An in-plane switching liquid crystal display device including: first and second substrates; a gate line and data line arranged vertically and horizontally, respectively, on the first substrate and defining a pixel region; a thin film transistor (TFT) formed at a crossing of the gate line and the data line; common electrodes and pixel electrodes alternately disposed in the pixel region in a curvature form and generating an in-plane electric field; a common electrode connection line electrically connecting the common electrodes; a pixel electrode connection line electrically connecting pixel electrodes; a compensation electrode formed along at least one of the common electrode connection line and the pixel electrode connection line and compensating electric field; and a liquid crystal layer formed between the first and second substrates.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an in-plane liquid crystal display (LCD) having electrodes with a curvature. More particularly, the present invention relates to an in-plane LCD capable of compensating a viewing angle in all directions by disposing a plurality of pixel electrodes and common electrodes, which generate an in-plane electric field, in a circular form, and capable of enhancing light efficiency by forming a compensation electrode at a region where disclination may occur as pixel electrodes and common electrodes cross an electrode connection line formed for electrical connection therebetween at an angle smaller than a right angle.
2. Description of the Related Art
With the development of the information society, various demands for display devices are increasing, and research for flat panel display such as an LCD (Liquid Crystal Display), PDP (Plasma Display Panel), an ELD (Electro Luminescent Display), an FED (Field Emission Display), a VFD (Vacuum Fluorescent Display) is actively ongoing. Of these displays, the LCD is most spotlighted because of its implementation of high picture quality, mass-production techniques, easiness of a driving unit, light weight, thinness, and low power consumption.
A LCD is divided into a liquid crystal panel for displaying images and a driving unit for applying a drive signal to the liquid crystal panel. The liquid crystal panel is divided into first and second substrates and a liquid crystal layer inserted between the first and second substrates.
The LCD has various display modes based upon an arrangement of fine, long liquid crystal molecules. Among the display modes, a TN (Twisted Nematic) mode LCD is advantageous in that it can easily display black and white and has a quick response speed and low driving voltage. However, in the TN mode, liquid crystal molecules are vertically aligned due to a vertically applied electric field. Hence, viewing angle characteristics are not good due to the refraction index anisotropy of the liquid crystal molecules. Thus, in order to overcome the shortcomings of the TN mode, a new technique, namely, an in-plane LCD, has been proposed.
The in-plane LCD is constructed such that when a voltage is applied, a horizontal electric field (in-plane) is formed on a plane to align the liquid crystal molecules on the plane to obtain wider viewing angle characteristics compared with the existing TN mode LCD.
FIG. 1 is a plan view of a unit pixel of an in-plane LCD in accordance with the related art, and FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along line A-A′ of FIG. 1.
As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the in-plane LCD includes a data line 100 and a gate line 101 arranged on a first substrate 103 and defining a pixel region, a thin film transistor (TFT) (T) disposed at a crossing of the gate line 101 and the data line 100, and a pixel electrode 119 and a common electrode 111 formed approximately parallel to the data line 100.
The TFT (T) includes a gate electrode 110 formed on the first substrate 103 and connected with the gate line 101, a gate insulation film 113 staked on the gate electrode 110, a semiconductor layer 115 formed on the gate insulation film 113, an ohmic contact layer 116 formed on the semiconductor layer 115, and a source electrode 117 and a drain electrode 118 formed on the ohmic contact layer 116 and connected with the data line 100 and the pixel electrode 119, respectively.
The common electrode 111 is formed on the first substrate and connected with a common line 105, and the pixel electrode 119 is formed on the gate insulation film 113 and connected with the drain electrode 118 of the TFT (T).
A passivation film 120 is stacked over the entire surface of the substrate including the TFT, the pixel electrode 119 and the gate insulation film 113, on which a first alignment film (not shown) is coated and an alignment direction of the liquid crystal layer is determined. The liquid crystal molecules 102 are aligned in a rubbing direction between the common electrode 111 and the pixel electrode 119 when no voltage is applied thereto.
A light blocking layer 106 for preventing leakage of light, a color filter layer 107 consisting of R, G and B color filters, and an overcoat layer 108 are sequentially stacked on the second substrate 104 which corresponds to the first substrate 103.
The in-plane switching (IPS) LCD can be viewed at the front side in about a 70° direction up/down and leftward/rightward, obtaining a wide viewing angle compared with the existing TN mode. And, because the main viewing angle directions at different two domains formed by zigzag type electrodes are symmetrical, color shift is mutually compensated, not causing the color shift.
However, the IPS LCD has a limitation in improving the viewing angle characteristics. In other words, compared with the TN mode LCD, the two domain IPS LCD has better viewing angle characteristics and color shift characteristics. But when compared with the existing CRT, the viewing angle and color shift characteristics of the IPS LCD are still problematic.

In-plane switching liquid crystal display device


An unmanned aerial vehicle may include a fuselage and an anchor structure coupled to the fuselage and including a wing retention structure and a power module retention structure. The unmanned aerial vehicle may also include a wing releasably coupled to the wing retention structure, thereby coupling the wing to the fuselage, and a power module releasably coupled to the power module retention structure, thereby coupling the power module to the fuselage.

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are increasing in popularity for various applications. For example, UAVs are prevalent among hobbyists and enthusiasts for recreation, and are increasingly considered as viable package delivery vehicles. UAVs take many forms, such as rotorcraft (e.g., helicopters, quadrotors) as well as fixed-wing aircraft. UAVs may also be configured for different degrees of autonomy and may have varying complexity. For example, simple UAVs have only basic avionics may be controllable only by a human-operated remote control. More complex UAVs may be configured with sophisticated avionics and advanced computers, and may be configured for fully autonomous and/or semi-autonomous flight.

Unmanned aircraft system with swappable components


A method and apparatus for controlling temperature of a compressor motor (170) having a motor cooling circuit in a refrigeration system (1014) is provided. The motor cooling circuit includes a second expansion valve (1043) providing fluid communication between the condenser and the compressor motor. The compressor motor (170) is in fluid communication with the refrigeration circuit (1014) between downstream of the first expansion valve (1040) and a compressor inlet. Refrigerant is provided as a cooling fluid to the motor cooling circuit. A primary PID loop (402) and a secondary PID loop (414) are used to control the temperature and the flow of refrigerant to the motor (170).

Recent changes in compressor design have suggested a need for changes in how motor temperature is controlled. Past methods for control of motor temperature have used a Proportional Integral Derivative (PID) control system to control the system motor temperature. The traditional PID control system monitors the temperature of the motor housing to control the system motor temperature. The traditional PID control system is used to control a valve which provides a coolant into the motor to cool the motor when the temperature exceeds a preselected set point. In one system, the motor is used to operate a compressor, and the coolant is refrigerant. When the valve is an electronic expansion valve (EEV), the valve operates to expand liquid refrigerant, lowering the pressure and the temperature of the refrigerant, so that a mist enters the motor for purposes of cooling. The PID control system monitors the temperature of the motor housing to determine whether a preselected set point is reached, and signals for an opening of the valve when the set point is reached, and closes the valve, thereby restricting the flow of cooling fluid into the motor when the temperature is below the set point.
Recent advances in compressor design have resulted in larger compressors. These larger compressors have larger motors with resulting larger motor housings. The larger motors also have resulted in increased heat generated by the motors, while the additional mass that has been added to the larger motor housings has increased the heat capacity of the motor systems. In addition, some of these compressor designs have incorporated electromagnetic (EM) bearings to balance the rotor during operation, which generate additional heat within the motor housing. In some designs, the materials used for the motor housings have changed. So, in those designs in which larger cast iron motor housings have been substituted for smaller aluminum or aluminum alloy motor housings, not only has the mass of the motor housings changed, but the thermal conductivity of the housings has changed, the aluminum and aluminum alloy and copper and copper alloy motor housings having a higher thermal conductivity than the cast iron motor housings. Generally, cast iron also has a lower specific heat capacity than aluminum, by a factor of two. This means that for a system having the same material mass and the same heat input, a cast iron housing will increase in temperature at about twice the rate as an aluminum housing. Clearly, systems having larger motors, larger motor housings made from materials with lower thermal conductivity and that incorporate additional sources of heat, such as EM bearings will be less responsive to cooling based on changes in motor housing temperature. As used herein, the combination of thermal conductivity, component (motor housing) mass, specific heat capacity of the component mass and heat generated within the component is used herein to refer to the thermal inertia of the system. Recent compressor advances utilizing larger, cast iron motor housings and larger motors are defined herein as high thermal inertia systems because of their slower rate of heating and cooling, and may also include EM bearings, while prior art systems utilizing aluminum, aluminum alloy, copper or copper motor housings, smaller motors utilizing small cast iron motor housings and mechanical bearings are defined herein as low thermal inertia systems, which tend to be more responsive to cooling, when identical cooling designs are utilized in the high inertia and low inertia system. When two systems have the same mass but utilize different materials for the motor housing, such as cast iron and aluminum alloy, the aluminum alloy system, being the low thermal inertia system, will respond more quickly to temperature changes when identical cooling systems are utilized.
As motor sizes increase while more cost effective materials in the form of high thermal inertia materials are incorporated into the design, what is needed is a control scheme that is more responsive to changes in motor temperature in a system having a high thermal inertia than current control schemes used in low thermal inertia systems.

Motor housing temperature control system


A system and method for enabling a node, such as a mobile user terminal in a wireless communications network, such as an ad-hoc network, to effectively and efficiently determine a clock correction factor for its local clock relative to a local clock of at least one other node. The node calculates a difference between the timing of the local clock of the node and the local clock of the other node based on the timing of signals transmitted between the node and the other node, and information pertaining to the transmission and reception of these signals by the node and the other node as indicated by the respective local clocks of the node and the other node. The system and method further enables a plurality of nodes in an ad-hoc packet-switched communications network to calculate their respective local clock correction factors relative to the local clocks of their neighboring nodes in this manner with minimal message transmissions between the nodes, to reduce the amount of overhead in the network needed for such clock correcting operations.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a system and method for enabling a node, such as a mobile user terminal in a wireless communications network, to determine a clock correction factor for its local clock relative to a local clock of at least one other node, as well as a signal propagation time between the node and the other node, based on the timing of signals transmitted between the node and the other node, and clock information received from the other node, so that the node can use the clock correction factor when calculating its distance to the other node. More particularly, the present invention relates to a system and method for enabling nodes in an ad-hoc packet-switched communications network to calculate their respective local clock correction factors relative to the local clocks of their neighboring nodes with minimal message transmissions between the nodes, to reduce the amount of overhead in the network needed for such clock correcting operations.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, a type of mobile communications network known as an "ad-hoc" network has been developed for use by the military. In this type of network, each user terminal (hereinafter "mobile node") is capable of operating as a base station or router for the other mobile nodes, thus eliminating the need for a fixed infrastructure of base stations. Accordingly, data packets being sent from a source mobile node to a destination mobile node are typically routed through a number of intermediate mobile nodes before reaching the destination mobile node. Details of an ad-hoc network are set forth in U.S. Pat. No. 5,943,322 to Mayor, the entire content of which is incorporated herein by reference.
More sophisticated ad-hoc networks are also being developed which, in addition to enabling mobile nodes to communicate with each other as in a conventional ad-hoc network, further enable the mobile nodes to access a fixed network and thus communicate with other mobile nodes, such as those on the public switched telephone network (PSTN), and on other networks such as the Internet. Details of these advanced types of ad-hoc networks are described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,072,650 entitled "Ad Hoc Peer-to-Peer Mobile Radio Access System Interfaced to the PSTN and Cellular Networks", issued on Jul. 4, 2006, in U.S. Pat. No. 6,807,165 entitled "Time Division Protocol for an Ad-Hoc, Peer-to-Peer Radio Network Having Coordinating Channel Access to Shared Parallel Data Channels with Separate Reservation Channel", issued on Oct. 19, 2004, and in U.S. Pat. No. 6,873,839 entitled "Prioritized-Routing for an Ad-Hoc, Peer-to-Peer, Mobile Radio Access System", issued on Mar. 29, 2005, the entire content of each being incorporated herein by reference.
In ad-hoc wireless communications networks, it may be necessary or desirable for a mobile node to be capable of knowing or determining its geographic location. Some techniques determine the location of a mobile node based on the distances of the mobile node to other nodes in the network. These distances can be computed based on the propagation times of radio signals from the node to the other nodes. However, since each mobile node has a local clock that is not necessarily in synchronization with the local clocks running on other nodes in the network, the propagation times for signals propagating between the node and the other nodes cannot typically be measured directly.
Furthermore, in these types of ad-hoc networks, the nodes can communicate data packets with each other in a time division multiple access (TDMA) manner. Specifically, the nodes can transmit data packets during intervals referred to as time slices, which can be grouped in time frames as can be appreciated by one skilled in the art. However, differences in the local clock times of neighboring nodes can result in multiple nodes attempting to transmit data packets during the same time slice, which can result in collisions between the data packets and thus, data packets can possibly be lost. Also, although the local clocks of certain nodes may at one time be synchronized, a phenomenon known as clock drift can occur which can cause the local clock of a node to become unsynchronized with the local clocks of neighboring nodes.
For the reasons discussed above, it is therefore desirable for the local clocks of neighboring nodes in a network to know the amount by which the timing of their clocks differ each other, so that the nodes can apply the appropriate clock correction when determining the signal propagation times. However, in a large network having many nodes, it can be burdensome from both a time and bandwidth resource standpoint for a node to determine the appropriate clock corrections relative to the local clocks of all of its neighboring nodes.
Accordingly, a need exists for a system and method which enables a node in a communications network to determine the clock corrections for its local clock relative to the local clocks of all of its neighboring nodes without unduly burdening the network.

System and method for computing the signal propagation time and the clock correction for mobile stations in a wireless network


A signature transport device is provided. The signature transport device includes a saddle conveyor for transporting signatures, an escalator tucker for lifting the signatures off the saddle conveyor and a linear gripper conveyor located adjacent to the escalator tucker and having a plurality of grippers for gripping the signatures. The linear gripper conveyor has a velocity component that is equal to or greater than a velocity component of the escalator tucker when the signatures are gripped from the escalator tucker. A method for transporting signatures is also provided.

The present invention relates generally to printing presses and more particularly to grippers and saddle binders.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,482,141 discloses a method and device for conveying signatures from a blade chain conveyor supporting the signatures directly at a fold line. The signatures are gripped from above by orbitally-rotating clamping pads, which then transfer the signatures to a belt conveyor perpendicular to the blade chain conveyor.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,740,900, hereby incorporated by reference herein, discloses an apparatus for splitting an initial product stream comprising a single conveying belt having a plurality of grippers traveling along a single conveyor path. At least one of the grippers is capable of rotating a held product from one side of the belt to the other side, so as to create a secondary product stream.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,213,280, hereby incorporated by reference herein, discloses a compact gripper having both a high gripper force and a large gripper jaw travel. The gripper includes stationary gripper member and a movably mounted gripper member being relatively movable toward said stationary gripper member.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,612,559 discloses a conveying device in which printed products are safely guided in the area of the intermediate conveying device and which makes it possible to connect two chain conveyors such that they have different conveying directions. Printed products are no longer pushed by followers between two chain conveyors but are gripped and guided by grippers and in this way transported from the first chain conveyor to the second chain conveyor.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,192,027, hereby incorporated by reference herein, discloses a device permitting removal of signatures from a saddle conveyor. A signature transport device includes a first conveyor for moving a plurality of folded signatures in a first direction, and a second conveyor including a first blade having a first edge parallel to the first direction for lifting a first signature of the plurality of signatures from the first conveyor.


A mosquito destroyer including a container, an isolating mesh and a mesh tray, in which the container contains a predetermined amount of water. The isolating mesh is tightly connected with an open end of the container and a frame body is associated with the isolating mesh at the center thereof. The mesh tray is placed in the frame body and floats on the water surface. The female mosquito is induced to lay eggs on the mesh tray. After the eggs become larvas, the larvas will swim into the isolating mesh to grow up. After the larvas become mosquitoes, the mosquitoes are isolated by the isolating mesh and cannot fly out to sting humans and will die in the container.

The present invention relates to a mosquito destroyer in which by utilizing the natures of the mosquitoes, the mosquitoes will naturally die at a fixed position.
With respect to the conventional mosquito destroyer or mosquito expellant such as vapor mat and electric vapor mat will radiate specific smell to kill the mosquitoes. A high voltage mosquito destroyer employs light for attracting mosquitoes and kills the mosquitoes with high voltage through a conducting body disposed around the light. Another type of mosquito expellant liquid or sonic mosquito expellant employs a liquid sprayed on the human body or sonic waves to expel mosquitoes. However, such measures can only expel the mosquitoes from human body or a certain area, while failing to effectively destroy the mosquitoes. Moreover, the mosquitoes are propagated very quickly, while the amount of killed mosquitoes is quite limited. Therefore, it is still impossible to completely destroy the mosquitoes.


The present film-former composition comprises (a) an organosilazane copolymer having a perfluoroalkyl group-containing structural unit and a methacryloyloxy group-containing structural unit, (b) a photosensitizer soluble in an organic solvent, and (c) an organic solvent. The composition is cured by irradiation with ultraviolet light for a short period of time to form a film excellent in water repellency, oil repellency, and hardness.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a composition which will form a cured film by ultraviolet light.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Release agent compositions containing as a major component an organosilazane polymer (Japanese Preexamination Patent Publication (kokai) Nos. 60-145815 (1985) and 60-221470 (1985)) are known to form a water repellent cured film.
However, to cure satisfactorily the above release agent composition, generally requires a long time. Further, since the thus obtained cured film is soft, the durability against abrasion is low. Moreover, when said cured film is used for a long period of time, the water repellency of the cured film lowers finally and the oil repellency of the cured film is low.


Surgical forceps which are configured having oppositely disposed tissue grasping surfaces at the tip regions of corresponding tines. An electrically insulative spacer assembly is positioned on and supported from at least one of the tissue grasping surfaces to space the tissue contacting surfaces apart an optimized distance, T, when the tines are in a substantially closed orientation. A preferred, strip form of spacer assembly formed of an electrically insulative material is employed and improved current paths are defined between the grasping surfaces to derive an efficient and effective hemostasis substantially without sticking of tissue to the surfaces. The geometric configuration of the spacer regions functions to enhance cleanability of the forceps and the tines of the forceps additionally are formed with side and nose surfaces at the tip regions having effective side surface current delivery areas improving forceps performance when used in a coagulative painting modality.

Surgical procedures necessarily involve the transection of vessels as surgeons seek to explore, remove, or repair tissue defined systems. Transection is carried out with a variety of cutting instruments ranging from a cold scalpel to electrosurgical devices. As such vessels are cut, it generally is necessary to accommodate bleeding by microsurgical or similar approaches, or where smaller vessels are encountered, by a sealing and congealing procedure. This latter procedure typically is carried out by heating the involved tissue and fluids through the application of electrical current at RF frequencies developed by an electrosurgical generator. Effective sealing of smaller vessels is important to surgical procedures, inasmuch as even a small blood flow not only can obscure the surgeon's field of view, but also may accumulate with the risk of hematoma or significant blood loss.
While a variety of electrosurgical instruments have been developed to achieve hemostasis, many are of marginal effectiveness for certain surgical tasks, particularly those involving small vessels and small, highly localized tissue regions of interest. To carry out such somewhat delicate surgical procedures requisite to such regions, practitioners typically employ forceps, instruments of common utility which, in effect, represent a thin extension of the thumb and forefinger function of the surgeon. Forceps generally serve to provide a tissue or vessel grasping function, having working ends or tip portions which may be of diminutive dimension enabling the surgeon to locate and grasp small vessels which have a tendency to retract into tissue following their being cut. By applying bipolar, RF current from a noted electrosurgical generator across the outer working end tips of the forceps, a sealing or congealing of tissue or vessels can be achieved without substantial risk to adjacent tissue. In effect, the well defined tips of the bipolar forceps provide a more precise attainment of hemostasis.
Another surgical application for bipolar forceps has been referred to as "coagulative painting" where typically, the side surfaces of the electrically active tip regions of the forceps' tines are drawn over the surface of membranous tissue such as the mesentery. Done properly, this action congeals the small, microvessels within such thin tissues.
Electrosurgically driven forceps heretofore made available to surgeons, however, have exhibited operational drawbacks, which, in turn, have compromised their surgical effectiveness. To effectively carry out hemostasis, the electrically operative tips of the forceps should efficiently conduct a proper current flow through the tissue grasped. When that current is insufficient, coagulation of the tissue or vessel is compromised. When the current is excessive, correspondingly excessive heating occurs with a potential for the generation of damaging electrical arcing. Excessive heating also results in the phenomenon of tissue and blood coagulum sticking to the surface of the instrument. This results in the development of a layer of increased electrical impedance between the electrodes of the instrument and that tissue which may subsequently be grasped for the purpose of treatment. Additionally, such sticking tissue evokes a disruption of the coagulated surface which, in itself, may compromise the intended hemostatic effect. Consequently, bipolar forceps designs have been seen to incorporate highly polished electrode surfaces for the purpose of reducing the extent of tissue sticking as well as to facilitate their cleaning when sticking does occur. Unfortunately, when such modification of the forceps is carried out, the original grasping function of the forceps is substantially compromised.
Another problem encountered with the use of bipolar forceps of conventional design has been associated with their use in conjunction with thin tissue. As such tissue is grasped between the opposed bipolar electrodes of the instruments, only a low tissue related impedance is witnessed by the electrosurgical generator associated with the instrument, which conventionally reacts to decrease its output toward zero as tissue impedance approaches a zero value.
Use of the bipolar forceps also becomes problematic in conjunction with the noted "coagulative painting" procedure where the side surfaces of the instrument are drawn across the surface of membranous tissue. The electrical model involved in this procedure is one wherein current is caused to flow from the side surface of one tine, thence across a thin layer of tissue to the oppositely disposed spaced apart electrically operant tine. This calls for maintenance of the spacing between the two tines to avoid short circuiting the system and for a control over what is, in effect, a moving line source of heat applied to the affected tissue. Very often, a misjudgment may lead to the tearing of tissue in the procedure. Of course, it also is necessary for the surgeon to maintain a spacing between tine electrodes of the instrument to achieve requisite performance.
Approaches to minimizing the phenomenon of tissue sticking to the operative tips of bipolar forceps have been advanced by the medical instrument industry. For example, designs have propounded the use of forceps' legs having cross-sectional areas and which exhibit conductivity sufficiently high to maintain electrically operative portions for the instruments below threshold temperatures considered to evoke tissue sticking. Similarly, the temperature of the grasping tips of the forceps has been reduced by enlarging the cross-sectional radii of the forceps sufficiently to maintain current density and resultant tissue heating below the threshold temperature evoking sticking. See in this regard, U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,685,518; 4,492,231; and 5,196,009. However, the election of a large cross-sectional area at the grasping tips of the forceps for purposes of heat conduction compromises the basically sought precision of the forceps type instrument with respect to grasping and localized coagulation of smaller blood vessels, e.g. vessels smaller than about 1 mm in diameter.
An approach to limiting the heating of the tissue or vessel being coagulated with bipolar forceps has been to utilize a layer of a ceramic material having a thermal conductivity much lower than that of the metal used in the structure of the forceps. U.S. Pat. No. 5,151,102 describes such an arrangement wherein a plurality of silver filled epoxy electrodes are embedded within the ceramic coatings. However, Joulean heating with bipolar systems occurs within the tissue which, for such arrangements, has no effective pathway through which to dissipate, resulting in an enhancement of the sticking problem which now occurs at the ceramic layer.
To regain the originally desired grasping feature of forceps, the utilization of a roughened or tooth-like surface in conjunction with the electrically operative ends of the forceps has been proposed as represented in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,330,471 and 5,391,166. By disposing a layer of insulation on the teeth of one or both of the grasping surfaces, electrical current only passes along the sides of the electrode surfaces which are outwardly disposed from the grasping surfaces. Thus, the utility of the forceps is compromised to the extent that only thicker tissues can be grasped and coagulated efficiently. In general, serrated or multi-pyramidally configured grasping surfaces prove difficult to clean during surgery due to the recesses and grooves which tend to trap tissue debris and coagulum.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,403,312 describes a combination of an electrosurgical forceps form of instrument which additionally carries out a stapling function. Intended for the grasping of thicker tissue components, the device described employs operative forceps tips with mutually offset or staggered electrode regions suitable for more extended thickness' of tissue as opposed to thin tissue. By mounting the electrode regions within a plastic support member, an otherwise desired feature for heat removal is compromised permitting the electrodes to reach temperatures during tissue coagulation that can exceed sticking threshold temperatures with the noted undesirable cleaning requirements.
Some investigators have proposed the utilization of temperature sensors such as thermocouples which are incorporated within the bipolar forceps instruments. Propounded in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,443,463; 4,938,761; and 5,540,684, the approach requires that a special control system be provided which precludes the utilization of the ubiquitous conventional electrosurgical generator currently available in operating theaters throughout the world. Further, the otherwise simple construction of the forceps must be abandoned to a less desirable, highly complex instrumentation with such an approach.


The crystal oscillator device includes an air-tight case (1) forming a vacuum chamber (23), a piezoelectric resonator element (11), oscillation circuitry, a temperature sensor, and a heating unit implemented in an integrated-circuit (IC) chip (13) with an active surface (13a). The piezoelectric resonator element (11) and the oscillation circuitry are connected together to form an oscillation circuit. Furthermore, the temperature sensor and the heating unit are enclosed in the vacuum chamber (23) with the piezoelectric resonator element (11).

Small-sized crystal oscillator devices are most often used for making reference frequency generators in particular for electronic equipment, in numerous fields such as horology, information technology, telecommunications, GPS, and the medical field.
Small-sized crystal oscillator devices are often (but not necessarily) SMDs (Surface Mounted Devices). A small-sized surface-mount crystal oscillator device is known, which comprises a container for surface mounting, a piezoelectric resonator element (the crystal), and an integrated circuit chip (IC chip) connected to the piezoelectric resonator element so as to form an oscillation circuit. The IC chip and the piezoelectric resonator element are both arranged inside a hermetically sealed cavity of the container.
The resonator frequency output signal from a crystal oscillator device will generally change as the temperature of the oscillator changes. Various methods are known to neutralize this effect caused by changes in the ambient temperature. For example, crystal oscillator devices are known that comprise an oven for heating the oscillation circuitry and/or the piezoelectric resonator element.
Oven Controlled Crystal Oscillators (OCXO) usually contain a heater and a temperature sensor along with a heating control circuit to control the heater. The heating control circuit controls the power supplied to the heater as a function of ambient temperature. The amount of power supplied changes with ambient temperature, in such a way as to hold the crystal and other critical circuitry at a predetermined constant temperature. This predetermined temperature is usually chosen to be about 10 degrees above the highest expected ambient temperature.
The resonator frequency of a piezoelectric resonator element can generally be approximated by one of either a square or a cubic function of temperature. There is usually at least one stationary point on the curve where the slope of frequency versus temperature is zero. The piezoelectric resonator element should be chosen so that a stationary point coincides with the desired constant temperature of the oven. In this way, inevitable temperature cycling around the predetermined oven temperature will have only a marginal effect on the frequency stability.
In an OCXO, the piezoelectric resonator element is usually enclosed in a case and the entire case is covered by a heater. Such an oven controlled oscillator device has excellent temperature characteristics. However, it also has the disadvantage of large power consumption and long warm-up time. Patent document U.S. Pat. No. 5,917,272 discloses a crystal oscillator device with reduced power consumption. The oscillator device comprises a piezoelectric resonator element mounted in a thermal conductive manner over a heat conductive substrate by means of highly heat conducting support clips. As the support clips are electrically conductive, they also serve to electrically connect the piezoelectric resonator to conducting paths on the surface of the substrate. The heat conductive substrate also carries a heating device, a control circuit and a temperature sensor. The substrate, itself, is mounted in a heat insulating manner inside an airtight package, by means of thermal insulating posts. Electrical leads are further arranged inside the package to connect the substrate to connecting pads which in turn are connected to the exterior. The electrical leads are made of very fine wires in order to limit heat conduction. As the substrate carrying the heating device and the piezoelectric resonator element is reasonably well insulated from the walls of the airtight package, heat dissipation is greatly reduced.
However, such prior art crystal oscillator devices have some problems. Indeed, when the ambient temperature changes, the temperature of the outer surfaces of the device also changes. As the device is at least partially packaged in heat conductive material, the ambient temperature change propagates inwards. As the piezoelectric element lies directly under the cover, a certain amount of heat is susceptible to radiate from the cover to the crystal element or vice versa. Furthermore, the oscillation circuitry is provided outside the package. Therefore, ambient temperature changes can be transmitted to the piezoelectric resonator unit, by heat conduction, through the oscillation circuitry, the electrical leads, and finally the support clips.
Ambient temperature changes must first reach the temperature sensor mounted on the substrate before the control circuit can activate the heater. Since the piezoelectric resonator unit is spaced from the temperature sensor, the rate of temperature change in the two units is different. This can lead to a delay before the temperature control circuit reacts. Furthermore, once the temperature control has reacted, it takes time for the heat produced by the heater to reach the piezoelectric resonator unit. It follows that there is a risk that the temperature of the piezoelectric resonator unit will deviate substantially from the set-point temperature of the device. Therefore, a really stable oscillation can not be guaranteed.

Oscillator device comprising a thermally-controlled piezoelectric resonator

Abstract: The piezoelectric resonator element is attached in a heat conductive manner to the active surface (13a) of the integrated-circuit chip (13) in such a way that the IC chip provides mechanical support for the piezoelectric resonator element.


The present invention relates to a metal-organic framework composition, as well as constructs and methods thereof. In one particular example, the composition provides a platform having an emission signal in the deep red to near-infrared (NIR) region.

Biodistribution studies provide useful insight into the mechanism of delivery of therapeutic vehicles. Such studies generally employ bioimaging dyes. For deep tissue imaging, certain detection wavelengths are desired, e.g., the deep red to near-infrared (NIR) spectral region to avoid background autofluorescence from tissue and other biological components.
Identifying useful imaging dyes in the deep red to NIR region remain a challenge. Ideally, such dyes would have extended lifetimes to allow for long-term in vivo studies. Furthermore, the dyes should be minimally toxic for such animal studies. Thus, there is a need for additional materials having such characteristics.

Tunable metal-organic framework compositions and methods thereof

National Technology & Engineering Solutions of Sandia, LLC


Described herein are devices and methods useful in automating ultrasound imaging. The device include a base coupled with soft robotics, which may be attached to an ultrasound transducer probe in order to robotically manipulate the probe to perform an ultrasound scan. The device has an adjustable structure configured to hold the probe on a walking soft robot. The device can be configured to be attached to, or worn by, the patient. With soft robotic actuation and locomotion, the holder can move and position the probe during a real time ultrasound scanning procedure. Furthermore, the holder may be equipped with sensors to sense and map pressure and location. The position of the holder can be robotically monitored and controlled so as to achieve consistency and reproducibility between ultrasound scans. Due to the wearable nature of the holder, the scans may be conducted while the patient is in motion, thereby providing a portable solution for ultrasonic imaging. The holder is cost effective and may be used in conjunction with various ultrasound probes.

Ultrasound imaging is a routine method for probing the human body and for use in various diagnostic tests. Generally, an ultrasound transducer is manually placed onto the body by a technician (a sonographer) and an image is viewed in real time on a monitor (FIGS. 1A-1B). After viewing the image, the technician then moves the probe to obtain a desired image scan. Due to its manual nature, the output of an ultrasound procedure is highly dependent on the experience and capability of the technician performing the procedure. The results from an ultrasound procedure are not always reproducible between different technicians or scans. Furthermore, the manual process can be tiring for the technician and can cause musculoskeletal disorders due to sustained forces applied in unnatural positions. Thus, a need exists for an ultrasound device that can automate the process of performing ultrasound imaging in order to achieve uniform, consistent, and reproducible ultrasound images.


A developing apparatus that develops an electrostatic latent image on an image supporting body using developer including toner and carrier includes a circulation path where the developer circulates, a discharge path connected to the circulation path through which some of the developer passes, and a first recycle path connected to the discharge path and allowing some of the developer flowing into the discharge path to return to the circulation path. The discharge path includes a discharge opening for discharging the developer flowing into the discharge path, and a first return opening for connecting to the first recycle path. The first return opening is located on an upper side in a vertical direction with respect to the discharge opening and located on an upstream side in a pass-through direction of the developer flowing into the discharge path.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a developing apparatus and an image forming apparatus and more particularly to a developing apparatus that develops an electrostatic latent image on an image supporting body, using developer including toner and carrier, and an image forming apparatus including the developing apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, for a developing apparatus mounted on an image forming apparatus of an electrophotographic system, there is known a developing apparatus that develops an electrostatic latent image formed on a photoconductor, using two-component developer including carrier and toner. In recent years, there has been proposed a developing apparatus of a system called a trickle system in which developer including toner in which a small amount of carrier is mixed is replenished in a developing bath according to the amount of toner consumed, and a certain amount of developer accumulated in the developing bath is discharged.
Meanwhile, to discharge a certain amount of developer, in the developing apparatus of the trickle system, like a developing apparatus described in JP 2010-217501 A, a discharge path where a certain amount of developer is discharged is provided and a discharge opening for discharging the certain amount of developer is provided in the discharge path. However, when the developing apparatus is tilted more than expected and accordingly excess developer flows into the discharge path, even essentially necessary developer is discharged through the discharge opening. As a result, there are problems such as the occurrence of uneven density in a developed image.

Developing apparatus having recycling paths for recycling of toner and image forming apparatus including the same


The invention provides an animal house comprising an impermeable hollow-moulded structure 210 having at least one convex surface 219. The structure comprises a first flat surface 214 extending in a first direction and a second flat surface 213 extending in a second direction. The convex surface 219 connects the first flat surface 214 to the second flat surface 213. The structure 210 further comprises a rib 230 defining a sharp edge. The rib 320 is configured to be releasably attached proximate to or on the convex surface 219 such that the rib 230 diverts a liquid flowing over the convex surface 219 away from the structure 210. The invention also provides an impermeable hollow-moulded panel 810 with protruding ridges 800, 801 to prevent water ingress.

One example of an animal house is a hen house, which is used to keep chickens and other types of poultry. These hen houses serve to shelter chickens at night. They provide protection for both the chickens and their eggs from predators such as foxes, as well as shelter from any inclement weather.
It is known to use plastic panels to make up such animal houses. These panels may be made by hollow-moulding processes, such as blow-moulding, injection blow-moulding, injection stretch blow-moulding, and rotational-moulding. The panels of the structure are fitted together by various fastening means to form the walls and a roof of the animal house.
There are various limitations and problems with using hollow-moulded panels for the walls and roof of an animal house.
One main limitation is related to the shapes that can be produced. For example, when blow-moulding a large component, the radius of curvature achievable on the edges has a minimum limit in relation to the distance of those edges as a function of the tool geometry. In some cases, this prevents the formation of sharp edges. This is due to the minimum wall thickness required in order to ensure the blow-moulded component has sufficient structural integrity. It is also desirable to maintain a consistent thickness of plastic throughout the part to help maintain its strength, ensure the part is moulded reliably and to keep material usage to a minimum. The tooling is therefore designed to allow the plastic to stretch in a consistent manner over the whole part.
During the blow-moulding process, a malleable/fluid plastic body is inserted into a mould. A pressurized gas is applied at the inlet of the body and the body is stretched and forced against the inside walls of the mould by the gas. The mould is cooled and then removed. The resulting plastic body has an outer shape which mimics the inner shape of the mould, and an inner shape defining a hollow cavity. The wall thickness of the plastic body varies depending on local topography of the mould. For example, at sharp edges or corners, the walls of the plastic body are thinner. The walls of the plastic body may also be thinner the further they are from the gas inlet or centreline. Sharp edges and corners of the plastic body that are distal to the gas inlet may be particularly thin. Thin walls are often undesirable as they can easily be broken and reduce the quality and reliability of the final product.
In order to avoid thin regions of the plastic body, moulds without sharp corners or edges can be used. Alternatively, moulds with sharp edges can be used, but the gas pressure can be adjusted so that the plastic body is not forced completely into any corners or edges. Both of these solutions provide hollow-moulded plastic bodies with rounded edges and corners having a larger radius of curvature than that achievable by other plastic forming methods, such as injection-moulding.
Hen houses which comprise hollow-moulded plastic boards can have problems with remaining water-tight. The panels may be assembled to leave small gaps between adjacent panels to allow for manufacturing tolerances, and to allow for ease of assembly. These small gaps may allow water ingress, either through capillary action, or by wind action. One problem that results from the lack of sharp edges of hollow-moulded panels is that water can track along rounded convex edges and into the animal house through the small gaps. In particularly heavy rainfall, a large amount of water may end up flowing down the outside of the hen house. This may then stay attached to the outside surface even at the rounded edge due to the Coand{hacek over (a)} effect. The water may then track around the rounded edge and inside the hen house. This problem is not prevalent with wooden structures which can absorb water to a certain extent, or plastic structures with sharp edges.
The present invention has been devised with the foregoing in mind.


System and method for filtering and sorting data. The system includes data management system for displaying a data table having a plurality of rows and columns of data cells. Each of the columns in the data table has an associated filter cell whereby the user may input filter criteria. In response to receiving the filter criteria in the filter cells, a data management system filters and sorts each of the data cells in the data table. In one embodiment of the invention, the data management system records the order in which the user inputs the filter criteria and generates a sorting priority list that defines a sorting priority for the data cells. The data management system sorts the data cells using the sorting priority list. Furthermore, in one embodiment of the invention, the data management system displays the data cells that satisfy the filter criteria contiguously and interleaved between those data cells that do not satisfy the filter criteria.

1. Field of the Invention
The field of the invention relates to database systems. More particularly, the field of the invention relates to a system and method of filtering, sorting, and displaying data that is managed by a database system.
2. Description of the Related Technology
A graphical user interface program, such as a spreadsheet, is often used to display and manipulate data that is managed by a database. To organize the data, the spreadsheet typically displays to the user a data table that includes a plurality of rows and columns of data cells, each of the data cells displaying certain data items from the database.
Although a number of spreadsheet programs for various applications are in commercial use, these programs are limited in that they do not readily allow an unsophisticated user to filter and sort multiple columns of data cells in a data table.
For example, although many spreadsheet programs allow a user to filter data, they require the user to input a complicated set of instructions using "pull down" menu commands. A pull down menu command is a feature that can be selected from a menu bar that is displayed at the top of a screen by the spreadsheet programs. The menu bar contains various commands that may be selected by a user via the keyboard or mouse.
Furthermore, these spreadsheet programs do not dynamically respond to input filter criteria as it is typed by the user. For example, in known systems, a user is required to input the filter criteria in a filter criteria window that is separate from the data table. For example, assume a user is using the spreadsheet program to manage personnel data, and the user desires to find the record for Sarah Shievelniche. In this example, the user would be required to open the spreadsheet's filter window, and type in the name of the individual they were looking for, i.e., Sarah Shievelniche. If the user typed in her name incorrectly, the user would need to return to the filter menu and try different filter criteria. Such a process is time consuming since the user continually needs to re-request the spreadsheet program to display the filter criteria window to input new filter criteria.
Another disadvantage of known spreadsheet programs is that they do not display the data that satisfies the search criteria in the context of the data that does not satisfy the search criteria. Often, despite errors in entering filter criteria the desired information would be seen if the user was allowed to see the data cells that do not satisfy the search criteria. For example, using the above example, if the user entered the filter criteria "Sheivelniche", the spreadsheet program would not find Sarah Shievelniche because the user had incorrectly typed her last name, i.e., the letter "i" and the letter "e" were reversed. However, if the spreadsheet program had displayed the data for those users having names close to the misspelled name, it is likely that the user could readily find the desired information despite his error.
Thus, there is a need for a system and method for easily filtering multiple columns of data grids. The system and method should automatically filter and sort the data cells in dynamic response to receiving filter criteria. Furthermore, if desired, the system should allow the user to see those data cells that satisfy the filter criteria in the context of those data cells that do not satisfy the filter criteria.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


An electronic control power steering having a control unit for electronic control includes a tilt sensor that detects a tilt angle of a steering column, and a logic, provided in the control unit, that adjusts a power assist for steering according to signals received from the tilt sensor.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a power steering, and particularly to an electronic control power steering including a control unit for electronic control, and more particularly to an electronic control power steering having different power-assist for steering according to a tilt angle of a steering column.
2. Description of the Related Art
A power steering is broadly used as a system capable of providing power assist for steering to the driver so as to be able to turn a vehicle with a weak hand-operated force of a steering wheel. Here, there are two modes according to a power source, one for a hydraulic pump mode and the other for an electric motor mode. In particular, the power steering controlled electronically and automatically is called an electronic control power steering.
As the conventional electronic control power steering, one example of the electric motor mode is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,810,111, and one example of the hydraulic pump mode is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,499,557.
The control unit included in the conventional electronic control power steering has logic capable of sensing a vehicular speed from a signal of a vehicular speed sensor and then controlling power assist for steering according to the sensed result. Thus, the control unit is generally a speed sensitive typed one providing the power assist for steering at a low speed. The conventional power steering is simply capable of controlling the power assist for steering according to the speed in this manner, but not controlling the power assist for steering according to a condition of driver's body.
Meanwhile, the steering column is generally provided with a tilt system so that the driver can adjust a location of the steering wheel according to a condition of his/her own body. One example of the tilt system is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,637,284.

Electronic control power steering considering tilt position of steering column


New high molecular weight salts of hyaluronic acid, especially salts having as a counterion a natural amino acid are described. They are prepared starting from high molecular weight hyaluronic acid or its salts. These high molecular weight salts of hyaluronic acid are advantageously employed in cosmetic and pharmaceutical uses.

The present invention relates to new derivatives of hyaluronic acid, a process for their preparation and the cosmetic or pharmaceutical compositions containing such products.
Hyaluronic acid is a mucopolysaccharide that is present almost in each part of a living organism and in particular in the skin. Chemically, hyaluronic acid is formed by straight polymer chains having a molecular weight ranging from hundreds thousand to millions dalton, including repeated disaccharid units constituted by N-acetyl glucosamine and glucoronic acid bound to each other by glucosidic bonds. Hyaluronic acid has the capacity of binding high amounts of water coming from the capillary network, necessary to keep in a solution form the catabolites, electrolytes and gases that spread from the capillaries to the cells and vice-versa, through the interstitial fluid. This phenomenon is of the essential to maintain the skin elastic and in a gelatinous physical condition. Hence, hyaluronic acid has a basic role in the control of the diffusion of nutrients, hormones, vitamins and inorganic salts of the connective tissue and in the removal of metabolism wastes which may give rise to reactions of an inflammatory type. As age increases, the amount of hyaluronic acid present in the organism decreases as well as its polymerization level, which results in a reduction in retained water, the skin shows alterations of its physical condition and undergoes an aging process that causes an increase in the fibrous part with respect to the elastic one.
There are at present known cosmetic preparations that are mainly used as moisturizers or age retarding preparations, based on low molecular weight hyaluronic inorganic salts. Such preparations have the drawback of utilizing low molecular weight hyaluronic acid, which is much less effective compared to high molecular weight hyaluronic acid. On the other hand, high molecular weight hyaluronic acid is scarcely soluble, which creates severe technical problems in the preparation of cosmetic and pharmaceutical formulations. As a consequence, the need is still felt of providing derivatives of hyaluronic acid having a high effectiveness in the cosmetic and pharmaceutical field, and having also chemical-physical characteristics such as to allow their use in different types of formulations. The present invention relating to high molecular weight new derivatives of hyaluronic acid solves these problems.
From one of these aspects, the present invention relates to new salts between high molecular weight hyaluronic acid and at least one natural amino acid. Preferred salts are those wherein the amino acid is selected from among lysine, arginine, methionine or aspartic acid. Particularly advantageous is lysine yaluronate which we gave the invention name Yalyse and which will be indicated in the future by the mark xe2x80x9cYALYSExe2x80x9d.
By the expression xe2x80x9chigh molecular weight hyaluronic acidxe2x80x9d, there is intended to indicate a hyaluronic acid having a molecular weight comprised between 1.5 and 3 million dalton.
The use of these new derivatives of hyaluronic acid in the cosmetic and pharmaceutical field provides remarkable advantages with respect to the known art. First of all, high molecular weight hyaluronic acid has the capacity of binding water amounts much higher than low molecular weight hyaluronic acid, promoting thereby a better diffusion of the dissolved substances and a greater elasticity of the skin. Besides this, the compounds of the present invention are constituted by hyaluronic acid salts with a counterion that can exercise a synergetic action with the yaluronate. In fact, as is known, amino acids carry out an essential role in the formation of special substances of skin physiology, such as melanin and keratin.
Of particular importance is lysine, which is basic in the biosynthesis of melanin, as well as the collagen of elastin and reticulin which are the main proteic skin components. The derivatives of the present invention are therefore capable of markedly reducing skin aging through an increase moisturizing of the dermis, a promoted cellular recycling and a stimulation of the synthesis of elastin as well as of free radicals.
From another of its aspects, the present invention relates to a process for the preparation of salts selected from among hyaluronic acid and at least a natural amino acid, characterized in that hyaluronic acid or a salt thereof is caused to react with at least a natural amino acid, in the form of a free base or in a salified form, respectively.
According to an advantageous aspect, the present invention relates to a process for the preparation of lysine hyaluronate, characterized in that sodium hyaluronate is reacted with lysine hydrochloride. Preferably, such reaction is carried out by suspending sodium hyaluronate in water and stirring until it gels before adding lysine hydrochloride.
The preparation reactions of the salts subject matter of the present patent application may be carried out using a stochiometric amount of the reagents or an excess of either component, in which latter case one obtains the salt and an excess reagent co-ordination through hydrogen bonds. By the expression xe2x80x9cstochiometric amounts of the reagentsxe2x80x9d there is intended to indicate that the number of amino acid moles used is equal to the number of the carboxy functions that are present in hyaluronic acid.
The possibility of varying the ratio of acid moles to amino acid moles allows to modulate the characteristics of the products obtainable as a function of the desired properties.
Organic molecules of various type may be coordinated to the products obtained according to the aforesaid processes by means of hydrogen bonds.
This allows to obtain end products having variable chemical-physical and pharmacological properties.
From another of its aspects, the present invention relates to the use of new high molecular weight hyaluronic acid salts in the cosmetic field.
From a further aspects the present invention relates to the use of the new high molecular weight hyaluronic acid salts as medicaments.
The active principles of the present invention are adapt to be formulated with suitable excipients, for instance those usually utilized is the cosmetic field, such as bee-wax, jujube oil, isostearyl isostearate, fatty acid, triglycerides, propylen glycol, lauryl alcohol, and hydroxypropylmethyl cellulose. Stabilizers, antioxidants, and preservatives, either individually or combined with each other, may be added to these active principles. Suitable stabilizers include Acepur K, Abiol, Prevan, Fondix G, BHA, BHT. Suitable antioxidants include butylhydroxyanisole, citric acid, tocopherol, sodium thiophosphate. Suitable preservatives include p-hydroxybenzoic acid esters or imidazolidinyl urea.
A preferred composition of the invention is in the one that comes in the form of an emulsion. Emulsions containing 1% to 5% lysine hyaluronate (Yalyse) are particularly preferred. Such compositions, either in the pure form or in the form of lyophilized sheets, are used in the treatment of burn wounds, decubitus ulcers, venous ulcers, and in all cicatrization processes. They may be also advantageously used in aesthetic surgery, especially following epidermis abrasion laser therapy interventions, in order to achieve a quicker and optimum re-epithelization.
Another preferred composition of the present invention in the one that comes in the form of a lotion. Particularly advantageous are the lotions comprising 1 % to 7% arginine hyaluronate, possibly mixed with glycolic acid and carrier substances and suitable excipients compatible with the type of utilization desired. Such lotions may be employed in alopecia cases due to excess sebum production, in allergy-based scalp hyperkeratoses, and in dandruff persistent cases.
A further type of preferred composition of the present invention is the one that comes in the form of a cream. Particularly advantageous are creams based on 1% to 7% lysine hyaluronate (Yalyse), possibly mixed with one or more substances selected from among vitamin A, vitamin E, ascorbic acid, cogic acid, allantoin, echinaceous calendula, xe2x80x9ccentellaxe2x80x9d, horsetail, persea, propolis, aloe, cera alba, arachis, zea mays, horse chestnut, ginko biloba, jujube, shea butter, bee-wax, hazelnut, sunflower, and with excipients compatible with its specific utilization. Thanks to their moisturizing action, such creams are particularly useful in reducing the process of skin-aging, in the treatment of wrinkles, dryness, opacity, and in promoting skin elasticity and luminosity. These creams may also be used as protectors in photodermatosis, as anti-erythema and, together with cogic acid or hydroquinone, in the treatment of senile spots.
From a last aspect, the invention relates to the use of new high molecular weight hyaluronic acid salts for the preparation of medicaments suitable for the treatment or prevention of a pathologic condition selected from among psoriasis, eczema, ichthyiosis, postactinic radiodermatosis, hemorrhoids, proctitis, hemorrhagic proctitis, atopic dermatitis, trophic ulcers and decubitus ulcers, sudamina, epidermophytosis or, generally, in the cases of prurigo. In these cases, the pharmaceutical compositions may possibly also include one or more substances selected from among salicylic acid, ascorbic acid or retynyl palmitate.

Reaction products of hyaluronic acid and natural amino acids and their use in cosmetic and pharmaceutical compositions


A sensing apparatus for use in a mass flow rate sensor for measuring a fluid flow rate includes a main conduit for containing a fluid flow, and a sensor passageway for tapping a portion of the fluid flow from the main conduit at a first location, and returning the portion of the fluid flow to the conduit at a second location. At least one bypass passageway, which may be provided in the form of a tube, is positioned in the main conduit between the first and second locations, and the bypass passageway is provided with non-negligible entrance effects that are substantially equal to entrance effects of the sensor passageway, so that a bypass ratio of the apparatus remains constant. A mass flow rate sensor of the present disclosure accurately measures any type of gas but only requires calibration in only one reference gas.

In the semiconductor manufacturing industry, it is necessary to achieve precise control of the quantity, temperature and pressure of one or more reactant materials which are delivered in a gaseous state to a reaction chamber. Mass flow controllers are widely used in the semiconductor manufacturing industry to control the delivery of process reactants. A mass flow controller generally includes a mass flow rate sensor for measuring the rate of flow of gas through the controller, a valve for controlling the flow of gas through the controller and a computer connected to the mass flow rate sensor and the valve. The computer- is programmed with a desired flow rate, which the computer compares to an actual flow rate as measured by the mass flow rate sensor. If the actual flow rate does not equal the desired flow rate, the computer is further programmed to open or close the valve until the actual flow rate equals the desired flow rate.
Thermal mass flow sensors operate on the principle of conservation of thermal energy, where power applied to a flowing gas equals the mass flow rate of the gas multiplied by the specific heat of the gas, the density of the gas and the temperature change of the gas. The mass flow rate can therefore be determined if the properties of the gas, the temperature changes of the gas, and the rate of power applied to the gas are known.
One class of thermal mass flow rate sensors employs a sensor passageway as the primary sensing mechanism, as shown in the exemplary prior art mass flow rate sensor 10 of FIG. 1. In such a device, a sensor passageway 12 diverts a portion 14 of the main flow 16 passing through a primary conduit 18 of the MFC, while the remainder of the flow passes through the primary conduit and a bypass tube 18a. It is important to note that this figure is not necessarily to scale. Typically the sensor passageway 12 is significantly smaller than the primary conduit 18, but the sensor passageway 12 is shown with somewhat exaggerated largeness in FIG. 1 for clarity. Generally one or more heating elements 20 attach to the sensor passageway 12 to allow a heat transfer from the heating elements 20, through the tube 12 and to the fluid. The heating elements 20 also serve as resistance temperature sensors that track the local temperature of the wall of the sensor passageway 12.
Heat transfer between the fluid flowing in the sensor passageway 12 from the tube walls is a function of the difference between the fluid temperature and the wall temperature, and the heat transfer rate coefficient inside of the tube 12. The increase in gas temperature between the two heating elements 20 is a function of the mass flow rate of the gas through the sensor passageway 12, the specific heat of the gas, and the power delivered to the heater elements 20. A circuit converts the difference in resistance (or temperature) of the two elements 20 into a voltage output (power) which is calibrated to known flow rates. Normally, the change in resistance is converted to voltage by a Wheatstone bridge, which is connected to the processor. The processor compares the voltage level to stored reference gas calibration data to determine the flow rate. The stored reference gas calibration data, or table, includes voltages produced by the sensor for a range of known flow rates of the reference gas.
Since the calibration data changes for gases other than the reference gas, a characterization of the calibration data is required for each type of gas being measured in the sensor passageway 12, in order for the resulting measurement to be accurate. This characterization is also referred to as multi-gas correction functions. The multi-gas correction function is the ratio of flows, in the sensor passageway 12 only, of the new gas over the reference gas (Qnew/Qref). This ratio changes with sensor voltage. The calibration table of the reference gas is simply a list of sensor voltages and measured total flows at those voltages. To obtain the calibration table in the new gas, the flow of the reference gas is multiplied by the multi-gas correction function at each voltage in the reference gas calibration table. The multi-gas correction function is meant to make the sensor passageway 12 independent of the type of gas being measured.
The multi-gas correction function assumes that a bypass ratio is the same in both the reference gas and the gas being measured. The bypass ratio η (also referred to as split ratio) of the sensor 10 is defined as the total flow through the bypass tube 18a and the sensor passageway 12, Qtotal divided by flow through just the sensor passageway 12, Qsensor.
                              BypassRatio          ≡          η                =                              Q            Total                                Q            sensor                                              (        1        )
In a multi-gas application, η must be equal for all gases. Any change in 72 from that of the reference gas is defined as the multi-gas bypass ratio error εbp for that gas.
                              MulitgasBypassRatioError          ≡                      ɛ            bp                          =                  (                                    η              -                              η                ref                                                    η              ref                                )                                    (        2        )
εbp translates directly into a calibration error for the new gas. The bypass tube 18a is normally designed to minimize this error.
The multi-gas bypass ratio error εbp occurs because the bypass ratio η changes for different gases because of pressure losses, such as entrance effects, caused by non-ideal geometric conditions of the primary conduit, the bypass tube and the sensor passageway. Entrance effects generally can be defined as the pressure drop associated with the flow entering the duct divided by the total pressure drop across the duct. These pressure losses are often referred to as "Reynolds losses" because the losses are a function of the Reynolds number of the gas being measured. The Reynolds losses can be a major source of error in measuring the gas flow. The Reynolds losses are normally minimized or eliminated so that the bypass ratio η remains constant for different gases by properly designing the bypass passageway 18a. Properly designing the bypass passageway 18a, however, often results in a complex, relatively large and expensive sensor 10. For example, most bypass tubes are provided with laminar flow elements comprising one or more long, thin channels which make the entrance effects of each channel negligible.
It is an object of the present disclosure to provide an improved thermal mass flow rate sensor which can be used with different gases. Preferably, the improved thermal mass flow rate sensor will accurately measure any type of gas but will only require calibration in only one reference gas, such that a characterization of the bypass ratio is not required for each type of gas being measured.

Thermal mass flow rate sensor including bypass passageways and a sensor passageway having similar entrance effects


According to one embodiment, a handwriting process method includes displaying a handwritten object on a touch-screen display of an electronic device, the handwritten object includes a plurality of strokes, the plurality of strokes being input by handwriting, detecting a touch operation at a location on at least part of the handwritten object on the touch-screen display, and executing a first process determined according to a shape of the handwritten object, if the touch operation is detected.

In recent years, various electronic devices, including tablets, personal digital assistants (PDAs), smartphones, have been developed. Most of such electronic devices are equipped with a touch-screen display in order to facilitate user's input operations.
A user touches a menu or object displayed on the touch-screen display by a finger or the like, thereby being able to give the electronic device an instruction of performing a function related to the menu or object.
Recently, electronic devices have also been developed, which can input characters to the touch-screen display by handwriting with a pen.
Conventionally, however, handwriting information that has been input by handwriting is merely displayed on the touch-screen display, and equipping this handwriting information with an additional function is not considered.
It is desirable to develop a novel technique of utilizing handwriting information (i.e., handwritten object) efficiently.

Method and electronic device for processing handwritten object


A landing gear assembly (12) includes a primary load bearing strut including a shock absorber having a slider part (15) arranged to slide within a cylinder part (17). A link assembly (50) is attached between the slider part (15) and the cylinder part (17). A bogie (16) supporting wheels is mounted on the strut. The bogie may adopt different pitch angles. A pitch trimmer device (70) is attached to the bogie and to the link assembly, for example thus providing a relatively long moment arm (96) for control of the bogie pitch angle. The arrangement may be such that the pitch trimmer (70) is near mid-stroke as the aircraft achieves the full weight on wheels condition, whereas the pitch trimmer is at a fullest extent for flight case and for retraction. Onset of pitch trimmer closure/movement is used to detect the weight-on-wheels condition.

The present invention concerns an aircraft landing gear. More particularly, but not exclusively, this invention concerns a landing gear assembly including both a bogie having a pitch angle that may be varied, for example to allow for efficient retraction of the landing gear assembly, and a pitch trimmer device for setting the pitch angle of the bogie. The invention also concerns a wing assembly including such a landing gear assembly, an aircraft including such a landing gear assembly, a pitch trimmer device, and also various methods of use of one or more of those items.
In the prior art there are many examples of aircraft, of the type which includes a landing gear assembly including a leg at the lower end of which is mounted a bogie in such a way that the bogie may adopt different pitch angles. FIG. 2 shows a typical configuration, of the prior art, of a landing gear assembly and a passive pitch trimmer device for accommodating a change in pitch angle of the bogie. The landing gear 112 of FIG. 2 has a landing gear leg 114 at the lower end of which there is mounted a bogie 116 including a bogie beam which carries two sets of wheels 118. The landing gear leg 114 has a slider part 115 arranged to slide within a cylinder part 117, the slider and cylinder forming an oleo-type shock absorber. A change in pitch angle of the bogie 116 is accommodated by means of a pitch trimmer device 120 which is mounted at one end 122 to an end of the bogie 116 and at the other end 124 to a location at the lower end of the leg 114. The pitch trimmer device 120 is configured so as to cause the bogie beam to adopt a set pitch angle for retraction of the landing gear into the landing gear bay. The pitch trimmer allows the bogie to move from this set angle when acted upon by external forces, such as when contacting the ground, and provides pitch damping. The forward direction in FIG. 2 is shown by arrow F. The pitch trimmer of FIG. 2 is not connected to the aircraft hydraulic supply and this includes its own independent accumulator 126. The pitch trimmer is relatively heavy, both as a result of the need for it to have its own accumulator 126 and because of the amount of force it needs to generate in order to cause movement of the bogie, as a result of the geometry. The pitch trimmer of FIG. 2 operates independently of the extension and/or compression of the shock absorber.
US 2003/0033927 discloses an aircraft landing gear, in which the pitch trimming device for the bogie may be locked to assume a fixed length and is illustrated by FIG. 3. Like reference numerals denote like elements, and only those elements of the landing gear of FIG. 3 which differ significantly with respect to those of FIG. 2 will now be discussed. The landing gear leg 114 includes a hydraulic strut 130 attached at one end to a part 132 of the cylinder 117 and at the other end to a part 134 of the bogie. The hydraulic strut 130 may be locked in position under the control of a control system (not shown).
U.S. Pat. No. 7,731,124 discloses an aircraft landing gear, in which the pitch angle of the bogie may be varied by means of a rotary actuation system, which is illustrated by FIG. 4. Like reference numerals denote like elements, and only those elements of the landing gear of FIG. 4 which differ significantly with respect to those of FIG. 2 will now be discussed. The rotary actuation system includes a rotating arm 140 which is mounted at one end on a part 142 fixed to the cylinder 117 of the landing gear leg 114 and at the other end to an end of a passive hydraulic link 144. The other end of the passive hydraulic link attaches to an end of the bogie 116. The rotating arm 140 is driven by a rotary drive mechanism included within part 142.
U.S. Pat. No. 9,321,524 discloses an aircraft landing gear including a bogie articulation mechanism and a pitch trimmer device, which is illustrated by FIG. 5. Like reference numerals denote like elements, and only those elements of the landing gear of FIG. 5 which differ significantly with respect to those of FIG. 2 will now be discussed. The landing gear assembly includes a torque link assembly 150 having a first torque link 152 coupled (by a mechanism 164 shown only schematically in FIG. 5) to the bogie 116 and a second torque link 154 attached to the cylinder part 117 of the landing gear leg 114. A hydraulic pitch trim actuator 160 extends from (a) a first end connected to a linkage assembly 162 (not shown separately in FIG. 5) in the region of the cylinder 117 to (b) a second end connected to a part 156 at the apex of the torque link assembly 150. The pitch trimmer device of US '524 is connected to the landing gear assembly via complicated extra structure.
A Boeing 747 wing gear of the prior art has a comparable arrangement to that shown in FIG. 5 in that the landing gear assembly includes a torque link assembly and a pitch trimmer device which extends from (a) a first end connected to the cylinder (above the slider) of the landing gear leg to (b) a second end connected to a bell crank at the apex of the torque link assembly, which in turn is connect to the bogie by a further link. The use of the bell crank at the torque link apex provides for a greater range of pitch angles.
It will be appreciated that each of FIGS. to 2 to 5 are schematic illustrations and omit various elements for the sake of clarity.
The present invention seeks to mitigate one or more of the above-mentioned problems. Alternatively or additionally, the present invention seeks to provide an improved landing gear and/or an improved pitch trimmer arrangement.


Disclosed is a method for backing up a state of progress in a television game which has the steps of: dividing the state of progress into a common item and a separate item; and storing the common item into a common file and the separate item into a separate file.

Some conventional television games need to play for a long time period, i.e., it is difficult for them to be finished within one play. In such games, the state of progress at the time when playing is stopped can be saved (stored) in a back-up file. When the game is restarted, the player can play the game from the same state of progress.
In many cases, a plurality of back-up files to be saved are prepared. Thus, the player can select any of the states of progress when the game is restarted. The back-up file can be also made during the playing. For example, if the player wants to restart the game from a scene in which he is interested, the state of progress corresponding to the scene can be saved into a back-up file, and he can restart the game from the same scene by reading out the back-up file any time. As long as the content of the back-up file remains, the game can be repeatedly restarted from the same state.
FIG. 1 shows relationships between back-up files and states of progress and between saving and loading in a game. In this example, the saving is conducted in the order of progress states A, B and C as shown by (1) to (3) in FIG. 1. When the progress state B is, as shown by (4) in FIG. 1, loaded, the game can be restarted from the progress state B.
In FIG. 1, a progress state D is rewritten in the back-up file where the progress state C was saved ((5)). At this time, the progress state C is erased from the back-up file, and the progress states A, B and D are left in the respective back-up files. Though the player can restart the game from any of the progress states A, B and D at this time, he cannot restart it from the progress state C. Anyway, since the progress states in the back-up files are independent of one another, each of the progress states can be always reproduced to go back to the time when it is saved.
However, the conventional back-up method for the television game cannot be suitably adapted to a new type of television game. The reasons are as follows.
There is a television game in which real time (actual time ticked away by a clock) is incorporated into the game story to give a kind of virtual reality. Though such a game can also employ the conventional back-up method, a problem occurs in the case that there exists a character whose state varies in the process of real time. For example, there exists a pet character which needs a proper food to be given within a time period. Now, when the game is repeatedly played by the player, a plurality of back-up files, each of which has different data regarding the food supplying condition of the pet, are saved. When the player restarts to play the game while reading out data of one of the back-up files after several hours, the time period may be passed. Thus, his expectation that the pet is still alive may be disappointed. This is because a plurality of back-up files which are perfectly independent of one another are saved.

Method for backing up state of progress in television game


A solar battery module as a panel-shaped semiconductor module comprises multiple spherical or nearly spherical, granular electric power generation semiconductor elements arranged in multiple rows and columns, a conductive connection mechanism electrically connecting in parallel multiple semiconductor elements in each row and connecting in series multiple semiconductor elements in each column, and a conductive inner metal case housing the multiple semiconductor elements and constituting the conductive connection mechanism, wherein each row of semiconductor elements is housed in each reflecting surface-forming groove of the inner metal case, the positive electrodes of the semiconductor electrodes are connected to the bottom plate and the negative electrodes are connected to finger leads, the bottom plate of each reflecting surface-forming grove has a cutoff slit, and the top is covered with a transparent cover member.

A variety of solar batteries (solar battery modules and solar battery panels) comprising external lenses for yielding large output power by means of a small light receiving area have been proposed. However, because the larger areas are realized in silicon solar batteries and production cost of solar battery cells and solar battery modules is reduced, light collection by external lenses is less used.
On the other hand, in the solar battery using expensive compound semiconductors such as gallium arsenide (GaAs), light collection by external lenses is assumed to be economical and proposed in many documents.
The U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,136,436 and 6,204,545 by the inventor of the present application propose a spherical or partially spherical solar battery cell made of granular silicon crystal as a technique for efficient use of expensive silicon raw material.
The inventor of the present application proposed in the Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2001-168369 a solar battery module having spherical solar battery cells in which a reflecting plate is provided on the back in a close contact manner. The inventor also proposed in the International Publication No. WO03/056633 a spherical solar battery cell housed in a synthetic resin capsule having a diameter larger than the cell and filled with a synthetic resin for light collection. They have a smaller collecting power compared with use of external lenses, however they can be realized in a relatively simple structure.
The U.S. Pat. No. 5,482,568 discloses a micromirror solar battery in which multiple cone-shaped reflecting mirrors are provided in a case, a solar battery cell having a flat light-receiving surface is placed at the bottom of each cone, the sunlight collected by the cone illuminates the top surface of the solar battery cell, and the heat is released from the underside of the cone. The flat solar battery cell receives light only at the top surface and the reflection loss is not small. Therefore, it is difficult to sufficiently increase the incident light usage rate. Furthermore, this micromirror solar battery has the solar battery cells at the bottom of the case so as to prevent the solar battery cells from heating up due to light collection.
The U.S. Pat. No. 5,355,873 discloses a light collection type solar battery module having spherical solar battery cells. A thin metal sheet (common electrode) has multiple nearly semispherical recesses with reflecting inner surfaces. Legs are formed at the centers of the recesses for supporting solar battery cells. A conductive mesh supports multiple solar battery cells at their middle parts. The multiple solar battery cells are set in multiple recesses and electrically connected to the legs. The multiple solar battery cells are connected in parallel by the conductive mesh and sheet. The solar battery cells have no electrode at the top, bottom, or either end and, therefore, the electric current distribution is uneven within a solar battery cell. Hence, it is difficult to improve the electric power generation efficiency. Furthermore, all solar battery cells mounted on the sheet are connected in parallel, which is inconvenient for increasing the output voltage of the solar battery module.
The US Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2002/0096206 discloses a solar battery module in which spherical solar battery cells are provided in the centers of multiple partially spherical recesses, respectively, the recesses each have a reflecting inner surface, multiple recesses are formed by two thin metal plates and an insulating layer between them, and the two thin metal plates are connected to the positive and negative electrodes of the spherical solar battery cell at the bottom part thereof to parallel-connect multiple solar battery cells.
In the above solar battery module, the spherical solar battery cells are electrically connected to the two thin metal plates at the bottom part. This causes a drawback that the distance between the upper half light receiving surface and the positive and negative electrodes of a spherical solar battery cell is large and the resistance loss upon output electric current retrieval is increased. Furthermore, all solar battery cells of the solar battery module are connected in parallel, which is inconvenient for increasing the output voltage of the solar battery module.
The inventor of the present application disclosed in the International Publication No. WO02/35612 a rod-shaped light receiving or emitting semiconductor element having a pair of electrodes on either end face and a solar battery module using the semiconductor element. However, when this rod-shaped semiconductor element has a higher length/diameter ratio, the resistance between the electrodes is increased. Therefore, the ratio is desirably set for approximately 1.5 or lower.
Patent Document 1: U.S. Pat. No. 4,136,436;
Patent Document 2: U.S. Pat. No. 6,204,545;
Patent Document 3: Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application Publication No. 2001-168369;
Patent Document 4: International Publication No. WO03/056633;
Patent Document 5: U.S. Pat. No. 5,482,568;
Patent Document 6: U.S. Pat. No. 5,355,873;
Patent Document 7: US Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2002/0096206; and
Patent Document 8: International Publication No. WO02/35612.


A convertible folder is formed from a single blank and includes a pair of folder panels hingedly connected along a fold line. A pocket defining panel is folded against one of the folder panels and cooperates therewith to form a pocket for containing documents.. A small tab supporting panel is secured to and folded against the pocket defining panel in the preferred embodiment. An identifying tab is movably secured to the tab defining panel and is moveable between a display position and an out-of-the-way position to allow delivery/presentation folder to be readily converted to a conventional file folder.

Presentation materials in the form of promotional, advertising or informational documents are usually contained within a delivery/presentation folder. The size of these delivery/presentation folders corresponds to conventional file folders. In many instances, the persons receiving such delivery/presentation folders wish to retain the contents for ready reference and review. Since the size of the folders containing the contents corresponds to a file folder, only an identifying tab is required.
Attaching a tab to the delivery/presentation folder before such folders are mailed would be desirable but the tab would interfere with the folder fitting within a conventional envelope.


An image processing apparatus to modify input image and output the modified image to a printer, comprises a buffer memory for storing image information; processing means for subjecting said image information to a modification process including a tonal degree conversion process; and a frame memory for storing said modified image information. In the apparatus, the buffer memory stores one of image information modified and the image information not modified, in accordance with the data quantities of the image information before and after the modification process.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus capable of modifying inputted image information and outputting the modified information to an output device such as a printer.
2. Related Background Art
In a conventional image processing apparatus of this type, inputted image information is stored in a buffer domain and undergoes modification such as magnification and reduction to develop the result into a frame memory.
In the case of reducing an image by a magnification process, it is necessary to maintain a sufficient buffer domain for storing the image information before modification until the modification/development process is completed. Therefore, a memory working area for a CPU or the like is restricted, resulting in an inefficient use of an empty memory area and a possibility of some difficulty in data processing.
In view of this, it can be considered to use a method whereby inputted image is stored in a buffer domain after it is subjected to a modification process. With this method, however, in the case of magnifying an image by a modification process, the necessary buffer domain becomes larger than that required when an original image is stored. Also in this latter case, there arise similar problems of an inefficient use of an empty memory area and a possibility of some difficulty in data processing.

Image processing apparatus using tonal degree conversion