A semiconductor device including a first semiconductor layer formed on a semiconductor substrate, a second semiconductor layer surrounding the first semiconductor layer, the second semiconductor layer being formed on the semiconductor substrate with one of an insulating film and a cavity, and a third semiconductor layer surrounding the second semiconductor layer, the third semiconductor layer being formed on the semiconductor substrate.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor device having an SOI (Silicon On Insulator) structure in which a semiconductor layer is formed in a partial region of a semiconductor substrate with an insulating film interposed between the semiconductor substrate and the semiconductor layer, or an SON (Silicon On Nothing) structure in which a semiconductor layer is formed in a partial region of a semiconductor substrate with a cavity region interposed between the semiconductor substrate and the semiconductor layer.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, a substrate (to be referred to as an SOI substrate hereinafter) having an SOI structure is considered to be promising as a substrate capable of forming an element which can improve the operating speed and reduce the power consumption. This SOI substrate is particularly attracting attention as a substrate for a logic device required to operate at high speed. On the other hand, when a memory element such as a DRAM or an analog circuit such as a power amplifier is formed on the SOI, the element or circuit malfunctions owing to the floating effect. Accordingly, a DRAM or an analog circuit must be formed not on the SOI but on common silicon in order to stabilize the operation of the memory or circuit.
To form both a logic device and a memory device on a substrate, therefore, it is possible to use a partial SOI substrate in which a silicon region not having the SOI structure and an SOI region having the SOI structure are partially formed on a substrate beforehand. It is necessary to form a logic circuit on the SOI region in which a buried oxide film is present below silicon, and to form a DRAM and an analog circuit on the common silicon region in which no buried oxide film is present below silicon.
Unfortunately, analog elements forming the analog circuit are readily influenced by noise, so these elements are preferably electrically disconnected from the logic circuit and the memory circuit. On the partial SOI substrate, the logic circuit is formed on the SOI region and subjected to element isolation. Therefore, this logic circuit and the analog circuit are electrically disconnected. However, the DRAM and the analog circuit formed on the same silicon region are formed adjacent to each other, so noise propagation from the DRAM to the analog circuit is a problem.
Also, when an input/output circuit for exchanging signals with another semiconductor device is formed on the SOI region, high voltages are applied to elements forming this input/output circuit because the SOI region is insulated. This easily brings about electrostatic breakdown. In addition, the side surfaces of a semiconductor layer in the SOI region are covered with SiO2 for element isolation, and the bottom surface of this semiconductor layer is covered with SiO2 of the buried oxide film. Hence, an element formed on the SOI region has the drawback that heat generated from this element when the element is driven is not efficiently dissipated.
Furthermore, with the advancing micropatterning of elements, junctions must be made shallow. When annealing is performed to activate an impurity such as boron (B), phosphorus (P), or arsenic (As) ion-implanted into a semiconductor layer, the impurity diffuses more than necessary if the annealing time is long, and this deepens the junction. To prevent the formation of a deep junction, the semiconductor layer must be heated and cooled rapidly. A halogen lamp or the like is generally used in this heating. However, a difference between the heat absorption efficiencies between the SOI region and the silicon region produces a temperature difference between these regions. This temperature difference may form crystal defects such as slips in the substrate.

Semiconductor device formed in semiconductor layer arranged on substrate with one of insulating film and cavity interposed between the substrate and the semiconductor layer


A polyimide alignment film based on pyromellitic dianhydride and a bis(4-aminophenoxy) aromatic compound, such as 1,3-bis(4-aminophenoxy)benzene or 1,4-bis(4-aminophenoxy)benzene, providing low tilt angles of from 1 to 2 degrees when used in liquid crystal displays.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a polyimide alignment film based on pyromellitic dianhydride and a bis(4-aminophenoxy)aromatic compound and to a liquid crystal display device using such an alignment film.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Liquid crystal display (LCD) devices have become increasingly important in displays which require very low consumption of electrical power or where the environment dictates a lightweight, planar, flat surface. Thus, LCD's are used in display devices such as wristwatches, pocket and personal computers, aircraft cockpit displays, etc.
In its simplest form, a liquid crystal display device consists of a liquid crystal layer with opposite sides, a set of electrodes on either side of the liquid crystal layer and an alignment polymer layer between each set of electrodes and the liquid crystal layer. Alignment of the liquid crystal molecules occurs at a certain angle, referred to as the tilt angle, with respect to the plane of the inside of two substrates, e.g. glass plates, plastic sheets, quartz plates or others, which support the electrodes. The inside of the substrates have coatings of sets of transparent electrodes (electrical conductors), usually indium-tin oxide (ITO). The sets of electrodes are patterned, e.g. by etching, compatible with the information to be displayed by the LCD. The alignment process is most easily carried out by solution casting (spin coating, roller coating, dipping, spraying, printing and/or doctor blading) an organic polymer onto the two ITO coated substrates. After removal of the solvents and/or curing of the polymer layers, the substrates are usually rubbed or buffed in one direction with cloths. The rubbing process serves to establish a unique optical direction. After rubbing both substrates, they are rotated from 70 to 360 degrees with respect to each other; adhered together using organic adhesives to preserve a constant thickness to a space or gap between the substrates; filled with various mixtures of liquid crystal materials; and finally sealed using organic adhesives. At this stage, polarizing films are often attached to the outside surfaces of the substrates by a lamination process. Finally, electrical connections are made to both substrates in a manner consistent with the electrical and display designs.
The use of rubbed polymer films, i.e. alignment direction and tilt angle controlling films, dominates the process technology used in the production of all categories of liquid crystal displays, and polyimides are the most common alignment films in use today. Moreover, the tilt angle and its magnitude are very important in the various electro-optic responses and the electro-optic properties of the LCD device. The stability, legibility and reliability of the LCD are all related to the magnitude and stability of the tilt angle. The tilt angle has to be stable to high temperature and illumination, and the magnitude of the tilt angle has to be stable for long storage times in order to provide a long operational time for the displays. This holds particularly for the value of the tilt angle obtained after the heat treatment of the display after sealing the cells filled with liquid crystals.
Polyimide films used to control the alignment direction and the tilt angle of liquid crystal molecules in liquid crystal displays are very thin, generally being on the order of from 100 to 2000 angstroms. The alignment is induced in a unique direction of the polyimide polymer by gentle buffing with specific cloths. The actual tilt angle obtained is a function of polymer ordering on the surface, the resulting surface energy, the nature of the cloth used to buff the surface and the amount of buffing work. In addition to these variables, each of the hundreds of commercial liquid crystal formulations interacts differently with a given surface. In general, however, the single most important factor determining the value range of the tilt angle is the intrinsic character of the polymer used to control this angle.
For most standard TN or STN liquid crystal displays (off=white), conventional polyimides based on pyromellitic dianhydride and 4,4'-diaminodiphenyl ether or 3,3',4,4'-benzophenonetetracarboxylic dianhydride, 4,4'-diaminodiphenyl ether and m-phenylene diamine give tilt angles ranging from 2 to 3 degrees which are adequate for these displays. For more sophisticated STN displays, however, higher tilt angles of greater than 4 degrees are required and polyimides modified with alkyl or fluoroalkyl groups have generally been used. There are, however, other liquid crystal display applications which require lower tilt angles of less than 2 degrees while maintaining good and stable alignment properties. For example, normally black liquid crystal displays (off=black) preferably require tilt angles of around 1.5 degrees which are lower than that achieved using conventional polyimides. Tilt angles of less than 1 degree in TN LC displays cause the occurrence of reverse tilt domains, which leads to the scattering of light, reducing the contrast and disturbing the display performance of "normally black" TN LC displays. "Normally black" TN means that the absorption axes of the polarizers of the LCD are essentially parallel to each other and also parallel to one of the two directional orientations of the LC at one substrate side. In contrast to tilt angles of less than 1 degree, tilt angles significantly greater than 2 degrees cause reduced contrast, i.e. an appreciable "off state" transmission due to the reduction of the effective birefringence and cause an increased viewing angle dependence of the contrast. Thus, neither tilt angles of less than 1 degree nor of more than 2 degrees are desirable. Generally, non-fluorinated aromatic polyimides provide surface tilt angles in the range of 2 to 3 degrees.
The frame sealant used in the LCD is typically an organic adhesive which is sealable by exposure to UV radiation or to elevated temperature. Commonly used temperature curable organic adhesives are set at a typical peak temperature of 150.degree. to 200.degree. C. for a curing time ranging from several minutes to several hours.
The alignment of the liquid crystals, which is induced by the rubbing of the alignment layer, has to withstand this temperature treatment, as the sealant has to be cured after rubbing of the surface before filling the cell with the liquid crystal and annealing the LCD. The requirement of stability against heat treatment is most severe for orientation layers which are cured in the same range of temperatures used to set the frame sealant.
Therefore, a need exists for a polyimide alignment film which provides tilt angles in the range of from 1 to 2 degrees, preferably from 1.2 to 1.8 degrees, and most preferably from 1.4 to 1.6 degrees, and also gives good and stable alignment of liquid crystal molecules. These tilt angles have to be stable under the elevated temperatures or illumination (e.g. UV radiation) necessary to cure the sealant materials. They also should be stable to long time storage at elevated temperatures. The tilt angles also have to be stable to changes in parameters of the production process such as curing temperatures and rubbing strength. Also the variation of the tilt angle with the type of liquid crystal mixture used has to be small.
Japanese patent applications 2-309322 and 2-309323, published on Dec. 25, 1990, disclose polyimide alignment films, which reduce image blurring when used in a nematic liquid crystal display element. The polyimide films are derived from a tetracarboxylic dianhydride component such as pyromellitic dianhydride, and an aromatic diamine component containing structural units of the formula ##STR1## wherein m is 0 to 2 used in combination with either (1) a phenylene, biphenylene or terphenylene diamine or (2) a diaminodiphenylsulfone. There is no disclosure, however, of the specific polyimide alignment films of the present invention, which are derived from pyromellitic dianhydride and 1,4-bis or 1,3-bis-(4-aminophenoxy)-benzene, 4,4'-bis(4-aminophenoxy)biphenyl or 4,4'-bis(4-aminophenoxy)diphenylsulfone and which provide tilt angles of from 1 to 2 degrees and give good liquid crystal alignment.

Polyimide film from pyromellitic dianhydride and a bis (4-aminophenoxy) aromatic compound as an alignment layer for liquid crystal displays


The present disclosure is directed to examples of a warning beacon light. In one embodiment, the warning beacon light includes at least one light redirection component, a plurality of light emitting diodes (LEDs) positioned relative to the light redirection component such that light emitted from the plurality of LEDs is collimated to within a predefined range relative to a light emitting axis, and a wireless power transfer system coupled to the plurality of LEDs to provide power to the plurality of LEDs.

Lighting can be used for a variety of applications. Some lights can be used to illuminate a room, provide indication lights, as warning signals, and the like. Generally, lights are connected to a power source to power the lighting within a luminaire. The connection is typically a wired connection to the power source to power the light.


The claimed subject matter provides a system and/or a method that facilitates connectivity within a peer-to-peer networking environment. A client can transmit a request to connect with a host for peer-to-peer networking. A server can generate a list that includes at least one host that matches the request from the client. A predictor engine can reduce the list by at least one matched host based upon a predictor, wherein the predictor is at least one of an Internet Protocol history predictor, a prefix history predictor, or a geography predictor.

Technological advances in computer hardware, software and networking have lead to increased demand for electronic information exchange rather than through conventional techniques such as paper correspondence, for example. Such electronic communication can provide split-second, reliable data transfer between essentially any two locations throughout the world. Many industries and consumers are leveraging such technology to improve efficiency and decrease cost through web-based (e.g., on-line) services. For example, consumers can purchase goods, review bank statements, research products and companies, obtain real-time stock quotes, download brochures, etc. with the click of a mouse and at the convenience of home.
In particular, modern game-play devices have developed capabilities of powerful computers as integrated circuit technology has become more advanced and incorporated into such game-play devices. Where traditional game-play devices ran exclusively on removable media, such as floppy discs, compact discs (CDs), digital video discs (DVDs), etc., and interaction with such games was solely by way of a joystick or other game control device, modern game-play systems are not so limited. Rather, a modern device can utilize powerful network and computing applications such as e-mail, instant messaging, web browsing, digital video recording, and the like. Additionally, gaming has progressed to an online arena, where players can synchronize their gaming systems with other players via an online server, and communicate, coordinate, and interface with other remote players while playing a game.
Within such online arenas, network connectivity falls into either a client-server architecture (e.g., users communicate with a large, well-provisioned dedicated server) or a peer-to-peer (P2P) architecture (e.g., users communicate with each other directly or via a peer). Peer-to-peer architectures and networking environments have grown considerably in population and use. In a peer-to-peer environment, many applications require the selection of another peer in the network that can provide services via a network connection, such as serving as the central coordinator for a multiplayer game. In these situations we refer to the peer that is searching for services as a "client" and a potential peer that can provide these services as a "host." Additionally, in a peer-to-peer network there can be particular services, such as multiplayer game play, in which one or more "clients" connect to each other via a "host" intermediary, where both host and client are peers rather than a dedicated well-provisioned centrally located server. An individual peer might act as both a "host" and a "client" for different connections. In particular, effective selection or matchmaking of a client to a host based on network path quality (NPQ) can impact connectivity there between. In other words, good network connectivity between a client and a matched host can enable optimal use of a peer-to-peer networking environment.

Prediction of network path quality among peer networking devices


Music is blanket transmitted to each customer's computer-based user station. Customers preselect from a list of available music in advance using an interactive screen selector, and pay only for music that they choose to have recorded for unlimited playback. An antipiracy “ID tag” is woven into the recorded music so that any illegal copies therefrom may be traced to the purchase transaction. Music is transmitted on a fixed schedule or through an active scheduling process that monitors music requests from all or a subset of satellite receivers and adjust scheduling according to demand for various CD's. In those instances where transmission interruptions result in data loss, the system downloads the next transmission of the requested CD and uses both transmissions to produce a “good copy”. In conjunction to the blanket transmission, an automated CD manufacturing facility may be provided to manufacture CD's and distribute them by ground transportation.

Current music distribution systems have numerous drawbacks that affect pricing, consumer satisfaction and the ability of music content providers to maximize the revenue potential of their music libraries. One distribution model, the conventional retail music store, requires high capital outlays for real estate (land and building) and high labor costs, both of which add greatly to the retail price of music recordings. Additionally, costs associated with ordering the recordings (e.g., CD's), transporting the recordings to the store locations and maintaining inventory significantly add to the retail price of recordings for both retail store operations and mail order or "music club" operations. In addition to the drawbacks mentioned above, music content providers would greatly benefit from a distribution system that makes all of their content, including older recordings, readily available at market clearing pricing.
The recent Internet music distribution model, typically based on MP3 technology, requires a customer go to an Internet site, select or be given a music selection, download reception software and a key, preview or purchase a selection, download a one-to-one encrypted (or not) compressed copy of the selection, decrypt the selection with software and play the selection on the consumer's computer or write it to a CD, DVD, MD or digital player. The download is stored in some form on the customer's hard drive
There is an acute need in the music distribution industry for a system that will overcome problems inherent in current distribution models by providing each individual customer with ready access to thousands of recordings in a convenient low cost manner that fully satisfies user demand, while enhancing the economic incentives of music content providers to create and distribute an ever expanding offering of music.
Throughout the world today, piracy of software, music and video materials causes significant economic losses to the originators and distributors of these art forms.
Issues of music and video piracy are strongly influenced by the available recording technology. Early forms of music distribution utilized plastic records. The manufacture of records was relatively expensive, requiring the capital expense of record presses and creating metallic master molds. Mold costs had to be amortized over large numbers of copies. The cost of mold masters limited the potential profit from making and selling illegal copies.
With the development of magnetic tape recording, the cost of manufacturing copies became primarily the cost of the raw materials. Copies could be made directly from an original with costs split between the manufacture of a blank tape and the time required to record music on to each tape copy. The manufacture of lower numbers of copies for specialty music was possible and the costs of manufacturing (a pair of tape recorders and some blank tapes) made copying feasible for an individual. However, the degradation in quality from generation to generation of copies was a deterrent as well as the time required to record each copy. The degradation of the sound consisted of loss of high frequencies, a relatively poor signal-to-noise ratio of the recording ("hiss") and tonal or volume variations due to mechanical transport of the tape across the recording head ("wow" and "flutter").
Digital compact disk technology (CD's) again changed the piracy situation by making available high-quality copies of music to consumers in digital form that could potentially be copied with no change or degradation of sound quality. CD's use 16-bit, 44 KHz digital technology so that music recorded on a CD has excellent signal-to-noise ratio, flat frequency response that is wider than human hearing, and no constant or varying pitch distortion. The introduction of CD technology caused significant concern among content providers about the risks of circulating library-quality copies of their music. Small-scale piracy of CD's became common as consumer music "boxes" were sold that had CD players feeding tape recorders. These units allowed CD's to be easily copied although without the full sound quality and convenience of the original CD. On a larger scale, bulk pirate copies of CD's were available, particularly in foreign countries, by companies using relatively expensive CD presses. The presses allowed exact copies of CD's to be made from originals using inexpensive blanks. These same presses also allowed low-cost copying and duplication of software CD's.
Very recently, concerns about music piracy have increased as low-cost CD writers became available to consumers making it possible for personal computers not only to read and play music CD's, but also to make copies using relatively inexpensive writeable CD's. Today CD writers are available for under $200 and CD blanks for less than $1 each. Coupled with multi gigabyte hard disks, copying and editing CD's is widely available.
Today, the threat of copyright violation limits CD piracy. However, due to the cost of prosecution and the difficulty of tracing and confirming the origin of copies, this threat is only practically enforceable against major producers who are caught importing large quantities of CD's, and not individuals or small-scale pirates (e.g., teenagers with computers). As the price of CD burners and writeable CD's continues to fall, music piracy may result in increasing losses in revenue to content providers, especially if the teenage culture (that buys so many CD's) embraces piracy and kids get used to seeing CD's without boxes or colorful paintings on the CD•s.
A second technological revolution is also influencing piracy. This is the ability to "compress" the amount of digital data needed to store or communicate music (or video). A one-hour music CD requires about 600 megabytes of data (16 bits/sample*44100 samples/sec*3600 sec*2 channels). This large amount of data has discouraged communication of CD's over the Internet, and storage of the CD in hard drives. However, MPEG compression technology reduces the data capacity by a factor of 8 for CD music, making it easier and cheaper to communicate and store. As a result of compression technology it is now economically feasible to communicate music with CD quality over the Internet or to transmit it directly to consumer receivers from satellites. (Similar technology allows a 100-fold compression of video signals making direct—(satellite TV and DVD recordings possible). Furthermore, businesses that sell CD's by shipping them as compressed data streams to a customer's PC with a CD writer to make a final copy will make it common for CD's not to have the elaborate paint jobs of store-sold CD's and the potential to cause a sudden rise in piracy. It also should also be noted that compression depends upon and has caused powerful digital processing engines to be placed at reception sites for compressed audio or video. These engines make possible the running of protected software (protected software is software that runs the engine but can not be analyzed by outsiders to see how it works or does the encoding or decoding) that can be used for de-encryption or be capable of performing the processing necessary to add the more complex ID tags that can be used as an aspect of this invention.
Content providers are reluctant to make full-quality music available to consumers via direct satellite broadcasting or the Internet because of the risk that exact copies of their materials, their core asset, will leave their control and freely circulate among consumers resulting in huge losses in revenue to distributors and artists. This financial threat could weaken the recording and entertainment industry in the United States.


Sequential digital integrated circuits have stable state nodes that are capable of retaining their state (logic value) even in the absence of any input directly driving these points. However, in addition to stable state nodes, some custom-designed digital circuits have so-called transient state nodes. A transient state node is defined as node that can directly affect the value of a stable state node and is combinatorially driven by inputs of the circuit, but the transition delay from at least one input to the node is greater than a predefined threshold value. Identifying such transient state nodes, along with the stable state nodes, is critical for the efficient simulation of custom digital circuits by a hierarchical device level digital simulator. A method is provided herein for identifying transient state nodes in a digital circuit, given the circuit's netlist and the identity of the stable state nodes in the circuit.

Software programs for use in simulating integrated circuit design and predicting the operational behavior of the circuit are well known to those skilled in the art.
FIG. 1 shows a well-known general architecture of a data processing system 100 that can be utilized to execute a program implementation of a digital integrated circuit simulator. The data processing system 100 includes a central processing unit (CPU) 102 and a system memory 104 that is connected to the CPU 102. The system memory 104 typically stores the operating system for the CPU 102 as well as data and various sets of program instructions for applications programs to be executed by the system 100. For example, the system memory 104 could store a software program, i.e. a sequence of machine readable program instructions, needed to implement a method for using state nodes for the efficient simulation of digital integrated circuits at the transistor level in accordance with the concepts of the present invention. Typically, the computer system 100 also includes a display 106 that is connected to the CPU 102 to allow images to be visually displayed to a user, a user input system 108, e.g., a keyboard or mouse, that allows the user to interact with the system 100, and a memory access system 110 that enables transfer of data both within the system 100 and between the system 100 and systems external to the system 100, e.g. a computer network to which the system 100 is connected. All of these components and the ways in which they interact are well known to persons skilled in the art.
Conventional device level digital integrated circuit simulators, such as the well-know public domain tool IRSIM, supported by the University of California—Berkeley, work on "flat" circuits, that is, circuits that have no module hierarchy. Thus, a hierarchical circuit must be flattened to transistor level before it will work on these conventional simulators. This approach has a major drawback. Most digital circuits, whether custom designed (e.g., memories) or standard cell based (e.g., ASICs), make extensive re-use of the same building blocks or lower level modules. For example, the major portion of a static random access memory (SRAM) circuit is made up of multiple repetitions of the same six-transistor core cell. A flattened netlist of the SRAM design does not reflect this fact. Simulations of identical circuit modules are repeated for each occurrence of the module in the circuit, resulting in a relatively time-consuming operation.

Transient state nodes and a method for their identification


A gene, flanking 5xe2x80x2 and 3xe2x80x2 sequences and derived cDNA encoding a rat D4 dopamine receptor that is predominantly located in the cardiovascular and retinal systems is disclosed. The cDNA has been expressed in transfected mammalian cells and demonstrated to preferentially bind dopamine antagonists such as clozapine. The cDNA is useful as a probe for related D4 dopamine receptors. Expressed in appropriate cell lines, it is useful as an in vitro screen for drugs which specifically bind to the receptor. Drugs that specifically bind to the receptor are then screened using standard methodology in rats, mice or dogs, for the physiological effects. Amino acids deduced from the determination of cDNA can be used to generate either polyclonal or monoclonal antibodies which recognize the D4 receptor sequence but do not recognize D1, D2, D3 or D5 dopamenergic receptors, for use in immunocytochemical studies, and for identification and isolation via flow sorting of D4 expressing cell types. Antibodies could also be used to block or modify the effects of D4 agonists and/or antagonists. It is also demonstrated that selective stimulation or inhibition of some dopamine receptors, including D4, can be used to induce changes in the morphology of cells such as neurons.

The present invention is generally in the area of dopamine receptors, and is specifically a gene encoding a dopamine D4 receptor, its flanking 5xe2x80x2 and 3xe2x80x2 sequences, and its derived cDNA, and methods of use thereof in screening for compounds having selective effects on the cardiovasculature and retinal tissues through interactions with the dopamine D4 receptor.
Dopamine is an important neurotransmitter in the central nervous system (CNS), where it is thought to be involved in a variety of functions including motor coordination, reproductive regulation, and generation of emotions. A distinct peripheral dopaminergic system is thought to exist, although it is less well characterized. CNS dopamine receptors have historically been divided into two major classes, D1 and D2, which can be distinguished by pharmacological, functional, and physical characteristics (Kebabian and Calne, (1979) xe2x80x9cMultiple receptors for dopaminexe2x80x9d Nature 277:93-96; Hamblin et al., (1984) xe2x80x9cInteractions of agonists with D2 dopamine receptors: evidence for a single receptor population existing in multiple agonist affinity-states in rat striatal membranesxe2x80x9d Biochem. Pharmacol. 33:877-887; Seeman et al., (1985) xe2x80x9cConversion of dopamine receptors from high to low affinity for dopaminexe2x80x9d Biochem. Pharmacol. 34:151-154; Niznik, (1987) xe2x80x9cDopamine receptors: molecular structure and functionxe2x80x9d Mol. Cell. Endocrinol. 54:1-22). Peripheral dopamine receptors have been divided into DA1 and DA2 subgroups, which share some but not all pharmacological characteristics with their CNS counterparts (Goldberg and Kohli, (1987) xe2x80x9cIdentification and characterization of dopamine receptors in the cardiovascular systemxe2x80x9d Cardiologia 32:1603-1607; Kohli et al., (1989) xe2x80x9cDopamine receptors in the stellate ganglion of the dogxe2x80x9d Eur. J. Pharmacol. 164:265-272; Brodde, (1990) xe2x80x9cPhysiology and pharmacology of cardiovascular catecholamine receptors; implications for treatment of chronic heart failurexe2x80x9d Am. Heart J. 120:1565-1572).
Molecular cloning techniques have revealed a diversity of CNS receptor subtypes in each class. All are members of the G protein-coupled receptor gene superfamily and have seven potential transmembrane (Tm) spanning domains. In contrast to most members of the G-protein coupled receptor gene family, the D2-like genes have multiple exons separated by introns both in the coding and non-coding regions. Further diversity is generated by alternative splicing.
Prototypic D2 ligand binding and signal transduction characteristics have been found for D2 (Bunzow et al., (1988) xe2x80x9cCloning and expression of a rat D2 dopamine receptor cDNAxe2x80x9d Nature 336:783-787) and D3 (Sokoloff et al., (1990) xe2x80x9cMolecular cloning and characterization of a novel dopamine receptor (D3) as a target for neurolepticsxe2x80x9d Nature 347:146-151) receptors. The recently reported human D4 receptor also has a D2-like pharmacological profile (Van Tol et al., (1991) xe2x80x9cCloning of the gene for a human dopamine D4-receptor with high-affinity for the antipsychotic clozapinexe2x80x9d Nature 350-610-614). Two distinct D1 receptors have also been cloned, called D1 (Sunahara et al., (1990) xe2x80x9cHuman dopamine D1 receptor encoded by an intronless gene on chromosome 5xe2x80x9d Nature 347:80-83; Zhou et al., (1990) xe2x80x9cCloning and expression of human and rat D1 dopamine receptorsxe2x80x9d Nature 347:76-80; Monsma et al., (1990) xe2x80x9cMolecular cloning and expression of a D1 dopamine receptor linked to adenylyl cyclase activationxe2x80x9d Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 87:6723-6727; Dearry et al., (1990) xe2x80x9cMolecular cloning and expression of the gene for a human D1 dopamine receptorxe2x80x9d Nature 347:72-76) and D5 (Sunahara et al., (1991) xe2x80x9cCloning of the gene for a human dopamine D5 receptor with higher affinity for dopamine than D1xe2x80x9d Nature 350:614-619). To date no peripheral dopamine receptor has been cloned, although it has been suggested that there is a low level of expression of D3 in kidney (Sokoloff et al., 1990).
Van Tol et al. (1991) reported the isolation of a human D4 receptor with a high affinity for the neuroleptic drug clozapine. Multiple variants of this dopamine receptor were also reported by Van Tol, et al., (1992) Nature 358, 149-154. These receptors were also the subject of PCT WO 92/10571 by State of Oregon. Although the function of these particular receptors was not identified, they are assumed to be important in binding drugs having anti-psychotic activity.
It is an object of the present invention to provide the gene, its flanking 5xe2x80x2 and 3xe2x80x2 sequences and the derived cDNA encoding another dopamine D4 receptor present in rat cells.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide methods for expression and screening of compounds binding the new dopamine D4 receptor.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a method for screening for compounds having cardiovascular activity and effects on retinal tissue which specifically bind to dopamine D4 receptors.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide a means and method for modulation of the morphology of cells expressing D4 receptors, and other dopamine receptors, by stimulation or inhibition of the receptors via exposure of the cells to specific compounds.
A gene, its 5xe2x80x2 and 3xe2x80x2 flanking sequences and the derived cDNA encoding a rat D4 dopamine receptor that is predominantly located in the cardiovascular and retinal systems is disclosed. The gene has been expressed in transfected mammalian cells and demonstrated to preferentially bind dopamine antagonists such as clozapine.
The gene and/or cDNA is useful as a probe for related D4 dopamine receptors. Expressed in appropriate cell lines, it is useful as an in vitro screen for drugs which specifically bind to the receptor. Drugs that specifically bind to the receptor are then screened using standard methodology in rats, mice or dogs, for the physiological effects. Antibodies to the protein are useful in immunocyto chemical studies, identification and isolation via flow sorting of D4 expressing cell types, and in blocking or modifying the effects of D4 agonists and/or antagonists.
Stimulation or inhibition of the D4 receptor, D2 receptor, or D3 receptor, either in cells naturally expressing the receptor or which have been transfected with cDNAs or genes encoding anyone or more of several dopamine receptors, has been demonstrated to allow modification of the cell morphology. In one example, the number and extent of branching of neurites in cells transfected with dopamine receptors is increased significantly by exposure to compounds selectively binding to the receptors.

Gene encoding the rat dopamine D4 receptor


A stretchable display is disclosed. In one aspect, the stretchable display includes a plurality of pixel substrates arranged in a matrix having row and column directions. Each of the pixel substrates includes an island and a flexible hinge connecting the island to at least one of the adjacent pixel substrates. The island of each of the pixel substrates includes a plurality of first sides and a plurality of second sides. The flexible hinge of each of the pixel substrates includes a plurality of first flexible sub-hinges respectively extending from the first sides in the row direction and a plurality of second flexible sub-hinges respectively extending from the second sides in the column direction.

1. Field
The present disclosure generally relates to a stretchable display capable of being easily stretched.
2. Description of the Related Technology
With the recent development of display technologies, a number of flexible displays capable of being folded or bent and stretchable displays having elasticity in at least one direction are undergoing active development. These display devices can be altered in shape to a predetermined configuration or to various configurations upon user demand.
One type of flexible display is an elastic display which can maintain its electrical connections/functionality even when the display is stretched by an external force. Elastic displays include a stretchable device capable of being stretched or contracted.


The invention is a dynamic cone penetrometer for measuring soil shear strength which includes an elongated cylindrical rod having a tip end and a handle end. An anvil portion is mounted to the rod at a selected distance from the handle and a penetrometer tip having a conical free end is secured to the tip end of the rod for engaging the soil or sample. A two weight drop hammer having a cylindrical through bore is slidably mountable on the rod at the handle end for striking the anvil with a selected force when released from a fixed distance from said anvil. The drop hammer is formed in two parts including a cylindrical core portion of a first diameter, and a cylindrical support portion extending from the core portion to a second diameter. The second weight has a through bore and is sleevable over the core for engaging and resting upon the support portion. A releasable fastener secures the second weight to the core so that proper measurements may be performed with the first weight alone for weak soils or with both weights for stronger soils and surfaces. The penetrometer tip may be disposable and releasably secured to the tip end of the rod.

The invention pertains to a device for testing the shear strength of soils. In particular, the invention pertains to a penetrometer useful for both high strength granular road and airfield pavement layers and relatively weak underlying subgrade type soils.
One of the most important soil properties is shearing resistance or shear strength which is related to the ability of the soil to withstand a load. This is especially important in relation to the supporting strength or bearing capacity of a soil used as a base or subgrade beneath a road, runway or other structure.
For most military applications, the well known California Bearing Ratio (CBR) value of a soil is used as a measure of shear strength. The CBR is determined by a penetration shear test and is used with empirical curves for designing and evaluating unsurfaced, aggregate surfaced and flexible pavements for military roads and airfields. The CBR test is usually performed on laboratory-compacted test specimens. When used on-sight for pavement evaluations, destructive test pits are dug to determine pavement layer thickness. Field or on-sight CBR tests are conducted on the base course, the sub-base, and sub-grade materials. On-sight CBR tests are time consuming to run and are generally not practical for use in a theater of operations.
For unsurfaced roads and airfields, a known airfield cone penetrometer is used to determine index of soil strengths (airfield index). The airfield penetrometer consists of a 30.degree. cone with a 0.2 square inch base area. The force required to penetrate to various depths in the soil is measured by a spring, and the airfield index is read directly from the penetrometer. The airfield cone penetrometer has a range of 0-15 which corresponds to a CBR value of approximately 0-18. While the device is compact, sturdy and simple enough to be used by military personnel experienced in soil strength determination, a major drawback of the airfield cone penetrometer is that it will not penetrate various types of crusts or thin base course layers that may overlie softer layers. Relying only on the surface airfield index test could, under some conditions, result in the loss of a vehicle or an aircraft.
Another device for measuring shear strength is a single mass dynamic cone penetrometer. The device has only a single heavy mass designed to penetrate strong soils up to a CBR of 100. It cannot, however, measure the strength of very weak soil layers for example, CBR less than 1. Also, the single heavy mass penetrometer is too heavy to accurately measure the strength of clay soils having a CBR of 10 or less. The single mass device may also penetrate thin crust layers in less than one hammer drop, and actually measure the average strength of the weak and crust layers instead of the actual strength of each layer.
There are known devices which use a single mass and conical penetrometer tips of various kinds. See for example, Chua et al., Transportation Research Record 1192, 1988, which shows a single mass device with an attached scale. Livneh et al, Proc., 6th International Conference on Structural Design of Asphalt Pavements, Jul. 1987, shows a single weight penetrometer with a 30.degree. cone. Van Vuuren, The Rhodesian Engineer, vol. 7, no. 5, pp 852-854, shows a single weight device (10 Kg) with a 460 mm drop height. None of the references show devices which conveniently produce desirable results for both the weak and strong soil conditions.

The United States of Americas as represented by the Secretary of the Army


The invention relates to a device, an engineering system and method for providing project data and/or project planning data of an automation project or of a component in a format which is defined by a standardized meta language, in particular XML. By converting project data and/or project planning data with a proprietary format into data with a format which is defined by a standardized meta language, in particular XML, and by providing this data with a defined format, external computer program products or tools which map onto data with the defined format can read-in, analyze, display and/or process this data without having to convert the project data and/or project planning data into a format which the respective computer program product or tool can read or process. By converting data with a defined format into data with a proprietary format, it is possible to make available data generated by external computer program products or tools to the automation project. As a result, the generation and modification of control programs can be considerably simplified and speeded up.

Programmable control systems generally contain what is referred to as a run-time system for controlling the sequencing over time of automation components, including a machine or a system, and what is referred to as an engineering system for editing, generating and/or modifying control programs. The project data and/or project planning data which is generated in and with the engineering system, including a proprietary format, is transferred into the run-time system and used there for outputting the control variables.
As the complexity of programmable control systems and of automation components increases and as the complexity of the objectives to be fulfilled by these systems and components increases, the control programs required are also becoming more and more complex. One possible method of countering these increasing complexities would be to increase further the functionality of the previous engineering systems. However, this has the disadvantage that the engineering systems themselves become more and more complex and thus more costly in terms of their programming and further development.

Provision of project and/or project planning data of an automation project in a format which is defined by a standardized meta language, in particular XML


The rotor cage of a motor is extended, a second stator is coupled to this extended rotor cage, and the windings have the same number of poles. The motor torque and speed can be controlled by either injecting energy into or extracting energy out from the rotor cage. The motor produces less harmonics than existing doubly-fed motors. Consequently, a new type of low cost, high efficiency drive is produced.

FIG. 1 illustrates the essential components of the classical wound-rotor induction motor with slip rings known in the prior art. FIG. 2, also prior art, shows the motor torque, current, and load torque versus speed curves at different rotor resistance r.sub.2 for the wound-rotor induction motor of FIG. 1. A typical fan-type load torque curve intersects the motor torque curves for different rotor resistances at points A, B, and C. The speed and the current are lower for higher rotor resistance r.sub.2.
FIG. 3, also prior art, shows the equivalent circuit of the motor of FIG. 1. It is similar to the equivalent circuit of a transformer. In fact, an induction motor can be viewed as a transformer. The stator winding is the primary winding and the rotor cage is the secondary winding of a transformer. In FIG. 3, although the stator and rotor are separated by an air gap, the rotor resistance r.sub.2 and the rotor leakage reactance x.sub.2 can be viewed as electrically connected to the circuit that comprises the stator resistance r.sub.1, stator leakage reactance x.sub.1, magnetization reactance x.sub.m, and the core loss resistance r.sub.fe. This is because the rotor and stator assembly are magnetically coupled to each other through the air gap. The symbol s is the motor slip. It represents the relative difference between the motor synchronous speed and the actual motor shaft speed. The motor mechanical output can be obtained by computing the energy associated with the equivalent rotor resistance r.sub.2 over the slip s minus the rotor copper loss.
Over the years, adjustable speed electric motor drive packages have been achieved in various ways in different motor and control designs, including that shown in FIG. 1. (The electric motor drive package is combination of the motor and its control system.) In FIG. 1, for example, it is known to tap the rotor currents with brushes and route the rotor currents through an external resistor bank or energy conversion circuit. Variable resistor banks and energy conversion circuits allow smooth speed changes with the motor of FIG. 1.
Other adjustable speed electric motor drive packages, however, are characterized by abrupt speed changes. Examples include multiple speed winding motors such as the 2:1 ratio dual winding motor, and pole-amplitude-modulated (PAM) motors that give a synchronous speed ratio other than 2:1.
Adjustable frequency electric motor drive packages have also been developed. They tend to be expensive because they require fully-rated power electronic converters and inverters.
A drawback of most of the above electric motor drive packages is that when a power electronic control circuit is used, it has to be fully power-rated. By this is meant the power electronics needs to be capable of handling at least the full motor output power rating. Full power rating in the electronics drives up the cost of adjustable-speed electric motor drive packages, making them very expensive. The motor control system costs as much as three times that of the motor itself.
A recent development which lowers the cost of an adjustable-speed electric motor drive package is the brushless doubly-fed induction motor (BDFIM). One example, described by Liao (1996), has two sets of stator windings of 2p-pole and 2q-pole. The rotor winding has a 2(p+q)-pole nested cage. It produces less power output for a given frame as compared with the power output of a conventional motor. The BDFIM significantly lowers the electric motor drive package cost because only a portion of the motor output power has to be fed through its power electronic control circuit. That is, unlike many other adjustable-speed electric motor drive packages that require fully rated power electronics inverters and converters, the BDFIM requires only a partially rated power electronics inverter and converter.
However, since the BDFIM uses two different numbers of poles for its windings, it generates more harmonics than motors using a single number of poles. It would be desirable to eliminate these harmonics because all harmonics produce energy losses.
Thus, while the BDFIM makes possible an adjustable speed electric motor drive package of lower cost than other adjustable speed electric motor drive packages that have fully-rated power electronics inverters and converters, it produces unwanted energy-wasting harmonics. The utilization of motor active material (laminations, windings, etc.) is also less effective for motors with 2-p and 2-q poles than for a motor with windings of a single number of poles.
In contrast to the prior art, the present invention is a low-cost electric motor drive package based on a new motor design that produces no unwanted harmonics, is not a conventional BDFIM, yet can be used with a partially-rated power electronics control system resulting in a lower system cost.

Extended cage adjustable speed electric motors and drive packages

Lockheed Martin Energy Research Corporation


Novel bacteriocins and/or the novel lactic acid-producing strains are used for at least reducing the levels of colonization by at least one target bacteria in animals, especially poultry.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the control of disease in animals, especially poultry, through the use of novel bacteriocin-producing lactic acid-producing bacteria and/or novel bacteriocins produced by these species. It also relates to novel bacteriocins, amino acid sequences of the novel bacteriocins, and to the strains of lactic acid producing bacteria producing the novel bacteriocins. Furthermore, the invention relates to therapeutic compositions containing the novel bacteriocins and/or the strains of lactic acid producing bacteria producing them and to uses of the therapeutic compositions.
2. Description of the Related Art
The consumption of improperly prepared poultry products has resulted in human intestinal diseases. It has long been recognized that Salmonella spp. are causative agents of such diseases and more recently, Campylobacter spp., especially Campylobacter jejuni, has also been implicated. Both microorganisms may colonize poultry gastrointestinal tracts without any deleterious effects on the birds, and although some colonized birds can be detected, asymptomatic carriers can freely spread the microorganisms during production and processing, resulting in further contamination of both live birds and carcasses. Poultry serves as the primary reservoir for Salmonella and Campylobacter in the food supply (Jones et al., Journal of Food Protection, Volume 54, No. 7, 502–507, July, 1991). Prevention of colonization in live poultry during growout production may diminish the problem of poultry contamination.
A number of factors contribute to the colonization and continued presence of bacteria within the digestive tract of animals. These factors have been extensively reviewed by Savage (Progress in Food and Nutrition Science, Volume 7, 65–74, 1983). Included among these factors are: (1) Gastric acidity (Gilliland, Journal of Food Production, Volume 42, 164–167, 1979); (2) bile salts (Sharpe & Mattick, Milchwissenschaft, Volume 12, 348–349, 1967; Floch et al., American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Volume 25, 1418–1426, 1972; Lewis & Gorbach, Archives of Internal Medicine, Volume 130, 545–549, 1972; Gilliland and Speck, Journal of Food Protection, Volume 40, 820–823, 1977); Hugdahl et al., Infection and Immunity, Volume 56, 1560–1566, 1988); (3) peristalsis; (4) digestive enzymes (Marmur, Journal of Molecular Biology, Volume 3, 208–218, 1961); (5) immune response; and (6) indigenous microorganisms and the antibacterial compounds which they produce. The first four factors are dependent on the phenotype of the host and may not be practically controllable variables. The immune response in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract is not easily modulated. The factors involving indigenous microorganisms and their metabolites are dependent on the normal flora of the GI tract.
One potential approach to control Campylobacter and/or Salmonella colonization is through the use of competitive exclusion (CE). Nurmi and Rantala (Nature, Volume 241, 210–211, 1973) demonstrated effective control of Salmonella infection by gavaging bacteria from healthy poultry intestinal materials into young chicks whose microflora had not yet been established, against Salmonella colonization. Administration of undefined CE preparations to chicks speeds the maturation of gut flora in newly-hatched birds and provides a substitute for the natural process of transmission of microflora from the adult hen to its offspring. Results from laboratory and field investigations provide evidence of benefits in Campylobacter control through administering normal microflora to chickens; decreased frequency of Campylobacter-infected flocks (Mulder and Bolder, IN: Colonization Control of human bacterial enteropathogens in poultry; L. C. Blankenship (ed.), Academic Press, San Diego, Calif., 359–363, 1991) and reduced levels of Campylobacter jejuni (C. jejuni) in the feces of colonized birds has been reported (Stern, Poultry Science, Volume 73, 402–407, 1994).
Schoeni and Wong (Appl. Environ. Microbiol., Volume 60, 1191–1197, 1994) reported a significant reduction in broiler colonization by C. jejuni through the application of carbohydrate supplements together with three identified antagonists: Citrobacter diversus 22, Klebsiella pneumoniae 23, and Escherichia coli 25. There is also evidence of a significant decrease of C. jejuni in intestinal samples from infected broilers after treatment with poultry-isolated cultures of Lactobacillus acidophilus and Streptococcus faecium (Morishita et al., Avian Diseases, Volume 41, 850–855, 1997).
Snoeyenbos et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 4,335,107, June, 1982) developed a competitive exclusion (CE) microflora technique for preventing Salmonella colonization by lyophilizing fecal droppings and culturing this preparation anaerobically. Mikola et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 4,657,762, April, 1987) used intestinal fecal and cecal contents as a source of CE microflora for preventing Salmonella colonization. Stern et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 5,451,400, September, 1995 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,241,335, April 2001) disclose a mucosal CE composition for protection of poultry and livestock against colonizations by Salmonella and Campylobacter where the mucin layer of prewashed caeca is scraped and the scrapings, kept in an oxygen-free environment, are cultured anaerobically. Nisbet et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 5,478,557, December, 1996) disclose a defined probiotic that can be obtained from a variety of domestic animals which is obtained by continuous culture of a batch culture produced directly from fecal droppings, cecal and/or large intestine contents of the adult target animal.
Microorganisms produce a variety of compounds which demonstrate anti-bacterial properties. One group of these compounds, the bacteriocins, consists of bactericidal proteins with a mechanism of action similar to ionophore antibiotics. Bacteriocins are often active against species which are closely related to the producer. Their widespread occurrence in bacterial species isolated from complex microbial communities such as the intestinal tract, the oral or other epithelial surfaces, suggests that bacteriocins may have a regulatory role in terms of population dynamics within bacterial ecosystems. Bacteriocins are defined as compounds produced by bacteria that have a biologically active protein moiety and bactericidal action (Tagg et al., Bacteriological Reviews, Volume 40, 722–256, 1976). Other characteristics may include: (1) a narrow inhibitory spectrum of activity centered about closely related species; (2) attachment to specific cell receptors; and (3) plasmid-borne genetic determinants of bacteriocin production and of host cell bacteriocin immunity. Incompletely defined antagonistic substances have been termed "bacteriocin-like substances". Some bacteriocins effective against Gram-positive bacteria, in contrast to Gram-negative bacteria, have wider spectrum of activity. It has been suggested that the term bacteriocin, when used to describe inhibitory agents produced by Gram-positive bacteria, should meet the minimum criteria of (1) being a peptide and (2) possessing bactericidal activity (Tagg et al., supra).
Lactic acid bacteria are among the most important probiotic microorganisms. They are Gram-positive, nonsporing, catalase-negative organisms devoid of cytochromes. They are anaerobic but are aerotolerant, fastidious, acid-tolerant, and strictly fermentative with lactic acid as the major end-product of sugar fermentation. Lactic acid producing bacteria include Lactobacillus species, Bifidobacterium species, Enterococcus faecalis, Enterococcus faecium, Lactococcus lactis, Leuconostoc mesenteroides, Pediococcus acidilactici, Sporolactobacillus inulinus, Streptococcus thermophilus, etc. These species are of particular interest in terms of widespread occurrence of bacteriocins within the group and are also in wide use throughout the fermented dairy, food and meat processing industries. Their role in the preservation and flavour characteristics of foods has been well documented. Most of the bacteriocins produced by this group are active only against other lactic acid bacteria, but several display anti-bacterial activity towards more phylogenetically distant Gram-positive bacteria and, under certain conditions, Gram-negative bacteria.
Lactobacilli have been extensively studied for production of antagonists. These include the well characterized bacteriocins (DeKlerk, Nature, Volume 214, 609, 1967; Upreti and Hinsdill, Antimicrob, Agents Chemother., Volume 7, 139–145, 1975; Barefoot and Klaenhammer, Antimicrob, Agents Chemother., Volume 45, 1808–1815 1983; Joerger and Klaenhammer, Journal of Bacteriology, Volume 167, 439–446, 1986, potential bacteriocin-like substances (Vincent et al., Journal of Bacterioll., Volume 78, 479, 1959), and other antagonists not necessarily related to bacteriocins (Valkil and Shahani, Bacteriology, Proc, 9, 1965; Hamdan and Milcolajeik, Journal of Antibiotics, Volume 8, 631–636, 1974; Mikolajeik and Hamdan, Cultured Dairy Freducts, Page 10, 1975; and Shahani et al., Cultured Dairy Products Journal, Volume 11, 14–17, 1976).
Klaenhammer (FEMS, Microbiol, Rev., Volume 12, 39–86, 1993) has classified the lactic acid bacteria bacteriocins known to date into four major groups:                Group I: Lantibiotics which are small peptides of <5 kDa containing the unusual amino acids lanthionine and β-methyl lanthionine. These are of particular interest in that they have very broad spectra of activity relative to other bacteriocins. Examples include Nisin, Nisin Z, carnocin U 149, lacticin 81, and lactocin 5.        Group II-Small non-lanthionine containing peptides: a heterogeneous group of small peptides of <10 kDa. This group includes peptides active against Listeria spp.        Group III-Large heat labile proteins of <30 kDa. An example is Helveticin.        Group IV-Complex bacteriocins-proteins containing additional moieties such as lipids and carbohydrates.
The present invention provides novel compositions containing at least one novel strain of a lactic acid-producing bacterial strain and/or novel bacteriocins produced by the at least one novel strain; a method of using the strain or bacteriocin, the novel strains, amino acid sequences for the novel bacteriocins, and methods of use, all of which are different from related art strains, bacteriocins, and methods of using.

Bacteriocins and novel bacterial strains

The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of Agriculture

State Research Center for Applied Microbiology, Ministry of Health and Social Development, RF, as Represented by the Director for the State Research Center for Applied Microbiology, Ministry of Health and Social Development, RF


Embodiments of the invention provide an array substrate, a manufacturing method thereof and a display device. The array substrate comprises: a base substrate; a gate line and a gate electrode formed on the base substrate; a gate insulating layer formed on the gate line and the gate electrode; a source electrode, a drain electrode and a pixel electrode formed on the gate insulating layer, wherein the pixel electrode is directly connected to the drain electrode; and an active layer formed on the gate insulating layer, the source electrode and the drain electrode.

With reference to FIGS. 1 and 2, an array substrate of a conventional TFT-LCD (Thin Film Transistor-Liquid Crystal Display) comprises: a gate line 11′ and a gate electrode 2′ formed on the base substrate 1′; a gate insulating layer 3′ formed on the gate line 11′ and the gate electrode 2′; an active layer 7′, a source electrode 4′ and a drain electrode 5′ formed on the gate insulating layer 3′; a passivation layer 8′ formed on the active layer 7′, the source electrode 4′ and the drain electrode 5′; a through hole 9′ formed in the passivation layer 8′; and a pixel electrode 6′ formed on the passivation layer 8′. The pixel electrode 6′ is connected to the drain electrode 5′ via the through hole 9′. This array substrate is widely adopted due to its good controllability and the like.
However, this array substrate has the following problems.
The through hole 9′ for connecting the pixel electrode 6′ and the drain electrode 5′ is within the pixel region of the array substrate, and the region for the through hole 9′ is opaque. Thereby, the aperture ratio of the array substrate is adversely influenced.
In the thin film transistor with top gate structure, the active layer may be undesirably irradiated by the light from a backlight. Accordingly, the thin film transistor with bottom gate structure is generally adopted in the array substrate. In the thin film transistor with the bottom gate structure, the source and the drain electrodes and the gate electrode are disposed on opposing sides of the active layer, as shown in FIG. 2. When the gate electrode 2′ is switched on, a current passage C′ is formed on the bottom side of the active layer 7′ so that the current passage C′ and the source and drain electrodes are separated by a region corresponding to the thickness of the active layer 7. Since the conductivity of the active layer 7′ is relatively low, the properties of the TFT may be reduced in the case that the current passes through the region separating the current passage C′ and the source and drain electrodes.

Array substrate, manufacturing method thereof, and display device

HEFEI BOE OPTOELECTRONICS TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD.


A method for routing a data frame in a communication system on board a motor vehicle. The method includes a step of determining, on the basis of a first list and a second list, a “target” list indicating, for each communication network of the system, whether the transmission state of the communication network is active or has to switch to the active state to transmit the equipment data, and for each communication network in the target list, and if the transmission state of the communication network is inactive but has to switch to the active transmission state to transmit the equipment data, a step of activating the communication network and a step of transmitting the equipment data over the communication network, or if the communication network communication is already in the active transmission state, a step of transmitting the equipment data over the communication network.

Nowadays, a motor vehicle comprises, in a known manner, a communication system allowing the electronic equipment of the vehicle to communicate with computers on board said vehicle. In a known communication system architecture, the items of electronic equipment are grouped together according to their location in the vehicle. For example, a group of items of equipment relating to the instrument panel of the vehicle may include a vehicle speed sensor, an engine temperature sensor and the vehicle light units in order to allow the computer to which they are connected to display the information that they transmit on a screen of said instrument panel.
Each group of items of equipment is connected to a computer which receives the data made available by the items of equipment of a group in order to process or transfer the data to another computer, via a communication network. In a known manner, these communication networks are of the "CAN (Controller Area Network) bus" type, well known to those skilled in the art. More specifically, a CAN bus is a communication network based on the principle of multiplexing according to which several data frames may circulate over the same physical communication link.
In order to be able to communicate the data over a communication network, each computer encapsulates the data in frames that each include in particular, in addition to one or more items of data to be communicated, an identifier making it possible to determine the network connecting the gateway computer to the computer that is the recipient of the data frame. In order to connect several communication networks together, the system comprises, in a known manner, a routing gateway which makes it possible to transfer the frames between the computers. In particular, in order to simplify the architecture of the system, it is known practice to implement this routing gateway function in one of the computers. Thus, in such an architecture, each computer is connected to the "gateway" computer via a communication network.
In order to perform the routing function, the gateway computer is in particular configured to control the activation of the transmission of data frames over each of the communication networks and memorize the transmission status of each of the communication networks.
From the point of view of the gateway computer, the transmission state of each communication network is either inactive or active. The active transmission state of a communication network indicates that the gateway computer is transmitting data over said network. When the network connecting the gateway computer and a recipient computer is already in the active transmission state, the gateway computer may directly transmit a data frame via said network. However, when the network connecting the gateway computer and a recipient computer is in the inactive transmission state, the gateway computer first has to activate said network to switch it to the active transmission state, then transmit the one or more data frames.
When it receives a data frame sent by a "sender" computer to one or more "recipient" computers, the gateway computer carries out, for each network to which it is connected, according to a predetermined list, a series of steps. First of all, the gateway computer evaluates whether the identifier contained in the received data frame is associated with the computer of the first network on the list. If this is not the case, the computer evaluates whether the identifier contained in the received data frame is associated with the computer of the second network on the list and restarts the series of steps; however, if this is the case, the gateway computer analyzes the transmission state for transmission to the first network.
If the transmission state of the first network is active, the gateway computer makes the data frame available to said first network. If the transmission state of the first network is inactive, the gateway computer switches the transmission state of the first network to the active state, then makes the data frame available to said first network whose transmission state has been activated.
In the solution of the prior art, this series of steps is carried out, as necessary, for each network in the order of the predetermined list of networks, which is particularly time consuming and resource consuming for the gateway computer. Now, a substantial constraint of this type of routing method is the routing time. Specifically, since the number of messages received per second by the gateway computer may be high, the time taken to carry out all of the steps of the method for each message may thus increase the overall routing time. Therefore, this method in such a form works, but it is not time optimized.

Routing gateway and method for automotive vehicle


A device for extracorporeal treatment of physiological fluids of organism has means forming a filtration membrane for filtering smaller-size components of a physiological fluid withdrawn from a patient from larger-size components of the same, a bed of particulate adsorbing material with which the smaller-size components are contacted for purification, and means for combining the purified smaller-size components of the fluid with the larger-size components of the fluid for returning the thusly treated fluid to a patient.

The present invention relates generally to devices for extracorporeal treatment of physiological fluids of organism, in particular, a hemoperfusion device for blood detoxification.
Dialysis is a commonly used physical treatment that removes excess water, electrolytes, urea and toxins from a patients physiological fluid. It is known to perform dialysis by passing physiological fluids such as blood along one side of a dialysis membrane and a special dialysate liquid along the other side. The known dialysis membranes are generally permeable to small molecular weight components of solutions and these components, by diffusing through the membrane, are exchanged between the above two liquids. Toxic metabolites of the physiological fluid, after passing the membrane, can thus be removed from the organism by the flow of the dialysate liquid. However, diffusion is a relatively slow process, so that 3 to 4 hours are needed for a sufficient clearance of blood. Moreover, the removal of larger toxic components from blood, the so called xe2x80x9cmiddle molecular weight toxinsxe2x80x9d, is much too slow, if possible at all, by the technique, because even the modern high permeable membranes used for hemodialysis must have a cut-off below 40-50 kD. This technique is useless if large toxic compounds are needed to be removed from the physiological fluid, such as endotoxins or tissue destruction products. In some acute cases of poisoning or drug overdose, the hemodialysis technique can prove to be too slow, as the diffusion of toxins trough the membrane would require such a long time, that would make the whole treatment impractical. Another disadvantage of the hemodialysis treatment is that it requires a complicated and expensive equipment and highly skilled medical personal and, therefore, cannot be quickly provided in emergency situations outside an adequate medical institution.
A much faster technique for removing unwanted compounds from a physiological fluid is the adsorption. It is known to pass the blood through a cartridge with activated carbon or polymeric adsorbent. Such a hemoperfusion treatment can be very efficient for rapid removing of both small and middle molecular weight toxins from blood or plasma. With the recent development of adsorption technologies, extremely efficient selective and non-selective polymeric adsorbing materials become available. The drawback of this technique is that highly efficient adsorbing materials are generally not hemocompatible. They quickly cause a series of adverse reactions of biological systems, complement activation and, finally, clotting of blood.
In order to enhance the biocompatibility, the adsorbing materials have to be chemically modified. Usually, polar functional groups or hemocompatible polymeric chains are introduced onto the surface of polymer beads, as suggested for example in U.S. Pat. No. 5,773,384 by Davankov et al. (1998). Korshak et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 4,140,652, (1978) suggested binding and cross-linking human serum albumin on the surface of a polystyrene-type adsorbing material. All these coverings, however, dramatically reduce the rate of mass transfer, slow down the adsorption process, diminish the adsorption capacity of the material in a reasonable period of time available for the patient treatment. Needless to say that any additional chemical treatment of the base adsorbing material increases its prize.
The above high requirements to the hemocompatibility of the adsorbing materials can be reduced significantly if blood cells and especially platelets and white blood cells are prevented from contacting directly the surface of the adsorbent. In other words, after separating cellular material of blood by some kind of hemofiltration, the remaining plasma can be quickly detoxificated with an efficient and inexpensive sorbent material.
Several kinds of continuous hemofiltration have been suggested. Gorsuch and Atkin (U.S. Pat. No. 5,151,082, 1992) suggest hollow fiber hemofiltration membranes to be surgically introduced into patients veins, in order to take plasma, instead of the whole blood, forthe subsequent extracorporeal treatment.
Another procedure and device is also known, as disclosed for example in the article xe2x80x9cThe Concept of Sorbents in Hemodialysisxe2x80x9d, published in xe2x80x9cThe International Journal of Artificial Organsxe2x80x9d volume 21, no. 6, 1998, pages 303-308. In this procedure a device is proposed which includes a hemofilter, a bioseparator and a hemodialyzer. The hemofilter separates the blood, so as to retain the blood cells and allow passage of a liquid component of the blood. The liquid component of the blood is supplied to the bioseparator which accommodates charcoal or adsorbing resin and is purified there, and then the purified liquid component together with the cells are supplied into the hemodializer. A similar system consisting of three separate units, a hemofiltration cartridge, a plasmaperfusion unit, and a hemodialyser, was earlier described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,194,157 (1993) by Ghezzi et al.
A complicated system, that allows a simultaneous combination of dialysis and filtration procedures, is subject of U.S. Pat. No. 5,536,412 (1996) by Abe et al. Here, blood is allowed to flow along one side of a membrane, whereas a suspension of a fine dispersed adsorbing material in a dialysate liquid is pumped, in a pulsation-type flow, along the other side of the membrane. Because of alternating pressure and vacuum, a very intense exchange of liquids through the membrane is accomplished.
All these systems are too complicated to be applied in a short period of time. Besides, they require a very substantial amount of blood to be involved into extracorporeal circuits, which is difficult to be tolerated by the patient.
An original compact plasma filterxe2x80x94sorbent system was suggested by Shettigar et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 5,211,850, 1993). Here, blood is pumped through a hollow fiber membrane-type hemofilter, that is placed into a closed chamber filled with adsorbing material. Plasma is supposed to filtrate into the chamber from the initial portion of the fibers, interact with the sorbent in the chamber and be resorbed through the same membrane in the second part of the fibers. This device minimizes the amount of blood involved into processing and provides an efficient contact between the filtrate, i.e., plasma with the polymer sorbent. A serious disadvantage of such a close device, however, is that it is impossible to observe the movement of the fluids within the device and regulate the flows. Moreover, it is difficult to distribute the adsorbent between the hollow fibers and impossible to separately regenerate and reuse the membrane and the adsorbent material.
Accordingly, it is an object of present invention to provide devices for extracorporeal treatment of physiological liquids of organism, in particular blood, which avoid the disadvantages of the prior art.
In keeping with these objects and with others which will become apparent hereinafter, one feature of the present invention resides in a device which has means forming a filtration membrane for filtering smaller-size components of a physiological fluid withdrawn from a patient from larger-size components of the same; a bed of particulate adsorbing material with which the smaller-size components are contacted for purification; and means for combining the purified smaller-size components of the fluid with the larger-size components of the fluid for returning the thusly treated fluid to a patient.
In accordance with a specific embodiment of the invention, the device has a housing, means forming a blood inlet for introducing blood into the housing and means forming a blood outlet for withdrawing blood from the housing, means forming a hemofiltration membrane which is accommodated in the housing downstream of the blood inlet and formed so that blood cells substantially pass along the hemofiltration membrane directly to the blood outlet while blood plasma is filtered through the hemofiltration membrane from blood cells and flows into an interior of the housing, and a body of particulate adsorbing material accommodated in the housing and located downstream of the hemofiltration membrane so that the blood plasma separated from the blood cells by the hemofiltration membrane passes through the body of adsorbing material which removes toxins from the blood plasma, and the blood plasma after removal of the toxins flows toward the blood outlet to be mixed with the blood cells to be withdrawn through the blood outlet.
When the device is designed in accordance with the present invention, it removes substantially small molecular weight and middle molecular weight toxin molecules from the physiological fluid of organism and no previous separation of blood is needed into the cell-containing component and liquid-containing component. The separation of the cells from the liquid component was (conventionally) performed in the prior art because if the cells also pass through the charcoal or adsorbing resin material, they would be damaged.
The novel features which are considered as characteristic for the present invention are set forth in particular in the appended claims. The invention itself, however, both as to its construction and its method of operation, together with additional objects and advantages thereof, will be best understood from the following description of specific embodiments when read in connection with the accompanying drawings.

Device for extracorporeal treatment of physiological fluids of organism


A printed circuit board includes an insulating layer, a circuit pattern embedded in the insulating layer and including a first metal layer, a second metal layer and a third metal layer disposed between the first metal layer and the second metal layer, and a connection conductor disposed on one surface of the insulating layer and connected to the circuit pattern, wherein the first metal layer is exposed through the one surface of the insulating layer.

To form a circuit pattern of a printed circuit board (PCB), a circuit pattern is formed on a carrier substrate, an insulating layer covering the circuit pattern is formed, and the carrier substrate is then removed to implement a fine circuit pattern embedded in the insulating layer in some cases.


A technique for automating the assembly of networked, language independent objects into a network application for use in a distributed object computing system uses program templates and a symbol table. A schematic representation of the network application is formed within a visual application builder. The schematic representation defines connections among representations of previously defined distributed objects. These connections are formed among parts, plugs and sockets that are associated with representations of distributed objects termed components. The schematic representation of the network application is loaded into a symbol table and portions of the schematic representation are stored as a number of entries in the symbol table. These entries include identifier-value pairs; that is, identifiers are mapped to values. The program source files to be generated are determined and the program templates for use in generating the program source file are also determined. The program templates include identifiers that correspond to the entries in the symbol table. The program templates are combined with the symbol table to generate at least one program source file. Identifiers in the templates are replaced with the corresponding values from the symbol table. The program source file is suitable for being compiled and linked to form a portion of the network application.

1. The Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the fields of distributed computing systems, client-server computing and object-oriented programming. More specifically, the present invention relates to creating and installing applications on a distributed object system.
2. The Relevant Art
Object-oriented programming methodologies have received increasing attention over the past several years in response to the increasing tendency for software developed using traditional programming methods to be delivered late and over budget. One problem with traditional programming techniques stems from the emphasis placed on procedural models and "linear" code that often is extremely difficult to design and maintain. Generally, large programs created using traditional methods are "brittle", that is, even small changes can affect all elements of the programming code. Thus, minor changes made to the software in response to user demands can require major redesign and rewriting of the entire program.
Object-oriented programming strategies tend to avoid these problems because object methodologies focus on manipulating data rather than procedures; thus providing the programmer with a more intuitive approach to modeling real world problems. In addition, objects encapsulate related data and procedures so as to hide that information from the remainder of the program by allowing access to the data and procedures only through the object's interface. Hence changes to the data and or procedures of te object are relatively isolated from the remainder of the program. This provides code that Is more easily maintained as compared to code written using traditional methods, as changes to an object's code do not affect the code in the other objects. Furthermore, the inherent modular nature of objects allows individual objects to be reused in different programs. Thus, programmers can develop libraries of "tried and true" objects that can be used over and over again in different applications. This increases software reliability while decreasing development time, as reliable programming code may be used repeatedly.
The object metaphor in distributed systems is a useful technique as it separates the object's interface from its implementation; thereby allowing software designers to take advantage of the functionalities of various objects available to them without having to worry about the details of the object's implementation. The programmer need only be aware of the object's interface. In addition, object-oriented distributed systems allow for object implementations that may reside on different computing platforms that have been connected through a network. Thus, a programmer working on one machine of a network may make a call to an object about which the programmer only knows the object's interface with the confidence that at the appropriate time that the remote object will be accessed and return its data so that the programmers code will function properly. Such a system thus maximizes the inherent advantages of object-oriented methodologies by taking full advantage of their modularity and encapsulation.
Although the advantages to employing object-oriented programming methodologies through distributed object systems are significant, there remain major hurdles to their implementation. In general, the goal of implementing the re-use of software during the programming process, even in the context of object programming, is difficult to achieve. Typically, programmers are reluctant to use code about which their understanding is minimal or even nonexistent. This is compounded in distributed object systems as the developer(s) of the code may not be easily reached to provide comments and instruction to the programmer whose task is to develop a new application. Thus, although much useful code may be available to the programmer throughout the distributed object system that programmer may not be able to take full advantage of it, thus being forced to rewrite sections of code that have already been developed.
Present methodologies for sharing code are inadequate in the distributed object model. Current methods for sharing object code include the use of shared libraries, publicly available directories of header files, and the wide-spread distribution of documentation (either electronically or by hard copy). These methods, however, do not lend themselves well to adaptation in a distributed object environment in which the basic elements being manipulated are not file-based but rather are interface-based. Also, methods for re-using objects in a distributed object system should seek to increase the user's sense of a "community" of programmers and the code they produce. Thus, systems seeking to increase the re-use of objects in a distributed object system should facilitate the user's determination of an object's identity, its purpose, and its method of use.
As described in co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/414,240, incorporated herein by reference for all purposes, another challenge to programming in a distributed object environment is the need to provide large amounts of "boilerplate" type computer code so that objects and applications developed for use in the distributed object system can function properly within that system; in particular, the need to provide basic computer code structures to enable ordinary objects (i.e., C++objects) to function as distributed objects. In addition, however, the programmer seeking to maximize the re-use of existing objects and computer code in the distributed objects system is faced with similar although slightly different challenges. When a programmer wishes to employ an object in an application being developed, the programmer must indicate basic information pertaining to the object such as the name of the object's factory and must provide various initialization data. In addition, a variety of makefiles, header files, and library dependencies must be accounted for in the code before that code is forwarded to additional facilities such as described in co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/414,240. Additional details that must be provided by the programmer include various exception handling, debugging, and tracing support code. Again, although the methods and code required are generally known to those of skill in the art, the implementation of such routines is laborious, repetitive, and prone to error. Thus, the development of appropriately coded object applications is an extremely time consuming and painstaking task. It would therefore be preferable to automate the incorporation of such "housekeeping" code.
Unfortunately, most programming objects currently in existence are not written to support the functionalities required for placement on a distributed operating system. Thus, the implementation of existing objects on such systems would require much retooling of the existing object software. This would lessen the advantages afforded by object programming methodologies as existing programming objects would not be easily available in distributed object systems.
An additional difficulty with implementing distributed objects on distributed object systems arises from the need to inform the system of the presence of the objects at the time of their installation. Since all client requests are processed through the object request broker, or ORB, the ORB must have knowledge of the existence of the objects. Furthermore, it is preferable in distributed object systems to have functionalities that allow for a clear distinction between objects that are in the development phase and objects that are available to users on the distributed object system generally. Providing such awareness poses various difficulties for the programmer who must bear the burden of implementing a wide variety of "housekeeping" operations to take advantage of the benefits of the distributed object system.
The full promise of object-oriented methodologies, especially the advantages afforded by their modularity, have yet to be achieved. In particular, it would be highly desirable to allow programmers and other users the ability to create and install distributed objects in a relatively transparent fashion so that objects created in different programming languages and/or objects residing on different computing platforms can be made available on distributed object systems without extensive modification of programming code or placing an undue burden on the user. Thus, it would be preferable to have a system capable of handling the formation and installation of distributed objects that minimizes the need for the programmer or the user to be familiar with the details of distributed object systems. More preferable is a system in which programming objects that are not distributed can be transformed into a distributed object relatively transparently with respect to the programmer or the user.

Code generator for applications in distributed object systems


An assembly for being implanted in a blood vessel for carrying out in vivo plasma separation incorporates a plasma extraction capsule formed of a microporous polymeric membrane sheet having a pore size capable of allowing diffusion of plasma, the capsule having one or more interior plasma flow channels and a catheter secured to the capsule and having at least one lumen in fluid communication with the one or more interior capsule channels.

In U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,590,224, 5,151,082, 5,152,743, 5,224,926 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,735,809 there are disclosed apparatus for in vivo separation of plasma from blood utilizing one or more hollow elongated microporous fibers implanted within a patient's blood vessel. The fibers are made of a microporous polymeric fiber membrane material having a pore size sufficient to allow diffusion of plasma into the hollow fiber interior but preventing cellular components larger than plasma to diffuse, ultrafiltrate or enter the fiber interior. The fiber or fibers are implanted within the blood vessel without significantly obstructing fluid flow through the vessel while providing the aforesaid in vivo plasma separation. The fiber assembly is secured in fluid communication with a catheter, preferably a dual lumen catheter having a first tube permitting plasma passage from the fiber and a second tube for returning plasma to the blood vessel after treatment. Various configurations and methods of fabrication as well as materials having a variety of characteristics and performance abilities are disclosed in the aforesaid patents and application as are various systems, apparatus, components and methods for use including measurement of blood parameters, kidney dialysis, and separation and removal of a substantial number of specific materials and plasma components, the descriptions of which are incorporated herein by reference. As efficient as the aforesaid hollow fiber loops are in separating blood plasma, it has been found that the hollow fibers may not provide the most optimum means of in vivo plasma extraction in all applications, treatment protocols, or in all patients.

Microporous membrane sheet plasma extraction catheter


A fiber optical block 110 having a light outputting end face 112 which is tilted at a predetermined angle θ of an acute angle with respect to the optical axes of optical fibers 113 and a solid-state image pickup device 210 are provided, and the fiber optical block 110 is arranged so that, in terms of a light-receiving surface 212e, the optical axes of the optical fibers 113 are tilted at the predetermined angle θ toward a first side 212a out of four sides 212a-212d. And, in the solid-state image pickup device 210, each of a plurality of electrode pads 211 is provided on two outer peripheral portions 210b and 210d adjacent to the first outer peripheral portion 210a. Thus, an image sensing device which can favorably combine both the electrode pads and connection wires of the solid-state image pickup device and the fiber optical block tilted with respect to the light receiving surface can be realized.

As an image sensing device capable of detecting a two-dimensional image (optical image), provided is an image sensing device which directly, optically connects a fiber optical block having a light outputting end face tilted with respect to the optical axes of optical fibers to a light-receiving surface of a solid-state image pickup device. Such an image sensing device has been employed in, for example, a fingerprint detector capable of obtaining a high-quality fingerprint image.
In addition, as image sensing devices which detect a two-dimensional image by an output light from a fiber optical block by use of a solid-state image pickup device, provided are devices as disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H-7-211877, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H-7-174947, and Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H-10-12851. In such a device, generally, in a solid-state image pickup device with a fiber optical block connected, a plurality of electrode pads are provided on the outer periphery of a light-receiving surface thereof. And, to each of the plurality of electrode pads, a connection wire (bonding wire) is electrically connected.

Image sensing device having a fiber optic block tilted with respect to a light receiving surface thereof