A process for producing shaped or molded articles made of polymer particles containing aromatic imide linkages includes the steps of introducing the polymer particles into a chamber for heating the particles, the chamber having a blade which rotates in the chamber and heats the particles by impacting them; heating the polymer particles to a forming temperature; discharging the polymer particles into a shaping device, such as a mold; and, pressurizing the polymer in the shaping device until the polymer particles consolidate into the shape desired. The process has proven to be effective with polymers that are difficult to process, such as thermoplastic polyimide polymers, polyetherimide polymers, bismaleimide polymers, polyarylate polymers, amideimide polymers, and other polymers containing fully reacted aromatic imide linkages.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to polymers containing aromatic imide linkages, commonly referred to as polyimides (PI). Specifically, the invention relates to the production of articles made from polyimides in shorter times and by simpler methods than has been previously possible.
2. Description of the Related Art
Polyimides are classified as condensation polymers produced from reaction of bifunctional diamines and bifunctional or tetrafunctional carboxylic acid anhydrides. The imide structure --CO--NR--CO is found in the backbone of the polymer chain. Aromatic, heterocyclic imides are known for their exceptional mechanical characteristics and excellent chemical and high temperature resistances. Many types of aromatic polyimides have been created, depending on the amine and acid chemical structures. Pyromellitic dianhydride and di-(4-aminophenyl) ether yields Dupont's commercial polyimide product, Vespel.TM.. Trimellitic anhydride and an amine such as o-bisaniline or trimellitoyl chloride and methylene dianiline yields Amoco's commercial polyamide-imide product, Torlon.TM.. The self-condensation of trimellitic acid isocyanate yields Upjohn's P2800.TM.. Condensation of bisphenol and dinitrobisimide yields General Electric's commercial polyetherimide product, Ultem.TM.. Bismaleimides are produced by reacting maleic anhydride with diamines. Ciba-Geigy's P13N.TM. and Rhone-Poulenc's Kinel.TM. are commercial examples of reactive bismaleimides. Aromatic polyester, anhydrides and certain bismides yield polyesterimides, such as Dynamit Nobel's Icdal Ti40.TM.. Aliphatic polyester anhydrides yield polyarylates. Other pure polyimides are Lenzing P84-HCM.TM., Mitsui-Toatsu Aurum .TM., Furon Meldin 3000.TM., National Starch Thermid.TM. and NASA Langley LaRC TPI series.
Polyimides are generally characterized by great backbone rigidity that yields exceptional high temperature strength and thermal stability. They are frequently used for high temperature applications [>230.degree. C.]. As a result, they are used as bearing seals, gaskets, piston rings, pressure discs, sleeves, sliding rods, valve shafts, automotive and appliance gears, brake components, cams, exhaust valves and stems, copier gears and so on. They are also characterized by extreme processing difficulty. Many polyimides cannot be molded by conventional thermoplastic processing techniques. Others require very high processing temperatures [300.degree. C. to 400.degree. C. or more] and pressures [1000 atmospheres or more]. As a result, polyimides are usually processed as powders using powder metallurgical techniques such as hot isostatic pressing, direct forming and compaction-sinter-forging or by compression molding where the powder is placed in a heated mold, heated to a forming temperature, compressed into shape, then cooled in the mold while under pressure. Many parts are machined from billets. Alternately, the polymers are dissolved in a suitable solvent such as n-methylpyrrolidone. Small molded parts, thin films and carbon-fiber laminates are produced from these solutions. With polyamide-imide polymer, the polymer is injection molded or extruded while it is not fully imidized. The molded or extruded part is then reacted at elevated temperature but in the solid state to a fully imidized state. Fully imidized polyamideimide cannot be molded using conventional plastic process techniques. It is believed that amorphous polyimides require decomposition temperatures higher than their melt processing temperatures and that the melt processing temperatures must be at least 50.degree. C. to 100.degree. C. above the glass transition temperatures of the polymers.
The limited tractability of polyimides with conventional plastics processing equipment has restricted the development of many applications. It has now been found that polyimides, including reactive polyamide-imides, can be molded into articles of commerce by first rapidly heating the polymer powder without shear to proper molding temperature, then compressing the powder into the desired shapes using conventional compression molding techniques. In a similar fashion, polyimide powder can be first rapidly heated without shear to a proper molding temperature, then ram extruded into desired profiles. The method of rapid heating involves mechanically impacting and imparting kinetic energy to the powder particles in a batch-wise fashion, while restricting and controlling the transfer of energy from the particles to the chamber holding the powder particles. One device that is used as a powder heater is shown by Goeser et al, U.S. Pat. No. 3,266,738, published Aug. 16, 1966. This patent describes a high intensity mixer available on the market today, under the trade mark Gelimat, made by Draiswerke GmbH. The device includes a plurality of blades that rotate about a horizontal axis within an enclosed jacketed container. The rotational speed of the blades is controlled with tip speeds of up to 50 meters/second possible. In Crocker et al. U.S. Pat. No. Re. 33,214, this device is coupled with an infrared detector that continuously monitors the powder temperature to ensure adequate temperature control while the constant rotational speed of the blades exceeds 25 meters/second. In Crocker et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,420,449, published Dec. 13, 1983, the device so equipped is used to thermokinetically heat polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) powder at constant tip speeds of at least 30 meters/second prior to forming. In Crocker U.S. Pat. No. 4,272,474, published Jun. 9, 1981, the device so equipped is used to thermokinetically heat ultrahigh molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) powder at constant tip speeds of at least 18 meters/second prior to forming.
It has surprisingly been found that it is not possible to mechanically heat polyimide powders only using either continuous monitoring of powder temperature or constant tip speeds of 18 meters/second, 25 meters/second, or 30 meters/second or any other constant tip speeds. It has further surprisingly been found that the heating rate of polyimide powders can be altered over wide ranges with careful balance of the chamber wall temperature and the speed of the mechanical heating device. This control allows for uniform heating of powder charges of widely varying rates. It further allows for controlled heating of powder charges such that partially imidized powder can be solid state reacted to full imidization at temperatures a few degrees below the molding temperatures. It further allows for degassing, devolatilizing and dewatering of polyimides that might contain byproducts of the condensation polymerization process including dissolved gases, volatile liquids, water, acetic acid, hydrochloric acid or other low boiling simple molecules. And it is further surprisingly been found that certain polyimides that are known to be unmoldable by any conventional plastic processing technique, can be mechanically heated to very high temperatures, typically in excess of their degradation temperature using a mechanical heating device with very hot chamber wall temperatures, in excess of 150.degree. C., and that these polyimides, when discharged from the mechanical heating device, can be molded into useful monolithic articles using conventional compression molding techniques with molds having temperatures 10.degree. C. to as much as 100.degree. C. below the glass transition temperatures of the polyimide. And it is further surprisingly been found that the reground powders of certain polyimides known to have a certain degree of crosslinking, to be considered as having thermosetting characteristics and to otherwise be considered as having no reprocessing capability, can be mechanically heated in a mechanical heating device with very hot chamber walls and the discharge molded into useful monolithic articles using conventional compression molding techniques.
After the heated polyimide powder is discharged from the mechanical heating device, the charge is transferred to a mold or die contained in conventional plastics processing equipment such as a compression molding press, a transfer molding press, a ram extruder, a forging press or other hydraulically, pneumatically or mechanically assisted press whereupon pressure is applied that is adequate to force the charge into the desired shape in the mold or die that has a temperature about 10.degree. C. to 100.degree. C. or more below the glass transition temperature of the polymer. The pressure is held against the shaped charge until the charge retains the general shape of the mold cavity. Articles made in this fashion have essentially no porosity, essentially no internal voids, essentially no cracks and mechanical properties that are equal to or greater than those of polyimides fabricated in more traditional ways.

Process for producing articles from polymers containing aromatic imide linkages


A cage has an enclosure and a waste-treatment tank. The waste-treatment tank has a holding tank and a holder. The holding tank has an internal chamber, multiple vertical partitions, a horizontal partition and multiple filter tubes. The vertical partitions and the horizontal partitions are mounted inside the internal chamber and the horizontal partition is mounted perpendicular to the vertical partitions and forms multiple chambers. The filter tubes are mounted on the horizontal partition. The holder is mounted on the holding tank and has a waste-collection tray with a flushing hole and a trap connected to the flushing hole. Excrement is collected by the waste-collection tray of the holder and divided by the filter tubes to prevent solid waste from flowing directly into a drainage system. Further, the trap is sealed by water and prevents noxious smells from escaping back into the enclosure.

1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to a cage, more particularly to a cage that provides an easy way to clean animal excrement out of the cage.
2. Description of the Related Art
A conventional cage for animals may have a pallet for holding the animal excrement. Because keeper cannot clean the animal excrement immediately, the bad smell will fill whole room, especially in a pet store.
Thus, a real need exists for a cage that provides an easy way to clean the animal excrement.


The invention relates to a polymer material having electro optic and nonlinear optical properties suitable for manufacturing a device using the electro optic and nonlinear optical properties. More particularly, the present invention relates to a polymer material having excellent electro optic properties and optical nonlinearities, maintaining the properties under the manufacturing conditions of high temperature, and having physical, chemical, and optical stabilities by introducing an organic chromophore as a side chain of the polymer so that the polymer material can be suitable for manufacturing an electro optic and nonlinear optical device, to a film manufactured from the polymer material, and to a method of manufacturing the polymer material.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a polymer material having electro optic (EO) and nonlinear optical (NLO) properties suitable for manufacturing a device using EO and NLO properties. More particularly, the present invention relates to a polymer material having excellent EO properties and optical nonlinearities, maintaining the properties under the manufacturing conditions of high temperature, and having physical, chemical, and optical stabilities by introducing an organic chromophore as a side chain of the polymer so that the polymer material can be suitable for manufacturing an EO and NLO device, to a film manufactured from the polymer material, and to a method of manufacturing the polymer material.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Recently, as the optical devices for high speed and capacity data transmission have been rapidly developed, the demand for materials having EO and NLO properties suitable for that field has been rapidly increased and the associated research has been actively performed. Currently, inorganic crystal materials such as LiNbO3 and InGaAsP are used as materials of optical devices for optical communication suitable for high speed signal processing. These inorganic crystals have stable, high optical nonlinearity. However, every step of synthesizing the inorganic crystals is complicated and time consuming, which is increasing the manufacturing cost of the inorganic crystals.
On the other hand, many organic materials, particularly, polymer materials having EO and NLO properties have been developed for 20 years. The organic materials have advantages in their synthesis and producing processes in comparison to those of the aforementioned inorganic materials. Additionally, it is possible to control their properties such as production temperatures, refractive indexes, optical coefficients, and absorption wavelengths, etc., according to various requirements. These organic polymer materials having EO and NLO properties have prepared by reaction between the organic chromophores and polymers. The organic chromophores have conjugate linkages in their molecular structures for electron mobility and dipoles that are highly responsive to an external electric field due to the introduction of electron donating and electron accepting groups. The chromphores in a polymer matrix are aligned one directionally by applying an electric field, which is so called "poling".
The efficiency of the poling is high at around the glass transition temperature (Tg) at which the molecular movement of the polymers is highly activated. A practical device process, particularly in electrode patterning, is generally carried out around 80–100° C. If Tg<150° C., there is an easy relaxation of the poled chromophores during the fabrication process. If Tg>200° C., it is very difficult to pole chromophores with very strong field at a temperature above 200° C. without dielectric breakdown. (M-H. Lee et al., "Polymeric Electro optic 2×2 Switch Consisting of Bifurcation Optical Active Waveguides and a Mach-Zehnder Interferometer", IEEE J. on Selected Topics in Quantum Electronics, 7, 812, 2001). Therefore, it is preferable that the Tg of the polymer system for the EO and NLO devices is in the range of 150˜200° C.
Organic optical polymers are mainly classified into a host-guest polymer system, a side chain polymer system, a main chain polymer system, and a crosslinked polymer system (G. A. Lindsay, "Second-Order Nonlinear optical Polymers: An Overview", ACS Symp. Ser. 60, G. A. Lindsay and K. D. Singer eds., ACS, 1995, chap. 1).
First of the types, the host-guest polymer system can be obtained by mixing an organic chromophore with a polymer matrix. The method is the simplest process. If the organic chromophore is well dispersed in the polymer matrix, the poling effect can be maximized due to increase in freedom of molecular motion of the organic chromophore. However, its optical nonlinearity is greatly reduced in the manufacture of optical devices at a high temperature due to its free molecular movement. And, as the amount of organic dye increases, the glass transition temperature (Tg) of the polymer system decreases, and light scattering occurs due to an agglomeration of organic chromophore molecules, resulting in optical loss. Secondly, the side chain polymer system is developed in order to solve the problems of the host-guest polymer system. In the side chain polymer system, an organic chromophore is chemically bound to a polymer to avoid the agglomeration of the organic chromophore and to provide the resulting polymer system with an appropriate Tg for the high stability of the optical nonlinearity. The side chain type polymer system can be obtained by introducing the organic chromophore into a side chain of the polymer.
Thirdly, the main chain polymer system can be obtained by incorporation of a nonlinear optical organic chromophore into a polymer main chain. As can be expected from this structure, the main-chain polymer system has lower molecular mobility than the side-chain polymer system and provides poor poling effect, but its optical non-linearity is thermally stable.
Finally, the crosslinked polymer system is used to improve the thermal stabilities of the host-guest polymer system and the side chain polymer system with low Tg Specifically, in order to improve the thermal stability of the optical nonlinearity of the NLO polymer after poling, the main chains of the polymer or the chromophores are crosslinked after the poling. By crosslinking reaction between the main chains of the polymer or between the chromophores, the movement of the organic chromophores is reduced so that the high optical nonlinearity can be maintained even at a high temperature. In general, the polymer main chain is thermo or photo cross-linked in the presence of a catalyst. However, after the cross-linking reaction, the unreacted cross-linkers or catalyst remain, which limits use of the cross-linked polymer system for optical devices (see U.S. Pat. No. 5,420,172 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,776,374).
Among the four types of polymer systems, the side chain type polymer system is known to be most suitable for the optical device in terms of the poling effect and the thermal stability of the optical nonlinearity. Especially, high Tgs of aromatic polyimides (PIs) have attracted attention due to stability in the aligned dipole orientation in the fields of EO and NLO polymers. In this case, since the PIs repeating unit has at least one functional group such as hydroxyl group and carboxyl acid group, the side chain EO and NLO PIs can be easily prepared from a reaction between the functional groups of the PIs and the organic ghromophores via the Mitsunobu reaction (O. Mitsunobu, "The Use of Diethyl Azodicarboxylate and Triphenylphosphine in Synthesis and Transformation of Natural Products", Synthesis, 1, 1, 1981). (T-A. Chen et al., "Two-Step Synthesis of Side-Chain Aromatic Polyimides for Second-order Nonlinear optical", Macromolecules, 29, 535, 1996; H.-J. Lee et al., "Synthesis and properties of nonlinear optical side chain soluble polyimides for photonics applications", Journal of Polymer Science: Polymer Chemistry Edition 36, 301, 1998; E.-H. Kim et al, "Synthesis and characterization of novel polyimide-based NLO materials from poly(hydroxy-imide)s containing alicyclic units (II)", Polymer, 40, 6157, 1999.; W. N. Leng et al., "Synthesis of nonlinear optical side-chain soluble polyimides for electro-optic applications," Polymer, 42, 7749, 2001). This procedure is simple and reliable for the preparation of the side-chain EO PIs. In this reaction, however, the PI repeating unit must have at least one functional group such as a hydroxyl or a carboxyl acid group for the preparation of the side-chain EO PIs. The chemical structures of monomers for the preparation of the side-chain EO PI via the polymer reaction is limited for this reason.
Even though diamine monomers containing various EO chromophores have been recently developed for the preparation of the side-chain EO PIs, the preparation of the monomers is not easy and the purification process is needed for obtaining a high degree of polymerization (D. Yu et al., "Novel Aromatic Polyimides for Nonlinear optical", Journal of The American Chemical Society, 117, 11680, 1995; U.S. Pat. No. 5,399,664). A tricyanovinyl group can be introduced into PIs with a specific chemical structure via tricyanovinylation for preparing EO and NLO PIs. In this case, the PIs chemical structure is also limited as in the Mitsunobu reaction (U.S. Pat. No. 5,688,906).

Polyamic ester having moieties of electro optic and nonlinear optical compound in side chains as an electro optic and nonlinear optical polymer, manufacturing method therefor and film manufactured therefrom

Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute


A tungsten film forming method for forming a tungsten film on a surface of a target substrate by an ALD (atomic layer deposition) method comprises adding a reduction gas to allow an ALD reaction to mainly occur when a tungsten chloride gas is supplied. In the ALD method, the tungsten chloride gas as a tungsten source gas and the reduction gas for reducing the tungsten chloride gas are alternately supplied into a chamber which accommodates the target substrate and is maintained under a depressurized atmosphere, with a purge process for purging an inside of the chamber performed between the supply of the tungsten chloride gas and the supply of the reduction gas.

In manufacturing an LSI (large-scale integration), tungsten is widely used for a MOSFET gate electrode, a contact with a source/drain, a word line of a memory, or the like. In a multilayer interconnection process, a copper wiring is mainly used. However, copper is easily diffused and has insufficient heat resistance. Therefore, tungsten is used for a portion where heat resistance is required or a portion where electrical characteristics may deteriorate due to diffusion of copper.
A physical vapor deposition (PVD) method has been conventionally used for a tungsten film forming process. However, it is difficult in the PVD method to deal with a portion where a high step coverage is required. Therefore, a chemical vapor deposition (CVD) method that provides a good step coverage is used for film formation.
As a film forming method for forming a tungsten film (CVD-tungsten film) by using the CVD method, there is generally used a method in which reaction WF6+3H2→W+6HF occurs on a semiconductor wafer as a target object by using tungsten hexafluoride (WF6) as a source gas and H2 gas as a reduction gas (see, e.g., Japanese Patent Application Publication Nos. 2003-193233 and 2004-273764).
However, in the case of forming a CVD-tungsten film by using WF6 gas, a gate insulating film is reduced by fluorine contained in WF6 and electrical characteristics deteriorate at word lines of a memory or gate electrodes in a semiconductor device.
As a processing gas used for formation of a CVD-W film that does not contain fluorine, tungsten hexachloride (WCl6) is known (see, e.g., Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2006-28572, and J. A. M. Ammerlaan et al., "Chemical vapor deposition of tungsten by H2 reduction of WCl6", Applied Surface Science 53 (1991), pp. 24-29). Although both of chlorine and fluorine have reducibility, the reducibility of chlorine is weaker than that of fluorine. Further, it is desirable to decrease an adverse effect of chlorine on the electrical characteristics.
Along with the recent trend toward miniaturization of semiconductor devices, it is difficult to fill a pattern having a complicated shape even by using the CVD method that can provide a high step coverage. As a method capable of obtaining a higher step coverage, an atomic layer deposition (ALD) method, in which a source gas and a reduction gas are supplied sequentially with a purge process interposed therebetween, attracts attention.
However, in the case of forming a tungsten film by the ALD method using WCl6 gas as a source gas and H2 gas as a reduction gas, a deposited film thickness per one cycle is small. In other words, a film forming speed is low and, thus, a productivity is low.


The inner lining for a tank holding an explosive and flammable liquid, such as gasoline, includes a gasoline-resistant inner envelope (6) and an intermediate layer (5) contacting it between the inner envelope and an interior wall of the tank. The intermediate layer (5) is air-permeable and electrically conductive. The inner envelope (6) has a diffusion-proof outer layer (6a) on its side facing the tank wall and an electrically conductive inner layer (6b) on its inside facing the interior of the tank.

The invention relates to an inner lining for tanks containing liquids, in particular gasoline tanks, comprising an intermediate layer which can be placed against the tank wall end which is air-permeable and electrically conductive, and a gasoline-resistant inner envelope resting on the intermediate layer. The invention is also concerned with a tank, particularly a gasoline tank, which is provided with such an inner lining.
Known inner linings and tanks of this type (DE 76 17 733 U1) have an electrically conducting intermediate layer or a liner made of a metallic nonwoven fabric, for example special steel wool, and an inner envelope or insert made of a gasoline-resistant material, for example nitrile caoutchouc. The intermediate layer is pervious to air and is used to maintain a minimum distance between the inner envelope and the tank wall, even if a vacuum is provided in a known manner between the inner envelope and the tank wall which, on the one hand, assures the tight adherence of the inner envelope against the tank wall and on the other hand makes a check for leaks possible.
The interior envelope is diffusion- or liquid-proof and in contrast to the PVC foils used in connection with heating oil, resistant to the gasoline to be stored. However, because it is made of nitrile caoutchouc it has several disadvantages. Since nitrile caoutchouc is a rubber-like elastic material, the inner envelope is not very well suited for tank construction, where foils are preferred, which are as easily bendable as possible, can be easily fabricated and can be welded by customary means. Furthermore, the backs of such inner envelopes are grounded via the intermediate layer. But since they are made of a material with high volume and surface resistance, the front side which comes into contact with the gasoline is not sufficiently antistatic.
This has the result that there is a danger of explosions because of unavoidable build-ups of electrical charges. Dangers of this type exist in particular when walking through a gasoline tank provided with such an inner lining, because it is then possible that sparks can be generated by frictional electricity.
Because of these deficiencies of known inner linings, no inner linings of the species recited at the outset are used today in connection with tanks for gasoline and other flammable or explosion-prone liquids. Such inner linings have not been approved an far by the competent supervisory authorities in particular, especially since the respective regulations are different. For example, on the one hand inner envelopes made of foils of a thickness of no more than 2 mm are required in connection with gasoline or the like, because supposedly ignition of materials of the explosive groups IIA and IIB in not expected up to these thicknesses. On the other had, for preventing the danger of ignition because of electrostatic charge build-up it is demanded that it must be assured by the addition of carbon black or the like, that the surface or conduction resistances are not allowed to exceed 10.sup.9 or 10.sup.8 Ohm at any place (Employers' Liability Insurance Association of the Chemical Industry, Guideline No. 4 ZH 1/200 "Static Electricity", October 1989).
Up to now, the mentioned regulations could not be met by inexpensive foils which can be processed in the customary manner in tank construction. For this reason, it is still customary today to store gasoline and similar explosive materials, for example kerosene, in double-walled tanks made of steel or the like, whose interior walls as a rule are provided with expensive, health-endangering interior layers of polyester resin or the like. For this reason the constructive and therefore also the financial outlay for producing gasoline tanks or the like in considerable.

Inner lining for tanks containing liquids, in particular gasoline, and a tank made with it


A box formed from a single piece of cardboard or the like having an internal panel defining within the box an internal pocket for housing an extractable leaflet or the like, this internal panel being situated in proximity to that box main panel which is parallel to but distinct from that from which the box lid extends.

Boxes in which products of various kinds are housed, preserved and transported also very often contain inserted illustrative leaflets, blister sheet protectors or the like. A frequent example is that in which the articles inserted into the boxes are containers of various kinds, bottles of various materials, or flat packs defining a plurality of recesses containing capsules or tablets of pharmaceutical products (commonly known as blister packs): in this case, a leaflet illustrating the pharmaceutical product must compulsorily be present in the actual box into which the bottle, container or the like is inserted.
In the usual known art, the boxes are produced by specialist firms, whereas the bottles or the like together with the relative illustrative leaflets are inserted therein in a subsequent step by the packaging firm: this operation is relatively laborious and slow, especially as a result of the difficulties encountered in inserting the leaflet (often of large dimensions and folded over several times) into the box in such a manner that it still allows the bottle or pack to be freely inserted without the leaflet becoming creased.

Box with internal pocket for extractable leaflet


This invention is the special sole construction, comprising an upper sole, an internal suspension support, a lower sole, a chamber and a U-support. It is used for the assembly of any shoe construction or footwear. The invention will aid in relief of pains arising from upward stroke against the heel of the foot from the heel of the shoe and generated during walking and standing with a heel shoe. The invention is to transmit the upward stroke from the heel of the shoe to the whole area of the sole of the foot and NOT JUST TO THE HEEL OF THE FOOT; and therefore minimizes and even eliminates the upward stroke against the heel of the foot in such that the wearer of the invention experiences the upward stroke from the heel of the shoe as if he wears the shoe without the heel. Finally, the invention helps prevent ankle pain, knee pain, hip pain and lower back pain.

Footwear with heel may lead to upward stroke arising from the stepping of the foot and against the heel of the foot during walking and standing. This upward stroke may run through the ankle, along the foot and leg, pelvic girdle and finally to the backbone. Such upward stroke against the heel of the foot is due to the direct, uttermost and underbeneath contact and pressure touch between the heel of the foot and the heel area of the sole of the shoe.
The upward stroke may cause ankle pain, knee pain, hip pain and lower back pain that are much popular around the world. In addition, wearing footwear with heel or high heel may lead to walking and standing on the foot toe. Such walking and standing on the foot toe causes some fatal symptoms:    a. severe strain on toe joint and finally pain in the toe joint;    b. excessive contraction or even fatigue of muscle around the leg.
There is some device that is to minimize and even eliminate the upward stroke against the heel of the foot. This may be achieved by as follows:    a. the device disconnects or removes the direct, uttermost and underbeneath contact and pressure touch between the heel of the foot and the heel area of the sole of the shoe; in other words, the device provides some isolation between the heel of the foot and the heel area of the sole of the shoe; and therefore,    b. the device distributes the upward stroke evenly over the whole area of the sole of the foot and NOT JUST ONLY THE HEEL OF THE FOOT.

Pain-relieving outsole for footwear or heel shoe


A paging scheme for a Solid State Drive (SSD) error correction mechanism that exchanges portions of a parity component, such as a page, between SRAM and less expensive DRAM, which stores the remainder of a context of pages. A parity operation applies an XOR function to corresponding memory positions in the pages of the context. Dedicated error correction (parity) SRAM need only enough memory for portions of memory, typically a cache line of a page, upon which the parity operation (XOR) is operating. The remaining portions in the context are swapped, or paged out, by cache logic such that the entire context is iteratively processed (XORed) by the parity operation.

A solid state disk (SSD) is a high performance storage device that employs non-volatile flash memory such as NAND and contains no moving parts. SSDs are much faster than typical hard disk drives (HDD) with conventional rotating magnetic media. A controller in the SSD manages operations of the SSD, including data storage and access as well as communication between the SSD and a host device. Since SSDs employ NAND memory components instead of rotating magnetic platters, physical constraints of data retention and recording accuracy differ. Due to the differences in the physical media NAND memory components, as well as the speed and performance differences, error correction mechanisms such as parity functions accommodate these physical media characteristics.
SSDs are typically made up of a number of NAND packages, each with 1-8 NAND dies per package, with each die made of multiple planes, blocks and finally pages. Another peculiarity with NAND is that NAND may only be written at the page level. In modern drives that may dictate a granularity of 8 KB, 16 KB or even 32 KB. A further characteristic of granularity is that NANDs may only be erased at the block level, which for a typical 25 nm NAND is 256 pages (2048 KB).

Error correction in solid state drives (SSD)


In a method for manufacturing a flexible memory device and semiconductor device, a stack including an element layer and an insulating layer which seals the element layer is formed over a substrate having a separation layer, and the stack is separated from the separation layer. The element layer includes a memory element having a layer containing an organic compound between a pair of electrodes, a first electrode layer and a second electrode layer, and at least one of the pair of electrode layers is formed using an alloy layer containing tin. The flexible memory device and semiconductor device include a memory element having a layer containing an organic compound between a pair of electrodes, a first electrode layer and a second electrode layer, in which at least one of the pair of electrode layers is formed using an alloy layer containing tin.

It has been required to manufacture semiconductor devices at low cost, and development has been extensively carried out in recent years on elements such as transistors, memory elements, and solar cells which use layers containing organic compounds for control circuits, memory circuits, and the like (refer to Reference 1: Japanese Published Patent Application No. 2006-148080).
Various applications of semiconductor devices having the elements such as transistors, memory elements, and solar cells which use the layers containing organic compounds are expected. And, compact and lightweight semiconductor devices have been developed by using flexible plastic films instead of non-flexible substrates, e.g., glass substrates or silicon wafers.
Since plastic films have low heat resistance, it is necessary to decrease the highest temperature in a process. Therefore, the semiconductor devices are manufactured by forming semiconductor elements over plastic films by an evaporation method or a sputtering method using a metal mask.
Since plastic films have low heat resistance, transistors formed over plastic substrates cannot have as favorable electrical characteristics as transistors formed over glass substrates at present.
Consequently, such a technique is suggested that minute elements formed over a glass substrate by a photolithography step are separated from the substrate and attached to another base material such as a plastic film (refer to Reference 2: Japanese Published Patent Application No. 2003-174153).

Device, and method for manufacturing the same

Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd


A method for the wireless information retrieval regarding bodies, such as persons, animals, and objects, and for disseminating content based on retrieved information comprising providing a plurality of wireless communication sending units, each for being retained by a body about whom information is to be retrieved; providing a plurality of wireless communication receiving units, each for being retained by a person who is to receive information; providing a central server; providing a wireless access point; establishing a wireless local area network involving the foregoing elements; causing periodic identifying signals to be emitted from the sending units; and transmitting information to a given receiving unit regarding a body retaining a sending unit in response to a receipt of a signal from that body's sending unit.

Over 4,500 trade shows are held in North America each year. These shows are predominantly business-to-business or B-2-B wherein businesses seek to display and sell their products to other businesses. A number of methods are employed to enable exhibitors to collect leads at these trade shows. The simplest and perhaps oldest method is commonly referred to as the fishbowl wherein attendees are encouraged to drop their business cards into a fishbowl or the like, and the deposited cards are retrieved and processed by the exhibitors or trade show organizers.
More modem methods include the use of a magnetic card stripes and bar code readers. One bar code arrangement is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,654,793 to Elrod, entitled "System and method for registering and keeping track of the activities of attendees at a trade show, convention or the like." Under a typical method, each attendee is given a badge at his or her arrival at the trade show registration desk. The badge will normally have the attendee's name printed thereon and either a barcode or a magnetic stripe similar to that of a credit card. The magnetic stripe or barcode provides the attendee's basic contact information, which commonly includes his or her name, address, phone, and company or, alternatively, a number that correlates to that information, which is retained in a separate database.
The exhibitors are outfitted with readers, which are normally rented. Depending on the particular method employed, exhibitors must scan the bar code or swipe the magnetic stripe to gain the attendee's basic contact information. The scanner, which is a non-networked, standalone unit, then prints on paper the basic contact information scanned from the card or bar code. The paper is often carbon copied, allowing for two or more simultaneous copies to be made. Some readers have the ability to upload the stored names to a floppy disk in comma delimited ASCII format after the show.
Unfortunately, these prior art systems have not been updated in substance since the advent of two-dimensional bar codes in the early 1990's. As a result, they present several problems and disadvantages. One basic problem that plagues all three existing systems, the fishbowl, the magnetic stripe, and the barcode, is that each requires intrusively asking the attendee for a card or grabbing the attendee's badge. By surveying trade show exhibitors, the present inventors have determined that exhibitors are very uncomfortable asking for stranger's business cards or grabbing someone's magnetic stripe badge or shooting a laser beam at a card hanging on an attendee's chest. This problem becomes exasperated when a male exhibitor needs to scan the badge of a female attendee. The present inventors have appreciated, therefore, that a passive system would be preferred that could record the meeting without requiring the exhibitor to be intrusive and aggressive, particularly upon first meeting an attendee.
A further problem demonstrated by the methods of the prior art is a lack of mobility in that the exhibitor must normally drag attendees across the trade show booth to scan or swipe their badges. Such a practice is counter-intuitive to the typical sales process where a salesperson normally spends time chatting and displaying products before asking for contact information. Also, it requires the salesperson to place a further burden on the customer by asking the customer to follow him or her across the booth for the scanning or swiping.
Some have sought to address this problem by attaching barcode scanners to PDAs so that exhibitors can avoid dragging attendees across the trade show booth. However, doing so creates new problems while failing to eliminate the intrusiveness of shooting a laser beam at an attendee's chest or swiping the attendee's badge. Also, the PDAs in such systems are not networked and do not print out the retrieved information as it is gathered. As a result, there is no backup of the data collected, and, should the PDA lose power or otherwise malfunction, data collected during the day can be lost forever. Indeed, some companies offering this type of service have been forced to terminate it as a result of data loss. Even further, some companies have added bar code scanners and printers to PDAs and PDA-like devices, but these devices have proven to be large and unwieldy such that they have not found widespread acceptance in the trade show world.
A newer method involves connecting a bar code scanner or metallic stripe reader to a PC, whether a laptop or desktop, and savings the data collected directly to the PC. Several PC's may be networked within a booth under such a system. While such systems provide improvements over dedicated systems, they ultimately return only what amounts to a list of names. As a result, they rely on the exhibitor to question the attendee about his or her interests and the like. Further, such systems typically still return information only in comma delimited ASCII text and do not integrate and manipulate the acquired data. As a result, the exhibitor must carry out such tasks on its own or by use of additional consulting services.
Still another problem demonstrated by existing lead retrieval systems is that, after a trade show, the exhibitor is forced to remember people by name. The exhibitor receives a list of names after the show with little other data to help remember which people were key leads and which were not. While some systems allow exhibitors to take notes on the people they met and some allow exhibitors to press a series of buttons to categorize the people they meet, such as with a 1-to-5 rating system, such a practice is still far less than optimal and does not correlate with the way the human brain works. People remember faces better than names, and no lead acquisition system today enables exhibitors after the show to see whom they met.
Finally, while some systems network various lead retrieval devices within a trade show booth, no known system to date networks systems between trade show booths. As a result, exhibitors have no way of knowing how they did in comparison to other exhibitors at the show or compared to the show at large. As a result, exhibitors are left to guess at their relative success at any given show they attend.
By way of further background, one will note that the use of infrared (IR) light to transmit information has been employed for some time in a variety of devices, from remote controls for televisions and stereo appliances to its use in PDAs to exchange business card and other information. Furthermore, experimentation using infrared beacons to designate locations has been employed by the MIT Media Lab and HP Cooltown, both of which have disclosed their experiments publicly including through the Internet.
The MIT Media Lab has also engaged in limited experiments using IR tags to designate people. In those experiments, each person is outfitted with a wearable computer. Each wearable computer detects other wearable computers IR tags and then looks up on a wireless network any information associated with the tag and displays that information relative to an eyepiece. However, there are certain problems that are created using this method, which MIT has left unsolved.
The Media Lab's experiments have been conducted with small groups of people, not with the size and scale of crowds that attend a trade show. In a crowd, IR beacons have the potential to interfere with one another. If, for simplicity's sake, one assumes the IR beacon blinks once per second on the tenth of a second, then more than ten people in a room together will result in at least two people blinking simultaneously and, therefore, in synch. This synchronicity causes confusion for the device trying to read the tags because the computer cannot distinguish between what each tag is broadcasting separately.
Furthermore, MIT has used IR tags on physical objects as a means for identifying them to a wearable computer. HP Cooltown has done the same relative to PDAs. Both of these models, however, are dependent on each person having a wearable computer or PDA for the system to work. A person wearing an IR tag but without a wearable computer or PDA cannot be identified as having been in a particular location under the MIT and HP systems. In this regard, it will be appreciated that the cost of outfitting each attendee at a trade show with a wearable computer or PDA would be prohibitive and, therefore, not an economically viable option.
The MIT Media lab has done other experiments with what they refer to as "Meme Tags" and "GroupWear Tags" GroupWear Tags represent an earlier attempt at creating an intelligent nametag wherein users were asked 5 questions upon registering for a conference. Users would then be given a nametag that contained 5 red and 5 green LEDs and an IR receiver/transmitter. Upon meeting someone at a conference, the tag would communicate with the other person's tag and determine how many questions they answered in common. If, for example, they had 3 questions in common, the tag would light 3 green LEDs and 2 red LEDs.
One will appreciate that the relatively primitive means of predictive scoring provided by GroupWear Tags is limited by the number of lights that could fit on a nametag. Furthermore, it represents only the degree to which two persons have interests in common. It is incapable of determining to what extent each person is interested in meeting the other. For example, if an attendee is interested in meeting an exhibitor for the purposes of securing employment, but the exhibitor is not hiring, the GroupWear tag only gives both a rudimentary indication that they are a bad fit for each other. It does not notify an exhibitor a-priori that this person is someone to be avoided. By publicly and openly saying "no" to the attendee, the GroupWear Tag denies the attendee the opportunity to make his or her case despite the bad rating.
The Meme Tag is a bit more complex and is more suited for conferences than for trade shows. Each Meme Tag is outfitted with an LCD display, which shows a bit of information, commonly referred to as a meme. Upon meeting other attendees, each attendee has the opportunity to press a red button or a green button to accept or decline the other attendee's meme. Periodically, attendees may upload their collected memes at kiosks via an IR port on the Meme Tag. The Meme Tag records which memes the attendee collected from whom and when the meme was collected. The Meme Tag system then creates reports and maps of who met whom at the conference event. Charmed Technologies has a similar product, referred to as the CharmBadge, which also enables collecting the names of people met at conferences. In January of 2003, another company, nTag, emerged with similar technology based on the same research.
It has been found that there are a number of problems with each of the GroupWear Tag, the Meme Tag, and the CharmBadge. For example, each arrangement is what can be termed attendee-centric in that functionality is imparted to the badge that is costly and that does not serve the needs of the group that actually pays for the show, the exhibitors. Further, each of these devices operates in an overt way allowing the other party in a conversation or meeting to see what one is doing by pressing red and green buttons on a tag or by overtly displaying to the other party whether they should be meeting. This can be embarrassing to attendees who have their memes rejected, especially if those memes are business cards, and uncomfortable to the attendee actually doing the rejecting. Additionally, except for the nTag design, which was launched after the filing date of the present application and which appears to be networked wirelessly, none of these systems are networked except when docked or in front of a designated IR kiosk. Therefore, none of these systems can provide real-time information about the status on the show floor.
Even further, the knowledgeable observer will be aware that no known prior art system enables one to recreate a trade show after it is completed or to view what happened overall at a given trade show after it is over. These disadvantages derive from, among other things, the facts that the data collected is largely incomplete and is not collected and analyzed in one central database.
For these and further reasons, it is clear that there is a cognizable need for an improved system and method for retrieving information regarding mobile articles and persons, such as information relative to the characteristics and activities of trade show attendees and exhibitors, and for disseminating content based thereon.

Wireless information retrieval and content dissemination system and method


The wafer carrier information management system includes a reader unit for reading wafer carrier information from a transmitting/receiving unit attached to a wafer carrier in a buffer, and a reader unit controller for collecting the wafer carrier information from the reader unit. The system may further include a buffer controller for collecting the wafer carrier information from the reader unit controller, and a wafer manager for receiving the wafer carrier information from the buffer controller.

1. Field
Example embodiment relate to a wafer carrier information management system and/or method for collecting information about wafer carriers and reporting the information to a higher system in a semiconductor processing line.
2. Description of the Related Art
With the recent introduction of an automatic physical distribution management system to semiconductor processing, wafers are conveyed and loaded using an auto guided vehicle, a laser guided vehicle, an overhead hoist transport (OHT), etc.
Buffers are arranged at the side of a path through which a wafer transferring vehicle is moved to temporarily store wafer carriers while the wafer transferring vehicle transfers wafer carriers. If the position of a buffer and a wafer carrier loaded in the buffer can be recognized, the operation of the wafer transferring vehicle can be efficiently managed when the wafer transferring vehicle loads a new wafer carrier in a buffer or conveys a wafer carrier loaded in a buffer. Furthermore, information about wafer carriers loaded in buffers helps in management of semiconductor processing.
A conventional wafer carrier information management method collects information about a wafer carrier loaded in a buffer and manages the collected information by recognizing the wafer carrier information from a transmitting/receiving unit attached to the wafer carrier while a wafer transferring vehicle unloads/loads the wafer carrier from/to the buffer because a system for collecting and managing the wafer carrier information is not provided to the buffer. FIG. 1 illustrates a conventional wafer carrier information management system using an OHT 30 as a wafer transferring vehicle. The OHT 30 loads a wafer carrier 20 in a buffer 10 or unloads a wafer carrier loaded in the buffer 10 while moving along a rail 31. The OHT 30 reads information about the wafer carrier 20 loaded in the buffer 10 while loading/unloading the wafer carrier 20 in/from the buffer 10 and transmits the read information to an OHT controller 32 that is a higher system of the OHT 30. The OHT controller 32 transmits the wafer carrier information to a wafer manager 40 of a semiconductor processing line such that the wafer manager 40 collects the information about the wafer carrier 20 in the buffer 10 and stores the information in a database.
As described above, when the wafer manager 40 of the semiconductor processing line manages wafer carrier information in the database, if the database has an error since system power is cut off or the system has trouble, an operator manually inputs data in order to recover the database or eliminate the wafer carrier from the buffer.
Furthermore, when the wafer carrier information is managed through the aforementioned method, it is difficult to acquire information about a wafer carrier loaded in a specific buffer in the semiconductor processing line. This makes wafer carrier management difficult.

System and method for managing information about wafer carrier in buffer


An invented sound and image producing system is disclosed. The system may include a cartridge that stores, processes and controls data representative of sound and/or images, and a player that provides the interface, annunciation and transduction of sound and/or images. The cartridge includes a computer integrated circuit or chip that stores and transmits signals from which sound and/or images may be produced. The system also may include a source of signals representative of sound, an audio port associated with the source and through which signals representative of sound may be sent, and a device configured to receive and store signals representative of sound, and to produce sound from such signals, where the device is configured to connect with the audio port and to receive and store signals representative of sound transmitted from the source through the audio port to the device.

Sound and/or image producing devices such as cassette players, compact disc players, hand-held video games, etc., are popular entertainment devices. They make use of cassette tapes, compact discs or game cards that store information such as music and game commands. The cassette or compact disc player or hand-held video game receives the information stored on the tape, disc or card, and processes that information to produce sound and/or visual image's.
The invented sound and image producing system is an alternative to existing cassette players, compact disc players and other such items in that it allows a user to conveniently produce sound, such as music, and/or visual images. The system includes a cartridge that stores, processes and controls data representative of sound and/or images, and a player that provides the interface, annunciation and transduction of sound and/or images. The cartridge includes a computer integrated circuit or chip that stores and transmits signals from which sound and/or images may be produced. For example, the cartridge includes memory, data stored in the memory, a processing system, programming executable by the processing system, and at least one connector to releasably connect the cartridge to the player. The cartridge may include a single chip or integrated circuit, with the memory, processing and other functions all performed by the chip, such as an EMC 2200 chip or a PowerSpeech 2500 Series chip from Winbond Electronics Corporation of Taiwan. The chip may be mounted on a printed circuit board with a timing resistor, if necessary, and the connector or connectors may be associated with the printed circuit board.
The player, in contrast, is a bridge configured to receive and connect to the cartridge, to receive electrical signals from the cartridge, and to produce sound vibrations and/or visual images from the signals. The player includes a transducer to produce the sound vibrations, a battery or other power supply, and controls to trigger the cartridge to produce and transmit electrical signals representative of sound. The player may include an output, such as a liquid crystal diode, to display images. The player includes only those components necessary to produce sound vibrations and/or images from the signals received from a cartridge, a battery, and associated input or output components. The player need not include any processor, memory or other similar items because those items are resident on the cartridge. Expressed differently, the player includes only electrical components such as switches, a speaker, an LCD and a battery, while the cartridge includes electronic components such as a computer or micro-processor, an analog-to-digital converter and memory.
The cartridge typically has a side-to-side dimension of no more than 2 inches, and often less than 1 inch, because the cartridge is essentially a single chip. The player typically has a side-to-side dimension of no more than 3 inches, and often only slightly greater than a cartridge. This small size allows the system to be worn as a necklace or bracelet, be attached to clothing, bags or packs (such as by a clip or as a fob or zipper pull), or take the form of a toy or figurine.
One use of the sound producing system is to play popular music easily and inexpensively. Users may purchase and collect the cartridges, plug them into a player, and then listen to music. Users may also trade cartridges amongst themselves. The system is small, so it is easily carried. For example, high school students may clip players to a zipper on their backpacks.


The present invention provides pharmaceutical compositions in the form of relatively high molecular weight biocompatible polymers such as polyethylene glycol, optionally supplemented with a protective polymer such as dextran and/or essential pathogen nutrients such as L-glutamine. Also provided are methods for preventing or treating gut-derived sepsis attributable to intestinal pathogens such as Pseudomonas aeruginosa by administering high molecular weight polyethylene glycol as well as methods for monitoring the administration of high molecular weight polyethylene glycol, such as in methods of preventing, ameliorating or treating microbe-induced epithelial disorders, as exemplified by gut-derived sepsis. Frequently, gut-derived sepsis arises as a complication in mammals recovering from surgical intervention or suffering from a disease or disorder, providing indications of suitable animals to receive preventative treatment. Finally, the invention provides a composition comprising infant formula and polyethylene glycol and methods for using that composition.

Microbe-mediated epithelial disorders, or abnormal conditions, present a significant threat to the health of man and animals, imposing a burden on healthcare systems worldwide. One example of such disorders, gut-derived sepsis, is a major cause of mortality among organisms, such as human patients, that suffer from any of a variety of diseases, disorders or afflictions, such as burn injuries, neonatal enterocolitis, severe neutropenia, inflammatory bowel disease, and organ rejection following transplantation. The intestinal tract reservoir has long been recognized to be a potentially lethal focus of bacterial-mediated sepsis in, e.g., critically ill, hospitalized patients. The ability of microbial pathogens such as the Pseudomonads (e.g., Pseudomonas aeruginosa) to perturb the regulatory function of the intestinal epithelial barrier may be a defining characteristic among opportunistic organisms capable of causing gut-derived sepsis. In many of these infections, Pseudomonas aeruginosa has been identified as the causative pathogen. Significantly, the intestinal tract has been shown to be the primary site of colonization of opportunistic pathogens such as P. aeruginosa.
Conventional therapeutic approaches to the prevention or treatment of microbe-mediated epithelial disorders such as gut-derived sepsis have met with incomplete success. Antibiotic-based approaches are compromised by the difficulty in tailoring antibiotics to the intestinal pathogen in a manner that does not impact the remaining intestinal flora. In addition, many of the intestinal pathogens, as typified by P. aeruginosa, often become resistant to antibiotic challenges, resulting in a costly, ongoing and incompletely successful approach to prevention or treatment. Problems also plague immunotherapeutic approaches. Particularly, many intestinal pathogens such as P. aeruginosa, are immunoevasive, rendering such approaches minimally effective.
Another approach to the prevention or treatment disorders such as gut-derived sepsis is intestinal lavage. In the past several years, intestinal lavage using polyethylene glycol (PEG) solutions has been attempted, with some anecdotal reports suggesting that PEG may show some promise in treating gut-derived sepsis across a variety of clinical and experimental circumstances. The PEG in these solutions has an average molecular weight of 3,500 daltons and the solutions are commercially available (e.g., Golytely). The mechanisms by which these relatively low molecular weight (LMW) solutions of PEG provide a therapeutic benefit in treating or preventing gut-derived sepsis is unknown. Typically, these solutions are used to wash or flush the intestinal tract of organisms at risk of developing, or suffering from, gut-derived sepsis. As a result of administering these LMW PEG solutions to the intestinal tract, there is a variable change in the floral composition of the treated intestine depending on the method of concentration and the molecular weight of the compounds used. For example, solutions having concentrations of PEG higher than about 20% can result in a microbiocidal action resulting in the elimination of potentially protective microorganisms in the intestinal tract of a stressed host. Also, solutions of low molecular weight PEG can lose their efficacy in attenuating the virulence capacity of certain organisms, despite preserving them. Therefore, a need exists in the art for a solution that inhibits microbial virulence expression (the harmful properties of a microbe) while not killing the microbe or neighboring microbes, thereby providing the benefit of preserving the natural ecosystem of the intestinal microflora. For example, preservation of the native floral composition would provide competition for opportunistic pathogens that might otherwise colonize the intestine.
Concomitant with a change in floral composition is a change in the physiology of the organism. These physiological changes may be monitored by assaying any number of characteristic enzymatic activities, such as lactate dehydrogenase levels. Consequently, LMW PEG treatments of the intestine produce significant changes in the physiology of the treated organisms, with unpredictable, and thus potentially deleterious, longer-term consequences for the health and well-being of the treated organism. Moreover, such treatments provoke physically demanding reactions in the form of massive intestinal voiding in critically ill organisms such as hospitalized human patients.
Thus, there remains a need in the art to provide a composition effective in preventing, or treating, a microbe-mediated epithelial disorder (e.g., gut-derived sepsis) and/or a symptom associated with such a disorder, along with methods for achieving such benefits, without creating the potential for further complications through significant alteration of the physiology of the treated organism.

Materials and methods for preventing and treating microbe-mediated epithelial disorders


An EL light emitting device has: an EL light emitting layer having an EL light emitting material element; and an electrode section having a first electrode and a second electrode which are arranged on one surface side of the EL light emitting layer to be electrically separated from each other with a spacing region, and having a predetermined pattern. An alternating current electric field forming element, to form an alternating current electric field in the EL light emitting layer when an alternating current power supply voltage is applied between the first electrode and the second electrode, is adhered to the other surface side of the EL light emitting layer. A waterproof layer of a synthetic resin is arranged between at least one of the first electrode and the second electrode, and the EL light emitting layer.

As a light emitting device comprising an electroluminescence (EL) light emitting layer formed with EL material, for example, an EL light emitting device which has a structure of laminating a substrate sheet, an electrode section, an insulating layer (reflecting layer), an EL light emitting layer, a top coat layer (epoxy type protective layer) in this order has been known (see, for example, JP-Tokukaihei-8-153582A).
In this EL light emitting device, a light emitting pattern according to one's preference can be formed by applying an alternating voltage between a fist electrode and a second electrode, and by forming a film of a transparent electrode with a predetermined shape on the top coat layer.
When water or humidity (water or the like) penetrates to reach the electrode section in the EL light emitting device, electrolysis may be generated at the electrode section or the breaking (damage) of wire due to the oxidation of the electrode may be caused. Also, since the first electrode and the second electrode are directly connected through water or the like, there is a safety hazard.
In this regard, in the EL light emitting device described in the reference document 1, the top coat layer functions as a waterproof layer to some extent. However, the top coat layer is exposed and the thickness of the layer is small, so that a part of the top coat layer is likely to be damaged by friction or the like. In this case, the above problem would be exposed.
To solve this, it is considered to thicken the top coat layer. However, when the top coat layer is thickened, the dielectric constant becomes small, thereby raising another problem to decrease the luminous intensity.
The present invention is accomplished in view of the problems, and an object of the present invention is to provided an EL light emitting device which is excellent in waterproof property, moisture-proof property and safety and can suppress the decrease of the luminous intensity as much as possible.

EL light emitting device with waterproof function


An apparatus for feeding slurry to an external device. The apparatus includes a preparation tank for preparing the slurry. A circulation pipe is connected to the preparation tank to circulate the slurry. A feeding pipe is connected between the preparation tank and the external device to feed the external device with the slurry. A pump sends the chemical solution in the preparation tank to the circulation pipe and the feeding pipe. A concentration detector is arranged downstream to the pump to detect the concentration of the slurry. A controller controls the concentration of the chemical solution in the preparation tank in accordance with the detection value of the concentration detector and controls the feeding of the chemical solution.

The present invention relates to an apparatus for feeding slurry to a chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) apparatus during a semiconductor fabrication process and a method for preparing slurry.
During a semiconductor fabrication process, a CMP device polishes a film, which is applied to a wafer surface and formed from metal such as tungsten or copper, with a chemical solution that includes a polishing agent. The chemical solution is a slurry that is prepared by mixing a polishing agent and an oxidizing agent in a stock solution. To fabricate semiconductor devices with uniform circuit wiring dimensions and increase yield, the concentration of the oxidizing agent in the slurry must be maintained at a constant value.
In the prior art, the polishing agent is formed from abrasive grains, such as silica, alumina, or cerium, and the oxidizing agent is formed from ferric nitrate. The pH of a mixture of the polishing agent and the stock solution (slurry stock solution) differs greatly from the pH of the oxidizing agent. The mixing ratio of the slurry stock solution and the oxidizing agent (slurry stock solution: oxidizing agent) is 1:1 or 2:1. The concentration of the oxidizing agent in the slurry may be obtained by measuring the pH after the slurry stock solution and the oxidizing agent is mixed.
However, chemical reaction between the polishing agent and the oxidizing agent tends to coagulate the abrasive grains. The abrasive grains precipitates within a short period especially when alumina is used as the abrasive grains. This results in an instable polishing rate and scratches the polishing surface with the coagulated abrasive grains. Therefore, aqueous hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) is nowadays used as the oxidizing agent.
The pH of the aqueous hydrogen peroxide is about 7.0 and neutral, and the mixing ratio of the slurry stock solution and the oxidizing agent is 10:1 or greater. Thus, the pH of the mixture does not change much when the oxidizing agent is added to the slurry stock solution. As a result, the concentration of the oxidizing agent cannot be obtained from the pH.
To measure the concentration of the aqueous hydrogen peroxide in the slurry, the incorporation of an automatic titration device in a chemical solution feeding apparatus has been proposed. However, titration analysis requires at least about ten minutes to perform a single analysis. Therefore, the concentration of the mixture cannot be constantly monitored even when using the automatic titration device.
Further, a reagent is used to conduct the titration analysis. The reagent must be replenished when it becomes insufficient. The adding interval becomes shorter when the titration analysis interval is shortened. This causes the replenishment of the reagent to be burdensome. Further, a drainage process must be performed to purify the waste liquid produced by the titration analysis.
The aqueous hydrogen peroxide dissolves in the slurry. Thus, as shown in FIG. 9, the concentration C of the aqueous hydrogen peroxide in the slurry decreases as time elapses. To maintain the concentration of the oxidizing agent at a constant value, the concentration of the aqueous hydrogen peroxide must be measured in order to replenish the aqueous hydrogen peroxide when it becomes insufficient.
The automatic titration analysis is optimal for performing concentration detection to replenish insufficient aqueous hydrogen peroxide. However, when detection results must be obtained immediately to constantly check the concentration of the oxidizing agent, the automatic titration apparatus should not be employed.
The concentration of the stock solution of the aqueous hydrogen peroxide is not constant since the aqueous hydrogen peroxide vaporizes. Accordingly, even if the slurry stock solution and the aqueous hydrogen peroxide are mixed at a predetermined mixing ratio, the concentration of the aqueous hydrogen peroxide in the slurry does not remain constant and may thus exceed a predetermined concentration.
In this case, the slurry stock solution must be replenished again. Then, the aqueous hydrogen peroxide must be replenished, and the concentration of the aqueous hydrogen peroxide must be adjusted. This is burdensome.
Further, after preparing slurry having a predetermined concentration, the aqueous hydrogen peroxide reacts with the slurry as time elapses and deteriorates the slurry components. This fluctuates the polishing rate.
Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 11-126764 describes a slurry feeding apparatus having two tanks to constantly feed fresh slurry to a polishing machine. In each tank of the double-tank slurry feeding apparatus, the preparation of the slurry and the feeding of the prepared slurry until the slurry is emptied are performed alternately. Accordingly, unless the concentration of the aqueous hydrogen peroxide is accurately adjusted when the slurry is prepared, the concentration of the aqueous hydrogen peroxide may differ between batches.

Chemical solution feeding apparatus and method for preparing slurry


A small size connector has an insulative housing and two edge card-receiving slots disposed in a stacked arrangement with in the connector housing. Each slot receives an edge card of an electronic module therein. The slots support conductive terminals that extend from a plurality of individual terminal assemblies. The terminal assemblies include clip members that engage an opposing shoulder formed on the interior of the connector housing. The front face of the connector is provided with various engagement openings that receive engagement members of light pipe assemblies and shielding assemblies, so that when assembled, the connector, shield, terminal assemblies and light pipes all act as a single, integrated component.

This invention relates to electrical connector assemblies and, more particularly, to an small sized electrical connectors having a stacked arrangement.
Electrical connectors adapted for mounting to printed circuit boards are known in the art and are commonly used for connection between two electrical communication devices. In order to ensure that a proper connection has been made and therefore a link is created between the electrical communication devices, indicators may be incorporated into circuits on the printed circuit board. These indicators are typically light emitting diodes (LEDs) which are turned on when a circuit is completed between the mating connectors and the communication devices. Additionally LEDs can be mounted on the printed circuit board to indicate a number of other conditions including the passage of communications signals between the two communication devices, indication of power, or indication that an error in transmitting the signals has occurred.
A problem arises with these type of connectors because the terminals of the connector are usually stitched in from the rear of the connector. Stitched connector typically require a means to align the tails of the connector terminals to facilitate the insertion of the connector onto a circuit board. The use of tail aligners increase the overall size of the connector, thereby increasing the printed circuit board "real estate" occupied by the connector.
Small size connectors must usually be inserted into an exterior shielding cage by way of a bottom opening. When a dual connector of a stacked arrangement, i.e., one which is intended to mate with two electronic modules in a vertically spaced arrangement, is desired, such a connector cannot be practically inserted into a shielding cage by way of a bottom opening because of the intervening horizontal wall of the shielding cage.
The present invention is therefore directed to a connector having a construction that overcomes the aforementioned disadvantages and which easily mates with a shielding cage intended to provide electromagnetic interference shielding around electronic modules that engage the connector.


The present invention provides metal powder compositions for pressed powder metallurgy and methods of forming metal parts using the metal powder compositions. In each embodiment of the invention, the outer surface of primary metal particles in the metal powder composition is chemically cleaned to remove oxides in situ, which provides ideal conditions for achieving near full density metal parts when the metal powder compositions are sintered.

1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to methods and compositions for use in pressed powder metallurgy.
2. Description of Related Art
In pressed powder metallurgy, a substantially dry metal powder composition is charged into a die cavity of a die press and compressed to form a green compact. Pressing causes the metal powder particles in the metal powder composition to mechanically interlock and form cold-weld bonds that are strong enough to allow the green compact to be handled and further processed. After pressing, the green compact is removed from the die cavity and sintered at a temperature that is below the melting point of the major metallic constituent of the metal powder composition, but sufficiently high enough to strengthen the bond between the metal powder particles, principally through solid-state diffusion. Some metal powder compositions include minor amounts of other metals and/or alloying elements that melt during sintering to facilitate liquid phase sintering of the non-melting major constituent of the metal powder composition. This increases the bonding strength between the major metallic constituent of the metal powder composition and typically increases the final density of the sintered part.
In most pressed powder metallurgy applications, it is necessary to add a lubricant to the dry metal powder composition before it is pressed to form the green compact. The most commonly used lubricants in pressed powder metallurgy are ethylene bis-stearamide wax and zinc stearate, but other lubricants are also sometimes used. Lubricants help the individual metal powder particles flow into all portions of the die cavity, allow for some particle-to-particle realignment during pressing and can serve as release agents that facilitate removal of the green compact from the die cavity after pressing. The least amount of lubricant necessary to obtain good flow and release is used.
Conventionally, the lubricant is removed from the green compact by gradually heating the green compact at a relatively low heating rate (e.g., ˜15° F./min) until the lubricant melts, boils and/or decomposes and is completely removed from the pressed part. This "delubing" is typically accomplished during an initial heating or preheating stage at the beginning of the sintering process. This can be accomplished in a batch furnace or in a continuous furnace. In a continuous furnace, the green compact is placed on a conveyor that moves the part slowly into and through a sintering oven. The slow movement of the conveyor allows the temperature of the green compact to increase at a slow rate, allowing the lubricant to melt and then boil and then gas off. Most of the remaining lubricant residue is decomposed and burned out as the temperature of the green compact increases. Some small quantity of the lubricant may diffuse into the base metal and contribute carbon to the final part. The lubricant is completely removed from the green compact at a temperature that is substantially lower than the final sintering temperature. In a batch furnace, the temperature is gradually increased to remove the lubricant prior to sintering that may be programmed to run at different conditions.
To maximize the opportunity for the individual metal particles to bond to each other, it has long been the practice to sinter the green compact at a peak sintering temperature for a significant amount of time, typically on the order of 30 minutes or more. Allowing the part to soak or dwell at the peak sintering temperature for this period of time is believed to increase the likelihood that individual metal particles will bond via solid-state diffusion. The slow movement of the conveyor or the temperature profile in a batch furnace insures that the green compact receives a lengthy soak or dwell time in the hot zone of the sintering oven.
Ideally, the sintered density of a final part would be 100% of the theoretical density of the metallic constituents of the metal powder composition used to form the part. However, the sintered density of parts formed from most conventional metal powder compositions does not approach 100% of theoretical density. Using conventional high carbon or low alloy steel metal powder compositions and pressed powder metallurgy methods, only a sintered density of about 93% to 94% of theoretical density can be achieved in one pressing and sintering. For stainless steels, sintered densities are typically less than 90% of theoretical density for conventional powder metallurgy compositions. Additional processing steps, such as forging and repressing are required to increase the density of the sintered metal part.

Powder metallurgy methods and compositions


Individual wire defects in a data transfer/communication system that employs differential signaling can be detected during connectivity verification of a link prior to link training by individually disconnecting wires by wire polarity and testing the link. For example, the positive transmit wire of a lane may be verified by disconnecting the negative transmit wire of the lane and performing link connectivity verification. If the link passes connectivity verification, then the positive transmit wire of the lane is functioning normally. Connectivity of the negative transmit wire of the lane may then be verified by disconnecting the positive transmit wire of the lane and determining if the passes the connectivity verification.

This disclosure generally relates to the field of computer systems, and, more particularly, to the testing of electrical devices.
A Peripheral Component Interconnect Express ("PCIe") device initializes a link for data transfer/communication with another device using a PCIe link training process. During link training, devices exchange sequences to determine link parameters such as lane polarity, link width, and link speed. Link width corresponds to a number of lanes in the link. Each lane is a full duplex channel that includes a transmit pair of wires and a receive pair of wires. Each pair of wires is comprised of a positive wire and a negative wire for differential signaling. The link initialization process configures a PCIe device's hardware (e.g., control registers) that implements the PCIe physical layer. The configuration includes configuring a Link Training and Status State Machine ("LTSSM"), which guides the link initialization. An LTSSM consists of a number of states including the "detect," "polling," and "configuration" states. If an LTSSM successfully negotiates the states, the LTSSM is put into the "L0" state, which is the normal, fully active state during which a PCIe device may transmit and receive data packets. An LTSSM includes additional states such as the "recovery" state, which is entered from the L0 state when an error that renders a link inoperable occurs.

Verifying communication lanes by individually disconnecting transmit wires by wire polarity


A duct panel, a method of manufacturing a duct panel, a duct section and a method of installing a duct are disclosed. The duct panel includes a laminate structure having an insulation layer disposed between a first support layer and a second support layer, the laminate structure having an end width; and an end cap attached to the end width and configured to be coupled to a mounting flange, wherein the mounting flange is configured to mount the duct panel. The end cap and the mounting flange comprise different materials.

Air ducts are used in conjunction with a heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) system of a building to deliver and remove air. An air duct typically comprises multiple short sections that are assembled together. Depending on the requirements and the building regulations, different sizes and types of air ducts can be installed in the building.
Conventionally, the air duct is installed on site, as part of the site construction works. For example, metal sheets are bent into a metal duct and an insulation layer is subsequently disposed around the metal duct. The installation work is typically carried out manually. The quality of the air duct may vary, depending on the workmanship. The wastage of materials may increase and the insulation performance may also be compromised.
Also, most of the air ducts are at ceiling level, thus the installation work has to be carried out at an elevated height. This may pose danger to the workers and cause low productivity in the installation work. In an existing solution, the air duct may be fabricated in a fabrication workshop off-site before being transported to the site. However, the air ducts are mostly bulky. Thus, it may be difficult and cumbersome to transport the air ducts to the site. Furthermore, the air ducts are awkward to handle and require large storage areas.
A need therefore exists to provide a duct panel that seeks to address at least some of the problems above or to provide a useful alternative.


A display panel, a method of manufacturing the same, and a terminal are provided. A buffer layer on an array substrate is provided a blind hole. Compared with the conventional technology, because the buffer layer in the blind hole in the display panel is removed in the present invention, there are less films blocking light when incident light passes through the blind hole, thereby improving the transmittance of the incident light.

With rapid development of display industry, display devices with a high screen ratio have become a development trend. A display ratio of the display device has evolved from 16:9 to 18:9. The display device has been developed from irregular screen to a widow's tip screen in turn then to an in-plane boring technique in order to increase the screen ratio of the display device. Because the in-plane boring technique has great challenges about process and yield requirements of the display device, an in-plane blind hole design has become a development trend.
In the current in-plane blind hole design, the in-plane blind hole design of the display device is to place a mobile phone camera under the blind hole. The blind hole penetrates through glass of an array substrate and all layers except a buffer layer on the glass. The blind hole also penetrates a color film layer and a black matrix of a color filter substrate. Because an opening technology of the in-plane blind hole is still insufficient, the optical penetration of the blind hole is low, which affects an image quality of a front camera.

Display panel, method of manufacturing same, and terminal

WUHAN CHINA STAR OPTOELECTRONICS TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD.


An apparatus for coupling two hydraulic transmission lines to one another is disclosed. The apparatus comprises a first coupling member and a second coupling member. The first coupling member comprises a body having first and second passages. The first passage extends from the connection to the first line to the second passage. A plug is movably positioned in the first passage for selectively opening and closing the first passage between the first line and the second passage. A first and second passage similarly extends through the second coupling member, and a plug is movably positioned in the first passage for selectively opening and closing the first passage between the second line and the second passage. The first and second coupling members are selectively joinable via a sleeve extending between the second passages thereof.

Hydraulic shock absorber systems are common on automobiles and other vehicles. These systems generally comprise an oil-filled shock absorber mounted between the suspension of each wheel of the vehicle and the vehicle frame. A hydraulic supply is centrally located between two or more of the shock absorbers. The hydraulic supply is connected to the shock absorbers via tubes or lines which carry hydraulic oil.
During vehicle assembly, the hydraulic system is generally assembled separate from the vehicle on which it is ultimately installed. In this process, the entire hydraulic system is assembled and filled with oil. The system is checked for leaks and the damping is adjusted.
The assembled system is then transported to the vehicle assembly line and installed onto the vehicle. Due to the overall size of the system, transporting and installing the system is difficult and requires a great many workers. As one attempt at solving the installation problems associated with these systems, it is possible to disassemble the system and reassemble it on the vehicle. This also has numerous disadvantages. First, the oil must be drained from the system upon disassembly and be replaced once the system is reassembled on the vehicle. Once the system is installed on the vehicle, however, it is difficult to refill the system with oil as access to the system is often obstructed by other components of the vehicle. In addition, leaks are often created during the disassembly/reassembly process.
Another problem associated with the present systems is that, after installation of the system on the vehicle, later repair is difficult and costly. The same problems which render disassembly of the system for installation on the vehicle undesirable make it difficult to repair individual components of the system later.
A hydraulic shock system which includes coupling apparatus designed for individual component coupling and uncoupling is desirable.

Hydraulic line coupling apparatus for hydraulic shock absorber


An improved model and method for analyzing oil and gas well logs is disclosed. This method allows a log analyst to make an accurate interpretation of a well log in oil and gas bearing shaly sand formations by providing a means to correct for missing or faulty data. The present invention provides an improved model and method for determining resistivity when porosity is known and for determining porosity when resistivity is known. This methodology allows the determination of water saturation in a shaly sandstone formation using either resistivity, bulk volume clay or porosity data as a single input. Resistivity data can be corrected using density porosity. The combination of both resistivity and density porosity data in any well will allow corrections to questionable open hole log data. Correction of resistivity data for conductive clays, thin bed effects and hole angle is allowed.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a novel method for analyzing oil and gas well logs. The method allows a log analyst to make an accurate interpretation of a well log in oil and gas bearing shaly sand formations by providing a means to correct for missing or faulty data. A frequent problem confronting the log analyst is the ability to make an accurate interpretation because of missing or incorrect data. Accurate porosity data is often not available. Correction of resistivity data for conductive clays, thin bed effects and hole angle is often needed. The methodology described below provides these answers in shaly oil and gas bearing sands.
2. Description of Related Art
The article entitled "Electrical Conductivities in Oil-Bearing Shaly Sand Accurately Described with the SATORI Saturation Model", (A. de Kuijper, R. K. J. Sandor, J. P. Hofman, J. M. V. A. Koelman, P. Hofstra and J. A. de Waal. The Log Analyst. September-October 1996, Vol. 37, No. 5, pp. 22-32), is an example of the technology currently known. These prior methods all fail in one or more respects to address the problems described.

Method for determining resistivity derived porosity and porosity derived resistivity


A technique manages consumer authentication. The technique involves communicating with an institutional entity to perform an authentication operation regarding a consumer. The technique further involves conveying a query to the consumer in response to the authentication operation. The query prompts the consumer to indicate whether the consumer participated in the authentication operation. The technique further involves obtaining a response to the query indicating whether the consumer participated in the authentication operation. The authentication operation is legitimate when the response indicates that the consumer participated in the authentication operation. The authentication operation is fraudulent when the response indicates that the consumer did not participate in the authentication operation. In some arrangements, the authentication operation involves knowledge-based authentication (KBA) activity. In some arrangements, the query is conveyed to the consumer through an identity protection entity which is different than the institutional entity.

In knowledge-based authentication (KBA), an organization questions someone for particular personal information. Such questions may include "where were you married?", "what was the color of your first car?", and "what was the name of your first pet?". The person must answer the question correctly in order to prove to the organization that he or she is not an imposter.
In some situations, the person provides the organization with the answers to such questions up front (e.g., when opening an account with the organization). The organization is then able to save the answers, and re-ask one or more of the questions to authenticate the person at a later time.
In other situations, the organization may work with a KBA service provider. In these situations, when the organization wishes to authenticate a person, the organization identifies who the person claims to be to the KBA service provider. The KBA service provider then retrieves previously gathered data on the person from one or more information sources (e.g., credit agencies, public records, commercially available information regulated by the Gramm, Leach, Bliley Act, etc.) and provides, to the organization, an appropriate set of questions based on that gathered data. Next, the organization asks the person one or more of the questions and relays each answer back to the KBA service provider. The KBA service provider then evaluates each provided answer and provides the organization with an authentication result (e.g., "passed authentication" or "failed authentication").

Managing authentication based on contacting a consumer as soon as the consumer has performed an authentication operation


Variant costimulatory polypeptides, nucleic acids encoding such polypeptides, and methods for using the polypeptides and nucleic acids to enhance a T cell response are provided herein.

Antigen-specific activation and proliferation of lymphocytes are regulated by both positive and negative signals from costimulatory molecules. The most extensively characterized T cell costimulatory pathway is B7-CD28, in which B7-1 (CD80) and B7-2 (CD86) each can engage the stimulatory CD28 receptor and the inhibitory CTLA-4 (CD152) receptor. In conjunction with signaling through the T cell receptor, CD28 ligation increases antigen-specific proliferation of T cells, enhances production of cytokines, stimulates differentiation and effector function, and promotes survival of T cells (Lenshow et al. (1996) Annu. Rev. Immunol. 14:233-258; Chambers and Allison (1997) Curr. Opin. Immunol. 9:396-404; and Rathmell and Thompson (1999) Annu. Rev. Immunol. 17:781-828). In contrast, signaling through CTLA-4 is thought to deliver a negative signal that inhibits T cell proliferation, IL-2 production, and cell cycle progression (Krummel and Allison (1996) J. Exp. Med. 183:2533-2540; and Walunas et al. (1996) J. Exp. Med. 183:2541-2550). Other members of the B7 family include B7-H1 (Dong et al. (1999) Nature Med. 5:1365-1369; and Freeman et al. (2000) J. Exp. Med. 192:1-9), B7-DC (Tseng et al. (2001) J. Exp. Med. 193:839-846; and Latchman et al. (2001) Nature Immunol. 2:261-268), B7-H2 (Wang et al. (2000) Blood 96:2808-2813; Swallow et al. (1999) Immunity 11:423-432; and Yoshinaga et al. (1999) Nature 402:827-832), and B7-H3 (Chapoval et al. (2001) Nature Immunol. 2:269-274). B7-H1 and B7-DC are ligands for PD-1, B7-H2 is a ligand for ICOS, and B7-H3 remains at this time an orphan ligand (Dong et al. (2003) Immunol. Res. 28:39-48).
B7 family molecules are expressed on the cell surface as homodimers with a membrane proximal constant IgC domain and a membrane distal IgV domain. Receptors for these ligands share a common extracellular IgV-like domain. Interactions of receptor-ligand pairs are mediated predominantly through residues in the IgV domains of the ligands and receptors (Schwartz et al. (2002) Nature Immunol. 3:427-434). In general, IgV domains are described as having two sheets that each contain a layer of β-strands (Williams and Barclay (1988) Annu. Rev. Immunol. 6:381-405). The front and back sheets of CTLA-4 contain strands A′GFCC′ and ABEDC,″ respectively (Ostrov et al. (2000) Science 290:816-819), whereas the front and back sheets of the B7 IgV domains are composed of strands AGFCC′C″ and BED, respectively (Schwartz et al. (2001) Nature 410:604-608; Stamper et al (2001) Nature 410:608-611; and Ikemizu et al. (2000) Immunity 12:51-60). Crystallographic analysis revealed that the CTLA-4/B7 binding interface is dominated by the interaction of the CDR3-analogous loop from CTLA-4, composed of a MYPPPY (SEQ ID NO:1) motif, with a surface on B7 formed predominately by the G, F, C, C′ and C″ strands (Schwartz et al. (2001) supra; and Stamper et al. supra). Data from amino acid homologies, mutation, and computer modeling provide support for the concept that this motif also is a major B7-binding site for CD28 (Bajorath et al. (1997) J. Mol. Graph. Model. 15:135-139). Although the MYPPPY motif is not conserved in ICOS, studies have indicated that a related motif having the sequence FDPPPF (SEQ ID NO:2) and located at the analogous position is a major determinant for binding of ICOS to B7-H2 (Wand et al. (2002) J. Exp. Med. 195:1033-1041).
B7-H1 (also called PD-L1) and B7-DC (also called PD-L2) are relatively new members of the B7 family, and have amino acid sequences that are about 34% identical to each other. Human and mouse orthologues of these molecules share about 70% amino acid identity (i.e., the human and mouse B7-H1 amino acid sequences are about 70% identical, and the human and mouse B7-DC amino acid sequences are about 70% identical). While B7-H1 and B7-DC transcripts are found in various tissues (Dong et al. (1999) supra; Latchman et al. supra; and Tamura (2001) Blood 97:1809-1816), the expression profiles of the proteins are quite distinct. Expression of B7-H1 protein, although essentially not found in normal tissues other than macrophage-like cells, can be induced in a variety of tissues and cell types (Dong et al. (1999) supra; Tamura et al. supra; and Ishida et al. (2000) Immunol. Lett. 84:57-62). In contrast, B7-DC is expressed only in dendritic cells and monocytes (Tseng et al. supra; and Ishida et al. supra).

Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research