The invention provides an active matrix type TFT LCD in which a driving voltage of pixel TFTs is reduced. A pixel is formed with two thin film transistors, i.e., a positive-voltage-applying n-channel TFT for applying a data voltage having a positive polarity to a pixel electrode and a negative-voltage-applying p-channel TFT for applying a data voltage having a negative polarity to the pixel electrode. A source electrode of the positive-voltage-applying TFT is connected to the pixel electrode; a drain electrode of the same is connected to a data bus line for applying the positive voltage; and a gate electrode of the same is connected to a gate bus line for applying the positive voltage. A source electrode of the other TFT is also connected to the pixel electrode; a drain electrode of the same is connected to a data bus line for applying the negative voltage; and a gate electrode of the same is connected to a gate bus line for applying the negative voltage.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a liquid crystal display (LCD) and, more particularly, to an active matrix type TFT LCD having a TFT (thin film transistor) as a switching element at each pixel.
2. Description of the Related Art
The market of LCDs is rapidly growing because LCDs have become able to provide display quality that sufficiently allows them to replace CRTs which have been typical displays in the related art. They are used as displays of various viewers, cellular phones, PDAs (personal digital assistants), and notebook type personal computers as well as for monitors of desktop computers and television receivers for home use, thanking to their advantage of being flat panels. Thus, LCDs are used as displays that provide from small screens having diagonal dimensions of about 2 inches to large screens having diagonal dimensions in the excess of 40 inches. More and more LCDs are used in various fields as full-color displays capable of displaying still image and dynamic images.
Referring to the trend in LCD techniques, the main stream has shifted from the passive matrix type that has no switching element in a pixel to the active matrix type that has switching elements such as TFTs. Further, referring to the material of channel regions (active semiconductor layers) of TFTs formed in pixels of active matrix type LCDs, a-Si (amorphous silicon) is being replaced by p-Si (polysilicon) having higher carrier mobility.
Structure of TFT LCDs will now be briefly described. For example, in the case of a transmission type TFT LCD that employs a back-light unit, a TFT substrate (array substrate) that is a transparent insulated substrate such as a glass substrate and an opposite substrate are combined in a face-to-face relationship with a predetermined cell gap therebetween, and a liquid crystal is sealed between the substrates. A plurality of pixel electrodes are provided in the form of a matrix on the TFT substrate, and the TFT is connected to each of the pixel electrodes. A common electrode is formed on the opposite substrate. In the case of a color display LCD, a color filter (CF) is formed on either the TFT substrate or the opposite substrate. Alignment films are formed at interfaces between the substrates and the liquid crystal layer. Polarizers having a crossed Nicols configuration, for example, are applied to the outside of both substrates.
FIG. 7 is an equivalent circuit for one pixel of a TFT LCD in the related art. As shown in FIG. 7, a gate electrode G of a TFT is connected to a gate bus line Lg. A source electrode S of the TFT is connected to a pixel electrode Pe, and a drain electrode D is connected to a data bus line Ld. A liquid crystal layer lc is sandwiched by the pixel electrode Pe and a common electrode Ce to form a liquid crystal capacitance Clc. A storage capacitor Cs is connected in parallel with the liquid crystal capacitance in practice, although not shown.
A gate voltage Vg is applied to the gate bus line Lg from a gate bus line driving circuit that is not shown. A grayscale voltage Vd is applied to the data bus line Ld from a data bus line driving circuit that is not shown. A common voltage Vcom (=0 V) is applied to the common electrode Ce.
The liquid crystal lc is positively or negatively anisotropic in its dielectric constant, which results in a property that the liquid crystal molecules rotate in accordance with the strength of an electric field applied thereto. The liquid crystal lc is also anisotropic in its refractive index, which results in a property that the polarization of light passing through the liquid crystal lc changes in accordance with the rotation of the liquid crystal molecules. Therefore, when a voltage is applied between the pixel electrode Pe and the common electrode Ce, the liquid crystal molecules rotate in accordance with the value of the applied voltage, which results in a change in the polarization of the light that has been linearly polarized by the entrance side polarizer in the liquid crystal lc. The quantity of the light that passes through the polarizer at the light emitting side is thereby adjusted to display a tone.
While a voltage of about 5 V can be applied to common liquid crystal materials, when an electric field is continuously applied to the liquid crystal lc only in one direction, the liquid crystal material will be degraded. In order to prevent this, the electric field for driving the liquid crystal is applied to the liquid crystal lc with the polarity thereof inverted in a predetermined cycle. In general, a frame inversion driving is used in which the polarity is inverted in the cycle of display frames.
A separate pixel electrode Pe is provided for each pixel, and a single electrode is provided as the common electrode Ce such that it will be shared by all pixels. A driving method as shown in FIG. 8 is used to achieve the frame inversion driving with utilizing such common electrode Ce. FIG. 8 shows time in the horizontal direction and voltages in the vertical direction to indicate a relationship between the gate voltage Vg, the grayscale voltage Vd, and the common voltage Vcom.
As shown in FIG. 8, the common voltage (the potential at the common electrode) Vcom (=0 V) is constant. The grayscale voltage Vd that ranges up to ±2.5 V of the common voltage Vcom is applied to the data bus line Ld. FIG. 8 shows a state in which the grayscale voltage Vd (data) having an absolute value V0=2.5 V is output on the data bus line Ld in each frame fn, the polarity of the voltage being inverted in each frame fn.
When an n-channel type TFT connected to the gate bus line Lg is to be kept off state, a potential Vg (off) is output which has an absolute value that is smaller than the maximum negative polarity grayscale voltage Vd=−V0 (V) by V1 (absolute value). When the TFT is to be kept on state, a potential Vg (on) is output which has an absolute value that is greater than the maximum positive polarity grayscale voltage Vd=+V0 (V) by V2 (absolute value). That is, a gate pulse having a potential Vg=Vg(on) is output to the gate bus line Lg during a period in which the TFT is made to be on state. The height of the gate pulse is V1+2×V0+V2. The voltage V1 must be increased when the off-current is poorly disconnected, and the voltage V2 must be increased when the on-current is small for reasons associated with the property of retaining accumulated charges and the data rewriting speed. Therefore, a driving voltage of about 13 V is normally used such the TFT will be reliably turned on and off regardless of the polarity of the same.
As thus described, a power supply circuit of 13 V is required to drive the TFT LCD in the related art in spite of the fact that the maximum grayscale voltage Vd required for writing the pixel electrodes Pe is 2.5 V. The driving voltage of 13 V is applied not only to the gate bus line driving circuit but also to switching elements in the data bus line driving circuit for controlling the flow of signals output to the data bus lines Ld. The maximum driving voltage depends on the liquid crystal material used, and some TFT LCDs require a driving voltage of 16 V or 18 V or more that is higher than the voltage in the present example.
As thus described, in the TFT LCD in the related art, the power supply voltage for the gate bus line driving circuit and the data bus line driving circuit for driving the liquid crystal lc at each pixel is very much higher than the voltage band of 5 V applied to the liquid crystal lc. Therefore, the TFT must have a high gate withstand voltage and drain withstand voltage. This results in a need for countermeasures including an increase in the thickness of gate oxide films of the TFT, an increase in the channel length, and an increase in the LDD (lightly doped drain) length. However, such countermeasures result in an increase in fluctuation of a threshold voltage Vth of the TFT and a reduction in the on-current of the TFT. Consequently, a further increase of the driving voltage will be required to achieve proper operations in the presence of a great fluctuation of the threshold Vth, and still further increase of the driving voltage will be required to achieve a required switching speed while suppressing any reduction in the on-current. This only results in a vicious cycle, and no reduction of the driving voltage can be achieved. An increase of the driving voltage is problematic also in that it leads to an increase of power consumption and an increase of electromagnetic interference with environment.
The recent establishment of low temperature polysilicon manufacturing processes has made it possible to fabricate a FET having a channel region formed from p-Si (polysilicon) on a member having a relatively low melting point such as a glass substrate. It therefore becomes possible to fabricate a TFT substrate integral with peripheral circuits in which various circuits including a gate bus line driving circuit and a data bus line driving circuit are incorporated in peripheral regions of a glass substrate on which pixel TFTs are to be fabricated. FETs of the peripheral circuit sections must be formed with a gate length that is as small as possible to allow an operation at a high speed, and they must inevitably be of a low voltage drive type. Further, balanced circuits that consume low power cannot be obtained unless they are of a low voltage drive type.
When the pixel TFTs are of a high voltage drive type, a mixture of the low voltage drive type FET's and high voltage drive type TFTs must be formed on a single glass substrate, which results in a problem in that the manufacturing process will become complicated and the manufacturing cost will increase. Therefore, to manufacture a TFT substrate integral with peripheral circuits utilizing a low temperature polysilicon manufacturing process, the driving voltage of the pixel TFTs must be reduced to become as close as possible to the driving voltage of the FET's of the peripheral circuits.

Liquid crystal display with separate positive and negative driving circuits


A fuel pump assembly and method of making the same is disclosed. The fuel pump assembly includes a brushless direct current (BLDC) motor and a circuit board formed as a discrete component from the BLDC motor. The BLDC motor includes a stator with a plurality of windings. A screw, or some other fastener, extends through the circuit board and threadedly engages a portion of the BLDC motor. The screws serve the dual functions of attaching the circuit board to the BLDC motor and electrically connecting the BLDC motor to the circuit board to power the BLDC motor.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to fuel pump assemblies, and more particularly to fuel pump assemblies including an electric motor and a circuit board for generating a current to power the electric motor.
2. Related Art
With the introduction of electronic control systems for electric motors, the automobile industry objectives of long life, reliability and low electro-magnetic (EM) interference for fuel pump assemblies have become achievable. This is in part due to the advent of brushless direct current (BLDC) motor technology. Typical BLDC motors include a stator with a plurality of windings and a rotor with a plurality of permanent magnets. Manipulation of the current applied to the windings generates an electromagnetic field, which acts on the permanent magnets to rotate the rotor. While known BLDC motor designs have achieved many objectives, problems still exist. For instance, most BLDC motor designs include copper wires connecting the BLDC motor to a circuit board or some other type of controller, and those wires could corrode if exposed to fuel. Additionally, assembly of fuel pump assemblies with BLDC motors may be laborious and costly.

Device for fastening and electrically connecting a circuit board to a motor


A low supply voltage negative charge pump for generating a relatively high negative voltage to control gates of selected memory cells via wordlines in an array of flash EEPROM memory cells during flash erasure includes charge pump means (210) formed of a plurality of charge pump stages (201-206) and coupling capacitor means (C201-C212) for delivering clock signals to the plurality of charge pump stages. Each of the plurality of charge pump stages is formed of an N-channel intrinsic pass transistor (N1-N6), an N-channel intrinsic initialization transistor (MD1-MD6), and an N-channel intrinsic precharge transistor (MX3-MX7, MX1) which are disposed in separate p-wells so as to reduce body effect. As a result, the negative charge pump is operable using a supply voltage of +3 volts or lower.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to semiconductor integrated circuit memory devices such as flash electrically erasable programmable read-only-memory (EEPROM) devices and more particularly, it relates to an improved low supply voltage negative charge pump for generating a relatively high negative voltage to control gates of selected memory cells via wordlines in an array of flash EEPROM memory cells during flash erasure.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,406,517 to Chung K. Chang et al. issued on Apr. 11, 1995, there is described and illustrated a distributed negative gate power supply for generating and selectively supplying a relatively high primary negative voltage to control gates of memory cells in selected half-sectors via wordlines in an array of flash EEPROM memory cells during flash erasure. The '517 patent is assigned to the same assignee as in the present invention and is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. In FIG. 1 of the '517 patent, there is shown a block diagram of the distributed negative gate power supply 10 which includes a separate large main pump circuit 16 and a plurality of relatively small-size, single-stage distribution sector pump circuits 18a-18p for selectively distributing the primary negative voltage NEGP.
In FIG. 2 of the '517 patent, there is shown a block diagram of the main pump circuit 16 of FIG. 1. The main pump circuit 16 includes two identical negative pumping circuits 20a and 20b which are driven by a respective clock circuit 22a and 22b for generating the relatively high primary negative voltage NEGP. The negative pumping circuit 20a is associated with the left side of the array, and the negative pumping circuit 20b is associated with the right side thereof. In FIG. 1 of the present invention, there is depicted a schematic circuit diagram of the negative pumping circuit 10, which is similar to the one in FIGS. 3(a) and 3(b) of the '517 patent.
The negative pumping circuit 10 includes four stages 12, 14, 16 and 18. An output transistor 20 is coupled to the output of the fourth stage 18 for generating the relatively high primary negative voltage NEGP on line 22, which is approximately -10.5 volts. An output buffer stage 24 is also coupled to the output of the fourth stage 18 for generating the secondary negative voltage NEGSm, which is approximately -14 volts. The input of the pumping circuit 10 is at input node "pmps." An N-channel pump-select transistor 26 has its drain connected to the input node "pmps," its gate connected to receive the erase signal ER and its source connected to the lower power supply potential VSS (ground).
The first stage 12 is formed of a P-channel pass transistor P11, a P-channel initialization transistor P12, a P-channel pre-charge transistor P13, and a pair of coupling capacitors C1, C7. The N-well of the P-channel transistors P11-P13 are connected to the upper power supply potential VPP. The coupling capacitor C1 is coupled between the node BB and an input node 28 for receiving the clock signal PHI1. The coupling capacitor C7 is coupled between the node AA and an input node 30 for receiving the clock signal PHI2A. Each of the coupling capacitors C1 and C7 is formed of a capacitor-connected P-channel MOS transistor which is operated in the inversion region.
The second stage 14 is identical in its construction to the first stage 12 and includes P-channel transistors P21, P22 and P23 and coupling capacitors C2 and C8. The N-well of the P-channel transistors P21-P23 are connected to the upper power supply potential VPP. The coupling capacitor C2 is coupled between the node D and an input node 32 for receiving the clock signal PHI2. The coupling capacitor C8 is coupled between the node B and an input node 34 for receiving the clock signal PHI1A.
The third stage 16 is likewise identical in its construction to the first stage 12 and includes P-channel transistors P31, P32 and P33 and coupling capacitors C3 and C9. The coupling capacitor C3 is connected between the node G and the input node 28 for receiving the clock signal PHI1. The coupling capacitor C9 is connected between the node E and the input node 30 for receiving the clock signal PHI2A. It will be noted that the N-well of the P-channel transistors P31, P32 and P33 are tied to the negative well voltage VNWn (approximately 0 volts during erase) rather than the supply potential VPP so as to prevent junction breakdown.
The fourth stage 18 is quite similar in its construction to the first stage 12 and includes P-channel transistors P41, P42 and P43 and coupling capacitors C4 and C10. The coupling capacitor C4 is coupled between the node J and the input node 32 for receiving the clock signal PHI2. The coupling capacitor C10 is connected between the node H and the input node 34 for receiving the clock signal PHI1A. Each of the coupling capacitors C2-C4 and C8-C10 is likewise formed of a capacitor-connected P-channel MOS transistor which is operated in the inversion region. The output transistor 20 has its source connected to the node J and its drain connected to the output line 22 for generating the negative voltage NEGP. The gate of the transistor 20 is connected to an internal node K. The N-well of the transistor 20 is also connected to the N-well voltage VNWn.
One of the disadvantages in this prior art negative pumping circuit 10 is that each of the charge pumping stages is formed of a pair of capacitor-connected P-channel MOS transistors and a P-channel pass transistor. Since the P-channel transistor devices have such a large body-effect coefficient and the back-bias (sometimes referred to as "source bias"--V.sub.sb) is so high, the threshold voltage V.sub.tp can be as high as -3.0 volts when used as charge passing devices in a negative charge pump. As a result, the four-stage charge pumping circuit 10 of FIG. 1, even with the voltage threshold cancellation circuit (i.e., P12, P13 and C7 for the first stage), is thus made impractical when the power supply voltage VCC is reduced to +3.0 volts or lower, unless the clock signals themselves are pumped to a higher voltage than the power supply voltage VCC. In addition, the prior art negative pumping circuit suffers from another disadvantage due to the fact that the capacitor-connected P-channel MOS transistors are functioning as an inversion capacitor which has a higher initialization voltage.
The present invention represents a significant improvement over the prior art negative pumping circuit in the main negative pump circuit of the distributed negative gate power supply as discussed above in the '517 patent. The low supply voltage negative charge pump of the present invention is used for generating a relatively high negative voltage during flash erasure in which a supply voltage of +3.0 volts or lower is being used. The low supply voltage negative charge pump includes a plurality of charge pump stages each having an intrinsic N-channel transistor formed in separate p-wells in order to minimize the body-effect coefficient. As a result, the negative charge pump is capable of operating at lower supply voltages.


A golf club head optimized for sound has a body that defines an interior cavity. The body includes at least one of a sole portion, skirt portion, or a crown portion. At least the sole portion is stiffened to provide a higher frequency sound. The stiffened sole portion increases the frequency range of the golf club head by at least 300 Hz with an overall frequency of greater than about 3000 Hz. The stiffened sole portion provides a higher frequency sound with a minimal increase in the overall weight of the golf club head. In one embodiment, the stiffened sole portion increases the weight of the golf club head by less than 10 grams with the overall weight of the golf club head less than 220 grams. In operation, the golf club head with at least the stiffened sole portion impacts the golf ball to provide an aesthetically pleasing sound.

The present invention relates generally to golf clubs, and more particularly to a golf club head optimized for sound. More specifically, the golf club head has at least a sole portion which is sufficiently stiffened to provide a higher frequency sound which is aesthetically pleasing when the golf club head impacts the golf ball.
The sound of a golf club upon impact may influence an opinion of a golf club. Some of the golf clubs now on the market have sound characteristics that are not pleasing to the user. Modern large drivers or metal wood golf clubs with high moments of inertia typically have a golf club head with a sole defining a large area. Oftentimes, the issue with the sound characteristics can be attributed to the large, flat, thin sole of the golf club head.
When the driver hits the ball, the frequency of the sound that results depends upon the stiffness of the surfaces of the driver head. Large thin flat surfaces, such as the sole on a modern deep driver head, tend to create lower frequencies when excited in this manner. Observation tells us that many golfers prefer heads that produce higher frequencies.
Designers of large modern drivers are always trying to conserve weight in order to be able to optimize the center of gravity location of the golf head, or to add features for user adjustment of the head. A thin, light sole is usually preferable if the sound characteristics that result can be kept acceptable. The designer wants to use weight elsewhere, and generally wants to minimize the thickness of the sole.
The thin large sole can also be made much stiffer by adding curvature. But adding curvature usually results in moving more of the golf club head's weight up and away from the ground. Driver designers are usually trying to get the center of gravity of the head as low as possible. Thus, designers are looking for ways to keep the driver sole relatively flat in order to help keep the center of gravity of the driver as close to the ground as possible.
Therefore, it would be advantageous in golf club driver design to be able to create a sole that is stiff and to minimize the overall weight of the club while not providing the golf club head with a poor sound at impact with the golf ball. Also, it is desired to minimize the weight in the sole in order to have more discretionary design weight for other uses.


A wireless communication method including receiving, through a wireless channel, table indication information indicating one of a first Modulation and Coding Scheme (MCS) table supporting up to 64 Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (QAM) and second and third MCS tables supporting up to 256 QAM, the third MCS table including a same number of MCS indices as the second MCS table and including less MCS indices corresponding to 256 QAM than the second MCS table, and identifying one of the first to third MCS tables according to the received table indication information to recognize a demodulation scheme for data to be received through the wireless channel may be provided.

The inventive concepts relate to wireless communications, and more particularly, to wireless communication methods and devices using modulation, coding schemes, and channel quality indicators.
A wireless communication system may increase a modulation order of a modulation scheme as one of various schemes of increasing a throughput in the wireless communication system. For instance, 256 Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (QAM) is used for Long Term Evolution (LTE), and 256 QAM may provide a maximum throughput that is increased about 33% or more than 64 QAM. However, according to situations, a modulation scheme having a high modulation order provides a lower throughput than a modulation scheme having a low modulation order due to, for example, high complexity.

Method and apparatus for wireless communication using modulation, coding schemes, and channel quality indicators


A method of treating a subject with elevated levels of peroxynitrite includes administering a therapeutically effective amount of cerium oxide nanoparticles to the subject, wherein the cerium oxide nanoparticles reduce the level of peroxynitrite in the subject.

Neurodegeneration generally refers to the loss of structure or function of neurons, impairment of normal neuronal functions, and includes the death of neurons. Neurodegeneration results from various different causes including genetic mutation, mitochondrial dysfunction, and the inability to handle increasing levels of oxidative or nitrosative stress can also lead to the progression of neurodegeneration (67). Substantial evidence from many in vitro and in vivo studies suggests that there is a commonality of events for the progression of many neurodegenerative diseases of aging. Some of these neurodegenerative diseases include Parkinson's disease, Huntington's disease, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), and among the most common of the neurodegenerative disorders is Alzheimer's disease (AD). AD is a progressive and irreversible burden on patients, caregivers, and society (68). Mounting evidence in AD as well as in most neurodegenerative diseases shows an association with oxidative and nitrosative stress. Nitrosative stress and cell damage results when reactive nitrogen species (RNS) act together with reactive oxygen species (ROS).
Reactive oxygen species (ROS) and reactive nitrogen species (RNS) are formed during normal metabolism but an imbalance may result from the increase production of free radicals or from the failure of antioxidants and antioxidant enzymes to adequately scavenge the damaging molecules. This imbalance has been documented to be involved in AD (69). Several studies provide clear evidence that RNS, in particular peroxynitrite (ONOO−) formation, contributes to the pathologies of chronic neurodegenerative diseases such as AD, Parkinson's disease, multiple sclerosis, and Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (4). Peroxynitrite is formed from the reaction of nitric oxide radical (NO·) with superoxide (O2·−). Mitochondrial injury seems to be a primary cause of ONOO− promoting neurotoxic effects (5, 6). Widespread ONOO− mediated damage is seen in brain tissue from AD in the form of increased protein nitration in neurons (7).
The administration of antioxidants and antioxidant enzymes to treat diseases due to increased ROS and RNS in human clinical trials have heretofore been less than satisfactory due to issues with bioavailability and stability after administration.
To answer this need, synthetic catalytic scavengers of ROS and RNS have been made and tested in various model systems. Copious metalloporphyrins have been synthesized to have high reactivity with, O2·−, H2O2, NO· and ONOO− (14-17). Most studies affirm metalloporphyrins are useful tools for research and understanding the roles that ROS and RNS may play in diseases, however, their potential toxicity due to metals has often come into question for their use in humans.
Neurons have a high energy demand and contain several hundred mitochondria per cell and therefore have increased exposure to ROS and RNS. Mitochondria are a primary site of the intercellular formation of ONOO− (12) and mitochondrial dysfunction has been shown to contribute to disease or neuronal death (13). The ability to scavenge ONOO− is a critical therapeutic intercession in degenerative diseases associated the overproduction or unbalanced production of O2·− and NO· and thus, ONOO−.
To maintain their energy producing function, mitochondria must frequently divide and fuse. Evidence suggests that an imbalance in mitochondrial division and fusion plays a causal role in AD (78). Mitochondrial division and fusion is regulated by large GTPases of the dynamin family. Dynamin-related protein 1 (DRP1) is required for mitochondrial division. Inhibition of mitochondrial division by expression of the GTPase defective DRP1K38A mutant provides protection against excessive NO, NMDA, or Aβ (5). The exact mechanism that accounts for the NO-induced mitochondrial fragmentation remains unclear. A recent report suggested that S-nitrosylation of DRP1 at cysteine 644 increases DRP1 activity and is the cause for the peroxynitrite-induced mitochondrial fragmentation in AD (85, 50). However, the work remains controversial, suggesting alternative pathways might be implicated (85, 86). Nitrosative stress causes rapid DRP1 Serine 616 (S616) phosphorylation, which promotes its translocation to mitochondria and organelle division (86, 87). In mitotic cells DRP1 5616 phosphorylation is mediated by Cdk1/cyclinB1 and synchronizes mitochondrial division with cell division (88, 89). Interestingly, p-DRP1 S616 levels are markedly increased in brains of individuals with AD, suggesting that this event might contribute to the change in mitochondrial morphology and energy metabolism in AD (86, 88). The kinase responsible for DRP1 5616 hyperphosphorylation in AD is unknown, but Cdk5/p25 is a potential candidate kinase mediating this process (7, 90). Notably, aberrant Cdk5/p25 signaling causes tau hyperphosphorylation in postmitotic neurons and is implicated in Aβ-mediated neurodegeneration (88, 91-93).

Neuronal protection by cerium oxide nanoparticles

University of Central Florida Foundation, Inc.


The present invention provides for novel vector constructs comprising an origin of replication; a nucleotide sequence encoding an intein, the nucleotide sequence having a unique restriction enzyme site, critical amino acid residues located at the splice junctions of the intein, the intein inserted into a nucleotide sequence encoding a selectable marker; and a nucleotide sequence encoding suitable regulatory elements so as to effect expression of the vector construct in a suitable host cell. The vector constructs of the present invention may contain a DNA of interest cloned into a unique restriction site of the intein, and may be used as a vaccine alone or transformed into a vaccine vector. The vector constructs of this invention may further be used in methods of selecting translated open reading frames or genes, leading to the identification of potentially protective antigens of pathogenic organisms.

Knowledge about protective antigens of a pathogen is currently considered a prerequisite for vaccine development. Selection of relevant antigens is accomplished by standard immunological techniques, such as immunization of animals, in vitro T- and B-cell stimulation assays, as well as biochemical studies. Several important vaccines have been constructed as a result of such investigations. However, a number of significant infectious diseases, such as tuberculosis, malaria, and HIV, are still awaiting development of effective vaccines.
Employing genomic libraries of a pathogen (to encode for a large collection of antigens) rather than analyzing in vitro expressed proteins, would ensure that the complete antigenic information of an organism is represented and would also overcome the problem that in vitro produced proteins can differ significantly from those synthesized in vivo. The use of genomic libraries to search for protective antigens, however, is hindered by the large number of constructs which have to be screened because there is no selection system which identifies well expressed open reading frames while discriminating against those fragments that contain non-coding DNA sequences or stop codons. DNA vaccination techniques allow to immunize animals directly with constructs containing genetic material of a pathogen, and to measure its protective value by challenging with the infectious agent. Using this approach, single antigens of Mycobacteria tuberculosis (the heat shock protein hsp65, the 36 kDa proline-rich antigen and the antigen 85 complex) have recently been tested, and shown to confer comparable levels of protection as Mycobacterium bovis-BCG (Tascon, et al., Nature Medicine, 2:888-892 (1996); Huygen, et al. Nature Medicine, 2:893-898 (1996)). Additionally, complete genomic expression libraries of Mycoplasma pulmonis have been constructed, and nucleic acid immunization employing such libraries proved to be protective in mice (Barry, et al., Nature, 377:632-635 (1995)). However, as powerful as this new strategy is, it is difficult to recover constructs from surviving animals and identify individual protective antigens.
Therefore, there remains a need for an improved method of identification of potential protective antigens of pathogenic organisms for which effective vaccines are not yet available. Current methods employ genomic libraries to search for protective antigens. A problem with libraries of randomly cloned genetic material is that they contain very little coding sequences. Accordingly, as there is currently no selection system for well expressed open reading frames, a great number of clones might have to be analyzed in order to find whole or partial open reading frames. Therefore, methods are needed for the selection and identification of whole and partial open reading frames from a genomic library in order to ultimately identify protective antigens.
The concept of the present invention is based upon the unique protein splicing properties of a novel class of genetic elements once referred to as "intervening protein sequences", now correctly called "inteins" (Perler, et al., Nucleic Acids Research, 22:1125-1127 (1994)). Inteins were first discovered in 1990 when one was found in a yeast gene (Kane, et al., Science, 250:651-657 (1990)); Hirata, et al., J. Biol. Chem., 265:6726-6733 (1990)). The investigators aligned the vacuolar ATPase VMA1 gene of Saccharomyces cerevisiae to similar genes from other organisms, and observed strong homology at both ends of the gene, but also found a large portion in the middle of the gene had very little homology to other ATPases. Furthermore, the S. cerevisiae VMA1 gene was much larger than any other known similar gene, while the gene produce was of the same size as other ATPases. After careful analysis of the transcription and translation process, the possibility of RNA splicing was ruled out, and the investigators concluded that protein splicing was occurring (Kane, et al., Science, 250:651-657 (1990)); Hirata, et al., J. Biol. Chem., 265:6726-6733 (1990)). Since then, more cases of protein splicing have been found, and currently about 10 to 15 inteins have been identified (reviewed in Clyman, ASM News, 61:344-347 (1995); Colston and Davis, Mol. Microbiol., 12:359-363 (1994)). Inteins could be demonstrated in eukaryotes, eubacteria and archae, thus spanning all three kingdoms. Very recently, the complete genome sequence of an archaeon, Methanococcus jannaschii, was published, and in the 38% of its genome which has homology to known genes from other organism, 18 inteins were identified, of which only 2 had been previously recognized (Bult, et al., Science, 273:1058-1073 (1996)). Inteins have very little homology to each other, making it hard to identify new members of this class of genetic elements in databases (Pietrokowsky, 1994). Basically every intein described so far has been discovered accidentally when the researchers tried to clone a gene and aligned it with already known sequences. Inteins can be defined as protein sequences which are embedded in frame within a precursor protein, and which are removed by protein splicing. During that process, the two terminal portions become ligated by a peptide bond, and form a fusion protein which is called the host protein or extein. The amino acids found at the two hexapeptide motifs on each end of the intein are crucial for the splicing process. These regions, which are also called splice sites, are extremely conserved in all inteins. The mechanism of protein splicing is not entirely understood, but involves several of these amino acids, particularly the C-terminal histidine, asparagine and cysteine/threonine/serine residues (Davis, et al., J. Bacteriol., 173:5653-5662 (1992); Hirata and Anraku, Biochem. Biophy. Res. Comm., 188:40-47 (1992); Hodges, et al., Nucleic Acids Research, 20:6153-6157 (1992); Cooper, et al., EMBO Journal, 12:2575-2583 (1993)). Splicing appears to be autocatalytical, and does not require any host cell cofactor, since inteins can splice out of their precursor proteins in a variety of in vivo and in vitro expression systems, including phosphate buffered saline (Davis, et al., J. Bacteriol., 173:5653-5662 (1992); Xu, et al., Cell, 75:1371-1377 (1993); and reviewed in Colston and Davis, Mol. Micobiol., 12:359-363 (1994)). Hallmarks of protein splicing are that most of the amino acids of the splice sites cannot be altered at the translation level, and that most deletions, stop codons, as well as any frame shifts within the intein are deleterious. Most inteins described so far possess a second characteristic pattern, as they show homology to the HO endonuclease motifs found in group 1 RNA introns, which is seen in the central part of the intein (reviewed in Belfort, et al., J. Bacteriol., 177:3897-3903 (1995)). In fact, it has been reported that several inteins display restriction endonuclease activity once they have spliced out of their host proteins (Shub and Goodrich-Blair, Cell, 71:183-186 (1992)). An actual homing function which is characteristic for group 1 RNA intron endonucleases has so far only been demonstrated for VMA1 intein of S. cerevisiae (Gimble and Thorner, Nature, 357:301-306 (1992); Gimble and Thorner, J. Biol. Chem., 268:21844-21853 (1993)).

Vector constructs for the selection and identification of open reading frames

Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University


Disclosed are a secondary battery and a life prediction apparatus thereof. The life prediction apparatus predicts a life of a secondary battery including an electrode assembly, a positive electrode tab, a negative electrode tab, a case and a plurality of reference electrodes. In particular, the life prediction apparatus predicts a residual life of the secondary battery by detecting impedances of different regions of the secondary battery by using the plurality of reference electrodes.

In recent years, demand for portable electronic products such as notebook computers, video cameras, portable telephones and the like has been drastically increased and electric vehicles, storage batteries for energy storage, robots, satellites and the like have been actively developed. For this reason, high performance secondary batteries capable of repeated charge and discharge have been actively studied.
Lithium secondary batteries currently commercially available include nickel-cadmium batteries, nickel-hydrogen batteries, nickel-zinc batteries and lithium secondary batteries. Among them, the lithium secondary batteries are in the spotlight because they have almost no memory effect compared to nickel-based secondary batteries, and thus perform charge and discharge freely, have very low self-discharge rate and have high energy density.
In order to use a secondary battery safely for a long time, it is most important to accurately detect a state of charge (SOC) and a state of health (SOH) of the secondary battery. In particular, the SOH of a secondary battery is an indicator representing a period during which the secondary battery is useable, and is generally guided to a user through a display as a ratio of a current residual life to a life span when the secondary battery is released.
The impedance of the secondary battery gradually increases as the secondary battery degrades. In other words, the impedance of the secondary battery reflects an internal Ohm resistance of the secondary battery (hereinafter, referred to as 'AC resistance'), which is one of main parameters affecting the SOH.
As a technique for measuring the impedance of a secondary battery, Korean Patent Publication No. 10-2014-0131079 (published on Nov. 12, 2014) that is a first patent literature and Korean Patent Publication No. 10-2015-0025932 (Public on Mar. 11, 2015) that is a second patent literature have been disclosed. The first patent literature is directed to reducing an impedance measurement error of the secondary battery, and the second patent literature is directed to estimating a life of the battery during a charging process.
However, the prior art including the first and second patent literatures do not consider the fact that different regions of the secondary battery are unevenly degraded due to heat generated from an electrode tab while the secondary battery is repeatedly charged and discharged from its initial use to the present, when predicting the life of the secondary battery (namely, when calculating the SOH).
In more detail, as the secondary battery is repeatedly charged and discharged, the heat generated due to the contact resistance of the electrode tab accumulates irreversible damage to the secondary battery. As a result, a region closer to the electrode tab is degraded relatively faster in comparison to a region farther from the electrode tab. Thus, if the life of the secondary battery is predicted without considering various degeneration rates of regions of the secondary battery, caused by the heat generated from the electrode tab, the accuracy of the prediction may be lowered.

Secondary battery and life prediction apparatus thereof


Micro-sized particles having a polymeric structure of cells are provided. Also provided is a method of producing micro-sized particles having a polymeric structure comprising: (1) forming a homogenous solution by heating a mixture of a high molecular weight polymer and a low molecular weight material, wherein said low molecular weight material makes up at least about 50% by weight of the homogenous solution, (2) forming a dispersed solution by dispersing the homogenous solution formed in step (1) into an inert material, (3) cooling the dispersed solution to cause the high molecular weight polymer to phase separate from the low molecular weight material, (4) forming solid particles comprised of said low molecular weight material trapped inside a structure of cells of said high molecular weight polymer, and (5) removing the solid particles from the dispersed solution.

Porous materials are well known. Common techniques for creating porous materials such as foams and sponges include expanding fluid, for example, by creating cells through the use of blowing agents, bubbling gas through the fluid, or mechanical agitation. However, it is difficult to form stable micro-sized pores using these methods.
In regard to membrane materials, techniques for making relatively micro-sized pores include stretching, etching, physical perforation, or mixing a base material with a soluble material and dissolving out the soluble material. However, these techniques produce poor cell uniformity and low porosity.
To produce a material with uniform micro-sized pores, it is taught in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,451,454 and 5,716,997 that a minor amount of a high molecular weight material can be blended with a majority amount of a low molecular weight material. The low molecular weight material can subsequently be removed by an organic solvent, leaving behind a porous material of a three-dimensional continuous network cell-structure of the high molecular weight material. The cells have an average diameter of less than 500 micrometers.
These materials comprising micro-sized pores may be used in, for example, damping applications, separation applications, and adsorption applications. For instance, contaminant-free exchange of gasses may be accomplished using microporous materials. Mold spores, bacteria, and other airborne contaminants will become trapped, while allowing gasses to pass through the material. Similarly, microporous materials may be used as membranes to filter fluids, such as in water purification. However, these materials have a relatively low surface area to expose the cells (pores).
There remains a need to develop a material with a higher surface area of exposed pores to improve adsorption and separation capabilities of a porous material.

Micro-particles containing a 3-D polymeric structure


Techniques for using multiple sampling frequencies to detect the location of touch inputs of a user at a touch panel of a touch device. A determination is made as to which of and second sampling frequencies is provided to a receiver for use in sampling the touch inputs from the touch panel. The user touch inputs are first sampled from the touch panel during first and second successive time frames using first and second different sampling frequencies, respectively.

Touch sensors or touch panels have become a popular type of user interface and are used in many types of devices, such as mobile phones, personal digital assistants (PDAs), navigation devices, video games, computers, etc., collectively referred to herein as touch devices. Touch devices recognize a touch input of a user and obtain the location of the touch to effect a selected operation.
A touch panel may be positioned in front of a display screen such as a liquid crystal display (LCD), or may be integrated with a display screen. Such configurations, referred to as touch screens, allow the user to intuitively connect a pressure point of the touch panel with a corresponding point on the display screen, thereby creating an active connection with the screen.

Methods and touch devices using multiple sampling frequencies


A stabilized dispersion of metal fine particles comprising, fine particles of metal which is obtained by reducing at least one metallic acid or salt thereof selected from the group consisting of haloauric acid, haloplatinic acid, silver nitrate and halorhodic acid by a reducing agent in the aqueous solution of (1) R-PEG-SX [R is a functional group selected from the group consisting of acetal, aldehyde, hydroxyl group, amino group, carboxyl group, active ester group, azide group, biotin group, monosaccharide, oligosaccharide, amino acid, nucleic acid, allyl group, vinyl benzyl group, methacryloyl group and acryloyl group, PEG is —(CH2CH2O)n—, X is H or pyridylthio group] or (2) R-PEG/PAMA (given structural formula A), and said fine particles load a polymer having PEG unit possessing above mentioned functional group on the surface.

In general, metal or semiconductor colloid (ultra fine particle) is an important industrial material which is broadly used in various fields, for example, medical treatment [as a medicine (medicine of ultra fine particles having penetrating ability to membrane internus), various inspection agents or DDS], dye (coating), foods or catalyst. Especially, metal particles of several tens to several hundreds nano meter size (called as submicron: meso size) and having narrow distribution is expected as a high functional materials such as diagnostic which uses Raman spectrum or microwave or a labeling agent for electron microscope.
For example, Assay method, which uses colloidal metal particles has been developed. Said method is characterized as follows. That is, since colloidal metal is used as a label, the specific bonding site to be labeled is bonded on colloidal metal by absorption and said labeling material is detected and measured (JP Laid Open Publication 6-116602, hereinafter shortened to Document A).
The principle can be illustrated as follows. That is, it becomes well known that the ultra fine particles can enhance the resonance Raman scattering by a surface sensitizing effect (Surface Enhanced Raman Scattering, Surface Enhanced Resonance Raman Scattering; SERRS), further, it is found out that colloidal metal displays said signal sensitizing effect, therefore, the special characteristics of said colloidal metal is utilized.
As mentioned above, when colloidal metal which displays above mentioned effect to Raman rays is used as the labeling agent, various detecting subject which reacts with colloidal metal, for example, an antibody or a ligand can be detected using above mentioned effect. Sill more, it is possible to detect the subject to be detected using Raman ray in good sensitivity by bonding a material having a specific bonding site or a Raman sensitizing substance (i.e. colloidal metal) to said subject to be detected, in other word, since by treating a Raman sensitizing substance with an intervening molecule, said substance becomes to have an ability to bond with the subject to be detected, it becomes the labeling material to the subject to be detected.
However, these conventional ultra fine particles of metal is maintaining it's dispersing state by the repulsing forth of surface ions in the medium such as water, therefore, when the substance having opposite electric charge exists, said ultra fine particles of metal are neutralized and cohered, that is, the instability is pointed out as the problem.
In the meanwhile, in above mentioned Document A, the art to prepare a stable sol which does not cause cohesion easily with salt or acid by coating a sol of gold with alkane thiol or thiol derivatives (called as protection or modification) is disclosed. However, the disclosed method for producing is complicated and the obtained sol cannot be said as the monodispersed particles, namely, as the narrow distributed particles, further, the size of obtained particles is relatively larger, therefore, the improvement of an ability is required when used as a detecting reagent.
For the purpose to dissolve said problem and to obtain a dispersion of metal fine particles having various improved characteristics, the method to improve the dispersion stability of metal fine particles based on the repulsing forth of the carried PEG is disclosed [for example, W. P. Wuelfing et al. J.Am.Chem., Soc.120 (48), 12696–12697 (1988)]. Said method can be illustrated as follows, namely; using a polymer having water soluble structure like to polyethyleneglycol (PEG), having high mobility and possessing a functional group which has affinity to metal fine particles on one end, and by loading this polymer to metal fine particles.
However, considering metal fine particles used for a diagnostic, when polymer having PEG structure is loaded on the surface of metal fine particles, although the dispersion stability is improved, the use of it is quite limited because it lacks a reactive group with a group which an antibody has (a group of peculiar reactivity, a group reacts with the group which subject to be detected has).
Aiming to dissolve above mentioned various problems, the inventors of the present invention have already proposed a novel stabilized dispersion complex [48th Polymer Forum (1999) held on October 6–8, at Niigata Univ. Igarashi Campus (Abstract of Polymer Society) Vol.48, No.14, 4113–4114, published on Sep. 20, 1999]. Said novel complex is prepared by synthesizing PEG derivative to one end of which (for example, α-end) a functional group which can load ultra fine particles of metal, metal oxide or semiconductor (for example, mercapt group or polyamine group) is introduced and to another end (ω-end) a functional group which can react with a functional compound i.e., antibody, protein or dye, PEG to which said functional groups are introduced is loaded on ultra fine particles of metal, metal oxide or semiconductor so as to improve the dispersion stability of said ultra fine particles, that is, said novel complex possesses a functional group having reactivity with a functional compound on another end of the PEG chain which spreads (extends) from the surface of ultra fine particles.
In said document, the process to make exist polymer derivatives (called as a polymer modifying agent) having above mentioned PEG structure in the process to produce dispersion of colloidal particle from auric acid chloride and sodium borohydride (NaBH4) as a reducing agent is not discussed. Further, the gold sol particles obtained by the conventional art is far from the monodispersed colloidal particle, still more, is not of satisfying quality from the view point of dispersion stability.
Further, there is no experimental report to prepare ultra fine particles of semiconductor in the presence of polymer derivatives having same PEG structure. The object of the present invention is to improve the defects of above mentioned conventional arts, and is to provide monodispersed fine particles (colloidal particles, nano size particles) of metal such as gold, platinum, silver or rhodium or semiconductor such as CdS, ZnS, CdSe, ZnSe or InAs whose dispersion stability is improved, that is, the dispersion of fine particles whose particle size is uniform and relatively small. Further, the dispersion of fine particles of gold or others (colloidal particles), whose dispersion stability is improved, possesses a block polymer of a graft polymer having a PEG chain or a PEG unit on the surface layer, and by introducing above mentioned functional group to the voluntary ends of said chain or polymer the functions of said functional groups have are provided to the dispersion. Another object of the present invention is to provide a method for producing of above mentioned dispersion.
The inventors of the present invention have carried out intensive study to dissolve above mentioned problem and investigated the reaction system which generate dispersion of metal fine particles (colloidal particles) by good reappearance and stable, and found out that the monodispersed fine particles (colloidal particles) whose dispersion stability is improved can be obtained by generating metal fine particles or semiconductor fine particles by reduction of auric acid chloride under the presence of specific compound (polymer) possessing above mentioned PEG unit, and dissolved above mentioned object.
Furthermore, the inventors of the present invention have found out that fine particles (colloidal particle) dispersion whose dispersion stability is remarkably improved can be obtained by adding block or graft polymer to the solvent of fine particles (colloidal particle) dispersion for gold which is on the market, and monodispersed metal fine particles (colloidal particle) having uniform and small particle size, in other words, of nano size showing quantum effect can be obtained only by mixing metal acid and said block or graft polymer (not necessary to add a reducing agent).

Finely particulate functional metal and finely particulate functional semiconductor each with dispersion stability and process for producing the same


A control device for a brake system of a vehicle includes a valve control device, using which, while taking into account a provided information signal with respect to a currently exerted or to be exerted generator braking torque of a generator, at least one high-pressure switching valve of a brake circuit of the brake system is able to be controlled into an at least partially opened state such that a brake fluid volume is able to be displaced from a main brake cylinder of the brake system into a storage chamber of the brake circuit via the at least one high-pressure switching valve that has been controlled into the at least partially opened state. Furthermore, a method for operating a brake system of a vehicle is described.

German Patent Application No. DE 196 04 134 describes a method and a device for controlling a brake system of a motor vehicle having an electric drive. During the braking of the vehicle, while using the electric drive for simultaneously charging a battery, the hydraulic brake torque exerted upon at least one wheel by the at least one wheel brake caliper is supposed to be reduced/deactivated in spite of an operation of the brake pedal. In addition, by the operation of the brake pedal, the pressure medium displaced from the main brake cylinder to the wheel brakes is supposed to be counteracted, in that, by opening the outlet valves of the hydraulic brake system, the pressure medium displaced from the main brake cylinder is transferred via the at least one wheel brake caliper into at least one storage chamber. In this way, regenerative braking carried out by the electric drive is supposed to be blendable.

Control device for a vehicle brake system and method for operating a vehicle brake system


A gas turbine meter includes a measuring cartridge which has a measuring rotor that rotates in one direction at a speed approximately proportional to the velocity of gas flowing through the meter and a reference rotor mounted downstream of the measuring rotor which rotates in the opposite direction from the measuring rotor. An inlet flow straightener upstream of the measuring rotor causes gas to flow substantially axially within the meter, and a reference flow straightener mounted between the measuring rotor and the reference rotor also causes gas to flow substantially axially within the meter. The inlet flow straightener and the reference flow straightener are constructed so that a measurement of the accuracy of the meter can be conducted without measuring differences in pressure and temperature between the locations of the measuring rotor and the reference rotor. A signal processor provides an indication of the accuracy of the gas turbine meter based on the quotient of a measuring signal, which is proportional to the speed of rotation of the measuring rotor, divided by a reference signal, which is proportional to the speed of rotation of the reference rotor.

This invention relates to turbine meters of the type used to measure the flow of gas by converting kinetic energy of the flowing gas to rotation of a turbine which has its axis parallel to the path of gas flow.
Turbine meters are used to measure both the flow of liquids and the flow of gases. However, the theory of operation of gas turbine meters differs somewhat from that of liquid driven meters due to the differences in the density and kinematic viscosity of the two fluids. Since liquids are essentially incompressible, the density of liquids does not vary significantly with pressure or temperature. Also, the density of liquids is relatively high so there is ample driving torque from liquid flow to overcome mechanical friction in the meter. Thus, small changes in retarding torques, for example due to increases in friction between moving parts, do not affect the performance of liquid turbine meters. Conversely, the density of gas is relatively low so that gas turbine meters are highly sensitive to changes in retarding torques within the meters, especially at low pressure and low flowrates. Changes in kinematic viscosity do affect the performance of both gas turbine meters and liquid turbine meters.
The total volume of gas passing through the meter is determined by counting the number of revolutions of a measuring rotor mounted within the meter. Gas turbine meters are known as inferential meters because they infer how much gas has passed through by observing something else. A gas turbine meter is a gas velocity measuring device. The actual flowrate can be inferred from the velocity of the gas because the cross-sectional area of the annular passage preceding the rotor is a known.
The driving energy to turn the rotor is the kinetic energy, or energy of motion, of the gas being measured. The gas impinges on rotor blades mounted on the measuring rotor and overcomes retarding forces that inhibit the rotor from turning. Because the density of gas is low, it is necessary to reduce the cross-sectional area of the gas pipeline in which a gas turbine meter is mounted to accelerate the flow of the gas to a higher kinetic energy which allows the gas to be measured by the gas turbine meter. An inlet flow guide, or flow straightener, serves to reduce the area through which the gas flows to approximately one-half the area of the pipe in which the turbine meter is installed. Reducing the cross-sectional area of the flow path of the gas increases the velocity of the gas proportionately when the gas flowrate remains constant. Due to the higher density of liquids, liquid turbine meters do not have to accelerate liquids to measure their flow.
Gas turbine meters are commonly installed in pipe lines used in the natural gas industry for the measurement of the flow of large volumes of gas. The volumes are often so large that small errors in measurement can result in large losses of revenue to gas transmission companies and local distribution companies. An example of the magnitude of losses which can occur was presented in a 1992 technical publication of the Netherlands Measurement Institute. Consider a 12-inch turbine meter operating at a pressure of 580 psig and having a gas volume which is 59% of maximum capacity. Assuming the cost of natural gas is $0.0037 per cubic foot, an error of only 0.2% results in a loss of revenue of $160,000 per year. Clearly it is vital to maintain the accuracy of gas turbine meters.
Each gas turbine meter must be separately calibrated to determine its accuracy after it is manufactured. Calibration is necessary because normal, minor variations in meter components cause each gas turbine meter to register a slightly different volumetric flow for a given volume of gas. By way of example, from meter-to-meter blades on turbine measuring rotors vary slightly in shape due to minor manufacturing inconsistencies. As a result, each turbine measuring rotor rotates at a slightly different speed for gas flowing at the same velocity. Similarly, separate sets of measuring rotor bearings of the same make and model can impose slightly different frictional forces on the rotors of separate meters on which they are mounted. Additionally, a gas turbine meter normally has a mechanical register, sometimes called an index, which gives a reading of gas flow volume on a set of dials. A register is typically connected to a turbine measuring rotor through a coupling which includes gears, magnetic couplings and other components which load the turbine rotors of different gas turbine meter to a somewhat different extent. As a result, each gas turbine meter will register its own unique flow level for a given volume of gas.
At the time of manufacture of a gas turbine meter, the accuracy of a meter is proved by testing the meter against a known standard such as a master meter or a bell prover or a sonic nozzle. At a given temperature, a given gas line pressure and a given gas flowrate, the volume of gas registered by the meter is compared to the actual volume of gas which flowed through the meter as determined by the standard. This ratio of the volume of gas measured by a meter's mechanical register to the actual volume of gas flowing through the meter is called the accuracy of the meter. The calibration factor of a meter, referred to by the letter "K," expressed in terms of pulses per unit of volume flowing through a meter, is the amount by which the registered reading of the meter is divided to get a 100% accurate reading. For each of a given series of line pressures at which a gas turbine meter may operate, the K factors are determined for a range of flowrates expected for the meter and a table of these K factors is provided with each meter.
After a gas turbine meter has been installed and is operating, the accuracy of the meter can change over time as a result of factors such as damaged components, increased friction between components due to wear or due to contamination carried by gas flowing through the meter. Thus, there is a need to periodically prove gas turbine meters in the field.
There are currently several methods of proving gas turbine meters while these meters are installed in gas pipelines. These methods include using critical flow provers, sonic nozzle provers and in-line orifice meters. However, the most widely used method of proving meters in the field is by transfer proving. That is, by removing the meter or at least the meter's measuring cartridge from the pipeline, calibrating it with air at atmospheric pressure and then taking into account any changes in accuracy due to factors such as pipeline pressure, gas composition and the possible effects of flow disturbances. However, each of these methods of proving meters in the field is time consuming, interrupts the normal operation of the gas turbine meter and results in undesirable expenses.
By way of explanation, critical flow orifice provers and sonic nozzle provers are devices that operate with a pressure drop across their inlet ports and outlet ports which is above a critical pressure ratio for each such device. The ratio of outlet to inlet pressure required for the operation of the critical flow orifice prover is less than 53% and for the sonic nozzle prover is less than 81%. These provers, which are installed in a pipeline in-line with a gas turbine meter to be proved, are fixed flow devices, meaning that an orifice or nozzle with a given throat diameter will prove only one volumetric flowrate. As a result, different sized orifices or nozzles must be used to generate an accuracy curve over the operating flow range of the gas turbine meter being proved. Changing orifices or nozzles requires that gas be made to bypass this device and that the orifice or nozzle be depressurized. This procedure is time consuming and interrupts the service of the meter. Additionally, optimum accuracy of a critical flow orifice prover or a sonic nozzle prover requires a determination of gas composition, involving sampling of gas for lab analysis or transporting a portable gas chromatograph to the site for gas analysis.
In-line orifice meters present some of the same difficulties faced with critical flow orifice provers and sonic nozzle provers. In-line orifice meters are placed in a pipeline in line with a meter to be proved and operate by measuring the differential pressure across an orifice plate in the flow stream of the gas being measured. Multiple orifice plates may be required to obtain an accuracy curve over the flow range of the gas turbine meter, requiring that the flow of gas bypass the orifice meter and the orifice meter be depressurized for the change of plates. Additionally, this type of meter also requires a knowledge of the specific gravity of the gas being measured, that is the composition of the gas, again requiring lab analysis of the gas or the use of a portable gas chromatograph on site.
Transfer proving consists of testing a meter against a reference meter of known accuracy. The meter being tested is removed from the pipeline from which it is installed and then installed in series with a reference meter. Air is passed through both meters and volume readings are compared to evaluate the accuracy of the gas turbine meter being tested. The removal of the gas turbine meter being tested from the pipeline interrupts the normal service of the meter. Additionally, the accuracy evaluation cannot account for the possible effects of flow disturbances within the pipeline on the accuracy of the meter. Most transfer provers calibrate meters at atmospheric pressure since elevated pressure transfer provers are very costly to own or lease. Additionally, air is the test fluid. Thus, changes in accuracy resulting from pipeline pressure or gas composition are not accounted for when using a transfer prover at atmospheric pressure. Furthermore, the capacity of most transfer provers is inadequate for testing larger turbine meters.
A more recent development has sought to minimize or avoid a need for proving gas turbine meters by compensating for inaccuracies which occur in their operation. This development consists of a gas turbine meter which uses two rotors mounted in close proximity to each other so that they interact fluid dynamically. The basic principle of operation is that meter accuracy and changes in meter accuracy are proportional to the deflected angle of fluid exiting a measuring rotor.
A downstream sensing rotor senses and responds to changes in the exit angle of fluid from turbine blades of the measuring rotor so that the difference in rotor speeds remains constant. The sensing rotor and the associated electronic circuitry are not designed to measure accuracy of the meter, but to automatically adjust the electronic output so that the output of the meter is theoretically 100% accurate. The amount of adjustment required to maintain 100% accuracy is provided for determining the relative change in condition of the meter from its initial calibration. Meters of this type are described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,286,471 Lee, et al. and U.S. Pat. No. 4,305,281 Lee, et al.
However, the design of this type of turbine meter assumes that the system is functioning correctly. If a malfunction exists that results in incorrect flowrates, a customer would not be aware of the problem. Additionally, because the rotors are fluid dynamically coupled, a complete failure of one rotor due to friction or clogging will render the meter inoperative. Furthermore, the rangeability of this gas turbine meter, that is the ratio of maximum to minimum capacity, is reduced approximately 33% from a conventional turbine meter due to the small sensing rotor blade angle and a necessity for fluid dynamic interaction between the two rotors.
Thus, there still remains a need in the natural gas industry for some means or method of rapidly and accurately proving gas turbine meters in gas pipelines under actual operating pressures and temperatures without removing the meters form the pipelines and without interrupting normal service of the meter.


An absorbent body includes a set of first strips and a set of second strips, wherein the first and second strips are coupled to each other in order to form an absorbent layer of the body. The first and second strips are coupled to each other by the first strips being provided with cuts in which the second strips are arranged.

Within a number of applications, there is a need of products which are capable of absorbing a fluid. One such application is hygiene products of different types, such as diapers, incontinence guards, pantyliners, etc., which should be provided with an absorbent body having the capacity of rapidly taking care of a relatively large fluid quantity. Thereby, the absorbent body should be capable of distributing the fluid and storing the fluid. Usually, two or more layers, which can be made of different kinds of material having different properties, are used in order to create such an absorbent body. At the same time, it is desired that the products are as thin as possible for a comfortable and discreet use. Accordingly, a compressed absorbent body having a small volume and a large absorption capacity is desirable. An absorbent body, or core, which is compressed too much and/or the use of rigid materials in the absorbent body, however, makes the product less flexible and ductile and, consequently, less comfortable to use.
Although the invention primarily is intended for providing the above-mentioned products, its should be emphasized that the invention also would be applicable to other similar products which are to possess the capacity of absorbing a fluid.
One type of textiles having absorption capacity are those manufactured by means of weaving. U.S. Pat. No. 4,695,500 describes such a woven structure intended for medical products, such as compresses, gauze bandages and the like. One property of woven or braided structures is that they are proportionately flexible and ductile even if they are made of a material which is rigid per se.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,883,022 describes how an absorbent textile is created by means of interweaving fibres, and especially how synthetic, continuous fibres are used in order to attain a high absorption capacity by means of alternatingly providing the textile fabric with regions where the fibres are bound to each other and with open regions where the fibres are non-bound to each other. The interstitial spaces of the textile fabric which are formed in this way enable fluid to be absorbed by means of the fluid being distributed and retained in the interstitial spaces through capillary action and adhesive forces.
In order to manufacture a woven textile, however, a complicated manufacturing method is required in which the threads, a warp and a weft, are interlaced. Due to its complexity, such a method would not be a realistic alternative to the present manufacturing methods for applications within the field of hygiene products. Production of hygiene products by means of weaving would not at all meet the demands upon production speed and cost efficiency which prevail when producing these products. Furthermore, when performing traditional weaving, it is required that the material parts which are interwoven, usually threads, have a sufficiently high strength, such as tensile strength, allowing them to be handled in the way required by the weaving process without being damaged. This means that many materials having a proportionately low strength, but which with regard to certain properties still could be suitable for use when forming an absorbent body, cannot be used when manufacturing a woven layer.

Absorbent structure and a method for manufacturing an absorbent structure


A cover for windshields is provided which includes a panel assembly having first and second longitudinal edges and first and second side edges. First and second flaps are formed adjacent to the panel assembly first and second side edges respectively. A pair of strut members are secured to the panel assembly in proximity to the panel assembly side edges and function to impart some rigidity to the panel assembly at its side edges. A pair of tensile members are provided for mounting the panel assembly and each includes first and second ends which are anchored to a respective flap. The tensile members are elastic and can be stretched over parts of the vehicle, such as the outside rear view mirrors, for mounting the windshield cover.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to covers for protecting objects from the elements, and in particular to a cover for vehicle windshields and the like.
2. Description of the Related Art
Various covers have heretofore been proposed for shielding and protecting covered articles from the elements. Such covers and covering systems are generally designed to accommodate the configuration of the articles being covered and to provide protection from various ambient environmental conditions, such as precipitation in the form of rain, sleet, snow, etc. or solar insolation.
As an example of a relatively common problem which can be addressed by the use of an appropriate cover, vehicle windshields can acquire accumulations of snow and ice if left unprotected in inclement weather. Removing such accumulations can be relatively tedious and require the use of hand scrapers and the like. Moreover, the vehicle windshield clearing procedures must often be carried out in inclement weather, subjecting the vehicle operators to ambient temperatures which are often below freezing and exposure to additional snowfall, freezing rain, sleet, etc. Scraping vehicle windshields has thus been a generally unpleasant task which often must be carried out in conditions which are less than optimum.
To avoid the accumulation of precipitation thereon, various covers have previously been proposed for vehicle windshields. For example, the Moszelt U.S. Pat. No. 2,614,630 discloses a windshield cover with side hooks for engaging a door frame.
The Sohne U.S. Pat. No. 4,948,192 discloses a windshield cover apparatus with straps which extend into the door openings for engagement with various vehicle interior components, such as the steering wheel and the sun visors. Installation procedures which require closing the vehicle doors on various straps, hooks and the like can be objectionable due to possible risks of vehicle damage and the necessity of opening and closing the vehicle doors, possibility in inclement weather. Such insulation procedures can also be objectionable because a person installing such a cover may be required to extend his or her hands through the door opening, and thus be subjected to the possible risk of injury from an inadvertent closure of a vehicle door.
Some previous windshield covers, such as those shown in U.S Pat. Nos. 2,614,630 and 4,948,192, required anchoring in proximity to all four corners of their generally rectangular configurations. However, anchoring tensile members in the general vicinity of the upper and lower portions of a vehicle windshield generally required attachment to some portion of the vehicle (e.g., Moszelt U.S. Pat. No. 2,614,630), or extension of the tensile members through the vehicle door openings for attachment to structure in the vehicle interior (e.g., Sohne U.S. Pat. No. 4,948,192).
The number of cover anchors can be reduced to two per cover by placing a pair of rigid members along the cover side edges and anchoring the rigid members medially to the vehicle. For example, the Lunt U.S. Pat. No. 3,588,169; the Duffy U.S. Pat. No. 4,597,608; and the Weatherspoon U.S. Pat. No. 4,726,406 all show such arrangements. However, these devices rely on hooks for engaging the windshield molding or straps for capturing in the vehicle door openings.
Heretofore, there has not been available a windshield cover with a system for anchoring it to the outside rear view mirrors with the advantages and features of the present invention. The present invention addresses some or all of the shortcomings of the previous windshield covers described above.


The present invention is an electronic memory cell and a method for the cell's fabrication comprising a first transistor configured to be coupled to a bit line. The first transistor has an essentially zero voltage drop when activated and is configured to control an operation of the memory cell. A second transistor is configured to operate as a memory transistor and is coupled to the first transistor. The second transistor is further configured to be programmable with a voltage about equal to a voltage on the bit line.

Semiconductor memory devices are typically classified into volatile memory devices and non-volatile memory devices. Volatile memory devices are subdivided into dynamic random access memories (DRAMs) and static random access memories (SAMs). Non-volatile memory types include mask read-only memories (MROMs), programmable read-only memories (PROMs), erasable programmable read-only memories (EPROMs), and electrically erasable programmable read-only memories (EEPROMs). EEPROMs are increasingly used in systems programming that requires continuous update or auxiliary memory devices. Particularly, flash EEPROMs are advantageous as mass storage devices because their integration density is high compared with conventional EEPROMs.
FIG. 1 shows a prior art EEPROM memory cell 100. The memory cell 100 includes an NMOS select transistor 101, an NMOS memory transistor 103, a bit line, terminal 105, an NMOS-NMOS drain junction 107, and a source terminal 109. A contemporary EEPROM uses NMOSfets for both the NMOS select transistor 101 and the NMOS memory transistor 103. Fabrication difficulties currently arise if different device types are employed. However, this same NMOS-NMOS arrangement requires a programming potential as high as 14 volts. Although the tunneling current through a typical 7 nanometer (nm) thick tunnel diode window can be injected with only 10 volts, the higher 14 volt programming potential is required due to a voltage drop across the select transistor 101. This voltage drop will depend on factors such as transistor threshold voltage and body effects, but can be about 3 volts or more. For example, a 14-volt programming pulse on the bit line terminal 105 may produce only 11 volts at the NMOS-NMOS drain junction 107.
Accordingly, what is needed is a way to provide an improved process and structure capable of programming an EEPROM device at about 10 volts, thereby allowing an integration into existing processes without adding additional or complex masks. Such a device would also, for example, allow for EEPROM integration into a 3.3 volt CMOS technology. Such a structure must be economical to manufacture and readily adaptable to contemporary integrated circuit fabrication facilities.

Low-voltage single-layer polysilicon EEPROM memory cell


Described herein is a sanitization assembly including: a sanitization device, such as for example a photocatalytic device or ionizer or the like; and a containment element. The sanitization device is received in the containment element, and the containment element includes a box-shaped, box-like containment body. The box-like containment body includes side containment body surfaces and has dimensions in the width and thickness thereof that are substantially the same as those of a panel or rack or shelf of a furnishing element that includes side shelf surfaces. The box-like containment body can be assembled on the panel or rack or shelf, thus being continuous with the panel or rack or shelf. The side shelf surfaces substantially continue in the side containment body surfaces.

Sterilants or sanitizers are known to be used to sanitize ambients. However, these solutions, which in certain cases are also quite accurate, are very costly and unsuitable for a daily use, for example for sanitizing a contained ambient such as a compartment of a wardrobe, and in particular for sanitizing the items and garments arranged therein.
There are also known sanitization devices for ambients based on photocatalytic technologies or ionizers or the like.
Solutions of this type are, for example, disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 9,782,510, 9,593,861, 9,011,780, 9,205,169, 9,066,988.
Likewise, it is known to use these devices in reduced volumes such as wardrobes, to sanitize the garments or footwear when they are arranged therein. An example is disclosed, for example in this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXtmvQF79Ts.
This solution introduces an air purification device based on the photocatalytic technology, which is hung to the upper panel of the piece of furniture.
Although satisfactory from many perspectives, this solution is highly bulky and requires a significant flow rate to sanitize a compartment such as a wardrobe, which in any case risks not all areas being reached as they are divided by garments in the wardrobe, unless over very long periods of time.
Thus, the need is strongly felt to have a sanitization which allows the air flow emitted by the sanitization device to quickly reach the various items of clothing or items arranged in the furnishing element while at the same time being compact, not very bulky, and especially highly flexible in the configuration so as to quickly adapt to changes of the spaces of the wardrobe, for example by increasing or decreasing the space dedicated to very long items of clothing or partitioning the spaces with several shelves for putting away garments which are supported and not hung, or shoes or handbags or the like.

Sanitization assembly, shelf for furnishing element with sanitization assembly and furnishing element with sanitization assembly


A composite structure is provided including a first fabric and a second fabric. A substantially elongate and substantially rigid first member is spaced apart from and coupled with the first fabric via the second fabric. A resin substantially is infused into the first fabric and the second fabric, and substantially encapsulates the first member to form a unitary structure.

Various assemblies and methods of assembly exist for composite structures which require opposing mold halves adapted to form the shape and contour of opposite sides of the composite structure. Many require additional assembly operations to fasten components together. To form an aircraft fuselage using composites, a skin is first formed, which typically requires tooling for both the inner mold line and the outer mold line. Then the skin is fastened to longitudinal stringers and transverse frame members. Joining the skin to the stringers and frames requires multiple fasteners. In addition, the role an aircraft fuselage will play, for example, if used for a bomber aircraft verses an attack aircraft etc., will further dictate individualized tooling requirements.
There exists a need to reduce manufacturing tooling requirements, the number of parts for final assembly, and the number of assembly operations.

Composite fabric with rigid member structure


Processor(s) of a client device can: analyze one or more features of an electronic resource that is under consideration for solicitation to a user; determine a notification likelihood that the user will access the electronic resource in response to an unsolicited notification of the electronic resource being output to the user; determine a baseline likelihood that the user will access the electronic resource without being solicited; compare the notification likelihood with the baseline likelihood; and cause, based on the comparing, the unsolicited notification to be output to the user. In some implementations, determining the notification likelihood and/or the baseline likelihood is based on applying data associated with the electronic resource as input across a machine learning model to generate output indicative of the notification likelihood and/or the baseline likelihood. In other implementations, determining the notification likelihood and/or the baseline likelihood is based on past behavior or preference(s) of the user.

Notifications are an effective feature that are used to influence individuals (referred to herein as "users") to engage with electronic resources (e.g., web pages, online applications, online databases, networked appliances, etc.). The notifications are often "pushed" to client devices of users in an unsolicited manner. The decision of whether to push an unsolicited notification to a user is typically made based on a predicted benefit of doing so. For example, if a relatively high predicted click-through rate ("pCTR") is calculated for pushing a particular user a pop-up notification containing a hyperlink to an electronic resource (e.g., a web page), then the notification may be pushed in the hopes that the user is likely to click on the hyperlink.
By contrast, if it is predicted that the user is unlikely to click on the hyperlink and/or to reject the unsolicited notification altogether, the unsolicited notification may not be sent. However, deciding whether to push an unsolicited notification to a user based solely on such a metric may be inadequate in some circumstances. For example, no consideration is given to a likelihood that the user would have engaged with the digital content (or with similar digital content) anyways, even without receiving an unsolicited notification. Moreover, many users find that being inundated with unsolicited notifications can be a distraction and/or annoyance. Further, some users have begun practicing "digital well-being" and are actively trying to reduce the amount of unsolicited notifications that they receive, if any.

Modeling lift of metrics for triggering push notifications


A store release system which includes a support member, such as a swaybrace, a store-nesting facility secured to the support member and articulated to facilitate orientation of the store-nesting facility to different positions in order to enable stores of different sizes to be nested thereagainst, and an ejection mechanism, such as a pneumatically or hydraulically-driven piston, for driving the support member from a retracted position to an extended position along a major axis (e.g., the yaw axis), in order to thereby release a store (e.g., a bomb or missile). The ejection mechanism is configured to drive the support member from the retracted position to the extended position with a vertical ejection force having a sufficient magnitude to counteract a laterally-directed force which would be required to unnest the store, to thereby constrain motion of the store in the yaw axis during an ejection cycle. In an exemplary embodiment, the store-nesting facility includes two or more spaced-apart footpads swivel-mounted to the underside of the support member.

The present invention relates generally to weapon release systems, and more particularly, to a constrained store release system which has the capability of accomodating stores (e.g., bombs or missiles) of different sizes and shapes.
Most modern strike aircraft are designed to carry, release, and deliver on target a wide variety of weapons, such as bombs and missiles. The weapons carried and released in this manner are generally referred to as "stores". However, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the pertinent art that the term "stores" is not limited to weapons, but rather, is a generic term which broadly encompasses any item of cargo which is carried, released and delivered from the aircraft.
In this connection, modern strike aircraft are provided with suspension and release equipment (S&RE.) which is designed to carry the stores and to safely separate the stores from the aircraft. The S&RE typically comprise pyrotechnic-driven short-stroke pistons which are designed to rapidly accelerate the weapon through the adverse flow field close to the vehicle. These pistons impart only a point contact force to the stores and no facility is provided for controlling the stores during weapon release.
As strike aircraft have continued to fly faster and with greater maneuverability, the environment surrounding the aircraft has become more severe, thereby increasing the risk of store-to-store and/or store-to-aircraft collisions, and thereby reducing the delivery accuracy due to lateral dispersion. For certain types of stores, the employment envelope of the aircraft has been placarded to reduce the risk of store-to-store collisions and to increase delivery accuracy, but this measure has resulted in reduced survivability of the aircraft.
Several techniques have been developed to improve weapon separation from the aircraft and to increase delivery accuracy without the need to placard the employment envelope. One early technique entailed actively controlling the orientation of the stores and motion thereof during ejection in all three major axes, e.g., by physically retaining the store on a scissors-type carriage mechanism throughout the ejection stroke. This technique has been termed "controlled release". Another technique, dubbed "constrained release", entails preventing motion of the store throughout the ejection stroke, but only in one or two major axes, as opposed to all three major axes. For example, a device constructed to react against yaw moment and side loads during ejection would prevent or constrain motion in the yaw axis.
It has been demonstrated that a yaw axis constrained release system, especially when coupled with increased vertical end-of-stroke (VEOS) velocity and increased stroke length of the ejection piston, results in (1) a reduction in the store yaw angle throughout the ejection cycle, thereby resulting in a commensurate reduction in the cargo bay width for internally carried stores; (2) an improvement in the separation distance between the store and the aircraft during ejection (i.e., increased store-to-aircraft clearance); and, (3) a reduction in system-induced lateral dispersion, and thus, improved delivery accuracy. For internal carriage, such a yaw axis constrained release system affords substantial S&RE equipment size and weight reduction, as well as a reduction in the size of the cargo bay for a given set of stores. Further, since constrained release facilitates better weapon separation, this enables closer spacing of stores, additional flexibility in weapon station location, and a reduction in the number of test flights required to clear a store for an aircraft.
Several types of modern missile launchers, such as the LAU-106 and the LAU-116, incorporate a yaw axis constrained missile release system like the one depicted in FIG. 1. As can be seen, this yaw axis constrained missile release system includes a wrap-around yoke swaybrace which is driven by an ejector piston 22 from a stowed position to an ejection position to effect weapon release.
However, a significant limitation of the yaw axis constrained missile release system depicted in FIG. 1 is that the yoked swaybrace 20 is sized and configured to conform closely to the missile 24 which is nested therein, and thus, it is only suitable for use with a particular type of store (e.g., an air-to-air missile) having a particular store diameter.
Based on the above and foregoing, there presently exists a need in the art for a constrained store release system which overcomes the significant limitation of the above-described yaw axis constrained missile release system depicted in FIG. 1. The present invention fulfills this need in the art.