive a hinge pin that is locked into its position by a door hinge bolt that is screwed into a threaded bottom-facing opening and tightened with a wrench. Standard practice is to remove the doors by lowering the door window, disconnecting the quick release wiring harness and then removing the top and bottom door hinge bolts. The door is then lifted using either the top of the open window frame supported by the shoulder of the person removing the door, the interior armrest and/or the bottom of the door to lift the two hinge pins from their respective hinges. The door is then carried to a location, for example, a wall against which it is propped, for storage while not in use. The process is carried out for each door to be removed. Instructions for such procedures are typically provided by the vehicle manufacturer or dealer.
This practice has several disadvantages. First, the doors are heavy, weighing 50 to 60 pounds in some examples, and may not be easily lifted as needed. Second, in replacing the doors, the weight of the door makes it difficult to move the door into the correct position for inserting the hinge pins back in the hinge while also bearing the weight of the door. Third, carrying the removed door runs the risk of bumping the door into a nearby object, or losing control of the door and dropping it, potentially causing damage to the door and/or the person that dropped it. Finally, holding the door while guiding the hinge pin into the hinge is difficult due to the close tolerance of the two elements to each other.
Therefore, there is a need for an apparatus for removing and storing a vehicle door.

Removal and storage apparatus for vehicle doors


In a method of producing ferrous sulfate heptahydrate, ferrous sulfate monohydrate is converted in a crystallization reactor in the presence of water into ferrous sulfate heptahydrate as crystallized product, and water is subsequently isolated from the ferrous sulfate heptahydrate. Ferrous sulfate monohydrate is obtained from a pickling solution containing ferrous chloride, hydrochloric acid and water and reacted in a precipitating reactor in the presence of excess sulfuric acid to form ferrous sulfate monohydrate and hydrochloric acid. The ferrous sulfate monohydrate is then dehumidified and converted in a crystallization reactor in the presence of excess water into ferrous sulfate heptahydrate.

The present invention relates to a method of producing ferrous sulfate heptahydrate from ferrous sulfate monohydrate.
Ferrous sulfate heptahydrate is used as chromate reducer for binding harmful chromium compounds in cement or for soil preparation. Further applications of ferrous sulfate heptahydrate include its use as fertilizer, for phosphate precipitation in purification of sewage water, for conditioning of sewage slurry, or as raw material for producing iron oxide pigments.
As metal sheets are pickled in the processing of steel, large quantities of spent pickling solutions (pickling liquor) are produced that pose a hazard to the environment and are difficult to dispose in an economical manner. As a result efforts are under way to treat the pickling liquor for a meaningful recovery and further processing. U.S. Pat. No. 5,417,955, issued May 23, 1995, describes a method and device for treating a pickling liquor to produce hydrochloric acid and ferric sulfate. Ferrous chloride is hereby precipitated in the pickling liquor by mixing with sulfuric acid to produce ferrous sulfate monohydrate in a reactor. Ferrous sulfate monohydrate is subsequently oxidized and converted into ferric sulfate.
It would be desirable and advantageous to provide an improved method of producing ferrous sulfate heptahydrate from ferrous sulfate monohydrate to obviate prior art shortcomings and to allow treatment of in particular spent pickling solution generated by the steel industry.

Method of producing ferrous sulfate heptahydrate


A screen locking method and apparatus include establishing, by a first electronic device, a coupling to a second electronic device, sending, by the first electronic device, to-be-displayed data to the second electronic device to enable the second electronic device to display a first interface, and in this case, the first electronic device displays a second interface different from the first interface, obtaining, by the first electronic device, a first screen locking operation from a user, where the first screen locking operation instructs to lock a screen of the second electronic device, and sending, by the first electronic device, a screen locking instruction to the second electronic device in response to the first screen locking operation whereby the second electronic device enters a screen-locked state.

A mobile terminal such as a mobile phone may establish a Wi-Fi display (Wi-Fi Display) connection to a large-screen terminal such as a television or a PC display. In this way, the mobile phone may project stored or displayed content onto the large-screen terminal for display, so that a user can enjoy a high-definition image display effect on the large-screen terminal.
After the Wi-Fi display connection is established, it is equivalent to that the mobile phone has two displays, one is a display of the mobile phone, and the other is a display of the large-screen terminal connected to the mobile phone. Usually, a display status of the display of the mobile phone is synchronized with a display status of the display of the large-screen terminal. For example, when the mobile phone is in a screen-locked state, the large-screen terminal is also in a screen-locked state; or when the mobile phone is in a screen-unlocked state, the large-screen terminal is also in a screen-unlocked state.
Therefore, when the user needs to perform a relatively private operation, for example, read an SMS message or make a call, if the Wi-Fi display connection to the large-screen terminal is not disconnected, user privacy displayed on the mobile phone is also projected onto the display of the large-screen terminal, and consequently a security risk of user privacy disclosure is undoubtedly increased.


Various aspects of a method and system to process video content are disclosed herein. The method includes determination of a first frame identification value associated with a video content. The first frame identification value corresponds to an average color value of a frame of the video content. The method further includes determination of a second frame identification value associated with the video content. The second frame identification value corresponds to a global motion vector (GMV) value of the frame of the video content. The method further includes determination of a first intermediate frame based on one or both of the first frame identification value and the second frame identification value.

Recent advancements in the field of video processing have introduced various methods to generate a video digest from a motion video. A video digest is a combination of one or more video highlights. A video highlight may be determined based on a selection of one or more frames from one or more video segments in the motion video. The one or more video segments may be determined whenever a scene change is detected in the motion video.
In certain scenarios, the one or more video highlights may be manually selected by the user based on one or more parameters, such as preferred timestamps and/or preferred duration. Such a manual selection may not take into consideration video frame information and/or camera motion information which is undesirable.
Further limitations and disadvantages of conventional and traditional approaches will become apparent to one of skill in the art, through comparison of described systems with some aspects of the present disclosure, as set forth in the remainder of the present application and with reference to the drawings.

Method and system for processing video content


An applanation tonometer is disclosed for providing a measurement of intraocular fluid pressure inside the eye of a patient. The applanation tonometer includes a light-transmitting prism having a cornea contact tip at one end and a cornea alignment aid at the opposite end. The cornea alignment aid enables the patient to advise a vision professional when a light source of the tonometer is properly aligned with his cornea so that intraocular fluid pressure can be accurately measured. A light-blocking baffle is located at the opposite end of the prism, and a thin light-transmitting channel is formed through the baffle to lie on the longitudinal axis of the prism. In a preferred embodiment, the light baffle is at least one opaque disk, and the light-transmitting channel is a clear spot at the center of the opaque disk through which light is transmitted to the patient's cornea.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an applanation tonometer for providing a measurement of the intraocular fluid pressure inside the eye of a patient undergoing testing. The applanation tonometer includes cornea alignment means by which the patient is able to advise a vision professional when a light source of the tonometer is properly aligned with his cornea so that intraocular fluid pressure can be accurately measured while dwell time on the cornea and patient discomfort can be minimized.
2. Background Art
A tonometer is a non-invasive instrument which is used to measure pressure or tension in human or veterinary tissues. In the human body, intraocular fluid pressure in the eye (IOP) is measured to provide basic information for the diagnosis and treatment of glaucoma and related eye disease. Ease of application, accuracy of measurement and precise alignment of the tonometer between a (e.g., laser) light source and the patient's cornea are of paramount importance to obtaining reliable IOP measurements.
One example of an applanation tonometer that is adapted to make accurate IOP measurements is described in Patent Application Publication No. US 2012/0108941 published May 3, 2012. This applanation tonometer has a prism assembly at one end thereof, a light source module at the opposite end, and an intermediate beam splitter module located therebetween. The prism assembly includes a piezo element located adjacent a conical prism that tapers to a contact tip to be pressed against the patient's cornea to achieve applanation during the measurement of IOP. The light source module includes a laser or LED that supplies incoming light to the prism assembly to illuminate the patient's cornea. The beam splitter module includes a photo detector and an internal reflective surface that is aligned to reflect to the photo detector light which is reflected outwardly through the prism assembly before, during and after full applanation. The outputs of the piezo element and the photo detector provide force and area data pairs which are processed to provide a measurement of IOP.
It would be desirable to enhance the accuracy of the IOP measurements and minimize the time during which the measurements are made by being able to quickly and easily align the tonometer with respect to the patient's cornea, especially in cases where the patient moves his eye. To accomplish the foregoing, what would be advantageous is an alignment tool for use with the applanation tonometer by which to enable the patient to determine when the light source module and the prism module of the tonometer are ideally aligned with respect to his cornea so that the tonometer can be moved towards and into contact therewith.

Applanation tonometer having cornea alignment means


A method for RF communication between transceivers in a radio frequency identification system that improves range, decreases multipath errors and reduces the effect of outside RF source interference by employing spread spectrum techniques. By pulse amplitude modulating a spread spectrum carrier before transmission, the receiver can be designed for simple AM detection, suppressing the spread spectrum carrier and recovering the original data pulse code waveform. The data pulse code waveform has been further encrypted by a direct sequence pseudo-random pulse code. This additional conditioning prevents the original carrier frequency components from appearing in the broadcast power spectra and provides the basis for the clock and transmit carrier of the transceiver aboard an RFID tag. Other advantages include high resolution ranging, hiding transmissions from eavesdroppers, and selective addressing.

An RFID tag is a small radio transceiver that can be attached to a movable article to help keep track of its whereabouts and status. A small, lightweight inexpensive tag is desirable. To miniaturize the tag, the size of the circuitry is reduced by using an integrated circuit (IC) design. The simpler the circuit, the smaller the resulting IC becomes, thereby reducing the cost.
Operational environment factors can disrupt the reliability of these weak communication links. Reflective and refractive properties of the environment introduce possible multipath errors, and outside RF sources introduce interference in the received signal.

Modulated spread spectrum in RF identification systems method


An aqueous solution for depositing an inorganic corrosion resistant coating on a metal substrate is disclosed. The aqueous solution comprises a film-forming agent, a supplemental anion, and a substrate activator. The film-forming agent is a vanadate salt that forms the corrosion resistant coating. The supplemental anion accelerates the rate at which the corrosion resistant coating is formed. The substrate activator serves to remove any existing oxides from the metal substrate prior to the formation of the corrosion resistant coating. The present invention additionally covers objects so coated and methods of application.

Chromates are powerful inhibitors of anodic and cathodic components of corrosion reactions. However, as chromates are dangerous pollutants and toxins, there is a great desire to eliminate their use in industrial surface finishing processes such as surface conversion. To successfully replace chromated surface finishing processes with functional attributes it is essential to understand how chromate works. The essential attributes of Cr chemistry leading to corrosion protection are summarized as follows.
On metal surfaces, particularly aluminum alloys, chromates are readily adsorbed and reduced to hydroxylated Cr3+. This surface complex appears to be exceptionally inert and strongly inhibits electron transfer reactions including oxygen reduction and further chromate reduction. The ability to inhibit oxygen reduction is a main component of corrosion protection afforded by chromate. Sub-part per million concentrations of chromate have been observed to reduce the oxygen reduction reaction rate to low levels. This potent inhibition process is made even more powerful because the adsorption and reduction reaction occurs on many different metals. This behavior likely accounts for the remarkable effectiveness of chromate passivation on various different metals and on microstructurally complex Al alloys.
Chromates also inhibit anodic reactions. Normally, resistance to pitting is only detected in environments where the chromate-to-chloride ratio exceeds 0.1. On this basis it might be argued that anodic inhibition is not as potent as cathodic inhibition. Nonetheless, it is believed to be important overall component of chromate corrosion protection.
Chromate conversion coatings (CCCS) provide protection to underlying substrates and intercoat adhesion in coating systems. Their most intriguing attribute is their ability to store and release a chromate corrosion inhibitor. While this attribute may lead to strongly inhibiting coatings, it is a temporary effect that is lost as the coating dehydrates under the influence of heat or dry environments. Long-term retention of self-healing characteristics represents an opportunity to improve Cr-free coating system performance.
Chromates are "suicidal inhibitors" in the sense that as they react with a metal surface, they stifle further electrochemical reactions; including the one that leads to the continued formation of the inhibiting film itself. For this reason, chromates by themselves do not lead to the formation of robust conversion coatings. To form CCCs, supplemental ingredients must be added to an aqueous solution to make it a coating bath. Supplemental ingredients include activators like fluorides, and accelerators like ferricyanide. In Al alloys, fluoride activates the surface by initially dissolving the protective oxide. This allows chromate reduction to proceed long enough for a three-dimensional film to form. Ferricyanide acts as a redox mediator and accelerates the rate at which the chromate reduction-aluminum oxidation redox couple proceeds. Once Cr3+ is formed near the Al surface, it hydrolyzes, polymerizes and condenses according to a sol-gel mechanism. This forms a Cr(OH)3 "backbone" consisting of linked octahedral units of hydroxylated Cr3+, which comprise the CCC film. As this backbone forms, chromates are adsorbed onto it. Chromate adsorption onto the backbone is reversible for a time, which leads to the famous self-healing effect when the CCC is contacted by an attacking electrolyte. In self-healing, chromates stored at adsorbed sites on the backbone are released into solution where they may be transported to defect sites to stifle further corrosion by the mechanisms discussed earlier. In this way, CCCs are able to store and release a potent corrosion inhibitor for self-protection.
CCCs are hydrated gels whose properties change as water is lost. Once removed from solution CCCs dehydrate. As water is lost, the backbone consolidates leading to shrinkage-cracking, immobilization of chromates, and loss of the self-healing characteristic and overall corrosion resistance. This process occurs over a matter of days in ambient indoor environments, and is dramatically accelerated by exposure to elevated temperatures or low humidity.
For aluminum alloys, it should be noted that chromate conversion coatings are often considered as a single process suitable for all alloys under all processing conditions. In reality, this is not the case since different formulations are used for different applications. Indeed there is no single, published database comparing the performance of chromate conversion coatings on a range of alloys cast or wrought in a range of tempers. The available performance data places a strong emphasis on sheet 2024-T3 with some data reported for 7075-T6 and 6061-T6 substrates.
It should also be noted that the conversion coating is a multi-step process usually involving both cleaning and deoxidizing/desmutting prior to conversion coating. Over many years, the metal finishing industry has optimized the pre-treatment steps for chromate conversion coating and it is not surprising that a chromate-based deoxidizer is often used since it sets up a surface more amenable to chromate conversion coating than other deoxidizers. Chromate alternatives may have their own requirements for pre-treatment, which may not be the same as the current process steps. These two factors should be taken into account when considering the use of chromate conversion coating replacements.
It is therefore a goal of the present invention to provide a chromate-free coating having the same ease of applicability and similar performance characteristics as chromate conversion coatings including the ability to self-heal. Furthermore, it is a goal of the present invention to provide a chromate-free coating process that can be carried out within the established pre-treatment procedures used in industry.
The prospect of replacing chromate conversion coatings has brought with it considerable investigation of potential alternatives based on a broad range of chemistries. Furthermore within each chemical category there is the potential for a broad range of formulations most of which will not yield a viable industrial process due to processing or performance limitations. Several reviews of the subject exist. These reviews show that a very broad range of approaches and chemistries has been considered. Several commercial Cr-free conversion coating technologies, and a somewhat greater number of primer coating technologies are available. n terms of chemistry, the large number of reports and patents related to Ce indicate that it is an excellent inhibitor of metal corrosion. Among non-Cr corrosion inhibitors, the mechanistic understanding of Ce inhibition is clearly the most developed. Other notable transition metal inhibitors are Mn, Co, V, W, Mo, and Fe. These are distinguished by the fact that they can strongly inhibit corrosion under the proper conditions and have been cited in many Cr-free coating patents. Sufficient intercoat adhesion is essential for durable coating systems. In recent years, silane coupling agents, and functionally graded or tailored sol-gel coatings have been explored for these purposes with some measure of success. These systems derive high adhesion from covalent bonding with the metal substrate and organic topcoats.
A comprehensive review of all CCC alternatives is difficult due to the range and quality of performance data for these processes, and because different processes are targeted towards different segments of the metal finishing industry that each have different performance requirements. Some comparative studies have been carried out and are a good source of performance data, but they do not include all the processes described herein. Furthermore, developments in chromate alternatives are progressing rapidly and results presented in comparative reports may not reflect the current performance of processes.
Chromate conversion coatings are used in a broad range of applications in industry, especially in aluminum finishing. An equally broad range of alternatives has been explored to meet the performance and processing requirements of different sectors of industry (Table 1). Currently, several chromate-alternatives have gained acceptance in specific sectors of the market. These markets can be divided into those that require protection in an unpainted state and those that require performance under paint. For the latter category, many alternatives demonstrate good performance characteristics. The aerospace industry falls into the former case and a drop-in replacement still does not exist in this high performance end of the market, which has very high standards for corrosion resistance of the unpainted conversion coated surface in the neutral salt spray test.
TABLE 1Major Classes of Chromate AlternativesCoating TypeIndustry SectorStatus1Titanium and ZirconiumSheet stock for canning,MatureFluorocomplexesAutomotiveDevelopingCerium-basedArchitecturalDevelopingAerospaceEvaluationCo-basedMarineDevelopingAutoDevelopingAerospaceEvaluationMo-basedSn and Galvanized ProductDevelopingHydrotalcitesAerospaceEvaluationMn-basedSome Sheet Product,DevelopingAerospaceEvaluationBoehmite CoatingsAerospaceEvaluationSilane CoatingsAutoDevelopingConducting PolymersFerrous MetalsEvaluationSelf Assembled MonolayersAuto Al/Mg AlloysDeveloping1Mature: in the industry for a number of years; Developing: may be introduced soon; Evaluation: still undergoing trials.
Table 1 lists the major types of chromate alternatives in use or under development and the industries that are currently targeted by the manufacturers of these products. The majority of these processes are still under development with fluorozirconoic and fluorotitanic acid coatings being the most mature of the replacement technologies, with products in the market for a number of years.
The present invention provides a general approach for the formation of a corrosion resistant coating with self-healing characteristics based on contacting metal surfaces with aqueous solutions whose primary film-forming agent is vanadate.

Corrosion resistant coating with self-healing characteristics


A cost-effective and extremely space-saving module approach is provided for at least two micromechanical sensor elements having the same packaging requirements. The sensor module described here includes at least two micromechanical sensor elements whose sensor function is based on the direct or indirect impact of a measuring medium. The at least two sensor elements are situated in a shared housing having at least one access opening for the measuring medium, and the at least two sensor elements are stacked with one component back side on one component front side, so that the upper sensor element at least partially covers the active area of the lower sensor element, while still ensuring the impact of the measuring medium, which is used for the sensor function, on the active area of the lower sensor element.

The pressure measurement and the microphone function are important examples of micromechanically implementable sensor functions which are based on the impact of a measuring medium. These sensor functions are becoming more and more important, in particular in the field of consumer applications, such as mobile phones, smart phones, navigation devices, MP3 players, video game consoles, and digital cameras. With the aid of pressure sensors, changes in the air pressure may be detected in order to in this way obtain climate information or altitude information for a navigation device, for example. Microphones are used here for speech detection and background noise reduction.
Microphone components are known from practice which have a micromechanical microphone component and a carrier- or substrate-based housing having a sound opening. The microphone chip is in this case installed on a carrier with the aid of chip-on-board (COB) technology, electrically contacted, and covered by a cover or a molding compound. When the micromechanical microphone structure is implemented on an MEMS component and the signal analysis is implemented entirely or partially on a separate ASIC component, the chips are in general situated next to one another on the carrier, so that the surface area requirement of the known components is relatively large in relation to the surface area of the MEMS chip.