A plate type condenser used in a cooling system is provided. The plate type condenser includes a casing for defining an upper space into which a gaseous refrigerant flows and is cooled, a lower space for accommodating a liquid refrigerant into which the gaseous refrigerant is condensed, and a connecting portion through which the upper and lower spaces communicate with each other. The casing substantially has a plate shape. A refrigerant inlet is installed at an upper portion of the casing to communicate with the upper space. A refrigerant outlet is installed at a lower portion of the casing to communicate with the lower space. A first adiabatic slit for separating the walls of the casing is formed between the upper space and the lower space except at the connecting portion. Accordingly, since the first adiabatic slit prevents heat in the upper space from being conducted to the lower space through the walls of the casing, a liquid refrigerant in the lower space can be satisfactorily cooled without using an additional subcooler.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a plate type condenser, and more particularly, to a plate type condenser having a structure in which a condensed liquid refrigerant can be cooled more effectively.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, with the ongoing development of electronic technology, electronic equipment is being made into modules which are becoming increasingly smaller and more powerful and thus give off more heat per unit area. Consequently, cooling has become an essential factor that should be considered when electronic equipment is designed or managed. There are many methods, such as heat conduction, natural convection, natural radiation, forced convection, cooling by means of liquid, immersion cooling, and heat pipe, for controlling temperature in electronic equipment. Recently, cooling methods using a capillary pumped loop have been researched.
Among cooling systems which can be applied to electronic equipment, a phase change cooling system usually includes an evaporator for evaporating a liquid refrigerant by causing the refrigerant to absorb heat radiated from a heat source, and a condenser for condensing the gaseous refrigerant by allowing the heat of the gaseous refrigerant to be radiated outward. Here, it is important to the performance of the entire system to maintain the temperature of the refrigerant condensed by the condenser satisfactorily low until the refrigerant returns to the evaporator.
FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view of the exterior of a conventional condenser. As shown in FIG. 1, such a conventional condenser 10 includes a refrigerant tube 11 in which a refrigerant flows and a plurality of thin radiating plates 12 provided around the refrigerant tube 11. Generally, the refrigerant tube 11 is formed by bending a tube of small diameter multiple times in order to increase cooling efficiency. In this conventional condenser 10, when a gaseous refrigerant enters one end and flows through the refrigerant tube 11, heat is radiated outward through the heat radiating plates 12. Thus, the refrigerant is cooled and condensed. The condensed liquid refrigerant is discharged through the other end of the refrigerant tube 11.
However, in a cooling system using the condenser 10 having such a structure, since the condensed liquid refrigerant is not satisfactorily subcooled in the refrigerant tube 11, an additional subcooler for subcooling the liquid refrigerant should be provided, and a reservoir for temporarily containing the liquid refrigerant to discharge uncondensed gas contained in the liquid refrigerant also should be provided. As described above, since a phase change cooling system using the conventional condenser 10 needs a subcooler and a reservoir in addition to the condenser 10, the volume of the cooling system is large. Moreover, it is difficult to install the cooling system in a narrow space in small and compact electronic equipment due to the three-dimensional shape of the condenser 10.
To solve the above problem, plate type condensers which can be easily installed even in a narrow space have been proposed. FIG. 2 shows an example of a conventional plate type condenser. Referring to FIG. 2, a plate type condenser 20 is composed of a casing 21 for defining an inner space with a very small width. A refrigerant inlet 22 for allowing a gaseous refrigerant to flow in is installed at one upper end of the casing 21. A refrigerant outlet 23 for discharging a liquid refrigerant is installed at the opposite lower end of the casing 21. In this plate type condenser 20, a gaseous refrigerant, which flows into the casing 21 through the refrigerant inlet 22, is cooled and condensed by radiating heat through the walls of the casing 21 which are formed of a heat conductive material. The condensed liquid refrigerant is gathered in the lower portion of the casing 21 and discharged through the refrigerant outlet 23. In a cooling system using the above condenser 20, since uncondensed gas contained in the liquid refrigerant can be discharged while the liquid refrigerant is stagnant in the lower portion of the casing 21, a reservoir is not necessary. In addition, since the condenser 20 is very thin, the cooling system can be easily installed in a narrow space.
However, in this conventional plate type condenser 20, heat is conducted from the upper portion of the walls of the casing 21, which is heated by a high temperature gaseous refrigerant flowing in the casing 21, to the lower portion of the walls thereof. Because the casing 21 is formed of a material having an excellent heat conductivity in order to efficiently cool a refrigerant, a problem caused by heat conduction can easily occur. As a result, many conventional cooling systems using the conventional plate type condenser 20 employ a subcooler for cooling a liquid refrigerant discharged from the condenser 20 in order to satisfactorily secure the cooling performance of the system.
To solve the above problems, it is an object of the present invention to provide a plate type condenser including an adiabatic slit for suppressing heat conduction from the upper portion of a casing to the lower portion thereof in order to satisfactorily cool a condensed liquid refrigerant.
Accordingly, to achieve the above object of the invention, there is provided a plate type condenser including a casing defining an upper space in which a gaseous refrigerant flows and is cooled, a lower space for accommodating a liquid refrigerant into which the gaseous refrigerant is condensed, and a connecting portion through which the upper and lower spaces communicate with each other, the casing substantially having a plate shape; a refrigerant inlet through which the gaseous refrigerant flows into the upper space, the refrigerant inlet being installed at an upper portion of the casing to communicate with the upper space; a refrigerant outlet through which the liquid refrigerant in the lower space is discharged, the refrigerant outlet being installed at a lower portion of the casing to communicate with the lower space; and a first adiabatic slit for separating the walls of the casing between the upper space and the lower space except at the connecting portion, in order to suppress heat conduction from the upper space to the lower space.
Preferably, the upper space is a refrigerant path formed in zig-zag from the refrigerant inlet to the connecting portion or a refrigerant path which winds back and forth from the refrigerant inlet to the connecting portion. A second adiabatic slit for separating the walls of the casing may be formed between at least one pair of adjacent upper and lower portions of the refrigerant path. When the refrigerant path winds back and forth, a plurality of vertical passages may be formed between adjacent upper and lower portions of the refrigerant path substantially in a vertical direction.
Preferably, the refrigerant inlet and the refrigerant outlet are disposed at the same end of the casing, and the connecting portion is disposed near an end of the casing opposite to the end at which the refrigerant inlet and the refrigerant outlet are disposed.
In addition, it is preferable that the first adiabatic slit ascends from one end of the casing toward the connecting portion.
Preferably, a plurality of holes are formed in the connection portion.
According to the present invention, since the first adiabatic slit prevents heat in the upper space from being conducted to the lower space through the walls of the casing, a liquid refrigerant in the lower space can be satisfactorily cooled without using an additional subcooler.


An image forming apparatus includes a plurality of image forming units arranged in parallel, each image forming unit having an image carrying member and a charging roller disposed face to face with the image carrying member for electrically charging the image carrying member, and a shifting mechanism for selectively shifting at least one charging roller between a first position where the charging roller is brought into contact with the corresponding image carrying member to electrically charge the image carrying member in contact manner and a second position where the charging roller is moved away from the corresponding image carrying member to electrically charge the image carrying member in non-contact manner.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus using electrophotographic technology and, more particularly, relates to a charging device for electrically charging a photosensitive drum.
2. Description of the Related Art
FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram of a conventional tandem-type color image forming apparatus (printer) 100, and FIG. 8 is a diagram showing the configuration of a portion of the image forming apparatus 100 of FIG. 7 around charging rollers 2a, 2b, 2c and 2d and photosensitive drums 1a, 1b, 1c and 1d. The image forming apparatus 100 incorporates within a main apparatus body thereof four image forming units Pa, Pb, Pc and Pd which are arranged in this order from an upstream side to a downstream side along a sheet feeding direction (right to left as depicted in FIG. 7) of a sheet P. Provided for forming images in four different colors (i.e., magenta, cyan, yellow and black), these image forming units Pa to Pd individually perform steps of charging, exposure, development and image transfer to sequentially produce magenta, cyan, yellow and black images.
The image forming units Pa, Pb, Pc and Pd include the photosensitive drums (image carrying members) 1a, 1b, 1c and 1d which carry visible images (toner images) of the aforementioned four colors, respectively. Driven by a belt driving source (not shown), a transport belt 50 transports a sheet P while turning counterclockwise as shown by an arrow in FIG. 7 in contact relation with the individual image forming units Pa to Pd. The toner images formed on the individual photosensitive drums 1a to 1d are successively transferred onto the sheet P as the same is conveyed by the transport belt 50. The toner images so transferred on the sheet P are fixed thereto in a fixing unit 7, and then the sheet P is discharged to the outside of the apparatus main body. The photosensitive drums 1a to 1d are rotated clockwise in FIG. 7 while the image forming process is performed.
Sheets P to which toner images are transferred are stored in a paper cassette 16 provided at the bottom of the main apparatus body. The sheet P is fed to the image forming units Pa to Pd by a sheet feeding roller 12a and registration rollers 12b. The transport belt 50 is made of a dielectric plastic sheet of which flange portions are lapped and spliced to form an endless belt or formed into a seamless belt. On the upstream side of a driven roller 11, there is provided a cleaning blade 19 for removing residual toners adhering to the transport belt 50.
Next, the image forming units Pa to Pd are described. In spaces around and above the rotatably mounted photosensitive drums 1a, 1b, 1c, 1d, there are provided the charging rollers 2a, 2b, 2c, 2d for electrically charging the photosensitive drums 1a, 1b, 1c, 1d, light-emitting diode (LED) heads 4a, 4b, 4c, 4d for exposing the photosensitive drums 1a, 1b, 1c, 1d based on image information, development units 3a, 3b, 3c, 3d for forming toner images on the photosensitive drums 1a, 1b, 1c, 1d, and cleaning units 5a, 5b, 5c, 5d for removing developers (toners) left unused on the photosensitive drums 1a, 1b, 1c, 1d, respectively.
When a user enters an instruction for starting an image forming task, the image forming apparatus 100 first causes the charging rollers 2a to 2d to uniformly charge surfaces of the photosensitive drums 1a to 1d. The charging rollers 2a to 2d are chargers of a type which applies a voltage to uniformly charge the drum surfaces under conditions where the chargers are held in contact with the surfaces of the photosensitive drums 1a to 1d. Often used as these chargers are, in particular, charging rollers which are made of high-resistance rubber rollers.
Subsequently, the LED heads 4a to 4d emit light to form electrostatic latent images on the individual photosensitive drums 1a to 1d according to image signals. The development units 3a to 3d include development rollers (developer carrying members) mounted face to face with the photosensitive drums 1a to 1d and are filled with specific amounts of magenta, cyan, yellow and black toners by toner filling units (not shown) for filling the relevant color toners. The color toners are supplied to the photosensitive drums 1a to 1d by the development rollers of the development units 3a to 3d and electrostatically adhere thereto, thereby forming color toner images having the same patterns as the electrostatic latent images formed when exposed by the LED heads 4a to 4d, respectively.
After an electric field to the transport belt 50 is created by applying a specific transfer voltage thereto, the magenta, cyan, yellow and black toner images on the photosensitive drums 1a to 1d are sequentially transferred to the sheet P, conveyed by the transport belt 50, by means of respective transfer rollers 6a, 6b, 6c, 6d. These four color images are transferred to the sheet P with a predefined positional relationship for forming a desired full-color image. Then, in preparation of a succeeding electrostatic latent image forming task, residual toners left unused on the photosensitive drums 1a to 1d are scraped off by cleaning blades 5aa, 5ba, 5ca, 5da provided in the respective cleaning units 5a to 5d as shown in FIG. 8.
The transport belt 50 is tensioned between a driving roller 10 and the driven roller 11 and turns counterclockwise as illustrated when the driving roller 10 is driven to rotate by a driving motor (not shown). As the transport belt 50 turns counterclockwise, the sheet P is fed with correct timing by the registration rollers 12b to the image forming units Pa to Pd, in which the individual color toner images are sequentially transferred to the sheet P at nips formed between the individual photosensitive drums 1a to 1d and the transport belt 50 to produce the full-color toner image on the sheet P. The sheet P carrying the full-color toner image is then fed into the fixing unit 7.
As the sheet P fed into the fixing unit 7 passes through a nip (fixing nip) formed between a pair of fixing rollers 13, the toner image is fixed to a surface of the sheet P due to application of heat and pressure by the fixing rollers 13 and, at this point, the desired full-color image is completed. The sheet P carrying the completed full-color image is discharged onto a sheet delivery tray 17 by discharge rollers 15. When producing a monochrome image, on the other hand, the image forming apparatus 100 carries out an image forming task by operating the image forming unit Pd alone in essentially the same way as discussed above.
In the image forming apparatus employing the electrophotographic technology, the magenta, cyan, yellow and black toner images formed on the surfaces of the photosensitive drums 1a to 1d are sequentially transferred to the sheet (recording medium) P as the recording medium goes into contact with the individual photosensitive drums 1a to 1d carrying the color toner images. In full-color mode for forming a full-color image, all of the photosensitive drums 1a to 1d are electrically charged by the respective charging rollers 2a to 2d to produce magenta, cyan, yellow and black toner images, whereas in monochrome mode for forming a monochrome image, only the photosensitive drum 1d is electrically charged by the charging roller 2d to produce a black toner image.
Commercially, however, the image forming apparatus is operated more often in the monochrome mode for forming (printing) monochrome images than in the full-color mode for forming (printing) full-color images, so that the charging roller 2d for black is used more often than the other charging rollers 2a-2c for the three different colors. As a result, the charging roller 2d wears out more quickly compared to the other charging rollers 2a-2c. Since the life of the charging roller 2d becomes shorter than those of the charging rollers 2a-2c, the charging roller 2d needs to be replaced earlier than the other charging rollers 2a to 2c.
Under such circumstances, after replacing the charging roller 2d, it would be necessary to replace one or more of the charging rollers 2a-2c depending on the degree of wear of these charging rollers 2a-2c. Therefore, compared to a case where all of the charging rollers 2a to 2d for black and individual colors are replaced at once, a practice of replacing the charging rollers 2a-2c results in almost twice as long down time of the image forming apparatus, and this imposes considerable work load to the user and service personnel.
To cope with the aforementioned problem of the conventional color image forming apparatus, various methods for lengthening the useful life of the charging roller for black have been proposed. For example, Japanese Patent No. 3587094 describes a tandem-type color image forming apparatus having a plurality of photosensitive drums, in which a charging device accompanying a photosensitive drum on which a black toner image is formed is a non-contact-type charger and charging devices accompanying photosensitive drums on which color toner images (other than the black toner image) are formed are contact-type charging rollers. This arrangement is intended to reduce wear of the photosensitive drums for black toner image due to contact with the charging roller, making it possible to use the photosensitive drums and the corresponding charging devices for the individual colors for the same period of time and eventually reduce running cost.
On the other hand, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2005-346028 describes an image forming apparatus in which charging devices employing charging rollers which are held out of contact with image carrying members. Specifically, each of the charging rollers includes a core metal, a charging member made of a conductive resin material and integrally mounted around the core metal, and a gap spacing member made of an insulating resin material and mounted on both ends of the charging member. This arrangement is intended to maintain a highly accurate charging gap, reduce changes and deviation of the charging gap as well as smearing of each charging roller, prevent the occurrence of abnormal images, and achieve a cost reduction and enhanced durability.
The arrangement of Japanese Patent No. 3587094 however employs a corotron charger for black toner image forming, and the use of the corotron (or scorotron) charger can potentially result in an increase in the amount of ozone emission. In particular, if the apparatus is of a type using an amorphous silicon (a-Si) type photosensitive drum, the amount of ozone emission increases even more as it is necessary to supply an enormous amount of charging current to the corotron charger.
Additionally, in a case where the charger and the corresponding photosensitive drum are combined into a single unit, it would be necessary to replace the complete unit when the useful life of the charger is over. This makes it necessary to design the charger to have a longer useful life. Especially when the charger is used to electrically charge an a-Si type photosensitive drum, the useful life of the charger tends to become shorter compared to a case where the charger is used to charge an organic photosensitive drum, so that this arrangement would have greater influence on the useful life of the charger.
For reasons stated above, it is necessary to use a charging roller, as the charger for black toner image forming, which emits a smaller amount of ozone and to lengthen the useful life of the charger. Also, if an external toner additive or the like which are not scraped off by a cleaning blade for collecting residual toners left unused on the photosensitive drums adheres to the charging rollers, the useful life of the charging rollers is likely to become shorter. Thus, in order to ensure that the charging rollers for the four colors (including black) are to be replaced at the same time, it is necessary to reduce the amount of the external toner additive or the like adhering to a surface of the charging roller for black.
Furthermore, some users may use a particular color more often than the other colors. Accordingly, the charging roller for such specific color is required to have a longer life than the other charging rollers, meeting specific printing requirements and applications of the individual users.
On the other hand, while the Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2005-346028 discloses that the charging rollers electrically charge the photosensitive drums without contact, the Publication does not disclose or suggest any specific arrangement for switching the charging rollers between contact position with the corresponding photosensitive drums and non-contact position with the corresponding photosensitive drums.


Chronic alcoholism is a diverse and heterogeneous disorder that can be dichotomized into cognitively intact and cognitively impaired subgroups. At a molecular level, ethanol has been shown to have both acute and chronic effects on: Membrane biophysical properties, Membrane composition and metabolism, Protein phosphorylation, Lipid metabolic signaling, Lipoprotein transport of cholesterol. Actual molecular underpinnings are determined for cognitive impairment seen in some chronic alcoholism subjects including molecular/metabolic alterations of phospholipid and ganglioside metabolisms.

The clinical response to antidepressant treatment in later life follows a variable temporal response, with a median time to remission of 12 weeks. Newer antidepressants still demonstrate a disturbing side-effect profile in this fragile patient population. Thus, there is a need for the development of newer antidepressants. One such candidate is acetyl-L-carnitine (ALCAR), a molecule that is naturally present in human brain demonstrating only few side effects.
Seven parallel, double-blind, placebo-controlled studies have examined ALCAR efficacy in various forms of geriatric depression. Phosphorus magnetic resonance spectroscopy (31P MRS) directly provides information on membrane phospholipid and high-energy phosphate metabolism in defined, localized brain regions. Although in vivo 31P MRS studies in major depression are limited, there is evidence of altered high-energy phosphate and membrane phospholipid metabolism in the prefrontal and basal ganglia regions. Increased levels of precursors of membrane phospholipids [i.e., increased phosphomonoesters (PME) levels] in the frontal lobe of major depressed subjects compared to controls was reported. Other researchers also observed higher PME levels in bipolar subjects in their depressive phase compared with the euthymic state. In terms of high-energy phosphates, reduced levels of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) have been observed in both the frontal and basal ganglia of major depressed subjects. The level of the high-energy phosphate buffer, phosphocreatine (PCr), was lower in severely depressed subjects compared with mildly depressed subjects. Accordingly, the relationship between membrane phospholipid and high-energy phosphate metabolism as assessments of beneficial results in the treatment of depression are recognized.
Epidemiology of Depressive Disorders
Depressive disorders (i.e., major depression, dysthymia, bipolar disorder) are among the most common and disabling medical conditions throughout the world. For example, about 9.5% of the U.S. adult population will suffer from a form of depression during any given year which is approximately 18.8 million people. In addition, 16-18% of women and 10% of men (3-4 million) will experience some form of depression. The lifetime risk for depression is approximately 15-20% regardless of gender.
When one episode of depression is experienced, there is a 50% likelihood of recurrent episodes. When a second episode of depression occurs, there is a 80-90% likelihood of recurrent episodes and 75% of depressive disorders are recurrent.
It is estimated 20% of depressed individuals will attempt suicide and 6% will be successful. 75% of those committing suicide have a depressive disorder. The rate of successful suicide is four times greater in men.
About 10% of people with depression also will experience episodes of mania. Bipolar depressive episodes usually last longer, have a greater likelihood of psychotic features, and convey a greater risk of suicide. Bipolar disorder may be misdiagnosed as depression resulting in inappropriate treatment that may worsen the disease progression and outcome.
Depression is a acotraveler with a number of other medical and psychiatric conditions and numerous medications can cause depressive symptoms.
The prevailing dogma concerning the pathophysiology of depressive disorders (major depression, dysthymia, bipolar disorder) is that of an altered neurotransmitter receptor and many studies have been conducted to find such an alteration. To date, there has been no demonstration of an alteration in the binding site for any of the targeted neurotransmitters. Another problem with the altered neurotransmitters receptor dogma is that although the tricyclic antidepressants and selective neurotransmitter reuptake inhibitor drugs quickly enter brain and bind to their targeted sites, the clinical therapeutic effect does not occur for 4-6 weeks even though the onset of side effects is immediate.
Studies by Samuel Gershon over the years, since early 1950, have questioned the concepts of the established modes of action of antidepressants and those of the etiology of affective disorders.
In the early 50's a number of papers appeared suggesting that lithium not only had anti-manic properties but that it also exhibited anti-depressant and prophylactic activity in depression. These observations were confirmed by the controlled studies carried out by Schou et al. in Denmark and Prien et al. in Australia. This tended to indicate that perhaps a single neurotransmitter and a single receptor site would not qualify as the full explanation of their effects. In 1961, Gershon published a report in the Lancet on the psychiatric sequelae of organo-phosphorus insecticides in an exposed human population. Thus a role for acetylcholine in contributing to the production of major depressive disorder (MDD) was presented. This added to the complexity of current theories. In the 1970's an antidepressant Ludiomil was marketed with the effect of being a specific norepinephrine (NE) uptake inhibitor and thus exerting its effect by this route. This was an effective agent and was taken off the market because of other adverse effects (AE). In 1970 Gershon and colleagues carried out a number of experiments with synthesis inhibitors in patients undergoing treatment with different antidepressants and showed that only the inhibition of serotonin synthesis and not NE synthesis interfered with antidepressant outcomes.
These experiments demonstrated that a single transmitter or a single receptor could not account for therapeutic activity and clearly suggested other mechanisms are involved relating to membrane effects and second messenger systems. Antidepressant use has now clearly been associated with treatment emergent mania and the induction of rapid cycling in affective disorder patients (Tamada et al., 2004).
In addition to the concerns that have been established with the more classic bipolar I (BPI) type, much controversy surrounds the use of antidepressants in bipolar II (BPII) depression, a growing population.
Antidepressant induced cycle acceleration has been reported to be more likely in BPII patients than in BPI (Altshuler et al., 1995; Joffe et al., 2002; Benazzi, 1997; Henry et al., 2001; Ramasubbu, 2001).
The data has increasingly shown the need for the use of effective antidepressants but at the same time has produced data indicating the need for caution with the agents available. These effective antidepressants cause both the risk of switch into mania and the even more serious effect of rapid cycling of the affective disorder and an alteration of the frequency and severity of episodes.
A different conceptual approach has been the subject of almost 3 decades of research by Jay W. Pettegrew. This concept is that there is nothing structurally wrong with neurotransmitter receptors, but the receptors are in a membrane environment that has altered molecular structure and dynamics. It is these membrane alterations that alter the functional dynamics of neurotransmitter receptors which in turn alters their physiological function. Dr. Pettegrew was one of the first to demonstrate alterations in membrane molecular dynamics in living cells obtained from patients with neuropsychiatric disorders. Alterations were similarly demonstrated in cells obtained from patients with depression (Pettegrew et al., 1979c; Pettegrew et al., 1980a; Pettegrew et al., 1981a; Pettegrew et al., 198; Pettegrew et al., 1979b; Pettegrew et al., 1980b; Pettegrew et al., 1981b; Pettegrew et al., 1982b; Pettegrew et al., 1987b; Pettegrew et al., 1993b; Pettegrew et al., 1990c; Pettegrew et al., 1993a; Pettegrew et al., 1990b). Lithium was shown to correct the membrane dynamic alterations observed in depressive patients.
Given the rather striking changes in membrane molecular dynamics, Dr. Pettegrew turned to investigate alterations in membrane metabolism (Pettegrew et al., 1978; Pettegrew and Minshew, 1981; Pettegrew et al., 1982a; Glonek et al., 1982a) (Pettegrew et al., 1979a; Glonek et al., 1982b; Cohen et al., 1984; Pettegrew et al., 1986; Pettegrew et al., 1987a; Pettegrew et al., 1988a; Pettegrew et al., 1988b; Pettegrew et al., 1990a; Pettegrew et al., 1991; Keshavan et al., 1991; Kanfer et al., 1993; Pettegrew et al., 1994; Singh et al., 1994; Pettegrew et al., 1995; Klunk et al., 1996; Geddes et al., 1997; Klunk et al., 1998; Pettegrew et al., 2001; Keshavan et al., 2003; Sweet et al., 2002) and again significant alterations were observed in several neuro-psychiatric disorders including major depressive disorder (Pettegrew et al., 2002). Again, lithium was shown to correct the alteration in membrane metabolism observed in patients with depression.
Concerns About Current Classes of Antidepressants in Depressive Disorders
Concerns have been accumulating on the widespread use of all the current classes of antidepressants. This is reflected in the recently published North American based treatment guidelines (Grunze et al., 2002; Hirschfeld et al., 2002); including those of the APA (Sachs et al., 2000). These recommendations have voiced considerable limitations and a conservative attitude to their use, recommending use be restricted to severe bipolar depressions (Goodwin & Jamison, 1990; Murray & Lopez, 1996; Bostwick & Pankratz, 2000). The recommendations go on to suggest that if antidepressants are used they should be withdrawn as early as possible; thus we are now seeing a shift away from both the use of the current classes of antidepressants and recommendations for their long term use since they are associated with the following problems.
1. The risk for induced mania. There is now established a considerable risk of antidepressant induced manic switching and/or rapid cycling. This is seen in both short term and long term exposures. For example with selective reuptake inhibitors (SRIs) clinical samples demonstrate length of switch that are not minimal, that is 15 to 27%. The authors of a number of review articles on this topic suggest that the real rates are around 40% for tricyclic antidepressants (TCAs) and 20% with new SRI antidepressants. Substance abuse has been shown to be a major predictor of antidepressant-induced mania.
2. The risk of suicide in bipolar depressed patients. This risk is in and of itself a significant issue of concern. An analysis of SRIs and other novel antidepressants submitted to the FDA totaling nearly 20 thousand cases showed that there was no significant difference in completed or attempted suicides between patients on antidepressants and placebo treated groups. Simply stated, it appears that antidepressants as a group have not been shown to adequately reduce suicide rates. However, the data on lithium is in contrast to this with a very well established finding of its prophylactic effects against suicidality in a variety of diagnostic categories.
3. Antidepressant efficiency in treating bipolar depression. Prophylactic studies with antidepressants are not robust in the treatment of depressive episodes in bipolar disorders. Again, in contrast, the evidence of efficiency in treating bipolar depression with mood stabilizers is much higher (e.g., lithium and lamotrogine).
4. The potential value of other antidepressant classes. Based on this extensive new information as to the cautions that need to be employed in the use of the standard and SRI antidepressant classes, there is an urgent need for new classes of antidepressant thymoleptics. One such agent, ALCAR has a body of literature that supports the possibility of its therapeutic value in a number of depressive categories.
In view of its unique biochemical effects on the nervous system and its stabilizing effects on membrane functions, ALCAR's antidepressant activity may indeed provide a unique opportunity to address the above-described concerns. Since ALCAR is a natural substance and has been shown to have antidepressant properties without significant side effects and without the potential to induce mania, it is a logical new therapeutic approach.
ALCAR has been shown to have beneficial effects on age-related neurodegenernation and brain energetic stress providing a rationale for its use in Major Depressive Disorder (MDD). In European clinical trials to date, ALCAR has demonstrated antidepressant activity in MDD subjects without significant side effects (Villardita et al., 1983; Tempesta et al., 1987; Nasca et al., 1989; Bella et al., 1990; Fulgente et al., 1990; Garzya et al., 1990).
Overview of Biological Findings in Major Depressive Disorder
MDD has been shown to be associated with changes in: (1) neurotransmitter systems such as serotonin, acetylcholine, and noradrenergic; (2) membranes (e.g., composition, metabolism, biophysical parameters, signal transduction, and ion transport); (3) brain energy metabolism; and (4) brain structure. Computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) studies in subjects with non-demented, geriatric, major depressive disorder suggest neurodegenerative changes are associated with vascular risk factors (Krishnan, 1993). Beyond brain structural changes, there is evidence from fimctional neuroimaging studies for molecular, metabolic, and physiologic brain changes suggestive of energetic stress in subjects with MDD. Positron emission tomography (PET) and single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) studies show a reduced fluorodeoxyglucose metabolic rate (rCMRg) (Buchsbaum et al., 1986) and reduced regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) (Schlegel et al., 1989) in the basal ganglia and a decrease in rCMRg and rCBF in the frontal lobes of subjects with MDD (Mayberg et al., 1994). Of the neuroimaging methods, 31P and 1H magnetic resonance spectroscopic imaging (31P-1H MRSI) studies provide direct information on membrane phospholipid and high-energy phosphate metabolism (31P MRSI) as well as a marker for neuronal structural and metabolic integrity (1H MRSI). 31P and 1H MRS studies of subjects with MDD indicate alterations in high-energy phosphate and membrane phospholipid metabolism in basal ganglia and prefrontal cortex (Moore et al., 1997a; Charles et al., 1994; Pettegrew et al. 2002).
Neuromorphometric Changes in MDD
Neuroimaging studies have enhanced our understanding of the pathophysiology of MDD. MRI studies provide neuromorphometric correlates of MDD (reviewed by Botteron & Figiel, 1997). MRI studies of third ventricle size in major depression give mixed results; Coffey et al. (1993) report no difference in ventricle size and Rabins et al. (1991) report increased third ventricle size in subjects with MDD compared with controls. Brain MRI subcortical white matter hyperintensities have been reported in the basal ganglia, periventricular region, and frontal lobe of elderly depressed (Coffey et al., 1988; Figiel et al., 1989; Rabins et al., 1991). There have been reports of decreased volumes of the basal ganglia in MDD; Husain et al. (1991) found reduced volume in the putamen, Krishnan et al. (1993) found reduced volume in the caudate, and Dupont et al. (1995) found reduced volume in the caudate, lenticular nucleus, and thalamus. Coffey et al. (1993) report an approximately 7% reduction in bilateral frontal lobe volume in subjects with MDD.
These studies reveal neurodegenerative change in MDD. Other as yet unknown molecular and metabolic factors could predispose to both depression and the neuromorphometric changes associated with it.
Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy Studies of Major Depressive Disorder (MDD)
While there are several MRS studies in bipolar disorder (reviewed by Moore & Renshaw, 1997b), there are only two 31P MRS studies (Kato et al., 1992; Moore et al., 1997a) and one 1H MRS analysis of MDD (Charles et al., 1994). Kato et al. (1992), using a coronal slice DRESS 31P MRS protocol, examined the frontal cortex of 12 subjects (age 35.3∀12.1 years) with MDD, 10 subjects (age 42∀8.6 years) with bipolar disorder and 22 control subjects (age 36.1∀1.5 years). Although the pH and PME levels were significantly higher in euthymic MDD subjects compared with euthymic bipolar subjects, no significant differences were found for 31P MRS parameters of MDD subjects compared with control subjects. A study by Moore et al. (1997a) using a 31P MRS ISIS protocol, measured 31P metabolites in a 45 cm3 voxel containing the bilateral basal ganglia in 35 unmedicated subjects (age 37.2∀lain 8.5 years) with MDD and 18 control subjects (age 38.2∀9.9 years). There was a 16% reduction in ATP (β-ATP peak) in the MDD subjects. The PCr/Pi ratio of MDD subjects compared with control subjects did not change. This study indicates that an abnormality in basal ganglia high-energy phosphate metabolism is associated with MDD. A 1H MRS study by Charles et al. (1994), using a combination of the STEAM technique for spatial lipid suppression and 1D CSI for additional spatial localization of the basal ganglia and thalamus, examined seven subjects with MDD (age range 63-76, mean=71.4 years) compared with ten control subjects (age range 65-75, mean=68.9 years). The subjects with MDD were medication free for two (1 subject) or three (6 subjects) weeks. The authors report an increase in the TMA MRS peak in the basal ganglia of MDD subjects and subsequent drop in the trimethlyamine (TMA) peak in four subjects after treatment. We have recently observed an increase in PME and a decrease in PCr in two subjects with MDD (Pettegrew et al., unpublished results).
Molecular and Metabolic Effects of Alcar
There is neuroimaging evidence for neurodegeneration and a reduction in energy metabolite levels and RCBF in MDD. These findings provide a rationale for the use of ALCAR in MDD as there is a considerable body of research that indicates that ALCAR has a positive modulating influence on membrane structure, function and metabolism, energy metabolism, and the physiology and metabolism of neurotrophic factors. There also is clinical evidence that ALCAR is beneficial in the treatment of neurodegenerative disorders as well as normal aging-related processes and the treatment of geriatric depression. A thorough review of the possible CNS actions of ALCAR has appeared (Calvani & Carta, 1991; Pettegrew et al., 2000). What follows is a brief review of the metabolic, physiologic, behavioral, and clinical roles for ALCAR.
Alcar's Effect on Energy Metabolism
ALCAR has been shown to exert a beneficial effect on brain metabolism after energetic stresses. In a canine model of complete, global cerebral ischemia and reperfusion, ALCAR treated animals exhibited significantly lower neurological deficit scores (p=0.0037) and more normal cerebral cortex lactate/pyruvate ratios than did vehicle-treated control animals (Rosenthal et al., 1992). In a rat cyanide model of acute hypoxia, increased rate of phosphatidic acid formation, possibly reflecting increased phospholipase C activity was observed and spatial navigation performance in a Morris task was impaired. Chronic treatment with ALCAR attenuated the cyanide-induced behavioral deficit but had no effect on energy-dependent phosphoinositide metabolism suggesting ALCAR affected free fatty acid metabolism by increasing the reservoir of activated acyl groups involved in the reacylation of membrane phospholipids (Blokland et al., 1993). In a canine model employing 10 minutes of cardiac arrest followed by restoration of spontaneous circulation for up to 24 hours, ALCAR eliminated the reperfusion elevation of brain protein carbonyl groups which reflect free radical-induced protein oxidation (Liu et al., 1993). In a rat streptozotocin-induced model of brain hypoglycemia, ALCAR attenuated both the streptozotocin-induced impairment in spatial discrimination learning and decrease in hippocampal choline acetyltransferase activity (Prickaerts et al., 1995). A deficiency in ALCAR has been shown to be a cause for altered nerve myo-inositol content, Na+-K+-ATPase activity, and motor conduction velocity in the streptozotocin-diabetic rat (Stevens et al., 1996). Finally, sparse-fur mice have a deficiency of hepatic ornithine transcarbamylase resulting in congenital hyperammonemic with elevated cerebral ammonia and glutamine and reduced cerebral cytochrome oxidase activity and a reduction in cerebral high-energy phosphate levels. ALCAR treatment increased cytochrome oxidase subunit I MRNA, and restored both cytochrome oxidase activity and the levels of high-energy phosphates (Rao et al., 1997). Our studies of hypoxia in Fischer 344 rats demonstrate ALCAR's beneficial effect on brain membrane phospholipid and high-energy phosphate metabolism (Pettegrew et al., unpublished results.
Alcar's Effect on Membrane Composition, Structure, and Dynamics
ALCAR has been shown to effect membrane structure and function in a number of different systems. ALCAR administration affects the inner mitochondrial membrane protein composition in rat cerebellum (Villa et al., 1988), increases human erythrocyte membrane stability possibly by interacting with cytoskeletal proteins (Arduini et al., 1990), increases human erythrocyte cytoskeletal protein-protein interactions (Butterfield & Rangachari, 1993), and alters the membrane dynamics of human erythrocytes in the region of the glycerol backbone of membrane phospholipid bilayers (Arduini et al., 1993).
Alcar's Enhancement of Nerve Growth Factor Activity
A number of studies have demonstrated that ALCAR enhances the neurotrophic activity of nerve growth factor (NGF). ALCAR increases NGF binding in aged rat hippocampus and basal forebrain (Angelucci et al., 1988), increases NGF receptor expression in rat striatum, and increases choline acetyltranferase activity in the same area (De Simone R. et al., 1991), enhances PC12 cells response to NGF (Taglialatela et al., 1991), increases the level of NGF receptor (P75NGFR) mRNA (Taglialatela et al., 1992), increases choline acetyltransferase activity and NGF levels in adult rats following total fimbria-fornix transection (Piovesan et al., 1994; 1995), and enhances motomeuron survival in rat facial nucleus after facial nerve transection (Piovesan et al., 1995).
Influence of Alcar on Cholinergic and Serotonergic Neurotransmitter Systems
ALCAR has some cholinergic activity (Fritz, 1963; Tempesta et al., 1985), possibly because it shares conformational properties with acetylcholine (Sass & Werness, 1973). This is interesting as acetylcholine may play an important role in the chronobiological organization of the human body (Morley & Murrin, 1989; Wee & Turek, 1989), mediating also some effects of light on the circadian clock (Wee & Turek, 1989). Acetylcholine is implicated in the regulation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis (Mueller et al., 1977; Risch et al., 1981) and cholinomimetics are effective on the HPA axis (Janowsky et al., 1981; Risch et al., 1981). ALCAR also seems to interfere with the serotonergic system (Tempesta et al., 1982; 1985). There is ample evidence supporting a reduction in serotonergic activity in depression (Ashcroft et al., 1966; Asberg et al., 1976; Cochran et al., 1976; Traskman et al., 1981; Stanley & Mann, 1983); although these results have not always been confirmed (Bowers, 1974; Murphy et al., 1978). The efficacy of 5-HTP also has been reported in involutional depression (Aussilloux et al., 1975). Moreover the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRI) antidepressants increase serotonergic transmission and are currently widely used in treating MDD (Aberg-Wistedt et al., 1982; Stark & Hardison, 1985). Serotonin plays an important role in the regulation of circadian rhythms (Kordon et al., 1981; Leibiwitz et al., 1989) and there is consistent evidence that it affects cortisol secretion (Imura et al., 1973; Krieger, 1978; Meltzer et al., 1982).
Alcar's Effect on Aging-related Metabolic Changes
ALCAR has been demonstrated to reverse aging-related changes in brain ultrastructure, neurotransmitter systems, membrane receptors, mitochondrial proteins, membrane structure and metabolism, memory, and behavior. ALCAR restores the number of axosomatic and giant bouton vesicles in aged rat hippocampus (Badiali et al., 1987), reduces aging-related lipofuscin accumulation in prefrontal pyramidal neurons and hippocampal CA3 neurons in rats (Kohjimoto et al., 1988; Amenta et al., 1989), and reduces aging-related changes in the rat hippocampal mossy fiber system (Ricci et al., 1989). ALCAR reduces the age-dependent loss of glucocorticoid receptors in rat hippocampus (Ricci et al., 1989), attenuates the age-dependent decrease in NMDA receptors in rat hippocampus (Fiore & Rampello, 1989; Castorina et al., 1993; 1994; Piovesan et al., 1994; and reviewed by Castorina & Ferraris, 1988), and reduces age-related changes in the dopaminergic system of aging mouse brain (Sershen et al., 1991). Age-related changes in mitochondria also are reduced by ALCAR. ALCAR increases cytochrome oxidase activity in rat cerebral cortex, hippocampus, and striatum (Curti et al., 1989), restores to normal reduced transcripts of mitochondrial DNA in rat brain and heart but not liver (Gadaleta et al., 1990), increases cytochrome oxidase activity of synaptic and non-synaptic mitochondria (Villa & Gorini, 1991), reverses age-related reduction in the phosphate carrier and cardiolipin levels in heart mitochondria (Paradies et al., 1992), reverses age-related reduction in cytochrome oxidase and adenine nucleotide transferase activity in rat heart by modifying age-related changes in mitochondrial cardiolipin levels (Paradies et al., 1994; 1995), and reverses age-related alteration in the protein composition of the inner mitochondrial membrane (Villa et al., 1988). ALCAR also increases synaptosomal high-affinity choline uptake in the cerebral cortex of aging rats (Curti et al., 1989; Piovesan et al., 1994), increases choline acetyltransferase activity in aged rat striatum (De Simone R. et al., 1991; Taglialatela et al., 1994), modulates age-related reduction in melatonin synthesis (Esposti et al., 1994), reverses the age-related elevation in free and esterified cholesterol and arachidonic acid (20:4) in rat plasma (Ruggiero et al., 1990), and increases PCr and reduces lactate/pyruvate and sugar phosphate levels in adult and aged rat brain (Aureli et al., 1990). Age-related changes in NGF are reduced by ALCAR: ALCAR increases NGF receptor expression in rat striatum (De Simone R. et al., 1991) and in PC12 cells (Castorina et al., 1993); enhances the effect of NGF in aged dorsal root ganglia neurons (Manfridi et al., 1992); exerts a neurotrophic effect in three month old rats after total fimbria transection (Piovesan et al., 1994); and increases NGF levels in aged rat brain (Taglialatela et al., 1994). ALCAR has been shown in aged rats to modulate synaptic structural dynamics (Bertoni-Freddari et al., 1994) and improve measures of behavior (Angelucci, 1988; Kohjimoto et al., 1988) as well as memory (Barnes et al., 1990; Caprioli et al., 1990; 1995). ALCAR has been reported to normalize the pituitary-adrenocortical hyperactivity in pathological brain aging (Nappi et al., 1988; Ghirardi et al., 1994). We have reported that ALCAR improves standardized clinical measures and measures of membrane phospholipid and high-energy phosphate metabolism in subjects with Alzheimer's disease (AD) measured by in vivo 31P MRS (Pettegrew et al., 1995). We now have data in a rat hypoxia model which demonstrate that ALCAR has more beneficial effects on aged rats (30 months) than on adolescent (1 month) or adult (12 months) animals (Pettegrew et al., unpublished results).
Antidepressant Effects of Alcar
In European clinical trials, ALCAR has been shown to have significant antidepressant activity in geriatric depressed subjects with minimal or no side effects (Villardita et al., 1983; Tempesta et al., 1987; Nasca et al., 1989; Bella et al., 1990; Fulgente et al., 1990; Garzya et al., 1990; Gecele et al., 1991). Villardita et al. (1983) reported a double-blind ALCAR/placebo study of 28 subjects (18 males, 10 females; 72.3∀7.3 years). Sixteen subjects were treated with ALCAR (1.5 gm/day; baseline HDRS=26.3∀3.3) and 12 patients were treated with placebo (baseline HDRS=26.6∀3.2) for 40 days. By day 40, the ALCAR treated subjects showed significant improvement (p<0.001) in the Hamilton Depressive Rating Scale (HDRS) but the placebo treated subjects did not. There were no side effects to ALCAR. Tempesta et al. (1987) in an open label, cross over study of 24 subjects over the age of 70 years, all of whom were nursing home residents, reported ALCAR (2 gm/day) to be highly effective in reducing HDRS scores, especially in subjects with more severe clinical symptoms. Again there were no reported ALCAR side effects. In a simple blind ALCAR/placebo study of 20 subjects (10 ALCAR treated subjects; 62.5∀5.7 years, 8 males, 2 females, baseline HDRS=44.9∀3.1 and 10 placebo treated subjects; 62.5∀5.3 years, 8 males, 2 females, baseline HDRS=43.9∀2.8), Nasca et al. (1989) demonstrated a significant improvement in the HDRS scores of ALCAR treated subjects at day 40 of treatment (p<0.001). There was no improvement in the placebo treated group. Similar significant beneficial effects of ALCAR on the HDRS were observed in randomized, double-blind, ALCAR/placebo studies of Garzya et al. (1990) (28 subjects; ages 70-80 years; ALCAR 1.5 gm/day), Fulgente et al. (1990) [60 subjects; 70-80 years; ALCAR 3.0 gm/day; baseline HDRS (ALCAR=25; placebo=23); day 60 HDRS (ALCAR=12; placebo=22); p # 0.0001], and Bella et al. (1990) [60 subjects, 60-80 years, ALCAR 3.0 gm/day; baseline HDRS (ALCAR=22; placebo=21); day 60 HDRS (ALCAR=11; placebo=20); p # 0.0001]. ALCAR was well tolerated in these studies even at the higher dosages. A double-blind, ALCAR/placebo study by Gecele et al. (1991) (30 subjects, 66-79 years, ALCAR 2 gm/day) not only showed a significant improvement in the HDRS of ALCAR treated subjects (p<0.001) but a significant reduction in both mean cortisol levels (p<0.001) as well as 12 am (p<0.001) and 4 pm (p<0.01) cortisol levels.
Since acetyl-L-carnitine (ALCAR) is a natural substance and has been shown to have antidepressant properties without significant side effects and without the potential to induce mania, it is a logical new therapeutic approach.
Cognition in Alcoholism
Chronic alcoholism is a diverse and heterogeneous disorder that can be dichotomized into cognitively intact and cognitively impaired subgroups. At a molecular level, ethanol has been shown to have both acute and chronic effects on: Membrane biophysical properties, Membrane composition and metabolism, Protein phosphorylation, Lipid metabolic signaling, Lipoprotein transport of cholesterol. There may be molecular underpinnings for cognitive impairment seen in some chronic alcoholism subjects.
There is a long-standing need within the medical community for a diagnostic tool for assessing cognitive impairment seen in some chronic alcoholism subjects. Such a tool would be extremely useful in the development of treatments that delay or prevent cognitive impairment due to chronic alcoholism.

Method and system for diagnosis of neuropsychiatric disorders including chronic alcoholism


It is disclosed the gaming machine in which the lower liquid crystal display 4 is arranged in front of the reels 22 which are mechanically driven and each reel 22 is seen through each of the display windows 23, 24, 25 of the lower liquid crystal display 4. And the character is dynamically displayed on the lower liquid crystal display 4 and the reel operation of the reel 22 is changed. At that time, the reel operation is stopped at the timing that the character crosses each of the display windows 23, 24, 25 of the lower liquid crystal display 4.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a gaming machine having a display device on which characters are displayed and through which reels can be seen.
2. Description of Related Art
In a conventional gaming machine, for example, a slot machine, as shown in Japanese Unexamined Publication No. 2001-62032, it is proposed a gaming machine that a player can see symbols formed on reels, which are rotated and stopped, through a display device arranged in front of the reels. Therefore, in a case that pay lines, messages, characters or marks are displayed on the display device in overlapping the symbols of the reels or in periphery of the symbols of the reels, the reels being seen by the player through the display device, various effects concerning with the reels can be done.
However, the display timing that characters are displayed on the display device in overlapping the symbols of the reels or in periphery of the symbols of the reels is set during rotation of the reels or after the reels are stopped, and display positions of characters are fixed beforehand. Thus, it cannot be conducted effect dynamically correlating characters with the reels.

Gaming machine with reels and display device displaying characters thereon, reels being seen through display device


According to the IEEE1394 bus protocol, priority is given to isochronous data packets. Data transfer is done in transfer cycles under the control of a cycle master. It depends on the allocated bandwidth for isochronous data how much transport capacity is available in a transfer cycle. To managed the mixed data transfer in one cycle it is specified that the bus nodes not having isochronous data to transfer need to wait with their transmission requests until the end of the isochronous data transfers in the cycle indicated with a sub-action gap. The invention aims to improve the efficiency of data transport for the case that none of the bus nodes need to transfer isochronous data. The data link layer devices according to the invention includes means for checking whether isochronous data is to be transferred and if not they switch over to a no cycle master state, in which the local cycle synchronization events are ignored. The nodes need not wait for a sub-action gap after a local cycle event before drawing asynchronous transmission requests.

For quite a long time now the convergence of the product sectors of consumer electronics (HiFi, video, audio) on one side and personal computers on the other have been trumpeted under the catchword multimedia and have actually been propelled by many manufacturers from both camps. The merging of the two product sectors means that work concerned with the subject of data exchange between the equipment of the different product sectors or else between the equipment within one product sector is becoming more and more significant. This is also apparent from the efforts for standardization with regard to this subject, which are already well advanced. Specifically, the so-called IEEE1394 serial bus already provides an internationally standardized and very widely accepted bus for data exchange between terminals from both product groups. The precise designation of the afore-mentioned standard is:
IEEE1394 standard for high performance serial bus, (IEEE) STD 1394/1995, IEEE New York, Aug. 1996.
The invention that is to be described here is concerned with the bus management. This IEEE1394 bus provides the service of isochronous data transfer as well as asynchronous data transfer. In this connection isochronous data transfer means that data to be transmitted arrives regularly at a data source the data also arriving with approximately the same size each time. Examples of such data sources are video recorders or camcorders, DVD players, audio devices such as CD players or MP3 players and the like. The asynchronous transfer mode is used for all the other data transfers including control commands and configuration messages, which are not as critical as in the case of streaming video or audio.
The specification of the IEEE1394 serial bus comprises a series of criteria, which are highly significant for products from the sector of consumer electronics:                Virtually freely selectable bus topology (e.g. chain, tree . . . ) with up to 63 terminals,        Bit serial data transmission over a cable with 4 or 6 conductors with the maximum distance of 4.5 meters between two pieces of equipment,        Transmission rates of up to 400 MBit/s at present,        Terminals can be connected and disconnected during operation (life insertion).
In order to produce an IEEE1394 interface it is necessary to implement two layers of the IEEE1394 standard using hardware: These are the physical layer and data link layer which are known from the OSI/IEC-7-Layer reference model of data communication. The connection to the bus is managed with the physical layer, while essential parts of the bus protocol are implemented in the data link layer. Since the galvanic separation between the physical layer and the data link layer is provided in the 1394 standard the implementation is generally effected using separate IC's.
In a given configuration of the 1394 bus the bus management assures that the bus is shared for transportation of isochronous data packets as well as asynchronous data packets in a fair manner, this is basically done by introducing a so-called cycle master in the network. It is a bus node with cycle master capability that will be assigned as cycle master. This bus node provides for time synchronisation for all bus nodes in the network by means of transmitting in a regular intervals cycle start packets. Every bus node has to resynchronise its time clock after reception of a cycle start packet. To assure this synchronization process, in each of the bus nodes there is a cycle timer running, that generates with its own time clock local cycle synchronization events. After the local cycle synchronization event a bus node will wait for the reception of the cycle start packet before making own transmission requests. After reception of a cycle start packet a bus node will wait for a short isochronous gap before generating a transmission request for isochronous data if any has become due. Each of the nodes having made isochronous transmission requests will get access to the bus during the nominal cycle period. This is assured by an isochronous resource manager that is also established in the 1394 standard. If the data transport capacity of the 1394 bus has not been seized by the isochronous manager, all the other nodes having made asynchronous transmission requests can access to the bus after elapse of a certain amount of time called sub-action gap. The rest of the cycle period is, therefore, dedicated for asynchronous transmissions.
The shortly explained bus management procedure where the isochronous data transport capacity is guaranteed and the remaining data transport capacity is reserved for asynchronous transmissions has the following drawback:
In case of the use of the IEEE1394 bus for serial communication between devices that do not need to transfer isochronous data, the bus management with the cycle master and dedicated cycle periods is not the most efficient one. Each bus node has to wait for the reception of the cycle start packet after each local cycle synchronization event and also it has to wait for the sub-action gab before it can request asynchronous transmission. This is somehow a waste of time namely the transmission time for the cycle start packet as well as the waiting time for the sub-action gap. During this time in each of the cycle periods no data transport can take place.

Data link layer device for a serial communication bus


Architecture that defines a document or portions thereof as data elements that are related and categorized. A data catalog is created that uses a schema for the data elements and a set of relationships, attributes and values that further define the data elements, all stored as metadata about the data elements. The metadata is employed to enable the application, display surface, and user to see only data relevant to the task at hand. The positioning and grouping of controls, control characteristics, and control behavior at the display surface is facilitated by forms which are dynamically populated for presentation and which are driven directly by the data catalog. The catalog can be made aware of device parameters, for example, the display size and resolution thereby enabling data to be displayed differently based upon the device parameters.

Business users need to see information related to what they are working on at the time. What hinders information workers today is the often-complicated process of locating the right information needed to complete their work. Information is stored at multiple locations and in varying formats. In spite of the promise of automation, application integration is inadequate or nonexistent for small to midsize companies, and line-of-business (LOB) applications do not supply all the information needs of the worker.
Striving to remain effective, workers typically seek out and employ methods that are cumbersome in order to compare, manage, produce, and track information in a constant flow of documents. For example, oftentimes, personnel are required to rely on paper copies and handwritten notes, tracking lists to patch the data flow in their processes. The worker must search for information using one application to find one piece of information in one document, write it on paper, then switch to another application or source, find another piece of information, and then compare the two.
Conventional systems are limited because of the lack of correlation and lack of an information model describing the relationships between the data. Today's application display surfaces govern the layout, interaction, and behavior of information that is available to a user. Information is stored in association with independent applications where each application manages and describes the relationship of the data and how that information behaves. However, there is little or no correlation of data between applications and, when there is correlation, it is usually at the document level such as for a purchase order, e-mail message, or word document. This ubiquitous need to move information from one context to another throughout the workday places a cognitive burden on the worker, frequently causes the inefficient duplication of effort, and introduces unwanted errors such as associated with transcribing and copying.

Flexible data presentation enabled by metadata


A target and magnetron for a plasma sputter reactor and the associated sputtering method provided by the extended magnetic fields and plasma regions. The target has an annular vault facing the wafer to be sputter coated. Various types of magnetic means positioned around the vault, some of which may rotate along the vault, create a magnetic field in the vault to support a plasma extending over a large volume of the vault from its top to its bottom. The large plasma volume increases the probability that the sputtered metal atoms will become ionized and be accelerated towards an electrically biased wafer support electrode.

The invention relates generally to a magnetron sputtering. In particular, the invention relates to the configuration of magnetic fields produced by a complex target in a plasma sputtering method.
A semiconductor integrated circuit contains many layers of different materials usually classified according to whether the layer is a semiconductor, a dielectric (electrical insulator) or metal. However, some materials such as barrier materials, for example, TiN, are not so easily classified. The two principal current means of depositing metals and barrier materials are sputtering, also referred to as physical vapor deposition (PVD), and chemical vapor deposition (CVD). Of the two, sputtering has the inherent advantages of low cost source material and high deposition rates. However, sputtering has an inherent disadvantage when a material needs to filled into a deep narrow hole, that is, one having a high aspect ratio, or coated onto the sides of the hole, which is often required for barrier materials. Sputtering itself is primarily a nearly isotropic process producing ballistic sputter particles which do not easily reach the bottom of deep narrow holes. On the other hand, CVD tends to be a conformal process equally effective at the bottom of holes and on exposed top planar surfaces.
The conventional sputter reactor has a planar target in parallel opposition to the wafer being sputter deposited. A negative DC voltage is applied to the target sufficient to ionize the argon working gas into a plasma. The positive argon ions are attracted to the negatively charged target with sufficient energy to sputter atoms of the target material. Some of the sputtered atoms strike the wafer and form a sputter coating thereon. Most usually a magnetron is positioned in back of the target to create a magnetic field adjacent to the target. The magnetic field traps electrons, and, to maintain charge neutrality in the plasma, the ion density increases also. As a result, the plasma density and sputter rate are increased. The conventional magnetron generates a magnetic field principally lying parallel to the target.
Much effort has been expended to allow sputtering to effectively coat metals and barrier materials deep into narrow holes. High-density plasma (HDP) sputtering has been developed in which the argon working gas is excited into a high-density plasma, which is defined as a plasma having an ionization density of at least 1011 cmxe2x88x923 across the entire space the plasma fills except the plasma sheath. Typically, an HDP sputter reactor uses an RF power source connected to an inductive coil adjacent to the plasma region to generate the high-density plasma. The high argon ion density causes a significant fraction of sputtered atoms to be ionized. If the pedestal electrode supporting the wafer being sputter coated is negatively electrically biased, the ionized sputter particles are accelerated toward the wafer to form a directional beam that reaches deeply into narrow holes.
HDP sputter reactors, however, have disadvantages. They involve a relatively new technology and are relatively expensive. Furthermore, the quality of the sputtered films they produce is often not the best, typically having an undulatory surface. Also, high-energy sputter ions tend to damage the material already deposited.
Another sputtering technology, referred to as self-ionized plasma (SIP) sputtering, has been developed to fill deep holes. See, for example, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/373,097 filed Aug. 12, 1999 by Fu and U.S. Patent Application filed Oct. 8, 1999 by Chiang et al. Both of these patent applications are incorporated by reference in their entireties. In its original implementations, SIP relies upon a somewhat standard capacitively coupled plasma sputter reactor having a planar target in parallel opposition to the wafer being sputter coated and a magnetron positioned in back of the target to increase the plasma density and hence the sputtering rate. The SIP technology, however, is characterized by a high target power density, a small magnetron, and a magnetron having an outer magnetic pole piece enclosing an inner magnetic pole piece with the outer pole piece having a significantly higher total magnetic flux than the inner pole piece. In some implementations, the target is separated from the wafer by a large distance to effect long-throw sputtering, which enhances collimated sputtering. The asymmetric magnetic pole pieces causes the magnetic field to have a significant vertical component extending far towards the wafer, thus enhancing extending the high-density plasma volume and promoting transport of ionized sputter particles.
The SIP technology was originally developed for sustained self-sputtering (SSS) in which a sufficiently high number of sputter particles are ionized that they may be used to further sputter the target and no argon working gas is required. Of the metals commonly used in semiconductor fabrication, only copper is susceptible to SSS resulting from its high self-sputtering yield.
The extremely low pressures and relatively high ionization fractions associated with SSS are advantageous for filling deep holes with copper. However, it was quickly realized that the SIP technology could be advantageously applied to the sputtering of aluminum and other metals and even to copper sputtering at moderate pressures. SIP sputtering produces high quality films exhibiting high hole filling factors regardless of the material being sputtered.
Nonetheless, SIP has some disadvantages. The small area of the magnetron requires circumferential scanning of the magnetron in a rotary motion at the back of the target. Even with rotary scanning, radial uniformity is difficult to achieve. Furthermore, very high target powers have been required in the previously known versions of SIP. High-capacity power supplies are expensive and necessitate complicated target cooling. Lastly, known versions of SIP tend to produce a relatively low ionization fraction of sputter particles, for example, 20%. The non-ionized fraction has a relatively isotropic distribution rather than forming a forward directed beam as the ionized particles are accelerated toward a biased wafer. Also, the target diameter is typically only slightly greater than the wafer diameter. As a result, those holes being coated located at the edge of the wafer have radially outer sidewalls which see a larger fraction of the wafer and are more heavily coated than the radially inner sidewalls. Therefore, the sidewalls of the edge holes are asymmetrically coated.
Other sputter geometries have been developed which increase the ionization density. One example is a multi-pole hollow cathode target, several variants of which are disclosed by Barnes et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 5,178,739. Its target has a hollow cylindrical shape, usually closed with a circular back wall, and is electrically biased. Typically, a series of magnets, positioned on the sides of the cylindrical cathode of alternating magnetic polarity, create a magnetic field extending generally parallel to the cylindrical sidewall. Helmer et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 5,482,611 disclose a hollow cathode target in which an axially polarized tubular magnet surrounds the sides of the hollow cathode and extend in back of the cathode back wall to create a generally axial magnetic field but which forms a cusp at the cathode back wall.
Another approach uses a pair of facing targets facing the lateral sides of the plasma space above the wafer. Such systems are described, for example, by Kitamoto et al. in xe2x80x9cCompact sputtering apparatus for depositing Coxe2x80x94Cr alloy thin films in magnetic disks,xe2x80x9d Proceedings: The Fourth International Symposium on Sputtering and Plasma Processes, Kanazawa, Japan, Jun. 4-6, 1997, pp. 519-522, by Yamazato et al. in xe2x80x9cPreparation of TiN thin films by facing targets magnetron sputtering, ibid, pp. 635-638, and by Musil et al. in xe2x80x9cUnbalanced magnetrons and new sputtering systems with enhanced plasma ionization,xe2x80x9d Journal of Vacuum Science and Technology A, vol. 9, no. 3, May 1991, pp. 1171-1177. The facing pair geometry has the disadvantage that the magnets are stationary and create a horizontally extending field that is inherently non-uniform with respect to the wafer.
Musil et al., ibid., pp.1174, 1175 describe a coil-driven magnetic mirror magnetron having a central post of one magnetic polarity and surrounding rim of another polarity. An annular vault-shaped target is placed between the two post and rim. This structure has the disadvantage that the soft magnetic material forming the two poles, particularly the central spindle, are exposed to the plasma during sputtering and inevitably contaminate the sputtered layer. Furthermore, the coil drive provides a substantially cylindrical geometry, which may not be desired in some situations. Also, the disclosure illustrates a relatively shallow geometry for the target vault, which does not take advantage of some possible beneficial effects for a concavely shaped target.
It is thus desired to combine many of the good benefits of the different plasma sputter reactors described above while avoiding their separate disadvantages.
The invention includes a magnetron producing a large volume or thickness of a plasma, preferably a high-density plasma. The long travel path through the plasma volume allows a large fraction of the sputtered atoms to be ionized so that their energy and directionality can be controlled by substrate biasing.
In one embodiment of the invention, the target includes at least one annular vault on the front side of the target. The backside of the target includes a central well enclosed by the vault and accommodating an inner magnetic pole of one polarity. The backside of the target also includes an outer annular space surrounding the vault and accommodating an outer magnetic pole of a second polarity. The outer magnetic pole may be annular or be a circular segment which is rotated about the inner magnetic pole.
The invention also includes the sputtering method using a vault-shaped target. According to the method, some or all of the magnetic field is rotated about the central axis in the vicinity of the vault. The magnetic field may include components across the vault, parallel to the sidewalls of the vault, or parallel to the roof of the vault.
In one embodiment, the magnetization of the two poles may be accomplished by soft pole pieces projecting into the central well and the outer annular space and magnetically coupled to magnets disposed generally behind the well and outer annular space. In a second embodiment, the two poles may be radially directed magnetic directions. In a third embodiment, a magnetic coil drives a yoke having a spindle and rim shape.
In one advantageous aspect of the invention, the target covers both the spindle and the rim of the yoke as well as forming the vault, thereby eliminating any yoke sputtering.
According to another aspect of the invention, the relative amount of sputtering of the top wall of the inverted vault relative to the sidewalls may be controlled by increasing the magnetic flux in the area of the top wall. An increase of magnetic flux at the sidewalls may result in a predominantly radial distribution of magnetic field between the two sidewalls, resulting in large sputtering of the sidewalls.
One approach for increasing the sputtering of the top wall places additional magnets above the top wall with magnetic polarities aligned with the magnets just outside of the vault sidewalls. Another approach uses only the top wall magnets to the exclusion of the sidewall magnets. In this approach, the back of the target can be planar with no indentations for the central well or the exterior of the vault sidewalls. In yet another approach, vertically magnets are positioned near the bottom of the vault sidewalls with magnetic polarities opposed to the corresponding magnets near the top of the vault sidewalls, thereby creating semi-toroidal fields near the bottom sidewalls. Such fields can be adjusted either for sputtering or for primarily extending the top wall plasma toward the bottom of the vault and repelling its electrons from the sidewalls. A yet further approach scans over top wall a small, closed magnetron having a central magnetic pole of one polarity and a surrounding magnetic pole of the other polarity.
The target may be formed with more than one annular vault on the side facing the substrate. Each vault should have a width of at least 2.5 cm, preferably at least 5 cm, and more preferably at least 10 cm. The width is thus at least 10 times and preferably at least 25 times the dark space, thereby allowing the plasma sheath to conform to the vault outline.

Sputtering method utilizing an extended plasma region


A highly safe power storage system is provided. If n (n is an integer over or equal to three) secondary batteries are used in a vehicle such as an electric vehicle, a circuit configuration is used with which the condition of each secondary battery is monitored using an anomaly detection unit; and if an anomaly such as a micro-short circuit is detected, only the detected anomalous secondary battery is electrically separated from the charging system or the discharging system. At least one microcomputer monitors anomalies in n secondary batteries consecutively, selects the anomalous secondary battery or the detected secondary battery which causes an anomaly, and gives an instruction to bypass the secondary battery with each switch.

In recent years, a variety of power storage devices such as lithium-ion secondary batteries, lithium-ion capacitors, and air batteries have been actively developed. In particular, demand for lithium-ion secondary batteries, which have high output and high energy density, has rapidly grown with the development of the semiconductor industry for portable information terminals such as mobile phones, smartphones, tablets, and laptop computers; portable music players; digital cameras; medical equipment; next-generation clean energy vehicles such as hybrid electric vehicles (HEV), electric vehicles (EV), and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV); and the like. Lithium-ion secondary batteries are essential as rechargeable energy supply sources for today's information society.
In a portable information terminal, an electric vehicle, or the like, a plurality of secondary batteries connected in series or in parallel and provided with a protective circuit is used as a battery pack (also referred to as an assembled battery). A battery pack means a container (e.g., a metal can or a film exterior body) in which a battery module composed of a plurality of secondary batteries and a predetermined circuit are contained for easy handling of secondary batteries. The battery pack has an ECU (Electronic Control Unit) in order to manage the operation state. If each of a plurality of secondary batteries constituting a battery pack (an assembled battery) has different characteristics, the balance is disturbed. If the balance is disturbed, a secondary battery is excessively charged or not fully charged in a charging period; thus, the apparent capacity declines as a whole.
One battery pack, that is, a plurality of secondary batteries is collectively charged and discharged, which makes the balance more disturbed in one battery pack; life of a battery pack becomes shorter and shorter as charging and discharging are repeated.
Electric vehicles are vehicles in which only an electric motor is used for a driving portion, and hybrid vehicles are vehicles having both an internal-combustion engine such as an engine and an electric motor. A plurality of secondary batteries provided for vehicles is included in a battery pack, and a plurality of the battery packs is provided on the bottom of a vehicle.
Charging facilities or a household power supply is a power source to charge an electric vehicle or a hybrid electric vehicle. The time taken to reach full charge of batteries depends on specifications of charging facilities, that is, charging conditions such as a charging voltage; thus, it is difficult to estimate the finishing time of charging.
The secondary battery used in an electric vehicle or a hybrid electric vehicle degrades due to the number of charging, the depth of discharge, charging currents, charging environment (temperature change), or the like. The degradation also depends on the usage of the user; and charging temperatures, frequency of quick charging, charging amount with a regenerative brake, charging timing with a regenerative brake, and the like might relate to the degradation.
Patent Document 1 shows an example where a neural network is used for calculating the remaining capacity of a storage battery.

Charging-control device and electronic device with secondary battery

SEMICONDUCTOR ENERGY LABORATORY CO., LTD.


A database service that receives and manages data into columnar databases. Individual columnar databases or columnar database partitions are associated with a dictionary that provides an encoding for the data in the columnar database. The database service generates count information for the dictionary entries. The database service also maintains one or more augmented dictionary values that correspond to featurization criteria. The database service applies the augmented dictionary values to respond to requests for feature data.

Generally described, computing devices and communication networks can be utilized to exchange data or information. In a common application, a computing device can request content from another computing device via the communication network. For example, a user at a personal computing device can utilize a browser application to request a content page (e.g., a network page, a Web page, etc.) or access a service from a server computing device via the network (e.g., the Internet). In such embodiments, the user computing device can be referred to as a client computing device and the server computing device can be referred to as a content provider or service provider.
In some applications, service providers can generate or receive data as part of the interaction with a plurality of user devices or other network-based devices. The service providers may wish to store and maintain the data and make the stored data accessible at a later date. In such applications, the service provider may utilize a network-based database service that can be utilized to receive data via the communication network. The network-based database service can further provide requested data via the communication network. Additionally, the network-based database service can receive commands related to utilization of stored data by other services.


Golf balls comprising elastomer compositions are presently disclosed. These elastomer compositions comprise at least one polyamine having the structure:

Golf balls can be formed from a variety of compositions. Balata, a natural or synthetic trans-polyisoprene rubber, has been used to form golf ball covers. The softness of the balata cover allows the player to achieve spin rates sufficient to more precisely control ball direction and distance, particularly on shorter shots. However, balata covers lack the durability required by the average golfer, and are easily damaged. Accordingly, alternative cover compositions have been developed in an attempt to provide balls with spin rates and a feel approaching those of balata covered balls, while also providing a golf ball with a higher durability and overall distance.
Ionomer resins (e.g., copolymers of olefin, such as ethylene, and ethylenically unsaturated carboxylic acids, such as (meth)acrylic acids, wherein the acid groups are partially or fully neutralized by metal ions) have also been used as golf ball cover materials. Ionomer covers may be virtually cut-proof, but in comparison to balata covers, they display inferior spin and feel properties.
Polyurethanes and polyureas, by providing soft "feel," have also been recognized as useful materials for golf ball covers. However, conventional polyurethane covers do not match ionomer covers with respect to resilience or rebound. Unsaturated components (such as aromatic diisocyanate, aromatic polyol, and/or aromatic polyamine) used in a polyurethane or polyurea composition may at least in part attribute to the composition's susceptibility to discoloration and degradation upon exposure to thermal and actinic radiation, such as ultraviolet (UV) light. Conventional polyurethane covers can be prone to absorption of moisture, which is another mechanism through which desirable physical properties in the cover may be compromised.
Therefore, a continuing need remains for novel material compositions usable in forming golf ball portions (e.g., covers) having desirable and/or optimal combination of feel, resilience, cut, scratch and abrasion resistance, and interlayer adheresion, and capable of enhencing overall performance characteristics of the golf balls.

Abstract: where R1 and R2 are the same or different radicals chosen from hydrogen and C1-C60 organic moieties: Z1 is chosen from halogens and C1-C60 organic radicals: and Z2, Z3 and Z4 are the same or different radicals chosen from hydrogen, halogens, and C1-C60 organic radicals. These elastomer compositions can be used in any one or more portions of the golf balls, such as inner core layer, intermediate core layer, outer core layer, intermediate layer, cover, inner cover layer, intermediate cover layer, and/or outer cover layer.