Techniques are described that configure a router in a configuration mode specified by a client. For example, a client may request to configure the router in a private configuration mode. In response to the command, a management module creates a private database. A client may edit the configuration data of the private database. The client may edit the private database without interference from other clients that may also be editing configuration data of the router. Management server module updates the committed database with edited private database, and the router begins to operate in accordance with the updated configuration data.

A computer network is a collection of interconnected computing devices that exchange data and share resources. In a packet-based network, such as the Internet, the computing devices communicate data by dividing the data into small blocks called packets. The packets are individually routed across the network from a source device to a destination device. The destination device extracts the data from the packets and assembles the data into its original form. Dividing the data into packets enables the source device to resend only those individual packets that may be lost during transmission.
Certain devices within the network, referred to as routers, maintain tables of routing information that describe available routes through the network. Each route defines a path between two locations on the network. Upon receiving an incoming data packet, the router examines header information within the packet to identify the destination for the packet. Based on the header information, the router accesses the routing table, selects an appropriate route for the packet and forwards the packet accordingly.
Conventional routers typically include a mechanism, referred to herein as a management interface, for directly or remotely configuring the router. By interacting with the management interface, various clients, such as human users and automated scripts, can perform a vast amount of configuration tasks. For example, the clients may configure interface cards of the router, adjust parameters for the supported network protocols, specify the physical components within the routing device, modify the routing information maintained by the router, access software modules and other resources residing on the router, and the like.
In some routers, the management interface allows a client to configure the present configuration of the router using a commit-based model. In a commit-based model, a client issues one or more configuration commands, and then directs the management interface to apply the commands by issuing a "commit" command. Typically, the client may direct the management interface to disregard the commands by issuing a "rollback" command.
For example, a client typically places the router in a configuration mode, often by issuing an edit command to the management interface. In this mode, the management interface may essentially "lock" the router, and reject any configuration commands from other clients. Next, the client typically issues a number of commands directing the management interface to modify the present configuration, followed by a commit command that directs the router to apply the commands. Upon receiving the commit command, the management interface exits the configuration mode, and applies the changes to the present configuration, thereby adjusting the operation of the router. Finally, the management interface exits the configuration mode, effectively "unlocking" the router and allowing configuration by another client.
As the complexity of computing networks has increased, there has been an increasing need for routers and other network devices to support concurrent configuration by multiple clients. Consequently, some devices allow multiple clients to concurrently issue configuration commands. In other words, the management interface of such a device does not "lock" the configuration of the device to a single client, but receives configuration commands from multiple clients while operating in configuration mode. When the management interface receives a commit command from any of the clients providing commands, the management interface applies all of the pending changes from all of the concurrent clients to the present configuration. These techniques can be problematic in that partial changes made by a client may be committed in response to a commit command from another client. Furthermore, uncommitted changes made by a client may be lost when another client issues a "rollback" command.

Private configuration of network devices


Compositions and methods for the removal of resin from wood chips processed in a Kraft pulping process are disclosed. The method is particularly useful for removing triterpene and triterpenoid resin.

Removal of pitch and resin is very important for pulping process. If not effectively removed pitch and resin may create fouling problems upon or after pulping and washing, cause increased consumption of bleaching agent(s) and/or form deposits later on the surfaces of papermaking equipment.
Deresination of birch wood in Kraft pulping is especially difficult because birch contains high amounts of unsaponifiable components, betulin being a major unsaponifiable component. Betulin is a naturally occurring pentacyclic triterpenyl alcohol found in birch wood and constitutes up to 35% of the birch bark. Betulin has a melting point at 256° C., which is significantly higher than those of many other pitch components. It is almost insoluble in water and chemically quite unreactive. It does not fully dissolve during the Kraft digestion process and can create deposition problems in the papermaking process.
One way to alleviate the problem is to remove the bark completely from birch before Kraft cooking. Debarking, however, leads to wood loss and yield reduction. As such, it is more desirable to use a digester additive to reduce betulin in the pulp upon Kraft cooking. This has the benefit of decreased betulin deposition and increased pulp yield relative to the current debarking process.
The birch deresination problem has been known for many years, and the only established method in pulping, primarily employed in Scandinavian mills, is the addition of tall oil or rosin soap to chips before the cook process. Black et al., Pitch Control, Wood Resin and Deresination, TAPPI Press, Chapter 8 (2000) and Dunlop-Jones et al., Journal of Wood Chemistry and Technology, 9 (3), 365-386 (1989) teaches that tall oil increases the amount of saponifiables, thereby boosting the ratio of saponifible-to-unsaponifiable wood resin, which in turn helps emulsify the unsaponifiables and drive them into black liquor.
Tall oil or tall oil soap has been used for many years for reduction of betulin in birch Kraft pulping. However, this method is moderately effective; only removing approximately 50% of betulin when tall oil is used at a 10-30 lb/ton of oven-dried (OD) pulp level. Addition of tall oil is practiced along with effective debarking which leads to a partial wood loss.
The effect of synthetic dispersants has also been investigated. For example, a dodecyl-benzene-sulfonic acid surfactant at 0.5% load has the same deresination effect on birchwood as 3% of softwood tall oil (E. L. Black and H. Allen "Pitch Control, Wood Resin and Deresination", TAPPI press, chapter 8, 2000). However, cost restrictions had put limitations for commercial applications.
There are teachings regarding the isolation of betulin from the bark for medical and cosmetic formulations. This interest stems from the fact that betulin and its derivatives demonstrate strong antiviral, anticancer and anti-inflammatory properties and they have been studied extensively for their pharmaceutical applications. For examples see P. A. Krasutsky, "Birch Bark Research and Development", Natural Product Reports, v. 23, 2006, pp. 919-942; R.U. Pat. No. 2291684; U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,890,533, 6,656,970 B2, 7,198,808, and 6,689,767; and U.S. Pat. Appl. 2003/0109727 A1.
It has been previously known that vegetable oils can be used for pitch and resin removal; e.g., see UK Pat. No. 1,466,502. However, these do not mention the effects on betulin and betulin type components.

Pulping additives for a reduction of resin from Kraft pulp


A drive system for auxiliaries associated with a main gas turbine engine. The system includes auxiliary turbines for pneumatically driving the auxiliaries which are in turn divided into groups. A high pressure supply is tapped from the main engine or starter system and fed to the intakes of the respective auxiliary turbines. Controllers are associated with each of the auxiliary turbines to independently control the speeds of those turbines. Thus, the auxiliaries can be segregated between a group which is essential for starting the main engine, and a non-essential group. The former group is driven during starting while the latter group remains quiescent. Alternatively, the auxiliaries can be divided into one group mechanically coupled to the main engine and at least one other group driven by at least one auxiliary turbine.

Aircraft gas turbine engines (as well as gas turbine engines for other applications) require auxiliary devices for their operation. Typical auxiliary devices include fuel pumps (oftentimes boost pumps and main pumps), hydraulic or lubrication pumps, electrical alternators or generators (which can include the FADEC [full authority digital electronic control] power source) standby generators, pumps and the like, and other such devices. It has been typical to provide a power takeoff shaft from the main engine to an auxiliary gearbox, and to drive all of the auxiliary units from the gearbox. This usually provides a very reliable system, but one which is not without its drawbacks.
One of the drawbacks is the fact that the auxiliaries are fixedly geared to the engine (and thus to each other) which requires (a) that all or most of the auxiliaries be driven when starting the engine, and (b) that the speed range of the auxiliary be rather extreme so they can produce useful output at starting rpm and rated output at a much higher running rpm.
With respect to engine starting, the auxiliaries for a commercial jet turbine engine often require hundreds of horsepower, and all of that machinery must be rotated by the equipment which is used to start the gas turbine engine. The demands on the power needed to direct the starter are obvious. More importantly is the occasional necessity to start the engine in an emergency situation (such as a windmill start after a flameout), and the added horsepower requirements for rotating the auxiliaries make the starting problem more difficult.
With respect to the operating range of the auxiliaries, those which are critical to engine starting, such as the fuel pump, and the FADEC alternator, must produce rated output at low starting rpm's in order to start and control the engine. For example, with respect to the FADEC alternator, only 8% of maximum rpm must produce enough power to keep the FADEC functional. That requirement results in a rather large and complex alternator which, at running rpm, produces far more power than is needed by the FADEC.
Similarly, with respect to the fuel pump, it must have the capacity to produce an adequate flow rate at starting rpm (again, 8% to 10% of maximum rpm) to start the engine. Thus, when cruising at altitude, the flow rate from the fuel pump is so high as to require a substantial bypass flow which is undesirable in that it consumes excess horsepower and uses that excess horsepower simply to heat the fuel. While the fuel can act as a heat sink in aircraft, the heat sink capacity of the fuel is limited particularly at altitude. Thus, the excess capacity of the fuel pump is more than wasteful, it sometimes heats the fuel beyond an upper desired temperature.
One further problem which results from utilizing the conventional mechanical drive for driving the auxiliaries is the fact that the auxiliaries must all be located on or very near the gearbox and that can adversely impact the aerodynamics of the engine envelope for aircraft.
It has been proposed to eliminate the power takeoff shaft and auxiliary gearbox, and replace them with a pneumatic takeoff from the main engine compressor which drives an auxiliary turbine which in turn drives all of the accessories. Griffith U.S. Pat. No. 2,612,020 describes such a system. The system proposed in that patent has the capability of alleviating the engine envelope problem in that greater flexibility for the placement of the auxiliaries can be provided. However, in the system described in that patent, all of the auxiliaries are driven from the auxiliary turbine, and the auxiliary turbine has a regulated speed, such that when the engine is running, the effect is not unlike the mechanically coupled auxiliaries of the conventional approach. All of the auxiliaries are operating at a fixed speed with respect to each other and to the engine. Furthermore, since some of the auxiliaries must be operated in order to start the engine, not only will all of the auxiliaries be operated, but all will be operated in the same speed ratios, whether or not they are needed in the starting operation. That produces an unnecessary load on the starting system much as is done with the conventional mechanically coupled auxiliary system.

Drive for main engine auxiliaries for an aircraft gas turbine engine


A piezoelectric oscillator includes: a piezoelectric substrate having at least a vibrating part and a base part; an excitation electrode formed on the vibrating part; and an oscillation circuit formed on the base part. In the piezoelectric oscillator, the oscillation circuit includes a thin film transistor made of one of polysilicon and monocrystalline silicon and is coupled to the excitation electrode.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a piezoelectric oscillator, and a sensor and a multi-sensor that employ a piezoelectric oscillator.
2. Related Art
In recent years, as accompanied with miniaturization of electronic devices, miniaturization of piezoelectric oscillators such as a crystal oscillator mounted on electronic devices has been increasingly required.
In order to meet such requirement, JP-A-10-75120, as a first example, discloses a crystal oscillator that stores a crystal vibrator and an electronic component constituting an oscillation circuit in one container.
In addition, miniaturization of sensors employing a piezoelectric oscillator has been required. For the miniaturization thereof, JP-A-2004-264255, as a second example, discloses a mass measuring chip in which a piezoelectric resonator element and an IC chip are bonded to one flat plate in an electrically connecting fashion to each other. The mass measuring chip detects a specific substance adsorbed by the piezoelectric resonator element in accordance with an amount of the frequency change.
However, in the crystal oscillator (hereinafter, referred to as a piezoelectric oscillator) disclosed in the first example, even though the crystal vibrator (hereinafter, referred to as a piezoelectric substrate) and the electronic component constituting the oscillation circuit are stored in one container (hereinafter, referred to as a package), the piezoelectric substrate and the electronic component are stored in separate cavities within the package. That is, in this structure, the package needs a space for storing the piezoelectric substrate and a space for storing the electronic component separately therein, making the further miniaturization difficult.
Further, since the electronic component is a discrete component and is provided in a great number, the number of manufacturing steps increases to degrade the productivity. In addition, since the discrete component is commonly thick, it is hard to thin the crystal oscillator.
Furthermore, a circuit pattern for wiring a plurality of discrete components becomes complex so as to generate electromagnetic coupling between circuit patterns, deteriorating the performance of the oscillator disadvantageously.
The mass measuring chip (hereinafter, referred to as a sensor) disclosed in the second example has such structure that the piezoelectric resonator element and the IC chip constituting the oscillation circuit are bonded separately to the flat plate, so that the structure hardly satisfies suitable manufacturing efficiency. In addition, the sensor mounts the piezoelectric resonator element on the flat plate, being hard to be thinned.

Piezoelectrics oscillator, sensor, and multi-sensor


The present invention relates to calibration of an electronic device. An operation method of an electronic device may comprise the operations of: setting a first path for a first calibration of a transmission path; performing the first calibration of the transmission path by using the first path; setting a second path for a second calibration of a transceiving path; performing the second calibration of the transceiving path by using the second path; and generating data indicating a result of calibration of a reception path, on the basis of a result obtained by the first calibration and the second calibration. Various other embodiments are possible.

As the communication environment changes from voice or text-oriented low-capacity data of the past to a high-resolution video requiring high transmission speed, and the like, various wireless communication systems have been studied for securing a higher transmission capacity and efficient use of limited frequency resources. For example, a 5th generation (5G) system, standardization of which is actively progressing in recent years, may use millimeter wave bands (e.g., 6 GHz, 28 GHz, 60 GHz, etc.) to achieve a higher data transmission rate.
As the commercialization of a next-generation system having a higher data transmission rate such as the 5G system progresses, development of transceivers supporting a higher data transmission rate is also required. In order to provide a higher data transmission rate, error vector magnitude (EVM) performance lower than that of a conventional system is required, and in order to satisfy the lower EVM, distortion that occurs while signals are being transferred through the system must be minimized. The distortion of the transceiver eventually causes a decrease in signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of the signal, and the distortion may mainly occur while passing through an analog circuit, such as a radio frequency (RF) circuit and the like.

Method for calibration and apparatus therefor


A process for producing a crack-free coating of pyrolytic boron nitride on a carbon structure in which the coating is formed in a controlled atmosphere containing vapors of ammonia and gaseous boron halide within a temperature range of between 1500.degree. C. to 1700.degree. C.

Carbon-carbon composites are important materials for aerospace applications because they retain high strength and toughness at high temperature. However, the use of carbon-carbon composite material is presently limited because of its susceptibility to oxidation. Oxidation protection may be provided by depositing a protective layer on the surface of the carbon-carbon composite which is resistant to oxidation. A preferred material is boron nitride.
Heretofore all attempts to form a boron nitride coating by chemical vapor deposition resulted in a coating having a thermal expansion substantially higher than the thermal expansion of the carbon-carbon composite substrate. A conventionally deposited pyrolytic boron nitride coating has a thermal expansion on the order of three times the thermal expansion of a typical carbon-carbon composite material. The mismatch in thermal expansion causes cracks to form in the boron nitride coating when cycled from deposition temperature to room temperature.
The method of the present invention produces a "crack-free" pyrolytic boron nitride coating over a carbon-carbon composite structure to provide oxidation protection for the composite structure at temperatures of up to 800.degree. C. and higher. For purposes of the present invention "crack-free" means a coating essentially free of cross-plane cracks which would allow air to penetrate to the carbon-carbon composite. The presence of cracks parallel to the deposition surface are not as serious provided they are not accompanied by such cross-plane cracks. Accordingly, as long as there are essentially no cracks which penetrate in a direction transverse to the deposition surface, the coating is considered "crack-free".

Process for forming a crack-free boron nitride coating on a carbon structure


The present invention provides a dicing die bond film in which yielding and breaking of the dicing film are prevented and in which the die bond film can be suitably broken with a tensile force. In the dicing die bond film of the present invention, the tensile strength of the contact part in which the outer circumference of the push-up jig contacts the dicing film at 25° C. is 15 N or more and 80 N or less and the yield point elongation is 80% or more, the tensile strength of the wafer bonding part of the dicing film at 25° C. is 10 N or more and 70 N or less and the yield point elongation is 30% or more, [(the tensile strength of the contact part)−(the tensile strength of the wafer bonding part)] is 0 N or more and 60 N or less, and the breaking elongation rate of the die bond film at 25° C. is more than 40% and 500% or less.

Conventionally, silver paste has been used to bond a semiconductor chip to a lead frame or an electrode member in the step of producing a semiconductor device. The treatment for the sticking is conducted by coating a paste-form adhesive on a die pad of a lead frame, or the like, mounting a semiconductor chip on the die pad, and then setting the paste-form adhesive layer.
However, about the paste-form adhesive, the amount of the coated adhesive, the shape of the coated adhesive, and on the like are largely varied in accordance with the viscosity behavior thereof, a deterioration thereof, and on the like. As a result, the thickness of the formed paste-form adhesive layer becomes uneven so that the reliability in strength of bonding a semiconductor chip is poor. In other words, if the amount of the paste-form adhesive coated on an electrode member is insufficient, the bonding strength between the electrode member and a semiconductor chip becomes low so that in a subsequent wire bonding step, the semiconductor chip is peeled. On the other hand, if the amount of the coated paste-form adhesive is too large, this adhesive flows out to stretch over the semiconductor chip so that the characteristic becomes poor. Thus, the yield or the reliability lowers. Such problems about the adhesion treatment become particularly remarkable with an increase in the size of semiconductor chips. It is therefore necessary to control the amount of the coated paste-form adhesive frequently. Thus, the workability or the productivity is deteriorated.
In this coating step of a paste-form adhesive, there is a method of coating the adhesive onto a lead frame or a forming chip by an independent operation. In this method, however, it is difficult to make the paste-form adhesive layer even. Moreover, an especial machine or a longtime is required to coat the paste-form adhesive. Thus, a dicing film which makes a semiconductor wafer to be bonded and held in a dicing step and further gives an adhesive layer, for bonding a chip, which is necessary for a mounting step is disclosed (refer to Patent Document 1, for example).
This dicing film has a structure wherein a adhesive layer and an adhesive layer are successively laminated on a supporting substrate. That is, a semiconductor wafer is diced in the state that the wafer is held on the adhesive layer, and then the supporting substrate is extended; the chipped works are peeled together with the adhesive layer; the peeled works are individually collected; and further the chipped works are bonded onto an adherend such as a lead frame through the adhesive layer.
When a dicing die bond film including a dicing film and a die bond film laminated thereon is used and a semiconductor wafer is diced while being held by the die bond film, it is necessary to cut the die bond film and the semiconductor wafer at the same time. However, in a general dicing method using a diamond blade, it is necessary to reduce the cutting speed and costs are increased because there are potential problems such as adhesion of the die bond film with the dicing film due to heat that is generated during dicing, sticking of semiconductor chips due to generation of cutting scraps, and attachment of cutting scraps onto the side of the semiconductor chips.
In recent years, a method of forming grooves on the surface of a semiconductor wafer and then performing backside grinding to obtain an individual semiconductor chip (refer to Patent Document 2, for example, also referred to as "a DBG (Dicing Before Grinding) method") and a method of forming a modified region by irradiating a line to be divided on the semiconductor wafer with a laser beam to make the division of the semiconductor wafer easy at the line to be divided and then applying a tensile force to break the semiconductor wafer and obtain an individual semiconductor chip (refer to Patent Documents 3 and 4, for example, also referred to as "Stealth Dicing (a registered trademark)") have been proposed. According to these methods, the occurrence of poor operations such as chipping can be decreased especially in the case where the semiconductor wafer is thin, and the kerf width is made to be narrower than the conventional kerf width to improve the yield of the semiconductor chip.
It is necessary to break the die bond film by applying a tensile force to obtain individual semiconductor chips with a die bond film by the above-described method while the semiconductor wafer is being held by the die bond film.
In Patent Document 5, an adhesive sheet is disclosed which is used in the DBG method and the Stealth Dicing method and in which the breaking strength at 25° C. is 0.1 MPa or more and 10 MPa or less and the breaking elongation rate is 1% or more and 40% or less. However, because the breaking elongation rate of the adhesive sheet of Patent Document 5 is 40% or less, it may break before the semiconductor wafer breaks when the tensile force is applied in the Stealth Dicing method, and the semiconductor wafer may be divided at a line that is different from the line to be divided.
In Patent Document 6, a dicing tape is disclosed that is used in the Stealth Dicing method and in which the tensile load at 10% of the tape elongation rate is 15 N or more. However, in the case where the yield point elongation of the dicing tape of Patent Document 6 itself is small, the dicing tape undergoes plastic deformation or breaks in the expansion step, and therefore, a normal dicing may not be performed.
Further, in Patent Document 7, a dicing tape integrated adhesive sheet is disclosed that is used in the DBG method and the Stealth Dicing method and having a dicing tape in which the yield point is not shown in tensile deformation and an adhesive sheet in which the break elongation exceeds 40% and 400% or less. However, in the case where the break elongation of the dicing tape of the dicing tape integrated adhesive sheet of Patent Document 7 is too small, the adhesive sheet may firstly break in the expansion step.

Dicing die bond film and method of manufacturing semiconductor device


A method of hydroforming a vehicle rail from an extruded aluminum tube includes the steps of positioning the extruded aluminum tube into a hydroforming die and partially closing the hydroforming die. Next is the step of applying a liquid under a first level of pressure to the extruded aluminum tube in the hydroforming die. This is followed by engaging an inner radius of a bend in the extruded aluminum tube with the hydroforming die before completely closing the hydroforming die and increasing the level of liquid pressure in the workpiece to a second level to form and hydro-pierce a part from the extruded aluminum tube.

Vehicle manufacturers are implementing lighter, stronger materials, such as aluminum alloys, to meet emission reduction goals, meet fuel economy goals, reduce manufacturing costs, and reduce vehicle weight. At the same time increasingly demanding safety standards must be met while reducing vehicle weight. One approach to meet these competing interests and objectives is to hydroform high strength aluminum alloy tubular blanks into strong, lightweight parts such as roof rails and front rails of motor vehicles.
Aluminum tube types include seam-welded tube, extruded seamless tube, and extruded structural tube. Seam-welded tube and extruded seamless tube are expensive. Extruded structural tubes are lower in cost because they are formed in a continuous mill operation having a greater line and material utilization efficiency than extruded seamless tubes and seam-welded tubes.
Extruded structural tubes are formed by extruding an aluminum billet through an extrusion die at a high temperature and at high pressure. Discontinuous material flow across the section of the shape occurs when the flowing aluminum separates in the mandrel plate and re-converges in the cap section. A weld line, or joining line, is created where the flowing aluminum re-converges to form the extruded shape. Extruded structural tubes may have two or more weld lines that are an artifact of the porthole extrusion process.
Significantly, aluminum seam-welded, seamless tubes and structural extrusion tubes are less formable than mild steel tubes. As a result, it is not feasible to form most parts from aluminum tubes with state of the art conventional hydroforming operations. In such operations, a hydroforming fluid, such as water, is supplied to expand and shape the tube to conform to a die cavity. Substantial expansion of the tube (circumferential length of line expansion of more than 3%) is necessary to eliminate any tube buckles and produce complexly shaped parts.
In an effort to address this problem, a method of pressure sequence hydroforming is now proposed which is particularly adapted to use with aluminum materials. More specifically, this document relates to a hydroforming method that produces a part with a flat nose corner radius which functions to increase the formability ratio or R/t (tightness) of a hydroformed corner while simultaneously preventing splitting. The formability ratio or R/t is the ratio of the bend radius (R) to the workpiece/extruded aluminum tube wall thickness (t). This value defines the sharpest forming radius allowable prior to material failure. Advantageously, the resulting increase in the formability ratio allows one to effectively and efficiently use aluminum tubes, including extruded seamless and structural tubes, to produce vehicle parts such as rails by hydroforming.

Method of hydroforming an extruded aluminum tube with a flat nose corner radius


A multi-layer absorbent product in a preferred embodiment includes a fibrous nonwoven top sheet, a fibrous nonwoven absorbent core layer, and a fibrous nonwoven substantially water-impervious back sheet. Each component layer or sheet is manufactured at a fiberizing station (i.e., melt spinning) and laminated together at a combining station. The preferred melt spinning apparatus is spunbond for the top sheet, meltblowing for the core layer, and a combination of spunbond and meltblowing for the bottom sheet.

The equipment used for in-line manufacture of absorbent products, such as diapers, sanitary napkins, adult incontinent pads and the like, is generally referred to as converter equipment and the process is generally referred to as converting. The converter equipment processes separate rolls of stock material into the composite absorbent product. The converter equipment generally comprises stations for manufacturing the composite absorbent product as follows:                (a) An absorbent core forming station comprising a hammermill is fed by pulp roll stock, such as cellulosic material with or without superabsorbent. The hammermill fiberizes the pulp, and a drum form or flat screen then forms the fiberized pulp. Alternatively, the absorbent core material can be supplied in roll form.        (b) A top sheet station supplies a top sheet or coverstock layer comprising a nonwoven, such as spunbond polypropylene. The top sheet is unwound from a roll and applied to the core layer.        (c) A bottom sheet station for supplying a liquid-impervious backsheet, such as polyethylene film, which is applied to the top sheet/core combination.The absorbent product is a composite comprising a top sheet or cover stock, an intermediate core layer of absorbent material, and a bottom sheet or back sheet of impervious film. Most converter equipment includes devices for adding a variety of options, such as elastic waistbands and legbands, tab applicators, frontal tape applicators, transfer layers, and the like.
A characteristic common to all converter equipment and processes is that they use only roll stock to form the layers of the absorbent product. The roll stocks are separately manufactured into rolls, typically off site, and then transported to the site of use. These rolls are processed by the converter equipment to form multiple layer absorbent products.
Converter equipment typically comprises a large complex laminating machine which requires significant horizontal and vertical plant space. The complex equipment requires constant attention and fine tuning. Also, converter equipment generally produces a one-line output so the unit output is directly proportional to the line speed. Accordingly, the converter equipment must operate at extremely high speed, such as at line speeds of 700 to 1200 ft./min., to be economical.
As the converter equipment handles only preformed roll stock, it has a serious operational disadvantage. That is, once the multiple rolls are installed, the composition, properties or dimensions of the roll stocks cannot be changed. In order to produce two different types of absorbent products, or absorbent products with different properties, the converter must be shut down and a new roll or rolls substituted for the existing roll or rolls. For these reasons, it would be desirable to eliminate one or, preferably, more of the conventional roll stocks and form different layers of an absorbent composite product in-line.

Absorbent composite product and process and apparatus for manufacture thereof


A speech-to-text conversion module uses a central database of user speech profiles to convert speech to text. Incoming audio information is fragmented into numerous audio fragments based upon detecting silence. The audio information is also converted to numerous text files by any number of speech engines. Each text file is then fragmented into numerous text fragments based upon the boundaries established during the audio fragmentation. Each set of text fragments from the different speech engines corresponding to a single audio fragments is then compared. The best approximation of the audio fragment is produced from the set of text fragments; a hybrid may be produced. If no agreement is reached, the audio fragment and set the text fragments are sent to human agents who verify and edit to produce a final edited text fragment that best corresponds to the audio fragment. Fragmentation that produces overlapping audio fragments requires splicing of the final text fragments to produce the output text file.

Currently, speech recognition software requires that each user have a custom user profile. These user profiles are distributed in the sense that a user must have numerous user profiles if he or she uses different speech recognition software. (For example, while the DRAGON brand software from Nuance Corporation might be used on an IBM-compatible computer, it cannot be used on a computer from Apple Inc., so the user may choose the ILISTEN brand software available from MacSpeech, Inc. for use on an Apple computer.) Further, even if the user always uses a single brand of computer, his or her speech profile must be physically transported and installed on each computer (home, office, travel computer) that the user might be using.
The huge vocabulary of potential words that a user might speak also presents a problem. Speech recognition companies attempt to ameliorate this problem by providing language-specific versions of their software tailored to specific categories of users. For example, a speech recognition engine may provide versions based upon "English," "American English," "Indian English," etc., in an attempt to reduce the vocabulary required and to increase accuracy of the engine. Nevertheless, each engine may still require a vocabulary of 50,000 to 100,000 words in order to accurately convert speech to text for any potential user in a given category (in order to match any potential spoken word with a known word in the vocabulary).
Further compounding the problem is that each user of a particular brand of speech recognition software must perform training of that software for it to be accurate. At least two to three hours of training are typically required. Although certain speech engines advertise that no training is required, realistically, at least a minimal amount of training is needed otherwise accuracy suffers. It is not uncommon for a professional user of speech recognition software to spend many hours training that software in order to achieve the highest accuracy. And finally, a user or enterprise must deal with the mechanics of installing and maintaining speech recognition software that can be a great burden. The software must be selected based upon available computers, purchased, installed and maintained. Problems with computer compatibility, lack of memory, etc., are not uncommon. Many versions of installed speech recognition software are out of date (and hence less accurate) because the user or enterprise has not bothered to update the software.
Finally, once the user has selected a particular brand of speech recognition software, has installed and trained that software, there is no guarantee that the users words will be transcribed accurately. Due to pronunciation, diction, speed of delivery, cadence, voice changes due to illness, etc., the chosen speech recognition software may still produce text that has errors. Even the best software under optimal conditions can find it difficult to achieve a 95% accuracy rate. Based upon the above state of technology and the needs of individuals, a technique and speech-to-text engine is desired that would provide greater accuracy with reduced or no training.


A level shifter includes a level shifting unit suitable for changing a swing voltage level of an input signal from a first swing voltage level to a second swing voltage level based on a clock signal, a precharging unit suitable for precharging an output node of the level shifting unit based on the clock signal, and an output unit suitable for latching a signal of the output node having the second swing voltage level to output as an output signal.

1. Field
Exemplary embodiments of the present invention relate to a semiconductor design technology, and more particularly, to a level shifter.
2. Description of the Related Art
A semiconductor integrated circuit may include a level shifter. The level shifter may be used for signal transmission between internal blocks using heterogeneous driving voltages. The level shifter may also adjust swing levels from an input signal to an output signal.
The level shifter may lower or raise the swing level of the input signal.
FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a conventional level shifter.
Referring to FIG. 1, the level shifter includes first and second PMOS transistors P1 and P2, first and second NMOS transistors N1 and N2, and an inverter 110.
The first NMOS transistor N1 receives an input signal IN, which swings between a first power voltage VDD1 (not illustrated) and a ground voltage VSS, through its gate. The second NMOS transistor N2 receives an inverted input signal INB, which is an inverted signal of the input signal IN that is inverted through the inverter 110, through its gate. The first and second NMOS transistors N1 and N2 are grounded at their sources.
The first PMOS transistor P1 is coupled to a drain of the first NMOS transistor N1 at its drain and coupled to a drain of the second NMOS transistor N2 at its gate. The second PMOS transistor P2 is coupled to the drain of the second NMOS transistor N2 at its drain and coupled to the drain of the first NMOS node N1 at its gate. The first and second PMOS transistors P1 and P2 are grounded at their sources.
The level shifter changes a swing range of the input signal IN from between the first power voltage VDD1 and the ground voltage VSS to between a second power voltage VDD2 and the ground voltage VSS. The second power voltage VDD2 has a voltage level higher than the first power voltage VDD1.
Operation of the level shifter with such cross-coupled latch scheme is as follows.
When the level of the input signal IN is changed from the ground voltage VSS to the first power voltage VDD1, the first NMOS transistor N1 is turned on and discharges a node MID, where the first PMOS transistor P1 is coupled to the drain of the second NMOS transistor N2 with its gate, to the ground voltage VSS. The second PMOS transistor P2 is coupled to the drain of the second NMOS transistor N2 with its drain. Due to the node MID being discharged to the ground voltage VSS, the second PMOS transistor P2 is turned on to drive an output node OUT to the second power voltage VDD2.
When the level of the input signal IN is changed from the ground voltage VSS to the first power voltage VDD1, the first NMOS transistor N1 receiving the input signal IN is turned on and the second NMOS transistor N2 receiving the inverted input signal INB is turned off, and thus the node MID is discharged to the ground voltage VSS.
At that time, the second PMOS transistor P2 is slightly turned on due to the voltage of the node MID and may not promptly raise the voltage of the output node OUT from the ground voltage VSS to the second power voltage VDD2, which turns on the first PMOS transistor P1. Thus, a through-current flowing from the second power voltage VDD2 to the ground voltage VSS is generated through the first NMOS transistor N1 turned on by the input signal IN and the turned-on first PMOS transistor P1, and thus generates a current-fighting. The current-fighting indicates a current crash between the through-current having the level of the second power voltage VDD2 through the first. PMOS transistor P1 and a current having the level of the first power voltage VDD1 through the first NMOS transistor N1.
As a result, the voltage of the node MID is lowered because of the current driving difference between the two transistors. Thus, the second PMOS transistor P2 is turned on and the voltage level of the output node OUT is raised to the second power voltage VDD2. Furthermore, the first PMOS transistor P1 is turned off and the node MID is grounded.
When the voltage difference between the first and second power voltages VDD1 and VDD2 are great and the current sinking capability of the first and second NMOS transistors N1 and N2 is not enough, the voltage level of the node MID may not turn on the first PMOS transistor P1, and thus the level shifter may not transmit the expected signal. Further, the difference in the pull-up/pull-down capability may occur and duty error may increase due to process skew and the voltage difference between the first and second power voltages VDD1 and VDD2.

Level shifter and serializer having the same


An image processing apparatus includes a determination unit that determines whether a print job received from outside is a normal print job or an authentication print job, and a control unit. When the determination unit determines that the received print job is the authentication print job, the control unit executes authentication print processing based on the received authentication print job. When the determination unit determines that the received print job is the normal print job, the control unit executes authentication print processing based on the received normal print job instead of executing normal print processing.

The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus, an image processing system and a management method of print job.
In a general image forming system (i.e., an image processing system), when an image forming apparatus (i.e., an image processing apparatus) receives an authentication print job (i.e., a print job having instruction to execute an authentication printing), the image forming apparatus does not immediately print an image, but stores the authentication print job therein. When a user goes to the image forming apparatus and inputs a password assigned to the authentication print job, the image forming apparatus prints the image.
An example of such an image forming system is disclosed in Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2009-301421 (see, for example, paragraphs 0081 through 0106 and FIG. 10).
However, the general image forming system does not provide sufficient convenience in printing of the normal print job.

Image processing system and method of print job for executing print process in normal and secure mode and creates print job cancellation log


The present invention is structured so that a track of a recording medium is divided into a carrier wave area that is continuously wobbled by a carrier wave wobble of a specific carrier wave cycle, and an address area that is wobbled by a special wobble that has a cycle different from the carrier wave wobble and a phase determined in response to data 0 and data 1 of information stored by a wobble.

A track is formed in a recording area on a recording medium (optical disc) such as a DVD+R disc, a DVD+RW disc, etc. The track plays a role of a guidance groove for a spot of a laser light irradiated for recording and reproduction of information.
The wobble (meandering) is formed in the track, and since a wobble signal detected from the wobble has a substantially fixed cycle, the detected wobble signal is mainly used as rotating-speed information.
Moreover, information other than the above-mentioned rotating-speed information may also be stored in the track by modulating the wobble.
As information stored by the wobble, address information indicative of an absolute position on a recording medium is most popular.
Additionally, there are listed a recording type indicative of feature of the recording medium, that is, a size of the recording medium or whether the recording medium is a write-once-read many type or an overwrite type, information of recording property, that is, parameters such as an optimum recording power, a recording waveform or the like, and information such as a manufacture's name.
Next, a description will be given of a format of the wobble of each of CD system recording media (CD-R disc, CD-RW disc, etc.) and DVD+ system recording media (DVD+R disc, DVD+RW disc, etc.).                The CD system recording medium: biphase-modulating address information and wobbling a track with a frequency modulation based on it (for example, refer to Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 9-212871).
Specifically, in the CD system recording medium, two kinds frequencies of 22.05 kHz±k Hz are assigned to data o and data 1, respectively, so as to record information using the wobble of about 10 cycles for one bit. Moreover, probabilities of generation of the data 0 and the data 1 are caused to be substantially equal to each other so as to detect a clock signal from 22.05 kHz, which is the center frequency.                The DVD+system recording medium: phase-modulating address information and wobbling a track base on it.
In the DVD+ system recording medium, a carrier component is extracted from a carrier wave wobble of a carrier wave area, which occupies a large part so as to detect a clock signal. The address information is recorded in an address area by setting a wobble of the same phase with the carrier wobble as data 0 and setting a wobble of a phase different from the carrier wobble by 180 degrees as data 1.
However, there was a problem as shown below, respectively, in the wobble of the CD system recording medium and the DVD+ system recording medium mentioned above.
In the format of the wobble of the CD system recording medium, since the clock signal of 22.05 kHz is extracted and a frequency difference representing the data 0 and data 1 is extremely small as ±1 kHz, S/N of the signal was low and information recording quality was not good. Moreover, it is difficult to accurately specify a frequency change point, and there was a demerit that an absolute position accuracy was poor.
On the other hand, in the format of the wobble of the DVD+ system recording medium, S/N of a signal can be raised by using a phase modulation. Moreover, absolute position accuracy is also assured, and an advance format has been achieved.
However, since the modulation methods of the wobble for synchronization and the wobble for information are the same and the synchronization signal and the information signal are distinguished by a difference in the phase inverted wobble length, it takes a time to pull-in synchronization. Moreover, since information is recorded by the same cycle and only the phase modulation, leakage of a wobble component between adjacent tracks appears remarkably in degradation of information signal, and it was difficult to progress further high-densification of narrow track pitch while achieving both acquisition of reliability of information and acquisition of recording quality.

Recording medium, wobble cycle detection method, wobble information detection method, wobble information detection circuit, and information recording/reproduction device


This invention relates to a cylindrical holder member for a bi-directional bulged rupture disc. The support body of the holder has a rim that supports the rupture disc with the concave surface of the disc facing the holder. The support body is provided with a unitary one-piece, centrally creased cutting element that is of generally V-shaped configuration in plan view. The cutting element has a pair of elongated converging leg components with each leg component being connected to and supported by the interior wall surface of the holder body, with each leg component having an arcuate cutting edge. The cutting edges of the leg components merge at the crease in the cutting element to define a central cutting edge peak section. The cutting element is positioned in the holder with the cutting edge peak section extending beyond the rim of the support body into the concave area of the disc. The V-shaped cutting element functions to provide for a fuller and more rapid opening of the disc upon reversal and engagement with the cutting element as compared with prior reverse buckling disc three-knife blade cutter units. The invention has especial utility in food, beverage, and pharmaceutical applications requiring sanitary pressure relief rupture disc structure.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a rupture disc assembly having a bi-directional, concavo-convex rupture disc and a support body for the rupture disc that is provided with a generally V-shaped cutting element in plan view and disposed to engage and sever the disc when the disc is deflected toward the cutting element. The cutting element has a pair of leg components that are connected to the interior wall surface of the support body and that converge and join at their innermost extremities. In particular, the V-shaped cutting element is of one-piece construction with the central V-shaped cutting edge section of the cutting element defined by a unitary crease in the cutting element being positioned to extend into the concave portion of the rupture disc. The cutting edge of the cutting element includes cutting edge segments that extend along the full length of each of the leg components of the cutting element, and that are arcuate along the longitudinal length of each leg component.
The holder member for the bi-directional rupture disc having a unitary, one-piece V-shaped cutting element, which is particularly useful for sanitary processes and equipment in food, beverage, and pharmaceutical applications, meets current third-party industry approved 3A sanitary standard 60-00. The V-shaped cutting element opens a significantly greater initial area than obtained with three-blade knife structure.
2. Description of the Prior Art
There has long been a need for reliable reverse buckling rupture disc assemblies that open at predictable positive and negative pressures. This is especially true in the pharmaceutical industry where the valuable content of a process vessel must be protected from cyclic vacuum conditions that could cause contamination of the contents of the vessel, or result in an expensive shutdown of the vessel and interfere with the overall manufacturing process. Specifications for protection of processes often require that a safety device such as a rupture disc be capable of rupturing to release pressure in a vessel when the positive pressure in the vessel exceeds a predetermined protective value. That same disc, however, must also protect against relatively small negative pressure conditions imposed on the process contents and thereby the protective rupture disc. The single disc must control against dangerous overpressures, and at the same time reverse and open under minimal vacuum conditions in order to protect the process vessel and its contents.
For example, in certain applications, the process specifications require that a protective disc reverse and open fully under a vacuum condition as little as one inch of water imposed on the convex face of the disc. At the same time that disc must be capable of resisting rupture at a relatively high positive pressure on the concave face of the disc.
In order to assure full opening of a disc under a specified vacuum, it has been the practice to provide a holder for the disc which includes a knife blade located on the concave side of the disc so that upon reversal of the disc in response to a vacuum condition, the disc is severed by the knife and desirably opens fully. A number of different knife blade configurations for assuring opening of a concavo-convex disc have been proposed, with some achieving substantial commercial acceptance. One such knife blade design is shown and described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,119,236 of Oct. 10, 1978. In the '236 patent, the cutting member is in the form of a triangular knife having radially extending knife blade sections that terminate in a central knife blade edge. The angle between adjacent knife blade sections is the same, i.e., 60°.
Because the knife of the '236 patent is made up of three separate angularly disposed knives, the knives must be welded at their zones of joinder. This means that there is a residual weld fillet along the width of each of the adjacent knife blades. These weld fillets are believed to be in part responsible for what is deemed to be the unacceptable failure rates of discs to open upon reversal and engagement with the tri-knife cutting member. Rupture discs used with tri-knife blades of the '236 patent type that are designed for use in sanitary food and pharmaceutical production facilities generally employ a relatively thin, flexible rupture disc of Teflon® or the like as a barrier disc. Teflon is a tough synthetic resin material that can resist timely and required extent of severing if a significant area of the disc is not immediately cut accompanied by a rapid rate of propagation of the sever lines.

Holder with V-knife blade for bi-directional rupture disc assembly


A magnetic separating apparatus and magnetic sorting method can precisely and efficiently separate magnetic and non-magnetic material with a simple structure. The apparatus includes a granular mixture supply portion that supplies a granular mixture so as to naturally fall; a rotating drum having a part of an outer surface located on a falling path of the granular mixture, the rotating drum being rotationally driven in an opposite direction relative to the falling direction of the granular mixture; a first magnet that imparts a magnetic attractive force to a certain area defined by rotation in the opposite direction with a sorting area as a starting point; a naturally falling area to which the granular mixture that has come into contact with the rotating drum naturally falls; and a conveyed falling area to which the granular mixture naturally falls after being magnetically attracted to and conveyed by the rotating drum.

In various manufacturing processes, granular mixtures containing magnetic bodies and non-magnetic bodies are often generated. When separating such a mixture into magnetic bodies and non-magnetic bodies, a magnetic separating apparatus is used.
There are situations in which large quantities of mixtures are processed, such as in the crushing of casting flasks after sand casting in foundries, the removal of molding sand from extracted cast products by shot blasting, and the recycling of slag generated in steelworks. For example, the removal of molding sand by shot blasting is disclosed in Patent Document 1. Patent Document 1 discloses an apparatus that separates mixtures of shot media and sand, etc. into the shot media (magnetic material) and the sand, etc. (non-magnetic material). In this apparatus, a tubular body having a magnet disposed thereinside is rotated, and a mixture is passed over the surface of this tubular body so that only the shot media are attracted by the magnet.

Magnetic separating apparatus and magnetic sorting method


An integrated circuit structure includes a substrate, a PPI over the substrate, a solder region over and electrically coupled to a portion of the PPI, and a molding compound molding a lower portion of the solder region therein. A top surface of the molding compound is level with or lower than a maximum-diameter plane, wherein the maximum-diameter plane is parallel to a major surface of the substrate, and the maximum-diameter of the solder region is in the maximum-diameter plane.

In the formation of wafer-level chip scale package structures, integrated circuit devices such as transistors are first formed at the surface of a semiconductor substrate in a wafer. Interconnect structures are then formed over the integrated circuit devices. A metal pad is formed over, and is electrically coupled to, the interconnect structures. A passivation layer and a first polyimide layer are formed on the metal pad, with the metal pad exposed through the openings in the passivation layer and the first polyimide.
A seed layer is then formed on the first polyimide, followed by the formation of Post-Passivation Interconnect (PPI) lines and pads. The PPI lines and pads may be formed by forming and patterning a first photo resist on the seed layer, plating the PPI lines and pads in the openings in the first photo resist, and then removing the first photo resist. The portions of the seed layer that were previously covered by the first photo resist are removed. Next, a second polyimide layer is formed over the post-passivation interconnect lines and pads, and an Under-Bump Metallurgy (UBM) is formed extending into an opening in the second polyimide layer, wherein the UBM is electrically connected to a PPI interconnect line and a pad. The formation of the UBM also involves forming a UBM seed layer, forming and patterning a second photo resist, forming the UBM on the UBM seed layer, removing the second photo resist, and removing the portions of the UBM seed layer that were previously covered by the second photo resist.
A solder Ball is then mounted on the UBM. The UBM is then molded in a molding compound by applying a liquid molding compound, and squeezing extra liquid molding compound away. The solder ball is thus partially molded in the liquid molding compound.

Packages with solder ball revealed through laser

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Ltd.


Provided is a method of producing a slurry that enables simple production of a slurry in which fibrous carbon nanostructures are favorably dispersed. The method of producing a slurry includes: a mixing step of mixing resin particles having an average particle diameter of at least 1 μm and not more than 700 μm, fibrous carbon nanostructures, and a dispersion medium to obtain a mixed liquid; and a dispersing step of subjecting the mixed liquid to dispersion treatment using a wet medialess disperser under conditions in which pressure acting on the mixed liquid (gauge pressure) is 5 MPa or less to obtain a slurry. The fibrous carbon nanostructures preferably include carbon nanotubes.

Fibrous carbon nanostructures such as carbon nanotubes (hereinafter, also referred to as "CNTs") are being investigated for use in a wide range of applications due to excelling in terms of electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity, sliding properties, mechanical properties, and so forth.
Moreover, in recent years, development has been ongoing in relation to techniques for exploiting the excellent properties of fibrous carbon nanostructures by combining resin materials and fibrous carbon nanostructures in order to provide composite resin materials that have both resin properties, such as processability and strength, and fibrous carbon nanostructure properties, such as electrical conductivity.
From a viewpoint of favorably improving electrical conductivity and mechanical properties of a composite resin material, it is necessary to uniformly disperse fibrous carbon nanostructures such as CNTs in a matrix of a resin material. A technique has been proposed in which a slurry obtained through mixing of a resin material and a dispersion liquid of fibrous carbon nanostructures uniformly dispersed in a dispersion medium is used to produce a composite resin material so as to obtain a composite resin material having the fibrous carbon nanostructures uniformly dispersed in a matrix of the resin material.
In one specific example described in PTL 1, a composite resin material in which CNTs are favorably dispersed is produced through solidification of a slurry obtained by mixing a resin latex with a dispersion liquid prepared by carrying out a plurality of repetitions of a dispersing step including at least one cycle of dispersion treatment in which pressure is applied to a coarse dispersion liquid containing CNTs and a dispersion medium, the coarse dispersion liquid is fed under pressure, and shear force is applied to the coarse dispersion liquid such as to disperse the CNTs. The plurality of repetitions of the dispersing step are performed while altering the pressure that is applied to the coarse dispersion liquid.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Method of producing slurry, method of producing composite resin material, and method of producing shaped product


The invention provides a flow cytometric method for measuring dendritic cell function in whole blood, comprising the steps of: (a) contacting a whole blood sample with a dendritic cell activator; (b) adding to the sample a plurality of dendritic cell-distinguishing antibodies and at least one cytokine-specific antibody; and then (c) flow cytometrically assaying the sample for the binding of the cytokine-specific antibody by at least one distinguishable DC subset.

This invention relates to assays of blood cell function, and particularly to assays of dendritic cell function in whole blood.
Dendritic cells (DCs), first identified a quarter century ago by a characteristic xe2x80x9cdendriticxe2x80x9d morphology observable in peripheral lymphoid tissues, Steinman et al., J. Exp. Med. 137:1142-1162 (1973), are now known to be a morphologically-diverse and widely-distributed cell population. Today, these diverse cells are collectively distinguished by a common function: dendritic cells are the most potent antigen-presenting cells (APCS) of the mammalian immune system, and alone among the various antigen-presenting cells appear capable of triggering a primary T lymphocyte response.
This singular ability to prime a T cell-mediated immune responsexe2x80x94combined with a potent ability to present antigen to activated T cellsxe2x80x94has implicated dendritic cells as potential reagents for immune-based therapies, as well as likely targets for therapeutic intervention in the treatment of various immune-mediated disorders.
For example, WO 97/24438 describes compositions and methods for co-culturing dendritic cells with T lymphocytes and protein antigen in vitro, thus driving the ex vivo antigen-specific activation of T cells. The activated T cells are then administered autologously to effect an antigen-specific immune response in vivo. Similarly, WO 97/29183 describes a method of activating T cells in vitro by contacting the T lymphocytes with DC that directly express an antigenic protein from a recombinant construct. Again, the activated T cells are intended for autologous infusion. Specific application of DC-driven ex vivo T cell activation to the treatment of prostate cancer is described and claimed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,788,963. In yet another approach, Nemazee, U.S. Pat. No. 5,698,679, describes and claims immunoglobulin fusion proteins that deliver antigenic peptides to targeted antigen presenting cells (APCs), including dendritic cells, in vivo.
Dendritic cells have also been implicated as important in the pathogenesis and pathophysiology of AIDS. One type of DC, the Langerhans cells (LC), is generally believed to be the initial cell type infected with HIV following mucosal exposure to virus. DC are believed to act not only during the initial phase of HIV disease, but also during the chronic phase, facilitating infection and depletion of T lymphocytes. Zoeteweij et al., J Biomed Sci 5(4):253-259 (1998). DCs in lymphoid mucosa may represent a key reservoir of viral nucleic acid and virions throughout the course of the disease. Grouard et al., Curr. Opin. Immunol. 9(4):563-567 (1997); Weissman et al., Clin. Microbiol. Rev. 1997 10(2):358-367 (1997). In vitro methods for screening pharmaceutical candidates for agents that abrogate HIV infection of DC are described and claimed in Steinman et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,627,025.
Yet despite their importance to the normal mammalian immune response and in immunopathology, DCs have been difficult to study, and particularly difficult to study in their native milieu.
The difficulty stems in part from the rarity of dendritic cells. Although widely distributed, DC are sparse, even in lymphoid tissues, and represent no more than about 0.3%-0.5% of nucleated cells in human peripheral blood.
A further difficulty arises from the absence of DC-specific cell surface markers that would readily permit the positive immunoselection of DCs from mixed populations of cells.
Extensive efforts to identify surface markers that define DCs have been only partially successful. As a result, DCs are presently identified by multiple-marker panels, with identification based primarily on the absence of staining with markers for other lineages (i.e., as linxe2x88x92 cells) . The result is that typical DC immunopurification protocols require at least one immunodepletion step, eliminating cells of various nondendritic blood lineagesxe2x80x94lymphocyte, monocyte, granulocyte, and NK lineages, e.g.xe2x80x94coupled with at least one immunoenrichment step. The immunoenrichment step may, for example, include selection for CD4+ cells (Blood Dendritic Cell Isolation Kit, Miltenyi Biotec #468-01, Auburn, Calif.), or, in the alternative or in addition, selection for HLA-DR expression, Ghanekar et al., J. Immunol. 157:4028-4036 (1996).
These serial manipulations, however, may substantially alter the DC cell phenotype from that present in vivo. For example, linxe2x88x92HLA-DR+CD123+ dendritic cells in fresh preparations of tonsillar mononuclear cells express low levels of the T cell costimulatory molecules CD80 (B7.1), CD86 (B7.2), and HLA-DQ. Even an overnight culture of these cells in the absence of added cytokines is sufficient to induce the mature DC phenotype with upregulation of CD86, CD80, HLA-DQ and HLA-DR. Olweus et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 94(23): 12551-12556 (1997). Longer term culture of CD34+ dendritic cell precursors in the presence of cytokines effects substantial phenotypic changes. Caux et al., J. Exp. Med. 184:695, 1996; Olweus et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 94(23):12551-12556 (1997).
Thus, there exists a need in the art for methods of assaying dendritic cells without prior immunopurification or in vitro culture.
The paucity of DC-specific cell surface markers further suggests that surface immunophenotypic markers may only incompletely distinguish dendritic cell subsets that are, nonetheless, functionally distinct. For example, peripheral blood dendritic cells have been shown to fall into two subsets distinguishable by the divergent expression of CD11c and CD123: one subset is CD11c+CD123low, the other CD11cxe2x88x92CD123+. Olweus et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 94(23): 12551-12556 (1997). Yet the critical and disparate roles that dendritic cells play in the immune system would argue that these two subsets each likely encompasses a variety of cell types with disparate functional activity.
There thus exists a need in the art for methods of distinguishing dendritic cell subsets using phenotypic criteria other than, or in addition to, expression of cell-surface markers. There further exists a need for methods of subsetting DC based on criteria that may be related more directly to DC function.
Recently, several groups have reported that intracellular staining of cells using cytokine-specific antibodies permits the flow cytometric analysis of cytokine expression in highly purified blood cell lineages, including purified dendritic cells. Picker et al., Blood 86(4):1408-1419 (1995); Waldrop et al., J. Clin. Invest. 99:1739-1750 (1997); Ghanekar et al., J. Immunol. 157:4028-4036 (1996); de Saint-Vis et al., J. Immunol. 160:1666-1676 (1998). More recently, Suni et al., J. Immunol. 212:89-98 (1998) described an assay for concurrent expression of intracellular cytokines and cell surface proteins in antigen-stimulated T lymphocytes without prior T cell purification. Similar assays are described and claimed in co-owned and copending U.S. patent application Ser. Nos. 08/760,447 and 08/803,702.
There exists a need in the art for a method that would adapt intracellular cytokine assays to the measurement of cytokine production by unpurified DC cells in whole blood.
The present invention solves these and other problems in the art by providing a flow cytometric method for measuring dendritic cell function in whole blood, comprising the steps of: (a) contacting a whole blood sample with a dendritic cell activator; (b) contacting the sample with a plurality of dendritic cell-distinguishing antibodies and at least one cytokine-specific antibody; and then (c) flow cytometrically assaying the sample for the binding of cytokine-specific antibody by at least one distinguishable DC subset.
In preferred embodiments, activation is performed in the presence of an inhibitor of protein secretion, and following permeabilization of the cells cytokines are detected intracellularly. Thus, in a particularly preferred embodiment, the dendritic cell activator contacting step is performed in the presence of brefeldin (gamma, 4-dihydroxy-2-(6-hydroxy-1-heptenyl)-4-cyclopentanecrotonic acid lambda-lactone) A, and the antibody contacting step itself comprises the steps, in order, of: (b1) adding a plurality of dendritic cell-distinguishing antibodies to the sample ; (b2) lysing erythrocytes in the sample; (b3) permeabilizing nucleated cells in the sample; and then (b4) adding at least one cytokine-specific antibody to the sample.
The dendritic cell-distinguishing antibodies may include a plurality of non-DC lineage-specific antibodies. In such cases, it is particularly preferred that each of the non-DC lineage-specific antibodies be conjugated to the identical fluorophore. When a plurality of non-DC lineage-specific antibodies is used, the dendritic cell-distinguishing antibodies further include an antibody specific for HLA-DR.
In a preferred embodiment, subsets of dendritic cells are distinguishably labeled. In this embodiment, the dendritic cell-distinguishing antibodies include at least one antibody that binds differentially to the surface of the different dendritic cell subsets. Particularly preferred in this embodiment is the use of antibody specific for CD11c or CD123.

Flow cytometric, whole blood dendritic cell immune function assay


A chess set is provided which has a plurality of playable pieces and a dimensional chess board. These pieces consist of, chess men and the pawns each having a structure comprising of channel like lines at the base and a geometric band inscribed on the front of each piece. The geometric bands identify the pieces into groups with matching bands. The channel like lines that extend around all sides of the playable pieces indicate the point value of each chess piece and pawn. The structure of the chess pieces also includes a cavity at the base with an opening that a particular pawn fits exactly inside of identifying a visual relationship between them with the chess piece becoming the parent piece of the pawn. A pawn that reaches the eighth rank becomes a replication of its parent piece with the exception of the king's pawn which can become any piece except another king. The chess pieces have geometrically shaped tops that indicate the movement potential of each piece when it is engaged in play. These shapes are defined as being either a collection of slots or a collection of notches. The slots represent movement of the piece the full length of the chessboard along the ranks, the files, or diagonally. The notches represent limited mobility along the ranks, the files, or diagonally as indicated in the fame rules. The top of each pawn has a longitudinal axis that indicates forward movement when it is positioned for play.

This invention relates to board games, and more particularly to chess sets in which the pieces are sensitive to the touch and responsive to the move. This invention blends the functional symbolism inherent in the game with an abstract architectural language that makes each piece well-proportioned individually as well as part of the overall composition.

Modern chess set using architectural language to shape playable pieces


A devices and method for scanning a file directory on a server system by identifying and excluding at least one file directory that contains files detrimental to the system's performance to form a group of remaining directories, scanning the group of remaining directories to discover files by comparing the files to a first parameter and a second parameter, discovering the most related files and outputting the discovered files location.

Communications networks are operated and controlled by software stored on components of the network, such as servers. The increasing consumer demands for increased access and data transmission through the network has resulted in the specialization of software. Consequently, additional software installations are utilized to meet the demands of customers and result in storage directories for the software installations and related files from a plurality of vendors and sources. Maintenance, upgrade, and replacement of computer network components may result in the damage, loss, alteration, and relocation within the file directories of one or more software installations and related files.

Low priority, multi-pass, server file discovery and management


The invention relates to an optical cable comprising a reinforcing structure (1) for providing sufficient tensile and compression strength for the cable, and one or more longitudinally extending fibre channels (4) in which optical fibres in the form of single fibres (2), fibre bundles or fibre ribbons are positioned. In the cable of the invention, the fibre channel/fibre channels (4) is/are defined directly by said reinforcing structure (1), and the reinforcing structure is made of plastic reinforced with fibre bits (3).

An optical cable of the type described above is known, for example, from European Patent No. 0 136 913. According to this publication, optical fibres are placed in secondary sheathing tubes reinforced with glass fibres, and these secondary sheathing tubes are positioned around a central strength and support member. The cable thus requires secondary sheathing tubes reinforced with glass fibres and a separate strength and support member, although the cable may be thinner than conventional cables, since the secondary sheathing tubes reinforced with glass fibres contribute to the tensile strength of the cable. Such elements for receiving tensile and compression stresses are necessary simply because the coefficient of heat expansion of the plastic material in the secondary sheathing tube is high as compared with the almost nonexistent heat expansion of optical fibres.
As the aim has been metal-free optical cables, constructions similar to the one disclosed in European Patent No. 0 136 913 cited above have been provided wherein elements with tensile strength are positioned in a cable or its sheathing, e.g. in the form of longitudinally oriented bundles of glass, carbon or plastic fibres. Such fibre-reinforced cables are known, for instance, from Finnish Patent No. 91 680 and European Patent Application No. 0 461 871. The problem with the fibre-reinforced cables of these publications is that they are complicated and expensive to manufacture. The fibre bundles must at first be twisted around the cable core and then be impregnated with plastic, hot-melt adhesive or the like to provide an integral sheathing. This renders the manufacturing process of the cable complicated and expensive.